隨唱中的修行簡繁轉換 - 繁體林鈺堂為了舉行火供和獻龍王寶瓶，我常常要開長途的車。沿途我就放歌唱的錄音帶，並跟著唱。起先我選了一卷法國歌，因為我不懂法語，適合我練習聽聲而不受意念干擾。差不多一年後，我才慢慢增加他種語言的歌曲。日語、西班牙語、粵語和國語是我已加入學唱的。我今天錄了一卷隨唱的錄音帶，就包括了以上五種語言的歌曲。 隨唱與修行有什麼關係呢？ 我所要學的，並不是要去記憶這些歌曲，而是要做到確實聽清每一個聲音，並且同時要能發這個聲音。用佛法的術語來說，或者可以叫做「現量證得」。要做到這件事，必需心中沒有雜念，並且不期待、不憶持。可以說是動中有定，定上起用。我隨唱久了，一修隨唱，定境就現起，與打坐習定一樣。 有許多次，我邊隨唱就邊流淚。因為深切體會到說不同語言的人共同的基本是無有分別的--我們被表相迷惑太久了。 我現在隨唱，有時完全不覺得有我夾在中間--原曲與隨曲是直接一體的，不必加上「經過我聽，經過我唱」的分別意識。 經過這些年的隨唱修持，我覺得我的聽界常能保持清醒，比較不會被心中的念頭遮去了外間的聲音。 有興趣修這個方法的人，首先應選取一個自己不懂的語言的歌曲帶子，翻來覆去地隨唱，邊聽邊唱，而不是一句一句的背唱。久了，再換別種語言。已懂的語言，反而不適初學，因為歌詞的意思會干擾我們純粹的聽音。 一九八七年八月三十日
隨唱的修法也可應用在「五會念佛」上；亦即跟著「五會念佛」的錄音帶來唱。如此可使念佛更直接而深刻。因為我們不再是以意識作用的記憶來唱，而是以超出意識的直覺來唱。 補綴
The Practice of Singing Alongby Yutang Lin
The first tape I used is "ET L'AMOUR CREA LA FEMME," sung by Julio Iglesias. I chose a French tape, because I don't know French, thereby my hearing of the sounds would not be interfered with by my natural attempt to associate the meanings of the words. Another advantage of not knowing the language is that I could not pronounce the words according to habit, as is often the case when one sings along in languages that one knows. Not until I had practiced with this tape for over a year did I begin to try other song tapes in other languages. So far I have practiced with songs in French, Spanish, Japanese, Cantonese and Mandarin. Among these five languages, Mandarin is the only one that I know, and it is also the most recent one that I have tried. I have made a tape recording of my singing along that contains songs in these five languages. Originally it was made to amuse my parents and folks at home in Taiwan, but later I have also presented some copies of this tape to Buddhist friends so that the idea of doing this practice would get across and people's interest in this practice would be aroused. In doing this practice, what one is trying to achieve is not the memorization of songs, but rather to hear each sound clearly and pronounce it concurrently. Using Buddhist terminology this may be described as "attaining immediate realization of pure perception." In order to achieve this seemingly simple task, one's mind should be free from the preoccupation of thoughts; furthermore, one should neither anticipate nor memorize any sound. This practice involves changing situations (the variations of sounds in songs) and a calm and stable mind, thereby it trains one to act in concentration and this amounts to making use of one's meditative concentration in one's actions. Usually the natural order of things is to learn to concentrate first, and then, after one has already obtained some capability in concentration, one learns to make use of concentration in actions. Thus this is a more advanced practice. After I had been doing this practice for months, when I began to sing along, I naturally entered into a meditative state, just as if I were sitting in meditation. There were many times, when I was singing along with songs in foreign languages, that tears began to drip down from my eyes. The reason being that deep down I felt that the basic natures of people, who speak different languages, are exactly the same. We have lived in delusions that are based on superficial differences for far too long! Now, when I am singing along, sometimes I don't sense that there is an "I" in between---the song played and the one sung along are directly related as one; there is no trace of the discriminating sense that the song sung along has gone through the process of my listening and that of my imitating. Having practiced singing along for the past few years I feel that my sphere of hearing has often remained open and clear; it has become less likely that my hearing of the sounds outside is obstructed by my preoccupation with my thoughts. If you are interested in doing this practice, my suggestion is that you had better begin with a song tape in a language that you don't know. Thus it would be easier for you to hear the sounds as they are. You should sing along immediately, sound by sound, instead of singing along section by section from memory. Don't worry about making mistakes. The key to success, in this practice, is simply not to worry. At first it would be easier to use the same tape for an extended period of time. Nevertheless, don't ever try to memorize any part of the tape. After you feel a bit comfortable in this practice, then you may gradually switch to other tapes and other languages. Eventually one may try to do this practice in a familiar language, but then one has to learn to undo the emotional and meaningful effects of that language. The practice of singing along is obviously different from the practice of chanting holy names or mantras. However, one may apply the method of this practice to the practice of chanting: simply play a tape of chanting and then sing along. Thus the practice of chanting becomes more profound, because one is no longer chanting from memory, which is still within the scope of our thinking mind, but by intuition, which is beyond the scope of our thinking mind.
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