Mongolia | Töv Aimag | Mandshir Khiid | Telo Tulku Rinpoche

Telo Tulku Rinpoche, the Shadjin Lama of Kalmykia and the President of the Buddhist Union of the Republic of Kalmykia (see Elista, capital of Kalmykia), is in town for a conference at the Open Society Forum (apparently only A-List people were invited to this conference and I could not get tickets to his talk; you would have thought it was a Lady Gaga concert) and to visit Narobanchin Khiid, the monastery of his former incarnation, the Diluv Khutagt. On Sunday we wandered out to Mandshir Khiid on the south side of Bogd Khan Mountain.
Telo Tulku Rinpoche at the entrance to Mandshir Khiid
 Andzha, Telo Tulku Rinpoche’s assistant
 Telo Tulku Rinpoche with two Mongolian pilgrims
Telo Tulku Rinpoche examined the ruins of Mandshir Khiid. Most of the temples were destroyed in the 1930s
Telo Tulku Rinpoche with more pilgrims from Chita, in Russia
 Telo Tulku Rinpoche and Batjargal, one of his Mongolian followers
Image of Milarepa (c. 1052—c. 1135 AD), thought to be one of the Telo Tulku Rinpoche’s earlier incarnations. A famous ascetic, Milarepa supposedly ate only nettles for long periods of his life. Curiously, there are nettle all over this hillside. 
 
Image of Milarepa. Also see The One Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa.
It was the last week of June and wildflowers were in magnificent form. Batjargal says that in Mongolia this yellow lily grows only here at Mandshir Khiid. I certainly have not seen it anywhere else and I always have my eyes open for wildflowers.
 Forget-Me-Nots
Telo Tulku Rinpoche’s Russian friends, Andzha, and Batjargal at what is reportedly the largest pot in all of Mongolia. The monks at Mandshir used this pot to cook and make tea. 
Andzha, Telo Tulku Rinpoche, and Batjargal

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