净食 ALMS

SYNOPSIS

ALMS《净食》是一个穿越中国南方偏远山区佛教禅宗寺院的电影之旅。社群主厨以解说的方式引导观众理解这个传统社群惯用的种植、分配和施食仪式。我们跟着当地随之而来的燃料和农耕蔬菜，见证了社群里现存的成员们如何与周围自然环境的元素和谐相处，为禅堂周围提供支持性的基础设施，让一群隐居的僧众能在此致力于禅修。

ALMS is a cinematic tour through a remote mountain Chan/Zen Buddhist monastery in Southern China. Audiences are guided by the community’s Head Chef as he explains the traditional cultivation, distribution and ritual offering of food in this traditional Buddhist community. We follow the gathering of local fuels and farmed vegetables, and witness how living members of this community work in harmony with elements of their surrounding natural environment to provide the supportive infrastructure surrounding the Meditation Hall, where a group of cloistered monks devote themselves to meditation practice.

关于导演 DIRECTOR’S BIO

Edward Burger 在俄亥俄州的一个小镇里长大，每天都是在森林和田野里度过。他最喜欢的玩具就是他的显微镜。他后来用它来换取一个相机。他在伍斯特学院研读宗教学并在印度菩提伽耶的安提阿大学修读佛学。

毕业后，Edward Burger移居中国并在那里学会读写中文， 还到中国中部偏远的终南山区寻找一位隐居山中的佛教大师。起初他是跟随这位隐士大师学习，后来则在中国主要的禅宗寺院的禅堂里修读佛教禅修和哲学。早期的Edward Burger偶尔会担任电影片场的口译员，之后的他最终开始制作自己的纪录片，讲述他非常熟悉的佛教社群。片名包括 《共坐白云中》、《净食》、《戒》、《一心》以及最近的 《山道》。Edward Burger在中国住了12年多。他现在与妻子兼电影制作伙伴Agnes居住在亚利桑那州弗拉格斯塔夫。

Edward Burger grew up in a small Ohio town, spending his days in forests and fields. His microscope was his favourite toy. He would trade it in for a camera much later in life. He studied religion at The College of Wooster and Buddhism with Antioch University in Bodh Gaya, India.

After graduation, Edward moved to China, where he learned to read and write Mandarin and sought out a Buddhist master living in the remote Zhongnan Mountain region in central China. He studied Buddhist meditation and philosophy, first with this hermit master and later in the meditation halls of China’s most vital Zen Monasteries. In the earlier years, Edward was working occasionally as a film-set interpreter, before he eventually began making his own documentary films about the Buddhist communities with which he had become so familiar. Titles include, AMONGST WHITE CLOUDS, ALMS, VOWS, ONE MIND and most recently, THE MOUNTAIN PATH. Edward stayed in China for over 12 years. He now lives in Flagstaff, AZ with his wife and filmmaking partner, Agnes.

导演阐述 DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

《净食》的拍摄地点位于中国江西省的真如禅寺。这幅亲密的画像是由负责提供膳食给大约 200 名常住僧众的主厨描绘而成。这位比丘的叙述带领我们参观了这个由农民和禅修者组成的山区盆地佛教僧团。他解释了禅宗厨房的特点、食物在禅宗寺院生活中的地位、禅宗僧众的日常作息以及厨房内外一切背后的精神价值。这座寺院已有1200多年的历史。它在 1950 年代被中国最伟大的现代禅师之一，虚云大师重振。今时今日的僧团依然努力的在维护他对禅寺生活的愿景，并在全中国被称为当今最简朴、传统和严格的禅宗丛林之一。

ALMS was filmed at Zhenru Chan Monastery in Jiangxi Province, China. It is an intimate portrait narrated by the community’s Head Chef in charge of feeding roughly 200 monks in residence. This monk’s narration guides us on a tour of this mountain-basin Buddhist community of farmers and meditators. He explains the special characteristics of a Chan kitchen, the place of food in Chan monastic life, the Chan monk’s daily schedule and the spiritual values behind all that goes on in his kitchen and beyond. This Monastery is over 1200 years old. It was revitalised in the 1950’s by one of China’s great modern Chan masters, Master Xuyun (Empty Cloud). Today this community strives to uphold his vision of Chan monastic life and is known across China to be one of the most austere, traditional and rigorous Chan training centres today.

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Edward Burger
edward@onemindproductions.com