Travel Notes | Sagadawa Festival

202105526

Daily Updates and Thoughts No.80

May 15th, the Year of Xinchou, Tongren, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture｜Sunny, good air

I've always been in love with you, and I can prove it with this piece of music.

The music is too long | The text is too short | Time is wasted

Travel Notes | Sagadawa Festival

Today is the 15th day of April in the Tibetan calendar, the "Sagadawa Festival". The day commemorates the great significance of the birth, enlightenment and nirvana of the Buddha at the same time, so it is called the "Triple Festival of the Buddha", also known as the "Tibetan Vesak Festival" (Tibetan Vesak Festival) The Sanskrit word "Weisak" means "full moon") and "Buddha's auspicious day". It is the special day of Amitabha Buddha in the Tibetan calendar, the sixth fasting day in the summer calendar, and the tenth fasting day in the summer calendar. Today coincides with a total lunar eclipse, a "super moon", so today is a super special day.

At this time, I was sitting in the Sutra Hall Square of Longwu Monastery, typing and writing my daily update. The studio is on holiday today because today is the fifteenth day of the Saga month in the Tibetan calendar, which coincides with the lunar eclipse day.

The daily update group has a clear rule that the content of the daily update cannot involve religion, politics, finance and other aspects. Today’s daily update should be regarded as a travel note written by a backpacker. The sun is shining brightly today, and there are white clouds in the blue sky. The blue sky and the yellow brick walls of the main hall are simply beautiful. Just now, as the Tibetan people came to the main sutra hall, the breeze suddenly blew away my blue scarf to protect me from the sun. I heard waves of wind chimes. I went to the wind chimes hanging on the eaves of the sutra hall and casually picked up my mobile phone to record this moment. Unfortunately, the photos could not convey the sound and the video quality was not perfect. Hahaha, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

Listen to the sound of the wind chimes

The sun at noon in Qinghai is going to kill people. The corner I just shined in has been filled with sunshine. I, a "rat", just wanted to change to a shady place. Who knows that Grandpa God loves me? A big white cloud blocked the sun and let me There won't be anywhere to hide. Well, I just prefer fantasy. Damn it, Grandpa Tiangong, show your heart.

Before I started coding, I made a circle first. First, I followed the crowd into the main sutra hall. The monks were chanting sutras, and many Tibetans used all their savings to support the monks. I recite ing silently in the sutra hall

Hiding in the corner and silently chanting ing

Lights for the Sutra Hall

Then I went to the General Protector Hall of Longwu Temple, where powerful protectors such as Yamantaka Vajra and Auspicious Heavenly Mother are enshrined. The old rule is to offer wine, torma, milk, date sugar, hada, and lamps in the Dharma Protector Hall. By the way, I donated a few lamps to Mr. Glasses and his friends. It was originally a simple matter, but my friend generously asked me to donate 10 lamps and the largest butter lamp. Hahaha, I like offering lamps the most. After communicating with the monk in my poor Mandarin, the monk specifically allowed me to offer lamps alone in the side hall of the Dharma Protector Hall, which is equivalent to special treatment. There were so many people feeding mulberries today, and the mulberry feeding stove was full. When I first put the offerings in, they all fell out, and I covered my face. There was a very kind monk who knew that I couldn't do anything, so he brought a shovel over to help me. Chirmi~

Lights for the General Protector’s Hall

The back view of the monk who helped me feed mulberry trees

I wish all living beings to be free from illness and suffering

Two wishes to light up the heart lamp

Three wishes, my love and a great career

Lunar eclipse day on the 15th day of Saga month in Xinchou year

🌸 🌸 🌸Spread flowers🌸 🌸 🌸

The place where I was coding just now was really too sunny, so I planned to change places. Who knew that a large pergola was erected in the Sutra Hall Square in another place. The monks sat around under the huge shade curtain. The monks were divided into left and right sides, crossing their legs. sit on the floor. I obediently followed the Tibetans sitting around and found a shady place to sit down. At this time, a monk was debating scriptures. Debating scriptures requires special gestures. He straightened his left arm and raised his right hand, and then followed his right hand. The arm falls and taps the left forearm, and as the right hand falls, high-fives are made with the left and right hands. The Gelug Sect's debate requires answering the question of the questioner at the moment when the right arm is raised, dropped, and tapped on the left arm.

Jingtang Square

debate ing

At this time, I really understood why Tibetan women were wearing casual clothes on the upper body and Tibetan skirts on the lower body. I observed that the Tibetan skirt has a wide belt, which is very long and hangs behind the buttocks. I have never known what this belt is used for. I just found out today that it turns out that this belt can be used as a seat cushion, making it easy to sit on the ground at any time. Not cold either. Covering my face, I am now suffering from the cold feeling of sitting directly on the ground. The female Tibetan compatriots around me are chanting sutras while watching sutra debates, and they also have universal belts and it is not cold to sit on the ground... I It was miserable. I only had a scarf with thin cicada wings to protect me from the sun. At this time, my scarf with cicada wings served as my cushion, but it was a bit thin. Soon I felt the coolness of the stone floor creeping into my body.

Kalachakra Sutra Hall Fire Offering

Today is a festival and there are many rituals, so I got up and went to the next unknown place. When I walked outside the Kalachakra Sutra Hall, I heard loud gongs and drums. I quickly quickened my pace. In fact, it was already 3 pm and I hadn’t had lunch. Today was a lunar eclipse day, so I was fasting. good.

I was shocked as soon as I entered the courtyard. I couldn't understand the language and didn't know what rituals the monks were performing. When I asked the Tibetan people, they only said that they were chanting sutras. When I asked what sutras were being recited, I still got the same sentence "I can't speak." When I saw the hats worn by the monks during the ceremony, I actually thought of the hat worn by Monk Tang in Journey to the West. It seemed to be the same. The supporting monks kept chanting sutras and putting offerings into the fire offering pile. The visual inspection showed that there were butter, soil, highland barley noodles, branches, rice, various grains (highland barley, etc.), milk...ong ba za ga di... …I really don’t understand 🙉

I have been following the fire ceremony. Who would have thought that there would be a special prize waiting for me. At the end of the fire ceremony, along with a group of Tibetans, I offered butter together and received torma donated by the monks. I don’t know if it is It should be called torma. It is made of white rice. It tastes slightly sweet and a little sticky. It feels like glutinous rice. The Tibetans cherished them very much and bowed one after another to ask for alms. I followed suit, and several Tibetans even took out their pockets and brought some back. I think such fire offerings are very precious to them.