Buddhist monks far off in the Russian mountains
Dear friends around the world,
This is amazing. I came across this accidentally and am I glad I did. I have searched the webs for more information but this is all I can find. I guess they would have more in the Russian language. But for now these extremely inspiring and beautiful pictures will touch your heart. I don’t see a picture of the monk clearly so I guess maybe he is humble and does not want to be seen? I am not sure.
They have so little and so much hardship and yet they don’t give up and just build, live together and pursue. They don’t find excuses to fail. Their future is so uncertain yet they don’t give up to build their spiritual community in the harsh mountains. They take it one day at a time trusting Buddha. They are really building a community. There are so many people where the centres are set up, the teachers are there, they have food, there is transport, comfortable rooms and everything is completely ready yet they can find excuses to not do dharma or find fault. They find reasons to procrastinate till it’s too late. Imagine if we had to work as hard as these monks to build our temple to practice in the remote cold mountains. Then it burns down and we have to do it again. Imagine if we had to go through this much hardship to get dharma? We don’t have to and yet we still can find problems both internal and external. Instead of feeling down, this is a great inspiration! It is for me a great inspiration. Let’s do dharma. Let’s build, construct, make it happen and bring dharma to ourselves and those karmically ready. Let’s learn, practice, share with others the dharma and be successful in our dharma works. Let’s never let our inner ‘obstacles’ manifest into outer obstacles but let go. Let’s not find internal reasons that constrict us. Let’s do dharma and just make it work!! Do our dharma work with responsibility, diligence, love, care and do it well. Let’s improve on the inside and then manifest on the outside. We can do it. This applies to anything in life and not just dharma. Don’t let difficulties stop you because the time passes anyways. It can pass with you struggling with a purpose and in the end you have results to be proud of. Or you can let time pass by sedentary and procrastinate and it may be easy now, but in the end, you have no results. You see the real struggle is in the end you have no results. So this applies to anything in life. Don’t give up and succeed! Nothing to lose!
Buddhist practitioners who really would like to gain higher attainments stay away from the bustle of endless and empty city life. But the resident members here really take it another notch and much higher. How much adversity, obstacles and hardship they have to endure to build their little monastery in the mountains. Absolutely beautiful and touching. But there is some danger to the existence of this monastery so please read below carefully to understand.
I hope one day I can ask some of my students to go visit and find out more. For now I offer my prayers to the Buddha and Three Jewels that this monastery will grow, the members will grow, they will be safe and their practice will reach fruition. By the power of the Buddha’s enlightenment, by the power of the truth of Buddha’s speech and by the power of the holy sangha, may this beautiful and inspiring temple enclave grow and be stable.
Humbly,
Tsem Rinpoche
Buddhist monks far off in the Russian mountains
By Andrei Senushkin
Tucked away in the Ural Mountains of the Sverdlovsk region is Mount Kachkanar, only 887 meters high. There is a small city (1,607 kilometers from Moscow) by the same name located at the foot of the mountain. This is where Russia’s only mountain Buddhist monastery has existed for several years now.
The mountain is located on the premises of a private company and access to it is restricted. The monastery was constructed on private land and can be demolished at any time.
But the resident monks are always happy to have guests. They offer them to “drink tea” right away. This is perhaps the most often-used phrase on the mountain’s peak. This phrase doesn’t imply actually drinking tea, but rather the eastern variant of conversation and gatherings.
Initially, the Urals were inhabited by the Mansi people, a small ethnic group in Russia that was pushed back past the Urals by the ethnic Russians in between the 11th and 14th centuries. The Mansi did not live on Mount Kachkanar itself, but considered it a place of strength and used it to hold religious customs.
When Russians came here, they became interested in the local platinum deposits. “Platinum fever” began. The a mining and processing plant was founded in the late 1950s.
The plant’s basin was initially further from the peak, which did not fall into the technological zone. Local residents came here to relax and groups of tourist wander along local trails. There was no monastery in Soviet times. The idea to build it first appeared in 1995.
Mikhail Sannikov created it. He was born to a military family and commanded a reconnaissance group himself in Afghanistan. He left the army after being wounded and started working as a janitor in a morgue, a cook in a river fleet, and finished art school externally. At the end of the 1980s, at 27 years-old, Mikhail decided to enter the Ivolginsky Datsan (the Buddhist monastery and university for Buryats in Russia). He entered the monastery and took the religious name Tenzin Dokchit. He also studied Buddhism in Mongolia, after which young Lama Dokchit was given the order to build a Buddhist datsan in the Urals.
The reasoning was simple: there are Buryat temples in the east, the Saint Petersburg Gunzechoinei in the west, Kalmyk datsans in the south, but in the middle of Russia, the Ural Mountains, had no Buddhist temples. They chose Mount Kachkanar because it is located on the border between Europe and Asia.
The monastery was named Shad Tchup Ling, which means “the place of practice and realization” (or the “Place of study and implementation). Construction started on May 15, 1995 and was built by Tenzin Dokchit by himself for the first years. The first buildings were practically entirely made of wood. A fire that occurred in 1998 destroyed everything that had been constructed. The lama and small group of students had to start everything over again.
The rhythm of life at the monastery is unhurried: studies, expeditions for building materials, tea, teachings, and self-development. Nobody is forced to follow a schedule, but if you’ve come here, it means you want to study. Including studying how to survive.
You can learn many new things about all kinds of things, but still not receive an answer to practical questions, like ‘where do the monks get money for construction from?’ or ‘why don’t they have a deed to the land?’ The lama answers that the monastery is not what matters; what matters it the process. As for money and food: if you ingest food according to your body’s needs, then the food becomes a meal; if the body is alive, that means there must be a meal.
The mining and processing plant’s attitude towards the neighboring Buddhist monastery changed radically in the 21st century. The plant produces 55 million tons of iron ore per year. It’s starting to develop a new deposit which carries the risk that the mountain may be destroyed by the inherent blasts. They consider the monastery on Kachkanar to be out of place.
All photos by ANDREI SENUSHKIN
Source: http://rbth.com/multimedia/pictures/2014/04/23/buddhist_monks_far_off_in_the_russian_mountains_36139?crid=325359
Click to enlarge
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Inspiring post of a soldier turned Buddhist monk living in remote raw Ural mountains of Russia . With little and much hardship , they never give up feeling happy with their struggles. They managed to build a spiritual community up in the remote mountains. Led by Mikhail Sannikov, now known as Lama Dokshit, a veteran of the USSR’s Afghanistan war . He established a monastery on an isolated mountaintop named Shad Tchup Ling, meaning “place of practice and realisation. The monastery is visited by thousands yearly by tourist and locals.
But sadly this monastery was built on private lands own by a metallurgical mining company . Since 2016, it has been desired to demolish the Buddhist Shedrub Ling temple on Mount Kachkanar. The Buddhist community have tried many times to legalize the structures. The mining and others have claimed rights to the land. The Buddhist community was asked to leave then. The latest update dated second February 2021 is that the monastery will be under the security of the mining company where the Urals Buddhists are allowed back to the mountain only certain days of the week. May this inspiring monastery up in the mountains continue to flourish and may the mining company not demolished it .
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
READ MORE AT…for the latest news
https://www2.stetson.edu/religious-news/210202a.html
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing such inspiring article. Truly inspiring monk … Tenzin Dokchit lived in insolation in the remote Russian mountains. His determination to practice Dharma and having a pure Guru devotion has made him and the rest stronger. They have little and went through all hardship in the harsh mountains during winter and so forth yet they do not give up. They some how manage to build temple , living in cold mountains just for the love of practicing dharma.
What really comes to mind is that, we must do the dharma when we can. We never know when conditions can be less than conducive. Much respect to the lama and students who are maintaining this Buddhist temple for the benefit of others.
感谢仁波切分享此环境优美的地方。而这个地方尽然是俄罗斯里唯一一座山峰有建造的寺院。可想而知，在此生活的僧人，并不是那么容易。因为，如果要在一座山峰里生活，他们必须面对种种外在的困难例如必须改善崎岖地形来建造该寺院，如何和大家和睦相处以及生活在一起等等。这简直可以被称为生活在一个没有将来的地方。
无论如何，他们所作的一切是值得让我们学习。因为他们拥有坚定的信心于佛陀还有佛法，这使他们更坚强与不容易放弃的精神来面对所有的一切。他们秉持着这些特质一直坚持到最后而成功的建设这个社区来容纳可以在此留下来的人。
It seems in every culture and country across the world there are spiritual practitioners who seek solitude in remote hard to reach places that offer very limited modern facilities like roads, water and electricity.
Their drive and motivation seems to “easily” overcome any form of hardship in constructing abodes in remote locations and in thriving and surviving under harsh conditions.
I guess it’s a matter of perspective. Perhaps when they see us in the concrete jungle with all the modern infrastructures they see harsh conditions just like when we see them. Perhaps they see us living in suffering and hardship.
The modern world while it constantly strive to provide mankind with a “better” life seems to inevitably creates more suffering in the process. Can mankind one day achieve balance and harmony between science and spirituality? Can the modern civilization aided by technology advancement be able to provide the solitude and inner peace some of us seek?
How inspirational, so touching and encouraging! Such deep inspirational faith of conviction which we should adopt in our practice of Dharma to follow to gain higher attainments. As seen in the blog, “They have so little and so much hardship and yet they don’t give up, just build, live together and pursue. They don’t find excuses to fail!” As advised, let’s do Dharma wholeheartedly in the same way, and make it work! Do our dharma work with deligence, love, care, and do it well. Let’s improve on the inside and then manifest on the outside. Don’t let any difficulty stop us, don’t give up, start again and built it up! Nothing to lose but all to succeed. This applies to anything in life too! May this holy beautiful and inspiring temple enclave grow successfully and be staple! Om mani padme hung.
An inspiring article about the little known Buddhist community in the Russia region. It is particularly impressive by how Buddhism is being strategically placed across Russia; i.e. Buryat temples in the east, the Saint Petersburg Gunzechoinei in the west, Kalmyk datsans in the south, and this unique monastery amidst the Ural Mountains, in the middle of Russia.
Personally, the determination demonstrated by Lama Dokchit was admirable and his philosophy unadulterated; i.e. “…but if you’ve come here, it means you want to study. Including studying how to survive.” It is wisdom to me as I read “if you ingest food according to your body’s needs, then the food becomes a meal; if the body is alive, that means there must be a meal.”
Thank you Rinpoche for this article that reminds us that we are really living out of our comfort zone.
Humbly, bowing down,
Stella Cheang
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this inspiring article.
Some of the key take away I gathered from this article:
1) Never give up eventhough we face a lot of challenges and hardship. Believe in our Guru’s instruction and with positive motivation we will be able to achieve the objectives.
2) We shoud be contented and blessed that we Malaysian have all the good and comfortable resource to practise dharma. In addition, Rinpoche has built Kechara House, Kechara Forest Retreat and created all the activites just so we can learn and practise dharma. We should appreciate all the hardwork done by Rinpoche, learn dharma more diligently and change our mindset.
3) Even with limited resources but with great determination, we will be able to work it out.
Thanks Rinpoche again for the great story.
Indeed very touching what Tenzin Dokchit did. His determination and guru devotion are amazing. Building a monastery at remote area with limited resources, this was beyond ordinary capacity. Even thought unfortunately monastery been destroyed by fire, but the teaching, experiences and process of building are precious.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this inspiring post. I think as a Malaysian we are very fortunate to have the Dharma with us without us need to go through so much hardship is very important to realize that we are very fortunate because I think a lot of people out there are very bitter about their life they like to complain a lot and yet they don’t seem to do any changes about thier live bur look at all these monk who can live in such a harsh environment yet they can still build a monestery what great achievements.
In spite of the harsh conditions, this Buddhist temple in the Russian mountains seems to be thriving. I pray that this temple will grow and Buddhism spread in the region benefiting many people. It would be good to visit them one day to find out more about them and how we can help them.
Thx Rinpoche for sharing such inspiring article. Russian monks never give up In building up a Monastry .Their faith to Buddha very strong.As Kecharian , we must take this as lesson.In Malaysia we have such a scared place like Kechara House and Kechara Forest Retreat and a Guru Tsem Tulku Rinpoce as our sipiritual guidance. We must do and share more dharma works as return to our Guru.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this very inspiring post. Looking at the land that filled with rock and the weather that is freezing at Shad Tchup Ling, whoever look at it will think that’s no way to build anything on it. I folded my hands to Tenzin Dorchit and other students that had built it. All these because of one instruction from his Guru to build the monastery on this land, Tenzin Dorchit just trust and believe in his Guru. He came back to Russia and go all the way to build this place. Even the first building was burned down but never stop him from carrying out his guru’s instruction. We actually gain the biggest freedom in our mind when we trust and surrender. When we come to that level of mind, we can endure a lot because whatever we do is not for me anymore. It’s for others to receive Dharma, to study and understand Dharma so that their suffering will be left behind.
Dear Rinpoche,
Thank you for sharing about this monastery up in the mountains in Russia. From the pictures I can see that the living conditions up there is not easy and those who decided to stay there have to learn how to survive with those harsh conditions. Their will to live for dharma and stay for dharma must be really strong to be able to stay there.
Kechara is located in the heart of Malaysia surrounded by luxuries and especially food choices. However, many of us being too pampered would complain so much when we are requested to work harder for dharma. We would certainly have to start appreciating the environment given to us to practice dharma which is comfortable and easy.
Humbly,
Chris
Tenzin Dokchit was ordered to build a monastery in the Urals. Why in the Urals? Because it had no monastery for Dharma to be transmitted and to grow for the benefit of the people. So no matter how difficult the terrain was, Lama Dolchit just followed his Lama’s instruction and set about building. For the first few years, he was alone. With sheer grit, he had a building up and installed a Buddha statue. When the fire burnt down the whole wooden structure, he and his small group of monks rebuilt it.
Here, in the Shad Tchup Ling,life is light years away from all things mundane. Money and food are not given even a glance. If you are still alive, it means you must have had the food and the means to stay alive. There is no clinging or attachment to all things worldly. It’s full renunciation. Important to not cling or to renounce what is precarious and uncertain. The whole future of the monastery is uncertain. But what is certain is strong Guru Devotion and a sangha who will make sure that the dharma will not die, but has taken root and will grow for the benefit of others.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this rare and inspiring story.
Dear Rinpoche,
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing the inspirational true example set by Tenzin Dokchit for us to learn and follow. His pure guru devotion and attitude towards Dharma practice are reflected through the construction and re-construction of Shad Tchup Ling monastery located in Mount Kachkanar, where it requires a lot of determination, patience, renunciation from all worldly comfort and attachment.
Since we have all the available facilities to practice Dharma in our own Kechara premises, we should not let go of every opportunity to engage with Dharma activities. We need Dharma as Dharma will lead us to attainments and liberation away from our own deluded mind.
Thank you Rinpoche for all your precious teachings and blessings rain down upon us during this degenerate age.
With folded hands,
kin hoe
Thank for this very encouraging post, Rinpoche.
The story itself is compelling but the pictures really touched my heart. Outside we see a rather harsh environment and yet inside, there is a beautiful statue of the Buddha in a sparse room that had been constructed from what appears to be rough and recycled materials. The picture tells is that the monks did not and probably still do not have it easy.
And yet, where there was once just barren land, there is now the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha…and hope and solace and bliss for others to come to. To me, if anyone can come to such an inhospitable environment, probably not have any money, and with not much help and facing such uncertainties and yet be a beacon of the Buddha’s teachings, then Dharma is strong in them. And it begins with obeying the lama.
Just by observing those who have some success in their Dharma practice, it becomes clear that the foundation of their practice is the lama. Obeying the lama does not require so much intelligence, savvy, skills, high education, material wealth, any particular physical or emotional attributes or even supreme Dharma knowledge. Obeying the lama requires commitment to the path that the Buddha taught and complete trust in the lama. It requires surrender to the Guru, which is in fact, surrender to the Dharma. It means to be honest in our renunciation of our own delusional and chronically attached minds. Many people may think it is madness to forego and surrender everything to another person but if we are honest and have some Dharma knowledge that allows us to see beyond the mundane, how well have we really done by following our own thoughts that are fraught with deceit. And yet to attempt to pull away from ourselves is difficult. It is a flawed instrument trying to correct itself. Listening to the Guru’s instructions is truly the only we have to escape ourselves.
Many of us are proud of what we have done with Kechara Forest Retreat and we should appreciate what has been done. But there is really no comparison to what Tenzin Dokchit and his brother have done with Shad Tchup Ling. Tenzin Dokchit and the monks are committed to the Dharma while many of us are involved in the Dharma.
This post also reminds me of a realization Rinpoche recently led us into. Even though the monastery may have to be sacrificed in the name of commerce, what the monks gained from having built this monastery cannot be taken away. If the monastery survives, decades from today there will no longer be the harsh conditions the monks had to endure, the drama that happened during and after the constructions, there will no longer be the ‘impossible’ problems they faced and the angst and emotional turmoil they had to face. All that would have passed and instead what would remain is a sentinel of the Buddha dharma that would inspire people as it inspires toward, towards the Dharma.
Similarly, the difficulties, inconveniences and discomfort we face today as we do Dharma would be nothing in time to come. But what would we each have left behind? Those Kecharians who built KFR would have passed but KFR will continue to be a centre of the pure Dharma. Those who wrote Dharma books and inspiring writings would also not be around but the works they did would continue to be alive in circulation and will continue to draw and ease people into the Dharma.
Dear Rinpoche
Thank you for the information about this Russian monastery. Several things stand out from the story:
– The monks, regardless of hardship, went to the remote area and built the monasteries at the advice of their guru.
– They have so little and yet their lives seem to be simpler and happier
– They emphasised on the process of building the monastery instead focusing on the monastery itself. I am not saying that his attitude is good, but I understand their attitude of renunciation and not being attached to the monastery that they built.
Valentina
It is very rare to see such guru devotion in this era, where Tenzin Dokchit took his guru’s instruction and build the monastery.
I have seen another lama who took his guru’s instruction very seriously is Tsem Rinpoche. He came to Malaysia, a totally foreign land to spread Dharma, because of his guru’s instruction. He is spreading the lineage of Dorje Shugden because of his guru’s instruction, and because of this, he is very much hated in his community.
I pray I have the same kind of guru devotion as these masters.
_()_
“The lama answers that the monastery is not what matters; what matters it the process. As for money and food: if you ingest food according to your body’s needs, then the food becomes a meal; if the body is alive, that means there must be a meal.”
This answer from the lama sums up the objective of the monks there. They are only interested in spiritual practice to gain attainments and become enlightened. They remind me of Milarepa where they are not bothered and discouraged by any hardships. Apart from spiritual practice, everything else is secondary.
I rejoice in their dedication and commitment as these are the qualities that are essential for success in any endeavors.
Every success come from tremendous hardship and never give up attitude. Tenzin Dokchit is truly inspiring. He believe on what he’s doing and the benefits that he could bring to so many people and never give up to keep building after all the obstacles he faced. His determination is respectable and is a great model for us to follow his foot step.
It is very inspirational to read of the physical hardship that Tenzin Dokchit endured to have built this monastery in Ural mountains of Russia.
What these monks had to endure to build this monastery is so much more hardship compared to what we do at KFR. May many more be inspired to build peaceful and spiritual places for the Dharma to be preserved and kept intact for generations to come.
Rinpoche,
Thanks for this post. Would really really love and yearn for more info. I love the past saints stories and very much like to read about sangha members and their lives. It made me realized that what I have gone through was nothing much as compared to them. They are in Dharma, by the way. Whereas I am just a small and an ordinary person, who happens to know a little Dharma but practices none (gulp!).
When the fire destroyed their only place, they must have been heart-stricken. However, on the other hand, the Lama and the small group of students must have been very determined to live and preserver till this day! Amazing! Amazing! Just the like the ‘Amongst White Clouds’…. Thank you Rinpoche!
Beautiful place. It was more developed in the pictures than I thought it would be. To work 3 years and then have it all burn down and to know it can be destroyed at any time shows a great lack of attachment. /\ /\ /\