【英语中国】中国借蓝毗尼开发扩展软实力

ILARIA MARIA SALA

The plain of Terai, a poor agricultural land crossed by holy rivers, straddles the border between Nepal and India. Its sweltering summers see temperatures climb above 100 degrees, but this parched terrain might be on the verge of tumultuous changes. On the Nepali side is the small city of Lumbini, which, after long neglect, is now at the center of great power politics.

This is where the Lord Buddha was born, about 2,500 years ago, under a bodhi tree at the bend of a small creek. His mother, a Hindu princess called Maya, was traveling to her parental home in Kapilavastu when her labor started, and all her entourage could do was stop and arrange a place for her to give birth under the tree, near a pool of water.

Lumbini, sometimes called 'the Buddhist Mecca,' has been described as a potential gold mine for Nepal, and many have been lamenting that its impressive tourist potential should be so underdeveloped, with just a small white temple sitting on the holy grounds. Those who come, though, appreciate the calm of the place, and sit cross-legged in meditation, or murmur sacred scriptures in small groups. Monks and nuns from all over the Buddhist world tour the temple, which shelters a series of carved stones that depict the holy birth, and just sit on the grass outside, in contemplation.

The idea of developing Lumbini has long been toyed with by various organizations, from the World Federation of Buddhists to the United Nations, not forgetting numerous Nepali agencies that have looked at the birthplace of the Buddha as a possible resource. The U.N. got its eyes on Lumbini early on, under the presidency of U Thant, himself a Buddhist, who visited in 1967. Three years later, the U.N. International Committee for the Development of Lumbini (now the U.N. Lumbini Development Trust) was established, with the approval of the Hindu King Mahendra, traditionally regarded as a descendant of Hindu gods.

In 1972 the committee selected Japanese architect Kenzo Tange to draw up a project for a Peace Park that would surround the temple, approved by the king (who died later that year) and the committee itself. Six years and a few more high-level U.N. visits later, part of what became known as the Tange Master Plan is now partially built. Arched red-brick bridges reach over a straight canal, and a red-brick museum with a Bauhaus-like flair to it sits by a reflecting pool about a quarter of a mile from the small white temple.

The U.N. involvement means a lot of emphasis is given to representing Buddhist nations: On one side of the canal, every country that follows the Theravadha ('Small Vehicle') tradition of Buddhism-such as Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka and Thailand-has, or will have, a temple. The other side is reserved for the countries following the Mahayana tradition ('Greater Vehicle'), like China, Japan, Korea and Mongolia. It translates into a hodgepodge of styles and many replicas of famous buildings. Burma has built a concrete Shwedagon Pagoda; China, a smaller version of the Forbidden City. So far only about a dozen of the foreseen 42 buildings have been erected. One of the problems has been the lack of cash: The finished project should cost about $64 million in total, but not all contributing Buddhist countries see this as a priority.

Enter the Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation (APECF), a well-funded Chinese association headed by a rather mysterious figure, Linus Xiao Wunan. A Buddhist and a Chinese Communist Party member, he wants to see a whole Peace City built here and a tower called 'Lumbini Cloud.'

'We have already broken ground,' says Mr. Xiao, in his living room in a diplomatic compound in Beijing, showing an artist's impression of a tall and slender 'celestial observatory' building that will host restaurants, temples, shops and prayer rooms in a circular ring built several hundred feet from the ground. 'We have agreed on a project with VTP Global,' he says, referring to a theme-park development group based in London. Around him, a confusing array of pictures hints at a complex biography: At the back, Mr. Xiao is seen posing next to the Dalai Lama, whom he met in Dharamsala, where the Tibetan government in exile resides. Other photos show him surrounded by high prelates of various Buddhist sects. But next to where he sits, on a coffee table, is a portrait of Mao Zedong.

'We have the full support of the Nepali government,' he says. Not that Nepal has much of one at present, since a caretaker administration has been sitting in Kathmandu for the past 10 years. Before that, a lengthy civil war led to a short-lived communist government, which subsequently collapsed. The next elections are scheduled for November. The caretakers are headed by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the former leader of the Maoist guerrilla known as Prachanda, or 'the Fierce,' who also sits on the board of the Lumbini Cloud Project, and has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Mr. Xiao to go ahead with it.

Not everyone is in accord, and some even see self-interest in Dahal's motives, but Mr. Xiao is not troubled with these developments. Yet he remains vague on many details-like questions about where the $3 billion he claims to have for Lumbini is coming from, or if the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs is backing APECF.

'APECF is part of the grander strategy of increasing China's soft power,' Mr. Xiao says, 'but we are independent, and the Lumbini development project is our own idea.'

Still, China is also getting busy building an international airport here, with direct flights from major Chinese cities, as well as restaurants and hotels to cater to the devout masses.

The U.N. is also still involved: Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary General and himself a Buddhist, has often mentioned the need to develop Lumbini, and those in the know say that the push comes from Mr. Ban's mother, a fervent Buddhist. At least one Korean sect, called Chhoge, has been received by Mr. Dahal for this very reason, and according to Nepali newspaper reports Mr. Dahal has signed an MOU with it, too.

'Our plans are not incompatible,' says Mr. Xiao in Beijing. 'This is going to be for the whole Buddhist world. To those who find it too striking, I say: At the beginning nobody liked the Pyramid at the Louvre.'

India, once more, is left looking uneasily as China expands its influence in its backyard, tapping into the soft-power potential of Buddhism, and an air of Buddhist Great Game can be felt in what was until now the sleepy, holy site of Buddha's birth.

Ms. Sala is a writer based in Hong Kong.

ILARIA MARIA SALA

特莱平原(Plain of Terai)坐落在尼泊尔和印度的边境附近， 河缓缓地流淌过这片贫瘠的农田。在这里，酷暑的温度可以达到100华氏度以上，不过，这块干旱的大地也许即将迎来巨变。特莱平原上的小城蓝毗尼(Lumbini)位于尼泊尔的土地上，在长期遭到忽视后，这座小城现在已经成为了大国政治的博弈焦点。

2500年前，佛祖释迦牟尼就诞生于蓝毗尼一条小溪旁的菩提树下。释迦牟尼的母亲、印度迦毗罗卫国王后摩耶夫人在返回娘家的途中出现了分娩迹象，她的随从只得停下来，在一个水塘旁的菩提树下安排她生产。

有时被称作“佛教 城”的蓝毗尼一直被视作尼泊尔的潜在金矿，而蓝毗尼旅游业的巨大潜力与其发展现状之间的反差却令很多人唏嘘不已。在这片神 的土地上只坐落着一所规模很小的白色寺庙。不过，来到这里的人非常享受这里的平静，他们或结跏趺坐冥想，或几个人一起诵读佛经。世界各地的僧侣和尼姑纷纷来到这所寺庙朝 ，他们常常坐在寺庙外的草地上静静地冥想。这所寺庙中还有一系列描绘了释迦牟尼诞生的石刻。

包括世界佛教徒联盟(World Federation of Buddhists)和联合国(United Nations)在内的各种组织一直都打算发展蓝毗尼，另外数不胜数的尼泊尔机构都已经将释迦牟尼的诞生地视作了一种潜在资源。很早以前，在吴丹(U Thant)担任联合国秘书长期间，联合国就把目光投向了蓝毗尼。本人也是佛教徒的吴丹曾于1967年访问过这里。三年之后，在尼泊尔马亨德拉国王(King Mahendra)的许可下，联合国蓝毗尼开发国际委员会(U.N. International Committee for the Development of Lumbini)正式成立（在传统上，尼泊尔国王被视作印度教诸神的后裔）。该委员会现已更名为联合国蓝毗尼发展信托基金会(U.N. Lumbini Development Trust)。

1972年，该委员会委托日本建筑师丹下健三(Kenzo Tange)负责规划围绕原有寺庙的蓝毗尼和平公园(Peace Park)项目，马亨德拉国王（于同年晚些时候辞世）和该委员会共同批准了这一项目。在历经了六年的建设以及联合国高层官员的多次考察后，目前，这个被称作丹下健三总规划(Tange Master Plan)的项目已经完成了部分建设。现在我们可以看到，一座红砖拱桥架在一条笔直的运河上，在距离白色寺庙大约四分之一英里处，一个倒影池旁坐落着一座由红砖修建的包豪斯风格的博物馆。

联合国的涉足意味着这个项目会把重点放在吸引各个佛教国家的参与上：在运河的一侧，每个盛行小乘佛教的国家，如缅甸、柬埔寨、老挝、斯里兰卡和泰国，都已经或者即将拥有本国的寺庙。运河另一侧的土地则留给了盛行大乘佛教的国家，比如中国、日本、韩国和蒙古。这些寺庙的建筑风格迥异，有很多都是著名建筑的复制品。缅甸建造了一座仰光大金寺(Shwedagon Pagoda)的水泥复制建筑；中国修建的寺庙则像是微缩版的紫禁城。在规划建造的42座建筑中，目前已经完工的只有十多座。资金短缺是其中的一个问题：整个项目的完成总计将花费6,400万美元，但并不是每个赞助的佛教国家都把这件事视做了优先事务。

亚太交流与合作基金会(Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation, 简称APECF)是一个资金充足的中国组织，该基金会由颇为神秘的人物肖武男掌舵。肖武男是佛教徒，也是中国共产党党员，他希望蓝毗尼能够建设成为一座和平城市，也希望修建一座名为“蓝毗尼之云”(Lumbini Cloud)的高塔。

肖武男在他位于北京一处外交公寓的家中的客厅里接受采访时表示：“我们已经破土动工了。”他还展示了一位艺术家制作的一座天文观测站式建筑的效果图，这座高挑纤细的建筑拥有一个距离地面几百英尺的环形平台，那里将容纳餐厅、寺庙、商店以及祷告室。他说：“我们已经与VTP Global就项目达成了协议。”他所说的VTP Global是总部位于伦敦的一个主题公园开发集团。摆放在肖武男身旁的照片揭示出了他复杂的经历：肖武男身后是他与达拉喇嘛(Dalai Lama)在达兰萨拉(Dharamsala)的合影，所谓的“西藏流亡政府”就位于达兰萨拉。其他照片都是他与各个佛教流派的长老的合影。但是，他座位旁的咖啡桌上则摆放着一幅毛泽东的肖像。

他说：“我们得到了尼泊尔政府的全力支持。”尼泊尔并不是直到现在才有稳定的政府，因为尼泊尔的看守政府已经在加德满都执政了10年之久。在此之前，尼泊尔历时持久的内战曾经缔造过一个短暂的共产主义政府，不过该政府不久后就瓦解了。尼泊尔下届大选将于11月举行。目前，尼泊尔看守政府由帕苏巴·卡麦尔·达哈尔(Pushpa Kamal Dahal)领导，他以前是尼泊尔的毛泽东主义游击队的领导人，人们将他称作“普拉昌达”(Prachanda)，意思是“勇者”。普拉昌达本人也是蓝毗尼之云项目的理事会成员，他与肖武男曾共同签署过有关推进蓝毗尼项目的谅解备忘录。

并不是每个人都支持蓝毗尼项目，甚至有一些人认为普拉昌达倡导蓝毗尼开发怀有自己的目的，但肖武男并没有被这些问题所困扰。不过，对于很多细节问题，他没有给出确切的答案，比如他所称的用于蓝毗尼建设的30亿美元资金从何而来，以及中国外交部(Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs)是否支持亚太交流与合作基金会。

肖武男表示：“亚太交流与合作基金会符合增强中国软实力的宏观策略，但我们是独立机构，蓝毗尼开发项目是我们自己的想法。”

然而，中国正忙着在当地建设一座国际机场，中国主要城市和蓝毗尼之间的直航也将开通。与此同时，中国还在建设用来接待虔诚信众的餐厅和酒店。

联合国仍然未忘蓝毗尼建设：联合国秘书长、同时也是佛教徒的潘基文(Ban Ki-moon)常常提及开发蓝毗尼的必要性。知情人士表示，这背后的推动力来自于潘基文的母亲，他的母亲是一位虔诚的佛教徒。有鉴于此，至少一个名为Chhoge的韩国佛教流派已经被普拉昌达所接纳，根据尼泊尔的新闻报道，普拉昌达也已经与之签署了有关的谅解备忘录。

肖武男在北京表示：“我们的计划并不矛盾。蓝毗尼项目是整个佛教世界的项目。对于那些认为这个项目太过大胆的人，我想说：最初，没有人喜欢卢浮宫的玻璃金字塔。”

当中国在印度的后院扩大影响力并对佛教潜在的软实力加以利用之际，印度再次坐立不安了。在这座目前还在沉睡的佛陀诞生 地，佛教争霸赛已经初露端倪。

（本文作者是一名作家，现居香港。）