Zandan Zhuu. The most valuable relic of the Buddhist world is located in Buryatia. Datsans of Buryatia: Egituisky datsan. Sandalwood Buddha statue - Zandan Zhuu Sandalwood Buddha in Buryatia how to get there

Zandan Zhuu (Sandalwood Buddha or Sandalwood Lord) - a sculpture of Buddha 2 m 18 cm high, made of sandalwood, according to legend, 2500 years ago by order of Raja Uddiyana.

Finding of Zandan Zhuu by the Egitui datsan

In the winter of 1901, the Sandalwood Buddha found himself in Transbaikalia. After the defeat of the Boxer Uprising, the Buryat Cossacks, taking advantage of the turmoil and devastation in Beijing, and the fire in the Sandan-sy monastery (“Sandalwood Buddha Monastery”), where the statue was kept at that time, took it out. The operation was led by the head of the postal and telegraph service of the Russian embassy in China N.I. Gomboev. The Buryat Cossacks carried the precious statue out of the burning monastery, and thereby saved it from death in the fire. As a trophy, the sculpture was taken with great care on a sleigh to Buryatia.

According to another version, Zandan Zhuu was brought to Eravna thanks to the incredible efforts of the Sorzho Lama of the Egitui datsan Gombo Dorzho Erdyneev and many other people who risked their lives. Upon arrival, a metal copy of the statue was made and placed in the Egituisky datsan, but the original was hidden. During the Civil War, Japanese invaders learned of the location of Zandan Zhuu. Upon arrival, they were shown a metal copy, and they left with nothing.

In the 1930s, the Sandalwood Buddha was kept in the Odigitrievsky Cathedral in the city of Ulan-Ude, where the funds of the Museum of Local Lore were then housed.

In the 1980s, the statue was returned to believers. On September 25, 1991, Zandan Zhuu was transported by helicopter to the Egituysky datsan.

On April 22, 2003, the Decision of the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia was issued: “To approve as Buddhist shrines of Russia: the statue of Zandan Zhuu, Atlas of Tibetan Medicine, Precious body of Hambo Lama Itigelov.”

Sandalwood Buddha Temple

For some time, the statue was kept in the dugan of the Egituisky datsan, in a small wooden one-story building, not suitable for storing cultural and historical values. In this regard, the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia decided to build a special storage room maintaining a constant microclimate. On July 25, 2008, the Sandalwood Buddha Temple was opened.

Buddhist legend about the appearance of the statue

According to the Tocharian monk Dharmanandi (385 CE, Ekottara Agama Sutras from the Anuttara Nikaya), the Buddha was in Tushita heaven, preaching the Dharma to his deceased mother Maya. Prasenajit wanted to see the Enlightened Lord and ordered a statue of him to be made. Maudgalyayana transported the masters to heaven, where they met the Buddha. After returning, the craftsmen sculpted a life-size statue from sandalwood. When Buddha Shakyamuni returned to earth, the statue took six steps towards him, then he made a prophecy that it would be moved to the north, and Buddhism would flourish there.

Impact of the statue on believers

Not everyone can be at Zandan Zhuu: some can’t stand it and leave the temple. Others, on the contrary, find that several hours have passed since they sat down opposite the Sandalwood Buddha. It is believed that the shrine eliminates negative deeds, bestows long life, and provides guidance for good luck, happiness, and health, if the worshiper hopes for it and believes in it from the bottom of his heart.

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Notes

Literature

Buryats /Ans. ed. Abaeva L. L., Zhukovskaya N. L.; Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology named after. N. N. Mikhlukho Maclay. - M.: Science, 2004

Excerpt characterizing Sandalwood Buddha

“Oh, that would be so terrible...” she began and, without finishing from excitement, with a graceful movement (like everything she did in front of him), bowing her head and looking at him gratefully, she followed her aunt.
In the evening of that day, Nikolai did not go anywhere to visit and stayed at home in order to settle some scores with the horse sellers. When he finished his business, it was already too late to go anywhere, but it was still too early to go to bed, and Nikolai walked up and down the room alone for a long time, pondering his life, which rarely happened to him.
Princess Marya made a pleasant impression on him near Smolensk. The fact that he met her then in such special conditions, and the fact that it was her at one time that his mother pointed out to him as a rich match, made him pay special attention to her. In Voronezh, during his visit, the impression was not only pleasant, but strong. Nikolai was amazed at the special, moral beauty that he noticed in her this time. However, he was about to leave, and it did not occur to him to regret that by leaving Voronezh, he would be deprived of the opportunity to see the princess. But the current meeting with Princess Marya in the church (Nicholas felt it) sank deeper into his heart than he foresaw, and deeper than he desired for his peace of mind. This pale, thin, sad face, this radiant look, these quiet, graceful movements and most importantly - this deep and tender sadness, expressed in all her features, disturbed him and demanded his participation. Rostov could not stand to see in men the expression of a higher, spiritual life (that’s why he did not like Prince Andrei), he contemptuously called it philosophy, dreaminess; but in Princess Marya, precisely in this sadness, which showed the full depth of this spiritual world alien to Nicholas, he felt an irresistible attraction.
“She must be a wonderful girl! That's exactly the angel! - he spoke to himself. “Why am I not free, why did I hurry up with Sonya?” And involuntarily he imagined a comparison between the two: poverty in one and wealth in the other of those spiritual gifts that Nicholas did not have and which therefore he valued so highly. He tried to imagine what would happen if he were free. How would he propose to her and she would become his wife? No, he couldn't imagine this. He felt terrified, and no clear images appeared to him. With Sonya, he had long ago drawn up a future picture for himself, and all of this was simple and clear, precisely because it was all made up, and he knew everything that was in Sonya; but it was impossible to imagine a future life with Princess Marya, because he did not understand her, but only loved her.
Dreams about Sonya had something fun and toy-like about them. But thinking about Princess Marya was always difficult and a little scary.
“How she prayed! - he remembered. “It was clear that her whole soul was in prayer. Yes, this is the prayer that moves mountains, and I am confident that its prayer will be fulfilled. Why don't I pray for what I need? - he remembered. - What I need? Freedom, ending with Sonya. “She told the truth,” he recalled the words of the governor’s wife, “except for misfortune, nothing will come from the fact that I marry her.” Confusion, woe maman... things... confusion, terrible confusion! Yes, I don't like her. Yes, I don’t love it as much as I should. My God! get me out of this terrible, hopeless situation! – he suddenly began to pray. “Yes, prayer will move a mountain, but you have to believe and not pray the way Natasha and I prayed as children for snow to become sugar, and we ran out into the yard to try to see if sugar was made from snow.” No, but I’m not praying for trifles now,” he said, putting the pipe in the corner and, folding his hands, standing in front of the image. And, touched by the memory of Princess Marya, he began to pray as he had not prayed for a long time. Tears were in his eyes and in his throat when Lavrushka entered the door with some papers.
- Fool! Why do you bother when they don’t ask you! - Nikolai said, quickly changing his position.
“From the governor,” Lavrushka said in a sleepy voice, “the courier has arrived, a letter for you.”
- Well, okay, thank you, go!
Nikolai took two letters. One was from the mother, the other from Sonya. He recognized their handwriting and printed out Sonya's first letter. Before he had time to read a few lines, his face turned pale and his eyes opened in fear and joy.
- No, this cannot be! – he said out loud. Unable to sit still, he holds the letter in his hands, reading it. began to walk around the room. He ran through the letter, then read it once, twice, and, raising his shoulders and spreading his arms, he stopped in the middle of the room with his mouth open and eyes fixed. What he had just prayed for, with the confidence that God would grant his prayer, was fulfilled; but Nicholas was surprised by this as if it was something extraordinary, and as if he had never expected it, and as if the very fact that it happened so quickly proved that it did not happen from God, whom he asked, but from ordinary chance.
That seemingly insoluble knot that tied Rostov’s freedom was resolved by this unexpected (as it seemed to Nikolai), unprovoked by Sonya’s letter. She wrote that the latest unfortunate circumstances, the loss of almost all of the Rostovs’ property in Moscow, and the countess’s more than once expressed desires for Nikolai to marry Princess Bolkonskaya, and his silence and coldness lately - all this together made her decide to renounce him promises and give him complete freedom.
“It was too hard for me to think that I could be the cause of grief or discord in the family that had benefited me,” she wrote, “and my love has one goal: the happiness of those I love; and therefore I beg you, Nicolas, to consider yourself free and to know that no matter what, no one can love you more than your Sonya.”

Screenshot from the website yelo-rinpoche.ru, press service of the datsan "Rinpoche Bagsha"

Thousands of believers presented offerings to the Great Teacher [photo, video]

On Saturday, September 10, Venerable Yeshe Lodoy Rinpoche performed a ritual to consecrate the 33-meter-high image of Buddha Shakyamuni, carved on the Bayan Khongor rock. Last year, a statue of Buddha, custom-made in India, was erected on a hill near the village of Bayangol, and three stupas of reconciliation were consecrated. The following year, the people of Bayangol asked for help in building 8 stupas around Lake Mogoi. It is planned to place 4 thousand figurines of various Buddhist deities in the suburgans.

Buddha Shakyamuni on Mount Bayan-Khongor near the village of Bayangol is a unique creation. It will be awarded the title of the largest Buddha image in Russia and will be included in the list of the largest Buddha images in the world.
The idea of erecting a giant Buddha was expressed by the residents of Bayangol at a village gathering. They approached the datsan on Bald Mountain in Ulan-Ude with this initiative by Yeshe Lodoy Rinpoche. The rector supported the people's proposal. Moreover, as it turned out, this was his long-time dream.

Big Buddha is a great benefit for all of Russia

“About 15-16 years ago we visited the “heart” of Baikal for the first time - Olkhon Island, went on a boat along the Irkutsk shore,” recalls Rinpoche’s closest student Geshe Lharamba Tenzin Lama, “Majestic rocks growing out of the water surface and rushing into the sky , impressed Bagsha with their beauty and power. And then he had an idea - to make a large statue of the World Precious Teacher Buddha Shakyamuni in the rock. IN Asian countries This is an ancient tradition, and there was nothing like it in Russia.”

Help site: The world's largest and oldest Buddha carved into a rock is located in the Chinese province of Sichuan. Its height is 71 meters, age is about 1200 years. It took almost 90 years to build. The largest statue in the world is also of Buddha. And it is also located in China, in Henan province. The 128-meter monument depicts Buddha Vairocana, one of the five sacred Buddhas who personify wisdom. The idea to create a grandiose shrine came to the Chinese after the Taliban barbarically destroyed two huge Buddha statues in Afghanistan in 2001. Their age was dated to the 6th century AD.

“Then we began to look for a suitable object. On Baikal it was difficult to do this purely technically. They also searched in other areas. Sometimes there were rocks that were too low, sometimes too high, sometimes too prominent. And last year, when we also installed a statue of Buddha near Bayangol, but a small one, one meter high, made to special order in India from onyx, I noticed the neighboring rock. It was ideal for realizing the Teacher’s idea - smooth, beautiful and quite high, about fifty meters. And most importantly - ideally located!

Typically, Buddhist shrines are built “facing” south, be they temples, stupas or statues. We consciously wanted to move a little away from this tradition and make sure that the Buddha’s gaze was directed towards Moscow and other large Russian cities. In such a difficult time, it was simply necessary to do this for the benefit of the entire country and all living beings! At all times, the construction of Buddha statues, stupas, and datsans was considered a very beneficial deed. In the places where they appear, everything comes into harmony. In nature, various kinds of disasters cease, mutual understanding comes into people’s relationships, they get sick less and die from accidents, all living things find peace and tranquility,” says Tenzin Lama.

“But the Teacher then said that the time had not yet come. And now, a year later, the residents of the Khorinsky district themselves came up with this proposal. The Bayan-Khongor rock has long been considered a sacred place among the Khorin Buryats. Here, residents of the village of Bayan-Gol 2 times a year - in the summer and on the second day of Sagaalgan - hold oboo, and throughout the year they often come to worship the shrines. The so-called munkhanas are installed here - small houses in which thangkas and figurines of Buddhist deities are located. Last year a Buddha statue and 3 stupas appeared. Rinpoche thought about it for a long time and finally agreed. Moreover, this is the birthplace of his root Teacher.

Website reference: Venerable Yeshe Lodoy Rinpoche was born in Tibet in 1943. At the age of three he was recognized as the fourth rebirth of Yelo Rinpoche. In Tibet, such people are called tuluku - it is believed that they consciously continue the chain of their rebirths, devoting their lives to helping all living beings.
From the age of seven, Yelo Rinpoche devoted himself to monasticism and the study of Buddhist philosophy. In 1959, due to the occupation of Tibet by China, he left his homeland and moved through the kingdom of Bhutan to India, where he continued his studies.
The root Teacher of Yeshe Lodoya Rinpoche is Lama Dulva-hambo Thubten Choki, a Buryat by nationality. The renowned tantra master taught Yelo Rinpoche a course in vinaya - monastic discipline. Also, under the leadership of a lama from Buryatia, the Venerable Agwan-Nima, in 1979 Yelo Rinpoche defended the title of “Geshe-lharamba” - the highest Buddhist academic degree. In 1993, at the request of the Buryat clergy and on behalf of His Holiness, he arrived in Buryatia, in Ivolginsky datsan for teaching at the Tashi Choinohrling Buddhist Institute. Since then, Yeshe Lodoy Rinpoche remained to live and work in Buryatia, for the benefit of all living beings and the prosperity of the Dharma.

In 1999, at an audience with the Dalai Lama, Yelo Rinpoche conveyed the requests of believers from Buryatia to open a Buddhist center and received His Holiness’s blessing to begin construction. 5 years later, in 2004, the opening of the datsan “Rinpoche Bagsha” took place on Bald Mountain in Ulan-Ude.

The plan was implemented quite quickly. All necessary approvals have been passed. Sponsors, craftsmen, and artists were found. Local residents actively helped during construction. The image of Shakyamuni Buddha was made as majestic as possible, but with minimal impact on nature. They did not carve a full-fledged statue or bas-relief. They just removed the top layer of the rock, drew the outlines of the World Teacher seated in the lotus position and painted it with paint.

The height of the image is exactly 33 meters. In Buddhism, this number also has its own sacred meaning. It is believed that there is the most high world on Earth, the so-called Trayastrimsha - “World of 33 Gods” or “Collection of 33 Gods”, which is located on the top of Mount Sumeru. Trayastrimsha is often mentioned in Buddhist texts when the Buddha ascends to the Thirty-three Gods, or the gods of this world themselves descend to earth to meet the Buddha.

“The creation of the statue of Shakyamuni Buddha is not accidental. Buddha Shakyamuni, the highest nirmanakaya, was born in our world, performed twelve feats, including turning the Wheel of the Teaching. All the time that the Buddha’s Teaching remains in the world, it is an incomparable, limitless cure for the diseases of our obscurations and suffering. Let the statue of Buddha Shakyamuni become a symbol of the unification of our pure intentions in the implementation of the teachings and a symbol of the fact that the Buddhist teachings - the dharma that the Buddha gave 2500 years ago, and now resides in our world,” says the teacher.

About 4 thousand people attended the Ramney ritual. 80 buses transported pilgrims from the Square of Soviets free of charge. After the consecration ritual, passed festive concert and sports competitions.

Interview with Venerable Yeshe Loda Rinpoche:

- At the end of the ritual, a symbolic million flowers were offered to the image of Buddha? Is this some kind of tradition?

When a Buddha statue is created, the image of Buddha is a great virtue. And when an image like this is created giant size it is also a huge, incomparable virtue! Accordingly, the larger, richer and more beautiful the offerings, the more good merit we accumulate. And flowers in Buddhism are a traditional type of offering, along with white food, sweets and fruits.

- Why is the height of the Buddha image exactly 33 meters?

In the Buddhist tradition there is such a good attitude towards the number “33”, there is even an abode of the gods of 33 deities. Initially, it was not planned to make the image so large, but when they measured the rock, it turned out that it was about 55 meters high. Then they decided to make it exactly 33 meters. It fits in very harmoniously. This is also a kind of sign.

This requirement can be considered as unprecedented, since in the Buddhist tradition it is equated with the living Buddha and brings boundless blessing to the world.

Representatives of the Traditional Buddhist Sangha of Russia did not comment on this incident. However, it is known that these Chinese citizens did not introduce themselves or produce any documents.

According to the lawyer of the Traditional Sangha of Russia Bilikto Dugarova, most likely, these are scammers who attempted a provocation.

The goals of this provocation, most likely, lie outside the plane of religious relations. It is unlikely that these are representatives of some Buddhist organization in China. These are probably private individuals of foreign origin, and accordingly they should be dealt with by the Russian special services,” noted Bilikto Dugarov.

Nevertheless, this is an occasion to once again remind the public of the enormous significance of this Buddhist shrine.

Lifetime image of Buddha

According to the famous Russian Buddhist scholar Andrey Terentyev, in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition there are several sculptural and painted portraits made during the life of the Buddha. However, only one of these images is considered to have survived to this day. This is precisely the famous statue of the Sandalwood Buddha Zandan Zhuu, which is located in the Egituisky datsan.

It was originally a “life-size” (that is, about 2 m) sculpture made of goshirsha (a type of sandalwood), commissioned by Raja Udayana in the 38th year of Shakyamuni’s life.

This story was first recorded in writing in Chinese translation The Ekottara Agama Sutras are an expanded Mahayana version of the An Guttara Nikaya, compiled by the Tocharian monk Dharmanandi in 385. The oral tradition must be much older than this year, since already in Kushan times another version of this legend was known, according to which the making of the statue is associated with Raja Prasenajit, and not Udayana.

According to one version of this legend, in the 4th century, the Kashmiri monk Kumarayana, wanting to save this shrine from local wars, moved it to Central Asia, where Buddhism then flourished. He stopped in one of the oases of the Great Silk Road - in Kucha. The ruler of Kuchi ordered him to marry his younger sister and become the spiritual leader of the state. And his son, Kumarajiva (344-413), became such a famous Buddhist sage that Chinese troops were sent to Kucha to capture Kumarajiva and bring him to China.

Sandalwood Buddha in China

In 384, Kucha fell and Kumarajiva was taken to China along with this statue. The statue remained in Chang'an until 417, then moved to Jiankang, where it was kept in a monastery until 588. During the hostilities, this monastery was destroyed, but the statue was saved by a monk named Zhu-li, who transported it to Yangzhou, Jiangsu, and in 614 made a copy of this sculpture. Obviously, other copies were made, since the Japanese pilgrim Ennin, who visited China in 838, already mentions four statues of the Sandalwood Buddha.

In 970, another copy was made at the request of a Japanese pilgrim. Chōnen(938-1016) and taken to Japan. There it is still considered the holiest relic of Japanese Buddhism to this day. In 1018, it was installed in the Shaka Hall of Seikaji Temple, where it remains to this day.

He spoke about the history of the Sandalwood Buddha and the famous Zhang-zha Khutukhta Rolbi Dorje(1717-1786): “...And then they erected the Zandan Zhuu shrine in the great monastery of “Mingzhunsi” - a city located on the site of present Beijing during the Dai Zhin dynasty of Jurchen. Subsequently, all the emperors who inherited the throne gave her the highest honors, building many temples... And during the great Mongol dynasty Dai Yuan, Zandan Zhuu was installed in the Shen'ansi monastery. By order of Emperor Kublai Sechen (the Wise), they built a vihar monastery on the site of the present great White Stupa (Baitasy) and established a large monastic order, rendered unparalleled and unceasing honors and held prayer services. Subsequent Yuan (Mongol) emperors and the kings of the Ming dynasty prayed and worshiped equally diligently and diligently. The time has come for the Chin (Qing) Dynasty, the fourth year of Emperor Kangxi. The merciful chakravartin, the incarnation of the bodhisattva Manjushri, issued a decree to build a new temple called “Excessive Mercy” near the cherished city in the northwest in the halls of the yellow city, and the precious Zhuu was transferred there.”

Of the Russian researchers, D. Pozdneev was the first to write about this statue, who, in particular, noted that it was in the Sandalwood Buddha Monastery at the foot of this statue that the historical meeting of Dzanabazar and the Kangxi Emperor took place. They both sat on the same carpet, probably reminiscing about the historical meeting of the Pagba Lama with Emperor Kublai.

How Zandan Zhuu got to Buryatia

In 1900, during the Boxer uprising in China, the Sundansy monastery was destroyed, and the statue was transported to the temple of the Buryat village of Eravna - to the Egituisky datsan.

There are three known versions of the transportation of the statue to Russian territory. So, Bazaar Baradin reported that the Chinese monks themselves transported her there, saving her from French pogroms during the suppression of the Boxer uprising in Beijing. According to the second version, set forth by A. M. Strelkov, the monks took her to Utaishan, and there were Buryats, namely the Egitui lama Erdeni Sorzho(his real name is Gombo Dorje), she was bought and brought to Eravna. According to the third version, the Buryat Cossacks took the precious statue out of the monastery during a fire and saved it from death. Then, in the winter of 1901, they delivered the statue to Buryatia as a trophy.

After the fire, Chinese monks, according to various sources, collected the ashes remaining from the burnt monastery into several large jugs. These jars are a religious relic that is still worshiped today.

Be that as it may, in January 1901 the statue was installed in the Egituisky datsan. In 1935, the Soviet government destroyed the datsans, and the statue ended up in the collections of the Anti-Religious Museum of Ulan-Ude. At the same time, they took out the diamond that had been inserted there thousands of years ago from the Buddha’s ur-na-koshi and broke the ushnisha of the statue, after which the sacred investments stored there disappeared. The statue itself, which, according to the Bolsheviks, had no “currency value,” survived.

Return to Egituisky datsan

On September 25, 1991, the statue was returned to the newly rebuilt Egituysky datsan. As the famous journalist and writer Alexander Makhachkeev, who then worked at the Ministry of Culture of Rb, told Baikalskaya Pravda, he had to participate at that time in the process of transferring the statue to the Egituisky datsan.

It is said that when the Sandalwood Buddha was taken out of Eravna, people threw money into the truck. Then this made a huge impression on law enforcement officials, because the truck arrived in Ulan-Ude literally filled with money. – told Alexander Makhachkeev.

According to him, when the decision was made to transfer Zandan Zhuu to the Buddhists, he was instructed to organize this process.

The sacred statue was kept on the second floor of the current Odigitrievsky Cathedral - the Anti-Religious Museum was located there. With the greatest precautions, we lowered the statue down the stairs from the second floor and loaded it into the car. I believe that Zandan Zhuu saved me from severe injury. After all, the stone gates of the cathedral are very narrow, the car literally scuffed its side against a stone pillar and my fingers were almost cut off. But, apparently, thanks to the help of Zandan Zhuu, I caught myself in time and removed my hand.

According to Andrey Terentyev, a lifetime sculpture of a standing Buddha actually existed, and it was this that served as the prototype for the artists of Gandhara, Mathura and Bamiyan. By the 9th century there were at least four copies of this statue in China. It is difficult to say now which of them ended up in Beijing.

Currently, in the Egituisky datsan there is the same statue that stood for more than a thousand years in Beijing. The Buryat Zandan Zhuu, looking up in a completely unusual way, covered with dark sandalwood paste and three layers of Chinese gold leaf, exactly matches the description Rolby Dorje and other eyewitnesses who mention these features.

We were taken to the border of the Eravninsky district to a poetic rock garden dedicated to the poets of Buryatia.

This is how Eravninsky district greets

I'll write more about this a little later. Next we went deep into the Eravninsky district to the Khara-Shibir area, where on the banks of the Marakta River there is the Egituisky datsan with the sacred statue of the Sandalwood Buddha - Zandan Zhuu.

I admit, it was only on this trip that I learned that there is a statue of the Sandalwood Buddha in Buryatia. And this is not just a statue, but according to legend, the only lifetime sculpture of Buddha Shakyamuni, which is recognized as a Buddhist shrine in Russia. It is a world shrine of Buddhists, made entirely of sandalwood, the height of the statue is 2 m. 18 cm. The statue was made by order of Raja Uddiyana 2800 thousand years ago.

The statue came to the territory of Russia in Eravna thanks to the incredible efforts of the Sorzho Lama of the Egitui datsan Gombo Dorzho Erdyneev and many other people who risked their lives. Sandalwood statue was purchased by the lamas of the datsan during the Boxer uprising in China. According to another version, in the winter of 1901, after the defeat of the uprising in Beijing, the Buryat Cossacks carried out a precious statue from a burning monastery during a fire, and thereby saved it from death in the fire. As a trophy, the statue was taken with great care on a sleigh to Buryatia. At the same time, a metal copy of the statue was made, and the original was hidden. Until 1935, the statue was located in one of the sumes of the Egituisky datsan and was an object of worship and veneration. During the period of anti-religious repressions, the statue was transported to Ulan-Ude and kept in the funds National Museum history of Buryatia. ()

Before entering the temple-dugan of the Sandalwood Buddha, we were told the history of the Egitui datsan and the history of the Zandan Zhuu statue.

They also warned that the expression on the Sandalwood Buddha’s face changes depending on the viewing angle, and maybe on his attitude towards you, who knows :) Personally, when I walked in and looked at the Sandalwood Buddha’s face for the first time, it seemed to me that he was looking at us somewhat dissatisfied.

His lips were pursed in displeasure and the squinting of his eyes did not bode well. When I prayed and made offerings in the form of sweets and coins, my face seemed to become kinder and a slight smile appeared. Right there in the datsan there is a wooden board for prostrations, smoothly polished by the prostrations of those praying. I also did 21 prostrations praying for health, happiness and prosperity.

Someone may ask why exactly 21 times? The fact is that in Buddhism the numbers 3, 7, 21 and 108 have sacred meaning. Therefore, you need to read prayers, do goroo or prostrations exactly this number of times.

After the prostrations, the Sandalwood Buddha, it seemed to me, smiled with satisfaction. I shared my observations with a friend with whom we went on this trip together. And you know, our feelings and observations agreed on almost everything.

At the end of the visit, we had a lecture-discussion of Buddhism in general and Buddhism of Buryatia in particular. It turned out that pilgrims travel from Buryatia to Tibet every year. Tibetan lamas, having learned from which places they come, are very surprised and ask why they travel so far, when in their homeland there is greatest shrine world Buddhism - the statue of the Sandalwood Buddha Zandan Zhuu. I am more than sure that half of the population of Buryatia does not even know about its existence, not to mention other regions of Russia. I was convinced of this when I interviewed my relatives and friends. But many of us have already been to Thailand and seen statues of the reclining Buddha, jade Buddha and many others. It’s somehow sad that we don’t appreciate and don’t notice what we have nearby.

More articles about a trip to Buddhist datsans and holy places of Buryatia:

Holy places of Buryatia

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1901 Night cover over the huge eastern city fires are breaking out. The streets are filled with smoke and the heady smell of gunpowder. Shots, screams, moans are heard from everywhere

From the burning Sandan-Sy monastery, several military men carefully carry out a huge bundle and place it on a cart. On their high-cheeked, dark faces there are drops of sweat and joy mixed with anxiety. These are the Cossacks of the 6th Hundred of the 1st Verkhneudinsk Regiment of the Transbaikal Cossack Army in Beijing, engulfed by the Boxer Uprising, implementing the Buddha’s prediction. A 2,500-year-old prediction. Now let's talk about everything in order.

Inscription on the stone

Immersing the inquisitive traveler in the mysterious atmosphere of these places, the road, not far from the Egituysky datsan, has turned into a forest lane, leads to a mysterious stone that one of my hunter friends, Vladimir Nikolaevich Safeev, found in the taiga. Once, while chasing a wapiti wounded during a hunt, he sat down to rest and was surprised to find that he was sitting next to an unusual stone. On one side, facing the taiga thicket, it looks like an ordinary boulder. On the other side, which looks out from the wild rosemary onto the forest road, it seems to have been cut with a huge sharp knife and has a smooth matte surface in the shape of two semicircles, located one above the other. In the center of this site, it is unknown how a strange sign was made.

My friend, who was born and lived in these parts all his life, who walked the length and breadth of the local taiga, had not heard anything about this stone, just as other old-timers had not heard of it.

As it turned out later, this is a sign from the Sanskrit alphabet, read as “om”. It is with this that one of the most popular and significant mantras in Buddhism, “Om mani padme hum,” begins. My friend began to ask the local lamas what the presence of this stone could mean here. The answer he received was: “This is a strong place.” This means that these places have very powerful energy and are fed by certain higher power. And when I tried to somehow clarify with other clergy the origin of the inscription on the stone, I was told: the inscription was not made by hands. The rest is a mystery, the solution to which has not yet been solved.

Six steps towards

The Egituisky datsan itself, which has the Tibetan name “Damchoy Ravzheling”, is an ancient architectural complex on the banks of the Marakta River, founded in 1820. It once consisted of twelve buildings. There were philosophical, medical and astrological dugans.

Photo: anonim03.ru

More than three hundred Khuvarak students studied science there. They say that when they whispered a prayer, it could be heard at a distance of three kilometers. It’s hard to imagine, but this “bear corner” already had its own printing house at the beginning of the 19th century.

And this is not what the datsan was famous for. Its main attraction was and remains to this day the statue of Zandan Zhuu (Sandalwood Buddha). Well, here we come to the main secret. The history of Zandan Zhuu began 2500 years ago, when this only image of Buddha was created during his lifetime. It is now difficult to say how one of the first works of Buddhist art actually came into being, there is too much here that is not ordinary, but this Indian prince Siddhartha Gautama was also an unusual person.

I don’t know what to believe: either that the masters sculpted it from a reflection in the river, because the light emanating from it blinded them, or that they had to visit heaven, where Buddha was at that time... But, somehow be that as it may, his image came into being. It is said that when the Buddha approached the statue to compare the likenesses, it took six steps towards him. They say that this is what prompted the Buddha to make the following prophecy: the statue will move to the north, and where it is located, Buddhism should flourish.

You can believe it or not, but the prophecy came true. And in the chain of events that will be discussed further, there are no accidents.

Nail on the foot

Over these 2500 years, the statue slowly but confidently moved north. First, in the 4th century, the monks, saving the statue from internecine wars, transported it to the city of Kucha in Central Asia. Then she came to China. Then, as a gift, it migrated to Tibet, and during the time of Genghis Khan - to Mongolia. And wherever the statue appeared, Buddhism began to flourish everywhere. The following story is connected with Zandan Zhuu’s stay in China. When the clergy of the monastery left the room where she stood for the night, her face was turned to where the people turned the statue, but every morning she invariably looked north.

She remembered Buddha's prediction. This problem was solved very simply - a nail was driven into the statue’s foot. From Mongolia, it again moved to China, where it was located before the events that began this story.

Miracles of Sandalwood Buddha

Someday history will name the names of the Transbaikal Cossacks who saved the Buddhist shrine from fire, but for now they are unknown to us. However, the names of other people who risked their lives to save Zandan Zhuu are known. This is the head of the Russian post office Gomboev and Lama Erdeniin Sorzho of the Egituy datsan.

The statue was securely hidden on a cart and brought across two borders - Chinese and Mongolian - to Russia. When the priceless cargo was leaving Mongolia, the guards asked why it was so securely wrapped. And they received an answer from those accompanying them: this is a relative who died of the plague. There were no more questions.

In 1934, during the persecution of datsans, Zandan Zhuu was transported to the Odigitrievsky Cathedral of Ulan-Ude. At that time, the funds of the anti-religious museum were located there. In the early 80s of the last century, it was there that I had the opportunity to see it for the first time. On September 22, 1992, the statue was again returned to the believers and was now forever located in the Egituisky datsan. Thus ended the centuries-long wanderings of the Sandalwood Buddha. And only the hole from the nail in the statue’s foot reminds of its difficult fate. But the miracles didn't end there. One of the respected lamas told me that Zandan Zhuu stands without touching the surface of the pedestal: a thread runs freely between the base of the statue and the pedestal. Everything can happen in our extraordinary lands.

People come here from afar to worship the Sandalwood Buddha and ask him for health and long life for themselves and their loved ones. And the statue helps. Helps everyone who believes.

A small touch from the modern history of Zandan Zhuu

In 2012, I had the opportunity to visit the locations of Buryat police officers in the North Caucasus. We drove through Chechnya and Dagestan. So, in Kaspiysk, at the location of the combined detachment in the so-called cockpit, I saw at the head of a row of beds a slightly crumpled image of Zandan Zhuu cut out from some magazine. At the head - where icons are usually located - there was an ordinary piece of paper attached. But there was a shrine on it, from which the guys asked to help them return home. And they returned safe and sound.

Addition from the editors

This is how an unknown author described the story and his impressions of Zandan Zhuu. Let's add one more case. September 22, 1991, the day when Zandan Zhuu was returned to the datsan, turned out to be very cold. It was raining and snowing. A landing site for a helicopter was prepared in front of the datsan. He was late, there was a fear that due to such weather he might not arrive. But the wet people waited patiently in the bitterly cold wind. And then the long-awaited helicopter emerged from behind the clouds. After it landed, people formed a long living corridor. Many could not hold back their tears of joy. Especially those who were children in terrible years persecution of religion. Those, before whose children's eyes, they destroyed the Egituisky datsan so fiercely that the entire Egituisky valley was strewn with the pages of sacred books.

The pilots opened the cargo compartment, and the lamas carefully carried the sacred Burkhan Zandan Zhuu onto the Eravna land and carried it through the open doors of the datsan. The dream of returning the shrine of the then Khambo Lama Munko Tsybikov to his native datsan came true. He carried this dream through years of arrests, prison camps and long exile in Kolyma.

“We gladly accepted the order to deliver Zandan Zhuu.” It was difficult to fly. Wet snow, poor visibility. When we flew over Khorinsk, the ground was covered with snow. We chose a low flight ceiling. My colleagues Sergei Boyko and Vasily Bayusheev are experienced pilots. The responsible mission is completed. Let the prayers made in your datsan be heard by everyone. May God help everyone! - said then the commander of the Mi-8 crew A.V. Vatulin regional newspaper "Ulan-Tuya".

Almost 14 years later, on September 20, 2005, the helicopter made a circle of honor for the second time and landed at the Egituysky datsan. Imagine the surprise of the greeting villagers when they recognized the crew as the same pilots who had returned the shrine in extreme conditions in September 1991. This time, Mikhail Slipenchuk, who was getting acquainted with Buryatia, asked them to take them to the shrine. Seeing the enthusiastic curiosity of the children surrounding the helicopter, he asked the pilots to take the children for a ride. The children crowded into the cabin with joyful cries and for the first time in their lives flew around their native valley. And below at this time, a new guest, impressed by Zandan Zhuu, decided to help in the construction of a palace for the shrine.

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