Thursday, March 26, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org
Central Asia
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Texts
Bon — The Eternal TeachingA profile of Bon, the indigenous religious tradition of Tibet — pre-Buddhist in its own self-understanding, contested in scholarly debate, recognized by the Tibetan government-in-exile as the fifth school alongside the four Buddhist lineages, and sustained in unbroken monastic succession from Menri Monastery (founded 1405) through destruction, exile, and diaspora.Buryat Shamanism — The Drum and the LakeA profile of Buryat shamanism — the living shamanic tradition of the Buryat Mongols around Lake Baikal in Siberia, one of the most documented shamanic traditions in the world, nearly destroyed by Soviet persecution, and reviving since the 1990s with public rituals, new practitioners, and old drums being made again.Kazakh Shamanism — The Way of the BaksyA profile of Kazakh shamanism — the living spiritual tradition of the Kazakh people, centered on the baksy healer, the sacred kobyz fiddle, the ancestor spirits, and a cosmology woven from Tengriism and steppe Islam. Nearly destroyed by Russian colonization and Soviet atheism, the tradition survived in folk practice and is reviving in independent Kazakhstan.Tengrism — The Way of the Eternal Blue SkyA profile of Tengrism, the ancestral sky-worship of the Turkic and Mongolic peoples of Central Asia — attested in the Orkhon inscriptions, invoked by Genghis Khan, eclipsed by Islam and Buddhism, suppressed by Soviet atheism, and now reviving across Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and the wider Turkic world as both spiritual practice and national identity.Tibetan Folk Religion — The Gods of Stone and SkyA profile of Tibetan Folk Religion — the indigenous religious substrate of the Tibetan plateau, older than Buddhism and Bon alike, sustained in mountain gods, oracle possession, sky burial, smoke offerings, prayer flags, and a sacred geography that survived the Cultural Revolution because you cannot destroy a mountain.Tuvan Shamanism — The Voice and the LandA profile of Tuvan shamanism, the living animistic tradition of the Tyva Republic in south-central Siberia — rooted in spirit-masters of the land, the shaman's drum, and the throat singing that could not be confiscated. Nearly destroyed under Soviet rule, revived in the 1990s through multiple competing shamanic organizations, and sustained by the most important single figure in Siberian shamanic preservation: Kenin-Lopsan Mongush.