通向涅槃的渡口之道路

We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep. I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor. It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts. Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour. If we refused, or rather used up, such paltry information as we get, the oracles would distinctly inform us how this might be done.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to "glorify God and enjoy him forever."

早上，餵過小狗，吃過早餐以後，我就開始看梭羅的《湖濱散記》。而通常等到樓下機車行開門營業時，我已經開始我的修行了。『與其給我愛、金錢或名譽，不如給我真理。(Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.)』而欲證真理，必先修行。僧叡說：「禪法者，向道之初門，泥洹(涅槃)之津徑也。」所以修習禪法只能到渡口，要過河還得搭船。修習禪法的結果也有可能跟吃搖頭丸一樣，不過是幻覺的產生而已；禪定也只是有如動物的冬眠，然而還是值得一試。因為它是一種有意識的心靈努力。『人，絶對有能力用有意識的努力來提升自己的生命。』這是梭羅所發現最是鼓舞人心的事實。即使參禪的結果和使用毒品或冬眠一樣，其過程也不會是相同的。

以前，安可先生曾和哲學家有過這樣的對話：

哲學家：聽說你認為”自我”是不存在的？

王安可：我所讀的佛書是這麼教誨的。

哲學家：相信我，兄弟！你的”自我”正理直氣壯地訴說自己的存在 ── 這個有創造力、有意志、有價值的”自我”，便是權衡一切萬物的標準。

王安可：莫非是說「人是萬物的尺度」？

哲學家：正是。這個最純正的存在，自我 ── 即使當它在冥想、狂嘯、或以折翼飄飛時，也還訴說著肉體、意想著肉體。相信我，兄弟！只有病人和將死者才會鄙視肉體與大地，並且虛構一個天堂世界。然而，是誰給予他們解脫時的那份激動與狂喜呢？不仍是肉體和大地嗎？

王安可：應該不是這樣的。確實有些信佛的人是病者和將死者，但解脫的喜悅並不是肉體所能給予的。

哲學家：那是什麼給予的呢？”自覺”能不靠”自我”？

王安可：我也不知道。不過佛教認為涅槃的境界「唯聖者所知」，不能以經驗上的有、無、來、去等概念來測度，是不可思議的解脫境界。

哲學家：兄弟！還是聽聽一個健康肉體的語調吧！那是一種更為誠摯與純潔的聲音。　

『可是肉體是無常的。』安可先生心裡如是說道。