Shankh Monastery (, ''Shankh Khiid'') located in

Övörkhangai Province Övörkhangai (; " South Khangai") is one of the 21 aimags (provinces) of Mongolia. Its capital is Arvaikheer. The Shankh Monastery, one of the oldest and most important monasteries, is located in this province, as well as Erdene Zuu monast ...

, Central

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 ...

, 25 kilometers South East of Kharkhorin city, is one of Mongolia’s oldest and most historically significant monasteries. It was founded in 1647 by

Zanabazar Öndör Gegeen Zanabazar (born Eshidorji) was the first '' Jebtsundamba Khutuktu'' and the first ''Bogd Gegeen'' or supreme spiritual authority, of the Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) lineage of Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism in Mongolia. The son of a Mongol ...

, the first

Jebtsundamba Khutuktu The Jebtsundamba Khutuktu; ; "Venerable Excellent incarnate lama" or Khalkha Jetsün Dampa Rinpoche is a title given to the spiritual head of the Gelug lineage of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia. They also hold the title of ''Bogd Gegeen'', making ...

, or spiritual head of

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, D ...

for the

Khalkha The Khalkha (; ) have been the largest subgroup of the Mongols in modern Mongolia since the 15th century. The Khalkha, together with Chahars, Ordos Mongols, Ordos and Tumed, were directly ruled by Borjigin khans until the 20th century. In cont ...

Outer Mongolia Outer Mongolia was the name of a territory in the Manchu-led Qing dynasty of China from 1691 to 1911. It corresponds to the modern-day independent state of Mongolia and the Russian republic of Tuva. The historical region gained ''de facto'' ...

, around the same time as the establishment of the nearby

Tövkhön Monastery Tövkhön Monastery (), one of Mongolia's oldest Buddhist monasteries, is located in Övörkhangai Province, Mongolia, about southwest of Kharkhorin. The monastery was first established in 1648, by the then-14-year-old Zanabazar, the first ...

. The monastery belongs to the Gelupa, or Yellow Hat Sect, school of Tibetan Buddhism. Its main temple is famous for its seven

Kalachakra ''Kālacakra'' () is a Polysemy, polysemic term in Vajrayana, Vajrayana Buddhism and Hinduism that means "wheel of time" or "time cycles". "''Kālacakra''" is also the name of a series of Buddhist texts and a major practice lineage in History of ...

Mandalas A mandala (, ) is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for establishing a sacred space and as an aid ...

which portray all 722 Kalachakra deities, the only ones of their kind in Mongolia. The meaning of the word ''shankh'' is unclear, with some speculating it refers to the small mountain range between the monastery and

Erdene Zuu Monastery The Erdene Zuu Monastery () is probably the earliest surviving Buddhist monastery in Mongolia. Built in 1585, it is located in Kharkhorin, Övörkhangai Province and is now included within the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape World Heritage Si ...

, while others claim it refers to “a group of objects arranged in a particular order”.

History

Zanabazar founded Shankh Monastery in 1647 when he was just 12 years old. For many years it was known as the “Monastery of the West” (''Baruun Khüree''). It began as a ger monastery, and moved several times before settling in its current location in 1787 and taking on its current name. Nevertheless, a large number of monks continued to maintain the traveling camp until the late 19th century. According to the Russian ethnographer Aleksei M. Pozdneev, who visited the monastery in 1892, in addition to the main temple, built between 1710 and 1790, it consisted of five large beautifully decorated gers that could accommodate nearly 200 people. It is said that the black military banner of

Genghis Khan Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan (title), khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongols, Mongol tribes, he launched Mongol invasions and ...

was housed at the monastery for a time, although the current whereabouts of the banner are unknown. At its height the monastery included several schools that practiced Tantric rituals, especially

Buddhist philosophy Buddhist philosophy is the ancient Indian Indian philosophy, philosophical system that developed within the religio-philosophical tradition of Buddhism. It comprises all the Philosophy, philosophical investigations and Buddhist logico-episte ...

and

astrology Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...

. By 1921, the year of the Mongolian People's Revolution, it consisted of some 20 buildings and housed over 1500 monks. Like most of Mongolia's religious centers, Shankh Monastery was closed down in 1937 and most of its standing structures destroyed by the country's communist regime as part of violent

Stalinist purges The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the assassination of Sergei Kirov by Leonid Nikolae ...

. Many of its monks were executed or sent to labor camps in

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 ...

while 5 young novices were permitted to return to their families. The main temple, which had escaped major damage, was later used as a warehouse. Fortunately, most of the monastery's precious relics were removed and hidden away by one of the young novices, Gombo, and thus survived the destruction of the monastery.

Restoration

After the

1990 Democratic Revolution in Mongolia The Mongolian Revolution of 1990, known in Mongolia as the 1990 Democratic Revolution (), was a peaceful democratic revolution which led to the country's transition to a multi-party system. It was inspired by the economic reforms of the So ...

, the surviving novices returned to Shankh and began restoration efforts on the main temple. In 1993,

the 14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (born 6 July 1935; full spiritual name: Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, shortened as Tenzin Gyatso; ) is the incumbent Dalai Lama, the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism. He served a ...

sent three monks to Shankh as part of efforts to again cultivate Buddhism in the country.

Notes

{{Buddhist monasteries in Mongolia 1647 establishments in Asia Buildings and structures in Övörkhangai Province Religious organizations established in the 1640s Gelug monasteries in Mongolia