Going into that meditation cave every day is supposed to be this time of divine communion, but I've been walking in there lately flinching the way my dog used to flinch when she walkedinto the vet's office (knowing that no matter how friendly everybody might be acting now, this whole thing was going to end with a sharp poke with a medical instrument). But after my last conversation with Richard from Texas, I'm trying a new approach this morning. I sit down to meditate and I say to my mind, "Listen—I understand you're a little frightened. But I promise, I'm not trying to annihilate you. I'm just trying to give you a place to rest. I love you."
每天去禅修洞，应当是此种神圣交流的时刻，然而当我最近走进去的时候，总是退缩不前，就像我的狗走进兽医诊所时经常退缩不前（它知道无论大家现在表现得多友善，最后的结果都是被某种医疗用具狠戳一记）。但是上回和德州理查谈过话后，今天早上我试了一种新方法。我坐下来禅坐，对自己的脑子说：“听着——我了解有你点害怕，但我保证不会消灭你。我只是想给你一个地方休息。我爱你。”

The other day a monk told me, "The resting place of the mind is the heart. The only thing the mind hears all day is clanging bells and noise and argument, and all it wants is quietude. The only place the mind will ever find peace is inside the silence of the heart. That's where you need to go."
前几天，一位僧侣告诉我“头脑的休憩地是心。头脑整天只听见叮叮当当的钟声、噪音，和争辩，但它只渴望平静。头脑只能在沉静的心当中，找到平静。你得去那里才行。”

I'm trying a different mantra, too. It's one I've had luck with in the past. It's simple, just two syllables:
我还试了另一种咒语。这句咒语从前是我的吉祥咒语。很简单的两个音节：

Ham-sa.
“宏——撒（Ham-sa）。

In Sanskrit it means "I am That."
梵语的意思是“我是他”。

The Yogis say that Ham-sa is the most natural mantra, the one we are all given by God before birth. It is the sound of our own breath. Ham on the inhale, sa on the exhale. (Ham, by the way, is pronounced softly, openly, like hahhhm, not like the meat you put on a sandwich. And sa rhymes with "Ahhhh . . .") As long as we live, every time we breathe in or out, we are repeating this mantra. I am That. I am divine, I am with God, I am an expression of God, I am not separate, I am not alone, I am not this limited illusion of an individual. I've always found Ham-sa easy and relaxing. Easier to meditate with than Om Namah Shivaya, the—how would you say this—"official" mantra of this Yoga. But I was talking to this monk the other day and he told me to go ahead and use Ham-sa if it helped my meditation. He said, "Meditate on whatever causes a revolution in your mind."
瑜伽士说“宏——撒”是最自然天成的咒语，在我们每个人出生前由神赐予。其音调是我们自己的呼吸。吸气是“宏”，吐气是“撒”。（顺带一提，“宏”的发音柔软、开放，而“撒”与“宏”押同韵。）只要我们活着，我们每回的吸气、吐气都在复诵这句咒语。我是他。我很非凡，我与神同在，我是神的写照，我不疏离，不孤单，不是有限的个人幻象。我向来认为“宏——撒”简单而轻松。比“唵南嘛湿婆耶”更容易在禅坐时诵念，就像——怎么说呢——瑜伽的 “官方”咒语。但有一天我和僧侣谈起这件事，他跟我说“宏——撒”若有助于我的禅坐，就去用吧。他说：“无论依什么进行禅坐，都能在你心中产生革命性的变化。”

So I'll sit with it here today. Ham-sa.
今天就让我拿它禅坐吧。 宏——撒。

I am That.
我是祂。