古印度经典《八曲仙人之歌》选（中英文）

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Ashtavakra Gita

非常古老的梵文文本《八曲仙人之歌》（也译为《阿什塔夫梵歌》）是印度最重要的哲学传统中重要的经典之一。全书共20章，以八曲仙人和国王贾纳卡之间的对话之方式，对自吠陀经典以来印度宗教和哲学所探讨的几乎所有重要问题作出了其彻底的论说，包括对原质与原人、至上自我、梵、五大元素、身体、心意与灵性、意识的四种状态，修行论中如专注、冥想、三摩地等各个环节，善恶、苦乐、悲喜，束缚与解脱，师徒传承中的经典训谕和古鲁教导，等等，提出消除无明消除私我，立足和安住于至上自我，就可以直抵瑜伽圣境即自由或解脱。

第一章：了知自性的教导

迦纳卡说：1.1 如何获真知？如何得解脱？如何离执着？祜主，请告诉我。

八曲仙人说：1.2 哦，孩子。想要得到解脱，就要避开毒药般的感官对境，而寻求甘露般的宽恕、直心、仁慈、知足与真理。

1.3 你不是地、水、火、风或空。要得解脱，就要知道自性见证这所有一切，它就是觉性。

1.4 如果不认同身体，安住在觉性中，当下你就是快乐的，平静且远离束缚。

1.5 你不属于婆罗门或任何种姓，不在任何人生阶段。你不可被感官所觉受。你独立无侣，无形象，是万事万物的见证者。开开心心。

1.6 善与恶，乐与苦，都与心有关，与你无关。哦，遍在者，你不是做者，也不是受果者。你的确从来都是解脱的。

1.7 你是万事万物的唯一观者，确实从来都是解脱的。唯一的束缚就是你自认不是观者，而是别的。

1.8 已经被“我是做者”的自我大黑蛇咬了，那就喝下“我不是做者”的信心甘露，开开心心。

1.9 “我是独一纯净觉性。”以此坚信之火，烧毁无明森林。远离悲伤，开开心心。

1.10 你就是那个觉性，是究竟妙乐，这个宇宙于你显现，如同蛇于绳上幻显。快乐地活着。

1.11 认为自己是解脱的，那就是解脱的；认为自己被束缚，那就是被束缚的。人们说：“心想事成。”确实如此。

1.12 自性是见证者，遍在、圆满、独一、自由、觉知、无作为、独立无侣、无欲、寂静。由于幻相，看起来像是陷在轮回中。

1.13 放下与外在及内在的认同，放下“我是折射的自性”的幻觉。坚定认同不动、觉知、不二的真我。

1.14 我的孩子！你已被长久缠缚在“身觉”的套索中，用“我是觉性”的真知宝剑来斩断，开开心心。

1.15 你从来就是独立无侣、无作为、自明而离垢的。修行三摩地真的就是你的束缚。

1.16 你遍在于这个宇宙，宇宙也在你之中。你真的本来就是纯净觉性。不要隘于狭小的心中。

1.17 你无因缘、不变易、无形象、离热恼，是深不可测的觉知，无扰动。只渴求觉性吧。

1.18 知道有形象的都不真实，无形的是恒常。由于这个教导，你不会再度转世。

1.19 就像镜面存在于镜像的内与外。无上祜主存在于身体的内与外。

1.20就像同一且遍在的虚空存在于罐子的内和外，永恒遍在的梵存在于万物之中。

Janaka said:

How is one to acquire knowledge? How is one to attain liberation? And how is one to reach dispassion? Tell me this, sir. 1.1

Ashtavakra said:

If you are seeking liberation, my son, avoid the objects of the senses like poison and cultivate tolerance, sincerity, compassion, contentment, and truthfulness as the antidote. 1.2

You do not consist of any of the elements — earth, water, fire, air, or even ether. To be liberated, know yourself as consisting of consciousness, the witness of these. 1.3

If only you will remain resting in consciousness, seeing yourself as distinct from the body, then even now you will become happy, peaceful and free from bonds. 1.4

You do not belong to the brahmin or any other caste, you are not at any stage, nor are you anything that the eye can see. You are unattached and formless, the witness of everything — so be happy. 1.5

Righteousness and unrighteousness, pleasure and pain are purely of the mind and are no concern of yours. You are neither the doer nor the reaper of the consequences, so you are always free. 1.6

You are the one witness of everything and are always completely free. The cause of your bondage is that you see the witness as something other than this. 1.7

Since you have been bitten by the black snake, the opinion about yourself that “I am the doer,” drink the antidote of faith in the fact that “I am not the doer,” and be happy. 1.8

Burn down the forest of ignorance with the fire of the understanding that “I am the one pure awareness,” and be happy and free from distress. 1.9

That in which all this — imagined like the snake in a rope — appears: that joy, supreme joy, and awareness is what you are, so be happy. 1.10

If one thinks of oneself as free, one is free, and if one thinks of oneself as bound, one is bound. Here this saying is true, “Thinking makes it so.” 1.11

Your real nature is as the one perfect, free, and actionless consciousness, the all-pervading witness — unattached to anything, desireless and at peace. It is from illusion that you seem to be involved in samsara. 1.12

Meditate on yourself as motionless awareness, free from any dualism, giving up the mistaken idea that you are just a derivative consciousness or anything external or internal. 1.13

You have long been trapped in the snare of identification with the body. Sever it with the knife of knowledge that “I am awareness,” and be happy, my son. 1.14

You are really unbound and actionless, self-illuminating and spotless already. The cause of your bondage is that you are still resorting to stilling the mind. 1.15

All of this is really filled by you and strung out in you, for what you consist of is pure awareness — so don’t be small-minded. 1.16

You are unconditioned and changeless, formless and immovable, unfathomable awareness, unperturbable: so hold to nothing but consciousness. 1.17

Recognise that the apparent is unreal, while the unmanifest is abiding. Through this initiation into truth you will escape falling into unreality again. 1.18

Just as a mirror exists everywhere both within and apart from its reflected images, so the Supreme Lord exists everywhere within and apart from this body. 1.19

Just as one and the same all-pervading space exists within and without a jar, so the eternal, everlasting God exists in the totality of things. 1.20

第二章：弟子见性的喜悦

迦纳卡说：2.1 阿吙，我是无染、宁静的觉性，超越世间。一直以来，我都被幻相欺骗。

2.2 独一之我照亮了身体和宇宙。所以整个宇宙都是我的，或者事实上什么都不是我的。

2.3 阿吙！现在由于老师的智慧，我已经放弃了身体和全世界，我只见究竟自性。

2.4 正如波浪、泡沫和水泡与水无别，宇宙来源于自性，与自性无别。

2.5 分析一块布，只是丝线；分析宇宙，只是自性。

2.6 蔗糖产于甘蔗汁，完全被甘蔗汁充满；万物生于我之中，彻彻底底被我浸透。

2.7 世界由不知自性而显现，由了知自性而消失。确实，就像没认出绳子，蛇就出现；认出绳子，蛇就消失了。

2.8 光是我的真正本质，我与之无二。宇宙显现时，真的只是我在闪耀。

2.9 阿吙，由无明而见宇宙在我之内显现，如同见贝壳是银子，见绳子是蛇，见阳焰是水。

2.10 如同陶罐消融于泥土，波浪入于水，手镯入于金子，宇宙源自于我，定然会消融于我。

2.11 阿吙，我！我顶礼我。我不会衰败。即使上至梵天下至草叶一切摧毁，我依然不死。

2.12 阿吙，我！我顶礼我。即使带着身体，我依然是一，不来也不去，遍于一切处。

2.13 阿吙，我！我顶礼我。没有谁如我这般有能力。我恒时无尽承载着世界，身体却不触碰丝毫。

2.14 阿吙，我！我顶礼我。我一无所有，或者说拥有一切言语和思议所及的。

2.15 了知、所知和知者，三者在实相中并不存在。我是那个无染的自性。由于无明，三者在我之中显现。

2.16 阿吙！二元是苦厄的根源。没有别的药方，除了了悟一切可见的对境全都虚妄不实，而我是纯净的、独一的，是觉性与大乐。

2.17 我是纯净觉性。由于无明，我给自己强加了各种限定。恒常如此坚信，我安住在无分别中。

2.18 我不受束缚也没有解脱。这幻相失去支撑，已经停息了。阿吙，尽管宇宙在我之中，实际上也并不存在于我之中。

2.19 我已经确知宇宙和身体无实体，而自性只是纯净觉性，如此，妄想还能站在什么基础上呢？

2.20 身体、天界地狱、束缚解脱以及恐惧都不过是妄想。我和这些有什么关系？我的本质是觉性。

2.21 阿吙，我不见任何二元。即使是人群也变成荒林。我又能执着什么呢？

2.22 我不是身体，也没有身体。我不是个体，我确实是觉性。渴望活着真的是我的束缚。

2.23 阿吙，在我这无限大海中，心识之风一起，就涌起各类世界波浪。

2.24 在我这无限大海中，心识之风平息，个我这商贩的世界之舟也就不幸沉没了。

2.25 多么殊胜！在我这无垠大海中，个我的波浪随其天性纷纷升起、碰撞、嬉戏一阵又消失。

Janaka said:

Truly I am spotless and at peace, the awareness beyond natural causality. All this time I have been afflicted by delusion. 2.1

As I alone give light to this body, so I do to the world. As a result the whole world is mine, or alternatively nothing is. 2.2

So now that I have abandoned the body and everything else, by good fortune my true self becomes apparent. 2.3

Waves, foam, and bubbles do not differ from water. In the same way, all this which has emanated from oneself is no other than oneself. 2.4

When you analyse it, cloth is found to be just thread. In the same way, when all this is analysed it is found to be no other than oneself. 2.5

The sugar produced from the juice of the sugarcane is permeated throughout with the same taste. In the same way, all this, produced out of me, is completely permeated with myself. 2.6

From ignorance of oneself, the world appears, and by knowledge of oneself it appears no longer. From ignorance of the rope it appears to be a snake, and by knowledge of it it does so no longer. 2.7

Shining is my essential nature, and I am nothing other than that. When the world shines forth, it is only me that is shining forth. 2.8

All this appears in me imagined due to ignorance, just as a snake appears in the rope, the mirage of water in the sunlight, and silver in mother of pearl. 2.9

All this, which has originated out of me, is resolved back into me too, like a jug back into clay, a wave into water, and a bracelet into gold. 2.10

How wonderful I am! Glory to me, for whom there is no destruction, remaining even beyond the destruction of the world from Brahma down to the last clump of grass. 2.11

How wonderful I am! Glory to me, solitary even though with a body, neither going or coming anywhere, I who abide forever, filling all that is. 2.12

How wonderful I am! Glory to me! There is no one so clever as me! I who have borne all that is forever, without even touching it with my body! 2.13

How wonderful I am! Glory to me! I who possess nothing at all, or alternatively possess everything that speech and mind can refer to. 2.14

Knowledge, what is to be known, and the knower — these three do not exist in reality. I am the spotless reality in which they appear because of ignorance. 2.15

Truly dualism is the root of suffering. There is no other remedy for it than the realisation that all this that we see is unreal, and that I am the one stainless reality, consisting of consciousness. 2.16

I am pure awareness though through ignorance I have imagined myself to have additional attributes. By continually reflecting like this, my dwelling place is in the Unimagined. 2.17

For me here is neither bondage nor liberation. The illusion has lost its basis and ceased. Truly all this exists in me, though ultimately it does not even exist in me. 2.18

Recognising that all this and my body too are nothing, while my true self is nothing but pure consciousness, what is there left for the imagination to work on now? 2.19

The body, heaven and hell, bondage and liberation, and fear too, all this is pure imagination. What is there left to do for me whose very nature is consciousness? 2.20

I do not even see dualism in a crowd of people, so what do I gain if it is replaced by a desert? 2.21

I am not the body, nor is the body mine. I am not a living being. I am consciousness. It was my thirst for living that was my bondage. 2.22

Truly it is in the infinite ocean of myself, that, stimulated by the colourful waves of the world, everything suddenly arises in the wind of consciousness. 2.23

In the infinite ocean of myself, the wind of thought subsides, and the world boat of the living-being traders is wrecked by lack of goods. 2.24

How wonderful it is that in the infinite ocean of myself the waves of living beings arise, collide, play, and disappear, in accordance with their nature. 2.25

第三章：进一步的指导

八曲仙人说：3.1 已经知道自性的真实本性不可摧毁，就是一。定于智慧且了知自性的你，怎么还会热衷于拥有财富呢？

3.2 阿吙，因为不识自性，对虚幻的感官对境生起执着。就像由于不识贝壳，对银子的幻相生起贪心。

3.3 已经了悟“我就是那个”，宇宙在其中显现，如同海上的波浪。你为什么还要像条可怜虫那样四处奔波呢？

3.4 已经听闻自性是纯净觉性，美得无与伦比。怎么可能还深陷情欲，堕落不净？

3.5 怪哉，已经认识到我在万法之中，而万法也在我之中的智者，他的自我感还会继续。

3.6 怪哉，安住无上不二，志心解脱的人，依然为情欲摇动，被性爱的习气搅扰。

3.7 怪哉，明白色欲是真知之敌，已极度衰弱的人，临死之际依然渴望性爱满足。

3.8 怪哉，不执着此世和来生，能分辨无常与永恒，并渴望解脱的人，却会害怕解脱（身体的死亡）。

3.9 无论是受供养还是被折磨，心不受扰动之人确实从来只见究竟自性。他既不喜悦也不嗔怒。

3.10 伟大者见自身行为就像是别人所为，怎么会被赞扬或指责烦恼？

3.11 定于智慧之人认识到宇宙只不过是幻相，失去了所有兴趣，怎么会害怕死亡临近？

3.12 谁能与这圣雄比较呢？他满足于了知自性，甚至不追求解脱。

3.13 心不受扰动之人，了解感官对境的本性非实有，为什么还会接受这个，舍弃那个呢？

3.14 心里已放下对世间的兴趣，超越二元对待的离欲之人，对他来说，任何经历对境都是理所当然的，不会带来快乐或痛苦。

Ashtavakra said:

Knowing yourself as truly one and indestructible, how could a wise man possessing self-knowledge like you feel any pleasure in acquiring wealth? 3.1

Truly, when one does not know oneself, one takes pleasure in the objects of mistaken perception, just as greed arises for the mistaken silver in one who does not know mother of pearl for what it is. 3.2

All this wells up like waves in the sea. Recognising, “I am That,” why run around like someone in need? 3.3

After hearing of oneself as pure consciousness and the supremely beautiful, is one to go on lusting after sordid sexual objects? 3.4

When the sage has realised that he himself is in all beings, and all beings are in him, it is astonishing that the sense of individuality should be able to continue. 3.5

It is astonishing that a man who has reached the supreme nondual state and is intent on the benefits of liberation should still be subject to lust and in bondage to sexual activity. 3.6

It is astonishing that one already very debilitated, and knowing very well that its arousal is the enemy of knowledge, should still hanker after sensuality, even when approaching his last days. 3.7

It is astonishing that one who is unattached to the things of this world or the next, who discriminates between the permanent and the impermanent, and who longs for liberation, should still be afraid of liberation. 3.8

Whether feted or tormented, the wise man is always aware of his supreme self-nature and is neither pleased nor disappointed. 3.9

The great-souled person sees even his own body in action as if it were someone else’s, so how should he be disturbed by praise or blame? 3.10

Seeing this world as pure illusion, and devoid of any interest in it, how should the strong-minded person feel fear, even at the approach of death? 3.11

Who can be compared to the great-souled person whose mind is free from desire even in disappointment, and who has found satisfaction in self-knowledge? 3.12

How should a strong-minded person who knows that what he sees is by its very nature nothing, consider one thing to be grasped and another to be rejected? 3.13

An object of enjoyment that comes of itself is neither painful nor pleasurable for someone who has eliminated attachment, and who is free from dualism and from desire. 3.14

第四章：弟子自呈见地

迦纳卡说：4.1 哦，杀贼者！了知自性者，定于智慧者，尽管在世间游戏，与迷惘在轮回的野兽完全不同。

4.2 因陀罗等天神渴求瑜伽士的境界，郁郁不乐；阿吙，瑜伽士安住此境界，并不觉欣喜。

4.3 了悟自性者，他的心不被善恶影响，如同天空不为烟尘所触，尽管看似如此。

4.4 明白全宇宙唯是自性的圣雄，谁能妨碍他任运而为呢？

4.5 从梵天到草叶的四类生灵中，只有智者才能放下贪爱和嗔恨。

4.6 罕有人知道自性无二，是宇宙之主。他心里出现什么，就做什么，无所畏惧。

Ashtavakra said:

The wise person of self-knowledge, playing the game of worldly enjoyment, bears no resemblance whatever to samsara’s bewildered beasts of burden. 4.1

Truly the yogi feels no excitement even at being established in that state which all the Devas from Indra down yearn for disconsolately. 4.2

He who has known That is untouched within by good deeds or bad, just as space is not touched by smoke, however much it may appear to be. 4.3

Who can prevent the great-souled person who has known this whole world as himself from living as he pleases? 4.4

Of all four categories of beings, from Brahma down to the last clump of grass, only the man of knowledge is capable of eliminating desire and aversion. 4.5

Rare is the man who knows himself as the nondual Lord of the world, and he who knows this is not afraid of anything. 4.6