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断波动的自然现象，只要我们不把它变成个人的负担，它对心没有什么特别的意义。疼痛在本质上没有什么意义，不会影响心；色身在本质上也没有意义，它对感受或个人也不会添加意义——当然，除非心介入赋予特殊的意义，把因此而产生的苦拿来焚烧自己。外在的因缘并未真正造成我们的苦，是心创造出来罢了。

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.

早上起来，我感到难以言喻的勇猛大胆，对自己不凡的经历感到惊叹。在我的修行中从未发生过可以和这相比的情况。心彻底切除任何引起注意的联系，带着真正的勇气往内汇集。由于我全面、艰辛的观察，它集中成庄严的定。即使它退出来，仍然充满勇气，对死亡无畏。我现在知道正确的观察技巧，所以可以肯定下次再遇上疼痛时不会害怕。毕竟，疼痛将保持同样的性质，色身也是同样的色身，我应用的工具也将会是之前的智慧。因此，我显得无所畏惧，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.

一旦智慧觉悟到什么会死亡和什么不会死亡的真正本质，死亡变得如此平凡。头发、指甲、牙齿、皮肤、肌肉、骨头：当这些回归到它们原本的元素，它们就只是地大罢了。地大什么时候死亡过呢？它们分解时，会变成什么？身体所有的部分回到原来的元素，地大和水大回归到它们本来的属性，风大火大也一样，没有东西被消灭掉。这些元素聚合在一起成为躯体，心就安住其间，心——这个幻象大师——驻进来然后赋予它生命，接着认它作自我，结果就背着这整个包袱：“这是我，这是我的。”心把这整个当作自我，由于这个错误的认知，给自己带来无尽的炽热痛苦。

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祸首，而非那堆物质元素。身体不是那些不断波动威胁我们安宁的敌人，它是一个独立的真实，只是依照内在的因缘自然变化。只有当我们错误认知它才成为负担，这正是为什么我们会因身体的疼痛和不适而受苦，色身不会令我们受苦，我们自己令自己受苦。从这里我看到没有外在的因缘可以让我们受苦。是我们自己对事物的错误认知，而这误知带来痛苦的火焰，燃烧我们的心。

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.

我清楚明白到没有任何东西死亡。心肯定不会死，事实上，它变得更明显，我们越全面地观察四大，把它们分解成它们原来的属性，心就越发凸显出来。所以哪里可以找到死亡？还有，到底是什么死去呢？四大——地、水、风和火——它们不会死。至于心，它怎么会死呢？它变得更显著、觉知和有洞察力，这知道的根本特性绝不会死亡，所以，为什么那么害怕死亡？因为它自己欺骗自己。无量劫以来它不断地愚弄自己相信死亡，实际上根本没有东西死去。

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.

所以当疼痛从身体中生起，我们应该理解它只是感受，别无其他。不要用自我的观点诠释它，假设那是发生在你身上的事。从出生那天疼痛就折磨你的身体了，你从母亲的子宫出来时的疼痛是那么尖锐，只有通过这煎熬人类才生下来。疼痛从开始就在那里，它不会回过来改变其特性的。身体的疼痛永远显现同样的性质：生起了，短暂停留然后灭去，生起、短暂停留、灭去——就只是这些。

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.

观察身体所产生的疼痛感，以便可以看清楚它们是什么。身体本身只是物质，自从我们出生就知道的物质真实。可是当你相信你是你的身体，你的身体一受伤害，你就会疼痛。身体、疼痛和认知它们的觉知被等同起来时，它们就会合成一体。生理的疼痛由于身体的机能不调而产生，它因身体的某些情况而产生，但它本身不是物质现象。要觉知身体和感受得依靠知道它们的心。但是对它们的认知不正确的话，就担心生理的毛病和疼痛的剧烈，会带来内心苦受的生起。疼痛不但会带来伤害，而且还显示你——你的身体有问题。除非你分开这三个明显的真实，否则生理的疼痛必然会带来心理的苦。

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.

身体只是物质现象，无论我们要怎么看待它，都不会改变这真相的根本道理。物质存在是其中一个真实，四大属性——地、水、风和火——依不同的组合聚集在一起形成一个所谓的“人”，这个物质聚合体可以被认为是男人或女人，给予某个名字和社会地位，可是本质上它就只是色蕴——物质的组合。聚合在一起，所有的器官形成了一个人体，一个明显的物质真实。还有每一个不同的部位都是那整个基本真实的一部分，四大以不同的形式聚合在一起，在人体我们称之为皮肤、肌肉、腱、骨头等等，但是不要只因为它们有不同的名字，就愚痴地以为它们有不同的真实，应该把它们看作是一个根本的真实——色蕴。

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.

至于受蕴，它们存在于自己的领域，它们不是物质身体的一部分。身体同样的也不是感受，在身体的疼痛中它没有直接的作用。这两个蕴——身体和感受——比想、行和识蕴来得明显，这是由于后三者生起后立刻灭去，远较前两者难以观察。相对之下，感受在熄灭之前会短暂停留一会，这令它们突显出来，使它们在禅修时容易被隔离。

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.

疼痛感生起时直接专注它们，并尽量了解它们真正的本质。要面对挑战，不要尝试把注意力转移到其他地方逃避疼痛，同时要抗拒任何期望疼痛熄灭的引诱。观察的唯一目的是要得到真正的了解，疼痛的解除只不过是清楚理解真相的副产品，不可以当作主要的目标，否则疼痛没有舒缓的话，可能会带来更大的情绪障碍。在面对剧痛时，压抑忍耐将无法成功。

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.

把身体和心排除在外，专注一心在疼痛也不行。要达到正确的成果，所有三个因素都必须包含在内。观察一定要直接并有明确的目标。