在青海玉樹目睹佛教徒的辛勤放生

YUSHU, China — With a set of chopsticks in her hands and a Tibetan prayer spilling from her lips, GelazoMo, a 32-year-old yak herder, hunched over the rocky banks of the river that cuts through this city and hunted for the quarry that she hoped would bring salvation.

中國玉樹——32歲的牧民格拉佐瑪(Gelazomo)在一條橫貫玉樹的河流的石岸邊彎着腰，手裏握着一雙筷子，一邊吟誦藏語禱文，一邊尋找着她期望能帶來救贖的小生命。

Every few minutes, she would tease out a tiny river shrimp that had become stranded in the mud, and then dropping it into a bucket of water. Beside her, dozens of other Tibetans toiled in the noonday sun, among them small children and old people who, from afar, appeared to be panning for gold.

每隔幾分鐘，她就會從淤泥裏挑出一隻微小的河蝦，然後將它放入水桶中。在她身旁，還有數十名藏人在炎炎烈日下辛苦勞作，其中還有小孩和老人，遠遠望去，他們彷彿是在淘金。

“Buddha has taught us that treating others with love and compassion is the right thing to do, no matter how tiny that life is,” she explained, as the newly revived crustaceans darted through the water of her bucket.

看着這些獲救的甲殼類動物在水桶裏游來游去，她解釋稱，“佛陀教導我們，應該用仁愛與慈悲之心對待其他生命，無論它們多麼渺小。”

Buddhists are encouraged to demonstrate a reverence for all sentient beings; some believers spurn meat while others buy animals destined for slaughter and then set them free. Here in Yushu, a largely Tibetan city where more than 3,000 people died in an earthquake four years ago, the faithful have been flocking to the Batang River to rescue a minuscule aquatic crustacean that would hardly seem deserving of such attention.

佛教鼓勵信徒敬畏衆生；一些信徒拒絕吃肉，其他人則買下將要被屠宰的動物，然後放生。在玉樹，信徒們紛紛來到巴塘河，拯救那些微小的水生甲殼生物。雖然表面上看起來，它們並不值得關注。四年前，這個以藏人爲主的城市發生地震，3000多人在地震中遇難。

Buddhist monks say the growing interest in “life liberation” or “mercy release,” as it is sometimes called, is part of a surge in religious devotion that followed the quake, which flattened much of Yushu. Donations to local monasteries have soared, they said, as have ordinary acts of kindness among strangers in this city of 120,000 roughly 1,300 miles northwest of Hong Kong.

佛教僧人表示，在地震將玉樹大部分地區夷爲平地之後，人們越來越信仰宗教，對“放生”的興趣日益濃厚。他們表示，當地寺院收到的捐贈出現猛增，在這個12萬人口的城市中，陌生人之間普通的善舉也越來越多，玉樹位於香港西北部大約1300英里（約合2093公里）處。

“To save these lives is not only for me and my family but for all the people who died in the earthquake,” said Gelazomo, who like many Tibetans goes by a single name.

格拉佐瑪說，“我拯救這些生命，不僅僅是爲了我自己和家人，也是爲了所有地震遇難者。”像很多藏人一樣，格拉佐瑪也只使用單名。

Working with her infant son strapped to her back, she said the loss and trauma experienced by so many people in Yushu had fortified their commitment to Buddhist teachings that emphasize respect for all living creatures.

格拉佐瑪將幼小的兒子綁在背上勞作，她表示，很多玉樹人遭遇了損失與創傷，這加深了他們對佛法的信仰，而佛法強調尊重衆生。

Several others said these specks of life could very well be the reincarnated souls of relatives or friends who perished in the earthquake.

其他人表示，這些微小的生命可能是在地震中遇難的親屬或朋友的轉世。

Chenrup, 67, a nomad, said the prospect of being reborn as a fly or a dog could not be dismissed. “We have the same feelings as the fish,” said Chenrup, a vegetarian who spends eight hours a day digging in the mud. “It is our duty to liberate them from pain and suffering.”

67歲的遊牧人切恩魯普(Chenrup)表示，轉世爲蒼蠅或狗的可能性不能被排除。“我們與魚有同樣的感受，”素食主義者切恩魯普說。“使它們擺脫痛苦是我們的責任。”切恩魯普每天要在淤泥裏挖八個小時。

From early morning until dusk, the soul-savers work to extract creatures that have become stranded as the river, which is fed by snow-draped mountains, recedes in summer. The shrimp, about the size of a fingernail clipping, are almost impossible to see in the sunbaked muck and only make themselves known by writhing faintly. After collecting them in buckets or paper cups, the diggers set them free into the river.

從清晨到黃昏，靈魂拯救者們努力挖取那些因爲夏季河水退去而擱淺的生物，這條河流的水源來自冰雪覆蓋的高山。這些蝦只有鉸下的手指甲大小，幾乎是不可能在久經日曬的淤泥裏發現它們，只能通過其輕扭動作找到它們。在將它們挖出放入水桶或紙杯後，挖掘者們將它們放回河流中。

From the thousands of multicolor prayer flags that flutter across barren mountainsides to the monasteries that fleck even the most remote valleys, religious devotion suffuses every aspect of life on the Tibetan Plateau. Although many people here consume meat — and tending livestock sustains most rural families — it is not uncommon to see yaks or goats adorned with colorful strands of yarn, an indication that their lives have been spared.

在青藏高原上，從貧瘠的山坡到遙遠山谷處的寺院，成千上萬的多彩經幡迎風招展，宗教信仰滲入生活的方方面面。雖然很多人吃肉，而且大多數農村家庭飼養家畜，但大家可以經常看到繫有綵帶的犛牛和山羊，這種綵帶表明，它們是被放生的。

Across the plateau, the practice of life liberation supports a growing mini-industry. Since 2008, the Kilung Monastery in Sichuan Province has saved hundreds of yaks, sheep and goats through a program financed largely by believers overseas. For $1,000 a yak and $100 a goat, participants can buy an animal headed to the slaughterhouse. A nomadic family will also set aside an animal in their herd and dedicate it to providing wool ($165) or milk ($35). The monastery accepts online payments, including Visa and MasterCard.

在整個青藏高原，放生活動支撐着一個不斷髮展的小型產業。自2008年以來，四川省的吉龍寺(Kilung Monastery)已經通過一個主要由海外信徒資助的項目，拯救了數以百計的犛牛、綿羊和山羊。參與者可以買下將被送往屠宰場的動物，一頭犛牛1000美元（約合6200元），一隻山羊100美元。遊牧家庭也會留出一頭動物，用於提供羊毛（165美元）或奶（35美元）。該寺院接受網上支付，可以使用Visa和萬事達(MasterCard)。

Local monks acknowledge that the practice has a negligible impact on the number of animals destined for slaughter, but they say it serves to remind people about the sanctity of life and can also produce concrete benefits for adherents.

當地僧人承認，這種做法對送去屠宰的動物數量的影響很有限，但他們稱，這樣做可以提醒人們注意生命的神聖性，而且還能給信徒帶來具體的好處。

In an essay to his followers, Chatral Rinpoche, a 101-year-old Tibetan religious figure who is said to have saved more than a million animals in his lifetime, said mercy release could lead to better harvests and healthier, longer lives for practitioners. “No greater crime is there than taking life away, and no conditioned virtue brings greater merit than the act of saving beings and ransoming their lives,” he wrote in a widely circulated essay. “Therefore, should you wish for happiness and good, exert yourself in this, the most supreme of paths.”

據稱，現年101歲的西藏宗教人物恰扎仁波切(Chatral Rinpoche)一生拯救了100多萬隻動物。他在寫給信衆的一篇文章中說，放生可以帶來更好的收成，放生者也會更加健康和長壽。“最大的罪業莫過於殺生，任何有條件的善舉，功德都不及拯救和救贖生命，”他在一篇廣泛傳播的文章中寫道。“所以，如果你祈求幸福和如意，就去放生吧，這是至高之路。”

As increasing numbers of Chinese rediscover Buddhism after decades of state-enforced atheism, animal release has become a popular way to express religious devotion, especially among the ranks of middle-class urbanites who buy turtles or fish from produce markets and set them free in parks or temple ponds.

數十年來，中國政府一直在強制推行無神論。然而目前，越來越多中國人開始重新審視佛教。在這種情況下，放生成了一種頗受歡迎的表達虔誠的方式，對於城市裏的中產階級尤其如此。他們往往會從市場購買烏龜或魚類，然後在公園或寺廟的池塘裏放生。

The practice, though, has its detractors, who say releasing tropical creatures in northern climes begets a different kind of cruel death — by winter’s freezing temperatures. Across Asia, especially in cities with large Chinese communities, caged birds are sold outside temples; once released, the birds are sometimes trapped again and resold, but more often they are unable to fend for themselves and die.

然而，也有人對這種做法持批評態度。這些批評者稱，把熱帶動物放生到北方的氣候之中，只會造成另一種殘酷的死亡——在寒冷的冬季被凍死。在整個亞洲，尤其是有大量中國人聚居的城市，寺廟外都有人出售關在籠子裏的鳥；放生後，這些鳥有時還會再次被逮住，再被出售。但更常見的下場是，它們會因爲無法保護自己而死去。

The practice, environmentalists say, also leads to the introduction of invasive species, with potentially ruinous results. In the United States, the northern snakehead fish, a voracious Chinese predator thought to have been freed during mercy release ceremonies, has been found in waters from the Potomac River to Lake Michigan, alarming bass fishermen and aquatic biologists who worry about the northern snakehead’s potential to consume and crowd out native species.

環保人士稱，這種做法還導致一些侵入性物種的引入，而這可能會導致毀滅性的後果。在美國，有人認爲人們在放生活動中，曾釋放過兇猛的中國肉食性魚類黑魚，因爲人們在從波托馬克河到密歇根湖的水域中發現了這種魚。這讓捕撈鱸魚的漁夫和水生生物學家們感到緊張，因爲他們擔心，這種黑魚可能會吃掉本地的物種，或者把本地的物種擠出去。

In Yushu, which is also known by its Tibetan name Jiegu, mountains and rivers are embraced as holy places and ordinary Tibetans display a sophisticated appreciation of the ecologically fragile landscape that sustains them.

玉樹在藏語中又稱結古，山巒與河流在這裏都具有神聖的色彩，普通藏人對養育他們的這片生態脆弱的土地，懷有一種深刻的感激之情。

In recent years, protesters have tried to block illegal mining operations, leading to violent clashes inside the Three-River Source Nature Reserve, a protected area outside Yushu that contains the headwaters of the Yangtze, Yellow and Mekong rivers.

近年來，抗議者曾試圖阻止非法的採礦活動，所以三江源自然保護區爆發了多次暴力衝突。三江源是玉樹之外的一個保護區，長江、黃河、湄公河發源於此。

Last August, dozens of people were reportedly injured after the police used batons, tear gas and electric prods to break up a large, three-day demonstration outside an open-pit diamond mine, according to Tibetan exile groups.

藏人流亡團體表示，去年8月，警方使用警棍、催淚瓦斯和電棍，驅散了一個露天鑽石礦外持續三天的大型抗議，據稱有數十人在鎮壓中受傷。

Chuyan Dorjee, 26, a monk who joined the throngs digging alongside the Batang River one recent morning, explained why many Tibetans felt so strongly about safeguarding the environment. “If human beings are to live in this world, we have to protect the animals and the grass,” he said. “We are all connected to one another. If they have no place to live, we will have no place to live.”

最近一天上午，26歲的僧人丘揚多吉(Chuyan Dorjee)也加入了在巴塘河沿線挖掘的隊伍。他解釋了爲何許多藏人都有保護環境的強烈意識。“如果人類要在世界上生存，就必須保護動物和青草，”他說。“我們都與彼此息息相關。如果它們失去了生存地，我們也將失去生存地。”

The sight of so many people toiling in the sun, many of them well into their 70s and 80s, was contagious. Among the diggers was Ha Kaimu, 20, a sock and underwear salesman who took the day off from his stall at the local market.

許多人都在烈日下辛勞，其中很多都已經七八十歲了，這種情景很有感染力。20歲的哈凱穆（Ha Kaimu，音譯）也在挖掘者之列。他在當地的市場有個出售襪子和內衣的貨攤，這天他給自己放了一天假。

Mr. Kaimu, an ethnic Hui Muslim who recently moved to Yushu from neighboring Gansu Province, said he was deeply moved by the collective act of benevolence.

哈凱穆是一名回族穆斯林，最近才從臨近的甘肅省搬到玉樹。他說，這種集體性的善舉讓他深受感動。

“In my hometown, if there was a much larger animal facing such a predicament, no one would lift a finger, but look at all these people working to save a tiny creature,” he said as several women offered him a hearty thumbs-up. “How could anyone not be moved?”

“在我的家鄉，即使有個子更大的動物陷入困境，都不會有人盡舉手之勞。但是看看這裏的人，他們正在拯救那些微小的動物，”他說話的時候，幾名婦女真誠地對他豎起了大拇指。“怎麼會有人不感動？”