THE LORD BUDDHA TAUGHT US to investigate with the aim of seeing all pain as simply a phenomenon that arises, remains briefly and then vanishes. Don’t become entangled in it. Don’t view the pain in personal terms, as an inseparable part of who you are, for that runs counter to pain’s true nature. It also undermines the techniques used to investigate pain, preventing wisdom from knowing the reality of feelings. Don’t create a problem for yourself where none exists. See the truth as it arises in each moment of pain, observing as it remains briefly and vanishes. That’s all there is to pain.
佛世尊教导我们，观察的目的是为了看到所有的疼痛只是生起、短暂停留然后灭去的现象。不要牵涉其中，以自我的角度，把疼痛当作自己不可分割的一部分来观察，那样做违反疼痛的真正本性，同时也破坏观察疼痛的技巧，阻止理解感受真相的智慧生起，不要无中生有地制造麻烦。观察疼痛时生起的真相，观察它短暂停留和灭去，这就是疼痛的一切。
When you have used mindfulness and wisdom to isolate the painful feeling, turn your attention to the citta and compare the feeling with the awareness that knows it to see if they really are inseparable. Turn and compare the citta and the physical body in the same manner: are they in any way identical? Focus clearly on each one and don’t allow your concentration to wander from the specific point you are investigating. Keep it firmly fixed on the one aspect. For instance, focus your full attention on the pain and analyze it until you understand its distinguishing characteristics; then turn to look at the citta and strive to see its knowing nature distinctly. Are the two identical? Compare them. Are the feeling and the awareness that knows it one and the same thing? Is there any way to make them so? And the body, does it share similar characteristics with the citta? Is it like the feeling? Are any of these three similar enough to be lumped together?
你用念住和智慧分隔疼痛的感受后，把注意力集中在心，比较感受与能知道它的觉知，看它们可否分开来。用同样的方式去比较心跟色身，看它们有没有什么是等同的。清楚地专注于每一个，别让注意力离开你所锁定的观察对象，牢牢地专注在那个侧面。比如，把注意力专注在疼痛并分析它直到你明白它显著的特性，接着转过去观察心，尽所能清楚地观察它能知的特性。两者是否等同？比较它们，感受与能知的觉知是否是同一个东西？有什么方法令它们如此吗？还有身体，它与心拥有同样的特性吗？它像感受吗？这三者是否够类似可以合成一体？
The body is physical matter—how can it be likened to the citta? The citta is a mental phenomenon, an awareness that knows. The physical elements that make up the body have no intrinsic awareness, they have no capacity to know. The earth, water, wind and fire elements know nothing; only the mental element—the manodhatu—knows. This being the case, how can the citta’s essential knowing nature and the body’s physical elements possibly be equated. They are obviously separate realities.
身体是物质——怎么可能与心相似呢？心是心理现象，能知的觉知。组合成身体的物质元素没有内在的觉知，没有知的能力。地、水、风和火大什么都不知，只有心的元素——意界——能知。在这种情况之下，心知道的根本特性和身体的物质元素哪有可能等同？很明显的它们属于不同的真实。
The same principle applies to pain. It has no intrinsic awareness, no capacity to know. Pain is a natural phenomenon that arises in conjunction with the body, but it is unaware of the existence of the body or of itself. Painful feelings depend on the body as their physical basis. Without the body they could not occur. But they have no physical reality of their own. Sensations that arise in conjunction with the body are interpreted in such a way that they become indistinguishable from the area of the body that is affected. Instinctively, body and pain are equated, so the body itself seems to hurt. We must remedy this instinctive reaction by investigating both the characteristics of pain as a sense phenomenon and the purely physical characteristics of that part of the body where that pain is felt acutely. The objective is to determine clearly whether or not the physical location—say a knee joint—exhibits the distinctive characteristics associated with pain. What kind of shape and posture do they have? Feelings have no shape or posture. They occur simply as an amorphous sensation. The body does have a definite shape, color and complexion, and these are not changed by the occurrence of physical feelings. It remains just the same as it was before pain arose. The physical substance is in no way altered by pain because pain, being a separate reality, has no direct effect on it.
疼痛也是同样的道理，它没有内在的觉知，没有知的能力。疼痛是联系着身体而生起的自然现象，可是它不会意识到身体或自身的存在。疼痛的感受依身体而住，没有身体它们无法产生，可是它们本身没有物质的真实。随着身体而生的感受被诠释成是身体疼痛部位不可分割的一部分，我们本能地把身体与疼痛等同起来，结果身体似乎受到伤害。我们必须观察作为感受现象的疼痛本质以及作为身体剧烈疼痛部位的物质本质，以纠正这个直觉反应。这样做的目的是为了清楚确定物质部位——比如膝盖关节——是否展现与疼痛相关的显著特性，它们有什么样的形状和姿势？感受没有形状和姿势，它们只是作为没有形状的感受发生。身体有明确的形状、颜色和气色，这些不会随着生理感受的发生而改变，它们保持疼痛发生之前的原状，物质存在不会随着疼痛而改变，因为疼痛作为不同的真实，对它不会产生直接的影响。
For instance, when a knee hurts or a muscle hurts: knee and muscle are merely bone, ligament and flesh. They themselves are not pain. Although the two dwell together, they retain their own separate characteristics. The citta knows both of these things but, because its awareness is clouded by delusion, it automatically assumes that the pain is mixed in with the bones, ligaments and muscles that compose a knee joint. By reason of that same fundamental ignorance, the citta assumes that the body in all of its aspects is an integral part of one’s very being. So the pain too becomes bound up with one’s sense of being. “My knee hurts. I am in pain. But I don’t want to suffer pain. I want the pain to go away.” This desire to get rid of pain is a kilesa that increases the level of discomfort by turning physical feeling into emotional suffering. The stronger the pain is, the stronger the desire to rid oneself of it becomes, which leads to greater emotional distress. These factors keep feeding each other. Thus, due to our own ignorance, we load ourselves down with dukkha.
举个例子，当膝盖或肌肉受到伤害，膝盖和肌肉只是骨头、韧带和肉，它们不是疼痛。虽然两者在一起，但它们保持各自的特性。心知道这两者，可是由于它的觉知被无明蒙蔽，自动地假设疼痛与组合成膝盖关节的骨头、韧带和肉是结合在一起的。由于同样的无明，心假设身体的各方面都是自我的一部分，结果疼痛也与自我感束缚在一起。“我的膝盖受到伤害，我在疼痛，我不要遭受疼痛，我要疼痛消失。”要驱除疼痛的欲望是烦恼，它把生理的疼痛变成情绪上的苦，加重不舒适的程度。疼痛越强烈，要驱除的欲望也就越强，这带来更大的情绪障碍，这些因素相互增长。由于我们的无明，我们使自己背负苦。
In order to see pain, body and citta as separate realities we must view each from the proper perspective, a perspective that allows them to float freely instead of coalescing into one. While they are bound together as part of our self-image there is no independent viewpoint, and therefore no effective means to separate them apart. As long as we insist on regarding pain in personal terms, it will be impossible to breach this impasse. When the khandhas and the citta are merged into one, we have no room to maneuver. But when we investigate them with mindfulness and wisdom, moving back and forth between them, analyzing each and comparing their specific features, we notice definite distinctions among them and so see their true natures clearly. Each exists on its own as a separate reality. This is a universal principle.
我们需要有正确的知见，才能把疼痛、身体和心看成不同的真实，这正确的知见是让它们自由运作而不是合并成一体。它们合在一起成为自我的一部分时，我们的看法将无法保持中立，结果就不能有效地把它们分开。只要我们坚持以自我的角度看待疼痛，就不可能打破这困境，五蕴与心合而为一时，我们就没有办法运用策略。可是当我们以念住和智慧前后来回观察它们，分析每一个，比较它们之间各自的特性时，会发现它们之间显著不同，从而可以看清它们真正的本性，每一个是独立存在的真实，这是普遍存在的法则。
As the profound nature of this realization sinks deep into the heart, the pain begins to abate and gradually fades away. At the same time we realize the fundamental connection between the experience of pain and the “self” that grasps it. That connection is established from inside the citta and extends outwardly to include the pain and the body. The actual experience of pain emanates from the citta and its deep-seated attachment to self, which causes emotional pain to arise in response to physical pain. Fully aware the whole time, we follow the feeling of pain inward to its source. As we focus on it, the pain we are investigating begins to retract, gradually drawing back into the heart. Once we realize unequivocally that it is actually the attachment created by the heart that causes us to experience pain as a personal problem, the pain disappears. It may disappear completely, leaving only the essential knowing nature of the citta alone on its own. Or, the external phenomenon of pain may remain present but, because the emotional attachment has been neutralized, it is no longer experienced as painful. It is a different order of reality from the citta, and the two do not interact. Since at that moment the citta has ceased to grasp at pain, all connection has been severed. What’s left is the essence of the citta—its knowing nature—serene and unperturbed amidst the pain of the khandhas.
当心深深觉悟这显著的特性，疼痛就逐渐消退。同时我们能觉悟到疼痛的体验以及对它执着的“我”两者的根本关系，这个关系是从心内部建立然后往外扩展至疼痛和身体。疼痛的真正体验是由心和它深深执着的自我而来，并因此带来由生理疼痛而引发的情绪痛苦。修行时，我们一直保持全面的觉知，追随疼痛感深入至它的源头；专注时，我们观察的疼痛会开始收缩，慢慢退回心里面。一旦明确地觉悟到其实是心使我们执着地把疼痛当作个人的问题，疼痛就会消失。它可能完全消失，只剩下心知道的特性独自存在。也可能疼痛的外在现象继续存在，可是由于情绪的执着已经解除了，它不再被经验成疼痛。它与心是不同层面的真实，两者互不影响。从心不再执着疼痛的那一刻起，所有的联系全部被切断，只剩下心的根本——它知道的特性——平静不动摇地在五蕴的疼痛当中。
No matter how severe the pain may be at that time, it will be unable to affect the citta in any way. Once wisdom realizes clearly that the citta and the pain are each real, but real in their own separate ways, the two will not impact one another at all. The body is merely a lump of physical matter. The same body that was there when the pain appeared is still there when the pain ceases. Pain does not alter the nature of the body; the body does not affect the nature of pain. The citta is the nature that knows that the pain appears, remains briefly, and ceases. But the citta, the true knowing essence, does not arise and pass away like the body and the feelings do. The citta’s knowing presence is the one stable constant.
不管当时的疼痛多么剧烈，已完全无法影响心。一旦智慧清楚觉悟到心和疼痛是真实的，不过是各自分开的真实，两者就不再相互带来冲击。身体则只不过是一团物质。疼痛时的身体，在疼痛消失后依然一样保持在那里。疼痛无法改变身体的本质，身体也无法影响疼痛的本质。心是知道疼痛生起，短暂停留和消失的本质。可是心作为能知的真正核心，不会像身体和感受那般生起和灭去，心的能知稳定不变。
This being the case, pain—no matter how great—has no impact on the citta. You can even smile while severe pain is arising—you can smile!—because the citta is separate. It constantly knows but it does not become involved with feelings so it does not suffer.
在这种情况之下，疼痛——不管多么剧烈——不会对心产生冲击，疼痛剧烈生起时你甚至可以微笑——你可以微笑！因为心与它分开，它一直觉知但已不再介入感受，所以不受苦。
This level is attained through an intensive application of mindfulness and wisdom. It’s a stage where wisdom develops samadhi. And because the citta has fully investigated all aspects until they are understood thoroughly, the citta reaches the full extent of samadhi at that time. It converges with a boldness and subtlety so profound as to defy description. This amazing awareness comes from analyzing things completely and exhaustively and then withdrawing from them. Ordinarily, when the citta relies on the power of samadhi meditation to converge into a calm, concentrated state, it becomes still and quiet. But that samadhi state is not nearly so subtle and profound as the one attained through the power of wisdom. Once mindfuln, ess and wisdom have engaged the kilesas in hand-to-hand combat and triumphed, the nature of the calm that’s attained will be spectacular each time.
这是通过密集应用念住和智慧而证得的层次，这个阶段是依智慧培养三摩地。而且由于心全面观察每一个侧面直到彻底明白，此时心达到三摩地的极致，它以无法描述的勇猛和精细集中起来，这殊胜的觉知是通过透彻和耗竭地分析事物并从中引退而来的。正常来说，当心依靠三摩地的力量来聚集于宁静和定的状态，它会静止。可是那三摩地的境界不像由智慧的力量所证得的那么微细高深。一旦念住与智慧对烦恼贴身搏斗并取得胜利，每一次它所证得的宁静的性质会特别引人入胜。
This is the path for those who are practicing meditation so as to penetrate to the truth of the five khandhas, using painful feeling as the primary focus. This practice formed the initial basis for my fearlessness in meditation. I saw with unequivocal clarity that the essential knowing nature of the citta could never possibly be annihilated. Even if everything else were completely destroyed, the citta would remain wholly unaffected. I realized this truth with absolute clarity the moment when the citta’s knowing essence stood alone on its own, completely uninvolved with anything whatsoever. There was only that knowing presence standing out prominently, awesome in its splendor. The citta lets go of the body, feeling, memory, thought and consciousness and enters a pure stillness of its very own, with absolutely no connection to the khandhas. In that moment, the five khandhas do not function in any way at all in relation to the citta. In other words, the citta and the khandhas exist independently because they have been completely cut off from one another due to the persistent efforts of meditation.
这是禅修者用疼痛感作为主要焦点，渗透五蕴实相之道。这个修行建立了我禅修时无畏的入门基础，我明确清晰地看到心知道的根本特性永远不会消灭。即使是所有的一切彻底毁坏了，心仍然保持不受影响。当心能知的核心独自存在，不与任何东西联系时，我全面清楚地觉悟到这点，此时只有能知凸显出来，光辉壮观得令人敬畏。心放下色、受、想、行和识，独自进入一纯净的定境，与五蕴截然没有联系。在那个当下五蕴对于心完全没有任何行动。换句话说，心与蕴各自独立存在，由于持续禅修的力量，它们的联系被彻底切断。
That attainment brings a sense of wonder and amazement that no experience we’ve ever had could possibly equal. The citta stays suspended in a serene stillness for a long time before withdrawing to normal consciousness. Having withdrawn, it reconnects with the khandhas as before, but it remains absolutely convinced that the citta has just attained a state of extraordinary calm totally cut off from the five khandhas. It knows that it has experienced an extremely amazing spiritual state of being. That certainty will never be erased.
我们之前的经历与这个证悟带来的惊异和神妙根本无法比拟，心悬挂在这个宁静的定境中很长的一段时间才退回平常的意识。退出来之后，它一如既往重新与五蕴联系，可是却对之前证得彻底与五蕴断绝的特殊定境有绝对的自信，它知道自己刚体验到一个非常殊胜的心灵状态的存在。这证信永远不会退失。
Due to that unshakable conviction, which became fixed in my heart as a result of that experience and therefore could not be brought into doubt by unfounded or unreasonable assertions, I resumed my earlier samadhi meditation in earnest—this time with an added determination and a sense of absorption stemming from the magnetic pull that this certainty has in the heart. The citta was quick to converge into the calm and concentration of samadhi as before. Although I could not yet release the citta completely from the infiltration of the five khandhas, I was greatly inspired to make a persistent effort to reach the higher levels of Dhamma.
由于这体验而产生不可动摇的信念深深根植于我心中，任何无事实根据或不合理的观点都不会令我对这信念产生疑惑。我诚心地回到之前的三摩地禅修——这次更加坚定并有一种渗透感，这是源自心中的坚信产生磁铁般吸力而来的。心很快地一如既往集中进入三摩地的宁静和定境中。虽然我还无法把心完全从五蕴的渗透中解脱，不过我感到巨大的鼓舞，要勇猛精进以证得更高层次的法。
