"Eyewitnesses report that upon reaching the center of Bukhara, Genghis Khan rode up to the large mosque and asked if, since it was the largest building in the city, it was the home of the sultan. When informed that it was the house of God, not the sultan, he said nothing. For the Mongols, the one God was the Eternal Blue Sky that stretched from horizon to horizon in all directions. God presided over the whole earth; he could not be cooped up in a house of stone like a prisoner or a caged animal, nor as the city people claimed, could his words be captured and confined inside the covers of a book. In his own experience, Genghis Khan had often felt the presence and heard the voice of God speaking directly to him in the vast open air of the mountains in his homeland, and by following those words, he had become the conqueror of great cities and huge nations."
An excerpt from a book I've started reading -
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, by Jack Weatherford. Quite interesting so far.
That's closer to my conception of God than any of the established religions.
ReplyDeleteThat's an excellent book. As a follow up, I would suggest Dan Carlin's podcast, "Wrath of the Khans" first a broad perspective on the Mongols.
ReplyDelete"In his own experience, Genghis Khan had often felt the presence and heard the voice of God"
ReplyDeleteWhat is the evidence for that? Are there any sources from the period which describe Genghis Khan as expressing those opinions, or is it just the author's speculation?
The book is extensively annotated, with numerous references to classic and contemporary works. You could probably start with "The Secret History of the Mongols" as reported in the Papers on Far Eastern History published by the Canberra Department of Far Eastern History at The Australian National University.
DeleteWhen Solomon dedicated the Temple, he also acknowledged that the heavens could not contain God.
ReplyDelete