It is said that in Chang’an, capital of Tang, there were countless temples.
Usually at the corner of an alley, you encounter a tiny temple
As lovely as the jewelry box decorated by turquoises.
There was a temple, named 荐福寺
In it lived a monk, named 阿正
A Vairocana Bouddha, carved with jade from Khotan, was placed in the west side hall of 荐福寺
Majestic statue, the jade, which is like mellow butter, will fall in drops
The Bouddha was surrounded by 3 walls, on which the gilt bronze vajras stayed still in their niches.
There were altogether 500 vajras, each of them was your palm big
Azheng is a special monk
Every night he woke the vajras up and made them out of the niches
In next minute they would wander between the black tiles and pink walls, between willows and oats
Of the city of Chang’an, under the shadow of Zhongnan mountain, in the nocturne wind
Seeking for some gracious court ladies
Then brought them back, to the bed of Azheng
One night, the vajras carried back a girl, in robe full of holes
Sword eyebrows, and 3 high hair buns
When Azheng undressed the girl, he found, with surprise
That the whole body of the girl was embroidered with tattoos
On her chest was 王摩诘行乐图 (painting of pleasure-seeking moments of wangwei)
On her back was A
Persian sailor, fascinated by mermaid’s singing, jumping into the ocean.
Her arms were covered by all kinds of beautiful insects
And two legs were serpents
There was a scorpion on her face
Azheng came closer to her and kissed her lips
And her lips were hungry as badly-fed child
But suddenly the scorpion jumped out and stung him
And seizing this opportunity, the woman escaped
Since then Azheng ordered the vajras to re-find the girl
They tried many places: Jewelry shops of Samarkand refugee, self-raining kiosk of Bizantine immigrants, they even entered into the mausoleum of emperor Taizong, and tore the At the Orchid Pavillon into pieces
But the three hair-buns girl was in none of these places
Summer left, Autumn came
Azheng decided to roll up the bamboo mat,
The vajras prepared 10 softest mattresses for him, and another 10 silk blankets
These fine embroideries were all covered by water plants and peonies
He decided to forget the three hair-buns girl, and welcome the beautiful women bouddhistes from India
- We can give those disciples a name, such as 菩萨蛮 (Barbarian Bodhisattva )
Then, when the moment of forget came, he suddenly found a spider silk
Slept over his bamboo mat, silent as a gaze
He couldn’t help following it - he was taken by it, to an unknown place
He kept walking, and walking, and walking
He thought the three hair-buns girl who bit him
Would be somewhere in front ---
Since he could still see the spider emitting the silk rested on her left arm
Therefore he walked with patience, and if the time could be counted…
Hmmmmm…
It would be as long as 84,000 musical notes
The farer he walked, the more he believed the waiting and anticipation were solemn rites
Just like ancestor homage, animal sacrifice, sati or circumcision
He was so enchanted by anticipating,
Fascinated by being a Picaro
Captivated by operating this ritual composed with complicated, detailed and requiem-like regulations
Thinking of the bitterness of the stinging
And how long the spider web- journey could be
And the idea of arriving at the end of labyrinth became little by little a torment, a fear.
And then his hair and beard grew
However he kept walking, he didn’t stop
The three hair-buns woman is an unrevealed purpose
I’m not sure if one day, when we reach this purpose
We would feel emptiness or
Or emptiness.
奇怪,不止一个人这么说了,看来确实不好。