After watching the movie Mongol, about Genghis Khan’s life story, my curiosity was piqued. I discovered an amazing Tale of Wisdom, Humanity, Courage, Survival, Ancestry, Will-to-Live, Excellence, Learning, Conquest, and unfolding Consequences that informed much of what I have spent my lifetime learning and unlearning. I discovered someone about whom I knew little, but had very distinct impressions, most of which were entirely misconstrued. The title of this essay, Genghis Khan and the Grass Eaters, may sound bizarre. The reality that it points to is even more curious.
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Genghis Khan was an indigenous way-finder. He created an Alliance for different Peoples and former enemies to address the very real threat of empires that were already conquering and debasing People like his “People who live in felt tents.” He also created a way for other peoples into whose territories he entered to become part of that alliance. Against all odds, he refused to ignore, submit to, or embrace the destiny of debasement that empires subject all conquered peoples to.
The friend who turned me onto Mongol then turned me on to Jack Weatherford’s books, Genghis Khan: and the making of the Modern World and The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How Genghis Khan’s Daughters Saved His Empire. He said, “This is going to blow your mind.”
The more I delved into, not just the history of Genghis Khan, on the world stage, but his personal story of survival, and his commitment to the survival of the Peoples of his Homeland, and to the Wisdom and Excellence he realized to that end , the more I discovered a Wisdom Tale so rich and profound, that it is worthy of dedicated study and consideration, especially by anyone who realizes that there is a price and a level of mastery required to remain free in the face of the ongoing onslaught of the global imperial machine.
There is no denying that this is a bloody history. There is nothing pretty about resisting empire, or even talking about it honestly.
This is the story of a choice: submission to the bloody and dehumanizing debasement of empire, or daring to develop a response commensurate to the reality of that imperial challenge. This choice was made in response to the spirit-crushing reality of empire, the challenge of understanding an imperial system wholly alien to the lifeways of the People of Felt Tents, and the challenge of those People developing an alliance and a skillset that could respond to the realities of empire with new responses of their own.
The tale of the one whose name was Temujin, later named “Genghis,” after the “Ocean,” is a tale of indigenous people responding to empire. I have mentioned many people on this website. All of us had ancestors who, at some point, were faced with the human degradation and exploitation that imperial conquest inevitably brings to the conquered. They were also offered the debasing comforts of slaves that empires offer to all those who accommodate themselves to the kiss-up, kick-down hierarchies that empires thrive on.
The story of Genghis Khan is of a man with a unique history. He neither bowed his knee to have his head chopped off to hold on to his dignity, nor did he suck up to tyrants in exchange for “benefits.” He chose to respond to a call of Wisdom, of Excellence, and of Absolute Ability to Respond to Tyranny decisively.