From symbolic alliance to political hegemony. The Qing empire and Tibeto-Mongolian Buddhist community in the 17-19th c

Notwithstanding the tradition of political and administrative domination of the monastic segment over secular in Tibeto-Mongolian Buddhism that was the case in some parts of Inner Asia in the period of the 8-17 th century, during the Qing period the state aimed at putting this source of independent power under effective control. In fact, within one hundred years the Manchu emperors implemented the principles of state regulation of the number of monks, decentralization of the monastic network, imposed control over the monastic initiations and institutionalized reincarnation. The paper analyzes the peculiarities of the evolution of the system of symbolic and political hegemony of the Qing imperial administration over the Buddhist sangha in Mongolia which considerably affected the power balance in this region by the early 20 th century.