Other Fun Activities

One evening we went to the Wrestling Palace to hear the Mongolian National Orchestra play.  The evening included Mongolian dancing too.  It was very impressive. 

We enjoyed the company of the Farmers, Gardners and Puje and Angel.  

The singer in the white is Buted. She is a famous Mongolian opera singer and is also a member of the church.  She recently flew to SLC to sing with the Tabernacle Choir.  She has a beautiful voice!

GANDEN MONASTERY:  On a cold and snowy day (who would have thought we would have snow in late May?!), we went to the Gandantegchenling Monastery.  We went with the Gardners, Stewarts, Puje and Angel.

 Here is some information from the brochure we received when we paid to go in.

   "Originally situated in the center of Ulaanbaatar, Gandan Monastery was moved to its present location by the 5th Bogd Jebzundamba in 1838.  Over the next century, the Monastery grew to include nine dastans or institutes, a library and house a community of around 5000 monks.  Gandan became and importent center for learning and practicing Buddha's teachings, not only in Mongolia, but for the entire Mahayana Buddhist community.

In 1938, the communists suppressed religious communities in Mongolia.  They destroyed around 900 monasteries, though a handful were turned into meseums.  The monks were killed, jailed, or forced to join the army or laity.  Five temples of Gandan Monastery were destroyed.  The remaining temples were used to accommodate Russian officials or used as barns to keep their horses.

In 1900, after the Democratic Revolution and with Buddhism flourishing once more, Gandan Monastery embarked on an ambitious restoration program.  There are currently 10 datsans and temples operating at Gandan Monastery, and approximately 900 monks.

Along the left wall of Gandantegchenling are the 108 volumes of Kanguir, penned in the 14th centery by Mongolian masters in gold ink on black paper.  There is also a large statue of the Buddha made in 1956 to celebrate the 1500th anniversary of the Buddha's death.

The Traditional Medicine and Astrology college's main role was to tell fortunes; predicting specific days and months and their possible harmful or helpful impacts.

Jud Datsan was shut down in 1938, but reopened 50 years later in 1998.  The Datsan revived its practices and now holds Tantric services and chanting rituals."

We were able to watch and listen as some of the monks were learning and reading some chants.  At the end, a large gong went off, the monks were brought soup and we were asked to leave.

The pigeons at the monastery are considered sacred and were amazing.  It reminded us of Central Park in the movie, "Home Alone."

There are hundreds of prayer wheels which, when spun, were to send 1000 prayers to heaven. We spun a few, but not all of them. 

FOUR HARMONIOUS FRIENDS: The story is a familiar Tibetan motif derived from the Jataka tales of Buddha’s former lives

Symbolically, the elephant represents our body, the monkey represents the restless mind, the rabbit represents emotions, and the bird is the soul. Here is the story: Once in a forest in Varanasi, four animals, an elephant, a rabbit, a monkey, and a partridge disputed about the ownership of a tree where all of them had fed. The elephant claimed, “Well, this is my tree because I saw it first.” To this the monkey replied: “Now, elephant do you see any fruits on this tree?” The elephant agreed that the tree was without any fruit. The monkey continued: “That’s because I had been feeding on the fruits of the tree long before you ever saw it.” Next the rabbit spoke up: “I fed on the leaves of this tree when it was just a small sapling before the monkey ate its fruit and way before the elephant ever saw it.” Finally the partridge who had been watching the argument, came forward and asserted: “The tree belongs to me because the tree wouldn’t have grown if I hadn’t spit it out as a seed. I helped plant the seed that grew into this huge tree before the rabbit fed on it, or the monkey ate its fruit, or the elephant saw it.” The elephant, monkey, and rabbit, conceded that the partridge was the first to know the tree. So all of bowed to the partridge and regarded it as their elder brother. The four animals became friends and decided to share the tree together in peaceful harmony, enjoying the beauty of the tree’s fragrance, the nourishment of its fruits, and the bounty of its shade. They worked together to obtain fruits:

 The four animals worked co-operatively and with their combined strength, each one benefited and no one went hungry. Other animals in the forest often saw them together with the partridge on top of the rabbit who was held up by the monkey who rode on top of the elephant. Since then, they were called “The Four Harmonious Brothers.” The four animals were looked upon as an example of peace, harmony, co-operation, interdependence and friendship.

They are building a huge Buddha and so far they have built only his feet.  When completed, it will be really, REALLY big!

After visiting the monastery, we went to Broadway Pizza for lunch.  That's the best pizza we have had in over a year and it sure tasted good!

HEEL AND TOE POLKA WITH THE YSA!  While in UB, the Stewarts asked if we could help with the Young Single Adults.  We were happy to do so.  We went to the spiritual part of the meeting with the Clarks.  It's their last YSA FHE before going home.  It was good.  President Clark talked about a Etheopian flight that was hijacked and crashed into the ocean close to shore.  Those who followed instructions and did not inflate their life jackets until after getting out of the plane survived.  Those who panicked and inflated their life jackets before they were told to do so, all perished because they floated to the top of the plane and could not dive down to swim out of the wreckage.  Great lesson learned.  He also told a story of Arabian horses and how they had to learn to be obedient to the whistle they were trained to obey.  Those that were obedient became the King's horses, other less obedient ones were given much lessor responsibilities.   It was a good meeting.  The Clark's have done a great job here.  We are sure they are ready to go home, but they will surely be missed here.

After that part of the meeting we went downstairs and taught the Heel and Toe Polka.  Everyone seemed to have a good time.

Bayarsaikhan (Murun) and LaNice

Byambajav (Choibalsan)

This dance is becoming known by more and more people as we have taught it in Murun and Choibalsan, and are pretty sure we will be teaching it in Khovd!