Gandan Monastery

[DharmaSpace]

Gandan Monastery is the largest temple in the city. Some Mongolians visit to pray and hear lamas chat. Tourists come day to sightsee at one of the city’s most historic and religious locations.

Originally situated in the center of Ulaanbaatar, Gandan Monastery was moved to its present location by the 5th Bogd Jebzundamba in 1838. Over the next century the Monastery grew to include nine dastans or institutes, a library and housed a community of around 5000 monks.
Gandan became an important center for learning and practicing Buddha's teachings, not only in Mongolia but for the entire Mahayana Buddhist community.

Gandantegchinlen monastery was founded as the religious center of Sutra-Tantra Buddhism at the site of Dalkha Hill. It grew into a complex of colleges including a college of basic Buddhist teachings, departments of astrology and medicine, and as such was the largest center of Mongolian Buddhism.
The first temple of the Monastery was built at the initiative of the Mongolian living Buddha, the Fifth Incarnation Bogdo, Chultem-Jigmid-Dambijantsan. It was constructed by Mongolian masters and made mostly of wood and earth following Mongolian national architectural designs, with gold plated roofs and symbolic - decorations.
Many of the Boddhisattyas statues and images established in Gandan temple are of significance. In the temple there is a bronze statue of the Lofty Noble Rimpoche Dzanabazar - the Mongolian living Buddha of the First Incarnation sculpted by himself at the behest of his mother, the collection of the Buddha's fundamental teachings, the Tripitaka (Gangiur) in 108 volumes, the silver statue of the famous Tsong (Khapa) of Amdo made in the 16th century in Western Oirat Mongolia.

In 1938, the communists suppressed religious communities in Mongolia. They destroyed around 900 monasteries, though a handful were turned into museums. The monks were killed, jailed, or forced to join the army or laity. Five temples at the Gandan Monastery were destroyed. The remaining temples were used to accommodate Russian officials or used as barns to keep their horses.
In 1944 after a petition from several monks, Gandan Monastery was reopened but its functions were carried out under the strict supervision of the Socialist government. In 1990, after the Democratic Revolution and with Buddhism flourishing once more, Gandan Monastery embarked on an ambitious restoration program. There are currently 10 datsans and temples operating at Gandan Monastery, and approximately 900 monks.
The souvenir shop, to the left as you enter the main southern gate of the monastery, sells religious artefacts, including miniature copper bowls, incense and scroll paintings, as well as items like Mongolian felt hats.
There are several small temples or datsan at Gandan Monastery:
Gandantegchileng
Along the left wall are the 108 volumes of the Kanguir, penned in the 14th century by Mongolian masters in gold ink on black paper. In the central glass case at the back is a large statue of Buddha made by Mongolian lamas in 1956 to celebrate the 2500th anniversary of Buddha's death.
In another case is a self-portriat of Zanabazar, the first Jebzundamba of Mongolia, made in the 1680s at his mother's request. It is surrounded by small statues of the seven subsequent Jebzundam Along the right wall are gold-plated statues of the Bodhisa: Amitayus, the Bodhisattva of Longevity.
Vajradhara Temple
On the main altar is a statue of Vajradhara, a Buddha from Tantric practice, made by Zanabazar in 1683. The temple is made of earth and brick and the top decoration is gilded gold. The daily service is performed at this temple.
Library
This building originally housed the remains of the Mongolian Bogd Lamas. Later, when Gandan Monastery was reopened it became a library. The library contains approximately 1 million sutras written in Mongolian, Tibetan, and Sanskrit. There are also some surgical instruments from the 16th century kept here.
Idgachoinzinleng
This Datsan was established by the 8th Bogd Jebzundamba. Its practices were based on the works of the Tibetan scholar Sera Jebzunpa. The Datsan was destroyed in 1938. Former disciples Ven. Tserendemchig and Ven. Naidan wished to restore their home datsan and had it re-opened in 1990. The new temple was opened in 2004.
Buddhist University of Mongolia
The Buddhist University of Mongolia was established in 1970. The University combines modern education with traditional teaching methods. Four year Bachelor's Degree programs are offered and currently there are two departments: The Department of Internal Sciences which includes majors in Buddhist philosophy and chanting.
The other is the Department of Common Knowledge which includes Tibetan, Sanskrit, and English language majors as well as traditional medicine and astrology majors.
Badam yoga datsan
The Datsan was built in 1745 by the Second Bogd Jebzundamba. The Datsan holds reciting and chanting puja (worship). In 1938, activity at the Datsan was stopped in. The Datsan was reopened in 2002 and is now located at the Geser Temple, just east of Gandan.
Jud datsan
In 1739 this Datsan was built and established by the Second Bogd Jebzundamba. Activity at the Datsan was shut down in 1938. 50 years later in 1998, the Datsan revived its practices and now holds Tantric services and chanting rituals.

http://ubpost.mongolnews.mn/index.php/component/content/article/88888949-culturetop/6952-buddhism-in-the-heart-of-ub

I do know that the Mongolians are predominantly or all following the Gelugpa tradition. Well I really hope they restore this monastery and once again propitiate the practice of Dorje Shugden once more for the benefit of many people. I could not find references to Dorje Shudgen to this particular monastery.

But i found this citation here
Also, the Fourth Jetsun Dampa (1775 - 1813, blo bzang thub bstan dbang phyug 'jigs med rgya mtsho), the head of Gelug sect in Mongolia also wrote a torma offering to Shugden in the context of Shambhala and Kalachakra. in the article  http://info-buddhism.com/dorje_shugden_controversy.html  And Jetsun Dampa resides in this particular monastery so it should only be a matter of time that Dorje Shugden is again practised much more openly in this monastery.



 

[DharmaDefender]

On this thread, theres more information about the current Kaka Jetsun Dampa who I believe has just passed away: http://www.dorjeshugden.com/forum/index.php?topic=820.240

The Current 9th Kaka Jetsun Dampa (born in 1932) residing in Dharamsala was recognized OPENLY only in September 1991s as the supreme incarnate teacher of Mongolia.. He was 59 years old already. Now he is 78 years old this year. Just think, he was only officially and more importantly OPENLY RECOGNIZED 55 years after his first and quiet recognition by the Regent Reting Rinpoche at the age of four. No one bothered or knew about him before September 1991. It was hush-hush. Incarnations can be recognized many decades later for seen and unseen reasons. Definitely possible.
 
Installation of the Kaka Jestun Dampa line of reincarnations was banned in Mongolia since 1929. Only a small handful knew who he was for decades and it was kept a secret. But recognizing him many decades back would of upset the Mongolian Govt then a hard line Stalinist-communist regime. Now Mongolia is open to this and hence recognized and living in Dharamsala. But being the current incarnation is Tibetan and not Mongolian, there are still political issues. 

Whatever you may think that there was no controversy with the Shugden issue WITHIN THE TIBETAN communities prior to the 90's, there were already in the late 80's. It just didn't go full blown yet all over the world.

The Geshes and Tulkus around the world greeted the first news of Dorje Shugden not in Dalai Lama's favour with shock/confusion BUT just kept practicing. In fact the problems already started in the late 70's when the Dalai Lama gave up his personal practice. He just didn't blow it up. For him to give up the practice while Trijang Rinpoche was alive was a clear indication of trouble ahead. There were no death threats, or violence with the Dorje Shugden LAMAS. But the actual line of TULKU DRAKPA GYELTSEN incarnations HIMSELF WAS BANNED hundreds of years ago. Incarnate Dorje Shugden lamas and Drakpa Gyeltsen himself are VERY DRAMATICALLY DIFFERENT. The Dalai Lama already believed Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen was a negative spirit when he gave up the practice in the late 70's. Wouldn't be prudent if Drakpa Gyeltsen was recognized two decades ago.

Since Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen was banned by the Tibetan Govt, it would not serve any monastery's benefit if they enthroned him decades back. They do not wish to bring trouble upon themselves. Since the Dalai Lama gave up his Shugden practice in the late 70's, it would not be a smart move for any monastery to say, well here's Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen back in our Monastery. All Gelug Monasteries back then were in alignment with the Tibetan Govt and Dalai Lama.

THAIMONK

It seems his incarnations have always had a very close relationship with Tibet and the Dalai Lama (http://www.jetsundhampa.com/)... for example:

Their present friendship continues the long tradition of close ties that they have held historically. It was the Fifth Dalai Lama, Losang Ngawang Gyatso, who recognized the First Khalkha Jetsun Dhampa as the reincarnation of Taranatha when the young tulku first travelled to Tibet from Mongolia, and who also became his lineage lama at that time, conferring on him all his lineage initiations, empowerments and the further teachings, as well as his present title.

If he was so close to the Fifth Dalai Lama, theres a possibility he wouldve practised Dorje Shugden from his first incarnation onwards. Given he wrote a torma offering three incarnations later in his 4th incarnation, then it suggests his link to the Dorje Shugden practice is pretty strong so most likely he wouldve been practising all the way up to the current 9th incarnation.

I wonder though given the Kaka Jetsun Dampas closeness to the Dalai Lama, and the current ban, if Dorje Shugden will be practised openly in his 10th incarnation or if well have to wait until his 11th.

[DharmaSpace]

More news about Buddhist practice in Mongolia.

by Paul Mooney in Amarbayasgalant
Its glory long-since faded, the Amarbayasgalant Monastery nonetheless stands out on the almost deserted Mongolian steppes, its chipped red and gold paint contrasting against a green backdrop of mountains. The dilapidated monastery, which dates back to the 1700s, in many ways serves as a metaphor for Buddhism in this country.
Twenty years after the fall of communism, which saw brutal purges that pushed the religion to the brink of extinction, Mongolian Buddhism is struggling to survive in the face of weak finances, a lack of education, suspicious intellectuals, a gnawing religious schism and encroaching Christianity.
In two short decades, the hopes raised when democracy returned to Mongolia appear to have been dashed, even as old monasteries are being renovated and new ones built all over the country; young monks are being sent to India, Tibet and Switzerland to study; and a lay movement continues to grow.
Buddhism arrived in Mongolia from Tibet in the 13th century, during the time of Genghis Khan. The religion thrived until the beginning of the 20th century, when there were some 100,000 monks – one-third of Mongolia’s male population were Buddhist lamas – living in 700 monasteries.
Communism began to take hold in the country in the 1920s and, after more than a decade of attempts to wipe out Buddhism failed to shake the faith, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and his Mongolian protege, Khorloogiin Choibalsan, unleashed a brutal purge in 1937, destroying temples and decimating the clergy.
No one knows exactly how many monks and nuns were killed but mass graves uncovered in recent years indicate tens of thousands disappeared between the 30s and 60s. Some put the figure at 30,000 killed, with another 10,000 banished to Siberian labour camps. By 1940, institutional Buddhism had ceased to exist in the Mongolian People’s Republic.
Erdene Zuu, about 300 kilometres from the nation’s capital, Ulan Bator, is one Mongolia’s largest monasteries and was once its grandest. Built in 1585 in the ancient capital of Karakorum, the sprawling complex is ringed by a massive wall dotted with 108 stupas and once contained 70 temples and shrines. It was home to some 1,500 monks. Now, only about 20 buildings remain and there are about 50 monks – mainly young boys – and, on most days, fewer visitors. It feels like a ghost town.
Not far from Erdene Zuu is the Shankh Monastery, which is falling apart due to a lack of funds. The site, which was founded in 1647 by Zanabazar, the country’s first Jetsun Damba, or living Buddha, was also home to 1,500 monks and was one of the foremost centers for teaching Buddhism. In 1937, the monastery was shut down, its temples burned and most of its monks arrested, executed or sent to labour camps.
Just outside Ulan Bator lie the ruins of the once-splendid Manjushri Monastery. The pictures in the Manjushri museum, which sits on the grounds of the old monastery, depict a monastic community that at one time included 10,000 monks. Russian tanks used the site for target practice and left it as a pile of rocks.
Ulan Bator’s Gandan Monastery faired somewhat better. Formerly home to 10,000 monks, the monastery was shut down by the communists and the temples were used as garages. However, in 1944, Stalin, under pressure from American president Franklin Roosevelt, ordered the reopening of the monastery.
‘At that time, Mongolia was cut off from the outside world and there was no freedom of expression or religion,’ says Gunid, abbot of one of the monasteries in the Gandan complex. ‘It was just for show that they opened this monastery.’

Gunid says a handful of monks who survived the purges of the 30s were allowed to teach Buddhism under the watchful eye of intelligence agents. The lamas spent more time on political than religious lessons. He says that if they met foreigners, they were instructed to lie and say Buddhism was being revived.
‘That was a very difficult time for anyone choosing this path,’ he says. ‘If one wanted to become a monk, this was the only place.’
Gunid, who joined Gandan in 1974, says the Mongolian KGB acted as an admissions board for anyone wanting to enter the monastery, with agents reading each applicant’s biography and then deciding who to admit.
A year after the Berlin Wall fell, in 1989, signaling the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union, Mongolia shook off communism and a democratic government came to power. Buddhism began to enjoy a resurwgence and the surviving faithful threw their energy into re-establishing their religion.
Gunid, rotund and dressed in a rust-colored robe with greyish-blue cuffs and brass buttons, explains what happened while seated on a platform, legs folded neatly beneath him. There is a picture of the Dalai Lama on the wall.
‘People went to restore the temples and many, many people entered the monasteries,’ he says. ‘But it all happened very fast. And then the whole system collapsed.’
During the seven decades of religious suppression, few monks had been trained in Gandan, the only functioning monastery. The result is that today’s Mongolian monasteries are populated only by very young abbots and a large proportion of shaven-headed boy monks. It’s estimated there are just 2,000 to 3,000 monks in all of Mongolia, with another 300 to 500 studying in India.
As the sun goes down at the Amarbayasgalant Monastery, monks, many of whom are of primary-school age, move about the complex doing chores. Some are wearing crimson robes, others tracksuits, their shaven heads the only sign of their vocation.
‘People always ask me how come you’re so young and the head monk,’ says Olonbayar, the 28-year-old abbot of Amarbayasgalant. ‘The reason is there are not enough monks in Mongolia. The problem with Buddhism in Mongolia is that you have very old monks and very young monks, but no one in the middle.’
Olonbayar says his monastery now has 60 monks, half of them children.
‘We don’t know what they’ll do when they grow up. It’s their choice,’ he says. ‘It’s a hard life. Some of them lose their way.’
Olonbayar is wearing a watch and, on his feet, a pair of Crocs, and he has a mobile phone tucked under his robes, which he occasionally answers. He has a sense of humour and is not afraid to show it. When a visiting journalist comments that the monastery appears to have been forgotten by many Mongolians, he smiles wryly and suggests, ‘Maybe you should learn how to pronounce it.’
One of the greatest obstacles to the advancement of Buddhism is a lack of funding to fix crumbling buildings and to support monks.
Canadian Glenn Mullin, author of numerous books on Tibetan Buddhism and a long-time resident of Ulan Bator, says that while there was just one temple in 1990, today there are 200, but they are mostly small rooms, no larger than 100 square meters, inhabited by just three to five monks.
‘They’re trying to restart the tradition from that,’ says Mullin.
‘I don’t have money for restoration,’ says Olonbayar. ‘The government should restore the temple. It’s their duty.’ But he says, he is aware the government is also short of funds.
His monastery has received a US$570,000 grant from the United States embassy in Ulan Bator, but that’s just enough to cover the cost of repairing the roof of the main building and installing fire and security systems. Due to the lack of funds, the monastery is not recruiting at the moment, says Olonbayar.
Vesna Wallace, an expert on Mongolian Buddhism at the University of California, Santa Barbara, says that if monks cannot live in monasteries, they must live at home, where they face many temptations. Some have to find jobs to survive and many get married.
‘First, Mongolia needs educated monks,’ says Olonbayar. ‘Second is the monasteries. Without monks, a monastery is just an empty building. So monks first, monasteries later.’
Bassa, the 33-year-old abbot at Erdene Zuu, agrees. ‘We don’t need such big monasteries; that’s not what’s important. The big problem now is the lack of teachers. Building good schools and bringing in good teachers from India, that’s what’s important.’
Gunid says that in the 90s, when expectations were running high, many children came to study at the monasteries, but the numbers have gradually decreased since.
‘Some parents hoped their children would become good lamas but they saw there were no good teachers – the monasteries could not give a good education,’ he says.
Morris Rossabi, a professor of Mongolian history at New York’s Columbia University, says. ‘[Parents] thought it would be the same kind of instruction mode that existed before 1921, but a lot of monks were not particularly well educated.’
The lack of an inspiring religious leadership has left intellectuals wary about organised Buddhism. Wallace says the perception that there is corruption, or at least ulterior motives, in Mongolian Buddhism has long existed, stretching as far back as the 17th century.
‘We know historically that there was a long waiting list of people who wanted to join monasteries, because they were exempt from paying taxes to the Manchus, could maintain their own animals and stay out of the military,’ Wallace says.
The Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Government, with the encouragement of Stalin, cemented these suspicions with allegations of corruption transmitted via radio, films and even novels, says Wallace. The message was that the monasteries were the last strongholds of feudalism and that the religion was hindering the country’s economic development.
As a result of this decades-long campaign, ‘the younger generation today have not devoted their minds to Buddhism,’ says Gunid.
Ulan Bator’s Museum of Political Repression portrays monks as ‘social parasites living off the people’. Exhibits include paintings produced during communist times of monks swallowing human hearts and owning houses – an unthinkable notion among devout Buddhists. Some newspapers and television programs continue to raise doubts about the religion.
‘There are those who are suspicious of monks and monasteries because many monks are partially ordained or are not ordained,’ Wallace says. ‘When you see monasteries being rebuilt, you think, ‘Not bad’, but many of the monks can’t survive if their families can’t support them. They have to find a job. Many get married. They still function as monks but they’re not really monks.’
Rossabi says biographies from the beginning of the 20th century often refer to a ‘virulent opposition to Buddhism and corruption in the Buddhist establishment’. ‘That might be in the backs of minds,’ he says.
On the other hand, says Rossabi, ‘A lot of people I deal with, the intellectual class, are very much interested in Buddhism and in their own way are going back to Buddhism. But I don’t think it’s related to the formal monastic establishment. That hasn’t jumped out.’
Rossabi describes friends who display ritual objects in their homes, read Buddhist writings and are well informed on the subject. He tells of one group of about 50 Mongolian intellectuals who meet to read sutras.
‘It doesn’t translate into a formal religion though.’ Furthermore, he says, ‘economic problems have superseded the interest in Buddhism.’
Buddhist religious leaders also speak about the growing attraction of Christianity and Mormonism, both of which are making major inroads in Mongolia.
‘Young people worship foreign countries and cultures,’ Gunid says. ‘We worshipped Russia for 70 years; now we worship America. Young people gave up Buddhism and betrayed their parents.’
He points to his belly and says: ‘Their brains are in their stomachs. They’re thinking about what to eat today.’
He says Christian missionaries are aggressive. ‘They knock at the door and say, ‘Please become a Mormon, please come to our church.”
Wallace says that in 2001, there were 182 registered religious organisations in Mongolia, of which 110 were Buddhist, but that latter number has fallen to just 30. Meanwhile, Christian organisations have expanded to some 300 in number. According to Wallace, one popular Christian slogan is: ‘We give, Buddhism takes.’
The spiritual attacks do not end there. Adherents of shamanism – which pre-dates Buddhism – have begun to accuse Buddhism of being foreign, saying Mongolia should return to its national religion, which is growing in popularity.
Buddhism is further hampered by a lack of a central organizing body. While many experts say the Gandan Monastery is Buddhism’s headquarters in Mongolia, some monasteries do not recognize its authority. And there is no recognized leader, unlike in Tibetan Buddhism.
In 1991, Mongolian lamas asked the Dalai Lama for information about the Ninth Bogd, Jambalnamdalchoijijantsan, who was born in Tibet in 1932 and was for years recognized as the reincarnation of the Eighth Bogd. He visited Mongolia in 1999, where he was recognized as the head of Mongolian Buddhism, but the visit met with complaints from China because of his close ties to the Tibetan government-in-exile and the Dalai Lama.
‘The Bogd recognized by the Dalai Lama is not as revered as the ones in the past,’ Rossabi says. ‘He has come back on occasion but has not attracted the loyalty and following one would expect.’
Another distraction is Dorje Shugden, a relatively new Tibetan deity and a source of dispute around the world. In 1996, the Dalai Lama declared the deity an ‘evil spirit’.
The cult of Dorje Shugden has been promoted in Mongolia by Tibetan adherents in Switzerland, India and Nepal, leading to friction. Of the 200 monasteries in Mongolia, some 25 per cent are said to worship Dorje Shugden, one of which is the grand Amarbayasgalant Monastery.
‘It’s sad that there is this problem, which is a Tibetan problem and not a Mongolian one, that has been transplanted to Mongolia,’ Wallace says. ‘Some people believe the Dorje Shugden group is funded by the Chinese. I don’t know if there is evidence for that but people prominent in that movement seem to have connections with the Chinese. Whoever is against the Dalai Lama they see as their ally.’
When told that Olonbayar believes Mongolian monasteries are independent and that there is no central authority, Gunid looks irritated.
‘Of course, he would say that,’ Gunid says. ‘They are against the Dalai Lama. That monastery doesn’t listen. The American government did a really bad job [by donating funds] – they should have given the money to Gandan. Maybe I should write to [US president Barack] Obama and have the ambassador recalled.’
Gunid, who studied in India and worked as an interpreter for the Dalai Lama during a visit to Mongolia, further defends his mentor.
‘He only has beads as a weapon while China has an atomic bomb. But he is stronger and the Chinese are afraid of him.’
Mongolian Buddhism may be down, but it is not yet out.
‘I’m optimistic because there is a certain lay movement that was not there before,’ Wallace says. ‘When I came in 2000, there was hardly anyone in the monasteries. You could hardly see any young people. There was a lot of suspicion.’
She says today she sees a different kind of movement, one in which lay practitioners are establishing Buddhist centres and offering Buddhist teachings for lay people, meditation retreats and lectures for university students.
Mullin says some people may feel discouraged because the monasteries ‘don’t have their act together’.
‘But you can’t blame them,’ he says. ‘It’s only been 20 years.’
‘When you scratch an inch below the surface of the socialism they grew up with, you find they’re Buddhists. This is very deep in the Mongolian psyche all over the country. ‘Buddhism is still deeply rooted in the Mongolian blood.’
Editor’s Note: It seems that Dorje Shugden’s influence is getting stronger in Mongolia due to the efforts of Dorje Shugden Lamas and practitioners there. We rejoice to see so much work being done to spread Dorje Shugden in Mongolia. As Dorje Shugden spreads all over the world, more causes will be created for the ban to be lifted faster.

As buddhists if we are always so fragmented and divided not many people would want to carry on the practices. As we can observe from the article above Buddhism lack of focus, disorganised and disunited in Mongolia is being exploited by other faiths. I really look forward to the Mongolian lamas once again being growth of Buddhism in Mongolia once again. There could be help from the Americans once again like this young rinpoche from the US
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2111552-1,00.html
Dorje Shugden will once again be practiced by many Mongolians once again.

[Big Uncle]

Sorry, I digress a little... Wouldn't it be great if Dorje Shugden becomes the Protector of the entire nation? If I were the Prime Minister of Mongolia, I would ensure that every city and town have a central cathedral or temple to Lama Tsongkhapa and Dorje Shugden.

I will work with Dorje Shugden Lamas and work towards restoration of temples and ensure that there is a curriculum within monasteries to increase quality monks who hold their vows and excel in their monastic education. I would ensure that the economy would be vibrant to ensure the monasteries will always be financially supported so great Geshes and incarnate Lamas are produced to teach and guide the population.

I will start a Dorje Shugden Monlam, with large scale Lamrim teachings (by modern Lamas who would deliver it in a way that people would relate to), retreats and it all ends with a humongous Dorje Shugden Torgya. Another thing I would do is work towards breaking down the ban by disseminating information that talks about the benefits of Dorje Shugden practice to China and the rest of the world. I will make Dorje Shugden one of my country's main exports.   

Hehe! I could go on and on... sorry for the digression.

[montymonkey123]

Ganden Monastery being a large temple will definately benefit all Mongolians and tourists. They can learn and practice Buddha's Teachings. Too sad that 900 monasteries were destroyed and some of the monks were killed, jailed or forced to join the army. Fortunately the Gandan Monastery was reopened in 1944 and the Buddhist University of Mongolia was opened in 1970 to provide Buddha's teachings to all Mongolians and others. It is really great!

[RedLantern]

Gandan was translated from Tibetan language means the land con trolled by Maitreya.Located on top of Wangpori mountain which is 3.8m on the south bank of Lhasa in Dazi.Was built by L.Tsongkapa during the Ming dynasty,who is the founder of Gelug Sect.In the past,there was nearly 400 monks and though it was
completely demolished during the cultural revolution,nearly all the buidings were reconstructed later.The cultural relics have lost more or less.One of the buildings has 108 pillars which is large enough to hold 3,500
monks and has many beautiful and skilfully craved bronze statues of Maitreya and Tsongkapa.The throne of Tsongkapa and his collection of Tibetan statues.Chituokhan Buddhist temple is one of the earliest buildings of
Gandan where Tsongkapa and successive abbot lived.During the 18th century,the 7th Dalai Lama added an ornate golden pinnacle to the building.There are also many Buddhist sutras,ancient codes and other personal belongings of Tsongkapa.Gandan monastery was severely damage during the Cultural revolution,old buildings
were demolished, a large number of relics were robbed. The pagoda of Tsongkapa was also destroyed and it is said the 3rd largest diamond on the pagoda was stolen.
With the influence of Dorje Shugden lamas and practitioners there,the practice of Dorje Shugden will flourish like wild fire in Mongolia.

[harrynephew]

Sorry, I digress a little... Wouldn't it be great if Dorje Shugden becomes the Protector of the entire nation? If I were the Prime Minister of Mongolia, I would ensure that every city and town have a central cathedral or temple to Lama Tsongkhapa and Dorje Shugden.

I will work with Dorje Shugden Lamas and work towards restoration of temples and ensure that there is a curriculum within monasteries to increase quality monks who hold their vows and excel in their monastic education. I would ensure that the economy would be vibrant to ensure the monasteries will always be financially supported so great Geshes and incarnate Lamas are produced to teach and guide the population.

I will start a Dorje Shugden Monlam, with large scale Lamrim teachings (by modern Lamas who would deliver it in a way that people would relate to), retreats and it all ends with a humongous Dorje Shugden Torgya. Another thing I would do is work towards breaking down the ban by disseminating information that talks about the benefits of Dorje Shugden practice to China and the rest of the world. I will make Dorje Shugden one of my country's main exports.   

Hehe! I could go on and on... sorry for the digression.

Dear Big Uncle,

I love digressions of a future picture of what it could be like in the future when the ban is lifted and all sorts of things comes into mind. WE WANNA MAKE DORJE SHUGDEN AND LAMA TSONGKHAPA MAINSTREAM PRACTICE! I love your idea about having huge statues and cathederals dedicated to these lovely enlightened beings. And the very fact that we can make them a national religion too! Just imagine, a new term in the dictionary being synonymous with Buddhism; Shugdenism

Aren't we all here for one good purpose which is to bring Lama Tsongkhapa and Dorje Shugden to the forefront of the entire universe's spiritual concerns?

[DharmaDefender]

I love digressions of a future picture of what it could be like in the future when the ban is lifted and all sorts of things comes into mind. WE WANNA MAKE DORJE SHUGDEN AND LAMA TSONGKHAPA MAINSTREAM PRACTICE! I love your idea about having huge statues and cathederals dedicated to these lovely enlightened beings. And the very fact that we can make them a national religion too! Just imagine, a new term in the dictionary being synonymous with Buddhism; Shugdenism

Aren't we all here for one good purpose which is to bring Lama Tsongkhapa and Dorje Shugden to the forefront of the entire universe's spiritual concerns?

Oh dear Haz, Im liking the term "Shugdenism" but not so much the accusations thatll come along about how were so sectarian, how were a cult that split away from mainstream Buddhism etc etc. Of course theyd be totally ignoring the fact that Dorje Shugden protects Lama Tsongkhapas teachings, and those teachings are the essence of the best of traditions...how can you be sectarian if the very core and foundation of your lineage is non-sectarian?!

But hey, trying to reason with the anti-DS people who share one brain cell between them? Better you than me mate!

[beggar]

The Mongolians are indeed known to have had many long-standing ties with the Tibetan Buddhist lineages - they are the ones, after all, who even gave the Dalai Lama his title!

Interestingly, DS practice does seem to have its own stronghold in Mongolia - they aren't directly under the jurisdiction of the Tibetan authorities or their laws. As some have already pointed out, they have their own much respected spiritual heads, such as HH Jetsun Dampa. From what I understand, the Mongolians are a very complex culture, with many sub-tribes and sub-cultures. Within that, I imagine they would each also have their own religious groups and heads.

Also, one of the most well known DS monasteries in the world is found in Mongolia - known as Amarbayasgalant Monastery, which has been famous historically as well as among contemporary practitioners. More information, and a comprehensive video of the monastery and its surroundings can be read here: http://dorjeshugden.com/wp/?p=104

(or see the video directly on YouTube here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UilBAAVYj14)