Discussions of religious ignorance have arisen contemporaneously with postsocialist frustrations and uncertainties in Ulaanbaatar. My interlocutors responded to discourses of Buddhist ignorance in a number of apparently contradictory ways. Mistrust, religious reverence, ambivalence or fear often coexisted with excitement, exploration and creation. Through frequently describing their own or others' ignorance about Buddhism lay Buddhists indicated that Buddhism, and the renewed possibilities of knowledge or ignorance about Buddhism, was a site of considerable importance. Also indicated was a change in Buddhist epistemologies from the pre-socialist era. This article discusses how talk about religious ignorance in Ulaanbaatar presented itself in a variety of complementary and conflicting ways: as a reflection of anxiety over lost traditions, a source of power and deference, and as a blossoming space for hope and religious enthusiasm.
Since the end of the socialist period in 1990, Buddhism in Mongolia has been undergoing a resurgence. Temples no longer oversee vast tracts of land and receive income from the activities of bonded nomadic herders as they did in the presocialist period. They must instead fund themselves from the freely given donations of lay Buddhists. Whilst the majority of the Mongolian population self-identify as Buddhist, regular donations to temples are not an assumed part of social and economic relationships. Unlike the case in most other Asian Buddhist societies, the concept of giving donations as a way to make merit was not present amongst my interlocutors. The urban Mongolians that I spoke to viewed their donations as payments for highly valued ritual services. The act of donating to temples was for some an ambivalent activity, bringing to the fore broader issues relating to spiritual authority, religious education and observance, and the necessary conditions for spiritual efficacy. In this article I investigate patterns of religious giving in Ulaanbaatar in relation to ideas about donation, the role of religious specialists and concerns about the intersections between capitalism and religion.
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