Text & Photography│Tassels
Today is the seventh day of the itinerary, and the goal is Labrang Monastery. According to the road book, the journey of more than 200 kilometers is quite easy. This is also the shortest relative driving distance in this northwest trip.
Labrang Monastery is located in the west of Xiahe County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, on the north bank of the Daxia River in the county. "Labrang" means "the place where the Buddhist palace is" in Tibetan. It is one of the six major monasteries of the Gelug Sect (Yellow Sect) of Tibetan Buddhism, and is known as the "World Tibetan Academy" by the world. Many people are familiar with this place, mostly because of the movie "A World Without Thieves" directed by Feng Xiaogang and starring Andy Lau, Wang Baoqiang, Liu Ruoying and others. Remember the temple where Wang Baoqiang started to repair it? It is at Labrang Monastery! I am a mortal layman, and the place where the baby is born is worth checking out for people who can always think about it.
got out of the car, and from a distance I saw a large group of buildings built on the hillside, standing quietly among the green mountains, adding a little mystery at first glance. Looking up, I saw that on the high foothills to the north of the temple, eagles or vultures were constantly hovering and flying, and the clouds and mist were lingering in the blue smoke. Taking a closer look, at the highest point of the mountain, there seemed to be several people in purple-red monk robes, who were getting up and squatting, busy again and again. Hearing the people next to him whispered, he learned that it was a celestial burial. At this time, there is a more sacred feeling that subconsciously tightens the heart.
Du Niang revealed, "Labrang Monastery sits north to south, covering a total area of 866,000 square meters, a building area of more than 400,000 square meters, and more than 90 main halls, including six colleges, 16 temples, and 18 temples. There are no less than 10,000 houses, including a group of magnificent buildings with Tibetan characteristics, such as monks' houses and lecture altars, Buddhist gardens, scripture printing houses, and pagodas. "
is particularly worth mentioning. , It has the longest turning corridor in the world. There are more than 1,700 prayer wheels, all of which are painted wood carvings with the main red tone. The corridor surrounds the entire temple and stretches for 3.5 kilometers. It is the longest prayer corridor in the world, which is very eye-catching and spectacular. It is said that it takes about one and a half hours to complete all the prayer wheels. The Blessed One said, “Uninterrupted turning of the prayer wheel can liberate sentient beings in the three realms. The sentient beings who touch the prayer wheel with their hands or see the prayer wheel with their eyes will not fall into evil interests. The merits of turning the prayer wheel with hands can make the sky, The earth, water, fire, wind, mountains, rocks, grass, trees, and the sentient beings in the forest all become Buddhas." Therefore, the long corridor is the path of hope for the Tibetans, and the path for the soul to transcend the earth to enter the kingdom of heaven. The devout worshipers gently moved the prayer wheel over the years, chanting the six-character mantra, with firm eyes and no distracting thoughts, and they never stopped worshiping on the holy path in their hearts. When
came here, it was natural to turn the mysterious prayer wheels by hand. At two or three o'clock in the afternoon, we were walking slowly on the turning corridor, curiously flipping the prayer wheels one by one. The warp tube is not too heavy, and there are wooden flutes like palace lanterns for turning around. At this time, there are not too many people turning the prayers, but on the turning corridor, the Tibetans, men and women, old or young, are hurriedly walking and pious and dignified, and they are walking past us quickly. The rhythmic and sonorous pace made our fascinating gestures become an obvious perfunctory contempt. After trying a few light turns, I consciously pulled out and gave the corridor back to its followers respectfully, taking the opportunity Turned around and pulled away, and gave the riders a few shots focusing on turning around. Although
is both a holy place of Tibetan Buddhism, it is obvious that Labrang Monastery is not as strong as Ta'er Monastery-here, by comparison, there are slightly fewer tourists coming in and out, and more monks come and go. And most of the monks that I saw were quiet and hurried, and their bodies were relatively thin and strong. It was not like the monks I met in Ta'er Monastery would be happy, obese and out of shape, and they would hold mobile phones or make calls or focus on looking at mobile phones. Unscrupulously laid back and casual scene. It feels much more peaceful and clean here, much more well-behaved, much more holy and mysterious, and more like a Buddhist holy place secluded from the world and dedicated to practice.
Especially the brick-red temples and scripture halls, which give people a sense of sacred and solemnity. There are also the white walls, gray corrugated corrugated tiles, the green glazed tile roof of the scripture hall and other temples. The golden aquariums, Faluns, lions and other ornaments lined up on the top, echoing the blue sky, white clouds and the rolling green mountains, appear so harmonious, fresh and refined, like a cleanser, if they can pass by.The eyes are automatically cleaned and filtered again. In a word, the whole building is majestic, simple and elegant, magnificent, carved with beams everywhere, full of magnificent eyes, and magnificent. In it, a kind of pleasing, holy and solemn beauty emerges from the heart.
likes and yearns for Labrang Monastery. For me, there is another special reason-one of my university classmates had shaved his hair and practiced here as a nun. I came here today and wanted to meet her again. It has been 31 years since I graduated from university, and I have never met her in 31 years. Unexpectedly, along the way, I asked no less than ten masters in the monastery one after another, but I still couldn't find their whereabouts. In this search process, I was both eager and anxious, both joyful and worried. The contradictory and entangled mentality made me choked with tears several times during the process of inquiring with the monks and masters. The fellow riders asked caringly. I couldn't help but burst into tears.
I don’t know why. Once I told someone about my classmate’s basic situation, I couldn’t help but choked up, my tears couldn’t stop streaming down, and I couldn’t explain why. Due to the itinerary, there was not much time to continue searching, so I had to give up. I think even if we meet, I may not be able to control myself, I will only hold her and cry. For a long time, my tear pockets have been particularly shallow, and the older I get, the less promising.
and this classmate, our university is in different classes at the same level, and I didn't communicate much with her during the school, because the same surname is my home, naturally there is a special emotion in it. In my impression, she was very introverted and not very talkative. She was a quiet, thin girl with glasses, as if she was one year older than me. I just remember that in the group of classmates, I saw a photo of her being ordained and dressed in a nun's robe by her classmates, but I don't know when she was born or why? I don't understand at all. Taking a step back, even if she appeared in front of my eyes at this moment, I might not recognize it—the monk's appearance is naturally different from the once vulgar her.
returned to the hotel and received the mobile phone number of the monk from the university friend Lijun. I tried to dial the phone, and it rang five or six times and no one answered it, and then hung up...The mixed flavors came to my heart. Chat with Lijun afterwards. Lijun said that when she returned to her hometown from the temple to visit relatives at the beginning of this year, they still met and she was fine. She also said that this is the life she has always wanted, and she feels very happy. I said, "Well, it's good, just be her own, let's bless her!"
There are no two exactly the same leaves in the world, and no one can feel the same in anyone's life. There is no why. Just because of like, just because of faith, just because of fate. Everything in life is God's best arrangement. As
writes here, the warm scene that I captured in Labrang Monastery instantly appeared in front of me: a young monk from a Tibetan Institute with a smile, hurried past my eyes happily, and one of the young monks held their hands Football, playing happily between the palms of the hands while walking...
is not a fish, how can you know the joy of fish? !
suddenly remembered a sentence in "A World Without Thieves"-"You are more stupid than a silly root!"
thought and talked about it-I am really "organized and undisciplined"!
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