By now Mongolia’s main religion is Buddism, with 90% of the whole population are Buddhists. The rest are Muslims, Shamanist and few Christians. Mongolians; first religion was shamanism, it arose during the clan structure. At that time it was simple, just magic. According to archeological findings, about 100000-40000 years before the people lived on the land of today’s Mongolia had this religion. On the ancient earth, every clan had a belief about their origin that they were descended from an animal or a plant, and they called it tutelary genius. The Mongols adored deer or wolf.
The nomads of the vast expanse of the Mongolian steppes shared a vision of the universe and the world of human experience that was characterized by religious concepts, rituals and magical practices that came to be known as shamanism from the word "shaman."The shaman was a kind of a priest or medium who acted as a conduit between the human world and the realm of the gods, demons, and spirits of ancestors. A person didn’t choose the profession of shaman but was selected for the job by a messenger from the spirit world. The arrival of this representative was usually announced by the chosen person’s falling seriously ill or suffering hallucinations.
A shaman, called in to cure the sick person, would pronounce the patient possessed by a spirit, indicating that he or she had been chosen to be a shaman.
The chosen person was initiated by an older shaman of the same tribe into the lore of magic formulas and the songs and dances, which the shaman used to combat the supernatural sources of evil. During the initiation rite, the newly chosen shaman was given a staff. Its finial was often carved in the shape of a horse’s head, its lower end in the shape of the hoof. When the new shaman had practiced rituals for a few years, the staff was replaced with a drum. Other paraphernalia of the shaman were successively added to his arsenal.
Any sort of misfortune that came a Mongol’s way, from hunger and sickness to natural disasters, was seen as devilish mischief caused by malicious demons. Timely offerings, virtuous conduct, and strict observance of taboos would usually be enough to ensure the benevolent attitude of the ancestral spirits. However, on occasion, peace and harmony were disturbed by evil spirits. This was the moment when a shaman’s assistance was required.
The shaman did not face the forces of evil by himself. He was assisted by an army of auxiliary spirits that protected the shaman and helped him to avoid the traps set by adversaries from the spirit world. It was the number and might of these helpful spirits that ultimately determined the magic and healing powers of the shaman. In a trance induced by alcohol and the smoking of herbs, the shaman undertook his voyage to the dark realm of the demons to subdue the spirit that was the source of the problem. The shaman could also bring back to earth the spirit of someone thought to have died.
The shaman was protected against supernatural negative forces by the magical properties of the tools of his trade. His headgear was often decorated with the antlers of deer, which gave the shaman speed and versatility. A headdress decorated with eagle feathers gave the shaman strength, while owl feathers endowed him with the power to see at night. To the shaman’s upper garments, metal objects symbolizing armor such as arrow heads, bells, and mirrors were attached. Feathers, symbolizing wings, were also attached to the sleeves of his dress. The shaman’s staff crowned with a horses head or his drum, the handle of which was also carved in the shape of a horse’s head, symbolized his mode of transportation.
When Lamaism was introduced in Mongolia, Buddhist monks undertook efforts to convince the people to abandon their shamanist beliefs in favor of Buddhist doctrine.
Differences in the two religions were marked by the ways shamans and Buddhist monks dressed. While shamans’ dress displayed all kinds of regional and even individual differences, the monks’ garb was more or less a uniform. Nevertheless, there were striking parallels between shamanistic and Lamaist rituals. Some of the same religious functions could be performed by either shaman or lama. For example, both shamans and lamas dressed in costumes with a stylized decoration suggesting a skeleton when they performed the role of Citipati, or Lords of the Charnel Grounds, in Tsam dances, and the ritual dagger of the monk, like the shaman’s staff, is crowned with a horse’s head.
Shamanism, however, was not an organized religion. Although there were "grand" and "lessor" shamans, there was no elaborate hierarchy of the kind recognized by the Buddhists. The shamans’ individualism served them well in times of persecution and suppression when they remained hard to catch. Buddhist monks, concentrated in large monastic communities, on the other hand, were more vulnerable to suppression.
In traditional Mongol society, women took the men’s place when they went off to war and had to be skilled in all aspects of animal husbandry and hunting. So it is not surprising that is a fundamental equality between men and women existed and that the important functions of the shaman could be performed by men and women alike.
Shamanism in Mongolia, embedded in the nomadic life style of the people since ancient times, has managed to survive against enormous odds, including centuries of persecution by Buddhists and Stalinist efforts to eradicate this ancient tradition.
In the soviet communist Buryatya and People’s Republic of Mongolia both Buddhism and shamanism were suppressed in twentieth century. Ritual sites were destroyed and lamas as well as shamans were killed. Also in China, the religious traditions suffer much from the communist regime.
The chosen person was initiated by an older shaman of the same tribe into the lore of magic formulas and the songs and dances, which the shaman used to combat the supernatural sources of evil. During the initiation rite, the newly chosen shaman was given a staff. Its finial was often carved in the shape of a horse’s head, its lower end in the shape of the hoof. When the new shaman had practiced rituals for a few years, the staff was replaced with a drum. Other paraphernalia of the shaman were successively added to his arsenal.
Any sort of misfortune that came a Mongol’s way, from hunger and sickness to natural disasters, was seen as devilish mischief caused by malicious demons. Timely offerings, virtuous conduct, and strict observance of taboos would usually be enough to ensure the benevolent attitude of the ancestral spirits. However, on occasion, peace and harmony were disturbed by evil spirits. This was the moment when a shaman’s assistance was required.
The shaman did not face the forces of evil by himself. He was assisted by an army of auxiliary spirits that protected the shaman and helped him to avoid the traps set by adversaries from the spirit world. It was the number and might of these helpful spirits that ultimately determined the magic and healing powers of the shaman. In a trance induced by alcohol and the smoking of herbs, the shaman undertook his voyage to the dark realm of the demons to subdue the spirit that was the source of the problem. The shaman could also bring back to earth the spirit of someone thought to have died.
The shaman was protected against supernatural negative forces by the magical properties of the tools of his trade. His headgear was often decorated with the antlers of deer, which gave the shaman speed and versatility. A headdress decorated with eagle feathers gave the shaman strength, while owl feathers endowed him with the power to see at night. To the shaman’s upper garments, metal objects symbolizing armor such as arrow heads, bells, and mirrors were attached. Feathers, symbolizing wings, were also attached to the sleeves of his dress. The shaman’s staff crowned with a horses head or his drum, the handle of which was also carved in the shape of a horse’s head, symbolized his mode of transportation.When Lamaism was introduced in Mongolia, Buddhist monks undertook efforts to convince the people to abandon their shamanist beliefs in favor of Buddhist doctrine.
Differences in the two religions were marked by the ways shamans and Buddhist monks dressed. While shamans’ dress displayed all kinds of regional and even individual differences, the monks’ garb was more or less a uniform. Nevertheless, there were striking parallels between shamanistic and Lamaist rituals. Some of the same religious functions could be performed by either shaman or lama. For example, both shamans and lamas dressed in costumes with a stylized decoration suggesting a skeleton when they performed the role of Citipati, or Lords of the Charnel Grounds, in Tsam dances, and the ritual dagger of the monk, like the shaman’s staff, is crowned with a horse’s head.
Shamanism, however, was not an organized religion. Although there were "grand" and "lessor" shamans, there was no elaborate hierarchy of the kind recognized by the Buddhists. The shamans’ individualism served them well in times of persecution and suppression when they remained hard to catch. Buddhist monks, concentrated in large monastic communities, on the other hand, were more vulnerable to suppression.
In traditional Mongol society, women took the men’s place when they went off to war and had to be skilled in all aspects of animal husbandry and hunting. So it is not surprising that is a fundamental equality between men and women existed and that the important functions of the shaman could be performed by men and women alike.
Shamanism in Mongolia, embedded in the nomadic life style of the people since ancient times, has managed to survive against enormous odds, including centuries of persecution by Buddhists and Stalinist efforts to eradicate this ancient tradition.
In the soviet communist Buryatya and People’s Republic of Mongolia both Buddhism and shamanism were suppressed in twentieth century. Ritual sites were destroyed and lamas as well as shamans were killed. Also in China, the religious traditions suffer much from the communist regime.
Buddhism
Larry Moses traces the first contact of the Mongolians with Buddhism back to the 4th century A.D. By that time the T´o-pa Wei dynasty would have some influence on the Juan-juan dynasty which dominated Mongolia at that time. A later Buddhist influence is that of the Kitan in the 10th century, from which at the time of writing a stupa in Kerulen Bars Khota and the remainings of Buddha statue at Khalkhin Gol. In 1125 the Kitan dynasty falls and Mongolia reverts to a disorganized collection of warring tribes in which Nestorianism, Manicheism and shamanism are the main religions.
It is in the time of the Great Khans that the Tibetan form of Buddhism gains influence in Mongolia. In the beginning of the 13th century Chinggis Khan conquers Tibet. The leader of the biggest empire ever was known for his religious tolerance, having Nestorian Christians, Moslems, Manicheïsts and shamans within his realm. When after his death trouble arises in Tibet his grandson is send to settle things. Although doing this with a trail of destruction he makes friends with Sakya (Sa skya) Pandita, the patriarch of the Sa skya sect. With these two the special Tibetan lama-patron relationship starts. Godan´s successor Khubilai Kahn continued this relation with Sakya Pandita´s nephew Phags-pa. He was kept at the Mongolian court, but more for political than spiritual reasons. By holding a representative from the ruling Sa skya pa, Khubilai hoped to realise a friendly attitude of the Tibetans. While being at the Mongolian court Phags-pa converted great parts of the ruling class including Khubilai. So for the first time Mongolia came under major Buddhist influence, although it seems to mainly have been limited to the upper class.
At the end of 16th century Altan Khan is in power. He meets with Sonam Gyatso, a Tibetan Buddhist leader whom he gives the title of Dalai Lama. This meeting means a revival of Buddhism in Mongolia. Later great-grandson of Altan Khan will pointed as an incarnation of the Dalai Lama, strengthening the ties between Mongolia and Tibetan Buddhism. From that period on Buddhism becomes the predominant religion in the Mongolian territories and establishes a big clergy. In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the sculptor par excellence among the Buddhist countries of Asia was the Undur Gegeen Zanabazar (1635-1723), the first Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, or Bogdo Gegeen (King Bogd), and the greatest sculptor of Mongolia. He was the founder of our art school "Zanabazar“.
At the end of 16th century Altan Khan is in power. He meets with Sonam Gyatso, a Tibetan Buddhist leader whom he gives the title of Dalai Lama. This meeting means a revival of Buddhism in Mongolia. Later great-grandson of Altan Khan will pointed as an incarnation of the Dalai Lama, strengthening the ties between Mongolia and Tibetan Buddhism. From that period on Buddhism becomes the predominant religion in the Mongolian territories and establishes a big clergy. In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the sculptor par excellence among the Buddhist countries of Asia was the Undur Gegeen Zanabazar (1635-1723), the first Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, or Bogdo Gegeen (King Bogd), and the greatest sculptor of Mongolia. He was the founder of our art school "Zanabazar“.
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