The Ritual Veneration of Mongolia’s Mountains
Tibetan Ritual December 8, 2009 DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780195392814.003.0011 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that rituals engaging Mongolia's local deities were an intentional strategy to emplace Buddhism within local society, converting indigenous practices into Buddhist ones, rather than evidence of corruption by Shamanism. |
Abstract
Abstract Despite the obvious influence of Tibetan Buddhism upon the religious landscape of Mongolia, Mongolian Buddhism is not simply Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia, just as Tibetan Buddhism is not simply Indian Buddhism in Tibet. Previous scholarship on the ritual manuals that engage Mongolia’s local deities has tended to consider these rituals as instances of the corruption of Buddhism by “Shamanism.”Rather than argue that the introduction of Buddhism to Mongolia resulted in an unfortunate hybrid tradition of ritual practice, I suggest that ritual was an oblique strategy that Buddhists intentionally used “in order to emplace themselves within a local society”2—in the process, converting indigenous practices into Buddhist practices. Although ritual theorists unanimously acknowledge that place is a significant component to the understanding of ritual, there is a difference of opinion regarding exactly how significant place is.