ON THE SACRED MOUNTAIN'S SIDE
Life-sized Image of Tiger — Upwards and Onwards — Temple Breakfast — Delightful Pine Wood — Hua Yen Ting, the one Taoist Temple on Mountain — Destructive Fires — On the Brink of a Precipice — Thanksgiving to the Earth — Lotus Rock Temple — Where Pusien washed his Elephant — Wealthy and Inhospitable Temple — Rest at last ! — Virgin Forest — Wood-cutters' Path — Charred Images — Magnificent Panorama- — Tei Tung Ping — First View of Snow Summits of Thibet — Rhododendron Jungle — Teh Fun! — FromTemple to Temple — Flesh and Blood Images — Summit Plateau — Awful Precipice — Thousand Buddhas' Shrine — Fifty Taels a. Night — Picnicking on the Mountain — Golden Pavilion Temple.
與老虎等身的雕像——向上，向上——寺廟早餐——令人愉悅的松林——華嚴亭，山上的唯一道教寺廟——毀滅性的火災——懸崖邊緣——感謝大地——蓮花石寺——普賢（Pusien）洗象之處——富有但不友善的寺廟——終於休息！——原始森林——伐木者的小徑——燒焦的雕像——壯麗的全景——鐵桐坪（Tei Tung Ping）——首次看到西藏的雪峰——杜鵑花叢林——得風！——從寺廟到寺廟——血肉雕像——山頂高原——令人驚懼的懸崖——千佛寺——一晚五十兩——山上野餐——金頂寺。
July 28. — Off at six ; none too soon, for at seven we already felt the sun oppressive as we toiled up the endless flights of stone steps. We passed the temple of the "Goddess of Mercy," Kwanyin Ko ; rounded a fantistic-shaped rock resembling a colossal man, called T'aitze-shih (the " Rock of the Heir Apparent"), passed a poor-looking temple built on a narrow edge, called Kwan-shin-po (" Examine the Heart " declivity), whose priest was most anxious to persuade us to stop and breakfast ; then to a larger temple, gaudily decorated and in good repair, with a hfe-sized tiger (image) in a pen and in a small "josshouse " of its own on the left of the entrance. Propitiating this dreadful being by gifts of incense and the regulation kotow, the pilgrims hope to secure themselves and their community from his depredations. We entered the temple for breakfast, it being now a quarter to eight, and found tea and cakes ready spread for our arrival. A plain cake of wheat-flour unleavened,
ON THE SACRED MOUNTAIN'S SIDE 71
with a dab of coarse brown sugar in the centre, sopped, native fashion, in hot tea, made a refreshing early breakfast. This luxury was, so the priests told us, brought up from the city of Omi. The Yuan-pu was produced, but we refused to put down our names, giving only a few hundred cash as a return for the tea and cakes. This temple is the Si Shin So, or " Rest of the Heart of Fane," and the priests certainly did their best to get us to take a long rest there. But we did not delay, and mounting 815 more steep steps we reached the next temple of Chang Lea Ping (lit. " Venerable Flat "), meaning a level spot utilised for a sacred erection by some reverend monk of long ago. The spot we thought indeed beautifully chosen, as from the stone terrace in front through a screen of fine firs we caught glimpses of the steep valley, up the side of which we had just climbed. All round grew the pine forest, and the shade and freshness were delightful. What better air could we desire ? Why not stop here and enjoy the fragrant breeze from the dewcovered sun-bathed fir-trees, reclining meanwhile on the thick carpet of moss and fir needles ? Why go on toiling up those interminable steps which seem to lead away from the sunshine and the grassy slopes and up into a forbidding region of rock and mist ? So we spoke as we watched the neatly clad pilgrims who stopped to examine us — more surprised than pleased at our appearance. But duty carried the day, and we set out once more ; this time up 910 steps (counting them was the only way to be avenged on them), landing us on a narrow ledge, the summit of a sort of promontory jutting out from the main mountain mass, about half-way up. The only break in the ascent was at an outlying rocky point upon which stands, surrounded by the pine forest, the temple known as Tsu Tien, or " First Hall," a poor establishment, although, hke Wan Nien Sze and Si Shin Si, it boasts an abbot, and so ranks above the many inferior fanes on the mountain. We had now entered the clouds and just managed to find our way in the thick fog to the gate of the Hua Ten Ting without falling over the edge of the precipice above which it stands.
1892年7月28日
清晨六點整裝出發，時機恰到好處，因為僅僅一小時後，烈日已使我們在無盡的石階上汗流浹背。首先經過觀音閣（Kwanyin Ko），接著繞過一塊形似巨人的奇石——太子石（T'aitze-shih）。隨後來到建在峭壁邊緣的破舊寺廟觀心坡（Kwan-shin-po），寺內僧人熱情相邀用早膳。再往上攀登，我們抵達一座裝飾華麗、保養完善的大寺，其入口左側的小神龕中供奉著一尊等身大小的老虎雕像。
香客們虔誠地焚香叩拜這尊威嚴的神像，祈求平安，免受虎害。抵達寺廟時已近八點四十五分，茶點已備妥。早膳簡單而美味：一塊小麥製成的無酵餅，中心點綴粗糖，依當地習俗浸泡熱茶食用，別具風味。據僧人所言，這些點心皆從峨眉城中運送而來。寺方呈上緣簿（Yuan-pu），我們婉拒題名，只留下些許香火錢。這座思心所（Si Shin So）的僧人雖殷勤挽留，我們仍繼續前行，又攀登了815級陡峭石階，抵達長樂坪（Chang Lea Ping）。
這處聖地是古代高僧精心挑選，確實獨具慧眼。透過前方石台的蒼松間隙，可俯瞰我們方才攀爬的峽谷。四周松林蔥鬱，空氣清新怡人。此情此景令人流連忘返，我們不禁思索：何不就在這裡稍作休憩，感受晨露沐浴下松林的芬芳，躺臥在柔軟的苔蘚與松針地毯上？為何還要繼續向那迷霧籠罩的岩石之境攀登，離開這片陽光與綠意？
正當我們沉思之際，整潔的香客們好奇地打量著我們這群異鄉人。最終，使命感戰勝了休憩的誘惑。我們再次啟程，一路數著腳下的台階——足足910級（數數成了我們對這些台階的無聲抗議）。這些台階將我們引至一處狹窄的山脊，宛如一道從主峰延伸而出的半島，位於山腰位置。途中唯一的休憩處是一塊突出的岩石上的祖殿（Tsu Tien），四周松林環抱。這座設施簡陋的寺廟與萬年寺（Wan Nien Sze）、思心所（Si Shin Si）一樣，都有方丈駐守，地位高於山上諸多小廟。
此時我們已步入雲端，小心翼翼地循著微弱的光線摸索前行，終於抵達華嚴亭（Hua Ten Ting）。這座寺廟巍然屹立於懸崖之上，稍有不慎便會墜入深淵。
72 MOUNT OMI AND BEYOND
We were now up 5000 feet, and had said adieu to the heat which was not to trouble us again for many days to come. We had, however, got very hot during the climb, and the sharp contrast compelled us quickly to change into warmer garments, and we found the stools round the wide ash-filled hearth, over which the tea-kettle was simmering at one end of the guestchamber of the temple, a grateful resort. The Hua Yen Ting or "Pinnacle of Contemplation," so named after the treatise on religious contemplation by a priest (Tu-shun) of the Tang dynasty, is the one large Taoist temple on this Buddhist mountain. Taoism of to-day, which is a deformed excrescence of Laotze's teaching, much as was mediaeval Catholicism of the teaching of Christ, is hardly distinguishable from Buddhism by a superficial observer, so great have been the borrowings of the older and indigenous native religion from its more modern rival. The dress of the priests is different ; the hair is not shorn, but worn long and coiled round the head ; but many of the images are almost identical, and the ceremonious ritual is as little dissimilar as is the indisputable moral teaching of the numerous ethical and hortatory treatises common to both sects, without which {pace our missionary friends and their spectre of idolatry) no religious body would have a locus standi in China any more than in Europe.
我們已攀升至5000英尺的高度，終於告別了炎熱，在接下來的數天裡都不必再受其困擾。雖然攀登過程中汗流浹背，但驟然遇到的涼意迫使我們迅速換上保暖衣物。寺廟客房一角設有寬大爐灶，灰燼中煮著熱茶，周圍的板凳成為我們感激的休憩之處。這座寺廟名為華嚴亭（Hua Yen Ting），意為「觀照之巔」，其名源自唐代高僧杜順（Tu-shun）的宗教冥想著作《華嚴觀》。在這座佛教聖山上，華嚴亭是唯一的大型道教寺廟。
今日的道教已經演變成老子原始教義的一種變體，就如同中世紀天主教之於基督教原教義。表面上，道教與佛教難以區分，這古老的本土信仰從後來者那裡吸收了諸多元素。兩者主要差異體現在細節：道教僧侶著裝獨特，不剃髮而是將長髮盤於頭頂。儘管如此，兩教的神像和儀式極為相似，其教義書籍和勸善文獻也頗為一致。這些道德教化的典籍（儘管傳教士們常憂慮偶像崇拜）對於宗教團體而言不可或缺，無論在中國還是歐洲皆是如此。
After enjoying the hospitality of the customary tea and cakes in the well-furnished guest-room, pending the arrival of our coolies with tiffin, who came in ultimately two hours behind us, we set out on an inspection of the monastery and its surroundings. As usual with these so-called temples, the Hua Yen Ting comprised an extensive range of buildings quite at variance with the idea of a single edifice usually associated with the word and strikingly parallel to the huge monastic establishments of mediaeval Europe — places of worship, priests' quarters, acolytes' quarters, guest-rooms for visitors, rich and poor, rooms for wandering priests, of whom there are vast numbers, and each one of whom can by prescribed custom demand three days' board and lodging at every fane, servants'
ON THE SACRED MOUNTAIN'S SIDE 73
quarters, cooks' and woodcutters', and places for artisans from a distance, of whom several are almost constantly employed at the more flourishing establishments. The Hua Yen Ting evidently belonged to this category, for new erections were in progress — of wood, cut from the surrounding forests belonging to the temple, and the whole of the buildings boasted roofs of zinc tiles (worth 5s. a piece) supported on heavy closely spaced pillars of magnificent cedar. The lower portions of the walls were of brick, all of which has to be carried up the mountain, on stone foundations, and the upper portion of thick pine planking. Fires are very destructive hereabouts, and throughout these mountains we rarely passed a day without seeing traces of the work of the "devouring element." The poorer temples and cottages are either thatched or roofed with shingles. The latter are specially inflammable, and, with the open wood-fires on the earthen floors of the rooms, it can be only owing to the generally damp climate that any of these lightly built "frame'' houses survive at all. On stepping outside the walls we found ourselves brought up by a balustrade, on peering over which we discerned nothing but the tops of a few pines, just distinguishable in the thick white mist with which everything was enveloped and which was dripping from the eaves behind us, and realised that we were standing on the brink of a lofty precipice.