米国勇·《位子》英译

成都境内有座四姑娘山，半山腰上原来有一座小庙，庙里有个老和尚带着几位徒弟。庙虽不大，但游人如织，香火鼎盛，师徒几个日子过得很是滋润。

一天夜里，大殿上供奉的两米多高如来佛像，不知怎么的跌了下来，摔得粉碎，只剩下两个原来摆在佛像两旁的小塑像，一个是金童，一个是玉女。

明天就是一年一度的禅会，香客会更多，没有了佛像，这可怎么办？小和尚们没了主意。倒是老和尚还算镇定。他指挥几个小和尚把散落的泥块搬了出去，把玉女像丢到了柴房，又把金童像摆在了佛像的位置上。

徒弟们心中纳闷，这个金童像，矮小不说，嬉皮笑脸的，哪能充作佛像呢？明早香客来了，还不炸开了锅，哪还肯跪拜，捐献香火钱呢？

没想到，第二天，一切都和平常一样。青烟缭绕，香客如云，人们在跪拜的时候，依旧念念有词，一脸的敬畏与虔诚。到晚上，清点香火钱，一点也没见少。

老和尚笑了，道：人们有一个特性，不管是谁，只要坐在神的位子上，他们就对谁顶礼膜拜。

小和尚感慨不已，看来位子才是硬道理，至于位子上坐的是个什么东西，是怎么登上这个位子的，似乎并不重要。

The Seat

There was a small Buddhist temple standing halfway up Four Girls Mount, within the boundaries of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province in China. Within the temple there was an old monk with several novices. They lived comfortably as the temple, though insignificant in name and size, attracted an endless stream of pilgrims and tourists.

One night, the huge statue of the Buddha, as tall as two meters, fell suddenly from its seat and broke in pieces. But two smaller statues on either of his sides, Gold Boy and Jade Girl, still remained intact.

As it so happened, the annual Buddhist meeting had to be held the next day and a large number of pilgrims were expected. What would the monks do to deal with the unusual situation? They were quite at a loss. The old monk managed to keep calm. He arranged to have the broken pieces moved away, put the statue of Gold Boy on the vacant seat and leave the statue of Jade Girl in the firewood room.

The younger monks were rather puzzled. They couldn’t understand how Gold Boy could take over as the image of the Buddha, for he was not only much shorter but also grinning cheekily. If he was found out by the pilgrims there would be a great farce. Nobody would do worshipping and offer money for incense.

What they didn’t expect was: nothing happened. Everything went well as usual. Pilgrims came in large numbers and incense was burnt abundantly. People knelt before the statue and murmured their prayers in awe and piety. When it was evening and the monks counted the incense money, they found they received as much as ever.

The old monk smiled, saying, “The pilgrims will prostrate in respect at the statue on the seat of the Buddha, no matter who occupies the seat at the moment. That’s one of the characteristics of human beings.”

The younger monks took it to heart, quite impressed by the hard fact that the seat is the most important thing. Who occupies it and how it is occupied—all these things seem nothing to be considered.