受戒 (3 page)

Renshan taught others that, to be a good monk, one should strive to acquire three qualities—none of which he himself possessed. First of all, he was very ugly and could be best described by these words: yellow and fat. His voice not like a bell either, but like a grunting sow. As to his mind, was he clever? Certainly not, otherwise, why did he always lose when gambling? He never wore his Buddhist outer garment in the temple, not even his dark grey Buddhist robe. Normally he dressed in only a short Buddhist jacket with his yellow belly exposed. No matter whether his shoes were old or new, he always shuffled them along instead of putting them on properly. He paid no attention to his appearance, going around the temple making a nasal noise like a pig.

The second monk, Renhai, had a wife. Every summer she came and lived in the temple for a few months, because it was very cool inside. Of the six inhabitants in the temple, one of them was none other than Renhai's wife. Both Renshan and Rendu called her "sister-in-law”, while Minghai called her "mistress". This couple were both finicky over neatness and cleanliness, busying themselves washing and sweeping all day long. In the evening, they enjoyed the coolness of the courtyard. In the daytime, they remained in their room and never stepped outside of it.

仁山所说当一个好和尚的三个条件，他自己其实一条也不具备。他的相貌只要用两个字就说清楚了：黄，胖。声音也不像钟磬，倒像母猪。聪明么？难说，打牌老输。他在庵里从不穿袈裟，连海青直裰也免了。经常是披着件短僧衣，袒露着一个黄色的肚子。下面是光脚趿拉着一双僧鞋，——新鞋他也是趿拉着。他一天就是这样不衫不履地这里走走，那里走走，发出母猪一样的声音：“呣——呣——”。

二师父仁海。他是有老婆的。他老婆每年夏秋之间来住几个月，因为庵里凉快。庵里有六个人，其中之一，就是这位和尚的家眷。仁山、仁渡叫她嫂子，明海叫她师娘。这两口子都很爱干净，整天地洗涮。傍晚的时候，坐在天井里乘凉。白天，闷在屋里不出来。

Rendu, the third monk, was clever and skilful.

Whenever Renshan failed to work out the accounts on his abacus he, after rolling his eyes for a moment, calculated them correctly. In gambling, he was sure to win on most occasions, because as soon as some playing cards were shown, he could guess what the others held in their hands. While playing, there were always some onlookers standing behind his back watching whether or not he cheated. Therefore, when people invited him to play, they would joke, "I'd like to give you some money!" He was not only good at chanting scriptures and performing rites (in fact, few monks of the smaller temples were able to do this as well as he), but he had also mastered the unusual art of tossing the cymbals. For instance, every summer a large-scale service was performed in the open air. The conventional instruments were not used, only a number of large cymbals clashing rapidly. Wearing embroidered outer garments, many monks would toss the cymbals (some of which weighed more than five kilograms) into the air, making them spin while flying skywards, then catching them before they touched the ground. Some would catch them with a variety of gestures known as "the rhinoceros looks up at the moon" or "the man bears a sword at his back".

三师父是个很聪明精干的人。有时一笔账大师兄扒了半天算盘也算不清，他眼珠子转两转，早算得一清二楚。他打牌赢的时候多，二三十张牌落地，上下家手里有些什么牌，他就差不多都知道了。他打牌时，总有人爱在他后面看歪头胡。谁家约他打牌，就说：“想送两个钱给你。”他不但经忏俱通（小庙的和尚能够拜忏的不多），而且身怀绝技，会“飞铙”。七月间有些地方做盂兰会，在旷地上放大焰口，几十个和尚，穿绣花袈裟，飞铙。飞铙就是把十多斤重的大铙钹飞起来。到了一定的时候，全部法器皆停，只几十副大铙紧张急促地敲起来。忽然起手，大铙向半空中飞去，一面飞，一面旋转。然后，又落下来，接住。接住不是平平常常地接住，有各种架势，“犀牛望月”、“苏秦背剑”……

This was a display of dexterity, and it was said that Buddha Ksitigarbha was fond of watching it. Actually the most pleased were the women and kids. Therefore, such a service was a good opportunity for the young and handsome monks to show themselves off. Just as after the performance of a well-known theatrical troupe, after a large service ended, some young girls or even married women would disappear — having eloped with the monks.

In addition, Rendu was adept in performing a "flowery" service. It often happened that, in order to satisfy the curiosity of their relatives, some families would ask the monks to perform this kind of Buddhist service if the occasion was not a very sorrowful one, such as celebrating the birth anniversary of a dead relative. This meant that after the formal service had finished, the monks continued to sing ballads, play fiddles, blow flutes and beat drums. The listeners asked the monks to sing their favourite songs. On such occasions, Rendu could sing alone for a whole night in high spirits. Before, he had always gone out, but for the past two years he had stuck more to the temple. He was rumoured to have had many mistresses. Outwardly he behaved well, always wearing a decorous expression when he encountered young girls or married women, not joking or singing. One day, resting in cool shade on the threshing ground, he was gathered around, and was insisted on a performance. Not to spoil their mood, he said, "OK, I'll sing one for you. It isn't the local one, which you know quite well, but one from Anhui."

Sister thresh barley with a youngster,

Whispering intimate affairs whilst beat.

Though the conversation is private,

It goes on in the next thresh of wheat.

When it was over, the fellows were not thoroughly amused. Then he continued.

In this temple there were no taboos, and no one mentioned anything about them. Renshan smoked a water-pipe, which he took with him when going to perform Buddhist services.

这哪是念经，这是耍杂技。也许是地藏王菩萨爱看这个，但真正因此快乐起来的是人，尤其是妇女和孩子。这是年轻漂亮的和尚出风头的机会。一场大焰口过后，也像一个好戏班子过后一样，会有一个两个大姑娘、小媳妇失踪——跟和尚跑了。他还会放“花焰口”。有的人家，亲戚中多风流子弟，在不是很哀伤的佛事——如做冥寿时，就会提出放花焰口。所谓“花焰口”就是在正焰口之后，叫和尚唱小调，拉丝弦，吹管笛，敲鼓板，而且可以点唱。仁渡一个人可以唱一夜不重头。仁渡前几年一直在外面，近二年才常住在庵里。据说他有相好的，而且不止一个。他平常可是很规矩，看到姑娘媳妇总是老老实实的，连一句玩笑话都不说，一句小调山歌都不唱。有一回，在打谷场上乘凉的时候，一伙人把他围起来，非叫他唱两个不可。他却情不过，说：“好，唱一个。不唱家乡的。家乡的你们都熟。唱个安徽的。”

姐和小郎打大麦，

一转子讲得听不得。

听不得就听不得，

打完了大麦打小麦。

唱完了，大家还嫌不够，他就又唱了一个：

姐儿生得漂漂的，

两个奶子翘翘的。

有心上去摸一把，

心里有点跳跳的。

…… ……

这个庵里无所谓清规，连这两个字也没人提起。

仁山吃水烟，连出门做法事也带着他的水烟袋。

The monks loved gambling. The square table in the main hall, which was used for meals, was just right for this, and would be moved to the entrance of the hall. As soon as it was in place, Renshan would take out the chips from his room and throw them on the table. They played cards more often than
mahjong
. The participants, apart from the three older monks, were a duck-feather collector and a hare hunter, who was also a hen thief. Nevertheless they were all decent souls. The former went from village to village with a shoulder pole and bamboo baskets crying intermittently in a hoarse voice, "Any duck feathers for sale?"

The latter had a secret instrument, a dragonfly made of copper. At the sight of a hen, he would launch the dragonfly. When the hen came over and pecked at it, its spring would unwind and choke the hen rendering it incapable of cackling for help. Then the thief would promptly rush forward and catch it.

他们经常打牌。这是个打牌的好地方。把大殿上吃饭的方桌往门口一搭，斜放着，就是牌桌。桌子一放好，仁山就从他的方丈里把筹码拿出来，哗啦一声倒在桌上。斗纸牌的时候多，搓麻将的时候少。牌客除了师兄弟三人，常来的是一个收鸭毛的，一个打兔子兼偷鸡的，都是正经人。收鸭毛的担一副竹筐，串乡串镇，拉长了沙哑的声音喊叫：

“鸭毛卖钱——!"

偷鸡的有一件家什——铜蜻蜓。看准了一只老母鸡，把铜蜻蜓一丢，鸡婆子上去就是一口。这一啄，铜蜻蜓的硬簧绷开，鸡嘴撑住了，叫不出来了。正在这鸡十分纳闷的时候，上去一把薅住。

Minghai had once asked him to let him have a look at his copper dragonfly, which he took to Xiaoyingzi's home, trying it out in front of the door. In a trice, Xiaoyingzi's mother ran out, complaining, "Are you crazy? How can you bring such a foolish thing here to play with?"

Immediately Xiaoyingzi ran up to him and urged, "Give it to me! Give it to me!"

She tried it out on a black hen. It really did work! The hen was choked and it stood motionless with shock.

When the sky was overcast or rainy, these two would come to the Biqi Nunnery to while away their leisure hours there. If there were no partners, the three monks dragged the old monk to gamble with them, at the end of which Renshan used to swear angrily, "Mother! I've lost again! I won't play next time!"

They never ate meat secretly, instead slaughtered pigs at the end of every year in the main hall. They did it just like ordinary households with boiled water, a wooden basin and sharp knife. While the pig was being secured, it cried lustily. The difference was that they held a ceremony for it with the old monk chanting in a serious manner the sutra of reincarnation for the pig, which was about to go to Heaven.

The moment when Rendu thrust a sharp knife into the bound pig, a spurt of red blood would gush out.

明子曾经跟这位正经人要过铜蜻蜓看看。他拿到小英子家门前试了一试，果然！小英子的娘知道了，骂明子：

“要死了！明子！你怎么到我家来玩铜蜻蜓了！”

小英子跑过来：

“给我！给我！”

她也试了试，真灵，一个黑母鸡一下子就把嘴撑住，傻了眼了！

下雨阴天，这二位就光临荸荠庵，消磨一天。

有时没有外客，就把老师叔也拉出来，打牌的结局，大都是当家和尚气得鼓鼓的：“×妈妈的！又输了！下回不来了！”

他们吃肉不瞒人。年下也杀猪。杀猪就在大殿上。一切都和在家人一样，开水、木桶、尖刀。捆猪的时候，猪也是没命地叫。跟在家人不同的，是多一道仪式，要给即将升天的猪念一道“往生咒”，并且总是老师叔念，神情很庄重：

……一切胎生、卵生、息生，来从虚空来，还归虚空去。往生再世，皆当欢喜。南无阿弥陀佛！

三师父仁渡一刀子下去，鲜红的猪血就带着很多沫子喷出来。

…… ……

Mingzi frequently went to Xiaoyingzi's home, which was surrounded on three sides by water, except on the western side, where there was a small path to Biqi Nunnery. They were the only inhabitants in this spot. Around the isolated courtyard were planted six large mulberry trees, which blossomed and bore mulberries every summer; three bore white berries, the other three purple ones. Near the house was a vegetable garden growing melons, beans and other vegetables all year round. The lower part of the courtyard's wall was built with bricks while the upper part was of compacted earth. The main door was painted with tung oil, on which was pasted a couplet for the Spring Festival. Inside was a large courtyard. On one side were a cowshed and a rice-husking shed and on the other a pigsty, a chicken coop and an enclosure for ducks. A stone mill stood in the open air. The house was to the north, its walls also made of bricks lower down and compacted earth higher up. The roof was covered with tiles and straw. Obviously, the building had been recently repaired for the timbers were still white. In the centre of the house was a main hall where the gold paint on the portrait of the House God had not yet turned black. On both sides of the hall were bedrooms, which had windows fitted with square transparent glass, rarely used in the countryside. Under the eaves of the house was a pomegranate tree on one side and a cape jasmine on the other, both of which had grown as high as the eaves. Every summer, when red and white flowers blossomed on these trees, they were very beautiful. The fragrance of the cape jasmine flowers was strong and could be detected even in Biqi Nunnery if the wind blew in that direction.

明子老往小英子家里跑。小英子的家像一个小岛，三面都是河，西面有一条小路通到荸荠庵。独门独户，岛上只有这一家。岛上有六棵大桑树，夏天都结大桑葚，三棵结白的，三棵结紫的；一个菜园子，瓜豆蔬菜，四时不缺。院墙下半截是砖砌的，上半截是泥夯的。大门是桐油油过的，贴着一副万年红的春联：

向阳门第春常在，

积善人家庆有余。

门里是一个很宽的院子。院子里一边是牛屋、碓棚；一边是猪圈、鸡窠，还有个关鸭子的栅栏。露天地放着一具石磨。正北面是住房，也是砖基土筑，上面盖的一半是瓦，一半是草。房子翻修了才三年，木料还露着白茬。正中是堂屋，家神菩萨的画像上贴的金还没有发黑。两边是卧房。隔扇窗上各嵌了一块一尺见方的玻璃，明亮亮的——这在乡下是不多见的。房檐下一边种着一棵石榴树，一边种着一棵栀子花，都齐房檐高了。夏天开了花，一红一白，好看得很。栀子花香得冲鼻子，顺风的时候，在荸荠庵都闻得见。

The family was small: Uncle Zhao, Aunt Zhao and their two daughters— Dayingzi and Xiaoyingzi. They had no sons. In recent years, since there had been no disease, locusts, drought or floods, life had been very prosperous. Their produce was enough to supply them with all sorts of foodstuffs. They also rented ten
mu
of land from the temple. In one
mu
of their own fields, they had planted water chestnuts. This was probably Xiaoyingzi's idea, because she was very fond of them. Another
mu
was planted with arrowheads. In addition, they had many chickens and ducks. The income from the eggs and duck feathers alone bought a year's supply of salt and cooking oil.

Uncle Zhao was a jack of all trades, not only skilled in farm work, but also in repairing boats, building walls, baking bricks, cooping tubs, splitting bamboo and weaving jute rope. As strong as an elm tree, he never coughed or suffered from a backache. He was kind to everybody and remained silent all day long. Aunt Zhao also enjoyed good health. Although fifty years old, she still had keen eyesight. She was always neatly dressed with her hair combed. She too busied herself from early morning till late night, cooking food for the pigs, feeding the hens and ducks, salting vegetables(the dried radishes she salted tasted delicious), milling beancurd, weaving reed baskets and so on. In short, they were a good match, both being very industrious.

Aunt Zhao often cut paper flower-designs for the villagers. It was a tradition that, when a wedding ceremony was held, the parents would stick red paper flower-designs on their daughter's dowry. In order to bring good luck and to make the dowry appear more magnificent, the paper-cuts were usually made with charming characters or designs, such as "a phoenix flies toward the sun", "live to a ripe old age in conjugal bliss", "may your descendants flourish for ten thousand generations" or "boundless happiness and longevity". Aunt Zhao's paper-cuts were very popular. Even villagers from far away invited her to make them for them.

"Aunt Zhao, we've fixed our wedding ceremony for the sixteenth of this month. When will you come to help us?"

"I'll come early in the morning the day before."

"You must come on time!"

"Certainly! Of course!"

The two daughters resembled their mother very much, especially in their eyes, with the black and white sharply contrasted. They looked like clear water when still and shooting stars when moving. The two sisters were always immaculately dressed. According to local custom, at fifteen or sixteen years of age, every girl should comb her hair into a bun. How smoothly they styled theirs, with the red wool, black hair and white hairpins! Whenever Aunt Zhao took her two daughters to a fair, everyone turned to look at them.

这家人口不多。他家当然是姓赵。一共四口人：赵大伯、赵大妈，两个女儿——大英子、小英子。老两口没有儿子。因为这些年人不得病，牛不生灾，也没有大旱大水闹蝗虫，日子过得很兴旺。他们家自己有田，本来够吃的了，又租种了庵上的十亩田。自己的田里，一亩种了荸荠——这一半是小英子的主意，她爱吃荸荠，一亩种了茨菇。家里喂了一大群鸡鸭，单是鸡蛋鸭毛就够一年的油盐了。赵大伯是个能干人。他是一个“全把式”，不但田里场上样样精通，还会罩鱼、洗磨、凿砻、修水车、修船、砌墙、烧砖、箍桶、劈篾、绞麻绳。他不咳嗽，不腰疼，结结实实，像一棵榆树。人很和气，一天不声不响。赵大伯是一棵摇钱树，赵大娘就是个聚宝盆。大娘精神得出奇。五十岁了，两个眼睛还是清亮亮的。不论什么时候，头都是梳得滑滴滴的，身上衣服都是格挣挣的。像老头子一样，她一天不闲着。煮猪食，喂猪，腌咸菜——她腌的咸萝卜干非常好吃，舂粉子，磨小豆腐，编蓑衣，织芦篚。她还会剪花样子。这里嫁闺女，陪嫁妆，瓷坛子、锡罐子，都要用梅红纸剪出吉祥花样，贴在上面，讨个吉利，也才好看：“丹凤朝阳”呀、“白头到老”呀、“子孙万代”呀、“福寿绵长”呀。二三十里的人家都来请她：