Newsletter Feature Article
Discovering the Humanistic Traditions of Mongolia
By Doug Sjoquist, Lansing Community College
From 9.2 (Winter 2006)
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OUR HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT at Lansing Community College developed a new studies abroad program to Mongolia that offers students (and faculty) the opportunity to discover Mongolia's rich humanistic traditions. In June of 2005, four faculty from our Humanities Department and three students from our college initiated the program and embarked on a journey to the most sparsely populated country on our planet. For the teachers, it was an opportunity to do research on aspects of Mongolian history and culture that could be integrated into our department's literature, mythology, history, art history, and religious studies courses. The enrolled students were required to write a paper on their experiences and then given a grade.
During our first few days in Ulan Bator - the coldest capital city on our planet and where approximately one-third of Mongolia's population of about 2.8 million people lives - our tired but intrepid group visited the Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts and the Gandan Monastery. These two visits left a lasting impression on me. The Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts is named after Mongolia's greatest artist and one of Asia's most celebrated Buddhist sculptors, Zanabazar (1635-1723). This museum holds sculptures, paintings, and related materials by Zanabazar and his school. His gilt bronze sculptures of Buddhist deities such as Amitabha, Akshobhya, Vairocana, and Amoghasiddhi are truly impressive works and represent a significant contribution to not only Buddhist art but to the visual arts of Asia in general. To see these images in the museum instead of on the pages of an art history book was a moving experience.
Two young monks at Gandan monastery getting ready for school
Paintings by Balduugiin Sharav (1869-1939) can also be found in the Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts. Sharav is Mongolia's most renowned painter and arguably one of Asia's most important artists. He is noted for his paintings representing the daily life of ordinary people. His One Day In Mongolia (1910) and Lhasa During the New Year (early 1900s) reflect the social and political environment of Mongolia and Tibet, respectively, during the early twentieth-century. Researchers interested in Mongolian and Tibetan cultures prior to communist interventions frequently use his paintings for research. Buddhism in Mongolia is one of the topics in the Religions of East Asia course I teach at LCC so I was excited to be visiting Gandan Monastery. It is the largest and most important Buddhist monastery in Mongolia. The complex dates back to 1838. Before the Soviet era in Mongolian history, this monastery housed nearly five thousand monks. Beginning in 1938, however, the communists began purging the Buddhist tradition in Mongolia much in the same way the Chinese communists purged Tibet. Nine hundred monasteries were systematically destroyed within five years. Monks were jailed, tortured, killed, or forced to join the army or the laity. When the purges were over in the 1940s, only four monasteries remained in the country. One was the Gandan monastery. The Soviets used the monastery's buildings as offices, as barns to keep their horses, and as garages for their vehicles. It was reassuring to see that in the newly independent Mongolia, Gandan monastery is again thriving. The visit made me more aware of not only the impact of the communist purge but the Buddhist renaissance now taking place in Mongolia as well. I'm anxious to embellish the section on Mongolian Buddhism in my course this semester.
Entrance to the front gate of Gandan monastery in Ulan Bator
Most teachers cover some aspect of the Mongol Empire in Asia in their courses and certainly the world civilizations textbooks on the market include the topic. Mongolia has much more to offer to the humanities course, however, and visiting the country this summer acutely brought that to my attention. The country's fine arts history includes renowned painters such as Balduugiin Sharav (1869-1939) and celebrated sculptors like Zanabazar. These individuals were as influential in Asia as Michelangelo and Rodin were in the West. Mongolia's nomadic culture is rich in folk arts. Mongolian saddles, painted chests, ornate snuff bottles, felt products, and silk appliqués, for example, are particularly beautiful and worthy of study. Mongolian religion also occupies an important place in courses on Asian religions.
Visiting Mongolia was a unique and valuable experience for me as a humanities teacher. Such a visit gets my highest recommendations!
NOTE: To learn more about the studies abroad program in Mongolia at Lansing Community College you may contact me at (517) 483-1043 in World Civilizations and Religious Studies, Keri Dutkiewicz in English and Literature at (517) 483-5851, or Paul Jurczak in Mythology and Philosophy at (517) 483-1024.
