Visit of His Holiness Gyana Vajra Rinpoche to Mongolia

Visit of His Holiness Gyana Vajra Rinpoche to Mongolia from April 21 to May 4, 2016.

Visit schedule:
- April 21: arrival in Ulan Bator
- April 22: preparation to Drupchen Vajrakilaya ritual
- April 23-30: Drupchen Vajrakilaya ritual at Sakya Pandita Dharma Chakra Monastery (Ulan Bator)
- May 1-4: visit to Black Charasamvara at Gandan Monastery (Ulan Bator)
- May 5-6: Purdock Vajrakilaya ritual (clearing obstacles away) at Erdeni-Dzu Monastery (Karakorum)

The events will be held at the monastery built in Ulan Bator by His Holiness Sakya Trindzin, the Head of the Sakya Lineage, at the central Mongolian Gandan Monastery in Ulan Bator and at Erdeni-Dzu Monastery in Karakorum, the ancient Buddhist complex in Mongolia.

Everybody who wishes to participate in the rituals and go on a pilgrimage to the sacred Buddhist sites in Mongolia may contact “Tibet House in Moscow” beginning from Monday:
|Tel.: + 7 905 - 517- 51-70 (12.00 noon - 6.00 p.m.)
E-mail: tibethousemoscow@gmail.com, moscow@tibethouse.ru

Some historical facts

Erdeni-Dzu (mong.Erdene Zuu Khiid, Erdene Zuu; tib .: erde-ni jo-bo.) is a partially acting Buddhist monastery in Mongolia located on the right bank of Orkhon River in Karakorum outskirts. It is the first permanent Buddhist monastery in the territory of Khalkha, and the largest religious, cultural and political center of medieval Mongolia. In Lama Erdenipel’s works (dating from 1939) the history of the monastery began in the time of the Uyghur khanate.

This Lama stated in his work that when Uyghurs lived in Mongolia, Uighur Khan Boguchar erected the statue of Buddha Erdeni Dzu in the capital of Uygur Khaganate Hara Balgasune on Orkhon. Besides, Khansha Baibalyk erected another statue of Buddha Erdeni Dzu in Bain Balgasun on Selenga River. The Great Mongol Ogedei Khan brought the statue of Erdeni Dzu erected by Boguchar to the city of Karakorum (the modern city is located to southwest of the ancient Karakorum), the capital of the Mongol Empire, then restored it and placed in the new temple.

Afterwards, Togon Temur Khan came from Beijing to Mongolia and renovated the statue in Karakorum. In some centuries, the temples fell into disrepair and a state of neglect. They had almost completely disappeared when in the year of the thirteenth cycle of Fire Dog (1585) Abatai Tushetu Khan, following the order of the Dalai Lama III Sonam Gyatso, brought the work masters from the city of Hohhot (the modern capital of Inner Mongolia) who reconstructed old temples of Erdeni Dzu and built new ones...

8 years after Abytai Khalkha Khan’s travel to Hohhot for the meeting with the Dalai Lama III Sonam Gyatso, in 1585 construction of the new monastery started in the southern part of the ancient Mongolian capital of Karakorum with the Dalai Lama III’s blessing. Construction of three temples devoted to three periods of the Buddha's life: His youth, the time of the Wheel of Teaching turning and His twilight years, built with Abytai’s personal funds, has been completed the following year.

The Dalai Lama III Himself did not arrive to scarify the monastery but sent Lama Sakya Lodrö Nyingpo accompanied by seven persons to Khalkha, who made the consecration ritual in 1587. Abatai Khan himself gave the original name to the monastery. It sounded like mong.

The monastery received its name - Erdene Zuugyin s?m (“Temple of Precious Lord” (Buddha)), in honor of the Buddha statue into which the relics of Shakyamuni given by the Dalai Lama III had been put. When Abatai Khan asked the Dalai Lama III to give the official name to the new temple, it was named Lhundubdechenling – “Place of Self-Arisen Great Beatitude”.

The monastery is surrounded by several Buddhist holy places and the Great Mongolian steppe under the shining starry sky.