Mongolia - Erdene Khambiin Khiid or Erdene Khamba Monastery in Khogno Khan National Park

There is little reliable information about the Erdene Khamba Monastery or Erdene Khambiin Khiid (Эрдэнэ хамбын хийд), also known as Ovgon-Khiid (Өвгон хийд), and certainly there is no entry on Wikipedia [1]. The remains of the monastery are located at the foot of the Khögnö Khan Mountains and belong to the Khogno Khan National Park (Хөгнө Хан) [2], about 60 km east of Kharkhorin (Хархорин) or 240 km west of Ulaanbaatar. It makes sense to look at this site on Google Maps, look up the link [3], because only a few buildings have been rebuilt, some ruins can be visited and you can also see the foundations of other buildings. The main monastery was supposed to be in another valley, but I couldn't find any foundations there. To the east and south-east are ger camps across the hills and then very large areas of agricultural land.

Zanabazar had the monastery built in honor of his teacher, the Lama Erdene. I don't think Lama Erdene was also the eponym for Erdene Zuu (Эрдэнэ Зуу хийд; own topic). Öndör Gegeen Zanabazar (өндөр гэгээн Занабазар) lived from 1635 to 1723 and was the religious leader of Lamaism, more specifically of the Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) lineage of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia [4], and he also has been the secular leader. Zanabazar is known for his bronze sculptures or the development of the Soyombo script [5]; overall he was a prodigious sculptor, painter, architect, poet, costume designer, scholar and linguist. Zanabazar did not want to submit to the Manchu, so a war broke out in which this monastery, like others, was destroyed in 1688. So far the older history. It was rebuilt and monks lived there again. In 1937, as part of Stalinist purges, the monastery was destroyed again and 20 monks were executed.

However, one of the lay monks survived and, before his death, made his wife promise to rebuild the monastery. Wife, then daughter and now granddaughter have taken this promise seriously and repaired some buildings. They did it with great affection and attention to detail. Erdene Khamba Monastery had two sections: the lower one called the Zaluu Khiid (Залуу хийд), and the upper one called the Ovgun Khiid (Өвгон хийд) [6]. Both can be visited and photographed inside. The path to the upper section is steep and to say it requires a little mountaineering experience is more than the German „schrittsicher“ means. It's worth while getting there, but be careful where you put your feet.

Links and Annotations:
[1] As of 14.09.2022!
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khogno_Khan_National_Park
[3] https://www.google.de/maps/search/Khogno-Khan/@47.4259295,103.6947647,625m/data=!3m1!1e3
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanabazar  
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyombo_script You can see the script on the Mongolian flag.
[6] http://www.touristinfocenter.mn/en/cate1_more.aspx?ItemID=72

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Mongolia – on visiting an Ovoo

 

You wouldn't be surprised finding a cairn at the height of a mountain pass and such ways you'll find ovoos in Mongolia as well. But you can find ovoos also at other places, which are held to be sacred.

According to tengerism ovoos are dedicated to local deities or others gods of a vast pantheon.

Coming to an ovoo (овоо) you are supposed to circle it three times, moving clockwise, ito insure a saf journey. People bring an uneven number of rocks and add these to the pile [1]. People also wrap   blue khadags [2] around them. Blue symbolizes the sky or Tenger. You will alo find pots, ceramics, wheels, empty liquor bottles, prayer beads, horns of animals like the capricorn, and other items around ovoos.

There are also rituals held by shamans at the end of summer [3]. The might dance, recite ancient texts, consecrate the ovoo with airag or vodka. As for the recital of sacred texts, it has been observed that more frequently this is done by lamas. When it comes to folks religions the boundaries between bön and lamaism or tengerism and lamaism aren't as clear as we might have guessed. And juniper might be burnt as incense.

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovoo and https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2022/08/mongolia-little-ritual-on-departing.html
[2] Khadag (хадаг) is the Mogolian name for the ritual scarf, formerly made of silk, nowadays mostly made of polyester because of better durability. The Tibetan scarf is white to show the pureness of the giver's heart, whereas the Mongolian is blue as the sky. The origins lie both in lamaism as well as tengerism (better word for shamanism). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khata
[3] https://www.asiaculturaltravel.co.uk/the-mongolian-ovoo/ and https://www.mongolia-trips.com/travel-tips/religion/cult-ovoos

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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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Mongolia – Gandan or better Gandantegchinlen Monastery in Ulaanbaatar Part 1

Gandan (Гандан) Monastery or better Gandantegchinlen (Гандантэгчинлэн хийд) Monastery lies in Ulaanbaatar and has been rebuild during the past 30 years. „The Tibetan name translates to the "Great Place of Complete Joy". It currently has over 150 monks in residence. It features a 26.5-meter-high statue of Avalokiteśvara. It came under state protection in 1994.“ [1] Therefore I decided to split writing about Gandan Monastery in two parts – the first part is dedicated to the area of the medidation center and the morning ceremony and the second part is dedicated to the area, where one can look at the monumental statue of Avalokiteshvara.





The first temple of the monastery has been constructed in 1809 and if interested, check the Wikipedia article for more knowledge on the history of the buildings. Important aer the 1930ies, when quite a lot of the sacral building have been destroyed and 15,000 lamas had been killed (the number still is uncertain). After the fall of the Soviet Union and end of Marxist rule in Mongolia in 1990, worship was possible again, monasteries were rebuild the statue of Avalokiteshvara has been reconstructed, and the monks came back.





I was very surprised looking at the two monks blowing the shell as a call for the morning ceremony. I had watched this in Tikse (Thiksay) in Ladakh [2], which looked more colorful and impressive, but non the less it gave a touch of both sincerity and tradition to the Ulaanbaatar monastery. I could see the monks joking and bustling to the assembly hall, where they chanted sacred scripts, which are printed as in fomer times. I had seen this in Tibet at Narthang Monastery [3].





One observation: I've seen a lesser number of prayer wheels than in Tibet or Ladakh.

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandantegchinlen_Monastery
[2] https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2020/07/a-morning-at-thiksay-gompa.html
[3] https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2018/08/narthang-monastery.html

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Mongolia – a little Ritual on departing from a Ger Camp

One morning just before leaving one of the ger (yurt) camps, I witnessed a ritual. A young woman dripped airag onto the furgon's wheels. She mumbled something while doing that.

Let's get into some details. The woman wore a blue dress (deel [1]). Blue is an auspicious color, and so the khadags [2] that are also ritually presented or seen on ovoos [3] or stupas are also blue . She spreads the airag out of a pot with a special wooden instrument, which might otherwise be used to stir the airag.

Is it a Buddhist ritual? I don't want to rule that out, but it's unlikely. However, the popular religion does not always follow the guidelines of the official religion. Is it related to shamanism? A similar answer applies to this. I think it has more to do with guest and host. Perhaps it is part of the farewell, where the ritual cleaning of the hooves or wheels should ensure a safe journey.

Anyway, I would like to know more about this little ritual and like to thank the young lady for being so concerned with my (and my travel companions) safe journey.

Links and annotations:
[1] The deel (дээл) is still widely worn in Mongolia both by men and women.
[2] Khadag (хадаг) is the Mogolian name for the ritual scarf, formerly made of silk, nowadays mostly made of polyester because of better durability. The Tibetan scarf is white to show the pureness of the giver's heart, whereas the Mongolian is blue as the sky. The origins lie both in lamaism as well as tengerism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khata
[3] The ovoo (овоо) often, not always, marks a pass. One could call it a cairn. People wrap khadags around them, circle it three times, throw an unequal number of stones on to it, or pot and beads for a safe journey. But this is a topic of its own. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovoo

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Mongolia – the mysterious 100 Stupas of Erdene Zuu Monastery

 

„The Erdene Zuu Monastery (Mongolian: Эрдэнэ Зуу хийд, Chinese:光顯寺, Tibetan:ལྷུན་གྲུབ་བདེ་ཆེན་གླིང་) is probably the earliest surviving Buddhist monastery in Mongolia.“ [1] I guess that's a good reason to visit this monastery while in Mongolia, especially if you visit Kharkhorin. Said and done. And then the guide talked about the 100 stupas on the surrounding walls. I asked her, why not 108 stupas as this is the holy number in Buddhism and I thought if you have the money for 100, you probably have enough money for the remaining 8 stupas. Stupid as I was, I didn't count the stupas, which would have been a task by itself as each wall is 400 m long, but let myself mullify when we went outside again to see the remains of ancient Karakorum, which made it possible to see two stupas at each corner. 100 + (4x2) = 108. QED!

Also seen in Pucha's book from a different angle

After I returned to Germany, I looked at a Google Map image of Erdene Zuu Monastery and counted the stupas on the walls. Well there are only 92 stupas on the four walls. My guide-book says 102 stupas [2]. Now, 92 + (4x2) = 100. So we're back to the number, the guide originally quoted [3]. I leafed through a book by Pavel Poucha [4]. Poucha gives 108 plus 8 – he obviously didn't count, though I must ask: could he count at all, because he visited the monastery in 1955 and tells us: „In 1940 almost everything was destroyed here.“ And: „The whole complex of Erdenitso is now managed by only three people, the guard and his family, who have a beautiful and clean yurt in the monastery courtyard.” So,  Pavel Poucha's honour is restored; he has been a czech orientalist, mongolist as well as indologist, who taught at the renowned Charles University in Prague [5].

 

The authors of the Wikipedia entry quote a German source [6] and think that planners wanted 108 stupas, but only realised 100. 

 

Prayer wheel

Abtai Sain Khan ordered the construction of the monastery in 1585 after meeting the 3rd Dalai Lama. In 1688 the monastery had been damaged and abandoned, but had been rebuild in the 18th century. There lived about a 1000 monks in 1872. During 1939 (not 1940) the monastery was destroyed and monks were killed by the communists. And it's quite strange to read that Stalin pressured the Mongolian communists to maintain the monastery as a showpiece for international visitors [1]. And it must have been much in this state as Pavel Poucha has seen Erdene Zuu Monastery. 

 

Today much has been restored. Lamas with affiliation to the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism have returned. Erdene Zuu Monastery is an active place of worship and also a museum.

 

When you return to the outer world again, you find yourself in a kind of county fair, directed at local and foreign tourists. You can watch and feel sorry for the eagles [7]. You can watch people taking their photographs in historical costumes, which I have seen also in Tibet and elsewhere.

 

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdene_Zuu_Monastery
[2] Michael Walther und Peter Woeste: Mongolei. DuMont Reise-Handbuch. Dumont Reiseverlag, Ostfildern 2019. ISBN-10:  ‎3770181417. P. 301.
[3] Never doubt your guide! Nonsense, always doubt, but try to get proof later.
[4] Pavel Poucha: 13000 Kilometer durch die Mongolei. VEB F.A. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1960. P.  201.
[5] https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavel_Poucha Pavel Poucha (1905-1986). He started with studyin Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, Hebrew, Turkish and Persian. Interestingsly he had been removed from his position because of political reasons in 1957, but kept on publishing non the less. There's also an entry in Mongolian on Pavel poucha: https://mn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BB_%D0%9F%D0%BE%D1%83%D1%85%D0%B0
[6] „Niels Gutschow, Andreas Brandt, Die Baugeschichte der Klosteranlage von Erdeni Joo (Erdenezuu), in Claudius Müller (ed.), Dschingis Khan und seine Erben, Bonn 2005, p.353“ - quoted from [1].
[7] Nobody will understand you if you sing „Hotel California“.

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