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Buddhism and Literature in South Asia

Week 7: Modern Buddhist Biographies: the 14th Dalai ’s Autobiography

Overview of Syllabus Week 1: Introduction to Buddhist Literature, Jātaka Tales Week 2: Indian Buddhist Sūtra Literature Week 3: Life story of the Buddha in Indian poetry Week 4: Indian and Drama Week 5: Tibetan Buddhist Inspirational poetry Week 6: Buddhist Biography and Hagiography in

Week 7: Modern Buddhist Biographies: the 14th ’s Autobiography Week 8: Buddhist-inspired fiction in the 20th century

History of lineages in Tibet

• The concept of ‘incarnation’ (: nirmanakaya, Tibetan: ) dates to early • The concept of a particular person being the ‘reincarnation’ of another in the sense particular to Buddhism is uniquely Tibetan and relatively late, emerging in the 14th century • Over time, this doctrine of reincarnation of became pervasive in and has become one of its distinctive features

The first reincarnation lineages in Tibet • According to Tibetan tradition, the first recognized reincarnation is that of the Karma-pa hierarchs. Dusum Khyenpa (12th century) is known as the first in this lineage. The first ‘incarnation’ in this lineage was the second hierarch: Karma Pakshi (13th century) • However the first time someone is described in documents as a reincarnation of another is the 3rd hierarch, Rangjung Dorje (1284-1338). The biography of this hierarch contains a direct reference to “” and includes a prediction identifying where it would occur! • As we will see, the Dalai lama reincarnation lineage came later…..

Tibetan tulku-s and reincarnation

• The tulku system is an extension of the logic of the Buddhist understanding of karma and rebirth and the Mahayana system of spiritual development. • According to Buddhist doctrine, every sentient being is reborn over and over again in a beginningless cycle, and so from this point of every creature is a reincarnation. • Most, however, are unaware of this, and few people remember their past lives. The reason for this can be found in the process of death, in which the coarser levels of drop away, resulting in the eradication of the personality of one’s past life. Tibetan tulku-s and reincarnation

• Sometimes, however, the process of forgetting past lives is incomplete, particularly if one’s past life contained particularly powerful events that left deep imprints. • According to Tibetan Buddhism, however, through meditative training it is possible to gain access to deeply buried memories of past lives and become consciously aware of them. • This ability is considered to be common among advanced meditators, people who have learned to access subtle levels of mind. Such people are said to be able to perceive the events of their past lives. • At higher levels of realization, it is thought that people can even develop the ability consciously to choose a rebirth, rather than simply being helplessly drawn into it. Tibetan tulku-s and reincarnation

• The logic of the tulku system is based on these ideas: all sentient beings are constantly reincarnating, and some exceptional beings are pursuing the path to awakening, motivated by and working for the benefit of others. • Since it is possible in principle to determine one’s past births, it stands to reason that some beings will continually reincarnate themselves in a distinguishable lineage in a particular place for a particular group of people. • Among Tibetans, such people are called , and they are greatly revered because Tibetans believe that their rebirths are motivated by compassion. Testing for Tibetan tulku-s

• Tibetan Buddhism has developed elaborate systems for detecting and testing candidates in order to ensure that the person recognized as a tulku is actually the reincarnation of a previous teacher. • The most rigorous of these tests are those used to find a new Dalai Lama. Since he is regarded as the greatest of all Tibetan incarnate lamas and is the temporal and spiritual leader of Tibet, it is extremely important that the right person be found, and a number of fail-safe devices have been developed in order to ensure this. But this begs the question of what is a Dalai Lama and how did this specific reincarnation system develop… There are four main lineages of Tibetan Buddhism • • (11th century) • (11th-12th cetury) – Associated with , , and • Geluk (15th century) – Associated with Tsongkhapa and became the lineage in which the ‘Dalai Lama’ system took hold Gelukpa ascent to power in Tibet

• During the 15th century, Tsong Khapa (1357–1419), founded a new school, which came to be known as Gelukpa, or “System of Virtue.” • Tsong Khapa himself had little interest in politics, and his early successors followed his example. • As time went on, however, their influence grew, with the result that they eventually came out on top of the power hierarchy.

Gelukpa ascent to power in Tibet

• This new order won the respect of the older schools, mostly because of its strict observance of monastic discipline, its strong emphasis on study and , and its disinterest in political involvements. • This began to change half a century later during the lifetime of Gendun , reincarnation of Tsongkhapa’s main disciple who became known as the 2nd Dalai Lama!

Gelukpa ascent to power in Tibet

• With its high standards of discipline and scholarship, The Gelukpa began to attract the active resentment of some of the older orders, which often suffered in comparison. • Gendun Gyatso’s growing prestige and the high regard in which his school was held caused the Karmapa (Kagyu) hierarchs and their lay patrons to move against him, with the result that for most of his life he was not able to live in the Gelukpa monasteries around . So he traveled, earning disciples and admirers along the way. Contacts with the : the next incarnation • The next incarnation of the Dalai Lama (who became the 3rd) was Sonam Gyatso (1543–1588), who was born into a prominent family with ties to the Sakyapas and the Pakmodrupas • In 1578 he accepted an invitation to visit , chief of the Tumed Mongols. • This event was to have wide-ranging repercussions, and it marked a transition of Geluk from an order that avoided politics to a ruling . Contacts with the Mongols: the next incarnation

• Although they no longer controlled , the Mongols were still a powerful military force, despite their continual tribal conflicts. • There had been no supreme leader to match the power of Chinggis or Qubilai, but Altan was the most influential of the Mongol chieftains of his day. The First ‘Dalai Lama-s’

• When the lama Sonam Gyatso and the Altan khan met, the latter conferred the of Ta le, or “Ocean,” on Sonam Gyatso, implying that he was an “Ocean of Wisdom.” • Thus he and his successors (and, retrospectively, his predecessors Gendun Druba and Gendun Gyatso) came to be known as the “Dalai Lamas.” Gelukpa ties with the Mongols Strengthened • Sonam Gyatso had great success in converting the Mongols to Buddhism. He influenced Altan to ban blood sacrifices and the worship of ancestral images. • Because of his activity, many Mongols became adherents of the Gelukpa order. • The relationship between the Gelukpas and the Mongols was further strengthened after his death in 1588, when his reincarnation was discovered in the person of a great-grandson of Altan Khan, who received the name Yonden Gyatso (1589– 1617). • This in turn solidified the political ties between the powerful khans and the Gelukpa lamas.

“The Great Fifth” Dalai lama

• The fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Losang Gyatso (1617–1682), popularly referred to as “The Great Fifth,” was the most dynamic and influential of the early Dalai Lamas. • He was a great teacher, an accomplished tantric yogi, and a prodigious writer. His literary output surpasses the combined total of all the other Dalai Lamas. • In addition to his scholastic achievements, he proved to be an able statesman, and he united the three provinces of Tibet (the Central, South, and West) for the first time since the assassination of King Lang Darma in the mid-ninth century. “The Great Fifth” Dalai lama • In 1642, with the help of his Mongol benefactors, the Fifth Dalai Lama consolidated power and became the first Dalai Lama to rule Tibet. • Conflict between the king of Tsang (Central Southern Tibet) and the Mongols began early on, and it reached a crisis point in 1621 when a large Mongol army entered Tibet with the stated intention of protecting the Gelukpas. • A battle was avoided through the intervention of the and some other prominent religious figures, but the seeds of conflict had been sown. • A series of battles followed, and by 1640 the Gelukpas, with the help of the Mongols, proved victorious, thus establishing the rulership of the Dalai Lamas over Tibet Fast-forward to the 20th century: Death of

• With the death of the thirteenth Dalai Lama in 1933, Tibet entered an interregnum period. • This occurred at an inopportune time, because a • combination of Chinese manipulation of foreign powers and Tibetan insularity had isolated the country from the outside world. • In his attempts to enlist foreign allies, the thirteenth Dalai Lama discovered that Tibet had no friends in the international community and lacked the military resources to repel a determined foreign invasion. Fast-forward to the 20th century: Death of 13th Dalai Lama • In a famous statement shortly before his death, he warned his people of imminent danger from foreign invasion and predicted that unless Tibet adopted his modernization policies the country would be overrun, its people killed or enslaved, and its religion destroyed. • Despite his personal authority, however, after his death the reforms were mostly scuttled, and Tibet returned to its policy of deeply conservative isolationism. Reting Ascends to Power

• In January of 1934, Reting Rinpoche Jambel Yeshe was selected to be regent during the interregnum period. • The monastic leaders in Lhasa had insisted that the regent be a tulku, an incarnate lama . • When the leading candidates withdrew their names from consideration, the choice fell to Reting Rinpoche, who at the time was only twenty-four years old. • Although he was a widely respected tulku, he had little experience in a role of political leadership. • Unfortunately for the stability of the country, he proved to be corrupt and heavy-handed in his rule. Reting Rinpoche Ascends to Power

• At the beginning of his reign his authority was limited, but within a few years he gained supreme power in Tibetan politics. • After consolidating his position, Reting Rinpoche began toopenly flout the conventions of monastic behavior, and his personal letters indicate that despite being a monk he engaged in affairs with women. • In addition, he is reported to have spent money lavishly and recklessly, and his monastery made huge profits as a result of the special trading advantages he granted it. • These factors, along with widespread reports of his corruption, fueled popular resentment toward his regime. The Testing Procedure for a tulku

• There are many degrees of tulkus, from the great incarnations like the Dalai Lamas, the Panchen Lamas, and the Gyelwa , to minor figures who are associated with a particular area or with a monastery. • The degree of care given to the testing procedure varies accordingly. • For minor incarnations, the choice is sometimes made after a perfunctory search and often motivated by political considerations. • For major tulkus, however, a great deal of care is taken to ensure the accuracy of the process The Testing Procedure for a tulku • Some lamas make the process of finding a successor relatively easy: the Gyelwa Karmapas, for instance, traditionally write instructions to their followers concerning where they will be reborn, often including such information as family name, details of one or more parents, and time of birth. • Their disciples open the letter at a prearranged time after the Karmapa’s death, follow the master’s instructions, and according to tradition the predictions are always ‘accurate’. • Most lamas, however, do not make it so easy for their disciples. • In the case of the Dalai Lamas, when one is about to die, he will commonly make general predictions about his rebirth, but these must be supplemented by further tests in order to insure that the correct incarnation is located Signs for Identifying a Dalai Lama

• When the thirteenth Dalai Lama foresaw his death, he predicted that he would take rebirth in the eastern part of Tibet. • After he passed away in 1933, this prediction was corroborated by a number of unusual signs, all pointing toward the east. • One of the most striking of these occurred when an attendant looked into the sealed chamber that held the remains of the thirteenth Dalai Lama and found that the head of the corpse was turned toward the east, rather than south, the position in which it had originally been placed. After it was returned to the original position, it again was found facing toward the east after a few days. • The state oracles gave signs that the incarnation was to be found in the east, and a large fungus began to grow on the eastern part of a pillar of the Potala. Another sign was the appearance of rainbows and auspiciously shaped cloud formations in the sky, all of them pointing toward the east.

Search for the fourteenth dalai lama

• The beginning of the search was marked by a trip by Reting Rinpoche to the lake Hlamo Latso, a lake well known as a source of visions, and at which a vision had previously aided in the discovery of the thirteenth Dalai Lama. • Reting Rinpoche and other high-ranking lamas journeyed there in hopes of a similar vision. • As Reting Rinpoche approached the lake, he saw on its surface the Tibetan letters a, ka, and ma. • Then a three-tiered monastery appeared, followed by the sight of a road leading from the monastery toward the east and passing by a house near a small hill. The house had turquoise-colored tiles around the roof, and a brown and white dog was in the yard. Reting Rinpoche also saw a young boy standing in the yard.

The Search: the Beginnings

• After Reting Rinpoche returned to Lhasa, search parties were sent toward eastern Tibet, since it seemed clear that this was the area where the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation was to be found. • One party traveled to the province of , to the area of , where they saw a monastery that closely resembled the vision in the lake. • The members of the party began to inquire about children who had been born recently in the area and examined some likely candidates. • After testing several young boys, it was determined that none was the new Dalai Lama, but the search party then decided to test a boy in Taktse and two other candidates recommended by the seventh Panchen Lama. The Search: undercover and Takse- bound • Kutsang Rinpoche, a member of the search party, went to examine the boy from Taktse with a government official named Losang Tsewang and two attendants. • They were concerned that the presence of a high-ranking lama and government dignitaries might cause people to try to sell them on a particular candidate, and so they hid their true intentions and disguised themselves as merchants on business. • Kutsang Rinpoche dressed as a servant, and Losang Tsewang pretended to be the leader of the party. • As they approached the village of Taktse,…their hopes continued to rise when they saw a small dwelling that matched the description of the house in Reting Rinpoche’s vision. As they approached the entrance, a brown and white dog began to bark at them, and the woman of the house came out to see what had caused the commotion. Losang Tsewang asked her if he could use her facilities to make some tea, and she showed him into the house. • As Kutsang Rinpoche walked into the courtyard, he noticed that the roof had turquoise tiles like the ones that Reting Rinpoche had seen in his vision and that the house matched his description in other aspects.

The Search: Beads and Lamas

• Kutsang Rinpoche entered the kitchen and began making tea. As he was waiting for water to boil, a two-year-old boy walked up to him, sat in his lap, and began to play with the beads around the disguised lama’s neck. These beads had belonged to the thirteenth Dalai Lama. • The young boy, named Hlamo Dondrup, then told Kutsang Rinpoche that the beads were his, and Kutsang Rinpoche offered to give them to the child if he could guess the lama’s true identity. The boy said, “You are a lama of Sera,” which was true. The boy then correctly identified Losang Tsewang. This was remarkable, since he had never been outside of his small village, and the two were dressed as merchants. • Hlamo Dondrup then announced that the other two attendants were from , which was also correct. The members of the delegation still did not tell the parents the true purpose of their visit, and after spending the night in the house they left. • As they were preparing to go, the boy came to see them and asked that they take him with them. He was so insistent that they finally had to console him by telling him that they would return later. , 1997

Directed by

My land and My Freedom in , People, 1962 1990 Biography and Autobiography in Tibet • Biography - Namthar (rnam thar, “liberation” [story]) • Autobiography - Rangnam (rang gi rnam thar, “self-liberation [story]”

Some features of namthar/rangnam

• The presentation of the subject of a Rangnam can range from self-deprecatory to self-aggrandizing • Namthar and Rangnam can range from ‘biographical’ to hagiographical in content. • Prose, or often mix of verse and prose • Linguistic register? Often composed in a ‘colloquial’ literary ; range of honorifics from formal to informal

Why does autobiography as a genre seem incongruous with the tenets of Buddhism?

“For what is autobiography if not a celebration of just the self—oneself—along with that self’s own history, actions, development, virtues, failings?”

“…one of the crucial features which characterizes a text as autobiography proper [in the Western context] is the degree of the sense of individual selfhood that the author displays.”

Gyatso, Autobiography in Tibetan Religious Literature, 466, 468.

What are some of the characteristics you’ve noticed of the Dalai Lama’s autobiography?

Does it seem to fit in with the genre of ‘rangnam’ as you understand it? The Future of reincarnation lineages in Tibet? • Recall that between the 17th century and 1959, the Dalai Lamas – a lineage of religious leaders of the school of Tibetan Buddhism – were both the religious and political leaders of Tibet and headed the Lhasa-based Tibetan Government. • This intertwining of political and spiritual legitimacy formed a central part of Tibetan politics, with the government being constituted of a diarchy of equivalent ecclesiastical and secular offices at every level of administration. • Even in exile, both religion and the figure of the Dalai Lama continue to be central unifying elements for Tibetan nationalism and play key roles in a number of aspects of exile politics. Contemporary problems with the reincarnation lineages

• However, though providing a powerful uniting force for the Tibetan nation and earning Tibetans moral legitimacy in international politics this interweaving of religion and politics has been neither unproblematic nor uncontested. • Not only has the reliance on Buddhist reincarnation to determine leadership succession been a source of political vulnerability, but there are critiques voiced by some young that the influence of Buddhism on politics has led to Tibetans being reluctant to engage with political decision making and assume leadership positions

See additional posted reading: “The geopolitics of Buddhist reincarnation: contested futures of Tibetan leadership” by Fiona McConnell, 2012 The beginnings of a Tibetan “separation of church and state” • In light of such critiques, and arguably to also reflect Western ideals of secular democracy back to a Western dominated international audience, the Dalai Lama has spearheaded a process of dismantling the traditional theocratic system. • The governmental ecclesiastical offices were abolished in the early years of exile, the monasteries lost their traditional roles as local administrators and, most importantly, the Dalai Lama has pushed through a series of democratic reforms. • This democratisation of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile (TGiE) has recently been advanced by a decision by the Dalai Lama that both separates ‘church and state’ at the highest level of government and marks a significant transition in Tibetan politics. • On 14 March 2011, the Dalai Lama announced that he was retiring from political life and would transfer his political authority to elected leaders. Stepping down from political power • In standing down as both and head of government – though retaining his role as spiritual leader – the Dalai Lama thus voluntarily relinquished an almost 400-year-old tradition of power. • This decision raises issues that speak directly to the relationship between secular ‘modernity’ and religious ‘tradition’, and questions of where legitimacy lies and how it is constituted. • Recall that since the fourteenth century, all lineages of Tibetan Buddhism have used reincarnation as the method of succession for high lamas. • Given the centrality of reincarnation to Tibetan leadership and thus the legitimacy of the Tibetan polity, it has long been a political as well as religious practice Chinese government and the recognition of

• Even the discovery of the current, 14th, Dalai Lama in 1937 was not without political interference. the Tibetan Government asserted its independence by declaring its candidate to be the before he reached the capital, thereby thwarting Chinese Government claims that they had to be present to approve the selection • With China securing authority over Tibet in 1959, it has ‘attempted to take over the role of legitimate patron of religion’, thereby seeking to ‘intervene directly in religious matters in order to shape Tibetan Buddhism to suit its political requirements.’

Recognition(s) of the Panchen Lama

• To date, the most overt intervention of the atheist Chinese state into Tibetan Buddhist practices has been the dispute over the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama. • The second most important incarnation in the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, the Panchen Lama and the Dalai Lama have traditionally played a role in recognising each other’s reincarnation. • As Tibetan scholar Tsering Shakya notes, the death of the 10th Panchen Lama in 1989 ‘left China without a credible figurehead in Tibet at a time when . . . the Chinese were facing a serious . . . Challenge to their rule by Tibetan nationalists’ and, as a pre-emptive block to the Dalai Lama’s involvement in the identification of a successor, ‘Premier Li Peng announced that outsiders would not be allowed to “meddle in the selection procedure”’ Recognition(s) of the Panchen Lama • May 1995 the Dalai Lama announced the recognition of six-year- old Gedun Chokyi Nyima from Nagchu, north-west Tibet, as the 11th Panchen Lama. • Interpreting this announcement as a direct challenge to their authority, the Chinese Government denounced the Dalai Lama’s decision as ‘illegal and a political plot by the Dalai clique to split the Motherland’ and rejected his choice . • Gedun Chokyi Nyima was detained by Chinese security forces soon after his recognition and has not been seen since. • In November 1995, the Chinese authorities appointed their own 11th Panchen Lama, Gyaltsen Norbu. The son of Communist Party members, Gyaltsen Norbu was selected through a draw from a ‘’, a ceremony established in the eighteenth century by the Qing Emperor and that had been used to select the 11th and 12th Dalai Lamas. • In Chinese eyes, this ‘artefact of Manchu imperial power’ therefore demonstrated that ‘final authority in Tibet had always rested in ’ and was a symbolic claim of sovereignty over Tibet, albeit at the expense of their candidate lacking legitimacy in the eyes of Tibetans Chinese governmental responses

• The gulf created between the Chinese and exile Tibetan authorities over the former’s appointment of their own Panchen Lama was further reinforced by Beijing’s issuing of ‘State Order No. 5: Management Measures for the Reincarnation of Living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhism’ in 2007. • The order declares that only the Chinese Government can recognise the reincarnation of a lama, including the Dalai Lama, and that all such individuals must be reborn within China. • Further solidifying the seemingly counter-intuitive link between Buddhist reincarnation and the integrity of the modern, atheist Chinese state, Article 2 of the order states that ‘Reincarnating living Buddhas should respect and protect the principles of the unification of the state . . . [and] shall not be interfered with or be under the dominion of any foreign organization or individual’ (State Administration of Religious Affairs 2007, n.p.). • Order No. 5 was formally repudiated by exiled Tibetan Buddhist leaders shortly after it was issued, and the Dalai Lama’s statement stepping down in September 2011 is a further rebuttal.

The importance of the 2011 declaration

• The 14th Dalai Lama’s declaration clearly spells out that only the Dalai Lama and, in his absence, the ‘Gaden Phodrang Trust’ – the ‘Dalai Lama’s Institution’ constituted after His Holiness’s transfer of authority to TGiE – will have ‘sole legitimate authority’ for managing the Dalai Lama’s lineage and the succession process • His Holiness both explicitly excludes the People’s Republic of China from intervening in the succession of the 14th Dalai Lama and uses his authority to delineate the future course of Tibetan Buddhism and, in turn, the Tibetan nation. • The Dalai Lama’s statement thus sets out the reincarnation process as rooted in Buddhist traditions, but it also demonstrates the agency of the Tibetan (spiritual) leader to employ these religious rituals in response to contemporary conditions. The future of the Dalai lama lineage

• The 14th Dalai Lama’s statement indicates that, for the first time in six centuries, the Dalai Lama’s successor will likely be an ‘emanation’ (sprul ba), rather than a reincarnation (sprul sku), with the former being when a manifestation takes place without the source passing away. • The strategic advantage of this change to succession means that the next Dalai Lama will probably be identified before the current Dalai Lama passes away, will likely be an adult rather than a child, and will be identified outside of Tibet. • In thereby shifting the temporal and spatial parameters of his succession, the problematic interim period between Dalai Lamas when Tibet has historically suffered political instability is avoided, and legitimate authority for overseeing the process is placed firmly in Tibetan hands.

Overview of Syllabus

Week 1: Introduction to Buddhist Literature, Jātaka Tales Week 2: Indian Buddhist Sūtra Literature Week 3: Life story of the Buddha in Indian poetry Week 4: Indian Buddhist Poetry and Drama Week 5: Tibetan Buddhist Inspirational poetry Week 6: Buddhist Biography and Hagiography in Tibet Week 7: Modern Buddhist Biographies: the 14th Dalai Lama’s Autobiography

Last week (bring snacks!!) Monday March 16th, 1pm-3:30pm (Classroom 30)

Week 8: Buddhist-inspired fiction in the 20th century Thorugh Herman Hesse’s famous novel, Siddhartha