六元素
[作者]坦尼沙罗尊者
[中译]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.
英语中，形容从身内感受身的词汇极其稀缺。我们有麻刺感，我们有沉重感。我们有蚁爬皮肤之感，胃中蝶动之感[1]。词汇不那么多，也没有真正的系统性。正是在这方面，佛陀有关元素[界，属性]的教导就十分有益了。它为身内的觉受——也就是从身内体验身的感觉——提供了一个系统的分类方法，同时使你领悟到对那些觉受可以如何应用。这套教导还使你明见，你的当下输入，在如何塑造你对身的体验上，起着多大的作用，同时也为你提供了一个直达、亲历的方法，利用当下的那种输入，达到[元素的]平衡，使身体成为易于定居之处。
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.
经典上共列出六种元素[2]：地、水、风、火、空间、意识。听起来像是中世纪化学。不过，我们最好把这些元素看成是从身内对身之诸觉受的归类法。地即是沉重、坚硬感；水则是清凉感；火当然是暖热感；风是来回的动感；空间是空性感；意识是觉知所有这一切的那个元素。
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.
元素理论认为，诸种元素是可以被激发的。换句话说，随着它们被倚重，随着某些事件把它们壮大或者把它们猛然发动，它们就强大起来。外在层次上，当外元素被激发时，就会发生自然界的事件。水灾来自水元素的激发。大火或强热，来自火元素的激发。狂风来自风元素的激发。有意思的是，经典上把地震也归因于风元素。这就意味着，风不仅指空中的风动，也指地内的动态。地似乎是唯一不可激发的元素，至少在外在层次，不过当风元素参与时，它也会移动。
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.
不管我们对这些概念作为外在事件的描述方式有什么想法，它们对观察内在事件，观察从内部体验到的身感来说，是十分有用的。在古代，内元素被用来解释病理。头晕眼花是风偏重的症象，是风元素被激发的症象。发烧当然是火元素的激发。四肢无力或沉重，则是地元素偏胜的症象。
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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