Welcome to The Realm of The Mongols!

Written and maintained by Per Inge Oestmoen, Norway




The pages available here are all dedicated to the philosophical and spiritual legacy of the Old Mongols, and to the memory of Chingis Khan. 

The wolf is the legendary ancestor of all Mongols, and is a symbol of what qualities they possessed: an inclination towards the regions of the North, Dark and Cold, as well as limitless endurance, great intelligence, intuition and perspicacity. 


To contact the author:

Per Inge Oestmoen


 
  The Mongolian Message


These pages have been created with the purpose of providing information on the Mongol Empire, beginning from the fateful incident in the year 1206, when the Founder and Father of the Mongol nation, Temuchin, who took the name Chingis Khan, emerged as the "leader of all people living in felt tents." His investiture as supreme leader of the Mongols was to lay the groundwork for a profound change in the direction of world history.

What happened after 1206 is reasonably well understood at the academic/rational level. The invincible Mongolian hordes, under the leadership and tutelary power of Chingis Khan, overran most of the Asian and Eurasian land, and in their heyday, the Mongols never met an army they could not beat. They were incomparably superior, man for man, to what their formidable military opponents in China, Russia, Persia and Western Europe could muster. Their dedication, sense of purpose and endurance is simply matchless in human history, past and present. Most remarkable of all was the degree of solidarity and feeling of shared purpose that the Mongols evinced up to the death of their beloved leader in August 1227.

Significantly, when his biological descendants of much lesser stature succeeded him, the spiritual foundation eroded, as they began to abandon the teachings of Chingis, lost their sense of purpose and instead became attached to the allurements of this world. Material possessions, drink, and lewd women increasingly became the aims of the leaders, replacing what had been their spiritual foundation. This way the Mongols brought about their own downfall.

Many people, historians and laymen alike, have regarded the Mongols of Chingis Khan primitive and terrible barbarians, and satisfied themselves with such a one-sided, superficial analysis. Why not instead try to ask how it is possible for humans to achieve so much? Theirs was an upward trajectory, a series of accomplishment so absolute, so unparalleled, that every historian trying to delve seriously into the matter will find himself amazed, if not awestruck. The Mongols had evidently broken out of the normal adaptive limits of humans. They had to do so, in order to accomplish what they did.

In the words of the historian Edward Gibbon, when he characterized the Mongol campaign of 1221-1223, when Chingis sent his generals Chepe and Subedei on a reconnaissance mission with a mere 20 000 horsemen through the whole of Persia, through Caucasus, through the Carphatians and into Russia, where they virtually obliterated a Russian army of 80 000 men: Such a ride "had never before been attempted and has never since been repeated."

The conquest of Beijing by Chingis Khan in 1215 defies our imagination. Beijing, the magnificent imperial Chin capital, whose ramparts around the city boasted a length of 43 kilometers, fell. Let it be borne in mind that the Chinese had 600 000 men against the 75 000 of the Mongols. That helped the Chinese very little. Now the nomad conquerors led by Chingis himself could finally exact revenge for millennia of oppression and divide-and-rule policy towards the Mongols. Chingis Khan expressed his attitude this way: "Heaven grew weary of the excessive pride and luxury of China....I am from the Barbaric North. I wear the same clothing and eat the same food as the cowherds and horse-herders. We make the same sacrifices and we share our riches. I look upon the nation as a new-born child and I care for my soldiers as though they were my brothers."

Beyond doubt, it was first and foremost on the spiritual plane that the Mongols won. Moral and spiritual integrity are much more important than sheer strength or size. Their unique achievements notwithstanding, the small Mongol nation probably never counted more than two million people.

True, in all of human history their achievements had indeed never before been attempted, nor have they ever since been equalled on this planet. However, the Mongols demonstrated for posterity what lofty heights of consciousness, ability, dedication and excellence humans are capable of reaching.

How are we to explain the Mongol Phenomenon? How can we approach what may be called "The Secret of The Mongols"? And what is its relevance for us in our over-urbanized and in many ways unnatural world? Could it be that the Mongols have something to teach us with respect to our relationship to Nature as well as to the fruition and utilization of our innate human potentials? There is no denying that their animist/shamanist relation to Nature is something Modern Man would learn much from, if we can see beyond the carnage and destruction, appreciate their role in the world, and then begin to acknowledge the phenomenal physical, psychological, philosophical and spiritual powers of the Chingis-Khanite Mongols.

Let us, then, acquaint ourselves with them and their life.



Contents (Please scroll and see all the links, they are many!)

Mongol bibliography. The main sources
Last updated: February 07, 2006

The Mongol ancestors
Last updated: November 12, 1998

Mongol history and chronology from ancient times
Last updated: February 24, 2001

Mongolian links
Last updated: Marchl 15, 2018   

The extraordinary physical abilities of the Mongols
Last updated: September 5, 1999

The Mongol Phenomenon
Last updated: May 16, 1999

The Mongols and their closeness to Nature
Last updated: February 24, 2000

The spiritual qualities of the Mongols
Last updated: May 3, 2000

The Mongol military might
Last updated: January 18, 2002

The Mongolian Bow
Last updated: December 26, 2002

Women in Mongol society
Last updated: January 23, 2001

The Yasa of Chingis Khan. A code of honor, dignity and excellence
Last updated: February 27, 2003

About the Bajkal Sea: The Place Where It All Began
Last updated: November 04, 2010 

The Mongolian Wolf in The Cold and Dark Wintery Night
Last updated: August 19, 2007


The Three Greatest Mongols:

Chingis Khan the King
Last updated: January 19, 2011 

Subedei the Warrior
Last updated: May 31, 1998

Yeh-lu Chu'tsai the Magician
Last updated: June 10, 1998


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