有人问禅师什么是禅，禅师回答：饿了吃饭，困了睡觉。
Someone asked a Zen master what Zen is, and the master answered: when hungry, eat; when sleepy, sleep.
提问的人有些不服气：这谁不会呢？
The questioner was not convinced: who doesn't know how to do that?
禅师说：多数人吃饭时想着工作，睡觉时想着明天，所以他们既没有真正吃饭，也没有真正睡觉。
The master said: most people think about work while eating and about tomorrow while sleeping, so they neither truly eat nor truly sleep.
这个古老的故事，放到今天简直像是为手机时代量身定做的。
Placed in the present, this ancient story seems practically tailor-made for the smartphone era.
我们一边刷着短视频，一边扒着碗里的饭，事后连自己吃了什么都想不起来。
We scroll through short videos while shovelling down the food in our bowl, and afterwards cannot even recall what we ate.
禅并不要求人躲进深山，它关心的只是：此刻你的心在不在这里。
Zen by no means demands that you hide away in the mountains; all it cares about is whether your mind is here at this moment.
当然，把专注当成又一项必须完成的任务，本身就违背了禅的本意。
Of course, treating concentration as yet another task that must be completed already goes against what Zen was about.
比起强迫自己“什么都不想”，从认真洗一个碗、安静走一段路开始，也许更容易让注意力回到身体上。
Compared with forcing yourself to "think of nothing," starting by washing one bowl carefully or walking one stretch of road quietly may make it easier to bring your attention back into your body.
据说有位老和尚常说：担水砍柴，无非妙道，生活本身就是修行的地方。
An old monk, it is said, often remarked that carrying water and chopping firewood are nothing other than the profound Way: life itself is where the practice happens.
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Key words 生词
禅chánZen; Chan Buddhism
不服气bù fúqìunconvinced; refusing to accept something
量身定做liàng shēn dìng zuòtailor-made; custom-fitted
专注zhuānzhùto concentrate; focused attention
违背wéibèito go against; to violate
修行xiūxíngspiritual practice; cultivation
Grammar note 语法点
既没有…，也没有…
'Neither A nor B' — the negative use of the 既…也… pair, listing two things that equally failed to happen. 例：那次会议既没有解决问题，也没有安排下一步。
他们既没有真正吃饭，也没有真正睡觉。 — They neither truly ate nor truly slept.
连…都…
'Even…' — 连 fronts the most extreme or most basic item, and 都 (or 也) marks it as included, implying everything lesser follows. 例：他连自己的生日都忘了。
事后连自己吃了什么都想不起来。 — Afterwards you cannot even recall what you ate.
把 A 当成 B
'To treat A as B' — 把 fronts the object, 当成 (also 当作) states the identity assigned to it, often a mistaken one. 例：别把客气话当成承诺。
把专注当成又一项必须完成的任务，本身就违背了禅的本意。 — Treating concentration as yet another task to be completed already goes against the point of Zen.
Check yourself 小测验
1. Why did the Zen master say most people neither truly eat nor truly sleep?
2. What does the text say Zen requires of a person?
3. What problem does the writer see in treating concentration as a task to complete?
After this reading
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