HREL 44000/RLIT44400/SALC49002: Tibetan Auto/biography Winter Quarter 2009 Christian K. Wedemeyer Tuesday 15:00-17:50 Swift 310B Swift Hall, Room 200 Office Hours M/T 10–11 [email protected]

Course description: In this course, we will explore the genres of biography and autobiography in Tibetan religious and literary culture, with special emphasis on the latter. Though often considered a genre characteristic of—and exclusive to—Western modernity, autobiography has had a long and rich history in , spanning at least a thousand years. We will begin the course by reading some theoretical studies of autobiography and narrative. We will then consider some issues specific to Tibetan auto/biography and its historical development, and characteristics of the related genre of (Tibetan) Buddhist hagiography. The remainder of the quarter will be spent in reading and analyzing representative examples of these genres in translation, drawn from a variety of authors from the fifteenth through the nineteenth century. Students will conceive, research, and write a 15–25pp. paper and will give a brief presentation on their work during the final class session. PQ: Preferably some background in Tibetan or . Books available at Seminary Coop; articles on e-reserve/Chalk

Schedule of Class Meetings:

Part One: Interpretative Tools

Week One (6 January 2009): Introduction Readings: none

Week Two (13 January 2009): Auto/biography and Cultural Criticism Readings: Olney, “Autobiography and the Cultural Moment” Gusdorf, “Conditions and Limits of Autobiography” Weintraub, “Autobiography and Historical Consciousness” Bruner, “The Narrative Construction of Reality”

Week Three (20 January 2009): Tibetan Auto/biography Readings: Gyatso, “Autobiography in Tibetan Religious Literature” Gyatso, Apparitions of the Self, Chapter 1, pp. 101–123 Gyatso, “Counting Crows’ Teeth: Tibetans and Their Diary-writing Practices” Sanders, “Theorizing the Collaborative Self”

Week Four (27 January 2009): Auto/biography and Buddhist Hagiography Readings: Robinson, “The Lives of Indian Buddhist Saints” Templeman, “The Mirror of a Life” Garratt, “Biography by Installment” Mahāpadāna Sutta Mahāvastu I, pp. 152–203; Mahāvastu II, pp. 1–45, 61–64 Upāyakauśalya Mahāyānasūtra, pp. 51–70 HREL 44000: Tibetan Auto/Biography Winter 2009

Part Two: Readings

Week Five (3 February 2009): An Influential Fifteenth-century Pseudo-Autobiography Readings: Life of (entire) Roberts, “The Evolution of Milarepa’s Biography”

Week Six (10 February 2009): Four Autobiographies from 16th–18th century Dolpo Readings: Snellgrove, trans., Four of Dolpo, pp. 68–273.

Week Seven (17 February 2009): Orgyan Chökyi (17th–18th cent), women, and autobiography Readings: Schaeffer, Himalayan Hermitess (entire)

Week Eight (24 February 2009): Jigmé Lingpa, the Eighteenth-century Treasure Revealer Readings: Gyatso, Apparitions of the Self, pp. xxiii–97, and pp. 124–181.

Week Nine (3 March 2009): Autobiography in the 19th Century: Zhabs-dkar and a friend Readings: The Life of Shabkar (entire: or, at least the prose parts) Guenther (trans.), “In Retrospect” (by rDza dpal-sprul)

Week Ten (10 March 2009): Discussion of projects Readings: none

**Final Papers will be due in my box in Swift 204 by noon on 11 March 2009**

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Bibliography

I. Course Readings

Bruner, Jerome. “The Narrative Construction of Reality,” Critical Inquiry, vol. 18, no. 1 (1991), pp. 1– 21.

Garratt, Kevin. “Biography by Installment: The Tibetan Periodicals Sheja and Trunggö Böjong on the Lives of Reincarnate Lamas,” in Benjamin Penny, ed., Religion and Biography in China and Tibet, (Richmond: Curzon, 2002), pp. 189-220.

Guenther, Herbert. “In Retrospect” in R. Davidson, ed., Wind Horse: Proceedings of the North American Tibetological Society, vol. I (Berkeley, CA: Asian Humanities Press, 1981), pp. 1–7.

Gusdorf, Georges. “Conditions and Limits of Autobiography,” in J. Olney, ed., Autobiography: Essays Theoretical and Critical (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1980), pp. 28–48.

Gyatso, Janet. Apparitions of the Self: The Secret Autobiographies of a Tibetan Visionary. 1998. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2001.

Gyatso, Janet. “Autobiography in Tibetan Religious Literature: Reflections on its Modes of Self- presentation,” in IHARA Shôren and YAMAGUCHI Zuihô, eds, Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the 5th Seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, Narita 1989, vol. 2 (Narita: Naritasan Shinshogi, 1992), pp. 465–478.

Gyatso, Janet. “Counting Crows’ Teeth: Tibetans and Their Diary-Writing Practices,” in Karmay, Samten, and Philippe Sagant, eds., Les Habitants du Toit du Monde (Nanterre: Société d’ethnologie, 1997), pp. 159–177.

Jones, J. J., trans. The Mahāvastu, 3 vols. 1949. London: The Text Society, 1973.

Lhalungpa, Lobsang P., trans. The Life of Milarepa. Boulder & London: , 1984.

Mahāpadāna Sutta, in Maurice Walshe, trans., : The Long Discourses of the Buddha (London: Wisdom Publications, 1987), pp. 199–221.

Olney, James. “Autobiography and the Cultural Moment: A Thematic, Historical, and Bibliographical Introduction” in J. Olney, ed., Autobiography: Essays Theoretical and Critical (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1980), pp. 3–27.

Ricard, Matthieu, trans. The Life of Shabkar: The Autobiography of a Tibetan Yogin. 1994. Delhi: Shechen Publications, 1997.

Roberts, Peter Alan. “The Evolution of Milarepa’s Biography,” in The Biographies of Rechungpa: The Evolution of a Tibetan Hagiography (London and New York: Routledge, 2007), pp. 57– 84.

Robinson, James Burnell. “The Lives of Indian Buddhist Saints: Biography, Hagiography and Myth,” in Cabezón, José Ignacio, and Roger R. Jackson, eds., Tibetan Literature: Studies in Genre, (Ithaca, New York: Publications, 1996), pp. 57–69.

Sanders, Mark A. “Theorizing the Collaborative Self: The Dynamics of Contour and Content in the Dictated Autobiography,” New Literary History, vol. 25 (1994), pp. 445–458.

Snellgrove, David L., ed. and trans. Four Lamas of Dolpo: Tibetan Biographies. 1967. Kathmandu: Himalayan Book Seller, 1992. 3 HREL 44000: Tibetan Auto/Biography Winter 2009

Tatz, Mark, trans. The Skill in Means (Upāyakauśalya) Sūtra. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1994.

Templeman, David, “The Mirror of a Life: The Structure of a 16th Century Tibetan Hagiography,” in Benjamin Penny, ed., Religion and Biography in China and Tibet, (Richmond: Curzon, 2002), pp. 132-147.

Weintraub, Karl J. “Autobiography and Historical Consciousness,” Critical Inquiry, vol. I, no. 4 (Jun 1975), pp. 821–848.

II. Selected Sources for Further Reading and/or Paper Research Ary, Elijah Sacvan. Logic, Lives, and : Jetsun Chökyi Gyaltsen’s Ascension and the Secret Biography of Khedrup Geleg Pelzang. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, 2007. Bays, Gwendolyn, trans. The Voice of the Buddha: The Beauty of Compassion (Lalitavistarasūtra). 2 vols. Berkeley: Publishing, 1983. Blondeau, A.M. “Analysis of the Biographies of according to Tibetan Tradition: Classification of Sources,” in M. Aris and A.S.S. Kyi, eds., Tibetan Studies in Honor of Hugh Richardson: Proceedings of the International Seminar on Tibetan Studies, Oxford 1979. New Delhi: Vikas, 1980, 45–52. Bogin, Benjamin E. The Life of Yol Bstan ’dzin nor bu: A Critical Edition, Translation, and Study of the Memoirs of a Seventeenth-century Tibetan Buddhist . Doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan, 2005. Chonam, Lama and Sangye Khandro, trans. The Lives and Liberation of Princess , The Indian Consort of Padmasambhava. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1998. Cowell, E. B., trans. “Buddhacarita of Aśvaghoṣa,” in Buddhist Mahāyāna Texts (1894. New York: Dover Publications, 1969). Dargyay, Eva K. “Srong-Btsan Sgam-Po of Tibet: and King,” in P. Granoff and K. Shinohara, eds., Monks and Magicians: Religious Biographies in Asia (Oakville, New York, London: Mosaic Press, 1988), pp. 99–117. Dewatshang, Kunga Samten. Flight at the Cuckoo’s Behest: The Life and Times of a Tibetan freedom fighter as told to his son Dorjee Wangdi Dewatshang. New Delhi: Paljor Publications, 1997. Diemberger, Hildegard. When a Woman Becomes a Religious Dynasty: The of Tibet. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. Dowman, Keith, trans. The Divine Madman: The Sublime Life and Songs of Drugpa Kunley. 19??. Varanasi- Kathmandu: Pilgrims Publishing, 2000. Dowman, Keith, trans. and comm. Masters of Mahāmudrā: Songs and Histories of the Eighty-four Buddhist . Albany: State University of New York Press, 1985. Eakin, Paul John. How Our Lives Become Stories: Making Selves. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1999. Goldstein, Melvyn, William Siebenschuh, and Tashi Tsering. The Struggle for Modern Tibet: The Autobiography of Tashi Tsering. 1997. Armonk, New York, and London, England: M. E. Sharpe, 1999.

Goldstein, Melvyn C., Dawei Sherap, and William R. Siebenschuh. A Tibetan Revolutionary: The Political Life and Times of Bapa Phüntso Wangye. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 2004.

Granoff, Phyllis, and Koichi Shinohara, eds., Monks and Magicians: Religious Biographies in Asia. Oakville, New York, London: Mosaic Press, 1988.

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———. Other Selves: Autobiography and Biography in Cross-cultural Perspective. Oakville-Buffalo: Mosaic Press, 1994. Guenther, Herbert V. The Life and Teaching of Nāropa. 1963. Boston: Shambhala, 1986. Gunn, Janet Varner. Autobiography: Toward a Poetics of Experience. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982.

Kramer, Jowita. A Noble Abbot from Mustang: Life and Works of Glo-bo Mkhan-chen (1456–1532). Wien: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien Universität Wien, 2008.

Kramer, Ralf. The Great Tibetan Translator: The Life and Works of rNgog Blo ldan shes rab (1059–1109). Munich: Indus Verlag, 2007.

Nam-mka’i snying-po. Mother of Knowledge: The Enlightenment of Ye-shes mTsho-rgyal. Berkeley: Dharma Publishing, 1983. Tenzin Gyatso, (HHDL XIV). Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of the . 1990. n.p.: Harper Perennial, 1991.

———. My Land and My People: The Memoirs of His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet. 1977. New Delhi: Srishti Publishers and Distributors, 1997.

Jacoby, Sarah Hieatt. Consorts and Revelation in Eastern Tibet: The Auto/biographical Writings of the Treasure Revealer Sera Khandro (1892–1940). Doctoral dissertation, University of Virginia, 2007. Norbu, Thubten Jigme, and Heinrich Harrer. Tibet is My Country: The Autobiography of Thubten Jigme Norbu, brother of the Dalai Lama, as told to Heinrich Harrer. New York: Dutton, 1961. Obeyesekere, Gananath. “Taking the Myth Seriously: The Buddha and the Enlightenment,” in Kieffer-Pülz, Petra, and Jens-Uwe Hartmann, eds., Bauddhavidyåsudhåkåra¯: Studies in Honor of Heinz Bechert on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday (Swisttal-Odendorf: Indica et Tibetica Verlag, 1997), pp. 473–482. Olney, James, ed. Autobiography: Essays Theoretical and Critical. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1980. Olney, James. Metaphors of Self: The Meaning of Autobiography. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1981. Pema, Jetsun, with Gilles Van Grasdorff. Tibet: My Story, An Autobiography. Rockport, Mass.: Element, 1997.

Quintman, Andrew H. Mi la ras pa’s Many Lives: Anatomy of a Tibetan Biographical Corpus. Doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan, 2006.

Rato, Khyongla. My Life and Lives. 1977. New York: Rato Publications, 1991. Reynolds, “The Many Lives of the Buddha: A Study of Sacred Biography and the Theravāda Tradition,” in Frank E. Reynolds and Donald Capps, eds., The Biographical Process: Studies in the History and Psychology of Religion (The Hague: Mouton, 1976), pp. 37–61. Richardus, Peter, ed. Tibetan Lives: Three Tibetan Autobiographies. Surrey: Curzon Press, 1998.

Robinson, James B. Buddha’s Lions: The Lives of the Eighty-four . Berkeley: Dharma, 1979.

Shakabpa, Tsoltim Ngima. Winds of Change: The Autobiography of a Tibetan. Paljor Publications, 2005.

Spence, Donald P. Narrative Truth and Historical Truth: Meaning and Interpretation in Psychoanalysis. New York- London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1982. Steedman, Carolyn. Past Tenses: Essays on Writing, Autobiography and History. London: Rivers Oram Press, 1992. Stein, R.A. Vie et Chants de ’Brug-pa Kun-legs le Yogin. Paris: Maisonneuve, 1972.

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Taklha, Namgyal Lhamo. Born in : The Autobiography of Namgyal Lhamo Taklha. Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion Publications, 2001. Taring, Rinchen Dolma. Daughter of Tibet. London: John Murray, 1970. Tashi Khedrup. Adventures of a Tibetan Fighting Monk. Compiled by Hugh Richardson. Edited by Tadeusz Skorupski. 1986. Bangkok: Orchid Press, 1998. Tatz, Mark, trans. The Skill in Means (Upāyakauśalya) Sūtra. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1994. Trungpa, Chogyam. Born In Tibet. 1966. 4th edition. Boston & London: Shambhala Publications, 1995. Tsonawa, Lobsang N., trans. Indian Buddhist Pandits from “The Jewel Garland of Buddhist History.” Dharamsala: LTWA, 1985. Tsarong, Dundul Namgyal. In the Service of His Country: The Biography of Dasang Damdul Tsarong, Commander General of Tibet. Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion Publications, 2000. , Chagdud. Lord of the dance : the autobiography of a Tibetan lama. Junction City: Padma, 1992.

Willis, Janice D. Enlightened Beings: Life Stories from the Ganden Oral Tradition. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995. ———. “On the Nature of Rnam-thar: Early Dge-lugs-pa Biographies,” in B.N. Aziz and M. Kapstein, eds., Soundings in Tibetan Civilization (New Delhi: Manohar, 1985), 304–319. Yongden, Lama. Mipam, The Lama of the : A Tibetan Novel. 1938. Albany: SUNY Press, 1987.

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