《美食祈禱和戀愛》Chapter 81 (188):優雅的賴爺

Ketut keeps his chin lifted all the time, I've noticed, his head held a little bit back, sort of quizzical and elegant at the same time. Like a curious old king, he looks at the whole world from above his nose. His skin is lustrous, golden brown. He's almost totally bald, but makes up for it with exceptionally long and feathery eyebrows which look eager to take flight. Except for his missing teeth and his burn-scarred right arm, he seems in perfect health. He told me that he was a dancer in his youth, for the temple ceremonies, and that he was beautiful back then. I believe it. He eats only one meal a day—a typically simple Balinese dish of rice mixed with either duck or fish. He likes to drink one cup of coffee with sugar every day, mostly just to celebrate the fact that he can afford coffee and sugar. You, too, could easily live to a hundred and five on this diet. He keeps his body strong, he says, by meditating every night before sleep and by pulling the healthy energy of the universe into his core. He says that the human body is made of nothing more or less than the five elements of all creation—water (apa), fire (tejo), wind (bayu), sky (akasa) and earth (pritiwi)—and all you have to do is concentrate on this reality during meditation and you will receive energy from all of these sources and you will stay strong. Demonstrating his occasionally very accurate ear for English idiom, he said, "The microcosm becomes the macrocosm. You—microcosm—will become same as universe—macrocosm."

賴爺始終擡着下巴，我留意到他的頭微微後仰，既傲慢又優雅，猶如一位好奇的老國王。他從鼻子上方審視整個世界。他的皮膚光滑，呈金黃褐色。他幾乎完全禿頂，卻有一對長而飄逸的眉毛，看似渴望升空飛翔。除了缺牙齒、右手臂燒傷，他似乎非常健康。他告訴我年輕時代的他是舞者，在廟會上跳舞，當時的他俊俏得很。我相信。他每天只吃一餐——巴厘島典型的簡單飲食：米飯佐配鴨肉或魚肉。他每天喜歡喝一杯加糖咖啡，多半隻爲了慶賀自己買得起咖啡與糖。只要這麼吃，你也能輕而易舉活到一○五歲。他說自己讓身體保持強壯的辦法是每天睡前禪坐，將宇宙的健康能量拉入自己的核心。他說人體恰恰由五種元素創造而成——水（apa）、火（tejo）、風（bayu）、天（akasa）和土（pritiwi）——你只須在禪坐時集中心思於這些事實之上，即可從這些來源取得能量，保持強壯。他偶爾展現對英語句子的精準聽力，說："微觀世界變爲宏觀世界。微觀世界的你變得和宏觀世界的宇宙同爲一體。"

He was so busy today, crowded with Balinese patients who were stacked up all over his courtyard like cargo crates, all of them with babies or offerings in their laps. He had farmers and businessmen there, fathers and grandmothers. There were parents with babies who weren't keeping food down, and old men haunted by black magic curses. There were young men tossed by aggression and lust, and young women looking for love matches while suffering children complained about their rashes. Everyone out of balance; everyone needing equilibrium restored.

今天他非常忙碌，巴釐病患在他的庭園裏排隊，有如貨櫃箱，每個人腿上擺着小孩或貢品。有農人和商人，父親和祖母。有小孩不吞下食物的父母，有擺脫不掉法術詛咒的老人。有爲愛慾與憤怒所苦的年輕人，有尋找佳偶的女人，還有患皮疹的孩子。人人失調，人人需要恢復平衡。

The mood of the courtyard of Ketut's home is always one of total patience, though.

然而賴爺家的庭園氣氛始終是人人充滿耐心。

Sometimes people must wait for three hours before Ketut gets a chance to take care of them, but they never so much as tap their feet or roll their eyes in exasperation. Extraordinary, too, is the way the children wait, leaning up against their beautiful mothers, playing with their own fingers to pass the time. I'm always amused later when it turns out that these same tranquil children have been brought over to see Ketut because the mother and father have decided that the child is "too naughty" and needs a cure. That little girl? That little three-year-old girl who was sitting silently in the hot sun for four straight hours, without complaint or snack or toy? She's naughty? I wish I could say, "People—you want to see naughty, I'll take you to America, show you some kids that'll have you believing in Ritalin." But there's just a different standard here for good behavior in children.

有時必須等候三個小時才輪到讓賴爺看診，但大家從不曾用腳打拍子，或惱怒地翻白眼。而孩子們的耐心亦教人驚歎，他們靠在美麗的母親身上，玩着自己的手指頭消磨時間。之後我總是覺得好笑，我發現這些安靜的小孩之所以被帶來看賴爺，是因爲他們的父母判定自己的孩子"太頑皮"，需要治療。是那個小女孩嗎？那個在烈日下安靜地連續坐上四個小時，卻毫無怨言、手邊也沒有零食或玩具的三歲女生？她很"頑皮"？我真希望告訴他們："各位——你若想見識頑皮，讓我帶你去美國，讓你看看什麼是真正的過動兒。"只不過此地對孩子守規矩的標準很不同。

Ketut treated all the patients obligingly, one after another, seemingly unconcerned by the passage of time, giving all exactly the attention they needed regardless of who was waiting to be seen next. He was so busy he didn't even get his one meal at lunchtime, but stayed glued to his porch, obliged by his respect for God and his ancestors to sit there for hours on end, healing everyone. By evening, his eyes looked as tired as the eyes of a Civil War field surgeon. His last patient of the day had been a deeply troubled middle-aged Balinese man complaining that he had not slept well in weeks; he was being haunted, he said, by a nightmare of "drowning in two rivers at the same time."

賴爺親切治療每位病患，一個接一個，似乎無視於時間的流逝，全心關注他們，無論下一個病患是誰。他非常忙，甚至中午也沒能吃自己一天的一餐飯，而是守在陽臺上，遵從對神和祖宗的尊重，連續坐好幾個小時，治療每一個人。傍晚，他的眼睛看起來像戰場軍醫的眼睛。當天最後一名病患是位憂煩的巴釐中年人，抱怨連續幾個禮拜沒睡好；他說自己擺脫不掉"在兩條河裏同時溺水"的噩夢。