Some birds are invisible to us
Li Chengwen
An old neighbor of mine said that in places where no car wheel marks have been left, there will be birds. There are some happy or sad ghosts wandering around. At dusk, if you walk through a secluded village, you may bump into them at a corner. Although your eyes are wide open, you can't feel their presence at all; but those ghosts will take the initiative to move away and say: Look, this blind man, he stepped on me.
Although we deeply feel that the material world is unquestionable, in real life, we would rather believe in the existence of some illusory things, and reserve in our hearts the opportunity to share this world with them. space.
Once, when I was passing by a Tibetan village named Mu Daona, a group of people were gathering under an ancient poplar tree at the entrance of the village, and they angrily scolded a little boy. The boy wiped away his tears in grievance, dragging a long-handled scythe for cutting grass in his hand. I felt it was unfair to treat a child like that, so I asked one of the older men if he had done something unforgivably wrong. The man pointed at the old tree and said, "Look, he has done a good job!" The old tree was covered with prayer flags that had been washed white by the rain. It was also smeared with a lot of butter, and there were balls of wool stuck to the butter. On a blank section of tree trunk, there was a mark of a knife cut, and water was flowing out of the fresh stubble. It turned out that the little boy with the sickle was passing by and chopped down the tree accidentally, which happened to be seen by the adults. They believe that trees cannot be cut down just because they want, not to mention that the tree is not an ordinary tree, but the spirit tree of the mountain god who protects the safety of the place! People said that the wound was not only cut on the tree, but also on the body of the mountain god. I looked up at the old poplar tree, with its thin and twisted branches and sparse leaves. Three or two magpie nests on the crown were in danger. Apart from this, nothing can be seen. But I believe that in the eyes of the people in the village, there must be a different scene. Some extraordinary birds are perched on the branches, and their invisible wings are beating the transparent air, bringing happiness and good luck to the entire village. When we were children, we were always warned not to pee on the road. If we pissed on the road god, we would have "eyeballs" as big as broad beans growing on our eyelids. We were also not allowed to step in the spring water, because the spring god lived in the spring, which would offend. It will cause sores on our body and face. We don't think so on the surface, but when we really do that, we always have some scruples in our hearts. There are some things that we cannot see, but hidden in our consciousness, some time can truly show them. It is this sense of sacredness and reverence for nature that constrains our behavior and constantly makes us give up selfish thoughts.
Since the tourism boom, Shangri-La (called Shambhala in Amdo Tibetan area) has become the ideal state pursued by people. They hope that it is just a paradise mentioned in Buddhist scriptures or described in novels. In reality, can find the exact correspondence. On the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, it is said that such a secret place has been claimed to have been found, and is generating economic benefits from tourism development. Even abroad, people are trying to claim that Utopia as their own. The National Tourism Administration of India once announced that Shangri-La is located in the town of Baltis under the Himalayas; the Nepalese were not to be outdone and claimed that their border town of Mustang was Shangri-La; the Russians searched for clues of Shangri-La in the ice and snow of Siberia. But in fact, Shambhala is a symbol of the ideal Buddhist paradise. No matter which real land it is placed on, it will appear far-fetched and even tarnish its own holiness. Once upon a time, an American named Jimmy Hart accidentally got another 'road map' to reach Shangri-La. When he was looking for Shangri-La in Nepal, a local old lama smiled and said: What are you looking for everywhere? Shangri-La is in your heart. But there is nothing in our eyes except real matter. Just like when I looked up at the entrance of Mu Dao Na Village, all I saw were skinny branches and sparse leaves, as well as a precarious bird's nest on the canopy.
No one now believes in the mountain god, let alone that the mountain god would place his soul on a certain old poplar tree, but I know that it is a spiritual truth. Perhaps the light and transparent wings of those birds can no longer carry the weight of the material world. They are like the ice baby in the Tibetan folk tale. Suddenly disturbed by the sun, it urinates and runs away in a hurry. We cannot capture it with the net of words. When we try to open the net, it has disappeared. It has been with human beings since childhood, and it has been with us until now. If we hadn’t forgotten it or even rejected it, it would have stayed with us until the end of the world. I believe that there are spirits wandering where there are no car tracks, even though the old neighbor who said this has long since passed away. And I will continue to travel through the villages and pastures on the edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, pursuing the traces of those nihilistic birds under the folk sky.