Tibetan Priest: The voice of a Tibetan pastor

Pastor Dawa is currently pasting and teaching theological training in Nepal. He was born into a Tibetan Buddhist family. Because of his strong physique, he served as the personal guard of the Dalai Lama. Under God's miraculous arrangement, he was able to meet Jesus while serving as a personal bodyguard and later became a born-again Christian, but in the process of faith, he was completely rejected by his family and friends. But in faith, there is more experience of the Lord. After years of theological training, he became a preacher. There are currently 80,000 Nepalese refugees in the United States, 40,000 of whom are Christians. In addition to pastoring in Nepal, he also visited local Nepalese Christians.

After believing in the Lord, Pastor Dawa has become a brother in Christ who loves Chinese and cares about Chinese compatriots from a state of isolation from Chinese, and his testimony will become a colorful cloud for us. As Hebrews 12:1-2 says, "Since we have so many witnesses surrounding us like a cloud, let us lay down every burden, throw off the sin that easily entangles us, and run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author, and finisher of our faith."

Tibetan Catholic Church

When it comes to Tibet, nature is inseparable from Buddhism, whether it is a religious believer who turns to a mountain and turns to Buddhism, or an ascetic monk who climbs a mountain with a long head, Tibet's devout Buddhist believers have long become part of Tibetan culture, and it is also a beautiful scenery of Tibetan tourism. For a long time, I thought that the faith in Tibet was very pure, but I didn't expect that there is also a Catholic church here, which is the Yanjing Catholic Church in Mangkang County.

The church is located in Shangyanjing, Mangkang County, just a short distance from the thousand-year-old salt pans. If you're driving on Route 214, I don't know if there's such a church, or if it's recommended by the locals. There is no admission fee for the church, and you can visit it at any time. You just need to park your car on the side of the road and walk in.

So far, the origin of the church has not been determined. The data shows that the church was built in 1855 by the French missionary Deng Deliang, and there are also data that the Yanjing Catholic Church was built in 1862, and there are also data that the Yanjing Catholic Church was built in 1862, and other data show that the church was built in 1879, but in any case, the church was built in 1869. But if you look closely, this church is very different from other Catholic churches, the Tibetan style is very strong, whether it is carved beams and paintings or the paintings on the wall, there is no shadow of Western churches, if it is not for this cross, it is not like hundreds of years of ancient buildings, but traditional Tibetan architecture.

In fact, at the beginning of the establishment of the church, it was not Tibetan, but a very spectacular Western-style church, which was only destroyed in a special period, and the current style was only after the new building, which is a kind of religious fusion. As elsewhere, the missionaries first treated the villagers in Yanjing, who became the first Catholics. With the increase in the number of believers, the diocese set up a special Tibetan school for missionaries to go to school to learn Tibetan, so that they could better proselytize Tibetan compatriots, especially the fourth priest Nidron, who not only translated a large number of Tibetan scriptures, but also set up night schools and hired local teachers to teach believers, thus promoting the development of Catholicism in Tibet.

However, in Tibet, where Buddhism is predominant, the spread of Catholicism is naturally fraught with difficulties. It is in intense conflict with the local Buddhism, which is dominated by Gangda Monastery. There were 15 priests in the church, 7 of whom were killed, or even 7 killed. However, the existing Catholics did not give up. Since its application to the Chengdu People's Liberation Committee in 1951, it has once again become a place of religious activity for Catholics and the only Catholic church in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Even in 1997, the first Tibetan Catholic priest, Father Luren, was welcomed. The interior of this church is not as Tibetan as its exterior.

Today, more than 80% of the local villagers believe in Catholicism, but Catholics and Buddhists have long understood each other, and everyone lives in harmony and there is no longer any conflict. Tibetans in Yanjing are also free to choose between Tibetan Buddhism and Catholicism. Not only that, but the local Catholics also regard the Tibetan New Year as the beginning of the new year, and like other Tibetans, it is regarded as a big festival. When the Christmas priest presides over the Mass, all the congregants and invitees eat in the large courtyard of the church, but eventually, they dance the traditional Tibetan pot dance and string dance. This religious syncretism is a great spectacle for the entire TAR.