僧人与佛窟 A Monk and His Caves by Panhan Chen 陈泮寒 

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这里是我与一位僧人的故事。故事发生在去西藏旅行期间。 This is a story between me and a monk. The story happened on my trip to Tibet. 我们在西藏的土路上走，翻过一座山，又转过一座山，来到一座布满洞窟的山——大大小小的洞窟，看起来少说有不下几百个。据说，这里曾经是僧人们生活、修行、讲经论道的地方。 We were trekking on the dirt road of Tibet. Mountains after mountains, we came to one full of caves. There were at least hundreds of them around this mountain. We'd been told that these caves were where monks used to live, conduct their spiritual practices and teach and preach Sutras--ancient holy texts of Buddhism. 常年身处戈壁，土山上的一个个洞窟已经变得残破不堪，大部分已经被风沙埋掉了一半儿。山脚下新修建了一座小村，村民说，几十年前，他们也是住在这座土山上的窟里的。 Corroded by the desert weather, the caves looked quite shabby. Most of them were buried in the sand. The local people, from the newly built village down the mountain, told us they also lived in the caves decades ago. 村里的茶馆内坐着一位着便装的老人，随身带着一根拐杖。我们说起要爬山去看洞窟。“想看壁画吗？”旁边的人问道，指了指老人：“跟着他”。 A casually dressed old man sat in the tea house in the village, carrying his cane. We said we wanted to check out the caves in the mountain. "Wanna see the murals as well?" A stranger asked us while pointing at the old man. "Follow him". 于是，也没有什么交流的，我们起身。 Then, no words were exchanged. We got up and took off. 老人的体力出奇的好。在我们几个年轻人都已经直喘粗气，不得不停下来靠着矮墙坐下休息时，除了脖颈处的几颗汗珠，老人的脸色还是一样平静。 The old man's stamina amazed us all. Despite our young ages, we were panting heavily. Intermittent breaks of sitting by the walls alongside the road had to be made so that we could catch our breaths. Yet it was all calmness on the old man's face, except a few sweat drops around his neck. 盘山路的终点是一座和洞窟一样依山建成的红房子，老人拿出了一大串钥匙，找到开门用的那把。我们进屋。只有一间屋子，屋里摆放着两张藏族人家里几乎必备的、既能睡觉又能在接客时充当沙发的藏床，正中间放着的火炉也是当地每家每户都会用的那种。靠着山的那一面却没有墙，取而代之的是一扇木门。老人找出另一把钥匙。在进门前，他提醒我们摘掉帽子。 The end of the hilly road was a red house, resting there with all the caves at the foothill. The old man took out a bundle of keys and found the one to the house. It was a one-room house equipped with two household musts in a Tibetan family: two Tibetan beds/sofas with both the functions of sleeping and receiving guests and a furnace in the middle of the room. The side facing towards the mountain had no wall. In its place, it was a wooden door. The old man opened it with another key. Before exiting the door, the old man reminded us that we should take our hats off. 门后是另一个洞窟，但显然受到了更加用心的呵护。窟中很暗，仅点了两盏小小的煤油灯。通过灯光，四周墙壁上一个个精美的人像和图画得以映入眼帘。老人递给我们一个手电筒：“不要拍照。拿手机拍可以，不要用相机拍。” It was a cave on the other side of the door, yet with noticeable extra care. In the dark cave, two flickers of lights from the kerosene lamps showed what lied in front of our eyes: intricately drawn human figures and sceneries on the walls of the cave. The old man handed us a flash torch and reminded us, "Don't take any photos. Not with your camera. Phones are OK." 墙上的壁画刻画的大多是佛教中的各大佛祖、菩萨、金刚以及各派高僧们，还有少数印度教主神，其中包括蓝皮肤又多手的湿婆。“为什么这里会有印度教的神啊？”我们问老人。“这个地方古代的时候啊，哪里来的人都有，所以哪里的神都画。但是画得最多的还是我们格鲁派的僧人。画上那些穿黄衣服的，都是格鲁派。” Most murals on the walls were Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Caturmahārājakayikas and respected monks in different schools of Buddhism. A few of them are Hindi gods, including the blue-skinned and multi-handed Shiva. "Why Hindi gods here?" Our curiosity drove such a question. "In ancient times, people from different places came here. So they drew different kinds of gods and goddesses here. But most mural painters are my fellow monks from the Gelug school of Buddhism. Those dressed in yellow are Gelugs." “那这些画是在多久前画的呢？”我们又问。 "When did they draw these murals?" We asked again. 讲起这个壁画佛窟的故事，老人操着他那不太流利的汉语，滔滔不绝起来。他讲起早在几百年前，古格王朝兴盛时，这些佛窟四周也是最为繁华的。又讲到当年文化大革命，疯狂的人们如何找到这里，销毁了窟中供奉的那尊最大的大佛。 Speaking of the stories about the murals, he started to get eloquent even though his Mandarin was not that fluent. He said when Gelug Dynasty was in its prime hundreds of years ago, these Buddha caves were quite busy and bustling. Then he also talked about how people demolished the biggest Buddha in the cave during Cultural Revolution. 老人说他已经守在这里几十年的时间了。这件半山腰的红房子就是他的住所。他说很多人都搬走了，他留在这里，是想保护这些千百年前的同宗信徒们留下的圣像。 The old man said he'd been guarding this place for decades. This red house is his domicile. He told us many of his neighbors had moved out. He chose to stay, hoping to protect the holy figures made by his fellow believers hundreds of years ago. 由于自然的蚕食和游客不断的破坏，洞窟和壁画的完好程度每况愈下。几个月前，两个同样内有壁画的佛窟不堪风吹日晒而塌方，而那些较普通的、位于路边的洞窟，则沦为了行人游客的厕所。 The conditions of the murals and caves deteriorated due to the corrosive destructions by mother nature and human tourists. A couple of months ago, two caves with murals inside caved in in blustery weather. Those ordinary caves beside the roads became temporary toilets for a lot of tourists and passers-by. 若没有这样一个守护者，那满山佛窟或也时日无多了。 If it weren't for a guardian like him, the caves would be seeing his last days in the mountain. 而老人守着的，岂止是那几千画像和佛窟，又何尝不是一个僧侣的信仰呢。使得老人能够几十年如一日坚持下来的，除了坚定不移的信念，是否也有从中收获的喜乐呢？ What he's guarding is more than thousands of murals and caves. It is the belief of a monk. Other than such an adamant belief, could he also acquire joy from staying here for the last several decades? 我们下山时，老人也上路了——那是走向山顶的路。在那里，和那一路上，有更多的佛窟在等着他，在需要着他。临别，老人冲我们微笑。 When we trekked downhill, the old man also hit the road--a road leading to the mountain top. Over there and along the road, more caves await him and need him. He smiled a farewell to us before disappearing into the mountain. 同行者说：“老人是可怜的，一生一人驻足于荒山。但转念，却是最令人羡慕的，因为他的一生将献予其所最爱的。” My fellow traveler said, "We feel sympathetic because the old man stayed in a forsaken mountain all by himself in his life. Yet, with a second thought, we feel envious because he's devoted himself to the love of his life.