Obsession With An Old Name

Gavin

This is going to sound very strange but for most of my 40 years I have been obsessed with the name Galdan, I don't know why but I keep wanting to change my name to it. I didn't even know it was a name though until recently, I just thought it was a word I'd made up.

I'd been interested in Buddhism for most of my life and recently I've taken this interest very seriously.

For some reason I'd never Googled Galdan up until today but it turns out there was a Galdan and it turns out he was supposed to have been educated by the 5th Dalai Llama.

I'm not sure why I'm writing this other than I find it very strange. It's just a shame there isn't much more information handy other than Wikipedia.

Telly03

I can see where this would make you wonder the connection and reason, but if you think there is a hidden connection for you to find, maybe you should look at all possibilities instead of the most attractive...


Maybe you were a Chinese Warlord in a previous life...
Galdan Tseren (died 1745) was a Choros-Oirat prince and the Khun Tayishi of the Zunghar Khanate from 1727 until his death in 1745.
Galdan was the oldest son of Tsewang Arabtan. After the assassination of his father by rival factions, a civil war followed between his sons of which Galdan emerged victorious and crowned himself the new Zunghar Khan. Galdan continued his fathers policies of confrontation with the Qing Dynasty. He refused to surrender Lobdzan Dandzin, the leader of the revolt of the Kokonor (Qinghai) Khoshut Mongols of 1723, and he initiatied a policy of harassment's on the Khalkha Mongols,[1] the Manchu's allies. (wikipedia)

Gal Dan is also a woman with a facebook page... maybe you were meant to contact her.

Dashi Galdan Chzhisa is also a city in Mongolia... may be worth checking out?

Gal-Dan Delux is a catchy hip song, perhaps there is a message there for you?

Here is a young Mongolian currently using the name: About me. My name is Galdan Lenkhoboev. I'm Buryat-Mongolian and I live in Siberia near Lake Baikal. My Mother tongue is Buryat language (or Buryat-Mongolian language as it was officially called till 1958 in the USSR), but I also speak Russian (because I live in Russia in Siberia). I also speak English and Chinese because I graduated from the Buryat State University, the foreign languages department (I majored in English and Chinese was the second language). I'm a freelancer now. I used to be a tour-manager, a sergeant, a Chinese interpreter in different companies but now I want to be more entrepreneurial

there are many more...

Gavin

It wasn't so much of looking for an attractive option, it was more the fact that I have had no exposure to the name/word in my rather sheltered life yet I was so obsessed with it and it actually turns out to be a name.

Telly03

Yes, I'm sorry, that actually is a pretty cool discovery

BhanteLucky

You could be Galdan the illiterate rice-farming peasant who died a thousand years ago of being trampled by a cow at the age of 32, in ancient China. I think that's more likely than being a famous Galdan.

Sile

Gavin said:

This is going to sound very strange but for most of my 40 years I have been obsessed with the name Galdan, I don't know why but I keep wanting to change my name to it. I didn't even know it was a name though until recently, I just thought it was a word I'd made up.

I'd been interested in Buddhism for most of my life and recently I've taken this interest very seriously.

For some reason I'd never Googled Galdan up until today but it turns out there was a Galdan and it turns out he was supposed to have been educated by the 5th Dalai Llama.

I'm not sure why I'm writing this other than I find it very strange. It's just a shame there isn't much more information handy other than Wikipedia.

I think that's fascinating and I wouldn't write it off. Though it may not be in vogue to think so, lives and phenomena are more connected than not.

Bunks

Not trying to burst your bubble or anything but IMHO names are merely labels and have no meaning. Just sounds that come out of your mouth.

DairyLama

It it anything to do with Lord of the Rings?

Vastmind

I'm going out on a limb here......
Should'nt your question/reflection be about the 'obsession',
and not the actual name ??

Jason

Some times life is full of interesting coincidences. I used to be obsessed with Oregon throughout my adolescence and early adulthood after becoming attached to a plastic Oregon-shaped US puzzle piece from school when I was a kid, but never thought I'd ever leave Michigan. And after a string of unlikely events and circumstances, I eventually found myself living in Oregon of all places.

Tosh

Or Galdan, Alexander the Great's chief eunuch.

Sile

I dreamed the word "Waddell" over and over; once in a great while when something sticks out like that, I write it down for posterity. I finally looked up "Waddell" and found all the Gandhara stuff

But in all seriousness, I don't discount dreams. Galden is an interesting and unusual word; why not look into it? Information is worthwhile on its own merit, regardless of whether it ends up being connected to you in any unusual way.

And we have to be careful getting too excited about the word "obsession" -- it's just a word, and doesn't mean anyone's truly obsessed. Many of the great thinkers, scientists, explorers, etc. were at one time called "obsessed" for that matter; but thinking about a word doesn't mean you're obsessed. It just means you're thinking about a word.

If you give up your house and family and job in search of one word--well, you'd still be following in the footsteps of some renowned people in history, but at any rate, then you could be accused of obsession, maybe. But just thinking about a word a lot is not any big deal, imo.

Perhaps I'm biased from having spent so much time with a tribe that places great importance on dreams! It's all intellectual energy in the end--does it matter at what point we tap into it?