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在线翻译:
szdaily -> Travel -> 
Guanyin Cave, Wutai Mountain
    2015-02-16  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

   

James Baquet

    jamesbaquet@gmail.com

    THE temple at Guanyin Cave was new-looking, with halls that looked Chinese on the exterior. The only Tibetan touch was the rows of Tibetan characters painted on the beams.

    The interior was another story. Tibetan-style temples I’ve seen in China have been incredibly ornate, with numerous figures in cases lining the walls. Not being too familiar with Tibetan iconography, I gazed on their beauty with appreciation — but not much understanding.

    The cave is located a long climb above the halls, and had been a place of pilgrimage for monks and devotees — especially from Tibet and Mongolia — for hundreds of years. Before modern transportation it must have been unimaginably remote.

    A few small halls lined the path up to a gated compound. Another hall stood inside; behind was the surprisingly small cave, with another nearby housing a spring.

    While I chatted the best I could with a monk from Tibet whose Mandarin was arguably worse than mine, something interesting happened.

    A family of Chinese-Canadians appeared. The mom and dad spoke marginal English, but the kids spoke native English — and not-so-fluent Chinese.

    One of these, a teenage girl, had come for a ritual dousing in the icy spring water. She couldn’t really explain the ritual to me; when a monk and her parents explained it to her, she admitted that she didn’t understand the key words well enough to translate them.

    I watched the “baptism” with interest before making my way back.A Chinese-Canadian girl receives a ritual rinse near Guanyin Cave on Wutai Mountain.

    James Baquet

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