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MONSON-DISSERTATION-2015.Pdf (2.911Mb) Ethical Formation in the Works and Life 'Brug Smyon Kun Dga' Legs Pa The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Monson, Elizabeth L. 2015. Ethical Formation in the Works and Life 'Brug Smyon Kun Dga' Legs Pa. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:23845460 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Ethical Formation in the Works and Life of ‘Brug smyon Kun dga’ legs pa A dissertation presented by Elizabeth Louisa Monson to The Committee on the Study of Religion in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In the subject of The Study of Religion Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts June 2015 © 2015 Elizabeth Louisa Monson All rights reserved. Dissertation Advisor: Janet Gyatso Elizabeth Louisa Monson Ethical Formation in the Life and Works of the Crazy Yogi of the Drukpa: ‘Brug smyon Kun dga’ Legs pa Abstract This dissertation explores the ethical formation of persons depicted by the 15th century text entitled the Liberation Life Story of Drukpa Kunley (‘Brug pa kun legs kyi rnam thar). My analysis examines the Drukpa Kunley Namthar from a perspective that considers writing as a spiritual discipline akin to other practices of spiritual formation such as prayer, meditation and confession. Drawing on the work of such theorists as Paul Ricoeur, Michel Foucault and Alasdair McIntyre, I argue for a position whereby life-writing functions to form ethical persons. Using Drukpa Kunley’s namthar as an outstanding example of this ethically-formative function of literary activity, I examine the text’s presentation of what it means to be an ethical person and how such persons arise through a particular way of interacting with the world. In considering the Drukpa Kunley Namthar, I explore questions about authorial intent, textual agency, and the readers imagined by the text. In addition, I highlight three principal themes developed within the text: exposure of hypocrisy, joyful acceptance of truth, and an unstinting examination of authority. These themes are expressed through both content and form: the narrator openly discusses them, and the text itself creates an experience for the reader that resonates with these themes through its repeated shifting among diverse literary forms and genres. I refer to this strategy as a cacophony of genres, and my assertion is that this iii effects an ethic of disruption, a condition that challenges the reader and draws into question conventional ways of seeing and being in the world. Finally, this dissertation explores and advocates for a model of scholarship that approaches the study of a text as an ethnographic encounter. This model, which draws on the work of anthropologist Michael D. Jackson, considers the usefulness of intersubjective practice for scholars of religion and other fields. I propose that this model for studying texts, which engages with a wide range of agents and influences—including our own—can yield deeper and more relevant insights into our objects of study. iv Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................ iii Acknowledgment ....................................................................................................................................... viii Dedication ...................................................................................................................................................xiii Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 1 I. Three Themes: Hypocrisy, Delight, and the Breakdown of Authority ................................................... 8 II. Agency, Intent, and Recipients ........................................................................................................... 14 III. The Study of Tibetan Buddhist Namthar ........................................................................................... 16 IV. The Extensiveness of Namthar Writing in Tibet ................................................................................ 25 V. Precedents in Tibetan Biographical Literature ................................................................................... 33 VI. Conversation Partners and Methodologies ....................................................................................... 40 VII. Chapter Outline ................................................................................................................................ 50 A. Chapter One ........................................................................................................................................ 50 B. Chapter Two ........................................................................................................................................ 51 C. Chapter Three ..................................................................................................................................... 52 D. Chapter Four ....................................................................................................................................... 53 Chapter 1 ..................................................................................................................................................... 55 Who was ‘Brug pa Kun dga’ Legs pa (1455-1529)? ................................................................................. 56 I. Tibet’s Divine Madmen ........................................................................................................................ 56 II. Religious Affiliation ............................................................................................................................. 70 III. The Drukpa Kunley Namthar .............................................................................................................. 77 A. Editions of the Drukpa Kunley Namthar ............................................................................................. 77 IV. Colophons, Authors, Editors, and Compilers ..................................................................................... 80 V. The Contents of the Drukpa Kunley Namthar .................................................................................... 97 A. Volume Ka ........................................................................................................................................... 98 B. Volume Kha ....................................................................................................................................... 102 C. Volume Ga......................................................................................................................................... 105 D. Volume Nga ...................................................................................................................................... 106 VI. The Life of Drukpa Kunley ................................................................................................................ 107 A. Biographical Sources for Drukpa Kunley’s Life ................................................................................. 108 B. Oral Traditions of Drukpa Kunley: The Divine Madman ................................................................... 112 C. Historical Setting and the Life of Drukpa Kunley .............................................................................. 123 Chapter 2 ................................................................................................................................................... 138 Drukpa Kunley’s Practice Of Writing ..................................................................................................... 139 v I. How to Write a Namthar ................................................................................................................... 143 II. How to Write ..................................................................................................................................... 174 Chapter 3 ................................................................................................................................................... 186 Uses Of The Literary In Ethical-Formation ............................................................................................ 187 I. Self’s Words ....................................................................................................................................... 193 II. Mocking Words (Parody, Satire, Irony) ............................................................................................. 233 III. Words From The Other Side—Buddhas, Diviners, Demons, And Dreams ....................................... 256 A. Letters ............................................................................................................................................... 256 B. Dreams .............................................................................................................................................. 270
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