Before you fall into a deep sleep, there are so-called thoughts between falling asleep and dreaming. Before you actually fall asleep and you are still in the process of falling asleep, thoughts arise and sounds are still faintly heard. You have a sense of the body's becoming very torpid and a sense of becoming pressed into darkness. You also have a sense of the experience of deep breathing as you begin to relax. Right after that, there is a sensation of numbness at the point midway between the eyes. At that time, you will begin to feel vague impressions of people, animals, environments, or whatever your recent mental impressions are. These vague mental impressions are the cause for the dream. The dream you will have actually arises as the result of these impressions. If you recognize this, this is your chance to recognize the dream, like threading a needle right through the eye, and you will immediately enter the dream and apprehend it.
在你入睡之前,存在著所謂的入睡與作夢之間的念頭。在你真正入睡之前,你仍處於入睡的過程中,念頭浮現,聲音仍然隱約可聞。你會感覺到身體變得非常遲鈍,並感到被壓入黑暗之中。當你開始放鬆時,你還會有深呼吸的感覺。在那之後,在兩眼中央的位置會有麻木感。此時,你將開始對人、動物、環境,或你最近的心理印象感到印象模糊。這些模糊的心理印象便是作夢的因。你作的夢確實是這些印象生起的結果。如果你認出這一點,這就是你知夢的機會,就像引線穿過針眼,你將立即進入夢中並認知它。
This is called a bardo or intermediate period, because, when the dream phenomena begin to arise, your state of awareness moves from the waking state to the dream state. The last indications before this are the vague impression, the numbness sensation, the torpid feeling, and so forth that ware just explained. In particular, it is the vague mental impressions which then uncontrollably become the dream state, like a thread going into the eye of a needle. This is almost identical to the stages of dissolution that occur when the intermediate state of your current birth changes to the moment of death. The moment of death is identical to falling asleep in that sounds are faintly heard, the body becomes torpid, and mental impression are vague and unclear. Although you may be surrounded by people as you approach the moment of death, the mind is no longer able to grasp onto the fading objective appearances of that life. Then you enter into the moment of death. (p. 110 )
這被稱為「中陰」,因為當夢境開始生起時,你的意識狀態即從醒時狀態轉為作夢狀態。在此之前最後的顯示是模糊的印象、缺乏感知,遲鈍的感覺等等剛才所解釋的。尤其是,模糊的心理印象隨後無可控制地變成了夢境,就像引線穿入針眼般。 這幾乎與你從目前出生直到臨終時刻的中陰狀態所發生的消融階段相同。死亡的那一刻等同於入睡,入睡之際耳朵聽覺微弱,身體感覺遲鈍,心理印象模糊不清。儘管當你接近死亡之際,可能會被人圍繞著,但心不再能夠抓住此生消退的客觀表象。然後,你即進入死亡時刻。