Chapter 9 Chapter Eight A Lama Temple

Under the leadership of Chen Xuehan, we climbed up in the broken snow.On the snow-covered mountain steps, there is only a very narrow path for one person to go up and down. The steps are so steep that they can almost be regarded as straight up and down.I took two guys with me, and they insisted on coming up with me, and now they regret it to death. At noon, we finally came to the door of the Lama Temple that Chen Xuehan was nagging about. I have visited temples of various types and specifications before, including many lama temples, but this is the first time I have seen them. The first is an extremely dilapidated temple gate, very small, the wooden gate is only half a person wide, but behind it is a small courtyard, the snow has been swept away, revealing many stone mills, stone tables and chairs.At the end of the courtyard, there is a house built against the mountain. The house stretches upwards and can't see the end, which is quite spectacular.

Even so, I also know that there is not much space in this kind of temple building. Although it seems to occupy a large area, because it is built against the mountain, the space inside the building is quite small. Three young lamas were sitting around the stone mill and warming themselves by the fire. When they saw us coming in, they didn't show much surprise and remained motionless. Chen Xuehan went up to explain the purpose of coming. She spoke Tibetan, which I couldn't understand, and one of the lamas led us into the house. The first building is the largest, and it is the place where lamas practice rituals. There is a wooden ladder behind the house. We climbed up layer by layer. The lama stopped, and I found that we had finally reached a dark room.

Chen Xuehan and the lama retreated respectfully, leaving me and my two buddies standing in the dark room. Looking around, I found that this place seemed to be a meditation room, and only one place in the room was lit. . We walked over cautiously, and after gradually getting used to the light in the room, I slowly saw many vague shadows around in the darkness—all piles of scripture scrolls.Going around one by one, I came to a place with light, and I found that it was a window. The windows were covered with a thick blanket, but the blanket was so old that it had rotted and had many small holes through which the light came through.

I figured it out and wanted to put the blanket away and let the light from outside shine into the room.Just as I was about to start, I heard a voice in the darkness saying, "Don't light, come here." I was startled by that voice, and when I turned around, I saw a little spark lit up in a dark corner, and then, in the dots of skylight on the whole side, on the other side, I saw five lamas, gradually all lights up. These five lamas must have been there long ago, I couldn't see them in the dark, perhaps because they had a special way of practicing, we seemed to disturb them.

I remembered they said "Come here" and walked over.When we got closer, we saw that some of the younger lamas had their eyes closed, and only one older lama was looking at us with piercing eyes. When we talked about the purpose of our visit, the older lama also closed his eyes and said, "It's that incident, I still remember it." I had some surprises, I thought he would have a more intense expression, for example, trembling and saying "you, you know him too" or something like that. But he just closed his eyes and said: It's that incident, I still remember it.

I didn't show my small thoughts, and I pretended to be calm. The fact is so miraculous, I suddenly understood a little bit, many things that I think are particularly important, for others, maybe even a yawn is not as good as. I can really understand that. In the big lama's bedroom, we drank freshly brewed buttered tea and waited for him to finish talking bit by bit.The charcoal stove was lit in the bedroom, and it was very warm. While I was sweating slightly, I listened to my little brother's experience of appearing in the world. The Great Lama spoke very briefly, almost casually, but for me, I still inevitably think that it is the most important clue in the world.

In the process of narrating, there are some places that the great lama himself does not know very well, so he will take out some scrolls and notes to check.After he finished speaking, I also carefully read the contents of these notes myself.Therefore, the following content comes from various sources, some of which I read from my notes, and some of which are narrated by the Great Lama. Because there is a lot of information and random, whether it is narrative or notes, a lot of Tibetan and local dialects are mixed in it, so many plots are very one-sided. When I narrated here, I made some arrangements.

The situation of fifty years ago is still vividly remembered by the great lama.It was the third week that the mountain was blocked by heavy snow, and it was already very dangerous to go down the mountain. All lamas were preparing for a winter-long penance. At that time, the big lama was still very young, not yet the big lama in the temple, but for the convenience of distinction, we call the young big lama the old lama. According to the custom in the temple, the old lama swept away all the snow in front of the gate that day, and placed three large charcoal stoves in front of the temple gate to prevent the snow from covering the ground again.After the Lama Temple was built, such a move happened every ten years. Although the old lama didn't know what it meant, the lamas of all generations strictly followed it.

That noon, when he went to add charcoal to the charcoal stove for the fourth time, the old lama saw a stuffy oil bottle standing in front of the charcoal stove to keep warm. Poker Fing was wearing a very strange piece of clothing, which seemed to be an extremely thick military overcoat, but the pattern on the clothing was Tibetan style. He carried a large luggage on his back, which looked extremely heavy. Poker bottle looked very strong. At that time, the old lama had such a conversation with him—— The old lama: "Where do you come from?" Poker Bottle: "I come from the mountains."

The old lama: "Where are you going?" Poker Bottle: "Go outside." The old lama: "Did the distinguished guest come from the village on the other side of the mountain?" Poker Bottle: "No, it's in the depths there." After saying this, Poyouping pointed in one direction, which was the hinterland of Daxue Mountain. For the old lama and everyone in Medog, they all knew that it was a no-man's land, and there was nothing in it. The place where the temple connects with that area does not have any roads, only a place that can be called a cliff. Although it is not really a cliff, because of its snow cover and steepness, it is not far behind, and the drop is enough. More than two hundred meters, very steep, is the most dangerous place in this Lama Temple.

No one would come from this direction, the old lama smiled, he felt that Poker-Ping must have meant something wrong.But he soon realized that something was wrong, because where Poker-Face was standing, there were only a pair of lonely footprints without any extension. In this kind of heavy snow weather, there must be such an effect, unless the Poker Bottle fell from the sky.Or, literally climbing off a cliff. The old lama: "Why did the distinguished guest stop at our door?" Poker Bottle: "It's warm here, I'll warm it up and leave right away." Poker bottle pointed to the charcoal stove, and the old lama suddenly had a strange idea.The strange custom of this temple is that every ten years, three stoves of charcoal fire are lit at the entrance of the temple. Is it for the purpose that if someone passes by the entrance, there is a place to warm up? In other words, some people hope that people passing by the temple gate will stop because of these three stoves? This temple has had this rule since it was built. He has always felt that this rule is very strange. Could it be that the people who built the temple predicted this situation a long time ago, so they made this rule? The old lama looked at the oil bottle, and the two of them stared at each other silently for a while, feeling a little embarrassed, and said, "It's warmer inside, why don't you go in and have a rest, drink a cup of buttered tea before leaving. The old lama asked politely, but Pokerfing was not too polite, just nodded and said, "Okay." So the old lama introduced the Poker Bottle into the Lama Temple. As the host, he has no guests for a long time, so he naturally wants to show his friendship as a landlord.He asked Boyouping to warm his body, and after drinking butter tea, he walked around the temple with him. During this period, consciously or unconsciously, the old lama always wanted to ask Ponyoufeng some questions. The strange thing is that Poyyoufeng didn't hide it. He repeatedly emphasized that he came from the snow-capped mountains. There is a hint of lying or cover-up. Although the old lama was young at that time, he had been cultivated anyway, and he had a special ability to control the curiosity of the world, so he did not continue to ask. (Originally, this incident would have passed after Poneyouping stayed overnight at most. After Poneyouping left, the life of the old lama would also be on the right track.)