WHY DO WE SPEAK OF A “CONVENTIONAL” CITTA and an “absolutely pure” citta? Are they actually two different cittas? Not at all. It remains the same citta. When it is controlled by conventional realities, such as kilesas and ãsavas, that is one condition of the citta. But when the faculty of wisdom has scrubbed it clean until this condition has totally disintegrated, the true citta, the true Dhamma, the one that can stand the test, will not disintegrate and disappear along with it. Only the conditions of anicca, dukkha and anattã, which infiltrate the citta, actually disappear.

为什么我们要分“世俗”的心和“绝对解脱”的心？它们是两个不同的心吗？不尽然如此，它们还是同一个心。当世俗的真实，例如烦恼和漏控制着它时，这是心的一个状态。当智慧功能净化这状况使到它彻底地崩溃分解，那可经得起考验的，真正的心、真正的法，不会与之一起崩溃消失。只有那渗入心的无常、苦和无我的状态会消失。

No matter how subtle the kilesas may be, they are still con­ditioned by anicca, dukkha, and anattã, and therefore, must be conventional phenomena. Once these things have completely disintegrated, the true citta, the one that has transcended con­ventional reality, becomes fully apparent. This is called the citta’s Absolute Freedom, or the citta’s Absolute Purity. All connections continuing from the citta’s previous condition have been severed forever. Now utterly pure, the citta’s essential knowing nature remains alone on its own.

不论烦恼多么的微细，它仍然受无常、苦和无我所支配，所以必然只是世间相。一旦它彻底崩溃，那真正的心、超越世俗谛的心，就会全面地展现。这称作心的绝对解脱，或心的绝对清净。一切之前和心的联系已经永远截断，现在只是绝对的清净，心知道的根本特性自己单独存在。

We cannot say where in the body this essential knowing nature is centered. Previously, with the conventional citta, it formed a prominent point that we could clearly see and know. For example, in samãdhi we knew that it was centered in the middle of the chest because the knowing quality of our awareness stood out promi­nently there. The calm, the brightness, and the radiance appeared to emanate conspicuously from that point. We could see this for ourselves. All meditators whose level of calm has reached the very base of samãdhi realize that the center of “what knows” stands out prominently in the region of the heart. They will not argue that it is centered in the brain, as those who have no experience in the practice of samãdhi are always claiming.

我们不能说这知道的根本特性集中在身体的哪个部位。这之前，世俗的心，形成一个明显的点，让我们可以看见并知道。比如在三摩地中，我们知道它位于胸口中心，因为觉知那能知的特性很明显处在那里。平静、明亮和光辉从那一点耀眼地显示出来，我们自己可以看见。所有禅定能入基本三摩地的禅修行者都会明了“能知”的中心明显地在胸口。他们不会辨称它在头脑里，就像那些没有三摩地经验的人通常说的那样。

But when the same citta has been cleansed until it is pure, that center then disappears. One can no longer say that the citta is located above or below, or that it is situated at any specific point in the body. It is now pure awareness, a knowing quality that is so subtle and refined that it transcends all conventional designa­tions whatsoever. Still, in saying that it is “exceedingly refined”, we are obliged to use a conventional figure of speech that cannot possibly express the truth; for, of course, the notion of extreme refinement is itself a convention. Since this refined awareness does not have a point or a center, it is impossible to specifically locate its position. There is only that essential knowing, with absolutely nothing infiltrating it. Although it still exists amid the same khandhas with which it used to intermix, it no longer shares any common characteristics with them. It is a world apart. Only then do we know clearly that the body, the khandhas, and the citta are all distinct and separate realities.

可是当这颗同样的心彻底净化之后，那个中心就消失了。我们不再说心位于上或下，或安住在身体的哪个部位。现在它是纯净的觉知，一个那么微细精致，超越一切世俗称谓的知道的特性。当我们说“特别的精致”，是因为世间的语言无法表达真相，当然用绝对的精致这样的说法也是相对的。由于这微细的觉知没有一个点或中心，它不可能安住在某一部位。它只是知道的根本特性，绝对没有任何东西渗透进去。虽然它仍然在诸蕴中，这些蕴跟之前心和它们混合一起时一样，可是此时心不再和它们拥有任何相同的性质，那是两个不同的世界。只有至此我们才清楚知道身体、蕴和心是完全不同和分开的实相。