Kachkanar Buddhist monastery. From Beslan to Buddhism: Who Builds a Monastery in the Urals

60 years ago, on the outskirts of the Sverdlovsk region, around the iron ore deposits, the city of Kachkanar and its mining and processing plant arose. In the mid-90s, in the mountain forests, just a few kilometers from the quarry, a graduate of the Buryat datsan founded a Buddhist monastery, the construction of which is still ongoing. Several years ago, the plant (owned by Evraz Group, 31% of which is owned by Roman Abramovich) announced a new development zone, within its borders a monastery falls. So the interests of the Buddhist community and the metallurgical corporation crossed - and according to the law, they should not be resolved in favor of the monastery. And while Buddhists argue with the authorities of the plant and bailiffs, life goes on on the top of the mountain.

Throughout the year photographer The village Anna Marchenkova recorded how Shad Tchup Ling lives, and who finds refuge where the temperature in winter drops to minus 40. We tell the stories of people who are building a Buddhist monastery on the outskirts of the Urals.

Dokshit and its top

In Russia, Buddhism is the traditional religion of three peoples - Buryats, Tuvans and Kalmyks. All of them profess Tibetan, or northern, Buddhism, and the main Buddhist center of the country is located in Ulan-Ude. There, at the Ivolginsky Datsan, there is a Buddhist University and the residence of the main Buddhist of Russia. Every year, two dozen novices - huvaraks are recruited to the university, and for five years they study Buddhist philosophy, oriental medicine, techniques of Tantrism and meditation, Buryat and Tibetan languages. As in a secular university, graduates receive diplomas of higher education, as well as religious ranks: men become lamas, women - Khandams.

Now in Russia, a little more than half a million practicing Buddhists, monasteries and temples operate in Kalmykia, Buryatia, Tuva, Irkutsk, Trans-Baikal Territory, Moscow and St. Petersburg. The only monastery in the Urals, where the Buddhist religion has never been traditional, in the spring of 1995, the former military sniper Mikhail Sannikov began to build.

In 1981, he went under contract to serve in Afghanistan, where he destroyed caravans of weapons from Pakistan. After service, in the early 90s, Mikhail entered the tantric faculty of the institute at the Ivolginsky datsan, from where he came out with a new name - now the lama's name is Sanye Tenzin Dokshit. The teacher, Pema Jang, instructed Dokshit to build a monastery in the Urals - and he himself chose the place. In 1995, the lama climbed Mount Kachkanar, and began to build a Buddhist center on no-one's land, not far from the local GOK. The future monastery on Ural height Dokshit called 887 meters Shad Tchup Ling, or “Place of Practice and Realization”.

Snow stupas

At the top, the lama built the first house with his own hands: he burned meter-long boulders on bonfires, chopped them with a sledgehammer, supplied electricity, built a lift for heavy loads on a steep slope. Here he brought the first disciples - 22 years later, they turned the wild mountain plateau into a Buddhist complex of several living rooms, a yoga room, a library, a workshop, warehouses and ritual rooms.

There is no monastery on the territory of the complex yet, but there is already places of worship- Buddhist stupas. On a patch between the rocks, members of the community built a large and small stupa of Awakening, the stupa of Parinirvana, laid the foundation of the stupa of Descent from heaven Tushita. In total, there are eight types of stupas in the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, associated with different stages of the Buddha's life. They differ in architectural details in the middle part: the Parinirvana stupa is bell-shaped and symbolizes the perfect wisdom of the Buddha, the Convergence stupa is different large quantity steps. It is the stupas that non-illusoryly protect Shad Tchup Ling, because they are objects of cultural heritage.

Only Dokshit and a couple of his followers remain permanently at the top of Kachkanar. In the summer, 13–15 people live in a small community, in the winter - half as many. Faces change, as does the reason people end up here. Students climb to the top in academic leave and self-seeking, former military and budding Buddhists. The way upstairs begins at the western checkpoint of the plant - the parties observe tacit neutrality, and therefore the path takes several meters into the forest to the left of the checkpoint. In the summer you walk six kilometers on gravel, another two - along the roots of mountain pines, moss and kurumnik; in winter, along a well-trodden path, it turns out to walk even faster. Kachkanar, where 40 thousand miners live, remains far below. Yekaterinburg is located almost 300 kilometers to the west.

Community members maintain a logbook in LJ and the page"VKontakte", answer to the general mobile. The journal records the work done during the day, the names of those who live here permanently, the number of tourists who came to last days... There they also leave notes for those who are going upstairs and want to help the monastery - they are asked to buy carrots and cereals, salt, matches, light building materials like self-adhesive tape. From time to time, social media announces fees for something large, like solar panels.

Danil

Seven years ago, Danil traveled 500 kilometers by bicycle to get to Kachkanar. He is the oldest student of the lama and never interacts with tourists. A lot has changed here since he came to the top.

“Even in my youth, I wanted to get rich and started gambling on the stock exchange, doing internet trading. He loved to analyze financial processes, loved adrenaline. I dreamed of making a lot of money, going somewhere to the sea, sitting at my laptop, drinking juice, and in the evening go to the teacher and talk about the meaning of life.

Once I was sitting at the computer and realized that I was dumb. God, I'm 30 years old, I sit at the monitor for another 10-20 years - and nothing will change. I started looking on the internet for someone to inspire me and came across a biography of Lama Dokshit. I got on my bike and drove off.

Seven years ago I did not know anything about Buddhism. It was difficult for me to accept this worldview, I did not want to agree that the essence of life is suffering. He said that he was happy - he was afraid that if I accepted, I would really suffer.

Over the years, I have become a different person, I must have become sad. Previously, trips to clubs, alcohol, girls and purchases that spoke of high status were so delightful, but now I realized that there is no point in chasing this, because there will always be little. I destroyed everything that was pleasing before, but I did not find what would be pleasing now. And I'm going to go further: take a monastic vow and leave for Mongolia or India to continue my search. "

Shad Tchup Ling without monks

For all 20 years, Lama Dokshit has been building the monastery with his own hands and accepting new followers, whom he teaches Buddhist practice and diligent work. But while construction continues on the top of the mountain, the community remains secular - Buddhist monks are forbidden to engage in physical labor. If everyone who chops a stone or grows vegetables in the garden between the rocks becomes a monk, life in Shad Tchup Ling will stop. And while there are no monks at the top, the “Place of Practice and Realization” cannot be called a monastery.

The community has an almost army order. Life glimmers in a narrow room with a stove and linoleum. During the day, the kitchen attendants cook here a simple soup of cereals and carrots, and in the evening, in a room heated for the night, the lama's students spread tourist foam and sleeping bags in order to get up at exactly six and start the everyday whirlwind of meditation and work. To stay in the monastery, you just need to ask Dokshit's permission and be ready for hard physical labor. During the construction season, work at the summit continues until eight in the evening, with breaks for Buddhist practice, lunch and dinner. The bathhouse is heated here twice a week, on weekends they meet groups of tourists who sleep interspersed with novices or in tents at a distance from the monastic dwelling.

An ordinary morning in August, when it is already freezing at the top: after two hours of practice, the girls break the ice in a small pond and scoop up water to make breakfast and tea. In the yoga hut, novices grind the moss, taking care not to damage the spores. They are needed in order to sprinkle them on a five-meter sculpture of a dragon, collected from moss and polymer mesh. In the spring the dragon will turn green. Over the summer, the novices built a gymnasium, installed solar panels, and erected a statue of Buddha over the relic where the monastery's shrines are kept. In the last days of August, the men paint the statue with white paint.

By November, the construction season ends, and the students, who have decided to spend the winter on the mountain, melt snow and ice, get water, look after chickens and cows, prepare food for the dogs guarding the approaches to the monastery, chop wood and collect brushwood. The girls are busy sewing and preparing tea: each Buddhist community has its own secret recipe - in Shad Tchup Ling, for example, they like ivan tea. There are fewer tourists; in winter, novices devote themselves to practice and prayer.

Travelers come and go - some stay for a week, some for six months. Satima lived here the longest, for several years at the top she sewed thousands of colored flags, patchwork quilts and light fleece suits for students. Now Satima is studying in India to become the first nun from the top of Kachkanar in the spring.

The lama teaches those wishing to study Buddhism according to the "Discovery of Buddhism" program. The student writes a statement, and for three months remains under the gaze of the lama, strictly observing the rules of the community. After that, it is customary to ask Dokshit for refuge and perform 111 thousand prostrations - a Buddhist practice that should help the student to cleanse himself of vices and develop virtues in himself. In Shad Tchup Ling, prostration is performed on special planks, putting on gloves: the one who performs the ceremony lies down on the plank, and then rises and stands with his feet where his face was just now. One hundred thousand prostrations take weeks and months, followed by a conversation with the lama. And if Dokshit believes that the disciple has not completely cleared his mind, he continues to work on himself in a special house for seals, reciting mantras alone for days and receiving food from other members of the community. After the conversation is repeated.

Maksim

The big, bearded and smiling guy at first does not want to tell why he is in the monastery. “You see, I had problems. But it is not important. The main thing is that everything is fine now, ”he says and leaves to clean the snow. The next time he decides to talk in the workshop, where he worked all day.

“Life went headlong after the army. I served the allotted two years and agreed to serve under the contract, signed the report. It was September 2004. The next day I was taken to the liberation of the school in Beslan.

Those who went through a terrorist attack defending the hostages are not provided with any psychological assistance. But with these memories something had to be done. I needed to calm down. I started with heroin and tried every drug available. After three years of service, he returned to his native Kachkanar as a drug addict.

Addiction made me cruel. This is understandable in war: if you do not kill, they will kill you. But even after my return, I did not consider people to be people. I perceived my parents as a source of money, and strangers who told me rudeness, I silently beat them to a pulp. They were taken to the intensive care unit, and they wrote a statement against me. Then everything was repeated again.

Once I left the house and realized that there was nowhere to fall further. Here, in Kachkanar, everyone knows about the monastery, and out of despair I went up the mountain. When I told Lama Dokshit about everything, he replied that he would think about what could be done. And he silently gave a job, like everyone who decides to stay. So, while I was working, it was as if I was turned 180 degrees. I could not get drugs - I got rid of addiction, and suddenly began to communicate with people. I still find it strange that my mother again speaks to me in a loving voice - as if I were in childhood, and she puts me to bed.

Valya does not answer the lama, she thought about it. Vale 31, born in Perm, worked as an accountant in Moscow. She has been plagued by psoriasis for almost her entire adult life.

“There used to be rashes all over the face. I was embarrassed to go out to people: it was ugly, unaesthetic, and everyone always pesters with questions. Psoriasis appeared when I had a fight with my parents and left home. They say that genetic predisposition is to blame, but no one in my family was sick. I was not lucky alone.

I worked an awful lot in Moscow. I was so tired of the routine that I moved out of the rented apartment, distributed all my things and went traveling - I wanted to find a cure for psoriasis. She lived in India for two years. Salty water and the sun gave a cosmetic effect, the disease went inward, but did not disappear. When I returned to Russia, exacerbations began again. Here, on the mountain, I want to cure my head, because any disease is psychosomatics. I’ll recover myself - and I’ll start helping others.

I came here in a deep depression, and now no worms enter my head. It is too beautiful here for heavy thoughts: I go out into the yard, look around, and happiness goes off scale. "

The dog barks - the caravan goes

The monastery has been under threat of demolition for the past two years. In the bowels of the mountain on which it is located, there are deposits of titanomagnetite ore. Eight kilometers below, explosions thunder every day: after a ten-minute siren, two short signals sound, and clouds of crushed rock rise into the air. When the resource of the Western quarry is exhausted, Evraz will need a new deposit - the very one next to which there are Buddhist stupas of the Shad Tchup Ling monastery. The complex falls into the sanitary protection zone of a new quarry, where any construction is prohibited.

Mikhail Sannikov began construction illegally, and therefore the enterprise has the right to expel unwanted guests from its territory. Lama Dokshit has repeatedly tried to legalize his buildings, negotiated with the administration of the city and the plant, but in February 2017 the Bailiff Service issued a decree to demolish the monastery. Then the authorities and public figures stood up for the Buddhists, including the musician Boris Grebenshchikov, and the bailiffs, because of the blurred road, could not hand over the decree to the lama for a long time. Along the way, it turned out that the construction equipment required for demolition is unlikely to climb the steep slope to the top. The question hung in the air, and life on the mountain continues.

From time to time, a new turn occurs in the conflict. For example, a month ago, State Duma deputy Andrei Alshevskikh submitted a request to the administration of the governor of the Sverdlovsk region about how the group for the preservation of the monastery is working. In response, the administration sent a letter with the results of the examination, which was carried out by the St. state museum religion. They said that the religious organization at the top of Kachkanar is illegitimate, because it does not have a charter, and still cannot be considered a monastery, because it does not have the required number of monks.

In response to the results of the examination, the residents of Shad Tchup Ling shrug their shoulders. After the news about the examination, they contacted the chief specialist of the museum, and it turned out that the specialist did not know about the study. In the spring, the first nun of the monastery, Satima, will return from India, and then others will be trained. The dog will bark and the caravan will walk.

Eight kilometers from the city of Kachkanar, in the middle of the Sverdlovsk region, at an altitude of 885 meters, there is the Shad Tchup Ling monastery. A Buddhist monastery in the Urals is already unusual in itself. But no less "attraction" than the monastery itself is its 54-year-old founder Mikhail Sannikov.

A man did not learn Zen at once. A hereditary military man (his father and grandfather are intelligence officers), he graduated from the KGB school and went to Afghanistan in 1981. He rose to the rank of commander of a sabotage and reconnaissance group. Co-workers still remember his accuracy. The main task of their detachment was to destroy the caravans with weapons that went to the Mujahideen from Pakistan. Sannikov's sniper rifle did not know a single miss. And then there was a breakdown. Mikhail aimed the gun at the horse. Nothing new. He has been doing this for many years. All you had to do was pull the trigger and shoot the horse in the head. But then Sannikov saw through the scope how the animal was crying. Tears flowed from the horse's eyes. And he couldn't shoot. For an unfulfilled order, Mikhail was demoted. And he was only glad of that. From an old Afghani, a faulty soldier learned about Buddhism, about self-restraint, about the achievement of nirvana, and also about the fact that they themselves are the cause of people's suffering. And, returning to his homeland, he did not go home at all, but to Buryatia - to the largest domestic Buddhist center. After 7 years of practicing, Sannikov was named Lama Sanye Tenzin Dokshit. And then the mentors sent the former military man to build a new monastery.

Sannikov's followers assure that the place (the top of Mount Kachkanar) was seen by the teachers during meditation. But there is a much more rational version: in the west of Russia there was already one Buddhist temple - in St. Petersburg, in the east - temples of Buddhist Buryatia, but in the middle, in the Urals, it is empty. So the idea of ​​building a monastery on one of the most high points Ural mountains.

When Lama Dokshit in 1995 first climbed to the top, there was nothing here. Only stones, - the novices say with a breath. “The first thing he did was build a hut here. One! Periodically went down to the city to earn money for food. Rumors of a lama quickly spread throughout the area. And soon he had assistants ...

Now Shad Tchup Ling is not just a hut, but a whole residential complex. There is a bathhouse, a canteen, and even a library.

KP journalists visited the monastery at the end of December. We then collected information for a New Year's guide to the most interesting places Sverdlovsk region. Of course, there was also a place in it for a Buddhist monastery.

Then we brought with us a pineapple and a bag of sweets.

It would be better if they brought the plastic fittings, ”the lama poked when accepting the gifts. - We are building an airship now. It would be useful for us for the case.

- And where will you fly on it?- we asked.

Wherever we want! - sipping tea from a mug, answered Mikhail.

- Have you finished building the monastery?

They practically did not start. Works for another 279 years. But next summer we will at least put up a statue of Buddha.

Now, apparently, these plans will not come true. Conversations that the monastery is standing illegally and that it needs to be demolished have been circulating in the Sverdlovsk Region for several years. But nobody really took it seriously. Even Sannikov himself. When asked in December whether he was afraid that his abode would be demolished by excavators, Dokshit only smiled skeptically:

Now there is a crisis in the country. Nobody cares about us.

But the business turned out to be too profitable to forget about it, even in a crisis.

« Before March 1, 2016 in the city of Kachkanar, the Buddhist monastery "Shad Tchup Ling" should be demolished - stated in the decree of the bailiffs of the Federal Bailiff Service of Russia in the Sverdlovsk Region ... - Mikhail S., who lives in this monastery, is obliged to release land plot from buildings that are intended for religious rites. The reason for the eviction of Buddhists is the illegal occupation of the territory, which is in federal ownership, in addition, this land is in the development of the Kachkanar iron ore deposit itself. The city court made this decision in favor of the Forestry Department in the summer of the year before last. Due to the fact that Mikhail S. repeatedly failed to comply with the requirements of the executive documents, he was brought to administrative responsibility under Part 1 of Art. 17.15 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation and Part 2 of Art. 17.15 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation (for repeated failure to comply with the requirements of executive documents of a non-property nature). Also, in relation to Mikhail S., an order was issued on a temporary restriction on travel outside the Russian Federation.».

At the same time, the bailiffs clarify that no one is going to drive the monks out into the street.

An operational meeting was held in the Administration of the Kachkanar urban district on the fulfillment by Mikhail S. of the requirements for the relocation of the monastery to Mount Mokhnatka. The meeting was attended by Mikhail S., where he was re-served with a demand for the execution of the court decision before March 1, 2016, - they assure the FSSP of Russia in the Sverdlovsk region.

The monastery, in turn, declares that they will not be able to move by the beginning of spring.

We believe that the decision to demolish is illegal, ”says novice Anna Kolosova. - Indeed, we had an agreement with the city authorities that the monastery would be moved to Mount Mokhnatka. For this, the Evraz metallurgical plant had to equip a place on the mountain and ways to approach it. But these conditions were not met. We are ready to move. But only when all obligations are fulfilled. Until then, naturally, we will protect our monastery from demolition.

Photo gallery from the Buddhist monastery "Shad Tchup Ling"

Looking through the guide to the Urals, I mentally planned my trips around the region, marking the most interesting places and routes on the map. One of these places - Mount Kachkanar, is located in the North of the Sverdlovsk region and is one of the the highest peaks of the Middle Urals.The Buddhist monastery Shad Tchup Ling is located on the mountain. It is the only Buddhist datsan in the Urals. Googling on the Internet, I found out that the monastery has its own group in contact http://vk.com/shad_tchup_ling... I phoned the monastery to arrange my visit. Got the approval of the Chief Lama Dokshit, me allowed to visit the monastery and stay overnight. MOnah asked by phone to bring some products and told in detail how to get to them.

Having collected my backpack, early in the morning I went to Shad Tchup Ling.

The route of my travel began from the city of Verkhniy Tagil, by car I reached the city of Kachkanar. Townwas founded to ensure the development of a group of Kachkanar fields. From the moment the decision was made to build and to this day, the city is inextricably linked with the mining and processing plant. The construction of the GOK and the city began in 1957 and was declared a shock Komsomol construction site.

From the city of Kachkanar I went to the checkpoint of the Western quarry, this is the end point of the movement by car, further there was a pedestrian ascent up the mountain.

After about 2 km uphill, I went to the observation deck of the Western quarry. Its development has begun back in the 30s and 40s. All mined ore from the open pit is transported tomining and processing plant (GOK) "Kachkanarsky", located nearby, mThe processing capacity of which is 33 million tons of iron ore per year.Kachkanarsky GOK is the largest mining and processing plant in Russia.

On the trail, traces of sledges are noticeable: there are dogs in the monastery, on which novices lift food and various loads up the hill.

There is a sign on the path. Meaning: if you go straight, you will come to the camel rock; if you go to the right, you will come to the monastery. It remains to walk 1 km from this sign to the monastery.

Now about how a monastery appeared on Mount Kachkanar.
Lama Dokshit (means protector) is a former military man, I will talk about him a little later. His teacher, Darma Dodi Zhalsaraev, lived in Buryatia. Once the teacher dreamed of a beautiful monastery on a mountain called Kachkanar. In the morning he called Lama Dokshit and told about his dream. They started looking for a mountain with that name and found it 5500 kilometers from Buryatia in the very center of the Urals. There Lama Dokshit began to build a monastery in 1995. WITHthe construction of the monastery according to the construction plan is calculated for 300 years.

The construction is carried out according to the ancient Tibetan and Mongolian canons of monastery architecture, which allows preserving the ecosystem of the area and harmoniously fitting the complex of structures into the picturesque landscape of Mount Kachkanar.The main function of the monastery is to organize and support the Buddhist practical process: conducting rituals, services, traditional festive events, individual and collective practices.

This year, solar panels were installed in the monastery, thanks to which internal lighting appeared in all buildings, the ability to charge phones and a laptop.

Now the monastery is home to four novices, not counting the Lama, who are practicing, doing housework and fulfilling various vows. Someone has been living for 12 years, someone came a month ago.

Lama Sanye Tenzin Dokshit in the world Mikhail Vasilyevich Sannikov is a very kind, open-minded person with a subtle sense of humor. You can talk with him on any topic, I even got the impression that he knows the answer to any question. People constantly come to Lama Dokshit different people, various levels of wealth and class. Ordinary tourists come in for the sake of curiosity, advanced Buddhists and Yoga Gurus come to practice in the monastery. Many come just to chat, talk about life, get experience. He does not impose his opinion on anyone, does not preach and teach religion, as various preachers of various religions do.

I will tell you a little about the life in the monastery. A duty officer is appointed every day. He wakes up before everyone else, lights the stove, prepares food and clears the table.

Teapots with hot tea are constantly on the stove. Teapots are insulated with caps to keep them warm longer. In whites - black tea, in the rest - green. In such frosts, tea helps to warm up, they drink it here all the time and treat all guests. Lama Dokshit jokes that "our water is magical." All jokes, but the water is really very tasty, despite the fact that p there is no uchya or source on the mountain. In the summer, the guys collect rainwater, in the winter they raise it from a special pit-well.

The altar is located in a separate room. To venerate the Body of Buddha, images (thangka) of the Buddha statue are installed on the altar.

Eight bowls for presenting a gift, water is poured into them in the morning, poured out in the evening. In some cups rice is poured, it is also used as an offering.

On the left on the altar are sacred texts - this is the speech of the Buddha, the teaching through which sentient beings attain Enlightenment. Therefore, they are considered the most sacred object on the altar.

Various ritual accessories.

In the morning I went for a walk around the monastery, to admire the winter beauty of the Kachkanar mountain.

An interesting rock called "Camel" really does have a similarity.

It's time to go back home, I say goodbye to Lama Doksha and his disciples. Thank you for the hospitality, for the magic tea and interesting communication.

If you are going to visit the monastery, do not forget to take gifts with you - building materials, polyurethane foam, any products, etc. It is better to call or write in advance by contacting the monastery in order to inquire about current needs.

Buddhist temple on Mount Kachkanar

We went on this trip in August 2011. I accidentally saw it on the Internet winter photo Buddhist Stupa of Awakening and said: "I want to go there." We, of course, are not Buddhists, and we went not even out of idle curiosity, but with the aim of learning: what kind of monastery in the mountains is and how you can live there ... Yes, and the mountain, they say, is beautiful, only you can't climb it.

At the entrance to the city, we understand that it is on a mountain, because from the road you could see beautiful distances. As they later learned, it is called Dolgaya Mountain. Right from the city you can see Mount Kachkanar in all its beauty and grandeur, but only one of its peaks.

Mount Kachkanar - highest peak Middle Urals, its height is 887.6 m. Once upon a time it was a sacred place for the Mansi pagan population. With the advent of Buddhism to the Mongol-Oirat steppes, bloodless sacrifices were made to the rulers of the mountains, and live animals were donated. The family that moved to a new place needed to make an offering to the spirit of the area on the highest hill or mountain. Not only did the Mansi praise Mount Kachkanar, but the Kalmyks also worshiped it to provide them with support in risky activities. Between the city and the Kachkanar mountain flows the Vyya river, which was transformed by a dam into the Nizhnevyi reservoir.

"Kachkanar Sea" - this is what the people also call the Nizhnevyi reservoir. In the interfluve of the Is and Vyi rivers on the Vyya river, a dam was built and the Kachkanar pond was dug. Drinking water is taken from one half of the reservoir for the city, on the other half there is a beach, a boat station, and they fish in the pond. Several thousand fry of carp, silver carp and grass carp were launched into the reservoir. By south coast pond in its upper part is the border of the Sverdlovsk and Perm regions... We were lucky with a place to spend the night on the bank of the reservoir and we watched a beautiful sunset all evening.

And at night the moon was shining in full force. We even woke up because a lunar path "runs" from the moon across the lake right to our tent. But, unfortunately, I didn't want to get up and take a picture of her, the dream took its toll.

Waking up at 8 o'clock in the morning, having breakfast and swimming, we set off on our way - to look for a monastery on the mountain. We drove to the barrier of the Western Quarry, parked the car (there are a lot of them there), loaded ourselves with backpacks and set off. The road is very dusty at first because MAZs and other equipment drive from quarry to quarry. Walk along it only 500 meters. Further there will be a road a little to the left on ski slope, but you don't have to go to it. But the next turn to the left leads to the monastery and Mount Camel. Then you need to go all the time to the left, do not turn to the right, except to look at the quarry itself with observation deck... After about 2 km there will be a turn to the right, where you can see the Western open pit of Vysokogorsky GOK.

The quarry, of course, is impressive, it is interesting to watch how everything is scurrying far below, but from the dust there was poor visibility of everything that could be seen far away.

A detailed study of the Kachkanar ore-bearing massif began in the 30s and 40s. In 1931 it was established that it consists of two deposits - Gusevogorsky and Kachkanarsky. On June 10, 1950, a decree was adopted on the construction of the country's largest mining and processing plant (GOK) at the foot of Mount Kachkanar with a capacity of 33 million tons of crude iron ore per year.

On May 27, 1957, the first detachment of daredevils came to Mount Dolgaya. The products of the GOK go to the Nizhniy Tagil Metallurgical Plant, the Chelyabinsk and Chusovoy Metallurgical Plants. We saw how others work and return to the embankment road to continue climbing. Then walk about 4 km to the fork, where the trees are marked with white ribbons, where the building materials are, where the monastery equipment stands, etc.

Straight ahead - the road to the "mountain lake", about three hundred meters and on the right there will be a small pond, which used to be a quarry. But we didn't go there. And to the right is the path leading to the monastery. Climb to the monastery for about 1 km. If you take some building materials with you and bring it to the monastery, then you will be given tea as a token of gratitude. Such assistance is and entrance ticket to the territory of the monastery. Along the path, laid out of stone, planks, gratings, we go to the "Stupa of Awakening".

The ascent to the visible building of the monastery is a small kurumnik - a road of stones.

In front of this kurumnik there is a rather large clearing, where you can take a break.

There is still poor visibility in the distance due to quarrying.

We go up to the Stupa of Awakening.

At the entrance you will find the rules of the monastery, a gong, security guards, local animals and already quite a lot of interesting things. You won't notice everything right away, for example, we considered everything anew on the way back ...

And then a monk meets us and invites us to have tea. Then they tell how to get to the camel mountain and to the monument to Yuri Gagarin! Yes, there is such a thing !!!

Through the territory of the monastery to the Camel rock to go about 200 m. It is beautiful, dignified and huge. This is it from afar, from the main summit, where we will go further.

But what can be seen from the humps of the camel is also unforgettable! This is exactly the top of the mountain that could be seen from the city. That is, if you reach it, you can see both the pond and the city.

This is the same quarry that we examined on the way to the monastery.

And this is all that is around!

To go from Camel to the main peak of Kachkanar, you need to find a path that is trodden on the right at its base. Walk along it to the main peak of the Middle Urals for 15-20 minutes. From Mount Camel you can see it exactly in the middle with a metal spire at the very top.

And what views open up from it! At the foot of this side of the mountain is the village of Kosya.

The monastery itself is visible.

From the main summit there is a well-trodden path to the summit of the mountain closest to the city. We were told to walk for about 1 hour. It is a pity, but we did not have enough time to get there, and we went back to the monastery for a tour of its territory. While walking, we tried to photograph everything that came across on the way.

And now about the territory…. Monastery "Shad Tchup Ling" is being built in the rocks on the northeastern slope of Mount Kachkanar at an altitude of 843 meters above sea level. Construction is observed in accordance with the ancient Tibetan and Mongolian canons of monastery architecture, which allows preserving the ecosystem of the area and harmoniously fitting the complex of structures into the picturesque landscape of Mount Kachkanar. The main function of the monastery is to organize and provide a Buddhist practical process: conducting rituals, services, traditional festive events, individual and collective practices

One of the main goals of the construction of the monastery complex is the preservation of Buddhist teachings and, in particular, a unique system of self-knowledge and self-improvement, which is Tantric Buddhism. One of the key buildings of the monastery is a stupa. A stupa (chorten, suburgan) is one of the important attributes of Buddhism. It is a monument to the enlightened mind of Buddha, and is also a vertical model of the universe. It is installed in certain places, harmonizing and structuring the space around itself. This is a pasture.

Here is the entrance to the courtyard.

Apparently, the local power plant ...

Inside the buildings ...

Mountain herbs.

In the monastery, right on the mountain, there is even a bathhouse. Rope crossing for weight lifting.

Library.

1st floor - library, 2nd floor - living rooms.

Next to the library, on the 1st floor, there is a stoker (lined with stone). A tea house is painted green, and above it is a children's room.

The plan of the monastery in the future.

ATTENTION!!! From the trip, we do not advertise to the monks, do not call for people to leave their homes to live in this monastery, and also do not spread this religion. There were no calls to us from the monks to stay and accept their teachings, but the stunning beauty around, the silence and tranquility are very conducive to well ... to stay at least a little bit ... make you want to get away from the bustle of the city ... Therefore, I will give a biography of the monk in a very brief summary only with an informative purpose.

Biography of Lama Sanye Tenzin Dokshita

Tendzin Dokshit (in the world Mikhail Vasilyevich Sannikov) was born on November 30, 1961 in the city of Votkinsk, Udmurt Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, into a family of hereditary military men. In 1979 he was admitted to the Perm Agricultural Institute. Finished courses civil aviation... In May 1980 he was drafted into the ranks of the USSR Armed Forces.

In February 1981 he was sent under a contract to Afghanistan. One of the permanent main tasks of his group in Afghanistan was the destruction of the caravans with weapons going to the Mujahideen from Pakistan. In 1987 he retired with the rank of captain. For several months he worked in the morgue of the Leninsky district of Perm as an orderly and assistant pathologist.

He studied at the Nizhny Tagil Art School. From his former mentor in Japanese sword fighting (Kendo) he learned about the existence of the Buddhist tradition in Buryatia. In 1989, he entered the Ivolginsky Datsan, where he was assigned to a group specializing in Buddhist Tantra, which was selected by Lama Pema Jang (Darma-Dodi Zhalsaraev), and took monastic vows under the name Tenzin Dokshit.

In 1991-1993. lived in the city of Gusinoozyorsk, then - in Tanchin-datsan of Dashi Gandan Darzhaling (the village of Gusinoe Ozero), where he practiced rituals. In the summer of 1993, he traveled to Mongolia, where he received initiation into the Yamantaka tantra from Lama Sanzhe-la in a retreat near the city of Orkhontuul (Selenginsky aimak). In December 1994 he was ordained a lama. In the winter of 1995, his Root Teacher, Pema Dzhang, gave him an order to build a Buddhist datsan in Russia, indicating the place of construction - the top of Mount Kachkanar (Sverdlovsk region).

The temple was named "Shadtchupling" (in Tibetan pronunciation "Sheddubling", Tib. Bshad sgrub gling; "Place of study and realization"). On May 16, 1995, work began on the construction of the monastery at the indicated location. Temple "Shadchupling" is being built by the forces of Tenzin Dokshit and a small community of people who took his initial monastic vows. Material construction is provided by the community of his lay disciples living in the Middle Urals.

In 2001, a local religious organization was registered in Kachkanar by the students of Tenzin Dokshita as part of the "Russian Diamond Way Association of the Karma Kagyu School". The question of the direct registration of the monastery as a reclusive center of the "Association" was also considered. The Association's orientation is towards predominantly mundane, non-monastic Buddhism.

How to get there by car:

on the highway Yekaterinburg - Kachkanar. In Kachkanar, along the main road, at the second traffic light (the Ploshchad stop complex will be on the right at the traffic light), turn left onto st. Krylov. This is the road towards Valerianovsk. Drive to the large sign "Western quarry", turn left along it and go to the barrier before entering the territory of the quarry. Leave the car at the barrier and walk along the dumped road straight along the railway tracks, along which ore is taken out of the quarry on turntables.