Here you will find an English language interpretation of “ХОВОР ЗҮРХЭН” by Mongolian scholar-poet Zava Damdin (b.1976-). I’ve prepared some interpreting notes, yet they are not definitive. Each of us appreciates and reads poetry from a different perspective and in different ways.
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RARE HEART
A heart as rare as a precious jewel – rarer still than gold or silver,
Existing beyond all form, untouched by time or change.
If one were to ask how it moves within the cycle of becoming,
I string together beautiful jewels of words to describe its radiant grace.
It shines like a luminous pearl beneath the depths of the ocean
It soars like a brave white falcon flying through boundless space
It swims upstream like a great river fish, rising against the current,
It runs free as a gazelle across the shimmering steppe.
Like an eagle wheeling over cliffs, it gazes far with open vision,
Like a flower of the meadow, fragrant and calm, it blooms in quiet beauty.
Like a lion that does not eat its own flesh, Chinua is steadfast in patience.
As wondrous and beautiful as a Vansambarü flower blooming beneath the
snow mountain.
Ah, to meet such a heart is a blessing beyond all measure.
Led by the call of a pure and genuine heart,
One moves through the vast cycle of life without ever losing the way.
The Hermit of Dragon Mountain
31.10.2025
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Translation is always an interpretation into another culture.
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ХОВОР ЗҮРХЭН
Ховор эрдэнэ мэт зүрхэн алт мөнгөнөөс ховор буюу
Ямар ч цаг үе дор хэлбэрэл үгүй орших агаад
Орчил хөдөлгөөн дор алин мэт буй хэмээвээс
Ийн хэмээн үгсийн үзэсгэлэнт сондор хэлхэмү
Далайн гүн дорх гэрэлт сувд мэт туяаран баймуй
Огторгуй дор нисэх цагаан шонхор мэт зоримог буй
Их мөрний загас мэт урсгал сөрөн өөд өгсөн явмуй
Уужим талын зэрэглээ мэт давхих гөрөөсөн лугаа чөлөөтэй амуй
Цармын бүргэд мэт алсыг дэлгэр тольдон халих буй
Зүлэгт нугын анхилам цэцэг мэт үзэсгэлэнтэй бөгөөд намуун
Чинуа бээр өөрийн миханаан үл идэх мэт тэвчээртэй амуй
Цаст уулан дор ургах вансэмбэрүү адил гайхам сайхан буй
Ай, тийн зүрхэн лүгээ учирсан ану ялгуун сайн учрал аму
Ариун чин зүрхний дуудлагаар аху их орчил дор үл төөрөн зорчмуй
Луут Уулын өчүүхэн егүзэр
31.10.2025
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NOTES
“Rare Heart” and the Mahāyāna Vision of the Awakened Heart
“Rare Heart” (Ховор Зүрхэн, 2025) by Zava Damdin (b.1976) is an eloquent and graceful contemplation that expresses a central idea in Mahāyāna Buddhism – the union of wisdom and compassion known as bodhicitta, the awakened heart-mind. The poem describes this heart as “rarer than gold or silver” and “beyond all form.” This recalls the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras (Trinley 2003; 2011) where the Buddha teaches that all things are empty of lasting essence yet full of luminous awareness (Conze 1975, p93). Conze argues that bodhicitta is not a feeling or emotion but a deeper kind of awareness – free from attachment yet naturally driven by compassion for all beings.
The poem’s natural images – a pearl deep in the sea, a falcon flying across the sky, a fish swimming against the current – symbolise the path of awakening. They suggest courage, clarity, and perseverance. The pearl hidden in the ocean recalls the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra (Suzuki 1932, p168), while Master Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra praises bodhicitta as “a jewel that lifts the world from sorrow” (Crosby and Skilton 1996, p16). The vertical movement of the poem’s imagery, from the hidden depths of the ocean to the open air of the falcon, portrays the transformative ascent from ignorance to realisation.
Zava Damdin’s doha ends with the line, “Led by the call of a pure and genuine heart, one moves through the vast cycle of life without ever losing the way.” This poetic line is rich in Buddhist, shamanic, and literary symbolism deeply rooted in Mongolian philosophical traditions.
In Mongolian Buddhist cosmology, the heart is not merely emotional but ontological: a source of direction through existence (Bat-Ireedui, 2015). This final couplet also reflects the belief that one navigates samsara safely when guided by sincere and pure motivation (Oyun, 2013). And the clause “Үл төөрөн зорчмуй” (journeys without losing the way) implies that moral clarity prevents existential disorientation, echoing the Bodhisattva path, where compassion and wisdom serve as navigational tools (Shantideva; Wallace & Wallace, 1997).
Modern buddhist scholars note that natural images do more than just decorate poetry – they carry spiritual meaning. G. Tenzin and Ānando write that Mahāyāna similes are tools for understanding the balance between emptiness and compassion (Tenzin and Ānando 2019, pp55–66). Sabine Grunwald (2025) shows how the image of the bodhisattva is now seen as embodied and ecological, while J. Lin (2022) explores bodhicitta as an ability to transform suffering into wisdom.
All these ideas fit well with Mongolian buddhist culture,
where doha-poetry and ethics have long been closely connected.
Contemporary Mongolian scholars continue this tradition. Лхагвадемчиг Жадамба [Lhagvademchig Jadamba] (2021) studies nineteenth-century үг (didactic verse) literature, showing how writers such as Agvaanhaidav called for moral purity and meditation as a foundation for an authentic bodhisattva’s life. Хүрэлбаатар Үжид [Hürelbaatar Ujeed], together with Caroline Humphrey, has shown that the Mergen tradition of Mongolian Buddhism kept Mahāyāna teachings alive in the Mongolian language, expressing compassion and wisdom in local culture during and after the socialist period (Humphrey and Ujeed 2013; Ujeed 2015).
Other Mongolian scholars, such as Shagdarsüren G. [Шагдарсүрэн Г.] (2018) and Boldbaatar D. [Болдбаатар Д.] (2020), have written about the idea of the “awakened heart” (сэрсэн сэтгэл) as a bridge between Buddhist philosophy and Mongolian ethics. Shagdarsüren describes it as part of Mongolia’s own philosophical heritage, while Boldbaatar reads modern Mongolian poetry as a continuation of Mahāyāna compassion.
In this way, “Rare Heart” is both a spiritual and cultural poem. It connects ancient Buddhist wisdom with the Mongolian landscape and imagination. It shows that awakening – the heart of bodhicitta – is not something distant or abstract but a living awareness that moves gently through the world, clear and compassionate.
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If there are any errors of judgement in this article, they are of my own making.
For these, I humbly apologise.
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References
Bat-Ireedui, J. Mongolian Buddhism: Tradition and Transformation. Ulaanbaatar: Mongolian Academy of Sciences, 2015.
Болдбаатар Д. [Boldbaatar D.]. Монголын уран зохиол дах Бурханы шашны ухаан [Buddhist Thought in Mongolian Literature]. Улаанбаатар [Ulaanbaatar]: Соёмбо хэвлэл, 2020.
Conze, Edward, trans. The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines and Its Verse Summary. San Francisco: Four Seasons Foundation, 1975.
Crosby, Kate, and Andrew Skilton, trans. Śāntideva: The Bodhicaryāvatāra. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Grunwald, Sabine. “Elusive Notions of Bodhisattvas: Personified, Idealised, Mystified, Naturalized, and Integral.” Religions 16, no. 6 (2025): 764.
Humphrey, Caroline, and Hürelbaatar Ujeed. A Monastery in Time: The Making of Mongolian Buddhism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013.
Лхагвадемчиг Жадамба [Lhagvademchig Jadamba]. “Пандита нохой ба ламын маргаан [‘The Debate of a Paṇḍita Dog with a Monk’].” Religions 12, no. 12 (2021): 1104.
Lin, J. “Knowing Our True Self and Transforming Suffering Toward Awakening in Mahāyāna Buddhism.” Religions 13, no. 5 (2022): 403.
Oyun, Ts. “Cosmic Journeys and Human Meetings in Mongolian Poetic Thought.” Inner Asian Cultural Studies 18, no. 2 (2013): 45–62.
Шагдарсүрэн Г. [Shagdarsüren G.]. Монголын Бурханы шашны сэтгэлгээний уламжлал [The Philosophical Tradition of Mongolian Buddhism]. Улаанбаатар [Ulaanbaatar]: Монгол шуудан хэвлэлийн газар, 2018.
Suzuki, D. T. Studies in the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1932.
Tenzin, Gayleg, and Phramaha Anon Ānando. “The Concept of Bodhicitta in Mahāyāna Sūtras.” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Universities 12, no. 1 (2019): 55–66.
Thubten Trinley. Prajnaparamita and the Path to Enlightenment: Teachings from the Great Mother. Le Mont-Pèlerin, Switzerland: Rabten Choeling Publications, 2011.
Thubten Trinley. The Heart of Wisdom: Commentary on the Essence of the Prajnaparamita Sutras. Le Mont-Pèlerin, Switzerland: Rabten Choeling Publications, 2003.
NOTE: Lharampa Geshe (Lobsang Dayang) Thubten Trinley (also spelled Trinlé) is one of Mongolian Zava Damdin Rinpoche’s two heart-lineage masters, the other being Mongolia’s Guru Deva Rinpoche. He is a highly-respected Tibetan Buddhist scholar and Teacher within the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism and is recognised in Tibetan scholastic circles especially for the transmission of Gelugpa Madhyamaka and Pramāṇa thought. Geshe-la was a disciple of Geshe Rabten (1920–1986), one of the earliest Tibetan scholars to teach Western students in India and Europe after the 1959 diaspora. Active and teaching well into the 21st Century, his main works (the above two considerable volumes) were published in 2011 and 2003.
Ujeed, U. B. “The Establishment of the Mergen Tradition of Mongolian Buddhism.” PhD diss., University of Cambridge, 2015.
Wallace, B. Alan, and Vesna A. Wallace. A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 1997.
End of transcript.
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