健一在路上

康健一，“大宅門”和“健一集團”創始人。走遍了大半個地球后，康健一才偶然間明白了旅行的意義，而在信仰和傳承中國文化的路上，他卻從未踟躇。

Kang Jianyi is the founder of Grand Mansion Restaurant and J E Group. He came across the meaning of travel only after traveling half the world， but he never wavered in his pursuit of belief and carrying forward traditional Chinese culture.

身在云深處，卻是眼前人，康健一在講述自己的故事時總能給人這種感覺。你覺得他在做的是一件不小的事，但聽他的娓娓道來，卻是尋常不過。

完美，無休止

2003年康健一在做第一個酒店的時候，找到一扇老門，而為了給這扇老門配一堵殘墻，他卻大費周折。“這面墻讓我踹塌了3次，因為做的不是我想要的。”他回憶道。“把新磚做成舊磚，讓工人做藝術家的工作，確實有點為難他們。”康健一明白其中的難度，但東西做出來不對就是過不了他自己心里那道關卡。在他的再三講解后，工人們終于做出了一面符合康健一要求的“墻”。

在康健一眼里，把一件事做到極致是一種文化。這件事不一定有多大，但一定要有做到極致的習慣，他就是一個追求完美的人。

康健一一直不認為自己是個會做生意的人。他覺得當他把一件事情做到極致，就可以獲得成功。對于一個完美主義者而言，在中國傳統文化的熏陶下，康健一其實很想嘗試更多時尚的東西，也一直在汲取各種精華和靈感。比如一個水上亭子，靈感就來自日本京都的金閣寺。健一公館的婚禮堂理念是西方教堂的，文化細節卻是中式的。立面是徽派的瓦墻，從側面看是西方的教堂，很有序列感，里面又是中國北方的木質結構。再比如，高爾夫球場本身是西方的，但你走過來會發現，門頭是唐氏風格的建筑，灰白黑三色就像水墨畫一樣。像這種空間感，受到了西方文明的影響。餐廳的月亮門是中式的，隔斷也是老門扇的和中式圖案的。

作為一個完美主義者，康健一決意不讓自己被某個特定的模式框住。在他的眼里，美式建筑風格輕松，歐式建筑格調貴致，中式建筑儒雅深沉，他甚至也會嘗試極簡的建筑風格，然后在各種風格中融入中國元素。

在不久的將來，康健一將在美國洛杉磯開第一家真正代表中國文化的酒店。在這家酒店里，整體建筑是日式園林風格，但其中的很多細節都滲透進了中國文化的元素。這種結合看起來很難，對已經做過多個類似項目的康健一來說并不難，因為這就是他所堅持的體系，即不論是采用任何地域的建筑風格，中國元素都要穿梭其中，必不可少。

到大洋彼岸傳承中國文化

在中國，有很多外國知名的高端品牌酒店。而在國外，卻沒有一家真正意義上的中國民族品牌酒店。在2014年年底，康健一在紐約時代廣場做了一次宣傳，他大聲告訴美國人他來了，帶著中國的文化來了。

康健一想告訴西方人：“中國文化不只是西方電影里描寫的那些東西，簡單意義上的字畫、烤鴨和京劇。我要告訴他們，我做的這件事能夠代表整個中國民族文化，是一個民族文化的終極體驗。這家酒店不僅著眼食與宿，還擁有更多深邃的東方文化，如儒釋道思想、中國藝術、木雕、磚雕、刺繡、京劇昆曲和建筑裝飾等等。”而康健一也想通過這一舉動告訴國人，他在做這樣一件傳承中國文化的事情，希望能激發中國人的愛國熱情和民族情結。

“就傳統文化本身而言，全世界任何地方都無法與中國相提并論。我認為不是別人影響了我們，而是中國影響了世界。”康健一的自信正是來源于他本人對東西方文化的深刻理解。“從歷史上看，中國傳統文化不但對韓國、日本，對東南亞、南亞一些國家都產生了深遠的影響。此外，中國傳統文化在明清之際，通過西方耶穌會士還傳播到了歐洲。法國18世紀的啟蒙思想家很少有不受中國傳統文化影響的。如笛卡兒、盧梭、伏爾泰、孟德斯鳩、狄德羅、霍爾巴赫，他們對中國傳統文化的推崇程度，讓中國人都感到震驚。伏爾泰就在禮拜堂里供奉著孔子的畫像，把孔子奉為人類道德的楷模。而萊布尼茨就認為，正是中國的發現，才使歐洲人從宗教的迷惘中覺醒過來。”

雖然中國傳統文化在世界范圍內都產生過極為深遠的影響，但是談起如今的現狀時，康健一卻顯得憂心忡忡：“中國的傳統文化被現代人傳承的太少，而我正好又有著一份對傳統文化傳承不能回避的義務。”對于自己的做法，康健一表現得十分低調：“其實并沒有什么特別復雜的想法，主要是出于對這些東西保護的角度來考慮。現在的北京城哪里都在拆，我只是把它們撿了回來，并且給它們安一個家，因為我覺得不管現在或未來怎樣，這些東西畢竟都曾經是歷史的一部分，我們不應該就這樣將它們丟棄。回來之后，我會把這些東西按照我的感覺將它們組合，雖然有些東西本身并不值錢，但是效果還不錯，能達到這樣的效果我就已經很高興了。”

信仰的力量

2014年的11月，也就是這次采訪前不久，康健一去了趟印度，在印度德拉敦薩迦寺接受了薩迦法王的灌頂。對于康健一來說，這絕不只是形式上的意義，每一次都能有不同的體悟和感受。

佛教界最高的領袖，康健一見過大寶法王，也見過班禪，這次去印度見到的是薩迦法王。他覺得自己能從他們身上感受到非凡的慈悲和親和。康健一描述了當時做法會時的情景：“當時有幾千信眾，法王一個人要給這幾千信眾進行加持。我是第一撥去臺上接受法王加持的，之后又招待我們吃飯，吃完飯一個小時以后出來，我看到法王還在臺上坐著給信眾加持，底下還排著將近有兩千人，等到給所有人做完加持已經過去了4個小時。我才40多歲，坐一個小時就覺得累了，法王已經73歲了，盤著腿坐4個小時一動不動，這么做就為了普度眾生。這不是一般人可以做到的，他這種精神確實是值得我去修煉的。”就是這樣，康健一每一次去拜謁都從內心深處感受到佛法的力量，每一次都會讓他感受到心態的變化。

對于和佛法的緣分，康健一覺得更是一種機緣。有的人是祖輩供各種菩薩，而他并沒有這種傳承。就是有機會接觸了上師之后，才慢慢受到影響和感動，并不是從小父母有這樣的傳承。

修了佛法之后，康健一覺得自己的責任更加重大。因為佛法讓人修的是未來，是為了后代修佛法，是為了度眾生，并不是修自己的現在。康健一希望他所接觸到的人都能接觸佛法，讓他們相信善因善果。修佛法要做善事，康健一也一直在秉承著這個原則。在傳承中國傳統文化上，康健一希望更多的人熱愛中國文化就像熱愛佛法一樣。但他明白，這條路還很長。

從2013年到2014年，康健一為自己安排了許多佛教之旅，他去了西寧、玉樹、日喀則和拉薩，在他看來，這些行程都是為了感受佛法的大愛與慈悲。

旅行的意義

近些年來，康健一每年都會安排十幾次旅行。2012年的一次歐洲之旅，他在羅馬的一家精品酒店門口看到這樣一句話：“What is the meaning of travel？Life is like a book，if you didn't go to travel，equivalent to a read-only directory of the book。”意思是說人的一生就像一本書，如果你沒去旅行，相當于就只讀了這本書的目錄。而行走在歐洲的過程中，他從這本“書”中獲得了很多。

在法國巴黎，他住的是當地極為奢華也是享譽世界的四季酒店。這一次，令他動容的不是金碧輝煌的貴氣，也不是奇珍異寶的吃食，與景色無關，是服務本身。當時他手持喝完水的礦泉水瓶子，一時找不到垃圾箱，就這樣走到了大堂，一服務員見狀趕忙走到他身邊，幫康健一扔掉了瓶子，而后又拿了一瓶礦泉水給他。這一細節讓康健一覺得，這些世界著名酒店的服務確實有非常多值得我們學習的地方。

而今年，他即將啟程的是一次西班牙、摩納哥和法國戛納、尼斯的旅行；4月份他還要去不丹；6月份是德國；7月份是加拿大和美國；9月份去青海；年底還要再去一次印度。康健一未來的一年時間，幾乎都在行路。“要么讀書，要么旅行，身體和心靈總有一個在路上”。而對于康健一來說，身體也好，心靈也罷，總是在路上，從來沒停歇。

When Kang Jianyi tells his own story， he strikes me as both detached and engaged. He touches on his achievements as if they are no more than trivial matters.

Endless Pursuit of Perfection

When he was building his first restaurant in 2003， Kang Jianyi went to all the length to create a ruined wall to match an old door he had acquired. “I stamped down the wall three times， because it was not what I wanted.” He recalled， “I wanted the new bricks to have an old look， but I couldn’t push the artisans to be artists.” He recognized the difficulty of the task， but he could not live with imperfection. After repeated explanations， he finally had the workers build him a satisfactory “wall”.

The pursuit of perfection is a culture， Kang Jianyi so believed. And he is a perfectionist. No matter how small a thing is， he wants to do the best he could.

He never regards himself a business man. But he is convicted that if he does everything to his best， he could be successful. Influenced by traditional Chinese culture， Kang Jianyi has always wanted to try something more fashionable by absorbing inspirations from various sources. The water pavilion in his restaurant， for example， is inspired by the Temple of the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto. The wedding chapel in JE Mansion is inspired by western churches with Chinese elements in the finish – Anhui style brick walls at both ends， church architecture at both sides， and northern Chinese wood structure inside. Golf course is western， but the entrance to his golf course is Tang style architecture with white， grey and black paint like a water and ink painting. His restaurant also features Chinese style moon-shaped doors and traditional Chinese partitions.

As a perfectionist， Kang Jianyi makes a point to think out of the box. In his eyes， America architecture is light， European noble and Chinese refined. Sometimes he would try his hands in minimalist architecture infused with Chinese elements.

In the near future， he would open a hotel in Los Angeles that could really represent Chinese culture. The hotel would feature Japanese garden design with traditional Chinese cultural elements in the details. It may sound complicated， but not for experienced Kang Jianyi. A principle he keeps is that no matter which style he adopts， he would add Chinese elements into the design.

Advocate Chinese Culture Abroad

There are many global hotel brands in China， but outside China， there is not a Chinese hotel brand. Kang Jianyi plans to open the first Chinese hotel brand in Los Angeles. At the end of 2014， he launched a promotion at the Times Square of New York proclaiming that he is coming to the U.S. with Chinese culture.

He wants to tell westerners that “Chinese culture is not simply calligraphy， painting， Peking Duck， and Peking Opera， as depicted in West movies. I want to tell them， my hotel will be representative of the culture of the Chinese nation， offering them the ultimate cultural experience. My hotel will not only offer food and accommodation， but also rich Orient culture， including Confucianism， Taoism， Buddhism， Chinese art， Chinese wood sculpture， brick sculpture， embroidery， Peking Opera， Kun Opera， Chinese architecture， and Chinese clothing. ” He wishes to show his countrymen， that he is doing this one thing about carrying on traditional Chinese culture， and he wishes to inspire patriotism and national sentiment of the Chinese people.”

“In terms of traditional culture， no other civilization could rival China. I don’t think China is influenced by others， instead， China has influenced the world.” His confidence derives from his deep understanding of the East and the West cultures. “Historically， traditional Chinese culture has had far-reaching influence on South Korea， Japan， and countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia. In the Ming and Qing dynasties， Chinese culture had been spread as far as Europe through Christians， exerting influence on the Enlightenment thinkers of 18th century France， including Descartes， Rousseau， Voltaire， Montesquieu， Diderot， and Holbach， whose admiration of Chinese culture may come as a shock to many Chinese. Voltaire regards Confucius as a moral role model and pays offerings to a portrait of Confucius in his chapel. Leibniz believes that it is the discovery of China that wakes up the Europeans from the bewilderment of religion.”

Despite the historical influence of traditional Chinese culture， Kang Jianyi is worried about its current status. “Only a very small part of traditional Chinese culture has been inherited by modern Chinese. I have an irresistible responsibility to carry forward the traditional culture.” He keeps a very low profile about his undertakings. “I haven’t thought that much. I just want to protect the old things. Demolition is going on everywhere in Beijing. I just pick them up and offer them a home. No matter what happens now or will happen in the future， they are part of the history. We couldn’t just leave them around. Back to my place， I would match them together based on my aesthetics. Some of them are not valuable， but their decorating effect is pleasing and to my satisfaction.”

The Power of Belief

In November 2014， one month before the interview， he went to India， and received empowerment by Sakya Trizin at the Dehradun Sakya Monastery. It is yet another meaningful voyage that gives him new feelings and understandings.

He has met with the two highest leader of Buddhism -- Karmapa and Panchen Lama before he met Sakya Trizin， from whom he could feel extraordinary compassion and affinity. He described the dharma assembly he had in India： “There were several thousand followers， and Sakya Trizin had to bestow empowerment to everyone. I was among the first to receive his empowerment， after which， I was led out to have meal. When I return after one hour， he was still sitting there with over 2，000 followers waiting. The whole process took over 4 hours. I was 40， but I felt exhausted after sitting for an hour. Sakya Trizin was 73， but he had sat there for 4 hours without moving， just to salvage the masses. It is not a feat anyone could achieve. His spirit is admirable.” Every time he pays homage to the gurus， he could feel the power of dharma， and the little change of his heart.

wSome people worship Buddha because their family has been doing so for generations， but Kang Jianyi was drawn to Buddhism because of the engagement with and the influence of the gurus.

After practicing dharma， Kang Jianyi feels a bigger responsibility， because dharma is about the future， not his own future， but the future of generations to come. He wants to introduce everyone he knows to dharma and karma. A key part of dharma is doing good deeds， a principle he has been keeping for years. He also wishes that more and more people would love Chinese culture as much as they love dharma， although he understands that the journey will be a long one.

In 2013 and 2014， he has arranged many Buddhism trips for himself. He has visited Tibet， Qinghai， Xining， Yushu， Shigatse， and Lhasa， mainly to feel the love and compassion of dharma.

The Meaning of Travel

Every year， Kang Jianyi would arrange over a dozen trips. During his visit to Rome the year before， he came across a sentence in front of a boutique hotel： “What is the meaning of travel？Life is like a book， if you don’t travel， it is equivalent to reading only the directory of the book.” When he traveled around Europe， he got to learn a lot from the “book”.

In Paris， he stayed in the luxurious Four Seasons Hotel. He was not impressed by its sumptuous decor， nor its exotic food， nor the surrounding views， but its service. When he walked to the lobby with an empty bottle in hand as he could not found a dust bin， a staff immediately went to him， helped him throw away the bottle， and returned with another bottle of water. This single detail reminds him that there are indeed many things for us to learn from the world class hotels.

Soon enough， he will embark on a journey to Spain， Monaco， Cannes and Nice. Next year， he will travel to Bhutan in April， Germany in June， Canada and the U.S. in July， Qinghai in September， and India at year end — almost all his time is planned on the road. “Read or travel， either your body or your mind is on the road.” For Kang Jianyi， both his body and his mind are on the road， all the time.