View source for Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov

{{Short description|Buddhist lama (1852–1927)}}
{{Family name hatnote|Dashdorj|Itgeliin|lang=Mongolian}}
{{Infobox religious biography
| name               = Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov
| native_name        = {{nobold|Этигэлэй Дашадоржо}}
| native_name_lang   = bua
| image              = Itigelov.jpg
| religion           = [[Tibetan Buddhism]]
| school             = [[Gelug]]
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1852|5|13|df=yes}}
| birth_place        = Ulzy Dobo, [[Russian Empire]] (now [[Buryatia]], Russia)<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fedorovich |first=Nastya |date=9 November 2023 |title=Говорят, что мертвые не потеют. Почему Хамбо Лама, который умер в 1927 году, выглядит лучше, чем многие из нас по утрам? |trans-title=They say the dead aren't sweating: Why does the Khambo Lama, who died in 1927, look better than so many of us in the morning? |url=https://www.techinsider.ru/popmem/1618617-govoryat-chto-mertvye-ne-poteyut-pochemu-hambo-lama-kotoryi-umer-v-1927-godu-vyglyadit-luchshe-chem-mnogie-iz-nas-po-utram/ |access-date=10 February 2024 |work=TechInsider |language=ru}}</ref>
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1927|6|15|1852|5|13|df=yes}}
| temple             = [[Yangazhin Datsan]]
| office1            = 12th [[Khambo Lama|Pandito Khambo Lama]]
| term_start1        = 1911
| term_end1          = 1917
| predecessor1       = {{ill|Choinzon Dorjo Iroltyn|ru|Иролтуев, Чойнзон-Доржо}}
| successor1         = {{ill|Tsybikzhap-Namzhil Laydanov|ru|Лайдапов, Цыбикжап-Намжил}}
}}
'''Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov'''{{efn|{{langx|bua|Этигэлэй Дашадоржо|translit=Etigelei Dashadorjo}}; {{langx|ru|Даши-Доржо Итигэлов}}}}, also transcribed at Etigelov or Itigelov, (13 May 1852 – 15 June 1927) was a [[Buryats|Buryat]] [[Buddhist]] [[lama]] and the 12th Pandito [[Khambo Lama]] in the [[Tibetan Buddhist]] tradition.<ref>{{Cite news |date=13 September 2018 |title=В главном Буддийском храме России в Бурятии пройдёт праздник Хамбо ламы Этигэлова |trans-title=Khambo Lama Itigilov celebration to be held in Russia's main Buddhist temple |url=https://vtinform.com/news/148/129668/?sphrase_id=29686115 |access-date=10 February 2024 |work=Eastern TeleInform |language=ru}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Quijiada |first=Justine Buck |date=2019 |title='An Inauguration for Etigelov: Multiple Genres of History in Buryatia', Buddhists, Shamans, and Soviets: Rituals of History in Post-Soviet Buryatia |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190916794.003.0002  |pages=34–42|doi=10.1093/oso/9780190916794.003.0002 }}</ref>
After Itigilov's death in 1927, his body was exhumed and reburied in 1955 and again in 1972, showing an intact body.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Myers |first=Steven Lee |date=2002-10-01 |title=Ivolginsk Journal; A Russian Lama's Body, and His Faith, Defy Time |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/01/world/ivolginsk-journal-a-russian-lama-s-body-and-his-faith-defy-time.html |access-date=2024-05-06 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In 2002, the body was exhumed for a final time, receiving scientific and media attention for its well preserved state.<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |last=Bernstein |first=Anya |date=2011 |title=The Post-Soviet Treasure Hunt: Time, Space, and Necropolitics in Siberian Buddhism |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41241827 |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |volume=53 |issue=3 |pages=632 |doi=10.1017/S0010417511000272 |jstor=41241827 |issn=0010-4175}}</ref> Itigilov’s body is currently kept in a glass case in a temple at the [[Ivolginsky Datsan|Ivolginsky datsan]] in Buryatia, 23 km from [[Ulan-Ude]], where it has become a place of pilgrimage.
== Early life ==
Itigilov was born near the village of Orongoi in Buryatia, Russia and orphaned at a young age.<ref>{{Citation |last=Quijada |first=Justine Buck |title=An Inauguration for Etigelov |date=2019-03-15 |work=Buddhists, Shamans, and Soviets |pages=45 |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190916794.003.0002 |access-date= |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oso/9780190916794.003.0002 |isbn=978-0-19-091679-4}}</ref> Despite this, due to his intellectual promise, he enrolled in the Anninsky [[datsan]], where he began his education and studied to pass Buddhist academic exams. He studied for almost twenty years.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Amogolonova |first=Darima |date=2015 |title=A Symbolic Person of Buddhist Revival in Buryatia: 'Our Hambo' Damba Ayusheev |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24572082 |journal=Inner Asia |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=226–236 |doi=10.1163/22105018-12340043 |jstor=24572082 |issn=1464-8172}}</ref> In 1895, Itigilov moved to the Tamchinsky datsan, where he received medical training.<ref name=":1" /> Then, in 1898, Itigilov began teaching philosophy at the Yangazhinsky datsan, where he became the leading monastery abbot in 1903.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Биография [Biography] |url=http://etegelov.ru/biography |access-date= |website=The Insititute of the Hambo Lama Itigelov etegelov.ru}}</ref>
== War efforts ==
Because of his [[Cossacks|Cossack]] heritage, Itigilov was supposed to complete a term of military service, but, thanks to a request from the leader of the Anninsky datsan where Itigilov was conducting his work and studies, he was excused from military service by the indemnities paid by four villages over the course of twenty years.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Намсараева |first=Алла |date=2011-10-27 |title=Казаки и буддизм. 2.0 [Cossacks and Buddhism 2.0] |url=https://www.svoboda.org/a/24372781.html |access-date= |work=Радио Свобода |language=ru}}</ref> However, when the [[Russo-Japanese War]] began in 1904, Itigilov felt motivated to provide his own abilities to aid in the war effort—performing Buddhist rites for deceased soldiers and soldiers deploying to the front.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Syrtypova |first=Surun-Khanda |date=2023 |title=О состоянии и внешних связях буддийских монастырей Российского Забайкалья на рубеже XIX–XX вв. (на примере Эгитуйского дацана и истории Зандан Жуу) [On the state and external relations of Buddhist monasteries of the Russian Transbaikalia at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries (on the example of the Egitui datsan and the history of Zandan Zhuu).] |url=https://vestnik.ivran.ru/en/articles/2432/212135 |access-date= |website=vestnik.ivran.ru |page=145 |language=ru}}</ref>
In 1915, during [[World War I]], Pandito Khambo Lama Itigilov and Damby Heshektuev traveled to various datsans in Siberia, collecting funds to contribute to the war.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sablin |first=Ivan |date=2018-11-26 |title=Official Buddhism in Russia's Politics and Education - Religion, Indigeneity, and Patriotism in Buryatia |url=https://er.ceres.rub.de/index.php/ER/article/view/7344 |journal=Entangled Religions |language=en |volume=5 |pages=217–220 |doi=10.13154/er.v5.2018.210-249 |issn=2363-6696}}</ref> They were able to buy clothing, towels, tobacco products, berries, sugar, and other necessary products to send to the front line and hospitals in need.<ref name=":2" /> Itigilov also encouraged Buddhist monks with medical knowledge to volunteer to serve in hospitals for the Russian army; it is said that Itigilov donated much of his own funds in support of providing goods and medical help to those in need, around 5000 rubles.<ref name=":4" /> Because of his dedicated efforts in fundraising and aiding the wounded of the war, Emperor [[Nicholas II]] bestowed Itigilov with the award of the [[Order of Saint Anna]], of the II degree.<ref name=":2" />
== Religious leadership ==
In 1911, Itigilov was elected Pandito [[Khambo Lama]] of [[Siberia]]n Buddhists.<ref>{{Citation |last=Quijada |first=Justine Buck |title=An Inauguration for Etigelov |date=2019-03-15 |work=Buddhists, Shamans, and Soviets |pages=35 |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190916794.003.0002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oso/9780190916794.003.0002 |isbn=978-0-19-091679-4}}</ref> Since 1764, the Pandito Khambo Lama was recognized by the state as the leader of Eastern Siberian (predominantly [[Buryats|Buryat]] and [[Evenks|Evenki]]) Buddhists.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Sablin |first=Ivan |date=2018-11-26 |title=Official Buddhism in Russia's Politics and Education - Religion, Indigeneity, and Patriotism in Buryatia |url=https://er.ceres.rub.de/index.php/ER/article/view/7344 |journal=Entangled Religions |language=en |volume=5 |pages=217 |doi=10.13154/er.v5.2018.210-249 |issn=2363-6696}}</ref> This title originates from the [[Gelug]] Tradition of [[Tibetan Buddhism]].<ref name=":5" /> According to Buryat Buddhist teachings, as Itigilov was chosen to be the twelfth Pandito Khambo Lama, he was recognized to be the reincarnation of the first Pandito Khambo Lama Zaiaev (1711–76).<ref name=":3" /> At this time, Itigilov was also proclaimed to be a ''[[tulku]]'', a deeply enlightened individual who takes corporeal form to continue the lineage of specific teachings.<ref name=":6">{{Citation |last=Quijada |first=Justine Buck |title=An Inauguration for Etigelov |date=2019-03-15 |work=Buddhists, Shamans, and Soviets |pages=45 |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190916794.003.0002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oso/9780190916794.003.0002 |isbn=978-0-19-091679-4}}</ref>
During the [[Tsarist Empire|Tsarist]] period of Buryat Buddhism, the Khambo Lambo was not just a religious leader, but also performed official political and state duties.<ref name=":1" /> In 1913 Itigilov was invited to join a delegation of Buryats who would represent the Buryat nation at the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the [[House of Romanov]] in [[Saint Petersburg]]. While in St. Petersburg, Itigilov conducted the inaugural ''khural'' prayer at the St. Petersburg datsan.<ref name=":6" /> As Khambo Lama, Itigilov believed strongly in the prohibition of accepting donations for any reasons other than to benefit monasteries and Buddhist educational initiatives and encouraged his fellow monks to reject unnecessary luxury.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last=Amogolonova |first=Darima |date=2015 |title=A Symbolic Person of Buddhist Revival in Buryatia: 'Our Hambo' Damba Ayusheev |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24572082 |journal=Inner Asia |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=238–239 |doi=10.1163/22105018-12340043 |jstor=24572082 |issn=1464-8172}}</ref>
In regards to his political role in Buryatia, Itigilov was selected to be the chairman of the 2nd [[All-Buryat congress|All-Buryat Congress]] held in Chita, Buryatia in July of 1917 in the [[Tamchinsky datsan]].<ref name=":7" /> As the spiritual leader of Siberian Buddhists, Itigilov also sought to regulate and modernize the role of Buryat Buddhism, promoting the study of [[Buryat language]] and minimizing outside influences on local Buddhist practices.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Tsyrempilov |first=Nikolay |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.30965/9783657760480 |title=Under the Shadow of White Tara |date=2021-05-25 |publisher=Brill {{!}} Schöningh |isbn=978-3-506-76048-7 |pages=151|doi=10.30965/9783657760480 }}</ref>
In a letter to the governor of [[Irkutsk]], Itigilov wrote the following:<blockquote>Bandido Khambo, February 6, 1913. No 8.
To the Irkutsk governor-general.
Every year, subjects of China, Tibet, and Mongolia visit Transbaikal and give themselves the title of khubilgans, i. e. divine reincarnations, supplied with permits granted by our diplomatic representatives within the aforementioned countries and often with additional documents from border commissars indicating that they are of high religious rank and their titles have a long historical lineage and so forth; […] In my opinion, foreign lamas caught in the act of attending to religious needs among the populace without written permission of the Bandido Khambo should be immediately escorted back abroad in the custody of local police. I humbly ask that you honor me by following up on this matter.
Bandido Khambo, signed by Itigelov ( Perepiska 1912: pp 1-3)<ref name=":8" /></blockquote>In September of 1917, Itigilov stepped down as Pandito [[Khambo Lama]] for unknown reasons but continued to play a role in the leadership of the Yangazhinsky datsan and the education of students at the monastery.<ref name=":7" />
== Writings ==
Over his lifetime, Itigilov wrote more than 50 works on Buddhist philosophy, with some of his most well-known writings focusing on the concept of emptiness ([[Śūnyatā]]) in Buddhist cosmology.<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal |last1=Александрович |first1=Федотов Артём |last2=Александровна |first2=Лаврецкая Ирина |date=2018 |title=Бурятское чудо или загадочный феномен Итигелова |url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/buryatskoe-chudo-ili-zagadochnyy-fenomen-itigelova |journal=Проблемы науки |volume=4 |issue=28 |pages=71 |issn=2413-2101}}</ref> He also completed a volume called ''Zhor'', a text on Tibetan pharmacology influenced by his own medical training.<ref name=":10" /> Itigilov’s writings were written in the [[classical Mongolian language]], as were many of the records of his life which were documented by his family and fellow monks.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Quijada |first=Justine Buck |date=2019 |title='An Inauguration for Etigelov: Multiple Genres of History in Buryatia', Buddhists, Shamans, and Soviets: Rituals of History in Post-Soviet Buryatia |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/27356/chapter-abstract/197102298?redirectedFrom=fulltext |pages=36}}</ref>
Shortly before his death in 1927, Itigilov wrote his final text. This final work was kept in the [[Barga Mongols|Barga]] region of Mongolian China from the 1930s until 1966, when it was returned to the Ivolginsky datsan by Galeg Balbar-lama.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Baldanmaksarova |first=Elizaveta E. |date=2017 |title="The Testament" of XII Pandito Hambo-Lama Dashidorzhi Ithegelov in the Context of Buddhist Philosophy |journal=Studia Litterarum |language=ru |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=274 |doi=10.22455/2500-4247-2017-2-4-270-289 |issn=2500-4247|doi-access=free }}</ref> The text reflects on the status of life and death through the lens of Buddhist philosophy. A fragment can be seen below, translated into Russian by Hambo Lama Ayusheyev:<blockquote>Во время одинокого ухода в следующий мир,
Все твое богатство, родные, близкие,
Оставшись на родной стороне, не последуют за тобой.
Эти богатства безумно собранные и накопленные,
Превратятся в особый яд и станут бесполезными,
Так учили все предыдущие Будды.
Бесстрастно изучив земную жизнь, начинайте с сегодняшнего дня
Практику Десяти Благих Деяний – незамедлительно!!!
Больше особо сказанного нет в моем окончательном послании,
Когда пребываю в данной жизни.
(Translated into Russian by Hambo Lama Ayusheyev)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Послание Хамбо Ламы Итигэлова своему народу (From the Insititute of the Hambo Lama Itigelov) |url=http://etegelov.ru/message |access-date= |website=etegelov.ru}}</ref></blockquote>
== Death ==
A commonly told story from the end of Itigilov’s life recounts his meeting with Lama Agvan Dorzhiev, who had just returned to the Soviet Union from Mongolia in 1921. Itigelov tells him: “You have come back here in vain. It would have been better to stay abroad. I assure you that very soon the arrests of Lamas will begin. If you fall into the hands of the Chekists, they will not let you live!”<ref name=":11">{{Cite journal |last1=Александрович |first1=Федотов Артём |last2=Александровна |first2=Лаврецкая Ирина |date=2018 |title=Бурятское чудо или загадочный феномен Итигелова |url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/buryatskoe-chudo-ili-zagadochnyy-fenomen-itigelova |journal=Проблемы науки |volume=4 |issue=28 |pages=73 |issn=2413-2101}}</ref> Dorzhiev asks him: “Why don't you go abroad?”. Itigilov replies: “They will not have time to take me.”<ref name=":11" />
In 1927, Itigilov advised his own students to flee to Mongolia, but he stayed behind in Buryatia, where he chanted ''Hug Namshi'', a mantra for the dead, while seated in the [[lotus position]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Quijada |first=Justine Buck |title=An Inauguration for Etigelov |date=2019-03-15 |work=Buddhists, Shamans, and Soviets |pages=47 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190916794.003.0002 |access-date= |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oso/9780190916794.003.0002 |isbn=978-0-19-091679-4}}</ref> In the lotus position ''vajra'', his left hand remained opened while the right hand symbolized his preaching of ''sutra''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McCoy |first=Terrence |date=2021-10-25 |title=The two-century-old mummified monk found in a lotus position — and his cryptic past |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/02/04/the-curious-tale-of-the-200-year-old-mummified-monk-reportedly-frozen-in-a-lotus-position/ |access-date= |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> He was buried while still on the lotus position, and his last request to his fellow monks was to exhume him from the ground after 30 years.<ref name=":9" /> Though the exact burial place was secret, it was in the Huhe Zurhen district of Buryatia (modern [[Ivolginsky District]]).<ref name=":7" />
After Itigelov’s death, the monastery was destroyed by the orders of the Soviet government and village was [[Collective farming|collectivized]]. However, the cabin where Itigilov lived was relocated and protected by a distant cousin of Itigilov, who kept oral tradition of the Khambo Lama in the family.<ref>{{Citation |last=Quijada |first=Justine Buck |title=An Inauguration for Etigelov |date=2019-03-15 |work=Buddhists, Shamans, and Soviets |pages=50 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190916794.003.0002 |access-date= |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oso/9780190916794.003.0002 |isbn=978-0-19-091679-4}}</ref>
=== Exhumations ===
Itigilov's body was first exhumed in 1955, but without publicity because of fear of persecution from Soviet authorities.<ref name=":9" /> According to the current and 24th Pandito Hambo Lama, [[Damba Ayusheev]]: <nowiki>''</nowiki>Nobody could talk about it then. To bring him back to the temple -- it was forbidden, impossible. So he was put back.<nowiki>''</nowiki><ref name=":12">{{Cite news |last=Myers |first=Steven Lee |date=2002-10-01 |title=Ivolginsk Journal; A Russian Lama's Body, and His Faith, Defy Time |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/01/world/ivolginsk-journal-a-russian-lama-s-body-and-his-faith-defy-time.html |access-date= |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Itigilov’s body was reburied in a wooden coffin packed with salt, and exhumed and then reburied again in 1972.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Предыстория {{!}} Статьи {{!}} Чудесная тайна рода Улзы |url=http://archive.predistoria.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=421. |access-date=2024-05-11 |website=archive.predistoria.org |language=ru}}</ref>
In 2002, Itigilov appeared in a dream to a young lama at the Ivolginsky monastery and announced that it was the time for his return.<ref name=":3" /> The young lama, Bimba Dorzhiyev, became curious about the burial and remains of Itigilov. An 88 year-old worshiper, whose father-in-law had been present when the coffin was opened in 1955, informed the lama of the grave's location. Then, on 11 September 2002, the grave was opened and the body was exhumed in the presence of a photographer, two forensic experts, and a dozen witnesses, where Itigilov’s body was found to be remarkably preserved.<ref name=":0" /> The body was then brought to [[Ivolginsky Datsan|Ivolginsk Datsan]] and placed on the second floor of one of the monastery's temples, behind curtains and a locked door.<ref name=":0" />
The preserved state of Itigilov’s body raised curiosities in both domestic and international press for the so-called “incorruptible” or "imperishable" body ([[Sokushinbutsu]]).<ref name=":13">{{Cite journal |last=Bernstein |first=Anya |date=2012 |title=MORE ALIVE THAN ALL THE LIVING: Sovereign Bodies and Cosmic Politics in Buddhist Siberia: MORE ALIVE THAN ALL THE LIVING |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1548-1360.2012.01143.x |journal=Cultural Anthropology |language=en |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=274 |doi=10.1111/j.1548-1360.2012.01143.x|hdl=2027.42/91185 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>  Scientists offered theories about how the body was so naturally well preserved. A scientist at the Center for Biomedical Technologies in Moscow, Vladislav L. Kozeltsev, commentated that the salt that was packed into Itigilov’s coffin might have slowed the decay of the body but did not fully explain Itigilov’s preservation.<ref name=":12" /> However, “more likely, Mr. Kozeltsev said, Itigilov suffered from a defect in the gene that hastens the decomposition of the body's cellular structure after death.”<ref name=":12" />
According to Khambo Lama Ayusheyev and other Buryat Buddhists, Itigilov’s body is so well preserved because the Lama is still living, having achieved the higher meditative state known as ''śūnyatā'', or emptiness.<ref name=":12" />
== Legacy ==
In 2004, the foundation of the Hambo Lama Itigelov Institute was founded at the Ivolginsky datsan to promote the preservation of Itigilov’s spiritual history and teachings. This project was organized by the 24th Hambo Lama [[Damba Ayusheev]]''.''<ref name=":7" />
In 2005, researchers found a five-page text which was attributed to Itigelov. This writing was one of thousands of manuscripts in Ivolginsk monastery. With little known about the document’s history or existence before it was discovered, it was suggested that “[the text] had intentionally revealed itself through the agency of Itigelov.”<ref name=":14">{{Cite journal |last=Bernstein |first=Anya |date=2011-06-30 |title=The Post-Soviet Treasure Hunt: Time, Space, and Necropolitics in Siberian Buddhism |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0010417511000272 |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |volume=53 |issue=3 |pages=638 |doi=10.1017/s0010417511000272 |issn=0010-4175}}</ref> In the work, Itigilov recounts his previous life as the first Khambo Lama Zaiaev. In this previous life, he met with the [[Dalai Lama|Dalai]] and [[Panchen Lama]], to whom he gave gifts and received information about his other lives. The document also offers as list of these former lives, which include “five Indian, five Tibetan, and two Buryat incarnations.”<ref name=":14" />
In 2008, a new temple to house and honor the body of Itigilov was constructed near the Ivolginsky datsan.<ref name=":15">{{Cite journal |last=Jonutytė |first=Kristina |date=2022-12-12 |title=Taming the City: Unfinished Religious Expansion in Buryatia |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00141844.2022.2156577 |journal=Ethnos |language=en |pages=11 |doi=10.1080/00141844.2022.2156577 |issn=0014-1844}}</ref> The wooden cabin where the Khambo Lama lived during the later years of his life was also moved to the Ivolginsky datsan''.''<ref name=":15" /> This new palace was built “based on a photograph of a temple found in the Museum of the History of Buryatia;” this former temple was part of the Yangazhinsky monastery destroyed in the 1930s.<ref name=":16">{{Cite journal |last=Bernstein |first=Anya |date=2011-06-30 |title=The Post-Soviet Treasure Hunt: Time, Space, and Necropolitics in Siberian Buddhism |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0010417511000272 |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |volume=53 |issue=3 |pages=643 |doi=10.1017/s0010417511000272 |issn=0010-4175}}</ref> That building is alleged to have been constructed by Itigelov himself when he worked as a leader at the monastery.<ref name=":16" />
[[File:Храм-дворец Итигэлова.jpg|thumb|Itigilov's temple at the Ivolginsky ''datsan'']]
Since the construction of the new palace where Itigilov’s body was placed, the site has become an important place of [[pilgrimage]] for both Buddhist practitioners and those interested in Itigilov’s history and surprising preserved state.<ref name=":7" /> It is believed that a pilgrimage to Itigilov can create miracles, as Itigilov can grant onlooker’s wishes and his presence corrects one’s [[Karma in Buddhism|karma]]. Furthermore, it is said that diseases are healed upon touching his hands, and people are reported to have left their crutches at the temple.”<ref name=":9" /> The former President [[Dmitry Medvedev]] and President [[Vladimir Putin]] have both visited the site to see Itigilov.<ref name=":7" /> Medvedev visited in 2009<ref name=":13" /> and Putin toured the Ivolginsky datsan in 2013, discussing Buryatian charitable and Buddhist education initiatives with the monks of the datsan.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013 |title=Putin visit Ivolginsky datsan |url=https://tass.com/russia/692139 |access-date= |website=TASS Russian News Agency}}</ref>
The rediscovery of the body of Itigilov is also connected to a revival of Buryat Buddhism which can be seen in the “construction of a new cult of Pandito Khambo Lama Itigelov which is actively supported in the media and social networks.”<ref name=":17">{{Cite journal |last1=Badmatsyrenov |first1=Timur |last2=Badmatsyrenova |first2=Elizaveta |last3=Dansarunova |first3=Sanzhida |date=2022 |title=Buddhist online communities on Vkontakte social network: structure, practices and ideas |url=https://www.shs-conferences.org/articles/shsconf/abs/2022/04/shsconf_eac-law2021_00139/shsconf_eac-law2021_00139.html |journal=SHS Web of Conferences |language=en |volume=134 |pages=4 |doi=10.1051/shsconf/202213400139 |issn=2261-2424}}</ref> On the social media platform [[VK (service)|VKontakte]], based out of [[Saint Petersburg]], there is a community group “Khambo Lama Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov” where online members discuss Itigilov’s life and teachings, showing the influence of Buddhist social media communities.<ref name=":17" />
[[Image:Itigelov preserved.jpg|thumb|left|The exhumed body of Itigilov]]
== See also ==
*[[Buddhist mummies]]
*[[Incorruptibility]]
*[[Sokushinbutsu]]
== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Itigilov, Dashi-Dorzho}}
[[Category:1852 births]]
[[Category:1927 deaths]]
[[Category:Buryat people]]
[[Category:Buddhism in Buryatia]]
[[Category:Buddhist monks from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Mummies]]
[[Category:Lamas]]
[[Category:Tibetan Buddhists from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Tibetan Buddhists from the Soviet Union]]