Practical results of Chingis Khan's introduction of his Yasa
What were the political and social results, when Chingis Khan used this fundament to build his Mongol nation? This is what we need to consider, in order to discern the teachings of Chingis Khan, who, by his own people, always was regarded a statesman-philosopher of profound wisdom more than a warrior. The belligerence was dictated by the circumstances in which the Mongols were living, and must not be taken for their contribution to Mankind and Universe. The teachings of Chingis Khan are forever relevant across space and time.
Chingis Khan did not belong to, and did not believe in, any of the organized religions, though he saw that all philosophies have grasped part of the truth, and respected every one of them as an aspect of the Great All. Himself, he had formed a philosophy based upon millennia-old Asian philosophies, among them animist/shamanist pantheism, combined with his own collectivist ideology, formed in a harsh environment in which, as he clearly understood, people had to learn to help each other instead of pursuing selfish goals.
Before Chingis, internecine strife and feuds were prominent features of the North and Inner Asian nomads. More often than not, the different tribes and groups hated each other, according to old Mongolian accounts. With the advent of Chingis Khan, this stopped. He simply accomplished the superhuman task it must have been to instill into his people a feeling of solidarity, togetherness and love. This love was far from being a jellyfish one, however. The word "love" is more often than not misunderstood.
When we look at the meaning of "love" we will see that there are two forms of love which are different even though they may coalesce on a deeper level.
One is the personal love, where one loves individual objects and which is characterized by personal attachments and by satisfaction derived from the purely personal contact and input.
Another form of love is the impersonal love that is directed towards higher principles and transcending values. Here, satisfaction is derived from adherence to these principles that create real effects in the world, effects that are seen as positive, constructive and desirable. The impersonal love is then expressed through work on behalf of these principles and what they represent.
Love should not be primarily a feeling of personal satisfaction derived from the presence of another person, which is all too often merely an expression of psychological immaturity and unconscious projection. Instead, love ought to be a concept encompassing the mindfulness of our common destiny, our obligations towards the Planet, and our need to assist each other in our endeavor to develop according to our collective and individual goals, which according to the Old Mongol worldview we have all chosen before birth. This is the kind of impersonal, but indelible love Chingis Khan gave out. Such impersonal devotion is a mark of the highest degree of honesty. When that is conveyed to people, they instantly sense the genuineness, and respond to it in a way that makes them listen to what messages are coming. In the case of the Mongols, we see this most clearly. During the reign of Chingis Khan, the Mongols functioned like one single organism, united and ever willing to support each other.
The sources unanimously bespeak the fact that although the Great Yasa was a severe set of rules, and the enforcement of them could often be draconian, Chingis' success in uniting his people was not primarily due to force and violence. On the contrary, he won the heart of people by virtue of the personal qualities he radiated. A dominant trait in him was his ability to experience and to know deeply within that the lives of others were even more important to him than his own, and this was something people intuitively realized. By being a selfless person, he could teach them to develop the full human potential within themselves. He brought to his Mongols a new element of a deeply experienced collective consciousness to live by. His Yasa was developed into the codified form of this.
We now go on and take a look at what social patterns were introduced to the Mongols by Chingis Khan. Two main features are immediately obvious:
First: the principle of equality that reigned under Chingis. George Vernadsky describes on page 92 in "The Mongols and Russia": "It was the imperial [ideological] idea which was the distinctive trait in the Mongol drive of conquest, overcoming, as it did, the primitive mentality of a feudalized clan society. The Mongols waged their wars with the professed aim of achieving universal peace and international stability. The goal achieved, the price for the security of mankind would be permanent service to the state on the part of each and all, this would establish and orderly way of life and social equality. The rich would serve the state to the same extent as the poor, and the poor would be protected from injustice and exploitation by the rich." On page 105 in the same book Vernadsky again quotes Juwaini, who observed: "There is equality. Each man works as much as another, there is no difference. No attention is paid to a man's wealth or importance."
Second: the demands for high endeavor that was placed upon every member of society. Each and everyone had to commit himself to the fullest. Sloth and incompetence were made punishable, and during wartime the order was that the leader who is incompetent shall without fail be put to death. Appointments to positions of influence and power were made by ability alone. Moreover, and uniquely, Chingis Khan ruled that everybody must be given the same opportunities, regardless of birth, race or social position. This principle was forcefully symbolized by Chingis' order that every soldier in his army must carry a marshal's baton in his knapsack. (This point is described in Paul Ratchnevsky's biography.) The implication was that everyone had the possibility of promotion to the highest rank, according to his ability. Simultaneously, such a principle carried with it the message that every individual is in return obliged to develop him- or herself to the utmost. It must be remarked that a strong element in this was the responsibility of all for assisting and being helpful towards his fellows. It was a social contract that became beneficial for all, since it gave the Mongols opportunities for growth and development they had never known before.
continue reading: The Yasa of Today: How to apply the teachings of Chingis Khan to the present world
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