Soon, an ancient relic of the Kalmyk people - a statue of Je Tsongkhapa (Zunkva Geghyan) - will arrive in Kalmykia. The statue of Tsongkhapa for many centuries from generation to generation belonged to the Kalmyk khans. With the departure of Ubushi Khan to Dzungaria in 1771, the statue left the territory of Kalmykia and was stored in Xinjiang for a long time. With the beginning of the cultural revolution in China, the monks, worried about the fate of the revered Buddhist relic, decided to take the statue of Tsongkhapa to Mongolia. The statue is included in the list of cultural heritage of Mongolia and is now stored in the main Gandan monastery.The senior administrator of the Central Khurul of Kalmykia “The Golden Abode of Shakyamuni Buddha” Yonten Gelung and the delegation of the Nomin Tug Kalmyk Buddhist Center, who participated in the international conference in Mongolia, met with the President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga and the head of Mongolian Buddhists Khambo Lama. During this meeting, they discussed the possibility of bringing to Kalmykia an ancient Kalmyk relic - a statue of Lama Tsongkhapa. “The transfer of this statue to temporary storage is one of the important steps towards the spiritual unification of the Mongolian peoples, therefore, the President of Mongolia took this issue personally,” Yonten Gelung noted.
Today, the export license is being finalized, insurance is being issued, and literally at the end of next week we will be able to meet it at our place in Kalmykia,” the Khurul’s administrator added.
“This statue is one of the symbols of the khan’s power. It was worshiped by our ancestors. For many centuries, they prayed before it and thus it accumulated a lot of good energy. This statue is not so simple: it has miraculous properties. We hope that our people will not only receive a blessing, but will also renew a strong kinship with their ancestors,” he said.
The statue will stay in Kalmykia for a month, and everyone will be able to touch the sanctuary. The residents of Elista and nearby villages will be able to do this first, and from January 5, an ancient relic will be transported to all other regions of Kalmykia.
By the way, tradition has it that in one of his previous lives, Je Tsongkhapa, as a little boy, brought Buddha Shakyamuni crystal rosary and in return received a shell from him. Addressing his disciple Ananda, Buddha predicted that the boy would be reborn in Tibet and would play a key role in the revival of his Teaching, the Dharma.
