Healing through ritual has often been a common facet of shamanic traditions. Catching “shamanic illness” is recognised as a sign of a candidate in many cultures. However, among the Horchin Mongols in China, this phenomenon has taken on a modern twist. Many individuals, who are afflicted by so-called “incurable” illness, are turning to shamanism. What is interesting is that they do not do this to get healed by shamans, but rather seek self-heal through initiation as a shaman themselves. Horchin shaman masters take on hundreds, and even thousands, of “disciples” who would cure themselves in this way. This occurs among more rural folk. Key reasons appear to be the negative effects of industrialisation, urbanisation and technological advancement, coupled with the failure of medicine and health services to catch up with social change and growing expectations in China, and particularly in Horchin Mongolia. This paper investigates the reasons for the dramatic increase in “shamanic illness”, i.e. how people become shamans to heal themselves.
Bacigalupo, A. M. (2004): Mapuche Shamanism. In: Walter, M. N. - Fridman, E. J. N., (eds): Shamanism: An Introduction of World Beliefs, Practices and Culture. Santa Barbara, ABCKLIO pp. 417–423.
Badamhatan, S. (1965): Khövsgöliin Darkhad Yastan [Darkhad People of Khövsgöl]. Ulaanbaatar, Shinjlekh ukhaany akademiin khevlel [Academy Press].
Balogh, M. (2010): Contemporary Shamanisms in Mongolia. Journal of Asian Ethnicity Vol. 11, Issue 2, pp. 229–238.
Buyandelger, M. (2013): Tragic Spirits: Shamanism, Memory and Gender in Contemporary Mongolia. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
Buyandelgeriyn, M. (2007): Dealing with Uncertainty: Shaman, Marginal Capitalism, and Remaking of History in Postsocialist Mongolia. American Ethnologist Vol. 50, No. 4, pp. 127–147.
Chen, Y. 陈永春 (2010): 科尔沁萨满神歌审美研究 [Aesthetics of Horchin shamanic sacred songs]. Beijing, 民族出版社 (Nationalities Press).
Delige 德里格 (1998): 内蒙古喇嘛教史 [History of Inner Mongolian Lamaism]. Hohhot, Inner Mongolia People’s Press.
Diószegi, V. (1962): Tuva Shamanism: Intra-ethnic Differences and Interethnic Analogies. Acta Ethnographica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae Vol. 11, pp. 143–190.
Diószegi, V. (1998): How to Become a Shaman among the Sagais. In: Hoppál, M. (ed.): Shamanism: Selected Writings of Vilmos Diószegi. Budapest, Akadémiai Kiadó, pp. 27–35.
Eliade, M. (1972): Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (trans. Willard R. Trask). Princeton, Princeton University Press. Government White Paper: “Medical and Health Services in China” (2012/12/29), at http://www. china-embassy.org/eng/zt/bps/t1001641.htm, accessed on 13 October 2016.
Han, Togoo (2012): Horchin böge-yin soyul-un degeji [The essence of Horchin shamanic culture], Ulaanhad, Öbür Monggul-un shinjilehü uhagan teknik mergejil-ün hebelel-ün horiy-a (Inner Mongolia Science and Technology Press).
Heissig, W. (1980): The Religion of Mongolia. Berkeley–Los Angeles, University of California Press.
Heissig, W. (1992): A Mongolian Source to the Lamaist Suppression of Shamanism in the 17th Century. In: Heissig, W. (ed.): Studies in Oriental Religions. Wiesbaden, pp. 61–136.
Hsee, C. K. – Yang, A. X. – Wang, L. (2010): Idleness Aversion and the Need for Justifiable Busyness. Psychological Science Vol. 50, No. 4, pp. 926–930.
Hürelsha–Bai, Y. C. (1998): Horchin böö mörgül-ün sodulul [Studies of Horchin shamanism]. Beijing, Öndüsüten-ü heblel-ün horiy-a (Nationalities Press).
Humphrey, C. (1999): Shamans in the City. Anthropology Today Vol. 8, pp. 3–10.
Humphrey, C. – Onon, U. (1996): Shamans and Elders: Experience, Knowledge, and Power among the Daur Mongols. Oxford, University of Oxford Press.
Kollmar-Paulenz, K. (2008): Forming a Mongolian Buddhist Identity: The Biography of Neichi Toin. In: Elverskog, J. (ed.): Biographies of Eminent Mongol Buddhists. Halle, International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies GmbH, pp. 13–2.
Nimnuan, C. – Hotopf, M. – Wessely, S. (2001): Medically Unexplained Symptoms: An Epidemiological Study in Seven Specialties. Journal of Psychosomatic Research Vol. 8, Issue 1, pp. 361–367.
Norris, P. – Inglehart, R. (2004): Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Prajñā Sāgara (2010): Bogda Neichi Toyin dalai manzushiri-yin domug-i todurhai-a geigülügchi chindamani erihe hemegdehü orusiba [Rosary of wishing-stones–illuminator of the narrative about the holy Lama Neichi Toyin Dalai Mañjuśrī] (Beijing, 1739). In: Altanorgil (ed.): Öbür bogda-yin namtar [Biography of His Holiness of Inner Mongolia]. Hailar, Öbür monggul-un soyul-un heblel-ün horiy-a [Inner Mongolia Cultural Press], pp. 99–183.
Pratt, Ch. (2007): An Encyclopedia of Shamanism. New York, The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.
Shimamura, I. (2014): The Root Seekers–Shamanism and Ethnicity among Mongol-Buryats. Yokohama, Shumpusha Publishing.
Sugar, J. – Kleinman, A. – Heggenhougen, K. (1991): Development’s ‘Downside’: Social and Psychological Pathology in Countries Undergoing Social Change. Health Transition Review Vol. 50, No. 4, pp. 211–220.
Sztompka, P. (2000): The Ambivalence of Social Change. Triumph or Trauma? Polish Sociological Review No. 131, pp. 275–290.
Ujeed, Uranchimeg (2011): Persecuted Practice: Neichi Toyin’s Way of Conducting Missionary Work. Inner Asia Vol. 50, No. 4, pp. 265–277.
Walter, M. N. – Fridman, E. J. N. (eds) (2004): Shamanism: An Introduction of World Beliefs, Practices and Culture. Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO.
Winkelman, M. (2004): Cross-cultural Perspectives on Shamans. In: Walter, M. N. - Fridman, E. J. N., (eds): Shamanism: An Introduction of World Beliefs, Practices and Culture. Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO, pp. 61–67.
Zikmundová, V. (2006): Some Common Aspects of the Sibe and Khorchin Mongol Religious Vocabulary. In: Vacek, Jaroslav - Oberfalzerová, Alena (eds): Mongolo-Tibetica Pragensia ’06. Ethnolinguistics and Sociolinguistics in Synchrony and Diachrony. Prague, Triton, pp. 115–140.
Zikmundová, V. (2008): Walking on the Edges of Swords: Notes on Analogies in Shaman Rituals of the Khorchin Mongols and the Jungarian Sibes. In: Vacek, Jaroslav - Oberfalzerová, Alena (eds): Mongolo-Tibetica Pragensia 08, 1/2. Ethnolinguistics, Sociolinguistics, Religion and Culture. Prague, Triton, pp. 149–188.