Sandalwood buddha zandan zhuu. Sandalwood Buddha - a unique statue in Russia Addition from the editors

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 Egituisky 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 Khambo 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 the snow to become sugar, and 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 Nikolai 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.”

A sculpture of Buddha 2 m 18 cm high, made of sandalwood, according to legend, 2500 years ago by order of Raja Uddiyana.

Located in the Egituisky datsan of Buryatia. It is a Buddhist shrine and is considered to be the first statue of Buddha in history and the only statue made during the lifetime of Buddha. In literary sources there are references to other lifetime portraits and sculptures, but there is no reliable evidence.

Vera Lubsanova, CC BY-SA 3.0

According to the Buddhist tradition, he is considered a living Buddha - his images carry grace. The statue has a special iconography: the Buddha stands, with long arms reaching to his knees, among flowers and landscape, a “human” Buddha, similar to the Maitreya Buddha.

Story

According to tradition, Buddha prophesied the movement of Zandan Zhuu to the North and, accordingly, the movement of the center of Buddhism.

In the 3rd century. the statue was transported from India to China.

In the 4th century, the monk Kumarayana from Kashmir, in order to save the statue from local wars, took it to Kucha, married the sister of the local ruler and became a spiritual mentor in the state. His son Kumarajiva became a famous Buddhist sage.

In the 8th century - the wives of the Tibetan king Srontsangambo brought a statue of Tibet. Under the next ruler, King Tisrondetsan, Buddhism became state religion Tibet.

In the 13th century. - location presumably in Mongolia.

Arkady Zarubin, CC BY-SA 3.0

In the winter of 1901, Sandalwood Buddha found himself in Transbaikalia. After the defeat of the Boxer Uprising, the Buryat Cossacks, taking advantage of the turmoil and devastation in the city 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 Russian post office, Gomboev. During the fire, 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 statue was taken with great care on a sleigh to Buryatia.

Vera Lubsanova, CC BY-SA 3.0

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, the original was hidden. During civil war Japanese interventionists learned the location of the statue. Upon arrival, they were shown a metal copy, and they left with nothing.

Stored in the 1930s Ulan-Ude, where the funds of the Museum of Local Lore are located.

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

April 22, 2003 Decision of the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia (): “To approve as Buddhist shrines of Russia: the statue of Zandan Zhuu, the Atlas of Tibetan medicine, the Precious body of Hambo Lama D. -D. Itigelov."

Temple for storage

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 Sangha decided to build a special storage room maintaining a constant microclimate.

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Helpful information

Zandan Zhuu
Sandalwood Buddha
Sandalwood Lord

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 took the masters to heaven, where they met the Buddha.

After returning, the craftsmen sculpted a life-size statue from sandalwood.

When Shakyamuni Buddha 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 datsan. 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 gives guidance for good luck, happiness, and health, if the worshiper hopes for it and believes in it from the bottom of his heart.

The Egitui datsan “Damchoy Ravzheling” is located in the Republic of Buryatia, 300 km from Ulan-Ude on the picturesque western bank of the Marakta River in the Khara-Shibir area of the Eravninsky district.

(from Tib. tsan dan jo bo), or Sandalwood Buddha, is a statue of Shakyamuni Buddha that is perhaps the most valuable relic of the entire Buddhist world. Buddhist legendary tradition claims that the lifetime sandalwood image of Shakyamuni Buddha was made in heaven, where the Buddha miraculously moved to teach the teachings to his mother, who was reborn as a goddess.

Photo © Buryad-Mongol Nom

The ruler of one of the small Indian states of that time, Raja Udayana, grieved for the missing teacher and ordered several sculptors to go to heaven and sculpt an exact copy of him there. Buddha liked the statue, and after his return to earth he declared it his deputy.

Subsequently, for two and a half thousand years, the Sandalwood Buddha wandered throughout Asia. In the 3rd century. The statue comes from India to China, from where, in turn, it was transported to Central Asia, to the city of Kucha, the capital of the state of the ancient Indo-Europeans, the Yuezhi. Later, the statue may have traveled to Tibet, where a copy was made of it, which Tibetan Buddhists consider their main shrine. Another copy of the Sandalwood Buddha was taken to Japan, where it is still kept in one of the temples in Kyoto. The statue was worshiped by Kublai Khan, on whose instructions the Sandalwood Buddha was brought to Khanbalik by Marco Polo himself. Famous statue standing buddha in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, destroyed by the Taliban, is also an enlarged copy of it. Finally, Zandan-Zhuu found a temporary refuge in Beijing, where he became the main treasure of the Manchu imperial court.

Representatives of the troops of the eight coalition powers in 1900. From left to right: Great Britain, USA, Russia, British India, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Japan.

In 1900, outraged by the aggressive colonial policies of the European powers and Japan, Chinese peasants and artisans began to unite in detachments and destroy the embassy quarters. Russia was among eight other powers that suffered from the actions of the rebels, and joined its troops to the foreign punitive contingent. As a result, the punitive forces broke into the capital and completely plundered the imperial quarter of Beijing - the Forbidden City. Europeans robbed palaces and, covering their tracks, burned them. The recollection of one of the eyewitnesses of the robbery was preserved: “The soldiers, burying their heads in chests of red lacquer, rummaged through the things of the empress, others stirred up piles of brocade and silks, some stuffed them into their pockets or simply poured rubies, sapphires, pearls, and rock crystal into their shirts or caps.” ; who hung themselves with precious pearl necklaces. They pulled clocks from the fireplaces, took clocks from the walls; sappers wielded axes, smashing furniture into splinters in order to select the precious stones with which the palace chairs were inlaid. One of them tried very hard to cut open a lovely watch in the style of Louis XV in order to extract the dial on which the crystal numbers sparkled; he imagined they were diamonds.”

The same fate awaited the Sandalwood Buddha Temple with its precious contents. However, the Buryat Cossacks from the Transbaikal Cossack Army who were part of the Russian contingent, at the request of the Mongol lamas, managed to secretly remove the statue from the city. For several years they took her to Buryatia. The operation was coordinated by the head of the postal service of the Russian Embassy, Nikolai Gomboev, the well-known and omnipresent Agvan Dorzhiev, and the rector of the Egituy datsan, Lama Zodboev. As reported in the research: “She was transported on a sleigh, covered with straw, matting, disguised with provisions and postal details.” When the statue was brought to Buryatia, it was decided to place it in a remote datsan so as not to attract undue attention to it. The Russian authorities had no idea about the daring act of the Buryat Cossacks, and if they had found out, they would probably have regarded it as a dangerous malfeasance. The operation did not go beyond the “Buryat circle”.

The Sandalwood Buddha statue is a 2m 18cm tall image of Shakyamuni Buddha along with a small pedestal. Contrary to the name, the statue itself, as analysis showed, is made of linden and covered with a layer of sandalwood paste.

There is information that the upper part of Zandan-Zhuu’s head was originally decorated with a ruby or diamond, and the relics of Buddha were placed inside the statue.

These valuable artifacts were probably stolen in 1935, when the statue was transported from Egita to Ulan-Ude.

Tradition also claims that the statue does not rest on a pedestal, but seems to float in the air, a hair's breadth away from it. Therefore, it is supposedly possible to check its authenticity by passing a silk thread between the soles of the feet and the base. However, such a check has not been carried out, as well as a full scientific analysis of the age of the wood. And this despite the fact that the statue was for some time in storage in the Odigitrievsky Museum, which served as a museum storage facility, and under restoration in the Hermitage. In 1991 of the last century, the statue was returned to the Egituisky datsan.

Officially in China, it is believed that the Sandalwood Buddha Statue burned down along with the temple in which it was kept. In 2003, the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia recognized the Zandan-Zhuu statue as one of the three Buddhist shrines in Russia. In 2008, a new temple was built for her, equipped with a system for maintaining a constant microclimate. ❚

Photo © Buryad-Mongol Nom

One of the famous sacred places Buryatia becomes the Egituysky datsan, located in the town of Khara-Shibir, in the Eravnsky district, approximately 280 km east of Ulan-Ude. It is notable for the fact that it houses the Sandalwood Buddha, a lifetime statue of Shakyamuni Buddha, 2 m 18 cm high, made 2500 years ago by order of Raja Udayana from sandalwood (in fact, through analysis it was established that the tree is a linden tree covered with sandalwood paste) . There is a legend recorded by the Tocharian monk Dharmanandi in 385 AD. (in the Chinese translation of the Ekottara Agama Sutra from the Anuttara Nikaya according to A.A. Terentyev) that the Enlightened One was at that time in the heaven of the Thirty-Three Gods, preaching the Dharma to his mother Maya, who was reborn there after death. Raja Prasenajit desired to see the Enlightened One and ordered his statue to be sculpted. Maudgalyana, a disciple of the Buddha who achieved miraculous abilities, transported the masters to heaven, where they met the Enlightened One. The craftsmen were brought back to earth and sculpted a life-size Goshirsha sandalwood statue about two meters high.

""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.""" from the history of the appearance of the statue on Buryat land. Chinese sources contain information about its movement from India at that time. In the 4th century, the monk Kumarayana from Kashmir, in order to save the statue from local wars, took it to Central Asia, where in Kucha (an oasis city on the Great Silk Road) he was forced to marry the sister of the ruler Jivaka and become a spiritual mentor in the state. His son Kumarajiva became a famous Buddhist sage. His fame became so great that in 384 Chinese troops besieged Kucha in order to capture Kumarajiva and bring him to China. The Sandalwood Buddha statue was transported with him, and what followed was the rise of Buddhist thought in China. At the beginning of the 8th century. The wives of the Tibetan king Srontsangambo from Nepal and China brought Buddhist relics, including the Sandalwood Buddha statue, to Tibet. Nepalese princess Bhrikuti was revered as Green Tara, and Chinese princess Wen-chen as White Tara. And already under the next ruler, King Tisrondetsan, Buddhism became the state religion of Tibet. According to other Chinese sources, the statue first came to Mongolia during the reign of Genghis Khan in the 13th century. and then was transported to China, where it is unknown how many years it was kept in the province of Li, in the Sandan-Sy monastery specially built for it - “Monastery of the Sandalwood Buddha.” The story of her stay in Russia is amazing. In China in 1890-1901. The Boxer Rebellion broke out (Yihetuan Uprising, secret society I-he-quan “Fist for Justice of Consent”). In June 1901, Beijing was captured by rebels, burned and destroyed. The Sandalwood Buddha statue was kept in the Sandan-sy monastery - “Sandalwood Buddha Monastery”, where all the Buddhist pilgrims of Mongolia, Buryatia and Tibet worshiped it when visiting Beijing. Orientalist and one of the oldest Russian Buddhists V.M. Montlevich writes about this: “But fragments of information about the abduction itself have been preserved, and this information is more or less reliable, because the famous Russian orientalist Boris Ivanovich Pankratov told it to me in 1969, for many years (32 years, from 1916 to 1948). spent in China. In the winter of 1901, after the defeat of the Boxer Uprising, the Buryat Cossacks, taking advantage of the turmoil and devastation in the city and a fire in the monastery itself, took out the statue. The operation was led by the head of the Russian post office, Gomboev. The statue was placed on a sleigh, covered with straw and matting, and disguised with provisions and postal props. There were two sleighs in total; the statue was transported on the second, as if it were a cargo sleigh. One can imagine the awe and desperate delight of those who carried out this bold and dangerous undertaking, because they performed a religious feat for the sake of spreading the Teaching, of course, fulfilling the order of unknown and revered teachers and lamas. The performers knew that there was a belief: where the Sandalwood Buddha is located, there is the center of the Buddhist religion. What believer would not be delighted to consider his country and his datsan as such a center. Without any special incidents, the statue arrived in Transbaikalia and was hidden in the Egituisky monastery (datsan). Then a metal copy of the statue was made and placed in the Egituisky datsan; the original was carefully hidden in secret place. This precaution was entirely appropriate. The uprising in China was brutally suppressed by the forces of England, Germany, Russia, Japan and France in September 1901. And soon Japanese experts arrived in Buryatia to search for famous statue. The Japanese had information that the statue was located in the Egituisky datsan. Those who arrived were shown a metal copy, and they were forced to leave in complete disappointment.
Of course, the question of ownership of the statue arises. In response to the indignant demands of the Chinese for the return of the statue, the Buryat lamas replied: - Of course, we will give the statue back... when all our people bow to it.
Zandan Zhuu is not the only lifetime image of Buddha; in the literature there are references to his painted portraits and other sculptures. Moreover, the Siamese and Burmese versions speak of a seated image of the Buddha, while the Mahayana texts we're talking about about a standing sculpture.

Road to Egituysky datsan. On the way we met a couple of herons, which is considered a good sign. It is explained that the deities of the area welcome our desire to visit the Sandalwood Buddha.

The birds were practically not afraid of passing cars.

But as soon as we stopped to photograph them, the herons decided to fly a little further.

Datsan buildings appeared

Stupas oriented to the cardinal directions.

Main Dugan, which houses the Sandalwood Buddha statue

Traditional Wheel of Teaching and two deer on the sides

Here he is! The famous Sandalwood Buddha, a world relic of Buddhists! They say that when Buddha Shakyamuni first saw this statue, the statue took six steps towards him. Then Shakyamuni Buddha made a prophecy that the statue would be far away in northern country and will contribute to the prosperity of the Teaching in that direction.

They say that the Sandalwood Buddha statue hangs in the air and you can drag a khadak under it.
Buddha prophesied its movement to the north: to China, Tibet, Mongolia. Where the Sandalwood Buddha went, the center of Buddhism also moved. In the 3rd century. the statue was transported from India to China. This was followed by the rise of Buddhist thought in China. In the 8th century The Nepalese wife of the Tibetan king brought the Sandalwood Buddha to Tibet. And already under the next ruler, King Tisrondetsan, Buddhism became the state religion of Tibet. In the 13th century, before the spread of Buddhism in Mongolia, we again find mention of the appearance of the Sandalwood Buddha there. The prediction comes true, and the appearance of Zandan Zhuu in Transbaikalia in the winter of 1901 is a good omen for the development of the Buddha’s Teaching in Russia.
Until 1935, it was located in one of the sumes of the Egituisky datsan and was an object of worship and veneration. During the troubled period of repression, Zandan Zhuu was transported to Ulan-Ude and kept in the funds of the Museum of the History of Buryatia.

On September 25, 1991, Zandan Zhuu was transported by helicopter to Zgituisky Datsan. In July 2008, the opening of the Palace for Zandan Zhuu took place.

Zandan Zhuu has slightly squinted eyelids, his gaze is directed slightly upward, the right hand of the Sandalwood Buddha is raised in a welcoming and protective gesture, the left is turned with the palm forward, but with the fingers down. They say that not everyone can be at Zandan Zhuu: some cannot withstand this powerful energy flow and leave the datsan. Others, on the contrary, after some time discover that several hours have passed since the moment they sat down opposite the Sandalwood Buddha. The sculpture has a special “magnetic” power; there are many legends about this shrine. Old-timers say that the shrine eliminates negative deeds, bestows long life, and gives guidance for good luck, happiness, and health, if the worshiper hopes in it and believes in it from the bottom of his heart.

altar decoration

It's beautiful and light inside

Tent on the ceiling

The entrance to Dugan is guarded by snow lions

flowers are planted everywhere

Dragons entwining pillars

Stupas

Prayer wheels with Om Mani Padme Hum mantras inside. If you turn the drum clockwise, the mantras Om Mani Padme Hum ascend into space and delight all living beings.

Duganchiki on the territory of the datsan

We were given a short tour of the datsan

The history of the Sandalwood Buddha.

All guests from India and Tibet who arrive on the land of Buryatia strive to be at the Sandalwood Buddha. This is truly a world shrine. Dr. Nida Chtenatsang performs puja to the Sandalwood Buddha.
It is said that whoever sees the statue in person will not be reborn in the next life in hell.
The statue is recognized as a monument federal significance and, along with the Atlas of Tibetan Medicine and the Incorruptible Body of Hambo Lama D.-D. Itigelov, by the decision of the large all-Alamic meeting (sugunda) of the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia on April 22, 2003, it was approved as a Buddhist shrine.

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, already not far from the Egituisky datsan, has turned into a forest lane, leading to mysterious stone, which 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 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 nourished by some higher forces. 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. Afterwards, 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 is 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 during the terrible years of religious persecution. 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.