鍾文音（1966－）遊記《廢墟裡的靈光：重返印度的佛陀時代》（2004），透過一名朝聖時尚記者的觀點來省思印度的宗教及藝術文化，遊記裡滿溢的是當代印度特有的宗教祭儀、傳統藝術、現世榮光和廢墟美學等時代氛圍。德國哲學家本雅明 (Walter Benjamin)的名篇〈機械複製時代的藝術作品〉（1935），指出前代藝品有其靈光，靈光講求「原真」 (authenticity)，關乎傳統與崇拜儀式；而機械複製時代來臨之後，大量生產的藝術作品已失去靈光。新時代新技術出現之際，藝術的涵義遂發生了變革。《廢墟裡的靈光》與本雅明「靈光」論有著明顯而相近的立意：挖掘出人文藝術的靈光，標識出值得珍視的意義與價值。因此，本文參照本雅明的相關論述，探討遊記中的三個重要議題，其一、宗教祭儀的靈光：如佛陀的證悟菩提、恆河的滌罪等，如何淡化眾生的欲苦。其二、現實生活的靈光：如那爛陀大學的榮光、泰姬瑪哈陵的絕美等，如何憑藉現實機運而存續光耀於後世。其三、廢墟美學的「後靈光」 (post-aura)：如印度「文化村」那廢墟碎片堆積而成的空洞世界，作者如何透過「偽靈光」的批判與「新靈光」的提點，使之獲得昇華。結論將指出，作者所凝視的廢墟裡的靈光，為當代帶來哪些撫慰、批判以及活化的意義。

Chung Wenyin contemplates the Indian religion, culture, and arts from the perspective of a pilgrim journalist in her travel writing The Aura in Ruins: Returning to the Time of Buddha in India. This work depicts and comments on the Indian religious rituals, traditional arts, worldly glory, and aesthetics of ruins. Walter Benjamin points out in his ＂The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,＂ that ancient works of art, thanks to their authenticity, emanate the aura because of their embedment in tradition and rituals. However, with the coming of the age of mechanical reproduction, the mass-produced artworks no longer radiate the aura as the production of artworks changes with the advance of technology. The aims of Chung’s and Benjamin's works are similar: they both seek to expose the aura of art in order to define its meaning and assess its value. Accordingly, in light of Benjamin's concept of aura, this paper explores 1) the aura of religious rituals: how the enlightenment of Buddha and the purifying effect of the Ganges abate the human suffering, 2) the aura of worldly artifacts: how the glory of Nalanda University and Taj Mahal lasts by chance, and 3) the post-aura of the aesthetics of ruins: how Chung sublimes the hollowness of Indian cultural village through her criticism of pseudo-aura and delineation of neo-aura. In conclusion, I will point out what comfort, criticism, and renewal Chung's work offers the contemporary society via her gaze of the aura in ruins.