Whitehorse的前生今世
我家门口是一条马路，叫Whitehorse Road，是这里最繁忙的大道。电车109路从这经过，一端是“宇宙中心”——Box Hill Central，另一端经过Melbourne City到墨尔本港口。
后来我发现，这附近，教育学院，政府大楼，图书馆，都有白马的标志，甚至还有一座塑像（最上图）立在Whitehorse Road中间，塑像上一匹白马扬蹄如焰腾窜，彷佛氏族图腾。于是我觉得这个Whitehorse必有典故。
The City of Whitehorse is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.
Whitehorse was formed in December 1994 by the amalgamation of the former Cities of Box Hill and Nunawading. The name Whitehorse came from the White Horse Inn, a tavern originally located in the area in the late 19th Century. This name was applied to the major thoroughfare, Whitehorse Road, which runs through the municipality today.
原来Whitehorse不止路名，它还是当地City的名字，这个词源于19世纪的一座旅馆。有趣的是，当年决定成立Whitehorse City的时候，新城市的名字提议，除了Whitehorse，还有一个叫做“Koonung”，然而关键时刻，澳洲人脑洞大开，提议书中，居然把Koonung拼错了。
A second proposal featured the current boundaries of Whitehorse. The City of Nunawading proposed the name “City of Koornung”, claiming it was more appropriate, as both cities shared the Koonung Creek, **but unfortunately they failed to note they had spelled Koonung incorrectly in their proposal. **
再查City of Whitehorse政府的网站，说法基本相同：
The City of Whitehorse was proclaimed in December 1994, following the amalgamation of the former cities of Box Hill and Nunawading. The birth of the City reunited the suburbs which formed the original Shire of Nunawading more than 100 years ago. The municipality derives its namesake and logo from a white horse dating back to the 1850s, when a white horse statue adorned the front entrance of the City’s first hotel and two-storey building. Today, a memorial stands on the former site of the hotel and the white horse symbolises the City’s identity.
但是，Whitehorse的原始出处——那座旅馆的故事，二者皆语焉不详，为何旅馆的名字是Whitehorse？况且维基百科说是“late 19th Century”，官方说法是“1850s”，显然不完全匹配。
后来我想，这种“地方志”之类的信息，本地图书馆应该有详细介绍。于是我到Box Hill图书馆翻书，果然找到了更多的信息。
根据这本书的说法，The White Horse这座旅馆建于1853年，主人是一位爱尔兰移民，叫Patrick，大家叫他Pat。原本，Pat打算给他的旅馆起名“Corduroy Hotel”，有一天1，
Once in morning sunlight he caught a flash of silver through the trees, and it was a handsome stallion coming down the long hill from Melbourne way. He was almost white, as pure a grey as Pat had seen. Pat was not a covetous man, but he knew an aristocrat when he saw one. “No,” said the handsome young police captain, grinning at Pat, “I wouldn’t part with him for a pension, even if I could.” Robert Leach kept his horse, but Pat remembered it in his heart. He painted a sign and hung it over the door. He didn’t call his inn the “Corduroy.” He called it the “White Horse Hotel.”
书中这幅插图，大致勾勒了这座旅馆的风貌：
旁边一幅，正是白马塑像：
第二本书——Those were the days（这个idiom应该怎么翻译呢？），详细介绍了这座塑像2。
图中的文字是：
In 1934, the delicensed Whitehorse Hotel, which stood at the corner of Whitehorse and Elgar Roads, was demolished. The wooden horse and porch were presented to the City and erected by the Council on the median strip in Whitehorse Road as a project employing “sustenance” labour during the Depression. Not everyone was happy about it. Letters to the Box Hill “Reporter” complained about a hotel sign being used to represent an abstemious City. Others saw it as a victory for temperance as by popular vote Box Hill had been declared a “dry” area and all hotels within the City were closed in 1920. Today, firmly entrenched as the City’s emblem, the original white horse reposes safely in the Town Hall. It has suffered many acts of vandalism over its long lifetime having had its head painted red during celebrations after the end of the Second World War. Black stripes turned it into a zebra and various ears, tails and even legs mysteriously went missing—a succession of students being blamed. A modern reproduction of the white horse continues to grace the highway near St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church erected in 1935.
曾经的你死我活变成了现在的云淡风轻，文明，从一个侧面看，就是人类逐渐变得宽容的结果。
而Whitehorse旅馆的命运，另外一本本书有零星提及，
先是1895年，一场大火吞噬了整座建筑，
In March 1895 the White Horse Hotel was almost totally destroyed by fire. Now, in the blaze, the whole building except the bar and from door was gone.3
然后1921年，旅馆被勒令停业，与当时推行禁酒令有关。
On New Year’s Day 1921 the White Horse Hotel, established sixty-eight years before, was closed all day and never opened its doors as a licensed hotel again.4
最后，旅馆被夷平，
A local builder, E.H.Daniels bought the old White Horse Hotel to demolish it for half a dozen villas. It was medley of additions and rebuilding with very little of the 1853 original surviving, but it was charming and picturesque in a gentle, ramshackle way.5
今日的Whitehorse大道川流不息，Box Hill雄踞一方，而“白马”作为本地的标志似乎已无争议，然而这段历史——借用Box Hill这本书的话，
Many people have, I dare say, never heard of this part.
往事如烟啊。
白马亲从印土来
中国历史上，与白马有关的典故颇多，战国时代有公孙龙的“白马非马”，后有汉初高祖刘邦“白马之盟“。
此外，还有“永平求法”，涉及到佛教最早传入中国的争论。
这个故事说的是东汉永平年间，汉明帝夜梦金人，遣使西行求法，路遇摄摩腾，竺法兰二僧，遂返，于洛阳建白马寺，译«四十二章经»，从此“道法流布，含识之类蒙恩受赖于今不绝也。”
“永平求法”及«四十二章经»之真伪，在民国时期引起了学界激烈讨论。梁启超认为«四十二章经»为吴晋时人伪作，而“汉明求法事，全属虚构”。汤用彤观点相反，其名著《汉魏两晋南北朝佛教史》系统辨析了所有相关的古代典籍。并以其过人的语文造诣，以汉译«四十二章经»对照巴利文佛典，指出“东汉时本经之已出世，盖无可疑”， 而“汉明求法，吾人现虽不能明当时事实之真相，但其传说应有相当根据，非向壁虚造“。
此事至今仍无定论。那么，千古第一寺6——白马寺，为何以“白马”为名？这又有何典故？查汤先生书中所引诸书，有这么几个地方可作为启示：
«高僧传»曰：
汉明帝梦一金人于殿廷，以占所梦，傅毅以佛对。帝遣郎中蔡愔前往天竺。愔等于彼遇见摩腾、竺法兰二梵僧，乃要还汉地，译《四十二章经》，二僧住处，今雒阳门白马寺也。
«魏书»曰7：
后孝明帝（按，即汉明帝，东汉第二帝，谥号“孝明皇帝”，汉朝皇帝谥号都带一个“孝”字）夜梦金人，顶有白光，飞行殿庭，乃访群臣，傅毅始以佛对。帝遣郎中蔡情博士弟子秦景等使于天竺，写浮屠遗范。情仍与沙门摄摩腾、竺法兰东还洛阳。中国有沙门及跪拜之法，自此始也。情又得佛经四十二章及释迦立像，明帝令画工图佛像置清凉台及显节陵上，经缄于兰台石室。情之还也，以白马负经而至，汉因立白马寺于洛城雍关西。摩腾、法兰成卒于此寺。
«水经注»曰：
发使天竺，写致经象，始以榆盛经，白马负图，表之中夏。故以白马为寺名。此榆后移在城内愍怀太子浮图中。近世复迁此寺。
- «高僧传·摄摩腾传»又提供了另外一个版本： 相传云：外国国王尝毁破诸寺，唯招提寺未及毁坏。夜有一白马绕塔悲鸣，即以启王，王即停坏诸寺，因改“招提”以为“白马”，故诸寺立名多取则焉。
然而，史籍记载，多有出入，有的提到白马，有的没提。且最早录入永平求法的«牟子理惑论»及«四十二章经»均无“白马”二字。
汤用彤书中云：
«水经注»、«伽蓝记»均谓白马寺在西阳门外。西阳一名雍门，乃洛阳西门之一也。又按白马寺之名，始见于西晋竺法护译经诸记中。太康十年（公元289年）四月译«文殊师利净律经»，十二月译出«魔逆经»，均在洛阳城西白马寺。永熙元年（公元290年）译«正法华»，亦在洛阳白马寺，上距汉永平之世已二百余年。«牟子»虽未载寺名，然地望恰合，则应亦指白马寺。又按竺法护译经，常于长安青门内白马寺。东晋时支道林常在建业白马寺。则汉晋间寺名白马，或实不少。
后文又云：
且牟子称立寺于城西雍门外，此即北魏郦善长所指为白马寺之地址。而西晋竺法护译经于洛阳白马寺，其出经记亦谓在洛阳城西。则牟子虽未记寺名，而汉末或已以白马名此寺。。。至于汉末去中兴不远，京师又未遭浩劫，牟子如知有白马寺，则东汉初造创立此寺，亦非不可能。
虽然终不免为推测，也算是一种可以接受的解释。
顺便一提，两位梵僧之一的竺法兰，其传记中8，记载了一个很有趣的故事，
昔汉武穿昆明池，底得黑灰。问东方朔，朔曰：’不知，可问西域人。’后法兰既至，众人追以问之，兰云：世界终尽，劫火洞烧，此灰是也。”
末日劫灰。 昔汉武遣张骞通西域，东方朔因此或知西域有异人，故有此说吧。
“永平求法”大致发生在公元65年左右。此时万里之外的耶路撒冷，似乎真正见到了“末日劫灰”，公元66年[犹太——罗马战争]爆发，这场战争一直持续到公元70年。在罗马将军Titus指挥下，罗马军队围住“圣城”耶路撒冷，把这里变成了刑场，钉满了尸体的十字架漫山遍野，尸体在太阳底下腐烂，腐臭冲天。耶路撒冷弹尽粮绝，人民相食，罗马军队破城之后，整座城市立刻陷入杀戮，劫掠的大混乱中。金碧辉煌的圣殿9在熊熊烈焰中化为灰烬，所有守卫圣殿的卫兵及老弱妇女儿童一律被杀死，尸体堆积如山。这次战役永久改变了犹太人的历史，从此世上再无圣殿——今日耶路撒冷的残垣只是历史的尘埃。Titus不久班师回朝，罗马为他修建了凯旋门，Titus于公元79年成为罗马帝国皇帝。
短短六十多年之后，犹太人与罗马的战争再度爆发，这次犹太人被彻底驱逐出境，开始了流亡生活，直到20世纪以色列的出现。罗马人不但要消灭犹太人，还要从地图上把犹太人的痕迹抹去，他们给这个地方重新起名叫做“巴勒斯坦”——“非利士人之地“10。
Behold, a white horse
«圣经»中亦有“白马”。
«启示录»第6章，“羔羊“揭开封印，依次出现了“四骑士”，第一位骑士骑白马：
羔羊揭开七印中第一印的时候，我观看，就听见四活物中的一个，声音如雷，说，你来。 我就观看，看哪，有一匹白马（Behold, a white horse)，骑在马上的拿着弓，并有冠冕赐给他，他便出去，胜了又要胜。
这个白马骑士，维基百科的[解释]是：
对于第一匹马与骑马者是代表敌基督还是代表假先知，解释无法达成一致，但保守的圣经学者的普遍共识是，他是敌基督，
«启示录»第19章，又有一条：
看见天开了，并且看哪，有一匹白马，骑在马上的，称为忠信真实，祂审判、争战都凭着公义。 祂的眼睛如火焰，头上戴着许多冠冕，又有写着的名字，除了祂自己没有人晓得。 祂穿着蘸过血的衣服，祂的名称为神的话。 在天上的众军，骑着白马，穿着细麻衣，又白又洁，跟随着祂。 有利剑从祂口中出来，可以用以击杀列国；祂必用铁杖辖管他们，并要踹全能神烈怒的酒醡。 在祂衣服和大腿上，有名字写着：万王之王，万主之主。
此处所指，则不言自明。
跋
我本来打算只写写Whitehorse这个名字的意义，没想到越写越多，居然惊动了“古今中外”，就此打住。