This project investigates the history and present practice of the worship of the Tibetan Buddhist protective deities in Mongolia. In post-socialist Mongolia, some of these deities play an increasingly important role in the conflicting constructions of a Mongolian Buddhist identity which is negotiated partly along doctrinal lines such as the soteriological position of the different protective deities. The present project aims to engage with these identity constructions. Research questions include the history and spread of the cult of protective deities in Mongolia, their doctrinal position and different functions for monastic and lay followers in Mongolia, the possible effects of the Dalai Lama’s negative stance towards one of these deities in the context of the identity-building processes of Mongolian Buddhist communities, as well as the implications and influence of the cult of protective deities on the identity politics of the Mongolian state at the interface of the religious and the secular.
http://www.religious-conflicts.unibe.ch/individual_projects/index_eng.html
Projektteam
Prof. Dr. Karenina Kollmar-Paulenz (PL)
Prof. Dr. Jens-Uwe- Hartmann, LMU Munich (Germany), Institute of Indology and Tibetan Studies (PL)
Dr. Mungunchimeg Batmunkh
M.A. Iuliia Liakhova
Projektdauer
03/2018 – 03/2022
