There are tens of thousands of female nuns in Yaqing Temple. They build houses and live on a small island. Countless people have come to visit it because it has the name of “the daughter country closest to the Buddha”. It was not until they approached their world that they realized that such a “bitter” practice is too far away from our lives.
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Tens of thousands of nuns live together on Juem Island
A practice hut like a matchbox
The low temperature brought by the high altitude makes Yaqing Temple often covered with white snow, and the living environment is not a livable place, even if it is not harsh. However, countless Tibetans gathered here with the enthusiasm of learning Buddhism, and built log cabins by themselves. In just over 30 years, the scale of Yaqing Temple has grown from dozens of huts when it was first built to more than 20,000, forming a red ocean on the grassland. As a result, Yaqing Temple has become a sacred place for Tibetan Buddhism to study, and it is different from Seda Wuming Buddhist College, but they complement each other.
In Tibetan areas, large monasteries and Buddhist colleges are often composed of two parts: Xie Zha (Lecture Institute) and Zhu Zha (Study Institute). Xietha mainly teaches and explains scriptures, which is equivalent to theoretical study; Zhuza mainly provides a place for monks and nuns to practice, and practice on the basis of theoretical study. In the eyes of the local Tibetans, Seda Wuming Buddhist College mainly teaches the five major treatises and the works of the master, which is for Xie Zha; while Yaqing Temple has tens of thousands of people who live for a long time, and practice takes up most of the time, which is for Zhu Zha . The two Buddhist colleges both originated in the 1980s, and the masters have a close relationship. It is said that Dharma King Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche (the founder of Seda Buddhist Academy) once said: If his disciples are going to visit Yizhi Lama Aqiu Rinpoche (the master of Yaqing Temple), he is very relieved. So now you can see many disciples from Seda Buddhist Academy in Yaqing Temple.
Yaqing Temple implements strict zoning management. The Changqu River, a tributary of the Jinsha River, passes through the temple, dividing Hexi into Zaba District and east of it into Juemu District. In Tibetan areas, “Zhaba” refers to men who point out home, and “Juemu” refers to women who point out home. The two areas are divided into 8 continents by continents (ridges) as units, and the monk source management system is implemented in management, and monks and nuns from different regions live in each continent. For example, Le Nie Shuangyun Island is home to Juem from Yushu, Jiangda, Nangxi, Shiqu, Muya and Xinglong areas.
In Tibetan culture, the word “Juemu” has an extraordinary meaning: usually the king’s mother and sisters can be called “Juemu”; The different transliterations of “have the meaning of fairy and goddess. It can be seen that it is a kind of respect to call female monks Juemu. Among the monks and nuns in Yaqing Monastery, there are tens of thousands of monks and nuns in Juemu, accounting for more than half of the total number of monks and nuns. This is one of the biggest features of Yaqing Monastery, which is extremely rare in the entire Tibetan area. Surrounded by water on three sides, Juem District is often called “Juemu Island”.
There are two bridges built on the Changqu River surrounding Juemu Island. A cement bridge leads to the main hall of Yaqing Temple, and a suspension bridge leads to the “Cultivation Mountain”. Once Juemu people enter Juemu Island, they are almost isolated from the outside world, especially from adult males. Only underage boys are allowed to live here. These boys usually follow their female relatives to become monks and practice until they reach adulthood. If you choose to continue your practice, you will move to another state. Therefore, Juemu Island is also known as “the daughter country of Tibet”.
In Yaqing Temple, apart from the important main hall and sutra hall, there is almost no specific plan for the construction of residential houses, and practitioners can build them by themselves. There are thousands of houses on Juemu Island, which look like big matchboxes from a distance, densely packed together. Their structure is relatively simple, most of them are built with wooden boards, and some are also made of iron sheets, covered with a layer of coarse cloth, and covered with mud on the roof. Boards, sackcloth, earth… almost all the facilities used to keep out the weather and the sun.
Most of the huts have no floor inside, so they use the floor as a mat, and some houses will spread thin foam cushions as “beds”. In a space of a few square meters, in addition to the occupants, all living utensils and Buddhist altars must be placed. Most of the living utensils are shared by several Juemu, who help each other to survive. In addition, some Juemu were ingenious, putting a few empty plastic bottles and planting green plants inside to add some vitality to the house. Some strong houses will have a red practice hut on the roof. Rather than saying it is a practice house, it is more accurate to call it a “practice room”. Its size is no more than one or two square meters, and it is usually a simple shed that can only accommodate one person to meditate. In the plateau area, there is plenty of sunshine in winter, but the temperature difference between day and night is large. The temperature is often in the tens of degrees Celsius on sunny days, and drops below zero at night. The space of the practice room is small, and it is easy to maintain a more suitable temperature, which is also more conducive to practice. This kind of small house, in addition to being spread all over Juemu Island, is also scattered on the hillside near Juemu Island, which has become a major feature of local Buddhist architecture.
Every morning or dusk, smoke rises from the huts all over the mountains, the river water is shimmering, and the sound of chanting sutras is faintly heard in the distance. On the hillside around Juemu Island, you can overlook the main hall of the Yaqing Temple, the Consummation and Brightness Hall. It is built on the prototype of the main hall of the Sanye Temple in Tibet, “Wuzi Hall”. The murals are exquisite and extraordinary, in sharp contrast with the nearby monks and nuns’ houses. Juem, who practiced in Yaqing Temple, has a wide range of ages, ranging from children as young as a few years old to 70-year-old women. They all live in “match” houses. , only to reach the highest state of mind.
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100-day retreat in winter
arduous practice in isolation
Yaqing Temple requires its disciples to retreat and practice in seclusion. The so-called “wear a red dress to cultivate the Buddha’s heart, and once a red wall separates the world of mortals”, as long as you enter the temple, you must cut off your desires and practice steadily.
Turning around the mountain is a ritual in Tibetan Buddhism to express devotion to the Buddha. The monks and nuns of Yaqing Temple have to walk around the mountain at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters every day around 10 am, rain or shine, Juemu around the south mountain, Zaba around the north mountain, and they can’t return to their residence until around 5 pm. Three practice activities are held every morning, afternoon and evening.
In fact, maintaining a life here is a practice. In addition to the precepts and temple regulations that are held by traditional Buddhist monks and nuns, Yaqing Temple also has its own unique temple regulations: at night, Juemu cannot go to Zaba District, Zaba cannot go to Juemu District, and family members are not allowed to stay in Juemu District ; Juem should buy reasonably priced items in the monastery’s store, but not in the Zaba area. Try not to buy in the store outside the monastery unless it is necessary; you must ask for leave when you go out, otherwise it will be difficult to return to the monastery; you cannot participate in chanting activities or Fa conference, you must explain the situation…
Tibetan monasteries are different from Chinese monasteries. The monasteries adhere to the principle of “practice is free and life is self-care”. They are not responsible for providing food, clothing and shelter for the permanent residents. Practitioners are all supported by their families. Juems eat tsampa brought from home as their staple food, and their monthly “income” depends on the amount of offerings (gifts) chanting scriptures in the temple, as well as their own cultivation and the rituals they undertake. Generally, they will get tens of yuan to Hundreds of dollars in money for chanting sutras. For a long time, some Juem can get about 300 yuan, and it is said that the least is only 1 yuan a day for living expenses, which is just enough to buy a tsampa. Therefore, some monks who have family difficulties or have lost family ties have a very difficult life. From the perspective of helping practitioners, the monastery will also organize donations to subsidize the poor Juem to complete their practice. Here, the use of water and electricity is also considered a luxury, so practitioners basically use gas when lighting a fire, and they can often be seen bending forward with gas tanks on their backs.
Every year, Juem leaves for various reasons, but more Juem choose to stick to their faith and continue to practice. People often lament the spirit and perseverance of “Tibetan Jormu”, saying that they are the last group of people in the world who are calm and free from any temptation.
Every November, when the cold winter is approaching, the outdoor public classes in the temple are coming to an end, and the day of the hundred-day retreat is coming. Juems will enter their respective practice houses for a hundred-day retreat. The so-called hundred days are actually 108 days. “108” has a special meaning, referring to the sum of all sufferings in the world, that is, the four directions (south, south, northwest), three worlds (desire world, form world, colorless world), three worlds (past, present and future), and three thoughts (greed, hatred and ignorance). product.
However, not all juems are “qualified” to enter the hundred-day retreat. The master of Yaqing Temple will conduct three assessments on the retreaters, and only those who pass the assessment can be qualified for retreat. In addition to passing the assessment, the retreatees also need to have a strong body to cope with the harsh environment and extreme weather. Before retreating, they need to go down the mountain for a physical examination and obtain a health certificate. On the eve of the retreat, the master personally led the disciples to circumambulate the Tripitaka, and then led them to meditate in front of the mountain for seven consecutive days. Only when everything is ready can we enter the retreat. The retreat at Yaqing Temple can be described as truly “isolated”. Juemu follow the “three-door retreat”: the body is closed to not be seen by others; the speech is closed to avoid vulgar words; the mind is closed to stay away from greed and hatred. This means that retreaters cannot speak a word with others, and cannot exchange any information with others until the hundred days have passed.
After the 100-day retreat, less than 3% of Juem can get the achievement certificate of Aqiu Lama in the monastery, which is the supreme honor for Juem. Therefore, Juemu who come to practice often live for at least three to five years, and as many as ten years, just to obtain confirmation, and then most of them will return to the temple in their hometown to continue the next stage of practice.
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Solemn Puja
Ghee craft and multicolored prayer flag tower
In addition to daily practice, the annual puja is also an important part of monks and nuns’ life. Every Dharma meeting, tens of thousands of people gather in the temple square to listen to the master’s teachings. There is almost no open space, but it is orderly, and the scene is shocking.
There are 7 main large-scale puja activities in Yaqing Temple every year, and the time is relatively fixed. With the end of the 100-day retreat, after December 30th in the Tibetan calendar, the 19-day eight-pass fasting ceremony began. The beginning of the puja is also announcing the beginning of a new year of practice.
Before holding the Dharma meeting in the temple, some monks and nuns will make offerings in the main hall of Yaqing Temple. For them, construction and manufacturing crafts are also part of their practice. The construction of temples, sculpture of Buddha statues, and painted wall paintings are all done by themselves and passed down from generation to generation. Monks and nuns usually sit in the main hall, surrounded by various paints and ghee dough balls, and then they will knead the ghee into different shapes and put them on a disc, supplemented by carving tools, and carve different patterns on the disc. Finally, all the parts are spliced together to form small pagodas. This is one of the offerings for the puja.
Among the large-scale pujas, the most well-known one is probably the “Dan Si Du Gaer”, which is the Vajra Dance Puja. During the period from May 12th to May 22nd in the Tibetan calendar, the exhibition will mainly perform excerpts from the biography of King Gesar. “Gesar” is the most important heroic epic of the Tibetan people. It has not only been sung by Tibetans in history, but also evolved in major Tibetan operas and monasteries. But in Yaqing Temple, the evolution of Vajra Dance Ceremony puts more emphasis on “Gar”, that is, the part of King Gesar’s biography of subjugating demons and eliminating demons.
Only during the Vajra Dance Dharma Assembly will Yaqing Temple erect its famous prayer flag tower. It is generally believed in Tibet that when the wind blows the prayer flags, it can carry the words printed on the prayer flags to farther places, so that all beings who touch the wind will be protected. The other name of the prayer flag “Fengma Flag” was born from this. The exterior of the Prayer Flag Pagoda of Yaqing Temple is in the shape of an umbrella. Prayer flags of different colors are layered together to soften the sun’s light. The gradient colors make the interior space present a soft and colorful visual effect like water.
When Dharma King Jigme Phuntsok was alive, the Vajra Dance Dharma Assembly was performed in Seda Wuming Buddhist Academy for nearly 20 years. He thinks that dancing “Dan Sdugal” will have a big impact. According to his entrustment, Aqiu Rinpoche of Yaqing Monastery also established the tradition of holding this puja in the monastery. Today, as Jigme Phuntsok said, this tradition connects the monastery and Tibetan people closely in the Changtai area, and even in a larger area, making the Dharma meeting a bond of mutual communication; at the same time, the annual The ceremony also attracted countless tourists from other places, who came here one after another just to explore the different cultural customs of Tibet.
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