the history of buddhism among the mongols 403
6.2. Propagation of the dGe-lugs-pa School among
Different Mongolian TribesIn the rst decades of the seventeenth century, the dGe-lugs-pa school,
the “Yellow Doctrine” (Mong. sir-a-yin asin), not only took root amongst
the Southern and Southeastern Mongolian tribes, but also among the
Western Mongolian Oirat, in East Mongolia and in North Mongolia.
Every noble family of the Oirat was obliged to devote one of their
sons to being Lama.^115 Among these were two princes of the Qo od
tribe: Neyii Toyin (1557–1653)^116 and Caya (Zaya) Bandida Namqayi-
úamso (Nam-mkha’i-rgya-mtsho, Otarui-yin Dalai) (1599–1662).^117
Both played an important role in the propagation of the dGe-lugs-pa
school: Neyii Toyin among the Eastern Mongols, and Caya Bandida
among the Oirat.
The dGe-lugs-pa considered doing away with shamanism as one of
their most important tasks in spreading the Buddhist faith. The “Black
Faith” (qara asin), the “religion of the shamans” (böge-yin mörgöl), is the
popular religion of the Mongols. Its most important functionaries, the
shamans, were the natural enemies of the Lamas, who hardly had any
chance to win the hearts of the people as long as these shamans and
their shamanistic family idols—the ongon gures—were not destroyed.
Therefore, one of the rst steps taken by Altan Khan after his meeting
with the Dalai Lama was to burn and liquidate the shamans.^118
Shamanism was particularly strong among the Eastern Mongolian
tribes, the Qorin, Ongniud, and others (and is, up to the present,
still not “exterminated”). It is evident that the resistance against Bud-
dhism was particularly strong there. Together with one of his pupils,
Neyii Toyin saw it as his task to break the power of the shamans, and
he fought a bitter battle with them. It is reported that when he used
his magic powers to cure a severely ill Ongniud princess and in the
process to defeat a great shaman, this impressed the common people
so much that many converted to Buddhism. When he cured an ill
female shaman, Aoba, the impact on Tüsiyetü Khan of the Qorin
(^115) Úiral 1996, p. 164.
(^116) On his life, see Heissig 1953; Klafkowski 1987, pp. 351–361.
(^117) On his life, see Norbu 1990/Norbo 1999; Úiral 1996, p. 166.
(^118) Kollmar-Paulenz 2001, pp. 298–299; Elverskog 2003, pp. 158–159.—According
to the Biography of rst rJe-btsun-dam-pa, the Dalai Lama himself burnt the ongon
idols, see Bawden 1961, p. 35. For the function of the ongon see Heissig 1970, pp.
312–315.