Yesterday on the 28th, the Tibetan celebration of Saga Dawa commenced. Running until 28 June, this is the month-long festival marking the birth, enlightenment, and Parinirvana of the Buddha. This is the most important period in the Tibetan calendar, and also celebrates the cultural impact of Tibet on the spiritual life of Central Asia, Inner Asia, and beyond (especially in the modern period).
Tibetan Buddhism has not only influenced Inner Asian Buddhism irrevocably, including Tangut and therefore Mongolian Buddhism, but also Buddhism in the three autonomous republics of Russia: Tuva, Buryatia, and Kalmykia. Furthermore, the spread of Tibetan Buddhist communities around the world (and the popularization of many Vajrayana figures as spokespeople or figureheads of Buddhism as a whole) has been an incredible boon to the soft power of Tibet.
One of the most important deities in the Vajrayana pantheon is the wrathful Mahakala, Lord of Time and remover of obstacles. A wrathful emanation of Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig, he is represented with two arms in the Karma Kagyu school, four arms in the Sakya, and six arms in the Gelug. Before the 28th, I had recently finished a three-part, imaginary account centered on Mahakala and the Mongols’ destruction of the Tangut Empire, which worshipped Mahakala before the Mongol khans and nobility adopted Buddhism.
I speculated that the Mongols, while determined to wipe out their foes, would have found Mahakala an extremely compelling and attractive deity to worship, especially because the Tanguts explicitly recruited Tibetan Buddhist ritual masters to harness his esoteric wrath to curse the Mongol leader, Genghis Khan. There is nothing the Mongol warrior respects more than a worthy adversary.
In a karmic echo on the day Saga Dawa began, I just finished reading an excellent online summary of the history of Buddhism in Mongolia by American-born scholar Alexander Berzin (he is a specialist in Vajrayana Buddhism). To my astonishment, his unpacking of why the Mongols adopted the worship of Mahakala matched to a tee my speculative short fiction about Kublai Khan (more accurately, my fiction matches his analysis). Berzin’s exploration is worth quoting in full here:
There is much debate as to why Kublai Khan chose Tibetan Buddhism as the official state religion, and the exact reasons behind giving Sakya Pandita political administrative rule over Tibet. In deciding the state religion for the new Mongol Khanates, debates were held between Chinese Daoists and Tibetan Buddhists, but it is hard to imagine that the militaristic Mongols were merely won over by the logic and philosophical sophistication of the Sakyas. The most plausible reasoning is that the Mongols were impressed by the power of the protector, Mahakala (Skt. Mahākāla). Mahakala was the main protective deity of the Tanguts, who had defeated and killed Chinggis Khan in battle, and thus the Mongols were deeply impressed by the deity. Karma Pakshi himself was noted for supernatural powers and he was a practitioner of Mahakala, as well as a teacher of the Tanguts. Karma Pakshi had however backed the losing Mongol side, and since the Sakyas themselves also had a strong Mahakala tradition, it seems that Kublai Khan wished for the support of Mahakala through supporting Sakya Pandita, especially with his aim of invading Southern China.
(Study Buddhism)
That one of Tibetan Buddhism’s most beloved wrathful deities should raise his fearsome head here is especially auspicious and serendipitous, since I had just encountered the footsteps and legacy of Kublai Khan at Yufeng Temple in Lijiang, where there is a small chapel dedicated to the Yuan emperor’s time spent campaigning in Yunnan. The beautiful space, dating back to the 11th century, is called Wansui Garden, in homage to the salutation typically given to Chinese emperors. Yufeng Temple, like many Karma Kagyu temples, has a shrine devoted specially to Mahakala.
Empires rise and fall. The Tanguts are no longer with us, and it has been some years since I had the fortune to visit Mongolia. But if Kublai Khan would have his way, Mahakala remains here with us, ever watchful, protective, and benevolently wrathful. A joyful Saga Dawa to you, your loved ones, and your friends.
See more
History of Buddhism in Mongolia (Study Buddhism)
Related blog posts from BDG
Mahakala, Tangut and Mongol Deity of Ritual Warfare: Kublai KhanMahakala, Tangut and Mongol Deity of Ritual Warfare: The Guardian of Western XiaMahakala, Tangut and Mongol Deity of Ritual Warfare: The End of the State of Ten Thousand Secrets