Sannikov, Mikhail Vasilievich. Early years and education
60 years ago, on the outskirts of the Sverdlovsk region, around 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 the Evraz Group of Companies, 31% of whose shares are owned by Roman Abramovich) announced a new development zone, the monastery falls within its boundaries. Thus, the interests of the Buddhist community and the metallurgical corporation intersected - and according to the law should not be resolved in favor of the monastery. In the meantime, Buddhists argue with the plant authorities and bailiffs, life continues on the top of the mountain.
Over the course of a year, The Village photographer Anna Marchenkova documented how Shad Tchup Ling lives and who finds refuge where the winter temperature 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, tantrism and meditation techniques, Buryat and Tibetan languages. As in a secular university, graduates receive diplomas higher education, and also religious ranks: men become lamas, women - khandams.
Now in Russia there are just over 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, began to be built in the spring of 1995 by former military sniper Mikhail Sannikov.
In 1981, under a contract, he went to serve in Afghanistan, where he destroyed caravans with weapons from Pakistan. After the service, in the early 90s, Mikhail entered the tantric faculty of the institute at the Ivolginsky datsan, from where he left 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 building a Buddhist center in no man’s land, not far from the local mining and processing plant. Dokshit named the future monastery at an altitude of 887 meters in the Urals Shad Tchup Ling, or “Place of Practice and Realization.”
Stupas among the snow
At the top, the lama built the first house with his own hands: he burned meter-long boulders on fires, pounded them with a sledgehammer, installed electricity, and built a lift for heavy loads on a steep slope. Here he brought the first students - 22 years later they turned a wild mountain plateau into a Buddhist complex of several living rooms, a yoga room, a library, a workshop, warehouses and ritual premises.
There is no actual monastery on the territory of the complex yet, but there are already religious buildings - Buddhist stupas. On a patch between the rocks, members of the community built the large and small stupas of the Awakening, the Parinirvana Stupa, and laid the foundation of the Tushita Descent from Heaven Stupa. In total, in the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism there are eight types of stupas associated with different stages of the life of the Buddha. They differ in architectural details in the middle part: the Parinirvana stupa is shaped like a bell and symbolizes the perfect wisdom of the Buddha, the Convergence stupa is different big amount steps. It is the stupas that truly protect Shad Tchup Ling because they are cultural heritage sites.
Only Dokshit and a couple of his followers remain permanently at the top of Kachkanar. In summer, 13–15 people live in a small community, in winter - half that number. Faces change, as does the reason why people are here. Students on sabbatical and searching for themselves, former military personnel and aspiring Buddhists rise to the top. The path up begins at the western checkpoint of the plant - the parties maintain silent neutrality, and therefore the path leads 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 kurum; In winter, on a well-trodden path, you can walk even faster. Kachkanar, where 40 thousand miners live, remains far below. Almost 300 kilometers to the west is Yekaterinburg.
Community members keep a logbook on LiveJournal and page“VKontakte”, they answer a common mobile phone. The log records the work done during the day, the names of those who live here permanently, the number of tourists who came to the last days. They also leave notes there for those who are going up and want to help the monastery - they ask to buy carrots and cereals, salt, matches, light building materials like self-adhesive film. Occasionally, donations for something large, like solar panels, are announced on social networks.
Danil
Seven years ago, Danil rode 500 kilometers on a bicycle to get to Kachkanar. He is the lama's eldest disciple 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 playing on the stock exchange and doing online trading. He loved analyzing financial processes and loved adrenaline. I dreamed of earning a lot of money, going somewhere by the sea, sitting at my laptop, drinking juice, and in the evening going to the teacher and talking about the meaning of life.
One day I was sitting at the computer and realized that I was getting dumber. God, I’m 30 years old, I’ll sit in front of the monitor for another 10–20 years - and nothing will change. I started looking online for someone to inspire me and came across the biography of Lama Dokshita. I got on my bike and rode off.
Seven years ago I knew nothing 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 took it, I would really suffer.
Over the years I have become a different person, I have probably become sad. Previously, I was so happy about going to clubs, alcohol, girls and purchases that spoke of high status - but now I realized that there was no point in chasing after this, because there would always be not enough. I destroyed everything that made me happy before, but I didn’t find anything that made me happy now. And I’m going to go further: take a monastic vow and go to Mongolia or India to continue my search.”
Shad Tchup Ling without monks
For 20 years, Lama Dokshit has been building a monastery with his own hands and accepting new followers, whom he teaches Buddhist practice and diligent work. But while construction continues on the mountain top, the community remains secular - Buddhist monks are prohibited from engaging in physical labor. If each of those who chop stones or grow 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.
There is almost an army routine in the community. Life glimmers in a narrow room with a stove and linoleum. During the day, those on duty in the kitchen prepare a simple soup from cereals and carrots, and in the evening, in the room heated for the night, the lama’s students lay out tourist foams and sleeping bags in order to get up promptly at six and start the everyday whirlwind of meditation and work. To stay in the monastery, you just need to ask permission from Dokshit and be prepared for hard physical labor. During the construction season, work on the summit continues until eight in the evening - with breaks for Buddhist practice, lunch and dinner. Twice a week a bathhouse is heated here, and on weekends they meet groups of tourists who sleep interspersed with novices or in tents away from the monastic housing.
A typical morning in August, when it’s already freezing at the top: after two hours of practice, the girls break the ice on a small pond and scoop up water to make breakfast and tea. In the yoga house, novices grind the moss, being careful not to damage the spores. They are needed to sprinkle them on a five-meter sculpture of a dragon, assembled from moss and polymer mesh. In spring the dragon will turn green. Over the summer, the novices built a gym, installed solar panels and built a statue of Buddha over the reliquary, where the monastery shrines are kept. In the last days of August, men cover the statue with white paint.
By November, the construction season ends, and the students who decided to spend the winter on the mountain melt snow and ice to get water, care for 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 love fireweed tea. There are fewer tourists; In winter, novices devote themselves to practice and prayer.
Travelers come and go - some stay for a week, others 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. Satima is currently undergoing training in India to become the first nun from the top of Kachkanar in the spring.
The lama teaches those who want to study Buddhism under the “Discovery of Buddhism” program. The student writes a statement and remains under the watchful eye of the lama for three months, strictly observing the rules of the community. Afterwards, it is customary to ask Dokshit for refuge and perform 111 thousand prostrations - a Buddhist practice that should help the student cleanse himself of vices and develop virtues. In Shad Tchup Ling, prostration is performed on special boards, wearing gloves: the one who performs the ritual lies down on the board, and then rises and stands with his feet where his face was just located. A hundred thousand prostrations take weeks and months, followed by a conversation with the lama. And if Dokshit believes that the student has not completely cleared his mind, he continues to work on himself in a special retreat house, reading mantras alone for days and receiving food from other members of the community. Afterwards 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 clear the snow. The next time he decides to talk in the workshop where he worked all day.
“Life went topsy-turvy after the army. I served the required two years and agreed to serve under a contract and signed a report. It was September 2004. The next day I was taken to liberate a school in Beslan.
Those who went through a terrorist attack while protecting hostages are not given any psychological assistance. But something had to be done with these memories. 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 violent. This is understandable in war: if you don’t kill, they will kill you. But even after returning I didn’t consider people as people. I perceived my parents as a source of money, and silently beat strangers who said rude things to me half to death. They were taken to intensive care, and a statement was written against me. Then everything repeated again.
One day I left the house and realized that there was nowhere to fall further. Here, in Kachkanar, everyone knows about the monastery, and out of desperation 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 else who decides to stay. So, while I was working, it was as if I was turned 180 degrees. I couldn’t get drugs, I got rid of my addiction, and suddenly I started communicating with people. It’s still strange to me that my mother speaks to me again in a loving voice - as if I was a child, and she was putting me to bed.
Valya doesn’t answer the lama, she’s lost in thought. Valya is 31, born in Perm, worked as an accountant in Moscow. Almost all adult life she suffers from psoriasis.
“Before, there were rashes all over my face. I was embarrassed to go out to people: it’s ugly, unaesthetic, and everyone always pesters me with questions. Psoriasis appeared when I had a fight with my parents and left home. They say genetic predisposition is to blame, but no one in my family was sick. I'm the only one unlucky.
In Moscow I worked an awful lot. I was so tired of the routine that I moved out of the rented apartment, gave away all my things and went traveling - I wanted to find a cure for psoriasis. I lived in India for two years. Salt water and the sun gave a cosmetic effect, the disease went inside, 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 psychosomatic. Once I’m cured myself, I’ll start helping others.
I came here in deep depression, and now no worms can get into my head. It’s too beautiful here for heavy thoughts: I go out into the yard, look around, and happiness goes off scale.”
The dog barks - the caravan moves on
For the last two years, the monastery has been under threat of demolition. In the depths 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 same one next to which the Buddhist stupas of the Shad Tchup Ling monastery stand. The complex falls within the sanitary protection zone of the new quarry, where any construction is prohibited.
Mikhail Sannikov started construction illegally, and therefore the enterprise has the right to expel uninvited guests from its territory. Lama Dokshit tried more than once to legalize his buildings, negotiated with the administration of the city and the plant, but in February 2017, the Bailiff Service issued a decree on the demolition of the monastery. Then the authorities and social activists, including musician Boris Grebenshchikov, stood up for the Buddhists, and the bailiffs, because of the washed out road, were unable to hand over the decree to the lama for a long time. Along the way, it turned out that the construction equipment needed for demolition was unlikely to climb up the steep slope to the top. The question hangs 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 to preserve the monastery is working. In response, the administration sent a letter with the results of an examination conducted by the St. Petersburg State Museum of Religion. They said that the religious organization on top of Kachkanar was illegitimate because it did not have a charter, and could not yet be considered a monastery because it did 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 main 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 study. The dog will bark, and the caravan will move on.
Mikhail Vasilievich Sannikov religious figure, head of the Shadchupling community.
Biography
Early years and education
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. After finishing the 8th grade of secondary school, he entered the Orthodox Moscow Theological Academy, however, after studying there for less than a month, he passed the documents and returned home. Having passed exams for the 10th grade of a general education school as an external student in the winter of 1979, he spent the rest of the year at school as a laboratory assistant in the physics and chemistry classrooms. In 1979, he was admitted to the Perm Agricultural Institute without exams; Having passed the exams as an external student and defended his thesis project, he graduated in January 1980. Along the way, he completed civil aviation courses.
Service in the KGB
In May 1980, he was drafted into the ranks of the USSR Armed Forces and underwent training for 8 months at the Yaroslavl training ground of the GB troops. Having completed his training with the rank of junior lieutenant, in February 1981 he was first sent under a contract to Afghanistan, where for several years he was the commander of a sabotage and reconnaissance group. He also participated in special KGB operations to check the combat readiness of units stationed directly in the USSR. One of the constant main tasks of his group in Afghanistan was the destruction of caravans with weapons going to the Mujahideen from Pakistan.
One day, during another operation, he saw through the sight sniper rifle that the horse, carrying bales with dushman weapons, was crying while climbing the mountain. He refused to shoot at her, for which he ended up in the mountain rescue service in the Pamirs, and later in Altai. In 1987, he retired due to disability with the rank of captain; for several months he worked in the morgue of the Leninsky district of Perm as an orderly and as an assistant to a pathologist. He studied externally at the Nizhny Tagil Art School and worked briefly as a cook in the Kama River Fleet.
Admission to study at the Ivolginsky datsan
From my former mentor in Japanese sword fighting, I learned about the existence in the USSR, in Buryatia, of a living tradition of Buddhism and that it was possible to receive a Buddhist education there. In 1988, I went for the first time to study at the Ivolginsky Datsan, but due to the fact that at the time of arrival all the course groups were already completed, I entered it only the next year. Based on the results of the introductory interview, he was assigned to a group specializing in Buddhist Tantra, which was selected by Lama D. A. Zhalsaraev, and took monastic vows under the name Tingdzin Dokshit. In total, 12 people were recruited into the group, mostly Russians.
Studying in Buryatia and Mongolia
During 1989-1991, Mikhail Sannikov studied at the Ivolginsky datsan, although officially the Buddhist Institute “Dashi Choynhorling” at the Ivolginsky datsan was opened only in 1991, and at first there were only two faculties: philosophical and medical, and the tantric one was opened later. At this time, Mikhail Sannikov met D.B. Ayusheev, who later headed the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia in the status of Pandito Khambo Lama and was also at the datsan at that time.
In 1991-1993 he lived mainly in Gusinoozersk, then in the Tamchinsky datsan Dashi Gandan Darzhaling, where he practiced performing rituals. In the summer of 1993, I made my first trip to Mongolia, where I received initiation into Yamantaka tantra from Lama Sanzhe-la at a retreat near the city of Orkhontuul. In October-November of the same year, in the same retreat, he practiced Phowa, transmitted to him by Lama Ngedub.
From the end of January to mid-August 1994, near Kharkhorin, under the leadership of Lama Tsyren, a retreat on the Six Yogas of Niguma took place. He also gave him initiation into the Hevajra and Chakrasamvara tantras. After a short return to the Ivolginsky datsan, he returned to Kharkhorin, to Erdene-Dzu and remained there until November of the same year, participating in the restoration of the monastery enclosure of stupas under the leadership of Pabo Lama.
Construction of a temple on Mount Kachkanar
One of the stupas on Mount Kachkanar under construction
After completing his studies at the Ivolginsky datsan, Mikhail Sannikov was planning to finally emigrate to Mongolia. However, in the winter of 1995, his Root Teacher, D. A. Zhalsaraev, gave him the order to build a Buddhist datsan in Russia. He motivated this by the fact that in the west of Russia there is already one Buddhist temple - the St. Petersburg datsan "Gunzechoiney", in the east - temples of Buddhist Buryatia, but in the middle, in the Urals, there is nothing. Zhalsaraev indicated the place where such a temple was to be erected - the top of Mount Kachkanar.
It was decided to call the temple "Shadtchupling" - "Place of Practice and Realization." On May 16, 1995, on the day of the Buddhist holiday Donshod Khural, Mikhail Sannikov began work on the construction of a monastery at the indicated location. He spent almost the entire remaining, as well as the next, years in stone work on the mountain, periodically going down to the nearby city of Kachkanar to earn money for food.
A fire that occurred in 1998 completely destroyed all the buildings built at that time. wooden buildings temple complex, and construction had to start almost all over again.
The Shadtchupling temple is being built by Mikhail Sannikov himself and a small community of people who took initial monastic vows from him. Materially, the construction is provided by the community of his lay disciples living in the Middle Urals. Construction is extremely complicated by the inaccessibility and remoteness of the temple’s location from the transport infrastructure, as well as by the policy of the management of the Kachkanar mining and processing plant, which claims to develop ore deposits located near the construction site of the temple. In the fall of 2006, another director of the Kachkanarsky mining and processing plant climbed the mountain and offered 5 million rubles and help in moving the monastery to another location. Sannikov grinned and replied: we will ask exactly twice as much as you can pay. He laughed, left the gingerbread and left.
Sannikov Mikhail Vasilievich- founder of the Buddhist monastery located on Mount Kachkanar, lama, head of the Shadchupling community.
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.
http://www.kommersant.ru/gallery/2388788
In May 1980, Sannikov was drafted into the ranks of the USSR Armed Forces and underwent training for 8 months at the Yaroslavl training ground of the GB troops. Having completed his training with the rank of junior lieutenant.
In February 1981, he was first sent under contract to Afghanistan, where for several years he was the commander of a sabotage and reconnaissance group.
Mikhail Sannikov also participated in special KGB operations to check the combat readiness of units stationed directly in the USSR. One of the constant main tasks of his group in Afghanistan was the destruction of caravans with weapons going to the Mujahideen from Pakistan.
Buddhism
In 1988, I went for the first time to study at the Ivolginsky datsan.
During 1989-1991, Mikhail Sannikov studied at the Ivolginsky datsan, although officially the Buddhist Institute “Dashi Choynhorling” was at the Ivolginsky datsan.
In 1991-1993 he lived mainly in Gusinoozersk, then in the Tamchinsky datsan Dashi Gandan Darzhaling, where he practiced performing rituals. In the summer of 1993, I made my first trip to Mongolia, where I received initiation into Yamantaka tantra from Lama Sanzhe-la in a retreat near the city of Orkhontuul. In October-November of the same year, in the same retreat, he practiced Phowa, transmitted to him by Lama Ngedub.
From late January to mid-August 1994 near Kharkhorin under the leadership of Lama Tsyren Mikhail Vasilievich SannikovThere was a retreat on the Six Yogas of Niguma.
In the winter of 1995, his Root Teacher, D. A. Zhalsaraev, gave him an order to build a Buddhist datsan in Russia.
It was decided to call the temple "Shadtchupling" - "Place of Practice and Realization." On May 16, 1995, on the day of the Buddhist holiday Donshod Khural, Mikhail Sannikov began work on the construction of a monastery at the indicated location.
A fire that occurred in 1998 completely destroyed all the wooden buildings of the temple complex that had been erected at that time, and construction had to be started almost all over again.
In 2001, in Kachkanar, a local religious organization was registered as part of the RABSHKK by the students of Mikhail Sannikov.
By 2003, an agreement in principle was reached on the assistance of the Ural organizations “Association” in the construction of the Shadchupling monastery. The issue of direct registration of the monastery as a retreat (recluse) center was also considered.
The issue of direct registration of the monastery as a retreat (recluse) center was also considered.
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Votkinsk, Udmurt ASSR, RSFSR, USSR
Mikhail Vasilievich Sannikov(Tingdzin Dokshit; November 30, Votkinsk, Udmurt Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, RSFSR, USSR) - religious figure, head of the Shadchupling community.
Biography
Early years and education
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. After finishing the 8th grade of secondary school, he entered the Orthodox Moscow Theological Academy (Zagorsk), however, after studying there for less than a month, he passed the documents and returned home. Having passed exams for the 10th grade of a general education school as an external student in the winter of 1979, he spent the rest of the year at school as a laboratory assistant in the physics and chemistry classrooms. In 1979, he was admitted to the Perm Agricultural Institute without exams; Having passed the exams as an external student and defended his thesis project, he graduated in January 1980. Along the way, he completed civil aviation courses.
Service in the KGB
In May 1980, he was drafted into the ranks of the USSR Armed Forces and underwent training for 8 months at the Yaroslavl training ground of the GB troops. Having completed his training with the rank of junior lieutenant, in February 1981 he was first sent under a contract to Afghanistan, where for several years he was the commander of a sabotage and reconnaissance group. He also participated in special KGB operations to check the combat readiness of units stationed directly in the USSR. One of the constant main tasks of his group in Afghanistan was the destruction of caravans with weapons going to the Mujahideen from Pakistan.
One day, during another operation, he saw through the scope of a sniper rifle that a horse, carrying bales with dushman weapons, was crying while climbing up the mountain. He refused to shoot at her, for which he ended up in the mountain rescue service in the Pamirs, and later in Altai. In 1987, he retired due to disability with the rank of captain; for several months he worked in the morgue of the Leninsky district of Perm as an orderly and as an assistant to a pathologist. He studied externally at the Nizhny Tagil Art School and worked briefly as a cook in the Kama River Fleet.
Admission to study at the Ivolginsky datsan
From my former mentor in Japanese sword fighting (Kendo), I learned about the existence in the USSR, in Buryatia, of a living tradition of Buddhism and that it was possible to receive a Buddhist education there. In 1988, I went for the first time to study at the Ivolginsky datsan, but due to the fact that at the time of arrival all the course groups were already completed, entered it only the following year . Based on the results of the introductory interview, he was assigned to a group specializing in Buddhist Tantra, which was selected by Lama D. A. Zhalsaraev, And took monastic vows under the name Tingdzin Dokshit. In total, 12 people were recruited into the group, mostly Russians .
Studying in Buryatia and Mongolia
During 1989-1991, Mikhail Sannikov studied at the Ivolginsky datsan, although officially the Buddhist Institute “Dashi Choynhorling” at the Ivolginsky datsan was opened only in 1991, and at first there were only two faculties: philosophical and medical, and the tantric one was opened later. At this time, Mikhail Sannikov met D. B. Ayusheev, who later headed the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia in the status of Pandit Hambo Lama and was also at the datsan at that time.
In 1991-1993 he lived mainly in Gusinoozersk, then in the Tamchinsky datsan Dashi Gandan Darzhaling (village Gusinoye Ozero), where he practiced performing rituals. In the summer of 1993, he made his first trip to Mongolia, where he received initiation into Yamantaka Tantra from Lama Sanzhaizhamts at the Gandan Shadurviin Temple in Erdenet; in October-November of the same year, at the same temple, he practiced phowa, transmitted to him by Lama Ngedub .
From the end of January to mid-August 1994, near Kharkhorin, under the leadership of Gabju Tserendorzh, a retreat on the Six Yogas of Niguma took place. He also gave him initiation into the Hevajra and Chakrasamvara tantras. After a short return to the Ivolginsky datsan, he returned to Kharkhorin, to Erdene-Dzu and remained there until November of the same year, participating in the restoration of the monastery enclosure of stupas under the leadership of Pabo Lama. Having returned first to Tamchyn datsan, and then to Ivolginsky datsan, he received initiation into lamas from Yeshe Lodoy Rinpoche, Tenzin Lama from the Aginsky datsan and Tenzin Lama from the Okinsky datsan.
Construction of a temple on Mount Kachkanar
One of the stupas on Mount Kachkanar under construction
After completing his studies at the Ivolginsky datsan, Mikhail Sannikov was planning to finally emigrate to Mongolia, but in the winter of 1995, D. A. Zhalsaraev gave him the order to build a datsan in Russia. He motivated this by the fact that in the west of Russia there is already one Buddhist temple - the St. Petersburg datsan "Gunzechoiney", in the east there are temples of Buddhist Buryatia, but in the middle, in the Urals, there is nothing. Zhalsaraev indicated the place where such a temple was to be erected - the top of Mount Kachkanar (Sverdlovsk region).
It was decided to call the temple "Shadtchupling" - "Place of Practice and Realization." On May 16, 1995, Mikhail Sannikov began work on the construction of a monastery at the indicated location. He spent almost the entire remaining, as well as the next, years in stone work on the mountain, periodically going down to the nearby city of Kachkanar to earn money for food.
Relations with Russian Buddhist organizations
The changes that occurred in the life of the country in the first half of the 1990s and influenced the process of formation of Buddhist religious organizations in new Russia, including the growth of nationalist sentiments in the ethnic republics of the Russian Federation, as well as the growing popularity of Buddhism among the urban population in regions non-traditional for Buddhism, predetermined the complex relationship of Mikhail Sannikov with modern Buddhist associations in Russia.
Relationship with the Gelug school after graduation
Materials in the media
- Arkhipov A. Monk // “Arguments and Facts - Ural”, No. 39, 2003
- Bessarabova A. Our correspondent tried to become a Buddhist monk // “World of News”, 12/20/2005
- Zhukovskaya A. The fate of a scout in the Ural style. The resident became a Buddhist monk // “Arguments and Facts - Ural”, No. 34, 2006
- Samodelova S. Sannikov Land // “Moskovsky Komsomolets”, 01/12/2006
- Khazov A., Suvorova T. Ural Buddhism. // Ural Pathfinder: magazine. - 2002. - No. 07.
- Shorin A. Buddhist monastery under threat of demolition // “Regional newspaper”, 09/14/2006.
17 kilometers from the city of Kachkanar at an altitude of 843 m above sea level, among the rocks, there is “Sannikov Land”. Mikhail Sannikov, a former “Afghan” and now a “Buddhist,” as the locals call him, has been living in a small patch for more than six years. Together with like-minded people he builds a temple. With the help of colleagues from the Kachkanarsky Rabochiy newspaper, we visited this man.
Road to sky
Kachkanar and its surroundings are indescribably beautiful. Especially in the fall. The gentle blue pre-sunset sky is reflected in the huge mirror of the man-made Kachkanar Sea. Above its far shore (as seen from the city) rises a large golden mountain in the shape of a regular triangle. A gray cloud caught on its peak and inadvertently dropped too low.
At night, on the eve of our “expedition,” it rained on the mountain, tarnishing its “reputation” as one of the most beautiful places in the Urals in my eyes. The forest became damp, cold and gloomy.
The photographer of “Kachkanarka” Viktor Nikolaevich Chuprakov acted as a guide and guide, who walked these places far and wide. Behind him, Zhanna Tashlykova, an athlete, a beauty and also the executive secretary of “Kachkanarka”, climbed the stones, Svetlana Teterina, her colleague, the organizer of our hike, and me.
After about 40 minutes of climbing, we realized that... we didn’t know where to look for “Sannikov Land”: heavy fog got in the way. Tired, hungry, wet and cold, alone among the indifferent cold forest, we began to shout to Mikhail, faintly hoping that he would hear the unlucky travelers.
Needless to say, we perceived the cry “I’m coming!”, which rang out in the hopeless, foggy silence, as the saving voice of God.
After some time, Mikhail himself appeared - strongly built, short, wearing a pea coat and an exotic-looking Panama hat. He turned out to be a sociable, witty, ironic person. He took us to his shelter, located in the gorge: two small wooden houses (a workshop and the “apartment” itself), nearby a stone Stupa, a symbol of the Enlightened Mind. Among the living creatures – the cat Kotya and the shaggy “Caucasian” Engry.
How do you live here - without electricity, TV, newspapers? – we asked Mikhail a question that is natural for people spoiled by the benefits of civilization.
I look at the sky - clear, without smoke. So there is no war. “And the rest doesn’t matter,” our savior answered half-jokingly.
How Sannikov became a “barn mouse”
He spoke about the war for a reason: he rattled off for 4 years in the shooting mountains of Afghanistan. At the end of the service this happened. During one of the operations, I suddenly saw through the optical sight of a sniper rifle how a horse, laden with a dushman’s load, was climbing up a narrow mountain path and... crying large tears... When they ordered to shoot at the poor animal, he flatly refused.
Mikhail had a choice: either serve his sentence in a hazardous chemical production facility, or in the mountain rescue service (the same penal battalion). Sannikov preferred the latter: after all Fresh air. For six (!) years, as he put it, he carried sacks in the mountains (no longer in Afghanistan).
At the age of 27 he returned to his native Perm region. He recalls his post-army times like this: he got married, built a house, worked in the river fleet. I also thought a lot about the meaning of life. He began to become interested in religious issues.
In war they either become atheists: if God exists, how could he allow this to happen? Or, on the contrary, they come to God,” says Sannikov, pouring his favorite green tea into mugs.
We sit cross-legged on a boardwalk covered with blankets. The hut is good, but a bit cramped. Through the only small window, the light of a gray day sparingly pours in, illuminating the ascetic environment. Of the “furniture” - only the mentioned flooring - “sofa” (which is also a table). Moreover, there are shelves on which there are books on religion, history, psychology, as well as various construction manuals. In the corner, the stove “digests” firewood with a crash. Next to it is a washbasin. (The girls notice that the towel hanging above him is perfect white). Ural landscapes, thangkas (Buddhist religious paintings), and portraits of Tibetan lamas are hung on the walls.
I was lucky: I met one person in time,” our interlocutor continues the story. “It was he who told the parable that saved me from religious tossing. A sparrow flies over a field, finds a grain here, pecks something there. Suddenly he sees a mouse lying on a stone, basking in the sun. He flies up to her and asks: “What are you doing, mouse? Why aren’t you looking for food?” The mouse answers him: “What do I need? I live in a barn!”
It is not clear at first glance. A sparrow is a person who is looking for meaning in life. He will stick to one teaching, then another, and will be left with nothing. And the “mouse” has already found its religion - and at its disposal are all the grains of sacred knowledge accumulated over millennia.
Mikhail chose Buddhism as the “barn” - the most ancient of the 4 world religions. At the age of 28 he decided to become a monk. He entered a Buddhist monastery, which is located 25 km from Ulan-Ude in the village of Verkhnie Ivolgi.
Life in the monastery
Perhaps the main difference between Buddhist monasteries and Christian ones is that they do not have a rite of tonsure, after which a person can no longer return to worldly life. Buddhist “monks” - huvarakas, which translates as listeners - are given freedom of choice; they are free to leave the monastery at any time. Everyone decides their own destiny.
After all, the main tenet of Buddhism is responsibility. For your thoughts and actions. A bad deed cannot be “undone” by confessing to a priest. He will have to be redeemed in this or the next birth. Buddha said: “To understand what you did in past lives, look at your present life. To know what your future will be like, look at your present thoughts and actions.”
They come to the monastery with the noblest thoughts. But approximately 60 percent of those admitted leave, unable to withstand the harsh monastic everyday life.
Among them are “failing students” who did not show due diligence in the sciences and failed the exams that are held regularly. The range of subjects studied is quite wide: Buddhist philosophy and general philosophy, history of religions and Buddhism, Tibetan, English, Sanskrit languages, rhetoric, debating, fundamentals of medicine, esotericism, etc.
Didn’t you really miss social life in the monastery, didn’t you go “AWOL”? – I ask Mikhail.
It happened, we ran,” he answers honestly, “to the cinema, to go to football, or just to walk around the city.”
“First-year students” were especially guilty of this. Their older monastic brethren had entertainment of a more “applied” religious nature.
Once we were sweeping the area near the Stupa (a religious building, a monument to the Enlightened Mind of the Buddha, it resembles a pyramid and symbolizes the vertical model of the universe) - and noticed that, having been near it, our teacher Pemo Jang... does not leave traces on the ground, says Mikhail .
Then we decided to conduct an experiment: we dug a shallow hole half a meter by half a meter, placed thin wooden frames over it, covered them with newspapers, and covered everything with earth. And what? The teacher calmly walked through our trap, grinned and carried on more vulgarly!
Or there was another case. My friend Sasha Pchelkin, while repairing a fence, stepped on a nail. The foot was very swollen. The teacher comes up: “What, does your leg hurt? I’m freeing you from this work - take a bag from the caretaker, go to the garden and bring cabbage.” And this is 4 km there and back. Sasha, gritting his teeth in pain, went. I came back, and my leg doesn’t hurt at all...
After 6 years of study at the monastery, the time came for Mikhail to set off on his journey to his place of service. The conversation with the mentor about this was short.
The teacher said, Mikhail recalls, that in Russia we have monasteries and retreat centers (places of meditation retreat) everywhere. But in the very heart of the country, in the Urals, no. I added that wonderful people live here, and there are mountains (a prerequisite for locating a monastery). The teacher, who had never been not only to Kachkanar, but in general to the Urals, showed a point on the map and described in detail the place where I was to build a monastery. I didn't ask any questions...
A place where wishes come true
This is how the word “Kachkanar” is translated in the Tibetan manner. Lama Tenzin Dokshit (Sannikov’s new name) arrived at the point indicated by the teacher in 1995. All I had with me was a backpack with books, clothes, “quick” Chinese noodles, and some money.
The first “huvarak” came to the lama within a week: we met by chance in the city. Now Sannikov has about a dozen students. He works with each of them individually. In addition, 50-60 students from Ural universities come in the summer. There are especially many guys from the faculties of psychology and philosophy. (We visited the lama in the fall, so we didn’t see them anymore).
It must be said that Sannikov does not invite anyone to his place. Buddhism does not accept missionary work at all. If a person is spiritually mature, he comes himself. If it is not ripe, then, as the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot force it to drink.
People learn about the flower of spirituality that bloomed on the wild Kachkanar rocks from friends. Some children are sent on a trip... by their parents, - looking at the friends of their children who returned home from the monastery calm and peaceful.
The purpose of solitude is not to close yourself off and escape from the world, but in the silence of the mountains to understand yourself and conquer your passions, says Sannikov.
On the one hand, he is happy about the ever-increasing flow of people interested in Buddhism, on the other hand, there is not enough time for everyone. After all, we need to talk to everyone and answer pressing questions.
“Many guys want to immediately learn the secret sciences and yoga,” Mikhail smiles, “and are a little disappointed that at first they have to do hard physical work. But Buddhism does not accept theory without practice.
And the first of the practices that those who arrive at the temple learn is chipping stones from rocks and dragging them to build a monastery. (Physical labor helps to establish control over the mind - the main goal of Buddhism).
Today the Lama and his like-minded people are completing the construction of the Stupa. The first floors of the workshop and refectory have already been completed. Sites have been prepared for a bathhouse, showers, a classroom, a greenhouse, and a pit has been dug for a pond. Next in line are a temple hall, a library, and a tea house. There are even plans to create a farm in the nearby village of Kuchum to provide the monastery with vegetables and dairy products.
As for the goals of the Shad Tchup Ling monastery itself (translated from Tibetan as “a place of practice and realization”), they are as follows: to preserve centuries-old monastic and yogic traditions: to conduct educational activities (lectures are planned for everyone on the history and philosophy of Buddhism, astrology, Tibetan medicine, painting, etc.). The monastery, Sannikov hopes, will become an international meditation and psychotherapeutic center.
To my question, how do you feel about the lama’s plans? Orthodox Church, Sannikov replies: “Fine. Now, during the reign of Bishop Vincent, we have no disagreements.”
But in the time of Nikon, especially zealous zealots of the Orthodox faith were indignant: they say, what kind of Baptist-Buddhist? And why would his temple be located above our Orthodox ones?!.
First and last appearance
Mikhail gets up early. It splits stones by pre-heating them with a fire so that cracks appear. He also performs various practices that promote the development of the mind, and meditates. (Although he doesn’t really like this word, he says there is a beautiful Russian synonym - contemplation). The goal of the Practitioner is to make the mind like a diamond: a clean, strong, sharp instrument.
The lama is not provided with permanent financial assistance; the idea itself must prove its viability. Sannikov accepts donations, but only building materials. He explains this by saying that he doesn’t want to feel obligated.
But, naturally, the lama does not live by the “holy spirit” alone. He loves tea very much. He can talk about him for hours. He doesn't drink alcohol at all. He eats ascetically: pasta, porridge, mushrooms. Although there was time, I swam as a cook on the liner and cooked shark fins with avocado sauce. He feeds his barking and meowing friends the same thing he eats.
To earn money, Sannikov goes down to the city in winter, lays tiles, and performs other construction work.
In summer and autumn he collects mushrooms and berries. He does not hunt animals for reasons of principle.
The “highlander” also grows vegetables and flowers. I equipped flower beds especially for these purposes. Soon he will install windmills and an engine that will generate energy. Then it will be possible to install light, even install a computer with Internet access via a radio modem - the Buddhist monk is well versed in technology.
On the “mainland”, in Yekaterinburg, he rarely appears. With a shudder he remembers his last “outing”: friends persuaded him to go to the anniversary of one of the city TV channels. He didn’t agree for a long time, but when he found out that there would be ponies - Mikhail loves horses - he agreed. Which I very soon regretted: among those celebrating, the little horses were the only sober creatures. The most depressing impression on Sannikov was made by the children who, “professionally,” as he put it, swore.
This is my first and last “public appearance” for the next 10 years, Mikhail is sure.
Prophecy of a Tibetan Lama
Buddhists, according to Sannikov, live “without a homeland and a flag.” Because it is not wise to become attached to anything, because everything earthly is maya, an illusion. Attachment to them gives rise to suffering and puts an end to the possibility of getting out of the wheel of births and deaths.
But still, the Kachkanar Lama loves Russia, believes that they will come for us better times. According to him, about the imminent revival " northern country“(judging by numerous details, this can only be Russia) was also said by the prophet lama who lived in Tibet many years ago. All predicted events (for example, the occupation of Tibet by the Chinese) came true.
...We talked with the lama until late in the evening. A cloud, interested in our conversation, looked through the window with a misty face, and the wind whistled as it made its way through the rocks. An “eternal candle” (such a clever device) was burning in Sannikov’s home, and Kotya was purring peacefully at his feet.
“Everything in the world is interconnected, everything is alive, nothing is dead,” says Sannikov. And he begins to prove the postulates of Buddhism... using the concepts of nuclear physics.
...There is an ancient parable about how differently people understand their place in life. Three people erecting some kind of structure were asked what they were doing. One said: “I’m digging the ground.” The other one is “Crushing stones.” And the third answered: “I am building a temple”...
The Kachkanar Lama builds a temple among the Kachkanar rocks and, at the same time, inside himself.
...When in the editorial office of “Kachkanarsky Rabochiy” we summed up the successful “expedition”, one of my colleagues said: “It’s so good that now there is “Sannikov Land”, where any traveler can get shelter, spend the night, talk with this extraordinary person."
And if you are lost, you can shout to Mikhail, and he will respond to the call, come and help.
Andrey KARKIN
"Regional newspaper" 10/26/2001
See also:
Alexander ARKHIPOV "Monk" ("AiF", No. 39, 2003)
