Republic of Buryatia « On The Road

Lake Baikal

29 Dec 2010 8 Comments

by The Harebeat in Republic of Buryatia, Russia Tags: Baikal, Buddhism, Buryat, frozen, hambo lama itigelov, harmony, hitchhiking, Irkutsk, january, lake Baikal, lama, legends, miracle, Moscow, Russia, sacred lake, shamanism, shore, spiritual, Ulan-Ude, winter

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things
you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” This quote is from Mark Twain, one of my favourite American writers.. Inspired by him, and by other dreamers, I once realized that if I want my dream come true, I have to go for it.. Many dreamers, and I was one of them, sit in their offices, dream, but never take that first step that will lead them to their dreams.. Then I gave up! I gave up everything.. My job, my study.. An I left for my dream.. For many years I’ve been dreaming of visiting lake Baikal.. On January 19th, 2009, my dream came true!!

Four Buryats and Klyukovka

25 Dec 2010 10 Comments

by The Harebeat in Republic of Buryatia, Russia Tags: Buddhism, Buryat, Buryatia, Chita, deity, hitchhiking, klyukovka, local beliefs of Siberia, offerings, pagan, Russia, siberia, traditions, Ulan-Ude, vodka

Offerings for Deity

This story happened to me when I was hitchhiking from Ulan-Ude to Chita.. I left early in the morning, took a marshrutka (a type of public transportation in Russia) to the road.. I had to walk a little bit along the road to find a good roadside to start hitchhiking.. Got a lift in 5 minutes.. A Buryat family took me to the Kyakhta junction.. While in the car, we talked about Buddhist and local pagan traditions and beliefs of Buryat people.. From Kyakhta junction I had a 30 minutes walk, because there were few cars passing by, and they all were full of passengers.. Maybe there was a holiday, I don’t know.. I kept walking, singing Beatles songs and hoping to catch a ride as it was pretty cold outside..
But soon, realizing that it might take long, I dropped my backpack, took out the thermos with hot tea, thinking of having the second breakfast.. Not so fast, boy!.. At the moment, when I got the thermos, a van passed and stopped on the roadside about 10 meters away.. I was confused.. Is it for me? No, can’t be.. So I opened the thermos, but the van drove back and stopped right at my side, softly touching the backpack.. There were 4 Buryats sitting inside.. One of them opened the window..
“Where are you going?”
“I’m hitchhiking to Chita.. Can you give me a ride?”
“Get in.”

Ivolginsky Datsan

24 Dec 2010 3 Comments

by The Harebeat in Republic of Buryatia, Russia Tags: Buddhism, Buddhist, Buddhist monastery, Buddhist temple, Buddhist university, Buryatia, datsan, Hambo Lama, hitchhiking, iconography, Itigelov, Ivolga, Ivolginsky datsan, philosophy, tantra, Tibetan Buddhism, Ulan-Ude, yurt

I‘ve been dreaming about visiting Ivolginsky datsan since the time when I watched a short documentary about Hambo Lama Itigelov.. Seeing the beauty of the temple, I decided that I have to go there no matter what.. I mean, no matter how cold are the winters in Siberia.. Ivolginsky datsan is the spiritual capital of the Buddhist traditional sangha of Russia.. The monastery is located in Buryatia, Russia, about 30 km from Ulan-Ude near Verkhnyaya Ivolga village.. On a sunny winter day me and my friend from Ulan-Ude, Sin, took a public bus from Ulan-Ude to Ivolginsky datsan..

On The Road

Lake Baikal

Four Buryats and Klyukovka

Ivolginsky Datsan

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