Danzan Ravjaa

and his Legacy

Khamriin Khiid was founded in 1822 by one of Mongolia’s most accomplished and forward-thinking masters, the mahasiddha Danzan Ravjaa. At its height, the oasis at Khamriin supported around 500 monks and a substantial lay community. Practitioners integrated all of the Vajrayana lineages, but placed a special emphasis on the Nyingma view and methods. In the many caves gracing nearby volcanic formations, retreatants rigorously pursued esoteric paths to enlightenment and Danzan Ravjaa received revelatory visions of Padmasambhava in Mongolia’s only example of indigenous terma discovery.

A poet, songsmith, dramatist, painter and naturopathic doctor, Ravjaa augmented the spiritual activity at Khamriin by instituting Mongolia’s first secular secondary and art schools, museum, library, and theater. The latter staged elaborate, operatic dramas with Buddhist themes each summer. The actors trained at Khamriin and all of the costumes, sets and props were created in its workshops. One of the final acts of Ravjaa’s foreshortened life was to inspire the creation of an utterly unique site dedicated to the mystical land of Shambhala, featuring 108 stupas enclosing a temple enshrining the Kalachakra Tantra mandala.

In 1938, the Soviet-led Red Army destroyed and looted almost everything at Khamriin Khiid. It was only through the remarkable foresight and courage of a Mongolian man named Tudev that 64 crates of Danzan Ravjaa’s texts, belongings and valuable gifts were buried in the desert for more than 50 years.

Tudev was takhilch of Khamriin, the hereditary lifework of those with a special birthmark and a special destiny – to act as caretaker of Danzan Ravjaa’s legacy. This task skipped a generation, and it is now Tudev’s grandson, Z. Altangerel, who is responsible for reviving Khamriin in the new era of religious freedom that followed Mongolia’s peaceful democratic revolution in 1990.

Z. Altangerel poses before a

portrait of his grandfather,

Tudev.

KHAMRIIN KHIID

KPC’S MONGOLIAN SISTER TEMPLE

When KPC members were doing research in 2004 on the current status of the Mongolian Nyingmapa, all roads led to the Gobi Desert. One site in particular seemed the most active and historically significant – Khamriin Khiid (Khamar Monastery) in the eastern Gobi province known as Dornogov.

The reconstructed temple buildings at Khamriin Khiid.

Then an odd double coincidence occurred. First, a correspondent sent a photo and the amazing story of the Padmasambhava “Statue of 10,000 Knives” enshrined at Khamriin (read the full story here), prompting Jetsunma to declare the time was right to send representatives to Mongolia. Right after that, Dornogov’s parliamentary representative responsible for returning this priceless statue to Khamriin, Ts. Sharavdorj, happened to pay a surprise visit to KPC Maryland. That auspicious first meeting has led to such a warm and fruitful relationship with the Gobi monastery that our two centers have declared each other “sister temples.”

In 2005, Khamriin officials sent Jetsunma a formal invitation to come and teach. She hopes to honor that invitation in 2007 (read more here).

As soon as Mongolia gained full independence in 1990, the constitutional guarantees of religious freedom encouraged the Gobi people to undertake the formidable task of recreating Khamriin deep in the desert. Despite little water (the Russians cut down all the oasis trees to build military camps), occasionally ferocious elements year-round and scant resources, Dornogov residents proceeded with great faith to construct two temples, two stupas and living quarters for lamas twelve families; begin the process of reforestation; relocate and protect the site of a sacred spring; complete the masonry needed to shore up some of the retreat caves; start a kindergarten; and consecrate the 108 stupas and three entry gates rebuilt at the Shambhala site (read the full story here). The MBRP and other sponsors have sent 18 Gobi children for Nyingma and Kagyu Buddhist training to India (learn more here) and other international funding has allowed them to dig a deeper well for safe water and open a larger school and community center.

Khamriin Khiid ’s immediate priorities, which the MBRP intends to support, include:

Construction of a large new temple
Routing in electricity from the nearest source 24km away
Building a Kalachakra Temple at the Shambhala site
Hosting visiting lamas
Sending students annually to India for religious training
Creating facilities for visiting VIP’s
Expanding the Danzan Ravjaa Museum to safely store its irreplaceable texts and artifacts

Consecration of the newly rebuilt Gateway to Shambala

at Khamriin Khiid in September, 2006.

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