英国苏格兰15名僧人在阿蓝岛闭关静修四年 近日出关

据《scotman》报道，英国苏格兰僧人15名在阿蓝岛闭关静修四年后于近日出关。

据悉，该15名僧人来自于桑耶林佛学院和坐落在埃斯克代尔米尔（Eskdalemuir）埃斯克（River Esk） 河畔的国际佛教培训中心，于2005年6月22日开始在阿蓝岛闭关静修。

他们的一天从早上3：45开始到晚上11：00结束。每天都要祈祷、禅修和学习，同时他们也要负责煮饭并清扫居所。在四年的静修期间，他们每月只能写一封信，一个月才能接收邮件。除了奥巴马当选和信贷紧缩的些许消息外，他们对这个世界发生的大部分事情都一无所知。

他们中的僧人Gega法师表示，在和埃斯克代尔米尔的佛教导师谈过后，他决定还要继续静修。他表示：“我一直都很想理解我的思想，而导师对我讲，如果我真的想弄懂，那就去静修吧。”，“日常的生活过于忙碌，你根本就没有机会去思考。”

他表示能完成这么长时间的静修，他感觉很自豪。“静修这么久真的很不容易，但它使我们有着些许的成就感，并且，在未来的很长一段时间，这段静修的经历都会令我们受益。”（编译：子规）

THEY may be the only people in the world who haven't heard of Susan Boyle.

For the last four years they have been cut off from the outside world and news of MP's expenses, the rise and fall of Gordon Brown and a certain Scottish singer.

But they have now emerged from their self-imposed island exile and returned to a base in Scotland where they were greeted by a large crowd of family and friends.

The 15 men are from the Samye Ling monastery and international centre of Buddhist training, located near the River Esk in Eskdalemuir in Dumfries and Galloway. Since 22 June, 2005 they have been in a secluded retreat in Arran.

In their four years away the men were allowed to write one letter a month and receive mail just once a month. While snippets of news got through, such as the election of President Obama and the credit crunch, they were unaware of most world events.

Their days began at 3:45am and finished at about 11pm and were filled with rounds of prayer, meditation and study, as well as cooking and cleaning.

One of the monks, known as Gega, decided to go on the retreat after speaking to a Buddhist teacher at Eskdalemuir.

He said: "I was interested in trying to understand what my mind is and he said to me if I really wanted to do that then the place to go would be into retreat.

"Ordinary life is too busy, you don't have the opportunity."

He said there was a feeling of pride in having completed such a lengthy retreat: "Just to keep that together for four years is quite a hard thing to do.

"So there is a sense of some kind of achievement and we will see in the future what long-term benefit comes from it."