六元素

　　[作者]坦尼沙羅尊者

　　[中譯]良稹

　　Six Properties

　　by Ven. Thanissaro Bhikkhu

　　In English we have a very limited vocabulary for describing how the body feels from the inside. We feel “tingly” or we feel “heavy.” We have ants crawling on our skin or butterflies in our stomachs. There are not that many words, and nothing really systematic. This is where the Buddha”s teaching on the properties is helpful. It provides a systematic way of categorizing the feelings you have in the body—how the body feels from the inside—along with a sense of what you can do with those feelings. This teaching also gives you a very clear sense of how much your present input shapes the way you experience the body, and an immediate, very visceral way of using that present input to balance things out, to make the body an easier place in which to settle down.

　　 英語中，形容從身內感受身的詞彙極其稀缺。我們有麻刺感，我們有沈重感。我們有蟻爬皮膚之感，胃中蝶動之感[1]。詞彙不那麼多，也沒有真正的系統性。正是在這方面，佛陀有關元素[界，屬性]的教導就十分有益了。它爲身內的覺受——也就是從身內體驗身的感覺——提供了一個系統的分類方法，同時使你領悟到對那些覺受可以如何應用。這套教導還使你明見，你的當下輸入，在如何塑造你對身的體驗上，起著多大的作用，同時也爲你提供了一個直達、親曆的方法，利用當下的那種輸入，達到[元素的]平衡，使身體成爲易于定居之處。

　　The texts list the properties as six: earth, water, wind, fire, space, and consciousness. It sounds like medieval chemistry. We”d do better though, to look at these properties as ways of categorizing the sensations that make up the way the body feels from the inside. The earth sensations are feelings of heaviness or solidity; water would be cool sensations; fire is of course warm; wind is the motion back and forth; space is the feelings of emptiness; and consciousness is the property that”s aware of all these things.

　　 經典上共列出六種元素[2]：地、水、風、火、空間、意識。聽起來像是中世紀化學。不過，我們最好把這些元素看成是從身內對身之諸覺受的歸類法。地即是沈重、堅硬感；水則是清涼感；火當然是暖熱感；風是來回的動感；空間是空性感；意識是覺知所有這一切的那個元素。

　　The theory behind these properties is that they get provoked. In other words, as they get emphasized, as some incident strengthens them or kicks them into action, they get stronger. On the external level, natural events occur when the external properties get provoked. Floods come from the provocation of the water property; huge fires or intense heat, from the provocation of the fire property; huge winds, from the provocation of the wind property. Interestingly, the texts also attribute earthquakes to the wind property. This means that wind refers not only to the wind in the air, but also to the motion down in the earth. Apparently earth was the only property that wasn”t provokable, on the external level at least, but it would move when the wind property got into the act.

　　 元素理論認爲，諸種元素是可以被激發的。換句話說，隨著它們被倚重，隨著某些事件把它們壯大或者把它們猛然發動，它們就強大起來。外在層次上，當外元素被激發時，就會發生自然界的事件。水災來自水元素的激發。大火或強熱，來自火元素的激發。狂風來自風元素的激發。有意思的是，經典上把地震也歸因于風元素。這就意味著，風不僅指空中的風動，也指地內的動態。地似乎是唯一不可激發的元素，至少在外在層次，不過當風元素參與時，它也會移動。

　　Whatever we may think of these concepts as ways of describing external events, they”re a very useful way of looking at internal events, at the experience of the body as sensed from within. Classically, the internal properties are used to explain disease. Giddiness or lightheadedness is a sign of too much wind property, a sign that the wind property has been provoked. With fever, of course, the fire property has been provoked. A feeling of lethargy or heaviness in your limbs is a sign of too much earth property.

　　 不管我們對這些概念作爲外在事件的描述方式有什麼想法，它們對觀察內在事件，觀察從內部體驗到的身感來說，是十分有用的。在古代，內元素被用來解釋病理。頭暈眼花是風偏重的症象，是風元素被激發的症象。發燒當然是火元素的激發。四肢無力或沈重，則是地元素偏勝的症象。

　　These are things you can play with in your meditation. That”s where the teaching really becomes useful, because it allows you to see how the way you focus on the body has an impact on how you perceive the body, how you actually sense the body. We think of sensations as being primary, the raw material, the basic building blocks of experience, but there are conscious decisions being made that precede the…

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