APPENDIX - 心——意識知道的根本特性 Citta—The Mind』s Essential Knowing Nature.

APPENDIX

Citta—The Mind』s Essential Knowing Nature.

附錄：心——意識知道的根本特性

The following comments about the nature of the citta have been excerpted from several discourses given by Ãcariya Mahã Boowa.

以下關于心的特性之評論摘錄自阿姜摩訶布瓦幾篇不同的開示。

OF FOREMOST IMPORTANCE IS THE CITTA, the mind』s essential knowing nature. It consists of pure and simple awareness: the citta simply knows. Awareness of good and evil, and the critical judgements that result, are merely activities of the citta. At times, these activities may manifest as mindfulness; at other times, wisdom. But the true citta does not exhibit any activities or manifest any conditions at all. It only knows. Those activities that arise in the citta, such as awareness of good and evil, or happiness and suffering, or praise and blame, are all conditions of the consciousness that flows out from the citta. Since it represents activities and conditions of the citta that are, by their very nature, constantly arising and ceasing, this sort of consciousness is always unstable and unreliable.

最重要的是心——意識知道的根本特性。它由純淨與簡單的覺知構成——心只是知道。覺知善與惡，以及隨之而來的判斷，僅僅是心的活動。有時，這些活動可能顯示成念；另一些時候，是智慧。可是真正的心完全不會顯示活動或任何狀態，它只是知道。所有從心生起的活動，比如覺知善與惡，樂與苦，譽與毀，全都是從心流露出來的意識狀態。既然代表著心的活動和狀態，這類意識的本質不斷生起滅去，始終不穩定、不可靠。

The conscious acknowledgement of phenomena as they arise and cease is called viññãna. For instance, viññãna acknowledges and registers the sense impressions that are produced when sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations contact the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body respectively. Each such contact between an external sense sphere and its corresponding internal base gives rise to a specific consciousness that registers the moment at which each interaction takes place, and then promptly ceases at the same moment that the contact passes. Viññãna, therefore, is consciousness as a condition of the citta. Sankhãra, or thoughts and imagination, is also a condition of the citta. Once the citta has given expression to these conditions, they tend to proliferate without limit. On the other hand, when no conditions arise at all, only the citta』s inherent quality of knowing is apparent.

能認知現象生滅的是識(viññaṇa)，比如，識(viññaṇa)認知，同時記錄下色、聲、香、味、觸，接觸到眼、耳、鼻、舌、身時產生的影像。每一項外塵與相應的內根接觸的同時，都會產生並記錄下與之相應的識，並在接觸結束的同一時間熄滅。識因此是心的一個狀態。行，或思想和想象，是心的另一狀態。一旦心對這些狀態作出反應，它們就會無止盡地增長。另一方面，如果沒有任何狀態生起，心本來的功用——知道——就凸顯出來。

Still, the essential knowing of the average person』s mind is very different from the essential knowing of an Arahant. The average person』s knowing nature is contaminated from within. Arahants, being khïõãsava, are free of all contamination. Their knowing is a pure and simple awareness without any adulteration. Pure awareness, devoid of all contaminants, is supreme awareness: a truly amazing quality of knowing that bestows perfect happiness, as befits the Arahant』s state of absolute purity. This Supreme Happiness always remains constant. It never changes or varies like conditioned phenomena of the world, which are always burdened with anicca, dukkha, and anattã. Such mundane characteristics cannot possibly enter into the citta of someone who has cleansed it until it is absolutely pure.

無論如何，一般凡夫能知的心與阿羅漢知道的心完全不同。凡夫能知的特性從內部受到了染污。作為漏盡者，阿羅漢已從一切染污中解脫，他們的知道是純淨和簡單的覺知，沒有染污。純淨的覺知沒有任何染污，是無上的覺知——帶來圓滿快樂、真正殊勝的知道，與阿羅漢徹底清淨的境界相應。這無上的快樂是恆常不變的，不像世間一直為無常、苦、無我所累的有為法那般變化，這類世間法根本不可能進入已經徹底清淨者的心。

The citta forms the very foundation of samsãra; it is the essence of being that wanders from birth to birth. It is the instigator of the cycle of existence and the prime mover in the round of repeated birth and death. Samsãra is said to be a cycle because death and rebirth recur regularly according to the immutable law of kamma. The citta is governed by kamma, so it is obliged to revolve perpetually in this cycle following kamma』s dictates. As long as the citta remains under the jurisdiction of kamma, this will always be the case. The citta of the Arahant is the sole exception, for his citta has completely transcended kamma』s domain. Since he has also transcended all conventional connections, not a single aspect of relative, conventional reality can possibly become involved with the Arahant』s citta. At the level of Arahant, the citta has absolutely no involvement with anything.

心構造輪迴的真正根本，它是有情不斷輪迴的本質。心是輪迴的煽動者，也是生死相續流轉中的主要驅動者。說輪迴不斷流轉，是因為有情不可避免地受業力支配不斷地生死不息。心被業力所統治，因此而受業力所奴役恆常流轉生死。只要心繼續受業力統治，情況就必然如此。唯一例外的是阿羅漢的心，他的心已完全的超越了業力的主宰，同時他也徹底超越一切世間的相對，沒有任何世俗法有可能干涉阿羅漢的心。在阿羅漢的境界，心徹底出離一切。

Once the citta is totally pure, it simply knows according to its own inherent nature. It is here that the citta reaches it culmination; it attains perfection at the level of absolute purity. Here the continuous migration from one birth to the next finally comes to an end. Here the perpetual journey from the higher realms of existence to the lower ones and back again, through the repetitive cycle of birth, ageing, sickness, and death, totally ceases. Why does it cease here? Because those hidden, defiling elements that normally permeate the citta and cause it to spin around have been completely eliminated. All that remains is the pure citta, which will never again experience birth and death.

一旦心徹底的清淨，它就只是依據自己內在的本性覺知。在這里心才證得它最高的境界，它在這絕對純淨的境界中證得圓滿。在這個境界里，從一期生命延續到另一期生命的輪迴終于止息。在這個境界，那無止盡地從高層次的生命墮落到低層次的生命，然後又回升，不斷歷盡生、老、病、死的輪迴，終于止息。為什麼會在這個境界止息呢？這是由于那些平時滲透入心，使它不斷輪轉的隱密雜染因緣，已徹底熄滅，剩下的只是純淨不再經歷生死的心。

Rebirth is inevitable, however, for the citta that has yet to reach that level of purity. One may be tempted to deny that rebirth follows death, or one may doggedly hold to the nihilistic viewpoint that rejects all possibility of life after death, but such convictions cannot alter the truth. One』s essential knowing nature is not governed by speculation; nor is it influenced by people』s views and opinions. Its preeminence within one』s own being, coupled with the supreme authority of kamma, completely override all speculative considerations.

如果心還未達到這個層次的清淨，輪迴將無可避免。有人可能會否認死後有輪迴，或者有人會頑固地堅信虛無主義，否定死後生命會延續的任何可能。但是信仰無法改變事實，一個人意識知道的根本特性不受猜測所主宰，也不會被個人的觀點或意見所影響。它是一個人自己內在最主要的主宰，與無上權威的業力聯合，凌駕一切猜測思想。

As a consequence, all living beings are compelled to move from one life to the next, experiencing both gross incarnations, like the creatures of land, sea and air, and the more refined incarnations of ghosts, devas and brahmas. Although the later are so ethereal as to be invisible to the human eye, the citta has no difficulty taking birth in their realms. The appropriate kamma is all that is required. Kamma is the determining factor; it is the power that propels the citta on its ceaseless journey in samsãra.

結果是，一切有情被迫從一期生命投向另一期，經歷或粗的，如陸上、海或水中生命；或微細的，如餓鬼、天、梵的生命。雖然後者是那麼的微細，不為人類的肉眼所見，不過心可以毫無困難地投生這些道中，所需要的只是相應的業。業力是決定性的因素，它驅使心在輪迴中流轉無盡。心極端的微細，以至難以明了它到底是由什麼建構而成。

The citta is something so extremely subtle that it is difficult to comprehend what actually constitutes the citta. It is only when the citta attains a state of meditative calm that its true nature becomes apparent. Even experienced meditators who are intent on understanding the citta are unable to know its true nature until they have attained the meditative calm of samãdhi.

只有在心證得某一層次的禪定，它的本質才凸顯出來。即使是有經驗的禪者也無法了解心的本質，除非他證得三摩地。

Even though the citta resides within the body, we are nevertheless unable to detect it. That』s how very subtle it is. Because it is dispersed throughout the physical body, we cannot tell which part or which aspect is actually the true citta. It is so subtle that only the practice of meditation can detect its presence and differentiate it from all the other aspects associated with the body. Through the practice of meditation we can separate them out, seeing that the body is one thing and the citta is another. This is one level of separation, the level of the citta that is experienced in samãdhi, but its duration is limited to the time spent practicing samãdhi.

雖然心安住在身體中，可是我們卻無法偵察出它，它就是那麼的微細。因為它遍布在整個軀體中，我們不能說哪部分或側面是真正的心，它微細到只有禪修才能覺察它，並從身體的各組合中把它辨別出來。通過禪修我們有能力把心分隔出來，看出身與心是不同的存在。這是一個層次的分隔，心在三摩地中的層次，不過這只有在三摩地的狀態中做到。

At the next level, the citta can totally separate itself from the physical body, but it cannot yet disengage from the mental components of personality: vedanã, saññã, sankhãra, and viññãna. When the citta reaches this level, one can use wisdom to separate out the body and eventually become detached forever from the belief that one』s body is oneself, but one is still unable to separate the mental factors of feeling, memory, thoughts, and consciousness from the citta. By using wisdom to investigate further, these mental factors can also be detached from the citta. We then see clearly for ourselves—sanditthiko—that all five khandhas are realities separate from the citta. This is the third level of separation.

在另一個層次，心可以從身體中完全分隔出來，可是還無法從受、想、行、識，這些組合成個人心理的作用中分隔出來。心在這個層次，我們可以用智慧把它從身體分隔出來，並且最後永遠的不再相信身體是「我」，不過它仍然無法把心從受想行識的作用中分隔出來。繼續用智慧分別的話，心最終可以從這些心的作用中分隔，屆時我們可以清楚證到——現證——五蘊與心是不同的真實。這是第三層次的分隔。

At the final level, our attention turns to the original cause of all delusion, that extremely subtle pervasion of ignorance we call avijjã. We know avijjã』s name, but we fail to realize that it is concealed there within the citta. In fact, it permeates the citta like an insidious poison. We cannot see it yet, but it』s there. At this stage, we must rely on the superior strength of our mindfulness, wisdom, and perseverance to extract the poison. Eventually, by employing the full power of mindfulness and wisdom, even avijjã can be separated from the citta.

在最後的層次，我們專注于一切虛妄的根本原因，那極端微細滲透的無明。我們只知道無明這個詞，可是卻無法覺悟到它隱藏在心里面。事實上，它滲透進心里面就像無色無味的毒藥，我們無法看到，可是它就在那兒。在這個階段，我們得依靠高深的念力、智慧和精進把毒取出。最後，通過應用全面發揮的念力與智慧，即使是無明也可以從心中分隔出來。

When everything permeating the citta has finally been removed, we have reached the ultimate stage. Separation at this level is a permanent and total disengagement that requires no further effort to maintain. This is true freedom for the citta. When the body suffers illness, we know clearly that only the physical elements are affected, so we are not concerned or upset by the symptoms. Ordinarily, bodily discomfort causes mental stress. But once the citta is truly free, one remains supremely happy even amid intense physical suffering. The body and the pain are known to be phenomena separate from the citta, so the citta does not participate in the distress. Having relinquished them unequivocally, body and feelings can never again intermix with the citta. This is the citta』s absolute freedom.

當滲入心的一切全部都被除去，我們就證得最終的境界。這個層次的分隔是永恆的，徹底脫離，不需要再努力了，這是心真正的自由。身體生病時，我們清楚知道這只是物質元素受影響，因此不為病狀所干擾或沮喪。普通的情況，身體的不適帶來心理的不安。一旦心真正自由，儘管身體遭受極端的痛苦，心依然保持無上的喜悅。身體與疼痛跟心是不同的現象，所以心不會受痛苦所惱。被毫不猶豫地舍棄之後，身體和感受就再也無法與心混合。這是心的絕對解脫。