Chapter 14 12. Gyantse Nostalgia

Looking back at Gyantse Dzong Mountain Fort, standing proudly in the continuous rain, the mountain and the castle are condensed into a huge sculpture, just like a heroic warrior, silently declaring to the world his determination to defend the territorial integrity of the country. In my mind, Gyantse will always be a city of heroes.The beautiful scenery of the Nianchu River in the movie "Red River Valley" and the heroic feats of the soldiers and civilians in Gyantse against the British imperialism must have left a deep impression on everyone who has watched this movie.I didn't expect that I was really lucky enough to visit this city of heroes.

After we drove away from Shigatse, we entered the road along the Nianchu River.Through the car window, there is a large area of ​​barley wheat that is about to be harvested and is yellowish, mixed with purple broad bean flowers. This pastoral beauty is indeed rarely seen in the snow-covered plateau.Our destination today, Gyantse County, is located on the fertile Guangmao Plain in the Nianchu River Basin.Gyantse, which means "Peak of Victory; Dharma King's Mansion Destination" in Tibetan, is an ancient city with a history of more than 700 years. It has an important geographical location and rich products. For a long time, Gyantse has become a place where Buddhists, businessmen and tourists gather.Our party arrived in Gyantse in the afternoon, when the sky began to drizzle.The rooftop on the third floor of the Gyantse County Timber Processing Factory Guest House where we live is facing Gyantse Zongshan Fort.A century ago, it was here that the heroic Gyantse people bravely fought against the invading British army and wrote the most heroic poem of the Chinese nation against foreign aggression.There is a monument standing under the Zongshan Fort. Looking through the misty rain, the words "Monument to Zongshan Heroes in Gyantse" written on it can be learned from analysis.Walking into Zongshan Fort, the display inside has also become scarce due to the passage of time, but the anti-British fort is still there, and the traces of the war on it are still faintly visible.

Gyantse Dzong Mountain Fort The United Kingdom, an old colonialist country, has launched two wars of aggression against Tibet since it occupied India, and the war in 1904 was the largest.The cause of the war was that Tsarist Russia and Britain competed for privileges in Tibet. Russian spy Delzhi spread rumors in Lhasa that the paradise of Buddhism was in Russia, and that the Tsar himself was the reincarnation of Buddha.This turned out to be an excuse for the British to invade Tibet.But that war was really funny. From the very beginning, the British had no name, and their march to Tibet was loose.After entering Tibet, they even stopped to have a merry Christmas.They made trouble there for three months, and the Qing government and the Tibetan local government did not send troops to stop them.The main planner of this war is the well-known Colonel Rong Huppeng.But at that time, he and another general who led the troops competed for control of the British army, and as a result, the British soldiers were confused about who was the leader.It was such an army that didn't even know who the commander was, but it drove all the way to Lhasa.With a little military common sense, they can be wiped out of this lonely army that is deep and lacks food and grass.However, the Qing government and the local government of Tibet failed to take effective measures at that time.It was just that when Gyantse was captured, it was stubbornly resisted by the army and people of Gyantse. The movie "Red River Valley" described the history of that period of war.Since the Tibetan soldiers and civilians were not equipped with foreign guns and quick cannons at that time, they were unfortunately defeated. Three thousand soldiers and civilians died heroically, blood staining the Zongshan Fort.Afterwards, this group of mobs went all the way into Lhasa and occupied Lhasa for seven weeks.

After the British army entered Lhasa, the thirteenth Dalai Lama was forced to flee north. Youtai, then Minister of the Qing government stationed in Tibet, went so far as to condolence the invaders with beef, mutton, wine and meat.Since there is no owner in Lhasa, Rong Hepeng didn't know what to do, and he couldn't find someone to negotiate with.Moreover, his status with that general was still undecided. He was extremely pessimistic and felt that his future was bleak.At this time, the general decided to withdraw his troops, so the most ridiculous scene appeared: Rong Hepeng complained to the British government that if he really wanted to withdraw his troops, he had to ask the Chinese government to protect his personal safety.Looking at it now, that war was really a farce. A mob without a commander, under the watchful eyes of a group of incompetent people, drove straight into it. The aggressed party seeks protection.

The history of humiliation has long been turned into dust with the passage of time, but Gyantse Zongshan Fort will forever be left as a historical monument to future generations.Although the smoke is exhausted, the majestic appearance still exists, which makes the viewers feel the importance of the prosperity of the country and the unity of the Tibetan and Han nationalities. Exterior of Baiju Temple Another important religious attraction in Gyantse is Baiju Temple.From Gyantse Zongshan Fort, walk for 20 minutes along the main street of the county, and you will come to this typical Tibetan Buddhist temple with a combination of pagodas and courtyards.Baiju Temple was jointly presided over by Gyantse Dharma King Rao Dangong Sangpa and the first Panchen Lama Kaizhujie. Its main hall was built in eight years from 1418 to 1425.At that time, the various sects in Tibet were evenly matched and fought against each other, which enabled the three sects of Gelug, Sakya and Shalu to coexist peacefully in one temple, which is also the unique feature of Baiju Temple.Buy the ticket for 30 yuan, enter the Baiju Temple, and you can see from a distance that there are tall walls around the Baiju Temple and on the back mountain.This kind of architectural configuration is indeed rare in Tibet. It may be that the Gyantse Dzong was located in a strategic location at that time, and the Baiju Temple, an important religious and political site of the Gyantse Dzong, had to have its own defense capabilities.Entering the main hall of Baiju Temple, first of all, there is a dark and old feeling. Only the butter lamp is shining dimly, making the whole hall appear confusing and mysterious.The main hall is full of various thangkas, which is another major feature of Baiju Temple.In the middle of the main hall is a bronze statue of Buddha Sakyamuni, which is nearly eight meters high. The two sides are densely packed with bookshelves, reaching the top of the hall.He opened one of the pages casually, and it was filled with incomprehensible Sanskrit and Tibetan Buddhist scriptures in gold letters on a black background.On both sides of the main hall are supporting halls for the guardian gods. In the dark hall, these hideous guardian gods give people an inexplicable sense of fear.From the narrow stairs to the Arhat Hall on the second floor of the main hall, there are dozens of clay sculptures of Arhats in various shapes.Although these sculptures are realistic and lifelike, but because of their age, the surface is old and covered with dust, which makes people feel the vicissitudes of history that Baiju Temple has experienced.

The puppy under the prayer wheel in Baiju Temple Although the scale of Baiju Temple is smaller than many Tibetan monasteries I have seen, the murals in it are very distinctive, even more colorful than those in Sakya Monastery, which is known as the "Second Dunhuang".Under the introduction of the guide Gesang, we carefully appreciated the murals in the halls and corridors of Baiju Temple.The themes of these murals are very rich, and the characters are also in various poses and with different expressions. Being in them seems to have entered the maze of the magical Buddhist world.The content described in the murals includes Buddhism and Buddha Jataka stories, historical figures, and the two sects of Sutra and Tantra. Among them, the murals of the Tantric Mandala are the most abundant I have ever seen in Tibet.The murals of Baiju Temple are also the same as the Buddha statues in its halls. Due to the age, most of them are stripped and scattered, which is even more difficult to identify.I just stopped for a long time in front of a large mural depicting the process of celestial burial in its side hall, listened to the guide explain the origin and process of celestial burial, and looked at the vividly described patterns of dismemberment of the deceased on the mural, feeling the mystery of Tibetan religious culture.

Another very famous building in Baiju Temple is the Jixiang Duomen Pagoda, also known as the "One Hundred Thousand Buddha Pagoda".The Jixiang Duomen Pagoda was built in 1427, the third year after the completion of Baiju Temple, and it took nine years to complete.From bottom to top, the auspicious multi-door pagoda is composed of tower base, tower belly, tower bottle, thirteen dharma wheels, treasure cover, and golden bell. The outer wall is white, and each floor of the tower belly and tower bottle has cornices decorated with colors.This auspicious multi-door pagoda is built in a very distinctive way, and it is completely natural and complements the Baiju Temple on the left.It is said that this pagoda courtyard building represents a typical architectural style in the Houzang area in the middle of the 14th century.Entering the belly of the tower from the east side of the auspicious multi-door tower known as the "Gate of Into the Great Liberation", it is found that the structure inside is very complicated, with winding corridors and halls within halls.There are five floors inside the tower, and all kinds of Buddha images are painted on the walls of the corridor and the hall.Different from the theme of the murals in the main hall of Baiju Temple, there are dozens of halls in the whole pagoda, except for the Pure Land Hall in the west and the Tushi Hall in the east on the first floor, which depict the biography of the Pure Land in the West and Maitreya Buddha respectively. ; The rest of the parts are drawn according to the four divisions of Tantric Buddhism, that is, the ministry of affairs, the ministry of action, the ministry of yoga and the ministry of supreme yoga.There are countless mural Buddha statues and clay sculpture Buddha statues in the five-story buildings in the belly of the tower. According to the number of people who are interested, there are as many as 30,000 statues, of which there are more than 18,000 statues on the fifth floor. Ten Thousand Buddhas Pagoda".However, I ask, why dare to call it "one hundred thousand pagodas" when there are only more than 30,000 Buddha statues?The guide Gesang explained that in the Jixiangduomen Pagoda, apart from murals and clay Buddha statues, there are palm-sized yellow clay statues of Buddha heads called "chacha" everywhere.Because of its inconspicuousness, it is often not noticed by people.This "chacha" has a lot of origins. According to traditional Tibetan habits, many people will be buried in the sky after death. Cremation, reconciliation of the obtained ashes with yellow mud, pressing them into "chacha" with molds, and sending them to the temple to be enshrined by relatives, so that the deceased can still get the blessing of Buddha in heaven.It has been more than 70 years since the Auspicious Multi-door Pagoda was built. The majority of Buddhists in Shigatse continue to come here to worship. Not at all excessive.

Auspicious multi-door pagoda in Baiju Temple In the early morning, the sky was still raining, and I was about to leave the ancient city of Gyantse. Although I only stayed here for one day, I deeply respected everything here.Looking back at Gyantse Dzong Mountain Fort, standing proudly in the continuous rain, the mountain and the castle are condensed into a huge sculpture, just like a heroic warrior, silently declaring to the world his determination to defend the territorial integrity of the country.I waved my hand and bid farewell to the heroic city again. May her spirit live forever and inspire the people of the country to work hard for the strength of the country.