A Stupa of Enlightenment Is Being Built in Shatta

In the village of Shatta in the Ketchenerovsky district, construction of a Stupa of Enlightenment is underway. Construction began in 2016, when statuettes of deities and other ritual items (the “Shatta collection”) were found near the village, but for a number of reasons it was postponed.

Today the residents of the village of Shatta are preparing all the necessary ingredients to be placed inside the stupa: they are making tsa-tsa — clay images of deities, rolling scrolls with Buddhist prayers, and so on.

At the request of the residents of Shatta, the administrator of the Central Khurul “The Golden Abode of Buddha Shakyamuni,” Yonten Gelong, performed the “Sangsol” ritual at the stupa construction site, during which an offering of three white and three sweet foods, as well as sang (fragrant herbs), was made to the deities and spirits of the locality.

A stupa is a unique religious object that brings good and happiness to all who come into contact with it. As a symbol of the Buddha’s enlightened consciousness, a stupa gives our world only positive energy. Building stupas, circumambulating them, prostrations, making offerings, meditation — any practice connected with a stupa closes off rebirth in the three lower realms, lays the causes for our perfection, well-being, peace, and inner harmony, sows the seeds of future enlightenment and complete freedom from suffering.