文／燕卜蓀譯／彭發(fā)勝

雙 面 佛 像（中）

文／燕卜蓀1譯／彭發(fā)勝

輸入到中亞、東南亞和遠(yuǎn)東的佛像正是這種樣式。在中國，多數(shù)現(xiàn)存最早的佛像來自于公元5世紀(jì)建成的云岡石窟，位于北京西北。石窟的崖壁上主要是一座巨大無比的佛像，樣子單調(diào)而又極度冷漠，還有許多專注而虔誠的小佛像。但是，中國早期的佛像也有其特色，它們已然體現(xiàn)出一種亦莊亦諧、高雅不凡的氣質(zhì)。這些端莊矜持而又笑意融融的佛像看來正在親切交談，他們（如同中國古代詩人一樣）擺脫了世間生活的俗氣，但并沒有脫離世間。我覺得，中國后來的佛像在保持宗教威嚴(yán)的同時，逐漸喪失了這種新鮮的神態(tài)。觀音菩薩在中國改變了性別，成為女性，但通常只不過是一位衣著時髦的貴婦。為了公允起見，我還是要說，觀音菩薩志得意滿的長相仍然不失其偉大的道德力量。佛已經(jīng)出離世間，看起來高高在上，但是他也在告訴你，你也可以成佛。菩薩出現(xiàn)于基督教興起的時期，意思是舍己度人，為了所有人皆能離苦得樂，他寧可不入涅槃。

It was this convention which was exported to central Asia, South-east Asia and the Far East. In China most of the earliest surviving work is from the Yunkang caves, northwest of Peking, and was done during the fifth century. The cliff of the caves is dominated by a dull but extremely ruthless2ruthless無情的。colossal3colossal巨大的。Buddha, and many of the smaller statues are very devoted and concentrated. But the novelty about the fi rst Buddhas in China is that they have already a suggestion of ironical politeness and re fi ned superiority. Delicious conversation pieces are found in progress between these reserved but winking fi gures, withdrawn (like the classical Chinese poets) from the vulgarity of active life rather than from the world. The later Chinese work, I think, tends to lose this freshness even while keeping considerably religious power; and the Kwan-yin, the Bodhisattva of Mercy, who changes sex in China and becomes a woman, is often hardly more than a sort of fashion plate4fashion plate衣著時髦的人。of the court lady. It is only fair to add that even in its complacent forms the work has great moral strength; the Buddha has freed himself from the world and may well look superior to it, but he is telling you that you can do the same; and the idea of a Bodhisattva is in its way sacri fi cial (it was formed in the same age as Christianity) because a Bodhisattva has renounced the peace of nirvana till he has helped all mankind to get there fi rst.

[2]后來，佛教傳入日本，與當(dāng)?shù)貥I(yè)已形成的高級文明相融合。當(dāng)時在日本，學(xué)習(xí)閱讀和書寫的主要目的就是為了閱讀佛經(jīng)。在公元七八世紀(jì)，日本文明剛開始形成，見證了佛教經(jīng)典的鼎盛時期。盡管日本的大多佛像是由外來的工匠制作的，但是形制獨具特色，主要源頭是經(jīng)過高麗文化滲透的云岡造像傳統(tǒng)。

[2] Buddhism gets to Japan somewhat later, and has got there to fit in with a high civilisation already formed; indeed the need to read Buddhist texts was the chief reason for learning to read and write at all. There is an extraordinary flowering5flowering（藝術(shù)、音樂、科學(xué)等新思潮的）繁榮時期。of Japanese Buddhist sculpture in the seventh and eighth centuries, one might say during the process of fi rst becoming civilised. Much of the work may have been done by imported foreign craftsmen, but in any case it is unique. The Yun-kang tradition, fi ltered through Korea, seems to be its chief source.

[3]在我看來，遠(yuǎn)東佛像除了吸收了印度和中亞的做法，其新鮮之處似乎主要在于面部左右兩邊的非對稱處理，看起來更人性化。印度人本著禁欲的傾向，完全凸出了佛出離塵世的一面；他們并不希望佛看起來具有人的溫情。但是，從云岡石窟可以清晰地看到，并且多半也是中國人秉性使然，中國人希望佛具有人性，而為了讓一座佛像生氣活潑，最簡單的做法就是讓其面部看起來左右不同。我懷疑，他們是取法于算命先生測字相面的學(xué)問；在中國的集市上，我們?nèi)匀荒軌蚩吹竭@種行當(dāng)，算命先生看人臉的左右兩邊要使用不同的規(guī)則。這門學(xué)問的現(xiàn)存典籍可以追溯到非常久遠(yuǎn)的古代，正因為如此，造佛像的工匠完全有理由返古開新，創(chuàng)造一種新的藝術(shù)形式（中國在佛教傳入之前，幾乎沒有人形的塑像）。我以為，重要的是，幾乎所有佛像的面部都同樣左右不對稱，好像造像的工匠們本著某種理論；并且，我也相信，他們的觀念大致是不錯的。

[3] It seems to me that the chief novelty of this Far Eastern Buddhist sculpture, beyond what had already been done in India and central Asia, is the use of asymmetry to make the faces more human. The Indians with their tendency to ascetism6ascetism禁欲主義。had put the emphasis on the Buddha’s complete withdrawal from the world; they did not want him human. Whereas it is clear at Yun-kang, and anyway likely from the Chinese temperament that the Chinese did want him human; and the easiest way to make a statue lively is to make the two sides of the face different. I suspect too that they drew on a system used by fortunetellers to read your character and your prospects in your face; one can find booths at fairs in China still doing this, and using different rules for the two sides. The surviving texts on this branch of learning date back far enough, but it seems reasonable to think that the practice is old, and that a sculptor who was developing a new art form (China has hardly any pre-Buddhist human sculpture in the round) would take an interest in it. The point is important, I think, because the faces all seem to be asymmetrical in the same way, as if the artists were working on a theory; and what is more, I believe that their main idea was true.

[4]在過去的二十年間，心理學(xué)家們發(fā)展了一種人臉左右不對稱的理論，為了說明此理論，他們“切分”人臉的照片；也就是在一張照片上將左臉沖印兩次，在另一張照片上將右臉沖印兩次。（為了從反面沖印，你需要的是膠片，而不是玻璃底版。）我在處理遠(yuǎn)東的佛像照片時，就嘗試了這種方法，效果看起來非常好。不過，關(guān)于面相的理論仍然缺乏有力的支持，左右兩邊的差異也很難解釋得沒有漏洞。我們也許指望以面部神經(jīng)和大腦之間的通路來解釋面部的不對稱，但是神經(jīng)通路十分復(fù)雜，大部分神經(jīng)通路從面部的一邊交叉進(jìn)入另一邊，有些神經(jīng)通路卻不交叉。不過，我們似乎可以說，一個人的活躍體驗往往更多表現(xiàn)在右臉上，而他的內(nèi)在秉性或被動體驗更多表現(xiàn)于其左臉，因為左臉肌肉不大會受到內(nèi)在意志的強烈作用。我的觀點是，右臉肌肉一貫對于意志做出快速反應(yīng)，日積月累就會在臉上留下痕跡。丘吉爾先生的長相足以顯示這種差異有時確實存在。不過，我們知道，波德萊爾的人生經(jīng)歷大不相同，而他左右臉的對比也正好相反。在丘吉爾先生的臉上，執(zhí)政者位于右臉；其左臉（人或人像自身的左邊，對于觀者則是右邊）則時而暴躁，時而浪漫，凝聚著陰郁的道德力量和充沛的想象力。 □

[4] During the last twenty years the psychologists have been developing a theory about asymmetry in the human face, and illustrating it by ‘split’ photographs; that is, the left taken twice over and the right taken twice on another picture. (You need a film, not a plate negative, because you have to print it backwards). I have tried this method on the Far Eastern Buddhas, and it seems to me to work very nicely. The theory about actual faces is still not on a solid footing; the contrasts between the sides are hard to interpret consistently, and the paths of the facial nerves to the brain, which one would expect to explain the contrasts, are complicated because though most of them cross over to the other side, some of them don’t. However, it seems to be true that the marks of a person’s active experience tend to be stronger on the right, so that the left shows more of his inherent endowment7endowment稟賦。or of the more passive experiences which have not involved willful use of facial muscles. All that is assumed here is that the muscles on the right generally respond more readily to the will and that the effects of old experiences pile up. The photograph of Mr. Churchill will be enough to show that there is sometimes a contrast of this sort, though it seems that in Baudelaire, who led a very different kind of life, the contrast was just the other way round. In Mr. Churchill the administrator is on the right, and on the left (by which of course I mean the left of the person or statue, which is on your right as you look) are the petulance8petulance壞脾氣。, the romanticism, the gloomy moral strength and the range of imaginative power.

Buddhas with Double Faces (II)

ByWilliam Empson

1（1906—1984），英國著名文論家，詩人。在劍橋大學(xué)讀書期間寫出《朦朧的七種類型》，一舉成名。曾在日本教授英國文學(xué)。1937年來到中國，先后在北京大學(xué)和昆明西南聯(lián)大任教，講授英國文學(xué)，對于當(dāng)時中國文學(xué)的現(xiàn)代主義運動影響深遠(yuǎn)。1939年返英，在英國廣播公司任職。1947年重來北京大學(xué)任教，至1952年回國。此后在謝菲爾德大學(xué)任教，直至去世。燕卜蓀在遠(yuǎn)東期間，對佛教造像藝術(shù)產(chǎn)生濃厚興趣，不斷收集資料并拍攝大量照片，回國后寫成書稿《佛的面容》（The Face of the Buddha），后因種種變故，書稿遺失，令他抱憾終生。2005年，此書手稿在大英圖書館奇跡般重現(xiàn)，經(jīng)整理后于2016年由牛津大學(xué)出版。