The Erdene Zuu Monastery ( mn, Эрдэнэ Зуу хийд ,

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

:光顯寺, Tibetan:ལྷུན་གྲུབ་བདེ་ཆེན་གླིང་) is probably the earliest surviving

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

monastery in

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

. Located in

Övörkhangai Province Övörkhangai ( mn, Өвөрхангай, ''Öwörhangai''; "southern Khangai") is one of the 21 aimags (provinces) of Mongolia, located in the south of the country. Its capital is Arvaikheer. The Shankh Monastery, one of the oldest and most i ...

, approximately 2 km north-east from the center of

Kharkhorin Kharkhorin ( mn, Хархорин) is a town and sum (district) center in Övörkhangai Province in Mongolia. The sum population was 13,828 (1994), 13,964 (2000), and 14,765 (2017). The population of Kharkhorin town itself was 14,765 in 2017 and ...

and adjacent to the ancient city of

Karakorum Karakorum (Khalkha Mongolian: Хархорум, ''Kharkhorum''; Mongolian Script:, ''Qaraqorum''; ) was the capital of the Mongol Empire between 1235 and 1260 and of the Northern Yuan dynasty in the 14–15th centuries. Its ruins lie in th ...

, it is part of the

Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape Orkhon ( mn, Орхон) may refer to: * Orkhon River, Mongolia * Orkhon Valley, the landscape around that river * Orkhon Province, an Aimag (province) in Mongolia * several Sums (districts) in different Mongolian Aimags: ** Orkhon, Bulgan ** Orkh ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

. The monastery is affiliated with the

Gelug 240px, The 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Bodhgaya (India). The Gelug (, also Geluk; "virtuous")Kay, David N. (2007). ''Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain: Transplantati ...

sect of

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

History

Abtai Sain Khan Abtai Sain Khan ( Mongolian: ; 1554 - 1588) - alternately Abatai or Avtai (Mongolian: ,Cyrillic: Автайсайн хан, meaning, who have the gift of witchcraft (Автай) and good (сайн) - was a Khalkha-Mongolian prince who was named by ...

, ruler of the

Khalkha Mongols The Khalkha ( Mongolian: mn, Халх, Halh, , zh, 喀爾喀) have been the largest subgroup of Mongol people in modern Mongolia since the 15th century. The Khalkha, together with Chahars, Ordos and Tumed, were directly ruled by Borjigin khan ...

and grandfather of

Zanabazar Öndör Gegeen Zanabazar, , , "High Saint Zanabazar"; 1635–1723 (born Eshidorji) was the sixteenth '' Jebtsundamba Khutuktu'' and the first ''Bogd Gegeen'' or supreme spiritual authority, of the Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) lineage of Tibetan Buddhism ...

, the first

Jebtsundamba Khutuktu The Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, , ; zh, c=哲布尊丹巴呼圖克圖, p=Zhébùzūn Dānbā Hūtúkètú; bo, རྗེ་བཙུན་དམ་པ་ཧུ་ཐུག་ཐུ་, Jetsün Dampa Hutuktu; "Venerable Excellent incarnate lama" ar ...

, ordered construction of the Erdene Zuu monastery in 1585 after his meeting with the

3rd Dalai Lama Sonam Gyatso (; 1543–1588) was the first to be named Dalai Lama, although the title was retrospectively given to his two predecessors. He was born near Lhasa in 1543 and was recognised as the reincarnation of Gendun Gyatso and subsequently e ...

and the declaration of

as the state religion of Mongolia. Stones from the nearby ruins of the ancient Mongol capital of

were used in its construction. Planners attempted to create a surrounding wall that resembled a Tibetan Buddhist rosary featuring 108 stupas (108 being a sacred number in Buddhism), but this objective was probably never achieved. The monastery's temple walls were painted, and the Chinese-style roof covered with green tiles. The monastery was damaged in 1688 during one of the many wars between

Dzungars The Dzungar people (also written as Zunghar; from the Mongolian words , meaning 'left hand') were the many Mongol Oirat tribes who formed and maintained the Dzungar Khanate in the 17th and 18th centuries. Historically they were one of major tr ...

and

. Locals dismantled the wooden fortifications of the abandoned monastery. It was rebuilt in the 18th century and by 1872 had a full 62 temples and housed up to 1000 monks. According to tradition, in 1745, a local Buddhist disciple named Bunia made several unsuccessful attempts to fly with a device he invented which was similar to a parachute. Erdene-Zuu

In 1939, the communist leader

Khorloogiin Choibalsan Khorloogiin Choibalsan ( mn, Хорлоогийн Чойбалсан, spelled ''Koroloogiin Çoibalsan'' before 1941; 8 February 1895 – 26 January 1952) was the leader of Mongolia (Mongolian People's Republic) and Marshal (general chief com ...

ordered the monastery destroyed, as part of a purge that obliterated hundreds of monasteries in Mongolia and killed over ten thousand monks. Three small temples and the external wall with the stupas survived the initial onslaught. By 1944,

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

pressured Choibalsan to maintain the monastery (along with

Gandantegchinlen Monastery The Gandantegchinlen Monastery ( mn, Гандантэгчинлэн хийд, ''Gandantegchinlen khiid'', short name: Gandan mn, Гандан) is a Mongolian Buddhist monastery in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar that has been restored and r ...

Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar (; mn, Улаанбаатар, , "Red Hero"), previously anglicized as Ulan Bator, is the capital and most populous city of Mongolia. It is the coldest capital city in the world, on average. The municipality is located in north ce ...

) as a showpiece for international visitors, such as U.S. Vice President Henry Wallace, to prove that the communist regime allowed freedom of religion. In 1947, the temples were converted into museums and for the four decades that followed Gandantegchinlen Khiid Monastery became Mongolia's only functioning monastery. After the fall of communism in Mongolia in 1990, the monastery was turned over to the lamas and Erdene Zuu again became a place of worship. Today, Erdene Zuu remains an active Buddhist monastery as well as a museum that is open to tourists. On a hill outside the monastery sits a stone phallus called

Kharkhorin Rock Kharkhorin Rock, also Kharkarin Rock or Phallic Rock, is a large statue of a penis raised on a platform on the steppe, located near Erdene Zuu Monastery (part of the World Heritage Site entitled Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape) in Kharkhorin, ...

. The phallus is said to restrain the sexual impulses of the monks and ensure their good behavior.

Gallery

Image:Karakorum.jpg, A view of the outer wall Image:ErdeneZuuKhiidLaviran.jpg, Laviran Temple at Erdene Zuu monastery. Image:BuddhaErdeneZuuMonasteryMongolia.JPG, A

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

at the monastery Image:ErdeneZuuKhiidTemple.jpg, Temple at Erdene Zuu monastery Image:Złota Stupa w klasztorze Erdene Dzuu 01.jpg, The "Golden Stupa" at Erdene Zuu File:Erdene Zuu 4.jpg, Stone Turtle near to the Monastery Erdene Zuu File:Erdene Zuu 5.JPG, Temple at Erdene Zuu File:Świątynia Dalajlamy 04.jpg, The Temple of

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current D ...

File:Niebo nad budynkami klasztoru Erdene Dzuu 05.jpg, Erdene Zuu File:Erdene Zuu 1.JPG, Erdene Zuu File:Erdene Zuu buildings.jpg, Erdene Zuu buildings File:Stupy w murze klasztoru Erdene Dzuu 04.jpg, Stupas File:Budda Sandżaa w Świątyni Zachodniej w klasztorze Erdene Dzuu (01).jpg, Sanjaa (Buddha Dīpankara) inside Western Temple File:Budda Siakjamuni w Świątyni Zachodniej w klasztorze Erdene Dzuu.jpg, Buddha Sakyamuni inside Western Temple File:Sita Mahakala w Głównej Świątyni w klasztorze Erdene Dzuu.jpg, Sita Mahakala (Gonggor) inside Main Temple File:Budda Amitabha w Głównej Świątyni w klasztorze Erdene Dzuu.jpg, Buddha Amitābha (The Buddha of Immeasurable Life and Light) inside Main Temple File:Budda w swoich młodzieńczych latach w klasztorze Erdene Dzuu.jpg, Buddha in his teenage years inside Eastern Temple File:Phallic Rock1.jpg, Phallic Rock File:Monastère d'Erdene Zuu.JPG, Monastery File:Sklep z pamiątkami i muzeum w klasztorze Erdene Dzuu 01.jpg, Gift shop and museum File:Erdene Zuu monastery door knocker.jpg, Erdene Zuu

History

Gallery

References

External links