Datsan (, , ; ''derived from'' ) is the term used for

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

university

monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which m ...

in the

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

an tradition of Gelukpa located throughout

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

, Tibet and

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. As a rule, in a datsan there are two departments—philosophical and medical. Sometimes a department of

tantric practices Tantric may refer to: Religion Religious practices *Tantra massage, a form of erotic massage *Tantric sex, Hindu and Buddhist tantric practices that utilize sexual activity in a ritual or yogic context *Tantric yoga, a form of yoga * Tibetan tantr ...

is added to them where the monks study only after finishing education in the philosophical department. In pre-

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

Russia, datsans traditionally existed only in the Buryat territories, most of those now included in

Buryatia Buryatia, officially the Republic of Buryatia, is a republic of Russia located in the Russian Far East. Formerly part of the Siberian Federal District, it has been administered as part of the Far Eastern Federal District since 2018. To its nort ...

and Transbaikalia (a number of datsans there have been reconstructed or newly established since the early 1990s). There was a difference with Tibetan administrative idea: in Tibet, several datsans were education-centered parts of larger organizations,Rinchen, B.; Maidar, D., ed. (1979). Mongol ard ulsiin ugsaatnii sudlal, khelnii shinjleliin atlas thnographic and Linguistic Atlas of the Mongolian People’s Republic Ulaanbaatar. ''according to'' as Drepung, Ganden, and

Sera Monastery Sera Monastery ( "Wild Roses Monastery"; ) is one of the "great three" Gelug gompa, university monasteries of Tibet, located north of Lhasa and about north of the Jokhang. (The other two are Ganden Monastery and Drepung Monastery.) The origin ...

in Gelukpa tradition. In Russia, datsans were not parts of a larger entity, but rather independent educational and religious centers. In Buryat Buddhism, the terms "Buddhist monastery" and "Datsan" are interchangeable, as other monastery organization forms found in Tibetan Buddhism elsewhere, were not present.

List of datsans in Mongolia

* Manba Datsan (also "Mamba Datsan")

List of datsans in Russia

Datsans were officially acknowledged in

Imperial Russia Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * ...

in 1741. By statute of 1853 there were two recognized datsans in the

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...

government and others in the Zabaykalsky government. The first datsan in Europe was Datsan Gunzechoinei in St. Petersburg. Before the Communist Revolution in 1917, there were 40 datsans (not counting smaller temples — '' sume''). After the revolution, the number went up to 48, but between 1927 and 1938 all datsans that existed in Buryatia and Transbaikalia were closed or destroyed. The Second World War, that followed shortly after, became another turning point for the Buddhists in Buryatia: despite the suppression by the communist government, the Buryat Buddhist community came together in 1944 and collected financial aids to support the communist state and the Red Army in their struggles against Nazi Germany. The communist government expressed their gratitude for the donations by giving them permission to open a Buddhist datsan in Buryatia. In 1946, the Ivolginsky datsan and the Aginsky datsan resumed operations. The following datsans were not opened until 1991. The Buddhistic Temple in St

* Khambyn Khure datsan (Улан-Удэнский Дацан Хамбын Хурэ) in

Ulan-Ude Ulan-Ude (; , ; , ) is the capital city of Buryatia, Russia, located about southeast of Lake Baikal on the Uda River, Buryatia, Uda River at its confluence with the Selenga River, Selenga. According to the Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census, 43 ...

* (Ринпоче Багша дацан) in

* Rinchin Datsan * (Агинский Дацан) in Aginskoye * (Аларский дацан «Даши Чойнхорлинг») in Kutulik * (Атаган-Дырестуйский дацан «Лхундуб Дэчинлинг») in Dyrestuy * (Ацагатский дацан) in Naryn-Atsagat * Atsaysky datsan near Lake Gusinoye * Kurumkansky datsan (Курумканский Дацан) in Kurumkan * (Сартул-Гэгэтуйский дацан) in Gegetuy * Egituysky datsan (Эгитуйский Дацан) in Egituy * (Гусиноозёрский (Тамчинский) дацан) in Gusinoye Ozero * (Загустайский дацан «Дэчин Рабжилинг») in the Selenginsky District * Sanaginsky datsan (Санагинский Дацан) in Sanaga * Ivolginsky datsan (Иволгинский Дацан) in Verkhnyaya Ivolga * (Кижингинский Дацан) in Kizhinga * Baldan Breybun datsan (Дацан Балдан Брэйбун) in Murochi * Tugnuysky datsan (Тугнуйский дацан) in

Mukhorshibir Mukhorshibir (; , ''Mukhar Sheber'') is a rural locality (a selo) and the administrative center of Mukhorshibirsky District of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and No ...

* Okinsky datsan (Окинский дацан) in Orlik *

Tamchinsky datsan The Tamchinsky datsan (, ''Tamchyn Dasan''), also called the Tamchinskii datsan or Gusinoozyorsk Datsan, is a Tibetan Buddhism, Buddhist monastery founded in the mid-18th century in the village of Gusinoye Ozero (rural locality), Gusinoye Ozero, l ...

(Тамчинский дацан) in Gusinoye Ozero * Kyrensky datsan (Кыренский дацан) in

Kyren Kyren may refer to: * Kyren, Republic of Buryatia, Russia, a rural locality * Kyren (name), includes a list of people with the name See also *Kirin (disambiguation) Kirin may refer to: Mythology and fiction * Qilin or Kirin, a mythical creature ...

* (Хойморский дацан) in

Arshan Arshan () is the name of several types of inhabited localities in Russia, rural localities in Russia: *Arshan, Republic of Buryatia, a settlement in Arshansky Selsoviet of Tunkinsky District in the Republic of Buryatia *Arshan, Kuytunsky District, I ...

* Ugdansky datsan (Угданский дацан) * Tseezhe-Burgaltaysky datsan (Цээжэ-Бургалтайский дацан) * Ust-Ordynsky datsan (Усть-Ордынский (Абатанатский) дацан) in Ust-Ordynsky * (Анинский дацан) in Ana * Chesansky datsan (Чесанский дацан) in Chesan * (Табангут-Ичётуйский дацан «Дэчен Рабжалин») in the Dzhidinsky District * (Цугольский дацан) in Tsugol * Saint Petersburg Tibetan Temple ** Datsan Gunzechoinei (Дацан Гунзэчойнэй) in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

* Wat Phra Dhammakaya Mocow in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

* Yakutsky datsan (Якутский дацан; дацан в Якутске) in

Yakutsk Yakutsk ( ) is the capital and largest city of Sakha, Russia, located about south of the Arctic Circle. Fueled by the mining industry, Yakutsk has become one of Russia's most rapidly growing regional cities, with a population of 355,443 at the ...

, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The northernmost Buddhist temple in the world * (Янгажинский дацан «Даши Ширбубулин) * (Читинский Дацан "Дамба Брайбунлинг") in

Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai Chita (, ) is a city and the administrative center of Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia, located on the Trans-Siberian Railway route, roughly east of Irkutsk and roughly west of Khabarovsk. Population: History Pyotr Beketov's Cossacks founded Chi ...

References

External links

* (List of datsans in Buryatia, Chita and Irkutsk Oblasts)
Official site of the Gunzechoyney datsan
*{{cite web , publisher=www.baikal.ru , script-title=ru:Религия, url=http://www.baikal.ru/bc/m2_core.html , access-date=2013-11-20 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001023229/http://www.baikal.ru/bc/m2_core.html , archive-date=2007-10-01 , language=ru (datsans) Tibetan Buddhism in Siberia Buddhist monasteries in Russia Buddhist education