Three A's — Resting As It Is

Three Aa Guru Yoga Practice, or guru yoga practice is also about trust. In this practice we imagine in the space in front of us – about two arms' length distance – a white syllable Aa. You can imagine it in the Tibetan form or as a capital A.

三个 A(啊) 上师瑜伽，这一直指，关乎一种信任。在这个直指中，我们想象在自己前方的空间中——大约与身体相距两个手臂的长度——显现一个白色的音节 Aa（啊）。您可以将它想象为藏文字形，也可以只是一个大写的字母 A（啊）。

This represents emptiness. It is the ground of everything. Coming out of it is five-colored light: white, red, blue, green and yellow, which represent the manifestation of all the potential of samsara and nirvana: the five poisons, the five wisdoms and the five elements. This is the potential of the ground. This is the heart of Samantabhadra. This is the heart of the primordial buddha.

它象征着空性。是一切的空明本基。从这个 Aa（啊） 中，放射出五色的光：白、红、蓝、绿、黄。这五色光, 象征着万象森罗的经验世界中, 一切执着所编织的现实，和自由所显的实相的潜能的展开——五种负面认知惯性、五智、以及构成世界的五大基本元素。这是空明本基所蕴含的潜能。这是名号为恒常善妙的普贤王如来的心要。这是本初尊的明觉之心。

We then recite the sound of Aa three times, and as we recite this sound we release ourselves from our memories, our plans, our thoughts and our fixations. Aa is just dissolving everything back into its source, just as we go 'Aa' in ma-ma, pa-pa and ka-ka when we start to build up language. All language establishes itself and emanates from the sound of Aa, which is the most basic sound of the breath going through the voice-box. All language elaboration is a play on Aa. Aa is all words in all languages, in all sentences, in fairytale books, in comedy books, in pornography books. It is everything and every kind of communication.

接着，我们诵出 Aa（啊） 的声音三次。在发出这个声音的同时，我们松开对记忆、计划、念头与固着的攀附。Aa（啊），只是把一切溶回它的源头。就像婴儿在开始学习语言时，在 ma-ma、pa-pa、ka-ka 里自然发出的那个 Aa （啊）的声音。一切语言，都是在 Aa （啊）的基础上建立并展开的。Aa（啊） 是气息通过喉部时所发出的最基本的声音。所有语言的繁复变化，都是对 Aa（啊） 的展开与游戏。Aa（啊） 是一切语言中的一切词语——所有句子，童话书里的话语，喜剧书里的话语，色情书籍里的话语。它是一切，也是一切形式的沟通。

When we recite Aa, all its multiple forms of words and associations dissolve back into their ground of the sound of Aa, which is empty. All is Aa, and Aa is emptiness.

当我们诵出 Aa（啊），语言的无数形式与联想，自然回溶于它们的本源——那空性的声音。一切皆是 Aa（啊），而 Aa（啊），即是空性。

We do this three times, and at the end of the third Aa, the Aa in front of us just dissolves, so we have this inner space and the outer space. We just sit sky to sky. In this open sky, clouds and rainbows arise – different thoughts, feelings, sensations. Just let them be there. The sky is not affected by the cloud, the rain, the storm, or the sunshine, it just passes through. We are just sitting and everything is passing through. Whatever arises comes and goes.

我们这样做三次。在第三个 Aa（啊）的声音结束时，前方的 Aa（啊） 自然溶解。于是，只剩下内在的空间与外在的空间。我们只是——朗朗天空对朗朗天空地安坐。在这敞开的天空里，云朵与彩虹升起——各种念头、情绪、感受。让它们在那里即可。天空并不会被云、雨、风暴或阳光所影响，它们只是经过。我们只是坐着，一切经过。凡升起的，来，又去。

The function of the guru yoga is to bring into our awareness the unborn, uncreated givenness of the integrity of all the forms that emerge. There is no duality between manifestation and the ground, and there is no duality in the field of manifestation into subject and object. The guru is everything because the guru realizes or awakens to the ground. In order to do that we have to trust, and when we open, we open.

这一直指的作用，是让我们在明觉中体认：一切显现形式的融摄性，本来就是不生、不造作、本然如是的。显现与空明本基之间，并无二元；在显现的空明场域中，也没有主体与客体的二分。所谓“上师”，是指一切，因为它是那份已然醒觉于本基的明觉本身。要如此，需要信任。当我们敞开时，就是敞开。

Of course we have many residual thoughts and long-established beliefs of retraction, of pulling back, of centering things in ourselves. Whenever this occurs, don't act to try to change it, because as soon as you act you pump your energy into the situation. Contact is energy exchange. If I push the wall behind me I am putting the energy of my hand into the wall, and because the wall is strong it doesn't fall over. A piece of wood would fall over. The contact and energy flows out, so in the same way, in your mind, when you lock on to a thought and say you like and want to keep it, or you don't like it and you want to get rid of it, that involvement is putting prana or life energy into the manifestation, and that energy then seems to give it more separated existence.

当然，我们内在仍会有许多残余惯性升起的念头，以及长久以来形成的收缩习惯——退缩、拉回、把一切重新中心化为看似的“我”。当这些发生时，不要试图去改变它。因为一旦您采取行动，能量便已经被投入其中。接触，就是能量的交换。如果我推身后的墙，我的手的力量进入墙中；墙坚固，所以不会倒。若是一块木板，就会倒下。接触之中，能量流动。同样，在心中，当您锁定一个念头——说“我喜欢，要留下”，或“我不喜欢，要去除”，这种卷入，就是把生命能量（prana）注入显现之中。那股能量，让它看起来更为坚固、分离。

That is why the meditation instruction is not to go after past thoughts, not to wait expectantly for future thoughts, and not to selectively adopt anything which arises and make it part of yourself. Don't reject or abandon or push away anything which arises. Your mind is like a public space; it's not a private garden. It is like infinite wild moorland, or like the sky, or like the ocean; everything can come and go. You are not the owner, and you are not the boss, so relax – it's all just happening.

因此，直指常说：不要追逐过去的念头；不要期待未来的念头；不要选择性地抓取升起之物而把它纳入看似的“我”。不要拒绝、丢弃或推开任何升起的内容。您的心，像公共空间，而不是私人花园。它像无尽的旷野，像天空，像海洋。一切可以来去。您不是拥有者，也不是控制者。松坦——一切只是正在发生。

The more you experience that the more you start to find this intrinsic freedom, the freedom which is there in the ground.

当您越来越体验到这一点，您会发现一种内在的自在——那份本就在空明本基中的自在。

Remember the image of the mirror? Whatever arises in the mirror is free to arise, the mirror doesn't mind; it's not fussy and nor is it marked. This is our litmus test, our touchstone. In meditation practice, when you start to feel affected by what is going on, this is a sign that you have slipped into your ego formation and so you need to come back into the openness.

还记得镜子的比喻吗？镜中显现的任何镜像，都自由地升起。镜子并不介意，不挑剤，也不留下痕迹。这就是检验的标尺。当在安坐中，您开始被正在发生的内容所影响，那便是一个过辭——您滑入了自我构造之中。于是，回到敬开。

If you are practicing this Three Aa practice at home, if you get very lost after a few minutes you can just say another Aa. These practices are for you, they are not some formal ritual thing you have to do in the right way. You are working with the circumstances of your existence. If you are getting very lost you just keep doing Aa, so you really feel relaxed and sit like that for a while; maybe you have some space for two or three minutes and then it's gone. That's okay; you can just do Aa again.

如果您在家中进行这个三Aa（啊）的修习，几分钟后若发现自己迷失了，可以再轻声发出一个 Aa（啊）。这些练习是为您而设，不是某种必须“正确完成”的仪式。您只是与自身存在的情境工作。如果您感觉非常迷失，就继续发出 Aa（啊），直到真正松开，那样坐一会儿。也许有两三分钟的空间，然后它又消失。没关系。再一次 Aa（啊）。

Be clear that the Aa is not an antidote to our habit of being fixated; it is a practice to help us simply slip out of the paradigm of fixation.

请清楚地知道：Aa （啊）并不是对治我们执着习气的“解药”。它不是用来压制固着，而只是帮助我们丝滑出那种执着的范式。

For example, let's say you are in this room and you are looking around at the other people. You like some people and not others therefore you have some bias. You might think, 'I shouldn't feel like that. I should practise equanimity.' So now you are consciously trying to think, 'I like you, I like you and I like you... ' It is very busy. Or, you just become aware that 'I am in a space; there are walls and ceilings and floor, and in the space there are some shapes.' The more you focus on the space there is just shapes in space. You haven't altered the people but because you have opened up your field of attention, the particularity of these forms which you are meeting doesn't strike you so much. It is not an antidote; it is just giving yourself space which allows the manifesting forms not to be invested.

举个例子——假设您坐在这个房间里，看着周围的人。您喜欢某些人，不喜欢另一些人，于是心中自然生起偏向。您可能会想：“我不该这样，我应该修习平等心。”于是开始在心里刻意地想：“我喜欢你，我喜欢你，我也喜欢你……” 这很忙碌。另一种方式是——只是觉察：“我在一个空间里；有墙、天花板、地板；在这个空间中，有一些形状。”当您把注意力更多放在空间上，那些人只是空间中的形状。您并没有改变他们，但因为您的注意场域敞开了，这些具体的形式就不再那么强烈地触动您。这不是对治，只是给自己空间，让显现不被投入。

When the energy of investment is opened in space then it's like a beautiful calm summer's day. You are looking out and there is a blue sky and you can see far into the distance, and there isn't the slightest breeze. And then the wind blows and you see a tree moving, so you look at the tree because that movement has caught your attention, and that is what happens in the meditation. Calm, clear and open, and then up puffs the wind of your attachment and aversion and you are caught up in stuff. Always relax in space – the unborn open ground, the base, the fundament for all dzogchen practice.

当投入的能量在空间中松开，那就像一个宁静美好的夏日。蓝天辽阔，视野悠远，没有一丝风。然后风吹起，您看到树在摇动。那份动静吸引了您的注意，您便看向树。冥想中也是如此——清明、敞开、宁静，然后依附与排斥的风一阵吹起，您又卷入其中。始终在空间中放松——那不生的敞开本基，是一切佐钦（Dzogchen）指向的基础。

If you are practicing it on your own, it's very useful to do the Three Aa and sit for five minutes then take a little break, and then do it again and come back for another little five minute break and carry on like this.

如果您独自练习，很有帮助的方式是：做三 Aa （啊），坐五分钟，然后稍作休息。再做一次，再回来五分钟。如此循环。

The reason for this is that the goal is to awaken to the presence of the ground as the ground of your own manifestation. This is the function of the practice. If you find you are not in touch with this then, as the one who is doing the meditation, you are not doing dzogchen. You are striving and you are doing your best, but you have left the world that we are concerned with and you are back in your familiar world.

之所以如此，是因为目标并不是获得某种状态，而是醒觉于——空明本基，它正是您身心世界显现的根基。这，才是此直指的作用。如果您发现自己并未触及这一点，那作为“正在做冥想的人”，您其实并没有在佐鸽之中。您也许在努力，也许在尽力，但您已经离开了我们所关心的那个场域，而回到了熟悉的习惯世界。

Therefore, don't struggle and don't make effort. There is no progress to make. The ground is here. We are not going from samsara to nirvana. We are not going from darkness to light. We are not going anywhere else; we are finding out how to relax and open and be where we are.

因此——不要挣扎。不要用力。没有所谓的“进步”可达。空明本基就在刹那当下的这里。我们不是从执着所编织的现实走向自由所显的实相，不是从黑暗走向光明。我们没有去往别处，只是学习如何松坦、敬开、安住于此。

The very structure of the practice is minimal effort with optimal awakening. That is why it is very important not to think about your practice. There is no need to review whether you are making any progress, or to compare and contrast. 'Oh, yesterday my meditation was good but today it's bad so why is that?' Don't compare and contrast with other people either. Other people are other people and they have their luck.

这个指向的结构是：最少的用力，最直接的醒觉。因此，非常重要的一点是——不要反复思考自己的练习。不必检视是否有进步，也不必比较。“昨天很好，今天不好，为什么？”不要与他人比较。别人是别人，他们有他们的因缘。

When we meet together like this we try to have a very flat organization with minimal hierarchy. We don't want any inside/outside groupings. We don't want any particular kind of specialness, because as soon as you have that then you have some kind of aspiration. 'I want to get ahead' or 'I want to be closer to the people who seem to be the important ones.' Many dharma groups function on that basis. From the point of view of dzogchen this is not helpful because the focus that you need to attend to is you. What other people are doing on the level of the practice is totally irrelevant. If you are ahead of them or behind them, so what? It doesn't matter. What matters is where are you? Because if you are looking at how they are doing you are not attending to yourself, and you are not present with yourself.

当我们聚在一起时，尽量保持一种平缓、简朴的组织方式，减少层级。不制造内外之分，不追求特殊感。因为一旦有了特殊性，便会生起欲求：“我想更靠前。”“我想更接近那些看起来重要的人。” 许多团体正是以此运作。从佐鸽（Dzogchen）的视角来看，这并无助益。因为真正需要关注的，是您。别人如何练习，与您无关。您领先或落后，又如何？重要的是——您此刻在哪里？如果您在看他们做得如何，您就没有在看自己。您没有与自己同在。

You are not a thing and if you want to find that you are not a thing, don't make other people things. Otherwise, how is 'this thing' in comparison to 'that thing'? Then you are back in duality.

您并不是一个“物”。如果您想真正发现自己不是一个“物”，就不要把他人变成“物”。否则，“这个东西”如何与“那个东西”比较？您便又回到了二元结构。

Again and again, we have to dismantle many of the assumptions that we learned in school about how to work out how we are getting on, where is our place in the class, what kind of marks have we got. It is a very dualistic structure and is not at all our concern. We say, "May all beings be happy just as they are and good luck to you all."

我们一次又一次需要拆解, 那些在学校里学来的假设——如何评估自己，自己在班级里的位置如何，分数是多少。那是一种高度二元的结构，与我们此刻所关心的无关。我们只是说：“愿一切众生如其所是地自在安好，祝福您们。”

My focus of attention is my mind. When I find my mind, you are in my mind as the 'you for me'. 'You for you' has nothing to do with me because I can never get there, because if 'you for me' were a real thing then you would be other than me. The 'you for me' is my experience of you arising in the non-dual luminosity of our presence; both arise together as forms shifting and turning.

我关注的，是我的心。当我找到自己的心时，您就在我的心中——作为“对我而言的您”。 “对您而言的您”， 与我无关，因为我永远无法抗达那里。如果“对我而言的您”，真是一个独立存在的实体，那您就会在我之外。但“对我而言的您”，只是您在我们共同临在的不二明觉中升起的经验。两者同显共起，如形态的流转与转动。

Namkhai Norbu used to say, "Don't enter into judgement." In order to judge you have to have a thing which can be judged, a set of criteria for judgement, and someone who is willing to be the judge. If you have these three operating you are not doing anything called dzogchen; you are just establishing hierarchies of phenomena. You are on the outside looking in.

南开·诺布（Namkhai Norbu）曾说：“不要进入评判。”要评判，必须有一个可被评判的对象，一套评判标准，以及一个自认有资格评判的人。当这三者运作时，那并不是佐鸽（dzogchen），而只是建立现象的层级结构。那是站在外面往里看。

Remember, don't keep the mind inside and the world outside. We are not looking at something other; we are opening to the co-emergence, the integrity, the wholeness, the dzog-pa, the completion of this moment.

记住，不要把心放在里面，把世界放在外面。我们不是在看某个“他者”，而是在向同显共起、向此刻的整全与圆满——敬开。这是刹那当下一刻的圆满（dzog-pa）。