What fun things are there in Seda that some people say I regret doing?

Seda is a must-visit place on the Western Sichuan Plateau with its scenery and culture!

I went there with a group of 6 friends in two cars for 4 days. We stayed in Guanyinqiao Town on the first day and arrived at Seda County at noon on the second day. We had free time in the afternoon and got used to it. After getting acquainted with the plateau climate, we set off to visit Seda Marong Wuming Buddhist College after five o'clock, mainly to see the night view (the night view is more beautiful than during the day).

Enter the mountain gate to buy tickets and then queue up to board the scenic spot car. If you do not book a hotel on the mountain in advance, your private car can only park in the parking lot below the mountain. At that time, many Juemu who were practicing here also rushed up the mountain. It was really crowded to get on the bus. My companions walked for a long time before I squeezed into the third bus.

The practitioners’ red houses, which look shocking from a distance, look very shabby up close.

I took off my shoes, entered the hall, and quietly watched the Drabas debating each other’s scriptures fiercely. After climbing to the top of the mountain, it was already night, and I was spinning the prayer wheels around the mandala on the top of the mountain. In the end, several people were spinning. The numbers are all different. Standing by the mandala, looking at the red houses with lights on at the foot of the mountain, they were silent for a long time, with only reverence in their hearts.

The next day, in the morning, a friend and I went to the Seda Museum, also known as the King Gesar Museum. The past and present of Seda are all here.

Going to see the sky burial ceremony is also one of the important itineraries for going to Seda. When I arrived at the sky burial platform on the third morning, I saw from a distance that the sky burial master was holding a ceremony for the four deceased, and the one next to him On the hillside are majestic vultures ready to go.

In more than an hour, the body of the deceased on the sky burial platform completely disappeared under the waves of vultures. The feeling was deeply shocked. The belonging of life is actually a return. Real process!

Leave Seda via Luhuo and Daofu County at noon, and stay overnight in Bamei Town. On the fourth day, you will see the scenery all the way out of Bamei to Danba, and return to Chengdu via Huding and Ya'an to end the trip.

This trip fulfilled my dream of traveling to Seda in Western Sichuan

I went to Seda County from Maqu County in Gannan via Jiuzhi County in Qinghai on June 15, 2018. I originally planned to take aerial photos of Nian Baoyu Ze in Jiuzhi County, but I didn’t expect to find out when I arrived at the scenic spot that Nian Baoyu Ze Park was permanently closed due to environmental protection reasons in Sanjiangyuan. I returned to Jiuzhi County and stayed there for one night because it was too late that day. The next day I set off from Jiuzhi County and arrived at the Wuming Buddhist Academy of Larung Gar Temple in Seda around 2 pm. When I passed by the sky burial platform, I saw many police officers maintaining order. I didn’t know what was going on at the time. Later I learned that there was a sky burial ceremony at 2:30. The most spectacular thing in Seda is the Red House, the residence of monks and laypeople of Larung Gar Monastery Wuming Buddhist College, which is built on the mountain. On the highest mountain of the Buddhist college, there is a magnificent building called "Mandala" (transliteration). The Sanskrit name of the mandala is "Mandala", which means a dojo where certain sacrificial activities are performed according to Buddhist tantric rituals. It is usually a place where people turn to pray. The upper part of it is a place for praying. It is said that if you have any disease, you can be cured by turning a hundred times here; the lower layer is a prayer wheel, and the golden cylinder remains after people's dry hands turn it. A long series of crunching sounds. The virtuous general Dorje built a Buddhist academy here in 1880 and established a teaching and practice building of the Nyingma sect. In 1980, His Holiness Jigme Phuntsog Jixiangxian founded a college for studying Buddhism without bias in the Serdar Larung Valley, the place where the first Dunlord Rinpoche practiced. It was also the place where the Mahayana rainbow light body is still. At that time, there were only 30 The remaining people.

In 1987, the 10th Panchen Lama expressed his approval for the establishment of a Buddhist academy here and wrote a letter to the Serta County Government requesting support.

In 1993, Zhao Puchu, president of the Buddhist Association of China, inscribed the name of the college.

In 1993, it was called "the largest Buddhist academy in the world" by the American "World News".

In 1997, the Religious Affairs Bureau of Garze Prefecture submitted a request to the Religious Affairs Bureau of Sichuan Province and officially approved the establishment of the "Wu Ming Buddhist College of Larung Monastery".

On the other side of Larung Gorge Mountain is the famous Serta Sky Burial Platform.

The sky burial ceremony of Serta Sky Burial Platform is not open to the public.

After the sky burial ceremony on June 16, 2018, I went to the sky burial platform and saw a lot of vultures. The vultures there are basically not afraid of people! The only thing that had a profound impact on me when I visited the Sky Burial Platform was the smell, which filled my entire chest and couldn’t go away for a long time!

In fact, it doesn’t matter whether you regret going to Seda or not. For us passers-by, it is an experience and a visual conflict with the red house!

The Qingdao couple traveling with me brought 6 yuan of portable chargers. Helping him hold his backpack felt like it weighed more than 100 pounds. Frankly, there are hundreds of steps from the car to the back. I arrived at the hotel when it was dark at night and didn't come out. I got up and left directly the next morning. Later, I asked them how much they knew about Seda before coming. The answer is: I came here after hearing people say it is beautiful. While I admire their courage, I am also angry at their recklessness. Before going to Seda, you must fully understand the high altitude, the food and accommodation conditions, and your body’s endurance. I hope everyone’s Seda is beautiful, not a small hotel room.

I went there with my roommates, but really, for three days and two nights, half of the time was spent in the car. There is actually not much to do, the main thing is to understand the local culture. However, I don’t regret it, because it was the first time I saw a sky burial. It was relatively close and I thought it was very sacred. I also went to Tusi Village, Guanyin Temple and Buddhist Academy. The house at the Buddhist Academy is really beautiful. It was March when I went there and it was still snowing, so the scenery was very nice. I remember that when we were walking on the road, a man taught us a few words from Buddhist scriptures. He was a very devout believer. A very nice place, pure, sacred, sincere, and a worthwhile trip.

Note: The ones with clear images were taken by fellow travelers, and the others were taken by myself. I borrowed them for reference. Their photos are very beautiful.

A Buddhist holy place is not a place for fun. First of all, we must treat all aspects of Tibetan Buddhism with an attitude of respecting Tibetan Buddhist culture. I have been to Sedar Larung Buddhist College twice and was praised by those who studied Buddhism. They are moved by the human spirit, living in such a high-altitude living environment, with difficult material living conditions, and simple accommodation, and they devote themselves to practice and persevere. This is their belief.

The first time I went there was in October 2012. At that time, there were few people taking photos like us. We were not only going to take pictures of the large red wooden house of the Buddhist Academy. After you go there, you will be deeply impressed. I was deeply shocked when I saw a Dharma conference held at a Buddhist college. The Living Buddha was giving lectures in the lecture hall. The loudspeakers were attached to the telephone poles on the surrounding hillsides. Tibetan compatriots from three provinces and all over came here in different ways, dressed very well. It is grand and gorgeous, and tents are set up on the mountain for accommodation. The entire Buddhist college is crowded with people. The mountains and plains are filled with people. Several lecture halls are crowded with people, a sea of ??red. The road into the Buddhist college is bustling with people. The momentum is so shocking. Yes, you will be impressed by their devout faith. Self-driving cars can't enter, so we put it in the parking lot at the intersection. We can only walk in along the slightly upward-sloping road. The altitude is 4,000 meters. It's a bit difficult to walk and it feels uncomfortable to kick, so we can only walk up slowly.

The second time was in June 2014, when we drove over the Queer Mountain to Dege to photograph the Sutra Printing Institute. When we returned, because Dr. Fang had not been to the Seda Buddhist Institute, we drove from Ganzi County A very remote road led to Seda, and the car drove all the way to the mandala on the top of the mountain. Finally, standing on the top of the mandala, we had a panoramic view of Larung Gorge Buddhist College. Shocking! Still shocking! The valley that stretches for several kilometers is covered with densely packed small wooden huts, which are the dormitories of thousands of lamas and Jiemu (called nuns by the Han people). There are several temples and Buddhist halls scattered at the bottom of the valley and on the mountain ridges. Lamas and nuns in crimson robes came and went, and the air was filled with a peaceful atmosphere. The red cabins look extremely solemn in the early morning sunlight. Red wooden houses are densely arranged on the slopes of the entire valley. Countless gray roads connect the houses, criss-crossing each other, and it is very spectacular.

If you know something about Tibetan Buddhism, you can only gain insights and experience by going to Seda Buddhist College.

Pictures 1, 2, 3, and 4 were taken in 2012, showing the scene of the Dharma Assembly held at the Buddhist Academy.

Pictures 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 were taken in 2014, showing the red cabin, mandala, and lecture hall.

When talking about Seda, one will unconsciously think of the Ningma red. Seda Wuming Buddhist College has become a postcard of Seda. Seda County is located in the northeastern part of Garze Prefecture in Sichuan, with an average altitude of more than 4,000 meters, abundant sunshine, grasslands, lakes, rivers and a strong Tibetan atmosphere.

Seda means "golden horse" in Tibetan. Legend has it that gold in the shape of a "horse head" was discovered in this fertile land, hence its name.

Tourism in Seda is more about faith and cleansing the soul, but the mountains and rivers are equally beautiful.

Surrounded by green mountains and green water, the quiet grassland with flowers blooming, the white yurts with leisurely cattle and sheep, the breathtaking beauty is as idyllic as it exists. Along the winding mountain road to the hillside, there will be cute little pets that will make your heart soft.

Plateau Cute Pet ~ Woodchuck

Don’t you think it’s cute? Because there are often tourists here, I am no longer so afraid of people.

Sky Burial ~ Looking from afar

Because I couldn’t bear the smell of burning rosin, I had to wait and see from a distance. The Tibetan people are in awe of the sacred and solemn funeral ceremony. When thousands of vultures fly down, they silently pray for the deceased to rest in peace and ascend to the pure land of Buddha.

Larung Monastery Wuming Buddhist College in Seda

More than 20 kilometers away from Seda County, there is a Larung Valley. A few miles up the ditch is the famous Seda Buddha. Academy. It is one of the famous Tibetan Buddhist colleges in the world.

Go up to the top of the mountain and look under the sky, between the green ridges, thousands of red cabins, like stars holding the moon, surrounding several majestic halls, this is Seda Buddhist Academy.

Follow the footsteps of Tibetans and turn the prayer wheel to pray for peace and joy.

Walking along the road to the Buddhist Academy, you can see Lama and Juem after class. There is no trace of the pain of self-cultivation on their smiling faces.

Walking through Seda, I suffered from a splitting headache due to high fever, and I vomited until my bile came out. I never regretted my visit. Especially the vitality and peaceful atmosphere felt from the Ningma red color makes the mind calm down and calm down.

Lege stayed in Seda for 11 nights not long ago. Let’s talk about my feelings here!

In August, the entire wall of Seda County was renovated, so it was a large construction site, so I just stayed in Seda for one night when I first arrived.

2. I live in the Buddhist Academy the rest of the time. To be honest, the scenery in Seda is worse than I thought. Maybe there is a technical problem with the photography and it cannot express the red feeling like others. The Sky Burial Platform every afternoon, the prairie dogs at Yaowang Mountain, and the check-in at several observation decks are probably all the items for ordinary tourists. (The central area of ??the Buddhist Academy is currently under renovation.)

3. The Buddhist Academy Lege feels that it is not a place for tourism, but a place for contemplation. Although the scenery is not satisfactory, the inner world is very rich. During the day, I work hard in the fasting room and cook for hundreds of thousands of monks. I occasionally go to the college to listen to lectures in the evening, and the rest of the time I sleep, think, read, and recite sutras. The 10 days at Seda Buddhist College were the most peaceful days for my heart!

If you regard the red house and sky burial platform of the Buddhist College as a tourist destination. That would be wrong. I was lucky enough to take a self-driving trip. It is a must-go place on the Western Sichuan Self-Driving Ring Road. I went. I visited the Buddhist Academy and Sky Burial. I feel that my soul is extremely shocked. It seemed that he suddenly lost sight of life and death. Different nationalities, different beliefs. We should respect it. There is no value or no value.

Seda is really not a tourist place, and it is a place you should visit at least once in your life. In Seda, you can feel that faith is not a slogan written on the wall, but a firmness and perseverance deeply integrated into the bones and soul. Strong faith can replace everything, which is difficult for ordinary people to understand. No matter how much that place is artificially compressed, there will always be infinity in the hearts of believers.

Watch bald donkeys fall in love, drink spleen wine, and play billiards. Then take some photos of prairie dogs to check in. Pick up some cow dung and wipe your boots, yak dung! When you leave, don't forget to check your clothes and pants for fleas or anything like that.