AS they marched through the streets of Myanmar's cities last week leading the biggest antigovernment protests in two decades, some barefoot monks held their begging bowls be-fore them. But instead of asking for their daily donations of food, they held the bowls upside down, the black lacquer surfaces reflecting the light.

當他們上周在緬甸市區街道遊行，率領20年來僅見最大規模的反政府示威時，一些打赤腳的僧侶以手托缽在前。但他們並未要求每天布施的食物，而是把缽上下倒過來放，黑色亮漆表面反射出陽光。

It was a shocking image in the de-voutly Buddhist nation. The monks were refusing to receive alms from the military rulers and their families — effectively excommunicating them from the religion that is at the core of Burmese culture.

這在一個篤信佛教的國家是很令人震驚的意象。這些僧侶拒絕接受軍事將領及其家屬的布施，等於一舉把他們逐出緬甸文化核心的宗教信仰。

That gesture is a key to under-standing the power of the rebellion that shook Myanmar.

那個動作，是了解撼動緬甸的那股抗爭力量的關鍵。

The country — the former Burma — has roughly as many monks as sol-diers. The military rules by force, but the monks retain ultimate moral au-thority. The lowliest soldier depends on them for spiritual approval, and even the highest generals have felt a need to honor the clerical establish-ment. They claim to rule in its name.

緬甸英文名字原叫Burma，（譯注：後被軍政府改為Myanmar），僧侶幾乎和士兵一樣多。軍方以武力統治；僧侶則堅守終極道德權威。最基層的士兵要靠僧侶才能得到精神加持；就連最高階將領也覺得有必要尊重宗教界。他們對外聲稱是以宗教之名統治。

Begging is a ritual that expresses a profound bond between the ordinary Buddhist and the monk. "The people are feeding the monks and the monks are helping the people make merit," said Josef Silverstein, an expert on Myanmar at Rutgers University. "When you refuse to accept, you have broken the bond that has tied them for centuries together."

「托缽乞食是一項儀式，代表一般佛教徒和僧侶間的深厚關係。」羅格斯大學緬甸問題專家席維斯坦說：「民眾布施食物給僧侶，僧侶則幫助人民積功德。一旦你拒絕接受，就打破數世紀來把他們綁在一起的紐帶。」

Instead, the monks drew on a differ-ent and more fundamental bond with Myanmar's population, leading huge demonstrations after the government tried to repress protests that began a month ago over a rise in fuel prices.

相反的，僧侶利用和緬甸人民之間不同但更草根的親密關係，在政府試圖鎮壓一個月前展開的抗議燃油價格上漲的行動後，僧侶便帶領民眾進行盛大示威。

By last week, the country's two largest and most established institu-tions were confronting each other, the monkhood and the military, both about 400,000 strong, both made up of young men, mostly from the poorer classes, who could well be brothers. Rejected by both its spiritual and popular bases, the junta that has ruled for 19 years had little to fall back on but force.

到了上周（9月上旬），緬甸兩大最有權勢的團體僧侶和軍方彼此起衝突，雙方各約40多萬人，都由年輕人組成，大半來自較貧窮的階級，彼此可能還是兄弟。已經統治緬甸19年的軍政府，在被宗教和人民兩大陣營拒絕後，除了動武，已經無計可施。

It unleashed its troops to shoot, beat, arrest and humiliate the men in brick-red robes, definitively alienat-ing itself from the clergy whose sup-port gives it legitimacy. Soldiers sur-rounded monasteries, preventing monks from leading further demon-strations — or from making their morning rounds to collect the alms that feed them.

軍方開禁，准許部隊開槍、打人、逮捕和羞辱穿著磚紅色袈裟的僧侶，決定性地和教士決裂，但宗教界的支持才使軍方有執政的正當性。士兵包圍僧院，防止僧侶進一步帶動示威行動，也不准他們早晨再出去街上接受民眾佈施的食物。

In Myanmar and other Buddhist nations, many join the monkhood as a lifelong vocation, but many other young men become monks for shorter periods, ranging from a few months to a few years. These young monks remain closer to the lives and con-cerns of the people whose alms they receive.

在緬甸和其他佛教國家，很多人加入僧侶行列做為終身職。但也有很多其他年輕人當僧侶的時間較短，從幾個月到幾年不等，這些僧侶和那些他們接受佈施的對象不管生活上或關切的事物上，仍維持較密切的關係。

The first violence against the monks came as a shock to people who said the military would not turn violently against the monks, and it had the predictable effect of arousing the fury of a devout population.

軍方第一次對僧侶施暴，引起民眾震驚，他們一直認為，軍方不會對僧侶暴力相向，結果可以預見，引起篤信佛教的人民憤憤不平。

But monks have not always been in the political front lines. It was students, for example, who led the mass demonstrations of 1988 that brought the current junta to power in a mili-tary massacre.

但僧侶並非一直站在政治前線，而是學生，像他們在1988年帶領群眾示威，結果，造成目前這個軍政府在進行軍事大屠殺後掌權。

The monks' power comes instead from their role in bestowing legiti-macy on the rulers.

僧侶的權力反而來自他們能給執政者合法正統性。

The monks started tentatively on Aug. 19 after a fuel price increase raised the costs of transportation and basic goods. Veterans of the student demonstrations of 1988 staged small protests, but most were quickly ar-rested or driven into hiding. The un-rest was fading when security officers beat monks and fired shots into the air during a confrontation in the city of Pakokku on Sept. 5.

僧侶在燃油價格上漲，帶動交通運輸和基本民生物資價格上揚後，於8月19日試探性地首次展開示威。曾參加1988年示威的學生，如今已是街頭運動老手，他們展開小型示威，但大半很快被捕或驅離躲起來。動盪不安的局面本已開始平靜，但在9月5日於木格具鎮的一場衝突中，安全官員毆打僧侶，還對空鳴槍。

That became a spark that grew into a broad-based challenge to the gov-ernment, culminating last week in the breach between those who hold moral authority and those who have the guns.

星星之火，可以燎原，終於演變成對政府的大規模挑戰，並在上周演變成道德權威和槍桿子之間的決裂而達到頂點。

For the most part, it was not the elders who backed the protests. Over the years, the junta has worked to co-opt the Buddhist hierarchy, plac-ing chosen men in key positions just as they have done in every other in-stitution, angering and alienating the younger monks.

絕大部分支持抗爭的並非佛教界長老。多年來，軍政府已下了不少功夫拉攏佛教統治階層，安插他們內定人選出任要職，一如他們在其他機構所為，使年輕僧侶氣憤填膺，漸行漸遠。

After the military clampdown on the monasteries last week, the streets of Yangon were mostly empty of monks. But their gesture of rejection of the junta, and the junta’s violent response, had changed the dynamics of Burmese society in ways that had only begun to play out.

在軍方上周鎮壓各寺廟僧院後，仰光街頭僧侶幾已絕跡，但他們拒絕軍政府的姿態，及軍政府的暴力反應，已改變緬甸社會的動能，並才開始要搬上舞台。

（摘譯自9月30日「紐約時報」）

《詞解》
karma power業力，因果業報的力量
antigovernment protests反政府示威
begging bowls 托缽
lacquer亮漆
devoutly Buddhist nation篤信佛教的國家
donation, alms 佈施
excommunicating 逐出教會
clerical establishment 宗教界
make merit 積功德
junta 緬甸軍政府
unleashed開禁
definitively決定性
legitimacy執政正當性
lifelong vocation終身職
breach決裂
co-opt拉攏
Buddhist hierarchy佛教統治階層
Monasteries寺廟僧院
Dynamics動能