Sacred Mongolian Environmental Texts

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Sacred Mongolian Environmental Texts

 

 

This collection of ancient sutras, Sacred Sites of Mongolia,

translated into modern Mongolian by Dr Hatgin Sukhbaatar, is the first

of a planned series.

 

Mongolian nomads have a long tradition of honouring the land through

religious books, praying in order to try and avoid natural disasters

such as drought and heavy snowfall. Here is a prayer asking for

blessings from the Deity of the Blue Sky:

 

Dear Blue Eternal Heaven

Let summer come to us

Let well-being come to us

Let winter go away

Let rain come to us

Let wind go away

Let it be wet

Let us have more grassland

 

Traditionally Mongolians believe the deity of Heaven is male, while

Earth is female: heaven bringing nature to life, and land shaping and

sustaining it. The fate of humans is interwoven with the fate of nature.

 

Mountain-sutras are a repository of ecological and religious wisdom –

the earliest manifestos for environmental protection. They were

derived from Mongolian culture but written in Tibetan, the religious

language of Mongolian Buddhism. This is the first time they have been

translated into modern Mongolian, making them available to a wide

audience of Mongolian believers.

 

Often the mountain is named after its deity. A sutra from snowy Kalkh

says:

 

Welcome to the land where sun and moon are identical.

The deity of the mountain is Dartsagt, who rides a great horse.

 

Most mountain sutras honour the deities of the mountains and waters,

wishing to prevent disaster, and praying for a good harvest and the

increase of sacred animals like the snow leopard – `let there be as

many as there are stars in the sky.'

 

The sense of disaster can be very real – many believe the mountain

deities are responsible for droughts and snow storms, and punish those

who do not respect them.

 

The people around Mt Ulaankhairkhan revere a female deity who lives on

their mountain in the form of a roebuck. One day, a story goes, she

was killed by a hunter who did not recognise her. The hunter fell

seriously ill soon afterwards. Such taboo stories can be very

important in enabling areas to become sanctuaries.

 

Information on this page has been adapted from the Introduction to

`Sacred Sites in Mongolia', written by Dr Hatgin Sukhbaatar. see Books

http://www.arcworld.org/projects.asp?projectID=101