An Earthly Reflection of Shamballa?
Bear in mind the following quote from DK.
The central home of this
Hierarchy is at Shamballa, a center in the Gobi desert, called in the ancient
books the "White Island
I propose that a black hole is made of second ether
material just as our sun expresses on the fourth ether. Therefore a black hole
and Shamballa and the human heart chakra function on the same ‘level’ of
vibration. In contemplating the fact that inner realities sometimes have outer
manifestations and following on from the thought that this Leo full moon offers
a great opportunity for invoking the Shamballa force I did a quick google search on Shamballa and the Gobi desert and look
what the sychronicity angel dropped into my lap!
It seems as if this centre in the Gobi
Try this poem by the founder
From
…The Vigor of His White Body
All
life should be honoured
Oh,
Triple Gem
What
are we doing here?
My
utterly perfect lama
Through
the blessing of emptiness
Let
us be joyful
Fading
away into
Cosmic
openess
Danzaan rajvaa
Mongolia
Two kilometers (1.24 miles to normal people) ATCF from Khamariin Khiid is Danzan Rajvaa’s Huge Three Dimensional Representation
of the Sacred Land of Shambhala. Created in the last two years of
his life, this Shambhala consisted of a huge square
encompassed by a wall of 108 stupas with four
gateways, plus several other larger stupas, ovoos, and other constructions. Most of the original Shambhala here was destroyed during the repressions of the
late 1930, but a big project is now underway to restore the complex. The square
of 108 ovoos is being rebuilt, along with three of
the original four gateways and eight larger stupas.
According to tradition noblemen entered Shambhala by
the right gate and lamas and teachers by the left gate. Pilgrims and
worshippers entered by the Central Gate. The Central Gate had two doorways
named the Golden Doorstep and the Silver Doorstep. Visitors to Shambhala entered by the Golden Doorstep and left by the
Silver Doorstep. Upon entering the Golden Doorstep you were suppose to leave
all harmful thoughts behind and think only auspicious thoughts while in Shambhala.
A path leading from near the temples to Shambhala ends just in front of the Center Gate.
The Center Gate with the two doorways under construction.
The Brick front will have representations of the 25 Kalkin
Kings of Shambhala.
Two of the larger stupas and one of the completed smaller stupas
which will make up the square of 108.
Large stupa
and two smaller stupas making up the square.
The ring of rock in the background is known as the Twelve
Year Circle and represents the 12-year cycle of the Tibeto-Mongolian
calender. In front of the Twelve Year circle are
three different-sized ovoos representing the Future,
Present, and Past. The Ovoo
of the Future is in the front. The Ovoo of the
Present is just visible immediately behind it. The smallest ovoo
is the the Ovoo of the
Past. According to tradition, If you put a white stone
on the Ovoo of the Future while saying your surname
and then first name when you die you will be reincarnated very quickly.
The Brain Ovoo—Center of Shambhala—in the distance.
>The Brain Ovoo
The Brain (Tarkhi)
Ovoo. This is the center point of energy
in Shambhala. Local monks claim that when there are
dust storms and high winds outside
>Shambhala from a nearby hill. The complex is expected to be completed by
September of 2006, when there will be an official opening and dedication.
For
more on the founder who was called the terrible noble saint of the
http://www.danzanravjaa.org/lordofthegobipart1.php
seems like the treasures were buried for 181 years and then
dug up again when Uranus crossed the gc in 1988/89
Lord of The
The nineteenth century Lama Danzanravjaa was one of the most creative, colorful and
enigmatic characters in Mongolian history. He was an accomplished artist, poet,
scholar, playwright, songwriter, linguist, collector, traveler, martial artist,
and herbal medic as well as Buddhist leader in the
After his death in
1856 Danzanravjaa'
It is a miracle that he is known to us at
all. One family has preserved his legacy in secret for eight generations in a
tradition called Takhilch that continues today and is
as bizarre and interesting as Danzanravjaa himself.
Danzanravjaa, monk artist,
songwriter and poet
Danzanravjaa was born in 1803 deep in the
In 1821, after completing his monastic
education, he founded the Khamaryn Monastery in the
Khamaryn Monastery lies an
hour south of Sainshand, administrative centre of the
All of the original buildings were destroyed
in the purges of the 1930s, and the only buildings today are two small temples
rebuilt by locals in 1990 and operated by a monk, Baatar,
and ten other lamas.
In these protected meadows Danzanravjaa eventually built some eighty temples and
outbuildings and outfitted them with exquisite decoration, thankas,
sacred texts, statues, altars, wheels, many rare objects appropriate to a Lord
of the Gobi. Here he admitted and educated lamas, ran an art school, produced
plays, created extraordinary works of art, administered the details of his
sovereignty and received important foreign visitors. He also reciprocated,
visiting many other Eastern and Central Asian lands, and from these foreign
travels, for which he learned several other languages, he further endowed his
temples with beautiful objects. He clearly was an elegant, educated man of the
world, but he also was much more.
A few hundred meters north of the temples,
in a three-sided valley just below the summit, he built in 1830 Mongolia's
first theatre, a "theatre-in-the-
These were major productions: his most
famous surviving play, “True Story of the Moon Cookoo,”
required several weeks and over 120 actors to perform in elaborate gilded
costume. Two other plays survive in part, including "Story of Chingiss." There has been no serious contemporary
effort yet to reproduce these elaborate musicals.
Next to the theatre he built
Just to the east of the theatre is a maze of
steep cliffs and ravines cut out of the lava rock and full of caves and craggy
overhangs. Here Danzanravjaa would retreat for months
at a time to fast and meditate alone, and to write and paint. At one such site,
he worked in a spacious cave and could step immediately outside onto a
promontory overlooking a huge valley with a clear view of both the sunrise and
the sunset. Here he created an enormous body of work on many subjects: history,
theology, social commentary, poetry, drama, fiction and, improbably, a treatise
on tantric sexual practices illustrated in his hand
with 108 finely detailed drawings. Many of these works, including the 108
drawings, also are in the
Danzanravjaa is known to most
Mongolians as a songwriter. Even in the Communist era when officially he hardly
existed, his songs and lullabies were popular as children’s songs. Even today many Mongolian recall that his songs were sung to them at
bedtime.
At other times Khamaryn
was the scene of wild partying and drunken orgies led by Danzanravjaa.
Not all Red Hat Buddhist monks are celibate - a significant difference from the
Yellow Hats (Gelugpa) monks - and Danzanravjaa
included woman at the temple and interwove sexuality among his life, his art,
and his theological teachings. He created a seeming cult of women in many
forms. He featured women in his plays. His poetry and drawings honor the beauty
of women. Some believe Danzanravjaa was mentally
unbalanced, or at least went through periods of madness that transcended his
brilliance.
A bit further north on the flat summit Danzanravjaa laid out the “Path to Heaven.” From a starting
gate of piled rocks a path leads to a very large ovoo
at the other end, which is topped by a head-shaped rock. Known as the “brain ovoo,” it seems to represent Danzanravjaa’s
notion that the intellect is an essential part of the spirit. Halfway down the
path are three rings of stones symmetric and perpendicular to the main path,
like Orion’s belt. After circling the ovoo a ritual
three times counterclockwise, on the return one stops at the circles and makes
an offering to the
There are hundreds of stories about Danzanravjaa, legends and tall-tales and superstitions
suggesting divine powers that doubtless have been embellished over the years.
This mythic, bigger-than-
Danzanravjaa was murdered in 1856
with poison in his cup of vodka. He had an edgy relationship with the Manchu
authorities, often including anti-Manchu elements in his art, drama and
teachings, and they in turn regularly harassed him and interrupted activities
at Khamaryn. It seems likely the Manchu rulers had
enough of his anti-Manchu sentiments and his charismatic hold on the
At his death, the Manchus
ordered the theatre and art school closed and forbade any activity at Khamaryn other than normal lamasery functions of prayer and
teaching. They regularly sent troops to enforce this ban. For their better
protection, his assistant Balshinchoijoo packed the
contents of the temples—Danzanravjaa'
Guarding the collections:
the tradition of the ‘Takhilch’
Balshinchoijoo remained at Khamaryn
the rest of his life to guard the temples and the crated valuables and legends
of Danzanravjaa. He also began an extraordinary
tradition known as ‘Takhilch’ to ensure that responsibility
for their heritage would be maintained through the generations.
He selected his son Ganocher
as the next guardian of Khamaryn and devised a strict
physical and mental training regimen for him that began when he was a young
boy. He studied languages, history, religion, and the legends of Danzanravjaa. He learned all about Khamaryn
and the objects he would be responsible for. Balshinchoijoo
prepared an oath written on silk cloth by which each successive Takhilch would affirm that 1) the items at the Temple were
not personal property, but they belong to all Mongolians; 2) they must never
leave the country; and 3) if the items are endangered the Takhilch
is responsible for their protection and preservation.
Ganocher took the oath at age
twenty-five, after two full twelve-year cycles of lunar years (Mongolians are
one year old at birth by their way of counting). A ritual snuff bottle from Danzanravjaa'
Ganocher anointed his son Narya, and Narya his son Ongoi, and Ongoi his son Gambyn, and Gambyn his son Tudev, and all received similar intense early training and
took Balshinchoijoo'
Part 2 will tell how the ‘Takhilch’
system continued after Danzanravjaa’s death and how Tudev, the ‘Takhilch’ in the late
1930’s, saved the precious collections from the communist authorities only for
them to be retrieved in the 1990’s.
Tudev, the Takhilch in the late 1930’s
When the communist government took power in
Tudev, the great great great grandson of the first
Takhilch ,
had just taken over the post when the Soviet and Mongolian troops opened a camp
very near Khamaryn. Tudev
responded according to his oath: he undertook the laborious and dangerous
process of re-boxing and hauling the temple treasures and Danzanravjaa’s
works to a hiding place in the dry bed of the
Hiding the treasures as the Communists
closed in
Every night for sixty-four nights he carried one large
box at a time to the hiding place. He buried them in the soft gravel of the
riverbed and covered them with large stones. He was unable to move Danzanravjaa'
On the sixty-fifth night the troops came to
the monastery and destroyed or hauled away all the remaining crates. The
temples, theatre, and other buildings were levelled,
and they even cut down the cottonwood trees by the river, because they believed
Danzanravjaa’s hold on local people was so strong
that they had to obliterate every vestige of his presence. They arrested 300
monks, who were never seen again, and others dispersed into the countryside.
Tudev continued to keep
watch over Khamaryn Monastery and each spring checked
the sixty-four crates of valuables that only he knew existed. He had one daughter
and an adopted son, but he said nothing to either of them about his secret, nor to anyone else. He always assumed that the threat from
his government would pass and he would be able to return the valuables to Khamaryn. When it did not, he grew concerned that he lacked
an heir who he could train as Takhilch to succeed
him.
The present Takhilch,
Altangerel
In 1960 Tudev's daughter in
Without greeting the parents he said,
"Show me the mark." After inspecting it he said, "You have other
children, this boy will be mine." He returned to Sainshand
with the infant Altangerel and raised him according
to the first Takhilch’s prescriptions, preparing him
for his responsibilities.
A harsh training
The boy Altangerel was
groomed by his grandfather, Tudev, with the classical
Buddhist education and strict personal regimen. He taught him Mongolian,
Manchurian and Tibetan, and made him memorize large portions of Danzanravjaa’s works. He studied Buddhist philosophy,
theology, poetry, and history. He practiced yoga and meditation and was
required to write long poems in various styles. All this, Altangerel
quotes Tudev, to prepare him intellectually and
morally for the challenges he would face as sole guardian of the heritage of Danzanravjaa. He also drilled him on the history of Khamaryn and all that happened there.
Altangerel remembers Tudev as a harsh and domineering man. The young boy was
required to rise each day before dawn for prayers and mantras and then to make
the fire and boil tea. Altangerel says he was always
hungry. After age seven he spent winters at school in Sainshand
and learned how normal Mongolian kids lived, but had to return to Tudev's ger and the strict
regimen each summer.
Tudev often beat Altangerel for minor violations. He was forced to carry
sacks of sharp stones on his bare back for several kilometres
as a punishment. Tudev took Altangerel
to a cemetery—a taboo place for Buddhists—and made him to spend the night
sleeping there in the cold. The latter was to teach him to handle adversity, Altangerel was told. He often wondered why he was the only
kid he knew who had to live this way.
Altangerel learns about the
hidden treasure
And, inevitably, he introduced Altangerel
to the secret of the buried crates. When he was seven, Tudev
took him to the riverbed and showed him the seventeen sites that contained the
sixty-four crates. He drilled him to memorize the locations, as writing down
the coordinates would be too risky. In case he forgot, he taught him a second
way to find the sites based on the full moon rays on the fifteenth day of the middle
month of the lunar year.
For seventeen years they returned every few
months to the riverbed and dug up the crates one at a time. Tudev
would open a crate and carefully remove each object one by one, explaining to Altangerel what it was, when it was used and its
importance, which he memorized. Then Altangerel
replaced each item back into the crate in the proper position while reciting
all the relevant information about it.
Tudev instructed Altangerel to assume that the crates would have to stay
hidden for one hundred years. Textiles were folded carefully and metal items
were covered with horse fat to prevent corrosion. The crates were broken down
and each wooden slat was boiled using horse fat to preserve it. A sack of dung
ashes was placed on the bottom to absorb moisture. The crate was secured in a
sealed leather sack. The leather was sewn and then the hems were sealed with a
mixture of tree resin and ashes. Just before sealing, a small fire was lit in a
dish and placed in the sack to displace the oxygen. Then a new hole was dug for
the crate. Another sack of dung ash was placed on top and a triangle of wooden
poles with an overturned metal pot was fashioned as a sort of teepee to deflect
moisture. Then the hole was filled in with earth and disguised again with
rocks.
The process of opening, treating and closing
up the three or four crates in each site took seven to ten days. Eventually
eight of the crates were hand carried back to Tudev's
ger so the items could be used in Altangerel's
training. They only worked at night to minimize the risk of detection. Tudev had told the herders in the area that he was training
Altangerel to be a lama so they would not think
anything unusual of their activity, but both were aware of the risk the
authorities would discover them which would lead to certain destruction of the
crates and imprisonment for them. .
Altangerel becomes the new Takhilch
In 1980 Altangerel began his
compulsory army service. He arranged to be stationed in Sainshand
as a driver so he could continue his Takhilch
training, and the car was useful for working with the crates.
One day in 1984 Tudev
summoned him to his ger and they rode two of his
horses to nearby
Tudev continued, "It
will be even more difficult for you to train your successor. If in your time
the good times come again, dig up the crates and give them to the Mongolian
people. If not, train and pass on the knowledge to your son as the next Takhilch”. Tudev also told him
that to meet his responsibilities in the modern world, Altangerel
would need a modern education and he should go to University.
Hope at last – revealing the secrets of Dazanravjaa
After Altangerel resigned from the army he enrolled
in the Pedagogical Institute in
Altangerel finished his degree
and returned to Sainshand in 1989 to work as a
schoolteacher. When the communist government fell in 1990, he decided it was
time to reveal some of the secrets of Danzanravjaa.
The two restored temples at Khamaryn were finished
and in 1991 he dug up eight crates of religious objects for them. Also in 1991
local officials gave him a building in Sainshand for
the
Thus thirty-two crates of Danzanravjaa’s legacy, half of those secreted by Tudev, are now available to the Mongolian people. In the
1980s Altangerel's mother gave the eight crates that
had been stored near Tudev's ger
to ‘museum authorities’ from
The remaining twenty-two crates are still
hidden where Tudev and Altangerel
repacked and buried them, and only Altangerel knows
where that is. He will dig them up when he has the space and money to care for
them properly, but until then he believes they are safest where they are.
If Danzanravjaa is
a Mongolian national treasure so is Altangerel, both
in his own right and as the current representative of a family that has guarded
the great Lama's legacy for now 181 years. He has said, ‘I have two sons. One
has the birthmark, and I am preparing him as the next Takhilch’.
Copyright (c) 2002 by J. P. Morrow, CEO, Khan Bank of Mongolia
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