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Zaya Pandit

Zaya Pandit: Encyclopedia - Zaya Pandit

Zaya Pandit I (1599 - 1662) was an Oirat lama of the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism. Zaya Pandit was from the Khoshuud group of the Oirats. He became a Tibetan Buddhist in 1615. He practiced asceticism in Tibet and returned to Oirat lands in 1639. He taught Tibetan Buddhism to the Oirats and Mongols (Khalkha). In 1645 he visited Kalmyk Oirats on the Volga River (modern Kalmykia). In 1648 he developed the Todo script (tod üzüg, from todrhagar (clear)) by improving the traditional Uyghur script. He elimin ...

Zaya Pandit

Zaya Pandit: Encyclopedia - Zaya Pandit

Zaya Pandit

Zaya Pandit I (1599 - 1662) was an Oirat lama of the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism.

Zaya Pandit was from the Khoshuud group of the Oirats. He became a Tibetan Buddhist in 1615. He practiced asceticism in Tibet and returned to Oirat lands in 1639. He taught Tibetan Buddhism to the Oirats and Mongols (Khalkha). In 1645 he visited Kalmyk Oirats on the Volga River (modern Kalmykia).

In 1648 he developed the Todo script (tod üzüg, from todrhagar (clear)) by improving the traditional Uyghur script. He eliminated all ambiguities of the traditional script and adjusted it to the Oyirad language. The Todo script is still used by Oirats in Xinjiang with slight revisions, but is not taught in education due to China's policy.