Hello! and thank you for taking the time to visit my channel.

The CPinMongolia.com project sits at the intersection of Anthropology, Religious Studies, and Literary Arts, forming a hybrid scholarly-artistic platform. Through multimodal ethnographic practice and poetic engagement, it explores Mongolian Buddhist lifeworlds and their contemporary expression. 

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Key Features and Aims of this Site (scholar’s voice)

• The site presents a mix of ethnographic research, creative writing, music compositions, and translations centred on Mongolian culture and Buddhist traditions.
• It offers open-access resources: original articles, essays, creative works, intermedia and music compositions, and studies of Mongolian society and culture.
• The content includes ethnographic research, translations, reflections, and multimedia elements (e.g. music, video) relating to Mongolian culture in Mongolia.
• It also weaves together ethnographic studies of Mongolian culture with my musical/compositional interests.

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Topics Covered

• Mongolian society and culture, especially Khalkha Mongol communities.
• Buddhist poetry (especially the doha form) and translations of works by Mongolian poets, especially the scholar-poet Zava Damdin (b.1976).
• Musical works and intermedia (music + visuals) tied to Mongolian and Buddhist themes.
• Ethnographic and anthropological essays (“Artefacts” section) regarding contemporary Mongolian culture.
• Scholarly and personal “Other Studies” — my previous work, professional projects, academic background.

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Purpose / Mission

• To share knowledge, creative work, and translations that bridge Mongolian cultural heritage and English-language audiences.
• To act as a repository / index of articles and multimedia for people interested in learning Mongolian culture, language, Buddhism, and the arts.
• To provide original, scholarly, and creative content under a Creative Commons license.

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What this Site Studies (more detail) 

Contemporary Mongolian society & culture: I’ve been doing participant-observation fieldwork in Mongolia since 2004. Many articles deal with current cultural practices, changing social norms, kinship, ethnic identity, post-Soviet transformations. 

Ethnographic research into Mongolian spiritual/religious life: A major theme is how Mongolian Buddhism (particularly the Gelug tradition), spiritual poetics (such as doha) and local spiritual practices are lived, embodied, and revitalised. I have a strong interest in ritual, temple life, religious roles (e.g. women in Mongolian Buddhism), etc.

Poetry, language, and literary translation: The site works with Mongolian poetry, translations (especially from Buddhist scholar-poets), exploring language, meaning, stylistic features. The site has a section on “Mongolian Poetry”, and specific projects (e.g. translating doha poems).

Cultural production, performance, intermedia work: I often work with “multimodal / multi-platform” media, combining ethnography, music, video/film, soundscapes, artscapes, motifs, etc. There is an emphasis on how cultural artefacts, visual & musical works, performance, and digital media intersect with cultural identity and tradition.

Methodology and qualitative research: There are posts explicitly about qualitative research design, ethical issues, how to conduct participant-observation, presenting ethnographic data, etc., often focusing on Mongolian ethnic groups and social dynamics.

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🎓 Primary Discipline: Cultural Anthropology / Ethnography

• Department fit: Anthropology; Social Sciences; Asian Studies
• Core methods: Participant observation, fieldwork, qualitative analysis, reflexive writing.
• Focus: Lived experience, ritual, meaning-making, embodiment, identity, and everyday life in Mongolian contexts.
• Evidence from site: (i) “Ethnographic fieldwork” posts about research design and field methods; and (ii) Descriptions of lived Buddhism, cultural transmission, and local cosmologies.

📘 Comparable scholars: Clifford Geertz or more regionally, Caroline Humphrey and Uranchimeg Tsultem (for Mongolian contexts).

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✒️ Secondary Discipline: Comparative Literature / Translation Studies

• Department fit: Literature; Languages & Cultures; Translation Studies
• Focus: Translation of Mongolian poetry and philosophical prose into English while preserving rhythm, symbolism, and spiritual semantics.
• Evidence: (i) The “Mongolian Poetry” section and bilingual translations; (ii) Attention to rhythm, meaning, and tone across languages; and (iii) Analysis of literary form as a vehicle for Buddhist thought.

📘 Comparable approaches: Walter Benjamin (on translation as re-creation).

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🎥 Cross-Disciplinary Fields: Visual / Sonic Anthropology & Multimedia Cultural Production

• Department fit: Digital Humanities; Media Arts; Performance Studies
• Focus: Integrating ethnographic documentation with artistic practice — soundscapes, photography, film, and mixed-media storytelling.
• Evidence: (i) “Artefacts” and “Landscapes” sections showcasing multimedia works; (ii) Reflexive discussion of research as art and art as ethnography; and (iii) Intersections of ritual performance, music, and aesthetics.

📘 Comparable frameworks: Sarah Pink (visual anthropology), Anna Tsing (multimodal ethnography), Michael Taussig (performative ethnography).

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Channel Information Design

CPinMongolia.com is primarily the text-based component of an inter-connected and digital multi-platform presentation. Sub-headings are there to help you navigate your way through this ocean of words as you search for what you are looking for. The INDEX lists every article in the collection.

For readers whose first language in not English, I have used italicised and bold text throughout this site to help you broaden your technical and other vocabularies with words that can express more precisely that which we think, say and do.

Some articles are introductory whilst others drill down into the minutiae of a particular subject or theme. The compositions on my You Tube Channels @cpleteshner and @cpleteshner21 are the digital artefacts of my inter-medial performances and production.

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🌏 Regional Frame: Inner Asian & Mongolian Studies

• Department fit: Asian Studies; Inner and Central Asian Studies; Mongolian Language & Culture
• Focus: Mongolian language, history, cosmology, cultural continuity, and transformation.
• Position: Bridges modern ethnographic study and classical philology — linking lived tradition with historical textual forms.

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🔶 Summary Table: Disciplinary Fields

Disciplinary Field	Core Concerns	Academic Department
Cultural Anthropology	Lived experience, ritual, and meaning	Anthropology
Religious Studies (Buddhist Studies)	Practice, doctrine, and poetics	Religious Studies
Comparative Literature	Translation and literary aesthetics	Literature / Languages
Visual & Sonic Anthropology	Multimedia and ethnographic art	Media / Digital Humanities
Mongolian & Inner Asian Studies	Region, history, and culture	Asian Studies

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Backstory (personal voice)

My first post to CPinMongolia.com was back in January 2014. More than a decade has flown by yet I still enjoy the technical aspects of building and maintaining this site as well as the challenge of composing articles, articles and music to add to its growing collection.

In the beginning, the intention was simply to share aspects of my ethnographic study of contemporary Mongolian culture in Mongolia, a project I started after my first visit in 2004. Over time however, I began weaving other threads of personal interest into its unfolding expositional arc.

What’s the point in having a mind, if you can’t change it?

There are now 100+ original (researched) articles, intermedia and musical compositions across this site and its associated two You Tube channels (a multi-platform presentation). There are no on-postings or feeds.

For an overview of the content, or for an entry point into the information design of the content especially if you’re new to this channel, you may like to take a look at the INDEX and its categorical structure. I suggest you start there.

Longitudinal in nature, the inter-connectedness of this accumulation, manifest in various forms of cultural production, makes perfectly sound (chronological) sense to me [she laughs]. “Auto-ethnography” you say? Quite possibly … given the autobiographical elements and critical reflection added to the mix.

In working with a purposeful selection of Mongolian and other cultural resources, I aspire to simply reflect the creative practices of people around the world with whom I have the very good fortune to associate. This was my goal at the outset. In this regard, nothing has changed.

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2021 to 2024

In terms of recent study, the focus has been on translating and interpreting a folio of poems (Skt. doha)* by and with the contemporary Mongolian Gelug scholar-poet Zava Damdin Rinpoche (b.1976). You’ll find links to a selection of these in the Mongolian Poetry section of the INDEX.

The additional imprints from the intense generative, (non)proximal inner experiences associated with this kind of ongoing formal training in the (fine) art of interpreting doha into another language via a culturally appropriate oral induction and lineage transmission;

Along with the (selective and persistent) memories associated with this form of studious immersion and sustained concentration required to accurately understand an original text according to the scholar-poet’s intended meaning (conceptually, through explanation and contextualised commentary) and then to articulate it into another language, in a poetic way.

All I can say is, with my heart overflowing with gratitude, this additional intensive training “experience” has once again been so inspiring.

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2025

I so enjoy sharing my love of Mongolian culture using visual and text-based narratives and piano arrangements that convey tender emotions and thoughtful atmospheres. With a freshly-polished preoccupation with narrative detail, this year I have again returned to Mongolia, and so the journey continues.

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Background

I was introduced to Buddhist philosophy in the Tradition of Je Tsongkhapa whilst travelling through India in 1987. Since then, I have taken the opportunity to attend many residential courses and other important events in centres, monasteries and colleges of higher education around our small world.

Since 2004 I’ve had two Teachers. My heart tutor is the scholar-poet Zava Damdin Rinpoche (b. 1976) of ethnic Mongolian heritage and ancestry. Concerning the study of sutra, Tibetan Lharampa Geshe Lobsang Dayang Thubten Trinley has profoundly influenced the discipline with which I continue to study and cultivate my own comparatively small mind.

I’m a slow learner, nonetheless, I keep trying and a strong and beautiful Gelug voice sings in my heart. In keeping with our principle of life-long learning, on occasion I study a related subject with another specialist tutor if and when the need arises. Until recently, all these goings on have run in tandem with the demands of a professional working life.

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The Zava Damdin Medallion, an award

In November 2011, I was awarded the Zava Damdin Medallion in recognition of my scholarly contribution to the study of Mongolian Nomadic and Gelug Buddhist culture in Mongolia.

Here I would like to also acknowledge my dear friend and colleague Sodontogos Erdenetsogt (Former Director-General of Mongolia’s Montsame National News Agency) and to thank her for all that she has done and continues to do for so many others. Our scholarly collaboration is without parallel … The Honourable Professor Choirov Khishigtogtokh and master translator Dr Hatagin Gotovin Akim received the same award for their own lifelong and much greater contribution to scholarship at the same official ceremony.

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In October 2014 I was honoured with the position of inaugural Research Fellow (Nomadic and Buddhist Philosophies) at the The Zava Damdin Sutra and Scripture Institute in Mongolia. This unexpected appointment is a great honour indeed. The inter-disciplinary discourses on this website and other contributions to Zava Damdin’s English language publications are harvests from this honorary role.

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Notes

• In the Mongolian poetry section of the INDEX, you will find some examples of poetry composed by Zava Damdin (b.1976). Variously translated as ‘songs of experience‘ (Skt. doha) or ‘songs of realisation‘, such compositions are characteristic of a poetic form associated with the Vajrayana Buddhist tantric movement.
• The doha form can be seen as a sung spiritual aphorism; a concise original thought that is often rendered linguistically in couplets.
• In terms of an inter-cultural interpretation, it is important to clarify for readers the idea of ‘singing‘. Such devotional songs are performed internally, and are intimately connected with meditation, feelings, imagination, faith, deep love and respect.

Source: The Great Nenchen (2015) by Zava Damdin (b.1976). Translated from the Mongolian language into English by C.Pleteshner and E.Sodontogos (Zava Damdin Sutra and Scripture Institute, Mongolia). p3.

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Afterword

In curating one’s own blog, one has the opportunity to exercise a particularly spacious and judicious freedom: to discern and (re)configure artistically what one considers to be more important in relation to what may be deemed less so. The curatorial aspect of blogging itself is a reflection of a contemporary modernity and its vast array of online discourses that inform, shape and engage trans-cultural diversities in a globalising world.

© 2013-2025. CP in Mongolia. This post is licensed under the  Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions.   Posted: 6 January 2014. Last updated: 15 October 2025.