Gennadiy Korneev, About pre-Buddhist beliefs among Oirats

Abstract

Gennadiy says that in the past various Mongol groups, including the Oirats, adhered to many religions including Tengrianism, shamanism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Manichaeism, Christianity, and Islam. Today Buddhism, however, is the most common religion among these groups. Elements of old beliefs have partly been preserved in Kalmyk customs, folklore, in the ritual of fire worship, ancestral worships, clan ribbons, and in the heroic epic Jangar. Elements that have shamanic origin today are intertwined with Buddhism to such a degree that they became indistinguishable from Buddhist elements.