..續本文上一頁，在我看來，如來的色身，也只有靠修理才能繼續活下去。因此，阿難啊！應當以你們自己爲島嶼(支應)而安住，以你們自己而不以任何他人作爲你們的皈依；以法爲你們的島嶼(支應)，以法爲你們的皈依，不以任何他物爲你們的皈依處。”［注二十二］

　　What the Buddha wanted to convey to Ānanda is quite clear. The latter was sad and depressed. He thought that they would all be lonely, helpless, without a refuge, without a leader after their great Teacher”s death. So the Buddha gave him consolation, courage, and confidence, saying that they should depend on themselves, and on Dhamma he taught, and not on anyone else, or on anything else. Here the question of a metaphysical Ātman, or Self, is quite beside the point.

　　佛向阿難說這些話的意向，是十分明顯的。阿難本來非常憂郁。他認爲他們大師死了，他們將全部變成孤單、無援、無所依怙。所以佛給他安慰、勇氣與自信。告訴他們應該依靠自己，依靠他所傳授的“法”，而不依靠任何他人或物。在這裏提出一個形而上的神我、自我的問題，實在是太離譜了。

　　Further, The Buddha explained to Ānanda how one could be one”s own island or refuge, how one could make the Dhamma one”s own island or refuge: through the cultivation of mindfulness or awareness of the body, sensations, mind and mind-objects (the four Satipatthānas). [23] There is no talk at all here about an Ātman or Self.

　　接著，佛還向阿難解釋一個人應如何成爲自己的島嶼或依怙，一個人應如何以“法”爲自己的島嶼和依怙：要養成念念分明。對自己的色身、感覺、心王、心所的一切動態，時時刻刻無不了然洞照(四念處)。［注二十叁］在此，佛也完全沒有談到神我或自我。

　　Another reference, oft-quoted, is used by those who try to find Ātman in the Buddha”s teaching. The Buddha was once seated under a tree in a forest on the way to Urevelā from Benares. On that day, thirty friends all of them young princes, went out on picnic with their young wives into the same forest. One of the princes who was unmarried brought a prostitute with him. While the others were amusing themselves, she purloined some objects of value and disappeared. In their search for her in the forest, they saw the Buddha seated under a tree and asked him whether he had seen a woman. He enquired what was the matter. When they explained, the Buddha asked them: “What do you think, young men

　　 Which is better for you

　　 To search after a woman, or to search after yourselves

　　” [24]

　　另外，還有一段想在佛教中覓神我的人所常常引用的資料。有一次，佛從波羅奈到優樓頻螺去，在途中一座樹林裏的一棵樹下安坐。那天，有叁十個朋友，都是年輕的王子們，帶著他們年輕的妻子，在這樹林裏野餐。有一個未婚的王子，帶了一名妓女同來。當其他的人正在尋歡的時候，這妓女偷了些貴重的物品逃走了。王子們就在森林中找她，他們看見佛坐在樹下，就問佛有沒有見到一個女人。佛就問他們爲了什麼事兒。他們說明原委之後，佛就問他們：“年輕人啊！你們意下如何？尋找一個女人呢？還是尋找你們自己？那一樣對你們更有利啊？”［注二十四］

　　Here again it is a simple and natural question, and there is no justification for introducing far-fetched ideas of a metaphysical Ātman or Self into the business. They answered that it was better for them to search after themselves. The Buddha then asked them to sit down and explained the Dhamma to them. In the available account, in the original text of what the preached to them, not a word is mentioned about an Ātman.

　　這又是一個簡單而自然的問題。硬要牽強附會的將形上的神我、自我等意念扯這門子官司裏來，實在是說不通的。王子們答稱還是尋找自己爲妙。佛于是叫他們坐下，並爲他們說法。在有案可稽的原文經典裏，佛對他們所說法中，沒有一個字涉及神我。

　　Much has been written on the subject of the Buddha”s silence when a certain Parivrājaka (Wanderer) named Vacchagotta asked him whether there was an Ātman or not. The story is as follows:

　　關于遊方者婆嗟種問佛是否有神我，佛緘口不答一事，已有人寫了許多文章。故事是這樣的：

　　Vacchagotta comes to the Buddha and asks:

　　婆嗟種來到佛處，問道：

　　”Venerable Gotama, is there an Ātman

　　”

　　“可敬的喬答摩啊！神我是有的嗎？”

　　The Buddha is silent.

　　佛緘口不答。

　　”The Venerable Gotama, is there an Ātman

　　”

　　“那末，可敬的喬答摩，神我是沒有的嗎？”

　　Again the Buddha is silent.

　　佛還是緘口不答。

　　Vacchagotta gets up and goes away.

　　婆嗟種就站起來走了。

　　After the Parivrājaka had left, Ānanda asks the Buddha why he did not answer Vacchagotta”s question. The Buddha explains his position:

　　這遊方者走後，阿難問佛爲什麼不回答婆嗟種的問題。佛解釋自己的立場說：

　　”Ānanda, when asked by Vacchagotta the Wanderer: “Is there a self

　　”, if I had answered: “There is a self”, then, Ānanda, that would be siding with those recluses and brāhmanas who hold the eternalist theory (sassata-vāda).

　　“阿難，遊方者婆嗟種問我：“有我嗎？”如果我答：“有的”，那末，阿難，我就與持常見的梵志出家人站在一邊了。

　　”And, Ānand…

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