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Paper short abstract:

In Mongolia religious items are now frequently made from synthetics. This paper will look at how the imperishable materials used to make rituals offerings can cause these items to become trapped in an 'undead' state after use: unable to decompose but no longer accorded the esteem of a sacred object.

Paper long abstract:

In the presocialist period Mongolian Buddhist offerings were perishable. They were generally made from dairy products and other items that decompose, such as barley grains and prayer scarves made from silk. Where they were enduring, such as the rocks placed on the sacred rock cairns that stand atop Mongolia's mountain passes, they discoursed with invisible beings who would protect and assist in the procurement of good fortune for those who passed. In the contemporary period, religious items are often mass produced in China and are cheap and easy to purchase. Many ritual items are now made from materials which cannot decompose. Unlike the sacred rocks whose stability marks the sanctity of the landscape, store-bought imperishable items, such as polyester prayer scarves and food offerings wrapped in plastic, take on a new kind of materiality that lingers problematically. Distinct from ordinary waste, when Buddhist offerings resist entropy they can take on a new kind of status. Buddhist items that become imperishable can become powerful, potentially negatively altering the fortunes of those who mistreat them. As most Mongolian Buddhist rituals aim to purify spiritual contamination or the karmic results of bad actions, the synthetic materiality of sacred items has a complicating effect on these rituals: the process of carrying out ritual purification can itself lead to further pollution, both spiritually and materially. This paper will explore how the material properties of items used in Buddhist rituals can create ecological and spiritual contamination, complicating, inverting or reinforcing different understandings of their symbolic properties.