The Lost Scripts: Clear Scrip among Oirats in Ili
Repository URI
Repository DOI
Change log
Authors
Abstract
I have talked to many Mongolian Buddhist lamas over the years and observed that they merely recite scriptures loudly without fully understanding the meanings of scriptures in Tibetan. Clear script scriptures, however, are translations of Tibetan Buddhism. In Mongol Khüree, Öölds would prepare everything for the wedding for their daughters, except the clear scripts passed down from ancestors and their barley grinder. When I was young, we often saw clear script books hidden in caves and were told by our parents not to touch them because of accusations during the Cultural Revolution and out of respect for them as religious artefacts. We also sometimes witnessed Kazakhs taking them out and throwing them onto the pasturelands, which exposed and damaged them. During my middle and high school years, we wanted to take them home to preserve them from damage, but it was too late by the time we realised their value. I learned to read these Buddhist scripts through my inspiration, aided by grammar books, and the reading style from elders, as they explained that certain singing styles would increase the reading speed. Elders in the past went to the funeral site to read “Doj Jodov or Taslugch Ochir” seven times along with Buddhist lamas who read their Tibetan scripts. However, the increasing political pressure in recent years has made this impossible to continue, as the government requires a specific government-authorised diploma. Thus, Har Bagsh who read clear scripts were automatically excluded from funeral rituals and must now secretly engage in reading clear scripts at the request of families.