Mongolia’s Hope: Baasansuren Khadsuren, the Singing Abbot of Erdene Zuu

By Raymond Lam | | Buddhistdoor Global

Although Buddhism has watched over Mongolia since the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), it was as if entire aspects of Mongolian life were “reset” in 1990: the Soviet Union rapidly dissolved, and formerly communist Mongolia came to uncertain grips with its new political configuration as a post-Cold War democratic state. Buddhist practice that had been driven underground was thrust back into daily life as part of a nation-wide project for cultural preservation, while foreign spiritual movements hungry to harvest spiritually lost converts flooded into the country. It is in this context that Baasansuren Khadsuren is providing the kind of spiritual weal that will ensure Buddhism’s capability to authentically benefit followers in Mongolia, while helping them to see that Buddhism is not just a repository of rituals, blessings, and cultural identity, but can also be a vehicle for personal development. Baasansuren Khadsuren is extraordinary for the reason that despite his young age, he is one of the most senior leaders among the Mongolian Buddhist community: he is an abbot (khambo lama) of Erdene Zuu, the most ancient monastery in the country (founded in 1585). As if by deliberate contrast, he is also the most instinctively reformist Mongolian Buddhist leader in decades, and is somewhat of what I would call a “pastoral polymath”—a frequent user of social media and the Internet for keeping in touch with his followers, deeply concerned about the marginalized, shunned, and voiceless in his society, and so possessed by a deep love of his people that he is not afraid to offer concrete advice that might challenge long-held assumptions in Mongolian social, cultural, and domestic life. He is also interested in interfaith studies, having done personal research on the other religious traditions growing in Mongolia.