打开中国的历史去看，有件很有意思的事，佛教似乎总在与诗歌相伴。
Read a Chinese history book, and you will find something interesting, i.e., Buddhism seems to have always come along with poetry.
也不知谁先谁后，抑或是先后辉映，两家差不多是彼兴我兴，彼衰我衰。
Which came earlier, or whether they prospered one after another, no one knows.
But one thing is for sure.
汉如此，唐如斯，元、明、清也“庶乎是矣”。
They have flourished together, and so have they declined.
It was so in the Han and Tang dynasties, and almost so in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.
世界上还有一件有意思的事，形成宗教的国家总是留不住宗教。
There is something else also interesting in the world: religions tend to leave where they were founded.
创教的圣人们不是被本国的乡亲们赶得走投无路，就是到处碰壁，弄得头破血流。
Saints founding religions were either ostracized by their own country-folks, or repeatedly rejected.
释迦牟尼待遇似乎好一点，但他创的佛教，印度人却没留住，跑到了中国。
Sakyamuni, founder of Buddhism, was luckier, but India failed to retain the religion in its homeland.
It went over to China.
有人说少林寺出名，是因为《少林寺》这个电影，一炮走红了。
It is said that Shaolin Temple shot to fame thanks to the movie of its namesake.
这个话也对，也不完全对。
There is only half truth in such a claim.
我以为，少林寺兴旺的根本原因在于它本身原本就拥有的文化内涵。
I am of the view that the root cause of the temple’s prosperity is its own cultural tradition.
使少林名声大噪的，并不是它的“禅”，是少林和尚的“拳”。
Shaolin Temple became well known not because of Zen worshipped there, but the Kung Fu practiced by its monks.
到少林的人多数是看那几个练拳练出来的坑儿，书痴才会在立雪亭前发呆。
Most visitors to the temple would have a look at the pits left by monks practicing their Kung Fu; only book worms would be lost in thinking before the Lixue Pavilion.
但是，那拳头是太硬了，太有劲了。
But the monks’ Kung Fu was very powerful, their fists very hard.
史有明载图有丹青作证，十三棍僧救唐王。
It is recorded in history, and in some paintings as well, that thirteen Shaolin monks who were cudgel masters once saved the life of Li Shimin, who later became one of the greatest emperors of the Tang Dynasty.
有这擎天保驾的功劳，佛教得到了中央政权力助，自然更加熏灼炙人。
Such a great feat ensured full support for Buddhism from the central government, and the religion became even more influential. We now know that the great monk Xuanzang went to India for Buddhist sutrasin secret without the government knowing it, but was received with an extravagant ceremony by the government on his return.
回想，玄奘取经原本是偷偷去的印度，回来却受到政府盛大的欢迎。
Before that, many government ministers thought that Buddhism should be banned, or it should not get any official favor.
本来，大臣中灭佛反对佞佛的势力也很大的，但随形势转换，可以看到二者的结合愈来愈密切，一方面说，可以看到唐政府自身的文化品位与度量。
But as the table turned, the two (Buddhism and the government) got closer and closer, showing the good cultural taste and tolerance of the Tang government.
两个文化稍有梗介到密弥相友，其间多少磨合，终于是握起手来了。
Two cultures finally joined hands after repeated misunderstandings and compromises.
这样的握手，造出无数宏大奇伟的寺院丛林，蔚为万千气象，也许是冥冥中上苍有这样的安排，文化的另一支，伟大的、瑰丽无双的唐诗也应时而生。
Such a union resulted in numerous imposing and spectacular temples, and as if predestined the beautiful and immaculate Tang poetry, as another part of the culture, came into being at the same time.
我喜爱这样迷人的文化
I love such a fascinating culture.