APartial Genealogy of the Lifestory of Ye shes mtsho rgyal

Janet GyatsoHarvard University

Abstract: This essay surveys the sources for the lifestory of Ye shes mtsho rgyal,also known as Mkhar chen bza’. It considers references to such a figure in worksfrom Chronicle of Ba (Sba bzhed), Rnying ma bka’ ma materials on Vajrakīlatraditions, Nyang ral’s life of Padmasambhava, and other Rnying ma sources,down to the well-known biography from the Treasures of Stag sham, as well as arecent Bon po version of her life. It also considers what historical works do notmention her, and raises the question of whether she was a historical person or not.The heart of the essay provides detailed information on an important butlittle-known long biography of Ye shes mtsho rgyal from the fourteenth century byDri med kun dga’ snying po, a work that is interestingly different from Stag sham’sstory but also clearly was a source for him. Among other things, this version ofthe story makes no mention of any connection of Ye shes mtsho rgyal to the kingKhri srong lde btsan. Another intriguing suggestion concerns references to her byGu ru chos dbang, which hint that yet an older rendition of her lifestory mighthave been preserved in his collected works which has either been lost or is still tocome to light. The essay considers the development of the role of Ye shes mtshorgyal as a female consort and especially the seemingly feminist figuration of herby Stag sham. It also serves to illustrate the complex process of hagiographicaldevelopment known also for so many other saints in Tibetan religious literature.

Ye shes mtsho rgyal is the foremost female figure of the Rnying ma tradition.1 Sheshares withMa gcig lab sgron (tenth-eleventh century) the position of pre-eminentfemale exemplar with whom Tibetan Buddhist women have been identified, butshe far exceeds Ma gcig in significance for Tibetan national self-conception. Herlegend has it that she became queen of the pivotal Yar lung king Khri srong lde

1 I am grateful to Amherst College for two Faculty Research Awards, which enabled my travel toTibet in 1996 and 1998 and my discovery and research on Dri med kun dga’s biographies describedherein.

Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, no. 2 (August 2006): 1-27.www.thdl.org?id=T2719.1550-6363/2006/2/T2719.© 2006 by Janet Gyatso, Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library, and International Association of Tibetan Studies.Distributed under the THDL Digital Text License.

btsan, only to be bestowed in turn as a gift to the Indian master Padmasambhavain exchange for the master’s tantric teachings to the royal court.2 As consort ofPadmasambhava, however, Ye shes mtsho rgyal becomes a master in her ownright. In some versions of the story she achieves a veritable independence, inaddition to serving as a key mediatrix between Tibetans and their Indian guru inthe post-eleventh-century mythology surrounding Tibet’s transformation into aBuddhist land.

For close to twenty years western readers have had the luxury of two Englishtranslations (and more recently one in French as well) of a detailed and richlyinteresting account of Ye shes mtsho rgyal’s life.3 Replete with stories of herabduction by suitors, her Buddhist austerities, her eventual purchase of her ownmale consort, and even her mastery of her own rape, the tale serves, among otherthings, as a splendid tool for teaching college students about images of women inTibetan tantric Buddhism.

From a historical perspective, however, this hagiography of Ye shes mtsho rgyalleaves some important questions unanswered. It is the work of Stag sham nus ldanrdo rje (b. 1655), a visionary of the seventeenth century, and so was written somenine-hundred years after Ye shes mtsho rgyal would have lived. What sources didStag sham draw upon in conceiving the narrative? Surely some earlier versions ofthe story existed. But none are known to Tibetan historiography, and most Tibetanscholars to whom I have ever posed this question had no clue either.

More basic yet is the question of whether Ye shes mtsho rgyal is a historicalfigure at all. The problem is that none of the contemporary epigraphy ever mentionsa Ye shes mtsho rgyal, nor a Mkhar chen bza’ (her clan title), at least as far as weknow.

What follows summarizes my progress in attempting to address these questions,the first in more detail than the second, given the paucity of historical evidenceabout the eighth century in Tibet.4 In the course of this discussion I will also addressa third, larger question regarding the significance of the story of Ye shes mtshorgyal, both for Tibetan Buddhist narratives about the past more generally, and withrespect to the image of the female in Tibetan Buddhist practice. That significance

2Mentioned inClear Mirror Royal Chronicle (Rgyal rabs gsal ba’i me long), interlinear note (added,according to Sørensen, soon after the author’s death): Per Sørensen, Tibetan Buddhist Historiography:The Mirror Illuminating the Royal Genealogies (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1994), 369n1200,373nn1229-30.3Nammkha’i snying po,Mother of Knowledge: The Enlightenment of Ye-shes mTsho-rgyal, translated

by Tarthang Tulku (Berkeley: Dharma Publishing, 1983); Keith Dowman, Sky Dancer: The Secret Lifeand Songs of the Lady Yeshe Tsogyal (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984); and GyalwaTchangtchoub and Namkhai Nyingpo, La Vie de Yéshé Tsogyal Souveraine du Tibet (Paris: EditionsPadmakara, 1995). The Tibetan text is Stag sham rdo rje, Mkha’ ’gro ye shes mtsho rgyal gyi rnamthar (Chengdu: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1989).4Much detail and documentation has been omitted from this paper because of limitations on length;

this data will be provided in full with my publication of the translation of the Dri med kun dga’biography.

2Gyatso: A Partial Genealogy of the Lifestory of Ye shes mtsho rgyal

has in turn some impact on our understanding of how the various versions of herlife developed.

Regarding first the most basic matter – is Ye shes mtsho rgyal a historical figure?– we are still not in a position to assert without doubt that there was an early Tibetanfemale master of tantric yoga called Ye shes mtsho rgyal or evenMkhar chen bza’.I can say at least that there is consistency throughout the sources discussed belowin locating her birth date in a bird year and her birthplace in the district of Sgrags,but there are discrepancies in these same sources concerning the names of herparents and suitors. There is a brief mention of Mkhar chen bza’ mtsho rgyal insome versions of the Chronicle of Ba (Sba bzhed). Interestingly, this work seemsitself to be responding to the historical question of why there are no inscriptionsabout her by saying that she was one of the wives of Khri srong lde btsan who wasengaged in meditative practice and therefore left no legacy (phyag ris).5However,this statement is not to be found in the apparently earlier version of the Chronicleof Ba recently published.6

Mkhar chen bza’ mtsho rgyal is in any event known to the historian Mkhas palde’u (thirteenth century?) as one of eight ladies who did not hold political powerbut who built royal tombs, and who received initiations from Padmasambhavaalongside the king.7 In addition there is a relatively early attribution of specialVajrakīla virtuosity to Ye shes mtsho rgyal, as found for example in Rnying mabka’ ma materials,8 as well as in the Padmasambhava hagiographical traditionbeginning at least by the time of Nyang ral nyi ma ’od zer (1136-1204), who alsolists her as one of the queens.9 In general, the references to her aristocraticaffiliations in these sources fits with what is said about many other figures fromthe same period who are also not mentioned in inscriptions but whose existence

5 Sba bzhed ces bya ba las sba gsal snang gi bzhed pa (Beijing: Mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1980), 54.This statement is repeated by Nyang ral nyi ma ’od zer, Byang chub sems dpa’i sems dpa’ chen pochos rgyal mes dpon rnam gsum gyi rnam thar rin po che’i phreng ba (Paro: Ugyen Tempai Gyaltsen,1980), 228.6 Pasang Wangdu and Hildegard Diemberger, dBa’ bzhed: The Royal Narrative Concerning the

Bringing of the Buddha’s Doctrine to Tibet (Vienna: Verlag der Osterreichischen Akademie derWissenschaften, 2000).7Mkhas pa lde’u, Rgya bod kyi chos ’byung rgyas pa (Lha sa: Bod rang skyong ljongs spyi tshogs

tshan rig khang, 1987), 379.8 See especially Rdo rje phur pa’i bshad ’bum slob dpon rnam gsum gyis dgongs pa slob dpon chen

po padmas mkhar chen bza’ la gdams pa, in Two Rare Vajrakīla Teachings from the MiraculousLotus-Born Gu-ru Rin-po-che Padmasambhava (Gangtok: Gonpo Tseten, 1976), 20-22. [Also in Rnyingma bka’ ma rgyas pa (Darjeeling: Dupjung Lama, 1982), 10:241- 245.] See also Sog zlog pa blo grosrgyal mtshan, Dpal rdo rje phur pa’i lo rgyus chos kyi ’byung gnas ngo mtshar rgya mtsho’i rba rlabs,inCollectedWritings of Sog-bzlog-pa Blo-gros-rgyal-mtshan (NewDelhi: Sanje Dorji, 1975), 1:133-145,and ’Jigs med gling pa, Phur pa rgyud lugs las chos ’byung ngo mtshar snang byed, in Rnying ma bka’ma rgyas pa, 7:5-14.9 Nyang ral, Slob dpon padma ’byung gnas kyi skyes rabs chos ’byung nor bu’i phreng ba, in Slob

dpon padma’i rnam thar zangs gling ma (Chengdu: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1989), 118. Sheis also credited with the ability to raise the dead: Nyang ral, Chos ’byung me tog snying po sbrang rtsi’ibcud (Lha sa: Bod rang skyong ljongs spyi tshogs tshan rig khang gi bod yig dpe rnying dpe skrunkhang, 1988), 342. See also Bla ma rgyud pa’i gsol ’debs, in Nyang ral nyi ma ’od zer, Bka’ brgyadbde gsegs ’dus pa’i chos skor (Dalhousie: Damchoe Sangpo, 1977), 1:7.

3Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 2 (August 2006)

we do not doubt. Were it not for the enormous cult that has constellated aroundYe shes mtsho rgyal, there might be no particular reason to question the historicityof a queen named Mkhar chen bza’. That cult is of course deeply indebted to thestory of her life; the rest of this essay will study the history and significance of thatstory.

As for the history of narratives of her life, my most dramatic contribution is mydiscovery of a full-length biography of Ye shes mtsho rgyal from the 1300s whichwas almost certainly an important source for Stag sham. But before describingthat, the biographical fragments that are older yet should be summarized. As alreadynoted, she is mentioned in some versions of the Chronicle of Ba as one of thequeens of Khri srong lde btsan and a virtuoso of meditative practice. The so-called“Mistress’ Way” (Jo mo lugs), “Lady’s Way” (Lcam lugs), and especially the“Black Hundred Thousand” (’Bum nag) of the Rnying ma bka’ ma Vajrakīlatradition preserves stories concerning Ye shes mtsho rgyal’s receipt of Kīlateachings along with other aristocratic ladies such as Lcog ro bza’ and Ngam ’dregsal le. It also mentionsMtsho rgyal’s transmission of those teachings to her brotherDpal gyi dbang phyug,10 and her display of mastery by, for example, controllinga fire in the forests around ’Chims phu.11 Another episode in the Bka’ ma, knownalso to Mkhas pa lde’u, occurs after her receipt of a Kīla initiation alongside Khrisrong lde btsan. When Padmasambhava pronounces her a ḍākinī, the kingskeptically questions her abilities by challenging her to travel to Akaniṣṭha andother heavens to retrieve some of his family’s lost royal treasures, a test she canpass only with the help of Padmasambhava.12 This interesting episode, whichdisappears in the later hagiographies, suggests the king’s doubt or even jealousyabout Mtsho rgyal’s tantric practices.13

A further question about the place of Ye shes mtsho rgyal’s relationship withKhri srong lde btsan in her hagiography concerns the fact that the earliestbiographical sketch of her that we have, which is in Nyang ral’s hagiography ofPadmasambhava, fails to mention her connection to the king at all. Nyang raldescribes her simply as the daughter of Mkhar chen dpal gyi dbang phyug.14Nyangral states at the age of sixteen she was taken as a consort by Padmasambhava toTi sgro, Bsgrags, and Mchims phu bre gu dge’u for secret tantric practices, andthat she later achieved virtuosity in the Kīla sādhanas and could raise the dead.She also attained the dhāranī of non-forgetting, for which reason she could record

10 See note 8 above and note 14 below.11 Rdo rje phur pa’i bshad ’bum, 22 (245).12Mkhas pa lde’u, Chos ’byung, 347-48. See also Sog zlog pa, Rdo rje phur pa’i lo rgyus, 134-36.13 As suggested also by Dri med ’od zer, Gter ’byung rin po che’i lo rgyus, in Snying thig ya bzhi

(Delhi: Sherab Gyaltsen Lama, 1975-79), vol. 7 (Mkha’ ’gro yang thig, part 1): 88. In this versionMtsho rgyal stays in Akaniṣṭha for three years.14There seems to be some confusion about the identity of this figure. In some sources, e.g., Sog zlog

pa, Rdo rje phur pa’i lo rgyus, 143, this is Mtsho rgyal’s brother.

4Gyatso: A Partial Genealogy of the Lifestory of Ye shes mtsho rgyal

the Treasure (gter ma) text of Padmasambhava’s life.15But in other contexts Nyangral certainly does know Mkhar chen bza’ mtsho rgyal to be an imperial queen, forexample in his account of Tibet’s kings where he repeats the Chronicle of Bastatement already mentioned.16 Nyang ral’s own autobiographical material evenclaims that his wife Jo ’bum ma was an emanation of Ye shes mtsho rgyal, whilehe himself was Khri srong lde btsan.17

That Ye shes mtsho rgyal’s story is important enough to Nyang ral that he deemshis own wife to be her emanation is in keeping with his keenness for thePadmasambhava mythos, of which he was probably the principal architect. A keyelement of that mythos is in fact its emphasis on heterosexual yoga, the principalfacilitator of which in the story is Ye shes mtsho rgyal herself. None of thisnecessarily means that Nyang ral was a proto-feminist, however. Witness hisreference to his son ’Gro ba’i mgon po’s body with the honorific sku, but to thebody of his wife (and emanation of Ye shes mtsho rgyal!) with the non-honorificlus, all in the same sentence.18

Gu ru chos dbang (1212-70), the next major contributor to the Padmasambhavatradition, fares better. Gu ru chos dbang significantly enhanced Mtsho rgyal’sstatus by converting the already-current phrase “lord and subjects” (rje ’bangs),to a new compound “lord, subject, and friend trio” (rje ’bangs grogs gsum) – thatis, Khri srong lde btsan, Nam mkha’ snying po, and Mkhar chen bza’. “Lord,subject, and friend trio” is Gu ru chos dbang’s recurrent gloss for the principalrecipients of Padmasambhava’s teachings.19 (“Friend” is a standard euphemismfor tantric consort.) In this, he put Ye shes mtsho rgyal at the same level as theking and the nobleman who were Padmasambhava’s main students in the myth.

More significant yet is an important indication that Gu ru chos dbang may havebeen the first author of a full-length lifestory of Ye shes mtsho rgyal. I will returnto this discovery below.

Ye shes mtsho rgyal continues to appear in the Treasure literature after Gu ruchos dbang, although precious little is made of her elsewhere. She is entirely

15 Nyang ral, Zangs gling ma, 113. Regarding Jo mo mtsho rgyal’s attainment of the dhāranī ofnon-forgetting, see the colophon, p. 193. Ti sgro is only mentioned by Nyang ral, Rnam thar gsol ’debs,in Zangs gling ma, 198. See also Nyang ral’s question and answer text (zhus lan) between Mtsho rgyaland Padmasambhava, which adds other places that Ye shes mtsho rgyal stayed, and states that shebecame Padmasambhava’s consort at age 13: extracts from this work are translated in Yeshe Tsogyal,Dakini Teachings: Padmasambhava’s Oral Instructions to Lady Tsogyal, trans. Erik Pema Kunsang(Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1990).16 See note 5 above.17He characterizes her as “sgrub rten du ye shes mtsho rgyal gyi sprul pa.” Nyang ral, Bka’ brgyad

bde gshegs ’dus pa’i gter ston myang sprul sku nyi ma ’od zer gyi rnam thar gsal ba’i me long, in Bka’brgyad bde gsegs ’dus pa’i chos skor (Paro: Lama Ngodrup, 1979-80), 2:343-46. This text switchesback and forth between first person accounts told with non-honorific verbs (often in narratives of dreamsof meditative experiences) and third person narrative told with honorific verbs.18 ...mtsho rgyal gyi sprul pa/ jo ’bum ma’i lus la sku bltams/ spre’u’i lo la...sku ’khrungs so/: Nyang

ral, Rnam thar, 354.19 As in Gu ru chos dbang, Bka’ brgyad gsang ba yongs rdzogs kyi dbang chog chen mo, in Bka’

brgyad bsan ba yons rdzogs (Paro: Ngodrup and Sherab Drimay, 1979), 2:398.

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missing from Bu ston’s history, and appears only to be mentioned once, and noteven by name, in the Blue Annals’ account of the Vajrakīla lineages. In contrast,she figures fairly frequently in theHeart-Sphere of the Dakinis (Mkha’ ’gro snyingtig), a key Treasure cycle put together in the fourteenth century.20 Although thiscycle is officially preached to Lha lcam padma gsal,21 the resuscitated daughter ofKhri srong lde btsan, Ye shes mtsho rgyal shows up in a curious detail of the story,when Padmasambhava summons her after the king faints upon learning of hisdaughter’s death. The “poor-minded woman” Ye shes mtsho rgyal takes a whitescarf from her head and sprinkles sandalwood water which revives the king.22 Thisis another isolated episode that does not appear in the major biographies of Yeshes mtsho rgyal, and I wonder about its significance.

Ye shes mtsho rgyal’s main function in the Heart-Sphere of the Dakinis seemsto be, as it is elsewhere, the recorder of the Treasure. But a question and answertext (zhus lan) included in the cycle does provide this striking statement about herby Padmasambhava: “Mtsho rgyal... I have searched all over Tibet and you arethe only one I found who is keeping the tantric commitments (dam tshig).”23 Thisis a rather strong claim, and the fact that it is the Heart-Sphere of the Dakinis thatmakes it most appropriate. Although Ye shes mtsho rgyal is not herself the star ofthis cycle, the Heart-Sphere of the Dakinis is precisely what makes way for hercult to develop thereafter. By being one of the first places in which Great Perfectionand consort yoga are brought together and both attributed to Padmasambhava, thiscycle marks the inception of the full imperial reign of Padmasambhava over theRnying ma tradition. That in turn entails the momentous significance ofPadmasambhava’s own consort activity, especially with his Tibetan “friend,” Yeshes mtsho rgyal.24

It is not surprising that Klong chen rab ’byams pa (1308-1363) appears to bementioned as one of the prophecied Treasure “holders” of Ye shes mtsho rgyal’sbiography, although I have not yet found any evidence that he did produce such awork.25He does provide a brief overview of her life, however, in one of his historiesof the Heart-Sphere of the Dakinis. This overview is fairly idiosyncratic in itsnames for her parents and birthplace, suggesting that he was drawing on abiographical source different than the ones I have identified so far. But otherwise,

20 I discussed the role of Ye shes mtsho rgyal in this cycle in “The Heart Sphere of the Ḍākinīs: ThePlace of the Female in Tibetan Myth,” a paper delivered at the American Academy of Religion, 1995.David Germano provides detailed information on the history of the Heart-Sphere of the Dakinis cyclein his book manuscript Prophetic Histories of Buddhas, Ḍākinīs and Saints in Tibet.21 Nonetheless, some texts in the cycle are addressed to Mtsho rgyal, such as ḍākki’i lam ’bras kyi

skor and the key text Zhus len bdud rtsi gser phreng.22Dri med ’od zer, Gter ’byung rin po che’i lo rgyus, 89-90. The phrase “poor-minded woman” (blo

dman bud med) is from a similar story in O rgyan gling pa, Padma bka’ thang (Chengdu: Si khron mirigs dpe skrun khang, 1993), 536.23 Zhus len bdud rtsi gser phreng, in Snying thig ya bzhi (Delhi: Sherab Gyaltsen Lama, 1975-79)

vol. 11 (Mkha’ ’gro snying thig, part 2): 29.24 This point develped in Gyatso, “The Heart Sphere of the Ḍākinīs.”25Dri med ’od zer is so prophecied in Dri med kun dga’,Mtsho rgyal dbu, f. 62a.

6Gyatso: A Partial Genealogy of the Lifestory of Ye shes mtsho rgyal

Klong chen pa refers to the standard episodes about her beauty, the king’s gift ofher to Padmasambhava, her consort activity with Padmasambhava, her own tantricvirtuosity, and her participation in the recording of Padmasambhava’s teachings.26

Other fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Treasure sources show varying degreesof knowledge about, and interest in, Ye shes mtsho rgyal’s life (I am setting asideher frequent appearance in visions and sādhanas). She continues to bePadamsambhava’s interlocutor in a question and answer text of the Treasures ofRdo rje gling pa (1346-1405) and Sangs rgyas gling pa (1340-1396). The onlything that Bsod nams rgyal mtshan’s (1312-75)ClearMirror Royal Chronicle saysabout her is to list her with the other consorts of Khri srong lde btsan.27 O rgyangling pa’s (c.1323-1360) Testament of the Queen (Btsun mo’i bka’ thang) also hasher as one of the five queens.28 O rgyan gling pa is another one of the prophecieddiscoverers of Ye shes mtsho rgyal’s biography, but again, such a work by him isnot currently in evidence. However, his hagiography of Padmasambhava doesname her parents, and has a few lines summarizing her life as a self-effacingdevoted nun disciple of the master, adding she had no offspring.29

If neither Klong chen pa nor O rgyan gling pa have a full biography of ourheroine, another visionary active in approximately the same period, and the authorof the very prophecies of Klong chen pa and O rgyan gling pa just mentioned,seems to represent a quantum leap forward in the fortunes of Ye shes mtsho rgyal.His biography of Ye shes mtsho rgyal is my dramatic discovery that I alluded toabove. This work may well be the oldest full length story of her life that survives.I discovered a blockprint edition of it in 1996 in Lhasa, with the help of Jake Dalton.I later found other versions in Lhasa as a well. I am preparing a translation of thetext which I plan to publish; if I can obtain a copy of two other manuscript editionsof the text which I now know exist, I would like to publish an edition of the Tibetanas well.

The work, usually entitled something like The Lifestory of Yeshé Tsogyel,30 isthe revelation of a lesser-known Treasure discoverer, Dri med kun dga’ snying

26Dri med ’od zer, Gter ’byung rin po che’i lo rgyus, 86-90, 105, 109. See also Khro rgyal rdo rje,Slob dpon rnam gsum gyi dgongs pa phur ṭī ka ’bum nag lugs kyi dbang chog lag len du bsdebs pamtsho rgyal zhal lung, in Rnying ma bka’ ma rgyas pa, 10:630, mentioning an important vision byNgag gi dbang po or Padma las ’brel rtsal (= Klong chen pa) of Ye shes mtsho rgyal and her consort.27 The interlinear notes do add that she was offered by the king as a consort of Padmasambhava, at

which the ministers were displeased: see note 2 above.28 O rgyan gling pa, Btsun mo bka’ thang yig, in Bka’ thang sde lnga (Beijing: Mi rigs dpe skrun

khang, 1986), 232-33. Also O rgyan gling pa, Rgyal po’i bka’ thang, in Bka’ thang sde lnga (Beijing:Mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1986), 128, knows her as one of the recipients of the Kīla teachings fromPadmasambhava.29O rgyan gling pa, Padma bka’ thang, 705. See also pp. 3-4.30 I base the following on a block print of this text in 63 folia that was kept at the Public Library of

Lhasa, with a title page labelled simply Mtsho rgyal dbu. I was able to photocopy this text in 1996.When I went back in 1998 I found that the first ten folia of this copy are now missing. I also saw twocursive script (dbu med) manuscripts of the same work in Lhasa in 1998. One is entitled Mkha’ ’groma thams cad kyi gtso mo ye shes mtsho rgyal gyi rnam thar (46 ff.) and the other is entitled Ye shesmtsho rgyal gyi rnam par thar pa (so-called at f. 43a). I was only able to copy a few pages of the two

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po.31 He was born in a fire pig year,32 probably 1347.33 Curiously, his biographyof Ye shes mtsho rgyal seems to have been all but forgotten in recent centuries;only one of the four summaries currently available of Dri med kun dga’s own lifeeven mention that he had a lifestory (rnam thar) of Ye shes mtsho rgyal.34 Nor hasa single Tibetan scholar whom I have queried orally about Ye shes mtsho rgyal’slifestory heard of Dri med kun dga’s writing about her. But it was certainly incirculation at one time, as evidenced by the varying manuscript editions of thework still extant in Lhasa. It was surely known to Stag sham, who names a kundga’ in the prophecy of the discoverers of Ye shes mtsho rgyal’s lifestory andclearly follows Dri med kun dga’s story line in several of his own chapters of herlife, and it also spawned a partial paraphrase attributed to Padma gling pa as wellas a recent Bon po version.35Moreover, one chapter fromDri med kun dga’s work,

manuscripts. The three versions of the text have interesting differences. Words and locutions are oftenchanged and one of the manuscripts even provides an entirely different name for the heroine’s father,viz., Sangs rgyas ye shes.31He also has a Treasure cycle on Avalokiteśvara: Dri med kun dga’, Thugs rje chen po ye shes ’od

mchog, 2 vols. (Dalhousie: Damchoe Sangpo, 1978). He also wrote a biography of Mitrayogin calledBstan pa gsal ba’i sgron me. Biographical sketches of him are as follows:

1. Mkhyen rab rgya mtsho, Sangs rgyas bstan pa’i chos ’byung dris lan nor bu’i ’phreng ba(Gangtok: Dzongsar Chhentse Labrang, 1981), 391-93.

2. Kun bzang nges don klong yangs, Bod du byung ba’i gsang sngags snga ’gyur gyi bstan’dzin skyes mchog rim byon gyi rnam thar nor bu’i do shal (A Concise History of theNyingmapa Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism) (Dalhousie: Damchoe Sangpo, 1976), ff.129a-130b.

3. Gu ru bkra shis, Bstan pa’i snying po gsang chen snga ’gyur nges don zab mo’i chos kyi’byung ba gsal bar byed pa’i legs bshad mkhas pa dga’ byed ngo mtshar gtam gyi rol mtsho(n.p.: Jamyang Khentse, n.d.), 2:736-42.

4. Kong sprul blo gros mtha’ yas, Zab mo’i gter dang gter ston grub thob ji ltar byon pa’i lorgyus mdor bsdus bkod pa rin chen baiḍurya’i phreng ba, in Rin chen gter mdzod chen mo(Paro: Ngodrup and Sherap Drimay, 1976), 1:529-532.

Dudjom Rimpoche’s (Bdud ’jom rin po che) history fails to give a biographical sketch of Dri medkun dga’, although it does quote him (as does Kong sprul) on the question of how many Treasurediscoverers there will be: Dudjom Rimpoche, The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: ItsFundamentals and History, trans. Gyurme Dorje andMatthewKapstein (Boston:Wisdom Publications,1991), 1:935. Note that the listing for “Trime Kunga” in the index of The Nyingma School (vol. 2)refers the reader to Trime Lingpa (Dri med gling pa) but this identification is incorrect: it reflects acontemporary tendency to confuse Dri med kun dga’ with Dri med gling pa, who lived in the eighteenthcentury, and was a teacher of ’Jigs med gling pa.32Kong sprul specifies that this was a female year, while Gu ru bkra shis specifies a male year. The

other biographical sketches do not specify.33 E. Gene Smith, introduction to Kongtrul’s Encyclopaedia of Indo-Tibetan Culture, Parts 1-3, ed.

Lokesh Chandra (New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1970), 12, gives Dri med kundga’s birth date as 1357, but this seems to be an error. We can assume he lived no earlier than the sixthtwelve-year calendrical unit (rab byung), since the prophecy in his Ye shes mtsho rgyal biographymentions Dri med ’od zer, who we assume is Klong chen pa (1308-1363), and O rgyan gling pa (c.1323-1360), and no later than Padma gling pa (1450-1521). He is regularly listed as one of “the threeDri meds,” who seem to be rough contemporaries, and one of which is Klong chen pa, so it seemslikely that his birthdate is in the fourteenth century as indicated.34Kun bzang, Nor bu’i do shal.35 I am preparing a separate article on an incomplete and simplified paraphrase attributed to Padma

gling pa. The Bon po rendition of Mtsho rgyal’s life is discussed further below.

8Gyatso: A Partial Genealogy of the Lifestory of Ye shes mtsho rgyal

concerning Mtsho rgyal’s rescue of the evil Shita (var. Shantipa) from hell, waspublished separately in its own block print edition, which I also found in Lhasa,and reportedly there is another version of this smaller work in Lhasa as well.

The biographical sketches of Dri med kun dga’s life tell us little beyond thefacts that he was born in Grwa phyi mda’ khang dmar and studied at Grwa phyichu bzang. Later he went to Bsam yas ’chims phu where he had various Treasurerevelations, and finally stayed in Kong po lhun brag36where he built a retreat centerfor tantric practitioners (sngags pa).37 Why this particular figure was inspired towrite a full-length lifestory of Ye shes mtsho rgyal is far from clear. What is clearis that he produced a considerable saga, with beautifully portrayed characters anda sustained story line that are rare in Tibetan writing; the work is an interestingprecursor to such literary masterpieces as the fifteenth-century Gtsang smyon’sbiography of Mi la ras pa. In some ways reminiscent of the moving account ofemotional travails in Aśvaghoṣa’sBuddhacarita, Dri med kun dga’s tale nonethelessmimics few of the Indic kāvya literary devices that we sometimes find in otherTibetan Buddhist narratives. Rather he preserves what I would say is a distinctivelyTibetan aesthetic, for example in the clever and yet deeply-felt exchanges betweenthe courting Zur mkhar38 prince and the reluctant heroine, or in the preoccupationwith visionary journey and tests of skill and endurance, or in the dramaturgicalsegways facilitated by magical skulls and flying carpets that transport the heroinefrom one scene to the next.

Here is an overview of the story: After a brief description of her royal familyand birth in a village in Sgrags in central Tibet, the story begins in detail with theevents of her sixteenth year, when her hand is sought by a prince of the Indiankingdom “Bhidzara” and by the Tibetan prince from Zur mkhar. She refuses both,preferring to practice Dharma. After being roughed up by her father’s ownministers,she is finally banished from the kingdom and takes up residence in a forest retreat.The Tibetan prince pursues her there and attempts forcibly to bring her back to hiskingdom, but she prays to the deities, and is rescued by a youth with a topknotwho turns out to be Padmasambhava. The latter is almost always called “Oḍiyana”(i.e., Oḍḍiyāna) in this work, as well as “Padmasambhava,” “Oḍiyana mkhan poPadmasambhava,” or other variants on the name Padma, and occasionally “Gu rurin po che” in this work.

Padmasambhava/Oḍiyana gives her a magical ring to wear on her hand, andthe two escape to Bsam yas ’chings phu (i.e., ’Chims phu), leaving behind twomagical automatons for her frustrated suitors. In the second chapter,Padmasambhava/Oḍiyana transmits Great Perfection teachings to her and instructsher to practice in ’Chings phu for twelve years while he goes to India. After onemonth, a white woman appears at the door of her hut and leads her on a longvisionary journey to Padma bkod (this is a notably early reference in Tibetan

36Var. Kong po lhun grags.37 This place was further established by his disciple Mtshan ldan gzhon nu sangs rgyas.38Vars. Zur mo mkhar, Zung mo mkhar, and Zungs mo mkhar.

9Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 2 (August 2006)

literature to this hidden land). Here she witnesses many frightening austerities, alllessons to help her develop her own faith and diligence in practice. After succeedingin a variety of feats, including beheading a tiger, she gains access to an elaboratepalacewhere she receives esoteric initiations from several vidyādharas and buddhas.She returns to ’Chings phu and after a year is robbed by seven bandits whom shethen converts to Buddhist practice. She proceeds with the bandits on a magic carpetto the place Oḍḍiyāna where they all receive peaceful and wrathful deity practice(zhi khro) initiations from a vidyādhara, who gives her the secret name Mkharchen bza’ and cavorts in bliss with her. In the third chapter she returns to ’Chingsphu and finally meets Oḍiyana again who is back from India. A question andanswer (zhus lan) session ensues, which becomes the vehicle for the master toexpound on tantric and Great Perfection practice. The fourth chapter briefly liststhemany other places in Tibet where Padmasambhava/Oḍiyana gave her teachingsfrom the nine yānas. In the fifth chapter, she is joined by a slew of other aristocraticwomen to receive more Great Perfection teachings, after which twenty-five womenbecome siddhas. She is then challenged to prove that she can help other beings bydescending to hell to rescue the evil Shita/Shantipa, which she does, receiving adidactic message along the way about the inexorability of karma and its result. Atthe close of the episode, the wrathful deity who challenged her to the test namesher Mkha’ ’gro ye shes mtsho rgyal, the first time this name appears in the work;thereafter she is almost always called by that name instead of the title used up tothat point, “Lady” (Lha lcam). In the sixth chapter she receives teachings andprophecies of her future emanations in Tibet, and is exhorted to hidePadmasambhava’s Treasure texts. The final chapter elaborates that same prophecyand the degenerate times that lie ahead. Here the five whowill “hold” her biographyare listed. The reader is also told that the author of the biography is Bandhe sangsrgyas ye shes, who hides it as a Treasure. Then Padmasambhava andYe shesmtshorgyal spend another sixty years together taming beings, and he finally leaves. Shethen becomes a buddha, just like Samantabhadrī.

Much of the basic outline of this story will be familiar to those who have readthe Stag sham version. There are, however, several salient differences. Mostnoticeably, Dri med kun dga’ names his heroine Lha lcam padma lcam, or Lhalcam for short, a title virtually unknown for Ye shes mtsho rgyal elsewhere, whereshe is usually either Jo mo or Mkha’ ’gro. Furthermore, she only gets herwell-known clan title Mkhar chen bza’ at the end of the work, as a secret initiatoryname, and her most common name Ye shes mtsho rgyal also only appears at theend.39 I wonder too about the signficance of making Sangs rgyas ye shes the imputedoriginal author of Dri med kun dga’s story, rather than Nammkha’ snying po, whotells Stag sham’s biography. There are other curious differences too, like the factthat her first suitor is from India rather than the Dpal gyi gzhon nu of Mkhar chudescribed by Stag sham. But perhaps the most significant divergence representedby the Dri med kun dga’ biography is, again, the complete lack of any referenceto Ye shes mtsho rgyal’s marriage to Khri srong lde btsan. Rather, she goes

39Dri med kun dga’,Mtsho rgyal dbu, f. 59a .

10Gyatso: A Partial Genealogy of the Lifestory of Ye shes mtsho rgyal

immediately from her struggles with her suitors into the orbit of Padmasambhava.More broadly, what this difference means is that Dri med kun dga’s story lacksthe leitmotif of the outraged Tibetan ministers, nor does it make the detour intoTibetan history and competition with the Bon pos that Ye shes mtsho rgyal’s storybecomes the site for in Stag sham’s and other later versions of her life.

The stories are otherwise closely related, but quite different in style and structure.Each version also gives very different weight to the many episodes that they share,and narrates them with independent wording. It seems on reflection that they bothare dependent upon yet some other version(s). Stag sham knows of some incidentsin the life of Ye shes mtsho rgyal which he does not recount but only mentionsbriefly, referring the reader to other sources for details.40 Some of these incidentsare indeed to be found in detail in Dri med kun dga’s biography, for example, herextraction of Shita from hell, and her tour of various pure lands and sight ofgruesome self-mutilations. But other incidents that Stag sham mentions, like herserving of many ḍākinīs, is not to be recognized in the biography by Dri med kundga’ either. Moreover, various passages in Dri med kun dga’ curiously seem to bedependent upon certain elements in Stag sham, although this is impossible; ratherwhat is actually indicated is that Dri med kun dga’ summarizes a section of anolder source that Stag sham also drew upon but in more detail. For example,although Dri med kun dga’ makes a lot of Ye shes mtsho rgyal’s rescue ofShita/Shantipa, devoting an entire chapter to it, he fails to mention this evil ministerin the earlier part of the story, when he commits the very abuses of the heroinethat land him in hell in the first place. Stag sham, on the other hand, mentionsShantipa several times in the early torture scenes, but later only refers with oneline to Mtsho rgyal’s rescue of him.

Further clues about the sources of Dri med kun dga’ and Stag sham’s biographiesmight be had from their prophecies, placed in the mouth of Ye shes mtsho rgyalherself, of future discoverers of her biographies: Dri med kun dga’s work providesfive names and Stag sham’s a full nine.41 As is well known, prophecies in theTreasure literature often recount what has already happened, so we can presumethat these prophesied figures actually represent previous redactors of biographiesof the heroine upon which the present one draws. However, some of the names

40Among the sources to which Stag sham, Rnam thar, makes reference for other accounts of the lifeof Ye shes mtsho rgyal are a Lung byang chen mo (230); a purported record of teachings received (gsanyig) (30 and 84); biographies of Padmasambhava (169); a longer account of her vision of pure lands(89); longer accounts of her journey into hell and rescue of Shantipa (184); and longer accounts of herserving many ḍākinīs and travelling through sixty-two pure lands (183).41 Dri med kun dga’, Mtsho rgyal dbu, f. 62a, mentions these names: Chos kyi dbang phyug from

the area of Lho mon; Oṭiyana gling pa of Gra mo yar; Dri med ’od zer of Mon bu thang; Padma badzraof Bkra shis gzhong lung; and Dri med kun dga’ snying po of Gra mda’ khang dmar (= Dri med kundga’). Stag sham, Rnam thar, 238, lists nine: Chos dbang; Bkra shis from La stod; Rdo rje who is calledDpa’ bo from Lho rong (= Stag sham?); Ra dza from Sham po; Rdo rje from Spu bo; Kun dga’ fromthe east (= Dri med kun dga’?); and finally three women. Stag sham’s prophecy also states here thatthere will be three versions of the lifestory, a long one hidden at Zab bu ri rtse; a medium one hiddenat Lho rong Khams, which is Stag sham’s version; and a brief one hidden at Lho brag gnam skas can.

11Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 2 (August 2006)

provided may refer merely to hypothetical individuals; and in any case, all of thenames are abbreviated and therefore rarely definitive.

Nonetheless, there is exciting evidence that at least one of these names, a certainChos dbang, does indeed refer to an actual previous biographer of Ye shes mtshorgyal.42 One of the manuscript versions of Dri med kun dga’s biography quotes apassage from what is called the Collected Works of Chöwang (Chos dbang bka’’bum)43 in the course of describing Ye shes mtsho rgyal’s death (which, oddlyenough, is not described at all in the other versions of Dri med kun dga’s work44).The quotation states that after Padmasambhava left for Rnga yab gling, Lha lcam(Mtsho rgyal) lived and meditated in Lho brag mkhar chu for two more months.45Then, on the morning of the tenth of the second month, she rode a sunbeam andmerged indistinguishably with Padmasambhava in a mansion of light. Thisfortuitous interpolation provides definitive evidence of yet another biography ofYe shes mtsho rgyal, otherwise unknown to us at present, from the oevre of oneChos dbang. It is not certain that this person is the famed thirteenth-century Treasurediscoverer (gter ston) Gu ru chos dbang, but it is likely, for he is regularly referredto as Chos dbang. In any event, this rendition of Ye shes mtsho rgyal’s life in theCollected Works of Chöwang was still available when this particular version ofDri med kun dga’s work was being copied. Hopefully the single quoted passageis not all of the earlier text which survives now.

The simple account of Ye shes mtsho rgyal’s death from the biography of Chosdbang probably represents an early moment in the development of theMtsho rgyalstory. It certainly contrasts strikingly with the lengthy and glorified description ofher death in our most well-known hagiography of Mtsho rgyal by Stag sham. drimed kun dga’s biography would seem to represent a middle point in thisdevelopment, focusing as it does upon the psychological and personal dimensionsof Mtsho rgyal’s story, cast largely as the drama of an individual woman on ajourney to enlightenment. By the time the story is told by Stag sham, virtuallyevery detail ofMtsho rgyal’s life has become an indication of her glorified sainthoodand her status as a key player in the grand drama of the conversion of Tibet toBuddhism. This grand status is only further consolidated in a twentieth-centuryBon po version of Ye shes mtsho rgyal’s life, which has also come to our attention.This rendition is part of a collection of biographies of female tantric masters,studied recently by Donatella Rossi, which were revealed as Treasure by Bde chendbangmo in 1918 and included in the recent Ling shan edition of the Bönpo Canon

42 He is mentioned in both Stag sham, Rnam thar, 238, and Dri med kun dga’, Mtsho rgyal dbu, f.62a.43 From Dri med kun dga’,Mkha’ ’gro ma thams cad kyi gtso mo ye shes mtsho rgyal gyi rnam thar,

ff. 45b-46a: chos dbang bka’ ’bum las/ des slob dpon rnga yab la gshegs te/ lha lcam thugs skyo basngang nas lho brag mkhar chur bsgrub pa la bzhugs pas/ zla ba gnyis song ba’i tshes bcu’i snga dronyi zer la chibs te slob dpon dang dbyer med ’od kyi zhal yas su gshegs so zer ba ’dug go/44 This might indicate that the entire passage on her death is a later interpolation.45 Like Dri med kun dga’, Chos dbang calls her Lha lcam.

12Gyatso: A Partial Genealogy of the Lifestory of Ye shes mtsho rgyal

(Bon po bka’ ’gyur).46 Bde chen dbang mo’s version of Mtsho rgyal’s life sees herstory from the perspective of the hagiography of Padmasambhava, as already foundin Stag sham. But it goes way beyond Stag sham’s detour into the Buddhist-Bonpo contest under Khri srong lde btsan to insert into the narrative of Ye shes mtshorgyal’s life also a detailed Tibetan geography, a theogony, a royal history, and arecap of virtually every major episode in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibetand its interaction with Bon – all to serve the ecumenical New Bön (Bon gsar)program for a Bon po-Buddhist reconciliation.

In the modern Bon po rendition it is clearer than ever how the king’s gift of Yeshes mtsho rgyal to Padmasambhava as a sexual yogic consort is essential fortantric religion to be brought to Tibet.47 It makes her the first (and virtually only)Tibetan to receive Padmasambhava’s tantric transmission directly, as it were. Andit serves violently – but effectively – to disrupt the patriarchal propriety of the oldorder. If these two points are at the heart of the Ye shes mtsho rgyal cult, as Ibelieve they are, we cannot help but notice how both are saturated with thesignificance of her gender, that is, her female gender. I would like in conclusion,then, to attend briefly to the influence of Mtsho rgyal’s femaleness on thedevelopment of her lifestory.

We might first of all be tempted to ask, as many western adherents of TibetanBuddhism have done, whether Mtsho rgyal’s story evinces a proto-feminism inTibetan religion.48 The answer is mixed, at best. Yes, the needs of women areserved by the creation and presentation of a female heroine. Typically femalepredicaments are dramatized in the story, and a female perspective is frequentlyrepresented. In addition, such a heroine most certainly became a role model forreal, live women, and I suspect that creating such a female model was a motivationfor all of our biographers of Mtsho rgyal, at least in part. There can be no questionthat the story of Ye shes mtsho rgyal not only provided for Tibetans a template forthe ideal female religious life, it also created a reference point for the identificationand legitimation of female hierarchs and masters. One of the fewways to recognizea talented woman in Tibetan religious society has been to declare her an emanationof Ye shes mtsho rgyal. Several such women are operative today in Tibetan religion.

But making a place for recognition does not eradicate misogyny. Our heroineherself points to her inferiority to men on many occasions – as a woman, her birthis low, her self-regard is great, and her wisdom is small, she avers.49 Feminineweakness is even made to be intrinsic to her eminence: even the important Kīla

46 Bde chen chos kyi dbang mo, Mkha’ ’gro rgya mtsho’i rnam thar gsang ba’i mdzod, in the Bonpo bka’ ’gyur (Ling shan [Lixian] edition, c. 1985), 189: ff. 196b-278a. Rossi’s essay is due to appearin the Proceedings of the Eighth Seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies.47 See especially Bde chen, Rnam thar gsang mdzod, f. 224a seq. Alas, 224b is missing in the copy

of this text owned by University of Oslo!48 See, for example, Rita Gross, “Yeshe Tsogyal: Enlightened Consort, Great Teacher, Female Role

Model,” Tibet Journal 12, no. 4 (Winter 1987): 1-18.49Dri med kun dga’, Mtsho rgyal dbu, f. 26b; many such statements can also be located in the Stag

sham version.

13Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 2 (August 2006)

traditions that are traced to Mtsho rgyal are said to have been created because sheasked for a teaching that would be appropriately brief for her poor female mind,and would address the particularly female problem of exaggerated desire.50

The extended travails and self-denials of Dri med kun dga’s asceticMtsho rgyalare explicitly designed as a corrective to the female tendency for weak enduranceand little faith.51 Here, so low is women’s esteem that their mastery of Buddhistphilosophy is taken as one of the signal markers of the degenerate age52 – ironically,the very degenerate age that emanations ofMtsho rgyal are predicted to ameliorate.

These dismaying attitudes in the tradition of Mtsho rgyal are not surprising,given the abundant misogyny in so much of Buddhist literature. However, they doserve to make the several strikingly pro-woman statements in Stag sham’s versionall the more astonishing. In a much-remarked passage found so far only in Stagsham, Padmasambhava counters Mtsho rgyal’s complaint about the difficulties ofbeing a woman with the assertion that ultimately a woman’s body is in fact superiorto a man’s for gaining enlightenment.53 Stag sham also makes the quiteunprecedented move of depicting in detail a rape scene, usually a taboo topic, andrarely described in traditional Tibetan Buddhist literature.54 But Stag sham ingeneral is very candid about sex. Whereas Dri med kun dga’ alludes to Mtshorgyal’s coupling with several vidyādharas only elliptically, Stag sham depicts herrelations with Padmasambhava and others in exuberant prose. Most striking of all,Stag sham has Padmasambhava insist that Mtsho rgyal must obtain her own maleconsort, one of whom she famously buys in Nepal and then trains and uses in Tibet,and another of whom she acquires in Tibet.55

Stag sham’s empowerment of a female figure is virtually unprecedented inBuddhist literature, and it is intriguing indeed. In particular, his depiction offemale-dominant consort yoga provides a welcome development from the treatmentof consort yoga in the earlier Padmasambhava-Mtsho rgyal question and answerliterature, a good example of which is in fact to be found in Dri med kun dga’sbiography. There, Padmasambhava instructs Mtsho rgyal on how to recognize theideal female consort, apparently forgetting that Ye shes mtsho rgyal is herself afemale and would probably be more interested in recognizing the ideal male

50 Rdo rje phur pa’i bshad ’bum, 21. Cf. Sog zlog pa, Rdo rje phur pa’i lo rgyus, 138-39.51Dri med kun dga’,Mtsho rgyal dbu, f. 26b.52 Dri med kun dga’, Mtsho rgyal dbu, f. 61b: lta ba skye dman mtho. On a trip to Tibet in 1998, a

learned male mkhan po who was the head of a academic college (shes grwa) for nuns opined that therecent appearance of such institutions for women was a sign of degenerate times.53 Stag sham, Rnam thar, 114: sems bskyed ldan na mo lus lhag.54 Stag sham has some confusion here for in one episode seven bandits only rob her, but in a later

episode they both rob and rape her. Dri med kun dga’s story recounts only that seven bandits rob her.Dri med kun dga’s version has Mtsho rgyal spending much more time rehabilitating the bandits thanin Stag sham’s story. Dri med kun dga’ has her eventually taking them to Oṭiyana (Oḍḍiyāna), whichis what she does in the Stag sham version for the seven rapists: Dri med kun dga’, Mtsho rgyal dbu,ff. 43a-44b .55Dri med kun dga’ mentions “Atsarya sale” only in passing as one of the male siddhas at the end:

Dri med kun dga’,Mtsho rgyal dbu, f. 55b.

14Gyatso: A Partial Genealogy of the Lifestory of Ye shes mtsho rgyal

consort.56 But instead, this and other question and answer texts seem to be usingMtsho rgyal merely as a vehicle to convey teachings that are, as usual, tailored fora male audience.57 I continue to try to locate other indications of woman-focusedconsort yoga, as well as to search for the rest of the pieces in the history of thelifestory of Ye shes mtsho rgyal.

56Dri med kun dga’,Mtsho rgyal dbu, ff. 48b-49a.57 I discuss this problem in “The Heart Sphere of the Ḍākinīs.”

15Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 2 (August 2006)

GlossaryNote: Glossary entries are organized in Tibetan alphabetical order. All entrieslist the following information in this order: THDL Extended Wylie transliterationof the term, THDL Phonetic rendering of the term, English translation, Sanskritand/or Chinese equivalent, dates when applicable, and type.

Ka

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

PersonKüngakun dga’

AuthorKünzangkun bzang

AuthorKünzang NgedönLongyang

kun bzang nges donklong yangs

PlaceKongpo Lhündrakkong po lhun grags

PlaceKongpo Lhündrakkong po lhun brag

AuthorKongtrül Lodrö Tayékong sprul blo grosmtha’ yas

PersonLongchenpaklong chen pa

Person1308-63Longchen Rapjampaklong chen rab’byams pa

TextKagyé Deshek DüpéTertön Nyang TrülkuNyima ÖzergyiNamtar SelwéMelong

bka’ brgyad bdegshegs ’dus pa’i gterston myang sprul skunyi ma ’od zer gyirnam thar gsal ba’ime long

TextKagyé Deshek DüpéChökor

bka’ brgyad bdegshegs ’dus pa’i chosskor

TextKagyé SangwaYongdzokkyiWangchok Chenmo

bka’ brgyad gsang bayongs rdzogs kyidbang chog chen mo

TextKagyé SangwaYöngdzok

bka’ brgyad gsang bayongs rdzogs

TextKatang Dé Ngabka’ thang sde lnga

TextKamabka’ ma

PersonTrashibkra shis

PlaceTrashi Zhonglungbkra shis gzhong lung

Termkusku

Kha

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

PlaceKhamkhams

PersonTri Songdé Tsenkhri srong lde btsan

AuthorTrogyel Dorjékhro rgyal rdo rje

Termkhenpomkhan po

PersonKhandromkha’ ’gro

TextKhandro GyatsöNamtar Sangwé Dzö

mkha’ ’gro rgyamtsho’i rnam thargsang ba’i mdzod

16Gyatso: A Partial Genealogy of the Lifestory of Ye shes mtsho rgyal

TextualCollection

Heart-Sphere of theDakinis

Khandro Nyingtikmkha’ ’gro snying tig

TextKhandro Nyingtikmkha’ ’gro snyingthig

TextKhandromaTamchekyi TsomoYeshé TsogyelgyiNamtar

mkha’ ’gro ma thamscad kyi gtso mo yeshes mtsho rgyal gyirnam thar

TextKhandro Yangtikmkha’ ’gro yang thig

PersonKandro YeshéTsogyel

mkha’ ’gro ye shesmtsho rgyal

TextKhandro YeshéTsogyelgyi Namtar

mkha’ ’gro ye shesmtsho rgyal gyi rnamthar

PlaceKharchumkhar chu

PersonKharchen PelgyiWangchuk

mkhar chen dpal gyidbang phyug

PersonKharchen Zamkhar chen bza’

PersonKharchen Za Tsogyelmkhar chen bza’mtsho rgyal

Author; Personthirteenthcentury?

Khepa Deumkhas pa lde’u

AuthorKhyenrap Gyatsomkhyen rab rgyamtsho

AuthorKhyenrap Gyatso,Dündzin

mkhyen rab rgyamtsho, ’dul ’dzin

Ga

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

AuthorGuru Trashigu ru bkra shis

Author; Person1212-70Guru Chöwanggu ru chos dbang

PersonGuru Rinpochégu ru rin po che

PlaceDrada Khangmargra mda’ khang dmar

PlaceDramoyargra mo yar

PlaceDrachi Chuzanggrwa phyi chu bzang

PlaceDrachi Da Khangmargrwa phyi mda’ khangdmar

PersonDrowé Gönpo’gro ba’i mgon po

TextGya Bökyi ChönjungGyepa

rgya bod kyi chos’byung rgyas pa

TextGyelpo Katangrgyal po’i bka’ thang

TextClear Mirror RoyalChronicle

Gyelrap SelwéMelong

rgyal rabs gsal ba’ime long

PlaceDraksgrags

PlaceDrakbsgrags

Nga

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

PersonNgakgi Wangpongag gi dbang po

AuthorNgawang Lodröngag dbang blo gros

17Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 2 (August 2006)

PersonNgandré Salléngam ’dre gsal le

PlaceNgayaprnga yab

PlaceNgayap Lingrnga yab gling

Termtantric practitionerngakpasngags pa

Ca

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

ReligiousPractice

Lady’s WayCham Luklcam lugs

PersonChokro Zalcog ro bza’

Cha

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

PersonChökyi Wangchukchos kyi dbang phyug

PersonChöwangchos dbang

TextCollected Works ofChos-dbang

Chöwang Kambumchos dbang bka’ ’bum

TextChönjungchos ’byung

TextChöjung MetokNyingpo

chos ’byung me togsnying po

TextChöjung MetokNyingpo DrangtsiChü

chos ’byung me togsnying po sbrang rtsi’ibcud

PlaceChimpu Dregu Geumchims phu bre gudge’u

PlaceChingpu’chings phu

PlaceChimpu’chims phu

Ja

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

PersonJombummajo ’bum ma

PersonJomojo mo

PersonJomo Tsogyeljo mo mtsho rgyal

ReligiousPractice

Mistress’ WayJomo Lukjo mo lugs

Author; PersonJikmé Lingpa’jigs med gling pa

Termlord and subjectsjé bangrje ’bangs

Termlord, subject, andfriend trio

jé bang drok sumrje ’bangs grogs gsum

Nya

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

Author; PersonNyangrelnyang ral

Author; Person1136-1204Nyangrel NyimaÖzernyang ral nyi ma ’odzer

AuthorNyangrel NyimaÖzer, Ngadak

nyang ral nyi ma ’odzer, mnga’ bdag

OrganizationNyingmarnying ma

TextNyingma Kamarnying ma bka’ ma

TextNyingma KamaGyepa

rnying ma bka’ margyas pa

18Gyatso: A Partial Genealogy of the Lifestory of Ye shes mtsho rgyal

TextNyingtik Yazhisnying thig ya bzhi

TextNyingma KamaGyepa

snying ma bka’ margyas pa

Ta

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

PlaceTidroti sgro

TermTreasure discoverertertöngter ston

TextTerjung RinpochéLogyü

gter ’byung rin poche’i lo rgyus

TermTreasureTermagter ma

Author; PersonTakshamstag sham

AuthorTaksham Dorjéstag sham rdo rje

PersonTaksham NüdenDorjé

stag sham nus ldanrdo rje

TextTenpé NyingpoSangchen NgangyurNgedön ZapmöChökyi JungwaSelwar Jepé LekshéKhepa Gajé NgotsarTamgyi Röltso

bstan pa’i snying pogsang chen snga ’gyurnges don zab mo’ichos kyi ’byung bagsal bar byed pa’ilegs bshad mkhas padga’ byed ngo mtshargtam gyi rol mtsho

Tha

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

TextTukjé Chenpothugs rje chen po

TextTukjé Chenpo YeshéÖchok

thugs rje chen po yeshes ’od mchog

Da

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

Termtantriccommitments

damtsikdam tshig

NameDrimédri med

Author; PersonDrimé Küngadri med kun dga’

PersonDrimé KüngaNyingpo

dri med kun dga’snying po

PersonDrimé Lingpadri med gling pa

Author; PersonDrimé Özerdri med ’od zer

AuthorDechenbde chen

AuthorDechen ChökyiWangmo

bde chen chos kyidbang mo

PersonDechen Wangmobde chen dbang mo

Person1346-1405Dorjé Lingpardo rje gling pa

TextDorjé Purpé Logyürdo rje phur pa’i lorgyus

TextDorjé PurpéShembum

rdo rje phur pa’ibshad ’bum

19Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 2 (August 2006)

TextDorjé PurpéShembum LoppönNam Sumgyi GongpaLoppönChenpo PeméKharchenZalaDampa

rdo rje phur pa’ibshad ’bum slob dponrnam gsum gyisdgongs pa slob dponchen po padmasmkhar chen bza’ lagdams pa

Na

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

PersonNamkha Nyingponam mkha’ snying po

AuthorNamkhé Nyingponammkha’i snying po

TextNorbü Doshelnor bu’i do shal

TextNamtarrnam thar

Termlifestorynamtarrnam thar

TextNamtar Sangdzörnam thar gsangmdzod

TextNamtar Söldeprnam thar gsol ’debs

Pa

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

TextPema Katangpadma bka’ thang

PlacePema Köpadma bkod

Person1450-1521Pema Lingpapadma gling pa

PersonPema Badzrapadma badzra

PersonPema Lendreltselpadma las ’brel rtsal

PersonPawodpa’ bo

PersonPelgyi Wangchukdpal gyi dbang phyug

PersonPelgyi Zhönnudpal gyi gzhon nu

TextPel Dorjé PurpéLogyü Chökyi JungnéNgotsar Gyatsö Balap

dpal rdo rje phur pa’ilo rgyus chos kyi’byung gnas ngomtshar rgya mtsho’irba rlabs

PlacePuwospu bo

Pha

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

TextPurpa GyülukléChönjung NgotsarNangjé

phur pa rgyud lugs laschos ’byung ngomtshar snang byed

Termlegacychakriphyag ris

Ba

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

PersonBendé SanggyéYeshébandhe sangs rgyas yeshes

PersonButönbu ston

20Gyatso: A Partial Genealogy of the Lifestory of Ye shes mtsho rgyal

TextA Concise Historyof the NyingmapaTradition of TibetanBuddhism

Bödu JungwéSangngakNgangyurgyi TendzinKyechok RimjöngyiNamtar NorbüDoshel

bod du byung ba’igsang sngags snga’gyur gyi bstan ’dzinskyes mchog rim byongyi rnam thar nor bu’ido shal

LineageBönpobon po

TextBonpo CanonBönpo Kangyurbon po bka’ ’gyur

OrganizationNew BönBönsarbon gsar

TextJangchup SempéChenpo ChögyelMepön Nam SumgyiNamtar RinpochéTrengwa

byang chub semsdpa’i sems dpa’ chenpo chos rgyal mesdpon rnam gsum gyirnam thar rin po che’iphreng ba

TextLama Gyüpé Söldepbla ma rgyud pa’igsol ’debs

Termpoor-mindedwoman

lomen büméblo dman bud med

TextWangchokdbang chog

Termcursive scriptumédbu med

ReligiousPractice

Black HundredThousand

Bumnak’bum nag

TextChronicle of BaBazhésba bzhed

TextBazhé Chejawalé BaSelnanggi Zhepa

sba bzhed ces bya balas sba gsal snang gibzhed pa

Ma

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

PersonMachikma gcig

Persontenth-eleventhcentury

Machik Lapdrönma gcig lab sgron

PersonMila Repami la ras pa

TextMepön Nam Summes dpon rnam gsum

PlaceMönbu Tangmon bu thang

Tsa

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

PersonTsangnyöngtsang smyon

TextTsünmo Katangyikbtsun mo bka’ thangyig

TextTestament of theQueen

Tsünmö Katangbtsun mo’i bka’ thang

Tsha

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

PersonTsenden ZhönnuSanggyé

mtshan ldan gzhon nusangs rgyas

PersonTsogyelmtsho rgyal

TextTsogyel Umtsho rgyal dbu

21Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 2 (August 2006)

Zha

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

ReligiousPractice

peaceful andwrathful deitypractice

Zhitrozhi khro

Termquestion andanswer

zhülenzhus lan

Termquestion andanswer text

zhülenzhus lan

TextZhülen Dütsi Sertrengzhus len bdud rtsi gserphreng

Za

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

TextZanglingmazangs gling ma

PlaceZapbu Ritsézab bu ri rtse

TextZapmö Ter dangTertön Druptop JitarJönpé Logyü DordüKöpa RinchenBaiduryé Trengwa

zab mo’i gter danggter ston grub thob jiltar byon pa’i lo rgyusmdor bsdus bkod parin chen baiḍurya’iphreng ba

PlaceZungmokharzung mo mkhar

PlaceZurkharzur mkhar

PlaceZurmokharzur mo mkhar

Ya

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

PlaceYarlungyar lung

PersonYeshé Tsogyelye shes mtsho rgyal

AuthorYakdé Pencheng.yag sde paṇ chen

Ra

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

PersonRadzara dza

Termtwelve-yearcalendrical unit

rapjungrab byung

TextRinchen TerdzöChenmo

rin chen gter mdzodchen mo

La

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

PersonLatöla stod

PlaceLingshenling shan

Termlülus

Sha

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

PlaceShamposham po

Termacademic collegeshedrashes grwa

22Gyatso: A Partial Genealogy of the Lifestory of Ye shes mtsho rgyal

Sa

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

Person1340-96Sanggyé Lingpasangs rgyas gling pa

TextSanggyé TenpéChönjung DrilenNorbü Trengwa

sangs rgyas bstan pa’ichos ’byung dris lannor bu’i ’phreng ba

PersonSanggyé Yeshésangs rgyas ye shes

Authorsokdokpasog zlog pa

Authorsokdokpa LodröGyeltsen

sog zlog pa blo grosrgyal mtshan

TextLoppön NamsumgyiGongpa Pur TikaBumNak LukkyiWangchok LaklenduDeppa TsogyelZhellung

slob dpon rnam gsumgyi dgongs pa phur ṭīka ’bum nag lugs kyidbang chog lag len dubsdebs pa mtsho rgyalzhal lung

TextLoppön PemaJungnekyi KyerapChönjung NorbüTrengwa

slob dpon padma’byung gnas kyi skyesrabs chos ’byung norbu’i phreng ba

TextLoppön PeméNamtarZanglingma

slob dpon padma’irnam thar zangs glingma

Termrecord of teachingsreceived

senyikgsan yig

PlaceSamyé Chingpubsam yas ’chings phu

PlaceSamyé Chimpubsam yas ’chims phu

Person1312-75Sönam Gyeltsenbsod nams rgyalmtshan

Ha

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

PersonLadyLhachamlha lcam

PersonLhachamPemaChamlha lcam padma lcam

PersonLhacham Pemasellha lcam padma gsal

PlaceLhasalha sa

PlaceLhodrak Kharchulho brag mkhar chu

PlaceLhodrak Namkechenlho brag gnam skascan

PlaceLhomönlho mon

PlaceLhoronglho rong

A

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

PersonAtsarya Saléatsarya sale

Author; Personc.1323-60Orgyen Lingpao rgyan gling pa

PersonOtiyana Lingpaoṭiyana gling pa

Non-Tibetan

TypeDatesSanskrit/ChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

PersonSan. Aśvaghoṣa

23Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 2 (August 2006)

TextSan. Buddhacarita

TermSan. dhāranī

TermSan. kāvya

DeitySan. Kīla

PlaceSan. Oḍḍiyāna

PersonSan.Padmasambhava

DeitySan.Samantabhadrī

TermSan. sādhana

TermSan. siddha

DeitySan. Vajrakīla

TermSan. vidyādhara

TermSan. yāna

PlaceChi. Beijing

PlaceChi. Chengdu

24Gyatso: A Partial Genealogy of the Lifestory of Ye shes mtsho rgyal

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Bla ma rgyud pa’i gsol ’debs. In Nyang ral nyi ma ’od zer, Bka’ brgyad bde gsegs’dus pa’i chos skor, 1:3-12. Dalhousie: Damchoe Sangpo, 1977.

Dowman, Keith. Sky Dancer: The Secret Life and Songs of the Lady Yeshe Tsogyal.London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984.

Dri med kun dga’.Mtsho rgyal dbu. Blockprint, 63 folia.

———.Mkha’ ’gro ma thams cad kyi gtso mo ye shes mtsho rgyal gyi rnam thar.Manuscript, 46 folia.

———. Thugs rje chen po ye shes ’od mchog. 2 vols. Dalhousie: DamchoeSangpo, 1978.

Dri med ’od zer. Gter ’byung rin po che’i lo rgyus. In Snying thig ya bzhi, vol. 7(Mkha’ ’gro yang thig, part 1): 15-120. Delhi: Sherab Gyaltsen Lama, 1975-79.

DudjomRimpoche. The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentalsand History. 2 vols. Translated by Gyurme Dorje and Matthew Kapstein.Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1991.

Germano, David. Prophetic Histories of Buddhas, Ḍākinīs and Saints in Tibet.Manuscript in contract with Princeton University Press.

Gross, Rita. “Yeshe Tsogyal: Enlightened Consort, Great Teacher, Female RoleModel.” The Tibet Journal 12, no. 4 (Winter 1987): 1-18.

Gu ru bkra shis (Ngag dbang blo gros). Bstan pa’i snying po gsang chen snga’gyur nges don zab mo’i chos kyi ’byung ba gsal bar byed pa’i legs bshadmkhas pa dga’ byed ngo mtshar gtam gyi rol mtsho. 5 vols. N.p.: JamyangKhentse, n.d.

Gu ru chos dbang. Bka’ brgyad gsang ba yongs rdzogs kyi dbang chog chen mo.In Bka’ brgyad bsan ba yons rdzogs, 2:391-493. Paro: Ngodrup and SherabDrimay, 1979.

Gyatso, Janet. “The Heart Sphere of the Ḍākinīs: The Place of the Female inTibetan Myth.” Paper delivered at the American Academy of Religion, 1995.Journal article in preparation.

’Jigs med gling pa. Phur pa rgyud lugs las chos ’byung ngo mtshar snang byed.In Rnying ma bka’ ma rgyas pa, 7:5-17.

Khro rgyal rdo rje. Slob dpon rnam gsum gyi dgongs pa phur ṭī ka ’bum nag lugskyi dbang chog lag len du bsdebs pa mtsho rgyal zhal lung. In Rnying ma bka’ma rgyas pa, 10:625-649.

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Kong sprul blo gros mtha’ yas. Zab mo’i gter dang gter ston grub thob ji ltarbyon pa’i lo rgyus mdor bsdus bkod pa rin chen baiḍurya’i phreng ba. In Rinchen gter mdzod chen mo, 1:291-759. Paro: Ngodrup and Sherap Drimay,1976.

Kun bzang nges don klong yangs. Bod du byung ba’i gsang sngags snga ’gyurgyi bstan ’dzin skyes mchog rim byon gyi rnam thar nor bu’i do shal (AConciseHistory of the Nyingmapa Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism). Dalhousie: DamchoeSangpo, 1976.

Mkhas pa lde’u. Rgya bod kyi chos ’byung rgyas pa. Lha sa: Bod rang skyongljongs spyi tshogs tshan rig khang, 1987.

Mkhyen rab rgya mtsho (G.yag sde paṇ chen). Sangs rgyas bstan pa’i chos ’byungdris lan nor bu’i ’phreng ba. Gangtok: Dzongsar Chhentse Labrang, 1981.

Nam mkha’i snying po. Mother of Knowledge: The Enlightenment of Ye-shesmTsho-rgyal. Translated by Tarthang Tulku. Berkeley: Dharma Publishing,1983.

Nyang ral nyi ma ’od zer, mnga’ bdag. Bka’ brgyad bde gshegs ’dus pa’i gterston myang sprul sku nyi ma ’od zer gyi rnam thar gsal ba’i me long. In Bka’brgyad bde gsegs ’dus pa’i chos skor, 2:191-381. Paro: Lama Ngodrup,1979-80.

———. Byang chub sems dpa’i sems dpa’ chen po chos rgyal mes dpon rnamgsum gyi rnam thar rin po che’i phreng ba. Paro: Ugyen Tempai Gyaltsen,1980.

———. Chos ’byung me tog snying po sbrang rtsi’i bcud. Lha sa: Bod rangskyong ljongs spyi tshogs tshan rig khang gi bod yig dpe rnying dpe skrunkhang, 1988.

———. Rnam thar gsol ’debs. In Slob dpon pad+ma’i rnam thar zangs glingma, 194-200. Chengdu: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1989.

———. Slob dpon padma ’byung gnas kyi skyes rabs chos ’byung nor bu’i phrengba. In Slob dpon pad+ma’i rnam thar zangs gling ma, 3-193. Chengdu: Sikhron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1989.

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Rdo rje phur pa’i bshad ’bum slob dpon rnam gsum gyis dgongs pa slob dponchen po padmas mkhar chen bza’ la gdams pa. In Two Rare VajrakīlaTeachings from theMiraculous Lotus-BornGu-ru Rin-po-che Padmasambhava,

26Gyatso: A Partial Genealogy of the Lifestory of Ye shes mtsho rgyal

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Sba bzhed ces bya ba las sba gsal snang gi bzhed pa. Beijing: Mi rigs dpe skrunkhang, 1980.

Smith, E. Gene. Introduction toKongtrul’s Encyclopaedia of Indo-Tibetan Culture,Parts 1-3. Edited by Lokesh Chandra. New Delhi: International Academy ofIndian Culture, 1970.

Sog zlog pa blo gros rgyal mtshan.Dpal rdo rje phur pa’i lo rgyus chos kyi ’byunggnas ngo mtshar rgya mtsho’i rba rlabs. InCollectedWritings of Sog-bzlog-paBlo-gros-rgyal-mtshan, 1:111-201. New Delhi: Sanje Dorji, 1975.

Sørensen, Per. Tibetan Buddhist Historiography: The Mirror Illuminating theRoyal Genealogies. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1994.

Stag sham rdo rje. Mkha’ ’gro ye shes mtsho rgyal gyi rnam thar. Chengdu: Sikhron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1989.

Tchangtchoub, Gyalwa and Namkhai Nyingpo. La Vie de Yéshé TsogyalSouveraine du Tibet. Paris: Editions Padmakara, 1995.

Tsogyal, Yeshe. Dakini Teachings: Padmasambhava’s Oral Instructions to LadyTsogyal. Translated by Erik Pema Kunsang. Boston: Shambhala Publications,1990.

Wangdu, Pasang and Hildegard Diemberger. dBa’ bzhed: The Royal NarrativeConcerning the Bringing of the Buddha’s Doctrine to Tibet. Vienna: Verlagder Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2000.

Zhus len bdud rtsi gser phreng. In Snying thig ya bzhi, vol. 11 (Mkha’ ’gro snyingthig, part 2): 1-34. Delhi: Sherab Gyaltsen Lama, 1975-79.

27Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 2 (August 2006)