Carry a bowl of oil filled to the brim through a crowd watching a dancer, with a man behind you holding a drawn sword. That, the Buddha said, is mindfulness of the body. The Stoic Epictetus taught a discipline of constant attention, and William James called the power to bring back a wandering mind “the very root of judgment, character, and will.” This lesson asks what each tradition watched, and what it watched for. 端著一缽滿到邊緣的油，穿過一群正在看舞者表演的人；你身後有一個人拔著劍跟著。佛陀說：這就是身念。斯多噶的愛比克泰德教一種持續注意的紀律；威廉・詹姆斯說，把游走的心拉回來的能力，是「判斷、品格與意志的根」。這一課問：每個傳統觀察的是什麼？又是為了什麼而觀察？
D20 Dharma and the West · 佛法與西方哲學Ethics and Practice · 倫理與修行Advanced · 高級about 30 min
正念・四念處
sati, satipaṭṭhāna Pāli smṛti, smṛtyupasthāna Sanskritmindfulness; the four kinds of mindfulness meditation
The verdict · 判定
Closest: Epictetus, whose prosochē, constant attention to one’s own impressions and responses, is a daily discipline in the same sense as sati, and like sati it is practiced while walking, eating, and speaking. William James is closest on the psychology. He saw that training attention would be “the education par excellence” and admitted he could not say how to give it, and the Buddhist manuals are exactly such instructions. The likeness ends at what attention is for. The Stoic watches to keep the ruling reason in charge of its judgments. The Buddhist watches body, feeling, mind, and phenomena arise and pass until it is clear that no one is in charge.
中文翻譯Every paragraph has a Chinese translation. Tap 中譯▾ under a paragraph to open that one, or use Show Chinese · 顯示中譯 at the top to open them all.每一段都有中譯：點段落下方的「中譯」只開那一段，或按上方的「顯示中譯」一次全部打開。
1 · What the Dharma says · 佛法怎麼說
The four foundations, the bowl of oil, the acrobats 四念處、一缽油、雜技師
The Pali word sati first meant memory, and the suttas keep that sense. Defining the faculty of mindfulness, the Buddha says that a noble disciple “can remember and recall what was said and done long ago” (Saṁyutta Nikāya 48.10, in Bhikkhu Sujato’s translation). Mindfulness is a kind of remembering that keeps the present object in mind and does not let it slip. The Discourse on Mindfulness Meditation opens with large claims. The Middle-Length Discourses in Chinese render it: “There is one path that purifies beings, carries them past grief and fear, ends pain and distress, stops weeping, and attains the true Dharma: the four foundations of mindfulness.” The four are body, feelings, mind, and phenomena. In each the practitioner is, in Sujato’s rendering of the Pali, “keen, aware, and mindful, rid of covetousness and displeasure for the world.”
The practice is ordinary. “When walking they know: ‘I am walking.’ When standing they know: ‘I am standing.’” The Chinese text has the same: “When walking, know walking; when standing, know standing; when sitting, know sitting; when lying down, know lying down.” The practitioner brings the same plain knowing to feelings as they arise, pleasant, painful, or neutral, to states of mind such as anger or calm, and to the patterns of experience the Buddha taught, such as the hindrances and the factors of awakening. Nothing here requires a special place. The instructions include eating, drinking, dressing, and going to the toilet.
Two short suttas give the spirit of it. In one, a man is told to carry “a bowl full to the brim with oil” between a large crowd and “the finest lady in the land,” who is dancing and singing, while “a man with a drawn sword will follow right behind you. Wherever you spill even a drop, he’ll chop off your head right there.” Would he lose focus on that bowl? No. “‘A bowl of oil filled to the brim’ is a term for mindfulness of the body” (Saṁyutta Nikāya 47.20). In the other, two acrobats on a bamboo pole discuss safety. The teacher says, “You look after me, and I shall look after you.” The apprentice disagrees: “You look after yourself, and I shall look after myself.” The Buddha sides with the apprentice and then adds, “Looking after yourself, you look after others; and looking after others, you look after yourself,” the latter “by acceptance, harmlessness, love, and sympathy” (Saṁyutta Nikāya 47.19). Mindfulness looks inward, and the suttas never treat it as private.
The Stoics had a word for attention, prosochē, and Epictetus devoted a discourse to it. In George Long’s translation: “When you have remitted your attention for a short time, do not imagine this, that you will recover it when you choose.” A lapse forms “a habit of not attending” and then “a habit of deferring your attention.” He asks, “Is there any part of life excepted, to which attention does not extend?” and answers with the carpenter and the ship’s captain, who do not work better by not attending. Like sati, prosochē is practiced in ordinary activity: “Today I choose to play. Well then, ought you not to play with attention?” What is attended to is a little different. Epictetus wants us to watch our impressions and ask, “How shall I use the appearances presented to me? according to nature, or contrary to nature?” The aim is to keep the will on what is in its power and to let go of the rest.
斯多噶學派有一個指注意力的字：prosochē；愛比克泰德為它寫了一篇論說。George Long 的英譯是：「當你讓注意力鬆懈了一小段時間，不要以為你想收回它的時候就能收回。」一次鬆懈會形成「一種不注意的習慣」，然後是「一種延後注意的習慣」。他問：「生活中有沒有哪一部分，是注意力不及的？」並用木匠與船長回答：他們不會因為不注意而做得更好。跟「念」一樣，prosochē 是在平常的活動中修的：「今天我選擇去玩。那麼，你不應該帶著注意去玩嗎？」所注意的東西有一點不同。愛比克泰德要我們觀察自己的印象，並問：「我該怎麼使用呈現給我的這些表象？順著自然，還是違反自然？」目的是讓意志守在它力所能及的事上，放下其餘的。
In the chapter on attention in The Principles of Psychology, William James wrote two sentences that read like a description of mindfulness. “My experience is what I agree to attend to. Only those items which I notice shape my mind.” And later: “The faculty of voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention, over and over again, is the very root of judgment, character, and will. No one is compos sui if he have it not.” Compos sui means master of oneself. Then he made an admission. “An education which should improve this faculty would be the education par excellence. But it is easier to define this ideal than to give practical directions for bringing it about.” The Buddhist tradition had spent two thousand years on exactly those practical directions. The basic instruction in breathing meditation is what James describes: notice that the mind has wandered, and bring it back, over and over again.
The French historian Pierre Hadot argued that ancient philosophy was not mainly a set of theories. It was a way of life, sustained by what he called spiritual exercises: attention to the present moment, the examination of conscience, the view from above, the rehearsal of misfortune, the memorizing of key maxims to have them “at hand.” In his reading, attention to oneself was the fundamental Stoic attitude, and the doctrines served the practice and were not its goal. Hadot noticed the parallel with Buddhist meditation and wrote about it with interest and caution. His work matters here for a different reason. It shows that the Western tradition once had a practice of attention as serious as the Buddhist one, and that modern academic philosophy forgot it. A Westerner who takes up mindfulness is in one sense recovering something from their own past, and Hadot is the best guide to what that was.
Who is closest, and where the likeness ends 誰最接近，相似到哪裡為止
The closest is Epictetus. Prosochē and sati are both disciplines of constant attention, both are practiced in ordinary activity, and both aim at the gap between an event and our response to it. Hadot showed that this attention was the center of Stoic practice, as sati is the center of Buddhist practice. William James is closest on the psychology. He saw that the power to return a wandering mind is the root of character and that training it would be the highest education, and he could not say how to train it.
最接近的是愛比克泰德。prosochē 與 sati 都是持續注意的紀律；都在平常的活動中修；都瞄準事件與我們對它的反應之間的那個空隙。阿多顯示：這種注意是斯多噶修行的中心，就像念是佛教修行的中心。在心理學上，最接近的是威廉・詹姆斯。他看出把游走的心拉回來的能力，是品格的根；訓練它，會是最高的教育；而他說不出怎麼訓練它。
The likeness ends at what attention is for. The Stoic watches in order to judge rightly. The ruling reason inspects each impression and assents only to what is true and in its power, and the self that does this is strengthened by the practice. The Buddhist watches body, feeling, mind, and phenomena until they are seen to arise and pass, and the watcher is included. The practice does not strengthen a ruler. It shows that there was never one. The Stoic ideal is a mind in command of itself, and the Buddhist ideal is a mind no longer driven by craving, which is a different thing. The practices can look the same for years, and they lead in different directions.
The watcher watched, and the acrobats 被觀察的觀察者，以及雜技師
The first further step is to watch the watcher. Epictetus, James, and Hadot all assume someone who attends, a reason, a will, or a self in formation, and the practice strengthens that someone. The fourth foundation of mindfulness turns attention on the elements of experience themselves, including the mind that is attending. The meditator who notices that “the mind has wandered” can also notice that the noticing arises and passes. This is the point at which mindfulness becomes insight. Nothing in the Western practices of attention requires it, and most Western philosophers would not know what to do with it. It is also where a teacher should be most careful, because the claim can only be checked in practice, the way the means of knowledge lesson described.
The second step is the acrobats. Modern secular mindfulness programs have brought sati to millions of people, and much good has come of it. They usually present it as a technique for reducing stress, with the ethics removed, and critics inside and outside Buddhism have asked whether a soldier or a trader can use it to do harm more calmly. The suttas answer in advance. Mindfulness is right mindfulness only within the path, alongside right intention and right action. And the acrobat sutta says that looking after yourself is looking after others, and looking after others means “acceptance, harmlessness, love, and sympathy.” A teacher presenting mindfulness to Westerners can honor the secular programs and still say what they leave out. In the original teaching, attention is for liberation, and it includes care for others.
第二步是雜技師。現代世俗的正念課程，把 sati 帶給了數以百萬計的人；而且帶來了許多好處。它們通常把它當作一種減壓的技術來介紹，拿掉了倫理；佛教內外的批評者都問過：一個士兵或一個交易員，能不能用它更冷靜地去造成傷害？經典事先就回答了。正念只有在道路之中，與正思惟、正業並行，才是「正」念。而雜技師經說：照顧自己就是照顧他人；照顧他人的意思是「忍耐、不害、慈心與悲憫」。一位向西方人介紹正念的老師，可以尊重那些世俗課程，同時說出它們遺漏了什麼。在原本的教法裡，注意力是為了解脫，而且它包括對他人的關照。
6 · How to say it to a Western audience · 對西方人怎麼講
A bowl of oil and two acrobats 一缽油與兩位雜技師
Most Westerners have met mindfulness already, through an app, a workplace course, or a therapist. Do not start by correcting them. Start with the bowl of oil, which shows how alert and how calm real attention is. Then read William James’ sentence about bringing back a wandering attention, and point out that he wanted exactly the training that meditation provides. Mention Epictetus to show that the West once had its own practice of attention. Then make the two further points. Watching closely enough shows that the watcher is also a process. And the acrobats show that attention is meant to include care for others. Close with the basic instruction, because the audience can try it before they leave: notice the breath, notice when the mind wanders, and bring it back.
The Pali word for mindfulness, sati, originally meant memory: keeping something in mind.
正念的巴利文 sati，原本的意思是記憶：把某樣東西記在心裡。
The Buddha compared it to carrying a full bowl of oil through a crowd without spilling a drop.
佛陀把它比作端著一缽滿滿的油穿過人群，一滴都不灑出來。
William James said that bringing back a wandering attention is “the very root of judgment, character, and will.”
威廉・詹姆斯說，把游走的注意力拉回來，是「判斷、品格與意志的根」。
The Stoics practiced attention too, to keep reason in charge. Buddhists practice it until they see that no one is in charge.
斯多噶學派也修注意力，為的是讓理性掌管。佛教徒修它，直到看見沒有任何人在掌管。
Looking after yourself, you look after others; looking after others, you look after yourself.
照顧自己，就是照顧他人；照顧他人，就是照顧自己。
Try it now: notice the breath, notice when the mind wanders, and bring it back.
現在就試試：注意呼吸；注意心什麼時候游走；把它拉回來。
Phrases to avoid 要避開的說法
“Mindfulness means emptying your mind.” 「正念就是把心清空。」
It means knowing clearly what is present, including thoughts.
它的意思是清楚地知道當下有什麼，包括念頭。
“Mindfulness is just a stress-reduction technique.” 「正念只是一種減壓的技術。」
In the suttas it is part of a path with ethics and wisdom.
在經典裡，它是一條包括戒與慧的道路的一部分。
“The Stoics and the Buddha taught the same thing.” 「斯多噶學派與佛陀教的是同一件事。」
The practices look alike. The aims differ: a ruling reason, or no ruler at all.
修行看起來相像，目的卻不同：一個主宰的理性，或根本沒有主宰。
“Mindfulness is a private, inward thing.” 「正念是一件私人的、向內的事。」
The acrobat sutta says that looking after yourself is looking after others.
雜技師經說：照顧自己，就是照顧他人。
Three languages · 三語對照
The vocabulary, in Chinese, Pāli, Sanskrit, and English 術語：中文、巴利文、梵文、英文
中文
Pāli
Sanskrit
English
念・正念
sati, sammā-sati
smṛti, samyak-smṛti
mindfulness; right mindfulness
四念處
satipaṭṭhāna
smṛtyupasthāna
the four kinds of mindfulness meditation
身・受・心・法
kāya, vedanā, citta, dhamma
kāya, vedanā, citta, dharma
body, feelings, mind, phenomena
正知
sampajañña
samprajanya
clear awareness; situational awareness
精勤
ātāpī
ātāpin
keen; ardent
一道
ekāyana magga
ekāyana mārga
the path to convergence; the direct path
安那般那念
ānāpānasati
ānāpānasmṛti
mindfulness of breathing
觀・內觀
vipassanā
vipaśyanā
insight
注意（斯多噶）
—
—
prosochē (Greek): Stoic attention to oneself
精神修練
—
—
spiritual exercises (Hadot)
Reading check · 理解測驗
Did it land? 讀懂了嗎
1. What did the Pali word sati originally mean?
2. What is the bowl of oil in Saṁyutta Nikāya 47.20 a term for?
3. What did William James say would be “the education par excellence”?
4. According to the lesson, where do Stoic and Buddhist attention differ most?
5. What does the acrobat sutta add to the practice?
Write · 你怎麼講？
For one day, choose an ordinary activity such as walking to class or washing dishes, and do it the way the sutta says: walking, know walking. Write about what you noticed. About 150 words.
Epictetus asks, “Is there any part of life excepted, to which attention does not extend?” Name one part of your life where your attention usually lapses, and say what it costs.
