The monograph is devoted to the problems of the relationship between the traditional folk beliefs of the Mongols and the Buryats with Lamaism. The origins of the formation of Lamaist rituals are revealed, elements of the cult of nature, the cult of plants, animals, traces of veneration of the mother goddess, the evolution of the cult understanding of the Universe and the reflection of all this in the pantheon and rituals of Lamaism are traced. The author reveals typologically similar phenomena in the shamanic and Buddhist complexes. The work was written on the basis of literary materials, an analysis of "shamanic" manuscripts and on its own field material collected by the author in the Buryat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the Mongolian People's Republic in the 60-70s.