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Dimeola
06-20-2006, 20:00
The Mongols practiced a form of Shamanism called Tengriism...and on another site Boe.....tho most places i found it called the former. In the 13th Century they were exposed to Tibetan Buddhism and at various times had Tibetan monks as advisors. In the 16th century they experienced a more formal shift to a form of Tibetan Buddhism.
Tengri means `Eternal Blue Sky`......Sky Father....there was also a lesser Mother earth. Genghis Khan was said to have based his power on a mandate from the Sky-Father.....and began all his mandates with the phrase....`by the will of the Eternal Blue Heaven`.
Symbols listed were a cross ( no description), skies, sun
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tengri
http://www.tengerism.org
The last link is to an official site for the religion today. If you had any questions you could probably email and ask.
One interesting point made was that the Mongols were tolerant of others religion. And at times partial to Christianity...at one time granting a request in the holy land to attack Islam. There was one quote from Gengi9s I believe it was......naming the key figure or God in each of the four major religions of the time and saying that he prayed to each......perhaps he was hedging his bet.
let me know if you need anything else.
dim

Irinami
09-20-2006, 03:02
The cross was four yak shoulder-bones, from my reading. It resembled the Coptic Cross, IIRC, and was mistaken for such by Europeans, though there were definitely native Nestorians amongst the Mongol tribes (not immigrants).

The Khan didn't, frankly, give a damn about who people worshipped--until it interfered with his empire. Muslim, Catholic, etc. extremism was dealt with, well, singularly Mongol ruthlessness. Chinkiss' sons and grandsons, however, had quite divergent views on the matter, and it arguably tore his empire apart.