Western Mongolia - Mongolia - page 485

Buddhism
The Mongols had limited contact with organised religion before their great empire of the
13th century. It was Kublai Khaan who first found himself with a court in which all
philosophies of his empire were represented, but it was a Tibetan Buddhist, Phagpa, who
wielded the greatest influence on the khaan (emperor).
In 1578 Altan Khaan, a descendant of Chinggis Khaan, met the Tibetan leader Sonam
Gyatso, was converted, and subsequently bestowed on Sonam Gyatso the title Dalai
Lama ( dalai means 'ocean' in Mongolian). Sonam Gyatso was named as the third Dalai
Lama and his two predecessors were named posthumously.
Mass conversions occurred under Altan Khaan. As Mongolian males were conscripted
to monasteries, rather than the army, the centuries of constant fighting seemed to wane
(much to the relief of China, which subsequently funded more monasteries in Mongolia).
This shift from a warring country to a peaceful one persists in contemporary society -
Mongolia is the world's only UN-sanctioned 'nuclear-weapons-free nation'. Buddhist
opposition to needless killing reinforced hunting laws already set in place by shamanism.
Today Buddhist monks are still influential in convincing local populations to protect their
environment and wildlife.
Buddhism in Mongolia was nearly wiped out in 1937 when the young communist gov-
ernment, at the urging of Stalin, launched a purge that wiped out nearly all of the coun-
try's 700 monasteries. Up to 30,000 monks were massacred and thousands more sent to
Siberian labour camps. Freedom of religion was only restored in 1990 shortly after the
democratic revolution.
Restoring Buddhism has been no easy task, as two generations had been essentially
raised as atheists. Most people no longer understand the Buddhist rituals or their mean-
ings but a few still make the effort to visit the monasteries during prayer sessions. Num-
bers swell when well-known Buddhist monks from Tibet or India (or even Western coun-
tries) visit Mongolia.
In 1903, when the British invaded Tibet, the 13th Dalai Lama fled to Mongolia and spent
three years living in Gandan Khiid in Urga (modern-day Ulaanbaatar).
Islam
In Mongolia today, there is a significant minority of Sunni Muslims, most of them ethnic
Kazakhs, who live primarily in Bayan-Ölgii. Because of its great isolation and distance
from the major Islamic centres of the Middle East, Islam has never been a major force in
Bayan-Ölgii. However, most villages have a mosque and contacts have been established