农禅寺水月道场──台北人的“空中花,水中月”

THE PLACE OF ENLIGHTENMENT

在台湾，不论是幽静山间、喧嚣都市或偏僻小巷，很容易看到各种不同类型的寺院或庙宇。我搬过几次家，附近不是有香火鼎盛的寺庙，就是有僧尼修行的寺院。记得刚住到淡水时，有一天出门搭公交车，车上只有两三名乘客，司机问我，是不是修行人？我回答不是。心想，我像修行人吗？霎时间，耳边传来“有情来下种．因地果还生“的声音回响着，也许这条路线上修行的人不少。

In this essay, Jian Zhaoling contemplates how use shapes the design and imaginary of buildings. Taiwan's Nongchan Temple inspires her discussion. The characters for Nongchan Temple literally mean 'agricultural Zen', evoking the earliest Zen aspirations of self-sufficiency. The design for the temple building,however, was stereotypical 1960's Taiwan Residents modern. Moreover, even when it was built in 1975, the temple was not agriculturally self-sufficient. Instead, the temple attracted so many practitioners that the temple built ad-hoc spaces. During the 1980s, as Taipei underwent massive real estate development, the temple faced the possibility of eviction due to land shortages. The temple remained to define and occupy Taipei's last remaining stretch of undeveloped land. In 2006,architect and Buddhist practitioner, Yao Renxi was commissioned to build a meditation hall. Then Abbot Sheng Yen instructed the architect to build according to the principle of 'flower in empty space, moon in water'. Jian Zhaoling believes that the design succeeds in evoking the reality of emptiness, but the question remains: is it the design that lifts the imagination, or the use of this space for spiritual practice?