PART 1 - 疼痛感就只是感受程度不斷波動的自然現象 PAINFUL FEELINGS ARE JUST

PAINFUL FEELINGS ARE JUST naturally occurring phenomena that constantly fluctuate between mild and severe. As long as we do not make them into a personal burden, they don』t have any special meaning for the citta. In and of itself, pain means nothing, so the citta remains unaffected. The physical body is also meaningless in and of itself, and it adds no meaning either to feelings or to oneself—unless, of course, the citta invests it with a specific meaning, gathering in the resultant suffering to burn itself. External conditions are not really responsible for our suffering, only the citta can create that.

疼痛感就只是感受程度不斷波動的自然現象，只要我們不把它變成個人的負擔，它對心沒有什麼特別的意義。疼痛在本質上沒有什麼意義，不會影響心；色身在本質上也沒有意義，它對感受或個人也不會添加意義——當然，除非心介入賦予特殊的意義，把因此而產生的苦拿來焚燒自己。外在的因緣並未真正造成我們的苦，是心創造出來罷了。

Getting up that morning, I felt indescribably bold and daring. I marveled at the amazing nature of my experience. Nothing comparable had ever happened in my meditation before. The citta had completely severed its connection with all objects of attention, converging inward with true courage. It had converged into that majestic stillness because of my thorough, painstaking investigations. When it withdrew, it was still full of an audacious courage that knew no fear of death. I now knew the right investigative techniques, so I was certain that I』d have no fear the next time that pain appeared. It would, after all, be pain with just the same characteristics. The physical body would be the same old body. And wisdom would be the same faculty I』d used before. For this reason, I felt openly defiant, without fear of pain or death.

早上起來，我感到難以言喻的勇猛大膽，對自己不凡的經歷感到驚嘆。在我的修行中從未發生過可以和這相比的情況。心徹底切除任何引起注意的聯系，帶著真正的勇氣往內匯集。由于我全面、艱辛的觀察，它集中成莊嚴的定。即使它退出來，仍然充滿勇氣，對死亡無畏。我現在知道正確的觀察技巧，所以可以肯定下次再遇上疼痛時不會害怕。畢竟，疼痛將保持同樣的性質，色身也是同樣的色身，我應用的工具也將會是之前的智慧。因此，我顯得無所畏懼，不怕疼痛或死亡。

Once wisdom had come to realize the true nature of what dies and what does not, death became something quite ordinary. Hair, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, bones: reduced to their original elemental form, they are simply the earth element. Since when did the earth element ever die? When they decompose and disintegrate, what do they become? All parts of the body revert to their original properties. The earth and water elements revert to their original properties, as do the wind and fire elements. Nothing is annihilated. Those elements have simply come together to form a lump in which the citta then takes up residence. The citta—the great master of delusion—comes in and animates it, and then carries the entire burden by making a self-identity out of it. 「This is me, this belongs to me.」 Reserving the whole mass for itself, the citta accumulates endless amounts of pain and suffering, burning itself with its own false assumptions.

一旦智慧覺悟到什麼會死亡和什麼不會死亡的真正本質，死亡變得如此平凡。頭髮、指甲、牙齒、皮膚、肌肉、骨頭：當這些回歸到它們原本的元素，它們就只是地大罷了。地大什麼時候死亡過呢？它們分解時，會變成什麼？身體所有的部分回到原來的元素，地大和水大回歸到它們本來的屬性，風大火大也一樣，沒有東西被消滅掉。這些元素聚合在一起成為軀體，心就安住其間，心——這個幻象大師——駐進來然後賦予它生命，接著認它作自我，結果就背著這整個包袱：「這是我，這是我的。」心把這整個當作自我，由于這個錯誤的認知，給自己帶來無盡的熾熱痛苦。

The citta itself is the real culprit, not the lump of physical elements. The body is not some hostile entity whose constant fluctuations threaten our well-being. It is a separate reality that changes naturally according to its own inherent conditions. Only when we make false assumptions about it does it become a burden we must carry. That is precisely why we suffer from bodily pain and discomfort. The physical body does not produce suffering for us; we ourselves produce it. Thus I saw clearly that no external conditions can cause us to suffer. We are the ones who misconceive things, and that misconception creates the blaze of pain that troubles our hearts.

心本身才是真正的罪魁禍首，而非那堆物質元素。身體不是那些不斷波動威脅我們安寧的敵人，它是一個獨立的真實，只是依照內在的因緣自然變化。只有當我們錯誤認知它才成為負擔，這正是為什麼我們會因身體的疼痛和不適而受苦，色身不會令我們受苦，我們自己令自己受苦。從這里我看到沒有外在的因緣可以讓我們受苦。是我們自己對事物的錯誤認知，而這誤知帶來痛苦的火焰，燃燒我們的心。

I understood clearly that nothing dies. The citta certainly doesn』t die; in fact, it becomes more pronounced. The more fully we investigate the four elements, breaking them down into their original properties, the more distinctly pronounced the citta appears. So where is death to be found? And what is it that dies? The four elements—earth, water, wind and fire—they don』t die. As for the citta, how can it die? It becomes more conspicuous, more aware and more insightful. This essential knowing nature never dies, so why is it so afraid of death? Because it deceives itself. For eons and eons it has fooled itself into believing in death when actually nothing ever dies.

我清楚明白到沒有任何東西死亡。心肯定不會死，事實上，它變得更明顯，我們越全面地觀察四大，把它們分解成它們原來的屬性，心就越發凸顯出來。所以哪里可以找到死亡？還有，到底是什麼死去呢？四大——地、水、風和火——它們不會死。至于心，它怎麼會死呢？它變得更顯著、覺知和有洞察力，這知道的根本特性絕不會死亡，所以，為什麼那麼害怕死亡？因為它自己欺騙自己。無量劫以來它不斷地愚弄自己相信死亡，實際上根本沒有東西死去。

So when pain arises in the body we must realize that it is merely feeling, and nothing else. Don』t define it in personal terms and assume that it is something happening to you. Pains have afflicted your body since the day you were born. The pain that you experienced at the moment you emerged from your mother』s womb was excruciating. Only by surviving such torment are human beings born. Pain has been there from the very beginning and it』s not about to reverse course or alter its character. Bodily pain always exhibits the same basic characteristics: having arisen, it remains briefly and then ceases. Arising, remaining briefly, ceasing—that』s all there is to it.

所以當疼痛從身體中生起，我們應該理解它只是感受，別無其他。不要用自我的觀點詮釋它，假設那是發生在你身上的事。從出生那天疼痛就折磨你的身體了，你從母親的子宮出來時的疼痛是那麼尖銳，只有通過這煎熬人類才生下來。疼痛從開始就在那里，它不會回過來改變其特性的。身體的疼痛永遠顯現同樣的性質：生起了，短暫停留然後滅去，生起、短暫停留、滅去——就只是這些。

Investigate painful feelings arising in the body so as to see them clearly for what they are. The body itself is merely a physical form, the physical reality you have known since birth. But when you believe that you are your body, and your body hurts, then you are in pain. Being equated, body, pain and the awareness that perceives them then converge into one: your painful body. Physical pain arises due to some bodily malfunction. It arises dependent on some aspect of the body, but it is not itself a physical phenomenon. Awareness of both body and feelings is dependent on the citta—the one who knows them. But when the one who』s aware of them knows them falsely, then concern about the physical cause of the pain and its apparent intensity cause emotional pain to arise. Pain not only hurts but it indicates that there is something wrong with you—your body. Unless you can separate out these three distinct realities, physical pain will always cause emotional distress.

觀察身體所產生的疼痛感，以便可以看清楚它們是什麼。身體本身只是物質，自從我們出生就知道的物質真實。可是當你相信你是你的身體，你的身體一受傷害，你就會疼痛。身體、疼痛和認知它們的覺知被等同起來時，它們就會合成一體。生理的疼痛由于身體的機能不調而產生，它因身體的某些情況而產生，但它本身不是物質現象。要覺知身體和感受得依靠知道它們的心。但是對它們的認知不正確的話，就擔心生理的毛病和疼痛的劇烈，會帶來內心苦受的生起。疼痛不但會帶來傷害，而且還顯示你——你的身體有問題。除非你分開這三個明顯的真實，否則生理的疼痛必然會帶來心理的苦。

The body is merely a physical phenomenon. We can believe whatever we like about it, but that will not alter fundamental principles of truth. Physical existence is one such fundamental truth. Four elemental properties—earth, water, wind and fire—gather together in a certain configuration to form what is called a 「person」. This physical presence may be identified as a man or a woman and be given a specific name and social status, but essentially it is just the rupa khandha—a physical heap. Lumped together, all the constituent parts form a human body, a distinct physical reality. And each separate part is an integral part of that one fundamental reality. The four elements join together in many different ways. In the human body we speak of the skin, the flesh, the tendons, the bones, and so forth. But don』t be fooled into thinking of them as separate realities simply because they have different names. See them all as one essential reality—the physical heap.

身體只是物質現象，無論我們要怎麼看待它，都不會改變這真相的根本道理。物質存在是其中一個真實，四大屬性——地、水、風和火——依不同的組合聚集在一起形成一個所謂的「人」，這個物質聚合體可以被認為是男人或女人，給予某個名字和社會地位，可是本質上它就只是色蘊——物質的組合。聚合在一起，所有的器官形成了一個人體，一個明顯的物質真實。還有每一個不同的部位都是那整個基本真實的一部分，四大以不同的形式聚合在一起，在人體我們稱之為皮膚、肌肉、腱、骨頭等等，但是不要只因為它們有不同的名字，就愚癡地以為它們有不同的真實，應該把它們看作是一個根本的真實——色蘊。

As for the heap of feelings, they exist in their own sphere. They are not part of the physical body. The body isn』t feeling either. It has no direct part in physical pain. These two khandhas—body and feeling—are more prominent than the khandhas of memory, thought and consciousness, which, because they vanish as soon as they arise, are far more difficult to see. Feelings, on the other hand, remain briefly before they vanish. This causes them to standout, making them easier to isolate during meditation.

至于受蘊，它們存在于自己的領域，它們不是物質身體的一部分。身體同樣的也不是感受，在身體的疼痛中它沒有直接的作用。這兩個蘊——身體和感受——比想、行和識蘊來得明顯，這是由于後三者生起後立刻滅去，遠較前兩者難以觀察。相對之下，感受在熄滅之前會短暫停留一會，這令它們突顯出來，使它們在禪修時容易被隔離。

Focus directly on painful feelings when they arise and strive to understand their true nature. Confront the challenge head on. Don』t try to avoid the pain by focusing your attention elsewhere. And resist any temptation to wish for the pain to go away. The purpose of the investigation must be a search for true understanding. The neutralization of pain is merely a by-product of the clear understanding of the principles of truth. It cannot be taken as the primary objective. That will only create the conditions for greater emotional stress when the relief one wishes for fails to materialize. Stoic endurance in the face of intense pain will not succeed either.

疼痛感生起時直接專注它們，並盡量了解它們真正的本質。要面對挑戰，不要嘗試把注意力轉移到其他地方逃避疼痛，同時要抗拒任何期望疼痛熄滅的引誘。觀察的唯一目的是要得到真正的了解，疼痛的解除只不過是清楚理解真相的副產品，不可以當作主要的目標，否則疼痛沒有舒緩的話，可能會帶來更大的情緒障礙。在面對劇痛時，壓抑忍耐將無法成功。

Nor will concentrating single-mindedly on pain to the exclusion of the body and the citta. In order to achieve the proper results, all three factors must be included in the investigation. The investigation must always be direct and purposeful.

把身體和心排除在外，專注一心在疼痛也不行。要達到正確的成果，所有三個因素都必須包含在內。觀察一定要直接並有明確的目標。