Zandan Zhuu (Sandalwood Buddha or Sandalwood Lord) - a sculpture of Buddha 2 m 18 cm high, made of sandalwood, according to legend, 2500 years ago by order of Raja Uddiyana.

Finding of Zandan Zhuu by the Egitui datsan

In the winter of 1901, the Sandalwood Buddha found himself in Transbaikalia. After the defeat of the Boxer Rebellion, the Buryat Cossacks, taking advantage of the turmoil and devastation in Beijing, and the fire in the Sandan-sy monastery ("Monastery Sandalwood Buddha"), where the statue was kept at that time, it was taken away. The operation was led by the head of the postal and telegraph service Russian embassy in China N.I. Gomboev. The Buryat Cossacks carried the precious statue out of the burning monastery, and thereby saved it from death in the fire. As a trophy, the sculpture was taken with great care on a sleigh to Buryatia.

According to another version, Zandan Zhuu was brought to Eravna thanks to the incredible efforts of the Sorzho Lama of the Egitui datsan Gombo Dorzho Erdyneev and many other people who risked their lives. Upon arrival, a metal copy of the statue was made and placed in the Egituisky datsan, but the original was hidden. During the Civil War, Japanese invaders learned of the location of Zandan Zhuu. Upon arrival, they were shown a metal copy, and they left with nothing.

In the 1930s, the Sandalwood Buddha was kept in the Odigitrievsky Cathedral in the city of Ulan-Ude, where the funds of the Museum of Local Lore were then housed.

In the 1980s, the statue was returned to believers. On September 25, 1991, Zandan Zhuu was transported by helicopter to the Egituysky datsan.

On April 22, 2003, the Decision of the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia was issued: “To approve as Buddhist shrines of Russia: the statue of Zandan Zhuu, Atlas of Tibetan Medicine, Precious body of Khambo Lama Itigelov.”

Sandalwood Buddha Temple

For some time, the statue was kept in the dugan of the Egituisky datsan, in a small wooden one-story building, not suitable for storing cultural and historical values. In this regard, the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia decided to build a special storage room maintaining a constant microclimate. On July 25, 2008, the Sandalwood Buddha Temple was opened.

Buddhist legend about the appearance of the statue

According to the Tocharian monk Dharmanandi (385 CE, Ekottara Agama Sutras from the Anuttara Nikaya), the Buddha was in Tushita heaven, preaching the Dharma to his deceased mother Maya. Prasenajit wanted to see the Enlightened Lord and ordered a statue of him to be made. Maudgalyayana transported the masters to heaven, where they met the Buddha. After returning, the craftsmen sculpted a life-size statue from sandalwood. When Buddha Shakyamuni returned to earth, the statue took six steps towards him, then he made a prophecy that it would be moved to the north, and Buddhism would flourish there.

Impact of the statue on believers

Not everyone can be at Zandan Zhuu: some can’t stand it and leave the temple. Others, on the contrary, find that several hours have passed since they sat down opposite the Sandalwood Buddha. It is believed that the shrine eliminates negative deeds, bestows long life, and provides guidance for good luck, happiness, and health, if the worshiper hopes for it and believes in it from the bottom of his heart.

Write a review about the article "Sandalwood Buddha"

Notes

Literature

• Buryats /Ans. ed. Abaeva L. L., Zhukovskaya N. L.; Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology named after. N. N. Mikhlukho Maclay. - M.: Science, 2004

Excerpt characterizing Sandalwood Buddha

“Oh, that would be so terrible...” she began and, without finishing from excitement, with a graceful movement (like everything she did in front of him), bowing her head and looking at him gratefully, she followed her aunt.
In the evening of that day, Nikolai did not go anywhere to visit and stayed at home in order to settle some scores with the horse sellers. When he finished his business, it was already too late to go anywhere, but it was still too early to go to bed, and Nikolai walked up and down the room alone for a long time, pondering his life, which rarely happened to him.
Princess Marya made a pleasant impression on him near Smolensk. The fact that he met her then in such special conditions, and the fact that it was her at one time that his mother pointed out to him as a rich match, made him pay special attention to her. In Voronezh, during his visit, the impression was not only pleasant, but strong. Nikolai was amazed at the special, moral beauty that he noticed in her this time. However, he was about to leave, and it did not occur to him to regret that by leaving Voronezh, he would be deprived of the opportunity to see the princess. But the current meeting with Princess Marya in the church (Nicholas felt it) sank deeper into his heart than he foresaw, and deeper than he desired for his peace of mind. This pale, thin, sad face, this radiant look, these quiet, graceful movements and most importantly - this deep and tender sadness, expressed in all her features, disturbed him and demanded his participation. Rostov could not stand to see in men the expression of a higher, spiritual life (that’s why he did not like Prince Andrei), he contemptuously called it philosophy, dreaminess; but in Princess Marya, precisely in this sadness, which showed the full depth of this spiritual world alien to Nicholas, he felt an irresistible attraction.
“She must be a wonderful girl! That's exactly the angel! - he spoke to himself. “Why am I not free, why did I hurry up with Sonya?” And involuntarily he imagined a comparison between the two: poverty in one and wealth in the other of those spiritual gifts that Nicholas did not have and which therefore he valued so highly. He tried to imagine what would happen if he were free. How would he propose to her and she would become his wife? No, he couldn't imagine this. He felt terrified, and no clear images appeared to him. With Sonya, he had long ago drawn up a future picture for himself, and all of this was simple and clear, precisely because it was all made up, and he knew everything that was in Sonya; but it was impossible to imagine a future life with Princess Marya, because he did not understand her, but only loved her.
Dreams about Sonya had something fun and toy-like about them. But thinking about Princess Marya was always difficult and a little scary.
“How she prayed! - he remembered. “It was clear that her whole soul was in prayer. Yes, this is the prayer that moves mountains, and I am confident that its prayer will be fulfilled. Why don't I pray for what I need? - he remembered. - What I need? Freedom, ending with Sonya. “She told the truth,” he recalled the words of the governor’s wife, “except for misfortune, nothing will come from the fact that I marry her.” Confusion, woe maman... things... confusion, terrible confusion! Yes, I don't like her. Yes, I don’t love it as much as I should. My God! get me out of this terrible, hopeless situation! – he suddenly began to pray. “Yes, prayer will move a mountain, but you have to believe and not pray the way Natasha and I prayed as children for the snow to become sugar, and ran out into the yard to try to see if sugar was made from snow.” No, but I’m not praying for trifles now,” he said, putting the pipe in the corner and, folding his hands, standing in front of the image. And, touched by the memory of Princess Marya, he began to pray as he had not prayed for a long time. Tears were in his eyes and in his throat when Lavrushka entered the door with some papers.
- Fool! Why do you bother when they don’t ask you! - Nikolai said, quickly changing his position.
“From the governor,” Lavrushka said in a sleepy voice, “the courier has arrived, a letter for you.”
- Well, okay, thank you, go!
Nikolai took two letters. One was from the mother, the other from Sonya. He recognized their handwriting and printed out Sonya's first letter. Before he had time to read a few lines, his face turned pale and his eyes opened in fear and joy.
- No, this cannot be! – he said out loud. Unable to sit still, he holds the letter in his hands, reading it. began to walk around the room. He ran through the letter, then read it once, twice, and, raising his shoulders and spreading his arms, he stopped in the middle of the room with his mouth open and eyes fixed. What he had just prayed for, with the confidence that God would grant his prayer, was fulfilled; but Nikolai was surprised by this as if it was something extraordinary, and as if he had never expected it, and as if the very fact that it happened so quickly proved that it did not happen from God, whom he asked, but from ordinary chance.
That seemingly insoluble knot that tied Rostov’s freedom was resolved by this unexpected (as it seemed to Nikolai), unprovoked by Sonya’s letter. She wrote that the latest unfortunate circumstances, the loss of almost all of the Rostovs’ property in Moscow, and the countess’s more than once expressed desires for Nikolai to marry Princess Bolkonskaya, and his silence and coldness lately - all this together made her decide to renounce him promises and give him complete freedom.
“It was too hard for me to think that I could be the cause of grief or discord in the family that had benefited me,” she wrote, “and my love has one goal: the happiness of those I love; and therefore I beg you, Nicolas, to consider yourself free and to know that no matter what, no one can love you more than your Sonya.”

Sandalwood Buddha

in Buryat Zandan-Zhuu, Sandalwood Lord- a unique and very ancient statue, a famous relic of the Buddhist world.
This sculpture of Shakyamuni Buddha, 2 meters 18 cm high, is made of sandalwood, as legend has it, around the 5th century BC, commissioned by Raja Uddiyana.

There is an opinion shared by the majority that it is the first and only statue made during the lifetime of the Buddha.

In the Buddhist tradition, she is equated with the living Buddha and brings limitless blessing to the world.

Currently, the Sandalwood Buddha is recognized in Russia as a cultural monument of federal significance.

History of appearance and path traveled

There are different points of view and many legends about how the very first image of Buddha Shakyamuni arose. The Indian version says that it was performed by Vishwamitra while the Buddha was giving a teaching. He carved the statue from sandalwood, looking at the reflection in the water, as a bright radiance emanated from the Enlightened One himself.

There is also a known mention in history of Shakyamuni Buddha, indicating the existence of a statue that arose during his lifetime and is known as the “Image from Uddiyana,” a statue made at the request of the ruler of this amazing ancient Buddhist country.
It is said that this sculptural portrait emitted “divine light.”

In the later Mahayana sutras it is written about him: “Maidgalyayana-putra, a follower of the Buddha, transported the artist to the heavenly spaces, where Shakyamuni Buddha retired for three months to convey the Teaching to his mother. There the artist saw the excellent signs of the Buddha's body and captured them in the form of a sandalwood statue. When the Tathagata returned from the heavenly palaces, the sandalwood image greeted the Lord of the World” (3). We are talking about Sandalwood Buddha here.
According to A.A. Terentyev, according to the Chinese translation of the Ekottara Agama Sutra (from the Anuttara Nikaya), set forth by the Tocharian monk Dharmanandi (385 AD), the history of the appearance of the Zandan-Zhuu statue is as follows:
Buddha Shakyamuni resided in Tushita heaven, preaching the Dharma to his mother Maya, who was reborn there after death. At this time, Raja Prasenajit very much wanted to see the Enlightened Lord. Then the closest disciple of the Buddha, Maudgalyayana, who had achieved miraculous abilities, took the masters to the Buddha so that they could see him, and upon their return they sculpted a life-size statue of goshirsha sandalwood.
When Shakyamuni Buddha returned, the statue greeted him and took six steps towards him, and this served as the basis for the Buddha’s prophecy about this statue: it will move to the north, and where it is located, Buddhism should flourish.
Centuries later, the Buddha statue actually left India.

Chinese sources mention information about her further journey in a northern direction.

China

So in the 4th century, the monk Kumarayana from Kashmir, wanting to save the precious statue during bloody local wars, took it to Central Asia. He settled in an oasis city along the Silk Road called Kucha, where he married the sister of the local ruler, Jivaka, and became a spiritual mentor. From that time on, Buddhism began to flourish there. The son of that same monk, Kumarajiva, grew up in an environment conducive to the study of the Dharma, and became a famous Buddhist sage. His fame was so loud that in 384 troops were sent from China to Kucha to capture Kumarajiva. Along with him, the Sandalwood Buddha statue was also taken to China. From that time on, China began to accumulate Buddhist wisdom.

Tibet

From China the statue went to Tibet at the beginning of the 8th century. Then the Chinese and Nepalese Buddhist princesses married the Tibetan king Srontsangambo and brought Buddhist relics to the Land of Snows, among which was a statue of the Sandalwood Buddha. The Nepalese princess Bhrikuti was considered the incarnation of Green Tara, and the Chinese princess Wen-chen was considered the incarnation of White Tara. Already under the next ruler of Tibet, Tisrondetsen, Buddhism became the state religion in this country.

Mongolia

According to other Chinese sources, during the reign of Genghis Khan, the Sandalwood Buddha ended up in Mongolia, at that time the first contacts of the Mongols with Buddhist philosophy took place, which subsequently culminated in the adoption of Buddhism at the state level.

From Mongolia the statue returned to China. It was kept in the province of Li, in the temple Buddhist monastery, built especially for her - Sandan-Sy “Sandalwood Buddha Monastery”. In the 19th century, this monastery was located on the territory of the capital of China. All Buddhist pilgrims from Mongolia, Buryatia and Tibet worshiped the wonderful statue when visiting Beijing.

Russia

From China in 1901, the statue went to Transbaikalia, and since then has not left Russia.

This happened thanks to our Buryat Cossacks, who found themselves in China at that time, but exactly how is not known.

Orientalist and Buddhist V.M. Montlevich wrote: “But fragments of information about the abduction itself have been preserved, and this information is more or less reliable, for it was told to me in 1969 by the famous Russian orientalist Boris Ivanovich Pankratov, who lived in China for thirty-two years (since 1916 to 1948)".

In 1890-1901, the Yihetuan Uprising broke out in Beijing, when the secret society I-he-quan "Fist for Justice and Harmony" organized unrest in the country, commonly known as the Boxer Rebellion.

In June 1901, Beijing was captured by rebels, burned and destroyed.

The world community reacted harshly to the uprising; the rebels were destroyed by the combined forces of England, Germany, Russia, Japan and France in September 1901. Our Buryat Cossacks, who found themselves in Beijing at this difficult time, also took part in these events.

According to one version, during a fire they took the precious statue out of the monastery, and thereby saved it from death, then in the winter of 1901 they delivered it to their native Buryatia as a trophy. According to another version, the sandalwood statue was bought by the lamas of the Egitui datsan during the uprising and came to Eravna thanks to the incredible efforts of the Sorzho Lama of the Egitui datsan Gombo Dorzho Erdyneev and many other people who risked their lives, taking it out of China with great precautions. One way or another, the precious statue of the Sandalwood Buddha went even further to the north, and ended up at the beginning of the 20th century in Transbaikalia, in the Egetui datsan of Russia. At the same time, a metal copy of the statue was prudently made, which was put on display in a special temple-dugan, as an object of worship and veneration, and the original itself was securely hidden. In search of the famous statue, Japanese experts soon came to Buryatia, who received information that the statue is located in the Egetuisky datsan. When they saw the metal copy, they were greatly disappointed and were forced to leave with nothing. Until 1935, the statue was reliably hidden in Buryatia, until the tragic times of anti-religious policies for Buddhism came in Russia, when datsans were destroyed, many valuable relics were destroyed, and lamas were repressed. But the statue survived even during this difficult time. It was among the relics that were transferred to the funds of the new Anti-Religious Museum, located in the Odigitrievskaya Church in Verkhneudinsk (now the National Museum of the Republic of Buryatia (Ulan-Ude), where it was kept under glass in a closet on the second floor. At the same time in the fire and without proper storage conditions, a huge number of wonderful cult relics and works perished. On September 25, 1991, the statue was returned to the Buddhists, transferred to the same Egituisky datsan, where the metal copy was once openly revered. For the first time in Russia, only now the Sandalwood Buddha appeared before people. This is regarded as a good omen for the development of the Dharma not only in Buryatia, but also in our country as a whole. The statue contains a strong blessing from the Buddha, creating favorable conditions for the prosperity of the Teachings of the Buddha - Dharma, awakening interest in it.

Buddhist shrine of Russia

For some time, the statue was kept in the dugan temple of the Egituisky datsan in Buryatia, in a small wooden one-story building, unsuitable for storing cultural and historical values. It was impossible to create appropriate conditions for storing a world Buddhist shrine there.

Therefore, the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia decided to build a special room to store the statue while maintaining a constant microclimate. For 15 years, funds were raised for the construction of a temple-palace for the Sandalwood Buddha. Thanks to donations from parishioners of the Egituisky datsan and individual sponsors, the new Zandan Zhuu temple was opened on July 25, 2008. People from different regions of our country came to the ceremony of its consecration. The older generation of Buryats, driven by the desire to support and continue the traditions of their ancestors, sewed new festive national costumes especially for this celebration. From noon to eight o'clock in the evening there was a never-ending line of people who came to the datsan to see the Buddha.
The long journey of the wonderful statue of Zandan Zhuu from India through China, Tibet, Mongolia, to Russia, from country to country, in a northern direction over the centuries has become evidence of the fulfillment of the Buddha’s prophecy. On April 22, 2003, the decision of the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia was made to “approve as Buddhist shrines of Russia: the statue of Zandan Zhuu,

Screenshot from the website yelo-rinpoche.ru, press service of the datsan "Rinpoche Bagsha"

Thousands of believers presented offerings to the Great Teacher [photo, video]

On Saturday, September 10, Venerable Yeshe Lodoy Rinpoche performed a ritual to consecrate the 33-meter-high image of Buddha Shakyamuni, carved on the Bayan Khongor rock. Last year, a statue of Buddha, custom-made in India, was erected on a hill near the village of Bayangol, and three stupas of reconciliation were consecrated. The following year, the people of Bayangol asked for help in building 8 stupas around Lake Mogoi. It is planned to place 4 thousand figurines of various Buddhist deities in the suburgans.

Buddha Shakyamuni on Mount Bayan-Khongor near the village of Bayangol is a unique creation. It will be awarded the title of the largest Buddha image in Russia and will be included in the list of the largest Buddha images in the world.
Idea, build giant buddha, residents of Bayangol said at a village meeting. With this initiative they approached the datsan on Bald Mountain in Ulan-Ude by Yeshe Lodoy Rinpoche. The rector supported the people's proposal. Moreover, as it turned out, this was his long-time dream.

Big Buddha is a great benefit for all of Russia

“About 15-16 years ago we visited the “heart” of Baikal for the first time - Olkhon Island, went on a boat along the Irkutsk shore,” recalls Rinpoche’s closest student Geshe Lharamba Tenzin Lama, “Majestic rocks growing out of the water surface and rushing into the sky , impressed Bagsha with their beauty and power. And then he had an idea - to make a large statue of the World Precious Teacher Buddha Shakyamuni in the rock. IN Asian countries This is an ancient tradition, and there was nothing like it in Russia.”

Help website: The world's largest and oldest Buddha carved into a rock is located in the Chinese province of Sichuan. Its height is 71 meters, age is about 1200 years. It took almost 90 years to build. The largest statue in the world is also of Buddha. And it is also located in China, in Henan province. The 128-meter monument depicts Buddha Vairochana, one of the five sacred Buddhas who personify wisdom. The idea to create a grandiose shrine came to the Chinese after the Taliban barbarically destroyed two huge Buddha statues in Afghanistan in 2001. Their age was dated to the 6th century AD.

“Then we began to look for a suitable object. On Baikal it was difficult to do this purely technically. They also searched in other areas. Sometimes there were rocks that were too low, sometimes too high, sometimes too prominent. And last year, when we also installed a statue of Buddha near Bayangol, but a small one, one meter high, made to special order in India from onyx, I noticed the neighboring rock. It was ideal for realizing the Teacher’s idea - smooth, beautiful and quite high, about fifty meters. And most importantly - ideally located!

Typically, Buddhist shrines are built “facing” south, be they temples, stupas or statues. We consciously wanted to move a little away from this tradition and make sure that the Buddha’s gaze was directed towards Moscow and other large Russian cities. In such a difficult time, it was simply necessary to do this for the benefit of the entire country and all living beings! At all times, the construction of Buddha statues, stupas, and datsans was considered a very beneficial deed. In the places where they appear, everything comes into harmony. In nature, various kinds of disasters cease, mutual understanding comes into people’s relationships, they get sick less and die from accidents, all living things find peace and tranquility,” says Tenzin Lama.

“But the Teacher then said that the time had not yet come. And now, a year later, the residents of the Khorinsky district themselves came up with this proposal. The Bayan-Khongor rock has long been considered a sacred place among the Khorin Buryats. Here, residents of the village of Bayan-Gol 2 times a year - in the summer and on the second day of Sagaalgan - hold oboo, and throughout the year they often come to worship the shrines. The so-called munkhanas are installed here - small houses in which thangkas and figurines of Buddhist deities are located. Last year a Buddha statue and 3 stupas appeared. Rinpoche thought about it for a long time and finally agreed. Moreover, this is the birthplace of his root Teacher.

Website reference: Venerable Yeshe Lodoy Rinpoche was born in Tibet in 1943. At the age of three he was recognized as the fourth rebirth of Yelo Rinpoche. In Tibet, such people are called tuluku - it is believed that they consciously continue the chain of their rebirths, devoting their lives to helping all living beings.
From the age of seven, Yelo Rinpoche devoted himself to monasticism and the study of Buddhist philosophy. In 1959, due to the occupation of Tibet by China, he left his homeland and moved through the kingdom of Bhutan to India, where he continued his studies.
The root Teacher of Yeshe Lodoya Rinpoche is Lama Dulva-hambo Thubten Choki, a Buryat by nationality. The renowned tantra master taught Yelo Rinpoche a course in vinaya - monastic discipline. Also, under the leadership of a lama from Buryatia, the Venerable Agwan-Nima, in 1979, Yelo Rinpoche defended the title of “geshe-lharamba” - the highest Buddhist academic degree. In 1993, at the request of the Buryat clergy and on behalf of His Holiness, he arrived in Buryatia, in the Ivolginsky datsan to teach at the Tashi Choinohrling Buddhist Institute. Since then, Yeshe Lodoy Rinpoche remained to live and work in Buryatia, for the benefit of all living beings and the prosperity of the Dharma.

In 1999, at an audience with the Dalai Lama, Yelo Rinpoche conveyed the requests of believers from Buryatia to open a Buddhist center and received His Holiness’s blessing to begin construction. 5 years later, in 2004, the opening of the Rinpoche Bagsha datsan took place on Bald Mountain in Ulan-Ude.

The plan was implemented quite quickly. All necessary approvals have been passed. Sponsors, craftsmen, and artists were found. Locals actively helped during construction. The image of Shakyamuni Buddha was made as majestic as possible, but with minimal impact on nature. They did not carve a full-fledged statue or bas-relief. They just removed the top layer of the rock, drew the outlines of the World Teacher seated in the lotus position and painted it with paint.

The height of the image is exactly 33 meters. In Buddhism, this number also has its own sacred meaning. It is believed that there is the most high world on Earth, the so-called Trayastrimsha - “World of 33 Gods” or “Collection of 33 Gods”, which is located on the top of Mount Sumeru. Trayastrimsha is often mentioned in Buddhist texts when the Buddha ascends to the Thirty-three Gods, or the gods of this world themselves descend to earth to meet the Buddha.

“The creation of the statue of Shakyamuni Buddha is not accidental. Buddha Shakyamuni, the highest nirmanakaya, was born in our world, performed twelve feats, including turning the Wheel of the Teaching. All the time that the Buddha’s Teaching remains in the world, it is an incomparable, limitless cure for the diseases of our obscurations and suffering. Let the statue of Buddha Shakyamuni become a symbol of the unification of our pure intentions in the implementation of the teachings and a symbol of the fact that the Buddhist teachings - the dharma that the Buddha gave 2500 years ago, and now resides in our world,” says the teacher.

About 4 thousand people attended the Ramney ritual. 80 buses transported pilgrims from the Square of Soviets free of charge. After the consecration ritual, a festive concert and sports competitions took place.

Interview with Venerable Yeshe Loda Rinpoche:

- At the end of the ritual, a symbolic million flowers were offered to the image of Buddha? Is this some kind of tradition?

When a Buddha statue is created, the image of Buddha is a great virtue. And when an image of such a gigantic size is created, it is also a huge, incomparable virtue! Accordingly, the larger, richer and more beautiful the offerings, the more good merit we accumulate. And flowers in Buddhism are a traditional type of offering, along with white food, sweets and fruits.

- Why is the height of the Buddha image exactly 33 meters?

In the Buddhist tradition there is such a good attitude towards the number “33”, there is even an abode of the gods of 33 deities. Initially, it was not planned to make the image so large, but when they measured the rock, it turned out that it was about 55 meters high. Then they decided to make it exactly 33 meters. It fits in very harmoniously. This is also a kind of sign.