纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 054度母雕像(1)

054：EPISODE 54 - Statue of Tara 度母雕像

Statue of Tara (made between eighth and ninth century AD). Bronze; from Sri Lanka

That's the sound of Buddhist¹ monks² chanting - and as you could perhaps hear they are invoking³ the name of Tara, the spirit of generous compassion⁴.

We all need help to tackle the predicament of life, even the powerful and the privileged, whose private worlds I am focusing on this week. And pretty well every religion has spirits or saints, gods or goddesses that can be called upon to see us through. If you were a Sri Lankan around 800 AD you would probably have turned, like the monks we've just heard, to Tara. Over the centuries many artists have given Tara physical form, but it's hard to imagine many more beautiful than the golden, nearly life-size, figure that now serenely⁵ presides over the long Asian gallery at the British Museum.

即使拥有强权能够一手遮天,我们都需要解决生活中面临的困境,本期这件物品将焦点集中在私人世界。每一个宗教几乎都有圣灵或圣人，神或女神，让信徒在艰难时刻祈求佑护。如果你生活在公元800年左右的斯里兰卡，那一定祈求过救苦救难的度母。在数个世纪中，许多艺术家都曾赋予度母实体形象，但很难想象还会有比大英博物馆亚洲厅里收藏的这尊更精美的。它通体金色，接近真人大小，安详地立着。

1 Buddhist   

adj./n.佛教的，佛教徒

参考例句：

• The old lady fell down in adoration before Buddhist images.那老太太在佛像面前顶礼膜拜。
• In the eye of the Buddhist,every worldly affair is vain.在佛教徒的眼里，人世上一切事情都是空的。

2 monks   

n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The monks lived a very ascetic life. 僧侣过着很清苦的生活。
• He had been trained rigorously by the monks. 他接受过修道士的严格训练。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 invoking   

v.援引( invoke的现在分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求

参考例句：

• You can customise the behavior of the Asynchronous Server and hence re-brand it by defining your own command set for invoking services. 通过定义自己调用服务的命令集，您可以定制自定义异步服务器的行为，通过为调用服务定义自己的命令集从而对它重新标记。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• You can customize the behavior of the Asynchronous Server and hence re-brand it by defining your own command set for invoking services. 通过定义自己调用服务的命令集，您可以定制自定义异步服务器的行为，通过为调用服务定义自己的命令集从而对它重新标记。 来自辞典例句

4 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

5 serenely   

adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地

参考例句：

• The boat sailed serenely on towards the horizon.小船平稳地向着天水交接处驶去。
• It was a serenely beautiful night.那是一个宁静美丽的夜晚。