世界的吳哥

時間已經過去半年多了，吳哥的印記卻總在閑暇間闖入思緒。在吳哥巴肯山頂上，我久久地遙望著吳哥對自己說：“哎，走進了吳哥就再也走不出吳哥了!”

2007年春節我作了一次越南柬埔寨之旅。從西貢到金邊吳哥，相機里留下了3000多張照片。西貢街頭法國人的印記，湄公河上勾起的鄉愁，鐘屋殺人場駭人聽聞的記錄等等，但烙在記憶最深處的還是吳哥。盡管行前我對吳哥作了詳盡的了解，但當宏偉的吳哥窟呈現在眼前時，我還是被震撼了!

關于吳哥，用文字是無法表達的。只有感受、回憶和沉思，才能體會到它闖過歲月的重重坎坷和存在于今天的價值!

吳哥比金字塔要晚三四千年，比雅典巴特農神殿要晚一千多年，但吳哥是在完全與西方文明隔絕的另一個文明中誕生的。她恢宏的建筑規模、精致的石雕藝術、縝密的設計布局，完全是人類高度文明的一種代表。

吳哥實在讓人震懾，如此杰出的建筑群只有高度文明才能創造出來。建造吳哥時，高棉人是利用暹粒河和大象才將巨石從幾百公里外的荔枝山運到吳哥的。沒有水泥、沒有起重運輸設備、沒有計算系統，他們竟用石頭將廟宇壘到65米高，相當于今天的22層高樓!它將建筑和藝術、技術結合得如此完美，這在人類歷史上是空前的。

去吳哥的游客都要去巴肯山看日出和日落，這使我回憶起讀小學時爭著去杭州寶石山上看日出一樣。然而我那時僅僅是看日出，如今站在巴肯山看太陽冉冉升起或者徐徐落下，吳哥所顯示的那是一種雄偉，一種想象。千百年來，吳哥就是這般受著日蝕雨侵和歲月的蹂躪，它笑對史事滄桑、世間盛衰。

讓人奇怪的是如此輝煌的文明為什么沒有史書記載？當年是誰發明或者下令用石頭建造吳哥的呢？在吳哥城中心的皇城遺址中，當年用木頭建造的皇宮早已蕩然無存，唯有用石壘起的寺廟在歷史長河中承載著吳哥文明屹立今日。仰望吳哥，這是個解不開的疑團。

在吳哥的最后一天，我們又向崩密列進發。去這座巨大的寺廟是我們吳哥之行的最后一站，它在柬埔寨的另一處密林中。走近崩密列，見它像一個殘喘病人癱倒在密林深處，它似乎已經難以述說它的歷史了。只有導游在對我們說，現在的崩密列比當年法國人發現時還要破敗。上世紀50年代到80年代，柬埔寨一直處于戰爭中。先是國內戰爭后來是柬越戰爭，崩密列受到的蹂躪比千百年來地震所受的破壞還嚴重得多。

建筑規模和風格都與吳哥窟相似的崩密列，完全是一副破敗殘象。護墻和主塔完全傾塌，幾乎沒有一座稍稍完整的塔座，巨大的古樹在亂石堆中肆虐和驕橫地生長著，它遭受著自然災害和人類戰爭雙重迫害，似乎已經哭干了眼淚。崩密列的凄美在告訴我們，是誰創造了它而又是誰摧殘了它。

鼎盛時期的吳哥王朝，東攻占波人占領了今天越南南部，北戰暹羅控制了今天的泰國大部，向南將馬來半島的大部歸于自己。當年的吳哥城居住著100多萬人，而同時期的倫敦只有5萬人呢!14世紀后吳哥文明突然消失了，一場大瘟疫將吳哥塵封于柬埔寨的密林中，直到1858年一個叫穆奧的法國人將它發現，據說當吳哥窟出現在穆奧面前時，他震驚得渾身發抖。穆奧所以能夠發現吳哥，那是因為他看了一本《真臘風土記》的書，對傳說中的吳哥發生了興趣，于是他去了柬埔寨探險。這本書的作者叫周達觀，是中國元朝的一名溫州人，1296年他在真臘(現在的柬埔寨)首都吳哥呆了一年多，回國后寫了這本書，這是目前世界上僅有的一本記載當年吳哥文明繁榮景況的書。此書證實是中國人周達觀最早發現了吳哥文明，并用文字記載和講述了這個文明，而后吳哥文明又傳到歐洲和整個世界。法國歷史學家伯希和說：“沒有這本書，我們對吳哥文明可能一無所知。”我也曾翻閱這本不到一萬字的游記，書中簡潔全面地介紹了當年吳哥政治、經濟、文化、社會生活等各個方面，此外它從國王的出行到孕婦奇特的生育過程、從男女共浴到貿易集市等風土人情也有許多描述。這本珍貴的游記也和吳哥一樣被歷史塵封了700多年，直到19世紀西方人開始大規模研究中國文化時，《真臘風土記》才讓他們從中發現了一個神秘的文明：吳哥。到了700多年后的1971年，柬文版的《真臘風土記》在柬埔寨再出版，高棉人才開始了解到他們的祖先在吳哥文明中的生活場景。一個殞落的文明被異族人記載又被異族人發現，這在人類文明史中恐怕只有吳哥，這又恰恰是吳哥獨有的魅力所在。

My Visit to Angkor Wat

By Zhang Xinmin

When I stood on the top of Phnom Bakheng， soaking up the panoramic view of Angkor Wat only 1.5 kilometers away， I murmured to myself that once I stepped into the site， I would never forget what I saw there. My prediction has turned out to be true so far. Though more than half a year has elapsed since my visit to Angkor Wat during the Spring Festival of 2007， I still felt as if I visited the ancient miracle just yesterday. My memories are fresh as ever.

My trip included Vietnam and Cambodia. More than 3，000 photographs in my digital camera testified to my unforgettable tour. I saw the French impressions in Saigon， I lost myself in the boating on the Mekong， and I was horrified by the Choeung Et killing fields; the most haunting memory， however， is Angkor Wat. Although I had read up on the ancient architecture and history of Angkor Wat， when the extensive site actually loomed in front of me， the view still took my breath away. The grandeur conquered me. I remember occasionally trekking to the Gem Hill by the West Lake in my hometown Hangzhou to watch sunrise when I was a kid. The sunset was a natural wonder. Taking such a commanding view of Angkor Wat from the top of the hill， I knew I was witnessing a man-made miracle.

It is hard to imagine how Angkor was built and how it survived history. It was much later than Egyptian pyramids and Pantheon and it seemed totally separated from the western civilization.Yet， the splendor of the sheer scale， the refined art of the stone carving， and the architectural design represent the best of the ancient civilizations.

It is said that the Khmer people transported huge stones for hundreds of kilometers with the aid of elephants and on the Siem Reap River for building Angkor. Without cement and elevating devices， without an advanced computing system， they erected a temple as tall as 65 meters， that is， equal to a 22-story building today. Of the ruins， the wood palaces are long gone. Only stones have stood， bearing witness to history.

Angkor Wat was built when the Angkor dynasty ruled. According to history， the city was home to over 1 million residents in its heydays. Of its contemporaries， London had a population of 50，000. The Angkor civilization was wiped out by a plague in the 14th century. The French explorer H. Mouhout ran into the ruins. (需要添加年份) He shook physically and psychically standing in front of the splendid ruins. What had prompted this rediscovery adventure was a book named “The Customs of Chenla?by Zhou Daguan， a man from Wenzhou， a port city in eastern China’s coastal Zhejiang Province today. Zhou came in 1296 to Angkor with envoys of the Yuan Dynasty and stayed in the capital of the State of Chenla for over a year. After his return， he jotted down his experiences there.

The book is the only existing ancient record in the world about the prosperous dynasty in Indo-China. In less than 10，000 words， the account touches upon various aspects of the empire. Among other things， it describes how the emperor’s cavalcade traveled， how a woman gave birth to a baby， how men and women took bath in communal bathhouses， and how markets operated. Just like its subject， the precious book was buried in history for about seven centuries before it was noticed in the 19th century when western scholars exerted themselves to know all about China. The account led them to the ruins.

In 1971， the book was translated into the language of Cambodia and the modern Khmer people got to read how their ancient ancestors lived in Angkor. In the long history of the human civilization， in all probabilities， only Angkor Wat fits the description that a civilization was first witnessed and recorded by a foreigner and， after it was long lost， rediscovered by a foreigner. Probably this is why Angkor Wat offers such an abiding fascination to the people of today.

(Translated by David)