一、前言
信堅這幾年來，大都是專注在閱讀佛教及禪宗的經典，介紹過去見性智者的言論及悟道因緣。對西方近代見性大師的言論及悟道因緣，除了霍金斯之外，一無所知。為了彌補這個缺洞，近日信堅在網路上尋求近代開悟大師的言論及悟道因緣。主要是他們綜合古見性者所論及自己所證悟境界，以現代科技語言，平實解說，可以增廣對靈性覺醒的深廣認知。同時，閱讀高靈性典籍，與見性者同遊，可進入它們的境界，如入芝蘭之室，如水漲船高。

經過一番搜尋，終於找到一位現代偉大的見性導師，”當下的力量” (The Power of Now) 暢銷書的作者，艾克哈特‧托勒 (Eckhart Tolle)。他1948年生於德國。曾於英國劍橋大學接受教育，是當代最重要的心靈導師與作者之一。他書中所介紹的 “當下的力量”，與禪宗的”頓悟法門” 非常相近。超越心意識思維，在”當下” 瞥見了存在本身的永恆境界。全神專一，”活在當下”。有如沿著剃刀的邊緣走(walking along the razor’s edge of Now)，亦有如攀登艾格峰的北面一樣，全神貫注，不容絲毫分神。無論你在哪裡，要完全在那裡 (Wherever You Are, Be There Totally)。

二、艾克哈特‧托勒 (Eckhart Tolle) 悟道因緣
[信堅註: 現代靈性大師的悟道因緣及所悟境界，相當希有。能有緣讀到，可與見性者在文中同遊一真法界。之前信堅介紹了霍金斯自述的悟道因緣: 大衛.霍金斯所證悟的 “明心見性境界” ，此文再介紹艾克哈特‧托勒 (Eckhart Tolle) 悟道因緣。兩者的悟道因緣雖然不同，但對所證悟境界的描述，卻有很多類似的地方。(古今三世，佛佛同道) 。同時，介紹對西方聖人的著作，信堅喜歡用中英對照。兩種不同語言並列，可以增強對內容的深廣了解!]

I have little use for the past and rarely think about it; however, I would briefly like to tell you how I came to be a spiritual teacher and how this book came into existence.
過去幾乎沒有什麼用處，因此我很少取用或思維過去; 但我想在此簡單地告訴你，我是如何成為一名靈性導師以及這本書是如何形成的因緣。

Until my thirtieth year, I lived in a state of almost continuous anxiety interspersed with periods of suicidal depression. It feels now as if I am talking about some past lifetime or somebody else’s life.
三十歲前，我一直生活在幾乎處於持續焦慮的狀態，穿插著自殺性抑鬱症。現在回憶起來，感覺我好像是在談論過去的一生，或者是其他人的生平。

One night not long after my twenty-ninth birthday, I woke up in the early hours with a feeling of absolute dread. 在我二十九歲生日過後不久的一個晚上，我在凌晨時刻，帶著一種絕對的恐懼感驚醒過來。

I had woken up with such a feeling many times before, but this time it was more intense than it had ever been. The silence of the night, the vague outlines of the furniture in the dark room, the distant noise of a passing train – everything felt so alien, so hostile, and so utterly meaningless that it created in me a deep loathing of the world.
過去，我也曾多次有從類似這種感中驚醒過來。但這次，它比以往任何時候都來得更強烈。夜晚的寂靜，黑暗屋子裡家俱的模糊輪廓，遠方傳來的一列火車的通過的雜音 – 一切都變得如此陌生，如此充滿敵意，完全沒有意義，以至於在我心中產生了對世界的深深厭惡。

The most loathsome thing of all, however, was my own existence. What was the point in continuing to live with this burden of misery? Why carry on with this continuous struggle? This was the thought that kept repeating itself in my mind.
然而其中最令人厭惡難耐的，是我自己的存在。活著繼續忍受人生這種悲苦的重擔有什麼意義？為什麼要持續的掙扎？

I could feel that a deep longing for annihilation, for nonexistence, was now becoming much stronger than the instinctive desire to continue to live. “I cannot live with myself any longer.” 我可以深深感覺到，對於滅絕、不存在的渴望，現在變得比繼續存活的本能願望更為強烈。 “我無法再與自己一起活下去。” 這是我腦海裡，一直不斷重複的念頭。

Then suddenly I became aware of what a peculiar thought it was. `Am I one or two? If I cannot live with myself, there must be two of me: the `I’ and the `self’ that `I’ cannot live with.” “Maybe,” I thought, “only one of them is real.”
然後我突然意識到這是一種極為奇特的想法。 “我究竟是一個還是兩個人呢？如果我不能和自己一起活下去，那麼我必須有兩個我存在：“我”和不能和我一起活下去的“我自己”。我想 “也許” 其中只有一個是真實的。

I was so stunned by this strange realization that my mind stopped. I was fully conscious, but there were no more thoughts. 被這種奇特的體悟所震驚，我的思緒停止了。我完全清醒了，但腦海裡卻沒有任何思維。

Then I felt drawn into what seemed like a vortex of energy. It was a slow movement at first and then accelerated. I was gripped by an intense fear, and my body started to shake. I heard the words “resist nothing,” as if spoken inside my chest. 然後我感覺似乎被捲入一股能量的漩渦裡。起初是緩慢，然後加速的移動。我陷入了強烈的恐懼之中，整個身體開始顫抖。我聽到了好像在我的胸脯的聲音: “不要抗拒”。

I could feel myself being sucked into a void. It felt as if the void was inside myself rather than outside. Suddenly, there was no more fear, and I let myself fall into that void. I have no recollection of what happened after that. 我能感覺到自己被捲入了虛空。同時感覺這虛空是在我的內在而不是在外面。突然之間，一切恐懼消失了，我讓自己掉入那個虛空裡。我不記得之後所發生的事。

I was awakened by the chirping of a bird outside the window. I had never heard such a sound before. My eyes were still closed, and I saw the image of a precious diamond. Yes, if a diamond could make a sound, this is what it would be like. I opened my eyes. The first light of dawn was filtering through the curtains.
隔天清晨，我被窗外鳥兒的唧唧叫聲喚醒。我以前從未聽過這麼美妙的叫聲。此時我的眼睛仍然閉著，但我看到了一顆珍貴鑽石的形象。是的，如果一顆鑽石可以發出聲音，那麼它的聲音就該是這個模樣。我睜開了雙眼。黎明的第一道曙光，由窗簾穿透了進來。

Without any thought, I felt, I knew, that there is infinitely more to light than we realize. That soft luminosity filtering through the curtains was love itself. Tears came into my eyes. I got up and walked around the room. I recognized the room, and yet I knew that I had never truly seen it before. Everything was fresh and pristine, as if it had just come into existence. I picked up things, a pencil, an empty bottle, marveling at the beauty and aliveness of it all. 沒有任何思想，但我覺得，我也知道，”光”有無量深廣的義理。透過窗簾過濾的柔和亮度，就是愛的本身。眼淚湧進了我的眼睛。我下了床，在房間裡踱著方步。我認得這個房間，但我知道自己從未仔細的看過它一眼。一切都是清新純淨，好像它剛存在一樣。我隨手拿起東西，一支鉛筆，一個空瓶子，驚嘆於它的美麗和活力。

That day I walked around the city in utter amazement at the miracle of life on earth, as if I had just been born into this world.
那一天，我走遍了整個城市的每一個角落，驚奇地讚嘆，地球上生命的奇蹟，就好像我剛剛來到這世界一樣。

For the next five months, I lived in a state of uninterrupted deep peace and bliss. After that, it diminished somewhat in intensity, or perhaps it just seemed to because it became my natural state. I could still function in the world, although I realized that nothing I ever did could possibly add anything to what I already had.
在接下來的五個月裡，我處在一種持續的深度和平與極樂之中。在那之後，它的強度有所減弱，或者它似乎只是因為它成為我的自然狀態的緣故。我仍然可以在世界上起居運作，但我意識到，我過去所做過的一切，都不可能為我現在已經擁有的，增添任何東西。

I knew, of course, that something profoundly significant had happened to me, but I didn’t understand it at all. It wasn’t until several years later, after I had read spiritual texts and spent time with spiritual teachers, that I realized that what everybody was looking for had already happened to me. 我當然知道，某些影響深遠的事，已經在我身上發生了。但我根本不明白其中所含的深義。直到數年之後，我閱讀了許多靈修典籍，也參訪過一些靈性導師，我才恍然大悟，人人都在追求的終極境界，已經發生在我身上了。

I understood that the intense pressure of suffering that night must have forced my consciousness to withdraw from its identification with the unhappy and deeply fearful self, which is ultimately a fiction of the mind.
我明瞭那天晚上所受的極端痛苦壓力，必然迫使我的意識從與不幸和深深恐懼的 “小我”中退出，這一切幻境，最終是心智所虛構的。

This withdrawal must have been so complete that this false, suffering self immediately collapsed, just as if a plug had been pulled out of an inflatable toy.
這一次的撤離，一定是如此完善，以至於這個虛假的，受苦的”小我”，立即崩潰，就好像一個洩了氣的玩具一般，頓時分崩瓦解。

What was left then was my true nature as the ever-present I am: consciousness in its pure state prior to identification with form. 剩下的就是我的真實本性，永遠存在的真我：處於純真狀態的意識，有別於之後所認同的形體。

Later I also learned to go into that inner timeless and deathless realm that I had originally perceived as a void and remain fully conscious.
後來我也學會了進入那個內在那個沒有時間和不生不滅的境界，就是我最初所感知到的虛無狀態（void），並且能保持全然的覺知。

I dwelt in states of such indescribable bliss and sacredness that even the original experience I just described pales in comparison. A time came when, for a while, I was left with nothing on the physical plane. I had no relationships, no job, no home, no socially defined identity.
我講述了這種難以形容的極樂和神聖的境界，即使我剛才所描述的原始經歷也相形見拙。有一段時間，在物理層面上，我一無所有。沒有親密關係，沒有工作，無家可歸，沒有社會定義的身份。

I spent almost two years sitting on park benches in a state of the most intense joy. But even the most beautiful experiences come and go. More fundamental, perhaps, than any experience is the undercurrent of peace that has never left me since then. Sometimes it is very strong, almost palpable, and others can feel it too.
然而我卻處於最強烈的喜樂狀態中，在公園的板凳上，渡過了兩年的歲月。但即便是最美好的體驗來來去去。但比任何體驗更為根本的是，從那以後，從未離開過我的和平暗流。有時它非常強烈，幾乎可以觸及，連旁人也可以感受到它。

At other times, it is somewhere in the background, like a distant melody. Later, people would occasionally come up to me and say: “I want what you have. Can you give it to me, or show me how to get it?” And I would say: “You have it already. You just can’t feel it because your mind is malting too much noise.”
有時候，它在背景裡的某個地方，就像一首遙遠的樂曲一樣。後來，人們偶爾會來找我，並說：“我想要你擁有的東西。你是否能把它給我，或者告訴我如何獲得它？” 而我會對它們說：“你已經擁有它了。你感覺不到它，因為你的心智產生太多的噪音。”

That answer later grew into the book that you are holding in your hands. Before I knew it, I had an external identity again. I had become a spiritual teacher. 這個答案後來逐漸衍生出你現在拿在手上的這本書。在不知不覺中，我又多了一個外在的身份。我已經變成一位靈性導師了。