The Dzungar Mongols, from whom the Kalmyks broke away when they migrated to the Volga at the beginning of the seventeenth century, originally had seven stone monasteries in East Turkistan. Three were in the north near the Russian border, with one at Hoboksar 和布克塞尔 and two to the east of it at Altai 阿勒泰; while four were in the west in the Ili River Valley 伊犁河谷 near the Kazakh border, with two at Gulja 固勒扎 (present day Yining 伊宁) and two to the north of them at Bortala 博尔塔拉.
The largest of these seven Dzungar stone monasteries were the two at Gulja: Altun-de-yurt (Golden Roof) Sum and Mongen-de-yurt (Silver Roof) Sum, with 6,000 and 7,000 monks respectively. Nearby Haedik Monastery had 4,000 monks. As was the custom in Amdo and among the various Mongols, each of these monasteries was divided into Datsangs according to the main topic studied. The Dzungars also had many tent monasteries not only in East Turkistan, but also in eastern Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and western Mongolia.
The Dzungar stone monasteries were all destroyed by the Manchus in the mid-eighteenth century. Most Dzungar monks were not only married, but were soldiers who fought in the Dzungar-Manchu wars. The stone monasteries also acted as armed fortresses, and Dzungar monk-soldiers who did not surrender during the wars were all killed. As a consolation to the wife of the Dzungar Khan, the Manchus built a replica of the Golden Roof Monastery of Gulja at their summer capital, Chengde 成德 (formerly known as Rehe 热河, or Jehol), in southern Manchuria. It had mostly Kalmyk monks from the returnee community in East Turkistan, as well as some of the surrendered Dzungar monks and a few Mongolians.
The surviving Dzungars continued some of the tent monasteries that had not been destroyed by the Manchus, and built seven new stone ones. Only one of them, Altai’s Shar Sum or Ser Gonpa (Ser dgon-pa), was at the site of one of their previous seven stone monasteries. Some scholars say that, at first, the Kalmyks who returned to East Turkistan had tent monasteries attached to the Dzungar stone ones. But eventually, the Kalmyks built their own stone monasteries. The extent of interaction between the monasteries of these two communities is unclear, as is the question of whether any Kalmyks or Dzungars studied at each other's monasteries. It is also unclear whether the stone monasteries in Kazakhstan were Kalmyk or Dzungar, and whether they were from the old or new period.
The seven Dzungar stone monasteries from the new period in East Turkistan were all destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. The vast ruins of one of them, Ikh Khure (Great Circle), are found at Hoboksar. They have now restarted one of them, Mongol Khuriye, south of Gulja, currently operating with nine monks.