MONGOLIA

In the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, a confederation of Mongol tribes rose up in Outer and Inner Mongolia under the leadership of Genghis Khan (Chinggis Khan, named Temujin, 1162?–1227). Though the Mongols had certainly had contact with Buddhist neighbors (Jurchen, Tanguts, and Chinese), Genghis continued to support indigenous shamanist practices. However, following his death in 1227 and the subsequent conquest of China and much of Central and Western Asia by his sons and grandsons, Buddhism—specifically Tibetan Buddhism—began to have a significant impact on Mongolian concepts of rulership and empire.

Buddhism during the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1260–1368)

Genghis's son Ogodei (r. 1229–1241) established a Mongol empire that stretched from Korea (occupied in 1238) to present-day Poland and Hungary (1241). Ogodei's second son, Gödan Khan, invaded Tibet several times and in 1244 brought three prominent Tibetan Sa skya (Sakya) lamas as guests (or hostages) to his court in Liangzhou (modern Gansu province). They were Sa skya Pa??ita (Sakya Pa??ita, 1182–1251), head of the Sa skya pa, and his two nephews, 'Phags pa (1235–1280) and Phyag na rdo rje (1239–1267). Under duress, Sa skya Pa??ita wrote a letter to Tibet's great nobles and lamas praising Gödan Khan, but he also initiated him into Tibetan Buddhist practice, thereby trading political control of Tibet for spiritual authority over the Mongol khan. Mongol rule over Tibet was formally achieved in 1252 by Ogodei's nephew, Möngke (r. 1251–1259), whose guru was the Bka' brgyud (Kagyu) master, miracle worker, and eventual second Karma pa, Karma Pakshi (1204–1283).

Möngke's successor and brother, Kublai Khan (Qubilai Khan, r. 1260–1294) followed Gödan Khan's example when he proclaimed himself emperor of the Chinese Yuan dynasty in 1260. Urged by his wife Chabi, Kublai allowed 'Phags pa to initiate him into the Hevajra Tantra on the promise that he would gain the intelligence and compassion of the great protector Mah?k?la. Tibetan Vajray?na Buddhism offered worldly benefits to the emperor as well. By naming 'Phags pa guoshi (national preceptor) and, ten years later, dishi (imperial preceptor), the two reigned side-by-side as "sun and moon" in an ostensibly balanced yon mchod (patron-lama) relationship. 'Phags pa acted as the Mongols' agent in Tibet and as head of their Zongshiyuan (court of the general administration of Buddhism), the office in charge of religious institutions throughout the empire. Kublai's protection and patronage of the Tibetan Sa skya pa signaled his auspicious status as a world-ruling Buddhist cakravartin (wheel-turning king), though he also encouraged an atmosphere of religious tolerance, even sponsoring debates at court between Buddhists and Daoists. In 1345 Kublai was posthumously celebrated at the Juyongguan, a grand stone st?pa-gate constructed northeast of the Mongol capital at Dadu (modern Beijing), where a multilingual inscription asserted his identity as "benevolent king" and "Mañju?r?-emperor." Kublai's representation as an emanation of Mañju??, the bodhisattva of wisdom, who, it was believed, dwelled in China's Wutaishan (Five Terrace Mountains in modern Shanxi province), was a strategic move designed to solidify waning Mongol control over north China.

Mongolian Buddhism after the fall of the Yuan dynasty (late fourteenth to sixteenth centuries)

The Mongol Yuan dynasty was not long able to rule China effectively after Kublai's death, however. By the middle of the fourteenth century, they had lost control of southern China and, in 1368, the Yuan was toppled by a former Chinese Buddhist monk, Zhu Yuanzhang, who founded the Ming dynasty. With the collapse of their East Asian empire, the Mongols retreated beyond the Great Wall. Evidence of their continued devotion to Buddhism is sparse in the centuries following the end of the Yuan. Buddhist practice was mainly limited to the Genghisid aristocracy, who retained limited political control in the Chahar region of eastern Inner Mongolia as the Northern Yuan. In the late sixteenth century, however, as the Ming dynasty began to decay, a number of khans moved to rebuild the Mongol empire. Among them was a Western Mongol of the Tumed tribe, Altan (the Golden) Khan (r. 1543–1582). Altan drove the Northern Yuan east to Liaodong, captured Ogodei's old Outer Mongolian capital, Kharakhorum, and forged an alliance with the Ming. Altan was not a blood descendant of Genghis Khan, however, which proved to be an obstacle in his attempts to forge a new Mongolian confederation. Following an initiation into Tibetan Buddhism presaged in a dream, in 1577 he arranged to meet the Dge lugs (Geluk) lama Bsod nams rgya mtsho (1543–1588) at Kokonor, in modern Qinghai province (Amdo). Bsod nams rgya mtsho was in the direct lineage of Tsongkha pa (1357–1419), the founder of the Dge lugs order. At Kokonor the two exchanged titles: Bsod nams rgya mtsho recognized Altan as Kublai Khan's incarnation, and Altan gave Bsod nams rgya mtsho a new title, Dalai (meaning "ocean" in Mongolian) Lama. Bsod nams rgya mtsho became the third in the Dalai Lama lineage, with two of his predecessors posthumously named as the first and second. This exalted title and Mongol support gave the Dge lugs pa an advantage in their ongoing struggles with the Bka' brgyud pa, who were advisers to the Tibetan kings, and the Sa skya pa. The Mongols had once again become an essential component in the power structure of Tibetan Buddhism.

To honor Bsod nams rgya mtsho, Altan Khan built a monastery, Byang chen theg chen chos 'khor gling, at his capital Koke qota (modern Hohhot in Inner Mongolia). There, following Altan's decree prohibiting shamanist practices, the third Dalai Lama used the fire ma??ala of Mah?k?la to burn ongod, shamanist ancestral images. By Altan Khan's order, the deities of Tibetan Buddhism quickly replaced many of the spirits of shamanism, while in the following decades the shamanist spirits of important Mongolian mountains were incorporated whole into an expanding Buddhist pantheon.

The Dge lugs pa's willingness to ally themselves with Mongol khans brought other candidates forward. Among them was Genghis's descendant, Abadai Khan of the Outer Mongolian Khalkha tribe, who met with Bsod nams rgya mtsho at Koke qota in 1576 or 1577, where he was entitled as khan. Abadai Khan returned to Khalkha to found the Tusheet khanate and to build Erdeni Zuu, a monastery at Ogodei's old capital of Kharakhoram modeled on Altan Khan's monastery in Koke qota. After failing to recruit Dge lugs pa lamas to come to Khalkha for his monastery's consecration, Abadai enlisted local Sa skya pa lamas. As a result, Erdeni Zuu continued to be allied with the Sa skya pa, even long after the Khalkha khans solidly came to support the Dge lugs pa.

In 1588 the third Dalai Lama died en route to Mongolia. Altan Khan, sensing a brilliant opportunity, pushed to have his own great-grandson recognized as the fourth Dalai Lama, who was named Yon tan rgya mtsho (1589–1617). Despite this prestigious coup, through the first decades of the seventeenth century Inner Mongolia remained contested ground. The Northern Yuan emperor, Ligdan Khan (r. 1605–1634), a devout Buddhist, patronized the Sa skya pa and supported a complete Mongolian translation of the Bka' 'gyur (a project later emulated in a woodblock printed version by the Manchu Kangxi emperor, r. 1660–1723). In 1617 Ligdan was given a golden image of Mah?k?la that was said to have been made by 'Phags pa and used in Kublai's campaigns against south China. Ligdan enshrined it at the center of his capital in Chahar. As he retreated west in the face of Manchu incursions in 1634, the Mah?k?la and all the powers that accompanied it fell into Manchu hands. In 1636 they took the image and installed it in the center of their ancestral capital, Mukden, later moving it to Beijing.

Mongolian Buddhism and the Manchus

Meanwhile, in Tibet, the fifth Dalai Lama enlisted the support of Gushri Khan of the Qoshot, who had established himself in the Kokonor region. In 1642 Qoshot troops defeated the rivals of the fifth Dalai Lama and the Dge lugs, most notably the king of Gtsang. This year traditionally marks the beginning of the Dalai Lamas' rule over Tibet. However, it was only with the death of Gushri Khan in 1656 that the fifth Dalai Lama became the unrivaled ruler of Tibet.

Some years earlier, in 1639, Abadai's son, the Tusheet Khan Gombodorji (1594–1655), had had his own young son, known as Öndür Gegen or Zanabazar (1634–1723), initiated as a Buddhist monk at Erdeni Zuu before a convocation of Khalkha lords. The boy traveled to Tibet with a large retinue in 1651, where the fifth Dalai Lama recognized him as an incarnation of the famous historian T?ran?tha (1575–1634), a member of a rival order, the Jonang pa, who had spent years missionizing in Mongolia. The Dalai Lama gave Öndür Gegen the title Rje btsun dam pa (Mongolian, Bogdo Gegen) and charged him with establishing the Dge lugs pa in Khalkha. Öndür Gegen is credited with building numerous monasteries, the primary of which was a traveling collection of yurts, Urga (from Mongolian örgöö, "palace") or Da Khuree (Great Circle), where he reigned as Rje btsun dam pa Khutukhtu (Mongolian for incarnate lama) of Urga. He also designed rituals; established religious festivals, among them the annual Maitreya Festival; borrowed from the Panchen Lama's monastery, Bkra shis lhun po; and produced brilliant paintings and sculptures. In 1691, pressed by the onslaughts of Galdan, khan of the Western Mongolian Dzungar tribe, Öndür Gegen led the Khalkha lords to Dolonnor, Inner Mongolia, to seek the protection of the Qing Kangxi emperor. The emperor and his lama subsequently spent considerable time together in Beijing and at Wutaishan. When first the emperor and then Öndür Gegen died in 1723, the latter's remains were enshrined at imperial expense at a new, palatial Chinese-style monastery, Amarbayasgalant khiid (hermitage), south of Lake Baikal.

The Qing emperors, following the Mongols' precedent, were recognized by the fifth Dalai Lama as emanations of Mañju??. They maintained close diplomatic relations with the great lamas of Tibet and Mongolia. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, hundreds of Mongolian lamas flooded into the Qing capital at Beijing, where they were mainly housed at the Huangsi (Yellow Monastery) and the Yonghegong (Palace of Harmony). The lineage that forged the closest ties to the Qing emperors was that of the Lcang skya Khutukhtus, who were granted primacy over the Dge lugs pa Buddhists of Inner Mongolia. Particularly effective was the third incarnation, Rol pa'i rdo rje (1719–1786). Born in Amdo of a Monguor (Tibetanized Mongol) family, Rol pa'i rdo rje was brought to the Songzhu Monastery in Beijing as a child during the reign of the Yongzheng emperor (r. 1723–1735) and raised with Yongzheng's eventual heir, Hongli, who reigned as the Qianlong emperor (r. 1736–1795). Qianlong's reign marks the height of Mongolian and Tibetan Buddhist prestige and power at the Qing court. Rol pa'i rdo rje initiated the emperor into the Cakrasa?vara Tantra in 1745, taught him Tibetan and Sanskrit, and accompanied him on regular pilgrimages to Wutaishan. Rol pa'i rdo rje was also an invaluable adviser in the emperor's efforts to control the process of incarnation among the powerful lineages of Tibet and Mongolia, and in his many projects in Buddhist art,

architecture, translation, and publishing in Beijing, Chengde (Jehol), Dolonnor, and beyond.

The Mongolian lineages of the Rje btsun dam pa Khutukhtus of Urga and the lCang skya Khutukhtus of Beijing and Inner Mongolia, as well as many other Mongolian lineages, were perpetuated through incarnation into the twentieth century. The Qing closely controlled this process to the end of the dynasty and found all the Rje btsun dam pa Khutukhtus after Öndür Gegen's immediate successor in Tibet. Few of Öndür Gegen's incarnations (with the exception of the fourth) exhibited his spiritual or political brilliance; in fact, few lived to reach adulthood. The eighth in the line (1870/1–1924) was brought to Urga from Tibet in 1876 and eventually found himself enthroned as Bogdo Khan, a Mongolian title previously reserved for the Qing emperors, upon the fall of the Qing empire in 1912. He played a dual role as leader of the Mongolian Dge lugs pa and head of the new (Outer) Mongolian state until his death from syphilis in 1924. His incarnation, the ninth Bogdo Gegen, was found shortly after, but by then Mongolia was in the midst of political chaos and the new incarnation was forced into exile.

Mongolian Buddhism in the twentieth century

Through the 1930s and 1940s Buddhist themes were deployed as propaganda by various contending forces. Among them were the Japanese, who during their occupation of Manchuria claimed Japan was Shambhala; the Russians, who made the same claim about the Soviet Union, even as others hinted that V. I. Lenin was an incarnation of Glang dar ma, the apostate ninth-century Tibetan king; and the Chinese, who spread rumors that the Panchen Lama, then in exile in China, would invade Mongolia leading the armies of Shambhala. Other would-be rulers, among them Jamtsarano, a Buriat Mongol and a practicing Buddhist, urged a revitalization of Buddhism that would recapture the principles of ??kyamuni. His renewal movement failed to convince the new communist-led government of the People's Republic of Mongolia, however, and, in 1937, following the precedent set by Joseph Stalin's repression of the Russian Orthodox Church, Buddhism was banned. The Mongolian government executed thousands of lamas, burned monasteries to the ground, and destroyed religious books and images. Beginning with the collapse in 1991 of the Soviet Union, to which the People's Republic of Mongolia was tied as an unofficial satellite, Buddhism began to resurface in both Outer Mongolian and in Russian Buriatia. Gandantegchinling, the main monastery in Ulan Bator (located at the last site of Urga); Amarbayasgalant khiid, where Öndür Gegen's remains were once enshrined (and whence they were apparently stolen); Erdeni Zuu; and other monasteries in Outer Mongolia began to rebuild their monastic populations, both through the return of former monks, by then elderly, and the entrance into monastic life of new initiates. By contrast, in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, Buddhism has been submitted to the same Chinese state control as exists in Tibet.

Bibliography

Bawden, Charles R. The Modern History of Mongolia. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1968. 2nd revised edition, London and New York: Kegan Paul, 1989.

Berger, Patricia, and Bartholomew, Terese. Mongolia: The Legacy of Chinggis Khan. San Francisco: Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 1995.

Dharmatala, Damcho Gyatsho. Rosary of White Lotuses, Being the Clear Account of How the Precious Teaching of Buddha Appeared and Spread in the Great Hor Country, tr. Piotr Klafkowski. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz, 1987.

Farquhar, David. "Emperor as Bodhisattva in the Governance of the Ch'ing Empire." Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 38, no. 1 (1978): 5–35.

Grupper, Samuel. "The Manchu Imperial Cult of the Early Ch'ing Dynasty: Texts and Studies on the Tantric Sanctuary of Mahakala at Mukden." Ph.D. diss. Indiana University, Bloomington, 1979.

Heissig, Walther. "A Mongolian Source to the Lamaist Suppression of Shamanism in the Seventeenth Century." Anthropos 48, nos. 1–2 (1953): 1–29; nos. 3–4 (1953): 493–536.

Heissig, Walther. The Religions of Mongolia, tr. Geoffrey Samuel. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980.

Jagchid, Sechin. "Buddhism in Mongolia after the Collapse of the Yuan Dynasty." In Traditions religieuses et parareligieuses des peuples altaiques. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1972.

Moses, Larry W. The Political Role of Mongol Buddhism. Bloomington: Asian Studies Research Institute, Indiana University, 1977.

Pozdneyev, Aleksei M. Mongolia and the Mongols, tr. John Roger Shaw and Dale Plank. Bloomington: Indiana University, 1971.

Patricia Berger