《紅樓夢》一書，歷來視將它為「情書」者，認為本書「大旨談情」；而目之為「悟書」者，則認為一僧一道貫串全文，充滿釋、道之覺悟思想。本書主人翁賈寶玉，被警幻仙姑評為「意淫」；而從脂硯齋的批語可知，賈寶玉在原書末回「警幻情榜」中的定評為：「情不情」。凡此，都說明了《紅樓夢》一書對「情」的肯定與讚賞。然而，觀賈寶玉一生，其貴族生活的豪奢侈靡、其心地本質的善良體貼、其心性思想的清明靈秀，在目睹賈府人事生、老、病、死之苦，體會愛別離、怨憎會、求不得、五陰熾盛的無奈，對人性生起無限悲憫，視女子與奴僕平等一如，以己身負荷賈府男子之罪惡，最後懸崖撒手，出家為僧。此生命終極關懷的求道歷程，與印度的悉達多太子，極為相似，兩者的人生抉擇，可謂殊途同歸。因此，本文從佛教文學角度，以賈寶玉為研究焦點，藉悉達多太子求道的過程作為參照，凸顯《紅樓夢》一書之主題思想，乃賈寶玉體驗生、老、病、死、愛別離、怨憎會、求不得、五陰熾盛等「人生八苦」，歷盡世間繁華滄桑之痛，領略了紅塵情緣，終究是「到頭一夢，萬境歸空」，最後「懸崖撒手」、「以情悟道」的歷程。

“Affection” has been positively recognized and praised in the classical novel Dream of the Red Chamber. Zhi Yan Zhai made the remarks of Jia Baoyu’s nature of mind as “thoughtfulness.” Having witnessed eight sufferings in life in the Jia family, the suffering of birth, the suffering of old age, the suffering of sickness, the suffering of death, the suffering of being apart from those you love, the suffering of being together with those you hate, the suffering of not obtaining what you want, and the suffering of the raging blaze of the five skandhas, Jia has raised his unlimited sympathy for human nature to treat women and servants equally. He bears the sins he has committed in the Jia family and finally takes one step over the edge of cliff to become a monk. Jia’s course of Dao seeking in ultimate concern of life is extremely similar to that of Prince Siddhāttha of India. In this essay, Jia Baoyu is the research focus from the perspective of Buddhist literature that highlights the thematic thoughts of Dream of the Red Chamber through Prince Siddhartha’s course of Dao seeking as reference. It is Jia’s experience of “eight sufferings in life,” the suffering of birth, the suffering of old age, the suffering of sickness, the suffering of death, the suffering of being apart from those you love, the suffering of being together with those you hate, the suffering of not obtaining what you want, and the suffering of the raging blaze of the five skandhas. Jia has been through the pain of bustling and flourishing world and the vicissitudes of life to realize the predestined love in the world of mortals. Eventually, it is a state of “it is ultimately a dream and the dreamer wakes” and a course of “take on step over the edge of cliff” and “full awareness of Dao through affection” in the end.