A good discernment question: Corboy.

Is building expensive additions to the temple given greater priority than seeing to the needs of a low ranking member of the sangha who is ill?

Dialog Ireland is a great resource. Just feel free to ignore or skim posts by persons who astroturf it in attempts to thwart the discussion and run it off topic.

[dialogueireland.wordpress.com]


Is the Line Between Cults and Non cults in Buddhism Drawn Clearly? By ‘Buddhanon.’
Posted on May 16, 2012 by dialogueireland
In all our discussions on Dialogue Ireland and other blog sites, there is a need to revisit over and over the line which divides healthy religious endeavors and unhealthy religious endeavors. Until we can draw that line definitively, it is uncertain that we can ensure safety for any religious practitioner, whatever the tradition.

I frequently wondered about all that hurry over the extensions. Surely the building that already existed, with some renovations to the guest house, would suffice until the community grew stronger and His Holiness came and began creating his own vision for the West. Surely, the spiritual foundation needed to be stronger before building. Two attitudes seemed to predominate to justify the hurry. One was clearly stated by the lamas themselves. They said clearly that His Holiness would not come until the extensions were completed. This was what we needed to do in order to bring His Holiness to the west. The other attitude was unspoken, but seemed to underlie the actions of monastery officials. This was that any infractions committed in the endeavor to build the extensions, any harm to the local community, were outweighed by bringing the blessing of HH Karmapa into their presence. This was the deer story.

I question some of the unspoken assumptions underlying these attitudes. The first is that material offerings to the high lama are more important than offerings of basic practices within the dharma community, such as generosity, kindness, honesty, patience and meditation. Material offerings can occupy a community’s focus at the expense of supporting its members during times of need, at the expense of building trust and transparency. Another assumption is that the end justifies the means. HH Karmapa’s presence in the community justifies any non-dharmic actions that are needed to bring him. Still another assumption is that dharma is primarily about the high lama. If an individual has the fortune of seeing or knowing HH Karmapa, then his/her fortunes are insured. No further actions, such as altruistic deeds, are needed.

I also question another assumption. From the viewpoint of plain common sense, if the obstacles which prevent a person or organization from undertaking an activity are so great that the only way to overcome them is to behave unethically, then surely this is a call to look more closely at the obstacles themselves. The obstacles could be seen as valid indicators that now is not the time for that particular project. At one point while I was at the monastery, the trouble with the town over obtaining the permit was so great that corporate officials held a meeting with the lamas in order to seek advice about whether to continue. The advice from the lamas came back loud and clear: continue with the plan to build the extensions. Don’t give up. I was not privy to those meetings, but I cannot help but wonder if that was the moment where officials decided to begin crossing ethical boundaries.

I suggest that if we want to draw a definitive line in the sand between healthy, mainstream dharma centers in the west and dangerous, fringe centers, if we want to insure psychological safety for dharma students in the west, then we need to look more closely at all these assumptions. We need to put ethical considerations at the top of our agendas.

There was an outbreak of bedbugs at the monastery during my last months there. I was sharing the front office work with another staff member at the time. He quit the job, however, because they asked him to lie to the guests about the bedbugs. Then it was just me in the office and either they forgot to tell me to lie or they knew it was no use. So I made sure that every guest knew about the problem and asked them to tell me if they were bitten so we could address the situation better. I found that guests had no problem with this at all. In fact, it helped a little in community building, because I was bringing guests on board to help with the problem; they felt a part of a common effort.

The plan to lie to the guests was not only unethical, but unskilful and unnecessary as well. It seems that secrecy and deceit can become something of a way of life, without anyone stopping to look closely at what is really best for the situation. Nothing disenfranchises members of a community more than non-transparency. Within a transparent, ethical outlook, however, not only are community bounds strengthened, but problems are solved more skilfully as well.

I was fired from my jobs at the monastery shortly before the building permit was acquired so I have never seen the huge new monastery extension. However, I do know that it was seen as an offense to the monastery’s closest neighbor, a small Christian group who worshipped at a tiny, historical monument which sat directly below the monastery. During the time that the extensions to the monastery were being made, the leader of this group waged a campaign to stop the work. He wrote:

“When this monstrous building project was proposed to the Town of Woodstock Zoning Board, the Church of the Transfiguration of Christ on the Mount had just received Federal and NY State historical Status. Why then, you might ask (as I do) did the Woodstock Zoning Board approve such a gigantic fortress-like monstrocity of a hotel, which if ever allowed to be completed, will completely overshadow one of Woodstock’s most cherished Historical Monuments to the Artistic Counter-Culture – Father Francis’ “Church of the Transfiguration of Christ on the Mount”?” [wavelinks.net]

I remember once taking a call from this man. He complained to me that monastery officials had broken their promise to him about where electricity lines would be placed as they crossed his church’s property. I apologized to the man and then passed his complaints on to a monastery official, who was quite unconcerned. In fact, he replied with sarcasm, “Was he drunk?”

The man hadn’t sounded drunk to me. He had been calm and reasonable. Even at the time, I found the monastery official’s attitude towards him alarming. Indeed, it is possible that this man’s personality posed difficulties, possible that he drank. Certainly, to a casual observer, the little building on the hill might seem insignificant. Wikepedia describes this Christian shrine only as “a modest, single-room, hand-built wooden church near the summit of Meads Mountain in Woodstock, New York, originally constructed c. 1891.”

However, I question the merit of any Buddhist project which deeply offends the religious sensibilities of its neighbors, be they Christian or any other religion, large or small. Surely, there should be a strong spirit of respect for mainstream, western religions and western culture in the means by which any dharma center is built in the west. Building a huge, imposing, traditional Tibetan Buddhist monastery, on a hill above a Christian monument, dwarfing this small Christian community of worship, could be bordering on deep disrespect.

HH Dalai Lama says that he has two commitments in his life now: promotion of human values and promotion of religious harmony. HH Karmapa stands poised to inherit HH Dalai Lama’s position of spiritual authority in the world. I suggest that any project with the goal of establishing HH Karmapa’s work in the world might consider adhering to strong principals of ethics and respect for other religions. Perhaps those two principles could be at least two of the pillars supporting HH Karmapa’s new monastery in the west.

There are many who will say that I should not speak out like this, that I cannot understand the actions of higher beings, that I am breaking samaya. I say that my shame is in not speaking sooner. At the time that I sat in the town board meeting, I believed that my lamas knew best, that the lies were indeed justified for the higher cause of HH Karmapa. That may well be still true from the perspective of the lamas. Indeed, I do not question the great blessings of His Holiness. Nor do I question the motives of any of the lamas involved in bringing his lineage to the west. I am Buddhist myself and feel deeply grateful for the teachings and blessings that I have received within Tibetan Buddhist traditions.

It is also possible that the greater community of Woodstock could now feel honored and gladdened to have the huge, new monastery there, with HH Karmapa visiting regularly. It is possible that monastery community members have made friends with their Christian neighbors. It is possible that Woodstock, being of good hippie history, could be proud to have North America’s most authentic Tibetan temple.

However, I am still deeply troubled about those western students, those monastery officials, who have learned to compromise ethics as an introduction to the Buddhist path. Surely this is dangerous. Just as I raised my children to stay true to strong values and right, moral conduct, so surely our dharma centers need to be leading students in the same ways. By sitting silent through the town board meeting, was I not complicit in the lying? Was I not shaming my better self that I never spoke out and questioned? Was I not dangerously close to breaking one of my lay precepts?

So my karma now is my own responsibility. If young Kalu Rinpoche can find the courage to speak out about these distressing matters that lie heavy in his heart, then I will follow his example. Until we decide to shine a beacon of impeccable honesty and ethical discipline within our dharma centers, particularly those centers which are to house our highest examples of the Buddha’s teachings, I question whether there is safety for any being inside them.


David, on May 17, 2012 at 4:35 pm said:
I am surprised you had spoken out……
Buddhism’s goal is not to set and follow an ethical standard. It inspires you, yourself to enlighten. Anyhow, the world are changeable, a coin have double sides…….the choices and reasons are multiple in this world. You cannot corner the Rinpoches because you don’t own the authorities.
For the need of buildings and the pujas, can you image an honorable Rinpoche collecting money from his poor disciples? His disciples should kneel down begging him to receive their offering. One day, the monasteries in American will be as many as it was in old Tibet. No matter how poor the people would be, the monasteries would be magnificent. This is a free world, no responsibilities. Once the America would have been attacked, they would have fled to India and cried loud for help as if the world own debts to them…….
For lies…… How about the essential Tulku System?
For HHK…… he is looking for his identification, right? He celebrated his own 900 year tradition, a rebelling from “unity” — what is the line in between sectarian and nonsectarian? It depends on who is comment it, no truth! Then, He was caught by his guards for owning foreign money. Later the new leader emerged and a reincarnation choosing plan under its way — until HE gets to 90 years old? Who can guarantee HE is able to reach to a certain age? Are there any dharma law exists? Of course! An non- crossable- poison plot joke serves this problem.
Then, what? Flirting science. Mrs. Murdoch may set an example for HIM, only a “womb” needed, a TT reincarnation. No happiness involved —clergy guaranteed, only pain.
Suffering is the essential truth in Tibet Buddhism!



Buddhanon, on May 17, 2012 at 9:36 pm said:
I’m afraid that I cannot share in any of the cynicism expressed on comments here. I would not have risked speaking out if not for my belief that Tibetan Buddhism in the west can succeed and make a positive difference in people’s lives. I am not speaking out with a desire to feed negative, hostile or defeatist attitudes. I need to make that more clear perhaps.

Buddhanon, on May 17, 2012 at 10:06 pm said:
And just to clarify my statement regarding HH Karmapa being poised to inherit HHDL’s spiritual authority: This was neither a political nor a sectarian statement, but a simple observation based on: 1. HH Karmapa’s young age; 2. HH Karmapa’s ability to reach great numbers of people, in a way similar to HHDL; and 3. the fact that already, HH Karmapa has begun to branch out beyond Kagyu concerns– his work on the environment and his work with scientists attests to that. I was simply observing, not politicizing.

Ex-oficio, on May 18, 2012 at 8:27 am said:
No, not politicizing, just expressing one very biased perspective in a long running, two sided political dispute, a dispute you clearly have no understanding of

Your expressions of Buddhist idealism (“my belief that Tibetan Buddhism in the west can succeed and make a positive difference in people’s lives”-and the ouch factor?),,glowing admiration for the Dalai Lama and soapboxing on the part of his Karmapa, combined with a very black and white interpetation of a highly complex and multi faceted problem can easily be interpeted as part of the problem, not the solution.

Sadly, we cannot escape the consequences of naive devotion, no matter how many times we change tradition and teacher.
If we are to succeed in Dharma, we need to rely on ourselves (‘work out your own salvation with diligence’) and rely on the meaning of the teachers words, not his personality.

Your hyperbolic praise for the Dalai Lama and Orgyen Thinley Dorje, accompanied by the implicit demonstration of having no understanding of the complex politics of the Karmapa (‘Why is he the Karmapa?”-”Becuase the Dalai Lama says so!”) situation,express symptoms of membership of the cult of personality, a cult that requires the suspension of individual questioning and reliance on charisma rather than wisdom.

How many times must we rely on others and then burn, before we learn to rely on ourselves?

Buddhanon, on May 18, 2012 at 8:55 am said:
Again, I have absolutely no wish to enter into a debate regarding the identity of HH Karmapa. Personally, I’ve always thought that it’s a silly debate.

As for your comment: “How many times must we rely on others and then burn, before we learn to rely on ourselves?” that is interesting because it took a considerable degree of courage for me to break from the traditional role of faith-based silence and speak out. By doing so, I have stopped waiting for a lama to come and fix things up and started playing a part myself. It was a gesture that required self-reliance.

Buddhism is not a faith based religion. Buddha encouraged his followers to question and think, speak out if necessary. However, as with any endeaver of progress and learning, the teacher is nonetheless vital. So I treat my teachers with respect, while allowing myself to question. Like that.

ex-oficio, on May 18, 2012 at 10:51 am said:
Understood



One suggestion on that thread was to distinguish between Buddhadharam and 'Lamaism"

Drolma, on May 22, 2012 at 2:55 pm said:

Unfortunately, (name omitted), I am alarmed. My concern stems from the fact that there is a culture within mainstream Buddhist dharma centers to justify crossing ethical boundaries. That is the cause for my alarm. There is a culture of putting the lama in the very center of practice, without teaching of the need to question and educate oneself fully before committing on such a deep level to the lama.

Certainly, there is also a need to do what you say and educate people as to the proper way to approach a lama and a dharma center. People also need to be educated as to what are the current dangers they need to be wary of. However, my alarm comes from an observation of the amount of denial that there’s any problem at all coming from people such as you and Bella.

When cases of abuse in schools first began to become public, believe me there was much alarm! There were many who asked if their children were safe in any school. In fact, any time a new case of abuse surfaces, this is the response of parents– they ask, can I be sure that my child is safe?

So I’m no different than those parents. Change happens because first people are alarmed and then have the courage to stand up and express that alarm. It seems to be an important first step in any democracy. That’s what I’m doing


Anonymous, on September 9, 2012 at 9:19 pm said:
Thank you for your interesting and heartfelt article. I think it is terrible that you were in a situation where your spiritual superiors were lying to community authorities for this pettiness of a building extension, and that you had to acknowledge that some won’t like you speaking out. I don’t care how fancy or important this particular building is in some people’s minds, you know what’s right for the very sake of the lineage! You speak well and you voice rings clear.

I am a Christian and I like many aspects of buddhism, like the 10 virtues:) thanks for reminding me, and I have also read histories of tibet and certainly they have had their share of intrigues, which could almost put shakespeare to shame! The first couple of responses, it seemed, tho I skimmed them, made me feel a queasy kind of horror followed by a moment of great compassion for the human condition

. I think your focus on ethics is really the only solution should ordinary people want to work together ie in the absence of a great leader. Then again, spirituality is about growing in spiritual power and overcoming fear and desire, which drives cultism. Great leaders do perhaps transcend ethics but their wisdom always shines.

Like soloman and the baby:) I attended lectures by dalai lama once and he specifically said bodisattvas sometimes act unethically.

So yes good people lie for good reasons sometimes.

No, I didn’t see the maiden go into that cave, says the peasant to the marauder. The key is to what ends they serve and ultimately we are led through trial and error to the true voice within. Our traumatic experiences in cultic set ups like you describe are a great way to get the message.

Now, I’m inspired by you! To be more ethical because I need it! But also, to be frank.

I’m pretty suspicious of tibetan buddhism and I don’t go to the temple in town tho I receive the mailout. They’ve just been too feted in the west for my liking, like tibetans are special and how can they be?

In fact, generally, one could say they were damaged by exile, spoiled in the west and have been thrown alarmingly into materialistic societies with no grandfather who said, I saved for 10 years to buy my car and I’m still driving it.

Also the subtext that tibet was broken up but a higher purpose is to bring buddhism to the world doesn’t sit well with me, its created expectation. Finally the magic side also a great gateway for cultic co-dependency.

I’m not bashing buddhism (I don’t know enough to discuss types), I think it serves an important function in the west, I’m just pointing out off the top of my head why cultic elements could thrive. And there does need to be a respect for western culture. I realised at some point a while ago that the dalai lama couldn’t be a guru-like figure to me, as much as I respect and feel affection for him, because we are too different. No matter what tho all it takes is courage to speak out, tho then you run the risk of being scapegoated just like all good christians lol. Blessings. Sally

Ambitious lamas who want to get donations and re-create the huge and splended buildings that they remember from their old monasteries need to remember this--and their disciples need to remember this too:

Those old monasteries, with their massive walls, tall towers, gilded ornaments inside and outside -- they were created slowly, over centuries, via donated wealth and labor tax exacted from the locals.

They started out as modest mud or brick buildings and it took centuries for wealth and effort to accumulate and create the massive and splendid buildings that became famous.

Lamas who pressure for massive donations so that they can quickly create splendid buildings in preparation for the arrival of the high prince who is head of their lineage..
they are trying to do the work of centuries in just a year or so.

That alone is a recipe for suffering.

Invest in your people and dont neglect students who are poor, need help getting from their rooms to the dining room.

One thing to keep in mind is that in the Vajrayana system, the teacher is actually held in higher regard than Shakyamuni Buddha, on the rationale that without the teacher, even a misbehaving teacher, one would never have heard of Buddha's teachings.

Therefore not offering is too rich or too good for the teacher, and no teacher misbehavior can be bad enough to offset the merit of opening people's ears to the Buddha's teachings.

This is not primordial Buddhist doctrine.

It developed historically, because in the tibetan plateau, there was no centralized royal authority and this left the lamas free to add interpretations of their own.

In areas where Theravedan Buddhism developed, the focus remained on the Buddha as the one to honor. Those areas were ruled by monarchs who refused to allow developments that put the teacher into a monarchical role in subject's minds.

The same held true in Japan.

You honored your teacher but not at the expense of honoring Buddha - and you paid tax to the monarch not to the tulkus or rinpoches.

Concerning the reported bedbug problem:

It is a serious matter. If anyone brings a bug home with them, their home becomes infested. Bugs can easily travel in a fold of clothing or into luggage.

It can host hundreds, sometimes up to a thousand dollars or more to decontaminate one's living quarters due to a bedbug infestation.

That is one part of old Tibetan culture we now can do without.

There was an outbreak of bedbugs at the monastery during my last months there. I was sharing the front office work with another staff member at the time. He quit the job, however, because they asked him to lie to the guests about the bedbugs. Then it was just me in the office and either they forgot to tell me to lie or they knew it was no use. So I made sure that every guest knew about the problem and asked them to tell me if they were bitten so we could address the situation better. I found that guests had no problem with this at all. In fact, it helped a little in community building, because I was bringing guests on board to help with the problem; they felt a part of a common effort.

The plan to lie to the guests was not only unethical, but unskilful and unnecessary as well. It seems that secrecy and deceit can become something of a way of life, without anyone stopping to look closely at what is really best for the situation.

Yes, secercy and deceit can become something of a way of life.

Many of us who grew up in families with one or more active addicts who had to be lied for and covered up for, learn deceit and secrecy - it is called codependance and enabling. Ditto if one has a family member who has eccentric or terrifying behaviors that are considered shameful and must be kept hidden.

If someone grows up in such a setting and learns secrecy and deceit when pre-conscious, they can easily re-enact these behaviors to cover up for the reputation of a company or a guru, or a monastery.

A genuine Buddhist teacher and sangha would assist in teaching honesty in word and in deed, not in tutoring people to behave deceitfully so as to put the reputation of a monastery, linage or tulku ahead of the health (mental and physical) and safety (mental and emotional) of guests and students.

I was told years ago of another Buddhist residential sangha which had a bedbug problem.

There was no cover up. Everyone there was informed, and literature was posted on the hallway message board
so that all residents and guests were made aware of the situation. The literature included photos of what the bugs looked like.

Note:

The Dalai Lama is Gelukpa, a different lineage from the Sakya, Kagyu and the Nyingma.

In the late 19th century, a revival took place in which many scholars and practitioners sought to find common features shared by the Geluk, Sakya, Kagyu and Nyingma.

However, the Geluk linage which was based at Lhasa and had the most sustained links with China, became the most centralized and clerical of the lineages.

The Dalai Lama ranked first, followed by the Panchen Lama, and the third was the Bogd Gegen in Mongolia.

In the event that the DL is incapacitated, it is a great question who will serve as figurehead and who will be capable of disciplining tulkus and lamas who abuse the trust their devotees place in them.

The Panchen Lama is prisoner in China, the last Bogd Gegen died in the 1920s.

There are unedifying squabbles as to who is the rightful Karmapa.

And the Geluks were political animals. For a most interesting read, Heissig, in his book, Religions of Mongolia, described the indigenous and ancient shamanic practices of the different Mongolian tribes, and the extent to which, in the 17th Century, the Geluk lamas sought to eradicate the shamanic rituals, even to the extent of giving orders that spirit images be replaced with pictures of Mahakala and reporting with satisfaction that the Dharma was on the increase and idols no longer worshipped.

This is not Kumbaya territory, folks. Its politics. The Chinese feared the Mongols, remembering what they had accomplished under the banner of Jenghiz Khan. Conversion of the Mongols to Lamaist Buddhism and Imperial sponsorship of over one hundred powerful but competing reincarnate tulkus, many of whom were encouraged to live in Beijing, helped pacify the Mongolian countryside. With so many tulkus, no one could become too powerful.

And with many of them living in Beijing, this ensured that the authorities could monitor them.

Last thing we need in the West is to be made docile and easily fleeced.

Information on Heissig, The Religions of Mongolia

[www.amazon.com]

In this study Walther Heissig focuses on the existence in Mongolia of religious forms which have more ancient roots even than Buddhism. The forms of Northern Buddhism in Mongolia correspond in the main to those Tibetan forms from which they originated. Professor Heissig is mainly concerned in the present book with those beliefs and concepts which belong to the non-Buddhist folk religion of the Mongols. Scholars have in recent years discovered original Mongol texts and documents unknown till now, and professor Heissig's own researches in European libraries have revealed more than seventy-eight manuscripts, containing prayers and invocations from the folk religion, all of which provide essential material on the non-Buddhist religious conceptions of the Mongols.His philological work on these Mongol texts is the basis for this account of the ancient religious ideas of the Mongols. He begins by describing the shamanism of the Mongols, then gives an account of the spread of Lamaism and the subsequent Lamaist suppression of Shamanism. The main part of the book is devoted to a study of the Mongolian folk religion and its pantheon, which includes heavenly beings, the ancestor god, the deity of fire, and equestrian deities

Back in the 1980s, early 1990s, MTV did a video of Dylan's song, We Live in a Political World.

[www.azlyrics.com]

The MTV video showed a fancy banquet with generals in uniform, politicians in suits and ties, beautiful women in gowns and jewels.

Today, it would be much more to the point to re-do this video only to show the Vajrayana Buddhist tulkus of all the lineages alongside bankers, PR consultants, contractors, Hollywood movie moguls.

A lamaist source for suppression of shamanism in Tibet in the 17th century

[www.jstor.org]

Heissig The Religions of Mongolia

[books.google.com]

At other times, ways were found by the Gelukpas to incorporate indigenous Mongolian deities into the Buddhist ritual pantheon.

For live links go to Wikipedia.

[en.wikipedia.org]

--
Qormusata Tngri ("King of the Gods", also transliterated as Qormusta Tngri and Hormusta) is a god in Mongolian mythology and shamanism, described as the chief god of the 99 tngri and leader of the 33 gods.

According to Walther Heissig, the group of 33 gods led by Qormusata Tngri exists alongside the well-known group of 99 tngri. Qormusata Tngri is to be equated with Ahura Mazda, the chief Iranian god, and with Esrua, who in turn is Brahma, the Hindu god of creation. The Indian influence may explain the 33 gods, analogous with Indra (to whom Michael York compares him, as a more active being[1]) and his 33 planets (or gods). Qormusata Tngri leads those 33, and in early Mongolian texts is also mentioned as leading the 99 tngri. He is connected to the origin of fire: "Buddha struck the light and 'Qormusata Tngri lit the fire'."[2] A Mongolian fable of a fox describes a fox so clever that even Qormusata Tngri (as the head of the 99 tingri) falls prey to him;[3] in a Mongolian folktale, Boldag ugei boru ebugen ("The impossible old man, Boru"), he is the sky god with the crow and the wolf as his "faithful agents".[4]

Qormusata Tngri's relatively recent entrance into the Mongolian pantheon is also indicated by the attempts on the part of Mergen gegen Lubsangdambijalsan (1717-1766?) to replace earlier shamanist gods in the liturgy with five Lamaist gods including Qormusata Tngri.[5] In one text, he is presented as the father of the 17th-century cult figure Sagang Sechen, who is at the same time an incarnation of Vaiśravaṇa, one of the Four Heavenly Kings in Buddhism.[6]

[edit] References[edit] Notes1.^ York 2005, p. 129
2.^ Heissig 1980, p. 49-50
3.^ Heissig 2001, p. 17
4.^ Jila 2006, p. 169
5.^ Heissig 1990, p. 225
6.^ Mostaert 1957, p. 558, 563
[edit] BibliographyHeissig, Walther (1980). "The cult of the earth and the cult of heights". The Religions of Mongolia. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520038578.
Heissig, Walther (1990). "New Material on East Mongolian Shamanism". Asian Folklore Studies 49 (2): 223–33. [www.jstor.org].
Heissig, Walther (2001). "Marginalien zur Fuchsgestalt in der Mongolischen Überlieferung". In Hartmut Walravens. Der Fuchs in Kultur, Religion und Folklore Zentral- und Ostasiens. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 17–34. ISBN 9783447043250. [books.google.com]. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
Jila, Namu (2006). "Myths and Traditional Beliefs about the Wolf and the Crow in Central Asia: Examples fromthe Turkic Wu-Sun and the Mongols". Asian Folklore Studies 65 (2): 161–77. [www.jstor.org].
Kollmar-Paulenz, Karénina (2012). "Embodying the Dharma". In Keul, István. Transformations and Transfer of Tantra in Asia and Beyond. Religion and Society. 52. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 253 et seq.. ISBN 9783110258110.
Morgan, David (2007). The Mongols. The Peoples of Europe. 12 (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9781405135399.
Mostaert, Antoine (1957). "Sur le culte de SaΓang sečen et de son bisaieul QutuΓtai sčcen chez les Ordos". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 20 (3/4): 534–66. [www.jstor.org].
York, Michael (2005). Pagan Theology: Paganism as a World Religion. NYU Press. ISBN 9780814797082. [books.google.com]. Retrieved 19 August 2012.