The book ‘The Essays on the Life of Buddhist Monasteries, and Buddhist Clergy in Mongolia, in Their Connection to the People’ by А. М. Pozdneev was published in 1887, in the ‘Proceedings of the Imperial Geographic Society, the Department of Ethnography’. The publication was timed to the 300th anniversary of the restoration of Buddhism in one of the historical regions of Mongolia, Khalkha. According to the author, the book was “almost an exact extract from the diaries, which [he] wrote during the travels in Mongolia in 1876—1879”. It is one of the most fundamental works on Buddhism made in Russia in the late nineteenth century; the author gathered and classified data on Buddhist monasteries, and Buddhist clergy of Mongolia. He interpreted Buddhism as an element defining the way of life and thought of Mongols. He dispelled the myth on ignorance, avarice, and apathy of Buddhist clergy, accenting an applied character of his work: an attempt to establish the correct knowledge of “the rules, and views” of Buddhists, which would be useful “for the sake of relation to Lamaists of Russia”, Buddhists of Transbaikalia and Kalmykia. The author observes a broad circle of issues: Buddhist monasteries (their classification, sources of income, rules, personnel, canonic rules of their construction), peculiarities of the Buddhist cult architecture (symbolic meaning of various elements of the interior and exterior of Buddhist buildings), an order of some khurals (services), the mystery of Tsam, wedding and other ceremonies, other rites, and the place of musical instruments in the Buddhist services. He put a special attention at Buddhist clergy, their vows, duties, and the practice of meditation, as well as the phenomenon of khubilgans — reborn ones.