Alvin and Frank's conversation was interrupted shortly before noon...
After her morning classes ended, little Ginny frantically called for her dad over the radio.
"Dad, stop!
We have to help those people. They're going to smash their heads open..."
Alvin knew what was going on as soon as he heard her. A few pilgrims on their way to Lhasa had caught the little girl's attention.
They wore Tibetan robes and sheepskin aprons, with crude tire-rubber kneepads and a pair of wooden clogs, worn smooth from use, strapped to their hands like gloves...
Every few steps, they rubbed their palms together, then prostrated themselves on the ground, performing their pilgrimage with utmost devotion.
Alvin had seen a few pilgrims like them in his previous life. He didn't know what drove them to walk thousands of kilometers, bowing their heads to the ground every few steps...
After all, it was almost an act of self-torture!
When Alvin was younger, he'd often wondered...
If Buddha needed people to show their respect in this way, was Buddha really worthy of respect?
But later, he met a pilgrim...
The man told him that the pilgrimage brought peace to his heart. Once he'd finished the journey, he felt his life was complete!
Alvin guessed that the man, who was obviously a herdsman, couldn't even explain what faith was, yet somehow he seemed to understand it...
Later, when Alvin reached Lhasa and saw the calm, happy expressions on the pilgrims' faces...
That was when he realized that perhaps their faith wasn't what the rest of us imagined...
Many of them couldn't even recite the scriptures in full, but nobody doubted their devotion...
Perhaps, in the hearts of those steadfast and devout people, faith was more like a kind of "arrival"!
An arrival within the heart: reaching peace,