Establishment of the Mergen Tradition of Mongolian Buddhism

This chapter investigates the Mergen Tradition of Mongolian Buddhism, whose core figure was Mergen Gegeen, a chief incarnation of the head lama of Mergen Monastery. The Mergen Tradition represents a unique case in the history of Buddhism in Mongolia, because all of its practices have been carried out exclusively in the Mongolian language at the time when virtually all Mongolian Buddhist monastic, ritual practices were performed in the Tibetan language. The Mergen Tradition is a set of local Buddhist practices centered in Mergen Monastery and in nearly twenty affiliated monasteries of Urad Right Duke Banner of Inner Mongolia. The third Mergen Gegeen, Lubsangdambijalsan (1717–1766), was a great scholar who endeavored to institutionalize the Mergen Tradition and succeeded in transforming Tibetan Buddhism into an authentic Mongolian Buddhist tradition. The chapter describes the origination, formation, and institutionalization of the Mergen Tradition up to its establishment as a self-generating system.

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