Buddhist constructs stupa to save Almaty from quake

Kazakhstan citizen Aleksander Gritskov has offered a new way to save Almaty from earthquakes, Tengrinews.kz reports. He initiated construction of a stupa, as an architectural-sculptural monument. Gritskov studied in the tantric monastery in Dharamsala for five years and also went to Mongolia to get the necessary relics to “energize” the stupa. He explained that construction of the stupa in Raiymbek village started in July 2012 and was recently completed. According to the initiator, the Tibetan stupas looks like a small houses without doors with another house with Buddha-aspect on the roof. The Buddhists are confident that the stupa has a magic power of kindness and can calm down wild powers of nature, including possible earthquakes. Gritskov said that the earthquakes stopped in Dharamsala after a stupa was installed there. “We want to believe that there will be no cataclysms, including earthquakes, in Almaty after construction of a stupa in Almaty,” Gritskov said. He noted that he bought special Tibetan dogs that would protect the stupa in the village. Besides, the initiator noted that construction of stupas should not be a mass production as it requires a sincere and self-giving intention of people. “If, for example, people want to build a stupa in the north to avoid the floods, we will support this, but the desire has to be sincere,” Gritskov said. The stupa was built in Kazakhstan under supervision of the Buddhist philosophy profession Tenzin Thinley. By Assemgul Kassenova