Ritual Rescue of the Dead in Tibetan Buddhist Discourse
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Liberating Last Rites: Ritual Rescue of the Dead in Tibetan Buddhist Discourse The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:40049992 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 LIBERATING LAST RITES: RITUAL RESCUE OF THE DEAD IN TIBETAN BUDDHIST DISCOURSE A dissertation presented by Rory Brendan Lindsay to The Department of South Asian Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of South Asian Studies Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts May 2018 © 2018 Rory Brendan Lindsay All rights reserved. Dissertation Advisor: Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp Rory Brendan Lindsay LIBERATING LAST RITES: RITUAL RESCUE OF THE DEAD IN TIBETAN BUDDHIST DISCOURSE ABSTRACT This dissertation examines Tibetan funerary manuals based on the Sarvadurgatipariśodhana Tantra (SDP), an Indian Buddhist work first translated into Tibetan in the eighth century. I trace the transmission and study of the SDP in Tibet and the ways that it and the works it inspired distribute agency across multiple actors—human, divine, and material —in describing ritual methods for saving the dead from bad rebirths. A fundamental claim in these texts is that their rites can liberate even those who have committed terrible acts over many lifetimes. Focusing on Rje btsun Grags pa rgyal mtshan's (1147–1216) Light Rays for the Benefit of Others (Kun rig gi cho ga gzhan phan 'od zer) and several manuals and polemical works written in response to it, I explore how these texts shift responsibility away from the deceased and assign it to a network of actors including the ritual officiant and his disciples, a panoply of deities, and ritual objects. This speaks to contemporary discussions of agency and materiality, and emphasizes the importance of the latter in the study of ritual manuals. Focusing on agency also reveals a critical difference between works based on yogatantric sources like the SDP and those inspired by advanced yogic practices characteristic of Highest Yogatantra. While SDP-oriented manuals frame the dead as passive recipients of liberating rites, texts like Liberation upon Hearing in the Bardo (Bar do thos grol) imagine the iii dead as agents capable of securing their own freedom. This difference in necroliberative strategy is underscored by the Sa skya pa scholar A mes zhabs Ngag dbang kun dga' bsod nams' (1597– 1659) Dispelling All Obscurations: Explaining the Bardo Teachings (Bar do chos bshad sgrib pa kun sel), which attempts to integrate these two models. Through a close examination of these writings, this dissertation contributes to our understanding of Tibetan traditions of Yogatantra and Highest Yogatantra vis-à-vis mortuary practices and the afterlife. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.............................................................................................................................iii–iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......................................................................................................vi–viii LIST OF TABLES.........................................................................................................................ix ABBREVIATIONS...................................................................................................................x–xi INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................1 Methodology.......................................................................................................................7 An Invitation to Grags pa rgyal mtshan's Funeral............................................................13 Contributions....................................................................................................................17 Chapter Overview.............................................................................................................25 CHAPTER ONE: AUTHORSHIP AND THE RHETORIC OF AUTHORITY IN THE TRANSMISSION OF THE SARVADURGATIPARIŚODHANA TANTRA TO TIBET.................30 The Reception of the SDP in Tibet...................................................................................30 Commentaries on the SDP and Questions of Authenticity...............................................46 Grags pa rgyal mtshan as an Author(ity)..........................................................................54 CHAPTER TWO: WHO CAN SAVE THE DEAD? ON THE MANY ACTORS IN LIGHT RAYS FOR THE BENEFIT OF OTHERS.....................................................................................71 A Note on the Available Versions of Light Rays...............................................................72 The Contents of Light Rays..............................................................................................75 Agency in Light Rays........................................................................................................88 Conclusion......................................................................................................................145 CHAPTER THREE: DEATH RITUAL POLEMICS.................................................................147 Texts and Contexts..........................................................................................................148 The Controversies...........................................................................................................172 Conclusion......................................................................................................................200 CHAPTER FOUR: WHAT THE DEAD CAN DO....................................................................203 Agents in the Bardo........................................................................................................204 The Dead in the SDP and Its Canonical Commentaries.................................................213 The Bardo in Grags pa rgyal mtshan's Funeral Manuals................................................224 The Bardo in Later Tibetan Works on the SDP...............................................................233 A mes zhabs' Attempt at Synthesis.................................................................................235 Conclusion......................................................................................................................247 CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................249 APPENDIX.................................................................................................................................254 BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................................................................................................................258 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I could not have written this dissertation without the generous support of my mentors, friends, and loved ones. I first would like to thank Leonard van der Kuijp, my primary advisor, whose encyclopedic knowledge of Tibetan literature and serendipitous comments during a Tibetan reading class in the spring of 2011 led me to the works on which this thesis is based. Professor van der Kuijp's commitment to philological rigor and his broad and fascinating scholarship have been a constant source of inspiration for me, and I am deeply grateful for the years I have spent under his tutelage. I also extend my sincere thanks to Janet Gyatso, whose outstanding scholarship, seminars, and thought-provoking responses to my work have challenged me to broaden my scholarly vision and consider larger questions that cut across disciplines. I also sincerely thank Anne Monius, whose transformative classes and brilliant writing inspired me, and whose support and guidance throughout my time at Harvard have been invaluable to this project. I am grateful to other professors with whom I have had the fortune of studying at Harvard, including Donald Swearer, James Robson, Karin Grundler-Whitacre, Parimal Patil, and Charles Hallisey. I also wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to my formative experiences at the University of Toronto studying under Janet McLellan, Pamela Klassen, Leonard Priestley, David Waterhouse, Henry Shiu, Frances Garrett, Christoph Emmrich, Elizabeth Mills, Stella Sandahl, Amanda Goodman, and Ajay Rao. I am likewise thankful for the wonderful training in Tibetan language I received at the University of Toronto from Thupten Champa, and for my years of online study with Wang Bhumo and Rigpa Gyatso. I am also deeply grateful to Khenpo Tashi Dorje, who spent countless hours reading with me at the International Buddhist Academy vi in Kathmandu, Nepal in 2010 and 2011, and who arranged a meeting and empowerment with Shabdrung Rinchen Paljor Rinpoche to formally introduce me to the ritual traditions central to this dissertation. My studies at the University of Toronto and Harvard were greatly enriched by many colleagues, including Matthew King, Sarah Richardson, Nicholas Field, Lydia Porter, Ian MacCormack, Justin Fifield, Charles Carstens, Finnian Moore Gerety, Andy Francis, Catherine Hartmann, Gregory Clines, Elizabeth Monson, Willa Miller, Konchok Tsering, Maho Iuchi, Kim Hanung, Sokhyo Jo, Allison Aitken, Daniel