Interesting Siberia
Dear friends,
We hear so little about this region. I find this very interesting and thought I would just share it here.
Tsem Rinpoche
Siberia’s resurgent shamanism
One of the world’s oldest spiritual belief systems has attracted new followers since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Jassim Mater | 27 Apr 2015 10:56 GMT | Religion, History, Russia, Europe
Tengerism was one of the religions that experienced a revival after the collapse of the Soviet Union [Jassim Mater/Al Jazeera]
Ulan Ude, Russia – The frigid steppes of Siberia are considered the historical heartland of one of the world’s oldest spiritual belief systems.
Despite being driven to the edges of society, shamanism – the belief in good and evil spirits and rituals to appease them – has experienced a resurgence in recent years. The word shamanism itself is believed to have originated from the language of the Evenks who inhabit Siberia’s eastern edge.
Further west near the Mongolian border, shamanism is often called Tengerism, a term that means “the honouring of spirits”.
In this region, as in most of the world, the practice was largely forced out by competing beliefs – in Siberia’s case through occasionally violent conflict with Tibetan Buddhism for centuries, followed by decades of state repression under the Soviet Union.
The collapse of the Soviet Union heralded a religious revival throughout Russia. Perhaps unexpectedly, Tengerism has achieved newfound popularity, not just in its traditional homeland, but also across Russia and beyond.
“When the USSR collapsed, a lot of different religions revived and Tengerism – our religion – was among them,” said Barir Djambalovich, head shaman of the Circle of Tengerism, an organisation comprising more than 100 shamans in Ulan Ude, a city 5,600km east of Moscow.
The Russian government classifies shamanism in the “other” category practised by one percent of Russians.
The central tenent of Tengerism is the worship of three spheres of being that humans move between [Jassim Mater/Al Jazeera]
Shamans estimate a quarter of Siberia’s 40 million people practice shamanism to some degree, but researchers say that’s an inflated number.
The central tenet of Tengerism is the worship of three spheres of being.
“The upper sphere is space, the middle sphere land, and the lower sphere is the underground world,” said Djambalovich. “How we spent our life in this world affects the quality of our life in the next sphere.”
Emphasis is placed on a proper reverence for nature and for one’s ancestors in the next sphere.
Sporting a long goatee and wearing a sweater vest rather than ceremonial robes, Djambalovich has seen the Tenger following expand to more than 200 visitors a day at the small wooden temple. Spiritually significant days, such as the Tenger New Year or the summer solstice, see higher attendance.
Djambalovich said it’s been a gradual growth since the Soviet Union’s collapse.
To accommodate the increased following, the shamans are constructing a new temple in Ulan Ude that will comfortably house 300 people, with eight yurts around the outside.
Globalising shamanism
Although the Tenger belief is originally a practice of the ethnic Buryats who have historically inhabited this area of Siberia, many of the visitors to the temple – and some of its shamans – are ethnic Russians.
And some of them are from further abroad.
The shamans said they receive an increasing number of visitors from Europe and the Americas, disenchanted with their societies and looking for a deeper spiritual meaning.
“People of different nationalities and religions come to us and we try to help them. We have lots of people from the US, Europe, and Asia,” said Djambalovich.
One avid practitioner of shamanism, Joamar Mestres, hails from distant Barcelona, Spain.
“Shamanism for me is the origin of the spiritual need that humans have. It’s the oldest spiritual practise – it’s not a religion,” said Mestres.
He heads a group of visitors from Chile and Venezuela undergoing a ritual in one of the lodges that dot the temple’s premises.
Many people practise both shamanism and other religions [Jassim Mater/Al Jazeera]
On one side of the room, two shamans in bright blue robes and eye-covering hats – spirits are afraid of human eyes – drum and chant, building to a frantic crescendo.
On the other side, a shaman and a translator guide the South Americans through the ritual, indicating what movements to make and what phrases to say.
“We are travelling, my wife and I, since 25 years ago around the world. In Mexico, in Brazil, in Peru, in Uzbekistan,” said Mestres, stepping out of the lodge.
“In Mexico we went to a place in Oaxaca where shamans use mushrooms and entered an alternate state of consciousness. Here is different. They use only drums and music, but achieve the same alternate state. It’s very strong.”
Although different in that respect, Mestres did see many similarities between the two practices – one being the symbiotic relationship with other religions.
“Here we can find shamanism mixed with Buddhism, that’s amazing. Because in Mexico we have the synchronism of shamanism and the Catholic religion in Guadalupe,” he said.
“And here you have the same thing with Buddhism.”
Neo-shamanism
The non-exclusive nature of Tengerism may be key to its recent success. It enjoys an especially close relationship with Buddhism, and welcomes practitioners of any religion who are interested.
“In many religions there are strict rules to prevent people from practising other religions,” said Djambalovich.
“But in Tengerism and Buddhism it’s not so strict. My ancestors and I even go to Buddhist temples, but we still keep and preserve our Tenger traditions.”
Preserving true Tengerism is extremely important to the shamans.
Vitaly Baltaev is the head of the shaman centre in Irkustk. He said the increasing interest in shamanism has also brought false purveyors.
“In recent years the number of shamans increased greatly, but some of them are neo-shamans. These neo-shamans are fake shamans,” said Baltaev. “Only a few of them are real shamans.”
These practitioners don’t learn shamanism’s core beliefs or follow proper rituals.
“Neo-shamanism has many differences with our religion. We are trying to preserve our religion that we got from our ancestors and pass it to our kids,” said Djambalovich.
The Circle of Tengerism sees no barriers to more growth, and it has setup a website providing online resources for those who want to learn about shamanism.
“Because we live in a globalised world we can easily communicate with anyone. The internet has no borders,” Djambalovich said.
“We can easily meet different people, better understand them, see their souls. We always welcome people of any religion and try our best to help.”
Shamans say a quarter of Siberia’s population are followers [Jassim Mater/Al Jazeera]
(Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/04/siberia-resurgent-shamanism-150406084449969.html)
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This is really Interesting to know. First time hearing and knowing of this Tengerism from Siberia. Siberia was historically been a part of Russia .The people of Siberia comprising of a few ethnic groups, of whom still continue to observe shamanistic practices nowadays. Tengerism are believed to be able to communicate with the spirits of the natural world. With the collapse of the Soviet Union ,more people follow the practices of Tengerism then, helping to preserve the ancient traditions and integrity of Siberia’s aboriginal people. It’s amazing most is that they are allow to go to Buddhist temples as they are open minded and acceptance. They have managed to live the teachings and traditions of openness and love. It’s wonderful to see real practitioners of true spirituality. Thank you Rinpoche and blog team for such an interesting write up. ????
Interesting………first time hearing and knowing of this Tengerism from Siberia. . Siberia was historically been a part of Russia . The people of Siberia comprising of a few ethnic groups, of whom still continue to observe shamanistic practices nowadays. Interesting………Tengerism are believed to be able to communicate with the spirits of the natural world. With the collapse of the Soviet Union , more people follow the practices of Tengerism then ,helping to preserve the ancient traditions and integrity of Siberia’s aboriginal people. Its amazing most is that they are allow to go to Buddhist temples as they are open minded and acceptance. Thats the way should be to live harmoniously , understanding , acceptance and tolerance in life.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this. Its wonderful to know of such ritual and practise exist .
“The non-exclusive nature of Tengerism may be key to its recent success. It enjoys an especially close relationship with Buddhism, and welcomes practitioners of any religion who are interested.” The faith of these practitioners are strong and thus they are not fearful of other religion. In fact, they are very open and even go to the Buddhist temples and still keep and preserve their Tenger traditions.
They have managed to live the teachings and traditions of openness and love. It’s wonderful to see real practitioners of true spirituality.
Thank you for sharing this article on the Tengers of Russia.
It is very heartwarming to see religion of completely different belief co-exist in the beautiful region of Siberia. Rejoice to the people of Siberia who exhibit such open-minded-ness and high level of acceptance. Because of this, it propel the flourishing of the practice and people can easily without hesitation partake in the practice. Thank you Rinpoche for this interesting article to broaden our horizon.
There are still many remote countries and cultures that we do not know much about. What I often find interesting is that when we encounter any new “discovery” of community or culture, there is always some form of spiritual practice, some belief system of a higher power, some ritual to call upon the divine for guidance.
Siberia is as interesting as it is remote. “New” religious belief is adapted with ancient belief system. History has seen many ancient spiritual beliefs gone extinct along with their wisdom and knowledge of the universe. It’s good to know that ancient spiritual belief like shamanism is still very much being preserved and practiced in Siberia.
Sometimes what we label as religion is just a methodolgy or science to achieve a particular goal. And if the practices is benign and benefits, then the people should have ways to preserve their traditions.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing Tengerism with us.It is always good to understand in order to respect other forms of spiritual or religious practice. We need not attempt to erase the existence of such ancient practice as they might conflict with our own religious norms but we should co exist to built an harmonious society.Every human are given a freedom of choice to choose their religion and spiritual beliefs.
The choice of religion individual chooses should have positive core values that could assist them to evolve in a positive manner both mentally and spiritually.As mentioned, a proper lineage is important in order to identify the real from the fake ,that will do more harm then good.
Tengerism, which is the name given to Shamanism, as practiced in Siberia, is a simple belief system that appears to be derived from a set of traditional beliefs passed down from ancestors and will be passed on intact to the next generation. It’s non-exclusive nature allows mixing of Buddhism with it. It even welcomes interested visitors of other religions and from other countries.
Their practice involves communication with spirits. Benevolent or compassionate spirits would probably be accessed by Shamans to help people with problems.( But what about malevolent spirits? How would they be dealt with, I wonder)? Foreigners who come from as far as Spain or South America,find something refreshing in the simple belief in “proper reverence of nature and for one’s ancestors in the next sphere”. This, as well as the mindful way to live this life as it would impact “the quality of our life in the next sphere “.
Shamans believe that Shamanism , as they try to preserve and keep it pure, is a religion. However, it is not a religion, according to visitors from the West. It’s more a form of spirituality to those from the West who are looking to Shamanism for some deeper spiritual meaning.”Shamanism for me is the origin of the spiritual need that humans have”, says one such visitor.
Interesting indeed – this practice of shamanism, which has found a place in the modern world,in a country where freedom of religion is allowed. Thank you Rinpoche.
Interesting that this spiritual practice in Siberia has an inclination with Buddhism and that being practiced in South America is inclined towards Catholicism.
Although I am not inclined to practice Tengerism, I find the open-ness of this spiritual practice to be quite unique.
All spiritual beliefs are good if the people propagating is honest to help others in their search for happiness and contentment.
Thank you Rinpoche for this interesting article.
Whether it is Buddhism, Catholicism or Shamanism, what they preach is respect and harmony. Not only among human, but living in harmony with our mother nature.
Internet is also used to educate people about the origin and practice of Shamanism so people would not be misled by some fake practitioners.
The increase of followers in Shamanism is also an indication that more and more people are looking for an answer to their question that cannot be answered by science, to probably find peace within.
One of the things I love about Rinpoche’s blog is that Rinpoche blogs about interesting stuff like this. It helps me be a more informed person with reads like this as I would not have normally thought of reading. Thank you with folded hands for providing me not only with the means for my spiritual path, but equipping me for the secular non-Dharma part of my life as a citizen of the world.