Six Systems of Mongolian Shamanism

The world's academic community collectively refers to Shamanism as "shamanism" and refers to the person who conducts the shaman ritual as shaman. In addition to corresponding names for shamans in Mongolian, male shamans are also called buge, and female shamans are called idugan.

As far as Shamanism is concerned, there are two very different views in academia. The first view holds that Shamanism is just a phenomenon, not a religion. Scholars such as Liu Shuang and Liu Yitang hold this view. In addition, Mongolian scholar Zadesiqin also believes that "the original beliefs of Shamanism should not be attributed to religion." Those who hold the second view regard Shamanism as a religion. There are also many scholars in this group. For example, Mongolian scholar Wu Bingan, Han scholar Qiupu, German scholar Wei Hevicho, etc. are all representative figures holding this view.

I do not regard Mongolian shamans simply as a "phenomenon", but as a religion. Engels once said,"All religions are just reflections in people's minds of the illusions of external forces that govern people's daily lives. In this reflection, the power of the world takes the form of power beyond the world." This argument is completely consistent with the nature of Mongolian shamans.

It can also be seen from the worship of animals and genitalia that Shamanism is a primitive religion belonging to the category of religion. From another perspective, Shamanism is not an incoherent thing. It also has its own order, rules and corresponding systems. These are all powerful grounds for arguing that Shamanism is not a simple phenomenon but a systematic religion. Here, I will look at the six major systems of Mongolian Shamanism from the perspective of systems theory.

I. There is an explanation in Mongolian Shamanism that "all things have a spirit". From a systems perspective, this is the mother system of Shamanism. If specific content is given to the Mongolian Shamanism explanation that all things have spirits, the first thing is that all things (living and inanimate) have their own patron gods. Second, even if a person dies, his soul will still exist. Situations such as the ability to meet old friends in dreams are the foundation of this statement. Third, it is believed that the soul can be attached to some other object. Therefore, in "Jangel", it is written that the lion Hunger's "soul is no longer in the body." It turned out that when Hunger died in battle, his soul had already been hidden in other animals. All in all, the explanation that all things have animism is beyond the imagination of nature, is the root cause of Shamanism, and is also the mother system of Shamanism.

II. In Mongolian Shamanism, there are two types of full-time personnel who preside over various activities or rituals. They are Bo 'e (male) and Yadagan (female).

Bo 'e and Yadagan are the most critical and basic subsystems of the Mongolian shaman system. Without Bo 'e and Yadagan, Shamanism would have been difficult to survive and develop. Among Bo 'e and Yadagan, the first one to emerge should be the female shaman Yadagan. The word "Yadagan" has a certain connection in terms of naming "Etugen" that existed during the matriarchal clan society. It can be said that Yadagan developed from Etugen. Etugen originally referred to as the world where humans, flowers, plants, and trees were bred and bred. The worship of genitalia prevailed during the matriarchal society.

At that time,"Etugen" referred to the female uterus associated with meanings such as resurrection and birth. Later, due to changes in pronunciation, it became "Odegen". As a result, in Mongolian Shamanism,"Etugen" or "Odegen" is pronounced as "Odegen" in colloquial language, but is uniformly written as "Yadagan" in written language. In Horqin, Zhalet, Zalute and other areas, a kind of light-repelling butterfly is called "Odegen Butterfly". The flying of this butterfly is very similar to the action of "Odegen" or "Yadagan" during shaman ceremony. Odegan or Yadagan also used primitive shamanism to deliver babies, perhaps in keeping with the original meaning of the word Etugan.

There are also many opinions about the origin of the word "Bo E" in academic circles. French scholar Ppiluot believes that the Mongolian word "boe" comes from the name of Turg Khan-"buge". German scholar Wei? Hevicho believed that "Bo 'e" was a legacy of the ancient Mongolian official hierarchical title "Bieqi". In addition, some scholars explain that it was produced based on the combination of tribal leaders and Shamanism titles. Wei Hevicho once pointed out: "The Bos first regarded themselves as the leader of a certain tribe or ethnic group." Villadymircao also said: "Shamans belong to aristocrats on the grassland, and some of them may also be local leaders."

These expositions by Wei Hevicho and Villadymircao are consistent with Mongolian history. In the Battle of Kuoyitian in Chapter 143 of "The Secret History of Mongolia", Buyiluhan of the Naiman tribe and Huduhebiqi of the Oilat tribe both used the Shaman "Zata" to call down stones from the sky and wanted to suppress Genghis Khan's troops. However, unfortunately, the "Zata" they called fell to their own team. It can be seen that Buyiruhan and Huduhebieqi are not only tribal leaders, but also Bo 'er.

In Chapter 216 of the Secret History of Mongolia, Genghis Khan named the old man Wusun, the leader of the Balin tribe, a "Bieqi", and through a shaman ceremony presented white clothes and white horses to the seat, making him a Buddhist saint (a wizard who specializes in counting the days for the king). From this point of view,"Bieqi" should be the prototype of the word "Bo 'e".

III. Mongolian Shamanism divides the universe into upper, middle and lower worlds. This is the so-called "Three Realms View". The upper realm is the heaven realm, which is divided into the east 44th and west 55th days. Among them,"Qingtian" is the highest belief of Mongolian Shamanism. From the perspective of Mongolian Shamanism, heaven is not only pure but also can dominate the destiny of mankind. From a broad perspective, belief in heaven also includes belief in the sun, moon, stars, lightning, rain and dew. Genghis Khan believed in heaven very much and often prayed that "heaven is the master".

The middle realm refers to the place where humans and all other animals and plants live. Mongolian shamans worship the earth as the "mother's root" of the origin of everything. There are many branches of the worship of "Etugen".

The lower realm refers to the place where various evil gods and evil spirits live. Shamanism believes that after death, a person's soul will leave his body and come to the lower realm, living the same life as the middle realm. This is a very primitive consciousness. It can be seen from the epic "Jangel" that there are also mountains and oceans in the lower reaches. There was also a child hero Su Youle playing with two mountain ranges under his arms. When Buddhism became popular in Mongolian areas, there was a terrible saying of sending the dead to the lower realm and making him suffer from the eighteen levels of hell of the King of Hell. The Three Realms Theory is the second subsystem of the Mongolian Shamanism after it mastered the universe.

IV. The third subsystem of Mongolian Shamanism is the belief in objects of worship, which is divided into four categories.

(1) The worship of nature Shamanism is a primitive religion that emerged from the worship of nature and under the oppression of nature.

1. Worship of heaven. The worship of heaven includes the worship of the sky, the sun, the moon, thunder and lightning, celestial signs, the Big Dipper, etc.

2. Worship of the earth. The worship of the earth comes from the worship of the "earth god" in primitive society. This belief is not empty, but consists of specific beliefs, such as the worship of mountains, obos, rocks, wood, fire, rivers, etc.

(2) Totem belief The word "totem" comes from the North American Indian dialect. The Ewenki called their totem kar-pur. There are many explanations for totems. He Xingliang, author of the book "Totem Culture in China," accurately defines totems as "totems are ancestors and totems are protective gods." The original totems were mainly limited to mammals and occasionally involved other animals or plants. Among the Mongolians, there are totems such as wolf, crane, eagle, deer, bear, and horse.

In the Secret History of Mongolia, people regard the ancestors of Genghis Khan as the Cang Lang (male) and the White Deer (female), and believe that they gave birth to the Batachi Khan. From this, we can see the following two problems: First, the wolf and the doe are two totem objects of the Mongolian people.

Second, the theory that a wolf and a doe got married comes from the ancient custom of humans marrying a clan society other than their own totem. The Mongolians do not call the wolf directly "wolf", but call it "Tengou" or "wild dog", which may stem from the taboo on totems. Mongolian shamans wear "small eagle claws" on the top of their hats during rituals, which is said to be related to the eagle totem believed by the Borzhijin family of Genghis Khan.

The Bliat Mongolian shamans have a saying in their sacrificial language that "originated from cranes and belong to birch trees", and there are also legends about crane totems among the Bliat Mongolian people.

As Wei Hevicho said, the shaman's costume imitates the appearance of a bird, and the long copper or buckled streamers worn on the sleeves and chest of the shaman's costume symbolize the wings of the bird. The long band at the back is a symbol of the bird's tail. From this point of view, there were many bird totems in different Mongolian tribes in primitive society. Mongolia even has tree totems. The ancient Mongolian tribe believed that they "had a willow mother and an owl father." In this regard, both tribes have their own totem myths.

The Bliat Mongolians have cow and bear totems. There are also myths and legends corresponding to this. After hunting bears, the Bliats also held many rituals to lift taboos.

(3) Ancestor worship Before the ancient Mongolian people mastered the knowledge to distinguish themselves from animals, they worshipped all related animals as ancestors. Later, after realizing that his ancestors were not totems, he began to believe in totems as protective gods. It was only after totem belief that the worship of ancestors emerged. On the basis of "all things have a spirit", people began to believe in their deceased ancestors and begged for their blessing.

The ancestral worship of the Mongolian people can be roughly divided into three categories: first, the ancestors worshipped by the entire tribe or country. The most solemn and typical thing in this regard is the worship of Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan's funeral and sacrifice were carried out in accordance with shaman rituals. Secondly, there are ancestors worshipped by a certain tribe or ethnic group. Among them, the deceased patriarch is the main object of worship. Finally, there is ancestor worship within the family. There is also the worship of male and female shamans.

(4) Worship the patron saint is the god believed by male and female shamans in the Mongolian Shamanism. In the process of reverence and worship, people also constantly shape these gods, and the idols of gods appear, making them tangible gods. Early patron gods were mainly made of felt, cloth or wood. Later, some wealthy families or male and female shamans used copper, bronze and even silver to create the image of patron saint.

There are many types of patron gods. When a family invites a shaman to perform a ritual, the shamans will create a patron saint for them. Therefore, various patron gods must be placed on special vehicles. This kind of car is called a divine car. The divine chariot is actually a big case for placing divine puppets or sacrificial objects. If someone steals from the chariot, that person will be executed without mercy. There are many images of patron saint. Male and female shamans often create and worship patron gods in the shape of livestock breasts, believing that in this way, they can absorb the essence from the livestock. It can be seen that the image of the patron saint is not limited to people.

Judging from the professional classification of beliefs, patron gods are often attached to female shamans. For example, it is said that the claws of the bird-shaped patron saint can be used to treat fractures. By having a bird-shaped patron saint possessed, shamans can treat fractures.

v. The fourth subsystem of Mongolian Shamanism is six kinds of sacrifices presided over and completed by male and female shamans.

Mongolian Shamanism does not have its own sacrificial sites. It often appears in several different ways. On both sides of the door of the yurt are important places for worshipping the patron saint. In addition, there is the above-mentioned magical chariot that houses the patron saint. Aobao has also always been an important place for male and female shamans to hold shaman rituals. Some scholars believe that shamans do not have their own corresponding temples. Actually, it's not. Shamans once had their own temple.

Lubuluk once witnessed with his own eyes the shaman temple in Harahorumo, the capital of the ancient Mongolian Empire. According to him, it was a "walled yard." In front of the courtyard, they (shamans) built a gate. There is a high pillar at the top of the gate. When people see this pillar, they will know that this is a shaman temple. It is a shaman temple dedicated to all patron gods." Since Mongolian shamans advocate polytheistic beliefs, shaman sacrifices also take many forms.

(1) Sacrifice to heaven, a famous Mongolian scholar in modern times, wrote in "Mongolian Folk Customs" that "in hills and other areas, fences or stones are used as marks, and the sacrificial ceremony is carried out in the spring and autumn seasons every year." Sun and moon sacrifice also belongs to the ritual of offering sacrifices to heaven. Mongolian emperors such as Genghis Khan, Ogdai, and Kublai Khan all worshipped the sun and the moon. Genghis Khan often leads his troops to go on expeditions when the red sun is on the horizon in the first month of summer. This stems from the custom of worshipping the sun and the moon in Shamanism. In ancient times, Mongolian shamans would worship the "crescent moon" when they saw it. The Mongolian army "waits and waits for the full moon to decide whether to advance or retreat." Of course, there is a lot of worship for stars.

(2) Among the sacrifices to the land, the Aobao sacrifice is the most important. When offering sacrifices to Aobao, meat, milk and wine should be used to pay tribute to the landscape gods. During the sacrifice, the old man Bieqi (shaman) must perform a ceremony of reading out a congratulatory message. The behavior of the "Old Man Bie Qi" appearing here is very similar to the Old Man Wusun who was named "Bie Qi" by Genghis Khan in Chapter 216 of The Secret History of Mongolia.

(3) Totem Sacrifice Ceremony As mentioned above, the Mongolian people began to believe in multiple totems long ago. The unfavorable Yats who believe in the swan goose totem use splashing milk to pray when a swan goose flies over the top of a yurt.

(4) Ancestral worship rituals There are three types of ancestral worship among the Mongolian people. This article only wants to list the rituals of sacrifice to Genghis Khan. Among the ceremonies to sacrifice to Genghis Khan, the most solemn one is the "White Qun Sacrifice." The Genghis Khan White House Festival, one of the eight major White House festivals, can be roughly divided into three types: weekday festivals, monthly festivals, and quarterly festivals.

(5) The ritual of worshiping the patron saint is based on the view that all things have a spirit. In the ritual of worshiping the patron saint, the shaman has a variety of strange prayers such as "the tomb has its homeland","the patron saint of seven fires, the patron saint of seven lands, and the patron saint of seven birds". Shamans usually carry these patron gods in small leather bags with them. When there is a situation, place the patron gods side by side for worship. These patron gods will also be invited to worship them on sacrificial days.

(6) Sacrifice to the Fire God Ceremony The 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month is the day to report "work" to the Fire God. It is said that the Fire God's mouth is very broken, so that he can gossip about others casually after going to heaven. Therefore, during the fire sacrifice ceremony, we must not only offer wine to the fire, but also offer rice cakes to stick to its mouth.

vi. The fifth subsystem of Mongolian Shamanism is witchcraft.

(1) Shaman rituals Shaman rituals refer to the activities of shamans to beg for wishes or eliminate disasters after they possess gods. This is also the reason why people believe in Shamanism.

When performing the shaman ritual, shamans must first place various gods in designated positions in regular and regular ways. The male and female shamans wore diving hats, flowered clothes, nine bronze mirrors on their waists, and soft-soled boots, dressed very formally. After that, the male or female shaman slowly beat the drum and walked with their assistants to the gate, and prayed to the gods. After coming in, beat drums and shake mirrors in front of the god puppets listed on the white rice to perform the dancing spirit. In this process, various gods were invited through drums.

In this way, they were like epileptics. After a wild dance, they foamed at the mouth and were almost unconscious. At this time, the shaman's two assistants helped him to sit down in a chair, and then lit a cigarette to toast.It is said that the soul of the shaman will temporarily leave at this time, while the soul of the god will possess the body of the shaman. The gods possessed by male and female shamans can say auspicious words. When the shaman woke up, he read a congratulatory message to the drum and sent off the divine puppets that had followed the gods. This is the general process of the shaman ritual.

(2) A very important skill possessed by healing shamans is to take medicines and treat diseases through witchcraft.

1. Healing the Mongolian nation is good at fighting, and it is common to be injured in war. Therefore, shamans were often used to treat injuries in ancient wars. Shamans often apply "quick-white medicine" to soldiers 'wounds for healing treatment.

2. The Mongolians who touch bones are known as a "nation on horseback", and it is inevitable that there will be accidents involving fractures caused by falling from horseback. Therefore, bone touching is very popular among shamans. As mentioned earlier, it is said that shamans have the ability to touch bones after possessing the bird god. In fact, this is just an excuse. The real reason is that years of practice have enabled them to gradually master this skill. A highly skilled shaman can judge the condition of a fracture from the outside of the flesh. This is very consistent with the proverb "Mongolians have eyes on their hands."

Psychotherapy is also used during the process of touching the bones. There is an old man named Mangsa in Horqin Left Rear Banner. The younger generations respectfully call him Grandpa Mangsa. The old man has a divine whip. He is very good at treating hip fractures. When treating the disease, he asked the patient to lie on his back with his legs spread, and then used a whip to whip the center of the patient's legs. At this moment, the patient will twitch wildly or quickly close his injured legs due to panic. At this time, Munza would shout out: "Get up","walk up", and the patient would actually get up and walk. Locals casually call the Horqin Left Rear Banner the "King of Bao" Banner or the "King of Bo 'e" Banner because there were many bone touchers in the shaman family in the flag.

Shamans also know how to use some herbs. In "Jangel", there is a story in which Jangel restored the bones of the dead Hunger, blew chewed sandalwood leaves into Hunger's mouth and cured him. Although this is a bit exaggerated, it conveys to us the ancient message that shamans knew how to use herbs long ago.

Hydrotherapy methods are also circulated among shamans. There are many records in "Jangel" of using the "Water of Arxan" to treat heroic soldiers who died in battle. Although these stories are fictions that transcend reality, they also tell us from another perspective that shamans did use hydrotherapy long ago. Regarding practical information in this regard, I once gave a detailed description in "Mongolian Shaman".

3. The treatment of mental illness is widely spread in the "Chanandai" in the Horqin Grassland and is one of the important customs of ancient shaman rituals. "Andai" is the name of a disease. There are two types of Andai diseases. One is to go crazy after being possessed by a ghost. This disease is called "Anda Andai". The other is mental illness caused by worries about marriage, called "marriage stability". In ancient times, Mongolian shamans often used shaman songs and dances to treat "Anda Andai" or "marriage Andai".

(3) Dialogue with heaven or communication with patron gods and ghosts and gods It is said that shamans have the ability to dialogue with heaven and then pass on heaven's will to people. According to the records in Chapter 121 of "The Secret History of Mongolia": the messenger who appeared in the image of a pale hornless ox once delivered to Temuzhen the divine message that "after consultation between heaven and earth, it was decided to make Temuzhen the master of the country." Similarly, chapter 272 of the Secret History of Mongolia records such a story: When the Oge Khan fell ill, the shamans contacted the land masters and water gods of the Khitan people many times through divination. It turned out that it was those land lords and water gods who were worshiping in the territory of Oge Dihan and wanted to make offerings. Tuolei, who was next to Oge Dahan, offered to sacrifice voluntarily, drank the water prepared by the shamans to apply the curse, and soon died.

(4) Shamans of sucking sword arts will ask relevant people to hold a sword at their throat and strike it with a hammer during rituals. It is said that the sword will not penetrate the throat. This is related to Qigong. This behavior of shamans is often demonstrated in Mongolian heroic epics. As Hongel's rival, Tugbus is an invulnerable hero. It is said that "Hunger cut Tugbus from head to tail with a shiny waist knife, but he was still able to follow the blade and recover again." There are many such records in Jangel.

(5) The Shamans believe that behind storms, rain, snow, and ice water in nature, there are corresponding masters, so they often use magic in war-that is, the wind and rain spell, which is also the psychological root of the ancient wind and rain spell. The so-called wind-and-rain technique is to put stones produced by lesions in animal internal organs into a container with water and shake them. They firmly believe that this can attract strong winds or hail. Chiffeni said in "The History of World Conquistadores" that when the Mongolian army was fighting the Han army, he invited warlocks who were good at using wind and rain to make heavy snow fall on the Han army in the summer and conquered them in one fell swoop.

(6) The divination shaman dries the shoulder blades of the sheep left over by the family's parents with fire, and then judges the good fortune based on the Yin and Yang of the tattooed patterns displayed on the bones. People call these shamans "Zagrin". In "Jangel", Jangel once asked "the sacred female white shaman with a high reputation in the twelve realms" to divination for him and find the soul of the sacrificed Hongel. After three divinations, the "sacred female shaman" told Jangel that Hongel's soul was in the stomach of an animal. Here, Jangel really found Hongel's soul.

(7) Shamans can judge what kind of person a person will become by his appearance and figure. People usually call this kind of shaman a "fortuneteller". In "Jangel", there is a wonderfully intelligent "white female fortuneteller". According to the records of "Jangger", a shaman named Mengensigsirige saw through careful observation that there was a glowing red mole in Jangger's shoulder blade, and concluded that he would become a great person in the future., so he gave him a very auspicious name-"Jangger". In addition, Alatanqigeki in "Janger" has an amazing ability to inform and anticipate things. He is familiar with the events of the past ninety-nine years and can predict the events of the next ninety-nine years.

(8) Folk prescriptions and prayers Mongolian shamans not only use medicines, but also use prayers passed down from ancient times to cure diseases. In the epic "Jangger", Shaman Mengensigige's wife, Xiltaizan Dangerile, is a Yadagan (female shaman). In the story of "The Battle of Altanqigeki and Jiangger" in the epic of "Jiangger", the arrow that Altanqigeki shot on Jiangger's shoulder could not be pulled out, which made Jiangger very painful.

At this time, Xilitai Zandangerle was reading a prayer and walked over Janger three times before pulling the arrow from Janger's shoulder. This kind of prayer is called "prayer with sensory influence." If healing with prayer requires some behavior, it requires verbal magic.

Conclusion: It is not difficult to see from this article that Shamanism is not a simple belief phenomenon, but a primitive religion with order, rules, and prescribed behaviors. At the same time, Shamanism is also a highly variable religion. Under normal circumstances, we can occasionally see some written scriptures, but they are very rare. It is a religion with "no words, no paper". Therefore, the order, behavior, and name of Mongolian Shamanism are changeable.

In addition, Shamanism has gradually been influenced by other religions, especially Buddhism, with the development and changes of society. Buddhist monks joined forces with senior Mongolian officials to gradually bring this primitive religion into their own sphere of influence. This is the main reason for the gradual decline and disappearance of Shamanism. From the perspective of historical heritage, it is very necessary to conduct in-depth exploration and research on this.

Source: Tribal Khan