Chapter 7 PORTALS INTO THE UNMANIFESTED

第七章隐含生命的路口

GOING DEEPLY INTO THE BODY

深入你的身体

I can feel the energy inside my body, especially in my arms and legs, but I don't seem to be able to go more deeply, as you suggested earlier.

我可以感觉到身体里面的能量，尤其是手臂和双腿。可是我没办法像你先前所说的那样再深入了。

Make it into a meditation. It needn't take long. Ten to fifteen minutes of clock time should be sufficient. Make sure first that there are no external distractions such as telephones or people who are likely to interrupt you. Sit on a chair, but don't lean back. Keep the spine erect. Doing so will help you to stay alert. Alternatively, choose your own favorite position for meditation.

把它变成一个冥想。用不了多久时间，十到十五分钟就绰绰有余了。一开始先确定不要有可能会干扰你冥想的电话或人事物。坐在椅子上，不要靠背，腰杆打直。这么做会让你保持警觉。再不然选择其他你喜爱的冥想姿势也可以。

Make sure the body is relaxed. Close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths. Feel yourself breathing into the lower abdomen, as it were. Observe how it expands and contracts slightly with each in and out breath. Then become aware of the entire inner energy field of the body. Don't think about it — feel it. By doing this, you reclaim consciousness from the mind. If you find it helpful, use the "light" visualization I described earlier.

务必放松你的身体。闭上眼睛。做几个深呼吸。感觉自己随着吸气进入了下腹部。观测腹部随着空气的进出而微微地扩张和收缩。接着再觉察你整个内在的能量场。不要思考它——去感觉它。这个动作让你从心智那里收回了意识。如果你发觉有用的话，运用我先前提过的“光”的观想法。

When you can feel the inner body clearly as a single field of energy, let go, if possible, of any visual image and focus exclusively on the feeling. If you can, also drop any mental image you may still have of the physical body. All that is left then is an all-encompassing sense of presence or "beingness," and the inner body is felt to be without a boundary. Then take your attention even more deeply into that feeling. Become one with it. Merge with the energy field, so that there is no longer a perceived duality of the observer and the observed, of you and your body. The distinction between inner and outer also dissolves now, so there is no inner body anymore. By going deeply into the body, you have transcended the body.

当你清楚地感觉到内在身体是一个单一能量场的时候，如果可能的话，把任何观想放掉，心无旁骛地专注在感觉上面。再可能的话，把你对身体还保有的任何心像（image）也丢掉。这时候，你所剩下的就是一个无所不包的临在感或“存在感”了，你也感觉得到内在身体的无边无界。然后再把你的注意力带入更深的感觉里。和它合一。和能量场溶为一体，让你感知不到那个观测者和被观测者，还有你和你身体之间的二元对立。这时候，那个内在、外在的区隔也瓦解了，所谓的内在身体已经没有了。你透过深入你的身体，而超越了身体。

Stay in this realm of pure Being for as long as feels comfortable; then become aware again of the physical body, your breathing and physical senses, and open your eyes. Look at your surroundings for a few minutes in a meditative way — that is, without labeling them mentally — and continue to feel the inner body as you do so.

在你感觉舒畅的情况下，尽可能地安住在这个纯本体（存在）的领域里；接着再回到你的身体、呼吸、和感官的觉知里。然后睁开眼睛，用冥想的方式环顾你的周遭，也就是不贴心理标签的意思。这么做的同时，继续感觉你的内在身体。

∽

Having access to that formless realm is truly liberating. It frees you from bondage to form and identification with form. It is life in its undifferentiated state prior to its fragmentation into multiplicity. We may call it the Unmanifested, the invisible Source of all things, the Being within all beings. It is a realm of deep stillness and peace, but also of joy and intense aliveness. Whenever you are present, you become "transparent" to some extent to the light, the pure consciousness that emanates from this Source. You also realize that the light is not separate from who you are but constitutes your very essence.

进入那个无形式的领域是大解脱。它把你从形式的认同和束缚之中解脱出来。这就是生命由分歧进入多样性之前的无分别相。我们称之为隐含生命（unmanifested）、万有的无形源头，所有众生内在的本体（存在）。这是一个深沉的宁静和和平，却又洋溢喜悦和深刻生命力的领域。每当你临在的时候，你变成了某种程度的“透光性”，你变成源头所放射出来的纯意识。你也体悟出光与本来面目之间，不但没有隔离，反而架构了你的本质。

THE SOURCE OF CHI

气场探源

Is the Unmanifested what in the East is called chi, a kind of universal life energy?

隐含生命就是一种宇宙生命能，也就是东万所称的气吗？

No, it isn't. The Unmanifested is the source of chi. Chi is the inner energy, field of your body. It is the bridge between the outer you and the Source. It lies halfway between the manifested, the world of form, and the Unmanifested. Chi can be likened to a river or an energy stream. If you take the focus of your consciousness deeply into the inner body, you are tracing the course of this river back to its Source. Chi is movement; the Unmanifested is stillness. When you reach a point of absolute stillness, which is nevertheless vibrant with life, you have gone beyond the inner body and beyond chi to the Source itself: the Unmanifested. Chi is the link between the Unmanifested and the physical universe.

不，它不是。隐含生命是气的来源。气是你身体的内在能量场。它是你的形体和源头的桥梁。它介于外显世界形相界和隐含生命之间。我们可以把气比喻为一条河流或一道能量流。如果你把意识的焦点，导引至内在身体的深处，你就是溯河而上，回到了气的源头。气是动，隐含生命是静。当你达到的一个绝对静止点的时候――在绝对的静止中，却洋溢着生命――你就已经超越了内在身体，超越了气而归本溯源回到隐含生命了。气是隐含生命和有形宇宙的桥梁。

So if you take your attention deeply into the inner body, you may reach this point, this singularity, where the world dissolves into the Unmanifested and the Unmanifested takes on form as the energy stream of chi, which then becomes the world. This is the point of birth and death. When your consciousness is directed outward, mind and world arise. When it is directed inward, it realizes its own Source and returns home into the Unmanifested. Then, when your consciousness comes back to the manifested world, you reassume the form identity that you temporarily relinquished. You have a name, a past, a life situation, a future. But in one essential respect, you are not the same person you were before: You will have glimpsed a reality within yourself that is not "of this world," although it isn't separate from it, just as it isn't separate from you.

因此，如果你导引专注力深入内在身体的话，你也许会达到这个点，也就是由有形的世界，溶入隐含生命。而隐含生命又以气的能量流的形式形诸世界的单一点。这也是生和死的原点。当你的意识外放的时候，心智和世界就成形了。当意识内敛的时候，它便体认到自己的源头，而回归隐含生命的家了。然后当意识又回到外显世界的时候，你便恢复了你暂时抛弃的形式身份。于是你有了名字、有了过去、有了生命情境、和未来。可是在一个本质面上，你已经脱胎换骨：你会瞥见你内在一个不“属于这个世界”的实相。不过这个实相和这个世界正如同你和这个实相之间一样，不是彼此分离的。

Now let your spiritual practice be this: As you go about your life, don't give 1oo percent of your attention to the external world and to your mind. Keep some within. I have spoken about this already. Feel tile inner body even when engaged in everyday activities, especially when engaged in relationships or when you are relating with nature. Feel the stillness deep inside it. Keep the portal open. It is quite possible to be conscious of the Unmanifested throughout your life. You feel it as a deep sense of peace somewhere in the background, a stillness that never leaves you, no matter what happens out here. You become a bridge between the Unmanifested and the manifested, between God and the world. This is the state of connectedness with the Source that we call enlightenment.

现在就把这个练习当做你的灵修吧：当你在进行日常生活的时候，不要把百分之百的注意力，都交给外在世界和你的心智。保留一部分给内在。这一点我已经谈过。即使在从事日常活动的时候，也要感觉你的内在身体，尤其是在一份亲密关系里或与自然连系的时候。感觉内在深处的宁静。把入口敞开。在整个生命过程都能意识到隐含生命是可能的事。你感觉它像一个处在背景的深度和平感。它就是不管外界如何变迁，却始终亦步亦趋跟着你的宁静。于是你变成了隐含生命和外显世界之间，还有神和世间的桥梁。这就是你与源头连击的状态，这个状态我们称为开悟。

Don't get the impression that the Unmanifested is separate from the manifested. How could it be? It is the life within every form, the inner essence of all that exists. It pervades this world. Let me explain.

切勿抱着隐含生命与外显世界分离的印象。它怎么可能如此？它是每一个形式里面的生命，它是万有的内在本质。它无所不在。让我做个解释。

DREAMLESS SLEEP

无梦之眠

You take a journey into the Unmanifested every night when you enter the phase of deep dreamless sleep. You merge with the Source. You draw from it the vital energy that sustains you for a while when you return to the manifested, the world of separate forms. This energy is much more vital than food: "Man does not live by bread alone." But in dreamless sleep, you don't go into it consciously. Although the bodily functions are still operating, "you" no longer exist in that state. Can you imagine what it would be like to go into dreamless sleep with full consciousness? It is impossible to imagine it, because that state has no content.

你每天晚上进入深度睡眠的无梦阶段时，就踏上了隐含生命之旅。你与源头融合。从而由它汲取了你回到外显世界——独立形式世界所需的生命能量。这个能量比食物重要的多：“人不能仅靠面包维生。”可是在无梦的状态里，你不会有意识地进入它。虽然你的生理功能还在运作，“你”已经不存在于这个状态了。你能想像以全然的意识，进入无梦睡眠的情形吗？它是无法想像的，因为那个状态没有内容。

The Unmanifested does not liberate you until you enter it consciously. That's why Jesus did not say:. the truth will make you free, but rather: "You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." This is not a conceptual truth. It is the truth of eternal life beyond form, which is known directly or not at all. But don't attempt to stay conscious in dreamless sleep. It is highly unlikely that you will succeed. At most, you may remain conscious during the dream phase, but not beyond that. This is called lucid dreaming, which may be interesting and fascinating, but it is not liberating.

隐含生命不会释放你，除非你有意识地进入它。这就是耶稣不说：真理会让你自由，却说，“你将知道真理，而真理将让你自由。”的原因。这里的真理不是概念上的真理。而是超越形式的永生真理，你若不是直接知道，就是完全不知道。不过你不要试图在无梦的睡眠中保持意识。你这么做，成功的可能性微乎其微。你顶多只能在有梦的阶段保有意识。一超过这个阶段，你就无能为力了。这叫做清明的梦境。它也许引人入胜、令人神往，却无法释放你。

So use your inner body as a portal through which you enter the Unmanifested, and keep that portal open so that you stay connected with the Source at all times. It makes no difference, as far as the inner body is concerned, whether your outer physical body is old or young, frail or strong. The inner body is timeless. If you are not yet able to feel the inner body, use one of the other portals, although ultimately they are all one. Some I have spoken about at length already, but I'll mention them again briefly here.

因此，运用你的内在身体，做为你通往隐含生命的入口。并且保持入口的畅通，好让你随时随地都与源头连系着。对内在身体而言，无论你的肉体老迈或年轻、虚弱或强壮都没有差别。内在身体是无时间的。如果你到现在还无法感觉到内在身体，就使用其他的入口。究竟而言，它们是都是同一个入口。有几个我已经详尽地谈过了。我还会再做简单的提示。

OTHER PORTALS

其他入口

The Now can be seen as the main portal. It is an essential aspect of every other portal, including the inner body. You cannot be in your body without being intensely present in the Now.

当下可以视为一个主要的入口。它是包括内在身体在内的其他每一个入口的本质面。没有深刻地临在当下，你便无法存在你的身体里面。

Time and the manifested are as inextricably linked as are the timeless Now and the Unmanifested. When you dissolve psychological time through intense present-moment awareness, you become conscious of the Unmanifested both directly and indirectly. Directly, you feel it as the radiance and power of your conscious presence — no content, just presence. Indirectly, you are aware of the Unmanifested in and through the sensory realm. In other words, you feel the God-essence in every creature, every flower, every stone, and you realize: 'All that is, is holy." This is why Jesus, speaking entirely from his essence or Christ identity, says in the Gospel of Thomas: "Split a piece of wood; I am there. Lift up a stone, and you will find me there."

时间和外显世界之间，与无时间的当下和隐含生命之间一样，都是环环相扣的。当你透过对当下深刻地觉知而瓦解了心理时间的时候，你就会直接和间接地意识到隐含生命。直接的方面：你感觉它就像你有意识临在时的光照和力量：其中没有内容，只有临在。间接方面：就是你在感知领域里或透过感知而觉察到隐含生命。换言之，你在每一个众生里、在每一朵花里、在每一个石头里感觉到神的本质。你体认了“万有皆是，万有皆有神性。”这也是耶稣之所以会在汤玛土福音书里，完全透过他的本质或者基督的身份说：“劈开一块木头，我在那里；举起一块石头，你也会在那里找到我。”这句话的原因。

Another portal into the Unmanifested is created through the cessation of thinking. This can start with a very simple thing, such as taking one conscious breath or looking, in a state of intense alertness, at a flower, so that there is no mental commentary running at the same time. There are many ways to create a gap in the incessant stream of thought. This is what meditation is all about. Thought is part of the realm of the manifested. Continuous mind activity keeps you imprisoned in the world of form and becomes an opaque screen that prevents you from becoming conscious of the Unmanifested, conscious of the formless and timeless God-essence in yourself and in all things and all creatures. When you are intensely present, you don't need to be concerned about the cessation of thinking, of course, because the mind then stops automatically. That's why I said the Now is an essential aspect of every other portal.

另外一个通往隐含生命的人口，是透过思考的止息所创造出来的。你可以从一个最简单的动作开始。比如，做一次有意识的呼吸，或者处于高度的警觉状态下注视一朵花，让你在动作的同时不做心理评论。创造思想流间隙的方法很多。冥想的作用就在这里。思想是外显世界的一部分。持续性的心智活动，把你困在形相界的牢笼里，同时架设了一道不透光的屏幕，阻挡着你对隐含生命的意识，阻挡了你对内在、对众生万物里那个超越形式、无时间的神的本质意识。当你处于高度的临在时，你无需担心思考的止息，这当然是因为心智会自动地停止活动。所以我才说当下是每一个入口的本质面。

Surrender — the letting go of mental-emotional resistance to what is — also becomes a portal into the Unmanifested. The reason for this is simple: inner resistance cuts you off from other people, from yourself, from the world around you. It strengthens the feeling of separateness on which the ego depends for its survival. The stronger the feeling of separateness, the more you are bound to the manifested, to the world of separate forms. The more you are bound to the world of form, the harder and more impenetrable your form identity becomes. The portal is closed, and you are cut off from the inner dimension, the dimension of depth. In the state of surrender, your form identity softens and becomes somewhat "transparent," as it were, so the Unmanifested can shine through you.

臣服——放下心理情感对本然的抗拒——也是进入隐含生命的入口。道理很简单：内在抗拒切断了你和他人、和自己、和你周遭世界的连系。它巩固了我执所赖以维生的孤离感。孤离感越坚固，你受困在外显世界和独立形式世界的程度就越深。你困在形式世界的程度越深，你的形式身份就越坚固、越难以穿越。入口封闭了。你切断了内在向度，也就是深层向度的连系。在臣服的状态里，你的形式身份软化，变成它原本的局部“透明”，然后隐含生命的光照才可以穿透你。

It's up to you to open a portal in your life that gives you conscious access to the Unmanifested. Get in touch with the energy field of the inner body, be intensely present, disidentify from the mind, surrender to what is; these are all portals you can use — but you only need to use one.

敞开你生命的入口，让你有意识地进入隐含生命之权操之在你。与内在身体能量场连系、深刻地临在、撤离心智的认同、向本然臣服，这些都是你可以使用的入口——不过，你只需要用一个就够了。

Surely love must also be one of those portals?

那么爱必然也是一个入口吧？

No, it isn't. As soon as one of the portals is open, love is present in you as the "feeling-realization" of oneness. Love isn't a portal; ifs what comes through the portal into this world. As long as you are completely trapped in your form identity, there can be no love. Your task is not to search for love but to find a portal through which love can enter.

不，爱不是。一旦有一个入口打开了，爱就会以合一的“情感实现”临在于你的内在。爱不是入口；爱只能通过入口进入世界。当你完全地陷在形式身份里的时候，你不会有爱。你的任务不是去寻找爱，而是找到一个让爱可以通过的入口。

SILENCE

静默

Are there any other portals apart from those you just mentioned?

除了你提过的入口之外，还有别的入口吗？

Yes, there are. The Unmanifested is not separate from the manifested. It pervades this world, but it is so well disguised that almost everybody misses it completely. If you know where to look, you'll find it everywhere. A portal opens up every moment.

是的，还有。隐含生命不是独立于外显世界的。它无所不在。可是，它又掩饰得天衣无缝，每个人都完全错过了它。如果你知道怎么找，它就无处不见。随时都会有一个入口敞开。

Do you hear that dog barking in the distance? Or that car passing by? Listen carefully. Can you feel the presence of the Unmanifested in that? You can't? Look for it in the silence out of which the sounds come and into which they return. Pay more attention to the silence than to the sounds. Paying attention to outer silence creates inner silence: the mind becomes still. A portal is opening up.

你有没有听到远方的狗叫声？或者车子开过的声音？仔细听。你能感觉隐含生命在那里面的临在吗？你不能？在声音所源出和回归的静默里找找看。把多半的注意力摆在静默上。对外界静默的关注，创造了内在的宁静：心智静止了。一个入口敞开了。

Every sound is born out of silence, dies back into silence, and during its life span is surrounded by silence. Silence enables the sound to be. It is an intrinsic but unmanifested part 0fevery sound, every musical note, every song, every word. The Unmanifested is present in this world as silence. This is why it has been said that nothing in this world is so like God as silence. All you have to do is pay attention to it. Even during a conversation, become conscious of the gaps between words, the brief silent intervals between sentences. As you do that, the dimension of stillness grows within you. You cannot pay attention to silence without simultaneously becoming still within. Silence without, stillness within. You have entered the Unmanifested.

每一个声音都发源自静默，也消逝于静默，而它短暂的寿命也被静默包围着。静默使声音得以存在。它是每一个声音、每一个音符、每一首歌、每一个言语里本质而隐含的一部分。隐含生命以静默临在于这个世界。有人说静默最像神，的确有道理。你只要注意它就够了。即使是在交谈的时候，觉察字和字的间隙、句子和句子间短暂的沉默。你这么做的时候，你的内在就会长养出宁静的向度。你无法在关注静默的同时，内在却不同步地变成宁静。静默在外，宁静在内。你已经进入了隐含生命。

SPACE

空间

Just as no sound can exist without silence, nothing can exist without nothing, without the empty space that enables it to be. Every physical object or body has come out of nothing, is surrounded by nothing, and will eventually return to nothing. Not only that, but even inside every physical body there is far more "nothing" than "something." Physicists tell us that the solidity of matter is an illusion. Even seemingly solid matter, including your physical body, is nearly 100 percent empty space — so vast are the distances between the atoms compared to their size. What is more, even inside every atom there is mostly empty space. What is left is more like a vibrational frequency than particles of solid matter, more like a musical note. Buddhists have known that for over 2,500 years. "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form," states the Heart Sutra, one of the best known ancient Buddhist texts. The essence of all things is emptiness.

没有静默，声音便不存在，同样的，没有“无-物”（No-thing)、没有可资存在的“无物”，物也就不存在了。每一个物体或身体都来自无物，都被无物包围，最后也要回归于无物。不仅如此，即使在每一个身体里的“真空”，也远超过其中的“妙有”。物理学家告诉我们，物质的固态是个幻觉。即使看似固态的物质，包括你的身体在内，也几乎是百分之百的空间——原子和原子之间的距离，远超过它的面积。这还不算，即使每一个原子内部的空间，也占了绝大部分。剩余的小部分也不尽然是固态的分子，反倒像音符的波动。这个道理佛教徒在两千五百年前就已经知道了。佛教最知名的心经里，就有“色即是空，空即是色。”这样的句子。空无是万物的本质。

The Unmanifested is not only present in this world as silence; it also pervades the entire physical universe as space — from within and without. This is just as easy to miss as silence. Everybody pays attention to the things in space, but who pays attention to space itself?

隐含生命不仅以静默的形式存在于世界；它也以空间的形式，遍及整个实体宇宙的内外。它和静默一样让我们习而不察。我们只注意到空间里的物，有谁会注意空间本身呢？

You seem to be implying that "emptiness" or "nothing" is not just nothing, that there is some mysterious quality to it. What is this nothing?

你似乎、暗示了“空无”或“无物”不只是一无所有，它还具有一种神秘的品质。无物究竟是什么？

You cannot ask such a question. Your mind is trying to make nothing into something. The moment you make it into something, you have missed it. Nothing — space — is the appearance of the Unmanifested as an externalized phenomenon in a sense-perceived world. That's about as much as one can say about it, and even that is a kind of paradox. It cannot become an object of knowledge. You can't do a Ph.D. on "nothing." When scientists study space, they usually make it into something and thereby miss its essence entirely. Not surprisingly, the latest theory is that space isn't empty at all, that it is filled with some substance. Once you have a theory, ifs not too hard to find evidence to substantiate it, at least until some other theory comes along.

没有人这样问的。你的心智试图要把无物变成有物。当你把它变成有物的那一刻，你就错过了。无物空间是隐含生命在感官世界，以外在现象的显现。能以言说的也仅及于此了，即使这样说都有点矛盾。它无法变成知识的标的。你无法写出一篇“无物”的博士论文。科学家研究空间，通常把它当做有物来探讨，因而完全偏离了它的本质。最新的理论主张空间根本就不是空的，而是充满了物质也就不足为奇了。一旦你提出一个理论之后再找证据支持并不难，至少在下一个理论出现之前。

"Nothing" can only become a portal into the Unmanifested for you if you don't try to grasp or understand it.

“无物”只有在你不试图掌握或了解它的时候，它才可能成为一个入口。

Isn't that what we are doing here ?

我们现在不正是这样做吗？

Not at all. I am giving you pointers to show you how you can bring the dimension of the Unmanifested into your life. We are not trying to understand it. There is nothing to understand.

两回事。我给你的是如何把隐含生命的向度，带进生命中的指标。我们没有试图去了解它。因为没有要了解之物。

Space has no "existence." "To exist" literally means "to stand out." You cannot understand space because it doesn't standout. Although in itself it has no existence, it enables everything else to exist. Silence has no existence either, nor does the Unmanifested.

空间没有“存在”。“存在”的本意是“示现”。你无法了解空间，因为它不示现。虽然它本身没有存在，它却使其他的一切存在。静默也没有存在，隐含生命也一样。

So what happens if you withdraw attention from the objects in space and become aware of space itself.> What is the essence of this room? The furniture, pictures, and so on are in the room, but they are not the room. The floor, walls, and ceiling define the boundary of the room, but they are not the room either. So what is the essence of the room? Space, of course, empty space. There would be no "room" without it. Since space is "nothing," we can say that what is not there is more important than what is there. So become aware of the space that is all around you. Don't think about it. Feel it, as it were. Pay attention to "nothing."

因此，如果你把对物体的注意力抽离，而意识到空间的话，会发生什么样的情况呢？这个房间的本质是什么？家俱、图画等在房间里面，可是它们不是房间。地板、墙壁、和天花板定义了房间的范围，可是它们也不是房间。那么这个房间的本质是什么？当然是空－间～“空间”了。没有空间，就没有“房间”。由于空间是“无物”，所以我们可以说，凡不在的比在的还重要。因此我要你觉察包围着你的空间。不要思考它。照它原来的样子，感觉它。专注在“无物”上面。

As you do that, a shift in consciousness takes place inside you. Here is why. The inner equivalent to objects in space such as furniture, walls, and so on are your mind objects: thoughts, emotions, and the objects of the senses. And the inner equivalent of space is the consciousness that enables your mind objects to be, just as space allows all things to be. So if you withdraw attention from things — objects in space — you automatically withdraw attention from your mind objects as well. In other words: You cannot think and be aware of space — or of silence, for that matter. By becoming aware of the empty space around you, you simultaneously become aware of the space of no-mind, of pure consciousness: the Unmanifested. This is how the contemplation of space can become a portal for you.

你这么做的时候，内在便会发生一个意识的转变。原因如下，你内在与空间里的实物如家俱、墙壁等的对应物，就是你的心智物：思想、情感、和感官的受体。而你内在与空间的对应物，就是使你的心智物得以存在的意识，就好像使万物存在的空间一样。所以，如果你把注意力由物——空间里的实物——抽离的话，你也自动地从心智物上抽离了注意力。换言之：你无法既思考又觉察空间——或者这个情况下，既思考又觉察静默。藉着觉察你周遭的空间，你同步地觉察到了无心的空间——纯意识的空间：隐含生命。这就是对空间做默观之所以会变成另一个入口的原因。

Space and silence are two aspects of the same thing, the same nothing. They are an externalization of inner space and inner silence, which is stillness: the infinitely creative womb of all existence. Most humans are completely unconscious of this dimension. There is no inner space, no stillness. They are out of balance. In other words, they know the world, or think they do, but they don't know God. They identify exclusively with their own physical and psychological form, unconscious of essence. And because every form is highly unstable, they live in fear. This fear causes a deep misperception of themselves and of other humans, a distortion in their vision of the world.

空间和静默是一体的两面——同一个无物。它们都是内在空间和内在静默的外现，也就是寂静：存在万有无量的创造源头。大多数人对这一个向度完全无意识。对他们而言，没有内在空间，没有寂静。他们是失衡的。换句话说，他们知道这个世界，或者说他们自认为知道，可是他们不知道神。他们只认同生理和心理的形式（form），而无意识于本质的存在。又由于每一个形式（相form）都是变动不定的，他们就活在恐惧里。这种恐惧造成了他们对自己、对其他人类很深的误解，也扭曲了他们对世界的知见。

If some cosmic convulsion brought about the end of our world, the Unmanifested would remain totally unaffected by this. A Course in Miracles expresses this truth poignantly. "Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God."

宇宙如果发生震动，而导致世界末日的话，隐含生命仍会如如不动，不受丝毫的影响。《奇积课程》里犀利地揭露了这个真理：“凡真实的必不受威胁。凡不真实的必无法存在。神的平安自在其中。”

If you remain in conscious connection with the Unmanifested, you value, love, and deeply respect the manifested and every life form in it as an expression of the One Life beyond form. You also know that every form is destined to dissolve again and that ultimately nothing out here matters all that much. You have "overcome the world," in the words of Jesus, or, as the Buddha put it, you have "crossed over to the other shore."

如果你有意识地与隐含生命维持着连系，你就会珍重、会爱、会衷心地尊重外显世界，和生存于其中，以超越形式的至一生命而展现于世的每一个众生。你也会知道每一个形相终将化灭。究竟来说，世间的一切不再那么重要了。诚如耶稣说的，你已经“征服了世界。”，或者像佛陀所说的“到达了彼岸。”

THE TRUE NATURE OF SPACE AND TIME

时空的本质

Now consider this: If there were nothing but silence, it wouldn't exist for you; you wouldn't know what it is. Only when sound appears does silence come into being. Similarly, if there were only space without any objects in space, it wouldn't exist for you. Imagine yourself as a point of consciousness floating in the vastness of space — no stars, no galaxies, just emptiness. Suddenly, space wouldn't be vast anymore; it would not be there at all. There would be no speed, no movement from here to there. At least two points of reference are needed for distance and space to come into being. Space comes into being the moment the One becomes two, and as "two" become the "ten thousand things," as Lao Tse calls the manifested world, space becomes more and more vast. So world and space arise simultaneously.

现在思考下面这句话：如果除了静默之外一无所有，那么静默对你来说便不存在，你会不知道它是什么。只有当声音出现的时候，静默才会进入存在。同样的道理，如果空间里没有物体，空间对你而言也就不存在了。观想你是一个飘浮在无量空间的意识点——没有星星、没有银河、只是空无。突然之间，空间就不再是无量的；它根本就不存在了。从这里到那里之间，没有了速度、也没有了运动。距离和空间的存在，至少要有两个参考点。空间正如老子所称的，在“道生一，一生二”的那一刻诞生，而在“二生三，三生万物”之后，外显世界——空间变得越来越无量。因此世界和空间是同步发生的。

Nothing could be without space, yet space is nothing. Before the universe came into being, before the "big bang" if you like, there wasn't a vast empty space waiting to be filled. There was no space, as there was no thing. There was only the Unmanifested — the One. When the One became "the ten thousand things," suddenly space seemed to be there and enabled the many to be. Where did it come from? Was it created by God to accommodate the universe? Of course not. Space is no-thing, so it was never created.

没有空间，无物能存在；可是空间就是无物。在宇宙进入存在之前，你喜欢说“大爆炸”之前也可以，并没有一个无量的空间等着被充实。那时没有空间，正如同没有物一样，有的只是隐含生命——至一（The One）。当至一生“万物”之后，空间顿时在了，而使万有因此存在。它的起源如何？是神为了容纳这个宇宙而创造的吗？当然不是。空间就是无物，因此它从来就不是被创造出来的。

Go out on a clear night and look up at the sky. The thousands of stars you can see with the naked eye are no more than an infinitesimal fraction of what is there. Over 100 billion galaxies can already be detected with the most powerful telescopes, each galaxy an "island universe" with billions of stars. Yet what is even more awe-inspiring is the infinity of space itself, the depth and stillness that allows all of that magnificence to be. Nothing could be more awe-inspiring and majestic than the inconceivable vastness and stillness of space, and yet what is it? Emptiness, vast emptiness.

找一个明月当空的夜晚，走出户外仰视天空。你肉眼所见数以千计的星星，也不过只是万有的沧海一粟罢了。人类靠高倍远望远镜，已经观测到的银河系有十亿之多。而每一个银河系，又是一个包含了数十亿星体的“宇宙岛”。可是最令人肃然起敬的，还是空间本身的无量界，以及它容纳这一切宇宙万象奇观存在的深沉和寂静。空间的浩瀚无量和寂静，在宇宙之内无出其右。然而它又是什么？空无——无边无际的空无。

What appears to us as space in our universe perceived through the mind and the senses is the Unmanifested itself, externalized. It is the "body" of God. And the greatest miracle is this: That stillness and vastness that enables the universe to be, is not just out there in space — it is also within you. When you are utterly and totally present, you encounter it as the still inner space of no-mind. Within you, it is vast in depth, not in extension. Spacial extension is ultimately a misperception of infinite depth — an attribute of the one transcendental reality.

人类透过心智和感官，在宇宙中所感知到的太空，就是隐含生命本身的外化。它是神的“身体”。最大的奇迹居然就是：那容纳宇宙存在的寂静和浩瀚，不只存在于外面的空间，它也在你里面。当你彻底的、全然的临在时，你便以无心的、宁静的内在空间的形式接触到它了。它在你里面，它的浩瀚在于它的纵深，而非它的延伸。空间的延伸，实际上来说，是对无限纵深的误解，而无限的纵深是一个超越实相的属性。

According to Einstein, space and time are not separate. I don't really understand it, but I think he is saying that time is the fourth dimension of space. He calls it the "space-time continuum. "

照爱因斯坦的说法，空间和时间不是彼此独立的。我不太了解，不过我认为他是说时间是第四度空间。也就是他说的“时空连续体”。

Yes. What you perceive externally as space and time are ultimately illusory, but they contain a core of truth. They are the two essential attributes of God, infinity and eternity, perceived as if they had an external existence outside you. Within you, both space and time have an inner equivalent that reveals their true nature, as well as your own. Whereas space is the still, infinitely deep realm of no-mind, the inner equivalent of time is presence, awareness of the eternal Now. Remember that there is no distinction between them. When space and time are realized within as the Unmanifested — no-mind and presence — external space and time continue to exist for you, but they become much less important. The world, too, continues to exist for you, but it will not bind you anymore.

没错。你外在所感知为空间和时间的是彻底的幻觉，不过它们包含了真理的核心。它们是神的两个属性——无限和永恒，然而在你的感知上，却好像有了一个自外于你的永存。空间和时间在你内在的对应，揭示了它们和你自己的真如本性。空间的内在对应，就是寂静、无限深层的无心境界。而时间的内在对应，则是永恒当下的临在和觉知。切记，这两者是没有区隔的。当时间和空间以隐含生命中“无心”和“临在”的形式被体现的时候，外在的空间和时间对你来说纵使存在，却不再那么重要了。世界也同样地继续存在，却不再捆绑你了。

Hence, the ultimate purpose of the world lies not within the world but in transcendence of the world. Just as you would not be conscious of space if there were no objects in space, the world is needed for the Unmanifested to be realized. You may have heard the Buddhist saying: "If there were no illusion, there would be no enlightenment." It is through the world and ultimately through you that the Unmanifested knows itself. You are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold. That is how important you are!

因此世界的终极目的，不在世界之内；而在于超越世界。这就像没有了物体，你不会意识到空间一样。要体现隐含生命，世界是需要的。你也许听过佛教徒说过“借假修真”这句话。隐含生命透过这个世界，并且彻底地透过你，才知道了它自己。你在世是为了使宇宙的神圣目的得以展现。你就是这么重要！

CONSCIOUS DEATH

临终意识

Apart from dreamless sleep, which I mentioned already, there is one other involuntary portal. It opens up briefly at the time of physical death. Even if you have missed all the other opportunities for spiritual realization during your lifetime, one last portal will open up for you immediately after the body has died.

除了我前面提过的无梦之眼，还有一个非自主性的入口。这个入口会在我们临终的时刻短暂地敞开。即使你这一生中，错失了每一个灵修实现的机缘，在肉体死亡后的那一刻，还会有最后一个入口为你敞开。

There are countless accounts by people who had a visual impression of this portal as radiant light and then returned from what is commonly known as a near-death experience. Many of them also spoke of a sense of blissful serenity and deep peace. In the Tibetan Book of the Dead, it is described as "the luminous splendor of the colorless light of Emptiness," which it says is "your own true self." This portal opens up only very briefly, and unless you have already encountered the dimension of the Unmanifested in your lifetime, you will likely miss it. Most people carry too much residual resistance, too much fear, too much attachment to sensory experience, too much identification with the manifested world. So they see the portal, turn away in fear, and then lose consciousness. Most of what happens after that is involuntary and automatic. Eventually, there will be another round of birth and death. Their presence wasn't strong enough yet for conscious immortality.

无数的报告描述人们看见了这个入口的大光明，然后再由所谓的濒死经验中回阳的记载。其中还有很多人提到一种至福的安详和和平感。《西藏生死书》里把这种境地描述为“地光明”。书上说这就是你的“真如本性”。这个入口只会短暂地开启。除非你在有生之年，已经澈见隐含生命的境地，否则你极可能错过它。大多数人在这个时候，仍然残留着太多抗拒、恐惧、感官经验的执着，和对外显世界的认同。因此在他们看到入口的时候，却怀着恐惧之情弃之不顾，因而丧失了意识。这之后，便是一连串的不自主和自动化的过程。终于再进入生死的轮回里。他们临在的强度，尚不足以让他们有意识地进入永生。

So going through this portal does not mean annihilation?

这么说通过这个入口，并不意谓着化灭？

As with all the other portals, your radiant true nature remains, but not the personality. In any case, whatever is real or of true value in your personality is your true nature shining through. This is never lost. Nothing that is of value, nothing that is real, is ever lost.

正像其他的入口一样，你清净光明的真如本性留下来，人格却不然。在任何一种情况下，凡是人格中真正的或有价值的，都是你真如本性的外烁。这个不会失去。凡真实者，凡有价值者必存而不失。

Approaching death and death itself, the dissolution of the physical form, is always a great opportunity for spiritual realization. This opportunity is tragically missed most of the time, since we live in a culture that is almost totally ignorant of death, as it is almost totally ignorant of anything that truly matters.

濒死和死亡本身肉体的化灭，都是灵修实现的大好机会。这个机会泰半惨遭忽视。因为我们生活在一个完全无视于死亡的文化里，这就像人们无视于生命的要务一样。

Every portal is a portal of death, the death of the false self. When you go through it, you cease to derive your identity from your psychological, mind-made form. You then realize that death is an illusion, just as your identification with form was an illusion. The end of illusion — that's all that death is. It is painful only as long as you ding to illusion.

每个人口都是死亡的入口——假我之死。通过它之后，你的身份便不再取自于心理和心造的形相了。这时候，你才体悟到死亡是个幻象，就像你的形相认同一样。幻相的终结——这就是死亡的意义。它的痛，来自你对幻相的执着。