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. 
    比利时新派舞蹈指导斯蒂·拉比·彻卡维对少林寺的拜访不止是合作之行，更是一次精神之旅。

     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.
    他对少林僧人的传奇武艺已着迷多年，从童年时代开始就是李小龙的影迷。然而，当考虑和僧人们合作编排一个舞蹈作品时，他更想探究的并非是僧人们高超的功夫，而是其内在的哲学：僧人们从周遭世境所得的证悟、对众生的慈悲之心、视己身为宇宙能量及其转化之载体的观念。

     Here are the extracts from his diary.  
   以下是他日记的节选。

     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.
     2008年1月末
    去年夏天我到过少林寺两次，所见所闻令我非常惊讶。这里风景秀丽，依山而建，但和我想象的不完全一样。僧人们用手机打电话，可以听流行音乐，上网也很方便。他们告诉我这很正常，因为少林寺总是走在科技的最前端。当年纸张刚发明出来后，少林寺马上就拿来用了。对我而言，这种开放的态度很好，因为这意味着僧人们会很容易接受我的想法。

     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.
    在最初的几次会面中，我们谈到了他们的文化，他们的功夫修行如何与外部世界相联系，他们如何在精神上和动物及环境相融合。我在考虑如何将这些概念演化成故事。雕刻师安东尼设计了一套盒子，用来代表不同的地点——房屋、村庄、墓地、岛屿、莲花，甚至是僧人自己的身体。

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