Zandan zhuu sandalwood buddha. Compassion Buddha statue to be erected in Buryatia

In a distant Buryat datsan, a statue of Buddha Shakyamuni is kept, which is perhaps the most valuable relic of the entire Buddhist world. We are talking about the Sandalwood Buddha, which in a distorted Buryat pronunciation is called Zandan-Zhuu in Tibetan. This statue can be compared to the Shroud of Turin or the Black Stone of the Kaaba. Yes, to go far, its significance for the Buddhist world is comparable to the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya or the Sinhalese tooth of the Buddha. But unlike all of the above religious relics, the Buryat Zandan Zhuu is almost unknown in the Buddhist world. What's the matter? It is already difficult to call Buryatia a "bear's corner", a godforsaken place, information about which can only be found in the notes of rare travelers. The era of the Internet has leveled everyone, and travel agencies compete in sophisticated methods of “promotion” of branded objects of the Republic. Why, in this case, the Sandalwood Buddha remains a shrine of local importance, in contrast to, say, Itigelov's Imperishable Body, the pilgrimage to which is already gaining international scope?

To answer this question, you need to figure out whether the Buddha statue stored in the Egituysky datsan is so unique and sacred. In recent years, two serious scientific works about it have been published by the Czech religious scholar Lubos Belka and the well-known St. Petersburg Buddhist figure Andrey Terentyev. Much of what will be said in this article is drawn from these works.

The story of the wanderings of the Sandalwood Buddha.

Buddhist legendary tradition claims that the sandalwood image of Shakyamuni Buddha was made in heaven, where the Buddha miraculously moved in order to teach the teachings of his mother, who was reborn as a goddess. The ruler of one of the small Indian states of that time, Raja Udayana, yearned for the disappeared teacher and ordered several sculptors to go to heaven and sculpt an exact copy of him there. Buddha liked the statue, and after his return to earth, he declared it his deputy. Subsequently, for two and a half thousand years, the Sandalwood Buddha wandered around Asia. In the III century. the statue comes from India to China, from where, in turn, it was transported to Central Asia, to the city of Kucha, the capital of the state of the ancient Indo-Europeans Yuezhi. Later, the statue may have traveled to Tibet, where a copy was made of it, which Tibetan Buddhists consider their main shrine. Another copy of the Sandalwood Buddha was taken to Japan, where it is still kept in one of the Kyoto temples. The statue was worshiped by Kublai Khan, on whose instructions the Sandalwood Buddha was delivered to Khanbalik by Marco Polo himself. The famous statue of a standing Buddha in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, destroyed by the Taliban, is also an enlarged copy of it. Finally, Zandan-Zhuu found a temporary home in Beijing, where he became the main treasure of the Manchu imperial court.

Burning Beijing.

The year 1900 became catastrophic for the decrepit Qing Empire. Outraged by the aggressive colonial policy of the European powers and Japan, Chinese peasants and artisans began to unite in detachments and sack the embassy quarters. Russia was among 8 other powers that suffered from the actions of the rebels, and attached its troops to the foreign punitive contingent. As a result, the punishers broke into the capital and subjected to formal looting the imperial quarter of Beijing - the Forbidden City. Europeans plundered palaces and, covering their tracks, burned them. The memory of one of the eyewitnesses of the robbery has been preserved: “Soldiers, buried with their heads in chests of red lacquer, delved into the things of the empress, others stirred up piles of brocade and silks, who put them in their pockets or simply poured rubies, sapphires, pearls, rock crystal into a shirt or cap ; who were hung with precious pearl necklaces. They pulled clocks from fireplaces, removed clocks from walls; sappers wielded axes, splitting the furniture into chips to select the precious stones with which the palace chairs were inlaid. One of them was very diligently trying to cut open a lovely Louis XV clock in order to extract the dial, on which the crystal figures sparkled; he imagined they were diamonds” (link).

Operation Emergency Evacuation.

The same fate awaited the Temple of the Sandalwood Buddha with its precious contents. However, the Buryat Cossacks from the Trans-Baikal Cossack Army, who were part of the Russian contingent, managed to secretly take the statue out of the city at the request of the Mongolian lamas. For several years they were taking her to Buryatia. The operation was coordinated by the head of the postal service of the Russian Embassy, ​​Nikolai Gomboev, the notorious and ubiquitous Agvan Dorzhiev, and the rector of the Egituysky datsan, lama Zodboev. As reported in the studies: “She was carried on a sleigh, covered with straw, matting, disguised with provisions and postal props” (link). When the statue was brought to Buryatia, it was decided to place it in a remote datsan so as not to draw too much attention to it. The Russian authorities had no idea about the daring act of the Buryat Cossacks, and if they knew, they would probably regard it as a dangerous malfeasance. The operation did not go beyond the "Buryat circle".

floating statue

The Sandalwood Buddha statue is an image of Shakyamuni Buddha, 2 meters 18 centimeters high, along with a small pedestal. Contrary to the name, the statue itself, as the analysis showed, is made of linden and covered with a layer of sandalwood paste on top. There is evidence that the upper part of the head of Zandan Zhuu was originally decorated with a ruby ​​or diamond, and the relics of the Buddha were placed inside the statue. These valuable artifacts were probably stolen in 1935 when the statue was transported from Egita to Ulan-Ude. Tradition also claims that the statue does not rest on a pedestal, but, as it were, soars in the air a hair's breadth from it. Therefore, it is supposedly possible to verify its authenticity by passing a silk thread between the soles of the feet and the base. However, such a check was not carried out, as well as a full-fledged scientific analysis of the age of the wood. And this is despite the fact that the statue was kept for some time in the Odigitrievsky Museum, which served as a museum depository, and under restoration in the Hermitage. In the 80s of the last century, the statue was returned to the Egituysky datsan.

China demands return of shrines

When visiting the departments of Far Eastern art in the Louvre or the British Museum, you can see ancient porcelain vases and panels that came there as a result of the sacking of the Forbidden City in 1900. China has long been demanding the return of valuables from Western countries and Japan. If an agreement fails, the Chinese authorities and big business redeem the lost items at auctions. So, to date, about 200 units have been bought for a total of 33 million US dollars (link). It is a matter of honor for the PRC government to restore the Forbidden City in its original form and close the shameful page in the history of their country. This, however, is only a drop in the ocean, since the number of such exhibits, according to some estimates, is one and a half million. China understands this and aims to return at least the most valuable.

Strange situation

In the case of the Sandalwood Buddha, the situation is strange, if not insoluble. In fact, in this story, the Buryats cheated both China, leaving it without a masterpiece of world significance, and Russia, which will have to solve this problem if the authorities of a neighboring power pay attention to it. Officially in China, it is believed that the Sandalwood Buddha Statue burned down along with the temple in which it was kept. But how many masterpieces, considered irretrievably lost, returned to their owners?

In 2003, the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia recognized the statue of Zandan Zhuu as one of the three Buddhist shrines in Russia. However, at the federal level, the recognition of the Egitui shrine as a genuine monument of Buddhist art, exported from China, faces issues of cultural diplomacy.

Traveling not over?

One of my St. Petersburg colleagues once suggested that it is neither in the interests of Buryatia nor in the interests of Russia to promote the issue of the Sandalwood Buddha in the media. Sooner or later, this will lead to the fact that the PRC will send its experts and demand the return of the shrine to Beijing. But, on the other hand, such progress has already begun. The studies of Belka and Terentiev that I mentioned were written in English and are probably already known to their Chinese colleagues.

Is Zandan-Zhuu destined to remain a shrine of local significance, an “internal Buryat affair,” or will the issue of the Sandalwood Buddha ever enter the agenda of Russian-Chinese relations? One thing is clear, the sandalwood Buddha statue is a hostage of the situation, which means that its wanderings are not yet completed.

Sacred places and shrines. Here you need to seize the moment in order to open your heart in silence and realize their greatness. To believe in the manifestation of the energy of higher forces that have chosen this particular location. And turn in prayer to the deities with a request for well-being and prosperity, for the acquisition of strength and wisdom.

Program

07:00. Meeting with a guide and departure from Ulan-Ude to the Eravninsky district of Buryatia, to the Egituysky datsan, where there is a unique and very ancient statue, a world-famous relic of the Buddhist world - Zandan Zhuu (Sandalwood Lord).
This sculpture of Buddha Shakyamuni, 2.18 m high, was made of sandalwood about 2500 years ago by order of the Raja of Oddiyana.
There is an opinion, shared by the majority, that it is the first and only statue made during the lifetime of Buddha Shakyamuni.
12:00. Lunch at a roadside cafe on the border of the Yeravninsky district (on your own).
Arrival to Egituysky Datsan. Rite "Goroo" around Datsan. Worship Zandan Zhuu.
According to Buddhist tradition, the statue is considered a living Buddha - his images bring grace.
But not all people can be at the Zandan Zhuu: some can not stand it, they leave the datsan. Others, on the contrary, find that several hours have passed since they sat down in front of the Sandalwood Buddha.
It is believed that the shrine eliminates negative deeds, grants a long life, gives a setting for good luck, happiness, health if the prayer hopes for it and believes in it from the bottom of his heart.
The statue has a special iconography: the Buddha stands, with long arms to the knees, among the flowers and the landscape, a "human" Buddha, similar to Maitreya Buddha.
More details: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandal_Buddha
16:00. Departure on the way back, arrival in Ulan-Ude around 21:00

(from Tib. tsan dan jo bo), or Sandalwood Buddha, is a statue of Buddha Shakyamuni, which is perhaps the most valuable relic of the entire Buddhist world. Buddhist legendary tradition claims that the sandalwood image of Shakyamuni Buddha was made in heaven, where the Buddha miraculously moved in order to teach the teachings of his mother, who was reborn as a goddess.


Photo © Buryad-Mongol Nom

The ruler of one of the small Indian states of that time, Raja Udayana, yearned for the disappeared teacher and ordered several sculptors to go to heaven and sculpt an exact copy of him there. Buddha liked the statue, and after his return to earth, he declared it his deputy.



Representatives of the troops of the eight powers of the coalition in 1900. From left to right: Great Britain, USA, Russia, British India, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Japan.



The same fate awaited the Temple of the Sandalwood Buddha with its precious contents. However, the Buryat Cossacks from the Trans-Baikal Cossack Army, who were part of the Russian contingent, managed to secretly take the statue out of the city at the request of the Mongolian lamas. For several years they were taking her to Buryatia. The operation was coordinated by the head of the postal service of the Russian Embassy, ​​Nikolai Gomboev, the notorious and ubiquitous Agvan Dorzhiev, and the rector of the Egituysky datsan, lama Zodboev. As reported in the studies: "She was carried on a sleigh, covered with straw, matting, disguised with provisions and postal props." When the statue was brought to Buryatia, it was decided to place it in a remote datsan so as not to draw too much attention to it. The Russian authorities had no idea about the daring act of the Buryat Cossacks, and if they knew, they would probably regard it as a dangerous malfeasance. The operation did not go beyond the "Buryat circle".

The Sandalwood Buddha statue is an image of Shakyamuni Buddha, 2 meters 18 centimeters high, along with a small pedestal. Contrary to the name, the statue itself, as the analysis showed, is made of linden and covered with a layer of sandalwood paste on top.

There is evidence that the upper part of the head of Zandan Zhuu was originally decorated with a ruby ​​or diamond, and the relics of the Buddha were placed inside the statue.

Tradition also claims that the statue does not rest on a pedestal, but, as it were, soars in the air a hair's breadth from it. Therefore, it is supposedly possible to verify its authenticity by passing a silk thread between the soles of the feet and the base. However, such a check was not carried out, as well as a full-fledged scientific analysis of the age of the wood. And this is despite the fact that the statue was kept for some time in the Odigitrievsky Museum, which served as a museum depository, and under restoration in the Hermitage. In 1991 of the last century, the statue was returned to the Egituysky datsan.





Photo © Buryad-Mongol Nom

One of the well-known sacred places of Buryatia is the Egituysky datsan, located in the town of Khara-Shibir, in the Yeravnensky district, about 280 km east of Ulan-Ude. It is noteworthy that it contains the Sandalwood Buddha, a lifetime statue of Buddha Shakyamuni, 2 m 18 cm high, made 2500 years ago by order of Raja Udayana from sandalwood (in fact, by analysis it was established that the tree is a linden covered with sandalwood paste) . There is a legend recorded by the Tocharian monk Dharmanandi in 385 AD. (in the Chinese translation of the Ekottara-agama-sutra from Anuttara-nikaya according to A.A. Terentyev), that the Enlightened One was at that time in the heaven of the Thirty-Three Gods, preaching the Dharma to his mother Maya, who was reborn there after death. Raja Prasenajit desired to see the Enlightened One and commanded to sculpt his statue. Maudgalyana, a disciple of the Buddha who had attained miraculous powers, took the masters to heaven, where they met the Enlightened One. The craftsmen were brought back to earth and carved a life-size statue of goshirsha sandalwood about two meters high.

"" The statue came to the territory of Russia in Yeravna thanks to the incredible efforts of the Sorzho Lama of the Egitui datsan Gombo Dorzho Erdyneev and many other people who risked their lives. The sandalwood statue was bought by the lamas of the datsan during the Boxer Rebellion in China. According to another version, in the winter of 1901, after the defeat of the uprising in Beijing, the Buryat Cossacks carried the precious statue out of the burning monastery during a fire, and thereby saved it from death in the fire. As a trophy, the statue was taken with great precautions on a sleigh to Buryatia. At the same time, a metal copy of the statue was made, and the original is hidden. Until 1935, the statue was in one of the sumes of the Egituysky datsan and was an object of worship and reverence. During the period of anti-religious repressions, the statue was transported to Ulan-Ude and kept in the funds of the National Museum of the History of Buryatia. """ from the history of the appearance of the statue in the Buryat land. Chinese sources contain information about her movement from India at that time. In the 4th century, the monk Kumarayan from Kashmir, in order to save the statue from local wars, took it to Central Asia, where in Kucha (an oasis city of the Great Silk Road) he was forced to marry the ruler's sister Jivaka and become a spiritual mentor in the state. His son Kumarajiva became a famous Buddhist sage. His fame became so great that in 384 Chinese troops laid siege to Kucha in order to capture Kumarajiva and bring him to China. Together with him, the statue of the Sandalwood Buddha was transported, after which the rise of Buddhist thought in China followed. At the beginning of the 8th century The wives of the Tibetan king Srontsangambo from Nepal and China brought Buddhist relics, among them the statue of the Sandalwood Buddha, to Tibet. The Nepalese princess Bhrikuti was revered as the Green Tara, and the Chinese princess Wen-chen as the White Tara. And under the next ruler, King Tisrondetsan, Buddhism became the state religion of Tibet. According to other Chinese sources, the statue first came to Mongolia during the reign of Genghis Khan in the 13th century. and then was transported to China, where it is not known how many years it was kept in the province of Li, in the Sandan-Su Monastery, which was built especially for it - “The Monastery of the Sandalwood Buddha”. The history of her stay in Russia is amazing. In China in 1890-1901. the Boxer Rebellion broke out (Ihetuan uprising, secret society I-he-quan "Fist in the name of justice of consent"). In June 1901, Beijing was captured by the rebels, burned and destroyed. The statue of the Sandalwood Buddha was kept in the Sandan-sy Monastery - “The Monastery of the Sandalwood Buddha”, where all the Buddhist pilgrims of Mongolia, Buryatia and Tibet worshiped it when visiting Beijing. Orientalist and one of the oldest Russian Buddhists V.M. Montlevich writes about this: “But fragments of information about the abduction itself have been preserved, and this information is more or less reliable, because the well-known Russian orientalist Boris Ivanovich Pankratov told them to me in 1969, for many years (32 years, from 1916 to 1948.) spent in China. In the winter of 1901, after the defeat of the Boxer uprising, the Buryat Cossacks, taking advantage of the turmoil and devastation in the city and the fire in the monastery itself, took the statue out. The operation was led by the head of the Russian post office Gomboev. The statue was placed on a sled, covered with straw and matting, and disguised with provisions and postal props. In total there were two sledges, the statue was carried on the second, as if cargo, sleigh. One can imagine the reverent awe and desperate delight of those who performed this bold and dangerous undertaking, because they accomplished a religious feat for the sake of spreading the Teaching, of course, fulfilling the order of teachers and lamas unknown to us and revered. The performers knew that there is a belief: where the Sandalwood Buddha is, there is the center of the Buddhist religion. What believer does not admire his soul to consider his country and his datsan as such a center. Without much adventure, the statue arrived in Transbaikalia and was hidden in the Egituysky monastery (datsan). Then a metal copy of the statue was made and placed in the Egituysky datsan; the original was carefully hidden in a secret place. This precaution was entirely appropriate. The uprising in China was brutally suppressed by the forces of England, Germany, Russia, Japan and France in September 1901. And soon Japanese experts arrived in Buryatia in search of the famous statue. The Japanese had information that the statue was in the Egitui datsan. Those who arrived were shown a metal copy, and they were forced to leave in complete disappointment.
Of course, the question arises about the ownership of the statue. In response to the indignant demand of the Chinese for the return of the statue, the Buryat lamas replied: -Of course, we will give the statue back, .... when all our people bow to it.
Zandan Zhuu is not the only lifetime image of the Buddha; in the literature there are references to his picturesque portraits and other sculptures. Moreover, the Siamese and Burmese versions speak of a seated Buddha image, while the Mahayana texts speak of a standing sculpture.

The road to the Egituysky datsan. On the way we met a pair of herons, which is considered a good sign. It is explained that the deities of the area welcome our desire to visit the Sandalwood Buddha.

Birds were practically not afraid of passing cars.

But as soon as we stopped to photograph them, the herons decided to fly a little further away.

Datsan buildings appeared

Stupas oriented to the cardinal points.

Main Dugan, which houses the statue of the Sandalwood Buddha

Traditional Wheel of Teaching and two fallow deer on the sides

Here he is! The famous Sandalwood Buddha, the world relic of Buddhists! It is said that when Buddha Shakyamuni first saw this statue, the statue took six steps towards him. Then Buddha Shakyamuni prophesied that the statue would be far away in the northern country and would contribute to the prosperity of the Teaching in that direction.

It is said that the statue of the Sandalwood Buddha hangs in the air and you can drag a hadak under it.
The Buddha prophesied its movement to the north: to China, Tibet, Mongolia. Wherever the Sandalwood Buddha went, the center of Buddhism also moved. In the III century. the statue from India was transported to China. This was followed by the rise of Buddhist thought in China. In the 8th century The Nepalese wife of the Tibetan king brought the Sandalwood Buddha to Tibet. And under the next ruler, King Tisrondetsan, Buddhism became the state religion of Tibet. In the 13th century, before the spread of Buddhism in Mongolia, we again find mention of the appearance of the Sandalwood Buddha there. The prediction comes true, and the appearance of Zandan Zhuu in Transbaikalia in the winter of 1901 is a good omen for the development of the Buddha's Teaching in Russia.
Until 1935, she was in one of the sumes of the Egituysky datsan and was an object of worship and reverence. During the troubled period of repression, Zandan Zhuu was transported to Ulan-Ude and kept in the funds of the Museum of the History of Buryatia.

On September 25, 1991, Zandan Zhuu was transported by helicopter to the Zgitui Datsan. In July 2008, the opening of the Palace for Zandan Zhuu took place.

According to Buddhist tradition, it is considered a living Buddha - his images bring grace. The statue has a special iconography: the Buddha stands, with long arms to the knees, among the flowers and the landscape, a "human" Buddha, similar to Maitreya Buddha.

Zandan Zhuu has slightly squinted eyelids, his gaze is directed slightly upwards, the right hand of the Sandalwood Buddha is raised in a greeting-protective gesture, the left hand is turned palm forward, but fingers down. They say that not everyone can be at the Zandan Zhuu: some cannot withstand this powerful energy flow, they leave the datsan. And others, on the contrary, after a while discover that several hours have passed since they sat down in front of the Sandalwood Buddha. The sculpture has a special "magnetic" power, there are many legends about this shrine. Old-timers say that the shrine eliminates negative deeds, grants a long life, gives a setting for good luck, happiness, health, if the worshiper hopes for him and believes him from the bottom of his heart.

altar decoration

nice and bright inside

Tent on the ceiling

The entrance to the dugan is guarded by snow lions

flowers planted everywhere

Dragons wrapping around pillars

Stupas

Prayer drums with mantras Om Mani Padme Hum inside. If you turn the drum clockwise, then the mantras Om Mani Padme Hum ascend into space and delight all living beings.

Duganchiki on the territory of the datsan

We were given a short tour of the datsan

History of the Sandalwood Buddha.

All guests from India and Tibet who come to the land of Buryatia strive to be at the Sandalwood Buddha. It is truly a global shrine. Dr. Nida Chtenattsang reads the puja to the Sandalwood Buddha.
It is said that one who sees the statue in person will not be reborn in the next life in hell.
The statue is recognized as a monument of federal significance and, along with the Atlas of Tibetan Medicine and the Imperishable Body of Khambo Lama D.-D. Itigelov, by the decision of the large all-lamic meeting (sugunda) of the Buddhist traditional Sangha of Russia dated April 22, 2003, was approved as a Buddhist shrine.

In a distant Buryat datsan, there is a statue of Buddha Shakyamuni, which is perhaps the most valuable relic of the entire Buddhist world. We are talking about the sandalwood buddha, which in the distorted Buryat pronunciation is called Zandan in Tibetan - zhuu.

Unknown shrine.

In a distant Buryat datsan, there is a statue of Buddha Shakyamuni, which is perhaps the most valuable relic of the entire Buddhist world. We are talking about the sandalwood buddha, which in the distorted Buryat pronunciation is called Zandan in Tibetan - zhuu. This statue can be compared with the Shroud of Turin or with the black stone of the Kaaba. Yes, to go far, its significance for the Buddhist world is comparable to the bodhi tree in bodhgaya or the Sinhalese tooth of a Buddha. But unlike all of the above religious relics, the Buryat zandan - zhuu is almost unknown in the Buddhist world. What's the matter? It is already difficult to call Buryatia "Bear Corner", a godforsaken place, information about which can be found, attention, only in the notes of rare travelers. The era of the Internet has equalized everyone, and travel agencies compete in sophisticated methods of "Promotion" of branded objects of the republic. Why, in this case, does the sandalwood buddha remain a shrine of local significance, unlike, say, the imperishable body of itigelov, the pilgrimage to which is already gaining international scope?

To answer this question, we need to figure out whether the Buddha statue kept in the Egitui datsan is so unique and sacred. In recent years, two serious scientific works about it have been published by the Czech religious scholar Lubos Belka and the well-known St. Petersburg Buddhist figure Andrey Terentyev. Much of what will be said in this article is drawn from these works.

The Story of the Wanderings of the Sandalwood Buddha.

The Buddhist legendary tradition claims that the sandalwood image of Shakyamuni Buddha was made in heaven, where the Buddha miraculously moved in order to teach the teachings of his mother, who was reborn as a goddess. The ruler of one of the small Indian states of that time, Raja Udayana, yearned for the disappeared teacher and ordered several sculptors to go to heaven and sculpt an exact copy of him there. Buddha liked the statue, and after his return to earth, he declared it his deputy. Subsequently, for two and a half thousand years, the sandalwood Buddha wandered around Asia. In the III century. the statue comes from India to China, from where, in turn, it was transported to Central Asia, to the city of Kucha, the capital of the state of the ancient Indo-Europeans Yuezhi. Later, the statue may have traveled to Tibet, where a copy was made of it, which Tibetan Buddhists consider their main shrine. Another copy of the sandalwood buddha was taken to Japan, where it is still kept in one of the Kyoto temples. The statue was worshiped by Khubilai Khan, on whose instructions the sandalwood Buddha was delivered to Khanbalik by Marco Polo himself. The famous statue of a standing Buddha in the Afghan Bamiyan, destroyed by the Taliban, is also an enlarged copy of it. Finally, Zandan Zhuu found a temporary home in Beijing, where he became the main treasure of the Manchu imperial court.

Burning Beijing.

The year 1900 became catastrophic for the decrepit Qing empire. Outraged by the aggressive colonial policy of the European powers and Japan, Chinese peasants and artisans began to unite in detachments and sack the embassy quarters. Russia was among 8 other powers that suffered from the actions of the rebels, and attached its troops to the foreign punitive contingent. As a result, the punishers broke into the capital and looted the imperial quarter of Beijing - the forbidden city. Europeans plundered palaces and, covering their tracks, burned them. The recollection of one of the eyewitnesses of the robbery has been preserved: "soldiers, buried with their heads in chests of red lacquer, delved into the things of the empress, others stirred up piles of brocade and silks, who put them in their pockets or simply poured rubies, sapphires, pearls, rock crystal into a shirt or cap who hung themselves with precious pearl necklaces. They pulled clocks from fireplaces, removed clocks from walls; sappers wielded axes, splitting furniture into chips to select the precious stones that were inlaid with palace chairs. One of them tried very hard to cut a lovely clock in the style of Louis XV to extract the dial, on which the crystal numbers sparkled; he imagined that they were diamonds" (ref.

Operation Emergency Evacuation.

The same fate awaited the temple of the sandalwood buddha with its precious contents. However, the Buryat Cossacks from the Trans-Baikal Cossack army, who were part of the Russian contingent, managed to secretly take the statue out of the city at the request of the Mongolian lamas. For several years they were taking her to Buryatia. The operation was coordinated by the head of the postal service of the Russian embassy, ​​Nikolai Gomboev, the notorious and ubiquitous Agvan Dorzhiev, and the rector of the Egitui datsan, Lama Zodboev. As reported in the studies: "It was carried on a sledge, covered with Straw, Mat, disguised with Food and Postal Requisites" (link. When the statue was brought to Buryatia, it was decided to place it in a remote datsan so as not to attract undue attention to it. The Russian authorities have no idea did not know about the daring act of the Buryat Cossacks, and if they knew, they would probably regard it as a dangerous malfeasance.The operation did not go beyond the "Buryat Circle".

Floating statue.

The sandalwood Buddha statue is an image of Shakyamuni Buddha, 2 meters 18 centimeters high, along with a small pedestal. Contrary to the name, the statue itself, as the analysis showed, is made of linden and covered with a layer of sandalwood paste on top. There is evidence that the upper part of the head of the Zandan - Zhuu was originally decorated with a Ruby or diamond, and the relics of the Buddha were placed inside the statue. These valuable artifacts were probably stolen in 1935 when the statue was transported from Egita to Ulan-Ude. Tradition also claims that the statue does not rest on a pedestal, but, as it were, soars in the air a hair's breadth from it. Therefore, it is supposedly possible to verify its authenticity by passing a silk thread between the soles of the feet and the base. However, such a check was not carried out, as well as a full-fledged scientific analysis of the age of the wood. And this is despite the fact that the statue was kept for some time in the Hodegetriev Museum, which served as a museum depository, and under restoration in the Hermitage. In the 80s of the last century, the statue was returned to the Egitui datsan.

China demands the return of shrines.

When visiting the departments of Far Eastern art in the Louvre or the British Museum, you can see ancient porcelain vases and panels that got there as a result of the sacking of the Forbidden City in 1900. China has long been demanding the return of valuables from Western countries and Japan. Only in the event that an agreement fails, the Chinese authorities and big business redeem the lost items at auctions. So, to date, about 200 units have been bought for a total of 33 million US dollars (link. It is a matter of honor for the PRC government to restore the forbidden city in its previous form and close the shameful page in the history of its country. This, however, is only a drop in the ocean, since the number such exhibits, according to some estimates, equals one and a half million.China understands this and aims to return at least the most valuable.

Strange situation.

In the case of the sandalwood buddha, the situation is strange, if not insoluble. In fact, in this story, the Buryats cheated both China, leaving it without a masterpiece of world significance, and Russia, which will have to solve this problem if the authorities of a neighboring power pay attention to it. Officially in China, it is believed that the sandalwood Buddha statue burned down along with the temple in which it was kept. But how many masterpieces, considered irretrievably lost, returned to their owners?

In 2003, the Buddhist traditional sangha of Russia recognized the Zandan-zhuu statue as one of the three Buddhist shrines in Russia. However, at the federal level, the recognition of the Egitui shrine as a genuine monument of Buddhist art, exported from China, faces issues of cultural diplomacy.

Traveling not over?

One of my St. Petersburg colleagues once suggested that it is neither in the interests of Buryatia nor in the interests of Russia to promote the issue of the sandalwood Buddha in the media. Sooner or later, this will lead to the fact that the PRC will send its experts and demand the return of the shrine to Beijing. But, on the other hand, such progress has already begun. The studies of Belka and Terentyev that I mentioned were written in English and are probably already known to our Chinese colleagues.

Is zandan-zhuu destined to remain a shrine of local importance, "Internal Buryat Affairs" or will the issue of the sandalwood buddha ever be on the agenda of Russian-Chinese relations? One thing is clear, the sandalwood Buddha statue is a hostage of the situation, which means that its wanderings are not yet completed. (C) Nikolai Tsyrempilov.