MONGOLIA. Ulaan Baatar. Young monks adjusting their robes before heading to classes. 2007
The Gandantegchinlen Khiid Monastery, commonly known as Gandan Monastery, is a Tibetan-style monastery in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar that has been restored and revitalized since 1990. The Tibetan name translates to the "Great Place of Complete Joy." It currently has over 150 monks in residence. It features a statue of Migjid Janraisig, a Buddhist bodhisattva also known as Avalokitesvara. It came under state protection in 1994. The monastery was established in 1835 by the Fifth Jebtsundamba, then Mongolia's highest reincarnated lama. It became the principal center of Buddhist learning in Mongolia. In the 1930s, the Communist government of Mongolia, under the leadership of Khorloogiin Choibalsan and under the influence of Joseph Stalin, destroyed all but a few monasteries and killed more than lamas. Gandantegchinlen Khiid monastery, having escaped this mass destruction, was closed in 1938, but then reopened in 1944 and allowed to continue as the only functioning Buddhist monastery, under a skeleton staff, as a token homage to traditional Mongolian culture and religion. With the end of communism in Mongolia in 1990, restrictions on worship were lifted. See Mongolian Buddhism for details. The original statue, made of copper, was built after appeals to the Mongolian public; its intent was to restore the sight of Bogd Javzandamba (or the eighth Jebtsundamba, also known as Bogd Khan), who had claimed the title of Emperor of Mongolia. The building of the statue was carried out by Bogd Javzandamba's principal minister, Chin Wan Khanddorj. Russian troops dismantled the original statue in 1938. After the end of the Soviet era, the statue of Migjid Janraisig was rebuilt in 1996, from donations by the Mongolian people. It features 2,286 precious stones and gold leaf as adornments.
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