Saturday, 4 November 2017

Shadows of Cave Mountain



D o n g ~ ~ ~  The temple bell strikes at four-thirty as usual. Deep resonance impregnates predawn quietness, giving it life rather than shattering it. From my room, I can’t hear the duty-monk chanting. But I had learnt the words from an evening attendance at the bell tower: With the first strike of the resonant bell, I chant the precious koan, shaking heaven above, piercing hell below….. Let all wars cease, armoured horses retire. May all souls expired in battles reborn in Pureland… As the mesmerising chant ends, the drum responds with the reverberating Wind-Rain-Thunder-Lightning routine, reversing the nighttime sequence.

First morning meditation starts at 4:50 while yogis warm up with sun salutations in the studio, long before the sun rises. I roll off my tatami to cancel the phone alarm before it goes off. Unlike the bell, it startles and shatters at this early hour even with volume set to just above mute. 

I’ll be going home this afternoon. Sixteen days have glided past like a bird’s flitting shadow. I let the melancholy of departure settle before getting up to dress, leaving it behind to meld with fragments of delusive dreams, turning into hazy memories.





I've uploaded a video of the Drum and Bell routine to YouTube: https://youtu.be/BmuYlp7lXA4

洞山禪影


~~~ 沈肅的禪鐘聲與本來的寂靜互相引接,引起了一靜一動的共鳴。和諧的交替,並未驚破黎明。從房間里,我聽不到敲鐘僧人的唱誦,但我幾晚前曾經上鐘樓聽唱,抄下了偈詞:「洪鐘初扣 寶偈高吟 上徹天堂 下通地府 。。。。。干戈永息 甲馬休征 陣敗傷亡 俱生淨土。。。」 寒山僧鐘唱誦畢,鼓樓會以震撼的「風雨雷電」鼓聲回應。

是時候起床了。第一課靜坐將於4:50開始。做瑜伽的會同時在瑜伽館的墊子上參拜尚未露面的太陽。我趕緊把榻榻米旁的電話鬧鐘取消。雖然音量已調到最低,但在洞山的清晨,它的炸響仍然十分駭人。


今天下午要回家了。每離開一處地方,難免幾分惆悵。我盤腿坐在榻榻米上,讓這份感覺沈澱片刻。十六天的時光,猶如飛鳥投在地面的掠影,瞬間已逝,只留下影子的印象,慢慢與新舊妄想混淆,化成不肯定的回憶。



我把鐘鼓齊鳴的視頻上載了 YouTube: https://youtu.be/BmuYlp7lXA4