DOCSLIB.ORG

Songs of a Wandering Yogi: Mgur As a Distinctly Tibetan Genre in the Verse of Godrakpa

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Songs of a Wandering Yogi: Mgur As a Distinctly Tibetan Genre in the Verse of Godrakpa Songs of a Wandering Yogi: mgur as a distinctly Tibetan genre in the verse of Godrakpa Jennifer Divall Faculty of Religious Studies McGill University, Montréal June 2014 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts © Jennifer Divall, 2014 Table of Contents Abstract Résumé Acknowledgments Note on Transliteration Introduction 1 Chapter One 26 Song and Form: Metre, Stanza and Figures in Godrakpa’s mgur Chapter Two 61 ‘Songs of Realization’: Inspiration and Instruction for the Spiritual Path Chapter Three 82 The Life and Voice of a Wandering Yogi: Embedding the Transcendent in the Tibetan Landscape Conclusion 100 Appendix: Map of Tsang 104 Bibliography 105 Abstract This thesis examines the expression of religious experience through the mgur, or songs of spiritual realization, of the Tibetan yogi Godrakpa during the later transmission of Buddhism from India. Through analysis of both form and content, this thesis reveals two ways in which Godrakpa participated in the formation of a distinctly Tibetan genre through which to voice the newly arriving Indian teachings. In the first half of the study detailed examination of the metre, stanza patterns and poetic figures reveals that the form of Godrakpa’s mgur aligns more with the pre-existing and potent folksong tradition in Tibet than with the tantric songs and poetic conventions from India, thereby rendering the teachings in a familiar and memorable format. The second half of the study focuses on the content of the songs, demonstrating how Godrakpa’s flowing verse describes personal and emotional accounts of his spiritual awakening and subsequent spiritual realizations. By utilizing an autobiographical voice, Godrakpa expresses the Indian esoteric teachings through the lived experience of a Tibetan wandering yogi, thereby grounding the teachings in the Tibetan landscape. In both form and content, Godrakpa’s songs show a creative method of blending Indian esoteric Buddhism with the powerful and long- standing tradition of Tibetan song and verse to create a truly Tibetan style of transmission. Résumé Cette thèse examine l’expression de l’expérience religieuse à travers le mgur, ou chansons de réalisation spirituelle, par le yogi tibétain Godrakpa au cours de la deuxième transmission du bouddhisme de l’Inde. Par l’analyse de la forme et du contenu, cette thèse révèle deux manières par lesquelles Godrakpa a participé à la formation d’un genre distinctement tibétain pour exprimer les enseignements indiens nouvellement arrivés. Dans la première moitié de l’étude, un examen du mètre, des modèles de strophe et des figures de style révèle que la forme du mgur de Godrakpa s’aligne davantage sur la puissante tradition de la chanson folklorique préexistante au Tibet que sur les chansons tantriques et l’usage poétique de l’Inde, façonnant ainsi les enseignements dans un format familier et mémorable. La deuxième moitié de l’étude fait le point sur le contenu des chansons et démontre comment le vers coulant de Godrakpa décrit les histoires personnelles et émotionnelles de son réveil spirituel ainsi que ses réalisations spirituelles subséquentes. En utilisant la voix autobiographique, Godrakpa exprime les enseignements ésotériques de l’Inde par l’expérience vécue d’un yogi tibétain errant, ancrant ainsi les enseignements dans le paysage tibétain. À la fois dans la forme et le contenu, les chansons de Godrakpa démontrent une méthode créative de mélanger le bouddhisme ésotérique indien avec la puissante tradition de longue date de chansons et vers tibétains pour créer un style de transmission véritablement tibétain. Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the wisdom, guidance and support of many wonderful people whom I have had the privilege to work with and learn from. First and foremost, I wish to express profound gratitude to my teachers within the Tibetan tradition for their great wisdom and compassion, and the immense benefit and blessings bestowed through the teachings they share. I wish to express my deep appreciation to my supervisor, Lara Braitstein. Her continuous encouragement, guidance and patience as this project developed made its completion possible. I am truly grateful for the time and thought she has invested. I would also like to express my gratitude to Dr. Chok Tenzin Monlam of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives and Tashi Tsering of the Amnye Machen Institute. Without Dr. Chok’s expertise and patient explanation of many parts of the Tibetan text, my understanding of this Collection would have been much more limited. Tashi Tsering’s vast knowledge of Tibetan literary expression also shed much light on the life and songs of ‘our mysterious yogi’ and I am grateful for the time he took to uncover texts containing clues of Godrakpa’s life. This project is further indebted to the kindness and expertise of Cyrus Stearns. His translation of these songs inspired this project and became the foundation of my understanding of Godrakpa’s words. I wish to thank him also for generously sharing the Tibetan version of Godrakpa’s gurbum and biography with me. I also thank Roger Jackson for evaluating the initial manuscript of this thesis. I wish to thank the staff at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala, who made my time there so easy and enjoyable. A special thank you goes to my wonderful Tibetan teacher, Gen Dekyi, who made learning Tibetan so very fun. And my deepest gratitude to the friends I met along the way in India and Nepal, with whom I studied, lived and traveled – what wonderful times! I would also like to very gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the Shastri Indo- Canadian Institute, which provided the financial means for two extended research trips to India. I would like to express my gratitude to the Faculty of Religious Studies at McGill University, with a special thank you to Tom Troughton, who first introduced me to the book that framed this study, and who was always available to discuss the project. Thank you also to my friends and colleagues in Birks 303, who made the experience so enjoyable, and to Lisa Blake and Stéphanie Machabée for much help at the end. I also gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided through the FRS and McGill, which ultimately made this project possible. A special thank you also goes to Sachia Longo and Marie-Claire St-Jacques, who translated the abstract of this thesis into French, to Mads Garnak Rasmussen, who was excellent company while writing in the isolated north of Saskatchewan, and to Karen Polowick, for generously sharing her space. Finally, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my family – to my father, who supported this project from beginning to end in ways too numerous to count, to my sister and her family, who kept me both entertained and focused while in Saskatoon, and to my late mother, who encouraged both a love of learning and my first trip to India, where my interest in Tibetan verse formed. Note on Transliteration Throughout this thesis, both the phonetic rendition and the Tibetan Wylie transliteration is provided the first time a Tibetan term, location or name is referenced. Subsequent uses of Tibetan words are given in the phonetic rendition alone according to the Tibetan and Himalayan Library (THL) Simplified Phonetic Transcription of Standard Tibetan system. An exception to this is made for the personal name “Godrakpa”; while the THL system would render it as “Kodrakpa”, I will continue to write it as “Godrakpa” as it has been rendered by Cyrus Stearns in his translation of Godrakpa’s Collected Songs. Similarly, the personal name “Shabkar” will be rendered in the form popularized by Matthieu Ricard in his translation of Shabkar’s autobiography rather than as THL phonetic system would render it (“Zhapkar”). Titles of Tibetan texts remain in Wylie transliteration, as do quotations from Godrakpa’s songs. Introduction Spanning over thirteen centuries, Tibet’s rich literary tradition contains a variety of versified works. Literally thousands of examples of poetry and song are found within the corpus of Tibetan literature, such as spiritual verse within Buddhist ritual texts, the autobiographies, biographies, and collected teachings of great Buddhist teachers, collections of songs and poems of wandering yogis, as well as non-religious verse, such as that found in early Tibetan political and administrative records.1 The extensive use of verse indicates how prominent it was in various genres of early Tibetan literature, yet as a number of scholars have noted, poetry and poetics is one of the least studied aspects of Tibetan culture.2 This thesis aims to address the almost complete exclusion of the early form of a specific genre of Tibetan verse in current western scholarship: the gur (mgur), or ‘songs of realization’, that developed in Tibet during the ‘later transmission’ (phyi dar) of Buddhism from India (approximately 950 – 1250 C.E.). In order to do so, I will examine the spiritual songs of a once-famous yogi-saint that history has all but forgotten: Godrakpa (ko brag pa)3 (1170-1249)4, the ‘hermit of Go cliffs’. Thesis Objectives My approach to this study involves two components. First, I will look at the form of the songs within Godrakpa’s Collection, or gurbum (mgur ’bum), to assess how his songs show a myriad of composition styles. In terms of metre, stanza structure and use of poetic figures, Godrakpa’s songs show the influence of the long existing tradition of Tibetan folksong, as well as provide small glimpses into the form of what would have been the newly emerging translations of Indian esoteric songs of his period. Second, I will look to the content of 1 These records, dating to the 8th and 9th centuries, were recovered in the 20th century excavation of Dunhuang Caves.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • White Paper on Tibetan Culture
    http://english.people.com.cn/features/tibetpaper/tibeta.html White Paper on Tibetan Culture Following is the full text of the white paper on "The Development of Tibetan Culture" released by the Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China June 22: Foreword I. The Spoken and Written Tibetan Language Is Widely Studied and Used, and Being Developed II. Cultural Relics and Ancient Books and Records Are Well Preserved and Utilized III. Folk Customs and Freedom of Religious Belief Are Respected and Protected IV. Culture and Art Are Being Inherited and Developed in an All- Round Way V. Tibetan Studies Are Flourishing, and Tibetan Medicine and Pharmacology Have Taken On a New Lease of Life VI. Popular Education Makes a Historic Leap VII. The News and Publishing, Broadcasting, Film and Television Industries Are Developing Rapidly Conclusion Foreword China is a united multi-ethnic country. As a member of the big family of the Chinese nation, the Tibetan people have created and developed their brilliant and distinctive culture during a long history of continuous exchanges and contacts with other ethnic groups, all of whom have assimilated and promoted each other's cultures. Tibetan culture has all along been a dazzling pearl in the treasure- house of Chinese culture as well as that of the world as a whole. The gradual merger of the Tubo culture of the Yalong Valley in the middle part of the basin of the Yarlung Zangbo River, and the ancient Shang-Shung culture of the western part of the Qinghai- Tibet Plateau formed the native Tibetan culture.
    [Show full text]
  • The Foundation of All Good Qualities by Lama Tsongkhapa
    PRACTICE The Foundation of All Good Qualities By Lama Tsongkhapa In the 11th century, Tibet was blessed by the arrival of capacities of varying practitioners — small, medium, and the Indian Buddhist master Lama Atisha. Motivated to pres- great — which organize practices and meditations on the ent an organized summary of the sutra teachings, Atisha path into gradual stages. composed a short text entitled, The Lamp of the Path. Three Lama Tsongkhapa's famous prayer, The Foundation of hundred years later, Lama Tsongkhapa expanded upon this All Good Qualities, is the most concise and stirring outline text with his opus The Great Exposition on the Stages of the available of the Lam-Rim teachings. In only fourteen stanzas, Path to Enlightenment (Lamrim Chenmo). The often referred Tsongkhapa offers us a prayer that covers the entire graduated to "Lam-Rim teachings" are taken from this seminal text. path to enlightenment, short enough to recite every day, The teachings are presented in three scopes according to the profound enough to study for a lifetime. The foundation of all good qualities is the kind and venerable guru; I will not achieve enlightenment. Correct devotion to him is the root of the path. With my clear recognition of this. By clearly seeing this and applying great effort, Please bless me to practice the bodhisattva vows with great energy. Please bless me to rely upon him with great respect. Once I have pacified distractions to wrong objects Understanding that the precious freedom of this rebirth is found And correctly analyzed the meaning of reality, only once.
    [Show full text]
  • Buddhist Archeology in Mongolia: Zanabazar and the Géluk Diaspora Beyond Tibet
    Buddhist Archeology in Mongolia: Zanabazar and the Géluk Diaspora beyond Tibet Uranchimeg Tsultemin, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Uranchimeg, Tsultemin. 2019. “Buddhist Archeology in Mongolia: Zanabazar and the Géluk Dias- pora beyond Tibet.” Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review (e-journal) 31: 7–32. https://cross-currents.berkeley.edu/e-journal/issue-31/uranchimeg. Abstract This article discusses a Khalkha reincarnate ruler, the First Jebtsundampa Zanabazar, who is commonly believed to be a Géluk protagonist whose alliance with the Dalai and Panchen Lamas was crucial to the dissemination of Buddhism in Khalkha Mongolia. Za- nabazar’s Géluk affiliation, however, is a later Qing-Géluk construct to divert the initial Khalkha vision of him as a reincarnation of the Jonang historian Tāranātha (1575–1634). Whereas several scholars have discussed the political significance of Zanabazar’s rein- carnation based only on textual sources, this article takes an interdisciplinary approach to discuss, in addition to textual sources, visual records that include Zanabazar’s por- traits and current findings from an ongoing excavation of Zanabazar’s Saridag Monas- tery. Clay sculptures and Zanabazar’s own writings, heretofore little studied, suggest that Zanabazar’s open approach to sectarian affiliations and his vision, akin to Tsongkhapa’s, were inclusive of several traditions rather than being limited to a single one. Keywords: Zanabazar, Géluk school, Fifth Dalai Lama, Jebtsundampa, Khalkha, Mongo- lia, Dzungar Galdan Boshogtu, Saridag Monastery, archeology, excavation The First Jebtsundampa Zanabazar (1635–1723) was the most important protagonist in the later dissemination of Buddhism in Mongolia. Unlike the Mongol imperial period, when the sectarian alliance with the Sakya (Tib.
    [Show full text]
  • The Life and Times of Mingyur Peldrön: Female Leadership in 18Th Century Tibetan Buddhism
    The Life and Times of Mingyur Peldrön: Female Leadership in 18th Century Tibetan Buddhism Alison Joyce Melnick Ann Arbor, Michigan B.A., University of Michigan, 2003 M.A., University of Virginia, 2008 A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Virginia in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Religious Studies University of Virginia August, 2014 ii © Copyright by Alison Joyce Melnick All Rights Reserved August 2014 iii Abstract This dissertation examines the life of the Tibetan nun Mingyur Peldrön (mi 'gyur dpal sgron, 1699-1769) through her hagiography, which was written by her disciple Gyurmé Ösel ('gyur med 'od gsal, b. 1715), and completed some thirteen years after her death. It is one of few hagiographies written about a Tibetan woman before the modern era, and offers insight into the lives of eighteenth century Central Tibetan religious women. The work considers the relationship between members of the Mindröling community and the governing leadership in Lhasa, and offers an example of how hagiographic narrative can be interpreted historically. The questions driving the project are: Who was Mingyur Peldrön, and why did she warrant a 200-folio hagiography? What was her role in her religious community, and the wider Tibetan world? What do her hagiographer's literary decisions tell us about his own time and place, his goals in writing the hagiography, and the developing literary styles of the time? What do they tell us about religious practice during this period of Tibetan history, and the role of women within that history? How was Mingyur Peldrön remembered in terms of her engagement with the wider religious community, how was she perceived by her followers, and what impact did she have on religious practice for the next generation? Finally, how and where is it possible to "hear" Mingyur Peldrön's voice in this work? This project engages several types of research methodology, including historiography, semiology, and methods for reading hagiography as history.
    [Show full text]
  • And Daemonic Buddhism in India and Tibet
    Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2012 The Raven and the Serpent: "The Great All- Pervading R#hula" Daemonic Buddhism in India and Tibet Cameron Bailey Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES THE RAVEN AND THE SERPENT: “THE GREAT ALL-PERVADING RHULA” AND DMONIC BUDDHISM IN INDIA AND TIBET By CAMERON BAILEY A Thesis submitted to the Department of Religion in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Religion Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2012 Cameron Bailey defended this thesis on April 2, 2012. The members of the supervisory committee were: Bryan Cuevas Professor Directing Thesis Jimmy Yu Committee Member Kathleen Erndl Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the thesis has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii For my parents iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank, first and foremost, my adviser Dr. Bryan Cuevas who has guided me through the process of writing this thesis, and introduced me to most of the sources used in it. My growth as a scholar is almost entirely due to his influence. I would also like to thank Dr. Jimmy Yu, Dr. Kathleen Erndl, and Dr. Joseph Hellweg. If there is anything worthwhile in this work, it is undoubtedly due to their instruction. I also wish to thank my former undergraduate advisor at Indiana University, Dr. Richard Nance, who inspired me to become a scholar of Buddhism.
    [Show full text]
  • SYMPOSIUM Moving Borders: Tibet in Interaction with Its Neighbors
    SYMPOSIUM Moving Borders: Tibet in Interaction with Its Neighbors Symposium participants and abstracts: Karl Debreczeny is Senior Curator of Collections and Research at the Rubin Museum of Art. He completed his PhD in Art History at the University of Chicago in 2007. He was a Fulbright‐Hays Fellow (2003–2004) and a National Gallery of Art CASVA Ittleson Fellow (2004–2006). His research focuses on exchanges between Tibetan and Chinese artistic traditions. His publications include The Tenth Karmapa and Tibet’s Turbulent Seventeenth Century (ed. with Tuttle, 2016); The All‐Knowing Buddha: A Secret Guide (with Pakhoutova, Luczanits, and van Alphen, 2014); Situ Panchen: Creation and Cultural Engagement in Eighteenth‐Century Tibet (ed., 2013); The Black Hat Eccentric: Artistic Visions of the Tenth Karmapa (2012); and Wutaishan: Pilgrimage to Five Peak Mountain (2011). His current projects include an exhibition which explores the intersection of politics, religion, and art in Tibetan Buddhism across ethnicities and empires from the seventh to nineteenth century. Art, Politics, and Tibet’s Eastern Neighbors Tibetan Buddhism’s dynamic political role was a major catalyst in moving the religion beyond Tibet’s borders east to its Tangut, Mongol, Chinese, and Manchu neighbors. Tibetan Buddhism was especially attractive to conquest dynasties as it offered both a legitimizing model of universal sacral kingship that transcended ethnic and clan divisions—which could unite disparate people—and also promised esoteric means to physical power (ritual magic) that could be harnessed to expand empires. By the twelfth century Tibetan masters became renowned across northern Asia as bestowers of this anointed rule and occult power.
    [Show full text]
  • Ayya​​Yeshe How​ ​To​ ​Be​ ​A
    Ayya Yeshe ​ ​ How to Be a Light for Yourself and Others in Challenging Times ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Week One: “Establishing the Basis for Dharma Practice” ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ September 4, 2017 ​ ​ ​ ​ Hi, I'm Ayya Yeshe. I'm an Australian Buddhist nun and I've been ordained 16 years. I'm the ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ director of Bodhicitta Foundation, a charity for people in the slums of Central India, which has ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ been running for over a decade. I'm also the founding abbess of a monastery in Australia, which ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ we are currently raising funds for, called Khandro Ling Hermitage. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ I'm mainly from the Sakya tradition but I was ordained as a fully ordained nun by Thich Nhat ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Hanh, the Nobel Peace Prize nominee and Vietnamese Zen master. Today I would like to talk ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ about The Seven Points of Mind Training by Geshe Chekawa, which is mainly from the Kagyu ​ ​​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. It's actually quite a long and involved text but it's a wonderful ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ introduction to Mahayana Buddhism. As we go through the text, I hope that I can make some of ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​
    [Show full text]
  • The Siddha Who Tamed Tibet: a Genealogy of Padmasambhava's
    The Siddha Who Tamed Tibet: A Genealogy of Padmasambhava’s Tantric Masculinity in Two Early Namthar By Joshua Shelton A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Colorado Boulder In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Religious Studies 2019 ÓJoshua Shelton, 2019 Shelton ii This thesis entitled: The Siddha Who Tamed Tibet: A Genealogy of Padmasambhava’s Tantric Masculinity in Two Early Namthar Written by Joshua Shelton has been approved for the Department of Religious Studies Holly Gayley, Ph.D. Loriliai Biernacki, Ph.D. Jules Levinson, Ph.D. Date The final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signatories, and we find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards of scholarly work in the discipline of Religious Studies Shelton iii Abstract Shelton, Joshua Brallier (M.A., Religious Studies) The Siddha Who Tamed Tibet: A Genealogy of Padmasambhava’s Tantric Masculinity in Two Early Namthar Thesis advised by Associate Professor Holly Gayley. The eighth-century Indian tantric master Padmasambhava, famed siddha (!བ་ཐོབ།) of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, has been the subject of decades of Western scholarship seeking to understand his place in the matrix of Tibetan history, culture, religion, and literature. This thesis contributes to that body of work by thematizing Padmasambhava’s gender as a key component in the development of his early myth in two formative narratives: Nyangrel Nyima Öser’s Copper Island Biography of Padmasambhava and Orgyen Lingpa’s The Testament of Padmasambhava. I draw upon Raewyn Connell’s concept of hegemonic masculinity to trace Padmasambhava’s gendered positionality in these early texts vis-à-vis his interactions and contestations with kings.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism, Revised Edition
    REVISED EDITION John Powers ITTB_Interior 9/20/07 2:23 PM Page 1 Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism ITTB_Interior 9/20/07 2:23 PM Page 2 ITTB_Interior 9/20/07 2:23 PM Page 3 Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism revised edition by John Powers Snow Lion Publications ithaca, new york • boulder, colorado ITTB_Interior 9/20/07 2:23 PM Page 4 Snow Lion Publications P.O. Box 6483 • Ithaca, NY 14851 USA (607) 273-8519 • www.snowlionpub.com © 1995, 2007 by John Powers All rights reserved. First edition 1995 Second edition 2007 No portion of this book may be reproduced by any means without prior written permission from the publisher. Printed in Canada on acid-free recycled paper. Designed and typeset by Gopa & Ted2, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Powers, John, 1957- Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism / by John Powers. — Rev. ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN-13: 978-1-55939-282-2 (alk. paper) ISBN-10: 1-55939-282-7 (alk. paper) 1. Buddhism—China—Tibet. 2. Tibet (China)—Religion. I. Title. BQ7604.P69 2007 294.3’923—dc22 2007019309 ITTB_Interior 9/20/07 2:23 PM Page 5 Table of Contents Preface 11 Technical Note 17 Introduction 21 Part One: The Indian Background 1. Buddhism in India 31 The Buddha 31 The Buddha’s Life and Lives 34 Epilogue 56 2. Some Important Buddhist Doctrines 63 Cyclic Existence 63 Appearance and Reality 71 3. Meditation 81 The Role of Meditation in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism 81 Stabilizing and Analytical Meditation 85 The Five Buddhist Paths 91 4.
    [Show full text]
  • Zanabazar (1635-1723): Vajrayāna Art and the State in Medieval Mongolia
    Zanabazar (1635-1723): Vajrayāna Art and the State in Medieval Mongolia Uranchimeg Tsultem ___________________________________________________________________________________ This is the author’s manuscript of the article published in the final edited form as: Tsultem, U. (2015). Zanabazar (1635–1723): Vajrayāna Art and the State in Medieval Mongolia. In Buddhism in Mongolian History, Culture, and Society (pp. 116–136). Introduction The First Jebtsundamba Khutukhtu (T. rJe btsun dam pa sprul sku) Öndör Gegeen Zanabazar is the most celebrated person in the history of Mongolian Buddhism, whose activities marked the important moments in the Mongolian politics, history, and cultural life, as they heralded the new era for the Mongols. His masterpieces of Buddhist sculptures exhibit a sophisticated accomplishment of the Buddhist iconometrical canon, a craftsmanship of the highest quality, and a refined, yet unfettered virtuosity. Zanabazar is believed to have single-handedly brought the tradition of Vajrayāna Buddhism to the late medieval Mongolia. Buddhist rituals, texts, temple construction, Buddhist art, and even designs for Mongolian monastic robes are all attributed to his genius. He also introduced to Mongolia the artistic forms of Buddhist deities, such as the Five Tath›gatas, Maitreya, Twenty-One T›r›s, Vajradhara, Vajrasattva, and others. They constitute a salient hallmark of his careful selection of the deities, their forms, and their representation. These deities and their forms of representation were unique to Zanabazar. Zanabazar is also accredited with building his main Buddhist settlement Urga (Örgöö), a mobile camp that was to reach out the nomadic communities in various areas of Mongolia and spread Buddhism among them. In the course of time, Urga was strategically developed into the main Khalkha monastery, Ikh Khüree, while maintaining its mobility until 1855.
    [Show full text]
  • The Tulku System in Tibetan Buddhism: Its Reliability, Orthodoxy and Social Impacts
    The Tulku System in Tibetan Buddhism: Its Reliability, Orthodoxy and Social Impacts By Ramin Etesami A thesis submitted to the graduate school in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at the International Buddhist College, Thailand March, 20 Abstract The Tulku institution is a unique characteristic of Tibetan Buddhism with a central role in this tradition, to the extent that it is present in almost every aspect of Tibet’s culture and tradition. However, despite this central role and the scope and diversity of the socio-religious aspects of the institution, only a few studies have so far been conducted to shed light on it. On the other hand, an aura of sacredness; distorted pictures projected by the media and film industries;political propaganda and misinformation; and tendencies to follow a pattern of cult behavior; have made the Tulku institution a highly controversial topic for research; and consequently, an objective study of the institution based on a critical approach is difficult. The current research is an attempt to comprehensively examine different dimensions of the Tulku tradition with an emphasis on the issue of its orthodoxy with respect to the core doctrines of Buddhism and the social implications of the practice. In this research, extreme caution has been practiced to firstly, avoid any kind of bias rooted in faith and belief; and secondly, to follow a scientific methodology in reviewing evidence and scriptures related to the research topic. Through a comprehensive study of historical accounts, core Buddhist texts and hagiographic literature, this study has found that while the basic Buddhist doctrines allow the possibility for a Buddhist teacher or an advanced practitioner to “return back to accomplish his tasks, the lack of any historical precedence which can be viewed as a typical example of the practice in early Buddhism makes the issue of its orthodoxy equivocal and relative.
    [Show full text]
  • The Tibetan Translation of the Indian Buddhist Epistemological Corpus
    187 The Tibetan Translation of the Indian Buddhist Epistemological Corpus Pascale Hugon* As Buddhism was transmitted to Tibet, a huge number of texts were translated from Sanskrit, Chinese and other Asian languages into Tibetan. Epistemological treatises composed by In­ dian Buddhist scholars – works focusing on the nature of »valid cognition« and exploring peripheral issues of philosophy of mind, logic, and language – were, from the very beginning, part of the translated corpus, and had a profound impact on Tibetan intellectual history. This paper looks into the progression of the translation of such works in the two phases of the diffusion of Buddhism to Tibet – the early phase in the seventh to the ninth centuries and the later phase starting in the late tenth century – on the basis of lists of translated works in various catalogues compiled in these two phases and the contents of the section »epistemo­ logy« of canonical collections (Tenjur). The paper inquires into the prerogatives that directed the choice of works that were translated, the broader or narrower diffusion of existing trans­ lations, and also highlights preferences regarding which works were studied in particular contexts. I consider in particular the contribution of the famous »Great translator«, Ngok Loden Shérap (rngog blo ldan shes rab, 1059­1109), who was also a pioneer exegete, and discuss some of the practicalities and methodology in the translation process, touching on the question of terminology and translation style. The paper also reflects on the status of translated works as authentic sources by proxy, and correlatively, on the impact of mistaken translations and the strategies developed to avoid them.
    [Show full text]