Folk Beliefs and Customs

Ⅹ-85Folk CustomsBaotoushijiuyuan, Inner MongoliaBatch 3 (2011)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

Meirigen Gegen was an outstanding scholar in 18th-century Mongolian cultural history and a master deeply versed in Buddhist theory. In 1677, a Tibetan Buddhist monastery was founded at "Hairit" on the north bank of the Yellow River (in present-day Dalad Banner), called the "Meirigen Gegen Monastery" (Meirigen Gegeng Zhao), the predecessor of today's Meirigen Monastery in Jiuyuan District, Baotou, and the birthplace of chanting Tibetan Buddhist scriptures in the Mongolian language.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Meirigen Monastery beliefs are a cultural space formed in the Inner Mongolia region by monasteries chanting in Mongolian for blessing, fusing popular belief rituals and folk activities. Meirigen Monastery is the only Gelug (Yellow Hat) monastery in the world today that chants in Mongolian. The Mongolian-language blessing-chanting rite of Meirigen Monastery has had a profound influence among the Mongolian people, forming a monastery folk-belief tradition passed down through generations with broad popular participation. The Meirigen Monastery beliefs are expressed mainly as follows: on the 15th of the first lunar month and the 15th of the eighth lunar month, grand Cham assemblies (chama, i.e., "gatherings") are held; the senior living Buddhas and lamas all come into the great hall of Meirigen Monastery to chant, circumambulate the monastery's boundary stones, and the lamas perform the Cham dance. Horse racing and wrestling are also held on the 15th of the eighth month. On the fifth day of the fifth month, monks and laypeople worship the main peak and rocks of Mount Wula. On the 13th of the seventh month, a bull is slaughtered in Xigong Banner of Urad (West Urad Banner) to sacrifice at the oboo cairn. On the 23rd of the twelfth month, lamas go to the homes of the people to recite the fire-offering verses. All of the above sacrifices must be chanted in Mongolian.

The chema gathering twice a year

Lamas recite in the great hall, circle the boundary stones and perform the chema dance, with villagers camping on the square for several days.

Horse racing and wrestling in the eighth month

Racing and wrestling are held on open grassland beside the temple on the same day as the chanting.

The stone offering at Ula Mountain

Monks and lay people offer to the stones at the summit of Ula Mountain and leave the offerings to the weather.

The bull sacrifice at the ovoo

A selected bull is slaughtered before the ovoo while the lamas chant, and herders then take the pastures for the year.

The fire blessing at home on the twenty-third

On the twenty-third of the twelfth month lamas go door to door and chant the fire blessing over each household hearth.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The chanting tradition of Meirigen Monastery formed a distribution pattern in the Tumochuan (Tumed Plain) area centered on the monastery, linking monastic chanting with lay Buddhist halls: the monastery in Jiuyuan District, Baotou, is the birthplace of Mongolian-language chanting; lamas deliver scriptures to households in surrounding villages, while farming households set up Buddhist shrines in their homes and invite lamas to recite the fire-offering verses, so the chanting spreads from the hall into the home. The northern slopes of Mount Wula are a Mongolian settlement area, and the Mongolian chanting used in the mountain-god and oboo sacrifices there is of the same origin as that inside the monastery; the Xigong Banner of Urad area preserves the old steppe custom of slaughtering a bull to sacrifice at the oboo, with scriptures and melodies alike flowing out of the monastery. Whenever a Cham assembly is held, believers from Jiuyuan, Guyang, and the surrounding areas come in groups to hear the chanting and watch the performances, so that Mongolian Buddhist services are set side by side with the shehuo festivity performances and errentai duet opera of Shanxi and Shaanxi, forming a temple-fair landscape peculiar to the farming-pastoral transitional zone.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The formation and development of the Meirigen Monastery beliefs are closely connected with the history and culture of the Mongolian people, and have important value for history, ethnology, and folklore studies.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

Wu Jishan 05-3019
Xu Shunwei 05-3020
Huang Guanghui 05-3021
Chen Jikun 05-3022
Sinapinchu 05-3023
Liu Shimei 05-3024
Zhang Qingming 05-3025
Zheng Quanguang 05-3026
Ye Da 05-3027
Li Yaohui
Luo Shengzong

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Folk Beliefs and Customs (Baotoushijiuyuan, Inner Mongolia) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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