The Secret Realm of Northern Tibet - The Legend About Sapu Mountain

There are few well-known destinations in northern Tibet, because there are many beautiful scenery hidden in the mountains that are not well known, such as Sapu Mountain. Many people who have been in Tibet for a long time know very little about it, but it is a unique and beautiful glacier.

Sapu Sacred Mountain is the highest peak in the eastern section of Nyenchen Tanglha. It is regarded as the king of local sacred mountains. It is located in Yangxiu Township in Ru County, eastern Nagqu Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region.

The first time I learned about Sapu was when I read an article written by Shu Xiaojian. Shu Xiaojian said: “Sapu at that time was so secretive that even the locals didn’t know about it. People were not afraid of scary things; The unknown. There was never a place more unknown than in Sapp.”

Taken in 2016

The floating ice on the glacier lake was still at the foot of the glacier the evening before, but it reached the end of the glacier lake the next morning, fell into the lake, and floated on the lake surface.

Taken in 2017

Because glaciers melt so quickly, it is expected that all glaciers in the glacial lake may disappear within three to five years. We also often say: "Sapp is here, but he is no longer here."

There are two types of glaciers: Marine glaciers are mainly distributed in the North and South Poles, and mountain glaciers are distributed in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The Sap Glacier is indeed a mountain glacier, but its huge glacier is broken into the lake water at the foot of the mountain. The huge glacier floats, but its appearance is like a marine glacier. So, it is also said to be the coexistence of "marine glaciers" and mountain glaciers.

According to legend, the lake freezes overnight on September 15th in the Tibetan calendar, and melts overnight on May 15th in the Tibetan calendar. This phenomenon is so wonderful that it feels like a myth, and no one can understand it yet.

The drive to Mount Sapu is not only a rugged and steep mountain road, but also crosses two rivers without bridges. Therefore, non-off-road vehicles cannot reach the foot of Mount Sapu from the first lake to the second lake.

There is a very magical legend here. It is said that the sacred mountains are full of people. Sapu has his own wife, son, daughter, a pharmacist, and even an illegitimate son who was born after Sapu’s wife cheated on him. The one on the left of his ancestral peak in Gongshan Mountain The mountain is pointed. For this reason, Sapp later took revenge and severely chopped Xiaosan's "Guobu Mountain", so the current shape of "Guobu Mountain" looks like slash marks on the top of the mountain (can't be seen from this angle) , only by walking along the Nianqingdong hiking route can you clearly see "Guobu Mountain").

Many people think that this pyramid-shaped snow mountain is Sap, but it is not. The tallest one next to it is Sap. This pyramid-shaped snow mountain is actually Sap's second son.

At the end of the boulder slope hidden in the mountains is a red brick temple-Sapu Temple, a Yongzhong Bon temple. It is said that this temple has only one lama, and he lives here alone all year round, away from the world. Including Sapu Mountain, which can be seen right outside the door, is also the sacred mountain of Bon religion. Next time I want to hike to Nian Qingdong. It has always been my dream to walk in this kind of scenery. It also proves the saying: The scenery is always in difficult and dangerous places.

cow dung,

Stars, dots,

like a lost button,

Scattered on the roadside,

It doesn’t have Qiu Ju’s curly blond hair,

There is no peony's charming face,

It has only tiny flowers,

and thin leaves turn yellow,

Melt the faint fragrance into the beautiful autumn.

Frozen rivers are blue;

A cloudless sky is blue;

What a simple color,

The sun moistens the skin of the earth.

From sunset to starry sky,

Stepping from the plains into the mountains,

Suddenly encountered a misty fog,

Erase all roads.

The place where I live is a container, surrounded by barbed wire to prevent bears from breaking in. Hiking friends told me that they have encountered bears three times on this road.

now,

on the wasteland,

Full of stars in dreams.

The three videos in the article were edited over a day.

You can click it to take a look, haha

The animals on the plateau are the same as those in the world;

can be used to understand the world,

You don't even have to understand animals,

Just observe,

From it you can see the magic of heaven and earth.

The mind is broad and the heart knows where to go.

For example, the skull wall:

Not many people have the chance to walk into the Skull Wall in Tibet. There are two legends about the Skull Wall:

One theory is that as early as 80 years ago, there was a little boy in a tribe in Qinghai. When he was 8 years old, he witnessed the murder of three people. He was so frightened that he ran to Ru County for five generations DabuIn front of the Living Buddha, Dabu Living Buddha appointed him as the sky burial master of the Bodhidharma Temple Sky Burial Yard. So, he took down the corpses of all the deceased and threw them in the southeast corner of the Celestial Burial Courtyard. When they turned into skeletons, he picked them up one by one. He started placing them in order from the northeast corner of the celestial burial yard. When he died in his 50s, he basically placed them in the southwest corner. It is said that the reason why he did this was because he was afraid that the murderer would mix into the sky burial procession after his death.

Another theory is that retaining the skulls of the deceased was a temple rule set by Dapu Living Buddha Danbatuku Wuzhu of Quedai Temple in Xiangqu Township, Ru County during the 13th generation. But it cannot be verified so far.

Leaving the skulls behind and building them into walls is nothing more than a warning to the living to do more good deeds and have less worldly thoughts. No matter who you are, death is nothing more than this.

Capturing the sunset over Nagqu grassland

Here there is no care in the empty world,

With the clean and simple smile of Tibetan women,

With the smoke curling up in the vast secret realm,

With the tranquility of the shepherdess returning home at sunset,

With the dexterity of an antelope when searching for food,

With the solitary height of wild horses running on the grass,

There is also the serenity of flocks of sheep returning slowly at dusk.

I have traveled farther than ordinary people,

I have also seen more stunning scenery than ordinary people.

You choose your own path,

Go bravely,

No matter how rough it is,

It's also quite tasty.