Mongolian Paganism?

[Toby Stimpson]

Hi all,

A question to generate discussion...what was the original religion of Mongolia...and in what ways is the original Mongolian system similar to the Chinese and dissimilar?

Namaste

Tobias

[Dave the Druid]

What a killer subject!

I have to admit I have no hard data on the subject. Whatever 'old' there was has been glossed over by Buddhism and perhaps Islam. In all some variant of earth religion.

[Toby Stimpson]

Well, It's soemthing I dont think a lot of people really take ionto account...especially when you get a little north and you look at the almost identicle N. American religions still being practiced by Siberian bands such as the Koryak. Would these be classed as 'Eastern' paths...I wonder. I was also watching a show about the rise of Genghis Khan, how he believed he had a divine mission to take over the world...and that this mission was sent to him byu the "High God of Heaven". I can only imagine that their ideas were soemwhat connected to the Siberian and also the Chinese religions...as most certainly the two peoples had contact with each other.

Tobias

[Dave the Druid]

I think any time you start talking about the "devine right of kings" you are really connected with old, early agrarian societies where the king was tied to the land and it's success or failure.

[sari0009]

I'm part Mongolian, so this interest me.

"The original Mongol religion was a type of Shamanism but as they moved along they came into contact with three other major religions - Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. It was only after they took Baghdad (1258), and overthrew the Abbasids, that Islam became dominant amongst them." http://www.thewhitefathers.org.uk/340is.html (http://www.thewhitefathers.org.uk/340is.html)

http://siberianshaman.com/contact.html (http://siberianshaman.com/contact.html) Siberian Mongolian Shamanism
Research Center of North America (site under redesign)


http://www.lifeevents.org/shaman-workshop-retreat.htm (http://www.lifeevents.org/shaman-workshop-retreat.htm) Picture of Mongolian Shaman


http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/11/photogalleries/reindeer_people/photo8.html (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/11/photogalleries/reindeer_people/photo8.html) Mongolian shaman in front of ancestor shrine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_Shamanism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_Shamanism) Wiki on Mongolian Shamanism ... very lacking.

http://faculty.etsu.edu/kortumr/MONGOLIA2002/htmdescriptionpages/shaman1.htm (http://faculty.etsu.edu/kortumr/MONGOLIA2002/htmdescriptionpages/shaman1.htm) Picture of Shaman

[Paracelsus]

I think that you'll find a lot of useful ideas in the invaluable "Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas" - which while not specific to Mongolia, certainly examines the flexible and permeable boundaries between Vajrayana Buddhism, Bon, and Hindu/Shamanic Tantra. I know that the predominant Buddhist practice of Mongolia was Vajrayana, and I suspect that, while there is little explicit in the book, a great deal of the feeling of this would be resonant with the Mongolian experience as well.

It is, in its own right, a superb read as well - with some great incense recipes!