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Kachkanar Mt. and Shad Tchup Ling Buddhist Center

This winter I finally managed to return to the only one in the Urals Buddhist Center Shad Tchup Ling on Mt. Kachkanar.

In the recent years the local Media has been writing about the inevitable shutdown of the monastery because it was built illegally and because the nearby area is going to be used by Kachkanar Iron Mining Plant. But despite all the articles in the newspapers, the dwellers of Mt. Kachkanar stay calm and happy and continue building.

The construction of the monastery takes a lot of time and incredible efforts – to lift the materials up the mountains is quite a challenge. Now the Buddhists have a crane device but mostly they deliver everything manually or with the help of the dogs. They say it will take another hundred years to build everything as planned but even now the territory looks impressive.

As usual at weekends the monastery is full of visitors. Tourists, hikers, curious people come for a day or two. It’s always a good idea to leave donations (to bring something useful or share food). Some people stay longer – for a week or for several months. That’s why it’s hard to tell how many people currently live on top of Kachkanar.

WC on the edge of the cliff

And the view from WC

Technically Shad Tchup Ling can’t be called a monastery. The first educated monks will arrive in a year (right now two people study at Buddhist school abroad). The others are those who chose a rather solitary way of life of tough labour and mantra reading.

Open pit of Kachkanar Iron Ore Mining Plant 7km away from the monastery

For hikers Shad Tchup Ling is a good place to stay for lunch and to store personal belongings before going out to explore the nearby rocks. And the rocks are amazing there.

It’s possible to see Mt Kachkanar in one day from Yekaterinburg if you start very early: distance Yekaterinburg – Kachkanar 250km. There’s a parking place outside the plant. Then walk 8km up the mountain to the Buddhist Monastery.

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