Screenshot from the website yelo-rinpoche.ru, press service of the datsan "Rinpoche Bagsha"
Thousands of believers presented offerings to the Great Teacher [photo, video]
On Saturday, September 10, Venerable Yeshe Lodoy Rinpoche performed a ritual to consecrate the 33-meter-high image of Buddha Shakyamuni, carved on the Bayan Khongor rock. Last year, a statue of Buddha, custom-made in India, was erected on a hill near the village of Bayangol, and three stupas of reconciliation were consecrated. The following year, the people of Bayangol asked for help in building 8 stupas around Lake Mogoi. It is planned to place 4 thousand figurines of various Buddhist deities in the suburgans.
Buddha Shakyamuni on Mount Bayan-Khongor near the village of Bayangol is a unique creation. It will be awarded the title of the largest Buddha image in Russia and will be included in the list of the largest Buddha images in the world.
The idea of erecting a giant Buddha was expressed by the residents of Bayangol at a village gathering. With this initiative they approached the datsan on Bald Mountain in Ulan-Ude by Yeshe Lodoy Rinpoche. The rector supported the people's proposal. Moreover, as it turned out, this was his long-time dream.
Big Buddha is a great benefit for all of Russia
“About 15-16 years ago we visited the “heart” of Baikal for the first time - Olkhon Island, went on a boat along the Irkutsk shore,” recalls Rinpoche’s closest student Geshe Lharamba Tenzin Lama, “Majestic rocks growing out of the water surface and rushing into the sky , impressed Bagsha with their beauty and power. And then he had an idea - to make a large statue of the World Precious Teacher Buddha Shakyamuni in the rock. In Asian countries this is an ancient tradition, but in Russia there was nothing like it.”
Help website: The world's largest and oldest Buddha carved into a rock is located in the Chinese province of Sichuan. Its height is 71 meters, age is about 1200 years. It took almost 90 years to build. The largest statue in the world is also of Buddha. And it is also located in China, in Henan province. The 128-meter monument depicts Buddha Vairochana, one of the five sacred Buddhas who personify wisdom. The idea to create a grandiose shrine came to the Chinese after the Taliban barbarically destroyed two huge Buddha statues in Afghanistan in 2001. Their age was dated to the 6th century AD.
“Then we began to look for a suitable object. On Baikal it was difficult to do this purely technically. They also searched in other areas. Sometimes there were rocks that were too low, sometimes too high, sometimes too prominent. And last year, when we also installed a statue of Buddha near Bayangol, but a small one, one meter high, made to special order in India from onyx, I noticed the neighboring rock. It was ideal for realizing the Teacher’s idea - smooth, beautiful and quite high, about fifty meters. And most importantly - ideally located!
Typically, Buddhist shrines are built “facing” south, be they temples, stupas or statues. We consciously wanted to move a little away from this tradition and make sure that the Buddha’s gaze was directed towards Moscow and other large Russian cities. In such a difficult time, it was simply necessary to do this for the benefit of the entire country and all living beings! At all times, the construction of Buddha statues, stupas, and datsans was considered a very beneficial deed. In the places where they appear, everything comes into harmony. In nature, various kinds of disasters cease, mutual understanding comes into people’s relationships, they get sick less and die from accidents, all living things find peace and tranquility,” says Tenzin Lama.
“But the Teacher then said that the time had not yet come. And now, a year later, the residents of the Khorinsky district themselves came up with this proposal. The Bayan-Khongor rock has long been considered a sacred place among the Khorin Buryats. Here, residents of the village of Bayan-Gol 2 times a year - in the summer and on the second day of Sagaalgan - hold oboo, and throughout the year they often come to worship the shrines. The so-called munkhanas are installed here - small houses in which thangkas and figurines of Buddhist deities are located. Last year a Buddha statue and 3 stupas appeared. Rinpoche thought about it for a long time and finally agreed. Moreover, this is the birthplace of his root Teacher.
Website reference: Venerable Yeshe Lodoy Rinpoche was born in Tibet in 1943. At the age of three he was recognized as the fourth rebirth of Yelo Rinpoche. In Tibet, such people are called tuluku - it is believed that they consciously continue the chain of their rebirths, devoting their lives to helping all living beings.
From the age of seven, Yelo Rinpoche devoted himself to monasticism and the study of Buddhist philosophy. In 1959, due to the occupation of Tibet by China, he left his homeland and moved through the kingdom of Bhutan to India, where he continued his studies.
The root Teacher of Yeshe Lodoya Rinpoche is Lama Dulva-hambo Thubten Choki, a Buryat by nationality. The renowned tantra master taught Yelo Rinpoche a course in vinaya - monastic discipline. Also, under the leadership of a lama from Buryatia, the Venerable Agwan-Nima, in 1979 Yelo Rinpoche defended the title of “Geshe-lharamba” - the highest Buddhist academic degree. In 1993, at the request of the Buryat clergy and on behalf of His Holiness, he arrived in Buryatia, in the Ivolginsky datsan to teach at the Tashi Choinohrling Buddhist Institute. Since then, Yeshe Lodoy Rinpoche remained to live and work in Buryatia, for the benefit of all living beings and the prosperity of the Dharma.
In 1999, at an audience with the Dalai Lama, Yelo Rinpoche conveyed the requests of believers from Buryatia to open a Buddhist center and received His Holiness’s blessing to begin construction. 5 years later, in 2004, the opening of the Rinpoche Bagsha datsan took place on Bald Mountain in Ulan-Ude.
The plan was implemented quite quickly. All necessary approvals have been passed. Sponsors, craftsmen, and artists were found. Local residents actively helped during construction. The image of Shakyamuni Buddha was made as majestic as possible, but with minimal impact on nature. They did not carve a full-fledged statue or bas-relief. They just removed the top layer of the rock, drew the outlines of the World Teacher seated in the lotus position and painted it with paint.
The height of the image is exactly 33 meters. In Buddhism, this number also has its own sacred meaning. It is believed that there is the highest world on Earth, the so-called Trayastrimsha - “World of 33 Gods” or “Meeting of 33 Gods”, which is located on the top of Mount Sumeru. Trayastrimsha is often mentioned in Buddhist texts when the Buddha ascends to the Thirty-three Gods, or the gods of this world themselves descend to earth to meet the Buddha.
“The creation of the statue of Shakyamuni Buddha is not accidental. Buddha Shakyamuni, the highest nirmanakaya, was born in our world, performed twelve feats, including turning the Wheel of the Teaching. All the time that the Buddha’s Teaching remains in the world, it is an incomparable, limitless cure for the diseases of our obscurations and suffering. Let the statue of Buddha Shakyamuni become a symbol of the unification of our pure intentions in the implementation of the teachings and a symbol of the fact that the Buddhist teachings - the dharma that the Buddha gave 2500 years ago, and now resides in our world,” says the teacher.
About 4 thousand people attended the Ramney ritual. 80 buses transported pilgrims from the Square of Soviets free of charge. After the consecration ritual, a festive concert and sports competitions took place.
Interview with Venerable Yeshe Loda Rinpoche:
- At the end of the ritual, a symbolic million flowers were offered to the image of Buddha? Is this some kind of tradition?
When a Buddha statue is created, the image of Buddha is a great virtue. And when an image of such a gigantic size is created, it is also a huge, incomparable virtue! Accordingly, the larger, richer and more beautiful the offerings, the more good merit we accumulate. And flowers in Buddhism are a traditional type of offering, along with white food, sweets and fruits.
- Why is the height of the Buddha image exactly 33 meters?
In the Buddhist tradition there is such a good attitude towards the number “33”, there is even an abode of the gods of 33 deities. Initially, it was not planned to make the image so large, but when they measured the rock, it turned out that it was about 55 meters high. Then they decided to make it exactly 33 meters. It fits in very harmoniously. This is also a kind of sign.
Golden Buddha Mountain Khao Chi Chan is an important place in Pattaya. It’s better to get there on your own and on a bike, because when we went, there was a traffic jam of buses with tourists and cars all the way. More than 100 buses were moving very slowly. To cover the distance that we covered on a bike, along the side of the road, in 10 minutes, it would have taken them an hour. The reason is that there was no space for buses in the parking lot near the Golden Buddha. And they waited for the previous group to leave to take their place. We drove through the traffic jam quickly on the bike. Khao Chi Chan Golden Buddha Mountain is located next to the temple complex. You need to go through Sukhumvit. To make it easier for you to get there, we have marked the desired location on the map. Entrance to the attraction is free.
Golden Buddha Mountain Khao Chi Chan is a place of worship for Thais. Upon entering you will see a large portrait of the king.
The territory of the Golden Buddha is quite large, you can walk around it or relax by sitting on the grass.
As you get closer to the Buddha, you will be stopped by a fence, behind it you will see a pond, and beyond the pond, a beautifully decorated mountain base.
The height of the Golden Buddha is 160 meters. All the work was done from gold collected by ordinary people. Thus, the Thais expressed great honor and faith in King Rama 9, as well as worship of the great Buddha.
To get to the hill, you need to drive the entire temple complex to the end and go deeper into the forest (there is an asphalt road there). Even if you are not interested in this religious shrine, go up anyway - the hill offers magnificent panoramic views.
The Chinese Viharnra Sien Temple is also a museum that was gifted to King Rama IX.
Here you can see many paintings that tell stories from the scriptures. On the second floor there are more than 200 sculptures of Chinese Gods (and more). In the open air, on the balcony, you will see sculptures of Shaolin monks demonstrating the Chinese martial art of Wushu.
How to get to Wat Yan temple on your own
You can’t get to Wat Yang from Pattaya either by public roads or even on foot. One of the options - . The second and more optimal option is to use your own transport ( or ). From Pattaya you need to go south. In 10 minutes there will be a “Floating Market” on the left side, and after another 15 minutes there will be a sign to Wat Yansangwararam.
This turn is located 15 km from Pattaya, as evidenced by the sign that I saw on the way back - Pattaya 15 km. So, turning left, you need to drive another five minutes to the fork. If you go straight from it, the road will lead to the Wat Yan temple complex, if to the right, then to the Chinese temple-museum Viharnra Sien and in about 10 minutes to . There are signs everywhere, so you can't get lost. And there is only one road there.
It is also not far from Wat Yan. Not 300-400 meters from Nong Nooch, there is an elephant village where you can ride on these giants.
Khao Chi Chan or Golden Buddha Mountain is one of the most famous attractions in Pattaya. It looks like an outline image of Buddha, laid out in gold plates on the hewn surface of a limestone hill rising above the flat terrain. And the temple is located below at the foot of the mountain.
During the US war with Vietnam, construction material was extracted from the mountain for an American military base. In 1996, in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the reign of King Rama IX, so beloved and revered by the Thais, it was decided to create the world's largest rock image of Buddha, lined with gold, on the northern slope of the hill; which, by the way, required about one and a half tons to complete the project.
Some of the money for gold for the drawing was donated by ordinary people, parishioners of Buddhist temples. The image was applied to the surface of the mountain with a laser, according to a previously calculated computer program. The laser work took two days, and then over several months the outline was hand-finished with large gold plates. The image is more than 100 meters high and about 70 meters wide. Buddha is depicted at the moment of enlightenment and symbolizes peace and tranquility.
An important point - do not confuse the Golden Buddha and, which is located in the center of Pattaya on a hill and is a large statue of a seated Buddha, and not an image on a rock. It’s just that sometimes the image of the Golden Buddha is also called the Big Buddha, since the image is huge.
For Thais, it is primarily a religious place where they make pilgrimages to pray and offer gifts. At the foot of the mountain there is a temple where you can meet monks in orange robes. Therefore, you should behave here respectfully.
True, along with religious Thais, crowds of noisy Chinese tourists can often be found near the mountain. But if you are lucky and there are few people, you will see a quiet and pleasant place, conducive to contemplation and thoughts about the eternal.
In front of the mountain with the image of Buddha there is a small park with paths and a lawn. Spacious gazebos with benches are scattered throughout the park, and around the lawn there are flower beds, decorative stones, rope swings on a tree and binoculars through which you can take a closer look at the image. You can't get close to him.
The mountain is located quite far outside the city, about 20 km south of the city center. In the same area, one might say next to the mountain, there are several other interesting places that can be seen along with a visit to Khao Chi Chan. These are the Silver Lake Vineyards and the large temple complex of Wat Yan. On the way to the mountain, you can still stop by to see the “Inverted House” attraction, and a few kilometers further from the mountain there is a large new Ramayana water park.
Exploring the mountain will not take much time, even if you carefully walk around the entire park, so tourists usually combine a visit to this attraction with the Wat Yan complex and/or Silver Lake Vineyards. Khao Chi Chan is included in several sightseeing tours, including free ones, conducted by tour operators in Pattaya.
Visiting information
Cost of visiting: free.
The park is officially open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but, of course, the mountain itself with the image can be viewed from the road; it rises high above the surrounding area. E
If you want to take beautiful photographs of the mountain, it is better to come in the morning or evening; in the middle of the day the sun will be from the side of the mountain, shining directly into the camera. You'll have to shoot in backlight. In addition, in the middle of the day, walking along open lawns under the scorching sun is very hot and increases the chance of meeting crowds of tourists near the mountain.
In terms of infrastructure, next to the mountain there is a large parking lot for tourist buses, next to which there are shops with all sorts of things, across the road from the park there are several very simple cafes with local food and toilets.
How to get there
You can get to the mountain on your own, by rented transport or taxi. Just keep in mind that it is better for the taxi driver to say “Khao Chi Chan” so that he does not confuse the place you need with the Golden Buddha statue on the mountain in the center of Pattaya.
There is no public transport to the area where the Golden Buddha Mountain is located, but you can take a white tuk-tuk along the Sukhumvit Highway in the direction of Sattahib for 20 baht and get off at about the 160th kilometer of the road, at the turn to Khao Chi Chan. The landmark is the BMW Mini salon to the right of the road. Opposite it, across the road there is a 7-eleven and a small road going to the left, which after 5.5 km will lead to the mountain. Right at the seventeen or a little further you can find a taxi in the form of a motorcycle, tuk-tuk or car that will take you to the mountain for 70 baht. If you take a taxi from the center of Pattaya, it will cost much more, from 300 baht.
We continue to visit the sights of Pattaya that we did not have time to see on our first trips to Thailand. This time we visited the Golden Buddha Mountain Khao Chi Chan.
Golden Buddha Mountain is located a little further than the Wat Yan temple complex. We described in detail how to get there on your own in a post about Wat Yan. There are many signs along the way to the attraction, and the mountain itself can be seen from afar, so it’s very difficult to get lost here. Admission is free at any time.
The image of Buddha on the rock was made relatively recently in 1996, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the reign of the now enthroned King of Thailand, Rama 9. The creation of this monument was initiated by the king’s son. The height of the Buddha is 160 meters. This is the largest Buddha image made of gold. It was applied to the rock in a very modern way, using a laser. This process took two days, after which it was filled with gold over the course of two months.
Near the mountain there is a large pond in which lotuses grow. Small meditation pavilions are scattered throughout the park. The place is very beautiful and peaceful. It was very unexpected to see a large well-kept park at the foot of the mountain; I thought everything was much simpler there.
A few meters from the mountain is another attraction of Pattaya: Silver Lake Vineyard
Our visit to Golden Buddha Mountain coincided with the annual Khao Chi Chan Lantern Festival. This is a very large-scale and colorful event, which includes performances of traditional Thai Khon theater, as well as a large parade of all the participants of the holiday. There were many high-ranking guests at the festival, who took turns making welcoming speeches and then leaving their lanterns at the foot of the Golden Buddha Mountain. It was very interesting.
Video from the Lantern Festival:
Friends! If you want to book this or any other excursion in Pattaya at the best prices, then contact us:
- Tel. in Thailand: 0-972-011-905;
- WhatsApp: +66-97-201-1905;
- Viber: +66-97-201-1905;
Payment:
- No prepayment is required to book any one-day excursions!
- For excursions with hotel reservations, the prepayment is 500 baht (via electronic wallets or transfer to a card).
- All excursions must be paid directly upon boarding the bus on the day of the tour (payment in Thai baht);
We will be happy to help you organize your holiday in Pattaya!
