In the Heart of Shambhala

In the scriptural descriptions of Shambhala, one first approaches an outer ring of 108 snow-capped mountains. As one crosses the final ridge to the Gobi Shambhala, the periphery of stupas, gleaming white in the morning light, is stunning in its resonant effect. Here are the first arrivals, who gathered at the front for the ceremonial proceedings:

I found these entry gates to be simply gorgeous. I love the ochre, the shape of the surmounting stupa, and the balance of gravity and elegance. It wasn’t until I downloaded my shots that I realized I had accidentally captured an ancient/modern dichotomy with a jet’s contrail etched above:

Auspicious prayers soon gave way to many, many speeches. At one point Altangerel sidled up to me and said, “Gonchig? You speak?” Well, I was flattered, and even though I only had about 10 minutes to pull my thoughts together, I think I managed to represent my temple pretty well. I tried a little joke at the beginning which was greeted by the proverbial crickets, but when I next offered the greetings of my teachers from America and India, this earned spontaneous applause.

After the speeches, the lamas entered the Shambhala enclosure to begin extensive prayers and chanting on carpets laid out at the exact center. Meanwhile, a performing troupe entertained with lively traditional song, dance and drama for the crowd outside (the guy in the long wig reminded me of Neil from The Young Ones):

I settled in with the lamas. Unfortunately, I can’t read Tibetan fast enough to chant along with them, but I had brought my own texts and began the most elaborate version of my temple’s guru yoga practice, Mipham Rinpoche’s Shower of Blessings. Here I am starring in Honky in the Gobi:

I was in good company, with Togtokh Lama on my left…

… three anis I’d never met before on my right…

…and the uniquely adorned Batkhaan just across from me:

When I reached the point in the practice where one accumulates what’s called the Seven Line Prayer (scroll to bottom), I got up and began distributing 200 of the cards we had printed last year with an image of Guru Rinpoche on the front and the Seven Line Prayer transliterated into the Cyrillic script and translated into modern Mongolian on the back. This went smoothly for a little while but the crowd from outside was streaming in and that strange mob mentality started to take over. Folks became more and more anxious to get whatever special thing it was I had, especially when they saw the pile dwindling. Finally I was surrounded about ten deep and it was getting so intense that I just gave up the last 15 or so cards and let the crowd fight amongst themselves for them. It wasn’t as frantic as what I witnessed when books were handed out at the Dalai Lama’s teaching, but that’s the last time I do that.

Continuing to chant my prayer, I decided to circumambulate all 108 stupas and soak up the activity. It was so inspiring. Thousands had come, and they were all involved in creating merit in one way or another. Some were also walking around the stupas, touching their heads to each one. Here, a woman honors the stupa sponsored by my friend Rebekah, next to one that’s really decked out:

Some were making offerings to the stupas they had sponsored. The photo gods smiled on me and I captured this little boy who’d been tasked by his parents to tie a blue khatag on their stupa’s spire, a job he approached with utmost seriousness and concentration:

Some explored the insides of the three gates, moved to devotional admiration by the images of the 25 Rigden Kings of Shambhala (yet to be painted) surrounding exquisite golden reliefs of the Kalachakra deity:

So many devotees were circumambulating the main ovoo at the back that I couldn’t get near it (Don managed, and got some good shots) and I weaved around a line of people waiting to make prayers toward the Khan Bayan Zurkh mountain and launch small silver cupfuls of vodka across the “ovoos of the three times.” It was one of these enthusiastic ablutions that the wind blew, in its entirety, onto yours truly, to the great mirth of the offerer; that’s why I said at the beginning of the previous post that I reeked of vodka. I was sweaty because I was darn hot in my heavy outer robe, and I sported three days of beard because I’m lazy.

It was hard for my dinky camera to capture it, but this is a taste of how the whole scene looked from the surrounding hills:

As the day wound down, I found Erka and her family. She seems to have completely bounced back from her accident. She told me she was so grateful for your good wishes. Here she is in typical good humor, flanked in the rear by her two sons:

And, in what may have been the most significant encounter of the day, I hung out and bonded some with this remarkable group of yoginis. Quite auspiciously, three of them had met at the Dalai Lama’s recent conferral of the Kalachakra initiation in Amaravati, India. Others have gathered, and now they call themselves Badma Od Sang Ling, “The Lotus Light Sutra Center.” They want to set up their primary temple in Mongolia’s third largest city, Erdenet, northwest of UB. This mining and carpet-producing town is also ground zero for evangelical Christian missionary activity. Needless to say, I relish the thought of getting involved with them. I mean, get a load of these righteous mamas. What couldn’t they do?

Unfortunately, I had gotten quite worried about The Mooj and caught an early ride home before the festivities were complete. Don and Hamid report that there was a lovely butter lamp offering ceremony in the evening; the crowd, still several thousand strong, sang Danzan Ravjaa songs; and the whole event culminated in a fireworks display!

I’m just amazed and thrilled at what the Gobi people accomplished. Their restoration of Danzan Ravjaa’s Shambhala vision exceeded anything I had imagined. Already I’m scheming a return visit so I can do an undistracted, focused, proper pilgrimage. I hope countless others have the similar good fortune to benefit from this holy place in the desert.

Comments

[Palzang]

Truly amazing. What devotion they have! Beautiful pix as well.

[Laura Claus]

Your blog is so inspiring, and the photos are amazingly powerful. Whenever I need to get out of a daily rut, I just log on and see what you've been up to! Thank you for writing and keeping us all updated!

[Robert]

Your photos are beautiful. You will have to give me directions on how to capture an image.

[Konchog]

Thanks for the kind words, ya'll! With the silence after the last post, I worried that the comments function was broken...

I have to admit that the pix benefit from photo-processing software. Oddly, this is the first camera I've ever owned in my life and I use it kind of instinctively. Mostly, I'm thinking about the blog and the story I'm going to tell. I understand that most people are never going to see what I'm seeing, so I'm really motivated to document the experience as fully as I can because it's a genuine pleasure to share it with all of you. My antennae are up for shots that will illustrate the words that are forming in my head. And it sure helps that I have such amazing subjects to shoot! My "method" sort of boils down to, "Huh. That looks cool," or "Wow, is that person's face interesting!" Then, like everyone, I take 100 pictures to get maybe 5-10 good ones.

[Carol]

Konchog,
It's not that the comment function was broken, I think we were just so caught up in the solemnity of the posts we didn't want to break the mood.

Now that I know about the 'throw the vodka on the ovoo' trick I know what I'm supposed to do with this bottle of Chingiz Khan that I brough home but don't ever plan to drink!

As for photographic method, I think Ansel Adams shot about 100 rolls for every one of those famous pictures of his.

[Vedran]

Thanks Konchog! You truly bring Shambala in our homes!
On mongolia-web I saw that temp. is up to 27° C in UB. Is that some mistake? I thougt you were practically snowed in recently... Stay well!

[Konchog]

Vedran -- No mistake. Today's forecast high will be 82F (still can't get the hang of centigrade). This is also the traditional day they turn on the central heating system! I sure hope they wait until next week...

[Kirt Undercoffer]

Amazing! This brought a stream of tears to my eyes. How far out of UB is DR's restored Gobi Shambhala?

[Konchog]

Hi Kirt -- This site is about 350 miles SE of UB. If you look at a map, there's a train line that goes from UB south to Beijing. One stops at Sainshand, the Dornogov provincial capital, and then drives about 45km further south into the desert. Turn left at the third camel and there it is!