Religion: predominantly Tibetan Buddhist, Muslim 4%
Languages:
Khalkha Mongol 90%, Turkic, Russian, Chinese People: 50% of the people are still nomads.
Capital:
Ulaanbaatar
Principal Industries: Mining, cashmere exports, farming and tourism.
Spread of Buddhism as well as the influences of diff. directions. of Mongolia.
The word "buddhism" comes from the Sanskrit word "buddha," which means "the awakened one." buddhism, or buddhadharma, is the proclamation of, and journey toward, an awakening of human potential.
Lamaism, a form of Northern Buddhism, spread in Tibet in the 7th century. It has never succeeded in substituting the old Bon forms.
At the end of the 14th century, the Tibetan church experienced a schism, initiated by the monk Tsongkhapa, a reformer who objected to the dissolute way of life the monks had established. He founded the "Sect of Virtue" (Yellow Church, we know it as the Yellow hats), and he introduced the colour yellow for the habit of the religious order. The main area of distribution of the "Yellow Church" was especially the monasteries in Northern Tibet and later on in Mongolia.
- The Eastern Mongols are living, from a political point of view, on Chinese territory, on the frontier of North-Eastern Tibet, in part in East Sinkiang and on the territory of the Blue Lake (Köke Nuur).
- The Northern Mongols live in the South of Central Siberia, and the Burjates live mainly in the area around the Lake Baikal. The people from Western Baikal are still prone to shamanism. The people from Southern Baikal and the Burjates in the Trans-Baikal area have adopted the
Lamaistic faith with reformed influences.
Such as the Burmanese, the Chinese, the Japanese, the people from Cambodia, Corea, Siam, the Sinhalese, the Tibetan and other peoples in Asia, the Mongols belong to the religious group of Indian-Buddhism. Chinese culture and art have created commonly adopted traditions in the course of various centuries, traditions that still establish a relationship between these peoples.
The Mongols are Lamaists. The "Yellow Church" here determines the area of influence. In Mongolian monasteries Buddhist art, before its destruction in the 1930ies, had been very highly developed, and there could been found real masters of their art among painters, sculptors, architects, and especially skilled craftsmen.