困倦的猫,靠着椅脚打盹的时候,常会含混不清地喃喃自语。老人们就说:“又在念经了。”后来看到张岱的《夜航船》,才知道,这倒不是一句没来由的妄语。《夜航船》里说,唐三藏西天取经时,从天竺带回了猫,让它保护经书不被鼠啮。乡下人以讹传讹,倒认为常常出没于藏经阁的猫,竟学会了念经。如同佛教在中国流传绵长,在印度本土却日渐式微。猫在中国繁衍生息之时,它们在印度的远祖,却已经灭绝。 Drowsy cat, resting on the chair legs, often murmured vaguely. The old people said: “Then read the scriptures. ” Later saw Zhang Dai’s “night boat”, I realized that this is not a reason for no reason. “Night Sailing Boat,” said that when the Tang Sanzang Western Heaven learned from Tianzhu brought back the cat, let it protect the book is not rat-caught. The villagers baselessly assert that they often haunt cats in the Tripitaka cabinet and learned to read the scriptures. As Buddhism spreads long in China, it is declining in India. When cats flourished in China, their remote ancestors in India were extinct.