..續本文上一頁, the experience of breath in the moment, stripping away all unnecessary details, moving beyond the duality of ”in” and ”out”, and just being aware of a beautiful breath which appears smooth and continuous, hardly changing at all.
當你只是被動地觀察著當下的美妙呼吸時，「入」和「出」，或開始、中間、結尾等的觀感都應消失，所有知道的只是於此時美妙呼吸的體驗，心沒興趣知道這是在呼吸過程中的哪個部份，或這是發生在身體的哪個部份。在此我們把當下呼吸的體驗此禅修對象簡單化，除掉所有不必要的細節，躍出至「入」和「出」等的二元對立以外，只是覺知著其時很平穩連續的美妙呼吸，幾近乎完全不變。
Do absolutely nothing and see how smooth and beautiful and timeless the breath can appear. See how calm you can allow it to be. Take time to savour the sweetness of the beautiful breath, ever calmer, ever sweeter.
絕不要有任何做作，只是看看呼吸可以是如何平穩、美妙和恒久。看看你能讓它定至甚麼程度。慢慢體味美妙呼吸的甜美，不斷變得更沈定，不斷變得更甜美。
Now the breath will disappear, not when ”you” want it to, but when there is enough calm, leaving only ”the beautiful”. A simile from English literature might help. In Lewis Carroll”s ”Alice in Wonderland " Alice and the Red Queen saw a vision of a smiling Cheshire cat appear in the sky. As they watched, first the cat”s tail disappeared, then its paws followed by the rest of its legs. Soon the Cheshire cat”s torso completely vanished leaving only the cat”s head, still with a smile. Then the head started to fade into nothing, from the ears and whiskers inwards, and soon the smiling cat”s head had completely disappeared--except for the smile which still remained in the sky! This was a smile without any lips to do the smiling, but a visible smile nevertheless. This is an accurate analogy for the process of letting go happening at this point in meditation. The cat with a smile on her face stands for the beautiful breath. The cat disappearing represents the breath disappearing and the disembodied smile still visible in the sky stands for the pure mental object ”beauty” clearly visible in the mind.
此時呼吸會消失，但不是由於「你」要它消失，而是由於有足夠的定，其時只剩下那「美妙」。這可從英國文學中取個比喻來說明，在路易斯‧卡洛爾的《愛麗斯夢遊仙境》中，有一只來自柴郡的貓咪，愛麗斯和紅王後都看到它出現在空中的微笑景象，但隨即看到它的尾巴首先消失掉，然後到其爪消失，跟著四條腿消失。很快地，柴郡貓的身軀完全消失掉，只剩下個仍在微笑的貓頭。接著，貓頭由貓耳和貓須開始漸漸隱沒，很快微笑的貓樣也整個消失了，只剩下微笑仍留在天空中！這是比喻沒有口笑的微笑，但卻還是一種可見的微笑。這個譬喻表達禅修在此階段時所發生的放下過程表達得很貼切，帶著一張笑臉的貓兒代表美妙的呼吸，貓兒的消失代表呼吸的消失，而脫離了軀體但仍可在空中看到的微笑，則代表在心中清楚看到的純心識對象「美妙」。
This pure mental object is called a nimitta. ”Nimitta” means ”a sign”, here a mental sign. This is a real object in the landscape of the mind (citta) and when it appears for the first time it is extremely strange. One simply has not experienced anything like it before. Nevertheless, the mental activity called ”perception” searches through its memory bank of life experiences for something even a little bit similar in order to supply a description to the mind. For most meditators, this ”disembodied beauty”, this mental joy, is perceived as a beautiful light. It is not a light. The eyes are closed and the sight consciousness has long been turned off. It is the mind consciousness freed for the first time from the world of the five senses. It is like the full moon, here standing for the radiant mind, coming out from behind the clouds, here standing for the world of the five senses. It is the mind manifesting, not alight, but for most it appears like a light, it is perceived as a light, because this imperfect description is the best that perception can offer.
這種純心識對象名爲「禅相」(nimitta)。「禅相」指「一種標志」，在此是指一種心識標志。這是在心識內的景致【心識概貌】中一個真實對象，當它第一次出現時，會給人一種極之奇特的感覺，覺得完全從未有過如此的體驗。雖然是這樣，那個叫「想蘊」的心識活動爲要向心提供一種對此對象的描述，會從其儲存生活經曆的記憶庫中搜尋相同的以至即使只是有點相似的記錄。在大部份人的感覺中，這種「脫離軀體的美妙」、這種心識的喜悅，是一種美麗的光。其實那不是一種光，眼睛是閉上的，眼識也早已關閉，這是第六識意識第一次從五感官世界中解放出來，這就有如滿月從雲層背後走出來一樣，在此處滿月代表光芒四射的心，雲層代表五感官世界。這是心的展現，並非是光，但對大部份人來說它看似是光，大部份人都把它看作是光，因爲這種不實的描述是想蘊所能提供的最好描述。
For other meditators, perception chooses to describe this first appearance of mind in terms of physical sensation, such as intense tranquility or ecstasy. Again, the body consciousness (that which experiences pleasu…
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