时间：07/19/2025 07/20/2025
地点：星湖禅修中心
主讲：龙示林
佛法知识
身念处修行
身念处修行，是正念修行中最基础、也最直接的入门之道。所谓“身念处”，并不是对身体的观想或评价，而是对身体正在发生之事保持清楚而持续的觉知。身体是最贴近当下的存在，也是最不容易被概念带走的所缘，因此，身念处被视为建立正念与智慧的稳固根基。
在日常经验中，人往往忽略身体的存在。心不断游走于回忆、计划与想象之中，身体却只是被当作承载工具。身念处修行，正是将觉知带回身体，让心重新与当下连接。当一个人开始真实地觉知身体，觉知便不再只是抽象的“知道”，而成为具体、可体验的清醒。
身念处修行的核心态度，是如实而不干预。修行者并不试图让身体变得舒适、放松或符合某种理想状态，而是如实觉知身体的姿势、动作与感受。站立时知道站立，行走时知道行走，坐着时知道坐着，躺下时知道躺下。身体如何呈现，就如实知道如何呈现，这本身就是修行。
在坐禅中，身念处常表现为对身体整体的觉知。觉知身体的重量、触点、温度、紧绷与放松，而不刻意调整。若身体不适，只需知道“不适正在出现”；若有移动的冲动，只需知道“冲动正在生起”。身念处并不要求身体不动，而是要求心对身体的变化保持清楚。
行走中的身念处修行，尤为重要。行走并非从一个地方到另一个地方的过渡，而是修行本身。抬脚、移动、落脚，每一个动作都可以被觉知。此时，心不需要思考“我在走路”，而是直接体验“正在行走”的感觉。当觉知与动作合一，身体便成为稳定正念的锚点。
身念处修行，也包括对身体感受的觉知。冷、热、酸、麻、痛、轻、重，这些感受往往被习惯性地抗拒或追逐。修行中，并不要求喜欢或排斥，而是如实地知道感受的生起、变化与消失。当感受被看见，而不是被认同，它们对心的影响力便会减弱。
一个常见的误解，是把身念处当作放松训练或健康练习。虽然身念处可能带来放松与稳定，但这并非其根本目的。身念处的关键，在于透过身体，观察无常、苦与非我。身体的感受不断变化，无法被完全掌控，也无法作为恒常的“我”。当这种体会逐渐清楚，执取便开始松动。
身念处修行，特别有助于破除对心的迷失。当心陷入强烈情绪或混乱念头时，回到身体，往往比试图用思考解决问题更为有效。觉知脚踩地面的感觉，觉知呼吸在身体中的流动，心便逐渐从抽象的纠缠中回到现实的当下。
在日常生活中，身念处并不需要刻意安排特殊时间。刷牙、洗碗、穿衣、开门、拿东西，任何动作都可以成为修行。关键不在于动作是否神圣，而在于觉知是否真实。当觉知进入这些平凡的细节，修行便不再局限于坐垫之上。
随着身念处修行的深入，修行者会逐渐发现，身体并不是一个固定的实体，而是一连串不断变化的过程。姿势在变，感受在变，能量在变，没有任何一刻可以被抓住。这种直接的体会，不是通过思考得来的，而是通过持续观照自然显现的。
最终，身念处修行并不是为了建立对身体的掌控，而是为了松动对身体的执着。当身体不再被当作“我”或“我的”，苦的根源便开始动摇。身念处所开启的，是一条从最具体的经验，通向最深层解脱的道路。
因此，身念处修行并不复杂，却极其真实。它不需要特殊能力，也不依赖复杂理论，只需要愿意回到身体、回到当下、回到如实的觉知。正是在这样持续而踏实的修行中，正念得以稳固，智慧得以生长，解脱的可能性也逐渐展开。
Date: 07/19/2025 07/20/2025
Location: Star Lake Meditation Center
Teacher: Shilin Long
Dharma Knowledge
Practice of Mindfulness of the Body
Mindfulness of the body is the most fundamental and direct entry point in mindfulness practice. It does not involve visualizing or evaluating the body, but maintaining clear and continuous awareness of bodily experience as it occurs. The body is the closest anchor to the present moment and the least entangled with conceptual thinking, which is why mindfulness of the body is regarded as a stable foundation for both mindfulness and insight.
In ordinary experience, the body is often overlooked. The mind wanders through memories, plans, and imagination, while the body functions merely as a vehicle. Mindfulness of the body brings awareness back to bodily experience, reconnecting the mind with immediacy. When one truly knows the body, awareness is no longer abstract but becomes tangible and grounded.
The essential attitude of this practice is knowing without interference. Practitioners do not attempt to make the body comfortable, relaxed, or aligned with an ideal. They simply know posture, movement, and sensation as they are. Standing is known as standing, walking as walking, sitting as sitting, lying down as lying down. Whatever the body is doing is known directly, and this knowing itself is practice.
In seated meditation, mindfulness of the body often manifests as awareness of the body as a whole. One knows weight, contact, temperature, tension, and release without deliberate adjustment. If discomfort arises, it is known as “discomfort arising.” If an urge to move appears, it is known as “urge arising.” The practice does not demand stillness of the body, but clarity of awareness regarding bodily change.
Mindfulness of the body in walking practice is particularly significant. Walking is not merely a transition from one place to another, but the practice itself. Lifting the foot, moving it, placing it down—each movement can be known. There is no need to think “I am walking”; there is simply the direct experience of walking. When awareness and movement coincide, the body becomes a stable anchor for mindfulness.
This practice also includes awareness of bodily sensations. Cold and heat, pressure and lightness, pain and ease are often habitually resisted or sought after. In mindfulness of the body, there is no requirement to like or dislike these sensations, only to know their arising, change, and passing. When sensations are seen rather than identified with, their influence on the mind weakens.
A common misunderstanding is to treat mindfulness of the body as relaxation or a wellness technique. Although relaxation and stability may occur, they are not the primary aim. The deeper purpose is to observe impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and non-self through bodily experience. Bodily sensations change continuously, cannot be fully controlled, and cannot serve as a permanent self. As this is directly experienced, attachment naturally loosens.
Mindfulness of the body is especially helpful when the mind is overwhelmed by strong emotions or tangled thoughts. Returning attention to bodily contact, posture, or the sensation of breathing often stabilizes the mind more effectively than trying to reason through difficulty. The body provides an immediate reference point that brings the mind back to present reality.
In daily life, mindfulness of the body does not require special scheduling. Brushing teeth, washing dishes, dressing, opening doors, or picking up objects can all become moments of practice. What matters is not the significance of the action, but the authenticity of awareness. When mindfulness enters ordinary details, practice extends far beyond formal meditation.
As mindfulness of the body deepens, practitioners begin to see that the body is not a fixed entity but a continuous process of change. Posture shifts, sensations fluctuate, energy flows—nothing remains the same from moment to moment. This understanding arises not through thinking, but through sustained observation.
Ultimately, mindfulness of the body is not about gaining control over the body, but about loosening identification with it. When the body is no longer taken as “I” or “mine,” the roots of suffering begin to weaken. Mindfulness of the body opens a path from the most concrete experience to the deepest freedom.
For this reason, mindfulness of the body is simple yet profoundly real. It requires no special abilities and no elaborate theory, only the willingness to return to the body, to the present moment, and to honest awareness. Through such steady and grounded practice, mindfulness becomes established, wisdom matures, and the possibility of liberation gradually unfolds.
