Human birth is considered a rare and precious opportunity in Buddhism, the best condition for ending the cycle of rebirth and achieving spiritual goals. Je Tsongkhapa's Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment treats human birth not as random but as the result of accumulated merits and karmic responsibility. He analyzes its causes and conditions, emphasizing the difficulty of attaining it. Practices contemplating impermanence and death contribute to conscious living and dying without fear or attachment, which are obstacles to better rebirth. This contemplation is an active, transformative process crucial for spiritual realization. The concept of the preciousness of human birth plays a system-forming role throughout the Lamrim teaching.
Yakut shamanism contains pronounced dualistic features that divide the spirit world into good and evil, reflected in the distinction between 'white' shamans (associated with upper deities and fertility) and 'black' shamans (linked to lower, destructive forces). Drawing on G. Ksenofontov's theory that this dualism arose from a transition from bull to horse cults alongside class processes, the paper uses field data from 2022–2024 expeditions to rural Yakutia. Christian conversion caused white shamanic roles—especially ancestor and deity worship—to decline while black shamanic practices survived. The Ysyakh holiday ritual culture still displays both fertility and destruction symbols. Shamanic healing methods further illustrate this dualism. The authors argue for an integrated approach that includes both traditional shamanism and neo-shamanism to understand Sakha cultural heritage.
Healing in Buryat shamanic tradition is primarily a ritual and magical activity rather than a therapeutic one. Shamans do not perform medical treatments but instead use spells and semiotic rituals to propitiate or neutralize mythological disease spirits, relying on word magic and communicative connection with the other world. Analysis of archival verbal materials from Western Buryats shows that these healing practices are monotypic in ritual basis, rooted in belief in the magical power of word and ritual, and incorporate rudiments of earlier folk methods. The rituals correspond to main calendar and life-cycle ceremonies, serving to eliminate perceived causes of illness.
In the ritual folklore of Mongolic peoples, the snake is a sacred character with positive connotations, serving as an assistant, intermediary, carrier, and envoy between worlds. Closely associated with the shaman, the snake appears in cave drawings, petroglyphs, shamanic ongons, and costumes, emphasizing its sacred function. It can be used as a protective element, such as a walking-stick or whip. Symbolically, snake-shaped straps imply magical abilities. The snake's role as a mediator between worlds allows it to perform protective functions, and its main function is that of a carrier between worlds, related to its transforming abilities.