AS A WHOLE, THE WELLSPRING of thought and imagination is called sankhara khandha. Each thought, each inkling of an idea ripples briefly through the mind and then ceases. In and of themselves, these mental ripples have no specific meaning. They merely flash briefly into awareness and then cease without a trace. Only when sañña khandha takes them up do they become thoughts and ideas with a specific meaning and content. Sañña khandha is the mental aggregate of memory, recognition and interpretation. Sañña takes fragments of thought and interprets and expands them, making assumptions about their significance, and thus turning them into issues. Sankhara then perpetuates these issues in the form of incessant, discursive thinking. Sañña, however, is the principal instigator. As soon as sankhara flashes up briefly, sañña immediately grasps it and defines its existence as this or that—agitating everything. These two are the mental faculties that cause all the trouble. Together they spin tales—of fortune and of woe—and then interpret them to be the reality of oneself. Relying on memory to identify everything that arises in awareness, sañña defines them and gives them meaning.

　　整體上，念頭和想象的泉源被稱作行蘊。每一個念頭，每一個想法會在心中短暫波動然後消失。這些心理波動本質上沒有什麼特別的意義，它們只不過在覺知中一閃然後不留痕迹地消失。只有當想蘊拿起它們，它們才變成有特定意義和內容的思想和意見。想蘊是記憶、認知和诠釋的名蘊。想(saññã)拿取念頭的片段然後诠釋並擴充它們，假設它們的意義，把它們變成議題。行(sankhãra)接著把這議題延續成連綿不斷的妄想。無論如何，想是主要的煽動者，一旦行短暫閃動，想就立刻執取它，把它定義爲這個或那個——騷動一切。這兩個是製造一切麻煩的心理功能，兩個一起編故事——幸運的或悲慘的——然後把它們诠釋成自我的真實。想依靠記憶來辨認一切從覺知中的生起，想定義它們、賦予它們意義。

　　Sankharas arise and cease with distinct beginnings and endings, like flashes of lightning or fireflies blinking on and off. When observed closely, sañña khandha is far more subtle than sankhara khandha. Bursting into awareness, sankharas are the basic building blocks of thought. Sañña, on the other hand, is not experienced as flashes of thought. When the mind is perfectly still and the khandhas are very quiet, we can cl, early feel the manner in which each khandha arises. Sañña will slowly spread out, permeating the citta like ink moving through blotting paper, expanding slowly until it forms a mental picture. Following sañña”s lead, the sankharas, that are constantly arising, begin to form a picture and create a story around it that will then take on a life of its own. Thoughts about this or that begin with sañña recognizing and interpreting the ripplings of sankhara, molding them into a recognizable image which sankhara then continuously elaborates. Both of these mental factors are natural phenomena. They arise spontaneously, and are distinct from the awareness that knows them.

　　行的生起和滅去有明顯的開始和結束，就好像閃電或螢火蟲那樣一閃一閃。在仔細觀察下，想蘊比行蘊來得更微細。行闖進覺知，是念頭的基本構建。想，不會像念頭閃動般的被體驗到。當心完全停止，諸蘊非常平靜時，我們可以清楚感知到每一蘊生起的方式。想會慢慢擴散開來滲透心，就像墨水在吸墨水紙上擴散開來，它慢慢擴展直到形成心理圖像。隨著想的領導，不斷生起的行，開始製造圖像和圍繞著它編製故事，然後它們就有自己的生命。首先想辨認、诠釋行的波動，把它們塑造成可辨認的影像，行接著繼續詳細描述，這就是各種各樣的思想的形成。這兩個心理功能都是自然的現象，它們同時生起，跟知道它們的覺知截然不同。

　　Now, when the citta has investigated the khandhas repeatedly, ceaselessly and relentlessly, it will develop an expertise. Contemplating by means of wisdom, we are able to first relinquish the physical khandha. At the beginning stage of the investigation, wisdom will see through the physical body before it sees through—and can let go of—the other khandhas. Henceforth, the citta can gradually relinquish its attachment to feeling, memory, thought and consciousness in the same manner.

　　現在，當心重複不斷、無休止地觀察諸蘊時，它會變得純熟。以智慧分別思維，首先我們可以舍棄色蘊。在前面的觀察階段，智慧在看透——並且放下——其他蘊之前，會先看透色身。在這之後，心會以同樣的方式，逐漸舍棄對受、想、行和識的執著。

　　Put simply, the citta lets go when wisdom sees through the mental components of personality; before then, it holds on. Once …

《PART 1 - 整體上，念頭和想象的泉源被稱作行蘊 AS A WHOLE, THE WELLSPRING》全文未完，請進入下頁繼續閱讀…