尋找自己的旅程 留宿鬧中取靜的北京古寺

YOU NEVER KNOW what you'll find when you go bicycling in Beijing. Eight years ago, the Belgian entrepreneur Juan van Wassenhove set off from his home in the Chinese capital to pedal around the vanishing hutongs, the labyrinthine alleyways that were once the heart of the ancient city, when he glimpsed what appeared to be the tip of a stupa rising above slate-gray roofs. After shouldering open an iron gate, he was amazed to discover a derelict wooden temple with a beautiful double-level main hall crafted by artisans in the Qing Dynasty--a rare architectural treasure. 'That day I found my mission,' he recalls.

在中國首都騎車，你永遠不知道會遇到什麼。八年前，比利時創業家溫守諾(Juan van Wassenhove)從北京的家中出發，踩着自行車逛那些像迷宮一樣、曾經是這座古都的心臟、而今正在日漸消失的衚衕。突然之間，他瞥見一個疑似佛塔尖頂的東西從青灰色的屋頂上冒出來。在用肩膀頂開一道鐵門之後，他驚奇地發現了一座廢棄的木頭建成的寺廟。廟裏有一個清代工匠建成的雙層大殿，美輪美奐，是一件稀有的建築珍寶。溫守諾回憶說：“就在那一天，我找到了自己的使命。”

The antique structure--known to the faithful as Zhizhusi, the Temple of Wisdom--was one of three Tibetan Buddhist temples built in the mid-18th century near the Imperial Palace. Battered and charred by fire, the edifice was hardly promising for development. But years of restoration has transformed it into an art hotel with eight luxury rooms, a gallery, a restaurant, a courtyard adorned with sculptures and--in a surprisingly effective stroke--the only James Turrell Skyspace in China. Stripped of its bleak Communist facade, the near-ruined temple today has a new life, subtly blending Eastern spirituality with contemporary Western style.

這座古建築被信衆稱爲“智珠寺”，是18世紀中葉在皇宮附近修建的三座藏傳佛教寺廟之一。由於被火燒過，以前這座寺廟沒有了什麼新生的希望。但經過多年的修復之後，它已經化身爲一家藝術酒店，包含八個豪華房間，一家畫廊，一家餐廳，一個裝飾着雕塑作品的庭院，另外還有一個神來之筆，那便是詹姆斯・特瑞爾(James Turrell)在中國的唯一一件“Skyspace”作品。在去掉了共產主義時代風格的單調正面之後，這座幾近毀滅的寺廟如今獲得了新生，將東方的靈性同西方的當代風格微妙地結合在了一起。

The dramatic saga of China is written in its walls. In the mid-1700s, at the height of the wealthy Qing Dynasty, a pious emperor decided to build a Tibetan temple on the site, and Zhizhusi became home to a revered sage known as the Living Buddha. The sixth Living Buddha was still residing there two centuries later when the People's Liberation Army marched into Beijing in 1949, and symbols of the Imperial Age were repurposed for the Communist Revolution. Zhizhusi became a factory, first for mosaics, then bicycles, medical supplies and, in the 1970s, China's first black-and-white televisions. Neglected and abused, the building slowly decayed. 'Left to its own devices, the temple would not have lasted even three or four more years,' van Wassenhove says of his first visit in 2005.

中國風雲多變的歷史寫在了寺廟的 上。18世紀中葉，正值清王朝的鼎盛時期，一位虔誠的皇帝決定在這個地方建一座藏式寺廟，於是便有了智珠寺，它是一位受人尊敬的 賢“活佛”的駐錫之地。兩個世紀之後的1949年，當中國人民解放軍進入北京的時候，六世活佛仍然在寺里居住。帝國時代的各種象徵符號都紛紛爲改爲共產主義革命服務。智珠寺變成了一座工廠，先是生產金漆鑲嵌產品，然後是自行車、醫療器械，70年代又生產了中國的第一批黑白電視機。因爲無人看顧加上長期的無序使用，寺廟的建築慢慢地衰敗了下去。溫守諾說，2005年他第一次到這裏的時候，“若是任其自生自滅，這座寺廟三四年都撐不下去了。”

He contacted two business partners-- Lin Fan and Li Chow, both veterans of the local film industry--and in late 2007 the trio funded the removal of debris so investors could see the temple's potential. When a shabby modern ceiling within the main hall was removed, it revealed wooden panels covered with Sanskrit paintings. By 2008, when the plan for a boutique hotel was revealed, investors, mostly wealthy Chinese, were enthralled. 'It was the right time to do this project,' says van Wassenhove. 'After years of indifference, Chinese people of means are now interested in restoring architecture from the Imperial Age. Ten years ago, we wouldn't have had the skilled workers available in China.'

他聯繫了兩位商業夥伴――中國電影行業資深人士林凡和周理賢。2007年年底，三人出資清理了廢墟，讓投資者能夠看到這座古寺的潛力。當大殿內破敗的現代的天花板被揭掉的時候，一些繪有梵文繪畫的木板露了出來。到2008年，修建精品酒店的方案公佈，以中國富人爲主的投資人產生了深厚的興趣。溫守諾說：“做這個項目的時機選對了。經過多年的冷漠忽視之後，中國富人現在對修復帝國時代建築很有興趣。10年前我們在中國連相關的熟練工人都請不到。”

The public got its first glimpse in 2011, when a wing opened containing the Temple Restaurant Beijing, a palace of French gastronomy run by Ignace Lecleir, the Belgian-born former general manager of Daniel in Manhattan who moved to Beijing to open Maison Boulud in 2007. When he first saw the site, Lecleir was charmed by the space, but felt its condition was too poor for a serious business--until he saw the renovation. Today his restaurant attracts a mix of affluent expats, curious travelers and wealthy Chinese residents. 'I was worried that local Chinese people would avoid this neighborhood,' Lecleir says. 'Now they are about two thirds of our business.'

2011年，包含豪華法餐廳“Temple Restaurant Beijing”的一側對外開放，公衆首次得以窺見寺廟的真容。這家餐廳的經營者是出生於比利時、曾任曼哈頓Daniel餐廳總經理、在2007年搬到北京開辦了“布魯宮”(Maison Boulud)的伊尼亞斯・勒克萊爾(Ignace Lecleir)。第一次見到這個地方時，勒克萊爾被它的空間吸引，但感覺條件太差，不適合正兒八經的經營――等看到修復之後的樣子感覺就不一樣了。今天光顧他餐廳的既有富足的外籍人士、好奇的遊客，也有有錢的中國人。勒克萊爾說，“我原本擔心本地的中國人不會光顧這個區域，現在他們大約佔到我們業務量的三分之二”。

The hotel is also a showcase for contemporary art, both Chinese and international, sourced by van Wassenhove through friends. 'I particularly wanted to find artists who work with light,' he says. 'It suits a temple.' The German light designers Ingo Maurer and Atelier Areti provided state-of-the-art illumination. But the coup was securing the James Turrell work Gathered Sky, which lured the notoriously reclusive artist himself to Beijing to fine-tune the design. 'James was very touched by the temple space,' says van Wassenhove. 'This is not a museum; it's a living place in an intensely urban setting. Being in the heart of a city with millions of people, it's the most accessible Turrell work in the world.'

酒店也是展示當代中外藝術作品的櫥窗。作品是溫守諾通過友人採購的。他說：“我當時特別需要找到處理光線的藝術家，因爲光線藝術跟寺廟很搭。”德國燈光設計師英戈・毛雷爾(Ingo Maurer)和阿特利爾・阿雷蒂(Atelier Areti)設計了尖端的照明系統。但最妙的是詹姆斯・特瑞爾的作品“Gathered Sky”，這位以絕世獨立而聞名的藝術家親自到北京來對這個設計做了一番微調。溫守諾說：“詹姆斯對智珠寺的空間感觸很深。這個地方不是美術館，而是鬧市中的一個居所。它和數百萬人一起處在城市的中心地帶，是特瑞爾在世界上最平易近人的作品。”

The hotel is an oasis of relative calm within the traffic-clogged Chinese capital; here, one can still hear birds in the morning and spot the occasional butterfly. Several of the guest rooms are in the old TV factory, but more atmospheric is to sleep within the centuries-old chambers that were combined to make guest rooms; their floors heated in winter and lattice windows protected by double-glazed glass. And now, every Sunday at dusk, guests and the paying public can partake of the serene Turrell Skyspace. As classical music softly plays and LED lights complement the shifting colors of the waning day, I lie on the floor and watch swooping bats and then--miraculously for Beijing--two stars appear in the sky. After, I return to the hotel courtyard, past statues of tiny monks carrying small light bulbs like sabers, into the restaurant bar beneath Ming Dynasty eaves. 'I think we've extended the life of this temple for 300 years,' van Wassenhove tells me. 'I feel we've done our duty. Hopefully others will now follow suit.'

在交通擁堵的中國首都，這個酒店是一片相對寧靜的綠洲。在這裏，早上仍可聽見鳥鳴，偶爾還會看到蝴蝶。原來的電視機廠裏有好幾間客房，但睡在利用有着幾百年歷史的僧人臥房組合而成的那些客房裏才更有感覺。這些房間冬天有地暖，格子窗被雙層玻璃保護着。現在，每個週日當夜幕降臨的時候，客人和付費公衆可以體驗特瑞爾安詳寧靜的“Skyspace”作品。古典樂曲舒緩地奏起，LED燈光與不斷變幻的暮色交相輝映。我躺在地板上，看着蝙蝠猛衝出來，然後又看到天上出現了兩顆星星――在北京來說可謂奇蹟。然後我回到酒店庭院，路過一個個像舉着刀劍一樣舉着小燈管的微型僧人雕塑，進入位於明代屋檐之下的餐吧。溫守諾對我說：“我想我們把這座寺廟的壽命延長了300年。我覺得我們已經完成了使命。希望其他人現在會跟着做。”