The Amarbayasgalant Monastery

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30

Dec
2016
The Amarbayasgalant Monastery
Posted By : Admin/3277

Amarbaysgalant, one of the most important monasteries of Mongolia, located in the foot of Burenkhaan Mountain. It was built by Manchu Emperor between 1727-1736 with more than 40 temples in honor of Saint Zanabazar, the first Bogd and the great artist. The architectural construction of the monastery is amazing. The main style is Chinese while it combines little Tibetan and Mongolian architecture.

The main protector of the monastery is Dorjjugd. It seems to be that because of this protector a conflict with the Dalai Lama as arisen. According to the latter the practice of worshipping this deity would be harmful. According to an informant this deity would keep the Gelupa (also referred to as the Yellow sect in Buddhism) pure and so protect it from influence from other Buddhist schools. Since the Dalai Lama, although himself part of the Gelupa, is the worldly and spiritual leader of the Tibetan people he has tried to bring the different traditions within Tibetan Buddhism together, instead of emphasizing its differences. Furthermore it is said that this practice would not just try to keep the Gelupa pure, but by doing this trying to damage the other traditions.

 

During 1930s the monastery was destroyed by the communists. The monastery was being restored by Unesco from 1975 until reopening in 1990. At the present moment 30 monks live here within the age range of 7-90. There is big number of young monks (13) in between the age of 7 and 13, who have for a great part been picked up from orphanages around Mongolia. In the main temple is a life-size statue of Guru Deva Rinpoche who is the formal abbot of the monastery although he is only there a short time a year. From 1992 he has been putting effort in restoring temples, statues and scriptures.