History of Buddhism

At the beginning of the 19th century, the Eighth Dalai Lama sent Gyelse Dorjechang from his own Namgyal Monastery to establish the main Kalachakra Monastery of Mongolia, Dechen Kalawa. Kalachakra practice was spread throughout Mongolia by the Fourth and Fifth Bogdo Gegens.

The Mulasarvastivada bhikshu ordination was established in Tibet on three occasions. It was never possible, however, for the Mulasarvastivada bhikshuni ordination lineage to be transmitted to Tibet.

The Tibetan monastic tradition of wearing yellow hats began with the revival of the monk ordination in the 11th century and was later adopted by the Gelug tradition as a symbol of renewed monastic purity.

At a time of massive political upheavals between warring republics and kingdoms, many, including the Buddha, joined the “shramanas” – wandering mendicant spiritual seekers. Buddhism became the fifth of the five shramana schools of the time.

The first women ordained as nuns were Buddha’s maternal aunt and 500 female followers. They were given additional vows to those given to the monks in order to avoid suspicion of this mixed-gender celibate order from society at that time.

Shantideva was born in the eighth century as the son of the king of a land in the Bengal region of East India. When he was about to ascend to the throne, he had a dream of Manjushri, who said, “The throne is not for you.” Heeding Manjushri’s advice, he renounced the throne and...

As of 1995, there were no books on Buddhism in the colloquial Mongolian language, hardly anyone who could make such translations and no money to print such books, even if they were made. Thus, young people and intellectuals were being drawn to Christianity, which they now...

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama invokes the spiritual masters of the Nalanda tradition.

During the later Abbasid period (840–1258 CE), Islam slowly spread to West and East Turkistan and took a strong foothold on the Indian subcontinent.

The general principle regarding sexual ethics is to try to minimize any problematic and compulsive aspects of our sexual behavior, motivated by disturbing emotions.