2020/12/27
한국여신학자협의회 나와 여신협 – 곽라분이 자문위원
5] Strength Training for the Mind | Head & Heart Together
Strength Training for the Mind
Meditation is the most useful skill you can master. It can bring the mind to the end of suffering, something no other skill can do. But it’s also the most subtle and demanding skill there is. It requires all the mental qualities ordinarily involved in mastering a physical skill—mindfulness and alertness, persistence and patience, discipline and ingenuity—but to an extraordinary degree. This is why, when you come to meditation, it’s good to reflect on any skills, crafts, or disciplines you’ve already mastered so that you can apply the lessons they’ve taught you to the training of the mind.
In teaching meditation, I’ve often found it helpful to illustrate my points with analogies drawn from physical skills. And, given the particular range of skills and disciplines currently popular in America, I’ve found that one useful source of analogies is strength training. Meditation is more like a good workout than you might have thought.
The Buddha himself noticed the parallels here. He defined the practice as a path of five strengths:
- conviction,
- persistence,
- mindfulness,
- concentration, and
- discernment.
He likened the mind’s ability to beat down its most stubborn thoughts to that of a strong man beating down a weaker man. The agility of a well-trained mind, he said, is like that of a strong man who can easily flex his arm when it’s extended, or extend it when it’s flexed. And he often compared the higher skills of concentration and discernment to the skills of archery, which—given the massive bows of ancient India—was strength training for the noble warriors of his day. These skills included the ability to shoot great distances, to fire arrows in rapid succession, and to pierce great masses—the great mass, here, standing for the mass of ignorance that envelops the untrained mind.
So even if you’ve been pumping great masses instead of piercing them, you’ve been learning some important lessons that will stand you in good stead as a meditator. A few of the more important lessons are these:
• Read up on anatomy. If you want to strengthen a muscle, you need to know where it is and what it moves if you’re going to understand the exercises that target it. Only then can you perform them efficiently. In the same way, you have to understand the anatomy of the mind’s suffering if you want to understand how meditation is supposed to work. Read up on what the Buddha had to say on the topic, and don’t settle for books that put you at the far end of a game of telephone. Go straight to the source. You’ll find, for instance, that the Buddha explained how ignorance shapes the way you breathe, and how that in turn can add to your suffering. This is why most meditation regimens start with the breath, and why the Buddha’s own regimen takes the breath all the way to nibbāna. So read up to understand how and why.
• Start where you are. Too many meditators get discouraged at the outset because their minds won’t settle down. But just as you can’t wait until you’re big and strong before you start strength training, you can’t wait until your concentration is strong before you start sitting. Only by exercising what little concentration you have will you make it solid and steady. So even though you feel scrawny when everyone around you seems big, or fat when everyone else seems fit, remember that you’re not here to compete with them or with the perfect meditators you see in magazines. You’re here to work on yourself. So establish that as your focus, and keep it strong.
• Establish a regular routine. You’re in this for the long haul. We all like the stories of sudden enlightenment, but even the most lightning-like insights have to be primed by a long, steady discipline of day-to-day practice. That’s because the consistency of your discipline allows you to observe subtle changes, and being observant is what enables insight to see. So don’t get taken in by promises of quick and easy shortcuts. Set aside a time to meditate every day and then stick to your schedule whether you feel like meditating or not. The mind grows by overcoming resistance to repetition, just like a muscle. Sometimes the best insights come on the days you least feel like meditating. Even when they don’t, you’re establishing a strength of discipline, patience, and resilience that will see you through the even greater difficulties of aging, illness, and death. That’s why it’s called practice.
• Aim for balance. The “muscle groups” of the path are three: virtue, concentration, and discernment. If any one of these gets overdeveloped at the expense of the others, it throws you out of alignment, and your extra strength turns into a liability.
• Set interim goals. You can’t fix a deadline for your enlightenment, but you can keep aiming for a little more sitting or walking time, a little more consistency in your mindfulness, a little more speed in recovering from distraction, a little more understanding of what you’re doing. The type of meditation taught on retreats where they tell you not to have goals is aimed at (1) people who get neurotic around goals in general and (2) the weekend warriors who need to be cautioned so that they don’t push themselves past the breaking point. If you’re approaching meditation as a lifetime activity, you’ve got to have goals. You’ve got to want results. Otherwise the whole thing loses focus, and you start wondering why you’re sitting here when you could be sitting out on the beach.
• Focus on proper form. Get your desire for results to work for you and not against you. Once you’ve set your goals, focus directly not on the results but on the means that will get you there. It’s like building muscle mass. You don‘t blow air or stuff protein into the muscle to make it larger. You focus on performing your reps properly, and the muscle grows on its own. If, as you meditate, you want the mind to develop more concentration, don’t focus on the idea of concentration. Focus on allowing this breath to be more comfortable, and then this breath, this breath, one breath at a time. Concentration will then grow without your having to think about it.
• Pace yourself. Learn how to read your pain. When you meditate, some pains in the body are simply a sign that it’s adapting to the meditation posture; others, that you’re pushing yourself too hard. Some pains are telling the truth, some are lying[?]. Learn how to tell the difference. The same principle applies to the mind. When the mind can’t seem to settle down, sometimes it needs to be pushed even harder, sometimes you need to pull back. Your ability to read the difference is what exercises your powers of wisdom and discernment.
Learn, too, how to read your progress. The meditation won’t really be a skill, won’t really be your own, until you learn to judge what works for you and what doesn’t. You may have heard that meditation is non-judgmental, but that’s simply meant to counteract the tendency to prejudge things before they’ve had a chance to show their results. Once the results are in, you need to learn how to gauge them, to see how they connect with their causes, so that you can adjust the causes in the direction of the outcome you really want.
• Vary your routine. Just as a muscle can stop responding to a particular exercise, your mind can hit a plateau if it’s strapped to only one meditation technique. So don’t let your regular routine get into a rut. Sometimes the only change you need is a different way of breathing, a different way of visualizing the breath energy in the body. But then there are days when the mind won’t stay with the breath no matter how many different ways of breathing you try. This is why the Buddha taught supplementary meditations to deal with specific problems as they arise. For starters, there’s goodwill for when you‘re feeling down on yourself or the human race—the people you dislike would be much more tolerable if they could find genuine happiness inside, so wish them that happiness. There’s contemplation of the parts of the body for when you’re overcome with lust—it’s hard to maintain a sexual fantasy when you keep thinking about what lies just underneath the skin. And there’s contemplation of death for when you’re feeling lazy—you don’t know how much time you’ve got left, so you’d better meditate now if you want to be ready when the time comes to go.
When these supplementary contemplations have done their work, you can get back to the breath, refreshed and revived. So keep expanding your repertoire. That way your skill becomes all-around.
• Take your ups and downs in stride. The rhythms of the mind are even more complex than those of the body, so a few radical ups and downs are par for the course. Just make sure that they don’t knock you off balance. When things are going so well that the mind grows still without any effort on your part, don’t get careless or overly confident. When your mood is so bad that even the supplementary meditations don’t work, view it as an opportunity to learn how to be patient and observant of bad moods. Either way, you learn a valuable lesson: how to keep your inner observer separate from whatever else is going on. So do your best to maintain proper form regardless, and you’ll come out the other side.
• Watch your eating habits. As the Buddha once said, we survive both on mental food and physical food. Mental food consists of the external stimuli you focus on, as well as the intentions that motivate the mind. If you feed your mind junk food, it’s going to stay weak and sickly no matter how much you meditate. So show some restraint in your eating. If you know that looking at things in certain ways, with certain intentions, gives rise to greed, anger, or delusion, look at them in the opposite way. As Ajaan Lee, my teacher’s teacher, once said, look for the bad side of the things you’re infatuated with, and the good side of the things you hate. That way you become a discriminating eater, and the mind gets the healthy, nourishing food it needs to grow strong.
As for your physical eating habits, this is one of the areas where inner strength training and outer strength training part ways. As a meditator, you have to be concerned less with what physical food you eat than with why you eat. If you’re bulking up for no real purpose, it’s actually harmful for the mind. You have to realize that in eating—even if it’s vegetarian food—you’re placing a burden on the world around you, so you want to give some thought to the purposes served by the strength you gain from your food. Don’t take more from the world than you’re willing to give back. Don’t bulk up just for the fun of it, because the beings—human and animal—who provided the food didn’t provide it in fun. Make sure the energy gets put to good use.
• Don’t leave your strength in the gym. If you don’t use your strength in other activities, strength training becomes largely an exercise in vanity. The same principle applies to your meditative skills. If you leave them on the cushion and don’t apply them in everyday life, meditation turns into a fetish, something you do to escape the problems of life while their causes continue to fester.
The ability to maintain your center and to breathe comfortably in any situation can be a genuine lifesaver, keeping the mind in a position where you can more easily think of the right thing to do, say, or think when your surroundings get tough. As a result, the people around you are no longer subjected to your greed, anger, and delusion. And as you maintain your inner balance in this way, it helps them maintain theirs. So make the whole world your meditation seat, and you’ll find that meditation both on the big seat and the little seat will get a lot stronger. At the same time, it’ll become a gift both to yourself and to the world around you.
• Never lose sight of your ultimate goal. Mental strength has at least one major advantage over physical strength in that it doesn’t inevitably decline with age. It can always keep growing to and through the experience of death. The Buddha promises that it leads to the Deathless, and he wasn’t a man to make vain, empty promises. So when you establish your priorities, make sure that you give more time and energy to strengthening your meditation than you do to strengthening your body. After all, someday you’ll be forced to lay down this body, no matter how fit or strong you’ve made it, but you’ll never be forced to lay down the strengths you’ve built into the mind.
알라딘: 표준 새번역 사서
표준 새번역 사서 - 대학 / 논어 / 맹자 / 중용 | 종려나무 인문과학총서 6
석동신 (옮긴이)종려나무2017-03-10
책소개
유교 2천여 년의 역사에 있어 획기적인 책으로 유교의 종지를 ‘자신을 수양하여 타인을 사랑하라.’는 말로 새롭게 규정하고 있어 주목받고 있다. 종래의 유교의 종지는 ‘자신을 수양하여 타인을 다스려라[修己治人].’였다. 즉 역주자에 따르면 이제 유교의 이념에 따라 정치하던 시대는 지나갔으므로, 유교도 새 시대에 걸맞게 새롭게 거듭나지 않으면 유교의 미래는 없다는 것이다. 따라서 역주자는 유교의 정치적 가치보다는 종교적 가치에 주목하여 유교의 종지를 새롭게 규정하는 한편, 이에 따라 유교의 새로운 미래를 모색하고 있다.
목차
대학 _17
논어 _57
맹자 _453
중용 _815
부록 1: 공자 연보 _886
부록 2: 맹자 연보 _889
부록 3: 공자의 제자들 _890
부록 4: 공자 당시의 노나라 임금들 _896
부록 5: 노나라의 계손씨 가문 _900
부록 6: 도량형의 시대별 변천표 _902
저자 및 역자소개
석동신 (옮긴이)
저자파일
최고의 작품 투표
신간알림 신청
1984년 연세대학교 신과대학 신학과 졸
1992년 연세대학교 문과대학 영어영문학과 졸
2004년~현재 유교연구소 연구위원
2005년 『한글로 읽는 사서』 출간
2007년 한국신지식인협회 교육부문 신지식인 선정
2009년~2011년 대동문화센터장
기타 역주서: 『창세기와 히브리신화』
최근작 :
출판사 제공
책소개
전통유교를 창조적으로 전복시킨 유쾌한 현대유교 이야기 ― 『표준새번역 사서』
본서는 유교 2천여 년의 역사에 있어 획기적인 책으로 유교의 종지를 ‘자신을 수양하여 타인을 사랑하라[修己愛人].’는 말로 새롭게 규정하고 있어 주목받고 있다. 종래의 유교의 종지는 ‘자신을 수양하여 타인을 다스려라[修己治人].’였다. 즉 역주자에 따르면 이제 유교의 이념에 따라 정치하던 시대는 지나갔으므로, 유교도 새 시대에 걸맞게 새롭게 거듭나지 않으면 유교의 미래는 없다는 것이다. 따라서 역주자는 유교의 정치적 가치보다는 종교적 가치에 주목하여 유교의 종지를 새롭게 규정하는 한편, 이에 따라 유교의 새로운 미래를 모색하고 있다.
따라서 역주자는 현대유교의 4대이념과 신삼강오륜을 새롭게 제시하여 유교의 현대화와 대중화를 한 걸음 더 진전시키고 있다. 현대유교의 4대이념은 인애, 정의, 자유, 평등인데, 이것은 역주자가 유교의 최고가치인 인의(仁義)와 서양근대문명의 핵심가치인 자유와 평등을 접목해 제시한 것으로, 전통유교의 기존가치만으로는 유교를 현대화하고 대중화하는 데 미흡하다고 느끼고 과감하게 현대 민주주의의 원리를 전통유교에 가미한 것이다. 이를 삶의 현장에서 실천적으로 구현하는 것은 오로지 독자들의 몫이리라.
신삼강오륜 중 신삼강은 첫째 ‘인간은 세계의 중심이다[人間爲世界綱]’, 둘째 ‘부부는 가정의 중심이다[夫婦爲家庭綱]’, 셋째 ‘민중은 국가의 중심이다[民衆爲國家綱]’이다.
신오륜은 첫째 ‘남자와 여자는 평등해야 한다[男女有平]’, 둘째 ‘남편과 아내는 사랑해야 한다[夫婦有愛]’, 셋째 ‘부모와 자녀는 친애해야 한다[父子有親]’, 넷째 ‘친구와 친구는 신뢰해야 한다[朋友有信]’, 다섯째 ‘노동자와 사용자는 정의로워야 한다[勞使有義]’이다.
이 역시 유교를 시대에 발맞춰 나가게 하기 위해 과거의 삼강오륜을 오늘날에 맞게 고친 것으로, 과거의 삼강오륜만으로는 현대인들에게 어필할 수 없다고 보고 역주자가 새롭게 제시한 것이다. 이는 유교 2천년 역사에 있어 혁명에 버금가는 일대사변이므로, 이에 대해 강호의 선학들과 후학들이 진지하게 토의해 줄 것을 역주자는 바라고 있다.
이 책의 장점은 이뿐만이 아니다. 역주자는 20여 년 간 『사서』의 표준적인 번역을 목표로 국내외 및 동서고금의 관련 서적들을 두루 섭렵하면서 어떤 번역과 주석이 본문을 이해하는 데 가장 적합할지를 심사숙고하였다. 이에 따라 『사서』의 어떤 구절이 시대별로 어떻게 해석되어 왔는지를 다양하게 소개함으로써 본문 이해의 폭을 넓히고 다각화하였다. 이러한 역주자의 노력의 결정이 이 한 권의 책에 농축되어 있기에, 독자들이 만약 이 책을 읽는다면 이는 역주자와 마찬가지로 수백 권의 관련 책을 읽는 효과를 보게 될 것이고, 이에 더하여 스스로 생각하면서 읽는다면 『사서』에 대한 독자의 안목은 한층 높아질 것이다.
또한 기존의 『사서』 번역서들과는 달리 『사서』 각 권을 나누지 않고 한 권에 통합함으로써 『사서』 전체를 유기적으로 이해하게 하였다. 『맹자』는 『논어』의 해설서적인 성격을 띠고 있고, 『대학』과 『중용』은 그 사상적 맥락이 불가분의 관계에 있기 때문이다.
그리고 절을 세분함으로써, 독자들이 자신이 찾아보고 싶은 구절을 쉽게 찾아볼 수 있게 하였다. 역주자는 본서의 분절 체제가 기독교 『성경』의 경우처럼 세계적인 표준이 되기를 바라고 있다. 만약 이것이 실현된다면 이 또한 유교 경학사상 획기적인 일이 될 것이다.
그리고 역주자는 한문의 전통적 독법인 현토식에 불만이 있었다. 한문의 현토식 독법은 한국인들에게는 편리할지 모르나, 마치 I enjoy music every day.라는 영문을 ‘I는 enjoy하노라 music을 every day에’로 말하는 것처럼 느껴졌기 때문이다. 또 이는 다양하게 이해될 수 있는 원문을 한 가지 해석으로 고정하는 일이 될 수 있다. 그래서 역주자는 한자 원문을 현대 중국식 문장부호에 따라 표기하였다. 현토식을 선호하는 이는 원문에 현토를 붙여 읽어도 무방할 것이다.
이 책이 『사서』를 공부하고자 하는 모든 이들의 필독서가 될 뿐만 아니라 독습용, 강의용, 설교용으로도 널리 활용되기를 바란다.
접기
한솔이 (16-09-18 00:12)
미선님, 고맙습니다. 현대유교 운동에 적극 동참해 주시기를 부탁드립니다.
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제 목 : <표준새번역 사서>가 20년의 산고 끝에 마침내 출간되었습니다
글쓴이 : 한솔이 날 짜 : 17-03-16 20:06 조회(2834)
트랙백 주소 : http://freeview.org/bbs/tb.php/f003/651
본 게시판에 여러번 <표준새번역 사서>를 소개해 올렸던 역주자 석동신이올시다.
오늘 대전의 종려나무 출판사에서 졸역 <표준새번역 사서>를 출간하여 이를 알려 드리니,
혹 <사서> 공부에 관심 있으신 분은 일독을 권합니다.
역주자는 수기애인의 현대유교의 종지와, 인애 정의 자유 평등의 4대 이념,
그리고 신삼강오륜을 제시하여 현대유교가 나아갈 방향을 제시하고 있습니다.
아울러 기독교의 성경처럼 절을 세분하여 찾아보기 쉽게 하였고, 쉬우면서도 자연스런 우리말로 옮겨 <사서>를
일반 대중들이 쉽게 접할 수 있게 하였습니다.
예) 군자주이불비, 소인비이부주: 군자는 두루두루 어울리고 끼리끼리 어울리지 않지만,
소인은 끼리끼리 어울리고 두루두루 어울리지 않는다.(논어-위정 14장)
그리고 동서고금의 다양한 주석을 소개하여 독자가 원문을 다각도로 심층적으로 이해하게 하였습니다.
본서가 한국의 모든이들의 애독서가 되기를 바랍니다.
가격은 정가 29,000원이고요. 현재 교보문고와 yes24.com 에 책 소개가 되어 있습니다.
감사합니다.
미선 (17-03-26 13:00)
축하드립니다. 좋은 책을 출간하셨네요. 널리 읽혀질 수 있길 기원합니다. ^^