..续本文上一页, 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.
当你只是被动地观察著当下的美妙呼吸时，「入」和「出」，或开始、中间、结尾等的观感都应消失，所有知道的只是於此时美妙呼吸的体验，心没兴趣知道这是在呼吸过程中的哪个部份，或这是发生在身体的哪个部份。在此我们把当下呼吸的体验此禅修对象简单化，除掉所有不必要的细节，跃出至「入」和「出」等的二元对立以外，只是觉知著其时很平稳连续的美妙呼吸，几近乎完全不变。
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.
绝不要有任何做作，只是看看呼吸可以是如何平稳、美妙和恒久。看看你能让它定至甚么程度。慢慢体味美妙呼吸的甜美，不断变得更沉定，不断变得更甜美。
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.
此时呼吸会消失，但不是由於「你」要它消失，而是由於有足够的定，其时只剩下那「美妙」。这可从英国文学中取个比喻来说明，在路易斯‧卡洛尔的《爱丽斯梦游仙境》中，有一只来自柴郡的猫咪，爱丽斯和红王后都看到它出现在空中的微笑景象，但随即看到它的尾巴首先消失掉，然後到其爪消失，跟著四条腿消失。很快地，柴郡猫的身躯完全消失掉，只剩下个仍在微笑的猫头。接著，猫头由猫耳和猫须开始渐渐隐没，很快微笑的猫样也整个消失了，只剩下微笑仍留在天空中！这是比喻没有口笑的微笑，但却还是一种可见的微笑。这个譬喻表达禅修在此阶段时所发生的放下过程表达得很贴切，带著一张笑脸的猫儿代表美妙的呼吸，猫儿的消失代表呼吸的消失，而脱离了躯体但仍可在空中看到的微笑，则代表在心中清楚看到的纯心识对象「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.
这种纯心识对象名为「禅相」(nimitta)。「禅相」指「一种标志」，在此是指一种心识标志。这是在心识内的景致【心识概貌】中一个真实对象，当它第一次出现时，会给人一种极之奇特的感觉，觉得完全从未有过如此的体验。虽然是这样，那个叫「想蕴」的心识活动为要向心提供一种对此对象的描述，会从其储存生活经历的记忆库中搜寻相同的以至即使只是有点相似的记录。在大部份人的感觉中，这种「脱离躯体的美妙」、这种心识的喜悦，是一种美丽的光。其实那不是一种光，眼睛是闭上的，眼识也早已关闭，这是第六识意识第一次从五感官世界中解放出来，这就有如满月从云层背後走出来一样，在此处满月代表光芒四射的心，云层代表五感官世界。这是心的展现，并非是光，但对大部份人来说它看似是光，大部份人都把它看作是光，因为这种不实的描述是想蕴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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