Buddhism in Mongolia
Buddhism in Mongolia began its journey across the steppes during the first millennium CE. The earliest introduction of Buddhism into the Mongolian steppes took place during the periods of the nomadic empires. Buddhism penetrated Mongolia from Central Asia as early as the 1st century CE. Many Buddhist terms of Sanskrit origin were adopted via the Sogdian language. The rulers of the nomadic empires such as the Xiongnu received missionaries and built temples for them. Buddhism prevailed among aristocrats and was patronised by the monarchs of the Xianbei-led Northern Wei dynasty. The Khitans aristocracy regarded Buddhism as the culture of the Uyghur Khaganate that dominated the Mongolian steppes before the rise of the Liao dynasty. The oldest known Mongolian language translations of Buddhist literature were translated from the Uyghur language. These texts contain Turkic language words like sümbür tay meaning Sumeru Mountain.
The emperors of the Yuan dynasty in the 13th and 14th century converted to Tibetan Buddhism. Kublai Khan invited lama Drogön Chögyal Phagpa of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism to spread Buddhism throughout his realm. In 1269, Kublai Khan commissioned Phagpa lama to design a new writing system to unify the writing systems of the multilingual empire. The 'Phags-pa script served as the official script of the empire. It was based on the Tibetan script and written vertically from top. This script could write in Mongolian, Tibetan, Chinese, Uighur and Sanskrit languages. Some Mongolian Buddhist institutions borrowed large amounts of doctrine from Nestorian Christians. Other religions such as Manichaeism, Islam, Zoroastrianism and even Roman Catholicism also influenced Mongolian Buddhism. Buddhism became the de facto state religion of the Yuan dynasty. The activities of the Mongols were conducive to the prominency of the Sakya school and then the Gelug.
In 1578 Altan Khan, a Mongol military leader with ambitions to unite the Mongols, invited the 3rd Dalai Lama to a summit. They formed an alliance that gave Altan Khan legitimacy and religious sanction for his imperial pretensions. Altan Khan recognized Sonam Gyatso lama as a reincarnation of Phagpa lama. He gave the Tibetan leader the title of Dalai Lama meaning Ocean Lama. Sonam Gyatso, in turn, recognized Altan as a reincarnation of Kublai Khan. Since this meeting, the heads of the Gelugpa school became known as Dalai Lamas. Altan Khan also bestowed the title Ochirdara to Sonam Gyatso. In the next century the Gelug spread throughout Mongolia. Viharas were built across Mongolia often sited at the juncture of trade and migration routes. Buddhist monks carried out a protracted struggle with the indigenous shamans. They succeeded in taking over their functions and fees as healers and diviners.
During the Qing's founding emperor Hong Taiji's campaign against the last Northern Yuan ruler Ligdan Khan, he started the sponsorship of Tibetan Buddhism to gain support. According to the Manchu historian Jin Qicong, Buddhism was used by Qing rulers to control Mongolians and Tibetans. The long association of the Manchu rulership with the Bodhisattva Manjusri gave credence to the Qianlong Emperor's patronage of Tibetan Buddhist art. The Khalkha nobles' power was deliberately undermined by Qianlong when he appointed the Tibetan Ishi-damba-nima of the Lithang royal family as the 3rd reincarnated Jebtsundamba. This decision was first protested against by the Outer Mongol Khalkha nobles. The decision to make Tibet the only place where the reincarnation came from was intentional by the Qing to curtail the Mongols. Mark Elliott concludes that these actions delivered political benefits but meshed seamlessly with his personal faith.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, Outer Mongolia had 583 monasteries and temple complexes which controlled an estimated 20 percent of the country's wealth. Ikh Huree, as Ulaanbaatar was then known, was the seat of the preeminent living Buddha of Mongolia. Two monasteries there contained approximately 13,000 and 7000 monks respectively. The pre-revolutionary name of the settlement known to outsiders as Urga means Big Monastery. In the 1920s, there were about 110,000 monks including children who made up about one-third of the male population. About 250,000 people more than a third of the total population either lived in territories administered by monasteries or were hereditary dependents of the monasteries. With the end of Manchu rule in 1911, the Buddhist church and its clergy provided the only political structure available. The autonomous state thus took the form of a weakly centralized theocracy headed by the Jebtsundamba Khutukhtu.
When the revolutionaries took power and formed the Mongolian People's Republic they confronted a massive ecclesiastical structure that enrolled a large part of the population. As late as 1934, the party counted 843 major Buddhist centers and nearly 6000 associated buildings. The annual income of the church was 31 million tögrögs while that of the state was 37.5 million tögrögs. A party source claimed that in 1935, monks constituted 48 percent of the adult male population. In 1938 amid accusations that the church and monasteries were trying to cooperate with the Japanese, the remaining monasteries were dissolved. Their property was seized and their monks were secularized, interned or executed. Those monastic buildings that had not been destroyed were taken over to serve as local government offices or schools. By the 1940s, nearly every monk was either dead or had apostatized. Since the late 1940s, one monastery Gandan Monastery with a community of 100 monks was open in Ulaanbaatar.
After the 1990 overthrow of communism there has been a resurgence of Buddhism in the country. There are about 200 temples now in existence and a monastic sangha of around 300 to 500 Mongolian monks and nuns. According to Vesna Wallace a professor of religious studies at UC Santa Barbara: Now more people are coming to temples and visiting monasteries. There is also a new interest in meditation among the general public. According to the national census of 2010, 53% of the Mongolians identify as Buddhists. The Gandan Monastery has been reinvigorated by the post-Communist governments of the country. It serves as both a place of worship and a living museum for international display. Foreign observers usually had a negative opinion of Mongolian monks condemning them as lazy ignorant corrupt and debauched but the Mongolian people did not concur.
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Common questions
When did Buddhism first arrive in Mongolia?
Buddhism penetrated Mongolia from Central Asia as early as the 1st century CE. The earliest introduction of Buddhism into the Mongolian steppes took place during the periods of the nomadic empires.
Who invited the 3rd Dalai Lama to Mongolia in 1578?
Altan Khan, a Mongol military leader with ambitions to unite the Mongols, invited the 3rd Dalai Lama to a summit in 1578. They formed an alliance that gave Altan Khan legitimacy and religious sanction for his imperial pretensions.
How many monasteries existed in Outer Mongolia by the beginning of the twentieth century?
By the beginning of the twentieth century, Outer Mongolia had 583 monasteries and temple complexes which controlled an estimated 20 percent of the country's wealth. Ikh Huree, as Ulaanbaatar was then known, was the seat of the preeminent living Buddha of Mongolia.
What happened to Buddhist institutions in Mongolia in 1938?
In 1938 amid accusations that the church and monasteries were trying to cooperate with the Japanese, the remaining monasteries were dissolved. Their property was seized and their monks were secularized, interned or executed.
What percentage of Mongolians identified as Buddhists according to the national census of 2010?
According to the national census of 2010, 53% of the Mongolians identify as Buddhists. There are about 200 temples now in existence and a monastic sangha of around 300 to 500 Mongolian monks and nuns after the 1990 overthrow of communism.