Tibetan worship of sacred mountains
[Core Tip] The worship of the sacred mountains has taken on different forms in different historical stages. The first is from nature worship to god worship. The second is from ancestor worship to hero worship.
As one of the main forms of nature worship by Tibetan ancestors, the worship of sacred mountains is the foundation of the Tibetan primitive belief system. Tibetan areas are mountainous, with the world's highest Himalayas in the south; the Kunlun Mountains and Tanggula Mountains in the north; the Gangdese Mountains, the main mountain ranges across the central and western regions, and the Nienqing Tanggula Mountains, the most famous guardian god; and the Hengduan Mountains, the Hengduan Mountains, the most famous guardian god. Surrounded by mountains, the production and life of Tibetan people are closely related to the mountains. Therefore, Tibetan ancestors regarded the mountains as places where gods lived. In the primitive society, people sacrificed and worshipped certain natural objects, mainly because they believed that there were gods with supernatural power hidden behind the natural objects.
The Tibetan people's primitive cosmology divides the universe into three parts: heaven, man and land. Among them, the god "La" is in charge of the heaven, the god "Zan" and the god "Nian" are in charge of the human world, and the god "Lu" is in charge of the land, and each world has spawned more gods. There are also various natural objects to which these gods attach, but most of them use mountains as their places. Tibetan scholar Geller believes that "the reason why mountain gods become the god of year is because mountains are the places where the god of year adheres.""Although the foundation of the god of year lies in the air and in the light, its main activity place is in the mountains and canyons."
People can see colorful archery platforms and smoky simmering mulberry platforms everywhere in Tibetan areas. Every religious festival, Tibetan believers will circle around the mountain, with prayer flags fluttering and mulberry smoke curling. They will come to the front of the sacred mountain with cow heads and stones engraved with six-character truths and place them respectfully on the cliff. Tibetans believe that all natural phenomena are arranged by the gods. They communicate with the gods through sacrifices and prayers, kowtowing and chanting scriptures, and receive the protection and help of the gods. They believe that these mountain gods have power and dominate wind, rain, lightning, and lightning. Their joys and sorrows determine people's good and bad fortune. Even the prey they hunt is given by the mountain gods.
The worship of the sacred mountains has taken on different forms in different historical stages.
The first is from nature worship to god worship. The Tibetan ancestors could not correctly understand various phenomena in nature and believed that there were gods with supernatural forces who controlled all things. Therefore, they myth nature and pray for help by worshipping gods. A large number of Bon and Tibetan Buddhist classics record that heaven, earth and mountains were the original objects of worship. Subsequently, various rituals of offering sacrifices to heaven, earth and mountains appeared. There is no doubt that the original form of god mountain worship was nature worship.
The "Book of Bon Knowledge" records that because the original god Gulagkuo lived in the Gangdese Mountains after coming to the world, people respectfully called Gangdese Mountains a sacred mountain. The memorial of the Animaqing Divine Mountain in Guoluo Prefecture, Qinghai Province wrote,"In the majestic and majestic Wuliang Hall, the king of the war god, the master of all the sacred mountains, and the boundless power of the Maqing Benheat, came here through the illusion of nothingness." It can be seen that the arrival of Ma Qing Benze turned the mountain that originally had no gods into a sacred mountain with gods. For example, Tibetans believe that garbage cannot be burned at will in Tibetan areas because this behavior will anger the gods and disasters such as hail and drought will follow. In the place where mountain gods live, vegetation cannot be destroyed at will. If trees need to be cut down, the tree stumps must be buried with soil immediately. Otherwise, they will be punished by the mountain god and the person who cuts down the tree will get sick. With the changes of history, the historical stage of worshiping nature has changed. People pay more attention to the worship of the gods in the sacred mountains, and no longer worship the mountains themselves. The worship of gods was originally the unity of mountain gods, but gradually changed in the later period, and the separation of mountain gods appeared.
The second is from ancestor worship to hero worship. The word "Ni" is often used in front of the sacred mountains in many Tibetan areas. For example, Animaqing Mountain in Qin County, Guoluo Prefecture, Qinghai Province, Animaqing Mountain in Hezuo City, Gansu Province, Animaqing Mountain in Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province, etc."Animaqing" means grandfather or ancestor in Tibetan. The appearance of the Ani Mountain shows that the Tibetan god mountain worship separates people from nature. The worship of mountain gods has become diversified from the previous simplification, and then the worship of heroes has emerged, with heroes being worshipped as gods in the mountains. Mount Merdo, located in the Jiarong Tibetan Cultural Center, is a symbol of Tibetan national heroes. The sacred mountain is worshipped as a hero, expressing people's respect and gratitude for the hero.
(Author's unit: Institute of Tibetan Studies, Qinghai Province Academy of Social Sciences)