Day 18 March 2nd 2017 Ulan Ude
The wonderful Tumun picked us up and took us to the Largest Datsan (Buddhist Temple) in Russia – Ivolginsky Datsan
We were very fortunate to be at the temple where a Llama who died many years ago sits in the lotus position. It is said his hair and nails still grown. While not normally open to visitors a group of researchers were visiting and we were allowed to enter with them. On leaving the temple we were given a scarf blessed by the monk.
Further information from Wikipedia describes “In 1927, the 12th Pandito Hambo Lama of the Ivolginsky Datsan, Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov, told his students and fellow monks to bury his body after his death and to check on it again 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, but when they exhumed his body 30 years later, they were amazed to find none of the usual signs of decay and decomposition. On the contrary, Itigilov looked as if he had been dead only a few hours, rather than three decades. Fearful of the Soviet response to their “miracle”, the monks reburied Itigilov’s body in an unmarked grave.
Itigelov’s story was not forgotten over the years and on September 11, 2002 the body was finally exhumed and transferred to Ivolginsky Datsan where it was closely examined by monks and by scientists and pathologists. The official statement was issued about the body – very well preserved, without any signs of decay, whole muscles and inner tissue, soft joints and skin. The interesting thing is that the body was never embalmed or mummified.”
The Art Gallery had the most beautiful sculptures that would have been travelling home with us had we not been travelling on and made a commitment not to buy stuff! This was all the more difficult because the art helps fund the daily life of the monks and that the sculptures were so enticing. Small, evocative and personal. At the time of our visit there was also an exhibition of photographs of Lake Baikal over all seasons.
A further surprise lunch at ‘Maslenitsa’ a small busy cafe near the university and filled with students. Downstairs with many small rooms – the kind of cafe you would rarely find on your own. The name Maslenitsa comes from a local annual celebration with pancakes and what delicious pancakes they were. We discovered as we looked further that a community in Sydney Australia holds a celebration annually.
After lunch a visit to a more recent Buddhist temple Datsan Rinpoche Bagsha built at the suggestion of Dalai Llama – we had a beautiful walk around the perimeter with stations housing statues of the years of birth.
In the evening a Buryiat concert of regional music and theatre at Ulan Ude Drama Theatre built in 1970s and famous for its fountain in the entrance. My favourite if I had to choose was a man in a costume that made it appear to be 2 men – funny, clever and acrobatic.
