BUDDHISM IN MONGOLIA
Andrew Skilton
---o0o---
THERE IS LITTLE DOUBT THAT BUDDHISM was initially
introduced in Mongolia from Central Asia and China as early as the 4th century, although
its later development there was almost entirely dominated by representatives of the
Tibetan Buddhist orders. Indigenous Mongol religion was shamanistic, although also
reflecting Persian religious ideas through its contact with the Manichaean Uighurs of
Central Asia. Very little is known of the nature of Buddhism in Mongolia at this time.
The first place of the transmission of Buddhism to
Mongolia occurred as a result of the Mongol expansion of the 13th century, in which Mongol
emperors secured vast territories throughout Asia. This expansion was accompanied by a
policy of encouraging foreign statesmen and religious to attend the Mongol court (as
hostages). As a result a large number of Tibetan Buddhists, mainly of the Sa-skya Order,
gained influential footholds at court, where they stimulated general interest in their
forms of Buddhism. Most notable among these was ‘Phags-pa (pronounced pak pa;
1235-80), who managed to engage the interest of Kublai Khan (1260-94) who became a
Buddhist himself, receiving initiation from the Hevjra Tantra. At this time the entire
Mongolian court was converted to late Vajrayana Buddhism, and one can speculate that the
shamanic character of Tantric Buddhism had considerable appeal for the Mongols. By the
time of the last Mongol emperor, several monasteries had been founded and a part of the
Tibetan canon translated. However, Buddhism was still largely the interest of the
Mongolian ruling class, and suffered a decline until the second phase of transmission.
The second and farther reaching phase of the
transmission of Buddhism to Mongolia began with new contacts with Tibet resulting from
military expeditions led into the eastern part of the country by Altan Khan (1507-83). The
dGe-lugs Order, seeking political support in its struggle against the Sa-skya Order within
Tibet, made overtures of friendship to the Altan Khan, and as a result of this the title
of Dalai Lama, ‘Great Ocean (of Wisdom) Lama’, was conferred on the dGe-lugs,
lama, or teacher, bSod-nams-rgya-mtsho. Posthumous conferral of the same title upon two
predecessors meant that bSod-nams was therefore the third Dalai Lama. Thereafter the
success of the dGe-lugs in Mongolia was unchecked. The fourth Dalai Lama was himself a
Mongolian, thus cementing the new religio-political link between the dGe-lugs Order and
Mongolia. After their conquest of Tibet in 1641, the Mongols installed the dGe-lugs Dalai
Lama as the secular authority in Lhasa.
The Ch’ing emperors of China (1662-1911), who
were Buddhists themselves, also found Buddhism to be a suitable mechanism of control of
their territories in Inner Mongolia. For this reason they heavily patronized Buddhist
monasteries and temples in the region. By 1629 the Tibetan bKa’’gyur had been
translated into Mongolian. A translation of the bsTan’gyur was completed in 1749. By
the end of the 18th century the fortunes of Buddhism in Inner Mongolia took a downturn
with the restriction of patronage from the Ch’ing emperors of China, although in the
same period Buddhism began to spread for the first time from Outer Mongolia into the
northern region of Buryat Mongolia, which had remained fully shamanistic until the 19th
century.
Source: Andrew Skilton (1994), A Concise
History of Buddhism, British Library, England.
Computer typing: Lydia Quang
Nhu
Update : 01-12-2001
