念Mindfulness
別境五之第三。明記不忘為性，定依為業。
漢zh · Xuanzang 譯
別境五之第三。明記不忘為性，定依為業。
經
[共傳] 《雜阿含經》卷二十六（五根相應），經 646：
念根者，當知是四念處。
——五根之念根即攝四念處全部修法。
四念處之核心句則在卷二十四念處相應經 605（對應 MN 10 / DN 22）：
若比丘內身身觀念處，精勤方便，正念正智，調伏世間貪憂；於外身、內外身……受、心、法亦復如是。
[大乘] 《華嚴經》卷五十八（離世間品）：
念慧隨覺未曾散亂……正念觀察，調伏己情，守護他意。
論
《成唯識論》卷五：
於曾習境，令心明記不忘為性，定依為業。謂數憶持曾所受境，令不忘失，能引定故。於曾未受體、類境中，全不起念。
按：三層引文呈念義之縱深——阿含立念根 = 四念處（SA 646），以正念、正智並列，念從不孤起；大乘《華嚴》進一步標「念慧隨覺未曾散亂」，念慧二者相伴於大乘觀行；唯識論則於心所層面定義念為「於曾習境，令心明記不忘」，並顯化其功能為「定依」——明置念為定（→#17）之上游，完成修習鏈之節點。念所緣「曾習境」（已聞已學之境），正指聞思在修之前，念方有所持。
梵saṃskṛta
√smṛ（憶、記）——印歐祖語 *(s)mer-「記、念、思憶」。拉丁同源：memor（記憶）；英文 memory, remember, memorial, commemorate 皆出此根。
⚠ In Review · 注意：印歐祖語 *(s)mer-（記）與印歐祖語 *men-（思）為兩個不同 root——前者孳乳 smṛti / memor / memory；後者孳乳 manas / mens / mind / manaskāra（→#10 作意）/ 末那（→#07 manas-vijñāna）。故念（smṛti）與末那（manas）梵語語源不同根，雖中文皆涉「心識」義，不可混淆。現代英語「mindfulness」一詞所從之 mind 屬印歐祖語 *men- 系而非 *(s)mer- 系，譯詞與梵語語源之間有隱性脫節，值得記錄。
《阿毘達磨集論》（阿毘達磨-samuccaya，Pradhan 校本，saṃskāra-skandha 心所列定義）：
smṛtiḥ katamā / saṃstute vastuni cetasaḥ asaṃpramoṣo 'vikṣepa-karmikā //
何為念？於所串習境（saṃstuta-vastu，「曾熟悉之境」），心之不忘失（asaṃpramoṣa）為性。不散亂（avikṣepa）為業。
Asg 之功能為 avikṣepa（不散亂），玄奘譯為「定依為業」——此非逐語素仿譯，而是瑜伽行派詮釋上之顯化：明白將念置為定（→#17）之上游，完成信（→#19）→ 欲（→#14）→ 精進 → 念 → 定（→#17）→ 慧（→#18） 之修習鏈之文字表達。Asg 原文中此前向性為隱含（avikṣepa 即 samādhi 之近緣），玄奘將其明確。
按：saṃstuta-vastu* = 《成唯識論》「曾習境」（逐字）；asaṃpramoṣa = 《成唯識論》「明記不忘」之「不忘」（「明記」為玄奘加詞，強化記持之清晰性）。念之所緣必為「曾習境」——從未接觸之境無法生起念；故正念之前提為正聞正思，無聞法所緣，念持即無所附。勝解（→#15）鎖定決定境，念（本條）持守此境不失，二者銜接于心。*
巴pāḷi
別境心所（pakiṇṇaka cetasika）。五根之一（satindriya），五力之一（satibala），七覺支之一（sati-sambojjhaṅga），八正道之一（sammā-sati）。三十七道品中出現次數最多之心所。
經
《中部》MN 10 Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta 與《長部》DN 22 Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta（同一開首段；DN 22 為展開版含四聖諦詳釋，MN 10 為簡略版）：
Ekāyano ayaṃ, bhikkhave, maggo sattānaṃ visuddhiyā, sokaparidevānaṃ samatikkamāya, dukkhadomanassānaṃ atthaṅgamāya, ñāyassa adhigamāya, nibbānassa sacchikiriyāya — yadidaṃ cattāro satipaṭṭhānā.
Idha, bhikkhave, bhikkhu kāye kāyānupassī viharati ātāpī sampajāno satimā, vineyya loke abhijjhādomanassaṃ; vedanāsu vedanānupassī ... citte cittānupassī ... dhammesu dhammānupassī viharati ātāpī sampajāno satimā, vineyya loke abhijjhādomanassaṃ.
比丘！一乘道為眾生清淨、為超越愁悲、為滅苦憂、為證如理、為作證涅槃——即四念處。
比丘於身觀身而住，勤、正知、具念（ātāpī sampajāno satimā），已調伏世間貪憂；於受、於心、於法亦復如是。
按：sati* 從不孤起；經典之配套常為三 cetasikas 之 yoking——ātāpī（勤精進）+ sampajāno（正知）+ satimā（具念）。孤立之「念」非 satipaṭṭhāna 之念；勤精進即欲（→#14）與精進之業用，正知即慧（→#18）之近緣，正念為二者之連結；三者同起，方成四念處修法。*
論
《清淨道論》XIV.141（行蘊·別境）以四相分析念：
| 四相 | Pāli | 漢譯 |
|---|---|---|
| 相（lakkhaṇa） | apilāpana | 不浮失（如石不浮於水，非如葫蘆浮蕩） |
| 業（rasa） | asammosa / asammusana | 不忘失 |
| 現（paccupaṭṭhāna） | ārakkha / visayābhimukhī-bhāva | 守護／面對所緣 |
| 足處（padaṭṭhāna） | thirasaññā / kāyādi-satipaṭṭhāna | 堅固之想／四念處本身 |
Vism 加石不浮水之喻：udake alābu viya na pilavati——念如石，持境如石沉水底，非如葫蘆浮蕩。
按：Asg asaṃpramoṣa 與 Vism asammosa / asammusana 為梵巴同形複合詞：a-（非）+ saṃ-（盡）+ pra-muṣ/pa-mus（失／忘）。南北傳於念之核心 morpheme「不失／不忘」字字對應，為別境 morphemic 共傳系列之第二例（第一例：欲之 kartṛ-kāmatā ↔ kattu-kamyatā，→#14）。Vism 四相暗藏念之雙極性：記持極（saraṇa / asaṃpramoṣa*——持守過去所學）+ 當下極（apilāpana / ārakkha——守護當下境）。所謂「現代正念偏重當下、唯識念偏重記持」之分，兩極實皆在 Vism 原典，念同時是「記得」與「在場」。*
漢綜述zh-synthesis
「念」之梵文 smṛti 源自 √smṛ「憶、記」——印歐祖語 *(s)mer-「記、念、思憶」。同根於拉丁 memor（記憶）；英文 memory、remember、memorial、commemorate 皆出此根。⚠️ 重要區分：印歐祖語 *(s)mer-（記）與 *men-（思）為兩個不同根——前者孳乳 smṛti / memor / memory；後者孳乳 manas / mens / mind / manaskāra（→#10 作意）/ 末那（→#07 manas-vijñāna）。故念（smṛti）與末那（manas）梵語語源不同根，雖漢文皆涉「心識」義，不可混淆。Pāli sati 直承同義而無形態繼承（sati 非 smṛti 之規律縮音，為 Pāli 獨立詞形）。現代英譯「mindfulness」一詞之 mind 屬 *men- 系而非 *(s)mer- 系，故「mindfulness」與梵文 smṛti 之語源之間存在隱性脫節——慣譯保留，精讀者應知此差。
《阿毘達磨集論》定義念（別境五之第三）：「smṛtiḥ katamā / saṃstute vastuni cetasaḥ asaṃpramoṣo 'vikṣepa-karmikā //」——「於所串習境（saṃstuta-vastu，「曾熟悉之境」），心之不忘失（asaṃpramoṣa）為性；不散亂（avikṣepa）為業。」《成唯識論》卷五「於曾習境，令心明記不忘為性，定依為業」對應此梵文：saṃstuta-vastu = 曾習境；asaṃpramoṣa = 明記不忘（玄奘加「明記」以強化清晰義）。然 Asg 之功能子句為 avikṣepa（不散亂），玄奘譯為「定依為業」——此非逐語素仿譯，乃唯識詮釋之顯化：明確將念置為定（→#17）之上游，令 Asg 中隱含之「avikṣepa ≈ samādhi 之近緣」成為明確之功能子句聲明。此顯化即 Asg 隱含意之玄奘明確化（鏈架構詳 #17 paradigm）。念之所緣必為「曾習境」——未聞正法者無從生起正念；聞思在修前，念方有所持。
《雜阿含》卷二十六 SA 646（五根相應）：「念根者，當知是四念處。」《中部》MN 10 / 《長部》DN 22 開首「Ekāyano ayaṃ, bhikkhave, maggo」一段確立四念處為「一乘道」；念之修習配套定型句「ātāpī sampajāno satimā」（勤、正知、具念）顯示念從不孤起——三者同至，方成四念處修法。念於三十七道品中分佈廣泛——念根（satindriya）、念力（satibala）、念覺支（sati-sambojjhaṅga）、正念（sammā-sati）四道品階皆以念命名，其中念根攝四念處（SA 646「念根者，當知是四念處」）。《清淨道論》XIV.141 以四相析念：相 apilāpana（不浮失，「如石沉水底、非如葫蘆浮蕩」——udake alābu viya na pilavati）、業 asammosa（不忘失）、現 ārakkha（守護）、足處 thirasaññā（堅固之想）/ 四念處本身。Asg asaṃpramoṣa 與 Vism asammosa / asammusana 為梵巴同形複合詞：a-（非）+ saṃ-（盡）+ pra-muṣ / pa-mus（失／忘）——南北傳於念之核心「不失／不忘」字字對應，為別境形態共傳系列之第二例（第一例：欲之 kartṛ-kāmatā ↔ kattu-kamyatā，→#14）。Vism 四相亦隱含念之雙極：記持極（saraṇa / asaṃpramoṣa——持守所學）+ 當下極（apilāpana / ārakkha——守護所緣）；所謂「現代正念偏重當下、唯識念偏重記持」之對立，兩極實皆在 Vism 原典之內。
念緣「曾習境」——所緣必為已聞已學之境，故正念之前提為正聞正思。未植聞法之種，念無所附；勝解（→#15）鎖定已決定之境，念（本條）持此境不失，二者於修習上銜接。念之功能 avikṣepa（不散亂）為定（→#17）之直接所依——念持所緣不失，心乃能專注，定乃能建立；《成唯識論》「定依為業」之顯化正是此修習事實之論藏語言。「ātāpī sampajāno satimā」之三 cetasika 配套亦示：念無精進（欲→精進，→#14）則靠不住，念無正知（慧，→#18）則持而不解——別境五之修習鏈於此配套中已有 sutta 層面之印證。念通三性：念緣煩惱境與邪念相應；念緣正法境方為正念（sammā-sati）。
玄奘以「念」取 smṛti，漢字已含「記持不忘」之義，合 Asg asaṃpramoṣa 之核心。英譯 Mindfulness（現代通行）橋接於 mind（← *men-），語源上與 smṛti（← *(s)mer-）存在隱性脫節；然此為慣例，無礙行用。Recollection（聖典學界早期譯）更貼近 *(s)mer- 之記持義，然現代讀者已生疏。⭐ 念居精進之後、定（→#17）之前；功能 avikṣepa 為定之直接所依；別境五中，失念（→#53 muṣitasmṛti）為念之染位。
念 ——於曾習境，令心明記不忘為性；定依為業。
英綜述en-synthesis
Sanskrit smṛti derives from √smṛ "to remember, recollect," reflecting PIE *(s)mer- "to remember, be mindful." The cognates run cleanly across Indo-European: Latin memor ("mindful, remembering"), memoria → English memory, remember, memorial, commemorate; Greek mérimna (care, mindful concern); Avestan mar-. A precision worth preserving: the PIE root underlying smṛti is *(s)mer-, not *men- "to think." The latter root yields manas (#07, seventh consciousness), manaskāra (#10, attention), and manas-vijñāna. Smṛti and manas are etymologically unrelated, despite both falling under the Chinese rubric of mind-functions. T.W. Rhys Davids's 1881 coinage "mindfulness" bridges into the mind / manas family (PIE *men-) and so papers over a Sanskrit-internal distinction that is doctrinally relevant in Yogācāra, where 念 is a viniyata cetasika and 末那 is the seventh consciousness — distinct categories with different etymological pedigrees. The convention "mindfulness" is here retained but the etymological caveat noted.
Smṛti is the third of the five object-determining mental factors (viniyata, 別境五) and — in Theravāda — the most-cited mental factor in the entire thirty-seven aids to awakening: it appears as satindriya, satibala, sati-sambojjhaṅga, and sammā-sati. Asaṅga's Abhidharma-samuccaya defines it as saṃstute vastuni cetasaḥ asaṃpramoṣaḥ avikṣepa-karmikā — "with respect to a familiar object, the mind's non-loss; non-distraction is its function." Two precisions: (i) the object must already be familiar — smṛti never operates on the wholly novel; without prior learning, mindfulness has no object to hold; (ii) the function in Asg is non-distraction (avikṣepa). Xuanzang makes a structural innovation Asaṅga left implicit — rendering the function as 定依為業 ("providing the basis for samādhi"). This forwarding-claim is the doctrinal move by which the Yogācāra cultivation chain śraddhā (→#19) → chanda (→#14) → vīrya → smṛti → samādhi (→#17) → prajñā (→#18) becomes a function-clause-level chain rather than a mere ordering. Asaṅga's avikṣepa implies samādhi's upstream-condition; Xuanzang makes it explicit.
The convergence on non-loss. Across separate transmission lines, Asaṅga's asaṃpramoṣa and Visuddhimagga XIV.141's asammosa / asammusana are direct Sanskrit-Pāli twins — a- (not) + saṃ- (entirely) + pra-muṣ / pa-mus (forget). Xuanzang's 不忘 falls exactly on this morpheme. Visuddhimagga gives the four-fold: characteristic apilāpana (not-floating; a stone resting on the bottom, not a gourd bobbing on the surface — udake alābu viya na pilavati); function asammosa (non-forgetting); manifestation ārakkha (guarding); proximate cause thirasaññā (firm perception) or the four foundations themselves. Two poles of smṛti are encoded in the four-fold: the memory-pole (saraṇa, asaṃpramoṣa, asammosa — retaining what was learned) and the presence-pole (apilāpana, ārakkha, visayābhimukhī-bhāva — facing the present object). Both belong to smṛti in canon.
The Saṃyukta-āgama (SA 646) gives the schematic equation 念根 = 四念處; the fuller exposition at SA 605 / MN 10 / DN 22 gives the canonical triad ātāpī sampajāno satimā — ardent, clearly-knowing, mindful. Smṛti never arises alone in the sutta corpus; its canonical companions are vīrya (ardour) and prajñā-adjacent sampajaññā (clear comprehension). Sati without ātāpī (energy, upstream from smṛti in the cultivation chain) lapses; sati without sampajaññā holds without understanding. The canonical triad is the 別境 cultivation chain in miniature: aspiration (chanda, →#14) fuels ātāpī; resolve (adhimokṣa, →#15) anchors the yoke; smṛti holds the object; samādhi (→#17) deepens; prajñā (→#18) discerns.
Smṛti is morally neutral — there is a mithyā-smṛti (邪念) just as there is a sammā-sati (正念). What orients smṛti toward liberation is the object it holds. The Cheng Weishi Lun notes 「於曾未受體、類境中，全不起念」 — mindfulness does not fabricate a new object; it holds what has already been received and familiarized. This is why the practitioner's work begins with hearing (聞): the seed must be planted before smṛti can hold it. Without formal Dharma study — without the 所串習境 / saṃstuta-vastu being first established — smṛti has nothing to retain. The modern simplification of "mindfulness" to bare attentional presence, unmoored from prior learning, strips away this upstream condition. Contemplative smṛti in the Yogācāra sense is always situated mindfulness: remembering what has been taught, verified by resolve (→#15), now held in samādhi (→#17).
Mindfulness — with respect to a familiar object, the mind's non-loss: this is its nature. To produce non-distraction, and so to provide the basis on which concentration takes hold: this is its function.
譯translator's note
譯者按： 念為一切部派共許之別境心所，亦三十七道品中反覆出現之核心法：念根、念力、念覺支、正念。念緣「曾習境」——未聞正法者無從生起正念，聞思在修前；念之業用為「定依」（→#17），念持所緣不失，心乃專注，定乃建立；現代「正念」（mindfulness）偏重「活在當下」，然覺察當下之能力建立在對過去所學之穩定記持之上，二極皆在原典（Vism 記持極 + 當下極）。