A Mode of Life to Pursue

I tried to help him with my experience, telling him that he was one of my nearest neighbors, and that I too, who came a-fishing here, and looked like a loafer, was getting my living like himself; that I lived in a tight, light, and clean house, which hardly cost more than the annual rent of such a ruin as his commonly amounts to; and how, if he chose, he might in a month or two build himself a palace of his own; that I did not use tea, nor coffee, nor butter, nor milk, nor fresh meat, and so did not have to work to get them; again, as I did not work hard, I did not have to eat hard, and it cost me but a trifle for my food; but as he began with tea, and coffee, and butter, and milk, and beef, he had to work hard to pay for them, and when he had worked hard he had to eat hard again to repair the waste of his system — and so it was as broad as it was long, indeed it was broader than it was long, for he was discontented and wasted his life into the bargain; and yet he had rated it as a gain in coming to America, that here you could get tea, and coffee, and meat every day. But the only true America is that country where you are at liberty to pursue such a mode of life as may enable you to do without these, and where the state does not endeavor to compel you to sustain the slavery and war and other superfluous expenses which directly or indirectly result from the use of such things. For I purposely talked to him as if he were a philosopher, or desired to be one. I should be glad if all the meadows on the earth were left in a wild state, if that were the consequence of men's beginning to redeem themselves. A man will not need to study history to find out what is best for his own culture.

噗友Tseng說：

在地球上，生命是一種揮霍。幾乎只要可能就會有一種生命形式產生。而作為一個人最有力的，是我們可以選擇自己要如何活著。如果你只是一隻珊瑚，你大概沒有選擇；如果你是一隻美洲豹，你能選的是為了生存拼死一搏，或是一隻公豹。 但是身為人類，社會如此寬廣，我們可以選擇怎樣生活，為何而活。

像這樣的想法在梭羅那個時代還是相當前衛的；梭羅告訴他的鄰居說：你從愛爾蘭移民到美國來，不是為了天天可以喝茶喝咖啡，吃奶油吃牛排；而是因為你在此可以有自由去追求或不追求這樣的生活。若是你能像我一樣，選擇不食用這些東西，也許美國政府就能停止奴隸買賣或發動不必要的戰爭。

但是150多年過去，即使大家都知道這個道理，能夠將Tseng的話聽進去的還是少之又少。在台灣，我們也已經有這種選擇的自由，可是大部份的人卻與那個愛爾蘭移民一樣，嘆一口氣，尋思自己是否有辦法如此過活；對他們來說，這樣的日子風險太大，一點保險也沒有。不少人還覺得台灣太自由，而寧願像狗一樣戴上項圈，綁上繩索才敢出門。這些人一點安全感也沒有，再怎麼窮也要跟保險公司買些保險才覺得自己像個人。人類何時才會為了自己的救贖，而任地球上的草地回歸原野？何時才能學會，不為了更高級的茶咖啡、更多汁可口的牛排，放任自己及別人由資本社會所奴役？

心猿意馬

I have spent many an hour, when I was younger, floating over its surface as the zephyr willed, having paddled my boat to the middle, and lying on my back across the seats, in a summer forenoon, dreaming awake, until I was aroused by the boat touching the sand, and I arose to see what shore my fates had impelled me to; days when idleness was the most attractive and productive industry. Many a forenoon have I stolen away, preferring to spend thus the most valued part of the day; for I was rich, if not in money, in sunny hours and summer days, and spent them lavishly; nor do I regret that I did not waste more of them in the workshop or the teacher's desk. But since I left those shores the woodchoppers have still further laid them waste, and now for many a year there will be no more rambling through the aisles of the wood, with occasional vistas through which you see the water. My Muse may be excused if she is silent henceforth. How can you expect the birds to sing when their groves are cut down?

唐玄奘在五十六歲時想要歸隱少林寺，於是向高宗進表：

　... 斷伏煩惱，必定、慧相資，如車二輪，闕一不可。至如研味
　經論，慧學也；依林宴坐，定學也。玄奘少來頗得專精教義，唯
　於四禪九定，未暇安心。今願託慮禪門，澄心定水；制情猿之逸
　躁，縶意馬之奔馳。若不歛跡山中，不可成就 ...

可見要想成就定學，外在環境也是必要因素。這也可以說明為何自己總是心猿意馬，不得安住。住心尚不能得，何況解脫？任憑一個人如何有修養及智慧，要在人世凡塵中以佛教的修煉方式求得解脫是不可能的。因為要想成就定學，外在環境也是必要因素；「若不歛跡山中，不可成就 」。

　《法華經》的勸持品中提到修煉聲聞乘的比丘們承認自己沒有能力在我們這個世界中廣說《法華經》，這是因為我們這個世界的人多弊惡、傲慢、功德淺薄，內心多懷瞋怒、污濁、諂媚，而且不誠實。只有具備大忍力的菩薩才能在這裡教化弘通這部經典。

　　
梭羅年輕時經常於夏日上午，乘著他的小舟，划到池心，然後躺在舟上，作著他清醒的夢。就這麼載浮載沉，直到他的舟給徐徐的風帶到了岸上，他才起來看看命運之流將他帶到了那裡。他說，在那些日子裡，閑散、無所事事才是最迷人而具有生機的勞動。因為他有的是明媚的陽光和夏日，所以可以大筆揮霍。他往往偷溜出來，寧願把一天中最寶貴的時間就這麼渡過，而不要用在工作室裡或老師的桌前。嗣因他離開湖邊的日子裡，伐木工人把附近的林地攪的荒蕪一片，原來的林間小道沒了，自然也沒了偶爾透過樹林空隙可以瞧見的池水景緻；梭羅的詩興因之沉默，畢竟你如何忍心責備被砍了樹林的小鳥不再鳴唱！

　

湖水、海水和玻璃的顏色

All our Concord waters have two colors at least; one when viewed at a distance, and another, more proper, close at hand. The first depends more on the light, and follows the sky. In clear weather, in summer, they appear blue at a little distance, especially if agitated, and at a great distance all appear alike. In stormy weather they are sometimes of a dark slate-color. The sea, however, is said to be blue one day and green another without any perceptible change in the atmosphere. I have seen our river, when, the landscape being covered with snow, both water and ice were almost as green as grass. Some consider blue "to be the color of pure water, whether liquid or solid." But, looking directly down into our waters from a boat, they are seen to be of very different colors. Walden is blue at one time and green at another, even from the same point of view. Lying between the earth and the heavens, it partakes of the color of both. Viewed from a hilltop it reflects the color of the sky; but near at hand it is of a yellowish tint next the shore where you can see the sand, then a light green, which gradually deepens to a uniform dark green in the body of the pond. In some lights, viewed even from a hilltop, it is of a vivid green next the shore. Some have referred this to the reflection of the verdure; but it is equally green there against the railroad sandbank, and in the spring, before the leaves are expanded, and it may be simply the result of the prevailing blue mixed with the yellow of the sand. Such is the color of its iris. This is that portion, also, where in the spring, the ice being warmed by the heat of the sun reflected from the bottom, and also transmitted through the earth, melts first and forms a narrow canal about the still frozen middle. Like the rest of our waters, when much agitated, in clear weather, so that the surface of the waves may reflect the sky at the right angle, or because there is more light mixed with it, it appears at a little distance of a darker blue than the sky itself; and at such a time, being on its surface, and looking with divided vision, so as to see the reflection, I have discerned a matchless and indescribable light blue, such as watered or changeable silks and sword blades suggest, more cerulean than the sky itself, alternating with the original dark green on the opposite sides of the waves, which last appeared but muddy in comparison. It is a vitreous greenish blue, as I remember it, like those patches of the winter sky seen through cloud vistas in the west before sundown. Yet a single glass of its water held up to the light is as colorless as an equal quantity of air. It is well known that a large plate of glass will have a green tint, owing, as the makers say, to its "body," but a small piece of the same will be colorless. How large a body of Walden water would be required to reflect a green tint I have never proved. The water of our river is black or a very dark brown to one looking directly down on it, and, like that of most ponds, imparts to the body of one bathing in it a yellowish tinge; but this water is of such crystalline purity that the body of the bather appears of an alabaster whiteness, still more unnatural, which, as the limbs are magnified and distorted withal, produces a monstrous effect, making fit studies for a Michael Angelo.

梭羅在此用了一大段文字描寫華爾騰湖的湖水顏色。他還用玻璃的顏色來作比較。但是我們現在知道這可能是兩回事。應該是無色的厚玻璃之所以會呈現綠色，跟它的材質(原料配方)有關；低鐵玻璃可以作到完全透明。而湖水和海水的顏色之所以會產生不同的變化，主要是因為大海的顏色是由海面反射的光和來自海水內部的回散射光的顏色決定的。湖水亦然。

太陽光線雖然從表面上看是白色的，可實際上它是由紅、橙、黃、綠、青、藍、紫七種可見光組成。這七種光線波長各不相同，而不同深度的海水會吸收不同波長的光，也就是說，海水對不同波長光的吸收和散射是有選擇性的。一般情況下，紅色和黃色等色光的波長比較長，最容易被海水吸收，當他們射入海水後，大部分光會被海水吸收，只有極少部分被水分子及海水中的懸浮顆粒反射和散射。而波長較短的藍光和綠光的穿透能力強，當它們射入海水後，只有少部分被海水吸收，大部分光遇到水分子或其他懸浮顆粒便向四周反射和散射，這樣一來，海水對藍光吸收得少而反射得多，而且越往海水深處越有更多的藍光被折回到水面上來。當這些被反射的藍色光射入到我們眼睛裏時，我們看到的大海便是藍藍的一片。 （問號小博士）

溪頭之旅

There was one older man, an excellent fisher and skilled in all kinds of woodcraft, who was pleased to look upon my house as a building erected for
the convenience of fishermen; and I was equally pleased when he sat in my doorway to arrange his lines.

Once in a while we sat together on the pond, he at one end of the boat, and I at the other; but not many words passed between us, for he had grown deaf
in his later years, but he occasionally hummed a psalm, which harmonized well enough with my philosophy.

Our intercourse was thus altogether one of unbroken harmony, far more pleasing to remember than if it had been carried on by speech. When, as was commonly
the case, I had none to commune with, I used to raise the echoes by striking with a paddle on the side of my boat, filling the surrounding woods with
circling and dilating sound, stirring them up as the keeper of a menagerie his wild beasts, until I elicited a growl from every wooded vale and hillside.

有一善釣魚的老者，精於各種木工，樂於將我的小屋當作釣客休憩之所；而我亦欣然見到他來坐在我門前小逕整理釣線。一日，我與他在池上，各坐在舟的一端；因其年老耳朵漸聾，我們交談不多，然其偶爾哼唱之詩歌，與我的哲學頗相合。我們之間的交流乃成了一段沒有間斷的旋律，較之言語的溝通更值懷念。當我無話可說之時，也嘗用漿擊船舷，鏗鏗鏘鏘，聲振林木，好似馴獸師的鞭子拍在地上，激得每個林壑山坡發出回應之吼。

-- 譯自湖濱散記, 於溪頭大學池旁

此段《湖濱散記》是我有一次去有「台灣的康乃爾」之稱的溪頭時所譯。那時我的朋友帥憲正在康乃爾求學，所以想去體會他在異鄉生活的景況。

這大概是我生平第二次來到這裡。十多年前，當我們都還是理著平頭的高中生時，也曾來到這個地方參加救國團的自強活動。只是我人到了溪頭，卻似從未來過一般。此時方知，『凡走過必留下痕跡』這句話，應該是某個無聊的人憑空想像的蠢話。

第二天上午，洗過澡，練了一套八段錦，到大學池旁的咖啡廳，也許看過書，寫過東西以後，便從銀杏林道出發，往不知名的方向走去。這一天，是絕對自由的。

即使在平常的夜晚，森林裡都比一般人所料想的更黑。人之所以群居，之所以貪財好富，皆是由於恐懼；恐懼黑暗，恐懼孤獨，恐懼貧窮。

風行草偃

I had no lock nor bolt but for the desk which held my papers, not even a nail to put over my latch or windows. I never fastened my door night or day, though I was to be absent several days; not even when the next fall I spent a fortnight in the woods of Maine. And yet my house was more respected than if it had been surrounded by a file of soldiers. The tired rambler could rest and warm himself by my fire, the literary amuse himself with the few books on my table, or the curious, by opening my closet door, see what was left of my dinner, and what prospect I had of a supper. Yet, though many people of every class came this way to the pond, I suffered no serious inconvenience from these sources, and I never missed anything but one small book, a volume of Homer, which perhaps was improperly gilded, and this I trust a soldier of our camp has found by this time. I am convinced, that if all men were to live as simply as I then did, thieving and robbery would be unknown. These take place only in communities where some have got more than is sufficient while others have not enough. The Pope's Homers would soon get properly distributed.

"Nec bella fuerunt,
Faginus astabat dum scyphus ante dapes."
"Nor wars did men molest,
When only beechen bowls were in request."

"You who govern public affairs, what need have you to employ punishments? Love virtue, and the people will be virtuous. The virtues of a superior man are like the wind; the virtues of a common man are like the grass; the grass, when the wind passes over it, bends."


《論語．顏淵》

季康子問政於孔子曰：“如殺無道，以就有道，何如？”孔子對曰：“子為政，焉用殺？子欲善，而民善矣。君子之德風，小人之德草。草上之風，必偃。”

不患寡而患不均是梭羅的思想，他認為如果每個人都生活的像他在樹林時這麼簡樸，根本就不會有偷盜發生；那種事情只會發生在有些人所得超過必需而有些人卻不足的社會。現在大概沒有人會相信這種事情。有些人即使所得已經很足夠了，他還是要偷盜。我在東西德統一之後不久曾到過東德，有機會到一個動物園管理員家中作客。那天，他帶著我和另一位研究鳥類的台灣朋友，跟著他做日常的餵養和管理工作。晚上，他在小小的居室點起暖爐，沒有多餘的傢俱，只是牆壁上排滿著書。三個人吃著很簡單的食物，也許談到孔子的學生顏淵，以前的東德。他大概也不認為共產主義的社會合乎人性，但卻對過去人與人的關係充滿懷念。

如果在上位者都爭著去富豪家的婚宴作客，要人民不跟從也難。你們拿著人民的錢，制定了法律，要求人民不可學你們這樣；但是只要努力打拼，總有一天，總有一天，等賺夠了錢，有了足夠的身份地位，那也能像你們這樣。那些沒有能力，也沒有祖上庇蔭的人，應該安份守己，等你們吃飽喝足了，也許還會剩下一些排翅鮑魚，可以讓他們嚐嚐，作作夢也好。