《美食祈禱和戀愛》Chapter 60 (132):站在塔頂
When lunch ended, the plumber/poet from New Zealand slipped me a note. It said to meet him after dinner; he wanted to show me something. So after dinner that night I met him over by the meditation caves, and he told me to follow him, that he had a gift for me. He walked me across the Ashram, then led me to a building I'd never been inside before, unlocked a door and took me up a back set of stairs. He knew of this place, I guessed, because he fixes all the air-conditioning units, and some of them are located up there. At the top of the stairs there was a door which he had to unlock with a combination; he did this swiftly, from memory. Then we were up on a gorgeous rooftop, tiled in ceramic chips that glittered in the evening twilight like the bottom of a reflecting pool. He took me across that roof to a little tower, a minaret, really, and showed me another narrow set of stairs, leading to the tippity-top of the tower. He pointed to the tower and said, "I'm going to leave you now. You're going to go up there. Stay up there until it's finished."
午飯過後，新西蘭水管工詩人塞了張紙條給我，上面說晚飯後跟他見面，他要讓我看個東西。因此當晚吃過晚飯，我在禪坐洞附近和他碰面，他叫我跟他去，說有禮物給我。他和我走過道場，帶我去一棟我沒進去過的建築，打開門鎖，帶我爬上後方的樓梯。我猜他熟悉這個地方，因爲他負責修理空調設備，有些機器就在樓上。爬上樓梯口有扇門，必須打開對號鎖；他憑記憶很快開了鎖。而後我們來到華麗的屋頂，鋪了陶瓷片，在蒼茫的暮色中閃閃發亮，有如反射的池底。他帶我走過屋頂，來到一個小尖塔，然後指給我看另一排窄梯，通往塔的最頂端。他指着塔頂說：“現在我要把你留在這兒。你自己上去。待在那裏，直到結束。”"Until what's finished?" I asked.
“直到什麼結束？”我問。The plumber just smiled, handed me a flashlight, "for getting down safely when it's over," and also handed me a folded piece of paper. Then he left.
水管工只是微笑，遞給我一支手電筒：“讓你結束的時候平安地下來。”另外交給我一張摺疊起來的紙。而後離去。
I climbed to the top of the tower. I was now standing at the tallest place in the Ashram, with a view overlooking the entirety of this river valley in India. Mountains and farmland stretched out as far as I could see. I had a feeling this was not a place students were normally allowed to hang out, but it was so lovely up there. Maybe this is where my Guru watches the sun go down, when she's in residence here. And the sun was going down right now. The breeze was warm. I unfolded the piece of paper the plumber/poet had given me.
我爬到塔頂。現在我站在道場的最高處，俯瞰印度這邊的整個河谷。山脈與農田一望無際。我感覺這地方不是學員一般能來的地方，但塔頂的景緻如此優美。或許我的導師下榻此地時，就在這兒觀看日落。微風和煦。我把水管工詩人交給我的紙條攤平。He had typed:
他在紙條上打了字：
