The story of Nima, a young Tibetan boy, was originally published in the original version of Dzi – The Tibetan Legend. However, because the book was too large, the story was taken out of the later revised Chinese and English editions, and many readers did not get to read it. It is now a stand-alone article, authorized to be published exclusively by “theLivings” on NetEase. This article is the first part of “The Tibetan Boy Who Went Away”.
A hundred Pian cows go up the mountain to graze, only one Aguo turns around and goes down the mountain.
–Tibetan proverb
1
Nima took me on a motorcycle to the monastery on Mount Gongga near his home. He rode his motorcycle very fierce, “boom” fast up the mountain along the jagged rocks, next to the ten thousand feet of cliffs, but we have no danger – thanks to his skilled technology, and motorcycle unbelievably strong tires.
There are two monasteries on the mountain, the big one is the Sakya school’s Khamtse Za Monastery, and the small one is the Kagyu school’s Gongga New Monastery. We just stepped into Khamtse Za Temple, we heard a crisp female voice: “You’re here!”
From the main hall out of a young nun, a yellow on the white monk clothes, head wearing a red baseball cap, cheeks white and red, apparently here in the sun out of the plateau red. She is not tall, her eyes are bright, and when she speaks, she has a mouthful of white and neat teeth.
Her name is Guoqing, a native of Mentougou, Beijing. She became a monk at Baolian Nunnery in Maoming, Guangdong a few years ago, and has been studying here for six months. We were drinking clear tea in a dirty room.
“How come you don’t see any monks here?” I asked.
Goqing said there were more than 30 lamas here, and it was wormwood digging season and the monastery was on vacation. “Some monks in the mainland earn a high income, but Tibetan monks are all on their own, the monastery does not care. This monastery is so poor that it can’t even afford to repair that road up the mountain. The monastery had to take a vacation during the wormwood season, and the monks were able to sustain themselves for the whole year with the income from digging wormwood for a month.”
I asked her, “After becoming a monk, do you feel any different from before?”
“Of course it’s so different. At home, you have to work and earn money to support your family; when you become a monk, you don’t have to do anything, it’s pure.”
“What is your greatest wish?”
“Of course, to penetrate life and death and become a Buddha.”
We walked outside the monastery, and just now the sun was shining, but now it was falling rain. “The weather here is like their electric lights, bright for a while and dark for a while.” Goqing said. Because it is a small hydropower station, the current here is very abnormal. Nima and I laughed out loud, the analogy was really brilliant.
“How do you two know each other?” I asked.
Goqing said that the first time he met Nyima was the first day of the New Year when he came to the monastery on a pilgrimage.
“You see so many people every day, why do you remember him?”
“He’s special.” Goqing laughed.
“What’s so special about him?”
“The khenpos at the monastery always talk about him.”
“Talk about him what?”
Go Qing he laughed, not to say.
Nima in the local celebrity, from childhood to break out of the jungle reputation is not very good, monks do not want to talk about such gossip.
2
Nima is Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Muya people, Muya people refers to the highest peak in Sichuan Gonga Mountain area around the Khampa ethnic group, speaking a unique Muya language. Some scholars believe that the Muyas are descendants of the Xixia people – after the rise of the Mongols, the nomadic Xixia Dangxiang people in the Loop were forced to move south into the Tibetan area of Kangding, Sichuan; however, some scholars believe that the Muyas have lived here since ancient times and are an ancient tribe called the “Miyak”.
Nima is a native of Kangding County, which is the capital of Ganzi Prefecture, about 400 kilometers west of Chengdu, and was known as the “archery furnace” in ancient times, and was the distribution center for goods on the ancient tea horse route between Sichuan and Tibet during the Yuan and Ming dynasties. Kangding mild climate, farming and grazing are suitable, is an affluent place, and the geographical location is important, is the gateway between China and Tibet, traditionally for the various factions of power to fight.
Kangding is the capital of Ganzi Prefecture, a Tibetan settlement in Khampa, Sichuan Province, and is located across the Jinsha River from Changdu Kangdi in Tibet, bordering Deqin Kangdi in Yunnan Province to the southwest and Yushu Kangdi in Qinghai Province to the northwest. The vicinity of Kangding is also an important place for the spread of Buddhism, and Master Lian Peanut once sent his disciple Bi Ru Zala to the Dadu River area to spread the Dharma. Bi Ru Zha La saw the beauty of Mount Runma, wrote a “Ram Zai” in praise of the god of Mount Ramchuji, “Ram Zai” means “fairy peak”. Tibetan monk Lalong. After shooting Darma, who killed the Buddha, Beji Dorje hid himself in Kangding and built the Ram Monastery (Fairy Monastery) on Happy Mountain, which is the earliest Namo Monastery in Kangding today. The “Kangding Love Song” in the “running horse slippery mountain”, is referring to this mountain.
Nima’s home (Photo by Liu Jianqiang) Nima’s home (Photo by Liu Jianqiang)
When Nima was young, her father passed away due to illness and her mother raised her seven children. Nima study is good, in the gompa village under the elementary school is quite scenery – captain, class president, study committee, what “official” are his. But he is unruly, stubborn, the Tibetan textbook to tear off the folded plane to play, and finally the textbook only three pages; once do not want to class, he will be the first night a pig quietly into the classroom, the next day, the angry pig will be lifted to the bottom of the table and chairs, the ground all arched up, the classroom into a pigsty, of course, can not class. At the end of the school day, the teacher asked the students to recite the Tang poem before they could leave, and Nima was always the first to recite it. When one student failed to recite the poem, he gave Nima a piece of money and said, “When you go to the office to recite the poem, give this piece of money to the teacher so that he can let me go.”
Nima went to the office clutching the dollar: “Teacher, can you let us go without reciting the poem?”
“How is that possible?”
“If you let us go, I’ll give you something.”
“What is it?”
Nima held out her hand, revealing the crumpled bill.
The teacher’s nose turned up and he pulled Nima over and slapped her on the buttocks, screaming, “I asked you to recite a poem for a dollar!
Nima thought that the teacher would accept it for sure, a dollar is a lot of money!
In 1993, Nima left home to attend junior high school at Xinduqiao Tibetan Middle School, a small village on the Sichuan-Tibet Highway, 60 kilometers away, not expecting that this town would plunge Nima into an endless street war. Often times, it was almost a battlefield rather than a school.
Older students bullied newer students, and there were endless battles between students from the farming and herding areas. The pastoral students called Nima’s children “chompa”, which means “people from the farming area” and means “foolish”. Nima called them “Drukpa”, “people from the pastoral area”, which means “barbaric”.
The “Jompa” and “Zhuo Ba” often fight, the pastoral people, bullying Nima them, winter night let them run outside without cotton clothes, do not run to fight, Nima always resist, but the old can not fight. One person fought with him three times, Nima lost three times, the fourth time that young man face a punch, Nima nosebleed, he returned to the dormitory will wash themselves clean, get a piece of glass under the pillow, pillow waiting for the enemy to come back, Nima “bang” closed the door, holding a glass shiny rushed over, in his face a cut. Nima’s nose was swollen like a potato, and the enemy’s face was covered with flowers. Both of them were too ashamed to go out, so they stayed in the dormitory and skipped classes, and soon became close friends.
He looked forward to going to Xinduqiao town every Saturday to watch the video, but no money, so he and a classmate dressed in women’s pants, face smeared with red and green, with a flower umbrella twisted to the girls’ dormitory, chanting the scriptures to reach out for money. The girls laughed and turned over, then sent some change.
His life was originally only a mountain of rocks, homework and how to fight can not finish the fight, but the video hall ignited his desire to go to the world of flowers. When he was 16, he watched a lot of Hong Kong movies about fighting and killing, and discussed with his classmates that they had heard that stealing a steamed bun in Hong Kong was punishable by three years in jail – that was ridiculous! They often go to the town of Xinduqiao cheat food and drink – but in Hong Kong to kill a person is okay, you see, the movie on a random kill a person, did not see the public security appear ah.
They came to the conclusion: to do great things, go to Hong Kong.
3
One night, the high school students were again in the dormitory talking enthusiastically about Hong Kong, and a child named Xiaoshan slapped the table: “Who is going to Hong Kong with me?”
“I’ll go!” Nima stepped forward.
“Tomorrow, do you dare to go?”
“What do you dare not!”
“Do you have money?” Little Mountain asked.
“No.”
“Then let’s find a way.”
Nima’s only valuable belongings were a Tibetan blanket, which he sold on the street for 40 yuan. 40 yuan might not reach Hong Kong, they thought. Xiao Shan suggested that the two go home and steal money, Nima firmly refused: “To go like this, I will never steal anything from home.”
It was May, the cherries were just about to ripen, the weather was still a bit cool, and when he went out Nima shouted to his classmates with pride: “Hey – we’re going to Hong Kong, we’ll write to you when we get there!”
The two took the bus to Kangding over the folded mountain, Nima and confused, and excited, do not know where they are going. Suddenly some fear, tears flowed out, but afraid of Xiaoshan joke, secretly wipe off, heart to cheer themselves: now go to do great things!
From Kangding to Luding, the money soon ran out, the tickets could not afford to buy, and there was no food, the two of them walked along the highway, all the way to Erlang Mountain, to a fork in the road, from here to the east over Erlang Mountain, south to Asbestos County. Nima asked the passerby, “How do we get to Chengdu?”
They looked at them strangely, “You’re walking to Chengdu?” They looked like they had seen aliens.
The two teenagers went to Asbestos County first, so they could bypass Erlang Mountain and go to Chengdu. After three days of walking, they didn’t get a single meal, but when they saw a strawberry-like fruit growing on a thorny tree, called “Panri” in Muya, they climbed up the mountain to pick the fruit to eat, and slept in the forest at night.
In the middle of the night, the rain came down and woke them up. Nima stood up in a daze, found a banana tree, picked some huge leaves from the tree, and used the leaves to cover their whole body. Now the rain can not hit the body, but hit on the banana leaves but “baba baba baba” straight sound, people are frightened, the two teenagers tossed and turned, it is difficult to sleep.
In the morning, half of the mountainside foggy, Nima suddenly thought of home, at home, the morning up to graze cattle, half of the mountainside is also such a white fog. The thought of home, like the smell of home fragrant tsampa, Nima again want to cry.
Walk to the fourth day, in addition to wild fruit, they did not eat anything. Almost to the asbestos county, Nima no longer feel hungry, just want to sleep, he said: “Let’s sleep first.”
“Absolutely not to sleep, sleep down can not get up.” Xiaoshan said.
Finally arrived in Asbestos County, shoes walk broken, they stole two shoes, the result is all left foot. Sell and can not sell, lose and pity, Nima had to wear, the right foot squeezed to death, wear a while and then throw away.
They stole a pair of pants, the pants are good, can be worth more than a hundred, want to sell to an old lady, the old lady only offer five. They were too hungry and had to compromise.
Five dollars all bought steamed buns, looking at the 30 buns, the two happy, rubbing their hands and keep admiring, Nima thought: I want to eat 20! He picked one up and choked on it after eating only half.
It took half an hour for the hunger to return, and the two men gobbled up the 30 steamed buns and started wandering in the asbestos, staying at the vegetable market at night. One morning, his stomach growled and woke Nima up hungry, the steaming hot air in the bun store tempted him like a demon to stick to the past, and when the boss turned around, he rushed up to pick up the seven or eight layers of steam drawers of buns, turned and fled. The boss rushed out from the store, “You dare to steal my buns!” Shouting, chasing after him. Nima ran a few steps to feel the pain of hot hands, the steam drawer is too hot, but he could not let go of those buns, with a tall steam drawer wobbling around wildly, like playing acrobatics, but finally hot can not stand, both hands a scattering, “bam” a few sounds, look back, white buns rolling around in the street.
“You can’t steal anything, you have no balls!” Xiaoshan complained about Nima.
“You can steal, because you have been stealing for a long time, maybe at home, maybe at school, stealing to get used to it, I have not stolen since I was a child.” Nima said.
Xiaoshan got angry: “What do you mean, calling me a thief?”
Nima did not speak.
“Do you have the balls to rob something?” Sayama said.
“Just rob, I dare to kill someone!”
The two children suddenly felt that killing a rich man is also good, this business is easier than stealing things, Hong Kong movies taught hundreds of times early.
Two people conspire, one in the public toilet hiding, from the hidden suit to take off the belt, and then put a stone at the feet, the other will be rich people tricked into the toilet, first strangled, and then smashed head.
Xiaoshan hid in the public toilet, Nima sat on the roadside to watch the people coming and going, the right hand has been placed in the arms. Their plan was that Nima stopped a person and quietly said, “I have antiques here, do you want them?” If the person is interested, Nima said, “It’s not convenient here, go to the toilet to see.” Then the person is tricked over to the hill.
Nima stayed outside and sat for half an hour, scared, one did not ask, walked back to the toilet and said, “I can not find the person. You go find, I’ll kill.”
Xiaoshan handed him the belt, to walk out of the toilet, turned around and instructed: “When people come, strangle and kill!”
“No need for you to command! As long as you bring the man back, I’ll fix it!” Nima said.
An hour later Xiaoshan also came back empty-handed, Nima as relieved. Xiaoshan said to Nima: “You can’t steal, and you can’t kill, we will starve to death like this, or go home.
4
The two of them were very eager to go home, but their mouths were determined not to agree: he went to Hong Kong to do a big business, certainly in his hometown spread, so go back to more shame!
The two argued, and finally decided to look for a car at the same time, who found it first to listen to who. Xiaoshan found a car back to Luding first, and the two of them took a ride back to Kangding. This time their conditions were much improved, with an average of two days for a meal and good accommodation at night – they found a pile of sawdust! They lay down and buried themselves with the sawdust, ending up with only one right hand left outside, unable to be buried by the sawdust. Sleeping and sleeping cold, and then pull out the left hand, with sawdust to bury the right hand up, two hands take turns on duty, but also to survive the cold night of the plateau.
One day they were surprised to find a rotten shack, a teenage boy living in it. The two men were very concerned about that child, and when they slept at night, the two men let the little boy sleep in the middle, and the three men stuck together like sandwiches, in the same direction, like three bananas side by side, for fear of freezing the little boy. The last one’s back was so cold that he couldn’t stand it anymore, so everyone rolled over and changed directions.
This day is the birthday of Shakyamuni, Kangding people come and go, lively. Xiaoshan stole a white suit and wore it straight away, without selling it for food again. “It seems that Xiao Shan wants to go home and dress up decently to show his family.” Nima thought. He was homesick too, but he was too embarrassed to go back just like that.
Nima was wandering on the street when he suddenly spotted Big Brother, he was surprised, happy and embarrassed, knowing that Big Brother had come to Kangding to look for him, he didn’t dare to see Big Brother, but he wanted to let Big Brother take him home, so he wandered around next to Big Brother, hoping that Big Brother would find him. But big brother did not see him and went away.
Nima was so disappointed, after a while he found his cousin again, who had come to Kangding to sell wormwood. This time Nima no longer missed the opportunity and got his cousin to find him in time. “Where have you been? Your mother is going crazy!” Cousin said. The cousin brought him home, and Nima dawdled at the door, but eventually entered with his head down and his face red with shame.
The mother cried as soon as she saw her son come home.
The first thing you need to do is to look at your mother’s face and go upstairs to the window and cover half of your face with your hand and look out – it’s a misty mountain range, and beyond that is Mount Gongga. In Nima’s eyes, through those not-so-high mountains was the bustling Chengdu and even Hong Kong. But now in Nima’s eyes, there are mountains beyond the mountains, overlapping, and I don’t know where the end is.
His mother, who was following him, cried and asked, “What are you looking at again? Do you want to run to another place again?”
Nima did not squeal.
The mother scolded her son: “Other people’s children run to Lhasa, what are you doing in Hong Kong? Is there a Buddha in Hong Kong?”
Nima still didn’t say anything.
Mom said, “Forget it if you don’t want to study, go to the mountains tomorrow to collect wormwood.”
The Tibetan boy who left the flowery world
The next day Nima went up to the mountain and stayed in the tent set up by his brother and sister-in-law. Many children screamed into the tent, “Nima is back, Nima is back!” Looking at Nima cheekily, as if he was a monster. Nima buried his head between his legs.
Big brother shouted at them, “Haven’t you seen Nima? Go away, go away!” The children were all thrown out.
A few days later, the elder brother called Nima to him: “Let me ask you again, do you want to go to school or not?”
“Yes!” Nima, who thought his ambitions were going to be buried, was so excited that he didn’t know there was a second chance.
“Then are you still running away or not?”
“No more running away!”
So Nima went back to school, his family bought him a new suit, and carried 700 yuan in his arms. The school did not allow him to greet Xiaoshan, the two ignored each other, Xiaoshi wearing that white suit, Nima also a new look, even socks are new, simply transformed, redo.
Nima has since become a legend at Tibetan High School, a big man who dares to do something. He proudly tells his students about his journeyman career, “Nima is awesome! He ran away with it!” The schoolchildren exclaimed.
But Nima occasionally cautioned those schoolboys, “Don’t ever run again, it sucks out there, I’ve been to a lot of places – Kangding, Luding, Asbestos, nothing is prettier than our hometown!”
In the eyes of teachers and villagers, Nima became a typical bad boy – he couldn’t choose the right place to run away, and instead of going to Lhasa to worship Buddha, he went to Hong Kong!
5
I went with Nima to his home, which is a stone and wood structure of the towers, tall and majestic, the windows are carved and painted in brilliant colors.
Into the towers, the ground floor is the corral, we stepped on a narrow and steep wooden ladder up to the second floor. Nima’s mother sat next to the window on an old sofa near the fireplace. We sat down around the fireplace, immediately warmed up the whole body. The stairs “thumped” as we were talking, the elder brother came up, he just returned from planting, these two days is the time to plant barley.
Big brother used to be the backbone of the family, after the death of his father at the age of 40, teenage brother farming, mining, taking care of six younger siblings. He sat in front of the fireplace, smiling at me nervously, without saying a word.
The stairs “thumped” and my sister-in-law came up, she had big eyebrows and good looks. She also came back from planting, and when she saw the guests, she smiled, went to the windowsill, picked up a broken mirror and looked at it, and laughed: “It’s scary! She hurriedly drew water to wash her face. After a while, she came out glowing, with a braid of red rope wrapped around her head and a piece of round ivory tied around her right cheek, a unique decoration for Tibetan women in Muya.
Sister-in-law began to wipe the pot. This industrious woman kept cooking and cleaning the house, occasionally looking at the guests and smiling politely.
The stairs thumped, “I think it’s our lama coming back.” Nima laughed. The one who came in was indeed his lama’s second brother, wearing a red vulgar outfit of the same color as his monk’s clothes.
The building “thump, thump, thump” a mess, running up two little girls, one 11 years old, a 9-year-old, is the big sister’s two daughters from school. The two girls put down their school bags, went to their uncles and said a few words, took out some clothes from the room, put them in the water basin and carried them downstairs.
The stairs “thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump” like a rush drum. “Our handsome boy is back.” Nima said. The man who came up was indeed a handsome little boy, the eldest son of his elder brother, Zhaxi Wangchuk, who was only 12 years old, but already had a heroic look between his eyebrows.
Zhaxi Wangqiu is wearing jeans and a denim jacket. He was naughty when he tore a slit in the right pant leg and glued it up himself. The left cuff of the denim jacket is cut to a strip, Nima laughed and scolded: “Why cut off?”
The young man’s chest, with his right hand on the left shoulder a painting, said: “Our students even cut off the sleeves.”
Everyone laughed.
The family had an evening conversation around the fireplace, and Nima was the center of the conversation. He was the family’s trouble when he was a child, but now that he has graduated from college, he has become the pride of the family. More than ten years have passed, the youngsters under Gongga Mountain are still looking forward to get out of the mountains, and Nima has become their role model of “going out”. Zhaxi Wangqiu suddenly asked me.
“Uncle, Kangding to Chengdu, how long to walk by bike?”
“No need to ride a bike, like your Uncle Nima can walk.” I laughed.
The family laughed. “Why do you want to go to Chengdu?” I asked him.
“People say the teachers in Chengdu are good, and our teachers beat people up.”
“Beat you? How do they beat? “
“Beating me, spanking with a stick.”
“Do you beat often?”
“Yes!”
“How many spankings a day, on average?”
Everyone laughed. Zhaxi Wangchuk said, “Up to two spankings a day.”
There was another burst of laughter.
“Why are you beaten?”
“I was naughty and threw chalk at my classmates.”
“Want to go to Chengdu because you’re afraid the teacher will beat you?”
“Yes,” he nodded vigorously with certainty, “Uncle, have you ever flown?”
“Yes, I have.”
“Alas, I haven’t.” He sighed.
“You will have the opportunity later, what do you want to do when you grow up?”
“Work like Uncle Nima and go everywhere, unlike me, who grew up living here.”
“You study hard, go to college, learn Tibetan, Chinese and English well, and be like Uncle Nima.”
“Yes, I just want to study well. Uncle, do you think our village is a good place to play?”
“Yes, it is.”
“But I don’t feel good at all, there are too few people here, I want to go to the city, where there are many people, lively.”
Zhaxi Wangqiu and I went downstairs to play, and saw a full moon hanging on the eastern mountains, the sky and earth bright as day, the mountains as in front of us, the sky white clouds clearly visible. Look more closely, the moon actually bright blindingly, incredible.
“Uncle, is there such a bright moon in the city?”
“No. The city is very dirty, the moon is very dark, and rarely see the stars.”
Zhaxi Wangchuk stopped talking and went up the stairs quietly. I asked, “But you still want to go to the city?”
“Yes.” He replied.
“Have you ever been to a city?”
“I’ve been to Xinduqiao, and I like that big city.”
6
The town of Xinduqiao, the famous “big city” on the Sichuan-Tibet route that became Zhaxi Wangqiu’s dream, was just a dirty street. At each end of the street are two high-walled compounds, one side of which is the Tibetan High School, where Nyima spent six years and made a name for himself.
Outside its walls, within a minute, I saw three men urinating on it. And inside the walls, students make their dreams of walking out come true in a variety of ways, such as fighting, dreaming of running away or bending over backwards. The walled compound at the other end of the street is Ganzi State Prison, where inmates also fight, dream of escaping or bend their heads and ears to fulfill their dreams of getting out.
These two compounds are the most powerful neighbors of the people of Xinduqiao, and the only difference between them is that sometimes the Tibetan high school students seem more frightening to the locals than the prison inmates.
One night ten years ago, Nima’s class teacher checked the girls’ dormitory and found two girls missing. He rushed to Xinduqiao town to look for them, and his flashlight shone on some town cadres, who were drunk and beat him up without asking questions, and he was seriously injured and hospitalized.
This has annoyed the Tibetan high school, the next morning, hundreds of students out to surround the town government, the town cadres see the situation is not good, close the door, fleeing to escape, hiding. The boys went over the gate, opened it up and poured in. Nima and the boys went around arresting the cadres, and those who did not escape were unlucky and were punched and kicked. The girls were no slouch. One girl, small in stature, carried a heavy boulder and shouted the slogan, “Give me back my teacher!” The effort to lift the stone, “bang”, will be a town cadres home pot smashed. Other girls stood in the courtyard and threw small stones, “clatter, clatter, clatter,” and smashed dozens of pieces of glass on the windows and doors of the town hall.
The students were so vocal that the school administration finally bounced down strongly, and the teacher warned the naughty students, “If you fight again, you will move to that compound across the street.”
Fortunately, although Nima almost stood in the doorway of the compound across the street dozens of times, as if he were about to fall in immediately, he was lucky and took a different path – he went to college, lived in Chengdu, where he had not gone as a teenager, and became an employee of an international organization, a respected environmentalist.
Now Nima is back in Xinduqiao, not the street bully who fights and gambles, he wears an imported coat worth 3,000 yuan, greeting all kinds of acquaintances in the street in a polite manner, those past enemies may be surprised to see him: Nima is back! In fact, do not worry, his backpack is not loaded with knives, but computers. Nima is back, but not here to stay, life here has long since become a thing of the past, he now has a broader world. He rents a van for $200 and drives away, leaving many people on the street pointing at his back.
“That’s the man, the man who once shook Xinduqiao.”
7
In April 2006, I traveled with Nyima for 20 days, from Chengdu to Kangding and then over the Zetuo Mountains. In the Sichuan-Tibet highway before the repair, people to the west over the fold of the mountain even out of the pass, after the pass to the north, through the Dafu, furnace Huo, Ganzi, over the altitude of 5,000 meters of the mountain pass to the Derg, after crossing the Jinsha River to Tibet, is the North Road into Tibet; and across the Xindu Bridge has been westbound, over the Gorce Mountain, through the Yajiang, Litang, Batang, and then crossing the Jinsha River into Tibet, called the South Road.
Nima and I traveled along the North Road, arrived at Derge, and then went south along the Jinsha River to Dzongsar Monastery, which is the monastery of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche.
We met with the famous Mr. Lhoge Phuntsok, a famous Tibetan doctor here and the restorer of this important monastery after the restoration of the religion, who is now doing the business of restoring Tibetan traditions and culture.
After the interview, on April 25, Nima and I left Derge to go back to Chengdu. This time we had no luck and ran into a bad driver.
Under the Dzongsar Monastery (Photo by Liu Jianqiang) Under the Dzongsar Monastery (Photo by Liu Jianqiang)
Chinese people who have not come into contact with Tibetans or are in contact with them for the first time may have unrealistic illusions about Tibetans:They should be as honest, trustworthy and straightforward as Gama and Renqing (editor’s note: the stories of the characters mentioned are in the author’s serial “Legend of Tibetans”), even if they do not have great compassion and wisdom like Xiangchu Dorje. This driver can help them correct this misconception.
The driver was a small, bearded man in his 40s, wearing a leather jacket and a black leather cowboy hat. The night before, Nima talked with him about 650 yuan for the next day, but the driver asked him to leave at 6 o ‘clock in the morning, and urged Nima to give him a deposit of 100 yuan. “What if you don’t take my car tomorrow?” He said.
Nima said: “That you also hand over, tomorrow you do not come? We’ll give it to the hotel owner.”
The driver refused, and the deposit fell through. He said he would pick us up at the hotel at six tomorrow.
I was a little worried: it was still dark at six o ‘clock, so there was no need for us to start so early. This driver may want to go back to Dege on the same day, 300 kilometers of mountain road back on the same day, is bound to drive extremely hard, so in a hurry to climb over the Sichuan-Tibet Highway first risk chaoershan, is it safe?
When we left for dinner, the driver loitered outside the door and came up to us and said, “Six o ‘clock tomorrow!”
It made me feel like I was being watched. I’m going to call a public phone, he actually follows up and says, “Six tomorrow!”
I finally couldn’t help it: “Why are you so early? We usually leave after eight o ‘clock. Do you want to come back that day?”
“No, no, you are early in the furnace.”
I have a bad feeling that he’s afraid to admit what he’s done. I’ve never seen tibetans lie like that.
My hunch was confirmed. The next day on the road, he was driving very fast on the hazard, Niema and I sitting in the back, our heads thumping against the roof and our luggage rolling over. Nima repeatedly gently advised: “Master, please drive slowly.” He turned a deaf ear and drove faster and faster, hurling us out of Windows into the ravine at almost every bend in the Passerby mountain. I asked him again to drive slowly, but he lost his temper. “You have so many problems!”
‘You’re being unreasonable! Nima raised her voice. “If I had known, we would never have used your car.”
“You can get off!” The driver became more and more frantic. Of course he knew we couldn’t get in and out of the car on the snowy mountain. We were his hostages, and he had nothing to fear.
Nima whispered, “Master, let’s talk carefully. We can’t sit still while you drive like that, and it’s too dangerous.”
The driver still shouted, “I’ll be quick, ok? Get off!”
I saw the driver reach for the door with his left hand and grab a hidden knife pinned to the door.
I don’t even talk to Nima. The driver thought we were afraid, and drove on through the snowy mountains to Manigago, where he tipped us off to another driver, took the money and triumphantly returned to Dege.
Suddenly I felt pity for him and uttered a sigh in my heart. He’s lucky. If Nima is the same nima he used to be, he’ll be in trouble. Nima was not afraid of the hidden sword, but learned to tolerate it.
8
At that time, Nima was still in high school, and his “war” spread from the school to xindu Bridge outside the school.
One day, he was walking in the street, he saw a lama and an old lady quarrel, Nima went to inquire, the old lady’s grandson stole the home watch, 20 yuan to sell to the lama, the old lady to give the lama 20 yuan back, the lama not to do.
Nima is very injustice, say: “you lama should do good deeds, how bully an old woman?”
The Lama refused, but the crowd criticized him and he had to return his watch.
Nima left happily, and when he came back, the lama hooked his index finger and beckoned nima to come over. Nima saw a knife hanging on the waist of the lama, knowing that it was not good, borrowed a knife from his classmate and put it behind his back. He slowly went over and asked, “What is it?”
“What the hell was that?” Lama said.
Nima’s anger flared. “You say that again?”
The Lama grabbed the knife and said, “What the hell! You’re looking for trouble…”
Wait for him to say that finish, Nima a knife cut past, the middle lama forehead, the former lama servant fell, at the same time the hand of the knife up, straight into nima lower abdomen, Nima flash, clothes front “chi” a voice was picked.
Nima turned and ran, lama bald bleeding, with a knife “ah ah” shouted after, Nima picked up a bottle, hiding behind a car on the side of the road, waiting for the Lama to catch up, a bottle in the middle of the head, lama fell down again.
Nima ran back to the school, but saw the police chasing him, he jumped the wall to escape the school, ran to the old lady’s home. The old lady was so pleased to see nima that she gave him the watch. Nima did not want to wait for the public security left, and secretly ran back to the school.
The next day the whole school morning exercise, the director of instruction to the whole school teachers and students angrily shouted: “our students are too unreasonable, even the lama beat! Are you still not Tibetans? !”
No one has ever heard of lamas being beaten, and Nima has made history here. The lama waited for him outside the school, looking for revenge, Nima dare not go out, three days later, the lama left bitterly.
Nima’s reputation as a bully wasn’t established in one or two wars, and his belligerence was bordering on madness and unreasoning.
There are two bars in Xindu Bridge, and Nima’s cousin invited him and a friend to a bar for a drink. The cousin made a scene, provoking the lady in the other group of guests. Nima was trying to dissuade his cousin, when a young man named Tashi grabbed his cousin and shouted, “Why do you bully women?”
Seeing that the momentum was not right, Nima immediately stood in the middle and said to Tashi, “Dude, give me a face. Don’t fight.”
Tashi Chong Nima call: “you calculate old several? What honor do you have?”
Nima said, “Ok, you do it.” To the next guest shout: “Let’s go let’s go, there’s going to be a fight!” As if nothing had happened, returned to his desk, grabbed a bottle of beer and went back, Shouting: “Tashi!”
Tashi stare him one eye: “What matter!”
‘Damn you! Nima brandished his hand, the beer bottle fell on Tashi’s head, “Kuang” a burst, blood with the beer flowing from the head down.
The women screamed, the bar was a mess, the two Cousins ran away, Nima stood still, Tashi staggered to the ground.
Nima went out and stowed away slowly down the street. My cousin had taken a seat in another bar and called him in. Nima thought they were being rude, but said nothing and sat down to drink. Suddenly the door of the bar opened, revealing tashi with blood all over his face, waving to Nima.
Nima walked slowly, stepping out of the room, and was immediately surrounded by a crowd, each with a steel knife. Zhaxi stepped forward and patted Nima’s face with a kitchen knife. Then he put his face close to nima’s nose and said, “Young man, weren’t you wild just now? Hit me for a word, and now you hit me again!”
Nima said, “Let’s not fight.” His right hand quietly to the buttocks behind touch, close to his long knife, eyes looking for the edge of retreat. The bar was not to be turned back. It was a dead end, with an alley on its side, and a gap in the enclosure. Tashi pushed him hard, he took the opportunity to retreat to the direction of the alley, hand finally quietly touched the long knife, stood still, Shouting: “Tashi, you have enough!
Tashi said: “Yo! Are you still cool? I haven’t had enough, have I?” He thought he had a lot of help and was a shoo-in.
“So!” Nima cut past, tashi head injury, splash down.
Nima ran as the crowd behind her shouted: “That man killed Tashi! Kill him!” Then he came back with a knife.
The ground was soft and wet. Nima couldn’t run fast in her brogues. As she ran, she looked back. Seeing that she could not escape, Nima turned and ran to a tombstone, where she sat down with her back against the tombstone and her knife on her lap. The bearer fanned around him, each holding a steel knife.
Nima shouted, “Come on, one, I’ll kill one. Can’t kill me today! I’ll kill you! Today I can’t finish it, tomorrow I’ll kill it!”
The men looked at each other. Nima’s heart was pounding and she felt cold all over. He had hoped that his back would be supported by the gravestone, so that he would not be surrounded by the enemy. However, when there was a strong enemy in front of him, he was worried. However, he was suddenly afraid that the ghost in the tomb would hurt him. A cool breeze blew on his neck, and he shivered, thinking that the ghost was blowing in his neck.
In the pale moonlight, I saw seven or eight people on the opposite side of the house standing still. After a while, they gathered together and discussed what to do. Nima listened intently and only vaguely said: “I went over and caught it.” ‘You go and cut him down! “, but to discuss to discuss, the end is not dare to start, and finally receded together.
Nima afraid of the ghost, quickly stood up and returned to the bar, cousin two people are still drunk, a see Nima back, cousin said drunk eyes droyly: “How did you go? Not good enough!” He had no idea that Nima was fighting again.
The door creaked open. A gentleman wrapped his head in the white cloth, bleeding all over his face. When Nima looked, it was Tashi again! Nima strange said: “How the fuck you come again!”
There was a flash of light outside the window and the police were coming! A flash of thought, a group of police have rushed in, a policeman picked up the stool, once hit cousin on the head. Nima dashed out the door and ran, followed by screaming police cars. Nima see no place to hide, “hishou” climb to a poplar tree, is hard hands and feet, around the leaves are suddenly illuminated white shining, looking down, a few submachine gun pointed at his buttock, eyes were immediately flashlight lit not open.
Nima shouted, “I surrender, I surrender!” He slid down, and before he could get his footing, he was poked in the back with an electric stun stick, gave a loud scream, and fell to the ground. He now rose, and a policeman, with mitten s in his hand, stood proudly before him, with a fist in his jaw, and a punch in his right cheek, which was a sore point. Nima held herself together and did not fall. The boxer had not yet enjoyed himself, but another policeman, impatient, kicked Nima into the police car.
Three people were marched to the public security bureau, the director of the black face asked: “The person is who cut?”
Tashi pointed to nima: “He!”
The chief threw the scabbard over Nima’s head and cursed: “What a dog! To cut someone so young!”
Nima puffed out her chest and said, “You let them go. I cut them down. It has nothing to do with them!”
They were released, and Nima spent the night in the cell. Dawn, nima students stretch, thought it was time to go back to school to study, did not expect the police do not put him, he should sweep the floor in the public security bureau. Nima cleaned the yard. A cooking squad leader stood at the door and ate the seeds. He spat the skins all over the floor and shouted, “Clean up!”
Nima sweep again, just sweep clean, cooking monitor and vomit a ground, Nima sweep side think: “mama of, and so on one day have a chance, I tidy up you!”
Two days later, Nima was let out. Just as he left the gate of the public security bureau, he saw his cousin waiting at the gate, bending down and coming forward and offering a hada to his hand.
Nima of “righteousness” “ruthless” reputation, since then spread in xindu Bridge rivers and lakes.
…
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