In my last post I briefly mocked Harold Bloom for predicting the end of good literature. To some extent I just wanted to make a pun on his name (“Harold of the Apocalypse”), but I also think that doomsaying is fascinating phenomenon while simultaneously a sort of cognitive fallacy. Whether people predict the whole kit […]
Category Archives: Religion
This is a list of every predicted apocalypse that humans have come up with. I know I posted it before, but it is particularly appropriate today. The list, and the concerns about today, raise the question why people think the world will end. Is there some weird desire for a good apocalypse?
This is Shamballa Land. It is a reconstruction (yes, the Soviets were very thorough about destroying stuff) of a holy site built by the Lama of the Gobi. If you go there, it will be easier for you to reach enlightenment. Its mostly an empty space surrounded by Supas. There are places to make offerings also, including […]
Prayer wheels are meant to be turned clockwise. You also walk clockwise around an Ovoo to symbolizing circumnavigating the world and clockwise around a stupa to make an offering. In fact a lot of things in the Tibet Buddhism are about going clockwise. The is because clockwise represents the path of nature. In the northern […]
There is a Lama, called the Lama of the Gobi, who has been incarnated in Mongolia five times (I believe others have claimed to be incarnates but haven’t been accepted as such. You have to pass some tests). The last incarnation, Dulduityn Danzanravjaa, was a very significant figure in Mongolian history. He started a number of […]
This is stuff from the monastery in Har Horin. I have a project due tomorrow so discussion of religion in Mongolia will have to wait. Prayer wheels.The temple.Monks inside the temple. Chanting. The chants are written on little slips of paper and as they go through the chant the flip slowly through a stack of […]
This is the first of a couple posts on religion. We’ve seen three monasteries and heard a couple lamas and an abbot speak. We’ve also heard from a practicing shaman. First a brief history of Buddhism in Mongolia. Originally they were shamanistic, and many still are. I may describe Mongolian shamanism later. Buddhism entered Mongolia […]
Look to Windward 