Mongolia

Introduction Before the demolition of monasteries and monastic life in Mongolia in 1937, Mongolian lamas were trained to a high level in Buddhist philosophy or in other branches of Buddhist sciences countrywide in several monastic universities, where they took the highest...

The Establishment of the Pagmodru Hegemony Dorje-Gyalpo (1110 – 1170), a highly educated monk from Kham, disciple of the Kagyu master Gampopa, arrived in Central Tibet in 1158. He was given the name “Pagmodrupa” (Phag-mo gru-pa), meaning “One from Sow’s Ferry,” since he...

A Brief History of the Kalmyk Mongols in Xinjiang The­re are approximately 140,000 Kal­myk Mongols in Xinjiang 新疆, or East Turkistan, about the same number as in Kalmykia, Rus­sia. 5,000 of them live in Ürümqi 乌鲁木齐, the capital. Often referred to as the East Turkistan Oirats,...

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 Kyrgyz Conquest of Mongolia The Kyrgyz (Kirghiz) were originally a Mongolian people from the mountain forests of the present-day Altai and Tuva districts of southern Siberia north of Dzungaria. Some of their tribes also lived in the western reaches of the Tianshan Range to...

Introduction There are between 20,000 to 40,000 Yellow Yugurs (Yugu Zu 裕固族), a Turkic people residing in Gansu 甘肃, China. The Yellow Yugurs are related to the Uighurs of East Turkistan (Xinjiang 新疆), but they still follow Tibetan Buddhism, unlike the Uighurs, who converted...

The remainder of the Umayyad period over the ensuing years of the first half of the eighth century saw a bewildering frequent change of alliances as even more powers entered the fray for control of West Turkistan and the Silk Route. Through a review of the main events, it will...

Introduction The Ningxia Hui Autono­mous Regi­on 宁夏回族自治区, located between southern Gansu 甘肃 and Inner Mongolia 内蒙古, is the homeland of the Hui Chinese Muslim minority. Previ­ously, Ningxia was a province of Inner Mongolia and was in­cluded in its westernmost region, the...

“Kalmyk Mandala Magazine” interview with Dr. Berzin in 2008 on the basic principles of his work as a translator.

Rather than being detrimental to Mongolia’s progress, the revival of Buddhism is the key for progress. For Mongolia to advance and compete in the world market economy, it is essential that the Mongolian people have a deep sense of self-worth and cultural identity.