Seda: Red faith burns on the plateau

Seda is a splash of red on the western Sichuan plateau. For four days and three nights, in the hill-filled red houses of Larong Wuming Buddhist Institute, watch how faith burns a barren mountain to red, listening to the chanting in the wind.

After crossing several passes over 4,000 meters above sea level, the Larung Five Minh Buddhist Academy suddenly comes into view—tens of thousands of crimson monastic dwellings cover the entire slope along the slope, like flames ignited from the earth. This is one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist institutes in the world.

At dawn or dusk, the monks' quarters are lit up one after another, echoing the golden summit of the mandala halfway up. People circle the mandala in an endless stream, their long kowtows repeating the same action in the morning light. Here, faith is never an abstract word.

The distant view of the Sky Burial Platform is Seda's most stunning lesson. Tibetans believe sky burial is a ritual for the soul to ascend to heaven; eagles and vultures circle down, making one confront life and impermanence head-on. Onlookers must maintain absolute solemnity and distance, as this is the last respect for the human world.

Altitude sickness is the greatest test. The thin air makes every step heavy, but it is precisely because of this that you can feel the practitioner's daily resilience. Bring good oxygen and Rhodiola, slow the pace again and again.

The red of Seda is a kind of burning quiet. When you sit on a hill, watching the red house silently in the wind and prayer flags fluttering in the wind, you suddenly realize that so-called faith is simply about doing something to the utmost.