U569  Modern Inner Mongolia
Lecture, Tuesday, Week 3

 

  1. Buddhism:  general remarks
    1. Objections of Chinese, Western observers (e.g. Owen Lattimore)
      1. From radical Protestant and deist/rationalist polemics against Catholicism
      2. From Confucian objections to Buddhism (since time of Han Yu)
    2. Objections not to "abuses" of Buddhism but to its essence
      1. Against:  any idea that holiness … morality
      2. Against:  celibacy, withdrawal from world
      3. Against:  any church that controls access to sacred
      4. Against:  any church that owns property, has subjects
      5. Religion serves aims of the state, not the other way around
  2. Myths and Realities
    1. Myth 1:  Buddhism totally unworldly by nature
      1. Truth:  From earliest times, three aims of Buddhism:
        1. Achieving enlightenment for self and others:  monastic elite
        2. Achieving human rebirth through karma:  mass aim
        3. Protection from harm, preservation of current life:  mass aim
    2. Myth 2:  Tibeto-Mongolian "Lamaism" = real Buddhism + shamanism
      1. Truth:  Most of the 'funky,' superstitious,' stuff actually Indian
        1. Tibetan Buddhism closer to Indian schools than Chinese
      2. Truth:  Lamas did not take the place of shamans, but of elders
        1. Humphrey typology:  elders, women, shamans (trans-gendered)
        2. Lamas occupy elders' space (oboo, fire cult, etc.)
    3. Myth 3:  Half of all Mongol men were celibate lamas living in temples
      1. Truth:  Most 'registered' lamas living at home, 'common-law' marriage
      2. Typical life cycle:  monastic education, lay adulthood
      3. Monasteries:  center of wholesale trade, handicrafts (ger frames)
    4. Myth 4:  Manchus use Buddhism to dope up the Mongols with pacifism
      1. Truth:  Buddhism often militaristic
        1. Galdan Boshugtu Khan wages Buddhists holy war on Qing
      2. Truth:  Early Qing wanted Mongols as soldiers
        1. Hong Taiji, Shunzhi emperor worried about excessive Buddhism
        2. Most monasteries built by local Mongol princes, not Qing
      3. Khoyar yosu "two customs"
        1. Monasteries needed for aim of liberation
        2. Rulers fund, support, purge monasteries
    5. Myth 5:  Mongolian Buddhism solely in Tibetan, no influence on lay life
      1. Monks build merit through visualizations, applicable to whole society
      2. Truth:  lamas vigorously circulated didactic poetry, very popular
      3. Against:  liquor, tobacco, animal sacrifice, hunting, unfiliality, lack of alms