Putin and Tsongakapa????

[LosangKhyentse]

I thought I post this up for everyone's entertainment.

Is it real? Would be nice if it was.

haha

tk

[vinayaholder]

HE Telo Rinpoche is the spiritual head of the Kalmyck Buddhists.

And within the community of the Mongolian and Russian (Kalmyck) Buddhist, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is revered as their spiritual leader.

I would doubt the picture is real...

Tenzin

[dsnowlion]

Hard to believe it is real though i wish it was

Anyways ... it looks very nice! If it was really photoshopped - good job!

[Dolce Vita]

It will be so cool if it is real.. instead of Je Tsongkhapa, how about DS?? hehe...

[daka]

I wish it will become real one day. Doesn't need to be in Putin's office. It can be in any political leader's office, then we are one step further in achieving world peace.

[icy]

The picture is a wishful thinking.  Why not it could be Dorje Shugden one day.  Things could change.

[DharmaSpace]

Well it is not impossible this could happen.  The Kalmyks are Mongolians right I was reading somewhere that there are great Monasteries dedicated to Dorje Shugden practises. There is also a revival of Buddhism in Mongolia, much of the buddhist practiitoners are of the Gelug lineage due to the great work of Sonam Gyatso, it is no surprise that Dorje Shugden practise being shared amongst Mongolians.

There is something about the revival of Buddhism on Mongolian soil
http://www.dorjeshugden.com/forum/index.php?topic=1485

[pgdharma]

It is hard to believe that it is real but I wish it was real. Just a wishful thinking how nice if it there is a Dorje Shugden picture next to Lama Tsongkhapa and the pictures are hang in all the political and world leaders' office. Just a wishful thinking but it can happen

[triesa]

Imagine a DS thangka behind HHDL's audience room??? That would be a BIG wishful thinking........ :-)

Photoshop can make miracles happen.........hmmmm..........

[hope rainbow]

This photo montage is not irrelevant.
The 13th Dalai Lama did establish ties with the tsarian Russia and it was even said that Russia was Shambala.
Was it something said to establish political ties? possibly...
Yet, a place of worship was created in St. Petersburg in those days, and definitely, karmic ties were then created.
There is an interesting talk on the topic by Alexander Berzin, available on his website here:
http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/archives/advanced/kalachakra/shambhala/mistaken_foreign_myths_shambhala.html

Here is an extract:

" The first major exploitation of the Shambhala legend for political purposes also involved Russia. Agvan Dorjiev (1854-1938) was a Buryat Mongol monk who studied in Lhasa and became the Master Debate Partner (Assistant Tutor) of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. In the face of British and Chinese machinations for control of Tibet, he convinced the Dalai Lama to turn to Russia for military support. According to Ekai Kawaguchi, Three Years in Tibet, he did this by telling him that Russia was Shambhala and Czar Nicholas II was the reincarnation of Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug tradition. Dorjiev went on several missions to the Russian Imperial Court, but was never able to secure any help. He was able, however, to convince the Czar to build a Buddhist Temple in St. Petersburg. "

Anyone here knows if this temple still exist today?
That'd be a neat find!

[Vajraprotector]

The temple still exists today. It is called Datsan Gunzechoinei.

This is a video of the temple on Youtube:

Buddhist Temple in St-petersburg	Small | Large

<IMG SRC="http://www.marhotin.ru/images/A_Dorjiev.jpg">
Photo 1: Agvan Dorjiev (1853 -1938)

<IMG SRC="http://www.marhotin.ru/images/2_.jpg">
Photo 2: In 1909 A.Dorjiev set up the Building Committee which members were:
Academicians V.V. Radlov and S.F. Oldenburg
Prince E.E.Ukhtomsky
Professors of St.Petersburg University V.L.Kotvich, A.D.Rudnev, F.I.Stcherbatskiy
Artists N.K Roerich and V.P.Schneider

G.V. Baranovskii worked as an architect. His other famous works in St.Petersburg are the Eliseyev Trade House and the Geographical Society's building. He is also known as the author of a 7-volume encyclopaedia of architecture.

<IMG SRC="http://www.marhotin.ru/images/3_.jpg">
Photo 3: The first act of worship was conducted on 21 February 1913, on the 300th Anniversary of the Romanov Dynasty when the Temple was still in its scaffolding.

In August 1915 the Temple was consecrated to "The Source of the Holy Teaching of the Buddha, Compassionate to All Beings". ("Gunzechoinei" for short).

<IMG SRC="http://www.marhotin.ru/images/1_.jpg">
Photo 4: In 1919 the Temple was vandalized by the Red Army. In 1927 public worship in the Temple was resumed but for a short time only.

In 1935 -1937 lamas were arrested and the Buddhist community ceased to exist. In 1938 the Temple buildings were municipalized and then used as youth physical training centre. In 1941 - 1960 the Temple housed a radio station, and some laboratories of Zoology Institute later.

In 1990 the Temple was returned to the city's Buddhists.


Source: http://www.marhotin.ru/marhotin-datsan-eng/

[hope rainbow]

OMB!
OMB!
OMB!

I am in awe... And what a beautiful temple that is! The trees around, the majestic columns, the cornice details, the ceiling height... It looks like a succesful mix of Tibetan and Western styles of worship places..
Thank you VP for sharing these informations, I think my heartbeat went up when I was watching the video!
Amazing!

[kris]

I sincerely hope that Buddhism can spread far and wide, especially in the western world. The more advanced is the world, the more we need Buddhism teaching to help us cope...

[Losang_Tenpa]

The second largest collection of Buddhist manuscripts in the world can be found in the St. Petersburg library,
comprising about 200,000 separate works.  This is second in size only to the Buddhist collections of Mongolia, where there is an estimated 1.6 million titles.

[Big Uncle]

Wow! This is the first time I see a photo of Dorjiev. If I am not mistaken, Dorjiev was a close confidante of the 13th Dalai Lama. He served as a intermediary between the Tibetan kingdom and the large Russian empire. The Dalai Lama at the time established diplomatic ties with Russia to balance the expanding English interests in Tibet. That's all I remember reading about Dorjiev.