Lhasa, Tibet·Temple: What is short is the journey, but what is long is life

You are someone who has been to Tibet in your previous life, and your soul is floating everywhere. One day, you saw the butter lamp extinguished in the darkness, the smoke mixed with the night, and the sound of chanting sutras rose and fell. You flashed a word of disbelief, but clasped your hands together, tears welling up in your heart.

So early the next morning, you want to go to the monastery in Lhasa.

 

Sera Monastery

 

Sera Monastery is one of the three major Gelug Sect monasteries in Lhasa (the other two major monasteries are Drepung Monastery and Ganden Monastery) . It is the closest to the urban area of ​​Lhasa and covers a larger area than the Lesser and Lesser Zhao Temples and the Potala Palace. .

Starting from entering the temple gate, there is a long stone path, and you can go up the steps to the debate room. This is one of the prayer rooms. If you look carefully enough, you will find a white cat on the windowsill.

The meaning of salad in Tibetan is the place where wild roses bloom. I don’t know if the wild roses of the ancients are the wild roses of today. In this season, you will encounter beige rose flowers from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain. Some stand alone, and some form a forest.

In addition to roses, there are also large purple flowers, which are very similar to the white thorn flowers in western Sichuan. On the cliff of the dry mountain, I suddenly found the rich purple color, which was as unreal as a dream.

Occasionally, yaks will slowly crawl down the mountain from the flowers and grass. The slope is very steep, but they don't panic at all.

But the hundreds of dogs at Sera Monastery will tell you that excitement and noise are the daily life of social animals. They bark, fight, mate, and reproduce. All the love and hatred between them are condensed by humans into one sentence: Be careful of wild dogs hurting people.

Human words are magical. They convey messages between strangers and build walls between close people. If both of you are free, you might as well take off your masks and have a good debate face to face.

Debate at Sera Monastery will make people doubt Tibetan monks, why they do not meditate like inland monks. In addition to Zen enlightenment, Tibetan Buddhism also attaches great importance to logical thinking. Only by passing the debate examination can one obtain a Geshe (PhD) degree and become a senior monk.

Around five o'clock, the sutra debate venue gradually became quiet, and the monk returned to his meditation room.

Because of the time difference, this moment is equivalent to three o'clock inland, and the sun is slightly westward. There are many Zen houses in Sera Monastery. The houses are basically twenty or thirty meters high and are trapezoidal. They are divided into two sides by long passages, with paths on each side crisscrossing each other. You may encounter a new path at the end of the road, or you may see the starting point of the mountain at the end of the road.

At the foot of the mountain, an old Ajia was chanting sutras in a deserted place, hoping not to disturb her purity.

Another old Ajia, you drank from the mountain spring with her. She climbed the mountain very slowly, but you stopped and walked, occasionally in a daze. In the end, she was still in front of you, getting farther and farther away, like the hour hand of light and shadow.

A child who will never have nightmares again, her nose painted with lamp dust, walks past you. Her expression is calm, as if she has seen clearly that life is about penance.

 

Lower Secret Courtyard

 

The Lower Tantric Monastery is the highest institution of learning of the Gelug Sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Only the Geshes of Sera Monastery can become monks of the Lower Tantric Monastery and continue their studies. Every time the exam season comes, parents and candidates come to make wishes. They put the tsampa into monk bags, compacted them, sealed them with apples, and looked forward to high school.

I don’t know what she’s going to take, but it looks like she’s just thinking about it.

The reason I like going to Secret Garden the most is that they will make candies and put them on the table. If you don’t have enough, they will wrap them in a plastic sheet and stuff them into your pocket.

That's not the end, if you follow the crowd to the second floor, you'll also receive fruit if you happen to look short and greedy.

At the door, an old Ajia was sitting in meditation. She had clear outlines and lost teeth. Her skin color had become thickly patinated with the passing of time. It was as powerful and beautiful as the colors of Tibet.

 

Cemendi Temple

 

You have food in your pocket, but you feel embarrassed and want to find a place where no one can see you and eat it secretly. But unfortunately we walked into a temple again. Passing through the long and narrow stairs and entering the second floor, the view suddenly opens up. There are mountains in the distance and flowers in front of me, which is just right. It would be even better if there are people around, share it together.

 

Xidelin

 

While aimlessly, you come across another temple, which is deserted. A group of pigeons were pecking in front of the temple. When they saw you approaching, they flew up. The monk's room is now inhabited by Tibetans. They are singing while doing laundry. Someone from upstairs pokes his head out to joke, laugh and curse a few times. On the left side of the temple, there is a huge elm tree. Contrary to the inland area, the elm trees here bear fruit first and then grow leaves. When the leaves gradually become fatter, the elm trees become dry and begin to fall. This season, you can always see them on the ground. No one cleans them here, and they are all over the floor. This is a dilapidated place. Sometimes dilapidation can move people more than perfection. It fits the desolate place in people’s hearts. It is quiet, does not require deliberate effort, does not require energy, can be neither happy nor sad, and can be visited by no one.

 

Ramoche Temple

 

Ramoche Temple is hidden in an alley. It originally enshrined the 12-year-old life-size statue of Sakyamuni brought by Princess Wencheng from Chang'an. Now it enshrines the 8-year-old life-size statue of Sakyamuni that was presented to Tibet by Princess Chizun of Nepal. The temple architecture is in Sino-Tibetan style. It was destroyed in the Special Ten Years and later renovated.

Maybe he just drank milk tea, that's why he's so cool.

 

Jokhang Temple

 

The Jokhang Temple is revered by Buddhists. The first reason is that the Jokhang Temple came first and then the city of Lhasa. The second reason is that the Jokhang Temple enshrines a life-size statue of the 12-year-old Sakyamuni Buddha.

The outer circle surrounding the Buddha statue is the Nangkou, the outer circle of the Jokhang Temple is the Barkhor, and the large circle including the Potala Palace, Yaowang Mountain, and Ramoche Temple is called the Linkou.

In the month of Sagadawa, there are many people kowtow, and some bluestone slabs outside the temple have been polished with smooth concave marks.

Two deer kneeling on the Falun are a common totem in Tibetan temples.

 

Turn

 

May 12th in the Gregorian calendar (the first day of April in the Tibetan calendar) is the beginning of the Sagadawa Festival in Tibet, which lasts for one month. According to legend, this is the month when the Buddha Sakyamuni was born, enlightened, and entered Nirvana. Tibetans turn around, release animals, Eat fast. On May 26th in the Gregorian calendar (April 15th in the Tibetan calendar), there are especially many people turning around. People start turning around at three or four o'clock in Wailinguo, centered around the Jokhang Temple. In the flow of people, you can always see someone pushing them. There were wheelchairs, some were using crutches, some were pushing strollers, some were holding sheep, and some were carrying dolls.

An hour later, you stand on the overpass, panting, looking at the Potala Palace under the morning light. Within a minute, the clouds turn into colors and the mountain shadows overlap. Your companion says to you: go on.

Three hours later, you appear on the roof hungry and order a pound of milk tea. The fog has dissipated and the sun is just right.

After going through some temples and praying, you don't feel how you are different now from yesterday. You don't have more compassion or more wisdom. There are still many temples that you have not visited, and you are wandering the streets of Lhasa. It's an afternoon after the rain, the air is very good, and you want to go to Yaowang Mountain. On the way, you passed by the square and saw the shadow of the Potala Palace.

You lament that water is the eyes of all things. Most of the things in nature are blind, deaf and stupid. Only with water attached can all things see. You are proud of being a human being, but you gradually feel ashamed. You slowly realize that you have nothing to show off. Your eyes, ears, and heart are usually the same.