Mongolia – Gandan or better Gandantegchinlen Monastery in Ulaanbaatar Part 2

 

Let's come to the second part of my visit to Gandan (Гандан) Monastery or better Gandantegchinlen (Гандантэгчинлэн хийд) Monastery in Ulaanbaatar [1], which is dedicated to the area, where one can look at the monumental statue of Avalokiteshvara.

Open lights are only permitted in an extra building

Inside the temple there are more prayer wheels

The tall Avalokiteshvara temple (Мэгжид Жанрайсиг Сүм) had been build in 1913 [2]. It houses the 26.5-meter-high statue of Avalokiteshvara, also called Janraisig. However, this temple had already been founded in 1727 by the 4th Emperor of the Qing (清代) dynasty, Yongzhen (雍正) , one of the sons of Emperor Kangxi (康熙) [3]. The original statue has been dismantled in 1938. The new statue has been erected in 1996 and this was possible due to donations by the Mongolian people. The statue featured more than 2,000 precious stones and is gilded with gold leaf.

Janraisig's body is filled with samples of crops,a variety of foods and drinks, medicinal herbs, juniper, Buddhist teachings, rare Buddhist clothing, and a book with 2 million mantras, and much more [4].

The small figurines at the walls are also worth looking at

Links and Annotations:
[1] Here's to look for the first part: https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2022/09/mongolia-gandan-or-better.html
[2] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandan-Kloster
[3] A still important dictionary is named after Kangxi and I already quoted it this year: https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2022/07/seit-wann-wird-tee-in-china-getrunken.html and also here, where there's also a picture of the cover: https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2022/04/tee-und-einige-aspekte-aus-sinologie.html (both text in German, however).
[4] https://peak.mn/news/megjid-janraisig-burkhnii-tuukh Мэгжид Жанрайсиг бурхны түүх. Дэлхийн II дайны үед Мэгжид Жанрайсиг бурхныг буулгаж их биеийг нь Орос руу явуулж хайлуулан сум хийсэн байдаг.

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