Residential houses of priestesses datsan

Ivolginsky Datsan () is the center of the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia. It is a Buddhist temple located in

Buryatia Buryatia, officially the Republic of Buryatia, is a republic of Russia located in the Russian Far East. Formerly part of the Siberian Federal District, it has been administered as part of the Far Eastern Federal District since 2018. To its nort ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, 23 km from

Ulan-Ude Ulan-Ude (; , ; , ) is the capital city of Buryatia, Russia, located about southeast of Lake Baikal on the Uda River, Buryatia, Uda River at its confluence with the Selenga River, Selenga. According to the Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census, 43 ...

, near Verkhnyaya Ivolga village. The spiritual activity of the ''datsan'' is manifested in temple rites, medical practice, and a traditional system of Buddhist education.

History

The ''

datsan Datsan (, , ; ''derived from'' ) is the term used for Buddhist university monastery, monasteries in the Tibetan tradition of Gelukpa located throughout Mongolia, Tibet and Siberia. As a rule, in a datsan there are two departments—philosophica ...

'' opened in 1945 as the only Buddhist spiritual centre of the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Its name was changed from Khambin ''Sume'' () to the Monastic Centre (). It was the residence of the Central Spiritual Board of Buddhists of the USSR and later of the

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

Traditional

Sangha Sangha or saṃgha () is a term meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community". In a political context, it was historically used to denote a governing assembly in a republic or a kingdom, and for a long time, it has been used b ...

, as well as that of Pandido Khambo lama, the head of the Russian Buddhists. The Dashi Choinkhorling Buddhist university was opened in 1991 attached to the datsan.

Culture

Although built in the late 1940s with light-colored brick, the
ain Ain (, ; ) is a French department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where it ...
temple displays traditional proportions and ornamentation. The first level is devoted to study and prayer. The second level preserves sacred texts. The third level, the gonkan, serves as an inner sanctum devoted to the guardian deities. The gonkan is surrounded by an open gallery to allow ceremonial processions around the sacred space.

Unique samples of Buryat art, as ''thangkas'',

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

s, and ritual objects are gathered and preserved at the ''datsan''. Among the monastery's treasures is a collection of Buddhist manuscripts written in

Tibetan language Tibetan language may refer to: * Lhasa Tibetan or Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dialect * Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard * Any of the other Tibetic languages See also * Ol ...

on silk, and a greenhouse with a sacred Bodhi tree. As a cultural and religious monument, the ''datsan'' is protected by the State. The Datsan Centre consists of such temples as Sockshin-dugan, Maidrin-sume, Devazhin and Sakhiusan-sume. A library, hotel, the Choyra (Faculty of Philosophy), Dashi Choinhorlin (building of the Buddhist University), Museum of Buryat Art, suburgans (

stupas In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...

), are available. Within the complex is the Korean style wooden Etigel Khambin temple that honors the 12th Khambo Lama whose body was recently exhumed.

Itigelov

In 1927, the 12th Pandito Hambo Lama of the Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov, told his students and fellow monks to bury his body after his death and to check on it in 30 years. According to the story, Itigelov then sat in the lotus position, began chanting the prayer of death, and died, mid-meditation. The monks followed Itigilov's directions, and when they exhumed his body 30 years later, they were amazed to find no sign of decay and decomposition. Fearful of the Soviet response to the "religious miracle", the monks reburied Itigilov's body in an unmarked grave; packing the wooden coffin with salt. Itigelov's story was not forgotten; a young lama named Bimba Dorzhiyez Buddhist whose father-in-law had witnessed the original exhumation. On September 11, 2002, the body was again exhumed, a process witnessed by twelve people, including two forensic scientists and a photographer. The official statement was issued about the body stated that it was well preserved, without major signs of

decay Decay may refer to: Science and technology * Bit decay, in computing * Decay time (fall time), in electronics * Distance decay, in geography * Software decay, in computing Biology * Decomposition of organic matter * Mitochondrial decay, in g ...

Museum of the History of the Ivolginsky Datsan

On 17 September 2019 the Museum of the History of the Center of Traditional Russian Buddhism opened. The project was implemented thanks to a presidential grant in cooperation with the National Museum of Buryatia. The museum has a unique exposition about the history of Buddhism since its arrival in Russia.

References

External links

Photograph of Ivolginsk Buddhist Datsan, Main Temple, Interior, Ivolga, Russia
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Site of the Buruatian Ministry of Culture
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Hambo Lama Itigelov
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Hambo Lama Itigelov at the Buddhist Channel
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Official home page of the Ivolginsky datsan
{{Coord, 51, 45, 30, N, 107, 12, 12, E, , display=title Buddhism in Buryatia Buddhism in the Soviet Union Buildings and structures built in the Soviet Union Buddhist monasteries in Russia Gelug monasteries Buildings and structures in Buryatia Religious organizations established in 1945 Tourist attractions in Buryatia Buddhist temples in Russia 20th-century Buddhist temples Cultural heritage monuments in Buryatia Objects of cultural heritage of Russia of regional significance