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Last weekend I wandered out to Erdene Zuu for the Celebration of Zanabazar’s 376 Birthday and to take photos of the  First Sixteen Incarnations of Javsandamba . This weekend I wandered over to the Bogd Khan Winter Palace Museum ,   not far from my hovel in Zaisan Tolgoi ,   to see the statue of Taranatha , the sixteenth incarnation of Javsandamba. As you know, Taranatha , the founder of  Takten Damcho Ling Monastery in Tibet , eventually moved to Mongolia and died here in 1634. What is less known is that at least part of his bodily remains (his head according to some versions of the story) are inside the statue in the Lavrin Temple of the Bogd Khan Palace Complex.  T he Lavrin Temple of the Bogd Khan Palace Complex  three weeks ago, before the last big snowfall   Taranatha (1575–1634)   Taranatha Taranatha Taranatha Well-known scholar Nyamochir paying his respects to Taranatha Ruins of Takten Damcho Ling, monastery in Tibet founded by Taranatha The Twenty-fifth incarnation of Javsand

In addition to attending the Puja at the Larivan Temple at Erdene Zuu I also wanted to photograph the statues of the first sixteen incarnations of Javsandamba located on the second floor of the temple. As you probably know, Zanabazar (1635–1723) was the seventeenth incarnation of Javsandamba and the First Bogd Gegeen of Mongolia. The day I visited the temple was of course Zanabazar’s 376th birthday.  Laviran Temple Historical Consultant Saka and Davaa, who drove us to Kharkhorin.  Saka with eight of the statues The first incarnation of Javsandamba reportedly lived during the time of the Buddha Sakyamuni. Up to and including Taranatha, who died in 1634, there were sixteen incarnations of Javsandamba. Tarantha announced before he died that he would not be returning to  Takten Damcho Ling , the monastery he had founded in Tibet, but would instead be reborn in a different land where he could do more to spread the Dharma. This turned out to be Mongolia. Zanabazar, the First Bogd Gegeen of

Around the middle of the week a big snow storm hit Ulaanbaatar, leaving as much as four inches on the ground at places—a lot for UB. I had planned to go to Erdene Zuu Khiid on the outskirts of the town of Kharkhorin in Övörkhangai Aimag over the weekend, but the weather was definitely putting a crimp on my plans. Kharkhorin is 240 miles by road from Ulaanbaatar and there was no telling what road conditions would be like farther on out west. I kept a close eye on the weather forecasts, and skies were supposed to clear by Saturday morning in both Ulaanbaatar and in Avaikheer, the capital of Övörkhangai Aimag. So it looked like the trip was on. Then Friday afternoon the driver who was supposed to take us backed out. He did not give a reason, but I suspected he was a bit leery of the road to Kharkhorin, which was likely to be covered with fresh snow for much of the way. Early Friday evening I got a call from Saka, who had agreed to go along with me on the trip as an historical consultant.