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But this statue was absolutely not made to titillate. She is a religious being, one of the spiritual protectors to whom the Buddhist faithful can turn in distress, and from a religious tradition that has no difficulty at all in happily combining divinity and sensuality. The statue of Tara takes us into a world where faith and bodily beauty converge, to move us beyond ourselves. It also tells us a great deal about the world of Sri Lanka and south Asia, 1,200 years ago.
但制作它的意圖并非撩人情欲。在佛教中，它是虔誠的信徒在遭遇困境之時禱告求助的神祇，來自一種能將神性與感官享受毫無困難并愉悅地加以結合的宗教傳統。度母神像帶我們進人了一個用信仰與身體之美的結合來促成超脫的世界，也讓我們多少了解了1200年前的南亞與斯里蘭卡。
The island of Sri Lanka, separated from India by only 20 miles (32 km) of shallow water, has always been an important hub in the seaborne trade that stitches the lands of the Indian Ocean together. In the years around 800 AD Sri Lanka was in close, indeed constant, contact with the neighbouring kingdoms of south India, but also with the Islamic Abbasid Empire in the Middle East, with Indonesia, and with Tang China. Sri Lankan gems were particularly highly prized, and 1,200 years ago rubies and garnets from here were being regularly traded to east and west, reaching the Mediterranean and possibly even Britain. Some of the gems from the great Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo may well have come from Sri Lanka.
斯里蘭卡島與印度僅隔著二十英里淺海，一直是海上貿易的重要集散地和印度洋各島的連接點。在公元800年左右，它不但與南印度諸鄰國關系密切，也與中東的伊斯蘭阿拔斯王朝、印度尼西亞和中國唐代往來頻繁。斯里蘭卡的寶石口碑極好，1200年前，這里出產的紅寶石 與石榴石定期銷往東西方，運送到地中海，甚至遠涉英格蘭。薩頓胡的盎格魯-撒克遜船葬中的部分寶石可能就來自斯里蘭卡。
But it was not only goods that travelled. The teachings of the Buddha, who lived and preached in north India some time around 500 BC, had gradually evolved into a complex philosophical and spiritual system of conduct, designed to liberate the individual soul from the illusion and suffering of this world.
踏上旅途的不僅僅是商品。公元500年前后，佛陀曾在印度北部傳法，他的教義逐漸發展成一套復雜的、幫助蒼生脫離世間苦難的哲學與修行系統。
