the history of buddhism among the mongols 405
Altan Khan’s invitation to the third Dalai Lama was not only the
beginning of the expansion of the dGe-lugs-pa in Southern and Western
Mongolia, but also in Northern Mongolia. In 1586 or 1587,^126 Abadai
Tay iúi, a powerful Qalqa prince and direct descendant of inggis Khan,
visited the Dalai Lama. On this occasion, the latter is reported to have
declared that the prince was an incarnation of the bodhisattva Vajrap i,
the tutelary deity of the Mongols, and he is further reported to have
bestowed Abadai Tayiúi with the honorary title “Great Vajra Khan of
the Dharma” (nom-un yeke vair qaan).^127 Already in 1586, in the direct
neighbourhood of the ruins of the former capital Karakorum, Abadai
had founded the Erdeni Úoo monastery^128 after the model of Altan
Khan’s Yeke Úoo monastery in Kökeqota.^129 The new monastery was
to be consecrated by no one less than the Dalai Lama. However, the
latter complied neither with the rst nor with the second invitation.
He sent the Sa-skya-pa monk Blo-gros-snying-po as representative, and,
later on, the famous translator Siregetü Güüsi orúi, who became the
rst superior of Erdeni Úoo.^130
It was no coincidence that a Sa-skya-pa monk was sent as represen-
tative of the highest dGe-lugs-pa hierarch. The rst monks of Erdeni
Úoo, the majority of whom were Tibetans, did not belong to the dGe-
lugs-pa, but to the Sa-skya-pa, i.e., they were members of the school to
which also the great Mongol missionary of Qubilai’s time, ’Phags-pa,
had belonged. The Sa-skya-pa were Red Hats, but in contrast to the
Karma-pa they were apparently not regarded as enemies by the “Yel-
low Hats”. They were rather regarded as models for the ideal balanced
relation between worldly and religious matters, between king and Lama.
This is con rmed by the fact that many Sa-skya-pa monks joined the
delegation of the third Dalai Lama.^131
6.3. Erdeni Úoo and the Development of a Northern Mongolian
Religious CentreErdeni Úoo soon developed into the religious centre of all Northern or
Qalqa Mongolia. Yet, it remained a Sa-skya-pa monastery up to the
(^126) Kollmar-Paulenz 2001, p. 332 nn. 671, 674.
(^127) Cf., e.g., Schmidt 1829, p. 253; Bawden 1961, pp. 36, 38.
(^128) About the history of this monastery, see Cendina 1999. See also Sagaster
- 129
Cendina 1999, p. 34; Kollmar-Paulenz 2001, p. 331 n. 667.
(^130) Cendina 1999, p. 42.
(^131) Cendina 1999, pp. 35–43.