the history of buddhism among the mongols 407
i.e., to stay in his present existence for a long time for the sake of the
doctrine and living beings. Öndör Gegen stayed in Erdeni Úoo quite
often, although he did not make this monastery his main residence. The
reason for this appears to have been the fact that he was a con rmed
dGe-lugs-pa and Erdeni Úoo was dominated by the “red” Sa-skya-pa.
In any case, in 1647, he founded the Baraun Küriye, “the Western
monastery”, a real dGe-lugs-pa monastery not far away from Erdeni
Úoo and from the place where he, in 1641, had been declared to be
an incarnation of T ran tha. This monastery also did not become the
permanent residence of Öndör Gegen. His permanent residence was
a tent monastery (örgöge), his “palace” in which he lived a nomadic life
according to Mongolian tradition.^138
- Tibet’s Religious and Political Impact on
Mongolian Culture and Society
As a consequence of the renaissance of Buddhism in Mongolia due to
the dGe-lugs-pa, the relations between the Mongols and Tibet became
closer than they had been in the time of the Great Empire, let alone
in the “dark times” that followed. With the desire to meet the Mongo-
lian Dalai Lama and to travel to the holy places of the new religion,
more and more Mongolian princes and monks travelled to Tibet. The
Snowy Country became more and more the religious homeland of
the Mongols, the place from which the holy doctrine originated, the
place of the gods from which they expected more effective protection
than they did from the gods of the shamans. From Tibet, the Mongols
received a new, higher culture which they combined with their own
tradition to form a unique novelty, and this was to decisively in uence
all facets of the Mongolian society.
Although the contacts between Mongolia and Tibet may not be as
intense as they have been in the past, they have not been interrupted to
the present day. Today Mongolian monks study in Tibetan monaster-
ies, be it in Tibet or in exile in India, especially the sGo-mang division
(sGo-mang grva-tshang) of the ’Bras-spungs (Drepung) monastery in the
South Indian Mundgod which has the same meaning for the Mongols
as the main monastery near Lhasa has enjoyed.
(^138) Cendina 1999, pp. 47–48.