圖/侯賀良 文/王雪芃

回望世外古城

圖/侯賀良 文/王雪芃

伸手觸摸阿育他耶府古老的佛塔，時(shí)間仿佛回到了14世紀(jì)。那時(shí)的泰國(guó)被稱(chēng)為暹羅，由烏通王建立的阿育他耶王朝將泰國(guó)帶向了興盛。當(dāng)曼谷還是個(gè)名不見(jiàn)經(jīng)傳的小漁村時(shí)，作為當(dāng)時(shí)王朝國(guó)都的阿育他耶已是一座繁華的大城。來(lái)自各國(guó)的使節(jié)與商人匯集于此，成就了這里的繁華與輝煌。在400余年的王朝歷史中，阿育他耶經(jīng)歷了興衰更替，留下了一城的古跡與傳說(shuō)。

○ 金碧輝煌的泰式建筑依稀顯露出阿育他耶府昔日的輝煌。The glorious time of Ayutthaya can be seen from theancient architecture.

○ 建筑與樹(shù)木交錯(cuò)輝映，渲染出一種原始風(fēng)格的美。A beauty of original style.

“阿育他耶”在泰語(yǔ)中意為“不可戰(zhàn)勝之城”，中國(guó)人更習(xí)慣稱(chēng)其為“大城”。自1350年興起到1767年覆滅，阿育他耶王朝東征西戰(zhàn)，在繁盛時(shí)為這座城市留下了許多氣勢(shì)恢宏的宮殿與宗教建筑。幾百年過(guò)去，王朝已不復(fù)存在，阿育他耶也被如今的泰國(guó)政府劃為阿育他耶府。

拜訪這座古城一定要清晨前來(lái)，伴著熹微的晨光，人與城都被滌蕩干凈。這里的佛寺佛像世界聞名，在阿育他耶府最古老的寺廟瑪哈泰寺中，有一尊被菩提枝蔓纏繞的佛頭，這是阿育他耶王朝為世人留下的一座“心廟”。許多人只為與菩提樹(shù)下沉默百年的佛頭謀求一面而來(lái)到這里。根據(jù)當(dāng)?shù)亓?xí)俗，若與佛像合影需要微蹲使自己的高度低于佛頭以示尊重。望著那被戰(zhàn)火侵蝕過(guò)的面孔在菩提樹(shù)的眷顧下如此安詳，隱約間能看到嘴角與眼眉的一絲笑容。樹(shù)脈枝藤沿著佛頭輪廓交錯(cuò)盤(pán)繞，不著一語(yǔ)，似拈花微笑一般，在空谷晨鐘中靜默，任歲月聚流成河……

1767年，阿育他耶王朝被緬甸軍隊(duì)攻破，當(dāng)年那些精美絕倫的佛寺雕刻與珍貴古建筑遭到嚴(yán)重破壞，在戰(zhàn)亂帶來(lái)的焚燒與掠奪之下，僅剩下殘破的宮殿遺跡、不完整的佛像和少量精美石雕。由于不堪戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的摧殘，泰國(guó)將都城遷至吞武里，后來(lái)又遷都曼谷，在另外一座城市重新書(shū)寫(xiě)新的繁榮。阿育他耶府也由此逐漸淡出了歷史的視線。

○ 小城居民如今過(guò)著平靜又安詳?shù)纳?，這樣從容的氣氛也感染著來(lái)訪的游人。The residents here live a peaceful and harmonious life.

在此后的200多年里，阿育他耶府竟真的像被世人完全遺忘一般。如今來(lái)泰國(guó)的游人大多只知曼谷或芭提雅，殊不知從曼谷向北僅1個(gè)半小時(shí)車(chē)程的地方，沉睡著阿育他耶府這樣一座世外古城。由于被戰(zhàn)火侵蝕得面目全非，現(xiàn)在的阿育他耶府沉靜得仿佛曾經(jīng)的繁榮從未存在過(guò)。籠罩在黃色絲綢下的大佛端坐在蓮座上，佛像的眼睛凝視著腳下的湄南河和這片飽經(jīng)風(fēng)霜的土地，四周充滿了歷史洗滌后的寧?kù)o。但身后的殘?jiān)珨啾谂c那些無(wú)頭的佛像也在靜默中訴說(shuō)著，訴說(shuō)著滿城的繁華最終歷經(jīng)戰(zhàn)火，而將這座百年古城湮沒(méi)在了時(shí)間的長(zhǎng)河里。

由于沒(méi)有曼谷那般名聲在外，阿育他耶府甚至沒(méi)有多少商業(yè)氣息，一切都像一座未開(kāi)發(fā)的小城。真正踏上這片土地，才能感受到它與眾不同的氣質(zhì)——那不是未經(jīng)雕琢，而是飽經(jīng)滄桑后歸隱的從容。連同這座城中的居民與來(lái)客一起，逃脫時(shí)間的束縛，游蕩在俗世之外，沐浴一份寧?kù)o。

站在佛塔旁，不需梵音偈語(yǔ)就能感受到身心的安寧。這種感受十分神奇，好像在無(wú)聲中與這座城市一同度過(guò)了百年時(shí)光，僅憑古剎遺跡就將它所經(jīng)歷的滄桑與來(lái)者共享，達(dá)到一種“望峰息心，窺谷忘返”般的效果，讓人覺(jué)得就算遭受戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)摧殘，也不過(guò)是佛家所說(shuō)的修行，都是應(yīng)有的歷練罷了。

古跡無(wú)言，但卻訴說(shuō)著一個(gè)又一個(gè)歷史故事。它們見(jiàn)證過(guò)阿育他耶府的興衰演變，如今依舊默默佇立，堅(jiān)守著佛教所倡導(dǎo)的忍耐和寬容，風(fēng)霜盡歷，殘缺不全，卻從未抱怨。如萬(wàn)千佛手將戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)傷痛輕輕抹去，帶來(lái)力量與堅(jiān)強(qiáng)，鼓舞著這座城市走向希望與光明。

○ 色彩斑斕的龍紋壁。The gorgeous dragon wall.

Ayutthaya， full name Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya， is an ancient capital and modern city in the Central Plains of Thailand， 85 km north of Bangkok. Ayutthaya was originally founded in 1350 and over the next few decades developed to be the capital of the Siamese Kingdom. Ayutthaya became the second capital of Siam after Sukhothai.

Ayutthaya is like an island surrounded by three rivers that act as natural barriers for defense. In addition， the rivers brought large and small boats from other important towns in the kingdom and from other nations to engage in commerce. Ayutthaya was both the administrative and the economic center of the kingdom and was filled with a great diversity of people from different areas.

By 1700 Ayutthaya had become the largest city in the world with a total of 1 million inhabitants. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders， including the Chinese， Vietnamese （Annamese）， Indians，Japanese and Persians， and later the Portuguese， Spanish， Dutch and French，permitting them to set up villages outside the city walls. In the sixteenth century， it was described by foreign traders as one of the biggest and wealthiest cities in the East. The court of King Narai （1656-1688） had strong links with that of King Louis XIV of France，whose ambassadors compared the city in size and wealth to Paris. Most of the remains are temples and palaces， as those were the only buildings made of stone at that time. The great cultural value of Ayutthaya's ruins was officially recognized in 1991， when the Historic City became an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

LOOK BACK ON THE ANCIENT CITY

○ 與世無(wú)爭(zhēng)是如今的常態(tài)，遺留的佛塔追溯著當(dāng)年的往事。Ayutthaya is a place where in harmony with the rest of the world.