Dorje Shugden Temple at Amarbayasgalant monastery in Mongolia

[Admin]

from Indolent:

Here are two links to Amarbayasgalant monastery in Mongolia. The first link has some very nice pictures, including at the end one of the Dorje Shugden temple. The second is the official site of the monastery.

http://www.doncroner.com/2005/06/mongolia-selenge-aimag-amarbayasgalant.html

http://www.amarbayasgalant.org/

[Vajraprotector]

I remember Sakya Pandita was a great contributor to Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia. Here is what I found from the book, Treasures of the Sakya Lineage: Teachings from the Masters By Migmar Tseten:

Sakya Pandita was the first Tibetan to spread the teaching of Tibetan buddhism outside of that country. When the Mongols ruled China, one of the minor Mongol emperors, Godan Khan, invited Saky Pandita to spread the Dharma in Mongolia. According to Mongolian history, the ounder of Sakya sect, Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, had been invited to Mongolia to teach the Dharma many years before, but had been unable to do so.

According to the Mongolian texts, his grandson, Sakya Pandita, did go and spread the teaching. Sakya's nephew, Cogyal Phakpa, also spread the teaching widely after him. Both the Tibetan and the Chinese texts refer to Sakya Pandita's arrival in Mongolia and his dispensation of the Dharma.

When Sakya Pandita went to Mongolia, there was no written form of the Mongolian language. He created the Mongolian alphabet, which was alter revised by scholars. Once the alphabet was created, all the scriptures of the Buddha's teachigns, the Tripitaka, the explanatory literature and other Tibetan teachings were translated into Mongolian.



I also read that Sakya Pandita contributed greatly to Buddhism in China as well. Looks like Dorje Shugden/ Sakya Pandita has made connections to China prior, just like Pabongkha Rinpoche as Changkya Rolpai Dorje:

110 years after the parinirvana  of the Buddha, it is said that many Chinese within the Hinaya tradition were able to gain the various stafes of Arhat enlightenment, and many within the Mahayan tradition were able to practice advanced Bodhisattva practices such as giving of their bodies to others. Even the Vajrayana teaching had spread from India to China, though it was only a small part of the lower tantra and none of the higher tantra. It was only when sakya Pandita accepted the invitation of Godan and when Chogyal Phagpa later bestowed the Hevajra initiation on Kublia Khan that the higher tantra was introduced into China. From that time onward, the Vajrayana flourished in that country.

It was also through Sakya Pandita, Chogyal Phagpa, and others that the Mahayana was firmly established throughout various parts of China.

[Ensapa]

I found this about the said monastery:

Amarbayasgalant monastery is considered the second most important in Mongolia after the Erdene Zuumonastery at Kharkhorin. It’s the architectural complex that is best protected in Mongolia. It is situated in a valley 360 km North from Ulaanbaatar. The monastery was built between 1727 and 1737 by the Manchu emperor Yongzheng and dedicated to the big Llama and Mongolian sculptor, Zanabazar, whose mummified body was moved here in 1779. The valley is sprinkled through its length with graves of the Turkish era of various geometrical forms dating from the 3rd century. In 1996, UNESCO registered the monastery of Amarbaysgalant and the region which surrounds it as a world heritage site. In 2002, after 65 years of prohibitions, lamas organized a religious ceremony of the dance " Tsam" for the first time in the monastery of Amarbayasgalant.

Wow! It has the body of Zanabazar, Taranatha's incarnation and also the first Khalka Jetsun Dhampa, who is the Dalai Lama's equal in Mongolia. Zanabazar is a fantastic Dharma teacher who is also a very good artist and who revolutionized the mongolian arts and culture, as well as revitalized Buddhism in Mongolia.

Zanabazar was born as a son of Tüsheet khan Gombodorj – at that time one of the three khans in Khalkha – and his wife, Khandojamtso. Zanabazar became a religious leader in eastern Mongolia. In that time western Mongolia had gained in power under Galdan Boshogtu Khan. Galdan Boshogtu, not descended from the Golden Lineage (Genghis Khan), tried to unite all the Mongolian states and take the throne for himself. Zanabazar declined all the western Mongols' proposals. Finally Galdan Khan decided to reunite the Mongol states by force and collaborated with rising power on the north Russia and in south Manchus against eastern Mongolia. Thousands of warriors from the western Mongol Empire went to war with eastern Mongolia. When Galdan Khan's army came to the area where today the city of Ulan Bator is located, conducting two wars in front, on the north with Russia on the west with Galdan Boshogtu, Zanabazar escaped to southern Mongolia. The Manchus were interested in defeating both Mongolian states, and this gave them an incredible chance to accomplish that goal. The Manchu army went to war with the Western (Oirad) Mongol Empire, Zanabazar's goal. After the battle at Zuun Mod (near present-day Ulan Bator) the Oirad Mongol warriors were defeated and went back to the west. Zanabazar became a religious leader in Mongolia while his native land (Eastern Mongolia) fell to and became a vessel of the Manchus.

[Big Uncle]

I remember Sakya Pandita was a great contributor to Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia. Here is what I found from the book, Treasures of the Sakya Lineage: Teachings from the Masters By Migmar Tseten:

Sakya Pandita was the first Tibetan to spread the teaching of Tibetan buddhism outside of that country. When the Mongols ruled China, one of the minor Mongol emperors, Godan Khan, invited Saky Pandita to spread the Dharma in Mongolia. According to Mongolian history, the ounder of Sakya sect, Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, had been invited to Mongolia to teach the Dharma many years before, but had been unable to do so.

According to the Mongolian texts, his grandson, Sakya Pandita, did go and spread the teaching. Sakya's nephew, Cogyal Phakpa, also spread the teaching widely after him. Both the Tibetan and the Chinese texts refer to Sakya Pandita's arrival in Mongolia and his dispensation of the Dharma.

When Sakya Pandita went to Mongolia, there was no written form of the Mongolian language. He created the Mongolian alphabet, which was alter revised by scholars. Once the alphabet was created, all the scriptures of the Buddha's teachigns, the Tripitaka, the explanatory literature and other Tibetan teachings were translated into Mongolian.



I also read that Sakya Pandita contributed greatly to Buddhism in China as well. Looks like Dorje Shugden/ Sakya Pandita has made connections to China prior, just like Pabongkha Rinpoche as Changkya Rolpai Dorje:

110 years after the parinirvana  of the Buddha, it is said that many Chinese within the Hinaya tradition were able to gain the various stafes of Arhat enlightenment, and many within the Mahayan tradition were able to practice advanced Bodhisattva practices such as giving of their bodies to others. Even the Vajrayana teaching had spread from India to China, though it was only a small part of the lower tantra and none of the higher tantra. It was only when sakya Pandita accepted the invitation of Godan and when Chogyal Phagpa later bestowed the Hevajra initiation on Kublia Khan that the higher tantra was introduced into China. From that time onward, the Vajrayana flourished in that country.

It was also through Sakya Pandita, Chogyal Phagpa, and others that the Mahayana was firmly established throughout various parts of China.

I am sure you are aware that Sakya Pandita was one of the earlier predecessors of Dorje Shugden. Dorje Shugden was simply amazing because he accomplished so much for the Buddhadharma even from very early on. I knew that Sakya Pandita was instrumental in bringing Tantra to China and this is the first time, I hear that Sakya Pandita also spread his teachings to Mongolia as well. However, his establishments in Mongolia didn't last very long because it was the Dalai Lama that brought an enduring legacy to Mongolia.

[Vajraprotector]

Perhaps it was the Dalai Lama who brought an enduring legacy to Mongolia, but Sakya Pandita was responsible to bring the Mongol Emperor to the Buddhist fold and secure temporal powers to the Sakya clergy from him. He was the Imperial Preceptor, in the religious matters and in the imperial court, he was given a seat at par with the Khan Emperor. In the imperial court of Kublai Khan, Marco Polo met Sakya Pandita and other Sakya lamas. He described the striking difference between the Shamanist priests and the saintly Buddhist monks. There is a story of how Sakya Pandita became the Imperial Preceptor.

It was said that the Emperor, in order to test different religions for their miraculous qualities, asked the priests of different religions to establish the superiority of their faiths over the other ones. Sakya Pandita, in the presence of priests of other faiths an the court, made  a wine-cup rise from the table to the lips of the Emperor. The impressed Emperor declared him his Imperial Preceptor and granted recognition to the Sakya Head Lama, as the supreme head of Buddhism in Tibet in AD 1270.

[dsiluvu]

I am sure you are aware that Sakya Pandita was one of the earlier predecessors of Dorje Shugden. Dorje Shugden was simply amazing because he accomplished so much for the Buddhadharma even from very early on. I knew that Sakya Pandita was instrumental in bringing Tantra to China and this is the first time, I hear that Sakya Pandita also spread his teachings to Mongolia as well. However, his establishments in Mongolia didn't last very long because it was the Dalai Lama that brought an enduring legacy to Mongolia.

Sure thing Ensapa... The Sakya Panditi was another incarnation of Dorje Shugden...

SAKYA PANDITA

Biwawa later took rebirth in western Tibet as the great Lama of the Sakya Tradition, Sachen Kunga Gyaltsän, more usually known as Sakya Pandita. Even ordinary beings recognized that he was a very special being. When he was a young child the first language he spoke was not Tibetan but Sanskrit, even though he had never been taught it. He was able to memorize texts even during his dreams. For example, he once dreamed that the great Indian Pandit Vasubandhu was giving him teachings on his text Treasury of Phenomenology, and when he awoke he had memorized the entire text, which is almost fifty pages long. Following his Guru, Jetsün Dragpa Gyaltsän, Sakya Pandita studied and practised both Sutra and Tantra and became a great scholar and meditator who was famous for his wisdom and miracle powers.

Sakya Pandita’s name spread far and wide, reaching even the Chinese Emperor. The Emperor took a keen interest in Sakya Pandita and invited him to China so that he could meet him in person. He decided to use the visit as an opportunity to check whether or not Sakya Pandita was actually enlightened. He summoned a highly qualified magician and told him to emanate a beautiful palace together with servants, magnificent ornaments, and decorations. Such magicians were very different from those we have nowadays in the West. Through a combination of their concentration, mantra recitation, and special substances, they could emanate houses, or even whole cities, for days or months. Unfortunately they did not have the powers to maintain their magical creations indefinitely, and after a while the emanations would disappear. For the duration of their existence however, their emanations seemed to be real, and people would live in them without ever suspecting that they were magically created illusions. The Emperor thought that if Sakya Pandita really was enlightened he would not be fooled by such an emanated palace, but if he was just an ordinary person he would probably think that it was real.

When Sakya Pandita arrived in China, the Emperor took him to the emanated palace and asked him what he thought of it, and Sakya Pandita replied that it was very beautiful. “Do you think this is a real palace?” enquired the Emperor, “Yes”, replied Sakya Pandita, “Of course it is real.” From this reply the Emperor concluded that Sakya Pandita was not actually a Buddha but just an ordinary being who was deceiving the people of Tibet and China. The Emperor then commanded the magician to re-absorb his emanation, but when he tried to do so he found that he could not. Unbeknown to the Emperor and the magician, Sakya Pandita had used his own miracle powers to transform the emanated palace into a real one! When he discovered this, the Emperor was filled with remorse for having had such negative thoughts about Sakya Pandita. He immediately developed strong faith in him and became one of his disciples. It is said that the palace still exists today as a temple known as “The Emanation Temple”.

http://dorjeshugden.com/wp/?page_id=2181

Also see an old thangka of Dorje Shugden from the Sakya... http://www.dorjeshugden.com/forum/index.php?topic=1140.0