Recently, when Yu Fan participated in the activity of #冬春旅行在青海#, he was fortunate enough to come to the hometown of Thangka in China—the Regong area of Qinghai, where we met Master Douga, who is known as the master of Thangka, I got to know the master of the Chinese thangka world at close range (Yufan will share it separately), and through his son (provincial thangka art master) Gazang Nima, I met one of his elder brothers—Wutunxia The lama Dawa of the temple made troubles on the day.
Wutunxia Temple is located in Wutun Village, Longwu Town, Tongshi County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, the birthplace of Tibetan Regong art and the hometown of Thangka. It has a history of more than 600 years and is a national key cultural relic protection unit , There are many halls and gorgeous decorations in Wutunxia Temple. There are a large number of exquisite thangkas, embroidery, sculptures and other works of art in the temple. Gazang Nima's elder brother Dawa Naori became a monk here.
Dawa Naori was born in a family of artists. Under the influence of his uncle, he went to the monastery to become a monk at the age of 8. He began to learn Thangka and clay sculpture, and he was well-informed. Now he is well-known in the Regong area. According to his introduction, He read scriptures for eight hours in the scripture hall that day, and then returned to his studio to start art creation.
After making clay sculptures for a period of time, he returned to the monastery to take some of his young apprentices—several young lamas aged 8 to 12.
Under his guidance, these young lamas have to read scriptures for several hours every day, and they can rest, eat and watch TV only after reciting them.
When he took us to his monastery, four young lamas were seriously reading aloud the scriptures he taught.
According to him, the Tibetan language, scriptures, Thangkas, and clay sculptures of these young lamas were taught by him alone, while other courses such as painting, Chinese, and medicine were taught by other lamas.
One of the 8-year-old lamas was the first to complete the assigned learning tasks, and he was allowed to watch TV in the room. Like other children, this little lama also likes to watch cartoons.
Back at the monastery, Dawa Naori’s biggest job in a day is to educate these young lamas and supervise them to complete their daily learning tasks.
The monastery where Dawa spends his daily life is an independent small courtyard. It is the residence of him and several young disciples. There are scripture halls, bedrooms, and a kitchen. They usually cook and eat by themselves most of the time, and sometimes I will go to the kitchen in the temple to eat big pot meals.
In his room there is an independent scripture hall, which contains exquisite Buddha statues and thangkas, all of which are said to be his own works. In his spare time, he would meditate and chant scriptures here.
Wutunxia Temple is a well-known large temple. There are more than 100 lamas in it. Most of the lamas live the same life as him. They have independent monk houses. The older ones will bring some younger ones to teach them Learn all kinds of knowledge. He told us that the local family would send the smartest child to become a monk in the temple to learn all kinds of knowledge. The lamas in the temple are mainly local people, but there are also some foreigners who come to the temple to become monks. More and more, Wutunshang Temple was built not far away.
