The Goodman Lectures 24: Land of the Jowos: Buddhist Temples in Mongolia as the Embodiment of...

By Dr. Sangseraima Ujeed of the University of Michigan
January 20, 2024

Land of the Jowos: Buddhist Temples in Mongolia as the Embodiment of Statehood

“The Jokhang temple in Lhasa is home to the Jowo Śākyamuni statue. Together, the temple and the image embody the most sacred site of Buddhism in Tibet and the divine nature of the seat of Tibet’s Buddhist government in Lhasa. Jowo in Tibetan—or Juu in Mongolian—refers specifically to the Buddha Śākyamuni. At the end of the sixteenth century, large numbers of temples named Juu were erected all across Mongolian lands: from the south in Kökenür, stretching across the Gobi Desert, and even up the Orkhon Valley in the north. A shared characteristic of these temples is that they were all built by Mongolian kings and princes who were consolidating their power and establishing their own realms to reign over as Buddhist sovereigns. This talk takes a tour through these monasteries and temples to shed light on the interplay between Buddhism and the state that led to the proliferation of institutionalized Buddhism in Mongolian lands as well as the impact these processes had on the disintegration of a unified Mongol state.”

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Khyentse Foundation Goodman Lectures | A series of online lectures by leading Buddhist studies scholars.

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