Chapter 6 last news

Most of the monks of this monastery died that year, and the rest disappeared.A few survived after a journey to the death.They were born in China and became monks in Yangjiaping Monastery. After many disasters, they were unable to change their way of life.After finding safety, they continued to practice silently. Faith, this is the sacredness that mere mortals like us can never truly understand. People in the world can choose their own way of life at will, but why, the world will never understand, there is such a kind of people, they can only survive in this special way. In 1970, there was a Chinese-French mixed race who appeared in the American "Reader's Digest"

, published a memoir.He once lived in a labor camp for seven years due to a wrongful case.He recalled how, as an elderly man, he held on to his faith and prayers under extremely difficult conditions.From this old man, the author heard for the first time that there is a Chinese monastery.That's where the old man came from—Yangjiaping. We read this story more than a century after the monastery was founded and half a century after it was destroyed.For this reason, we consulted the books we could find about Western missionaries in China, and found no trace of this monastery in the relevant works written by Chinese, Koreans, or Americans.It occurred to us that perhaps it was the non-missionary rule of the monasteries that set them apart from any other missionary group, so they were not the subject of these writings in the first place?The rarity of materials has gradually strengthened the sense of illusion originally produced by the passage of time.A question often arises: Did this Chinese Trappist monastery really exist?

Suddenly a strong desire arises: we have to go and see.Even if you find only one remaining stone there, be sure to take a look.With the help of friends, with such a mood, we traveled west along the beautiful Yongding River, crossing mountains and ridges. Entering Hebei, the road is covered with large pots of rocks, and that road is only prepared for tall coal trucks.Holding a hand-painted map half a century ago, we climbed the layers of Taihang Mountains following the guidance of the monks in the dark, looking for an ancient place name-Yangjiaping.Until we stood on the ruins after the catastrophe, we were too shocked to speak.That's it, a true story of oblivion, a sacred ideal buried - the Abbey of Consolation.

The newly built road passes through the original monastery, and the closed pattern is cut open, which seems to be a metaphor for the relationship between the secular world and the monastery.The basic pattern of the monastery is still very clear.The roof of the church was burned, but the granite pillars inside the church still remain, and below the pillars are rows of empty pigsties built by later generations.Fifty years later, the sun is still there, the distant mountains are still there, and the ruins of the ascetic monastery are still there, but the monks have long since disappeared.The wall of the North Building without the roof still stands tall and straight, revealing sharp holes, reflecting the blue sky of northern China.Maybe sometimes, the cloud will carry the souls of the monks through the window and visit the old place?

There is still a low wall built by the monks for the vegetable garden, which still surrounds a vegetable garden, covered with residual snow that has not completely melted.On the opposite slope, the penance rooms of the monks are still there.The cellars they dug to store food are also intact.A winding path goes up the mountain, which is the passage leading to Beijing. Dean Sono, who first came here, descended from this path and arrived at Yangjiaping after climbing for three days.Going around to the back of the monastery ruins is the cemetery of the monks.However, a large number of monks who died in the catastrophe were not able to sleep peacefully here.

On the cemetery, the trees planted by the monks have grown.There are two ginkgo trees with golden leaves scattered all over the place.There are no ginkgo trees in the area, but the ginkgo trees planted by monks back then.There are no tombstones, no crosses, no relics, the place where the monks rest, and now there is a concrete platform, which is an open-air dance hall built by later generations...A row of small blue-brick bungalows where the monks lived is still there, and there is a large-character quotation left on the wall: If you don’t fight anything that is reactionary, it will not fall down.

A ravine stretches far away and gradually disappears behind the mountain. The apricot trees left by the monks still bear fruit every year.It was a cold winter, and we didn't see slices of apricot blossoms floating out of the valley like clouds with a delicate fragrance.But at last we have come, brother Francis monks, we have come to see you.Will anyone remember you in the future?