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日期：2023年5月29日日期：2023年5月 29日

第三十四届韩素音国际翻译大赛“Circumambulating in COVID-Times”

英译汉翻译实践报告

 摘要

 本次翻译实践的文章“疫情中的转山之旅（Circumambulating in COVID-Times）”选自第三十四届韩素音国际翻译大赛。韩素音国际翻译大赛是中国翻译界组织时间最长、规模最大、影响最广的翻译大赛，“疫情中的转山之旅”介绍了以加里·斯奈德、艾伦·金斯伯格和菲利普·惠伦三人为代表开启的转山之旅在新冠疫情时代的传承与变化，融合了佛教文化、生物区域主义等概念，对人生价值、人与自然关系进行了深刻的思考。本文旨在探讨生态翻译学理论指导下佛教文化文本翻译。生态翻译学从生态视角研究翻译，为佛教文化文本提供新的解读思路。本报告共分为四个部分。第一部分简要介绍了项目背景及重要性。第二部分阐述了翻译过程，包括译前准备、翻译过程及译后审校。第三部分为案例分析，结合案例从语言维、文化维、交际维三个层面进行分析，指出翻译过程中采用的翻译技巧。第四部分探讨了生态翻译学对此类佛教文化文本指导的可行性，总结了翻译实践中未能解决的问题与建议，以期为佛教文化文本的翻译实践与研究提供些许参考与借鉴。

关键词生态翻译学；三维视角；佛教文化；疫情中的转山之旅

A REPORT ON CHINESE TRANSLATION OF “CIRCUMAMBULATING IN COVID-TIMES” FROM THE 34TH HAN SUYIN INTERNATIONAL TRANSLATION COMPETITION

ABSTRACT

The article “Circumambulating in COVID-19 Times” was selected from the 34th Han Suyin International Translation Competition. Han Suyin International Translation Competition is the longest organized, largest and most influential translation competition in China. “Circumambulating in COVID-19 Times”has been led by Gary Snyder, Allen Ginsberg and Philip Whalen’s Circumambulations, is a combination of Buddhist culture, bioregionalism and other concepts, and a profound reflection on the value of life and the relationship between man and nature. This paper aims to explore the translation of texts with Buddhist culture under the guidance of eco-translatology. Eco-translatology studies translation from an ecological perspective and provides new ideas for interpreting texts with Buddhist culture. This report is divided into four parts. The first part briefly introduces the background and importance of the project. The second part describes the translation process, including pre-translation preparation, translation process and post-translation review. The third part is the case analysis, combining the case analysis from the three aspects of language dimension, cultural dimension and communicative dimension, to point out the translation skills used in the process of translation. The fourth section explores the feasibility of eco-translatology in guiding such Buddhist cultural texts, and summarises the problems and suggestions that have not been solved in translation practice, with a view to providing some references for translation practice and research on Buddhist cultural texts.

KEY WORDS  eco-translatology; three-dimension perspective; Buddhist culture；Circumambulating in COVID-19 Times

Table of Contents

1Introduction

The source text of this translation practice report is from the 34th Han Suyin International Translation Competition, “Circumambulating in COVID-19 Times”. Before the translation practice begins, the translator has read the selected text in detail, had an in-depth understanding of the writing background, writing style and writing purpose of the source text, and grasped the full text as a whole, which enables the smooth development of the translation practice and helps to improve the quality of the translation. This chapter will discuss the background and significance of the translation project and the background of the source text.

The Background of the Translation Project

Circumambulation, an intentional, ceremonial circling of a sacred object, is an ancient ritual with roots in many cultures.The “circumambulation” is a solemn and sacred religious activity ritual prevalent in Tibet and other areas and many devout believers come to participate in it every year.

However, the sacred objects in this article refer to different sacred mountains for circumambulating. As is known to all, the sacred mountain—Gangrenbuchin is the main peak of the Gangdis Mountains, which has a sacred status in many religions and has attracted countless religious people and travelers for thousands of years. Countless magical stories and legends draw pilgrims from China and around the world to kowtow here, with some even spend up to a year or more to worship the sacred mountain. It is said that pilgrims who circumambulate the mountain once can wash away a lifetime of sins; ten turns will save you five hundred cycles of hell; a hundred turns can become Buddha and ascend to heaven in this life. Especially in the year of the birth of Sakyamuni in the horse year, one turn can increase the merit of a round twelve times, equivalent to thirteen turns in a normal year. Because of this, the yearning for sacred mountains has kept the tradition of circumambulating alive for thousands of years.

Nowadays, with the development of tourism, many Buddhist shrines such as temples are open to the public. Even people who don’t believe in Buddhism can visit, make vows and even participate in ritual gatherings. It also gives Buddhist culture an opportunity to spread and to be known by ordinary people. At the same time, the positive and valuable parts of Buddhist culture can be absorbed and progress with the times to promote the self-improvement of people and the harmonious development of society.

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. And this unusual circumambulation has been carried on by future generations to this day.

Gary Snyder has a long relationship with Zen Buddhism: he traveled across the ocean to Japan to study Zen Buddhism for more than ten years; he insisted on meditation and called himself a “practicing Buddhist”. And his masterpieces, The Practice of the Wild and Mountains and Rivers without End, express a rich and mature Buddhist Zen thought and a unique insight.

Snyder’s area of influence from Chinese culture is centered on Zen Buddhism. Zen is representative of Far Eastern and especially Chinese culture. Snyder himself believes that “the spiritual heritage of Chinese culture is essentially Buddhist Zen”, that Taoist doctrine, which is related to Zen, is “an underlying theme of Chinese culture” and that he appreciates Confucian doctrine. In fact, the secular nature of Confucianism is also absorbed by Zen. And the secular nature of Confucianism is also absorbed by Zen Buddhism, which calls itself A Confucianist-Buddhist-Taoist-Socialist. Snyder’s relationship with Zen Buddhism can therefore be seen as representative of his relationship with the East, especially with Chinese culture, and its intrinsic connections can be explored.

Snyder also gives divine meaning to individual life by linking it to “divine ecology,” the ecosystem that embodies the whole of life (sometimes described by Indra’s net, and considers the “wilderness” to be the same thing as the “whole”), and to the highest wisdom of life, under which humans return to the “wilderness” and learn the “ecological survival technique” in “primitiveness” to bring about an ecological revolution.

Snyder’s works focus on the expression of nature, which is both related to his thinking of ecological values as the core. This is related both to his system of thought centered on ecological values and to his Buddhist conception of the environment as “part of the Buddha,” as he put it. Snyder saw access to the “wilderness” as part of meditation, believing that they could help humans to understand the true meaning of the world and contribute to his poetry.

Moreover, the source text tells the story of the inheritance and innovation of circumambulation from the past to the present and reflects people’s respect for Buddhist culture, exploration of bioregionalism, and philosophical reflection on the relationship between life and nature.

In 2019, a global pandemic began. In order to prevent further spread of the epidemic, increase the scope of screening and testing, and track and isolate close contacts, community risk control has become an effective way to break the chain of transmission of the virus and contain the spread of the virus. The general public should keep a certain social distance, pay attention to personal hygiene, put personal protection work in place, minimize the number of people gathered, and pay high attention to the importance and severity of epidemic prevention and control.

As of 12:22 a.m. Eastern Time on December 27, 2020 (1:22 a.m. Beijing time on December 28), the cumulative number of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus pneumonia in the United States has been 19,016,301 and the cumulative number of deaths has been 332,251. The United States has the highest cumulative number of confirmed cases and cumulative number of deaths in the world. The US state with the most cumulative cases is California, with 2,123,163; Texas followed with 1,668,366. Florida has accumulated more than 1.26 million confirmed cases, while Illinois and New York both have more than 910,000.

Through the data related to the epidemic in the United States in 2020, it is not difficult to find that the epidemic in the United States has maintained an upward trend in 2020. In March, California first issued a stay-at-home order. In June, California resumed but the outbreak was severe again, and a new round of quarantine orders was issued in July and August. By the end of the year, confirmed cases were still surging. This is the context in which the source text is written. Indeed, the uncontrollable outbreak and the increasing number of confirmed cases have given people a sense of crisis. And prolonged lockdown may cause anxiety and hypochondria, which is difficult to overcome. Therefore, putting down the phone and adding some time for entertainment or exercise can help people shift their attention. At the same time, self and mutual encouragement and affirmation can help people consolidate their inner energy, face problems positively and reduce pressure. In the source text, the author follows in the footsteps of Gary Snyder and starts a new family tradition of experiencing the joys of circumambulating while being free from infection during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Significance of the Translation Project

Nowadays, due to the rapid development of tourism and convenient transportation, many Buddhist holy places are open to the outside world. There are more and more tourists at home and abroad, and more and more believers are coming to the mountain. It can be said that the development of tourism promotes the development of Buddhist culture. In this case, the translation of texts with Buddhist culture plays an indispensable role in promoting exchanges and dissemination of Buddhist culture and giving full play to its contemporary value from two aspects.

First of all, the contribution of individuals to the country—chanting the Buddha makes the mind clean, and a clean mind makes the land clean. From this perspective, we should also understand that chanting and recalling the Buddha is not only for our own liberation, but we should learn from the Buddha and spread our compassion to the peaceful development of the country and mankind.

Second, the state to promote the role of the individual—not in accordance with the sovereign, the law is difficult to establish. The development of society is not only based on the enhancement of individual will, but also needs everyone to work together and abide by the common code, to achieve. Buddhism has its own precepts and regulations made after coming to China, which have become an important form of Buddhism to spread in the world. Under the background of cultural development, the development of Buddhist culture also needs to meet the requirements of society and law. In China in the new century, the continuous progress of the most advanced productive forces represented by the Communist Party has provided more opportunities and challenges for the prosperity and development of culture. Buddhist culture also needs to actively go out and influence more people and more areas. This is the inevitable development of national culture, but also the development of Chinese Buddhism needs!

The practice of text translation with Buddhist cultural characteristics can help us deeply understand the connotation of Buddhist culture, excavate its contemporary value, summarize the methods of similar text translation and accumulate experience for further study.

Buddhism is a religion as well as a philosophy. Among all the religions in the world, it has the most extensive and profound philosophical thoughts, including the theory of life, the theory of mind, the theory of cosmology, and the theory of cognition and practice. It plays an important role in the development of human civilization history and constitutes a very important aspect of human civilization. The value of Buddhism in modern times lies in alleviating the three basic contradictions of human society: the contradictions between man and self, between man and society, and between man and nature. Influenced by Chinese Zen culture, Gary Snyder added “Zen” to his ecological poetics, which combined with the native American culture, thus forming a unique ecological view of Zen. He combined the Taoist thoughts he absorbed in Tao Te Ching with Zen, and formed an ecological view featuring both “Tao” and “Zen”. In addition, Snyder’s Zen studies in Japan inherited the Chinese Taoist tradition and had the dual wisdom of Taoism and Buddhism. Snyder believes that human beings are merely appendages of nature, so we should have a sense of harmony with nature. This idea is very consistent with the ecological equality view of Tao Te Chingmentioned in the book. Buddhism establishes an eco-utopia in which every living entity has its own function, status and existence significance, while Snyder takes an impartial view of the various components of nature. For a single natural living organism, an individual without a complete self cannot realize its meaning.

On the one hand, adhering to the harmonious coexistence between man and nature has developed the ecological wisdom in traditional Chinese culture. The Chinese civilization is characterized by a long history, continuous development, extensive and profound, and its 5,000-year history has also accumulated rich ecological wisdom, which holds important inspiration for solving the ecological problems facing mankind today. The Chinese civilization emphasizes the philosophy of “the unity of nature and man” and “the law of nature”. It unites heaven and man, links natural ecology with human civilization, and conducts activities in accordance with the laws of nature. This is an important understanding of our ancestors to deal with the relationship between man and nature, and it has been extensively discussed in ancient classics such as The Book of Changes, Lao Zi, Mencius, Xunzi, Lu’s Spring and Autumn Annals, Huainan Zi and Qimin Yaoshu.

On the other hand, adhering to the harmonious coexistence between man and nature inherits the Marxist concept of ecological civilization. There are abundant ecological thoughts in the classic works of Marxism, which provide theoretical support and practical guidance for us to adhere to the harmonious coexistence of man and nature. Marx and Engels pointed out that the relationship between man and nature is a harmonious organic whole. Marx pointed out: “Nature, insofar as it is not a human body, is an inorganic human body. Man lives by nature.” Because of this, all human production and living activities should follow the law of nature. In his Dialectics of Nature, Engels warned people not to be overly intoxicated with the triumph of mankind over nature, citing examples such as “the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Greece, Asia Minor and other places destroyed their forests in order to obtain farmland”, and “the Italians in the Alps” “exhausted their forests”. For every such victory, nature takes its revenge on us.

According to these evidences, we can find that there are many similarities between these views and Snyder’s, which shows that the harmonious coexistence between man and nature is scientific and existential value.

To sum up, the effects of Snyder’s ecological outlook and Zen thoughts on modern times are very intuitive, and text translation with Buddhist culture can help us better understand and spread Buddhist culture. In addition, translation studies under the guidance of eco-translatology are more helpful to the adaptation of such texts to the target language.

An Introduction to Gary Snyder and the Source Text

Gary Snyder is a famous American eco-poet. Unlike other Beat poets, his poems focus on people, creatures and nature for which he has been called the “Beat poet without the Beat” (Weiland, 2012:21). Snyder is an American poet, but he’s fascinated by Chinese culture, and

He has been learning and understanding Chinese culture all his life, especially Chinese Taoism and Zen thoughts, and has integrated what he has learned into his ecological poetry creation and his own life practice, forming a unique ecological view combining Chinese and Western ecological concepts. This paper will review the process of Snyder’s study of Taoism and Zen thought, and explore the connection between “Tao” and “Zen” and Snyder’s ecological view.

Snyder had some understanding of the Tao when he first encountered it. He has creatively misinterpreted the phrase “the way can be the way, but the way is not the way” by arguing that a path that can be followed is not a spiritual path (Snyder, 1990:150). Snyder thinks “Tao” can be interpreted as “path” because he wants to confirm the saying advocated by Dogen, the founder of the Caodong School of Japanese Buddhism—We study the self to forget the self... When you forget the self, you become one with the ten thousand things. Some scholars (Tan Qionglin, Qiu Yan, 2016:171) believe that the “rules-based” mentioned by Snyder can be summed up in three aspects: first, it refers to the place where human beings “walk”. Walking can be regarded as the practice of body and soul, allowing people to get close to nature and feel the integration of themselves and the world; Secondly, it can represent the “practice” of Buddhism, that is, the core and essence of Zen thought again refers to “the only way to the wilderness”, which is a kind of “path beyond the Tao”, that is, only through the path that can be traced can we reach the wilderness without trace.

The main content of this report is the translation of “Circumambulating in COVID-19 Times” under the guidance of the three dimensions of eco-translatology.

Different translators have different translation styles and their choice of words and sentences is also very different. Therefore, from the linguistic dimension, this paper will analyze and translate the target text from the three levels of vocabulary, syntax and text. From the cultural dimension, this report focuses on the translation of cultural information and rhetorical devices. From the communicative dimension, the translation should have the communicative purpose of the text of Buddhist culture. In addition, due to the cultural differences between the East and the West, it also has a great impact on the translator’s choice of translation strategies. The guidance of eco-translatology and domestication strategy will therefore be more helpful in the translation of such original versions, thus facilitating the exchange of Buddhist culture and giving greater value to the concept of harmonious coexistence between man and nature in the era of the new crown epidemic.

1. Translation Process Description

This chapter describes the overall steps of the translation practice process, including pre-translation preparation, translation practice process and post-translation review to discuss the translation practice process in detail, and details the focus of each stage and the problems encountered, which lays the foundation for the case analysis of the translation practice report.

Pre-translation Preparation

Before the translation began, the author made a series of preparations.

First of all, the author collected information about Buddhist traditional rituals and common Buddhist terms from the Internet, and read a lot of relevant literature about Snyder and Buddhism, so as to have an in-depth understanding of Snyder’s Zen thoughts. At the same time, the author was familiar with the characteristics of texts with Buddhist culture, and cultivated the ability to translate Buddhist texts.

Secondly, the author has prepared some translation tools, such as Oxford Dictionary, Longman Contemporary English Dictionary, electronic dictionary, Baidu Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, etc., to help query and confirm the translation of professional words and terms and their relevant background knowledge.

Finally, the author chooses the theory of ecological translatology as the theoretical guidance for translation practice, and studies the theory in depth by referring to relevant literature to lay the foundation for the translation process.

The Translation Planning

The successful completion of practical translation tasks requires adequate preparatory work, which is also the basic step for the smooth development of translation tasks. A good practical translation work should be carried out orderly within a given period of time. In order to ensure the smooth development of this translation practice, a detailed translation plan is formulated. The details are as follows:

Pre-translation stage: from 1 April 2022 to 5 May 2022

First draft: from 6 May 2022 to 16 May 2022

Second draft: from 17 May 2022 to 20 June 2022

Final draft: from 10 July 2022 to 25 July 2022

Post-translation evaluation: from 1 August 2022 to 30 October 2022

The translation practice was carried out in an orderly manner under the prescribed practice arrangement, and the corresponding tasks were completed in strict accordance with the planned practice, so as to ensure the presentation of high-quality translation.

2.1.2 Preparation for the Parallel Texts

In the process of translation, the use of parallel texts can enable translators to have a deeper understanding of the differences between Chinese and English texts, have a certain knowledge reserve of professional fields involved in translation practice, and understand the characteristics and text styles of texts in related fields, so as to break through the constraints of source texts and improve translation quality. Therefore, it is essential to read a lot of parallel text before translation practice. Parallel texts are of great guiding significance and reference value for translation practice. The selected texts in this translation practice involve knowledge of Buddhist culture, Buddhist customs, bioregionalism and other fields. The author encountered many difficulties in reading the source texts, so the author retrieved a large number of parallel texts on the Internet and the network for reading, which provided certain references for translation practice. The reference parallel texts consulted in this translation practice include “野径与禅道：加里1斯奈德的禅学因缘——兼论‘中国文化还是欧美’‘本土意识’成就了斯奈德”,“加里· 斯奈德生态观和中国的‘道’与‘禅’. This kind of parallel text has a high correlation with the source text. The interpretation of Gary Snyder’s ecological view and view of nature in the reference text deepens the understanding of the source text, thus improving the accuracy of the translation to some extent.

2.1.3 The Selection of Translation Strategies

Eco-translatology is based on the study of translation adaptation and selection. This theoretical study takes advantage of the correlation and commonality between translation activities as human behaviors and the application of the natural law of “survival and selection”. Guided by the theory of “adaptation and selection” in Darwinian biological evolution, it explores the interrelationship, relevant mechanism, basic features and laws of translator adaptation and selection behaviors in the “translation ecological environment”. From the perspective of “adaptation” and “selection”, this paper gives a new description and explanation of the essence, process, standards, principles and methods of translation, and demonstrates and constructs a “translation adaptation and selection theory” centered on translators. (Hu 2008: 13)

Naturalization refers to the localization of the source language, taking the target language or target readers as the end-result, and adopting the expressions used by the target language readers to convey the contents of the original text. This paper adopts domestication translation, the translator’s purpose is to get closer to the target language readers, the translation must be converted into the native language. Naturalized translation helps readers to better understand the translated text and enhance its readability and appreciation.

The flexible use of translation strategies makes the translation more accurate and tries to achieve equivalence with the target language in both meaning and culture.

While-Translation

The translation process is the most important link in the implementation of the whole translation project. It should be carried out in accordance with the translation plan in an orderly way. In the process of translation, if there are difficulties, the translator should supplement the search for the missing information before translation, and have a more in-depth grasp of the style and translation method of the full text. While-translation work is mainly divided into two parts, the completion of the first draft and the translation improvement, proofreading and finalization.

The Completion of the First Draft

After making adequate preparation for translation, carry out translation practice according to the plan. First of all, after reading the full text and having a certain understanding of the original text as a whole, under the guidance of ecological transliteration theories, appropriate translation strategies and methods are adopted to translate the original text.

When reading the source text, the translator first grasps the general content, and in the process of encountering new words, difficult words, terms, etc., makes comments in time, and uses the dictionary to inquire the definition to determine the exact meaning of these words in the source text.

There are some new compounds, new abbreviations, terms and puns in the original text. When encountering this kind of word, it is necessary to look it up in the dictionary in time to understand its English interpretation, and then determine the best translation method according to the overall context of the sentence in which the word is located and the Chinese expression habits. It is necessary to deepen the understanding of long difficult sentences and complex sentences, change the Chinese and Western way of thinking, and make the expression more localized.

After the overall grasp of the original content, the original text is roughly translated with the help of translation software, and then detailed modification is made on the basis of machine translation, and the translation is not smooth. The first draft was completed smoothly according to the plan. In the process of initial translation,the translator conducted a preliminary search and understanding of the terms, place names, new compound words, abbreviations and other materials in the text, and kept thinking about the parts that were difficult to translate.

The Translation Improvement, Proofreading and Finalization

After the completion of the first draft, it was found that the Europeanized sentence pattern and the abrupt tone appeared due to insufficient understanding of the original text. In order to have a deeper understanding of the translation styles and styles of texts related to Buddhist culture, in the self-proofreading stage, translators browse more about the translation of such parallel texts and the translation strategies adopted, and then revise the translation for the second time on this basis. Next, under the guidance of the teacher, the translation is further modified, and each word is repeatedly considered until the expression of the full text is consistent with the Chinese idiom, so as to accurately convey the meaning of the original text, achieve bilingual information equivalence, and improve the quality of the translation, so as to finalize the final version.

Post-Translation

A qualified translation needs to be reviewed and revised continuously before it can finally be presented to the reader. Therefore, the translation of the work of proofreading is particularly important. The proofreading of this project mainly includes self-proofreading and tutor proofreading.

Self-Proofreading

After the first draft is completed, start the first step of self-proofreading. The translator first proofread the translation carefully, paying special attention to spelling, punctuation, format and so on. Secondly, through the comparison of the original text, the mistranslations and omissions are corrected, and the expression of some translations is considered. In the process of proofreading, consult relevant knowledge, articles, multiple references and translation versions to determine the best expression.

During the preliminary translation and proofreading phase, the translation basically conveyed the original content completely, the expression was more in line with the reading habits of Chinese readers, and the free translation was widely adopted.

Tutor-Proofreading

After the translation is proofread, improved and finalized, the translation enters the evaluation stage of post-translation summary. After the self-summary evaluation, the translation is submitted to the tutor for evaluation. The evaluation process of post-translation summary can help the translator realize his shortcomings in the translation process, timely self-reflection and adjustment, constantly improve the translation quality and enhance the translation ability. On the basis of the final draft, a self-summary evaluation is carried out first, and then the translation is submitted to the tutor for review, seeking more comments and suggestions. This segment is the last segment. In this kind of proofreading, there are also some problems, such as too long sentences leading to the content is difficult to understand, translators are not faithful to the original text, semantic incoherence and so on. In order to make the expression consistent in the overall style, the language style of translation should be unified as far as possible, and constantly polish and modify. For many key words and phrases, the author readjusts the words and sentence patterns in the translation to make the translation easier to understand, and in the process to achieve bilingual ecological balance.

2. Case Studies of Eco-translatology

In 2001, Professor Hu Gengshen of Tsinghua University proposed the theory of eco-transtology for the first time. He believes that “eco-transtology can be understood as a study of translatology from an ecological perspective. It is a systematic discourse system of translation theory. It is an ecological paradigm of translation studies. Is a methodology for translation studies.” (Hu 2013:23) The eco-transtology research paradigm applies the basic principle of “survival of the fittest” in natural ecology to translation practice, so that the rational characteristics of the ecosystem are related to the natural characteristics of the translation system, so as to make a comprehensive view and description of the ecological integrity of translation and translation theory ontology from an ecological perspective. (Wang 2016:136) In order to make the best choice in translation, the translator should first adapt to the ecological environment and ecosystem of the source language in the process of translation, so that the target language can find a home in its own world.

Considering the features of the selected text “Circumambulating in COVID-19 Times”, the translator has chosen eco-transtology to guide her translation and case analysis. The source text contains professional words related to Buddhist culture, bioregionalism, COVID-19 and wilderness literature, but most of the expressions are close to life and easy to understand. The text of the whole article isnaturally connected and compact, and this chapter will focus on the case analysis under the guidance of eco-transtology, from the three aspects of linguistic dimension, cultural dimension and communicative dimension, and point out the translation techniques used in the process of translation.

The Linguistic Dimension

As a methodology of ecological transliteration, “three-dimensional transformation” is not only a simple transformation between language signs, but also a complex transformation activity emphasizing different levels and forms. The beauty of language conversion lies in its quality, and the heterogeneity of language conversion determines the acceptability of target readers. (Guo 2020: 86) In the process of translation, the translator should adapt to the ecological environment of translation and be familiar with the characteristics of language style, style, rhetoric and sentence pattern. In addition, in order to maintain harmony among the various linguistic components of the target language, “Circumambulating in COVID-19 Times” is translated with adaptive transformations, such as the selection of parts of speech, the reorganization of sentence patterns, and the control of stylistic style.

Adaptation at the Lexical Level  

Translators need to do a good job of lexical adaptation and transformation according to the context and word collocation of the source text, so as to achieve the purpose of faithfully conveying information. Because of the differences between English and Chinese, translators try to convert parts of speech as much as possible in the process of translation, so that the expression of Chinese is more in line with the dynamic characteristics.

Secondly, there are some difficult words in the source text, involving professional words such as Buddhist culture and bioregionalism, and the translation of some acronyms and new compound words also become obstacles in the translation process.

As for the translation and unification of foreign academic language, Xu Zongrui thinks as follows:

In Hermans’ 1985 edited collection of Essays The Manipulation of Literature: in his Studies in Literary Translation, Lefebvre pointed out that all literary works are influenced by patronage and poetics, but there are two other factors besides them: One is whatlinguists often call “universe of discourse” these days, i. One is whatlinguists often call “universe of discourse” these days, I. e. the knowledge the learning, but also the objects and the customs of a certain time, to which writers are free to allude in their work. The other is the natural language in which the work is composed.) To which writers are free to allude in their work. The other is the natural language in which the work is composed.) (Lefevere, 1985: 232-233) what is further pointed out that in the pursuit of any so-called “faithfulness” in the process of translation, “Universe of Dis  course” tends to make the translator insurmountable obstacles, because it is the characterization of a particular culture, almost do not translate or extremely difficult to translate. (Xu 2022:38)

In a word, due to the respective characteristics of English and Chinese and the difficulty of term translation, it is inevitable to produce readable translations in the new ecological environment of English and Chinese. Considering the characteristics of article “Circumambulating in COVID-19 Times”and the translation principle of “multi-dimensional adaptation and self-adaptive selection” in eco-transtology, the translator adopts some specific translation techniques, such as diction, conversion, segmentation and combination.

Example 1

Original Text: 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.

Translation: 但是，能够回眸历史，追溯行禅开启者的足迹和言语，所付出的每一滴汗水都有所值。

Analysis: When translating a word, we should not only refer to its explanation in the dictionary, but also choose the most appropriate expression according to the context. If “peek” is translated directly into “窥视”, it has a pejorative meaning in Chinese. However, in this sentence, “peek into history” does not have a negative meaning, so “窥视” is not appropriate. According to the collocation and context of the word, “peek” here can be translated into “回眸”, corresponding to the following “tracing(追溯)”, both have the meaning of reviewing history and tracing forward.

 “Original” in the Oxford Dictionary means “present or existing at the beginning of a series or process; first”, so it can be translated into “最初的，开始的，首先的”, but if this sentence is directly translated word for word into “最初的行禅者的足迹和言语”, it is not concise enough. The adjective “original” is translated into a noun by using the conversion method, so the expression of “行禅开启者” in this sentence is more readable. Echoing the previous translation of “开启行禅之旅”, it better integrates into the eco-environment of the target language.

Adaptation at the Syntactic Level

The writing of this paper is concise, comprehensive, natural and smooth. The source text pays more attention to the form. Under the guidance of ecological translation theory, translators pay more attention to the meaning of sentences. The syntactic features of source texts include appositives, conditional sentences, emphatic sentences, inverted sentences and attributive clauses. The basic skills of grammar are very important in the process of analyzing sentence structure. The problem of mistranslation is largely due to not understanding the original text correctly and not making clear the function and relationship of each part of the sentence.

Conditional sentence is the Latin grammar name,refering to a kind of subject-slave compound sentence to express the hypothesis. Generally, the conditional clause guided by the conjunction if leads to a certain hypothesis,and then the main sentence indicates the feedback based on this hypothesis “If...not...”.

Example 2

Original Text: Like a caged coyote, I paced our little house in Davis, thinking I would lose my mind if I couldn’t do something to break up the tedium of sheltering in place in winter’s darkness.

Translation: 我像一匹囚笼里的郊狼，只得在方寸大的家里踱来踱去，盘算着做点什么来排解居家隔离的烦闷，摆脱这个阴郁的冬天，否则我会发疯的。

Analysis: In English, the “if...not...” structure is quite common. In translation practice, translation should be carried out based on the concrete analysis of its actual meaning and the context in which it appears. Otherwise, wrong translation will occur. Normally we would translate it as “如果不是，若非如此”, but in this sentence there is a subjunctive structure after “if not”, so in this case “if not” can be regarded as a conditional clause or an exception clause, that is, it can be understood as “unless”, translated as “除非……否则……”.

Adaptation at the Textual Level

An essay is made up of several sentences or paragraphs, each with the necessary connections between them. It is a practical unit of language. The structure of discourse follows certain rules, namely logic. The source text also follows this principle to maintain formal cohesion and semantic coherence. Chinese way of thinking is inductive thinking, overall description, giving people the most intuitive feeling; the mode of thinking in English is deductive thinking. The topic sentence gradually discusses the causality of the development of things and gives the process.

The textual logic of the source text can be roughly divided into four parts. The first part begins with the history of the walking meditation tour initiated by a group of Gary Snyder, Allen Ginsberg, and Philip Whalen, introducing the ritual and cultural background of this tradition and guiding people to be unrestrained through Snyder’s words of encouragement to subsequent walking meditators. It also introduces the concept of bioregionalism.

Then the second part, led by David, shows our generation following in the footsteps of their predecessors to participate in the activities CircumTam, and explains the significance of non-Buddhist participation in Circumambulating.

The third part is about how the activities CircumTam have been carried on and continued in the context of the pandemic. After living in isolation, my family and friends went into nature and felt the charm of the connection that many people have made with nature.

The last part explains the significance of Circumambulating during the current epidemic. The experience of meditation walking as a new way of promoting physical and mental health and experiencing connection with nature has been and still is relevant.

The Cultural Dimension

In view of the differences between the cultural environment of the source language and the target language, translators should consider both the linguistic transformation and the adaptive selection of the cultural dimension, namely the cultural ecological environment, so as to effectively avoid the misinterpretation of the source language (Hu, 2004, pp.135-137). In short, to achieve the goal of adaptive selection from the cultural dimension, translators should give full consideration to cultural awareness in translation, overcome the obstacles brought by cultural differences as far as possible, achieve the balance and harmony of the cultural ecological environment of the source language and the target language, and realize the smooth exchange of information (Hu, 2013, p.237). Moreover, “language also constitutes the most distinctive feature of a culture, which can be described simply as the sum total of a society’s beliefs and practices” (Nida, 2002, p. 78). To sum up, it is not difficult to find that cultural dimension is very important, and translators need to attach great importance to cultural ecological environment in the process of Chinese translation.

The Adaptation and Selection of Cultural Information

A refers to a large number of cultural factors, such as bioregionalism, wilderness literature, poetry translation, and even Buddhist terminology, which to some extent may hinder people’s understanding of the article. Considering the different translation ecological environment of the source language and the target language, coupled with the characteristics of article “Circumambulating in COVID-19 Times”, the translator uses four-character phrases and annotations to realize the cultural transformation.

Example 3

Original Text: Like Robertson and his students (and me), innumerable people have undertaken the “CircumTam,”  as it’s fondly nicknamed, since the inaugural 1965 trek.

Translation: 同罗伯逊和他的学生（还有我）一样，自从1965年首次徒步绕行以来，无数人都参加过这个被亲切地称为“绕塔玛山（Mt. Tam）”的项目。

Analysis: “Circumtam,” is the shorthand for “circumambulating Mt. Tamalpais.” In the first draft, according to the principle of transliteration, the translator translated it into “绕塔（Mt. Tam）”, and used “塔” to refer to Mt. Tamalpais, also achieving simplification to some extent. However, in the eyes of Chinese readers, it is likely to cause ambiguity, because “塔” also has the meaning of “tower” in Chinese, so the translator translated it into “绕塔玛山（Mt. Tam）”to retain its complete verb and noun structure and realize the cultural transformation.

Example 4

Original Text: Cue the New Year’s Day CircumTam: with a day’s notice and some adventurous pandemic podmates, we pulled together a trip for January 1, 2021, hoping to set the tone for a new year that we desperately wanted to be better than the previous one—for all of humanity.

Translation: 提到新年“绕塔玛山”活动：在一群喜欢冒险的防疫社交圈友（pandemic podmates）的帮助下，我们提前一天为2021年1月1日的旅行做好了准备，希望藉此奠定新年基调，希望新年胜旧年，人类能够早日战胜疫情。

Analysis: On July 24, 2021, China Daily website published an article titled “The COVID-19 bubble” has become a popular phrase in foreign countries(“新冠气泡”成国外流行语，原来“泡泡”还有这个意思！) to explain the foreign buzzword “COVID-19 bubble” :

In recent years, especially since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the word bubble(气泡；泡沫) has taken on a new meaning. The meaning derives from the shape of the bubble, which refers to a small closed group or circle of people formed during an outbreak. People in the circle, usually family members, colleagues, friends, classmates, etc., have a thorough knowledge of each other’s health conditions. On the premise of confirming that all of them are healthy, they have face-to-face interaction, such as chatting, sports, eating, etc., but they have little or no contact with people outside the circle. This minimizes the risk, reduces the spread of the virus and is good for people’s mental health.

The Webster Dictionary explains the new meaning of “bubble” this way:

Bubble: a usually small group of people (such as family members, friends, coworkers, or classmates) who regularly interact closely with one another but with few or no others in order to minimize exposure and reduce the transmission of infection during an outbreak of a contagious disease.

Tourists eat in a makeshift transparent pod outside a restaurant in Washington, DC, during the COVID-19 pandemic on Jan 20, 2021. Diners are usually family members or relatives, who are more aware of each other’s health, creating a “社交气泡圈(bubble)”.

CNBC described the COVID-19 bubble in a June 27 article last year:

You probably have a COVID-19 “bubble” (新冠“气泡圈子”)and don’t know it. It could be your group of close friends, your extended family members, your neighbors or even your co-workers.

A “bubble” is an unofficial term used to describe the cluster of people outside your household with whom you feel comfortable spending time during the pandemic.

It can also be used to describe a group of people quarantined together, the quarantine bubble:

A quarantine bubble is a group of individuals or families whose members have been safely quarantining and who can now start hanging out with other observant groups, so long as the families observe safety guidelines and agree to be exclusive.

Webster’s dictionary also states that a quarantine bubble and a quarantine pod have the same meaning.

In conclusion, the translator ends up translating “pandemic podmates” into “防疫社交圈友”.

Example 5

Original Text: Podmates Paul and Jennie dubbed our trip a “Circum-bobulation” because of the improvisation necessary for COVID-era social distancing, the limited daylight hours in January, and impacted parking in 21st century San Francisco Bay Area.

Translation: 我们防疫社交圈的两个伙伴保罗（Paul）和珍妮（Jennie），称这趟旅行就是“自绕麻烦（Circum-bobulation）”，调侃行程不确定因素之多：要根据防疫社交距离限制临时作出一些调整，一月份白天短，21世纪旧金山湾区停车位难寻。

Analysis: Circum-bobulation is a combination of the words “circumambulation” and “discombobulation”, and the translators used the four-character Chinese word “自找麻烦”, which translates as “自绕麻烦”, and “绕”, which echoes Circumtam（绕塔玛山）, and in terms of expression, it can better convey the cultural information contained.

The Selection and Application of Rhetoric Devices

Rhetoric is a kind of language art, which guides people to use various language materials according to a certain topic situation, mobilize and create various rhetorical devices, so as to properly and vividly express the ideological content to be expressed, deepen the impression of the article to the readers, improve the persuasion to the readers, and give the readers the enjoyment of beauty. (Tang 2002:36)

Example 6

Original Text: Goosebumps marched up and down my arms, a sensation of kismet — new beginnings, hope, and possibility — that shivers through us when we’re lucky enough to feel it. I dared to breathe a little deeper.

Translation: 我双臂一阵阵泛起鸡皮疙瘩，感到冥冥之中有天意——仿佛看到新开端、新希望、新机遇。这是偶尔才有幸体验到的感觉，难免要为之战栗。我壮起胆子稍稍加深呼吸。

Analysis:In this sentence, both “march” and “arm” are puns, not just referring to the goosebumps on the arms, since march is often used to march, and arm also means armors. Put together, the two words give the expression a powerful and striking effect. Therefore, the tone of the second half of the sentence should be consistent with the first half of the sentence. The translator uses “为之战栗”to echo the goose marched up in the front, while reflecting a feeling of surprise and shock.

The Communicative Dimension

The transformation of communicative dimension requires the translator to pay attention to the communicative intention of the author of the source language, to see whether the general communicative intention is reflected in the translation and whether it is clearly transmitted to the target reader. In short, adaptive selection in the communicative dimension seeks the best maintenance of source text and target text in the communicative ecological environment (Hu, 2013:237-238). From the perspective of communicative dimension, translators should give priority to the author’s communicative intention. Considering the particularity of “Circumambulating in COVID-19 Times”, the translator carried out amplification and manifestation in the translation process to make up for the loss of meaning in the translation process and clearly convey what the author wants to express. In order to make the optimal choice of communicative intention, the translator also rewrites and reorganizes the sentences to make target text conform to the expression mode and thinking mode of the target language.

It is true that sometimes authors can express their ideas in a concise and clear way, but in some cases, the corresponding translation does not add the appropriate information and may result in insufficient information. As a translator, one should strive to faithfully and clearly convey the meaning expressed in the translated text. In such cases, words, phrases and even sentences are added to bridge the information gap between school and school. Through amplification, the target language can represent not only the cultural background of the target language, but also the content, form and spirit of the target language. It’s important to note that zooming in doesn’t mean adding random words; instead, it requires the translator to mine and add to the meaning implied in the source text. Therefore, in the process of translation, translators should carefully choose which content can be added and which content can not be added, so as to make translation an “alternating cycle in the process of adaptation and selection” (Hu, 2008).

The Shift in Thinking Patterns

Example 7

Original Text: Gazing at the night sky out the car window, I felt a familiar sense of oneness with all those stars, and I telescoped between feeling tiny and insignificant and feeling utterly connected to all of it.

Translation:凝望着车窗外的夜空，那种与繁星融为一体的熟悉感油然而至。就如此刻，我既是沧海之一粟，亦是汇流之百川。

Analysis:The source text wants to express the writer’s feeling that he sometimes feels small and sometimes he feels integrated with nature, but the direct word-for-word translation lacks the artistic conception of sudden realization. Therefore, the translator used the magnification method and added two idioms, “海纳百川”and “沧海一粟”, to clearly express the implied message, while using “既……又……”to express a mixture of two senses. In order to realize the transformation in the communicative dimension, the translator needs to make up for the shortcomings of translation and make translation survive in the new ecological environment, so she adds “既是沧海之一粟，亦是汇流之百川”to improve the cohesion of translation, readers can quickly understand the translated information. Therefore, language Europeanization should be avoided as far as possible in translation. It is necessary to start from the communicative dimension and comprehensively consider the linguistic dimension and cultural dimension.

The Shift in Thinking Logic

Example 8

Original Text: 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？

Translation:刻意遵照礼仪，围绕圣物绕行，是个古老的仪式，植根于世界各地很多文化中。然而，在现代社会，转山的意义何在呢？

Analysis: In the first sentence, appositive clauses are used to explain the detour. Instead of putting the subject of this sentence at the beginning of the sentence in accordance with the word order of the original sentence, the translation uses three short sentences, which are not only concise but also very clear in structure. They connect with Snyder’s advice to people in the previous paragraph, further explain the root of the detour, and play a very clear role in connecting the past and the future. In the second sentence,“it” is translated into the specific subject “Circumambulation”. The translation of the whole paragraph reflects the author’s emphasis on the coherence of semantic information, so that the communicative intention can be reflected here, so as to achieve the harmony of the bilingual translation ecology and make the text more fluent.

3. Conclusion

Through the practice of translating Buddhist cultural texts, the author realizes that in order to better reflect the informativeness and literariness of the source text in the translated text, three-dimensional conversion is an essential step. Due to the differences between English and Chinese, absolute formal fidelity is difficult to achieve. In translation practice, under the guidance of eco-transtology, the translator should flexibly use the three-dimensional perspective, combine the language characteristics and style of the source text, analyze the specific problems encountered in translation practice, and summarize the specific translation strategies and skills adopted in the translation practice of this kind of text. In order to achieve the ecological balance between the source text and the target text, the author find the guiding significance of ecological translatology and its three-dimensional perspective to this kind of text.

This report mainly summarizes the author’s translation practice of the text “Circumambulating in COVID-19 Times” with Buddhist culture under the guidance of eco-transtology theory. Using the three-dimensional perspective of eco-transtology, this paper summarizes the existing problems and solutions in translation from the lexical, syntactic and textual levels, and guides the translation practice of texts with Buddhist culture. In order to promote the integration and dissemination of Buddhist culture in the world, translators should adapt to the ecological environment of translation, carry out multi-dimensional integration and adaptive selection, and achieve the balance of linguistic dimension, cultural dimension and communication dimension.

The unsolved problems and suggestions for future studies in this paper are as follows.

Unsolved Problems

Firstly, the “three-dimensional” theory of eco-transtology is a comprehensive system of language, culture and communication interpenetrating and pluralistic. Due to the limitation of translators’ theoretical level, these three dimensions are isolated in the process of translation practice. The principle of “adaptation and selection” only stays in the Chinese context that the translator is familiar with, which reflects the translator’s shallow cognition to some extent. Secondly, this kind of translation practice helps to realize the deficiency of English comprehension ability and Chinese expression ability. In the process of translation, the expression of some contents is not professional enough, which also warns the translator: if he wants to engage in translation with Buddhist culture, he must fully and deeply explore the background knowledge in the professional field, so as to improve the expression ability of bilingual language. Thirdly, there may be some problems with the examples in the article, which also reminds the author of the importance of strengthening professional training and improving the practical ability of translation.

Suggestions on Further Studies

Firstly, ecological transliteration is a systematic theory. There are numerous books and papers on eco-transtology from different perspectives. However, the translator only read part of the books and papers, and due to the restrictions of this report, some relevant concepts are not mentioned in the report. Therefore, translators should read more books and articles on eco-transtology, pay attention to the latest research on ecological translation, and prepare for future translation work. Secondly, ecological translatology can effectively guide translation practice and help translators solve various obstacles, but it also has its own limitations. As far as the “translator-centered theory” is concerned, the importance of translators in the process of translation is beyond doubt, but the subjectivity of translators is not the whole of translation. Therefore, we must consider the author, target readers, original text, translation and other factors comprehensively to avoid falling into the trap of extreme “translator-centeredness”.

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Acknowledgments

As the thesis is about to be completed and the four-year undergraduate study life is coming to an end, I would like to take this opportunity to extend my deep gratitude to my teachers, classmates and friends!

First of all, I would like to thank my thesis supervisor, Professor Chen Kefang, who has given me great guidance. She has spared precious time to answer the questions raised in the process of writing the thesis and provided me with ideas and methods. And Associate Professor Wang Min, who also put a lot of effort into perfecting our paper. At the same time, I would like to thank all the teachers of the English School for their selfless help in our study!

Secondly, I would like to thank my best friends Chen Jia and Zhou Rui for their encouragement, care and companionship during my undergraduate life.

In short, in the future, I will adhere to the love of translation and interpretation, adhere to the ideal in my heart, and keep a positive attitude to meet my life.

Appendix

Circumambulating in COVID-Time

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

Tagging along, I trekked through groves of coastal live oak, Douglas fir, Sequoia sempervirens, 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.

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.

2020 was a difficult year for many reasons, including, of course, a global pandemic. In the year’s final days, my husband, our 17-year-old son, who loves to hike, and I had been cooped up at home for months. Over the summer, we had taken advantage of our unexpected time together, camping, hiking, and backpacking in California’s mountains. But winter found us housebound and feeling a bit trapped. Our annual pilgrimage to Joshua Tree National Park to stay with friends and “hike our guts out,” as I often put it, had been quashed by Northern California’s third lockdown. Like a caged coyote, I paced our little house in Davis, thinking I would lose my mind

if I couldn’t do something to break up the tedium of sheltering in place in winter’s darkness.

Cue the New Year’s Day CircumTam: with a day’s notice and some adventurous pandemic podmates, we pulled together a trip for January 1, 2021, hoping to set the tone for a new year that we desperately wanted to be better than the previous one — for all of humanity.

Podmates Paul and Jennie dubbed our trip a “Circum-bobulation” because of the improvisation necessary for COVID-era social distancing, the limited daylight hours in January, and impacted parking in 21st century San Francisco Bay Area.

So we began half a mile uphill from Pan Toll Ranger Station. We piled out of the car on the not-so-spiritual side of the road. David Robertson had lent me a wooden-bead necklace and embroidered satin shawl, sweat-stained veterans of many a CircumTam, which he had obtained when he journeyed to Japan’s Omine ridge to learn about that region’s ancient circumambulation rituals. I donned the regalia to pay respect to David and to Gary for their mentorship, and to all the miles they’d logged in service of teaching others about the importance of linking ourselves to the land, to bioregion.

Cars whizzed by us on the road, searching for parking spots. We chanted a spell, or Dharani, intended to remove disasters. Although it was not from our culture, it was the way Snyder et al had begun their circumambulations, and it seemed appropriate, given the times; we hoped to invoke safety on our trek but also to pay respect to the many hardships faced during the previous year, and to ward off any future ones.

We cross-countried to the Old Mine Trail, and up toward what we hoped was the “ring of outcropped rocks,” in Snyder’s poem, “The Circumambulation of Mt. Tamalpais.”

Did we find it? No. But we did stop at a circle of rocks and stood quietly, absorbing the cold winter sun and wafting fog, and watching dried grasses shimmer in the wind. Teens Owen and Rose humored us but kept their distance.

Near Rock Springs, we found a serpentine crag adorned with an offering: a circle formed of rose petals, pine boughs, pinecones, lemons and limes. Examining this shrine, we guessed that a person longing for something had come here to ask for it. Here was more evidence of the human need to forge relationships with the land.

Trekking to a nearby lookout point for a picnic lunch with a view, we approached a huge Douglas fir and upon closer inspection saw it was a granary tree: acorn woodpeckers had drilled and filled hundreds of holes with acorns, making it a giant pantry for themselves. I marveled at the connection between a giant conifer and many small avians.

At the lookout point, we watched the stunning dance of paragliders checking their gear and sailing of the cliff toward Stinson Beach. We chatted with them, and Paul got so enthused about the sport, I thought he might buckle into a harness and leap into the void with them.

One thing about spending nearly a year in confinement is that when you emerge, everything seems new, even magical. Snyder said that the stops they designated on Mt.Tam in 1965 were “... like playing with the being of the mountain, nothing fancy about it.” Our little pandemic pod adopted this playful attitude by wandering the restof the day, veering off the traditional circumambulation route.

After lunch, we ambled the Rock Springs trail, which steered us to the Mountain Theatre, a large amphitheater constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. As if by magic, a trio of bluegrass musicians appeared on the stage below us, tuning their instruments and playing songs. We sat, relishing the very first live music we’d heard in a year. Goosebumps marched up and down my arms, a sensation of kismet — new beginnings, hope, and possibility — that shivers through us when we’re lucky enough to feel it. I dared to breathe a little deeper.

We made our way to the West Point Inn by late afternoon and enjoyed sunshine and expansive views over the North and East bays. The teens showed us how to take socially distanced selfies, which we snapped to memorialize the zenith of our hike. Then we started back toward Pan Toll on the Matt Davis trail, arriving at dusk an hour or two later at our consecrated roadside parking spot with just enough time before dark to finish our journey by offering words of thanks to each other and the mountain for a safe day’s journey.

We hopped into our car and rolled off toward home.

With a map, a little creativity, full water bottles, and a sense of adventure, we had inaugurated a new family tradition and created some COVID-safe fun that boosted our mental and physical health during the pandemic. We also had a chance to experience ourselves in relationship with the environment, with the nature and beauty of Mt. Tam. Especially in times of distress, it’s important to feel connection, not only with other humans but with the environments around us, large and small.

Gazing at the night sky out the car window, I felt a familiar sense of oneness with all those stars, and I telescoped between feeling tiny and insignificant and feeling utterly connected to all of it.

疫情下的别样绕行

1965年，同为美国诗人、禅宗信徒的加里·斯奈德（Gary Snyder）、艾伦·金斯伯格（Allen Ginsberg）和菲利普·惠伦（Philip Whalen）三人开启了一场仪式满满的行禅之旅。他们遵循传统，顺时针绕于塔玛佩斯山（Mt. Tamalpais），在事先选好的特色景点诵念佛教和印度教的圣歌、佛咒、经文和誓愿，以示虔诚。

 在1992年的一次采访中，斯奈德鼓励后来的禅行者们尽情创新，绕行诵经不必拘泥于前人的足迹。

 刻意遵照礼仪，围绕圣物绕行，是个古老的仪式，根植于世界各地很多文化中。然而，在现代社会，转山的意义何在呢？

 斯奈德认为：“禅行是究明心性之法。最重要的是心存敬意，走进万物，息虑凝心，享受其中。”20世纪90年代末，我在加利福尼亚大学戴维斯分校（UC Davis）读研时，师从斯奈德，从他那里学到了生物区域主义的概念，明白了注意观察与清晰表述我们所处的生态区域的重要性。

20世纪90年代，英语教授兼摄影师大卫·罗伯逊（David Robertson）秉承三人的精神，继承了斯奈德的衣钵，带学生绕行塔玛佩斯山（Mt. Tam）。1998年3月的一天,寒意料峭，我和男朋友（现在的丈夫）加入了那场14英里的行禅之旅，追随三位前辈当年的足迹，在那十个朝圣驿站逐一驻足，诵念经文。罗伯逊的用意在于让加州大学戴维斯分校学习荒野文学的学生走出教室，走进田野。因为这门课以斯奈德的文学作品为特色，塔玛佩斯山之行似乎是个不错的选择。

 徒步穿过一簇簇海边槲树、花旗松、北美红杉，越过一座座青草茵茵的山坡，雾气中弥漫着加利福尼亚桂树的辛辣浓香。一整天下来，就连我这个还算强壮的徒步爱好者也觉得不简单，但是，能够回眸历史，追溯行禅开启者的足迹和言语，所付出的每一滴汗水都有所值。尽管如此，我还是想知道，若非佛门子弟，念经也受用吗？我可以引用佛咒经文吗？想要了解和尊重佛教传统的话，念经就够了吗？当我问同为非佛教徒的罗伯逊时，他解释说，绕山之行正是连结自我与自然世界的一种方式。

 同罗伯逊和他的学生（还有我）一样，自从1965年首次徒步绕行以来，无数人都参加过这个被亲切地称为“绕塔玛山（Mt. Tam）”的项目。它引人入胜之处就在于，湾区人最爱的母亲山——塔玛佩斯山，与岱阿布罗山（Mt. Diablo）、乌蒙胡姆山（Mt. Umunhum）一齐高耸入云，无论何时何地都在提醒我们：我是谁，我在哪儿。

2020年是艰难的一年，多灾多难，尤其是因为席卷全球的疫情。在年末那几天，我和丈夫、还有17岁的儿子（他喜欢远足）已经被困在家里好几个月了。整个夏天，我们都在加州的山区露营、徒步或背包旅行，度过了一段意想不到的美好时光，而到了冬天却被困在家里，感觉有点儿被束缚住了。我们每年都会和朋友一起去约书亚树国家公园（Joshua Tree National Park）玩，像我常说的，要“勇敢地走出去”，但今年因为北加州的第三次封城就此泡汤了。我像一匹囚笼里的郊狼，只得在方寸大的家里踱来踱去，盘算着做点什么来排解居家隔离的烦闷，摆脱这个阴郁的冬天，否则我会发疯的。

  提到新年“绕塔玛山”活动：在一群喜欢冒险的防疫社交圈友（pandemic podmates）的帮助下，我们提前一天为2021年1月1日的旅行做好了准备，希望藉此奠定新年基调，希望新年胜旧年，人类能够早日战胜疫情。。

 我们防疫社交圈的两个伙伴保罗（Paul）和珍妮（Jennie），称这趟旅行就是“自绕麻烦（Circum-bobulation）”，调侃行程不确定因素之多：要根据防疫社交距离限制临时作出一些调整，一月份白天短，21世纪旧金山湾区停车位难寻。

 果然，我们从潘托尔护林站上行半英里（约0.8公里）才找到车位。下车后，在尚未被完全神化的马路外侧一拥而下。大卫·罗伯逊曾给过我一条木制佛链和绕塔数次的行禅者所穿的绸缎刺绣披肩，都是他在日本的大峰脊（Omine ridge）行禅所得。我这次绕行穿戴上，就是想向大卫和加里致敬，感谢他们的指引与开示，为弘扬联系人与自然的重要性、弘扬生物区域主义而跋山涉水。

 路上一辆辆汽车从我们身边呼啸而过，寻找着停车位。我们念着陀罗尼咒（Dharani），祈求消除厄难。虽然这并非源自我们的文化，但斯奈德等人也是如此绕转山的，而且疫情当前，这么做感觉颇合时宜；希望我们能够一路平安，敬畏苦难，不惧前险。

 穿行至旧矿井小径（Old Mine Trail），我们朝斯奈德在《转塔玛派斯山》（The Circumambulation of Mt. Tamalpais）一诗中描述的“地表的岩石戒环（ring of outcropped rocks）”走去。

 我们找到了吗？没有。但我们确实在一圈岩石前停了下来，静静地站着，沐浴着冬天寒冷的阳光和飘散的雾气，看着干草在风中摇曳。欧文和罗斯两个少年对我们多有迁就，却保持着距离。

 在岩石泉附近，我们发现了一处蜿蜒峭壁，缀有玫瑰花瓣、松枝、松果、柠檬和酸橙编织而成的祭祀花圈。细看神龛，我们猜测一定是有人到此祭拜过，祈求庇佑，这就是人类渴望与自然建立关系的又一有力佐证。

 我们向附近的一个瞭望台攀登，准备到拿里观景吃午餐，路遇一棵庞大的花旗松，仔细一看，发现这棵树竟然是个粮仓：啄木鸟在树上钻了成百上千个洞，往洞里放了许多橡子。这棵树因此便成为了啄木鸟的巨大粮仓。硕大的针叶树与小型鸟类之间建立的关系使我惊叹不已。

 在瞭望台上，一群滑翔伞爱好者在检查设备。我们驻足观看。他们从悬崖向斯廷森海岸滑翔，特技舞姿令人惊叹。和他们攀谈间，保罗对这项运动着了迷，我还以为他也许也会扣上降落伞带，与滑翔者一道飞身跃入山谷呢。

 经过近一年的隔离生活，你会发现当你重新接触这个世界时，一切都焕然一新，甚至魔幻处奇。斯奈德说，1965年他们在塔玛佩斯山行禅时的驿站“……如同与山间万物嬉戏，没什么特别的。”我们的小团队也本着这种有趣的态度，在当天余下的时间里，偏离了传统的转山路线，随意游走。

 午饭后，我们沿着岩石泉小道漫步，沿着小路来到了山间剧院（Mountain Theatre），这是一座由平民保护队（civil Conservation Corps）在20世纪30年代建造的大型露天剧场。一个三个蓝草乐队突然魔幻地出现在我们下方的舞台上，调试好乐器，演奏起歌曲。我们就这么坐着，欣赏着这一年多来第一次听到的现场音乐会。我双臂一阵阵泛起鸡皮疙瘩，感到冥冥之中有天意——仿佛看到新开端、新希望、新机遇。这是偶尔才有幸体验到的感觉，难免要为之战栗。我壮起胆子稍稍加深呼吸。

 傍晚的时候，我们起身前往西峰客栈（the West Point Inn），沐浴着日光，欣赏着东和北部、东部海湾的广阔美景。两位少年教我们如何保持社交距离自拍，以此纪念徒步禅行的高光时刻。然后我们沿着麦特·戴维斯小径（Matt Davis trail）回到了潘托尔护林站。一两个小时后，天已黄昏，我们回到开启朝圣之旅的路边停车点，天还没黑，大家刚好有时间为一天的平安旅程互相道谢，感恩大山。

 之后，我们匆忙上了车，朝家驶去。

 仅凭借着一张地图、一点创意、几瓶满满的水和一些冒险精神，我们开创了一个新的家庭传统，疫情下的禅行别有趣味，还有益身心。我们也有机会体验自我与周边环境、自我与塔玛山之灵和美景之间的关联。艰难时刻，这种关联感至关重要，当我们感到在痛苦时，不仅是人与人之间的关联，还有人与周遭大大小小环境的关联。

 凝望着车窗外的夜空，那种与繁星融为一体的熟悉感油然而至。就如此刻，我既是沧海之一粟，亦是汇流之百川。