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《雜阿含經》卷二十九第803經:「覺知一切身入息,於一切身入息善學,覺知一切身出息,於一切身出息善學」是什麼意思?


David Chiou:

「覺知一切身」直譯為覺知全身,例如呼吸對全身的影響。「覺知」是覺察知道,也就是體驗的意思。「一切身」是全身,可解為整個身體,也有解為呼吸的整個過程。

「覺知一切身入息」可直譯為「覺知全身以及吸氣」。

這是觀呼吸十六個步驟中的第三個步驟。

這句話可以有各種解釋方法:

  1. 覺知全身的狀態,例如呼吸時風大對於身體的影響。(即卷二十四的導讀及讀經拾得中提到的「念身」在坐姿的應用。)
  2. 覺知呼吸對全身的影響,例如呼吸時整個身體動態的變化。(著重在肌肉、骨骼等變化。這個解法和前者差不多,畢竟風大是移動性。)
  3. 覺知呼吸對全身的影響,例如呼吸時整個身體接收到氧氣、排出二氧化碳。(著重在清濁氣體、能量的交換。)
  4. 覺知呼吸的開始、中間、結束整個過程。

不同的禪師對這句都有不同的解讀,可依自己所學的傳承來修習。例如無著比丘是教第1種解法,但也說明不見得要觀察到呼吸影響手指頭、腳趾頭一類的,只要有「念身」即可。

論中對於這十六行相的解讀五花八門,依據不同論而教的法師所教也各有千秋。不過就「筏」來說都可以就是了,從哪過河本來就沒有唯一的標準。第803經的「讀經拾得」是選較貼近本經文字的修法作為舉例,但不代表其他解法不可行。

例如南傳由於宗《清淨道論》的關係,大多宗派修觀呼吸要生出禪相才能練初禪,但經中都沒有提到修觀呼吸須禪相,縱有禪相一類的現象也不是作為修定的所緣,個人見過北傳不同部派的論中似乎都沒有此要求。另一方面,第三步開始有二個所緣,因此也不是南傳論的傳統裡所定義修定而需用禪相的修法就是了。


Satipatthana Shi:

一些不同的派別的解讀供參考:

阿毘達磨大毘婆沙論卷第二十六

問此觀息風從鼻而入還從鼻出。何故乃說我覺遍身入出息耶。答息念未成觀入出息從鼻入出。息念成已觀身毛孔猶如藕根息風周遍於中入出。

辨識
[作者]坦尼沙羅尊者
[中譯]良稹

Perception
by Ven. Thanissaro Bhikkhu
August 19, 2005

如果你堅持氣能的辨識,盡可能維持該辨識穩定不變,你將學得兩件事。一是,你對?了維持那個辨識,自己正在做什麼,越來越敏感。你開始對辨識的過程,明了 得多。二是,你能使氣平靜下來 ,變得極其,極其寂止。一旦全身各處的氣能像是在流暢流動時,它會越來越細微。如果你堅持那個單一的辨識,你會發現大腦用的氧氣少多了。這樣,你的呼吸就 減少了,直到最後,達到只需要出入氣孔的氧氣。[口鼻]呼吸靜止下來。

氣寂止時,你對身體形狀的覺受開始變化。身體的內外界限開始融解。只有一團霧點感,就在那裏,你可以改變你的辨識。與其專注那個霧 ,你可以專注那些小覺點之間的空間 ,於是你突然就與“空間”在一起了。

關於下一步驟「覺知一切身行息入息」:

Bhikkhu Analayo:

I am not sure about this, some people take it that the breath actually stops completely, others suggest that this is only the subjective experience that one feels as if the breath had completely stopped


David Chiou:

下一個步驟「覺知一切身行息入息」的最後一個字「息」,有解為身體輕安,也有論(例如《清淨道論》)解為呼吸停了(第四禪的情況)。

補充一下,我曾聽無著比丘於2019年及2021年的安那般那念禪九中提及他個人的看法:這邊巴利文及漢文經文都是講到「身行息」同時吸氣、呼氣(例如漢譯為「覺知一切身行息 入息,於一切身行息入息善學,覺知一切身行息 出息,於一切身行息出息善學」),在同時吸氣、呼氣的狀況下,解為「呼吸停了」會有矛盾。

再者,這裡只在十六步驟中的第四步驟,解為「呼吸停了」似乎跳太快了。四禪照理來說是在第十一步驟「覺知心定」之後達成的應用之一,且此經是《安那般那「念」經》,不是《安那般那「定」經》。不是說觀呼吸不能修四禪,只是這裡看來不是指四禪的狀況,不需要將此段經文縮減為僅限四禪。

他在2021年安那般那念禪九說明的英文逐字稿如下:

The final step in this first tetrad then is passambhayaṃ kāyasaṅkhāraṃ, “calming the bodily activity”.

And the Visuddhimagga understands this to refer to absorption experience, actually the fourth absorption.

In the discourses, with the fourth absorption the breath disappears.

This is an interpretation that is very difficult to maintain, because the instructions clearly are about continuous awareness of inhalation—exhalation, so it could not be referring to a stage of practice where the breath disappears.

And, there is a general tendency, in the commentarial tradition, of really taking a term and giving a literal interpretation, and then bringing that in, where from a practical perspectiveit does not really make so much sense.

And absorption, which is a topic I will be talking about more in relation to the third tetrad — absorption attainment is nowhere mentioned in the Ānāpānasati-sutta. This is anāpānasati, not ānāpāna-samādhi. It is mindfulness of breathing, not concentration on the breath. And the purpose of it is knowledge-and-liberation, not absorption attainment.

This does not mean that absorption has no place. In fact, I will be talking about it in relation to the third tetrad, because that is a particularly convenient entry door into absorption.

But we should not reduce the potential and significance of the different steps of mindfulness of breathing, just to aids in absorption attainment.

So calming bodily activity can just be taken to a general relaxation, a settling in, breath calm, body calm, overall relaxation of the body, as a foundation for what is going to come next.

因此他認為解為身體輕安,在此經中是較合理的解法。

另外關於「覺知一切身入息」(的巴利對應經文),在中國有禪修派別解讀為「覺知滲透到身體所有上下器官組織、達到手指腳趾當中的空氣」,他個人認為雖然這是種強大而能將心念定瞄於身體的方式,但可能不適合作為本經這句話的標準解法,因為後面「心念住」對應的經文有「覺知心行(入息)」(的巴利對應經文),照這解法的話會變成「覺知滲透到心理當中的空氣」。

他說明的英文逐字稿如下:

In a number of Chinese parallels, in Āgamas and also in a Vinaya text, the translation they give has a rather stronger nuance of experiencing the physical body. This nuance of experiencing the physical body has then led, in some meditation traditions, to another interpretation, which is that we should actually experience the breath in the whole body — means you breathe in and you feel the breath percolating throughout the whole body down to the tip of the feet, and then you breathe out and it comes up again.

These approaches can be very powerful modalities of meditation practice to ground ourselves in the physical reality of the body. But I do not think they correspond to the instructions. We have sabbakāyapaṭisaṃvedhi, “experiencing the whole body”. In the later part of the instructions we also get cittapaṭisaṃvedhi, “experiencing the mind”.

This can hardly mean that we are supposed to experience the breath in the mind.

So the instruction sabbakāyapaṭisaṃvedhi much rather seems to mean that we are to experience the whole body alongside breathing in and breathing out.

In fact, if you look at the remainder of the instructions — the remainder of the 16 steps — we find that they introduce all kinds of different themes alongside awareness of breathing in and breathing out.

So in the present case, the third step, I understand the instruction to mean that, being aware of breathing in and out, we become aware of the whole body.

And this is a level of whole-body awareness that is a little bit more refined than the one we had earlier, when checking if the body is straight. That is, the earlier one was more on the anatomical level. This one is more on the energy, elemental kind of level.

因此「覺知一切身入息」解為「在吸氣時,覺知全身」可作為較通用的解法。