Chapter 8 A Lama Temple

　　Under the leadership of Chen Xuehan, we climbed up in the broken snow. On the snow-covered steps, there was only a very narrow path for one person to go up and down. The steps were so steep that they could almost be regarded as straight up and down. I brought two buddies who insisted on following me up, and now they regret it to death.

　　At noon, we finally came to the door of the Lama Temple, which Chen Xuehan kept nagging about.

　　I have visited temples of various types and sizes before, including many lama temples, but this is the first time I have ever seen something like this.

　　The first is an extremely dilapidated temple gate. It is 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 a lot of stone mills and stone tables and chairs. At the end of the courtyard, there is a house built on the mountain. The house extends upwards without seeing 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 looks like it occupies a large area, because it is built on the mountain, the space inside the building is quite small.

　　There were three young lamas sitting around the stone mill and heating the fire. When they saw us coming in, they didn't show much surprise, and they still didn't ask.

　　Chen Xuehan stepped forward and explained his purpose. He spoke in Tibetan, which I couldn't understand. One of the lamas led us into the house.

　　The first building is the largest and is where the lamas practice their deeds. There is a wooden ladder behind the house. We climbed up layer by layer. We don't know how long it took or how many rooms we passed. The lama just stopped, and I found that we had finally reached a darkened room.

　　Chen Xuehan and the Lama stepped back respectfully, leaving me and my two buddies, standing in the pitch-dark room, looking around, and found that it seemed to be a meditation room, with only one spot in the whole room showing a bit of light. .

　　We walked over cautiously, and as I got used to the light in the room, I slowly saw a lot of blurry shadows all around in the dark—all piles of scriptures. 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 out a lot of tiny holes through which the light came in.

　　I figured out that I wanted to put the blankets away and let the daylight outside into the room. Just as I was about to do it, I heard a voice in the dark saying, "No light, come here."

　　I was taken aback by that voice, and when I turned around, I saw a little spark lit up in the dark corner, and then, In the whole side of the little sky, on that side, I actually saw five lamas, all of which gradually lit up.

　　These five lamas must have been there long ago. I couldn't see them in the dark, maybe because they had a special way of practicing, we seemed to disturb them.

　　I remembered they said "come here" and walked over. As we approached, we saw that several 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 the visit in the past, the older lama also closed his eyes and said, "It's that incident, I still remember."

　　I had some surprises, I thought he would have a more intense expression, for example, Shivering and saying to me "you, you know him too" or something.

　　But people just closed their eyes and said: It was that thing, I still remember.

　　I didn't show my thoughts, and I pretended to be calm.

　　The fact is so miraculous, I suddenly understand a little bit, many things that I think are particularly important, maybe even a yawn is better than a yawn.

　　I can really understand this.

　　In the Great Lama's bedroom, we drank freshly brewed butter tea and waited for him to finish the story bit by bit. The charcoal stove was lit in the bedroom, which was very warm. While sweating slightly, I listened to the experience of my brother's appearance in the world.

　　The Great Lama said it 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 Lama himself does not know very well, so he will take out some scrolls and notes to check. After he finished speaking, I carefully read the contents of the notes myself. Therefore, the following content comes from various sources, some of which I read from my own notes, and some of which are narrated by the Great Lama.

　　Because there is a lot of random information, whether it is narrative or notes, there are a lot of Tibetan and local dialects mixed in it, so many plots are very one-sided. When I narrate here, I have made some arrangements.

　　The situation of fifty years ago, the Great Lama is still vivid in his mind. It was the third week of the snow-covered mountains, and it was very dangerous to go down the mountain, and all the lamas were preparing for a winter-long penance.

　　At that time, the Great Lama was still very young and was not the Great Lama in the monastery, but for the convenience of distinction, we call the young Great Lama the old Lama.

　　According to the custom in the temple, that day the old lama swept away all the snow in front of the door and placed three large charcoal stoves in front of the temple door to prevent the snow from covering the ground again. After the Lama Temple was built, this kind of action took place every ten years. Although the old lama did not know what it meant, the lamas of all dynasties strictly followed it.

　　That noon, when he went to add charcoal to the charcoal stove for the fourth time, the old lama saw the stuffy oil bottle standing in front of the charcoal stove to keep warm.

　　The stuffy oil bottle was wearing a very strange dress, which seemed to be a very thick military coat, but the patterns on the clothes were Tibetan-style. He was carrying a large luggage on his back, which looked extremely heavy.

　　The stuffy oil bottle looks very strong. At that time, the old lama had such a dialogue with him - the old 　　lama

　　: "Where did your distinguished guest come from?" The

　　stuffy oil bottle: "I came from the mountains."

"

　　Stupid Oil Bottle: "Go outside."

　　Old Lama: "Is your distinguished guest from the village across the mountain?" 　　Stupid

　　Oil Bottle: "No, it's deep there."

Pointing in one direction, that is the hinterland of Daxueshan. For the old lama and everyone in Medog, they all know that it is a no-man's land, and there is nothing in it.

　　There is no road where the temple connects with that area. There is only a place that can be called a cliff. Although it is not a real cliff, because of its snow and steepness, it is not far behind. More than 200 meters, very steep, is the most dangerous place in this Lama Temple.

　　No one will come from this direction, the old lama smiled, he felt that the stuffy oil bottle must be wrong. But he soon realized that something was wrong, because where the gas bottle stood, there were only a pair of solitary footprints, without any extension.

　　In this snowy weather, this effect is required, unless the stuffy oil bottle falls from the sky. Or, really climbed off a cliff.

　　The old lama: "Why did your distinguished guest stop at our door?" The

　　oil bottle: "It's warm here, I'll warm up and leave immediately." The

　　oil bottle pointed to the charcoal stove, and the old lama suddenly had a strange idea. The strange custom of this temple is to set up three charcoal fires at the entrance of the temple every ten years. Is it because 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?

　　Since the temple was built, there has been this rule. He always felt that this rule was very strange. Could it be that the people who built the temple had predicted such a situation a long time ago, so they set this rule?

　　The old lama looked at the stuffy oil bottle, and the two looked at each other silently for a while. He felt a little embarrassed and said, "It's warmer inside, why don't you go in for a rest, drink a cup of butter tea and go.

　　The old lama is polite . As soon as the ground asked, the stuffy oil bottle was not polite, just nodded and said, "Okay. "

　　So the old lama introduced the stuffed oil bottle into the Lama Temple.

　　As the host, he had no guests for a long time, so he naturally wanted to show the friendship of the landlord. Please warm the body with the stuffy oil bottle, and after drinking the butter tea, he brought it with him. He walked around the temple with the stuffy oil bottle.

　　During this period, the old lama always wanted to ask the stuffy oil bottle some questions, and the strange thing was that the stuffy oil bottle didn't hide it. He repeatedly emphasized that he was from the snow-capped mountains. Come here, there is no sign of lying or covering up between the words.

　　Although the old lama at that time was young, he had been cultivated, and he had a special control over the curiosity of the world. He did not continue to ask questions. .

　　(Originally, this matter would have passed after staying in the bottle for one night at most. After the bottle of oil left, the old Lama's life would be back on track.)