So I followed the custom and went to Gonpozi twice in 2009 and 10 to try to "wash away my sins".
Whether or not I washed away my sins, I don't know. But the feeling and experience of going to Gang Rinpoche is exceptionally unforgettable and special.
09, because in Lhasa, carpooling out of Ali's plan, there is no trip to turn Gang Rinpoche. At the foot of the Gon Rinpoche in the town of Tarquin, a hotel and carpooling friends argued for several hours after the final decision not to turn the Gon Rinpoche.
In the summer of 2010, I traveled to Tarquin again. This time, the carpooling group, two men and two women, the women are Xiaotang (from Fujian), Xiaoyu (from Guangxi), the men are Amin (engaged in PE in Beijing), and me. A Ming in Shigatse is still hesitant to go to turn, and then the next day even with the chartered Tibetan driver Yixi Sangzhu inquired about "can wear the Tibetan lama's monastic clothing to go to the sacred mountain," if you can, he intends to go to get a set of wear to go to turn the mountain!
Nearly nine years have passed, and now I have forgotten how he made such a transformation in a single day. However, passing by the Gondola and not going for a turn is really unforgivable. Isn't it?
Finally, it was the first day of the transmigration. Master Yixi drove and pulled us to a place at the foot of the mountain, which was considered to be our last ride. He gave each of us a high-five and said in his standard, but slightly stuttered, Mandarin, "Go for it! Be safe!"
Because he was aware of the risks involved. Especially for those of us from the plains of the interior.
Gon Rinpoche, Tibetan Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Tibetan Buddhism, "the center of the world", every year there are a large number of Indian worshippers over the mountains, from the plains of India to this 5,000 meters above sea level to worship the sacred mountain, every year there are worshipping worshippers due to high altitude sickness in the mountain pilgrimage to worship on the way to the death of the matter. There was one such person among Master Yixi's Indian guests. In the end, Yixi fixed the Indian guest's body in the back seat and drove to the India-China border.
So it's not easy to "wash away your sins". Even risking one's life.
But the four of us couldn't care less.
The start was mainly on flat ground, not too physically demanding, and everyone was excited, taking pictures and singing. Almost an hour later, though, Armin was pale and hobbling, reacting strongly. Little Fish slowed his pace and stayed behind to look after him, while I walked ahead with Tang. Slowly, the two companions behind us could not be seen. But also began to feel more and more tired, the more breathless the thicker. Almost two to three hours later, finally saw a tent, which sells food! I and Tang's eyes light up, two people do not say a word very tacit understanding into the tent. First of all, we will have a Kangshifu instant noodles!
After eating the noodles, the two partners behind us also came to the tent. A-Ming was still pale and lackluster, and seemed to be on the verge of quitting in the middle of the day. After inquiring, the first resting point in front of us is a temple with a simple hostel next to it, where we can go to do some resting and adjusting. So a few of us pulled ourselves together and headed towards the temple.
Almost three o'clock in the afternoon, finally arrived at the temple near. By this time, the shape of the Gonarezhou was not quite the same as what we were used to seeing, and there was much less snow on the summit. We had come to the north side of Gonarezhou.
And we seemed to be a little closer to the summit, too. In the valley near the temple, many Indian believers were sitting cross-legged on the ground, facing the sacred mountain, with both eyes slightly closed and chanting under their breath. Little fish out of the camera to shoot, but I held back. In the face of piety, I can not bear to disturb.
Aming and Xiaoyu decided to rest in the hostel near the temple on the first day to get through the high altitude sickness, and rent a horse to finish the sacred mountain tomorrow if it is not possible. Xiaotang and I think it's only about 3:00 p.m., how can we finish the trip tomorrow if we rest so early? We decided to keep going.
My little Tang and I just set off soon, the road on the way to meet a monk dressed in lama across the walk, he is also in the turn of the mountain, but he is counterclockwise turn, with our opposite. Chatting with him, he came from a monastery in Aba, Sichuan Province, believing in the Tibetan native religion of Bengtism. Unlike Tibetan Buddhism, the Bengali religion is counterclockwise, and shaking the Bible drum is also counterclockwise. He said he has been here for a few days, one day to turn a circle, to turn 12 times. It is really admirable! Is this the power of the body or the power of faith?
"We will meet again tomorrow!" The lama said when we parted. It was also true that he turned around once a day, and there was a chance that we would meet him again on the next day's journey. It is said that to meet on the mountain road is 500 years to repair the fate, then with him is 1000 years of fate!
However, at this point I realized that my stamina seemed to be at its end, and the trail seemed to be getting steeper and much more difficult to walk than it was in the morning. I began to pant heavily, stopping to rest more and more often and at shorter intervals.
What's strange is that in the morning, Xiao Tang, who was still struggling, was suddenly walking like a rock, often shouting "A Liao, hurry up, hurry up" at me from a height of more than a hundred meters in front of me. She should be through the physical limit of the platform, while I am still sliding into the abyss, physical strength close to exhaustion.
I started counting to myself, forcing myself to finish 100 steps before I could stop and rest. I don't know how many times I've repeated this, but I've fallen into a state of struggle that says, "I want to go on, I want to live, I want to go on, I want to live ......".
This time, the two legs like lead as heavy, and, the chest also began to change from a stuffy into some pain, heartbeat extremely fast. I suddenly remembered that I had a small canister of oxygen with me and hurriedly took it out to inhale. It took me less than five minutes to finish it. After sucking it seems to be a little better, and then continue to go up.
At this point, the road was constantly being overtaken by Tibetan compatriots, who told me to go over "that mountain ridge" to the pass ZhuoMaLa, and then go down.
The result is that I and Xiaotang managed to turn over to "that mountain ridge", only to realize that there are still a lot of mountains in the distance in the highlands, the pass ZhuoMaLa can not be seen at all.
This time has been more than eight o'clock in the evening, the sky began to darken. It seemed that there was no one else in front of or behind me and Xiao Tang, just the two of us crawling hard. Suddenly a fork in the road appeared in front of us, and we didn't know which way to go. In case you go wrong, then turn back, I'm afraid it's already late at night, in case of physical fitness problems again, and can't meet people to help, at an altitude of more than 5,000 meters on the mountains at night, no cold clothing, I'm afraid of ...... At this time it's very bizarre, "death" two words suddenly jumped out.
For a few dozen seconds, these two words loomed in my mind, lingering. No, this can't happen! Have to calm down. After surveying and analyzing the area, Tang and I found a small amount of feces on one of the roads, probably horse feces, and decided to take that road.
Of course, we made the right choice. Walking along that path to higher ground, we found that several Tibetans who had been below us and far away earlier had caught up. The oldest of them was probably in her forties, and the youngest little girl was about 5 or 6 years old. Tang and I sat there to rest, and they stopped to rest beside us.
I was already in a state of complete "struggle" and had no energy to chat with them, but just kept gasping for air. There was no oxygen left to breathe.
They continued on their way, with Tang and I following behind. After climbing over one more mountain ridge, we were really going to reach the pass Zhuo Ma La. At this time I heard not far in front of a tender voice shouting at me "uncle, fast, uncle, fast ......". I have been too tired to raise my head completely, just from my head down to look at the road in the eyes of the afterglow, I saw that Tibetan little girl shouting at me constantly.
The Tibetan girl shouted a few sentences of Mandarin "uncle, fast, uncle, fast ......", is not so standard, at that time to me is a great encouragement, and now think of it, that a few phrases of tender children's voices are still ringing in my ears, as if the Yesterday ......
Slowly, the little girl's tender shouts could not be heard, the few Tibetan girls could not be seen, and even Xiao Tang disappeared from my eyes. I could only hear my own gasps, the sound of my heartbeat, and the sound of the whistling wind! Originally, unknowingly, I have come to the ZhuoMaLa pass, which is full of colorful streamers, in the pass of the evening wind blowing violently, the streamers flying high, issued "hula hula" sound, seems to be in the chanting of the same.
I was a person alone from a large area of the banner through, that each banner, is a mountaineer wish, or pray for peace and prosperity, or pray for a happy family, or pray for good health. The image of the mountaineers behind the streamers seems to have surfaced one by one in front of my eyes ......
Unfortunately, the mountaineers were ill-prepared for the trip, and when purchasing mountaineering supplies in the town of Tarquin at the foot of the mountain, I only remembered to buy myself a pair of so-called mountaineering shoes, but did not have the most important streamers ready. Then in the ZhuoMaLa pass more read a few times six words of truth, more shout a few voices "ha cha lo" it ! (Tibetan for "God has triumphed!")
From Drolma La pass down is downhill. But it's not true that it's easy to go up and hard to go down, especially for people like me who have had knee injuries. In fact, the outside of the knee on one of my legs had begun to ache on the way up, and now the pain was beginning to intensify, and all I could do was limp my way down, at a slower pace than I seemed to be going up.
Fortunately, I could see Tang again, a few hundred meters away from me, and she was no longer shouting at me, "Liao, hurry up, hurry up". I'm not sure if she's too far away, or if she's completely disappointed in me and thinks I'm hopeless, so she's going to abandon me.
No time to think, I can only clench my teeth, limping forward. From the pass down, somehow gradually see no Tibetan believers, including the previous also constantly shouted at me "uncle, fast, uncle, fast ......" Tibetan little girl, also can not see. On the other hand, we continue to see the same as us from the mainland to turn the mountain tourists, their equipment is much better than us, there are headlamps to illuminate the road, I hurried to follow them, lest the mountain road is too dark to slip.
Thank you! I finally saw the first day's resting point tent! It's already past 10:00 p.m. Tang and I, along with a few other Han Chinese tourists, after eating instant noodles, bread and chocolates, huddled inside a tent with five or six mattresses, one rented for 50 yuan a night. Acceptable, then hurry up to sleep, clothes are basically do not have to take off, also do not care that the mattress next to me is sleeping two people - a pair of Jiangsu and Liaoning, respectively, in Ali just a few days to know, now already sleeping together with the male and female "couple"!
But next to her, Xiao Tang sat on the mattress and did not sleep, she said, "stomach ache". Every time I go to Tibet, I bring a lot of various kinds of medicine, I said I have stomach medicine. The company's website is a great source of information about the company's products and services, and the company's website.
"I have stomach cancer," Tang said. This statement immediately shocked me. I didn't know what to say to her, but admiration grew inside me. Everyone travels thousands of miles to Ali, Tibet, to turn mountains for different purposes, and Xiaotang should come to experience life!
Before I went to bed, I asked the owner of the rest stop, a young Tibetan man who looked very smart, if there was a horse for rent. If my knee continues to hurt tomorrow, I'm afraid I won't be able to finish the next day's trip!
Unexpectedly, the next morning, the Tibetan boss woke up, leading a horse to find me, said "found a horse, 700 yuan. But after a night's rest, my knee didn't seem to hurt anymore. I bounced in place a few times, trotted a few more steps, still no pain, and told the owner, "I want to finish the hike, I'm not renting the horse, sorry".
But only a few hundred meters after Tang and I walked out, up and down dozens of rock piles, the pain on the outside of my knee flared up again! My God! Unable to hold on, we had to go back to the Tibetan boss for a rental horse.
"It's 800 yuan now," the Tibetan boss said. OK! You have to say a thousand dollars I'm afraid I have to rent ah ......
So, forced to start riding the next day. The boss assigned me the horseman is a Tibetan herdsman who looks more than forty years old, wearing a top hat, in front of the horse, not much to say, Chinese is not very good. The two of us started the next day's trek in silence, while Xiao Tang traveled in the back in a group with other trekkers.
I remember the next day was sunny and clear, and I was riding my horse on the mountain road. Empty valley, occasionally you can hear the sound of distant mountain-transmitting people talking, but the sound of the bells on the horse was so clear and crisp ...... At that moment, I seemed to be intoxicated, as if after experiencing the pain of the previous day, now everything is clear.
Far away on the hillside, there are a few Tibetan believers, should be on the way to turn the mountain rest. We were about a hundred meters apart, and a few of them looked at me, and I looked at them. I wanted to explain to them that I was riding my horse around the mountain because my knees were hurting, but in the end I didn't say anything, just waved at them from a distance, and they all waved at me at the same time ......
Then the silent horseman said, "Let me sing you a song. "
The sun and the moon are the daughters of one mother
Their mother, ah~, is called Bright, Bright
Ah~The Tibetans and the Han Chinese are the daughters of one mother
Our mother is called China
Our mother is called China
Their mother is called Bright, Bright
Our mother is called China
This song is the first of its kind in the world, and it's the first of its kind in the world.
That would be the first time I heard the song "A Mother's Daughter", but it was a bit more moving than hearing it on the computer later.
By this time there were more and more people on the trail, many of whom were our Tibetan followers. It seems that the tent where we rested last night is not the only resting point, otherwise how could so many Tibetan compatriots suddenly appear? I was looking for the little girl in the crowd of people trying to find her last night, but I couldn't find her anymore.
The first time I saw the movie, I saw the movie, and then I saw the movie, and then I saw the movie, and then I saw the movie, and then I saw the movie, and then I saw the movie, and then I saw the movie. He wore a Tibetan-style felt hat and was dressed closer to the mainland. He also noticed that I was riding a horse and took the initiative to greet me. It turned out that he is the vice president of the Agricultural Bank of Ali, he said that usually work is very busy, it has been difficult to find time to turn the mountain, but the Tibetans will come to turn at least once in their lives, this time finally arranged a few days, want to make up for this long time should be completed "homework".
At that time, I was thinking, "What do we Han Chinese have to accomplish in our lifetime? I couldn't think of any. The president received a modern education, spoke standard Mandarin, and along the way talked to me about the Agricultural Bank of China's share price of only 2.8 yuan, "undervalued". This Tibetan governor, even if he has accepted a lot of modern, mainland things, but the tradition of turning the mountain still can not be violated.
Small Tang and a few Tibetan young men came up from behind. Two of those Tibetan youths were studying in Tibetan classes in the mainland, and had come over to turn the mountain after returning to Tibet from the mainland during the summer vacation. One of them was walking with a limp, and it was obvious that the knee of one leg had been sprained. I told him, "Come up and ride the horse, take it easy," but he politely declined.
This time it was one or two o'clock in the afternoon, and at an altitude of about 5000 meters, the sun was shining and the ultraviolet rays were quite strong. In the distance, a Tibetan red figure slowly approached, and it looked like the lama we had met the previous afternoon! He obviously also recognized me and Tang, very happy to come over, like an old friend to ask questions. He said, "Well, I told you we'd meet again, and I was right," he said.
To this day, I regret not having taken a picture with this lama from Aba, Sichuan, who believes in the Benzai religion, and I only remember that he was about 30 years old, taller, and had a lean and kind face. When I met him again, Tang and I have been close to the end of the mountain, has been too tired to describe, and he just began to do not know how many laps of the mountain trip, and tomorrow will continue the same mountain, has been turning 12 laps, to be considered to complete his set "homework".
I don't know whether this lama has now become a monk, no matter whether he is a monk or not, he has already done his part, and has done his part in the devotion to the faith and perseverance. What do you think?
About 4:00 pm, Tang and I arrived at a small house, my coachman said, the turn around the mountain is finished, the turn here is considered to be completed turn around the mountain, you can call the driver to come to pick us up.
This is the end? I think it's too soon, most of the day before is still in the agony of pain, and now it's over in a flash, there is a little bit of reluctance.
But, after receiving our call and driving over to pick up me and Tang, Mr. Yixi Sangzhu saw the horse and its driver and asked me, "You rode a horse?" I explained that my knee was really hurting. I explained that my knee was too painful to hold on, and I was forced to ride through the next day. I asked Yixi nervously, "Does this count as a complete mountain trip?" Yixi Sangju, with a sullen face, didn't answer me.
I finally understood why the limping Tibetan youth who was studying Tibet in the mainland refused to ride my rented horse.
Because the minimum requirement for mountaineering, especially for Gonpozi, is to walk through it on foot, if not to kowtow.
So, technically, I can't be considered to have completed a Gonzaga trek, and naturally, the "sins of the body" have not been washed away.
We often say that life needs rituals. In Ali, in Gonzaga, this feeling is even stronger.
Thanks to Yixi Sangju! for teaching me this simple, yet easily overlooked truth.
So, my friends, if you want to go to Tibet to visit Gonpozi in Ali, you might as well ask me to be your guide. I think I should be okay.
But being a guide is really just a pretty good excuse; I've always wanted to find a chance to go and turn Gon Rinpoche again, and that time it must be done on foot!