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In the fall of 2004, this reporter paid a visit to the Tashilhungpo Monastery where the 11th Panchen Erdeni studies Buddhism and saw how he studied, debated with others on Buddhist doctrines and gave blessing touches to worshippers. The 11th Panchen Erdeni often visited farmers and scenic spots in the area. We are going to cover his life in different issues.
Benba Cering
Benba Cering is 62 years old this year. His house in Biza Village (Gyicoxiong Township), which is some eight km from downtown Xigaze, faces a highway. It is small by local standard.
The two-storey building is complete with a courtyard where there were a walking tractor, a motorcycle, a horse-drawn cart, a dozen cows, and several milk cows.
In the center of the courtyard is a feed pond built in 2003. With an area of two square meters, it is about one meter deep. At the bottom is a layer of corn stems covered with grass, left there for fermentation.
The pond is covered with plastic sheets and dirt, and what is inside will be used as animal after the Tibetan New Year, said the village head who accompanied the 11th Panchen Erdeni on his visit.
It tastes sour but animals love the taste. Milk cows fed with the feed produces quality milk loved by people in citizens.
Each household owns one pond.
There are 93 households with 593 people in the village. Many own trucks and the annual average income is 4,000 Yuan. Benba is not the richest in the village however.
Benba's wife, Cering Zholgar, is 59 years old. They have five children. The eldest son and the eldest daughter are both chefs in Lhasa. The second son drives their own truck and works for one in Zongba County which is far-away from home. The youngest daughter is a deputy head of Qoinze Township. And the old couple live with the second daughter, two daughters-in-law and two granddaughters. The eldest granddaughter goes to school in Lhasa.
Cering Zholgar said: ┛When we got married in 1966, we had nothing and had to live on State reliefs.
Now we have two hectares of field. Our 2003 qingke barley and rapeseeds output reached 12.5 tons. That year, our per-capita income was 5,500 Yuan which accounts for 70 percent of the total per-capita cash income.
We built the house in 1997. It has two storeys, with 10 rooms. We have bought a Toyota car to replace our legs.
On the early morning of September 12, 2004, men in Benba Cering?s family began to pave the courtyard with white pulu woolen fabrics. The 11th Panchen Erdeni was to visit.
At nine that morning, the young Buddha came. The Benba and his wife show him around in the house. The 11th Panchen Erdeni was glad to see dozens of new Tibetan quilts, kardian cushions, and sheep wool carpets, and grains enough for the family to consume for years.
After visiting the Buddha hall, where he, his sutra teacher and other monks recited sutras, the 11th Panchen Erdeni and his party went to the sitting room. There, he gave blessing touches on the foreheads of the family members, and then had a good chat with Benba.
On the front wall of the sitting room are portraits of Central Government leaders, the 10th and the 11th Panchen Erdenis. The sitting room is also complete with traditional religious objects and a telephone set. All the rooms are furnished with TV sets. At a corner is a refrigerator where the 11th Panchen Erdeni found butter, beef and mutton.
The second family the 11th Panchen Erdeni and his party visited was a family composed of three brothers and their respective families in Congduixiong Village, Gyiacoxiong Township. The eldest brother works in Lhasa, and the other two greeted the Buddha and his party. They called their house Luchiang which means capable people by the road. It is a high stone house towering by the Xigaze-Gyangze Highway and is 16 km from Xigaze.
When the 11th Panchen Erdeni came, the third brother Purbocang and his family of eight greeted them at the door. On a Tibetan table there was a large chema box containing cereals and a large jar of qingke barley wine. By the path was a burning pile of aromatic plants from which auspicious smoke went up into the sky.
The 11th Panchen Erdeni and his party was also glad to see all the rooms are spacious and have large windows; the family storeroom is filled with Tibetan quilts, cushions and goat wool carpets.
The family uses cooking gas and boasts refrigerator and other furniture.
The 11th Panchen Erdeni and his party met the family in the sitting room. It has a floorspace of some 40 square meters with large French windows, and is furnished with a set of household electrical appliances including hi-fi, 50-inch color TV and DVD. The Tibetan cabinet is carved with portrait of six men enjoying long life and portrait of four brothers who are united. On a wall are portraits of the three generations of State leaders, 9th-11th Panchen Erdenis.
Purbocang made a report to the 11th Panchen Erdeni on behalf of his two other brothers:
2003 per-capita income: 25,012 Yuan including cash income amounting to 16,257 Yuan;
have over 4 hectares of cultivated field;
2003 production of cereals and oilbearing crops reaching 28,000 kg;
have some 200 head of domestic animals, including 15 mares, a few pien niu and donkeys, goats and sheep.
Purbocang told the young Buddha the house is composed of 26 rooms. We spent more than 500,000 Yuan on furniture, Purbocang said.
We have eight motor vehicles including one 45-seat coach, a loading machine, two tractor, a walking tractor, a motorcycle, and two self-dumping trucks.
In 2003 we made 360,000 yuan from transport business.
Purbocang also told the 11th Panchen Erdeni they led a poor life when young.
We are in paradise now, he added.
The 11th Panchen Erdeni advised Purbocang and his two other brothers to give help to those who are poor and the childless old people.
Purbocang reported that they have been providing aid to three poor families in the village for five years. All of them have bought walking tractors with our help, he said, adding that they will do more in this regard.
The 11th Panchen Erdeni spoke highly of what they have done, and gave blessing touch on the foreheads of each of the family members. He also gave two bags of tea, butter and 2,000 Yuan to each of the two brothers. This filled the two brothers with great happiness.
From: tibetmagazine
By: WU YI |
