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.

China | Qinghai Province | Roerich Shambhala Stupa

After spending the winter of 1926–27 in Ulaan Baatar, Holed Up in a Building which is now being turned into the Roerich-Mongolia Museum, on April 13, 1927 the Roerich Expedition left the Mongolian capital and headed west by motor car to Amarbuyant Monastery, in what is now Bayankhongor Aimag. From Amarbuyant they traveled south by camel to Shar Khuls Oasis, following the Route Used by the 13th Dalai Lama in 1904. From Shar Khuls they proceeded further south across to Black Gobi to the Mazong Mountains, where they passed by the Desert Fortress of the notorious Ja Lama.

From here they took the traditional route to Tibet, passing near the town of Anxi, and by the last week of June reached the Nan Shan, the mountains on the northern rim of the Tibetan Plateau. At a place called Sharagolji (probably a corruption the Mongolian Shar Gol = “Yellow River”) they camped for six weeks while awaiting the beginning of the Fall caravan season onward to Tibet. According to the account of George Roerich, in his book Trails in Inmost Asia:

To commemorate the spot of our camp, Professor Roerich [his father, Nicholas] decided to build a stupa and our Mongolian friends busied themselves preparing stones and bricks for the construction. Soon the stately white structure of the stupa rose among our tents.

According to Ruth A. Drayer, in her book Nicholas and Helena Roerich, Revised Edition: The Spiritual Journey of Two Great Artists and Peacemakers:

It was a peaceful time. Roerich painted the Bogdo-Ulas [apparently the Bogd Khan Uul south of Ulaan Baatar, but perhaps Ikh Bogd Uul, which they would have passed on their way to Amarbuyant Monastery] several times, then sketched and painted Guardian of the Entrance, The Great Horseman, and others. The Humboldt peaks glowed white with snow, and the air was invigorating. The stillness reminded them of the Himalayan heights. At night, the group held wonderful discussions on the new Prayer to Shambhala, the prophecies of the Panchen Lama, or the need for a pan-Asiatic language to reconcile, at least elementally, the three hundred dialects of Asia. Roerich yearned to convey to the West through his paintings and books—and through the establishment of the New Country—the importance that Maitreya, Shambhala, and Gessar Khan have in Asia.

They were camped in the area where the Mahatma had rested on way to Mongolia forty years before, so they decided to commemorate the spot with a suburgan [stupa] of Shambhala. Everyone gaily joined in the construction, building the understructure of stones, reinforced with clay and grass. The top was made of wood, covered with tin from a gasoline tank, and the entire surface was given a sturdy coat of Humboldt lime and reverently painted with red, yellow, and green designs by a Buriat lama using Roerich's paints. The suburgan was completed July 2.

Nicholas Roerich wrote in his book Altai-Himalaya:

In front of the tent of Shambhala, the lamas prayed for the coming of the Blessed Rigden Jyepo and placed a polished mirror before the image. Water was poured onto the mirror and the glass seemed to come alive with strange figures appearing on the surface. When it blurred, it resembled one of the magic mirrors in ancient stories. A procession walked around the shrine with burning incense while the lama held onto a thread suspended from the roof. The altar was filled with gifts of turquoise, coral, and beads, an image of the Buddha, a silver ring with a most significant inscription, prophecies for the future, and other precious objects that had been placed there by an old lama who had helped with the construction. We also lay the Ak-dorje and the Maitreya Sangha within. After a long service, the white thread that connected the lama and the suburgan was severed, and the monument stood there alone in the purple of the desert, forever to shine brightly, defended only by invisible powers.

Here are some photos of the stupa, courtesy of the Roerich Museum in New York City, a veritable cornucopia of All Things Roerichian.

The Roerich Stupa. Note American flag to right. What passports the Roerichs were using at the time and what nationality they were claiming is a bit of a mystery, but the expedition was supported by American Wall Street financiers.

Mongols at the stupa. It is not clear if these were locals or men accompanying the Roerich Expedition.

Putting the finishing touches on the Shambhala Stupa

Circumambulating the Shambhala Stupa

What appears to be local Mongols posing at the Stupa

It is not known if the stupa still exists. Interestingly, just two weeks later, while camped at the same spot, the Roerichs made one of the twentieth century’s first recorded sightings of a UFO. Apparently it has been dispatched from Shambhala. But that is another story . . .

Mongolia | Roerich | Realm of Light

Get a free sample chapter of Realm of Light by Nicholas Roerich!

Nicholas Roerich

Mongolia | Shambhala Book | Roerich

Get a free excerpt from Nicholas Roerich’s book Shambhala! Also see Shambhala Wish-Prayer.

Shambhala (see Enlargement)

Mongolia | Ulaan Baatar | Roerich Redux

Mosied out to the eastern suburbs of Ulaan Baatar for Another Visit to the proposed site of the Roerich-Mongolia Museum.

Building where the Roerichs stayed during their 1926–27 sojourn in Ulaan Baatar. There are plans afoot to turn the building into a museum devoted to the Roerichs.

Group of dignitaries convened to discuss the restoration project

Restoration Project Panjandrums: from left to right, Professor Ishdorj (in black coat); Ulaan Baatar-based badarchin, gazarchin, translator (The Practice of the Six Yogas of Naropa), author (Fourteen Dalai Lamas: A Sacred Legacy of Reincarnation), man-about-town, and international gadabout Glenn Mullin; Professor Bira, who studied with George Roerich in Moscow back in the 1950s; an attaché from the Canadian Embassy who was being hit up for funding; and Soyolma, who is serving as Artistic Adviser on the project.

The ever-lovely Soyolma whose works were recently featured at the Pearl Gallery. See More of Soyolma’s Works.

Soyolma listening with rapt attention as Batdorj, former Director of the Zanabazar Museum and now freelance artist-impresario, presents a proposal for a stone monument to the Roerichs.

Details of the proposed Roerich Monument, which would be placed in the courtyard of the museum.

Soyolma in front of the old Russian-style stove inside the museum building

Group entranced by Glenn Mullin and his spellbinding presentation

Canadian Embassy Attaché still spellbound

Work on restoring the outside of the building should begin in two or three weeks. The plan is to have the interiors of at least a couple of the rooms completed by this summer and open to the public. How You Can Help.

Mongolia | Bayankhongor Aimag | Roerichs and the 13th Dalai Lama

A PDF version of Following the Route of the Roerich Expedition and the 13th Dalai Lama Through Bayankhongor Aimag, Mongolia is now available. For more information on the Roerichs see the Roerich Museum in Mongolia.