Buddhism

In the 16th – 18th century a form of Buddhism developed in Mongolia that is referred to by Europeans as Lamaism (from Tibetan lama, “the highest”, i.e. the teacher, the superior). In the 20th century specialists in Buddhism refused from this term, as the Chinese authorities, beginning from 1953, motivated their repressions against Tibetan monasteries by stating the Lamaism is a perverted form of Buddhism. In connection with this Dalai-Lama XIV suggested his followers to refuse from the term “Lamaism” and to refer to the Tibetan, Mongolian, Buryat and other forms of Buddhism. The Mongolians themselves call their religion shara shadjin– “yellow belief”.

1576, when Dalai-Lama III Sodnam-Jamtso met with the ruler of the Tumets Altan-khan, can be considered the beginning of the official history of Buddhism in Mongolia. Soon after it the first Buddhist monastery in Mongolia was built. A number of prominent spiritual figures rose from Mongolian nobility. The first spiritual hierarch, Under Gegen, Dzhebzun Damba Khutukhta, is considered a reincarnation of a respected Buddhist theologian Duranta. Mongolian feudal lords supported Buddhism by granting lands, serfs shabinars, cattle and valuables to lamas. Lamas took over many functions of shamans: performing family rituals, healing the ill, etc. By he beginning of the 20th century there were 747 large and small monasteries and shrines in Mongolia and about 100 thousand monks (i.e. about one third of the country’s population). Buddhist monasteries were the centers of education, arts and crafts. In them worked boards of translators who translated not only religious but also secular literature from the Chinese and Tibetan languages. Educated lamas created a system of the Mongolian written language, developed medicine, astronomy, mathematics, religious art and its canons.

In the 1930s Buddhist culture in the Mongolian People’s Republic was smashed up; at present there were no active monasteries in the country. In the 1990s Buddhism began to revive.

Statue of Buddha.  South Mongolia. Mongols. P. Rykin. 2006		Praying drum. South Mongolia. Mongols. P. Rykin. 2006		Suburgan - memorial cult construction. South Mongolia. Mongols. P. Rykin. 2006
The rite of humicubation at the Buddhist relics is widerly spread in Mongolia. Mongolia. The Mongols. Ivanov D.		"Batarchi" - mendicant lamas-strytellers. The Mongols. Early 20th c.		Lama - guardian of Buddhist temple. Mongolia. The Mongols. Rykin P., 2005.
Lamas sing Buddhist sacred songs. Mongolia. The Mongols. Rykin P., 2006.		Gifts in monastery cell. Khadak, here - blue silk shawl, - traditional Mongolian type of a gift. Mongolia. Rykin P., 2006.		Monastery in West Mongolia. Mongolia. Rykin P., 2006.
Fragment of Buddhist monastery traditional decoration. Mongolia. Rykin P., 2006.		A monastery gate in the deserts of South Mongolia. Mongolia. Rykin P., 2006.		Buddhist chapel in Soyj Mongolia. Rykin P., 2006.
Altar in Buddhist chapel (South Mongolia). Rykin P., 2006.