When the innovative Belgian 1)choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui visited China’s Shaolin monks， it became more than a collaboration—it was a spiritual journey.

The legendary skills of the Shaolin monks have for years thrilled and fascinated him. He has been a fan of Bruce Lee from childhood. Yet， when he thought about creating a work with the monks， it was less their kung fu 2)prowess he wanted to explore than its underlying

philosophy: the inspiration the monks draw from the world around them， their capacity to identify with other living creatures and their perception of themselves as a 3)conduit for universal energy and transformation.

Here are the extracts from his diary.

Late January 2008

I made two visits to the temple last summer and it had been a big surprise. It was very beautiful， set on a mountainside， but it wasn’t exactly as I had imagined. The monks were talking on mobile phones， they were allowed pop music and an Internet connection was close by. They told me this was natural， as the Shaolins have

always been on top of new technology. Back when paper was first invented， they adopted it very quickly. This openness was good for me because it meant the monks were receptive to my ideas.

At our first meetings， we spoke about their culture， how their kung fu discipline connects with the outside world， and the way they relate spiritually to animals and the environment. I am thinking about how to develop these ideas into stories. 4)Sculptor Antony has designed a set of boxes that can be used to suggest different locations—a house， a village， a graveyard， an island， a lotus flower， even the bodies of the monks themselves.

February/Early March

It’s very cold here. Some days there is snow. Because the monks are so tough， they don’t need any heating. Most of the monks are young， around 21 or 22. When I showed them Antony’s boxes and explained how I wanted to use them as building blocks to create different sets， they were very eager. They organised themselves

immediately to build up the sets. It was like when my brother and I used to play with 5)Lego.

The routine here suits me very well. The monks get up at six for a warm-up jog， and I do a yoga session in my hotel room from about 7:30. I take all my meals with them in the temple. It’s heaven for me as I’ve been a 6)vegetarian for 17 years. Because I don’t drink or smoke， I don’t miss too much from the west. It’s such a blast. I want to stay here forever.

March

After a few weeks of watching and directing the monks， I’ve started

trying to do some of their moves myself. Everything

they do is very beautiful， although some of it could actually break your arm. One spiralling move was lovely in thin air， but when I did it with one of the monks， it pulled me almost onto the floor. I’m

surprised by how familiar certain moves are， as if dance elements cross cultures. There’s a 7)flipping of the shoulders the monks do， like a dolphin， that I use in my own choreography. Some jumps look more like jazz to me than kung fu.

We are building up the stories that will go into the final narrative of 8)Sutra. I’ve started working with a very young monk， only 10 years old， who we call Dong Dong. There is one scene where the boxes form a 9)maze and he is like a little rabbit running through it， until he gets trapped in one of the boxes. In another， the boxes form a lotus flower and he is like a young Buddha in the middle， going into this incredible stillness. In a way， Dong Dong understands me best. Because he has the imagination of a child， he doesn’t need to ask why we do something， he just does it. He has an innocence， but he is very smart， very 10)intriguing.

April

Soon after I got back (from Moscow) to the temple， Antony arrived， as well as some of my own dancers， which I found very confusing. For a long time， I had been with the monks， and suddenly I had all these people looking at our work， offering different perspectives and suggestions. It’s very hard to 11)assimilate all their differences， but the main point seems to be that the monks enjoy the piece when it moves very fast and the Europeans， especially

Antony， think the images need much more time and space to be seen.

The monks have been interested in having my

dancers here， though: they’ve been learning some European

movement. Anything that looks like hip-hop， they learn very quickly. They recognise the moves from music videos. But dancing that is less undefined， they find difficult.

Now I can feel the clock ticking， as my time at the temple comes to an end. I know I’m really going to miss it. I have also been talking with the monks about what it will be like when they come to Britain to

perform Sutra. They aren’t exactly excited; they live too much day to day. But some of them haven’t been to the west before， and they want to see 12)Big Ben and all the tourist sites. They want to see how other people live.

What they don’t care about are the touring

conditions. They say they only need humble rooms. When I discuss what kind of space they need for

warming up and 13)rehearsing， they laugh and say they can go for a run in one of the parks. I think this is going to be such a sight for London: all the Shaolin monks jogging in the park.

比利時(shí)新派舞蹈指導(dǎo)斯蒂#8226;拉

比#8226;徹卡維對(duì)少林寺的拜訪不止是合作之行，更是一次精神之旅。

他對(duì)少林僧人的傳奇武藝已著迷多年，從童年時(shí)代開始就是李小龍的影迷。然而，當(dāng)考慮和僧人們合作編排一個(gè)舞蹈作品時(shí)，他更想探究的并非是僧人們高超的功夫，而是其內(nèi)在的哲學(xué)：僧人們從周遭世境所得的證悟、對(duì)眾生的慈悲之心、視己身為宇宙能量及其轉(zhuǎn)化之載體的觀念。

以下是他日記的節(jié)選。

2008年1月末

去年夏天我到過(guò)少林寺兩次，所見(jiàn)所聞令我非常驚訝。這里風(fēng)景秀麗，依山而建，但和我想象的不完全一樣。僧人們用手機(jī)打電話，可以聽(tīng)流行音樂(lè)，上網(wǎng)也很方便。他們告訴我這很正常，因?yàn)樯倭炙驴偸亲咴诳萍嫉淖钋岸?。?dāng)年紙張剛發(fā)明出來(lái)后，少林寺馬上就拿來(lái)用了。對(duì)我而言，這種開放的態(tài)度很好，因?yàn)檫@意味著僧人們會(huì)很容易接受我的想法。

在最初的幾次會(huì)面中，我們談到了他們的文化，他們的功夫修行如何與外部世界相聯(lián)系，他們?nèi)绾卧诰裆虾蛣?dòng)物及環(huán)境相融合。我在考慮如何將這些概念演化成故事。雕刻師安東尼設(shè)計(jì)了一套盒子，用來(lái)代表不同的地點(diǎn)——房屋、村莊、墓地、島嶼、蓮花，甚至是僧人自己的身體。

二月/三月初

這里很冷。有時(shí)會(huì)下雪。僧人們很強(qiáng)壯，不需要任何暖氣。大多數(shù)僧人都很年輕，約摸21、22歲。當(dāng)我向他們展示安東尼做的盒子，并解釋如何把它們用作建筑材料搭建不同的布景時(shí)，他們都非常熱心。他們很快就組織起來(lái)搭建布景，就像我哥哥和我過(guò)去玩樂(lè)高積木玩具一樣。

這里的生活規(guī)律很適合我。僧人們?cè)缟狭c(diǎn)起床進(jìn)行熱身慢跑，我則從七點(diǎn)半開始在賓館房間里做瑜珈。我和他們一起在寺里用齋。我堅(jiān)持素食已有17年，所以，對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)這里就是個(gè)天堂。我不喝酒也不抽煙，對(duì)西方的生活方式?jīng)]什么留戀。這里太棒了，我想永遠(yuǎn)留在這里。

三月

在觀察并指導(dǎo)了僧人們幾周之后，我開始試著自己練習(xí)一些他們的動(dòng)作。他們的所有動(dòng)作都那么優(yōu)美，盡管事實(shí)上有些動(dòng)作足以讓人摔斷胳膊。有一個(gè)旋轉(zhuǎn)的動(dòng)作在空中看上去很可愛(ài)，但是當(dāng)我試著跟一位僧人做這個(gè)動(dòng)作時(shí)，幾乎一下就掉回地上。令我驚訝的是，某些動(dòng)作十分熟悉，仿佛舞蹈元素全然不受國(guó)界文化所限。比如有個(gè)像海豚一樣的大幅度聳肩搖擺的動(dòng)作，我在自己的舞蹈編排中就會(huì)用到。有些跳躍在我看來(lái)更像是爵士舞而非功夫。

我們?cè)跇?gòu)建最后用來(lái)敘述“佛經(jīng)”的故事。我開始和一個(gè)年僅10歲的小和尚一起工作。我們叫他冬冬（音譯）。有這么一幕，他像一只兔子在用盒子圍成的迷宮里跑，直到被其中一個(gè)盒子困住。另一幕，盒子砌成一朵蓮花，他則像年輕的佛陀一樣端坐其中，進(jìn)入奇妙無(wú)比的寂靜之境。某種程度上說(shuō)，冬冬最能理解我。因?yàn)樗袃和南胂罅?，從不?wèn)我們?yōu)槭裁?，只是徑直去做。他天真無(wú)邪，卻也聰明伶俐，很討人喜歡。

四月

我（從莫斯科）回寺里沒(méi)多久，安東尼和我自己的一些舞蹈演員也到寺里了，這讓我感到很困惑。我和僧人們待在一起有好一段時(shí)間了，突然之間要讓這些人看我們的表演，提出不同的看法和建議。要完全消融他們這些分歧是件難事，而重點(diǎn)似乎在于：僧人們喜歡動(dòng)作節(jié)奏快速的部分，而歐洲人，特別是安東尼，則認(rèn)為需要更多的時(shí)間和空間去呈現(xiàn)形象。

但是僧人還是對(duì)我的這些在場(chǎng)的舞蹈演員很感興趣：他們一直在學(xué)一些歐式動(dòng)作。而類似嘻哈舞步的動(dòng)作，他們學(xué)得很快?？吹揭魳?lè)視頻，他們能認(rèn)出這些動(dòng)作，而對(duì)那些歸類不明確的動(dòng)作則覺(jué)得比較難學(xué)。

隨著待在寺里的日子將近結(jié)束，我能感覺(jué)到時(shí)針在滴答地走。我知道我真的會(huì)很懷念這段日子。我也問(wèn)過(guò)僧人們對(duì)到英國(guó)表演“佛經(jīng)”有何感想。他們并沒(méi)特別興奮，他們崇尚過(guò)一天算一天。倒是他們中有些人從沒(méi)去過(guò)西方，想去看看大本鐘和所有旅游景點(diǎn)。他們想了解其他人是怎樣生活的。

僧人們對(duì)出行條件并不挑剔，他們說(shuō)只要有簡(jiǎn)單的房間即可。當(dāng)我問(wèn)起他們需要什么樣的場(chǎng)地?zé)嵘砗筒逝艜r(shí)，他們笑著說(shuō)去某個(gè)公園跑跑步就行。我想這倒可以成為倫敦一景：一群少林僧人在公園里慢跑。