ABSTRACT
Religion is often viewed as man's speculation regarding the unknown and his search for meaning in life. Linked to the development of a religious philosophy is a tendency to institutionalize beliefs in order to perpetuate a particular view of the world and man's relationship to it. Natural phenomena play an important role in Shamanism. Mongols, roving over the steppe, feel that a mountain suddenly rising from the earth has certain mystic qualities. Moreover, they believe the raised earth to be the seat of local deities; this belief is reflected in the fact that all Mongol oboo, or Shamanistic shrines, are found on the tops of mountains or hills. Many people consider Lamaism, the dominant religion in Mongolia and Tibet, to be a unique and distinct religion; however, the Mongols, unaware of this opinion, think of their religion simply as Buddhism. The first Lamaist temple in Mongolia was the Ta-chao-ssu built in Hohehot, Inner Mongolia, by Altan Khan in the 1570s.
