Mongolian Word of the Week #63: Бурхан

Cyrillic	бурхан	Breee%
Transcription	burhan
IPA	[ˈpʊr.χəŋ]
Layman’s Pronunciation	BOOR-khung
Meaning	god, buddha, boddhisattva
In Genghis Khan’s time it was burqan.

Бурхан is what most religious Mongolians worship. You could call it God, although it’s not really the same. And of course, I mentioned before in my first entry that Тэнгэр meant God, right? Well, kind of. Mongolian traditional religion is a melding of elements from Tibetan Buddhism and native, pre-Buddhist shamanic traditions, each with their own objects of worship. To understand  Бурхан and Тэнгэр, let’s talk about five kinds of entities that could be called “gods,” although none of them are quite what Westerners usually think of as “God.”

1. Тэнгэр (Tenger)
   
2. Онгод (Ongod)
3. Devas
4. Buddhas
5. Boddhisattvas

Тэнгэр (Tenger - also encountered as Tengri) is a concept stretching back as far as we can see into the past. Тэнгэр can refer both to the physical sky, and also to Heaven, the manifestation of divine will in the cosmos. In this second sense, Тэнгэр is the closest native Mongolian thing to the Christian God. Тэнгэр is the creator and sustainer of the world. Humans, animals, and plants all depend on Him/Her/It. (I can’t say what pronoun is appropriate; Mongolian doesn’t have grammatical gender.) Earthly governments derive their right to rule from Heaven’s will, similar to the Chinese concept of the "Mandate of Heaven." Тэнгэр maintains the balance of nature and moral order. It punishes illegitimate regimes by making them collapse and will even smite much less significant individuals as well. It seems that it’s also possible to have a direct personal relationship with Тэнгэр. Тэнгэр was the only authority acknowledged by Chinggis Khaan, and he prayed to it every morning.

Онгод (ongod), singular онгон (ongon), are also ancient Mongolian. [1] Онгод are local deities of nature and may best be compared to Greek nymphs. These are the spirits that shamans usually interact with. Ongod can be divided into the broad categories лус (lus, water spirits) and савдаг (savdag, earth spirits). [2]

A poster advertising a sale on divine postage stamps

The next three categories came with Buddhism. Deva is the Sanskrit term for god, cognate with the Latin word for god, deus (hence also the English word divine). [3] The devas include all the gods inherited from Hinduism, e.g. Brahma and Indra, and other kinds of powerful beings as well. In Hinduism they are gods. But Buddhism denies that the devas are immortal, that they created the world, or that they can save human beings from their karma - in other words, the Hindu gods don't sound very godlike. But Buddhism never got rid of them, and in Mongolian they are also called by the word тэнгэр, or the Tibetan loanword лха (lha, prounced la).

Painting of a бурхан.

A Buddha [4] is anyone who has become enlightened and thus gained freedom from karma and the cycle of birth, death and rebirth (samsara), and supposedly lots of other powers as well. When a Buddha dies, he enters a state called nirvana and is never born again. The historical Siddhartha Gautama is one example, but there is theoretically an infinite number of Buddhas. Like devas, they didn’t create the universe. But being a Buddha is actually better than being a deva, because devas, no matter how powerful, are still bound by the chains of karma. In fact, Buddhas are known as the teachers of gods, as well as men. Thus in Mongolian the Buddha is also called Бурхан багш (Burhan bagsh), "God-teacher."

Bodhisattvas are Buddhas-to-be. In Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, Bodhisattvas have become as important as Buddhas, because of their special dedication to enlightening other beings. They take a vow to postpone their own entrance into Nirvana in order to help others find enlightenment too.

Another бурхан at Tsonjin Boldog

Today most Mongolians follow the Gelugpa "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism, which is headed by the Dalai Lama. Both Buddhas and Boddhisattvas are commonly referred to as Бурхан, and Buddhism itself is usually called Бурханы Шашин (Burhany Shashin), "God's Religion." Technically, they aren’t gods in the western sense. The historical Buddha never asked anyone to worship him and denied that he was a god. But in practice, most Buddhists around the world pray to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in a way that people from any religion would recognize. Mongolians keep icons of Buddhas in a гүнгэрваа (güngervaa) on the хоймор (hoimor) in their gers, light зул (zul) in front of them, and make offerings of food to them.

One more thing. What do you call the Christian God? Mongolian Christians call Him Бурхан. They also use the word Эзэн, meaning “Lord.” Referring to the three persons, the Father is Эцэг (Etseg), the Son is Есүс Христ (Yesüs Hrist) or Бурханы Хүү (Burhany Hüü, "God's son"), and the Holy Spirit is Ариун Сүнс (Ariun Süns). However, the naming is apparently controversial. For more, I recommend this interesting little article: "Case Study: Translating God in Mongolia."

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Notes

1. From Otgony PUREV's Mongolian Shamanism, fifth edition (ISBN 99929-0-239-6).
   
2. Also from Mongolian Shamanism, specifically page 82.
   
3. Watkins, Calvert, The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots, second edition. These words are also related to the names Zeus (king of the Greek gods), *Tiwwaz (the Germanic god who gave his name to Tuesday), and daevas (the demons of Zoroastrianism). All of these words go back to a reconstructed Indo-European root *dyeu- "sky, heaven, god." There is a lot of information and theorizing about this word.
4. Buddha and Bodhisattva, both Sanskrit words, also go back to an Indo-European root - in this case *bheudh- "to be aware, make aware." Same source as Note #3.
   

In the Temple of the Nose

In the interest of reporting events that are long overdue, in late September I went to Хамарын Хийд (Hamariin Hiid) with the teachers from my school. Hamariid Hiid, which means "The Temple of the Nose," is a religious complex located in the sands of Дорноговь аймаг (Dornogovi aimag), which means "Eastern Gobi (desert) province." Apparently it's a tradition of our school to visit this place. When the subject was broached to me, I was initially hesitant because I needed Peace Corps approval to travel, and I was sick. But the teachers convinced me that everyone else was going, and I would be alone in my village for several days, and starve to death. And then Peace Corps approved the trip because it was "work-related," so I went.

To get there we had to drive to the capital, Ulaanbaatar, then take a 10-hour train ride southeast into the Gobi Desert. Almost all of the traveling occurred at night, which meant that I was poorly rested the whole time. From the train station we hired some vans out to a ger camp. I only slept for a couple of hours before we were awoken and driven to a hilltop where we watched the sun rise.

Hamariin Hiid sunrise

Another part of the temple viewed from a distance from the hilltop

Once the sun rose, the pilgrims began walking around two stone mounds on the hilltop, splashing milk on them.

Then we got into the vans and left. For a second I was deeply disappointed, believing that this was the entire site, and that I had paid all that travel fare and lost all that sleep simply in order to watch the sun rise from a different hill. But we disembarked not at the ger camp, but by a large bronze bell. This bell has many inscriptions on it, in Cyrillic...

...in traditional Mongolian script...

...in non-linguistic imagery...

...and in Tibetan. Because Mongolians follow Lamaist Buddhism, which was imported from Tibet, almost all religious literature is in Tibetan. Tibetan inscriptions are found all over icons and temples, and monastic education - which was the only form of higher education prior to the 20th century - was conducted in Tibetan. I've barely learned Mongolian, and now I want to be able to read the Tibetan inscriptions too!

The First Temple

After the bell we went to an open-air temple further away. It consisted of a large open square framed by some sort of small minaret (ubiquitous on Mongolian temples), with a mysterious-looking building in front, an ovoo in the back, and two large gravel circles in the center.

Approaching the temple

A minaret-like thing that I see at every temple



The temple in front, looking vaguely Masonic or something


I began to question why the most salient feature of a temple named "The Temple of the Nose" was an image of a face with no nose. If I understand the explanation, it may be named not after a literal nose, but after the middle level of a mountain, which is also called a nose, and upon which some of this complex is located.

After this, my camera ran out of batteries and all the remaining pictures are on my phone. So there aren't any more pictures in this post.

In the center of the open space are two large circles made of gravel. After taking the guided tour and performing ritual gestures, and praying at the ovoo, everybody lay down on the gravel to absorb "energy" (энерги). Due to the use of a recent Russian loanword instead of, say a native or Tibetan word, I'm wondering if the "energy absorption" is a modern notion. Then we went back to the ovoo, where people sang a song.

The Caves

Nearby are some small cliffs into which caves have been carved by generations of hermit monks. They exist now as objects of veneration by the Buddhist faithful, who crawl into the small rocky holes to bow and and make offerings. 100 or 200 төгрөг / tögrög ($0.07-0.15) is a standard amount. Atop one of the cliffs is another ovoo, and behind that is a slope back down into another ravine. This passes under a natural stone arch. We all walked down the slope through the arch in a long line holding hands. When you pass through the arch you are supposed to become a new person. At the bottom you're supposed to rub your exposed skin (like, on your back) against the rock surface to absorb energy from it. At that point one of the school cooks saw a snake in a bush, and everybody gathered to watch it. Some of them tried to get it to slither in our direction while the original woman knelt, chanted, and moved her outstretched palms in a circular motion that looked like praying. I was told snakes are good luck and Mongolians love them.

Petrified Trees

Then there was a spot further off where some petrified logs lie on the ground.

The Theatre

In another empty spot was a stone commemorating the establishment of the first theatre company in Mongolia.

The Other Big Temple

There was one more large temple (separate from the first one). This one featured a long walkway up to a walled, roofed, enclosed temple. All of the walls inside were decorated with very intricate bas-reliefs of Buddhist deities. Just as in Japan, the entrance had prayer wheels that you spin as you go in.

The Wishing Mountain

Our final stop was a mountain halfway back to the aimag center. Known as the "Wishing Mountain" (no, I don't remember the Mongolian word, it was explained to me in English), this protuberance of the earth's crust is famous for appeasing the desires of men. Men is the key word, because women are not allowed all the way up the mountain. Men can climb the mountain and when they reach the ovoo at the top, after observing the necessary ceremony, think of a wish and shout off the top of the mountain. So the men in our group, leaving the women (who comprised over 2/3 of our party) behind, followed tradition up the mountain. And proceeded to drink vodka. Even though I only sipped, the sheer number of people offering me vodka was enough to make me tipsy. And being tipsy on the top off the mountain is not good. Fortunately I didn't roll off and die. I did get a fantastic aerial view of the Gobi, which you can't see, because my camera had no batteries.

Conclusion

After that we took the train back to UB and a car back to site.

Mongolian Word of the Week #1: Тэнгэр

Some people have said they wanted me to do a Mongolian word of the day. There's no way I can do this every day - maybe a Mongolian word of the week (or month) - but here it is! And why not start with the word in the title of my blog? I give you Tengri!

Cyrillic	тэнгэр
Transcription	tenger
IPA	[theŋ.ger]
Layman’s Pronunciation	TEN-geer
Translation	sky, heaven
In Genghis Khan’s time it was tenggeri.

Тэнгэр (Tenger), usually spelled Tengri in English sources, was the name of the sky, and of the nomads' God who was personified by the sky. (Another Mongolian word for God is бурхан) The word is widespread among Central Asian people and is even mentioned in Chinese texts. The equivalent Turkish word is Tanrı (and yes, you’re seeing right: there isn’t a dot on that “i” and there isn’t supposed to be), and it is used as a synonym for God. In Uzbek, the equivalent is dengiz.

Tenger in Arkhangai Province

Puffballs

Now, I’d like to introduce you to a fascinating little idiomatic expression I discovered one day while preparing for a Mongolian barbecue picnic by the river. I came upon a big fairy ring of puffballs. My Mongolian teacher told me that puffballs are known as тэнгэрийн дүлий (tengeriin dülii). That’s tenger in the genitive case plus dülii, “deaf.” This name could be literally translated into English as “The Deafness of Heaven.” Why would they call it that? Nobody could tell me. It sounds kind of sad, yet poetic, doesn’t it?

Anybody who can find an explanation for this name wins my gratitude!

Мөнх хөх тэнгэр, "Eternal Blue Sky," in Mongolian script