Amarbayasgalant Monastery

Amarbayasgalant Monastery, one of the three largest monasteries of Mongolia, is located near the Selenge River, at the foot of Mount Büren-Khaan in Baruunbüren sum of Selenge Province.  This monastery demonstrates a real archaeological wonder that Chinese construction style with Tibetan.

At its most prime years, this monastery has 10 school temples, over 50 prayer temples, and around 6000 monks who resided at the monastery. Originally consisting of over 40 temples such as monasteries of Buddha, Amitabha, Vajrayogini, the palace of Bogd Gegeen built inside 175 x 207 meters wall, only 28 temples remained after the purge of the Soviet Union.

Surrounding the temple are 108 prayer wheels, built by people’s donations. Each prayer wheel has Soyombo symbol, invented by His Holiness Zanabazar, embossed on the side. A 13-meter-tall statue of Je Tsongkhapa is erected behind the temple with his two disciples, Jaltsav Ji and Khaidav Ji. The word Jī is a gender-neutral honorific used as a suffix in the Indian Hindi language. There are 108 steps leading up to Tsongkhapa with three stops for rest with three prayer wheels each.

History of the Amarbayasgalant monastery:
The monastery complex was built in the 18th century by the order of Manchu emperor, Enkh Amgalan Khan, in memory of the first Bogd Gegeen, Zanabazar, in order to keep and preserve his mortal remains. The construction started up in 1727 and completed in 1737.
Almost all monasteries and temples were destroyed during the communist era. Fortunately, It’s one of the rare monasteries that have partly avoided the destruction of 1937 by the Soviets. The buildings of the main part were spared and the thangkas, the statues, and the manuscripts were looted.

Legend of Amarbayasgalant Monastery
According to legend, when the exploratory group searching for an appropriate site to build the monastery, they came across two young boys named Amar (Tranquility) and Bayasgalant (Felicity), playing in a field on the steppe. They symbolized this occasion and named it Amur-Bayasgalant.