G.Mend-Ooyo's new novel, The Holy One, tells the story of the nineteenth century poet, educator and spiritual
teacher, the Noton Hutagt Danzanravjaa (1803-1856), and of his realisation of,
and how he expressed, the secret wisdom in the teaching and practise of the
historical Buddha and his descendents.
The novel
also deals with the extremely difficult period during the late 1930s when, with
the Mongol government persecuting monastics and intellectuals, the man who was
in charge of protecting Danzanravjaa's memory and his cultural and material
possessions, O.Tüdev, sought to protect this heritage against its destruction
by the state.
The Holy One also reveals
how Danzanravjaa's life speaks to Mongol intellectual culture and the nomadic tradition
of the Gobi area in which he lived, and how this tradition is an expression of
the land and the environment in which he lived.
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G.Mend-Ooyo
has written many books of poetry, narrative fiction, articles and academic papers,
and these have been translated into some forty languages. One of his most important volumes, Altan Ovoo, has gone through four
editions, being published in 1993, 2002, 2007 and 2010, and is now available in
English translation.
Mend-Ooyo
has also written several books which, like his latest, The Holy One, deal with spiritual themes, including The One Who Opens the Eye of Wisdom
(1996) and The Golden Annals of Altan Ovoo (2008). Working with the French author Patrick Fischmann,
Mend-Ooyo has produced a book of Mongol folk stories, now available in French
translation, and published in Paris.
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