Achaan Chah's Cottage
阿姜 查的茅蓬
Achaan Chah says he does not dream any more. He sleeps only a few hours a night, upstairs in a small one-room cottage. Underneath this cottage, which is on wooden pillars in Thai fashion, is an open floor where he receives visitors.
阿姜 查说,他已不再做梦,他一个晚上只睡几个小时──在一个小小的茅蓬顶层。阿姜 查的茅蓬底层,是泰国式的木柱围绕开放空间,供他接待访客。
Often these visitors bring him gifts, not just food or robes but also exquisite ancient statues and carefully made folk art depicting Buddhist themes. One Western monk, a collector and appreciator of Asian art, was excited by the possibility of seeing such lovely objects when he was assigned to help with the daily cleaning of Achaan Chah's cottage. He went upstairs, unlocked the door, and found only a bare bed and a mosquito net. He discovered that Achaan Chah gives these gifts away as fast as he gets them. He does not cling to anything.
通常,这些访客会送他礼物,除了食物及袈裟外,还有精美而古老的雕像,以及精心制作的佛教民族艺术品。有一位喜好收藏和欣赏亚洲艺术的西方僧侣,当他被分派到帮忙打扫阿姜 查的茅蓬时,对能有机会看到这些他所珍爱的东西,感到非常与奋。他上了顶楼,打开了门,只看到一张空床和一顶蚊帐。他发觉,阿姜 查在得到礼物後,就立刻送出去了。他并不执著任何事物。