今年是马年，我们来说一个和马有关的旅游景点——洛阳白马寺。它是中国最早的佛教寺院，已经有将近两千年的历史。

This year is the Year of the Horse, so let’s talk about a tourist site connected with horses — White Horse Temple in Luoyang. It is the earliest Buddhist temple in China and has a history of nearly two thousand years.

东汉时期，皇帝派人去西方寻找佛教经典。在路上，这个人遇到了两位印度僧人，就和他们一起，用白马驮着佛经和佛像走了很远的路来到洛阳。他们建了一座寺院，叫“白马寺”，来纪念这匹帮助他们的白马。

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the emperor sent a messenger westward to search for Buddhist scriptures. On the journey, he met two Indian monks. Together, they traveled a long distance to Luoyang, carrying Buddhist sutras and statues on a white horse. They built a temple and named it “White Horse Temple” to honor the horse that helped them.

从那以后，佛教开始在中国传播。印度僧人在这里翻译了一本重要的佛经《四十二章经》，这是中国现存最早的汉文佛经之一。

From that time on, Buddhism began to spread in China. Indian monks translated an important scripture here, the Sutra in Forty-TwoSections, one of the earliest Buddhist texts in Chinese.

公元260年，一位名叫朱士行的人在这里正式成为佛教僧人。他是中国汉地第一位正式受戒的僧人。在古代，人们受到儒家思想影响，认为身体来自父母，不应该随意改变。而出家当僧人需要剃发，所以当时很多人不能接受。因此，这次仪式象征着佛教开始被中国社会真正接受。

In the year 260 CE, a man named Zhu Shixing formally becamea Buddhist monk here. He was the first Chinese monk in the Han region to receive full ordination. In ancient China, influenced by Confucian beliefs, people thought the body was a gift from one’s parents and should not be
altered. Becoming a monk required shaving one’s head, which many people could not accept at the time. Therefore, this ordination symbolized that Buddhist ideas were beginning to be truly accepted by Chinese society.

白马寺不仅影响了中国，也影响了周边国家。佛教从这里继续传播，后来传到了朝鲜、日本以及东南亚许多地区。

White Horse Temple influenced not only China but also neighboring regions. From here, Buddhism continued to spread to Korea, Japan, and many parts of Southeast Asia.

今天，泰国、印度和缅甸政府都在这里建造了佛殿。因此，在同一个地方，人们可以看到中国、印度、缅甸和泰国四种不同风格的佛教建筑，就像是一次跨越亚洲的文化旅行。

Exercises

1. 白马寺建于哪个朝代？
A. 唐朝
B. 东汉
C. 宋朝

2. 白马寺为什么叫这个名字？
A. 纪念一个叫 “白马” 的和尚
B. 纪念一匹帮助运送佛经的白马
C. 纪念一本叫《白马》的经书

3. 中国古代，很多人不能接受出家当和尚，是因为：
A. 太远
B. 太辛苦
C. 需要剃发

4. 你知道哪些有名的宗教建筑？请说说它的故事。
（leave your answer in the comment）

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