Mongolia | Chingünjav Vodka

In a chapter on the life of Dambijantsan I wrote the following about Chingünjav, the Khalkh leader of the last great uprising in Mongolia against the Qing Dynasty:

Chingünjav remains a hero to this day among many Mongolians for his ultimately quixotic stand against the Qing. At least he had stood up to the oppressors, unlike other Mongolian noblemen who were more interested in saving their Qing-granted titles and perquisites. When I was researching my book on Zanabazar, the first Bogd Gegeen of Mongolia, I was told by numerous informants that Galdan Bolshigt, the Oirat, and Chingünjav, the Khalkh, were true warriors who had fought for Mongolia while others, for instance Zanabazar himself and his relative the Second Bogd Gegeen, were wimps who had only caved in to the Qing.

A monument north of Lake Khövsgöl now reportedly marks the spot where Chingünjav was arrested. The monument is on Mongolian territory, but local people still claim that back then it was Russian territory and thus Chingünjav had been illegally seized. There is also now a street in Ulaan Baatar named after Chingünjav. But while Galdan Bolshigt has had a brand of vodka named after him—the ultimate accolade in modern-day Mongolia—to my knowledge Chingünjav has not yet been accorded this honor.

The last sentence will have to be corrected. I just went to the exposition of Mongolian goods at the Misheel Trade Center and lo and behold there on display was a new vodka made in Khövsgol Aimag, where Chingünjav was finally captured:

I shudder to think what indignity will be inflicted next on the hapless public: perhaps Zanabazar Vodka?

By the way, the assortment of Mongolian goods for sale at the exposition was truly amazing: all the way from live horses, camels, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, geese, and turkeys to several new brands of beer, medicinal herbs, numerous varieties of cheese, camel milk yoghurt, spectacularly decorated wedding cakes, and on and on . . . I bought enough honey and pickles to last the winter, plus a pair of camel wool socks.

Mongolia | Zaisan Tolgoi | Autumn Equinox

Autumn Equinox: Day and Night are Equal on the 23rd!

You are all probably busy making your plans for the celebration of the Autumn Equinox, which occurs here in Mongolia on Wednesday, the 23rd, at 5:20 am. Feel free to send an Autumn Equinox Card to friends and loved ones, assuming you have any.

I will retire to my own personal mountaintop near my hovel in Zaisan Tolgoi for suitable reflections on this auspicous moment. I will not be engaging in any heedless bacchanals, unlike some people I could name, but will instead engage in Orisons more in tune with the sobering times in which we live. As I always do on these occasions, I am once again imploring people not to engage in any animal or Human Sacrifices. If you live in New York City I want to emphasis that Union Square is not a suitable venue for this type of activity (if you are in Union Square, however, you might want to swing by the Strand Bookstore).

If you are still celebrating the Equinox on the evening of the 23th, as I suspect you will be, you will also have the opportunity to see the Waxing Moon slide by Scorpius as shown below. Don’t miss this opportunity! And note that on the 25th and 26th the Waxing Moon will be passing by the Sagittarius Teapot!

Graphic courtesy of Sky & Telescope

USA | California | Mongolian Gers

Digital Tibetan Altar just posted this photo of a Mongolian ger located in the Anza-Borrego Desert in California. That ger looks pretty authentic to me. Who would have known they have real gers in California? And the terrain has an uncanny resemblance to the country around Aryaval Khiid, just north of Ulaan Baatar. If and when I get back to the USA I am certainly going to visit the Anza-Borrego Desert.

Ger in California

Mongolia | Zaisan Tolgoi | Ma Lama | Mantra

Ma Lama recently dropped by my hovel in Zaisan Tolgoi. In addition to performing a luijin he also recited several mantras. His version of Om Mani Padma Hum Can Be Been and Heard Here.

Ma Lama

China | Qinghai Province | Correspondents

World Wide Wanders is constantly getting emails from far-flung correspondences, many of them wanting to use photos or text from my various websites. The latest is from one Huang Shao Zheng, a professor at Qinghai Normal University in Xining, Qinghai Province, China. He is preparing a guidebook to Qinghai Province and would like to include excerpts from my On-Line Biography of Zanabazar, the First Bogd Gegeen of Mongolia. Apparently he is also a poetry buff, since he included two poems, with translations, in his email, which I will now share with you.

的百病们散了
Lovesickness Cured like a Miracle

黄河的皮筏子下来了
Rushing down the river a leathered raft with my boy

山边的花儿们（晶晶花儿开呀）笑了
Flowers are in full bloom at the foothill.

阿哥是（你就）甘露（者）下来了，
My love, you are the sweet dew on heaven

花儿的（个就）百病们（晶晶花儿开呀）散了
To cure me lovelorn like a miracle pill


你把尕妹的心拉了热
You Have Been Pulling My Heart

河州的街道里牛拉了车（呀）
Down the street of Hezhou an ox is pulling a cart

牛拉了车（呀），车拉了松木的板了；
Pulling and pulling until rickety the cart gets

你把尕妹的心拉了热（呀），拉了热（呀）
My love you’ve been pulling my heart

Xining

When I was in Xining this young girl approaching me on the street and offering to be my guide to the city for free. She just wanted to practise her English, she said. We spend a very enjoyable day together, including a trip to nearby Kumbum Monastery, which Zanabazar Visited on one of his trips to Tibet.

Mongolia | Gandan | Dhanyakataka Stupa

Tashchoimphel Temple at Gandan

Wandered by Gandan Monastery and took a peek at the Dhanyakataka Stupa Thangka in the Tashchoimphel Temple. Although Taranatha, Zanabazar’s previous Incarnation (See Incarnations of Javzandamba), wrote extensively about the Kalachakra and translated one of the most famous guidebooks to Shambhala from Sanskrit into Tibetan, Zanabazar Himself, the First Bogd Gegen, apparently showed little if any interest in the teachings. It was the Fourth Bogd Gegeen who first introduced the Duinkhor, or Kalachakra Teachings, into Mongolia in 1801. In 1803 he made a trip to Lhasa and brought back with him a large collection statues and books, including material connected with the Kalachakra. According to ethnologist A. M. Pozdneev, “In 1806 he set up a special datsang for the school of Duinkor [Kalachakra]” and services were performed here in 1807. "In the same year 1807, the Gegen ordered a yum written in gold from Tibet . . . Moreover, being devoted to the task of developing Duinkor, the Gegen decorated the temple of Dachin-kalbain-Sume, gilding its roof, and in its courtyard he established his personal residence.”

He also reportedly commissioned a thangka showing the Dhanyakataka Stupa in southern India where by tradition Shakyamuni Buddha first taught the Kalachakra Tantra to the first King of Shambhala. This is the thangka which can now be seen in the Tashchoimphel Temple.

Thangka of the Dhanyakataka Stupa

Close-up of the thangka showing Buddha emanating as the Kalachakra Deity inside the stupa. It was in this form that he taught the Kalachakra Tantra to Suchandra, the First King of Shambhala.

By tradition the Dhanyakataka Stupa is located at Amaravati, in south India, where the Dalai Lama gave a Kalachakra Initiation in January of 2006.

Ninety-two year-old Lama Gombo (left) was kind enough to point out the Dhanyakataka Thangka to me.

Mongolia | Zaisan Tolgoi | New Books

Polar Star Books, a wholly-owned subsidiary of World Wide Wanders, has four new releases: two by Nicholas Roerich and two by his wife Elena.

On the cover of this book is 10,994-foot Belchir Uul in Khövsgol Aimag, an area which with some justification can be called The Heart of Asia.

Cover of Foundations of Buddhism by Helena Roerich, Nicholas Roerich’s wife:

We also did a Russian language version of Foundations of Buddhism:

Cover of Russian Version

Shambhala: Perhaps Roerich’s most famous book

All four titles are available at outlets in Ulaan Baatar, including the Ikh Nomiin Delgüür (Big Book Store), just north of the Ulaan Baatar Hotel.

Mongolia | Ulaan Baatar | Roerich Museum | Telo Tulku Rinpoche

Wandered by the Roerich-Shambhala Museum for the reception and talk by Telo Tulku Rinpoche, the Shadjin Lama of Kalymkia. As usual for Roerich Museum events Tout UB was in attendance.

Telo Tulku Rinpoche with Museum panjandrums Bira and Ishdorj

I had the honor of presenting to the Telo Rinpoche, the sixth Diluv Khutagt, a copy, fresh from the presses, of The Diluv Khutagt of Mongolia, the memoirs and autobiography of his previous incarnation, the Fifth Diluv Khutagt.

Diluv Khutagt’s Political Memoirs and Autobiography

I had first read the Diluv Khutagt’s book in the august environs of the Reading Room of the Library of Congress circa 1985. I had xeroxed a copy and carried it with me through all my Travels in Mongolia. I have always thought this book should be better known, and now, over two decades later, I finally had the pleasure of introducing a new edition. The Wheel of Time grinds slowly, but fine. It is now available at various outlets, including the Ikh Nomiin Delgüür, (Big Book Store) just north of the Ulaan Baatar Hotel, and the commercial scriptorium in the State Department Store.

Although the Telo Rinpoche is the sixth Diluv Khutagt his lineage goes back much further. The Fifth Diluv Khutagt comments on this in his Autobiography:

Until the fall of the Manchu dynasty, there were fourteen higher Incarnations in Outer Mongolia who, in their successive embodiments, after being recognized and installed by the Church, had to be confirmed in their incumbency by the Manchu Emperor. Of these I am one. My successive incarnations are as follows: One of the companions and disciples of Gotama Buddha was Mangala. One of his later Incarnations was Dilowa, who was so named because in his worldly occupation he was a pounder of sesamum seed to make oil. Tila is the Sanskrit of sesamum. One of his later Incarnations, in Tibet, was Milarapa. The first Incarnation of Milarapa to appear in Mongolia was Dambadorji. In the Ordos region of Inner Mongolia there are two groups of mountains, the Great and Little Arjai. In the caves in the Little Arjai, Dambadorji built his first monastery, in the period of the reign of the Ming dynasty in China (1368-1643). This monastery was destroyed by Legden Khan of the Chahar Mongols, in the time of trouble when the Ming dynasty of the Chinese was falling and the Ch’ing dynasty of the Manchus being set up. The next Incarnation of Dambadorji was Erhe Bogda Lama, who built the monastery of Banchin Jo, also in the Ordos. In the K’ang Hsi period of the Manchu dynasty (1662-1722) my incarnation was recognized, under the designation of Diluv Khutagt, by the Manchu Emperors. My present Incarnation is the fifth under this designation, and the third to appear in Outer Mongolia. While I was in the Ordos, under the designation of Erhe Bogda Lama, Narobanchin was my disciple. Later he was reincarnated in Outer Mongolia,and built the Narobanchin monastery. When in a later reincarnation I myself appeared in the same region of Outer Mongolia, the Narobanchin Khutagt invited me to share his monastery with him, and thus it has been ever since, and that is why I am the Diluv Khutagt of Narobanchin Monastery.

I was also able to present to the Rinpoche Four Books by the Roerichs which we have recently published. Saraa, Co-Publisher of The Diluv Khutagt of Mongolia and the Roerich books, shown here with the Rinpoche.

Saraa and Anzha, the Rinpoche’s factotum, who also acted as my guide when I was in Kalmykia, framing the Shambhala Thangka now on display in the museum.

All-in-all quite a lively and informative gathering. The only thing missing, as far as I was concerned, was a cameo appearance by Lady GaGa.

Mongolia | Ulaan Baatar | White Tiger

Got a call asking if I would take some photos of Inner Mongolian Lama Sanjaachodbachoigijaltsan, a.k.a. Tsagaan Bar (White Tiger) and his students for a book he is preparing. Tsagaan Bar just finished leading a 100 day meditation retreat in Darkhan City, Darkhan Aimag, and is now going back to Inner Mongolia. He plans to return soon however and lead more retreats.

Below are some of the photos I took of him and his students. I did not choose the postures and hand positions and will not attempt to explain their significance.

Sanjaachodbachoigijaltsan

Sanjaachodbachoigijaltsan’s student Sodnom

Sanjaachodbachoigijaltsan’s student Norovsüren

Sanjaachodbachoigijaltsan’s student Sanjaa Dubmaa

Here I am (on the right) posing with Sodnom

Mongolia | Natural and Historical Monuments | Saridgiin Khiid

See a new, revised account of Saridgiin Khiid, the monastery founded by Zanabazar and intended to be the center of Buddhism in Mongolia. It was later destroyed by Zanabazar’s arch nemesis Galdan Bolshigt.

Ruins of Saridgiin Khiid