In Indian Yogic tradition, this divine secret is called kundalini shakti and is depicted as a snake who lies coiled at the base of the spine until it is released by a master's touch or by a miracle, and which then ascends up through seven chakras, or wheels (which you might also call the seven mansions of the soul), and finally through the head, exploding into union with God. These chakras do not exist in the gross body, say the Yogis, so don't look for them there; they exist only in the subtle body, in the body that the Buddhist teachers are referring to when they encourage their students to pull forth a new self from the physical body the way you pull a sword from its sheath. My friend Bob, who is both a student of Yoga and a neuros-cientist, told me that he was always agitated by this idea of the chakras, that he wanted to ac-tually see them in a dissected human body in order to believe they existed. But after a particu-larly transcendent meditative experience, he came away with a new understanding of it. He said, "Just as there exists in writing a literal truth and a poetic truth, there also exists in a hu-man being a literal anatomy and a poetic anatomy. One, you can see; one, you cannot. One is made of bones and teeth and flesh; the other is made of energy and memory and faith. But they are both equally true."
印度瑜伽传统将此种神圣秘密称作“昆达利尼莎克蒂”，其被描绘成盘旋在脊椎底部的一条蛇，因主人的触摸或神迹的显现而释放出来，而后通过能量七轮（chakras）（亦可称为七个心房）而上升，最后从脑袋钻出去，突然与神结合为一。瑜伽士说，这些轮穴不存在于肉身，因此无法在肉身上寻找；轮穴仅存在于灵性，亦即佛教导师鼓励学员从肉体之身所抽出的新的自我，好似从剑鞘抽出剑来。我的朋友鲍伯（Bob），是瑜伽学员也是神经科学家，他说他对轮穴的概念始终感到怀疑，很想在解剖学的人体上亲眼看见轮穴，始能确信其存在。然而在一次超凡的禅修体验中，他有了新层次的理解。他说：“就像写作存在着字面上的真实和诗的真实，一个人类也存在着字面上的解剖和诗的解剖。一个看得见；一个看不见。一个是由骨骼、牙齿和肌肉构成；另一个则由能量、记忆和信仰构成。两者都一样真实。”

I like it when science and devotion find places of intersection. I found an article in The New York Times recently about a team of neurologists who had wired up a volunteer Tibetan monk for experimental brain-scanning. They wanted to see what happens to a transcendent mind, scientifically speaking, during moments of enlightenment. In the mind of a normal think-ing person, an electrical storm of thoughts and impulses whirls constantly, registering on a brain scan as yellow and red flashes. The more angry or impassioned the subject becomes, the hotter and deeper those red flashes burn. But mystics across time and cultures have all described a stilling of the brain during meditation, and say that the ultimate union with God is a blue light which they can feel radiating from the center of their skulls. In Yogic tradition, this is called "the blue pearl," and it is the goal of every seeker to find it. Sure enough, this Tibetan monk, monitored during meditation, was able to quiet his mind so completely that no red or yellow flashes could be seen. In fact, all the neurological energy of this gentleman pooled and collected at last into the center of his brain—you could see it happening right there on the monitor—into a small, cool, blue pearl of light. Just like the Yogis have always described.
我喜欢科学和信仰能找到相交之处。最近我在《纽约时报》的一篇报道中读到，一群神经科专家给一名自告奋勇的藏僧通上电流，做脑部扫描实验。他们想知道，就科学而论，超凡的思维在顿悟期间发生的情况。在正常思考的脑子里，思维与冲动的风暴不停旋转，在脑部扫描器上显示出黄色与红色的闪光。实验对象愈是愤怒激动，红色闪光便烧得愈热愈旺。然而跨越时代与文化的神秘主义者都曾描述脑子在禅坐期间的平静状态，他们说，与神的终极结合是一种从脑袋中央放射出来的蓝光。瑜伽传统称之为“蓝珍珠”，是每个追寻者所找寻的目标。果然，这位在禅坐时刻受监测的藏僧，脑袋完全平静无波，看不见任何红色或黄色闪光。事实上，这位男士所有的神经能量最后都集中于脑中央——显示在监测器上——变成一个微小、冷静、珍珠般的蓝色光点，如同瑜伽士自古以来的描述。

This is the destination of the kundalini shakti.
此即“昆达利尼莎克蒂”的终极目标。

In mystical India, as in many shamanistic traditions, kundalini shakti is considered a dan-gerous force to play around with if you are unsupervised; the inexperienced Yogi could quite literally blow his mind with it. You need a teacher—a Guru—to guide you on this path, and ideally a safe place—an Ashram—from which to practice. It is said to be the Guru's touch (either literally in person, or through a more supernatural encounter, like a dream) which re-leases the bound kundalini energy from its coil at the base of the spine and allows it to begin journeying upward toward God. This moment of release is called shaktipat, divine initiation, and it is the greatest gift of an enlightened master. After that touch, the student might still labor for years toward enlightenment, but the journey has at least begun. The energy has been freed.
在神秘主义的印度，如同在许多萨满教传统中，“昆达利尼莎克蒂”被视为危险的力量，不容胡乱摆弄；若无人监督，初出茅庐的瑜伽士很可能因此让脑袋炸掉。你需要有人教导——一位导师——带你走这条路，最适合在安全地点——道场——进行禅修。据说，经由导师的触摸（无论亲自出面或透过某种神遇，比方梦境），能让盘卷受缚的“昆达利尼”能量从脊椎底部释放出来，使它得以向上朝神而去。这样的释放时刻称作“莎克蒂帕（shaktipat），即神的开引，这是一位明师所给予的最佳礼物。触摸过后，学员或许仍需努力多年，以获得开悟，但至少旅程已经展开，能量已被释放。