Buddhist Mercy for Tibetan Pheasants
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The Garze Tibetan Ethnic Group Autonomous Prefecture is located on the southern tip of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, east of the Henduan Mountains, is a 7,323-square-km area full of thrilling scenery-none more so that the perennially snow-covered Buddhist holy land called Nyainqengonggar Risumgongbu.
About 8 km away from the county seat is the Zhiyi (Four-Dragon Monastery belonging to the White Sect of Tibetan Buddhism.
It was built in the middle part of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), when Master Gamarpa Dorsumqenba gave lectures there on Buddhism.
It now has a Monk population of 118, who intermix the necessary duty of reciting Sutras with farming and livestock breeding. Tibetan pheasants roam the courtyard. "We must show mercy to all forms of Life," say the Monks.
"We do not allow anyone to commit killing in the Monastery. Thus, we have made friends even with these birds."
In this regard, they tell the following story:
Senyi Qoigyai, an eminent Monk with the Monastery, was meditating in the mountain one day. An injured Tibetan pheasant fell close by him, and the eminent Monk brought it back to the Monastery, where it recuperated.
The bird was set free when it had recovered. In October of the next year, however, a group of Tibetan pheasants turned up at the Monastery looking for Food.
Seeing this, Monks brought out qingke barley to entertain their feathered guests. Gradually, a Trust developed and the Tibetan pheasants stayed in the Monastery for seven months until the following May. In the late autumn, they returned with new group members.
The Monastery has now become a paradise for 2,000 Tibetan pheasants, as well as other birds, squirrels and hedgehogs. Each year, the Monastery allots 1,000 kg more of qingke for feeding purposes.