Circumambulating in COVID-Times
新冠时期的绕山而行
In 1965, Gary Snyder, Allen Ginsberg, and Philip Whalen, poets and students of Buddhism set out on a ritualized walking meditation, or circumambulation, of Mt. Tamalpais. Hiking clockwise as tradition dictated, they selected notable natural features along the way and assigned rituals to perform at each: Buddhist and Hindu chants, spells, sutras, and vows.
1965年，诗人兼佛教徒加里.斯奈德，艾伦.金斯伯格，菲利普.韦伦三人同行，在塔玛佩斯山进行了仪式感满满的行禅活动，或者说是绕山而行。他们按照传统形式，沿顺时针方向盘山而上，沿路挑选了几处自然风光优美之地，并在这些地方举行仪式，仪式内容包括吟唱佛教和印度教的圣歌、念符咒、诵佛经和宣誓愿等。
In an interview in 1992, Snyder encouraged subsequent circumambulators to be as creative as they liked, stopping at the points his trio had designated, or at others.
在1992年的一次采访中，斯奈德鼓励之后的绕山者们尽情发挥创新能力，可以在他们三人选定的地点驻足举行仪式，或者另外开辟新的地点。
Circumambulation, an intentional, ceremonial circling of a sacred object, is an ancient ritual with roots in many world cultures. But what does it mean in modern times?
绕山而行，即围绕某处圣地举行仪式，是一种有意图的，仪式化的行为。这是一种扎根于世界许多文化中的古老仪式。但是在现在，这种仪式意味着什么呢？
Snyder explained, “The main thing is to pay your regards, to play, to engage, to stop and pay attention. It’s just a way of stopping and looking — at yourself too.” In graduate school at UC Davis in the late 1990s, I studied poetry with Snyder. I learned from him the importance of noticing and naming where I am and what is around me, the concept of bioregionalism.
对此问题，斯奈德解释道：“该仪式主要在于表现尊重、实践、参与、驻足和体会。这只是一种停下脚步欣赏美景的方式，当然也是一种审视自我的方式。”在20世纪90年代后期，我在加利福尼亚大学戴维斯分校研究生院跟从斯奈德先生学习诗歌。从他那里我认识到留意并命名自己在何处，何物在周围的重要性以及了解了生态区域主义的概念。
Taking up Snyder’s circumambulation mantle in the 1990s, English professor and photographer David Robertson led students on excursions of Mt. Tam in the spirit of Snyder, Ginsberg, and Whalen. One chilly March day in 1998, my boyfriend — now husband — and I joined him for the circuitous 14-mile route up, and back down the mountain, stopping to chant the same Buddhist and Hindu spells, sutras, and vows at each of ten pilgrims’ stations that the trio had done in 1965. Robertson’s intent here was to get his UC Davis Wilderness Literature students out of the classroom and into the field. Since the course featured texts by Snyder, a trip to Mt. Tam seemed a good choice.
20世纪90年代，英语教授兼摄影师大卫.罗伯森也开始实践斯奈德的绕山仪式，他带着学生去塔玛山短途旅行，师生共同传承斯奈德，金斯伯格和韦伦精神。在1998年三月，一个寒冷的天，我和男朋友（现在的丈夫）加入了罗伯森教授的团队，迂回绕行了14英里的路。我们也同样在三位于1965年驻足举行仪式的十处地方吟唱相同的佛教和印度教圣歌，诵相同的佛经以及宣相同的誓愿。罗伯森教授的意图是带领他们学校荒野文学系的学生走出教室，体验自然。斯奈德的文稿是这门课程的特色，那么塔玛山的体验旅行对学生来说似乎是个不错的选择。
Tagging along, I trekked through groves of coastal live oak, Douglas fir, Sequoiasempervirens, across grassy hillsides and amid fog scented with peppery California bay laurel. It took all day. And even though I was a strong and avid hiker, it was hard
work. But it was worth every drop of sweat shed to be able to peek into history, retracing the steps and words of the original circumambulators. Still, I wondered: as a non-Buddhist, how did these incantations apply to me? Was it appropriative for us to invoke them? Was it enough that we wanted to learn about them and honor their traditions by performing them? When I asked Robertson, also non-Buddhist, he explained that circumambulating Mt. Tam was a way for him to create meaning for himself in relation to the natural world.
我跟随着队伍，走过沿海的活橡树林、花旗松林、红杉林，越过长满草的山坡，穿过散发着加利福尼亚桂树散发的浓烈气味的雾气。我们走了一整天的时间，即使像我这样身体健壮的徒步旅行强烈爱好者也有些招架不住。但是能够走进历史，跟随绕山前辈们的步伐，品味他们的文稿，我们所流下的每滴汗水都是值得的。不过，我还是想知道作为一个非佛教徒，这些符咒如何对我适用呢？我们非佛教徒去祈祷是否合适呢？我们仅仅是学习吟诵这些经文符咒并通过行动表示尊重他们的传统是否足够呢？当我向同样不是佛教徒的罗伯森先生问这些问题时，他解释说对他自身来说，绕行塔玛山是他与自然世界相联系，创造自我价值的方式。
Like Robertson and his students (and me), innumerable people have undertaken the “CircumTam,” as it’s fondly nicknamed, since the inaugural 1965 trek. It’s a compelling tradition, as Mt. Tam is a beloved mother mountain of the Bay, towering in the clouds above all along with Mt. Diablo and Mt. Umunhum, reminding us where and who we are, no matter where we may be.
就像罗伯森教授和他的学生（包括我），从1965年三位前辈的首次绕山行动以来，有无数的人实践过“绕行塔玛山”。“绕行塔玛山”是人们对于该仪式的亲切别称。这是个人们很感兴趣的传统，因为塔玛山是海湾地区深受人们喜爱的母亲山，高耸入云。无论身在何方，塔玛山连同大菠萝山和无莽汉山都提醒着我们，在何处，为何人。
