Khamriin Khiid Monastery

The Mahasiddha Danzan Ravjaa, one of Mongolia’s most outstanding and forward-thinking teachers, founded Khamriin Khiid in 1822. At its peak, Khamriin’s oasis housed around 500 monks and a sizable civilian community. All of the Vajrayana lineages were incorporated, but the Nyingma outlook and practices were given considerable attention. Retreatants relentlessly followed esoteric routes to enlightenment in the various caverns dotting adjacent volcanic rocks, while Danzan Ravjaa got revelatory visions of Padmasambhava in Mongolia’s first indigenous terma discovery.
Ravjaa, a poet, songsmith, dramatist, painter, and naturopathic doctor, added to Khamriin’s spiritual life by founding Mongolia’s first secular secondary and art schools, as well as a museum, library, and theater. Each summer, the latter puts on magnificent operatic dramas with Buddhist themes. Khamriin provided training for the performers, as well as all of the costumes, sets, and props. Ravjaa inspired the development of an altogether unique site dedicated to the mysterious region of Shambhala, with 108 stupas enclosing a temple enshrining the Kalachakra Tantra mandala, as one of his dying deeds.

The Red Army, led by the Soviets, destroyed and looted practically everything at Khamriin Khiid in 1938. The 64 crates of Danzan Ravjaa’s texts, belongings, and precious presents were only buried in the desert for more than 50 years because of the incredible forethought and fortitude of a Mongolian man named Tudev.

Tudev was a takhilch of Khamriin, a hereditary lifework for individuals born with a specific birthmark and a special destiny — to care for Danzan Ravjaa’s legacy. This responsibility has been passed down down the generations, with Tudev’s grandson.