塔尔寺在西宁市西南，距市中心25 公里的莲花山中。它是为了纪念宗喀巴*而建立的。传说宗喀巴出生时，剪脐带①流下的血落在地上，就长出了一棵菩提树*。据说，那棵菩提树现在还活着，德行高的人还可以在菩提树的树叶上看到佛像。

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

每天，塔尔寺里都有许多虔诚②的信徒在磕长头。他们让整个身体贴着地面，一遍一遍重复同样的动作。据说，要想功德圆满③就要磕十万个长头，即使是年轻人大概也要用三个月的时间，老年人恐怕就要用半年或更长时间了。

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

走进塔尔寺，我注意到这里的壁画很多，主要建筑的墙上、门上和柱子上都有各种各样的壁画。画面有藏族和印度艺术的风格，现在看上去仍然十分清晰、鲜艳，真的很难想象这些壁画是几百年前就已经画在那里的。导游告诉我们，这是因为这些壁画使用了天然的颜料和金粉。

 

和壁画一起被称为“塔尔寺艺术三绝”的还有酥油④花和堆绣。这酥油花可不是一种植物，而是用酥油做成的佛像、花鸟、建筑等等。以前，酥油花只在正月十五晚上展出一夜，然后就全部烧掉。现在塔尔寺建成了酥油花展览馆，我们可以随时观赏各种色彩鲜艳、栩栩如生⑤的酥油花，信徒们也可以随时来朝拜这些酥油花了。

 

堆绣是塔尔寺的另一“绝”，它是一种立体的刺绣，好像浮雕⑥一样。导游说，每年在纪念释迦牟尼*和宗喀巴的法会上，莲花山上都要轮流展晒大佛绣像。这些堆绣的大佛像一幅就能盖住一面山坡，而它们都是喇嘛⑦工匠们一针一线绣成的。

塔尔寺的每一座建筑、每一件艺术品和每一个声音都让我感受到佛教艺术的高超和信徒们的虔诚。在塔尔寺深刻体会了藏传佛教的魅力后，我怀着期待的心情踏上了从青海到西藏的旅途。

 

Ta’er Monastery, built as a tribute to Tsongkhapa, is located on Lotus Hill 25 km southwest of Xining. It is said that when Tsongkhapa was born, the blood from his umbilical cord dropped on the ground and it was on this exact spot where a Bodhi tree later grew. The tree is said to be still alive today and people with high moral and religious integrity are able to see images of Buddha in the leaves of the tree.

Every day many pious Buddhist pilgrims can be seen in Ta’er Monastery. They kneel down, bow and then prostrate themselves towards the enshrined statues of Buddha and bodhisattvas. They get up and repeat the same act again and again as they make their way forward. It is believed that a pilgrim has to repeat this act of veneration 100,000 times before he or she can be deemed to have satisfactorily completed the necessary charitable and pious deeds expected of them. For a young adult pilgrim it would take about three months to achieve this and probably half a year or more for an elderly person.

Upon entering Ta’er Monastery, I notice that there are many murals of various kinds on walls, doors and pillars, with styles characteristic of both Tibetan and Hindu art. All of them look so bright and colourful that it is hard to imagine that they have been there for centuries. The guide tells us that the murals look so fresh because they were painted with natural pigments and gold powder.

Besides mural art, Ta’er Monastery is also renowned for its “butter flower” and raised embroidery. Together these three constitute the “three peerless art forms at Ta’er Monastery”. The so-called butter flower is not the flower of a plant, but sculptures of Buddha, flowers, birds and buildings made from yak butter. Traditionally, such handiwork was exhibited only on the night of the 15th day of the 1st lunar month and then were burned the next day. Now Ta’er Monastery has an exhibition center where visitors can see all kinds of brightly-coloured lifelike butter sculptures at any time, and pilgrims can also go and worship them.

Raised embroidery has a dimensional feel like a relief. As the guide explains, huge tapestries embroidered with images of Buddha are unrolled one by one in rotation on the slope of Lotus Hill at the annual ritual service held in commemoration of Sakyamuni Buddha and Tsongkhapa. The embroidered tapestries are so large that each single one covers up the entire hill slope. They are all hand embroidered stitch by stitch by skilled lama craftsmen.

Every building, every piece of artwork and every sound at the Ta’er Monastery stands testimony to the superb artistry of Tibetan architects, sculptors and painters and speaks volumes of the true piety of Buddhist devotees. Having appreciated the appeal of Tibetan Buddhism, I can hardly wait to embark on the journey from Qinghai to Tibet.

 

*藏传佛教 Zàngchuán-Fójiào: Tibetan Buddhism, also known as Lamaism, evolved into its present form on the basis of Mahayana Buddhism after it entered Tibet from India in the 7th century and adopted some elements of indigenous shamanistic religion. It is now active in Tibet, Qinghai and Inner Mongolia.

*宗喀巴 Zōngkābā: Tsongkhapa, founder of the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism (also known as the Yellow Sect), which is the largest school of all, and a Buddhist theorist.

*菩提树 pútí shù: Bodhi tree, a kind of fig tree native to India. In Buddhist legend, it was under such a tree that Sakyamuni sat on the night he attained enlightenment. After that he became known as the Buddha, a title meaning “the Awakened One” or “the Enlightened One”. The Bodhi trees now seen in Buddhist monasteries are believed to be offshoots of this tree and are regarded as sacred by Buddhists.

*释迦牟尼 Shìjiāmóuní: Sakyamuni, a title often given to the Buddha meaning “the Sage of the Sakyans”. The Buddha’s family belonged to the Sakyan clan of northern India.

 

①脐带qídài: umbilical cord

②虔诚qiánchéng: pious

③功德圆满gōngdé yuánmǎn: satisfactorily complete all the necessary charitable and pious deeds expected of a Buddhist believer

④ 酥油sūyóu: yak butter

⑤ 栩栩如生xǔxǔ rúshēng: lifelike

⑥ 浮雕fúdiāo: relief

⑦ 喇嘛lǎmɑ: a Tibetan Buddhist monk. In Tibetan it means a “superior one”.