蕃薯及 Ground Nut

Digging one day for fishworms, I discovered the ground-nut (Apios tuberosa) on its string, the potato of the aborigines, a sort of fabulous fruit, which I had begun to doubt if I had ever dug and eaten in childhood, as I had told, and had not dreamed it. I had often since seen its crumpled red velvety blossom supported by the stems of other plants without knowing it to be the same. Cultivation has well-nigh exterminated it. It has a sweetish taste, much like that of a frost-bitten potato, and I found it better boiled than roasted. This tuber seemed like a faint promise of Nature to rear her own children and feed them simply here at some future period. In these days of fatted cattle and waving grain-fields this humble root, which was once the totem of an Indian tribe, is quite forgotten, or known only by its flowering vine; but let wild Nature reign here once more, and the tender and luxurious English grains will probably disappear before a myriad of foes, and without the care of man the crow may carry back even the last seed of corn to the great cornfield of the Indian's God in the southwest, whence he is said to have brought it; but the now almost exterminated ground-nut will perhaps revive and flourish in spite of frosts and wildness, prove itself indigenous, and resume its ancient importance and dignity as the diet of the hunter tribe. Some Indian Ceres or Minerva must have been the inventor and bestower of it; and when the reign of poetry commences here, its leaves and string of nuts may be represented on our works of art.

中國把馬鈴薯稱之為土豆顯然是從英文 ground nut 直譯過來。但是 ground nut 是一種藤蔓植物，土下有長在根上頭的塊莖；因其塊莖形狀像個球而得名。也許曾經用來稱呼馬鈴薯，但現在馬鈴薯都改稱 potato 了。 Ground nut 在美洲是原住民的主食，據說內含的蛋白質是一般食用馬鈴薯的三倍。所以梭羅說，這種塊莖是大自然的允諾，允諾在未來某一段時期，（若是世界有了什麼變化），還是可以用來餵養她自己的孩子。

蕃薯英文 Sweet Potato，中國稱之為地瓜。台灣原本是沒有蕃薯的，它是由中南美洲輾轉傳布到世界各地。雖然不是台灣的原生作物，但是十六世紀末，蕃薯幫助台灣先民度過荒蕪與天災。隨著移民的拓墾，蕃薯在台蔓衍茁壯，清朝時更成為輸往中國的高獲利作物。進入日本殖民時代，日人以科學方法栽植改良，使蕃薯質精量盛。六○年代以降，蕃薯從食糧轉型為家畜飼料，協助台灣以畜產品對外貿易，對之後台灣的經濟飆揚，有著不可磨滅的功蹟。現在蕃薯又成為當紅的健康食品。台灣人稱自己為蕃薯仔；蕃薯早已經成為台灣的 ground nut，也是大自然的允諾。有一天世界溫度升高了2度C，所有的外國人都跑了，它就會再用來餵養台灣的蕃薯仔囝。

柴山的龍目井

It is remarkable how many creatures live wild and free though secret in the woods, and still sustain themselves in the neighborhood of towns, suspected by hunters only. How retired the otter manages to live here! (below: The Northern River Otter, Lontra canadensis) He grows to be four feet long, as big as a small boy, perhaps without any human being getting a glimpse of him. I formerly saw the raccoon in the woods behind where my house is built, and probably still heard their whinnering at night. Commonly I rested an hour or two in the shade at noon, after planting, and ate my lunch, and read a little by a spring which was the source of a swamp and of a brook, oozing from under Brister's Hill, half a mile from my field. The approach to this was through a succession of descending grassy hollows, full of young pitch pines, into a larger wood about the swamp. There, in a very secluded and shaded spot, under a spreading white pine, there was yet a clean, firm sward to sit on. I had dug out the spring and made a well of clear gray water, where I could dip up a pailful without roiling it, and thither I went for this purpose almost every day in midsummer, when the pond was warmest. Thither, too, the woodcock led her brood, to probe the mud for worms, flying but a foot above them down the bank, while they ran in a troop beneath; but at last, spying me, she would leave her young and circle round and round me, nearer and nearer till within four or five feet, pretending broken wings and legs, to attract my attention, and get off her young, who would already have taken up their march, with faint, wiry peep, single file through the swamp, as she directed. Or I heard the peep of the young when I could not see the parent bird. There too the turtle doves sat over the spring, or fluttered from bough to bough of the soft white pines over my head; or the red squirrel, coursing down the nearest bough, was particularly familiar and inquisitive. You only need sit still long enough in some attractive spot in the woods that all its inhabitants may exhibit themselves to you by turns.

Discover Thoreau’s white pine by Brister’s Spring

Brister's Hill 是華爾騰湖北邊約半英哩處的一個小台地。此篇部落格日誌提到 Brister's Spring 是 Mill Brook 的發源處及可靠的飲用水來源。梭羅在夏日最炎熱時，因池水太熱，會跑到這裡來汲水。部落格作者則推測華爾騰湖的池水也是冷泉水的來源之一；池水滲到地下後再由冷泉出口處冒出來。不過未經証實。目前冷泉的右側有一木製地標標示著。

在台灣，凡是從岩石裂隙中湧出的山泉，大都叫作龍目井。高雄市的北柴山龍皇寺步道入口處左側有一大水塘，水塘中的水位隨季節不同，容枯各異，其水的來源就是來自上方的一口龍目井，名曰『龍巖冽泉』。高雄市柴山會所立的一塊解說牌如此描述：「昔日柴山東麓多處礁岩裂縫有冷泉奔湧而出，汨汨不絕，孕育眾生－－平埔族、漢人、到一草一木。青翠山巒，加上山緣多處奔流的冷泉，猶如打狗血脈！清朝時將此湧泉壯觀地稱『龍巖冽泉』，而民間通常將會噴出湧泉的礁石裂縫稱『龍目井』」。過去在夏日雨季時泉水源源湧出，兒童每在此戲水，清涼無比。然而不知是原本的環境受到破壞，還是人為的過度開發，導致涵養水源的功能下降，如今的龍巖冽泉，已經是從終年不竭到雨季才有水，再變成下大雨後才有水了。 （取材自龍巖冽泉）

我們的神殿

Every man is the builder of a temple, called his body, to the god he worships, after a style purely his own, nor can he get off by hammering marble instead. We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and bones. Any nobleness begins at once to refine a man's features, any meanness or sensuality to imbrute them.

林肯曾經說過，一個人40歲以後的相貌應該由自己負責。("Every person is responsible for his own looks after 40.")

梭羅說，任何的高潔，都會馬上使一個人有更優雅的特徵；任何的卑下或肉慾，都會使他更像野獸。

《薄伽梵歌》有：人由自己的信仰建構而成。信仰崇拜什麼，他就會變成什麼。 (17.3)

梭羅則說，每個人都是神殿的建造者，此神殿即他的身軀，用來供奉他所信仰的神；用我們自己的血肉骨幹當材料，以我們自己的風格來設計建造。

什麼都不信的人，就什麼也不是。現在的人大多相信金錢，所以到處都聞得到銅臭味，即便他們們噴了再多再貴的香水也掩蓋不了。

精進不放逸

All sensuality is one, though it takes many forms; all purity is one. It is the same whether a man eat, or drink, or cohabit, or sleep sensually. They are but one appetite, and we only need to see a person do any one of these things to know how great a sensualist he is. The impure can neither stand nor sit with purity. When the reptile is attacked at one mouth of his burrow, he shows himself at another. If you would be chaste, you must be temperate. What is chastity? How shall a man know if he is chaste? He shall not know it. We have heard of this virtue, but we know not what it is. We speak conformably to the rumor which we have heard. From exertion come wisdom and purity; from sloth ignorance and sensuality. In the student sensuality is a sluggish habit of mind. An unclean person is universally a slothful one, one who sits by a stove, whom the sun shines on prostrate, who reposes without being fatigued. If you would avoid uncleanness, and all the sins, work earnestly, though it be at cleaning a stable. Nature is hard to be overcome, but she must be overcome. What avails it that you are Christian, if you are not purer than the heathen, if you deny yourself no more, if you are not more religious? I know of many systems of religion esteemed heathenish whose precepts fill the reader with shame, and provoke him to new endeavors, though it be to the performance of rites merely.

惡由放逸所致，非心性之本然；欲迴心向善，貴在攝護其心。梭羅說，從精進，得到智慧與純潔；從放逸，得到無明與肉慾。對學習者來說，肉慾即是心靈的懶惰習慣。當我們放逸時，生殖的精力會令我們渙散而污穢下沉；當我們自安時，則會啟發並激勵我們向上。

《法句經》有：

不誦為言垢，不勤為家垢，不嚴為色垢，放逸為事垢。

所以梭羅說，不潔之人大概就是懶惰的人，只剩下一張嘴，就算不累也不想起來動一動的人。


《增一阿含》有：

猶如山河、石壁、百草、五穀，皆依於地而得長大。然復此地最尊、最上。此亦如是。諸善道品之法，住不放逸之地，使諸善法而得長大。

37道品中的四正勤的內容為：

1. 勤於防護眼、耳、鼻、舌、身、意六入處。任何欲念令不生起。
2. 已生起者，速速將之斷絕。
3. 勤於修習七覺支，令善法增廣。
4. 修習不淨觀、多修習，令已生之善法不退。

《經集．大品》精勤經有：

This wind will wither the currents of the rivers, why should not my exertion dry up even the blood? When the blood dries up, the bile and phlegm wither. On the wasting away of the flesh the mind becomes more and more serene and my mindfulness, wisdom and concentration are established more firmly.

溪流既已風乾，血液如何不因我的精勤凝結？
當血液稀薄時，膽汁及惡痰亦隨之乾涸。
肉體愈是消瘦，心靈愈是清明，我的心志、智慧、修行也更為穩固。

人之所以異於禽獸者

We are conscious of an animal in us, which awakens in proportion as our higher nature slumbers. It is reptile and sensual, and perhaps cannot be wholly expelled; like the worms which, even in life and health, occupy our bodies. Possibly we may withdraw from it, but never change its nature. I fear that it may enjoy a certain health of its own; that we may be well, yet not pure. The other day I picked up the lower jaw of a hog, with white and sound teeth and tusks, which suggested that there was an animal health and vigor distinct from the spiritual. This creature succeeded by other means than temperance and purity. "That in which men differ from brute beasts," says Mencius, "is a thing very inconsiderable; the common herd lose it very soon; superior men preserve it carefully." Who knows what sort of life would result if we had attained to purity? If I knew so wise a man as could teach me purity I would go to seek him forthwith.


孟子曰：「人之所以異於禽獸者幾希，庶民去之，君子存之。舜明於庶物，察於人倫，由仁義行，非行仁義也。」

《孟子》-- 離婁下

從這段孟子的話看來，他所指的異於禽獸者主要應該就是仁義。他強調舜是心存仁義而行，而不是將仁義道德當作治國的口號。

我們如果依著獸性而活，也可以活的很好。歷史上許多文明較高的國家就是被比較不文明的國家給消滅的；譬如波斯之於阿拉伯，明朝之於清朝。但是在他們的政權穩固後，就會開始感到自己教養之不足，自己的虛榮與虛空；開始感到權力與財富的不足，而開始為他們後代累積真正有價值的東西，進而學習他所曾征服的民族所擁有的心智成果。

梭羅說，如果他知道有那個有智慧的人可以教他過聖潔的生活，他會迫不及待的出發去探訪他。為什麼什麼都要等到有了財富才能做呢？行善有這麼難嗎？

雜阿含13經

A puritan may go to his brown-bread crust with as gross an appetite as ever an alderman to his turtle. Not that food which entereth into the mouth defileth a man, but the appetite with which it is eaten. It is neither the quality nor the quantity, but the devotion to sensual savors; when that which is eaten is not a viand to sustain our animal, or inspire our spiritual life, but food for the worms that possess us. If the hunter has a taste for mud-turtles, muskrats, and other such savage tidbits, the fine lady indulges a taste for jelly made of a calf's foot, or for sardines from over the sea, and they are even. He goes to the mill-pond, she to her preserve-pot. The wonder is how they, how you and I, can live this slimy, beastly life, eating and drinking.


<雜阿含13經>有：

若眾生於色不味者，則不染於色；以眾生於色味故，則有染著。


菩提比丘長老根據南傳相對經文的英譯為：

if there was no gratification in form, beings would not become enamoured with it; but because there is gratification in form, beings become enamoured with it.

愛味(gratification)是會令人回味黏著、還想再要的滿足。就是因為眾生對於五蘊會有滿足感，所以才有染著。《瑜伽師地論》解釋：觀察諸行為緣，生樂生喜，是名於彼愛味。

梭羅在此則用了其他的字眼。愛味是為 sensual savors；染著為 devotion。他說，敗壞人的不是入嘴之物，而是吃東西的食欲；如果只是為了吃而吃，那就只是在餵養我們體內的貪吃蟲。出家人也會跟國會議員一樣喜歡吃麻油腰子。梭羅認為，對美食趨之若騖的時尚名流、嫺嫺淑女與喜歡嚼檳榔、吃狗肉的人是完全相等的。嚼檳榔的人有時還是為了提神，而淑女們只是為了吃。

心不在焉

Who has not sometimes derived an inexpressible satisfaction from his food in which appetite had no share? I have been thrilled to think that I owed a mental perception to the commonly gross sense of taste, that I have been inspired through the palate, that some berries which I had eaten on a hillside had fed my genius. "The soul not being mistress of herself," says Thseng-tseu, "one looks, and one does not see; one listens, and one does not hear; one eats, and one does not know the savor of food." He who distinguishes the true savor of his food can never be a glutton; he who does not cannot be otherwise.

所謂修身在正其心者：身有所忿懥，則不得其正；有所恐懼，則不得其正；有所好樂，則不得其正；有所憂患，則不得其正；心不在焉，視而不見，聽而不聞，食而不知其味。此謂修身在正其心。

梭羅在此又引用了《大學》。四書中的《大學》可說是儒家思想的綱領，其中不少段落在高中時也曾讀過，卻是視而不見，聽而不聞。梭羅說，能夠體會食物的真味之人，不會貪得無厭；而食不知味的人，永遠無法滿足。台灣的教育制度造成每個學子在上大學之前，他的靈魂無法為自己作主，只希望自己像電腦一樣，能塞多少就塞多少。在印象中，那個時期，未真正品嚐過為準備升學所必須閱讀的材料，只是想盡辦法把那些材料記下來而已。這些吸收進來的知識無法滋養我的心靈，只能佔據我的硬碟空間，以致於後來找回自己的心時，發現要把它們清一清也不是一件容易的事。據說，受到黨國教育毒害最深的就是 40 - 60 歲這一水的人。而要清除的還不只是這一部份而已。

靈性的呼喚

If one listens to the faintest but constant suggestions of his genius, which are certainly true, he sees not to what extremes, or even insanity, it may lead him; and yet that way, as he grows more resolute and faithful, his road lies. The faintest assured objection which one healthy man feels will at length prevail over the arguments and customs of mankind. No man ever followed his genius till it misled him. Though the result were bodily weakness, yet perhaps no one can say that the consequences were to be regretted, for these were a life in conformity to higher principles. If the day and the night are such that you greet them with joy, and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet-scented herbs, is more elastic, more starry, more immortal — that is your success. All nature is your congratulation, and you have cause momentarily to bless yourself. The greatest gains and values are farthest from being appreciated. We easily come to doubt if they exist. We soon forget them. They are the highest reality. Perhaps the facts most astounding and most real are never communicated by man to man. The true harvest of my daily life is somewhat as intangible and indescribable as the tints of morning or evening. It is a little star-dust caught, a segment of the rainbow which I have clutched.


我這麼生活所可獲得的東西往往難以描述，亦無可捉摸。也許是一時與古人心靈相通的喜悅，也許是月光造成的、未曾為人類所描述過的景象。男人在交媾後會有快死的感覺，這是我可以理解的；但據說女人高潮時則可以興奮到死了也沒關係。我認為這種說法可能只是男人的性幻想。梭羅說，人與人之間，可能從來未有真正令人驚駭或真實的事實互相傳遞過。我想他的意思是，因為無法用人可以使用的表達方式傳達。梭羅用的字是 man to man，但 man to woman 或 woman to man 或 woman to woman 是否有可能呢？就算是有，也不會是性慾的滿足；因為感官是無常的，女人的感官也無法違背我們這個婆娑世界中的物理定律。

有趣的是，梭羅說，人如果傾聽他靈性那最微弱但卻不斷的暗示，他將不知它會帶他到何等的極端及瘋狂的境地；設若他變的更為果決及對此暗示更有信念的話，他便會發現他的道路在哪。這樣的說法卻很貼切的描述一個女人對愛情不顧一切的執著。男人雖可能為愛情拋棄一切，但少有到瘋狂的境地。女人的執著儘管不為世人所欣賞瞭解，有時連自己都懷疑到底執著的東西是否存在，卻也不因之悔恨。

四食 four nutriments

It is hard to provide and cook so simple and clean a diet as will not offend the imagination; but this, I think, is to be fed when we feed the body; they should both sit down at the same table. Yet perhaps this may be done. The fruits eaten temperately need not make us ashamed of our appetites, nor interrupt the worthiest pursuits. But put an extra condiment into your dish, and it will poison you. It is not worth the while to live by rich cookery. Most men would feel shame if caught preparing with their own hands precisely such a dinner, whether of animal or vegetable food, as is every day prepared for them by others. Yet till this is otherwise we are not civilized, and, if gentlemen and ladies, are not true men and women. This certainly suggests what change is to be made. It may be vain to ask why the imagination will not be reconciled to flesh and fat. I am satisfied that it is not. Is it not a reproach that man is a carnivorous animal? True, he can and does live, in a great measure, by preying on other animals; but this is a miserable way — as any one who will go to snaring rabbits, or slaughtering lambs, may learn — and he will be regarded as a benefactor of his race who shall teach man to confine himself to a more innocent and wholesome diet. Whatever my own practice may be, I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other when they came in contact with the more civilized.

梭羅說，當我們餵養自己的身體時，也要同時餵養我們的想像力。而他以為肉食會冒犯人的想像力。佛陀則用夫婦在糧食乏盡時共食子肉的比喻來告誡世人應如何看待人類對食物的需求。這對夫婦在吃肉時當然不會去想肉的味道如何。佛陀說：「若於四食，無貪無喜，則無憂悲，亦無塵垢。」

今時今日修道之所以不易，乃是因為光是飲食並不足以支持這個身體。人必須滿足於各種生理及心理上的需求之後，才有能力修梵行；否則在修行途中，就會無法支持，餓死或精神失常。佛陀說有四食資益眾生，令得住世攝受長養。何等為四？謂一粗細搏食，二觸食，三意思食(intellectual intention)，四識食。而此四食又因貪愛而生。這也就是二刃的刀 ── 人為了要活著需要此四食，得此四食又緣於貪愛。所以當你要此四食以長養此色身時，就會自然產生貪愛。在物慾橫流的今日要滿足於此四食並不容易。除非下了決心過著隱姓埋名的日子，與家人朋友不再往來，不然便必須面對社會對你的期望：正常人必須具備的積極進取的人生觀。這樣的人生觀如果沒有一定的物慾及企圖心(意思食)是無法支撐的。如此一來，要保持不退轉就要知道「一心正念、安住觀察」。要「覺諸受起、覺諸受住、覺諸受滅，正念而住，不令散亂」。對於自已的感受要像局外人一樣的觀察它們的生起、持續以及消滅，而不是任由自己因這些感受產生的各種情緒散亂迴轉。隨著感覺的產生、停留及消逝，要如實的觀察。觀察其愛味、過患、及出離。如此才不會因放縱損及修行。萬不可留戀已消逝的感覺，苦苦追求，蓋此正是諸結煩惱之因。

更高的食物

The practical objection to animal food in my case was its uncleanness; and besides, when I had caught and cleaned and cooked and eaten my fish, they seemed not to have fed me essentially. It was insignificant and unnecessary, and cost more than it came to. A little bread or a few potatoes would have done as well, with less trouble and filth. Like many of my contemporaries, I had rarely for many years used animal food, or tea, or coffee, etc.; not so much because of any ill effects which I had traced to them, as because they were not agreeable to my imagination. The repugnance to animal food is not the effect of experience, but is an instinct. It appeared more beautiful to live low and fare hard in many respects; and though I never did so, I went far enough to please my imagination. I believe that every man who has ever been earnest to preserve his higher or poetic faculties in the best condition has been particularly inclined to abstain from animal food, and from much food of any kind. It is a significant fact, stated by entomologists — I find it in Kirby and Spence — that "some insects in their perfect state, though furnished with organs of feeding, make no use of them"; and they lay it down as "a general rule, that almost all insects in this state eat much less than in that of larvae. The voracious caterpillar when transformed into a butterfly ... and the gluttonous maggot when become a fly" content themselves with a drop or two of honey or some other sweet liquid. The abdomen under the wings of the butterfly still represents the larva. This is the tidbit which tempts his insectivorous fate. The gross feeder is a man in the larva state; and there are whole nations in that condition, nations without fancy or imagination, whose vast abdomens betray them.

臺灣人跟大多數的已開發國家的人民比較起來，最大的不同之處就是在吃的方面。每個週末，我的姐姐弟弟帶著孩子回到家裡，通常就是看看電視，然後以吃飯結束假期。而電視上的旅遊節目如果不提到美食，大概就沒有收視率；就連公共電視的一個頗受歡迎的節目，誰來晚餐，也還是要以吃東西來表示對來賓的款待之意。

梭羅在這段文字裡提到，昆蟲只有在幼蟲階段才會大吃大喝；蛻變為成蟲後，就只需吃一點點足可維生。這似乎表示臺灣人雖然在經濟上已然是世界上的成蟲，但在其他方面仍然處於幼蟲階段，還要繼續大吃大喝才能化為蟲蛹，繼而幻化為美麗的蝴蝶。大部份的奢侈品及生活上的許多享受，尤其是吃的享受，不但沒有必要，還會成為難以克服的障礙，使人無法提昇到較高的層次。印度聖雄甘地在齋戒時感覺到，血液漸漸變得稀薄時，心靈就變得清明了，不相干的瑣事消失了，而最基本的東西 －－ 有時竟是世界之靈魂的本身 －－ 從現象世界脫穎而出，像聖母峰從雲層上出現一樣。據說，完全戒絕肉食的人會養成一種非常敏銳的嗅覺，他們從一個人的氣息或皮膚的汗水能夠馬上說出那個人有沒有吃肉。

「自我」、「本我」與「超我」

AS I CAME home through the woods with my string of fish, trailing my pole, it being now quite dark, I caught a glimpse of a woodchuck stealing across my path, and felt a strange thrill of savage delight, and was strongly tempted to seize and devour him raw; not that I was hungry then, except for that wildness which he represented. Once or twice, however, while I lived at the pond, I found myself ranging the woods, like a half-starved hound, with a strange abandonment, seeking some kind of venison which I might devour, and no morsel could have been too savage for me. The wildest scenes had become unaccountably familiar. I found in myself, and still find, an instinct toward a higher, or, as it is named, spiritual life, as do most men, and another toward a primitive rank and savage one, and I reverence them both. I love the wild not less than the good. The wildness and adventure that are in fishing still recommended it to me. I like sometimes to take rank hold on life and spend my day more as the animals do. Perhaps I have owed to this employment and to hunting, when quite young, my closest acquaintance with Nature. They early introduce us to and detain us in scenery with which otherwise, at that age, we should have little acquaintance. Fishermen, hunters, woodchoppers, and others, spending their lives in the fields and woods, in a peculiar sense a part of Nature themselves, are often in a more favorable mood for observing her, in the intervals of their pursuits, than philosophers or poets even, who approach her with expectation. She is not afraid to exhibit herself to them. The traveller on the prairie is naturally a hunter, on the head waters of the Missouri and Columbia a trapper, and at the Falls of St. Mary a fisherman. He who is only a traveller learns things at second-hand and by the halves, and is poor authority. We are most interested when science reports what those men already know practically or instinctively, for that alone is a true humanity, or account of human experience.

德人佛洛依德言「自我」調合「本我」與「超我」，而求其平衡；然而梭羅卻反其道而行。梭羅鼓勵年輕人在成長的過程中藉著打獵來認識森林，他說，人類在經過了輕狂的年少時期後，便不會輕易傷害任何和他自己一樣享有生命的動物。把時光像動物那樣渡過、讓自己的野性得到充份的發展後，就會對生命產生敬畏。

中國《易經》坤上六爻辭釋義有：龍戰于野，其血玄黃。指的即是靈肉之交戰。文言傳釋義有：夫玄黃者，天地之雜也，天玄而地黃。是為交戰後身心恢復平衡。那麼靈肉交戰發生於何時呢？即陰爻居上位之時，也就是人的野性發展到極致之時。