Problem of Identification of Buddhist Mantras in the Tradition of Kalmyks Home Prayers

G. B. Korneev

List of issues > «Geoarchaeology, Ethnology, and Anthropology Series». 2016. Vol. 17

Problem of Identification of Buddhist Mantras in the Tradition of Kalmyks Home Prayers

Full text (russian)

Author(s)

G. B. Korneev

Abstract

This article attempts to identify the Buddhist mantras, that layman Kalmyks use in their home prays. This tradition consists of home prays that performed by secular believers (that belong to “matsgta” community, “that keep a matsg” fast, which is committed on fasting days (three times a month), as well as during major Buddhist holidays. The Kalmyk home prays analyzed in several works of E. P. Bakaeva, G. Yu. Badmaeva and V. K. Shivlyanova. Along with prays in Tibetan and Kalmyk the Kalmyk home prays contain Buddhist Sanskrit mantra, which the Mongolic people started to use as early as the X–XI centuries. At that period, the Mongolic peoples encounter Buddhism for the first time from the ancient Uighurs. The tradition of recitation of mantras continued with the Mongols’ adoption of Tibetan Buddhism and maintained until nowadays. Mantras, which used by faithful Kalmyks, transmitted orally and undergone significant phonetic distortions. Sometimes the Sanskrit words replaced with similarly sounding Kalmyk words and sometimes even without keeping the original sounding. Kalmyk believers, that did not know Tibetan or Sanskrit, and equally perceived both languages as a sacral, sometimes even did not recognize them in their oral prays. However, these folk versions of traditional Buddhist prays affected the consciousness of believers, awakening their interest to study Buddhism and to flow practices.

Keywords

Buddhism, tradition of home prays of Kalmyks, Buddhist fasting, matsg, Sanskrit, Buddhist mantra, oral communication

UDC

392.9+294.3

References

Badmaeva G. Yu. Molitvennye napevy obryada matsg (den posta) [The prayer chants of the rite of matsg (day of fasting)]. Kalmyki [Kalmyks]. Moscow, Nauka, 2010, pp. 350–351. (in Russ.)

Bakaeva E. P. Buddizm v Kalmykii. Istoriko-etnograficheskie ocherki [Buddhism in Kalmykia. Historical and ethnographic essays]. Elista, Kalmytskoe knizhnoe izdatelstvo Publ., 1994, 127 p. (in Russ.)

Bakaeva E. P. Kalmyki: religiya i ee etnicheskaya spetsifika [The Kalmyks: the religion and ethnic specificity]. Buddizm Rossii [Buddhism of Russia]. Saint-Petersburg, 1998, Is. 29–30, pp. 51–55. (in Russ.)

Bakaeva E. P. Ob osobennostyakh sovremennoi religioznoi situatsii v Kalmykii (buddizm i «posvyashchennye») [About the features of the contemporary religious situation in Kalmykia (Buddhism and “dedicated”)]. Etnograficheskoe obozrenie [Ethnographic review]. 2004, Is. 3, pp. 23–39. (in Russ.)

Bakaeva E. P. Kalmytskii buddizm: istoriya i sovremennost [Buddhism of Kalmyks: history and modern]. Religiya v istorii i kulture mongoloyazychnykh narodov Rossii [Religion in the history and culture of Mongolian-speaking peoples of Russia]. Moscow, Vostochnaya literature Publ., 2008, pp. 161–200. (in Russ.)

Bakaeva E. P. K etnicheskim kharakteristikam kalmytskogo buddizma: obryad "matsg" [Ethnic characteristics of Kalmyks Buddhism: the ritual of “matsg”]. Nauchnaya mysl Kavkaza [Scientific thought of Caucasus]. 2011, Is. 1, Vol. 2, pp. 120–123. (in Russ.)

Bstod smon phyogs bsgrigs. mtshon sngon mi rigs dpe skrung khang. Taiwan, 1996, 378 p. (in Tai.)

Buddizm [Buddhism]. Moscow, Respublika Publ., 1992, 287 p. (in Russ.)

Dandaron B. D. Soderzhanie mantry Om Mani Padme Khum [The content of the mantra Om Mani Padme Khum]. Trudy po vostokovedeniyu [Works on Oriental studies]. Tartu, 1973, Vol. 1, Is. 2, pp. 463–477. (in Russ.)

Dvadtsat odna tara [The twenty one tara]. Moscow, Izdatelstvo tsentra Dzhonang Publ., 2011, 18 p. (in Russ.)

Dragotsennaya sokrovischnitsa blagoslovenii. Ritual Buddy Shakyamuni. Buddijskii tsentr "Mindroling" [A precious treasure of blessings. The Ritual of Shakyamuni Buddha. Buddhist center “Mindroling”]. Moscow, 14 p. (in Russ.)

Erdenebold L. Traditsionnye verovaniia oirat-mongolov (konets XIX – nachalo XX v.) [Traditional beliefs of Oirat-Mongols (late 19th – early 20th century)]. Ulan-Ude, BSC SB RAS Publ., 2012, 196 p. (in Russ.)

Әәлдхл. (Predskazanie) [Prophecy]. Elista, Kalmytskoe knizhnoe izdatelstvo Publ., 1995, 76 p. (in Russ.)

Ик дүүцң мацгин мөргүлин ном. Kalmytskie molitvy [Ик дүүцң мацгин мөргүлин ном. Kalmyk prayers]. Elista, Kalmytskoe knizhnoe izdatelstvo Publ., 1999, 160 p. (in Russ.)

Kara D. Knigi mongolskikh kochevnikov (Sem vekov mongolskoi pismennosti) [Books of the Mongolian nomads (seven centuries of Mongolian literature]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1972, 194 p. (in Russ.)

Kitinov B. U. Svyaschennyi Tibet i voinstvennaya step: buddizm u ojratov (XIII–XVII vv.) [Sacred Tibet and warlike steppe: the Buddhism of Oirats (13–17 centuries]. Moscow, Tovarishchestvo nauchnykh izdanii KMK Publ., 2004, 190 p. (in Russ.)

Kondrashov N. A. Istoriya lingvisticheskikh uchenii [History of linguistics]. Moscow, Prosveschenie Publ., 1979, 224 p. (in Russ.)

Korneev G. B. Molitva "Дуңшур маань" v traditsii domashnikh moleniy kalmykov [Prayer “Дуңшур маань” in the tradition of home prayers of the Kalmyks]. Problemy etnicheskoy istorii i kultury tyurko-mongolskikh narodov [Problems of ethnic history and culture of Turkic-Mongolian peoples]. Elista, KIGI RAS Publ., 2015, Vol. 3, pp. 131–140. (in Russ.)

Korneev G. B. Ob oyratskom staropismennom pamyatnike, posvyaschennom traditsii ispolneniya obryada "matsg" [About Oirat oldwritten the minuments dedicated to the tradition of the ceremony “matsg”]. Vestnik kalmytskogo instituta gumanitarnykh issledovaniy RAN [The Bulletin of the Kalmyk Institute for Humanitarian Research RAS]. 2016, Is. 2 (in press). (in Russ.)

Radnaabadraa. Равжам Зая бандидын тууж Сарны гэрэл хэмээх оршив. Bibliotheca Oiratica. Улаанбаатар, 2009, Vol. 12, 252 p. (in Mongol.)

Shivlyanova V. K. Kalmytskiy obryad "Matsg Odr" (Den posta) i problemy strukturno-stilisticheskogo edinstva molitvennykh napevov [Kalmyk ritual “Matsg Odr” (day of fasting) and the problems of structural and stylistic unity prayer chants]. Mongolica V. Saint-Petersburg, 2001, pp. 113–118. (in Russ.)

Teksty dlya ezhednevnykh praktik [Texts for daily practice]. Moscow, Okean mudrosti Publ., 2002, 202 p. (in Russ.)

Тәрнс. (Zaklinaniya) [Spells]. Elista, Kalmytskoe knizhnoe izdatelstvo Publ., 1994, 98 p. (in Russ.)

Torchinov E. A. Vvedenie v buddizm [Introduction to Buddhism]. Saint-Petersburg, Amfora Publ., 2005, 430 p. (in Russ.)

Tsagaansar. Али гали үсгийн судалгаа. Улаанбаатар, 2005, 118 p. (in Mongol.)

Vladimirtsov B. Ya. Sravnitelnaya grammatika mongolskogo pismennogo yazyka i khalkhasskogo narechiya. Vvedenie i fonetika [Comparative grammar of the Mongolian written language and khalkhas adverbs. Introduction and phonetics]. Raboty po mongolskomu yazykoznaniyu [Works on Mongolian linguistics]. Moscow, Vostochnaya literatura Publ., 2005, 951 p. (in Russ.)

Zalvr [Zalvr]. Elista, Kalmytskoe knizhnoe izdatelstvo Publ., 1996, 144 p. (in Russ.)