CP in Mongolia

This is Part 2 of an English translation¹of a letter by the Mongolian Buddhist scholar Zava Damdin Rinpoche (b. 1976). Deeply personal in tone, the letter offers a vivid glimpse into a spiritual inner life, and into how sincere faith is remembered, tested, and carried forward. Continued from Part 1.

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ON FAITH AND DEVOTION

(English Translation)

[When I was a child], my father and mother would quietly gather, once a year, the knowledgeable elders from my grandfather’s monastic class and offer them tea and food. Seeing those old monks recite texts, debate the Dharma, and even simply speak with one another, stirred in me a feeling of love, respect, and reverence. That was faith.

Also, at that time, under the propaganda of the single Communist Party, slogans were written everywhere, and bronze-coloured plaster statues of Lenin and others stood everywhere, even in primary and secondary schools. Yet even now, they do not leave a deep impression on me. For that reason, although I have no wish to insult that ideology, I also have little feeling of reverence for it; nor did many people, of that time, have heartfelt love and respect for it.

In Buddhist philosophy, or the scholastic philosophy of Chöra,² the text on mind and cognition called Lorig explains the defining quality, or definition, of faith in two senses.

First, it says:

“It is a well-opened mind that, with analytical intelligence, determines its object of ascertainment and holds it with the thought: ‘This alone is so; it is not otherwise.’”

The meaning is this: through reasoned investigation, one thoroughly opens up and understands something that must be known with certainty, and the mind holds it as, “It is not something other than this.”

Second, it says:

“It is a mind that is one of these: courageous trust in karma and the like, faith, or aspiration; and it functions as the actual antidote to non-faith.”

This is the principal faith of Buddhists. Its meaning is: a mind that, with sincere heart and intention, courageously trusts and has faith in teachings such as karma, bodhicitta, emptiness, and the like, and also aspires to the realisations they teach. The “antidote to non-faith” is the protective strength of faith itself.

* * *

In the profound philosophy of tantra, faith is taught about even more extensively. Once, when this humble person asked Gevsh Bagsh Thubten Perenlei³—who, when speaking of his name appropriately, was surely Ochir Dar⁴ appearing in the form of a venerable elder and Teacher—“What does ‘tantra’ mean?” he replied, “Faith.”

I always remember how Gevsh Bagsh answered a question with a one word answer, then adding, “The supreme Bogds⁵taught it so.”

This means that without faith, even if one recites mantras, practices retreat and meditation, and counts mantras for many years, no spiritual quality will arise in the continuum of one’s own mind.

Where, then, should one find, gather, and understand these vast and profound Teachings of tantra?

If one asks where, among the profound, vast mantra teachings, this may be found, gathered, and understood: it is present in every teaching of the tantric class.⁶ Yet it is taught profoundly and extensively in the commentary on the text called Lama Chöpa, or Guru Yoga,⁷ taught by the great Vensava Bogd.⁸ However, no one should touch this text without the instruction and permission of a fully qualified Lam Bagsh.⁹

If one opens it up and examines it at will, it will be like a bat coming out into the sun!

Yet if one wishes to understand, even without instructions from a Bagsh, then from the life story of the noble Milarepa and from his Hundred Thousand Songs,¹⁰ if one has sincere faith and the key of wisdom, one may understand at least a little, according to one’s capacity.

To continue reading, got to Part 3 (final)

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NOTES

1
Translated by C.Pleteshner. English interpretation 2.07.2026 from the original Mongolian 24.05.2017. Translation is always an interpretation into another language and culture. Any errors in this regard are entirely my own, and for these I humbly apologise. I am profoundly grateful to the author for permission to share this English translation with readers here. To study precious original sources such as this is a privilege not to be taken for granted.
2
Chöra; Lorig (Чойр; Лориг) Chöra is the formal study of Buddhist philosophy in the Mongolian Gelugpa monastic tradition, including disciplined reasoning, debate, definitions, classifications, doctrinal analysis, and epistemology—the study of how knowledge and certainty are established. Lorig is a scholastic subject within this world of study, glossed by Zava Rinpoche as “a text on mind and cognition,” and concerned with how the mind knows, believes, doubts, mistakes, and understands.
3
Gevsh Bagsh (Гэвш багш) combines gevsh, a highly trained scholar-monk in the Mongolian Gelugpa scholastic tradition, with Bagsh, a teacher.
4
Ochir Dar / Vajradhara (Очир Дар) Ochir Dar, more widely known in English as Vajradhara, is the primordial, or original and timeless, Buddha in Mongolian Buddhist tantra and is regarded as a source and embodiment of tantric teaching.
5
Supreme Bogds (дээд богд нар) is an honorific expression for highly realised Buddhist masters in the Mongolian Buddhist tradition.
6
Mantra; tantra (тарни; дандар) In this passage, Rinpoche moves between the Mongolian terms tarni and dandar, both used in Mongolian Buddhist contexts for the esoteric or tantric class of teachings. The point here is that faith is not being treated only as general devotion, but as indispensable to tantric study and practice.
7
Lama Chöpa; Guru Yoga (Ламын Чодва; Багшийн Иог) Lama Chöpa, “Offering to the Lama,” is a major Mongolian Gelugpa guru-yoga practice text. Rinpoche identifies it here with Bagshiin Iog, “Guru Yoga,” and refers specifically to its commentary tradition as a place where faith is taught in a profound and extensive way.
8
Vensava Bogd (Вэнсава богд) Vensava Bogd refers to the revered Gelugpa master Wensapa Lobsang Döndrup, remembered in the Mongolian Buddhist tradition as an important holder of profound tantric instruction and guru-yoga transmission.
9
Lam Bagsh (Лам Багш) means Lama Teacher, an explicitly Buddhist and honorific form for a qualified religious teacher in the Mongolian Buddhist tradition.
10
Milarepa; Hundred Thousand Songs; doha (Миларайв; Буман Дуулал; доха) Milarepa is one of the most famous Buddhist yogins in the Mongolian Buddhist world. His life story and Hundred Thousand Songs are widely read as accounts of practice, hardship, devotion to the Bagsh, and realisation expressed through song. Here “song” belongs to the Buddhist tradition of doha—spiritual songs or realised utterances in verse, through which instruction, experience, and realisation are given poetic form.

End of transcript.

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© 2013-2026. CP in Mongolia. “Letter from Mongolia 25: On Faith and Devotion: Part 2” is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions. Posted: 11 July 2026. Last updated: 11 July 2026.