‘From the very first verse in the Bible my heart felt full’KYZYL, Tuva Republic — Teelekechi Bichik had always known that God existed and had searched for him since he was a child. Living in the Tuva Republic, where shamanism and Tibetan Buddhism were widely practised, however, he was confused by all the various gods people worshipped. “People told me there were gods of forests, gods of rivers, and gods of mountains,” Mr Bichik says. “There were just too many gods. Then, when I visited a Buddhist temple, I saw an idol with many hands. Again, the question of too many gods plagued me.” In 1992, when the Dalai Lama visited Siberia, he thought he would have a chance to clear up his confusion once and for all. “People assured me that this man was God – that God himself was on the earth in the form of this man,” Mr Bichik says. “I wanted to understand why so many people worshipped different gods, and I thought the Dalai Lama would make it clear to me.” But when he saw the Dalai Lama he was bitterly disappointed, realising that he was just another man, and he became even more confused. Later he met a Christian who told him that there was only one God. Determined to prove him wrong, Mr Bichik bought a book about Buddhism and several pictures and statues of Buddha from his home shrine. “I wanted to win this argument and prove that Buddhism was the true religion, even though I was disappointed in the Dalai Lama,” he remembers. The Christian had a black book and agreed
that Mr Bichik could borrow it. |
