Noodle Soup

面条

I met a very agreeable friend today and we had a great time chatting. We talked about Buddhism and human life, about the days we were together or separated, touching on almost every topic here and there. Totally engrossed, we did not realize it was time for lunch already. The waitress brought each of us a bowl of noodles. A look at the steaming soup was enough to make us drool, and one bite of it pleased the palate to no end. The saying goes: “When meeting heart to heart, a thousand toasts are far too few.” Little did I know that in the company of a good friend, even noodles would become tastier. The power of the mind is just inconceivable.

今天与一位十分投缘的朋友一起聊天，从佛法到人生，从分前别后到大江南北，可谓包罗万象、无所不谈。不知不觉，午饭的时间到了，服务员送来了面条。一看汤色，便令人垂涎欲滴，一品味道，更令人叫绝。世人说：“酒逢知己千杯少。”没想到，遇到好朋友，连面条也变得可口起来。心的力量真是不可思议。

When I was a child, I went out once with my father to Luhuo County and on our way passed by Zindo village. We stopped at a debilitated tiny noodle stand in town and had a bowl of noodles there. Oh my, it was absolutely yummy!

记得在我几岁时，一次父亲带我去炉霍，途经真都小镇，在镇上一间破烂不堪的小面馆，吃了一碗面。哎呀！实在是太好吃了！

Scores of years have passed, and since then I have had many popular delicacies in the world. But somehow I have never savored again the exquisite taste of that bowl of noodles. I am well aware that a bowl of noodles in a tiny village is unlikely to carry any extraordinary flavor. Everything comes from the mind. Perhaps I was so excited about the trip since I seldom went places, or perhaps good foods were indeed rare during those years. Whatever, that bowl of noodles I had at a young age left an indelible impression on my mind, and the one I enjoyed today, I believe, will do likewise.
 
如今几十年过去了，在那以后，我品尝了许多人们所公认的世间美味，却再也品不到那碗面的滋味了。其实我也清楚，一碗小镇上的面，不可能有什么与众不同的味道。一切皆由心情所致。当时也许是因为难得出门，兴致很高，或者是因为在那个年代实在没有什么美味可尝。同小时候的那碗面一样，今天的这碗面，也会成为我终身难忘的记忆。

There was once a deposed emperor who chanced upon a dish of tofu during his exile and felt it rivaled the heavenly ambrosia. Upon his return to the palace at the end of his exile, he ordered court chefs to create the same tofu dish, but none was successful in duplicating it. Due to the emperor’s excessive craving for the tofu delicacy in his memory, many chefs were unjustly accused and decapitated. If the emperor had understood that circumstances are but the creation of the mind, the chefs’ heads could have been spared. But alas, how many people in the secular world could have known this truth?

记得古代的一位皇帝，在流亡途中，偶尔尝得一种豆腐，感觉如天界甘露。流亡完毕回到皇宫，令御厨仿制，却怎么也做不出当时的美味。仅仅因为对豆腐美味的强烈贪执，便促使他令众多厨师平白蒙冤、身首异处。如果那位皇帝知道境由心造的道理，也不至于屠杀无辜了。然而，世间又有几人能明白此理呢？

壬午年五月初五　　
2002年6月15日 　

5th of May, Year of RenWu
June 15, 2002