Chapter 2 Preface: Father's Tibetan Mastiff

Everything stems from nostalgia for my father, but also for the Tibetan Mastiff. When I was seven years old, my father brought me and my elder brother a little Tibetan Mastiff from the Yushu Grassland in Sanjiangyuan. My father said that the Tibetan Mastiff is the treasure of the Tibetan people, and it can do everything. You should raise it up. The little Tibetan mastiff is very indifferent to us brothers, and never shakes his head and tail at us.We didn't like it either, and traded it for a pug half a month later.My father was very angry, but he didn't let us change it back.Two days later, the little Tibetan Mastiff ran back by himself.Dad grinned and said to us: I knew it would come back.It's called loyalty, you know?

It's a pity that we still don't like the little Tibetan mastiff that can't shake its head and tail. My father sighed and took it back to the grassland. Fourteen years passed in a flash.During the fourteen years I served in the army, was demobilized, went to university, and then became a reporter for Qinghai Daily.When I went to the pastoral area for an interview for the first time, I approached a Tibetan blockhouse, and saw a huge black Tibetan mastiff pounced on me from a distance, beating the ground with its four hooves, and made an earth-shattering drum sound.Behind the black mastiff was dragging a thick and heavy iron chain, one end of the iron chain was connected to a wooden prong, the wooden prong jumped up and down vigorously, and it was about to be pulled out of the ground.I was overwhelmed with fright, and stood stiffly, not even shaking.

However, the black mastiff didn't throw me to the ground, it suddenly stopped two steps away from me, sat on its buttocks, and looked at me motionless.Uncle Dan Zhengjia, a Tibetan who ran over later, told me that the black mastiff was a small Tibetan mastiff that had been to my house 14 years ago, and it recognized me. My feelings for the Tibetan Mastiff arose from this.You only fed it for a month, and after fourteen years it still regards you as a relative. If you are its master for a day, it will remember you for a lifetime. Even if it is a dog, it is enough to make me respect you.Not long after the death of the black mastiff, which was as mighty and majestic as a black lion, I became a resident reporter in Sanjiangyuan for six years.During my six years of living in the grasslands, I have encountered countless Tibetan mastiffs. No matter how fierce they are, when they saw me for the first time, they would not show their teeth or claws. It feels like we have been old friends for many years.Their owners were surprised at first, but after knowing who my father was, they suddenly realized: you have the smell of your father, and they recognize you by nature!

During those six years, my father lived in the city with a Tibetan mastiff he brought from Yushu, while I lived on the plateau in the legend of my father and the Tibetan mastiff.My father had lived on the grassland for nearly twenty years, worked as a reporter, ran a school, engaged in literature, and also served as a leader.There are many stories about him and the Tibetan mastiff circulating on the grassland, not exactly like the ones I described in the novel, but equally legendary and charming.No matter what he does, he always keeps a few Tibetan mastiffs in his residence, and they are all good-looking female mastiffs.The mastiffs gave birth to litter after litter, and he kept giving the puppies to those who needed them and loved them.So he knew and knew his Tibetan mastiffs, and the Tibetan mastiffs he had a relationship with, spread all over the grasslands of Sanjiangyuan.A Tibetan cadre told me that during the Cultural Revolution, their faction wanted to fight against my father, but after four nights of research they did not dare to do it, because they were afraid that my father's Tibetan mastiff would retaliate against them.I am lucky for my father, and I am also lucky for myself, because it is these powerful Tibetan mastiffs that let me discover my father and myself. I have my father's inheritance, and I am actually the same as my father.

During the six years of staying in Sanjiangyuan, my father's inheritance has always played a role, making me involuntarily integrate myself into the grassland like him, and live like a real Tibetan.I seldom stayed in Jiegu Town, where the state party committee is located, but headlong into Zaduo Grassland, Qumalai Grassland, and Nangqian Grassland of the Kham people, which are more remote from towns.Sometimes I live in the landlord’s house where my father lived, sometimes in the herdsman’s tent, and sometimes in the monk’s house of the monastery. I see the increasingly rare Tibetan mastiffs every day and become their friends.I wore a Tibetan robe, rode a big horse, and participated in all animal husbandry activities, all festival activities and all Buddhist activities.I hang out with the herdsmen, drinking, eating meat, grazing, feeding the dogs, talking about their parents' family problems, helping them resolve conflicts between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and neighbor disputes.At that time, journalists, especially those living in remote pastoral areas like me, had very light work tasks. Writing a report in one or two months was already regarded as dedication.I have plenty of time to do everything I want to do.It is often like this: riding a horse, taking the Tibetan mastiff of the landlord or the monastery, walking to the grassland far and far away, and passing out drunk in the shepherd's tent.My ideal at that time was: marry a Tibetan girl, raise a group of Tibetan mastiffs like my father, eat meat in the winter nest in winter, and graze in the summer nest in summer, and occasionally take the Tibetan mastiff to hunt and take risks on the snow-capped mountains in the forest .I seem to have been working hard to realize my ideal, almost forgetting that I am a permanent reporter.

Once in Qumalai, I drank too much highland barley wine and got totally drunk. I woke up in the middle of the night to relieve myself, and the cool breeze blew, and I vomited.The Tibetan mastiff who was on guard at night followed me, and without saying a word, licked up all the things I spit out.As a result, it was also drunk, and fell limply beside me.It and I hugged each other on the grass next to the tent and fell asleep soundly.Waking up in a daze the next morning, I stroked the Tibetan mastiff and wondered: Who is beside me? Is it Dai Ji Dongzhu, the owner of this house?How did he grow hair?

This incident became a joke of mine and was widely circulated on the grasslands.The girls giggled when they saw me, and the children yelled at me when they saw me: hair is growing, hair is growing.When introducing me, he no longer said that I was a reporter, but said: This is the person who got drunk with the Tibetan mastiff and said that Dai Ji Dongzhu had grown hair.The herdsmen invited me to his house as a guest, always saying: Come on, go and have a drink with my Tibetan mastiff. At that time, I was obliged to go.One summer, I went to the home of Ga Rang, a herdsman in Jielong Township. I stayed for just one week, and his big black mastiff had such a deep affection for me that I would search all over the grassland if I didn't see it for a day.I often wonder if it is the Tibetan mastiff raised by my father.I will leave the grassland in a few years, and I will start from Jielong Township.The big black mastiff saw me packed up and got into the car, knowing that it was a long separation, so he jumped and bit the car until his teeth were bleeding.In its mind, I had to leave it, and it was this damn car that had me in it that forced me to leave.I heard later that after I left, the big black mastiff lay dead on the ground without eating or drinking a sip of water for a week, as if all the spirit, including the idea of ​​living, had been taken away by me.The owner had no choice but to kill a sheep, and then took some wolf hair from the wolf's skin, stuck it on the dead sheep, threw it in front of it, and said angrily: "How do you take care of the sheep?"You don't care if a sheep is killed by a wolf, so why should I raise you?Look, look, do you see wolf fur?What about wolves?Don't hurry to find it.The big black mastiff was greatly stimulated. There were very few wolves on the grassland. It hadn't bitten a wolf for a year. Unexpectedly, when it was depressed due to emotional frustration, the wolf would take advantage of it.It immediately stood up staggeringly, ate and drank a little, and went to guard the flock of sheep and cattle according to the natural duty of a Tibetan mastiff.

Regrettably, after I returned to Jielong Township many times, I never saw the herdsman Ga Rang and the big black mastiff who was deeply attached to me.I heard that they moved to another place, because the grassland here has been degraded, and the cattle and sheep can't get enough to eat. Unfortunately, I ended my long-term residency in Sanjiangyuan and returned to a city I didn't like.In the days when I miss the grassland and miss the Tibetan mastiff, I always go back whenever I have a chance.Snow mountains, grasslands, horses, herdsmen, Tibetan mastiffs, and milk tea are the six treasures of Tibetan areas for me, and I will rely on them spiritually throughout my life.Especially Tibetan Mastiff, I often think, I like Tibetan Mastiff because of my father, why does my father like Tibetan Mastiff?I asked my father, and my father said without hesitation: Tibetan mastiffs are good, not like wolves.

Father's thinking is the thinking of grassland people.In the eyes of grassland herdsmen, wolves are despicable and shameless thieves, bullying the weak and fearing evil, ungrateful, and benefiting themselves at the expense of others.The Tibetan mastiff is completely opposite. It is loyal to the master, acts bravely in righteousness, and is brave and fearless.A wolf fights for himself all his life, and a Tibetan mastiff fights for others all his life.The wolf regards food as its heaven, and its fighting is only to survive; the Tibetan mastiff regards the Tao as its heaven, and their fighting is for loyalty, morality, and duty.Wolf and Tibetan mastiff are not the same.Therefore, whenever my father evaluates those who like to punish people, those who deprive others of their right to life, those who fight in the nest, and those who are insidious and cunning, he always says: That is a wolf.In a booklet of "Citizens' Code of Ethics", he solemnly annotated a few words: the standard of Tibetan Mastiff.My father said to me: We need to live leisurely with the company of Tibetan mastiffs, instead of living in fear in an environment where wolves are watching.

Fortunately, before my father was alive, the world did not advocate wolf nature, wolf culture and wolf worship, otherwise, how sad my father would be. It's a pity that the Tibetan mastiff had begun to decline before his father was alive. Although the spirit of the Tibetan mastiff supported his father's life, he could only dwell in the concrete grid of the city in his old age, thinking about the grasslands and Tibetan mastiffs far away.Every time I look at the lonely figure of my father, I think, I must write a book about the Tibetan Mastiff, and the protagonist besides the Tibetan Mastiff is the father.

The Tibetan Mastiff is a plateau dog breed evolved from the Himalayan giant ancient hyena more than 10 million years ago. It is the only ancient living fossil in the dog world that has not been changed by time and environment.It used to be a wild beast that ran wild on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It was not domesticated until more than 6,000 years ago, and it began to live a life dependent on humans.As a friend of mankind, Tibetan Mastiff has won many well-deserved titles. The ancients said it was a dragon dog, Emperor Qianlong said it was a dog champion, Tibetans said it was a Senge (lion), and Tibetan Mastiff researchers said it was a national treasure and an oriental treasure. The god dog is a rare bulldog in the world. It is the oldest, rarest and most ferocious large dog breed recognized by the world, and it is the ancestor of the bulldog in the world.In 1275 AD, the Italian explorer Marco.Polo described the Tibetan mastiff he saw in this way: A strange dog that had never been seen before was found in Tibet. It was as huge as a donkey, and as fierce and loud as a lion.In 1240 AD, Genghis Khan swept across Europe and left more than 30,000 Tibetan mastiffs as part of the bulldog army that followed him in the northern and southern wars. These purebred Himalayan Tibetan mastiffs were cross-bred in a wider area to produce the world-famous Large working dogs Mastiff, Rottweiler, German Great Dane, French Saint Bernard, Canadian Newfoundland, English Mastiff and many more.That is to say, the ancestors of almost all large and fierce dog breeds existing in Europe and Asia are Tibetan mastiffs. My father copied the knowledge of Tibetan mastiffs collected here and there in a notebook, and he never got tired of reading it.At the same time, there are some legends that he knows in the notebook.These legends tell us that the Tibetan Mastiff has always had the status of a god on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.In ancient legends, the brave beast 狻猊 refers to the Tibetan Mastiff, so the Tibetan Mastiff is also called Cang Ni.In the oral stories of the Tibetan hero Gesar, many of the gods of war who wear tough clothes are Tibetan mastiffs.Tibetan mastiff is also the first companion god of Vajra's powerful Dharma protector. It is a variant of Bai Brahma, the grand skeleton and ghost soldier. He is the mount of the God of Storm King Kong Qumo, the mountain gods of Yala Daze Mountain and Caimonio Mountain, and the protector of the Tongtianhe Grassland.And the roaring dog who once helped Erlang bravely fight the Monkey King Monkey King is also a powerful Himalayan Tibetan Mastiff. All these knowledge and legends about Tibetan mastiffs gave my father great comfort. After the Tibetan mastiff he brought home from Yushu grassland died of old age, they became the only sustenance for his father's affection for Tibetan mastiffs.I once clipped some news about Tibetan Mastiff Distribution Center, Tibetan Mastiff Breeding Base, Tibetan Mastiff Appraisal Conference and Tibetan Mastiff Exhibition from newspapers, and sent them to my father, hoping to bring him happiness, but unexpectedly, it brought him worry instead.Father said, is that still a Tibetan mastiff?Those are all pets. In my father's mind, the Tibetan mastiff is not only a domestic animal, but a high-quality existence, a form used by nomadic people to promote their nomadic spirit. The Tibetan mastiff not only gathers the best qualities of grassland beasts and domestic animals. quality, and concentrated the excellent qualities that grassland herdsmen should possess.The strength of character of the Tibetan Mastiff cannot be continued in people's meticulous care, but can only be honed in the fierce climate of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.If they can't be allowed to gallop in the high-altitude wilderness where at least 50% of the oxygen is lacking, can't let them howl in the ice and snow at minus 40 degrees, and can't keep them alert to wolves and leopards ten or twenty miles away, They cannot be allowed to carry all the burden of the herdsman's life on their own shoulders, and the degradation of their agility, speed, strength and character will be inevitable.Therefore, when the rich and leisure people in the city became more and more enthusiastic about the Tibetan Mastiff, and when the price of the Tibetan Mastiff became more and more expensive, the father's loneliness also deepened day by day. From time to time, I comforted my father and said that at least the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is still there, and so are the Tibetan mastiffs on the plateau.I also said that if the natural environment is protected on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and a Tibetan mastiff base is established, the purity of Tibetan mastiffs can also be guaranteed.But the father said with a wry smile: Even so, there are not many wolves left. Yes, there are fewer wolves, and there are fewer tigers, leopards, and bears. How can the Tibetan mastiff and the Tibetan mastiff’s nature be less without the enemy?Father had expected that the Tibetan mastiff in his heart was gone forever.Fortunately, my father didn't expect that, with fewer wolves, the culture of wolves and wolves, and the worship of wolves became rampant. In the endless nostalgia for the Tibetan Mastiff, my father passed away. My brother and I tore out the copybooks and scrapbooks of my father’s knowledge about Tibetan Mastiff page by page, together with the cover that read “Easy to Get, Hard to Find a Mastiff”, and burned them in front of my father’s urn together with paper money .We hope that if there is an afterlife, there will be a Tibetan mastiff to accompany him. In the spring of the second year, Qiangba, the son of our old friend Danzhengjia, came to my house, holding a khata, and searched inside and out, only to find out that his father had passed away.He dedicated the khata to his father's portrait, and took out his gift to his father from the travel bag.Our whole family was stunned, it was four little Tibetan mastiffs.This Tibetan mastiff, who is as loyal and kind as a Tibetan mastiff, found four pure Tibetan mastiffs in the huge Sanjiangyuan area, and wanted his father to have a fulfilling and happy old age.It's a pity that his father has already left, and he can no longer enjoy the happiness and excitement brought by the Tibetan mastiff. The four little Tibetan mastiffs are two males and two females, two are pitch black, and two are black back and yellow legs.Danzhengjia's son Qiangba said: I have already thought about it. They are brothers and sisters matching siblings, just like exchanging relatives on the grassland. The younger sister exchanges the older brother's wife.As he said that, he put the little Tibetan mastiff together as a couple he had arranged. My mother and we hugged them quickly, and we liked them so much that we forgot to entertain the guests.I asked Jamba, does he already have a name?He said not yet.We named them right away, the strongest male mastiff was named Gangrisenger, and his sister was named Nari.The youngest female mastiff is called Guori, and her younger brother, who is stronger than her, is called Dorji.These used to be the names of my father's Tibetan Mastiffs, and we copied them on the four little Tibetan Mastiffs.And when I was writing this novel, I named my protagonist with them, which can be regarded as a commemoration of my father and the four little Tibetan mastiffs. The day when the four little Tibetan mastiffs were delivered was the first holiday in our family after the death of our father, and we planted the seeds of tragedy in the joy of being carried away.Two weeks later, our house was burglarized and nothing was lost except four small Tibetan mastiffs. No one was spared in the search, and the whole family was out.As if we had lost our own children, we crazily called out in the streets and alleys of the city: Gangrisenge, Dorji, come on, Guori, that day.We entrusted people, we called the police, we published newspapers, we offered rewards, we exhausted all the methods we could think of.Two full years passed before we were willing to admit that our four little Tibetan Mastiffs belonged to my father and we might not be able to find them anymore.People who steal dogs generally don't own dogs. They are probably a few dog dealers who turned the four little Tibetan mastiffs into money at the expense of others.Those who can spend money to buy small Tibetan mastiffs must also like Tibetan mastiffs. They won't abuse them, right?They will try their best to raise them well, right?I just don’t know, are the four little Tibetan mastiffs in the same owner’s house, or are they already separated, living their own independent lives and fulfilling their independent missions? Now, the four little Tibetan mastiffs should grow up long ago and be parents.I would like to tell those who adopted them, please remember their names: Gangrisenge means snow mountain lion, Dorji come back means good king kong, Guori means grassland people's bravery and strength with the moon as a symbol. The name of Godmother, that day is what they call the lion-faced black gold protector who is represented by dark clouds; in addition, Guori is still round eggs, and that day is still black eggs, which are often used by Tibetans to name their closest children. name.Also remember to treat them like highland herdsmen and never pair them casually.Gangrisenge, Dorji come on, and Guori and Nari, only by breeding with pure Himalayan mastiffs can they continue their lineage and keep their bodies tall and burly, while also maintaining their great spirit and noble character. Only in this way can they be powerful to suppress the group of beasts generation after generation, outstanding and outstanding, cast iron and stone carvings, beautiful in appearance, and become a part of human life generation after generation. Please also remember that they condense the feelings of Tibetans in the grasslands for their father, and also condense a son's endless nostalgia for his father.