Today, there seems to be a recognized, but far from self-justified, "standard world." Although most people have not personally proven it, we all believe that we live in a world that can be explained clearly. Together, curious people, we have carefully studied every part of the world. Our curiosity has been continuously proven to be worthwhile. Relying on words, all these results after repeated corrections are preserved through books, and we gain knowledge. The efficiency has increased exponentially. We no longer need to prove the arguments of our predecessors. We can quickly know almost anything by reading. Now most of us agree that we live on a blue planet in a galaxy that happens to be watery. This planet has existed for billions of years, and countless species that have disappeared have performed countless brilliance here. The evidence is at our feet, and we finally appeared on the scene and became smart at the last moment. This kind of smartness Unprecedented, we are so smart that we seem to understand the secrets of the universe, and we seem to have the ability to summarize everything in the past.

In books, we build a clear and organized world, and everything has its own label. This clear and logical world can be installed into the new brain through reading at any time, and in this new brain Rebuilding this standard world. You don’t have to go to Beijing, Paris, or Lhasa. There must be the Forbidden City, the Louvre, and the Potala Palace there. Everything is certain. This standard world is spreading rapidly because of its clear logic and countless empirical support.

A long time ago, there were countless different worlds distributed in the so-called world today. The Mayans, Egyptians, Chinese, Indians, and Greeks all described their worlds in different ways. These worlds all had different histories, spaces, and Gods and ways of life, these different worlds are perfectly integrated with their way of life, and they die peacefully in their own worlds from generation to generation, firmly believing that they will be reborn under the arrangements of those worlds. 1,500 years ago, these different worlds began to communicate and merge with each other. They tried their best to influence others with their own worlds, or were gradually influenced by other people's worlds. Today, those worlds are gradually unified into one big world, and they continue to be unified involuntarily. With.

This "standard world" greatly exceeds our senses. I typed on the keyboard and watched the words on the screen appear one by one. Next to me, golden bluebirds were singing. In the pool in front of me were irises that were about to bloom. Outside the glass window, there were irises that were about to sprout. Under the ginkgo tree is a marble sculpture, and above the sculpture is the blue sky. I looked and acted in the same way as people in ancient times, but today, all of this is more than just that: how neurons transmit information through electric charges and through which media, how vision feeds text on the computer back to the brain, how the keyboard is used What kind of plastic, how does the CPU calculate, how does the software convert English sequences into Chinese, how does the monitor control each liquid crystal point, how does the golden bluebird sound, its origin, distribution and species, the cells and growth methods of the roots, stems and leaves of the iris, The history, composition and processing technology of glass, the hydrocyanic acid toxin in ginkgo, the origin of marble and the molecular formulas of all these things. The sky is far away, followed by the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, warm layer and exosphere, and then outward. It’s the solar system, the Milky Way…. This standard world is so big that no one can fully understand it.

This "standard world" of public cognition is unquestionable, and we are all a part of it. It seems to be more reasonable, richer, or more advanced than the ancient world. This "certainty" that permeates everything drives away "ignorance". In the ignorant era, all kinds of "faith" of people were eroded by this "certainty". In the past, we believed in all kinds of weird things. existence, which today we believe only for a moment in a hypnotic state in the cinema. We now know that there are no rabbits on the moon, the Jade Emperor and those heavenly soldiers and generals seem completely unreliable, and heaven and hell are becoming more and more ridiculous... Many legends accumulated over thousands of years have been expelled from this world one by one by "truth". Machines have stopped skilled craftsmen from doing their delicate work, and common fashion has ruined people's individual "elegance." Ordinary people have been largely deprived of their creative joy by industrialization. They no longer do their own embroidery, weaving baskets, or pickling food. Children no longer make their own toys, and the magical things they get from the elderly are proven absurd by uniform education. Perfect visual transmission allows people to see anything at a low cost, including the most rugged mountains, the most expensive gems, and the most beautiful women. The concepts of sacredness and preciousness have since disappeared. The efficiency of new technologies has changed people's concept of time and patience. Today we can complete Monk Tang's pilgrimage to the West in one day and avoid demons and ghosts, but we can no longer experience anything that Xuanzang saw, heard, and thought along the way. The unified database is so powerful that nothing is new, but no one has the ability to completely recreate the world in their own mind. This "standard world" is eternal and infinite, but each of us still lives in a narrow time and space, because we will die.

I once read a story about a girl who was seriously ill. She was watching the ivy leaves on the wall opposite the window being blown off by the wind in the ward. She thought that the withering of the last leaf represented her own death, so she lost the will to live. , dying and waiting for the leaves to fall. After a painter heard about this, he braved the heavy rain at night and painted a lifelike leaf on the wall behind the bare ivy, which restored the girl's will to live and survived. However, the painter himself contracted pneumonia and died. . In this story, the fake leaf is real in the girl's mind.

For other people, what I see in front of me does not exist in the world. The world is just behind each pair of eyes. Those "my" worlds, a young man who died young and a wise old man have completely different worlds, but they are all the same. Each is complete.

This world can be like that of a traditional herdsman. Before birth, his entire world is just his mother's body. From the moment he is born, his mother's breasts, his father's voice, the smell of butter, and then the grassland outside the tent, the cattle, sheep, dogs and horses, the river The fish swimming in the water, the birds in the sky, the world begins to grow real bit by bit, the seasons change, the grass and trees wither and flourish, the livestock multiply... There is always a distance beyond the distance. He has built a rich world that is controlled by his senses. Direct participation in a confirmed world, a world that is getting closer and closer to adult recognition.

At the same time, the world outside the senses continues to extend. In distant places he has not been to, he will listen to the elders telling him what kind of people and what kind of places there are. In the end, he discovers that when he finally goes to those It turned out to be those people and things when he was in a place. He began to let others complete his world. In terms of time, he could only experience the events after birth, but from other people, he would know the stories of his parents and ancestors. Stories, ethnic stories, legendary stories, he knows that these are all things that have happened in the real world. Things he doubts can be removed from his world at any time, but he is more inclined to believe things that everyone believes, so he I know there must be a reason for people to turn around and recite Buddha's name. There must be a reason why tall temples have such an important position in people's hearts. Those who travel long distances to a certain sacred place must have a reason... He doesn't necessarily know why, but he knows it's an important part of his reality, and the world is incomplete without it. In his world, everything is related to him. Things outside this world either join his world or "do not exist".

His world is independent, and is surrounded by worlds similar to his. These small worlds agree on and support a self-justifying universe. He does not know the history of the rock under his feet or the altitude at which he stands. , His blood is thicker than people in other parts of the world, and the butter tea he likes to drink contains vitamins... His love and hate belong only to himself. He believes that he is just living in a process now, and his life is for others. A lifetime of preparation, this is the most important reason why he is here, he must be careful and pious lest he go to a worse place than now after death...

He doesn't know how different the world in the distance is from his, and is slowly coming towards him. That world will bring him countless strange things. He doesn't know how much he will love those things, nor does he know those things. How will it change him, how will it change everything around him? The world they both believe in will be destroyed by this more intuitive and powerful "standard world" that will definitely come, and he doesn't know that he will be happy with this.

Tibet is one of the few places in the world that still manages to function in ancient ways, and this is its charm. My first Tibet was Chaidan Dolma, and then there were paintings about Tibet. This Tibet was vague and unreal at first. Tibetan-themed paintings have long been the most common. Almost all art majors have a large number of works about Tibet. The natural and humanistic environment in the frontiers of Tibet, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia was in huge contrast with the monotonous visual background of China at that time. New China Art did not Accepting Western art, the spiritual and material contents of the Soviet paintings that were popular at the time were not available in China. The sadness, tragedy, tenacity, and heroism of the Soviets had nothing to do with China. The Soviets continued the Europeans’ pursuit of light. That kind of bright and clear environment does not exist in China. China is simple and gray, so painters painted Xinjiang that resembled the Soviet Union and colorful Tibet to imitate Soviet paintings. Tibet became a traditional subject of painting, even for traditional Chinese painters. He also used a large number of brushes to depict Tibet. There are so many Tibetan paintings that when we entered school, we were already disgusted with this monotonous Tibetan picture.

I never considered painting Tibet in the first three years of college. However, when choosing the topic for my graduation project, I resolutely chose Tibet. This impulse seemed to have nothing to do with painting. It was a rare opportunity that allowed me to immerse myself in Tibet. The experience of Tibet is a living and real one, a place that is completely different from us.

In December 1987, I arrived in Hongyuan via Chengdu. It was no surprise that it was a different world. I remember the excitement at that time. It was the first time I saw live yaks, living Tibetans wearing leather jackets, and young lamas. ..., the first time I heard the distant singing of a Tibetan girl within sight, followed her back to her tent, drank butter tea and tsampa for the first time, rode a horse for the first time, watched Tibetan style for the first time Slaughtering sheep, eating finger meat for the first time..., they will pluck out their beards, women herd cattle, men sew fur coats, they carry a "meteor hammer" with them to scare dogs, and there are engraved stones everywhere. The Mani flags are visible, they put cow dung on the wall to dry and then burn it as firewood, the way they walk... I remember that except for a few portrait sketches, I basically didn't draw anything. Drawing is no longer important. , I just wandered around excitedly every day, riding a borrowed bicycle to one goal a day, and slowly adapted to the herdsmen’s distance descriptions. They often pointed their horsewhips and said it was very close, which meant that it was still half a day away... The terrain of Hongyuan There are only very small ups and downs, alternating between swamps and hills, and the view is excellent. You can't feel the changes in the landscape when riding a bicycle on the trail. The coordinates are always groups of yaks. I remember that there are very few sheep in Hongyuan, but the herds of yaks are huge. It’s really amazing: how rich they are! …

The Tibetan people in Hongyuan are tall and handsome, with straight noses, cold cheeks, and calm eyes. The first portrait I created after graduation was this typical profile portrait of Hongyuan. After wandering around Hongyuan for three weeks, I felt that I had seen enough, so I transferred to Gannan, experienced heavy snow and countless sheep, stopped briefly at Labrang Monastery, and took the train back to my parents' house. Only then did I remember that I had to complete 150 sketches, and I basically didn’t draw anything, but everything about Hongyuan was completely in my mind. I used the remaining three days to make up three large volumes.” Sketch" and then rushed back to Guangzhou. I successfully completed my graduation project, and everything in Tibet seemed to be over.

My brother’s house still has a huge sheep head that I brought back from Hongyuan. My parents retired and returned to Dalian. There are still two big yak horns, a yak tail whisk, and a yak tail whisk that I brought back from Hongyuan. A large copper-cased hidden knife and two strings of Buddhist beads. I still have a Mani stone picked up from the top of a hill in Hongyuan at home. After the completion of that series of paintings, I seemed to have never thought about painting Tibet again. I occasionally returned to the Slate Studio of the Academy of Fine Arts, and I could still see the profile portrait of the man from Hongyuan on the wall of the demonstration work. Once I went to the National Art Museum of China to see a foreign exhibition. When I walked to the collection exhibition on the second floor, I was surprised to find a lithograph from my graduation work hanging on the wall - the back of an old man in a small temple in Hongyuan. I stood there and relived Hongyuan. The title of that series of paintings was "Mani is Red". It was a scripture told to me by a Sichuan doctor in Hongyuan. Later I realized that it should be called "Om Mani Padme". Hum".

After graduation, I have been painting oil paintings for more than 20 years. The paintings have always been dark and dark. The content in the paintings has become more and more simple and simple from the extreme complexity at the beginning. In the end, only the featureless human body is left. Although I like this. This kind of simple description allows you to avoid those meaningless red tapes and present the essential, unsolvable and unanswered problems in human nature in the most concise way. However, this method often pushes yourself into a dead end. As a pleasure of painting, Gradually it became monotonous. I had not even painted clothes for many years, let alone daily objects. I began to miss the state of painting when I was young. I was excited when I finished painting a bottle and cup. I felt more and more important to the painter. It is said that there is no need to deliberately maintain your own style. What you paint is your style. Style is just the natural expression of all your thinking habits, painting habits and aesthetic tendencies. Painting is ultimately just painting, it is your own painting. The joy of the painter lies in In the process of painting, not on exhibition.

I need to try new content to entertain myself, give up the idea of controlling my own style on the screen, give up the so-called artistic attitude, and even give up the concept of art, and try to follow my own "hands" to draw, because what the hands bring out is naturally you After a lifetime of accumulation, subconscious guidance is often more accurate. Although I don’t expect to understand the whole world from my own heart like Sakyamuni, at least I can find those unformed paintings from my own heart. As for the artistic attitude and atmosphere outside the studio, for For a seriously adult person, there is no value in paying attention to. As I reach middle age, I begin to feel that the recognized and certain standard world is no longer important to me. I care less and less about what others are doing. I have enough experience to abandon them. A person who has been painting for half a life can completely stop reading anything "now", listening to new music, and reading books written by living people. Time cannot be wasted on examination papers similar to Cong Rushan. Discovering genius is something like this. Books can be re-read, good things can be read over and over again, and the road can also be walked back, not necessarily forward.

When a friend made an appointment to go to Lhasa, I suddenly thought that maybe I could use Tibet to reorganize myself, because the brightness of Tibet has nothing to do with the images I have always had. I have always been afraid of bright colors because I think there are too many colors. It will lure the audience away from your well-thought-out image trap. Although the unbridled colors of Impressionism opened a door to painting, those brave colors mislead the greatest amount of painting garbage. My paintings have always been gray, calm and a little melancholy, because my memories are always gray, and my dreams are also gray. It seems that the less colorful images can more accurately express the gray problems in the gray brain, therefore, I have always been I habitually control the concentration of colors in my paintings so that viewers will not be obsessed with content that has nothing to do with my expression. I have never even dared to use blue and only used black instead. This habit has been maintained for so long that It is difficult to change, and Tibet, with its bright light colors and gray emotions that I am used to, is the most suitable place to disrupt this old habit of mine.

In addition, I think Tibet's future assimilation with the world seems destined. That standard world will not let Tibet go. People's pursuit of "convenience" will eventually end Tibet in the traditional sense, and they will eventually choose to integrate with other parts of the world. People have the same values and lifestyles, and changes in lifestyles will drain away the foundation of tradition bit by bit, eroding or substituting their perceptions. People will find that they have changed beyond recognition only when it is irreversible. This kind of disheartening The helpless process has been accurately realized in all parts of the world for hundreds of years. It is a trend in human nature. Although I deeply hate this trend, I still firmly believe in its impact, which drives me to take a good and complete look at Tibet as soon as possible, even though it is very different from before.

When the Qinghai-Tibet Railway opened to traffic, I had the urge to ride it because the train allows you to truly feel the scale of the earth, especially since the railway passes through no-man's land. This is the most economical way to quickly visit Tibet. I prepared a lot of watercolor paper. Painting on paper has an irresistible charm. First of all, all painting learning begins with paper. The cheapness of paper makes painting casual. The paper paintings left by the masters make all learning People who paint are unforgettable. The traces drawn randomly on the paper can allow you to truly understand the painter's ability. I love the sketches of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Rubens. I almost think that I can judge the quality of a painter. Just the number of works on paper is enough. The paper I brought with me was definitely endless. These papers were not so much preparation for the work that had not started, but rather a kind of kidnapping for possible laziness.

On the train from Beijing to Lhasa, the scenery outside the window is the continuous farmland on the loess. Almost all ancient Chinese history took place on this loess, which is up to 100 meters thick. This loess is like a big stage, and history seems to only pay attention to it. What happened on this stage and this piece of loess seemed to be a preview of world history. The Han people were not actually a nation, but the "world people" of the ancient world. The Yellow River Basin is a vast and fertile area with flat and smooth terrain. It is difficult to ensure the coexistence of many ethnic groups and cultures at the same time. The combination of Yanhuang and Huaxia has led to the powerful and continuous expansion and annexation of these two clans. At the same time, as a nation, The blood is becoming more and more complex. All the ethnic groups that have appeared here in history seem to be flowing in the blood of the Han people. The Khitan, Dangxiang, and Jurchen have even completely disappeared among these "people of the world". We can only be sure that we are not of a certain ethnic group. , we are just a hodgepodge of blood who share Chinese characters and Chinese language. This great country is not the winner of the ancient race, but the winner of the culture.

The Han culture in the Central Plains has been proven to be superior by history. What makes this culture sustainable is not strength and bravery or technological progress, but the long-lasting construction of metaphysical content such as rituals, music, poems and books, and a reasonable explanation of the relationship between heaven, earth, humans, emperor, people, and all things. To make the country's political structure effective for a long time, even the changes of dynasties cannot shake this consistent structure. The stable needs of the people created by the stable agricultural society make this culture more perfect, rational and not superstitious, and the stability of all parts of society Desire is controlled, and the elegant lifestyle and spiritual superiority it creates penetrate into every corner of this big country and spread in all directions. Just like the spread of materialism in the world today, he created a classical period for the world. "standard world".

But this perfect structure collapsed in the face of technological progress. The liberation of human nature turned desire into a wild horse. This desire drove people to seek knowledge and things. The knowledge revolution and technological progress it caused were like a giant axe, quickly destroying the world. All stable frameworks inherited from ancient times have given the world a new standard, a standard that the world cannot resist and can spread at a speed that cannot be corrected, a standard that there is no time to regret.

This standard is unbearable in the material world. Materially, it allows people to consume at an unprecedented rate. We consume countless times more than we need. However, spiritually it does not bring more benefits to ordinary people, but only makes their Behaviors and thoughts passively follow the invisible puppet strings that affect them. Universal morality, democracy, freedom, human nature, etc. constantly imply that people are not motivated by spontaneous spiritual needs. Perfect and pervasive laws make all behaviors seem to be controlled by Forced rather than voluntarily, our past self-disciplined qualities have become insignificant under a system dominated by heteronomy. People have lost their spiritual dignity. We are closer to animals that survive by instinct than at any time in history. ….

Altitude passed: Beijing 30-60 meters: Lanzhou 1520, Xining 2295, Qinghai Lake 3200, Golmud 2828, Mount Yuzhu 4159, Kunlun Mountain 4767, Hoh Xil 4500, Tanggula Mountain 5072, Namtso 4594, Naqu 4513, Yangbajing 4306,Lhasa 3641

The long-lasting uniqueness of Tibet is entirely due to this ruthless altitude. It is simply unimaginable to enter Lhasa with the power of humans and animals. But on the train, it all becomes so easy. The speed of 200 kilometers per hour leaves you no time to take a closer look at the antelopes eating moss. And the giant marmot standing up to look at the train beside the cave. The snow-capped mountains are very close at hand. In just ten minutes, you can see its two complete sides. The sudden arrival of the big lake makes you forget the speed of the train in an instant, and it is still, The indescribable blue shuts down the reality you are savoring like a drug, shattering all thoughts into a blue void... It is said that it took more than two years for Princess Wencheng to enter Tibet. How big the world was at that time. Even in train time, Tibet is large enough, and the magnificent landscape roaring all the way continues uninterrupted, and this long railway corridor is just a thin line crossing the vast Tibet.

The Potala Palace is probably the most well-known palace in the world. When the train entered Lhasa, I was waiting for my first glimpse of the Potala Palace. From a distance, it was quite conspicuous in the large-scale real space. , it is much grander than in the picture. It seems that there is only the Potala Palace on this huge flat land in the mountains.

I didn’t have much visual expectations for the city of Lhasa. Even though it was my first time here, I still expected the power of tourists. The street scenes were transformed into a unified tourist city atmosphere by commodities, and the inns, bars and cafes served to attract tourists from afar. , but I tend to turn a blind eye to these things in a short period of time. Soon, when the tourists and tourist shops slowly fade away in the vision, you will rediscover the system that belongs to Lhasa, those temples, clothing stores, The Tibetan system consists of daily necessities shops and sweet tea houses. From the Tibetan sweet tea houses scattered in every corner, it can be seen that Lhasa has probably needed to receive a large number of people from all over Tibet who come to worship since ancient times.

Tibet seems to surround the Potala Palace, while Lhasa seems to surround the Jokhang Temple. When I first saw the Jokhang Temple, I thought I was mistaken because it was completely submerged in the surrounding houses on the outside of Barkhor Street. Probably because of its long history, it is a rare temple built on flat ground. It was besieged by other buildings early on and limited its size, so it is far smaller than I imagined, but you can see its importance in the hearts of Tibetans from the crowds turning around the temple. I have no knowledge of Tibetan history and religion. The main purpose of coming to Lhasa is to experience the unique relationship between religion and people in Tibet. The term "all people believe in religion" does not seem to accurately describe the status of religion in the hearts of Tibetans. There are many in world history. Countries and regions where the entire population deeply believes in a certain religion, but I think the depth and time Tibetans devote to religion is unmatched by any other place. For Tibetans, it seems that any time other than work, eating and sleeping is filled with Buddhist rituals. Temples, mountains, prayers and the rotating beads make the whole of Tibet rotate. Even if you don’t understand any of the teachings of this religion, you can deeply feel it just from the behavior of the believers. They seem to intend to use their lives to What time can accomplish, what they are seriously accumulating.

Tibetan Buddhism and Chinese Buddhism are very different in form and content. Since Chinese Buddhism has always been restrained by local Confucianism and Taoism, it has interpenetrated with Confucianism and Taoism, and sects have emerged one after another. In the end, traditional Buddhism was replaced by Zen Buddhism with a literati flavor. This It was the result of the mutual adaptation between Buddhism and literati society. Although Han Buddhism had a profound influence on the emperors of many dynasties, it was always under the control of the royal power and therefore had to be forced to adapt to society. The social structure of Tibet is relatively simple. In addition, the integration of politics and religion began in the 15th century. Tibetan Buddhism has both religious and administrative functions. This allows Tibetan Buddhism to develop without hindrance and eventually penetrate into everyone in society. aspect.

The original intention of any religion is estimated to stem from people's curiosity about the relationship between themselves and nature. The source of new life and the destination of death are the first questions that all cultures are eager to solve. Once there is a convincing explanation, it will slowly form a system. There is a consensus that religion is social, so it must solve how people get along safely. Ancient society did not have the conditions to use such a large amount of manpower and material resources for management as it does today. The self-discipline formed by religion in people's hearts is very good for society. The stabilizing factor, the consensus between each social factor on good and evil, makes people get along more safely. Therefore, religion itself is an effective management system for society. Religion must give people promises, threats and rewards seem to exist in any religion. For Buddhism, gaining wisdom seems to be something that can be expected but not exact. Although Buddhist research revolves around the core of wisdom, for ordinary believers, it is not possible to directly communicate with them. What matters is probably only good and evil and the cycle of life and death. Most Tibetans live a nomadic life. For most of their lives, they face the world alone. The soul behind their eyes seems to have to control itself carefully and patiently. If this life is a better preparation for the next life, they will be more able to endure and control themselves.

Tibetans in traditional life do not seem to like to smile. Perhaps the nomadic life has made them completely adapted to loneliness, because they live far away from the hustle and bustle. Generally, Tibetans speak very softly, behave calmly, and rarely show shy expressions. The people in the temple seemed to be concentrating on it, and there were only the sounds of footsteps and the scraping of the bodies of people who kowtowed their heads against the ground.

The Jokhang Temple is different in the eyes of different people. Tourists from all over the world work hard to interpret the magical landscape in front of them. They guess all this based on their different backgrounds and use their own interpretations to build their own symbolic Tibet. , at the same time, the huge crowd rotating around the temple agreed on another world that they recognized, the world that all of them were familiar with and lived in. The sky, the temple, and the bricks and stones had other meanings to them.

I know that I am just a bystander like a tourist. No matter how hard I try, I cannot participate. Even if I know all Tibetan Buddhist classics and read all the history of Tibet, I still cannot build a Tibetan world that is as accurate as ordinary herdsmen. Because what I lack is not "have", but the huge part of "nothing" in their hearts. My world is a world filled with common sense, and my letters are based on logical relationships. Although like them, I have not verified all my common sense, the consensus of everyone around me makes me firmly believe What I believe is true. This is a huge "true" system, and this system is exactly what a herdsman's world of belief does not have. This is something I cannot abandon. The world I believe in is limited and cut off by common sense. There are many directions of consciousness, the world is surrounded by edges, and the world of Tibet seems to be infinite.

During my stay in Lhasa, I went to Drikung Ti Temple twice, one for sky burial and Buddha exposure, and one for the Vajra Dance Ceremony. On the way to Drikong Ti Temple, there are two hot springs, Riduo Hot Spring and Dezhong Hot Spring. The hot springs are probably the most popular ones. The oldest heat source that is actively used. Textbooks regard the beginning of people's use of fire as an evolutionary milestone. People can carry heat with them and use it everywhere, but even if they learn to use fire, it is still quite difficult to use it to boil a large pool of warm water. Hot springs Lying there warm all year round is like a free luxury provided by the earth. The terrain of Riduo Hot Spring is vast. It can be imagined that it was originally very spectacular, but those crude tourist buildings completely destroyed its original appearance. Those who develop tourism never seem to understand that when people enjoy the gifts provided by nature, it should also look like it should Nature provides it, not pipes and switches.

Dezhong Hot Spring is located between the cliffs near Zhigong Temple. The hot spring is in the open air. Monks and herders are constantly naked in the sun, taking a bath and resting for a while. When there are few people, I pass by the scalding hot spring. When I was in the pool, I saw a girl taking a dip in the corner. I walked past quickly in embarrassment, but I wanted to look back. Then I realized that shame can sometimes be very dirty. After dark, the sound of women and children bathing could be heard outside the room. I gently turned off the light, opened the door, and watched them quietly on the balcony. Under the moonlight, the hot spring steam was rising, and it was so beautiful.

I still think of the early morning when I arrived at the Drigong Ladder Monastery, and it still doesn’t seem like a memory in my daily memory. Perhaps the temple being built at a high place has a psychological impact on people. The relative height of the Drikung Ladder Monastery is far higher than that of the Potala Palace. Looking down at the village from above is like looking down at the world from heaven. A family of Kham people came all the way for the sky burial that day. Master Langzhu who received us said that they didn’t want other people to watch. I understand the Tibetan people’s wariness towards outsiders. After all, this is an important event. Even I myself feel that our presence will pollute their rituals. I am not particularly interested in the dismemberment process. I just want to know its environment and the state of mind of the participants. Death is a permanent topic in philosophy, and Tibet’s Life and death are particularly intense.

Most of us today tend to think that consciousness is just a function of a person's pile of matter. It will disappear when a person dies. There seems to be endless debate between monism and dualism. Monists say that the so-called soul of a person is born from the fetus. Starting from a blank, and built up bit by bit through learning, consciousness is like a system in a computer, which collapses when the computer is damaged... People who believe in the soul believe that the soul is non-material, so it is difficult to understand the soul with material thinking. The relationship with the body may be like a television. Even if the television is damaged, the signal still exists... This type of controversy all stems from the obsessive-compulsive disorder of unified theory. We hope to find a provable theory that everyone agrees on. This theory can stand in the books until a better theory overturns it. To this day, they seem to have no evidence to overturn it. For ordinary people, death is still a body without spiritual energy. In their own limited world, it is always a comfortable thing to interpret death as the departure of the soul. Believing in the soul can make people spiritually Get eternal life.

I am very curious about the eagles on the mountain. Although I know they are vultures, I still like to call them eagles. They seem to be the most important host of this ceremony. Master Langzhu led us to climb to the top of the mountain before the sky burial. The sun was shining brightly, and from a distance, there seemed to be no aura of death at the Sky Burial Platform, and at a glance, I couldn't even see an eagle. I asked Master Langzhu, and he pointed forward casually, and I followed his hand. , under the dazzling sunshine, in the shadow of the prayer flags on the hillside, a large number of gray eagles squatted. I couldn't restrain my excitement, and after obtaining Master Langzhu's permission, I quickly walked towards the eagles. My body seemed to have forgotten the high altitude, and I walked faster and faster, almost trotting, but at the last 50 meters I stopped, and I saw Clearing the eyes that were only staring at me, I suddenly remembered that they were meat eaters, and their size was much larger than I imagined. I began to be afraid. I began to feel so small, like an appetizer before a feast. I I knelt down on one leg and took a few photos. While hesitating, I suddenly remembered the string of Buddhist beads around my neck. I thought these eagles probably knew the beads, so I took off the beads, held them in my hand, and mustered up the courage to walk towards the eagles. About twenty meters away, the eagles started to fly down the mountain from scratching in groups of twos and threes. Finally, all the eagles took off. By the time I reached the highest point, all the eagles were already circling in the air. I can't describe the feeling at that moment. The eagle taking off away makes you feel the huge space around you, and this huge space is so silent, with only the rustling of the eagle's wings across the air. I know that for at least a moment that day, when I thought about the beads, I seemed to see a flash of a corner of the Tibetan world that I thought I would never be able to enter. I used the nondescript Tibetan way to restrain my fear.

I have seen many pictures of the Buddha Festival in the past, and they are basically lively scenes with huge crowds of people, seas of people, and smoke. However, the display of the Buddha in Drikung Ti Temple seems to be a routine ritual of the lamas themselves. With almost no audience, They arranged all the equipment in an orderly manner. The Buddha statues were hung high in the main hall. The lamas were meditating and chanting sutras in rows. The Dafa trumpet made a low sound from time to time. The low frequency can even vibrate your body, making people from far away feel the temple. activity.

I did not inquire about the common sense behind all this out of curiosity, I just carefully experienced the feelings brought by this ceremony. Mr. Hu Shi said in a speech about the historical evolution of Chinese Buddhism: "Because the institutional forms of those religions are weak, new sects always gradually, almost imperceptibly, replace the old religions. Zen Buddhism is just like this. Slowness replaced all the old schools, and the Pure Land Sect slowly invaded all Buddhist temples and families..." Ritual plays an important role in the inheritance of culture and tradition. Confucius's desire to restore the ritual system is also to hope that the ritual can naturalize people's hearts. , rituals can change people's casual attitudes and visualize awe and respect. One of the important factors in the spread of Islam throughout the world is the good impression that believers bring to others by strictly facing the same direction and worshiping four times a day. Similarly, Japan's tradition of focusing on rituals has maximized the preservation of its own culture. After the chaos of each dynasty change in ancient China, etiquette was often the first thing to be repaired to strengthen the rationality of rule. In ancient society, rituals were integrated into food, clothing, housing and transportation, and rituals such as offering sacrifices to heaven and ancestors may be more stable than politics in stabilizing the hearts of society. The uniqueness of Tibet cannot be separated from these unique rituals, or Tibet is a collection of these rituals.

From my own understanding, Vajra Dance seems to be a link between the inscrutable Buddhism and ordinary Tibetans. In Chinese history, Buddhism interacted with Confucianism to create psychology and Neo-Confucianism among the intellectual class. Zen Buddhism is no longer like it. Religion is more like a kind of knowledge, and Buddhism is nothing more than cause and effect of good and evil to ordinary people. Believers can find inner peace from simple scriptures that they may not necessarily understand. After thousands of years of endless explanations and insights around the doctrines of an ancient religion, the vastness of the accumulated books is daunting. All people in Tibet are religious, and it is almost impossible to explain the scriptures to every ordinary person. Therefore, this intuitive form of performance is needed Coming out, unlike showing off the Buddha, the Vajra Dance at Drikung Ti Temple is like a real festival. The temple is crowded with herdsmen coming from all directions, and even the roof is full of people. I don’t understand what those masks symbolize, and The relationship between them, because this is something I cannot understand. What I can understand is the eyes of the attentive viewer, in which I can see the rationality and magic of this scene.

Before entering Tibet, my goal seemed to be Ali, because there are not many inaccessible places in the world. It seems that Ali is a place that no one has touched. It seems that you can see the original earth in Ali. It seems that Ali has undiscovered mysteries. , it seems that those legends continue behind the insurmountable mountain.

At a friend's house in Lhasa, I happened to read a novel by Tashi Dawa. After reading the first page, I fell deeply into the bizarre story. In a remote mountain village, a girl who was loved by everyone, her snow-white thighs attracted everyone. She was excited, but it seemed that no one could get her. One day, a mute in a black leather jacket suddenly appeared at the girl's house. He spent the night at the girl's house. The next day, the drunk mute was basking in the sun at the door, and the bold hunter came forward. When I watched it, I was surprised to find that his black fur coat turned out to be its fur, and it was a human being who came down from the mountain. But the girl packed up her luggage and went up the mountain with the human being... This is a beautiful and sad story. I found it the next day I painted a watercolor based on my impression. The Himalayan Snowman is probably the most widely circulated legend. The unknown part of the world is the hiding place of the legend. People's curiosity about the legend eventually ended the legend.

The car was speeding on the asphalt road leading to Ali. In the distance, I saw the seemingly inaccessible place in the gap between the mountains. It seemed that the possibility of those stories remained, but the asphalt road would continue to extend past, showing the emptiness there. To the world, legends will one day have nowhere to hide.

The size of Ngari is indescribable because it is vast yet uninhabited, extremely beautiful yet extremely rough. The magical landscape cannot be described by photos or words. There are often no human beings in the place as far as the eye can see. On the road to Ali, I truly realized the insignificance and fragility of people. Those mountains and rivers will always be there, and naturally they will not be " "Destruction", even if people disappear, nature will still be so magnificent.

I posted this on Weibo: Kailash is destined to be a sacred mountain, because there is nothing more like a sacred mountain than her. Perhaps it is the millions of wishes that surround her that make her snow top so soft. mellow. Ali passes through countless snow-capped mountains along the way. Even if no one tells you that one of them is a sacred mountain, you will notice Kailash. Its snow-top is extremely special, like a pyramid with a swastika in the middle. It is a symbol of Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, The world center recognized by Tibet's native religion Bon and ancient Jainism.

Kailash For me, Kailash, who is not a pilgrim, I have always believed that things are how everyone sees them. A book or a painting is different for everyone. Although I believe in its divinity in the hearts of others, I cannot yet establish the true divinity of Kailash in my own heart, because I am stuck in another cognitive system, and my instinct is to find out the reasons why people choose it, and The explanation behind those magical phenomena, but I have to feel its divinity in the hearts of others. I can imagine a herdsman from a distant place who has known this sacred mountain that everyone yearns for since he was a child. You only need to go around it to wash it. All your sins in the past and present life are so simple but so far away. Everyone hopes to go to the Holy Mountain once in his lifetime... When he finally reaches the Holy Mountain after going through all kinds of difficulties, the Kailash in front of him is the real Kailash. together.

Among the many people walking around the mountain, I saw the only two women who kowtowed to the long head. They were almost at the end of the mountain trek, and were only about 3 kilometers away from Taqin. I later learned that it took 15-20 days for the long-headed kowtow to climb the mountain. It can be seen from their clothes how difficult the journey was. The knees of their aprons were sewn with car inner tubes to protect their clothes. The wear plates on their hands were extremely worn. The purple skirts looked basically earthy gray. It was another day. On a cloudy day, from a distance, they almost blended into the rocky soil in the background. None of their movements were loose or perfunctory. Their pious expressions at the moment when they clasped their hands together and recited the scriptures impressed me deeply. I stopped the car and watched for a long time. , the two of them made me feel Kailash again. I later painted them in another scene - the holy lake Manasarovar under the sacred mountain, because I had to put them in a very clean and bright environment. , the sacred mountain in their hearts is painted on the distant background of Manasarovar.

Holy Lake Manasarovar Lake and Ghost Lake Laangco were originally one large lake. Due to the drop in water level, they were divided into two adjacent lakes. Manasarovar Lake is constantly replenished by melting water from snow mountains and is the source of four major rivers. , the lake water can be metabolized and dialyzed to become the most transparent freshwater lake in China. The lakeside is full of life, while Laang Tso only has a small river in Manasarovar Lake to replenish the water source, but there is no outlet. The minerals brought over the years accumulate to form a saltwater lake. The lake water The color is so dark that humans and animals cannot drink it, and almost no grass grows near the lake. Standing on the hillside in the middle, you can see two large lakes at the same time, both are extremely beautiful but have completely different styles. Just because of the subtle differences in terrain, the nearby Namunani Snow Mountain seems to only supply melted snow water to Manasarovar.

Nature cannot choose for itself, but the human heart can. The four-wheel-drive vehicle, which was safe and sound on the shore of the Holy Lake, was deeply stuck in the lifeless sand beside the Ghost Lake. The four-wheel-drive tires were spinning at high speed, emitting a pungent burnt smell. I felt that I had burned half a tank of oil. It was almost an hour before I pulled out of the car when I was almost desperate. I stood there, looking at the traces of my wheels that were repeatedly crushed in a panic, just over 100 meters away. I stood there for a long time, and continued to drive in. While driving behind Munani Peak, I reflected on what made me rush down the beach without thinking, and what made me almost fall into this beautiful wonderland or trap with no signal and no rescue. I can tell from the water level, humus, and soil on the lakeshore. The structure, plant density and dryness found various explanations for my danger, but in the end I found that the simplest explanation was the names of the two lakes, God and Ghost. After that, I forgot about them and started to enjoy the majestic scenery with peace of mind. Namunani Peak, I have no responsibility to add an item to the encyclopedia. As long as I believe it, any explanation will be valid for me.

The conflict between mature religion and secular power seems inevitable. The religious reform movement in Europe in the 16th century and the "Three Forces to Destroy Buddhism" in Chinese history were both due to the secular power's counterattack against the expansion of religious power. With the divinity of religion, there is always the crisis of being deprived of power by religion. In Persia and Tibet, religion finally defeated the royal power. It seems difficult for the power of the faith world and the secular world to live in harmony. Guge is the product of this power struggle. In the ninth century AD, the last Tibetan leader, Zamprang Dama, was assassinated for destroying the Buddha. His sons fled to Ngari and established Guge. They learned the lessons of Tubo's death due to the destruction of the Buddha. Guge's large-scale Buddhism, but 800 years later, it perished due to the confrontation with Buddhist forces and the introduction of Christianity.

Guge seems to be the edge of the Tibetan world. In ancient times, distance meant safety. The flames of the perished Tubo ignited a splendid civilization so far away from Lhasa. Although the Guge ruins now look like towers on those soil forests. Huge skeletons, but from the remaining murals we can see how magnificent it was in its prime. The style of Guge murals is very different from Tibetan Buddhist murals in other places. It is said that Guge is rich in gold and silver, which probably attracted a large number of Indians and Nepalese Professional painters, so the Guge murals rarely have the formality of temple murals in the Tibetan area, because Tibetan murals are mainly made by monks, and the piety of the monks makes the murals too rigorous and sometimes even stiff. In Guge, the painters are not necessarily pious. Buddhists, professional painters' techniques are extremely skillful and vivid, and the colors are colorful due to the painter's professional knowledge of materials. The painting habits of foreign painters unconsciously bring a style outside Tibet to the Guge murals. This style is consistent with the content of the original murals. The organic integration created a gorgeous ancient style. This subtle evolution is very similar to the Tang Dynasty's Western culture that influenced the Central Plains and was mixed into the Tang Dynasty style.

Standing on the top of the Guge ruins, my heart is full of regret for this legend that was once true. Could the world have come this far with a rich appearance? It seems that the richness of the world is contrary to the convergence of human desires. The collapse of ancient Chinese civilization itself is the most regrettable reality. The world is being assimilated, and the powerful Chinese culture has assimilated many other cultures since ancient times. Today, the value system that made the West strong is still penetrating the world. The distrust and sense of crisis among nations require countries with different cultural backgrounds to use the unified standard of industrialization to ensure national security. The lifestyle brought about by industrialization has also The diverse world is completely destroyed in every detail.

Today’s world is fully connected, and it seems impossible to stop people’s personal choices. Things like Zhu Yuanzhang’s ban on Hu clothing and restoration of Tang suits are impossible to happen. How to build people’s pride in their own national style? What happened to the Tibetans who went to the temple in Lhasa? Modern clothing abounds. It seems that only the elderly still commonly wear Tibetan clothing. The beautiful Tibetan boots in the past are rarely seen anymore. Young people have the right to choose convenient clothes and the right to ride motorcycles to herd. People are interested in Tibetan clothing. Things you are accustomed to often do not feel precious, like those city walls lost overnight, once lost they will never come back. Lamas in Lhasa basically wear leather shoes, and lamas are the core of the overall religious ceremony in Tibet. Clothing is the most important part of the ceremony. The monk's boots are not just shoes in the ordinary sense, but a part of religious dignity.

The fate of art is probably the same. The greatest art in human history was produced in this closed but self-perfect aesthetic system. Ancient art grew up in a "superstitious" society that was opposed to scientific society. Art and science are spiritually They are opposites. People today engage in art in the same way. The language of art has been unified before people’s language. A modern person has no regional cultural attributes. People have lost the difference in the spirit behind skin color, appearance, and language. In the past, art had the conditions to develop to the extreme under a single aesthetic standard without interference, but today the unity of values and the marginalization of beliefs have spiritually drained much of the soil of art.

One of the few ancient societies like Tibet is very precious today. The world has never been perfect. We all have the perfect parts of the ancient world that we yearn for, but these parts are not the world itself. How can we be content with the imperfection here? Living peacefully in the world, maybe one day, people will pick up the ancient symbols as their own identity and regain their pride in their culture. Technological progress has benefited mankind, but does it have a limit? How can our hearts not be filled with material things? The way society operates that most people in the world today believe has been proven wrong. The lifestyle we all seem to be entitled to has cannot be given by resources. What is progress and backwardness, progress? The concept should be redefined.

Happiness is spiritual, not only material can lead to happiness, "enjoy your food, be beautiful in your clothes, live in peace, and be happy with your customs." These four sentences in "Laozi" should be how everyone treats their own culture. manner. For individuals in society, the spirit is free and selective. There is no need for individuals to become a part of the "standard world". We can choose to believe in tradition. Instead of watching the distant scientific truth, it is better to simply walk into the world established by tradition. There is already enough nutrition and space in the spiritual universe.

These paintings are the same as my attitude towards Tibet. They are Tibet poeticized by a bystander. But just like Kailash is a different Kailash in people’s hearts, these paintings are also different paintings in different people’s hearts. , the painting does not represent the real landscape, I removed all possible modern content and restored their best moment. The first oil painting I painted after I came back was of Kailash. I did not paint it as it was in my real memory. There was no sunshine in Kailash on the day I went there, and the transparent air in Tibet was unlikely to be there. Such rich light is reflected up close, but the sacred mountain can be as brilliant as it wants in the hearts of those who worship it. In the paintings, I demolished the newly built crude buildings on the hot springs and restored them to their natural state. These paintings are more like my own wishes for those people and objects, or I would say my wishes for Tibet, those eagles, Dogs, yaks, sheep, trees, mountains, rocks, and even clouds, water, and sunshine all serve this real and credible system in the paintings. For unrelated people, these paintings may be just short-lived memories in the eyes of tourists that have nothing to do with their own lives. But I hope to In the eyes of those who live there, behind the colors and traces, one can see the magic and pride emanating from their unique world.

May the light of Buddha in Tibet turn forever.

Xue Jiye April 28, 2013