《美食祈禱和戀愛》Chapter 76 (171):巴厘島的宗教儀式
Religious ceremonies are of paramount importance here in Bali (an island, don't forget, with seven unpredictable volcanoes on it—you would pray, too). It has been estimated that a typical Balinese woman spends one-third of her waking hours either preparing for a cere-mony, participating in a ceremony or cleaning up after a ceremony. Life here is a constant cycle of offerings and rituals. You must perform them all, in correct order and with the correct intention, or the entire universe will fall out of balance. Margaret Mead wrote about "the in-credible busy-ness" of the Balinese, and it's true—there is rarely an idle moment in a Balinese compound. There are ceremonies here which must be performed five times a day and others that must be performed once a day, once a week, once a month, once a year, once every ten years, once every hundred years, once every thousand years. All these dates and rituals are kept organized by the priests and holy men, who consult a byzantine system of three separ-ate calendars.
宗教儀式在巴厘島至關重要（別忘了，此島有七座變幻莫測的火山——你也免不了要拜佛腳）。據估計，典型的巴厘島女人整天有三分之一時間花在準備儀式、參與儀式，或儀式結束後清理儀式的工作上。這兒的生活是獻祭與儀式的恆常循環。你必須順序正確且動機正確地操作這一切，否則整個宇宙將失去平衡。人類學家米德（MargaretMead）寫過巴厘島人"難以置信的忙碌"，完全沒錯——巴釐人家少有偷閒時光。這兒有必須每天舉辦五次的儀式，還有必須一天、一星期、一個月、一年、每十年、每百年、每千年舉辦一次的儀式。這些日期與儀式皆由祭司與聖者參照三套複雜曆法組織而成。
There are thirteen major rites of passage for every human being in Bali, each marked by a highly organized ceremony. Elaborate spiritual appeasement ceremonies are conducted all throughout life, in order to protect the soul from the 108 vices (108—there's that number again!), which include such spoilers as violence, stealing, laziness and lying. Every Balinese child passes through a momentous puberty ceremony in which the canine teeth, or "fangs," are filed down to a flat level, for aesthetic improvement. The worst thing you can be in Bali is coarse and animalistic, and these fangs are considered to be reminders of our more brutal natures and therefore must go. It is dangerous in such a close-knit culture for people to be brutal. A village's entire web of cooperation could be sliced through by one person's murder-ous intent. Therefore the best thing you can be in Bali is alus, which means "refined," or even "prettified." Beauty is good in Bali, for men and women. Beauty is revered. Beauty is safety. Children are taught to approach all hardship and discomfort with "a shining face," a giant smile.
巴厘島上的每個人都有十三大過渡儀式，每個儀式都有個高度組織的典禮。心靈撫慰儀典終其一生都在舉行，爲了讓心靈免受一〇八種罪行的侵害（又是"108"這數字），包括暴力、偷竊、懶惰、說謊等這些缺點，巴厘島的每個孩子都得通過一場重大的青春期儀式，讓犬牙或"尖牙"磨平，以增進美感。在巴厘島人看來，粗俗與獸性是最糟的事，尖牙被視爲是一個提醒，提醒我們的野蠻天性，因此必須去除。在這個組織嚴密的文化中做野蠻人是危險的事。某人的殺人意圖足以破壞整個村子的合作之網。因此在巴厘島最好做個"alus"，即"有教養"或"美化過"的人。在巴厘島，美是好事，無論男女。美受人尊崇。美安全無虞。兒童即要學會在面臨痛苦時"面帶笑容"。
The whole idea of Bali is a matrix, a massive and invisible grid of spirits, guides, paths and customs. Every Balinese knows exactly where he or she belongs, oriented within this great, intangible map. Just look at the four names of almost every Balinese citizen—First, Second, Third, Fourth—reminding them all of when they were born in the family, and where they be-long. You couldn't have a clearer social mapping system if you called your kids North, South, East and West. Mario, my new Italian-Indonesian friend, told me that he is only happy when he can maintain himself—mentally and spiritually—at the intersection between a vertical line and horizontal one, in a state of perfect balance. For this, he needs to know exactly where he is located at every moment, both in his relationship to the divine and to his family here on earth. If he loses that balance, he loses his power.
整個巴厘島是個矩陣，由聖靈、指引、道路與習俗組成的龐大組織。每個巴厘島人都清楚自己的歸屬，在這幅龐大無形的地圖內確定其方向。只要看看幾乎每個巴釐人民的四個名字——老大、老二、老三、老四——提醒每個人自己在家中的出生時間和所屬位置即可知曉。即便把孩子叫做東、南、西、北，也不會比這種社會分類系統更清楚。我的意式印尼朋友馬里奧告訴我，只有讓自己的心靈和精神保持在垂直線和水平線的交點處，處於完美的平衡狀態時，他才感到快樂。爲此，他必須時時明白自己位在何處，無論與神或與家人之間的關係。倘若失去平衡，便失去力量。
