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.

　　整体上，念头和想象的泉源被称作行蕴。每一个念头，每一个想法会在心中短暂波动然后消失。这些心理波动本质上没有什么特别的意义，它们只不过在觉知中一闪然后不留痕迹地消失。只有当想蕴拿起它们，它们才变成有特定意义和内容的思想和意见。想蕴是记忆、认知和诠释的名蕴。想(saññã)拿取念头的片段然后诠释并扩充它们，假设它们的意义，把它们变成议题。行(sankhãra)接着把这议题延续成连绵不断的妄想。无论如何，想是主要的煽动者，一旦行短暂闪动，想就立刻执取它，把它定义为这个或那个——骚动一切。这两个是制造一切麻烦的心理功能，两个一起编故事——幸运的或悲惨的——然后把它们诠释成自我的真实。想依靠记忆来辨认一切从觉知中的生起，想定义它们、赋予它们意义。

　　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.

　　行的生起和灭去有明显的开始和结束，就好像闪电或萤火虫那样一闪一闪。在仔细观察下，想蕴比行蕴来得更微细。行闯进觉知，是念头的基本构建。想，不会像念头闪动般的被体验到。当心完全停止，诸蕴非常平静时，我们可以清楚感知到每一蕴生起的方式。想会慢慢扩散开来渗透心，就像墨水在吸墨水纸上扩散开来，它慢慢扩展直到形成心理图像。随着想的领导，不断生起的行，开始制造图像和围绕着它编制故事，然后它们就有自己的生命。首先想辨认、诠释行的波动，把它们塑造成可辨认的影像，行接着继续详细描述，这就是各种各样的思想的形成。这两个心理功能都是自然的现象，它们同时生起，跟知道它们的觉知截然不同。

　　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.

　　现在，当心重复不断、无休止地观察诸蕴时，它会变得纯熟。以智慧分别思维，首先我们可以舍弃色蕴。在前面的观察阶段，智慧在看透——并且放下——其他蕴之前，会先看透色身。在这之后，心会以同样的方式，逐渐舍弃对受、想、行和识的执着。

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

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