Was the Sampo in Tibet?
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By Jussi Ahlroth
M. A. Castrén (1813-1853) was thrilled.Pandita Khenpo Lama, the head lama of the Buryats, had told him about a revered temple in Tibet, which was older than the other temples, and was called Sampo.
The Tibetan name Sang-phu meant the secret source of all happiness, which is exactly what the Sampo was in the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala.
Finland lacked a mythical history in the 1800’s, and what could be better than a link to the great history of China and Tibet?The newspaper Suometar published an article on the subject immediately. Castrén writes about the incident himself in his book Nordiska resor och forskningar ("Nordic Travels and Studies").
Now, 160 years later, the makers of Jade Warrior refer to Castrén’s finding – the man apparently went even further than Elias Lönnrot. He imagined mysterious, forgotten connections between Finland and China, which are dug up in the film.
Except that no such connection ever existed.
Castrén heard what he wished to hear. The Mongolian Sang-phu was just another monastery. It was indeed old, founded in 1071, but many Tibetan monasteries are 300 years older.
What made Sang-phu so special in Mongolia?
They practiced the same form of Buddhism as in the Sang-phu monastery. The Head Lama was only blowing his own whistle. It was nothing greater than that. There was no Sampo in Tibet either.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 6.10.2006
More on this subject:
 Jade Warrior Brings Kalevala to China
What is Wuxia?
Helsingin Sanomat
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