Chinese customs:Tibetan mountain worship and belief in the mountain god system

The worship of nature is a product of the primitive religious concepts of the Tibetan forefathers. In the worship of nature

The Tibetans are extraordinarily obsessed with the worship of mountains, and are persistent. This phenomenon is determined by the specific geographic environment, looking at the roof of the world known as the Tibetan Plateau, everywhere is the snowy peaks, cold light streaming the scenery, is the divine power of nature caused by the people of the mountains of the enduring worship, from the worship of the folklore produced by the faith. There, all the mountains can show the magical power, all the mountains are the embodiment of God. It is said, entrenched in the Tibetan area of the mountain god and good and bad points, some of the mountain god in charge of the mountain range is located in the mild climate of the place, the mountains under the fertile land, people rely on the blessing of the god of the mountain to get hunting and animal husbandry of the harvest, this kind of mountain god is a good god, by the shepherd's veneration; some of the mountain god in charge of the mountain range is located in the climate of the cold place, the mountains under the barren and barren. Here the mountain god is very lonely, bad temper, the most easily offended, one is not satisfied with the wind, lightning, thunder, hail, this kind of mountain god is the evil god, for the people to fear. Because the mountain god has the dual nature of both blessing and disaster, the shepherds had to fear it, plead with it, and submit to it.

Yala Shambhala? The head of the mountains

In the Tibetan primitive nature worship period, the mountain gods are regional. That is to say, the crowd in a certain area, only to worship the mountain god within the region, if the cross-border sacrifice will cause inter-tribal disputes. In the Tibetan heroic epic "gesar" on the account of such a war caused by the cross-border sacrifice of the mountain god: Hol tribe in order to worship the snowy mountain Ma Qing Bangzhi, the establishment of the mountain "Ebo" (in Mongolian, the mountain pass of the Mani pile). Ridge tribe learned that, that Ma Qing Bangzhi is their tribal worship of the mountain god, the Hall Tribe unauthorized establishment of Ebo, is a violation of the ridge tribe. So, they sent troops to block the road to the snowy mountain. And smashed the altar established by Hall, which led to an inter-tribal war. This story shows that the early Tibetan Plateau mountain gods sang a one-man show, each tribe only worshiped the mountain gods in their respective territories, and the mountain gods, like the primitive tribes, had little interaction with each other. Later, with the development of Tibetan society, tribal territories continue to expand, in a larger region appeared more mountain gods, the original independent mountain gods gradually formed a regional deity system. Just as the tribe needs a leader, the mountain god system also needs a leader. Thus, as the main body of the region of the mountain gods, it is natural to promote the official position of the mountain gods, those who were successively extended into the downtrodden mountain gods, was subsumed into the main mountain gods of the system, to accept the main body of the mountain god's jurisdiction. The four mountain gods in the ancient Tibetan legends are the products of this historical period.

Before Buddhism spread to the snowy region, there are four major mountain gods in Tibet, they are the guardian of the Tibetan Yala Shambhoga, Nyingchi-Tanggula in the north of Tibet, the south of the Kula Rijie and the east of the Ward Kung A. They are the regional mountain god system of the mountain gods, where the size of the mountain peaks in their jurisdiction, are their bureaucrats. Later on, the Tubo tribes fought frequently to plunder wealth and slaves, and the weaker tribes were constantly conquered. By the 6th century AD, *** the Yalong Sibuye tribe in the Yalong River Valley in the southern mountains became more and more powerful, and gradually became the leader of the tribal alliance, and in the beginning of the 7th century, Songtsen Gampo established the Tubo dynasty after his reign. Yalong Sibuye tribe in the consecutive years of invincible, naturally inseparable from the tribe of the mountain god of the wind; mountain god in the transmutation of the human world at the same time, it is also in the reversal of the world. Thus, the tribe of the mountain god D? D? D Yala Shambaugh, the green clouds to get the road, step by step, was honored as the first of the four mountain god of the Tubo. In fact, Yala Shambaugh is not a mountain, in the Tibetan Plateau thousands of mountain gods, it can be from a tribal deity to a regional god system leader, and then ascended to the throne of the hegemony, it stands in the Yalong Sydney Buye tribal reproduction place. From the Yala Shampoo mountain god robed in the process, we can see that this mountain god became the highest mountain god of the history of the Tubo mountain god, if there is not a heroic and warlike Tubo king, Yala Shampoo mountain god will not become the highest commander of the whole Tibetan mountain god of plundering the beauty of the world.

White, the color of the mountain god

In the composition of this bright world and dazzling? t chaotic brilliant colors, the Tibetan people most admire is white. In their hearts, white is the most beautiful, the most sublime color, therefore, in the Tibetan region widely circulated in many myths, the mountain gods are mostly white mighty deities. For example, Yala Shampoo is a skin color white as a conch, wearing a white cloak of the mountain god. It flies on a white yak, and from its mouth and nose it spews out snowstorms that make the sky and the earth white. When it gets angry, it has great power to destroy rocks and cause floods. Another belongs to one of the four great mountain gods of Weizang, Nyenching Tanggula Mountain God, also covered in white, which is worshiped as the guardian of treasures. In a prayer to Nyingchi-Tanggula Mountain God, we are shown its majestic appearance. This ancient chant reads: "...... I call on your hidden name, Dorje Bawa Tsai. O Nyenching Tanggula God, what garments do You wear? You wear snow-white silk garments; what mount do You ride? You ride on a snow-white horse. You hold a vine branch in your right hand and raise your crystal sword in your left hand, galloping through the three realms and reflecting the light!" Another example, is located in the southern edge of Qinghai Lake, known as the "God of War King" Anima Qing mountain god, not only it has many funny stories, even its wife also has the corresponding enlightenment. Anima Qing's wife named Ma Ri Qiang hot, is the Tibetan twelve goddesses of the foreman. Her skin is white and moist, like slippery cow's milk, she wears a fluttering white veil, rides a pure white stag, and is a siren-like lotus goddess of hail. Again, the famous *** zhashilunbu temple there is a called qiaowu? Qing Gawa's protection of God, it head five Buddha gold crown, chest hanging white silver mirror, wearing white robes and white armor. This god is originally the first iron gate guardian of the Southwest Rakshasa, because of the appearance of the hall, upright and frank, a *** lama in the construction of zashilunbu temple, please it as the temple of the land protector so far has to see things for more than five hundred years, zashilunbu temple after the mountain has its jade. We can see from many Tibetan myths, since ancient times, in the traditional concept, "white" is not only with the concept of beauty, purity, light, goodness, sincerity and so on closely linked, but also with the magic power of the mountain god. Awe, the feeling of the mountain god

The Tibetan faith in the mountain god, although arising from the ancient nature worship period, but is to the modern times, the herdsmen still have the mountain god from the heart of the fear. In the Tibetan plateau, a few shepherds walking in the rugged mountains, or encountered the precipitous cliffs, we are fearful, do not dare to cough, do not dare to whistle, do not dare to shout, and do not dare to let the stone rolled into the canyon, for fear that the slightest carelessness will attract the wind and rain or landslide disaster. If someone spit in the valley, is disrespectful to the mountain gods, said the person will certainly be seriously ill; there are people witnessed because of blowing their noses in the mountain path and crooked neck, because the cliffs under the urination incurred lower body discomfort, painful and unbearable ......, it is said that these are the gods sent down punishment. There are many imposing mountains on the Tibetan Plateau that are worshipped as sacred mountains, and they are the guardian spirits of the Tibetan region. In the tribal era, each tribe or each monastery has its own sacred mountain, which protects the tribe and blesses the prosperity of people and animals, and it rightly accepts people's sacrifices. No matter how high the mountain, the road is more dangerous, the herdsman to the mountain simmering on schedule. At the top of the mountain base has mani pile, and hang seven Jian eight colorful warps. Cloud cliffs on all sides of the wind, these streamers swinging with the wind, issued a sharp crackling sound, both the majestic momentum, but also give people a sense of horror. In the minds of the herdsmen, the rock is the bones of the mountain, the land is the skin of the mountain, the forest and grass is the hair of the mountain, and therefore prohibited in the sacred mountain firewood, digging, but also prohibited the herdsmen's livestock mountaineering to steal the food of the sacred grass, violating the taboos to be severely punished. Reverence, pilgrimage to the sacred mountain

The sacred mountain is for people to worship the place, people say, some of the sacred mountain around the mountain can be clear of the sins of a lifetime; turn around ten can be in the 500 times the cycle of life and death from falling into the hell of suffering; turn around a hundred can be in this life in the present life into a buddha; such as in the turn of the mountain in the death, is a kind of creation. Therefore, the pilgrims around the sacred mountain are endless. Shepherds in twos and threes, carrying bags, wearing a dusty, from distant places to the sacred mountain where the mountain is located around the mountain to bow. Their hands raised above their heads, and then slowly retracted in front of the chest, and then the whole body fell forward, straight arms, forehead touch the ground, get up and then take a big step forward to worship. This kind of five bodies to the ground step by step kowtow worship, a week around the mountain to dozens of days. Whether it is under the scorching sun in the wind and rain, the pilgrims squinted their deep-set eyes, tough squirming on the mountain road. Thirsty drink spring water, hungry eat mouth tsampa. Some pilgrims forehead knocked out of blood, palms rubbed out calluses, but they are still arduous trekking, without hesitation with their own flesh and blood to measure the circumference of the sacred mountain. Many pilgrims said that they were very lucky to hear the faint chime and chiming on the way to the icebergs, and said that it was an auspicious song from the heavens.

It can be said that sincerity of heart is spiritual.