The other problem with all this swinging through the vines of thought is that you are never where you are. You are always digging in the past or poking at the future, but rarely do you rest in this moment. It's something like the habit of my dear friend Susan, who—whenever she sees a beautiful place—exclaims in near panic, "It's so beautiful here! I want to come back here someday!" and it takes all of my persuasive powers to try to convince her that she is already here. If you're looking for union with the divine, this kind of forward/backward whirling is a problem. There's a reason they call God a presence—because God is right here, right now. In the present is the only place to find Him, and now is the only time.
这种动荡不安的思维藤蔓所存在的另一个问题，就是你永远不活在此刻所处的地方。你永远在挖掘过去或拨动未来，却极少停歇于此刻。就像我的朋友苏珊有个习惯，每当她看见一个美丽的地方，就会近乎恐慌地惊叫：“这儿真美！我希望有天能回到这里！”我于是竭尽所能尝试说服她，她“已经”在这里。你若想寻求与神明之间的结合，这种前后飞转的想法将是一大问题。人们称神为“存在”（presence）不无道理——因为神就在“此地”，就在“此刻”。唯有在当下这个地方，你才找得到神，而唯一的时刻即是现在。

But to stay in the present moment requires dedicated one-pointed focus. Different meditation techniques teach one-pointedness in different ways—for instance, by focusing your eyes on a single point of light, or by observing the rise and fall of your breath. My Guru teaches meditation with the help of a mantra, sacred words or syllables to be repeated in a focused manner. Mantra has a dual function. For one thing, it gives the mind something to do. It's as if you've given the monkey a pile of 10,000 buttons and said, "Move these buttons, one at time, into a new pile." This is a considerably easier task for the monkey than if you just plopped him in a corner and asked him not to move. The other purpose of mantra is to transport you to another state, rowboatlike, through the choppy waves of the mind. Whenever your attention gets pulled into a cross-current of thought, just return to the mantra, climb back into the boat and keep going. The great Sanskrit mantras are said to contain unimaginable powers, the ability to row you, if you can stay with one, all the way to the shorelines of divinity.
可是，若想待在此刻，则需要奉献于单一的焦点。各种禅坐方法教导各种专一的方法——比方说，眼光集中在一个光点上，或观察自己的呼吸起伏。我的导师教导的禅坐，是以集中复诵咒语、经文或音节为辅助。咒语有双重功效。首先，它让脑子有事可做。就像给猴子一万个钮扣，说：“把这堆钮扣重新叠成一叠，一次一个。”这比把它扔在墙角叫它不要动容易许多。咒语的另一个目的是送你进入另一种状态，有如划动小舟一般，航过波涛汹涌的心灵之海。每当你的注意力卷进心灵的逆流中，只要回到咒语，爬回小舟，就能继续航行。伟大的梵文咒语据说包含难以想象的力量，能载着你——只要你待在其中——一路划向神的海岸。

Among my many, many problems with meditation is that the mantra I have been given—Om Namah Shivaya—doesn't sit comfortably in my head. I love the sound of it and I love the meaning of it, but it does not glide me into meditation. It never has, not in the two years.
在我许多许多的禅坐问题当中，其中之一是，我所接受的咒语——唵南嘛湿婆耶——并未安安稳稳地停留在我脑子里。我喜欢念它，也喜欢它的含义，却始终未能进入禅修状态。在两年的瑜伽修行期间亦从来未曾。

I've been practicing this Yoga. When I try to repeat Om Namah Shivaya in my head, it actually gets stuck in my throat, making my chest clench tightly, making me nervous. I can never match the syllables to my breathing.
当我尝试在脑中背诵“唵南嘛湿婆耶”的时候，居然如鲠在喉，胸口紧绷，紧张兮兮。我始终无法让音节与呼吸搭配得当。

I end up asking my roommate Corella about this one night. I'm shy to admit to her how much trouble I have keeping my mind focused on mantra repetition, but she is a meditation teacher. Maybe she can help me. She tells me that her mind used to wander during meditation, too, but that now her practice is the great, easy, transformative joy of her life.
结果有天晚上我跟室友科瑞拉讨教此事。我羞于向她承认我很难让心思集中在咒语的背诵上，但她是禅修老师，或许能帮忙我。她告诉我，从前她也经常在禅修时胡思乱想，不过现在，她的修行成了生活中至高无上的喜悦。