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OCR
TSYMZHIT P. VANCHIKOVA given to the other temples (datsans) of the monastery, according to their khurals, and to the monks in accordance with their ranks and academic degrees. f. 131 — colophon “[It was compiled] on auspicious day of the full moon" (delgeregsen sara-yin degedti sayin edtire). This lengthy document is one of the most detailed codes known to us. The rules regulate all aspects of daily life of the monastery and its religious, as well as economic affairs. The information provided here is the result of only a preliminary research. Matters such as dating of the document, its history, the way it functioned at the monastery, etc. will be considered by us at a later stage. Closing Thoughts Study of the monastic documents found at the COMX allows us to differentiate between the two types of the statutes: lengthy extensive documents such as the charter of the Gandan Monastery of 1840, and brief documents that consider only religious practices. The latter may be either of didactical nature or regulate rituals and liturgies conducted at the monastery. Titles of these documents and terms they use may vary as jayay (Tib. bca’ yig, ‘rules, regulation for monastic guidance, statute’), gural nom-un unsily-a deglem (Tib. sgrig lam ‘order, schedule for convening religious ceremony’), diirim (‘rules of discipline’), Cayaja gauli (‘law, statute’), but all of them are rules for regulating activities of monasteries and their educational faculties. They set goals and tasks for the monastery as whole and individual monks, the rights and duties of officials and the monastic community. These works contain valuable information to understand the uniqueness and peculiarities of life in Mongolian monasteries: the administration system, internal hierarchy and order, rules for conducting khurals, sermons and celebrating religious festivals, as well as financial affairs of datsans and monasteries. Some of them also provide description of various duties of monks and novices, restrictions regarding their behavior and rules of their conduct, procedures for taking vows, types of monastic clothing and decorations and instructions for distributing among lamas money and materials received by the monastic treasury, and so on. Some charters are divided into two parts: liturgical and disciplinary, containing didactic instructions for monks and listing punishments for violating monastic discipline. The contents of the charters often reflect to the current political climate. Studying these documents might be useful for modern monasteries and the Buddhist Church in general in their attempt to restore traditions lost in the years of repression and militant atheism. They might rely on this material to create new unified requirements and rules for over 200 monasteries functioning now in Mongolia. The analysis of the charters shows that in general these documents have preserved the traditions of the canonical Vinaya, aimed at training and preparing Buddhist monks for the path of perfection and living up to the Buddhist ideals. These documents also include the schedule and description of procedures for conducting services 172
