Listen to this articlexīnzhāi 心斋
Pure State of the Mind
心灵进入完全虚静的状态。“心斋”一说出自《庄子·人间世》，书中借由孔子之口向颜回讲解“心斋”之义。庄子认为，耳和心在感知外物时，有彼我、是非之别。而气则虚无恬淡，处于万物之中而不与之分别、冲突。因此应使心变得如气一般虚无，与外物相接触，却不与之分别、对立。心游离于事物之外，摆脱事物的限制与影响，这便是“心斋”。
The term refers to a state of mind that is completely empty and void. It originates from the book Zhuangzi, in which the meaning of the term was explained by Confucius to Yan Hui. Zhuangzi believed that one’s ears and heart distinguish between oneself and others and between right and wrong, while qi (气 vital force), shapeless and empty, exists in everything and does not come into conflict with anything. Therefore, one’s mind should be empty like qi when coming into contact with external things so that one will not be different or clash with them. When one’s mind roams beyond physical things, freeing itself from the constraints and influence of other things, it maintains a state known as the “pure state of mind.”
引例 Citation：
◎回曰：“敢问心斋。”仲尼曰：“若一志，无听之以耳而听之以心，无听之以心而听之以气！听止于耳，心止于符。气也者，虚而待物者也。唯道集虚，虚者，心斋也。”（《庄子·人间世》）
（颜回说：“请问什么是‘心斋’？”孔子说：“你心志专一，不用耳去听而用心去体悟，不用心去体悟而用气去感应。耳的作用止于聆听外物，心的作用止于应合事物。气乃是虚无而能容纳外物的。道只能集于虚无之气中，虚静的心灵就是‘心斋’。”）
Yan Hui said, “Could I ask what ‘the pure state of the mind’ means?” Confucius answered, “You should get totally focused. You need not listen with your ears but listen with your mind; you need not even listen with your mind but listen with qi. Listening stops at the ears, and the mind reaches only what fits it. Qi is empty and accommodates all external things. Only Dao gathers in the empty, and the emptiness and peacefulness bring about the pure state of the mind.” (Zhuangzi)
