Baldan Bereeven Monastery

The Baldan Bereeven Monastery is located in Jargalant river valley backed by Munkh-Ulziit Mountain in Umnodelger soum of Khentii province. The monastery is 300 kilometers far from Ulaanbaatar city.

Its name is the Tibetan word "Drepung" meaning "pile of rice". It is said that temple architecture was the same as the Drepung monasteries' one in India and Tibet. Hence the Monastery was known as the Baldan Drepung Monastery. Baldan Bereeven Monastery belongs to the Buddhist sect monastery Gelugpa.

Behind the monastery, there is a special formation of rock which is called womb symbolizing rebirth.

The Baldan Bereeven Monastery constitutes three restored temples and nearly 50 remains of temples, stupas, and other religious structures. There are also many cliff carvings, stone carvings with different images of Buddhist gods, inscriptions of religious mantras and Mongolian symbol ‘’Soyombo’’, stone sculptures of gods, and other religious and artworks along the over 1000 m of the pilgrimage route.

In 2012 Baldan Bereeven Monastery and the surrounding area were placed on the tentative list to be nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

History of Baldan Bereeven Monastery:
In 1654, the Khan of Mongolia invited Lama Tseweendorj to his court and asked him to build the monastery Bereeven somewhere in the east. The monastery foundation started in 1777 by building a small wooden temple and created a stone carving of Manzushir Buddha, a Bodhisat of wisdom.   Then the Monastery grew to be the second biggest Buddhist monastery in Mongolia by 1776.

In 1850, once the renovation of the main temple completed, the Monastery became the main religious center in Eastern Mongolia, housing 5000-8000 monks, 4 religious institutions, and active 20 temples. At the beginning of the 20th century, an epidemic decimated more than half of the community.

During anti-religious repression between 1937 and 1939, almost all monasteries like Baldan Bereeven, were destroyed, monks were jailed, executed, and forced to become ordinary people depending on their rank. Then, for over 60 years, it was forbidden to visit and almost forgotten.

Following the democratic revolution in 1990, a handful of older monks returned to the monastery and reestablished some part of the monastery along with the locals. Now three temples have been restored and 10 monks are practicing Buddhism there. We still can see the ruins of almost fifty other temples, stupas, and other religious monuments.

Legend of the Monastery:
While searching for a suitable place for the monastery, Lama Tseweendorj arrived at the foot of Mountain Munkh-Ulziit. There he met an old couple named Baldan and Zepelmaa, who invited him into their home. As he entered the poor couple’s home, he was greeted with the auspicious sign of a pot of rice boiling over on the fire.  The Lama took some of the rice. He immediately understood that the rice and the significant names of the old couple were auspicious signs. He, therefore, selected this area as the place where the monastery would be built. In addition to the rice, they noticed that the mountains surrounding the valley in each of the four cardinal directions resembled important Buddhist protector deities.