The global fight against materialism goes on

Communism, or rather some applications and perceptions thereof, has sometimes made for strange bedfellows and allies of all sorts fighting it. What seem to have reunited these brothers of war was in fact their abhorrence of the principle of equality[1], in that it would undermine traditional inequalities, carefully built up through geopolitics, religious identities and doctrines, monarchies, theocracies and autocracies, with their spiritual and physical genealogies and hierarchies, feudal links, meritocratic ideologies, etc., thereby threatening to cause the collapse of cultures and civilisations. To them, to promote equality is equivalent to harboring a destructive ideology that seeks to undo - destroy - whatever has the most (symbolic) value to them and that they consider to be their innermost identity, even though it is a construct. Whatever holds up this identity is considered “spiritual”, and whatever undermines it, merely focussing on its aggregates (skandha), is called “materialist” and seen as a cause of depravity. 

This “materialism” has the advantage of making an ideal common denominator, sufficiently vague (concealing the controversial notion of equality) and mobilising (“we are more than mere matter”), to inspire affinity with whatever they call and consider “spiritual”. The ancient battle between Good and Evil is quite compatible with current battles between Spiritualism and Materialism. This more recent battle very conveniently welcomes anyone with inequitable interests (justified by some form of individual meritocracy) among the Spiritualists/Traditionalists.

This small introduction sets the tone for what is to follow, and what follows is the result of a fortuitous discovery on Twitter, a posting by Er. Shailesh Bharadwaj (@/Sapratha), based on an original posting by Shresht (@/maitra_varuna) that I was unable to retrace and with quotes from Walther Heissig’s ‘A Mongolian Source to the Lamaist Suppression of Shamanism in the 17th Century’ (1953)[2].

“A mid-17thC painting revealing the persecution of Mongol Shamanism,
where the wicked Altan Qan & the 3rd Dalai Lama preside over the burning of the Shamanists”

I was unable to retrace this 17th century Mongolian thangka, and I don’t think it represents “Altan Qan & the 3rd Dalai Lama”, but it did internautically open up a whole new world that I didn’t know about so far, i.e. the Mongolian conversions to (Tibetan) Buddhism and the different ways they came about.

The “third” Dalaï-lama Sonam Gyatso (1543–1588), was in fact the first Dalai-lama. Two other former lamas were retrospectively made into the first and second Dalai-lama. The title “Dalai Lama” was given to Sonam Gyatso, leader of the Gelug order of Tibetan Buddhism, by Althan Khan/Qan[3]. The Mongol khans had been politically interested in (Tibetan) Buddhism since Genghis Khan (1155/1162-1227), mainly for political reasons. Althan Khan seemed particularly keen on the Tibetan reincarnation system and the possibility for kings and high clerics to “reincarnate” and inherit the spiritual (and material) heritage of a glorious spiritual or genealogical ancestor.

“Sonam Gyatso publicly announced that he was a reincarnation of the Tibetan Sakya monk Drogön Chögyal Phagpa (1235–1280) who converted Kublai Khan, while Altan Khan was a reincarnation of Kublai Khan (1215–1294), the famous ruler of the Mongol Empire and Emperor of China, and that they had come together again to cooperate in propagating the Buddhist religion.”[4]

(Tibetan) Buddhism became Mongolia’s state religion under Altan Khan’s reign. The theocratic links were further reinforced when Altan Khan's great-grandson was recognised as Sonam Gyatso’s (died in 1588) reincarnation[5] and the fourth Dalai Lama Yonten Gyatso (1589–1617). It was Güshi Khan (1582-1655) who put the Gelug school and the 5th Dalai Lama Lobsang Gyatso 1617–1682) into power and under the protection of the Khoshut Khanate, thus ending the Phagmodrupa dynasty in Tibet. The rule of the Ganden Phodrang would last until the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959.

The 5th Dalai Lama also sent Neichi Toyin (Nejici Tojin, 1557-1653)[6] to Inner-Mongolia in order to further proselytize the Mongolian people and launch persecutions against the indigenous religions of Mongolia, whilst integrating and recycling parts of it in Tibetan Buddhism. This could very well be the subject of our thangka. Neichi Toyin was a disciple of the Panchen Lama, who told him “his destiny was to spread Buddhism in the East”[7].

“In fact, his missionary work really began at this point, and it was not like the Gelukpa practices that had already been established with the support of the political authorities. His expertise in Tantrism, such as the Yamantaka and Guhyasamaja tantras, provided him with an extremely effective means of converting people. His first major encounter was with the powerful Khobugtu Böge [shaman] who was of noble origin. Defeating the shaman and healing the princess of Ongnigud Banner, who was to have been treated by the shaman, gained Neichi Toyin great renown.” (Neichi Toyin's Way of Conducting Missionary Work, Uranchimeg Ujeed, 2011)

Detail thanka above

It is not clear how far the persecution of shamans exactly went, I have read terms like “eliminate” and “purge” in the context of the suppression of shamans and their influence, but were they actually burned on the pyres together with their idols? Were they killed in other ways? Some were forced to exile. On the 17th_century thanka, we can see a naked black man seated cross-legged his hands folded. The tweet suggests “the dark-faced victim in the flame is the notoriously powerful Shaman Songgina”. Also called “the dark old man”.

Songgina mask in the Choijin Temple, State oracle of Mongolia

“The shamans resisted conversion from the sixteenth century on, continuing their ancient practices surreptitiously and battling openly with the forces of the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy.
One such was the Dark Old Man, a powerful shaman who was eventually defeated and buried in the Songgina Mountain, one of Outer Mongolia's greatest and most sacred peaks. His spirit thereafter came to personify the spirit of the mountain.” (Asianart website)

I have read (one occurrence only on the Internet) on a more polemical website that “shamans were killed, murdered or burnt with dog droppings and subjected to many fines paid in livestock”. If there is any truth in this, why with “dog droppings”? Because perhaps, “Mongolians venerate the fire and hearth as holy and have many taboos originated from the rites and customs concerned with it”, e.g. “It is forbidden to burn dog faeces and the skins of onion and garlic” in a fire. (Mongolian Shamanism – Traditions and Ceremonies). To burn a shaman in a fire with dog faeces would be a supplementary vexation and public humiliation.

Following René Girards Mimetic theory (scapegoat mechanism), victims (scapegoats) of collective violence sometimes later become the object of a cult. This could be such a case here and before becoming the spirit of the Songgina mountain, a shaman (or more) could have been burned on a pyre.

In order to strengthen the links between the Mongolian nobility and the Ganden Phodrang, the 5th Dalai Lama recognized the son of the Tüsheet khan Gombodorj (1594-1655), a grandson of Abtai Sain Khan (1554-1588), as the reincarnation of the Buddhist scholar Tārānātha (1575–1634) of the Jonang school (persecuted by the Gelug…). He gave him the Sanskrit name Jñānavajra (Zanabazar in Mongolian) meaning "thunderbolt scepter of wisdom". Zanabazar was to be the first in line of the Jebtsundamba Khutughtu lineage of reincarnated lamas, and the spiritual head of the Gelug lineage of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia. The 8th Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, was also the khan of the Bogd Khaganate (Bogd Khan or Bogdo Lama).

“Although recognized as the reincarnation of the Bogd Khan in 1936, [the Bogd Khan’s] identity [of the 9th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu] was kept a secret by the Dalai Lama until 1990, due to the persecution of the Buddhist religion by the Communist Mongolian People's Republic, and he did not reside in Mongolia until the final year of his life”. (wikipedia 9th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu).

It seems that “the 14th Dalai Lama also appointed the 9th Jebtsundamba to develop the Jonang tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.” The 9th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu died in 2012 and the 10th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu/Bogd Khan was recognised by the Dalai-lama recently on April 1st 2023.

“According to media reports, the eight-year-old has dual [American and Mogolian] nationality and is said to have a twin.
He is reportedly the son of a university professor and the grandson of a former Mongolian member of parliament.”

The Jebtsundamba is the 3rd highest (potentially theocratic) office in the Gelug tradition/Tibetan Buddhism, after the Dalai lama and the Panchen lama. As long as lineages of theocrats and autocrats last, theocracies can always make a comeback…

Some have suggested[8] that “the decadence of the Mongol race is more directly attributable to the introduction of this pernicious religion [Tibetan Buddhism] than to any other cause.” (Roy Chapman Andrews alias “Indiana Jones”)

“The only thing that has altered radically in the Mongol race is the spirit of the people and their religion. A Mongol of Genghis Khan's time would find them no longer a race of warriors. He would find that two thirds, at least, of the male population had donned the yellow and red robes of lamas ; that they had become dissolute human parasites. It would be difficult for him to adjust his mental perspective to such a state. It is totally incongruous to a people who live upon the plains and deserts combating the forces of nature for their very existence.” (The new conquest of central Asia, p. 134)

Andrews' contemporary, “the Mad Baron” or "the Bloody Baron", as Roman von Ungern-Sternberg was nicknamed, thought differently about Tibetan Buddhism, because of his great “project”.

“Ungern-Sternberg had extreme pride in his ancient, aristocratic family and later wrote that his family had over the centuries "never taken orders from the working classes" and it was outrageous that "dirty workers who've never had any servants of their own, but still think they can command" should have any say in the ruling of the vast Russian Empire. Ungern-Sternberg, although proud of his German origin, identified himself very strongly with the Russian Empire. When asked whether his "family had distinguished itself in Russian service", Ungern proudly answered: "Seventy-two killed in wartime!" Ungern-Sternberg believed that return to monarchies in Europe was possible with the aid of "cavalry people" – meaning Russian Cossacks, Buryats, Tatars, Mongols, Kyrgyz, Kalmyks, etc.”

Ungern in the album Corto Maltese in Siberia

The “Mad Baron” is a fascinating character and Hugo Pratt also thought so. I will limit myself to what seems to matter regarding the theme at hand: the unholy league against equality (“Communism”). Monarchs, aristocrats and theocrats working together to restore the old order, hierarchies and privileges.

In 1919 when China sent troops to join Outer Mongolia to China, Ungern established contacts with monarchist circles in China and Manchuria, and married himself a Manchurian princess, Ji, in an Orthodox ceremony in Harbin[9]. After the Chinese troops left Outer Mongolia, the Bogd Khan/Jebtsundamba was brought back to Urga and enthroned in 1921. Mongolia was proclaimed an independent monarchy. Ungern was granted “the high hereditary title darkhan khoshoi chin wang in the degree of khan, and other privileges”. The 13th Dalai Lama (1876–1933) described Ungern-Sternberg "as an emanation of Mahakala" (the wrathful deity of Tibetan Buddhism)[10]. To learn more about the mad ideas of the “Mad Baron”, one interesting source is Ferdynand Ossendowski’s Beasts, Men and Gods (wikisource) (1922) New York.

"In the Buddhistic and ancient Christian books we read stern predictions about the time when the war between the good and evil spirits must begin. Then there must come the unknown 'Curse' which will conquer the world, blot out culture, kill morality and destroy all the people. Its weapon is revolution. During every revolution the previously experienced intellect-creator will be replaced by the new rough force of the destroyer. He will place and hold in the first rank the lower instincts and desires. Man will be farther removed from the divine and the spiritual. The Great War proved that humanity must progress upward toward higher ideals; but then appeared that Curse which was seen and felt by Christ, the Apostle John, Buddha, the first Christian martyrs, Dante, Leonardo da Vinci, Goethe and Dostoyevsky. It appeared, turned back the wheel of progress and blocked our road to the Divinity. Revolution is an infectious disease and Europe making the treaty with Moscow deceived itself and the other parts of the world. The Great Spirit put at the threshold of our lives Karma, who knows neither anger nor pardon. He will reckon the account, whose total will be famine, destruction, the death of culture, of glory, of honor and of spirit, the death of states and the death of peoples. I see already this horror, this dark, mad destruction of humanity." (Beasts, Men and Gods)

Ungern wanted to establish an “order of military Buddhists for an uncompromising fight against the depravity of revolution” in order to establish one Asiatic State.

"During the War we saw the gradual corruption of the Russian army and foresaw the treachery of Russia to the Allies as well as the approaching danger of revolution. To counteract this latter a plan was formed to join together all the Mongolian peoples which had not forgotten their ancient faiths and customs into one Asiatic State, consisting of autonomous tribal units, under the moral and legislative leadership of China, the country of loftiest and most ancient culture. Into this State must come the Chinese, Mongols, Tibetans, Afghans, the Mongol tribes of Turkestan, Tartars, Buriats, Kirghiz and Kalmucks. This State must be strong, physically and morally, and must erect a barrier against revolution and carefully preserve its own spirit, philosophy and individual policy. If humanity, mad and corrupted, continues to threaten the Divine Spirit in mankind, to spread blood and to obstruct moral development, the Asiatic State must terminate this movement decisively and establish a permanent, firm peace. This propaganda even during the War made splendid progress among the Turkomans, Kirghiz, Buriats and Mongols.” (Beasts, Men and Gods)

But Ungern was captured by a Soviet detachment and executed by firing squad in Novonikolaevsk in 1921. “When the news on the Baron's execution reached the Living Buddha the Bogd Khan, he ordered services to be held in temples throughout Mongolia”[11].

Ungern-Sternberg and his project is a reference for many Traditionalists, including René Guénon who writes about him in Le Théosophisme, histoire d'une pseudo-religion (1921).

“[...] et nous ajouterons encore, à ce propos, qu’il n’était pas précisément ce qu’on pourrait appeler un « néo-bouddhiste », car, d’après des informations que nous avons eues d’une autre source, l’adhésion de sa famille au Bouddhisme remontait à la troisième génération. D’autre part, on a signalé récemment que des phénomènes de « hantise » se produisaient au château d’Ungern ; ne s’agirait-il pas de quelque manifestation de « résidus psychiques » en connexion plus ou moins directe avec toute cette histoire ?” (Le théosophisme - Histoire d'une pseudo-religion, René Guénon)[12]

Guénon’s source is no doubt Ossendowski’s Beasts, Men and Gods, where Ungern explains: 

“My grandfather brought Buddhism to us from India and my father and I accepted and professed it. In Transbaikalia I tried to form the order of Military Buddhists for an uncompromising fight against the depravity of revolution."
“Depravity of revolution! …Has anyone ever thought of it besides the French philosopher, Bergson, and the most learned Tashi Lama [Panchen Lama] in Tibet?"

We find a picture of Ungern's Asian Cavalry Division in Andrei Znamenski's book Red Shambhala, Magic, Prophecy, and Geopolitics in the Heart of Asia, Quest Books (2011).

"The grateful Bogdo-gegen granted Ungern the title of Prince, and monks declared him a manifestation of Mahakala, one of the ferocious deities that protected the Buddhist faith. The clerics also interpreted Ungern’s victory over the Chinese as the fulfillment of the Shambhala prophecy. Later, after the baron’s demise, the Bolsheviks uncovered among his personal papers a Russian translation of a Tibetan text containing the Shambhala prophecy[13]. Ungern, who was always interested in occult things, gladly embraced his role as a legendary redeemer, trying to act in an appropriate manner. He began wearing a long redand-blue silk Mongol robe over his Russian officer uniform. In this outfit, with the Order of St. George received for his daring deeds during World War I and numerous Tibetan Buddhist amulets hanging on his chest, this descendant of Teutonic knights produced quite an impression on all who ran across him." (p. 120)

According to Andrei Znamenski, the 8th Jebtsundamba/Bogdo-gegen didn't seem to bother too much with "acting in an appropriate manner": "although considered a reincarnation of the great Tibetan scholar Taranatha, he was a heavy drinker and notorious womanizer, which seemed not to match his past life" (p. 121). But apart from the hagiographic propaganda, what do we really know about the past and present lives of reincarnated lamas ?   

Kasung at 2008 Magyal Pomra encampment

The dream and the project of the Mad Baron and his “order of military Buddhists” didn’t die with him. Chögyam Trungpa (1939-1987) with the help and support from high Tibetan hierarchs revived it under the name Shambala in the United States and the Kālacakra Tantra was given all over the world for a short period by the Dalai-lama and others. The 4th Jebtsundamba (1775–1813) had introduced the Kālacakra teachings in the early 1800s in Khüree (Mongolia)[14]. The Dalai-lama asked the 9th Jebtsundamba to restore the Jonang tradition. The 10th Jebtsundamba is only 8 years old. Will he be able to stop the “depravity of revolution” and the spreading of Western thought and values?

“Sometimes I jokingly say that in times past we Tibetans were the students and you Indians were the teachers, but now, when Indian has come so much under the influence of western thought, it is we Tibetans who have kept ancient Indian knowledge and values alive.” (The Dalai Lama in the Buddhist Times). “

***

 

MàJ 17062024 Le Monde, L’enfant sacré de Mongolie, ou la lourde responsabilité géopolitique d’un petit garçon de 9 ans, Harold Thibault
 

 

[1] On equality as an essential notion in Buddhism see L'égalité foncière et les injustices 

[2] Also this quote :

“Regents and noblemen became very faithful upon these words and, according to the urging, each of them sent his own representative envoy with each one monk of the Lama's disciples, on relay horses in every direction. When these, entering the lodgings of all noblemen, dignitaries and commoners alike, were saying, “Hand your idols to us!” some handed them over, the others too timid to remove them said (only), “Here are they!”

Dispersed all over the banner the deputed monks and envoys collected these idols and brought them together from all sides. What they had brought, they piled up as high as a tent of four gratings outside of the Lama's lodging, and they set fire to them.

The heterodox faith was thus brought to an end and the religion of Buddha became immaculate.’

The region affected by this iconoclastic purge was the Khortsin Country and its vicinity.

The size of the pyre built from the confiscated idols gives an indication how very large their number was. The average Mongolian tent is about two and a half yards high at its summit: the qana, its grated, folding wall units each extend 6-7 feet in length.” The History of Mongolia (3 Vols.) edited by David Sneath, Christopher Kaplonski, p. 590.

[3] “The title "Dalai Lama" was first bestowed by Altan Khan upon Sonam Gyatsho in 1578, after Altan Khan became Shunyi Wang (顺义王) of China in 1571. Title "Dalai Lama" was derived from the Mongolian Dalai-yin qan (or Dalaiin khan) one.” wikipedia

“Sonam Gyatsho proclaimed Altan Khan to be the reincarnation of Kublai Khan, and in return, Altan Khan gave the title Dalai Lama to Sonam Gyatsho.[5] Altan Khan posthumously awarded the title to his two predecessors,[5] making Sonam Gyatsho the 3rd Dalai Lama.” wikipedia The history of Tibet. Alex McKay. London: RoutledgeCurzon. 2003. pp. 18–19. ISBN 0-7007-1508-8. OCLC 50494840

[4] Wikipedia, Laird, Thomas (2006). The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama, p. 146. Grove Press, N.Y. ISBN 978-0-8021-1827-1.

“La reconnaissance de la réincarnation de ce dernier en la personne d’un gengiskhanide permet de sceller à nouveau et durablement l’alliance tibéto-mongole. Les écoles sakyapa, nyingmapa et karmapa restent présentes dans les steppes. Mais, profitant des divisions entre les royaumes mongols et recherchant le support militaire mongol pour affermir leur propre situation au Tibet, les Gelugpa envoient de nombreux missionnaires et l’emportent sur les écoles anciennes. Moines mongols et tibétains parcourent la steppe, prêchent la doctrine bouddhique de la Grande Muraille jusqu’au lac Baïkal, et persécutent le chamanisme qui ne resta vivant qu’en marge des khanats. Usant de persuasion et parfois de force, ils brûlent les figurines chamaniques (ongon) et offrent du bétail en échange de conversions 6. Les Mongols se convertissent massivement, fondant en pleine steppe quelque deux mille monastères dont les principaux sont à l’origine de villes modernes comme Oulan-Bator.” Isabelle Charleux. Bouddhisme mongol et croyances autochtones. La Mongolie entre deux ères 1912-1913 / Mongolia between two eras, Conseil général des Hauts-de-Seine, 2012, 978-2906599413.

[5] “En 1588, peu avant de mourir, le troisième dalaï-lama charge Siregetü güüsi corji de le représenter sur « le trône » (du principal monastère de Kôkeqota) — d’où le nom de Siregetü (du mongol sirege, trône) donné au pandit 14 — et de chercher « à l’est » sa réincarnation. Celle-ci est reconnue dans un arrière petit-fils d’Altan qan, qui accomplit des miracles et parle tibétain dès sa naissance. Le pandit se charge de la première éducation du quatrième dalaï-lama (1589-1617) à Kôkeqota puis, en 1602, accompagne l’enfant à Lhasa (Lha-sa).” Charleux Isabelle. Un exemple de l’architecture mongole : le Siregetü juu de Kökeqota. In: Histoire de l'art, N°46, 2000. Iconographie. pp. 91-110; doi : https://doi.org/10.3406/hista.2000.2890

[6] He had a lineage of reincarnated lamas until the 20th century.

“ The last Neichi Toyin, the Ninth, was installed in Bayan-khoshigu Monastery by the nobles of the 10 Khorchins in 1945. He died in 1980.” (Persecuted Practice).

[7] Persecuted Practice: Neichi Toyin's Way of Conducting Missionary Work, by Uranchimeg Ujeed Source: Inner Asia, Vol. 13, No. 2 (2011), pp. 265-277 Published by: Brill Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24572094

[8] The new conquest of central Asia · a narrative of the explorations of the Central Asiatic expeditions in Mongolia and China, 1921-1930 · by Andrews, Roy Chapman

[9] “The princess was given the name Elena Pavlovna. She and Ungern communicated in English, their only common language. The marriage had a political aim, as Ji was a princess and a relative of General Zhang Kuiwu, the commander of Chinese troops at the western end of the Chinese-Manchurian Railway and the governor of Hailar.” Wikipedia

[10] L. Youzefovitch, Le baron Ungern Khan des steppes, Éditions des Syrtes, 2001

[11] Alioshin, Dmitri (1941). Asian Odyssey. London: Cassell and Co., Ltd. pp. 268–269.

[12] Automatic Translation :

 
“And we would add, in this connection, that he was not precisely what one might call a "neo-Buddhist", since, according to information we have received from another source, his family's adherence to Buddhism dated back to the third generation. On the other hand, it has recently been reported that 'haunting' phenomena were occurring at Ungern Castle; could this not be some manifestation of 'psychic residue' more or less directly connected with this whole story?”

[13] Note from Red Shambala: “Predskazanie sviashchennosluzhitelia Lubsan Baldan Eshe” [Prophecy of Lobsang Yeshe], in Baron Ungern v dokumentakh i materialakh [Baron Ungern: Documents and Materials], vol. 1, ed. S. L. Kuzmin, (Moscow: KMK, 2004), 150–51.

Lobsang Yeshe is the name of the 5th Panchen Lama (1663–1737). Albert Grünwedel published a German translation of Lobsang Palden Yeshe's, the 6th Panchen Lama's Sham ba la'i lam yig under the German title"Der Weg nach Shambhala" in 1915.

[14] Visualizing the Non-Buddhist Other: A Historical Analysis of the Shambhala Myth in Mongolia at the Turn of the Twentieth Century 2019, Kollmar-Paulenz, Karénina