屍骨

　　Carcass Remains

　　短暫的夏天匆匆而過，漫無邊際的原野上已露出秋的痕迹。雖然夏末的花朵仍然頑強地挺立著，但卻怎麼也抹不去秋季來臨的蕭瑟。

　　The brief summer season went by swiftly; there are already telltale signs of autumn in the open field. Even with the season”s last flowers standing tall obstinately, the bleak and desolate feeling that comes with fall is unmistakably hanging in the air.

　　距離色達十幾公裏的亞龍寺旁，是盛夏季節鮮花最茂盛的區域。我和索頓一行興致勃勃地趕去，妄想在這裏找到一些夏日的尾聲。也許是精誠所至吧，零零散散的花兒強打著精神，裝點著氣數將盡的翠綠原野，居然也顯出了一點繁榮景象。

　　About 10 kilometers from Sertha and nearby Yalong Monastery, there is a place most famous for its lush summer flowers. Hoping to catch the last glory of summer there, Sodon, a few others, and I took off in high spirits. Sure enough, flowers here and there perhaps touched by our sincerity, stood with chins held high on the doomed green field and managed to bring about some sense of flourishing liveliness.

　　歡快的小溪似乎還沒察覺到封凍的臨近，哼著波爾卡般的曲調，沛然而下。流水聲與遠處牧民的歌聲、馬群的嘶鳴聲相和，組成了一曲輕快的多聲部迎賓曲，恭候著我們的光臨。

　　The little brook, seemingly oblivious of the imminent freezing season, hummed polka-like music as it rushed on. The babbling stream together with the distant singing of shepherd boys and the neighing of horses struck up a lively welcoming music, waiting for our arrival.

　　同伴們開始生火燒茶，不便在一旁袖手旁觀的我只得溯水而上。離這裏不遠是一個著名的屍陀林，據說與印度的清涼屍陀林無二無別，有不少的鷹鹫千裏迢迢從印度飛來。竹欽堪布菩提金剛的母親圓寂後，就是在此屍陀林天葬的。我想，這裏一定是空行聚集的勝地。

　　My companions settled to start a fire for making tea. Feeling awkward to be a bystander, I took a stroll up along the stream. Not too far away from here is a well-known charnel ground, supposedly on par with the Cool Grove charnel ground of India, and vultures fly over thousands of miles from India to feed here. The mother of Khenpo Dzogchen Changchub Dorje was sky-buried in this charnel ground after she died. I imagined this site is a sacred place for dakinis to congregate.

　　一具腐爛的牦牛骨架吸引了我的視線，不知何時、也不知何因它被棄置于此。令人窒息的惡臭吸引了逐臭的小生物們，各種小蟲附滿了整個骨架，令人厭惡，也讓我想起我的這付行將就木的臭皮囊。

　　A rotten yak carcass caught my eye and I wondered when and why it had been discarded here. Its suffocating stench attracted many cesspit-chasing creatures and they swarmed all over the skeleton; it looked disgusting and reminded me of my own sack of flesh and bones that would soon decay also.

　　雖然明知終有一天我也難逃此劫，自己卻整日爲這假合的身心勞碌奔波。這活生生的教材提醒了忘乎所以的我，如同花木飄零的秋季，如同奔流不止的溪水，如同身體強健的牦牛……世間的一切都是無常的老師，一種強烈的厭世心油然而生。我祈禱著十方諸佛及上空的空行們，祝願眼前的這些生靈能早日解脫。

　　Even though I know perfectly well that one day I will inevitably meet the same fate as this yak, I still toil all day long to serve this conjunction of body and mind of mine. The yak”s corpse was a life lesson waking me up from oblivion and I saw that all things in the world—the autumn season of fading flowers, the ever-rushing brook, and the once strong-bodied yak—are teachers of impermanence. I was suddenly arrested by a strong sense of renunciation and I prayed earnestly to the Buddhas of the 10 directions, as well as the dakinis in the sky, that all beings resting here would soon find liberation.

　　時間不知不覺地過去了，遠處傳來了同伴們呼喚的聲音，太陽已將它一半的臉藏到了地平線下，我不得不揣著沈甸甸的心回去了。

　　Time slipped away and my companions called me from the distance. Soon the sun sank halfway below the horizon; with a heavy heart, I walked back reluctantly.

　　壬午年七月初十　　

　　2002年8月17日 　

　　10th of July, Year of RenWu

　　August 17, 2002