CHAPTER (BLM) 7

ANCIENT RELIGION OF THE TURKIC PEOPLE

INTRODUCTION
TENGRISM

The word Tengri is the old form of Tanr which means god in modern Turkish..

Thus, Tengrism, which is the mainstream religion of Gktrks, Huns, Hungarians and
Mongols, means holy spirit of Sky-god (Tengri).

Tengrism was the main religion of all Turkic and Mongolic peoples before adopting
their current religions.

It was the state religion of the six ancient Turkic states: Gktrks Khaganate, Avar
Khaganate, Western Turkic Khaganate, Great Bulgaria, Bulgarian Empire and Eastern
Tourkia.

It is thought to be one of the oldest religions in the world.

The ancient belief of Tengri comes from the Bronze Age and beyond, there is no solid
date to confirm its beginnings.
In Europe, Tengriism was the religion of the Huns and of the early Bulgars who
brought it to the region.
Tengriism is still actively practiced in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Sakha, Buryatia, Tuva,
and Mongolia, alongside Tibetan Buddhism and Burkhanism.

The word 'Tengri' was extracted from the Orhun Inscriptions.

The Turkic origin of this word is no longer in doubt.
The idea of Tengri in all lts beauty appeared at the time of the Turks in the most
ancient manifestation and finally took form as a pagan country-dwellers' - religion at
the time of the Huns' early state (third century ).

The religion focuses around the sky deity Tengri (Tangra, Tangr, Tanr) and can be
considered monotheistic.

Tengriists centre their beliefs around reverence for the sky.

Tengri is the creator god who rules the skies.

Tengri is the core being, the Sky God (Sky Father) and is married to Mother Earth.

In addition to worshipping to Tengri, Tengrism also involves animism, totemism and

shamanism.

Tengriist believers feel themselves safe among the spirits of eternal blue sky, Tengri,
tken Eke (Mother Earth), ancestors and nature (who protect all humans), and pray
for all of them.

Tengriism enriches the soul with both endless freedom of human spirit and seamless
harmony with the rest of the world and natural environment.

The Gktrk Khans are the sons of Tengri sent to Earth, they have the kut, the mighty
spirit granted to these rulers by their father.

There are many common sayings amongst Tengriists, such as by the will of the
Eternal Blue Heaven.

Tengri controls the celestial sphere and is the creator of the universe and father of
all.

Tengri is symbolised by a pure, white goose, he represents reverence to the sky.

He is fair and good and the well being of people depends on his mood.

There is not a lot of information on Tengri as he is simply accepted as the Eternal Sky
God, ruler of everything.

Arising from contacts with Indian, Tibetan and Chinese cultures, the Tengrist cult was
penetrated at its root by the ideas of Buddhism with its characteristic hierarchy of
spirits, often represented on the ground by animals.

These spirits were loci of either evil or good; to avoid the disfavour of the forces of
evil, men were to win the favour of the forces of good.

Various sacrificial rituals (not excluding human) were performed by shamans at

elaborate ceremonies, seeking salvation from the spirits of sickness and poverty, and
admission in the afterlife to one of seventeen levels of the Tengri's Heavens.

These shamans (or kams) vividly described their journey to the Heavens during the
rituals.

The rituals customarily were executed at the summits of hills or in the mountains, or
on river banks, or amid sacred beech or Juniper groves.

Tengriism displays a keen respect for the environment, worshipping the elements, in
particular the Sky.

It is ecologically sensitive.

One who defiles water is immediately and physically condemned because water is a
gift from Tengri.

One of their many principles is do not waste ensuring harmonious living with the
environment.
SHAMANISM

Shamanism is a practice that involves a practitioner reaching altered states of

consciousness in order to encounter and interact with the spirit world and channel
these transcendental energies into this world.

A shaman is a person regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of
benevolent and malevolent spirits, who typically enters into a trance state during a
ritual, and practices divination and healing.

Although shamans repertoires vary from one culture to the next, they are typically
thought to have the ability to heal the sick, to communicate with the otherworld, and
often to escort the souls of the dead to that otherworld.

The shamans recorded in historical ethnographies have included women, men, and
transgender individuals of every age from middle childhood onward.

As its etymology implies, the term applies in the strictest sense only to the religious
systems and phenomena of the peoples of northern Asia and the Ural-Altaic, such as
the Khanty and Mansi, Samoyed, Tungus, Yukaghir, Chukchi, and Koryak.

However, shamanism is also used more generally to describe indigenous groups in

which roles such as healer, religious leader, counselor, and councillor are combined.

In this sense, shamans are particularly common among other Arctic peoples,
American Indians, Australian Aborigines, and those African groups, such as the San,
that retained their traditional cultures well into the 20th century.

The term "shamanism" was first applied by western anthropologists to the ancient
religion of the Turks and Mongols.
Shamanism, is it a Religion?

We define the practice of Shamanism as a family of traditions whose practioners

focus on voluntarily entering altered state of consciousness in which they experience
themselves or their spirits traveling to other realms atwill and interacting with other
entitles in order to serve their community.

Four major components of a religion are, a history with a salvific individual, a

theology, the holy text, and ritualistic practice.

When we examine major world religions such as, Christianity, Islam or Judaism, we
can identify the leader of each of these religious movements.

The leader gathered a following of disciples or students that brought support,

structure and further development to their religious beliefs.

Shamans, by contrast, do not have a following.

A Shaman is interested in practicing their spiritual healing techniques but generally is

not interested in forming a group of people to perpetuate a theology or religious
structure.

Though not a religion, Shamanism is an application of beliefs.

These beliefs are spiritually based and applied to the Shaman's healing work.

This is perhaps its greatest commonality with religion, as most religions also have an
element of spirituality which propels one to help others.

Shamanism is an application of religious tradition which has some religious elements

but it does not contain the essential components of religion.

MANICHEANISM

Manichaeism was a major religion that was founded by the Iranian prophet Mani
(216276 AD) in the Sasanian Empire.

Manichaeism taught an elaborate dualistic cosmology describing the struggle

between a good, spiritual world of light, and an evil, material world of darkness.

Manichaeism was quickly successful and spread far through the Aramaic-Syriac
speaking regions.

It thrived between the third and seventh centuries, and at its height was one of the
most widespread religions in the world.

Manichaean churches and scriptures existed as far east as China and as far west as
the Roman Empire.
BUDDHISM

Buddhism is a nontheistic religion that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs

and practices largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, who is
commonly known as the Buddha, meaning "the awakened one".

According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha lived and taught in the eastern part of
the Indian subcontinent sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE.

He is recognized by Buddhists as an awakened or enlightened teacher who shared

his insights to help sentient beings end their suffering through the elimination of
ignorance and craving by way of understanding and the seeing of dependent
origination and the Four Noble Truths, with the ultimate goal of attainment of the
sublime state of Nirvana, by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path (also known as the
Middle Way).

Because Buddhism does not include the idea of worshipping a creator god, some
people do not see it as a religion in the normal.