Paying for prayers: perspectives on giving in postsocialist Ulaanbaatar

Abstract

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.

Tenuous blessings: The materiality of doubt in a Mongolian buddhist wealth calling ceremony

“…Years after the lifting of religious restrictions in the public sphere, lay Buddhists and lamas presented Mongolian Buddhism as being both in the process of degeneration and rejuvenation, often during the same conversation. Whilst most Mongolian lay Buddhists that I spoke to knew, or knew of, a Mongolian lama that they trusted or admired, many expressed their concerns to me about the quality of lamas’ motivations, morals and education (see Abrahms-Kavunenko, 2015b). One of the anxieties regarding Buddhist ritual practices was whether or not a lama or temple could be considered to be ‘authentic’ ( jinkhene ) or ‘true’ ( ünen ).…”

“…Transnational Buddhist organizations, who have themselves undergone significant changes during the 20th century, imported ‘reform’ ideas about the roles of lamas in educating the laity and in maintaining certain aspects of the Vinaya, most notably celibacy. Whilst celibacy amongst lamas is not widely practiced and is far from being accepted as necessary by the Mongolian Buddhist laity or the sangha (Abrahams-Kavunenko, 2015b; Jadamba and Schittich, 2010), concerns about the education and motivations of local religious specialists were common amongst those I spoke to. In a formal interview with Altantuya, a friendly acquaintance in her late 30s in 2009 who irregularly visited temples, she discussed her concerns about Buddhist religious specialists in Mongolia:On the one hand, it [Buddhism] is getting stronger, because people are becoming familiar with it.…”