Journal of the International Association of

Buddhist Studies Volume 21. Number 2.1998

PIERRE ARENES Hermeneutique des tantra: etude de quelques usages du «sens cache»

GEORGES DREYFUS

173

The Shuk-den Mfair: History and Nature of a Quarrel 227

ROBERT MAYER The Figure of Mahesvara/Rudra in the rNiiJ.-ma-paTantric Tradition

JOHNNEWMAN Islam in the Kruacakra Tantra

MAXNIHOM Vajravinaya and VajraSauJ?<J.a: A 'Ghost' Goddess and her Syncretic Spouse

'fll.,MANN VETTER Explanations of dukkha

Index to JIABS 11-21, by Torn TOMABECHI

English summary of the article by P. Arenes

271

311

373

383

389

409

The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies (ISSN 0193-600XX) is the organ of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Inc. It welcomes scholarly contributions pertaining to all facets of Buddhist Studies. nABS is published twice yearly, in the summer and winter.

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© Copyright 1998 by the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Inc.

EDITORIAL BOARD

Cristina A. Scherrer-Schaub Tom J.F. Tillemans Editors-in-Chief

Robert Buswell Steven Collins Collett Cox Luis O. Gomez Paul Harrison Oskar von Hiniiber Roger Jackson Padmanabh S. Jaini Shoryu Katsura Donald S. Lopez, Jr. Alexander Macdonald D. Seyfort Ruegg Robert Sharf Ernst Steinkellner Erik Zurcher

Editorial Assistant: Yves Ramseier

JIABS 21.2

Contributors to this issue:

Pierre ARENES, Doctorate in Indian Studies from the University of Paris III (Sorbonne Nouvelle), researcher at the Centre National de Ia Recherche Scientifique (CNRS, equipe 1229). Author of La deesse sGrol-ma (Tiirii), Louvain 1996.

Georges DREYFUS is Associate Professor in the Department of Reli­gion at Williams College. He is the author of Recognizing Reality: Dharmaklrti's Philosophy and its Tibetan Interpretations and of several articles on a variety of topics pertaining to Buddhist and Tibetan studies. He is currently engaged in writing a book on Tibetan monastic educa­tion.

Robert MAYER (together with his wife Cathy Cantwell) has been at the Universities of Kent since 1994 and Wales since 1995. His research interests include the processes by which new religious forms are gene­rated and the processes of Buddhist scriptural revelation. He is also engaged in the study of the rNili ma'i rgyud 'bum, and is co-director with D. Germano of the Nyingma Tantras Research Project. He is the author of A Scripture of the Ancient Tantra Collection. The Phur-pa bcu-gnyis, a study of canonicity and scriptural revelation.

John NEWMAN completed the Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies at the Univer­sity of Wisconsin - Madison. He is currently the John T. and Catherine D. MacArthur Associate Professor of Asian Religions at New College, the honors college of the Florida state university system. His research centers on Indian and Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism, in particular the history and doctrines of the Kalacakra tantra system.

Max NIHOM: A.B. Linguistics/ Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley; D.Litt., Indology, Instituut Kern, Rijksuniversiteit Leiden; 'Habilitation': Institut fiir Indologie, Universitat Wien. Interests: Tantra, Cultural and Intellectual History of South and South-East Asia, Old Javanese Literature.

Tilmann VETTER, born in 1937, is currently professor of Buddhology, Indian philosophy and Tibetology at Leiden University. His publications include Erkenntnisprobleme bei Dharmakfrti (Wien 1964), Studien zur Lehre und Entwicklung Sankaras (Wien 1979), and The Ideas and Medi­tative Practices of Early Buddhism (Lei den 1988). He is presently preparing a book on the khandha passages in the Vinayapitaka and the four main Nikiiyas.

PIERRE ARENES

Hermeneutique des tantra: etude de qil:e1ques usages du «sens cache»* DU SENS CACHE (GARBHYARTHA; SEAS DON), DE SA FONCTION ACROAMATIQUEIPOUR L'ENSEIGNEMENT DES TANTRA, DE SON USAGE COMME SENS ACCOMMODATICE DANS CERTAINS TEXTES CANONIQUES TRANSITIONNELS OU HYBRIDES

Si, parfois, l'interet speculatif que suscite la subtilite de la pensee bouddhiste, peut faire oublier l'usage et la destination des textes qui l'exposent, souvent, les difficultes que souleve cette meme subtilite nous rappellent que leur premier usage, leur premiere destination n' est pas de constituer l' objet d' etude des philologues, historiens des religions, indianistes ou tibetologues.

En effet, que l' <<intente»2 du texte nous vienne a manquer, nous contraignant d'avoir recours au meta-texte, a l'herrneneutique, ou au contexte doctrinal, culturel ou historique, nous voila alors tenus de considerer ce qui justifie, encadre Ie texte et lui donne son sens : Ie hors texte. Si, outre signifier, Ia fonction d'un texte est aussi de communiquer,3 elle l'est a fortiori dans Ie bouddhisme, ou Ie texte est un enseignement qui s'inscrit dans une perspective soteriologique.

Assurer l' aboutissement de l' acte de signifier exige de tenir compte non seulement de l' ensemble de la doctrine mais aussi de la maturite spirituelle du destinataire et encore des fins, eventuellement perlocutoires, que I' on se propose. Ainsi, quand on est dans l' obligation de s' adresser a plusieurs types de publics et qu' on envisage plusieurs destinataires, on peut soit composer plusieurs discours, soit faire en sorte que Ie discours que l'on tient ait plusieurs sens. On peut aussi utiliser un discours deja existant, compose. a l'intention d'un public particulier et Ie reinterpreter, voire Ie <<traduire», en vue d'un nouveau public. On peut encore envisager de faire cela, non pas pour un public nouveau mais pour un meme public dont les qualites et la maturite auraient evolue : dans ce cas, pour introduire ce meme public a un autre sens, utiliser un texte auquel il aurait ete deja accoutume, presenterait des avantages p6dagogiques certains. Ce passage, pour un meme texte, d'un sens a l'autre, accompagnerait, en quelque sorte, l'evolution d'un public.

* For an English summary of this article, see p. 409. 1. 1. e. reserve a un public restreint de disciples dotes de la maturite et des qualites

requises (cf. A. LALANDE: Vocabulaire technique et critique de la Philosophie, Paris: P.U.F. 1976 (reed.), pp.16-17, 297-298).

2. C'est a dire, selon E. BENVENISTE, «ce que Ie locuteur veut dire», «l'actualisation linguistique de sa pensee» (Problemes de linguistique generale n, Paris: Galli­mard 1966, p. 225).

3. Cf. E. BENVENISTE, op. cit., p. 63 et ss.

Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Volume 21. Number 2 .1998

nABS 21.2 174

Certains textes canoniques qui ont. ete commentes selon Ie «sens ,?ache» (garbhyartha; sbas don) en fonction de sens accommodatice4 et dont Ie c1assement incertain comme sutra ou comme tantra a ete l' ~bjet de con­troverses, pourraient, au moins dans quelques cas, avoir ete utilises pour repondre it un tel besoin.

Le «sens cache» (garbhyartha; sbas don) a-t-il ete «applique» it. des textes qui n'etaient pas des tantra ou qui n'etaient pas des tantra aux­quels il etait applicable? A-t-il ete, dans un souci didactico-soterio­logique, (legitimement?) employe aussi comme moyen hermeneutique particulierement souple, susceptible d' assurer une transition aisee entre la pratique des sutra et celIe des tantra ou entre celIe des tantra infe­rieurs et celIe des tantra superieurs?

Qu'en est-il? Pour tenter de repondre it cette question et etudier l' application du

«sens cache» it un sutra et it un tantra dans Ie cadre etroit limite par Ie petit nombre de textes canoniques accessibles, de nature hybride ou ambigue6 et ayant fait I'objet de commentaires en «sens cache», nos choix ont essaye de repondre it un souci de coherence et de commodite: des auteurs assez tardifs, heritiers d'une tradition de commentaires permettant de disposer d'une perspective historique, mais assez proches les uns des autres du point de vue chronologique, pour maintenir une relative homogeneite diachronique.

4. De «sens accommodatice», i.e. un texte auquel, a posteriori, un sens autre que Ie sens obvie aurait ete attribue par quelqu'un a la fois connaissant precisement les pratiques de l' anuttarayogatantra et assez habile pour, en operant une lecture selective de ce texte, y discerner / dessiner une description metaphorique de ces pratiques; on peut aussi envisager que ce texte ait pu etre compose de maniere a en permettre deux lectures, la seconde n'etant accessible qu'a l'auteur lui-meme ou a tout autre personne autorisee et disposant des cles d'interpretation. Nous n'avons retenu de la definition du terme «accommodatice», applique habituelle­ment a l'un des quatre sens de l'hermeneutique biblique, que ce qui est indique par son etymologie meme (cf. A. LALANDE, op. cit., pp.14 et 37).

5. Cf. L. RENOU et J. FILLIOZAT et alii: L'Inde classique, Manuel des etudes indiennes, Paris: Ecole Fran9aise d'Extreme-Orient 1985 (lere ed. 1953), t. II, pp. 374-375, au sujet du fait qu'un certain nombre de sutra represente des formes de passage entre les sutra anciens et la litterature tantrique, d'autres, quoique intitules sutra, sont, en fait, des tantra.

6. I.e. sutra ou tantra ou bien encore sutra contenant un ou des mantra; ces diffe­rents points (textes hybrides ou classes de plusieurs manieres, textes commentes et commentaires) seront developpes et precises plus loin.

ARENES 175

Pour cela, il nous a semble utile d'examiner l'explication en «sens each€» d'un tantra bien particulier, l' BIage en Vingt et un «Hommage a Tara» (Namastare ekavif!lsati-stotra)7, et d'un sutra, lui aussi bien parti­culier, le Sutra du C(Eur de Ia Perfection de Sapience, (Prajiiaparamita­hrdayasutra)', deux textes canoniques dont Ie classement (sutra/ tantra au tantra inferieurs/superieurs) est controverse; pour ce faire, nous avons ete amenes a etudier quelques ouvrages de doxographes et exegetes des XVIIe et XVIIIe s., Taranatha (1575-1635), Gun than 'Jam pa'i dbyans (1762-1823) et dBal man8 dKon mchog rGyal mtshan (1764-1853).

En ce qui conceme l' application du «sens cacM» a un sutra, Gun than 'Jam pa'i dbyans se trouve etre I'auteur d'un expose elegant et relative­ment developpe portant sur Ie sujet. Min d' eclairer son propos, nous avons choisi d' etudier les conceptions des «quatre explications» et du «sens each€» que se faisait un de ses contemporains de la meme ecole, dBal man dKon mchog rgyal mtshan. Quant a l'application du «sens cache» a un tantra dont la classification faisait l' objet de polemique, notre ignorance d'autres exempies aisement accessibles ainsi que l'interet qu'il presentait, nous ont conduit a avoir recours a un auteur moins tardif, Taranatha.

En ce qui conceme l'historien tibetain bien connu, Taranatha, c'est donc seulement en tant qu'exegete tantrique qu'il sera cite ici : nous etu­dierons de son commentaire, Ie sGroI ma'j 'grel pa9, I'explication en «sens cach€» (sbas don) d'un tantra, Les Vingt et un «Hommage a Tara».

7. Bien que les auteurs tiMtains aient rendu Ie titre sanskrit (parfois en l'abregeant) par sGroi rna'i bstod pa phyags 'tshal ni su rtsa gcig rna (mKhas grub rje) ou sGroi rna ner gcig gi bstod pa (dGe 'dun grub pa) ou bien sGroi mar phyags 'tshal ner gcig gis bstod pa (dNul chu Dharmabhadra) ou encore Phyags 'tshal ner gcig gi bstod pa (Grags pa rgyal mtshan) (cf. P. ARENES, La Deesse sGroI rna (Tara), Orientalia Analecta Lovaniensia, Louvain: Peeters 1996, pp. 205, 275,278,395,401-402), il s'agit bien sur de Vingt et un «Hommage a [toi 6] Tara», Narnastare etant une traduction d'incipit (tare = vocatif).

8. Bien que, depuis A. I. VOSTRIKOV (cf. infra n.lO), une graphie «corrigee» (dPal mail), ait ete en usage chez les specialistes, l' orthographe correcte du nom de cet auteur est dBal mail.

9. Collected Works, vo1.12, Sman rtsis shesrig Dpe mjod [sic], Leh 1985, ff 553-581. Le texte utilise ici est sans mention d'editeur; en ce qui conceme Taranatha et ce commentaire (presentation, traduction, etc.), v. P. ARENES, op. cit., pp. 332-381.

· JIABS 21.2 176

Gun than dKon mchog bsTan pa'i sgron melD, appele aussi Gun.than 'Jam pa'i dbyans, fut un maitre eminent et erudit polygraphe de l'ecole dGe lugs pa. Disciple du second 'Jam dbyails Mad pa, dKon m,chog 'Jigs med dban po (1728-1791)11, il fit ses etudes au monastere de 'Bras spuns et fut intronise, en 1792,. 2le abbe du fameux monastere de l' Amdo, Bla bran bKra sis 'lchyil12; nous nous interesserons ici a s.on ouvrage sur Ie «sens cache» du Hrdayasutra, Ie Commentaire du Ca:ur de la Sapience qui en eclaire Ie Sens cache!3.

Contemporain de Gun than 'Jam pa'i dbyans, dBal man dKon mchog rgyal mtshan!4, lui aussi eminent polygraphe de l'ecole dGe lugs pa, egalement disciple du 2e 'Jam dbyans Mad pa, et 24e abbe du meme monastere est evoque ici pour un chapitre de son ouvrage Expose du sens general des quatre classes de tantra [appelel porte des mantra!5.

10. II existe de nombreuses biographies de ce maitre: 'Jam dbymis bla rna rje btsun dkon mchog bstan pa'i sgron me'i mam par thar pa brjod pa 'i gtam dad pa 'i padma Mad pa 'i fUn byed par elBal man dKon mchog rgyal mtshan (Collected Works of dBal man dkon mchog rGyal mtshan, vol. VI); rJe bla rna mtshan brjod par dga' ba dkon mchog bstan pa'i sgron me dpal bzmi po'i rtogs pa brjod pa no mtshar lha'i rol mo mkhas pa'i yid 'phrog par rGyal mkhan po Grags pa rgyal mtshan (1762-1837) (Collected Works, vol. V) qui aurait aussi compose du meme, deux biographies secretes (cf. A. I. VOSTRIKOV, Tibetan Historical literature, Soviet Indology Series 4, Calcutta: Indian Studies Past and Present 1970, p. 225); D. SEYFORT RUEGG, "Some Reflections on the Place of Philosophy in the Study of Buddhism", JIABS 18.2 (1995): 170-171; E. STEIN­KELLNER, "Literary source for late 18th-century spoken Tibetan (amdowa)", Acta Orientalia t. XXXIV (1980): 246.

11. Gun than 'Jam pa'i dbyans a compose deux biographies de dKon mchog 'Jigs med dban po: Dus gsum rgyal ba'i spyi gzugs rje .btsun dkon mchog 'jigs med dban po 'i tal sna nas kyi mam par thar pa rgyal sras rgya mtsho 'i 'jug nogs et rJe btsun dkon mchog 'jigs med dban po'i mam thar (la seconde est une bio­graphie secrete: cf. A.I. VOSTRIKOV, op. cit., p.90).

12. Cf. E. STEINKELLNER, ibid.

13. Ses rab sfiin po'i snags kyi mam Mad sbas don gsal ba sgron me, dans The Collected Works of Gun-than dKon-mchog bstan-pa'i sgron-me, vol. 1, pp. 682-715, New Delhi: Ngawang Gelek Demo 1971.

14. V. sa biographie detaillee, Yon rdzogs bstan pa'i mna' bdag rje btsun bla rna rdo rje 'chan dkon mchog rgyal mtshan dpal bzan po'i tal sna nas kyi mam thar 'dod 'jug nogs par son disciple, Ie 2ge abbe de Bla bran, Brag dgon iabs drun dKon mchog bsTan pa rab rgyas (Collected Works of dBal man dKon mchog rGyal mtshan, vol. 10 - v. A.I. VOSTRIKOV, ibid., p. 88).

15. rGyud sde bti'i spyi'i don mam par btag pa snags pa'i 'jug pa'i sgo, vol. 5, The Collected Works of dBal man dKon mchog rGyal mtshan, reproduction de

ARENES 177

I. LE «SENS CACHE» (GARBHYARTHA; SBAS DON) ET LA TRADITION HERMENEUTIQUE BOUDDHISTE

Le «sens cache» a ete aborde brievement dans Ie cadre d' etudes gene­rales consacrees aux «sept omements» mais n'a pas fait, jusqu'a present, l'objet d'etude detaillee. Nous rappellerons d'abord son contexte herme­neutique puis nous etudierons sa definition theorique et son application. Le «sens cache» est Ie troisieme element d'un ensemble appele Ies «quatre explications» (caturvidhakhyiiyikii; bsad tshul bii) qui, elles­memes, font partie d' appareils hermeneutiques, les «sept omements» (saptiilaY[Lkiira; rgyan bdun) connus dans la tradition bouddhiste indienne et tibetaine pour etre appliques aux tantra16• Rappelons d'abord quelques traits significatifs de l'hermeneutique bouddhiste.

1. Hermeneutique: rappel de quelques faits importants pour la compre­hension du «sens cache»

1.1. Necessite et origine de l'hermeneutique bouddhiste Dans Ie bouddhisme indien, Ia critique d'interpretation17 et Ies systemes hermeneutiques se sont developpes en raison de l'ampleur et la diversite de la litterature canonique, pour maintenir une necessaire coherence entre de nombreux textes qui presentent des contradictions ou meme des differences notables dans la maniere de traiter un sujet; certains textes sont a prendre ala lettre, d'autres doivent etre interpretes pour ne pas

l' edition de A mchog dGa' ldan chos 'khor glin, Gyal tan Gelek Nam gyal, New Delhi: 1974.

16. Les six possibilites alternatives (~a!ko!i; mtha' drug) qui forment Ie troisieme «ornement», sont deja connus de I'exegese non tantrique mais les termes y ont des acceptions etJou usages differents (cf. E. LAMOTTE: "La Critique d'interpreta­tion dans Ie bouddhisme", Annuaire de l'lnstitut de philologie et d'Histoire Orientale et Slave 9 (1949): 341-361; E. STEINKELLNER: "Remarks on Tantristic Hermeneutics", Proceedings of the Csoma de Karas Memorial Symposium, edited by Louis Ligeti, Akaderniai Kiado, Budapest 1978: 451; M. BROIDO: "bShad thabs: Some Tibetan Methods of Explaining the Tantras", dans Contribu­tions on Tibetan and Buddhist Religion and Philosophy, ed. par E. STEIN­KELLNER et H. TAUSCHER, Vienne 1983: 21); il faut noter que Sa skya PaJ}.c;lita Kun dga' rgyal mtshan (1182-1251) semble ne pas reserver I'usage des ~a!ko!i (mtha' drug) aux tantra (cf. D. SEYFORT RUEGG: "Purport, Implicature and Presupposition: Sanskrit abhipriiya and Tibetan dgongs pa / dgongs gii as hermeneutical concepts", Journal of Indian Philosophy 13 (1985): 311.)

17. Pour I'hermeneutique des satra, cf. E. LAMOTTE, op. cit., pp. 341-361.

JIABS 21.2 178

etre en contradiction avec Ie reste de Ia doctrinel8 , non seuIem~nt Ia qualification d'un meme texte peut etre differente suivant Ies ecoles19

mais, pour la meme ecole, un meme texte, peut etre compris ,de diverses manieres2o.

Cette incoherence apparente. recouvre une disparite de nature des messages et correspond a une diversite de situation de communication. Lei; textes consideres comme paroles de buddha (buddhavacana) ne sont pas a rapporter a un critere de verite, absolu, independant de toute con­tingence, valable pour tous, en toutes circonstances. Ce qui est determi­nant, c'est Ia validite soteriologique de ces enseignements; Ia parole des

18. Par exemple, les dix actions non vertueuses (karmapatha) sont presentees comme telles dans l'Abhidharmakosa (IV. 68-74) mais six d'entre e1les sont recommandees dans Ie Kalacakratantra (cf. M. BROmO, "Killing, Lying, Stealing and Adultery: A Problem of Interpretation in the Tantras", in Buddhist Hermeneutics, edited by Donald S. LOPEZ, Honolulu: Kuroda Institute Univer­sity of Hawal Press 1988, p.71). Ainsi, CandrakIrti dans Ie Pradfpoddyotana, evoque Ie cas de yogins qui, prenant ala lettre certains enseignements, se livraient a l'inconduite (cf. R. THURMAN: "Vajra Hermeneutics" in Buddhist Hermeneu­tics, p. 127); D. SEYFORT RUEGG: "Deux Problemes d'exegese et de pratique tantriques selon DlpaIpkarasrljiiana et Ie Pail).~apatika de Yavadvlpa: Suvarl).a­dvlpa", in M. Strickmann (ed.), Tantric and Taoist studies in Honour of R. A. Stein, vol. 1, Melanges chinois et bouddhiques vol. XX, Bruxelles: Institut beIge des Hautes etudes chinoises 1981, pp. 214,219,222,223.

19. Cf. P. ARENES: "Problemes d'interpretation des textes canoniques", in op. cit., pp. 292-293; 1. I. CABEZON: Buddhism and language. A Study of Indo-Tibetan Scholasticism, State Univ. of New York Press, Albany 1994, p. 58: (cit. du DraTi Ties rnam 'byed legs Mad sfiiri po dka' gnad rnams mchan bur bkod pa gzur gnas dka' ston de Geshe T. Rabten - Notes sur Ie Legs Mad sfiiTi po de TsoiJ. kha pa): "It is impossible to elucidate (the status of a scripture) simply (by relying upon) another text which says "this (scriptural passage) is of definitive meaning" (nftartha; nges don) because, (were this the case), it would have been pointless for all the Mahayanists to have composed so many commentaries. Moreover, there are many disagreements between the very texts which say that they settle (the question of what is of) definitive and what is of provisional meaning (neyartha; drang don)"; ibid., p. 63, (cit.du Drari Ties legs Mad sfiiTi po de TsoiJ. kha pa, Mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1987 - cit. du Saf!ldhinirmocanasiitra): "We see that in some siitras (the Lord) says that all phenomena lack an essence (svabhava). In others, the own characteristic (svalak~ana) of the aggregates, etc., are said to exist. When we compare these two statements, a contradiction arises, and since there should be no contradictions, I ask (the Lord): with what intention did you state that essences do not exist?"

20. Cf. E. STEINKELLNER, op. cit. (1978), p. 447; M. BROmO, "bShad thabs [ .. T, p. 21; R. THURMAN, op. cit., pp.141-142.

ARENES 179

buddha, pour pouvoir etre comprise et mise en pratique, doit etre en accord avec Ie degre d'intelligence et de realisation spirituelle des dif­ferentes sortes d'etres21 ; et cela, aussi bien pour les sutra22 que pour les tantra qui nous interessent plus particulierement ici. Celui qui reintro­duit un ordre dans cette disparite apparente, c' est Ie maitre spirituel (guru ou iiciirya) ou Ie maitre de tantra (vajriiciirya) et cet ordre, c'est la Voie (miirga). C'est donc Ie maitre spirituel, source de l'enseignement, qui est l'instance regulatrice des rapports entre la Doctrine et les bigar­rures de l'ignorance, qui met en relation les differents plans de significa­tion et leurs destinataires et rend Ie contenu de l' enseignement opera­toire.

1.2. Role du secret, de l'hermetisme et du maitre spirituel Le maitre spirituel joue, a plusieurs titres, un role particulierement important dans les tantra23•

D'abord, ceux-ci, pour l'essentieI, ne sont pas constitues d'exposes doctrinaux tMoriques mais renvoient a des pratiques specifiques des mantra secrets (i.e. des tantra) dont ils constituent, en quelque sorte, les «manuels de pratique». Un texte aussi clair soit-il ne peut repondre a toutes les questions que peut se poser quelqu'un qui voudrait Ie mettre directement en pratique. Par consequent, une hermeneutique visant la seule comprehension des textes ne saurait suffire et Ie recours a quelqu'un qui maitriserait cette pratique, en l' occurrence, un maitre spirituel, devient absolument necessaire.

Ensuite, les tantra et les pratiques qui s'y rapportent sont lies au secret; si l'on en croit la tradition bouddhiste tibetaine, dans leur com­mencement, ils auraient ete pratiques dans Ie plus grand secret24 mais, maintenant encore, bien que certaines explications generales soient donnees publiquement, l' essentiel des instructions reste secret et detenu par Ie maitre spirituel (guru ).

21. 1. I. CABEZON (op. cit., p.62), utilise Ie concept de «verite pragmatique»: "[ ... ]they [the scriptures] are pragmatically true".

22. Cf. D. SEYFORT RUEGG: "Purport, Implicature and Presupposition [ ... ]", JIP l3: 313,315,317.

23. Cf. Asvagho~a, Gurupaiiciisikli; Bla rna ina bcu pa, P. 4544, vol. 81,205.2.7-206.2.3.

24. Cf. Taranatha, sGrol rna'i 'lo rgyus, The Collected Works of Jo nan rje btsun Tiiraniitha, pp. 517-520 (v. trad. P. ARE-NES, op. cit., pp. 248-255).

· JIABS 21.2 180

Nombre d' enonces de textes de tantra requierent des explications, par exemple, parce qu'ils sont codes25, ou que leur formulation ramassee et elliptique prend une valeur provocante par reference au poin~ de vue de la morale bouddhiste26, etc. Ces formulations particulieres de l'enseigne­ment des tantra ont, semble-t-il, une double fonction : d'abord, pour ceux qui n'auraient pas encore atteint la maturite spirituelle necess~e, les proteger d'un mesusage et de ses consequences27; ensuite, pour les autres, en une sorte de propedeutique, les familiariser avec Ie caractere illusoire et relatif des representations conventionneIles et les amener it abandonner leur attachement au langage litteral et it l'illusion realiste28•

Le role du maitre spirituel est donc de rendre accessibles it un public compose de pratiquants de dispositions et capacites diverses, des textes tantriques polysemiques29 ou enigmatiques, comme les tantra-racines; il doit, non seulement, expliquer les mots «contraires» ou «opposes» (viruddha; 'gal ba), i.e. opposes au monde, it la logique ou aux §astra, avec lesquels sont rediges certains tantra30, mais il devient aussi, lui­meme, comme par exemple dans Ie cas du «sens cache», un instrument hermeneutique : Ie savoir du maitre, seul depositaire du sens du texte, est en, quelque sorte, annexe it celui-ci!

Le maitre spirituel doit aussi s'adresser it celui qui sera amene it enseigner les tantra. En effet, si Ie maitre spirituel est necessaire it l'hermeneutique, ceIle-ci l'est tout autant au maitre spirituel: la fonction de l'hermeneutique n'est pas seulement de faire comprendre l'enseigne­ment mais elle consiste encore it montrer comment Ie faire, aussi con­stitue-t-elle, partiellement, une meta-hermeneutique.

Ainsi, l'hommage que Candrakirti (VIle s.), dans son Pradfpod­dyotana, rend it son maitre spirituel illustre-t-il de maniere eloquente l'etendue de ce role. S'il rend grace it son maitre, c'est pour l'aide precieuse que celui-ci lui a prodiguee, de trois fa~ons : d' abord, en lui montrant comment mettre en relation Ie tantra-racine et ses commen-

25. Cf. R. THURMAN, op. cit., p.139: "But the non literal or symbolic expressions of the tantras are special jargon words, a secret code, completely unknown in the world [ ... J".

26. Cf. M. BROIDO: "Killing, Lying, Stealing [ ... J", op. cit, pp.71-1Ol.

27. Cf. CandrakIrti (Pradfpoddyotana) cite par R. THURMAN (op. cit., pp. 127-128).

28. Cf. R. THURMAN, op. cit., pp.138-139. R. THURMAN se livre a une brillante variation sur l'obscurite comme instrument hermeneutique (p.12S).

29. Cf. R. THURMAN, op. cit., p. 124.

30. Cf. M. BRomO, op. cit., p. 94 et n. 83, p. 109.

ARENES 181

taires, -ensuite, en lui indiquant quel instrument hermeneutique utiliser pour tel ou tel passage, enfin, en rapportant Ie sens elucide aux etapes de la pratique3!. L'appareil hermeneutique des «sept ornements» refiete bien aussi,au moins en certaines de ses parties, ces preoccupations capitales pour un enseignement efficace des tantra.

2. Les «sept omements»

2.1. Origine L'appareil hermeneutique des «sept ornements» (saptiiZarrzkiira; rgyan bdun)32 auquel appartiennent les «quatre explications» et done Ie «sens cacM», lie au cycle du Guhyasamiijatantra a ete expose par les commen­tateurs de l'ecole Arya CPhags lugs pa)33 grandement estimee par les

31. Cf. R. THURMAN, op. cit., p.129.

32. La tradition bouddhiste indienne (Aryadeva, BhavyakIrti) explique aZaf(lkiira comme quelque chose qui embellit (a l'instar d'unjoyau) ou qui paracheve; Tson kha pa presente les «sept ornements» comme des joyaux embellissant Ie tantra­racine. E. STEINKELLNER (1978: 450, n.15) propose de traduire aZaf(lkiira (rgyan) par «preparation», en revenant a une autre acception du mot (cf. J. GONDA, "The meaning of the word alarpkara", Selected Studies II, Leiden 1975, p. 265); R. THURMAN (op. cit., p. 147, n.20) conteste cette traduction.

nest vrai, comme l' affmne E. STEINKELLNER, que, de plusieurs manieres, certains de ces «ornements» servent a organiser ou a «preparer» l' enseignement de (ou a partir de) textes tantriques;- il est vrai aussi qu' on ne peut prendre au pied de la lettre Ie terme «ornements»: c'est Ie cas, particulierement, pour Ie sixieme qui definit les differents types de destinataires. II ne nous parait pas necessaire, pour autant, d'abandonner la traduction d' «ornements». Entre «appret» et «prepa­ration», il n'y a pas un gouffre semantique et ce terme, nous semble-t-il, fonc­tionne de maniere metaphorique; de meme qu'un ornement rehausse la beaute, de meme, ce sixieme «omements» rend plus aise l' enseignement, la transmission des tantra : Ie seme commun a retenir de cette metaphore est celui d' «amelioration» et non de «beaut!!», a moins que Ie bon fonctionnement d'un proces linguistique de communication ne puisse etre considere comme «beau». L'evocation, ace sujet, par R. THURMAN de la signification de «Belles Lettres» parait judicieuse.

33. L' ecole Arya a ete fondee par Nagarjuna et son disciple Aryadeva. Les tantra de la classe des anuttarayogatantra consistent toujours en muZatantra (tantra­racine), uttaratantra (tantra ulterieurs), iikhyiinatantra (tantra explicatifs). En ce qui concerne Ie cycle du Guhyasamiijatantra (Tohoku n° 442), Ie mulatantra correspond aux dix-sept premiers chapitres du Guhyasamiijatantra, l'uttara­tantra au dix-huitieme, quant aux iikhyiinatantra, ce sont les Sandhivyiikarm:za­tantra (Tohoku n° 444), VajramiiZiitantra (Tohoku n° 445), Caturdevfpari­PTcchiitantra (Tohoku n° 446), Vajrajfiiinasamuccayatantra (Tohoku nO 447), DevendraparipTcchiitantra. Ces iikhyiina (excepte Ie dernier que l' on ne connait que par des citations) ne sont disponibles qu'en tibetain.

JIABS 21.2 182

auteurs de la tradition exegetique tibetaine. Le cycle du Guhyasamiija­tantra34 presenre, en effet, la particularite d'inclure des ceuvres (iantra racine, uttaratantra et tantra explicatifs) qui sont toutes considerees comme paroles de buddha (buddhavacana)35. Quoique Ie Vajrajiiiina­samuccayatantra36 (un iikhyiinatantra du cycle du Guhyasamiijatantra) considere comme la source, quant aux «sept ornements», du Pradf­poddyotana37 de Candraklrti, soit bien connu de la tradition exegetique tibetaine38 , celle-ci se refb·e plus volontiers a cet ouvrage de Candra­klrti39.

Y. MATSUNAGA remet en question Ie fait que Ie Vajrajiiiinasamuc­cayatantra, au moins dans sa deuxieme partie, soit la source des «sept ornements' 40 et, seion E. STEINKELLNER, Candraklrti serait I' auteur de la mise en forme des «sept ornements» en tant qu'ensemble ou «systeme» hermeneutique41 .

2.2. Nature Sans doute serait-il preferable d'utiliser plutot Ie terme «appareil» que Ie terme «·systeme»42 qui implique une coherence que les «sept ornements»,

34. Sarvatathiigatakiiyaviikcittarahasyaguhyasamiijaniimamahiikalparaja; De biin gsegs pa thams cad kyi sku gSUli thugs kyi gsan chen gsan ba 'dus pa ies bya ba brtag pa'i rgyalpo chen po, P. 81, vol. 3 (Tohoku nO 442-443).

35. Cf. E. S1EINKELLNER 1978: 448, et R. THURMAN, op. cit., pp.128-129, 130. 36. Vajrajfiiinasamuccaya-niima-tantra (Tohoku nO 447). 37. Pradfpoddyotana-niima-!fkii; sGron ma gsal bar byed pa ies bya ba 'j rgya cher

bSadpa, P. 2650, 23.1.1-117.3.7. 38. Le Vajrajfiiinasamuccaya fait l'objet de divers commentaires comme Ie rGyud

thams cad kyi rgyaZ po dpaZ gsmi ba 'dus pa'i rgya cher bSad pas sgron ma gsal ba 'i tshig don ji biin 'byed pa 'i mtshan gyi yali 'grel de Tson kha pa.

39. M. BRomO (1978: 91) attribue ce fait au manque de clarte du Vajrajfiiina­samuccaya mais i1 faudrait savoir a quelle version se referaient les commentateurs tiMtains puisqu'il existe dans Ie bKa' 'gyur de sDe dge une version beaucoup plus detaillee que celle-ci (Tohoku n° 450): v. MATSUNAGA: "A Doubt to Autho­rity of the Guhyasamiija-Akhyiina-tantras", Indogaku BukkyiJgaku Kenkyu 12 (1964): 22/838.

40. Cf. Y. MATSUNAGA, op. cit., pp. 20-23 I 840-837. L'origine du systeme ou/et de ses elements reste, malgre tout, incertaine: selon E. S1EINKELLNER, certains des «sept ornements» (les six ko!i) proviendraient de l'exegese non tantrique (op. cit., p.449 et 452); v. aussi M. BROIDO, op. cit., p.l07, n. 64.

41. Cf. E. STEINKELLNER, op. cit., p. 449. 42. Ibid., "[ ... J the system as a whole [etc.}",.

ARENES 183

d'un certain point de vue, ne presentent pas; ils sont constitues d'une collection d'instruments d'intelligibilite43 dont on a souligne, a juste titre, l'Mterogeneite partielle en ce qui concerne leur fonction herme­neutique au sens strict44•

Certains elements du premier «ornement» sont arapporter a l' objet de l'hermeneutique (Ie texte/message) et constituent un appareil paratextuel du texte tantrique; d'autres, du premier, deuxieme, cinquieme, sixieme, ou septieme «ornement», s'attachent aux (ou a certains) facteurs consti­tutifs du proces linguistique (represente par l'enseignement d'un tantra) et de la situation de communication (destinataire, referent, contact); plusieurs composantes du troisieme «ornement» decrivent les differents types de discours (message et code); d'autres encore du troisieme et toutes celles du quatrieme «ornement» concernent plus directement l'interpretation (message/contact/code) et peuvent plus proprement etre qualifiees d'instruments «hermeneutiques»45.

Si les «sept ornements» ne forment pas un systeme coherent du point de vue hermeneutique stricto sensu, ils constituent, en tout cas, un appa-

43. Les «sept ornements» (saptiilaIJ'Lkiira; rgyan bdun) sont composes de (1) la «presentation» (upodghi'ita; gleri bslari), (2) les «manieres d'atteindre la perfec­tion, de devenir buddha» ('tshari rgya tshul) / les «quatre procedures» (nyiiya; rigs pa (bii», (3) les «six extremes», ou «six possibilites alternatives» (mtha' drug; ~atko!i), (4) les «quatre modes d'explication» (Mad tshul bii; caturvidhi'i­khyiiyikii), (5) les «manieres d' expliquer» (' chad tshul) / les «deux manieres d' expliquer, d' enseigner aux auditeurs» (dvividhabheda; fian pa po la bsad tshul gfiis), (6) [la nature de] «l'auditeur» (nan pa po) / des cinq [sortes d'] individus» (pancapudgala; gari zag lria), (7) les «deux verites certaines» (satyadvayavinir­TJaya; bden gfiis ries pa). R. THURMAN (op. cit., pp.134-143) passe en revue les «sept ornements»; M. BROIDO, ("bShad thabs[ ... ]"), ainsi que E. STEINKELLNER (op. cit.) n'analysent que les «ornements» 3 et 4.)

44. Cf. E. STEINKELLNER, op. cit., pp. 451-452.

45. Cf. E. STEINKELLNER, ibid. En ce qui concerne Ie proces de communication que semblent decrire les «sept

ornements» (et si l'on se rapporte au systeme de R. JAKOBSON), un element est absent: Ie destinateur, i.e., ici, Ie buddha Vairocana (ou son substitut, Ie maitre spirituel), mais il constitue, en quelque sorte, Ie but ultime de l'enseignement des tantra, l' etat de buddha, et il est represente par le motif ou but (prayojana), 5e element du 1er «ornements», la «presentation» (upodghiita); on comprend alors pourquoi la fonction emotive ou expressive centree sur Ie destinateur est absente; de meme, si d'autres fonctions comme la fonction poetique, etc., ne sont pas representees, c'est, sans doute, parce qU'elles ne sont pas a l'ceuvre, de maniere significative dans un tantra; Ie 3e (~a!ko!i) et Ie 4e ornement (caturvidhi'ikhyiiyikii) sont essentiellement metalinguistiques puisque centres sur Ie code.

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reil linguistique tout a fait coherent, a visee didactico-hermeneutique et applicable a un type de texte particulier : Ie tantra, lui-meme dote d'un statut d' objet «linguistique»46 au meme titre que les sastra4\ cet appareil refiete une conscience tres claire de la nature du proces de communica­tion et des problemes poses par l' enseignement et l' explication des tantra a un public heterogene et il semble s'adresser, en fait, d'avantage a celui qui est cense enseigner ce tantra qu' au disciple qui est cense Ie pratiquer.

2.3. Emploi des «sept ornements» Le degre de generalite que conrere aux «sept ornements» la perspective linguistique seIon laquelle, Ie plus souvent, ils traitent de l' ens eigne­ment, de l'interpretation et de 1'usage des tantra ainsi que la formulation systematique qu'en a donnee CandraIdrti, n'ont sans doute pas peu con­tribue a la generalisation de leur usage et de leur application a des textes n'appartenant pas au cycle du Guhyasamajatantra. En effet, outre cette raison, Ie fait, deja reIeve, que les textes du cycle du Guhyasamajatantra soient classes comme paroles du buddha (buddhavacana) explique pour­quoi la tradition hermeneutique tibetaine a utilise Ie Mad thabs des «sept ornements» pour tous les principaux tantra de la classe anuttara48 : c'est en raison de cette preeminence du Guhyasamajatantra que Tson kha pa

46. Au sens large de ce tenne: en effet, on pourrait ranger les tantra dans les productions litteraires, considerer qu'il s' agit Hi d'une typologie textuelle et parler alors de «poetique» (cf. O. DUCROT et T. TODOROV, Dictionnaire encyclo­pMique des sciences du langage, Paris: Editions du SeuiI1972, pp. 106-112).

47. Les cinq caracteristiques du tantra sont indiques dans Ie premier «ornements» (<<presentation»: upodghiita; glen blan): (1) nom et type de texte (sarrzjfiii), (2) les destinataires (nimittam), (3) l'auteur (kartii), (4) longueur (pramii), (5) but (prayojana). E. STEINKELLNER (op. cit., pA49, n. 12) a deja souligne la relation entre ces caracteristiques et celles requises pour un siistra ; R. BROIDO ("Killing, Lying, Stealing [ .. .]", p. 87) releve que l'ensemble des caracteres definissant les siistra a ete applique a des tantra (au Hevajratantra par Vajragarbha et au Kiilacakra).

48. E. STEINKELLNER soutient que les «sept omements» ne sont applicables qu'au Guhyasamiija (op. cit., pA51, n.17): il se peut qu'il en ait ete ainsi a l'origine mais M. BROIDO ("Killing, Lying, Stealing [ .. .]", p. 73) et R. THURMAN (op. cit., p.133) soulignent leur application generalisee.

ARENES 185

justifie l'application des «sept ornements» a tous les autres anuttara­tantra. 49 •

En ce qui concerne l' emploi des. «sept ornements», Tson kha pa (1357-1419), dans Ie resume qu'il fait de leur fonction, montre bien que celle-ci ne se borne pas a interpreter des textes mais qu'elle consiste aussi a organiser, choisir cette interpretation en fonction des differentes etapes de la Voie et des disciples qui doivent la parcourir:

Tel ou tel tantra doit etre elucide, ses significations doiventetre expliquees par telle ou telle procedure henneneutique et rassembIees [pour etre rapportees J a telle ou telle etape de la Voie. Pour tel ou tel disciple, on fait usage de tel ou tel type d'explication et quand il y a certitude quant au sens de telle ou telle conception majeure, aIors la signification du tantra-racine est expliquee sans erreur. Voila ce qu'etablissent les «sept omements».50

Cette fonction multiple des «sept ornements» va se retrouver meme dans des «ornements» consideres, d'ordinaire, comme plus proprement hermeneutiques, i.e. les «quatre modes d'explication» (Mad tshul bii).

II. LES «QUATRE MODES D'EXPLICATION» (Mad tshul bii; catur­vidhakhyiiyikii) ET LE «SENS CACHE» (garbhyiirtha; sbas (pa'i) don)

Les «quatre modes d' explication» constituent Ie quatrieme des «sept ornements» et, selon E. STEINKELLNER, Ie seul a etre «veritablement hermeneutique»51. Contrairement aux «possibilites alternatives» (.Jatko.ti) dont les termes sont courants, quoique avec des acceptions et des usages differents, dans Ia tradition exegetique des sutra52, les «quatre modes

49. TsoIi. kha pa, Ye ses rdo rje kun las btus pa'i rgya cher 'gre! pa, Collected Works, rJe yab sras gSUli 'bum, ed. de bKra bsis !hun po, vol. CA, fol. 451 ff. (cit. de R. THURMAN, ibid.).

50. TsoIi. kha pa, ibid., fol. Sa.

51. "truly henneneutic". E. STEINKELLNER Cop. cit., p.451) l'oppose en cela aux ~a!ko!i (mtha' drug) du troisieme «omements».

52. Cf. E. LAMOTTE, op. cit., pp. 341-361; D. SEYFORT RUEGG, "Purport, implica­ture, and presupposition [ ... J" et "Allusiveness and obliqueness in Buddhist texts: sa'!ldhii, sa'!ldhi, sa'!ldhyii and abhisa'!ldhi", Dialectes dans les litteratures indo-aryennes, Paris: Institut de Civilisation indienne 1986; M. BROIDO, "Intention and suggestion in the Abhidharmakosa: Sandhiibhii~ii revisited", Journal of Indian Philosophy 13 (1985): 327-381.

JIABS21.2 186

d'explication» sont exclusivemeiit utilises pour les tantra53 ; parmi les tantra, ils ne sont applicables qu' aux anuttarayo gatantra54. Les «quatre modes d' explication» font partie des deux «ornements» dont la fonction assignee est, selon Tson kha pa, de «commenter la pensee [o~ l'intention (dgons pa; abhipriiya)] du tantm-racine».55

Nous n'etudierons pas, ici, exhaustivement les «quatre explications»; nous nous bornerons, pour replacer Ie «sens cache» dans Ie syst~me auquel il appartient, a exposer brievement la description qu' en donne l'erudit dGe lugs pa, dBal man dKon mchog rgyal mtshan (1764-1853) condisciple de Gun than 'Jam pa'i dbyans. Nous d6finirons, d'abord, les deux modes d' explication qui precedent Ie «sens cache» et celui qui Ie suit, puis nous aborderons, a part, de maniere detaillee Ie «sens cache».

Sans nous interdire de faire appel, eventuellement, pour les points difficiles, a des doxographes plus anciens, nous utiliserons la section intitu16e «Expose des anuttarayogatantra et instructions concernant les methodes d'explication des tantra» de son traite Expose du sens general des quatre classes de tantra, appele <<Porte des mantra»56.

53. L'exception, peut-etre, du «sens cache», dans un cas tres particulier, mais il n'est pas certain que Ie texte ne puisse pas etre tenu pour un tantra, comme on Ie yerra plus loin.

54. ct. TSOIJ. kha pa, dPal gsan 'dus pa'i Mad pa'i rgyud ye ses rdo rje kun las btus pa'i rgya cher Mad pa rGyud Mad thabs kyi man nag gsal bar bstan pa ies bya ba, P. 6198, 152.1.8-Tsa, 174b: mtha' drug dan tshul bii tshan ba'i Mad pa mal sbyor bla med kyi rgyud ma rtogs pa la mi ruIis yan I

55. ct. TSOIJ. kha pa, op. cit., 151.5.8-Tsa, 174a: khyad par lna ldan gyi rtsa rgyud de'i dgons pa 'grel pa'i tshul ni mtha' drug dan tshul biir nes la I des ni rgyan giiis pa dan gsum pas ston no /I

On a utilise ici Ie tenne «pensee» dans Ie sens OU il est employe, quand on se demande quelle est la «pensee» de l'auteur, i.e. la pensee protonde. En ce qui concerne abhipriiya, Y. D. SEYFORT RUEGG et M. BROIDO (supra, n. 52).

56. rNal 'byor bla med kyi rgyud mam biag dan rgyud Mad thabs kyi man nag, dans rGyud sde bii'i don rnam par biag pa snags pa'ijug pa'i sgo (Y. supra, n.14).

ARENES 187

1. Les «quatre modes d'explication» (bsad tshlll bZi; caturvidhakhyayika)

1) L'explication seion Ie «sen~ litteral»57 (akoJariirtha; tshig gi don / yig don)58: c'est une explicatiori, appuyee seulement sur les textes de grammaire des grammairiens, du sens que peuvent produire directement les mots de vajra59 ; dBal mail dKon mchog rgyal mtshan ne mentionne pas Ie fait que Ie sens litteral est considere comme un «ornement de mots» (sabdiila7[lkiira)60 particularite qui pourrait expliquer pourquoi il n'est pas nomme dans Ia premiere partie du Vajrajfiiinasamuccaya61 .

2) L'explication selon Ie «sens commun» ou «sens general» (sama­stii7igiirtha; spyi'i don): c'est I'explication des mots de vajra qui montrent Ie sens des pratiques communes aux pratiquants, jusqu'aux pratiquants du stade de creation (utpattikrama; bskyed rim)62. Les subdivisions de cet «ornement» donne des precisions sur ces pratiques communes:

a - Ie sens commun des pratiques communes a deux cate­gories d'individus:

1 - ceux qui aspirent aux realisations (siddhi) mon­daines ('jig rten pa 'i d7ios grub) 2 - ceux qui aspirent a Ia realisation supreme (mchog gi d7ios grub ).

Ces pratiques concernent Ie stade de creation (utpatti­krama).

57. Yig don du Mad pa: Cf. dBal mail dKon mchog rgyal mtshan, rGyud sde bii'i don mam par biag pa snags pa 'i jug pa 'i sgo, p. 26.

58. dBal mail dKon mchog rgyal mtshan donne yig [ge'i 1 don, ibid.; mais tshig gi don et yi ge'i don sont attestes pour les rgyan bdun, cf. M. BROIDO, "bShad thabs [ ... ]", p. 19.

59. Cf. dEal mail dKon mchog rgyal mtshan, op. cit., pp. 25-26: Idon de min de la dngos su 'jug par sgra ba mams kyi sgra'i giun cam la brten thon par nus pa'i rdo rje'i tshig de'i Mad pa de I yig don du Mad pa'i mtshan iiid I

60. Cf. BhavyakIrti, Pradfpoddyotanabhisarrzdhiprakasika, f. 1 08a3-1 09a2 (cit. de E. STEINKELLNER, op. cit., p. 454, n. 29): Ie sens litteral est, selon BhavyakIrti, Ie seul a etre considere comme un «omement de mots» (sabdalarrzkara) alors que les trois autres seraient des «omements de sens» (arthalarrzkara).

61. Cf. Y. MATSUNAGA, op. cit., p. 839 (21).

62. Cf. dBal mail dKon mchog rgyal mtshan, op. cit, p. 26: II bskyed rim pa man chad gan run dan niiams su blan bya thun mon ba'i don ston pa 'i rdo rje 'i tshig de'i Mad pa de spyi don du Mad pa 'j mtshan iiid II.

" JIABS 21.2 188

b - Ie sens commun. des pratiques communes aux prati­quants des classes de tantra inferieurs et a d'autres: "

1 - sens commun des pratiques communes des classes de tantra inferieurs et superieurs": yoga de la deite 2 - sens corrimun des pratiques communes aux sidra et aux tantra : comprehension de Ia Vacuite63

3) L'explication se10n Ie «sens cacM» (garbhyiirtha; sbas (pa'i) don) (cf infra)

4) L'explication se10n Ie «sens ultime» (kolikiirtha; mthar thug gi (pa'i) don) est en rapport avec la doctrine de la Claire Lumiere (prabhiisvara; 'od gsal) et de l'Union (yuganaddha; zUli 'jug), i.e. Ies stades finaux du Stade d' achevement (sampannakrama; rdzogs rim)64.

2. Le «Sens cache» (garbhyartha; sbas (pa'i) don)

2.1. «Sens cache» et tantra 2.1.1. Le «Sens cacM» (sbas (pa'i) don) seion dBal man dKon mchog rgyal mtshan On peut se demander la raison pour Iaquelle ce «sens» est qualifie de «cacM», i.e. pourquoi merite-t-il davantage unetelle qualification que, par exemple, Ie «sens uitime»? L'idee de «secret» voire de «cache» est, certes, communement attachee aux tantra dans la tradition indienne et

63. Pour a et b, cf. dBal mati. dKon mchog rgyal mtshan, op. cit, p. 26: I dbye na 'jig rten pa 'i dnos grub don du gfier ba dan / mcho g gi dnos grub gfier ba gfiis ka' i fiams su blans bya thun mon ba'i spyi'i don dan I rgyud sde 'og rna man chad dan thun mon ba' i spyi' i don gfiis / dan po ni I bskyed rim lta bu '0 II gfiis pa la rgyud sde gon 'og thun mon ba'i spyi'i don dan I mdo snags thun mon ba'i spyi'i don gfiis I dan po ni I lha'i mal 'byor Ita bu I gfiis pa ni I ston fiid rtogs pa'i lta ba lta bu'o II Seion CandrakIrti et Bu ston, ce «sens» aurait pour fonction d' etablir une relation entre les pratiquants de stades inferieurs de la pratique et les stades superieurs auxquels ils peuvent aspirer ou qu'ils peuvent redouter, et, de les rassurer (cf. M. BROmO, "bShad thabs[ ... ]", p.42; E. STEINKELLNER, op. cit., p. 455; R. THURMAN, op. cit, p. 140).

64. Cf. dEal mati. dKon mchog rgyal mtshan, op. cit, p. 27: / rdo rje'i tshig de la don mi thun pa bii yod pa 'i nan nas mthar gfiis gan run gi don ston pa 'i Mad pa de mthar thug gi Mad pa 'j mtshan fiid I mtshan gii ni I dnos po med pa 'j sogs kyis , od zun bstan pa Ita pu '0 I

En ce qui concerne Ie sens d' «ultime», mtha' (kola) veut dire ici «qui atteint la limite» (cf. R. THURMAN, op. cit., p.141).

ARENES 189

tibetaine: gsan snags kyi theg pa, Ie vehicule des mantra secrets (syno­nyme de tantra ) est appele ainsi, selon TsoiJ. kha pa, parce que pratique secretement et de maniere cachee et enseigne uniquement a ceux suscep­tibles d'en tirer profit65; mais Ie «sens cacM» meme s'il peut etre, comme on Ie verra, applique seuI, i.e. sans les trois autres «explica­tions», est-iI, en quelque maniere, exemplaire ou singulier? .

Voyons d'abord comment il est defini dans Ie cadre des «quatre explications» par dBal mail dKon mchog rgyal mtshan:

Definition de l'explication selon Ie «sens cache»: explication des mots de vajra (rdo rje tshig), qui montre, parmi les quatre «sens» particuliers [qui s']y [rappor­tent], Ie sens de 1'un queIconque des trois «sens caches». [On peut en donner] comme exemple [Ie fait de parler de] «l'absence d'objets66, etc.» [quand on] expose 1'Esprit isole (cittaviveka; sems dben )67 et Ie Corps illusoire (miiyiikaya / miiyiideha; sgyus lus)68. Si [ron desire entrer dans Ie detail, on peut] distinguer trois [sortes de «sens] caches»:

65. Tson kha pa, rGyal khyab rdo rje 'chari chen po'i lam gyi rim pa gsari ba kun gyi gnad rnam par phye ba, P. 6210, vol. 161 (cf. J. HOPKINS, trad.: Tantra in Tibet, The Great Exposition of Secret Mantra by TSOli ka pa, The Wisdom of Tibet 3, London: George Allen and Unwin 1977, p.106); Gun than 'Jam pa'i dbyans, Ses rab siiin po sriags kyi rnam Mad sbas don gsal ba, p. 707.1-2. Pour Ie «secret», Ie «cachb>, dans la tradition indienne des tantra, voir aussi A. WAYMAN: The Buddhist Tantras, Light on Indo- Tibetan Esotericism, London: Routledge and Kegan 1973, pp. 36-43.

66. drios po med pa (abhiiva): absence d' existence en soi, non substantialite.

67. Deuxieme etape de la pratique du stade d'achevement (sampannakrama; rdzogs rim) grace aux yoga d' «isolement de la parole» comme la «recitation de vajra», etc., on realise l' «Esprit isole de Claire Lumiere sirnilaire ultime» (sems dben dpe'i 'od gsal mthar thug): 1'esprit est «isoIe» des conceptions et des «vents» qu' elles chevauchen1. Cette realisation permet de separer Ie corps grossier ([us rags pa) du corps subtil (Ius phra ba), cf. Geshe Kelsang Gy ATSO, Claire Lumiere de Felicite, Ie Mahamudra dans le Bouddhisme du Vajrayana, trad. de G. MILLION et G. DRIESSENS, Editions Dharma 1986, pp. 201,204-205.

68. n y a deux Corps illusoires: run «impur» (ma dag pa) developpe d'abord, l'autre «pur» (dag pa); la difference de purete correspond a une difference de qualite dans la realisation de la Vacuite, par l' esprit de Claire Lurniere; Ie Corps illusoire impur correspond a la troisieme etape du stade d'achevernent et se developpe a partir du «vent» subtil servant de monture a l'Esprit isole de Claire Lumiere. nest appele «illusoire» parce qu'illustre par douze comparaisons synonymes d'illusion (maya): cf. Geshe Kelsang GYATSO, op. cit., pp. 200, 205-206 (a propos de ces comparaisons, v. E. LAMOTTE: Le Traite de la Grande Vertu de Sagesse de Nagarjuna (Makaprajiiaparamitasastra), Louvain: Bureaux du Museon 1944, 1. I, pp. 357-387).

JIABS 21.2 190

- [1] [«sens] cacM» du dharma d'attachement ('dod chags chos sbas; riiga­dharma)69. - [2] [«sens] cacM» de l'lllusion [de la Verite] conventionnelle (kun 'dzob [bden pa'i] sgyu ma; saf!lvrtimiiyii). - [3] [«sens] cacM» de l'Esprit d'apparence [blanche] (snaJi ba [dkar lam pa'i] sems)70 En ce conceme Ie premier «sens cache», il y a deux subdivisions: [1.1] Ie «dharma d'attachement» de la base (comme les absorptions meditatives (samiipatti) d'union71 des bases de purification de Ia Voie) et [1. 2] Ie dharma d'attachement des absorptions meditatives des pratiquants du stade de creation et des pratiquants du stade d'achevement. En ce qui conceme Ie second «sens cache», c'est celui de l'lllusion: - de la basen : Ie Corps primordial (giiug ma'i lus; niviisitakiiya), Ie Corps de reve (svapnakiiya; rmi lam gyi lus)73, Ie Corps de vent de l'etat intermediaire (bar do rluJi gi lus), etc., - et de la Voie: Ie Corps lllusoire analogue et Ie Corps lllusoire veritable (sgyu lus rjes mthun daJi dJios gnas), etc. En ce qui conceme Ie troisieme «sens cachb>, c'est celui de l'Esprit d'apparence [blanche]: - de la base, comme les trois apparences du sommeil et de la mort74

- et de la V oie, comme les trois apparences de la Voie

69. Le «sens cacM» du riigadharma est rattache par E. STEINKELLNER (op. cit., p. 455) et par R. THURMAN, (op. cit., p.141) a Ia premiere etape (vajrajiipa ) du stade d'achevement (utpannakrama), alors que M. BROIDO ("bShad thabs [ ... ]", p. 41) Ie situe apres la troisieme du meme stade.

70. L' «Esprit d'apparence blanche» est un etat de conscience subtil du moment de Ia mort, qui suit la dissolution des quatre elements (cf. Geshe Kelsang GYATSO, op. cit., pp. 83-84).

71. pho mo sfioms 'jug (dEal mail dKon mchog rgyal mtshan, op. cit., p. 26.5.)

72. gii'i [ ... ] sgyu ma'i sbas pa (dEal man dKon mchog rgyal mtshan, op. cit., p. 26. 5.6).

73. Le «corps de reve» est considere comme tres proche du «corps illusoire» auquel il peut se melanger (cf. Geshe Kelsang GYATSO, op. cit., pp. 206-207)

74. Trois etats de conscience successifs experimentes lors de l'endormissement et de la mort: cf. LATI Rinpoche et Jeffrey HOPKINS en collaboration avec E. NAPPER, trad. de G. DRIESSENS, V. PAULENCE & M. ZAREGRADSKY: La Mort, l'Etat lntermediaire et la Renaissance dans le Bouddhisme Tibetain, Peymeinade: Editions Dharma 1980, pp. 42-50, et Geshe Kelsang GYATSO, op. cit., pp. 84-85, 115-116:

ARENES 191

A qui [Ie Sens cache] est-il cache? [TI] est cache [aux pratiquarlts] des classes inferieures de tantra et, dans ses trois manieres d'etre cache, il est cache en existant en essence a 1'interieur75 sans etre apparent a l' exterieur.76 .

Ainsi, selon. dBal man dKon mchog rgyal mtshan, non seulement Ie «sens cache» (sbas (pa'i) don) est cache aux pratiquants des classes de tantra inferieurs mais, en outre, il est reserve aux pratiquants du stade d'achevement auxquels il est explique en prive (slob bSad1ryi gait zag par opposition a tshogs bsad kyi gait zag). Cette caracteri~tique des textes dotes d'un«sens cache» fait de ceux-ci, a proprement parler, des textes acroamatiques. Le «sens cache» partage cette particularite du mode d'en­seignement avec Ie «sens ultime» ainsi qu'avec trois des «six possibilites alternatives» (~a!ko!i; rntha' drug)77: Ie «sens non conforme aux mots» (na yathiirtha; sgra ji biin rna yin pa); Ie «sens certain» au «sens d6fi­nitif» (nftiirtha; ites don), Ie «sens relevant d'une intention speciale» (dgoits bsad; sa'?ldhyii-bhii~ita-)78; il est parfois considere comme cor-

75. La problematique interieur f exterieur a ete souvent utilisee pour evoquer Ie «sens cache»: cf. Mi Pham sur Ie Kiilacakratantra (cit. de M. BRomO, "Killing, Lying, Stealing [ ... r, p. 79, 105, n.39).

76. dBal mail dKon mchog rgyal mtshan, op. cit., pp. 26.3-27.1: rdo rje tshig de la don mi mthun pa bi.i yod pa 'i nan nas sbas don gsum po gan run gi don stan pa'i rdo rje'i tshig de'i Mad pa de sbas don du Mad pa 'i mtshan fiyid f mtshan gi.i f dnos po med pa'i sags kyis sems dben dan f sgyus Ius bstan pa Ita bu'o /I dbye na 'dod chags chos sbas f kun rdzob sgyu ma'i sbas pa snan ba sems sbas dan gsum f dan po la flam gyi sbyan du gi.i'i pho mo sfioms 'jug Ita bu gi.i'i dan f bskyed rim pa dan rdzogs rim pa'i sfioms 'jug lam gyi 'dod chags chos sbas gfiis f gfiis pa la f gfiug ma'i Ius f rmi lam gyi Ius f bar do rlun gi Ius sags gi.i'i dan f sgyu lus rjes mthun dan dnos gnas sags lam gyi sgyu ma'i sbas pa'o /I gsum pa la I gfiid dan 'chi ba'i snan pa gsum Ita bu gi.i'i dan flam gyi snan pa gsum Ita bu lam gyi snan pa sems sbas so /I gan la sbas na rgyud sde 'og ma man chad la sbas pa dan f [27] f sbas tshul gsum las f phyi nas mi mnon par nan na sfiin par yod pa' i tshul gyis sbas pa '0 /I

77. ibid. p. 27. 3.: mtha' drug gi gsum dan tshul bi.i'i dan po gfiis tshogs Mad kyi gan zag dan f sgra ji bi.in ma yin pa dan f nes don f dgons Mad f tshul bi.i'i tha ma gfiis mams slob Mad kyi gan zag la Mad par byaJ. .. ] f

78. Parfois rapproche de sbas don (par ex. par Kumiira), v. M. BRomO, op.cit., p.109, n. 81.

nABS 21.2 192

respondant au «sens certain» 79 ce qui n' est pas etonnant puisque Ie «sens certain» est souvent rapporte au stade d'achevementSo•

A quoi correspond Ie «sens cache»? Comme Ie montrent Ies termes utilises, il renvoie it diverses pratiques

du stade d'achevement; Ie stade d'achevement comporte cinq etapesS1

dont trois seulement interessent'le «sens cache»: (1) parole isoIee (vag­viveka; nag dben) correspondant it Ia recitation de vajra (vajrajiipa; 'rdor bzlas); (2) esprit isoIe (cittaviveka; sems dben) correspondant it Ia purifi­cation de I'esprit (cittavisuddhi; sems mam par dag pa); (3) Ie Corps illusoire correspondant it I'auto-benediction (sviidhi~!hiina; bdag la.byin gyis brlab pa)S2.

De quoi parle ce «sens cache» qui existe «it l'interieur, en essence» (nan na sfiin por)?

II parle du creur de I' enseignementS3 et comme cet enseignement renvoie it une pratique, il est pertinent it I'intime de I'experience spiri­tuelle relevant de ces etapes.

79. BhavyakIrti cit. par M. BROIDO, op. cit., p.96; d'autant que Ie «sens certain» (nftlirtha) oppose a «sens a interpreter» (neylirtha) est aussi rapporte a l'opposi­tion interieur I exterieur (ibid., pp. 75,78, VimaZaprabha).

80. Ibid., pp. 78-79, 92, 96. nest aussi dit «cache» (par BhavyakIrti, ibid., p.96). Parfois, il designe seulement les pratiques les plus avancees (ibid., p. 81).

81. Cf. Katsurni MlMAKI et Toru TOMABECHI, Paiicakrama Sanskrit and Tibetan Text Critically Edited with Verse Index and Facsimile, Edition of the Sanskrit Manuscripts, Tokyo: The Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies for Unesco: I. Vajrajlipakrama, p.l; II. Sarvasuddhivisuddhikrama, p.15; III. Svlidhi~!hlina­krama, p.3l; IV. Paramarahasyasukhlibhisambodhikrama, p.4l; V. Yuga­naddhakrama, p.49; v. aussi Geshe Kelsang GYATSO, op. cit., p. 195, 201, 205.

82. L' Oldre dans lequel sont donnes les trois «sens caches» par dBal mail. dKon mchog rgyal mtshan ne semble pas tout a fait correspondre a celui-ci: Ie «sens cache du dharma d'attachement». (1) et Ie «sens cache de l'illusion de la Verite conventionnelle» (2) pourraient correspondre aux stades I et II mais Ie detail de leur contenu laisse penser qu'ils pourraient se rapporter, chacun, a plusieurs stades; en outre, il semblerait qu'il y ait des ambigultes puisque les tableaux fournis par E. STEINKELLNER (op. cit., p.456), d'apres BhavyakIrti, par M. BROIDO (v. "bShad thabs [ .. T, p.4l), d'apres Bu ston, par R. THuRMAN (op. cit., p.14l), d'apres Ie Jiilinavajrasamuccaya et TsOIi. kha pa ne correspondent pas sur plusieurs points.

83. Bu ston, dPaZ gsan ba 'dus pa'i !fkka sGron ma rab gsaZ, 26 a (cite par M. BROIDO, op. cit., p. 42).

ARENES 193

2.1.2. Exemple d'application du «sens cache.» (sbas (pa'i) don) a un tantra Comment Ie «sens cache» est-il applique a un texte precis?

dBal mail dKon mchog rgyal mtshan n'en donne pas d'exemples precis. Aussi hous a-t-il pam particulierement interessant de choisir quelques exemples de son application a un texte fort connu mais singu­lier a plusieurs egards, l'Eloge en Vingt et un «Hommage a Tara» (Namastare ekavif(lsati-stotra)84.

Ce texte se presente comme un texte versifie d' eloge a Tara, en vingt et une strophes commen9ant chacune par «Hommage a Tara ... », compa­rable en tous points, tout au moins en apparence, aux autres eloges (stotra / stava; bstod pa) de la partie du canon tibetain qui leur est con­sacree (bstod tshogs ); neanmoins, ce texte figurant en sanskrit dans l'un des plus importants tantra de Tara et seul, ailleurs, en tibetain, se trouve etre l'objet d'une controverse non seulement quant a son classement comme kriyatantra ou anuttarayogatantra mais encore quant a son ori­gine et il est considere comme constituant a lui seul un tantra complet85. Ces points seront developpes plus loin mais l' on peut deja noter que son classement comme anuttarayogatantra le rend susceptible de ressortir au «sens cache». Le commentaire, Ie sGroI ma'i 'grel pa, qui en propose des explications en «sens cache» a ete compose a une date inconnue, par Ie fameux Taranatha (1575-1635)86.

D'une maniere generale, Taranatha explique les Vingt et un «Hom­mage a Tara» selon un grand nombre de sens: Ie «sens non conforme aux mots» (sgra ji biin ma yin pa) (str.l), «sens certain» (ries don) (str. 16, 18, 19), «sens cache» (sbas don) (pour toutes les strophes sauf les str.l,4,8,15,16,19), Ie «sens interieur» (nari gi don) (str.8), Ie «sens pro­fond» (zab don) (strA) Ie «sens litteral» (yi ge don), commun (spyi'i don), ultime (mthar thug pa); toutes les strophes sont expliquees selon au moins deux sens: une explication ordinaire jamais denommee (sauf

84. Texte en sanskrit dans Ie chap. III du Sarvatathiigatamiitani[sic]Tarevisva­karmabhava-tantra-niima, P. 390, vol. 8, 150.3.2-150.4.7; texte tiMtain isoIe du reste du tantra: bCom idan 'das rna sGroi rna ymi dag par rdzogs pa'i salis rgyas bstod pa gsulis pa, P. 77, vol. 3, 154.2.3-154.4.7.

85. A propos de ces differents points concernant I'Eloge en Vingt et un Hommages, v. P. ARENES: , op. cit., pp. 203-205,276-277,282-287

86. Pour Ie sGroI ma'i 'grel pa ou Phyag 'tshai ner gcig gis bstod pa'i mam par Mad pa, v. Tliranatha, The Collected Works, vol. 12, p. 553-581; presentation et traduction, v. P. ARENES, op. cit., pp. 332-381.

JIABS 21.2 194

pour la str. 21) et une explication selon Ie «sens cache» ou l~ «sens certain» ou «definitif» (qui ne figurent jamais ensemble pour la meme strophe) voire Ie «sens profond» (pour un cas)87.

Voici quelques exemples d' explication en «sens cachb> concernant les strophes 2, 14, 21 88:

2.1.2.1. Strophe 2:

Hommage a elie dont Ie visage brilie comme cent pleines Iunes d'automne amoncelees, Celie qui resplendit de l'intense Iurniere [de] rnilliers d'etoiles assemblt~es!89

Explication de Taranatha90:

Sens cache (sbas don): Ie bodhicitta91 [qui est] semblable a «Ia Iune d'automne» a rempli Ie canal central [avadhatl], du <<joyau» au sinciput, [en demeurant] stable et tous les canaux [nagf] secondaires remplis par Ie kunda92, quant a eux, sont pareils a des etoiles assemblees.

87. Ibid.

88. Notre but ici n'est pas d'etudier la signification des Vingt et un Hommages en «sens cache» mais d'examiner comment s'articule Ie «sens cache» autexte dont il constitue une des explications (Mad pa) ou peut-etre auquel il s'applique; pour !'instant, nous nous en tiendrons a un petit nombre d' exemples choisis pour leur brievete et leur diversite.

89. Le texte tibetain utilise ici est Ie beom [dan 'das ma sGrol ma yan dag par rdzogs pa'i sans rgyas bstod pa gsuns pa, P.77, vol. 3, 154.2.4-2.5.: / / Phyag 'tshal ston ka 'i zla ba kun tu / gan ba brgya ni brtsegs pa 'i fal ma / skar ma ston phrag tshogs pa mams kyis / rab tu phye ba'i 'ad rab 'bar ma II

90. Taranatha, sGrol ma'i 'grel pa, p. 41: sbas don ni ston zla lta bu'i byan chub kyi sems nor bu nas spyi bo'i bar 'pho med du brtsegs pa dan I rtsa phran thams cad kun das gan ba ni skar tshags lta bu'ol

91. byan chub kyi sems. A propos de ce terme, v. R.A. STEIN: Vie et chants de 'Brug pa Kun legs, le yogin, Paris: G. P. Maisonneuve et Larose 1972, p. 319 (n.5 et 6): «Les deux Bodhicitta, ou Kunda et Bodhicitta, il ne faut pas les abimer quand on acheve l'etat de Buddha». R.A. STEIN explique: <<les deux Bodhicitta sont celies de la Verite Relative (Amour et Misericorde) et celie de la Verite Absolue». R.A. STEIN ajoute que la pensee de Bodhi designe a la fois Ie sperme (kunda: jasrnin) et la Pensee 111urninee [pensee d'Eveil] qui saisit directement la Vacuite.

92. V. supra, n.91.

ARENES 195

Identification des pratiques d'anuttarayogatantra: II s'agit la d'une meditation sur Ies gouttes (sukra/bindu; thig Ie), les canaux et les vents (viiyu; rlun) liee a la pratique du yoga du Feu Iilterieur (calJ¢iilf; gtum mo) dont le but est de de£aire les nceuds formes par les canaux (rtsa mdud) au niveau du cceur et qui est mise en ceuvre apres la realisation d'une certaine pratique appartenant a la «parole isolee» (nag dben), premiere des cinq etapes du stade d'achevement.93 .

Analyse de I 'articulation du «sens cache» a la strophe commentee: Dans ce premier exemple, Ie «sens cache» se rattache au texte explique en s'insinuant dans Ie cadre d'une comparaison, i.e. dans Ie jeu d'une distanciation abolie qui, pour un instant, entrouvre un espace de possibles similaires; alors que la brillance du visage de la deesse est comparee a celle de «cent pleines lunes d'automne», Ie premier element du «sens cacM», bodhicitta, se substitue de facto au compare du texte commente en etant lui-meme compare au meme comparant, la dune d' automne», ce qui est une maniere subtile de poser l' equation bodhi­citta94 = brillance du visage de la Deesse. Le deuxieme element, les «canaux (nii¢Q secondaires», se substitue aussi ala brillance du visage de la Deesse en etant compare au second comparant, les «etoiles assem­blees». Ainsi, par substitution partielle, le sens cacM reprend a son compte une double comparaison, s'inscrivant, de ce fait, dans Ie texte, aussi bien par Ie truchement de l' axe des substitutions que par celui des concatenations.

2.1.2.2. Strophe 14:

Hommage it Celle qui frappe de la paume de sa main et qui martele du pied la surface de la terre, arborant un regard irrite, par la sy llabe HOly!, elle soumet les sept niveaux!95

93. V. Geshe Kelsang GYATSO, op. cit., p. 193.

94. La lune (zla ba) elle-meme est synonyme de bodhicitta: mais une idee de brillance, de blancheur, est aussi rattachee it d' autres synonymes de bodhicitta (khams dkar po, etc.).

95. beom Idan 'das ma sGroI ma yan dag par rdzogs pa'i sans rgyas bstod pa gsuns pa, P. 77, vol. 3, 154.3.5-154.3.6: II Phyag 'tshal sa gti'i nos la phyag gi I mthil gyis bsnun cin tabs kyis rdun ma I khro ner can mdzad yi ge HU¥ gis / rim pa bdun po rnams ni 'gems ma II

JIABS 21.2 196

Explication de Taranatha:

Sens cache (sbas don): «la surface de la terre», c'est Ie cerc1e [ma~¢aIa] de l' ombilic; il est battu par Ie feu de la Connaissance Superieure [jiiiina ] de la Violente [ca~¢iiIi] [Le.] par Ie pied de la Deesse selon Ie sens certain [nftiirtha] et il est «frappe» par sa main de flamme. En outre, «les sept mondes souterrains» [correspondent] au feu pur96 qui, dans la partie inferieure du canal central [avadhutf] s'enroule comme un serpent sept fois; quand, dans ce lieu ardent, vient [la goutte] Esprit d'Eveil [Bodhicitta] qui flambe du feu de la Violente [po 57], la brfilure du feu est totalement apaisee et les fl(l!uds des canaux sont «soumis» et detruits.97

Identification des pratiques d'anuttarayogatantra: La pratique evoquee ici est celie du Feu Interieur dans sa phase finale: Ia destruction des nceuds de canaux qui va permetlre aux «vents» de pene­trer, demeurer et se dissoudre dans Ie canal central et, au meditant, de faire l' experience des quatre Vides, accedant ainsi a l' etape de l' «esprit isole», deuxieme des cinq etapes du stade d'achevement. On notera, ici, I'association ponctuelle du «sens certain» (nftiirtha; nes don) au «sens cache».

Analyse de l' articulation du «sens cache» a la strophe commentee: Dans ce second exemple, Ie «sens cache» s'ancre dans la strophe a expliquer selon une strategie partiellement similaire, mais plus directe: l' action de Tara decrite dans certe strophe est mise en parallele avec un moment du processus que doit maitriser Ie pratiquant du gtum mo. Le «sens cache» institue un rapport metaphorique entre certe action et ce processus de trois manieres : d'abord, un premier element de Ia strophe, «Ia surface de Ia terre», est en quelque sorte «traduit», i.e. identifie directement a un element de Ia pratique du gtum mo, «Ie cerc1e de l' ombilic»; ensuite, ce dernier est substitue au terme dont i1 est Ie sens et replace dans son contexte phrastique : i1 devient alors l' objet de deux actions «marteler/battre» (rdun ba) et «frapper» (bsnun pa) auxquelles i1 confere alors une valeur metaphorique. Neanmoins, toujours dans Ie

96. tshans pa'i me: ou feu de Brabma = feu de 1'ombilic (bus kyi Ite ba'i me), cf. Bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo, TA-CHA, p. 2254.

97. Taranatha, sGrol ma'i 'grel pa, pp. 56.4-57.1: sbas don ni / sa gii'i nos ni Ite ba'i dkyil 'khor te / de Ia gtum mo ye ses kyi me nes pa'i don gyi Iha mo'i iabs kyis brduns pa dan me lce'i phyag gis bsnun pa'o 1/ de yan sa 'og bdun te / dbus ma'i mas sna na tshans pa'i me sprulltar 'khyil ba len bdun pa / rab tu 'bar ba gnas pa der / gtum mo 'bar ba'i byan chub kyi sems 'ons pa na me'i gdun ba rab tu ii ba dan / de'i rtsa mdud mams 'gems sin 'jig pa'o 1/

ARENES 197

cadre de cette metaphore filee, Taranatha traduit Ie premier moyen de l'action de battre en l'identifiant directement en terme de gtum rno: «pied de la Deesse» = «feu de la Violente (gtum mo)>> et, pour ce faire, introduit l'une des six «possibilites alternatives» (ko!i), Ie «sens certain» (nltiirtha); quant au second moyen de l'action de frapper, «la main» (de la Deesse), Taranatha nelui donne pas directement un sens en terme de gtum mo, mais, plus elegamment, l'utilise en une combinaison meta­phorique, «main de fIamme» qui remplit la meme fonction. Un autre element de la strophe, <des sept mondes souterrains», est Ie point de depart d'un assez long developpement qui semble s'ecarter de la strophe. Ce terme est simplement identifie au feu de gtum mo de la partie infe­rieure du corps et suivi d'une description d'un moment de cette pratique. Le developpement lui-meme n'est justifie et rattache a la strophe com­mentee que par un element, Ie chiffre sept.

2.1.2.3. Strophe 21:

Hornmage a Celie qui, par la disposition des trois realites [tattva ] [ultimes], est parfaitement pourvue du pouvoir d'apaisement [siva]; [Hornmage a] TURE [Ia Rapide], la Supreme, l'ExcelIente qui triomphe de la multitude des graha, des vetala et des yak,\'a!98

Explication de Taranatha:

Sens cache (sbas don) : Ies trois realites [tattva] sont : l' «apparence», la «croissance», l' «obtention proche»; celIes-ci etant etablies et apparaissant succes­sivement, nait l'apaisement, c'est-a-dire qu'irnmediatement, l' Apaisement et la Claire Lumiere du Vide total [sarvasunya] vont [apparaitre]. Les demons [graha] sont les canaux [nadf], les vampires [vetaZa] sont les gouttes [bindu], les ya~a sont les pensees conceptuelles [vikaZpa]; du fait qu'ils sont vaincus dans I'Espace de la Claire Lumiere [prabhasvaradhatu], [on s]'erige rapidement [en Ie] corps de la deite, c'est-a-dire [de] la Supreme. Quant a de telles categories [d'interpretation], il est dit dans La Lampe lumi­neuse:99 «[Pour] expliquer tres bien la Claire Lumiere et pour faire comprendre l'Union [yuganaddha][p.69], [on] explique Ie sens ultime sous deux aspects, par «llltime», [on entendlles mots a la limite [du dicible?].» Ainsi, bien que, dans la

98. beom ldan 'das ma sGrol ma yan dag par rdzogs pa'j sans rgyas bstod pa gsuns pa, P.77, vol. 3, 154.4.2-4.3:

II Phyag 'tshal de ftid gsum mams bkod pas I ii ba'j mthu dan yan dag ldan ma I gdon dan ro lans gnod sbyin tshogs mams I 'joms pas TU RE rab mchog fiid ma II

La traduction tibetaine reprend Ie mot sanskrit Ture (vocatif de l'adjectif tura).

99. Gron gsal: il s'agit du Pradfpoddyotana de CandrakIrti.

nABS 21.2 198

tradition exegetique meme [de l'ecole] Arya du Guhyasamiija, soit affumee l'explication"de l'ultime; il faut savoir qu'en general, il y a aussi Ie sens cacMIOO.

Identification des pratiques d'anuttarayogatantra: Le commentaire de Taranatha reste malgre tout relativement elliptique: on peut penser qu'il fait allusion aux trois etats de conscience (<<esprit d' apparence blanche», etc.)IOI qui se produisent (en particulier) au moment dela mort et qui font partie des huit signes successifs102 experi­mentes conjointement a la Vacuite et sont suivis de l' avenement de la Claire Lumiere du Vide total (thams cad stan pa'i 'ad gsal); cela pour­rait donc se rapporter a la quatrieme etape du stade d' achevement, ou a la troisieme si l'on considere que la quatrieme ne debute qu'au moment ou disparait Ie Corps illusoire impur, au moment de la realisation de la Claire Lumiere de signification (don gyi 'ad gsal)I03.

Analyse de l'articulation du «sens cache» a la strophe commentee: Dans ce troisieme exemple, un premier element de la strophe, «les trois realites (tattva)>> est directement, i.e. de maniere quasi equationnelle, identifie a trois etats de conscience (<<esprit d'apparence blanche», etc.) experimentes au moment de la mort; un deuxieme element de la strophe, «1' Apaisement (ii ba)>>, est presente seul, d'abord, sans justification, comme une consequence de I' avenement de ces etats de conscience, puis glose en etant reaffirme comme evenement consequent mais alors, associe, par apposition, a un autre element de pratique du stade d'ache­vement, la Claire Lumiere du Vide total.

Dans la meme strophe est glorifie un exploit ordinaire de Tara, l' action de vaincre les multitudes de demons. Les actants-objets sont

100. Taranatha,op. cit., pp. 68.3-69.2: gsum pa sbas don ni / de fiid gsum snan ba dan mehed pa dan / fie bar thob pa' 0 II de dag bkod pa de rim gyi sar nas / ii ba te skad cig pa ii ba thams cad stan pa 'od gsal ba fie bar 'gro '0 II gdon te rtsa dan / ro lans te thig Ie dan / gnod sbyin te mam par rtog pa mams 'od gsal kyi dbyins su beom pa las / rab mehog te lha'i skur myur du biens pa' 0 II 'di Ita bu'i rigs ni / sgron gsallas / 'od gsal ba ni rab ston dan II zun 'jug pa rab rtogs byed II mam pa gfiis su mtha' Mad do II mtha'i ni mur thug pa yi tshig / ees gsan 'dus 'phags skor ba mams kyi ran lugs la / mthar thug gi Mad pa 'dod kyan / spyir nas sbas don yan yod par ses par bya' 0 II.

101. V. supra, n. 64 et 74.

102. Cf. LATI Rinpoche et J. HOPKINS, op cit., p.57.

103. Cf. Geshe Kelsang GYATSO, op. cit., pp. 214-216.

ARENES 199

d' abord identifies directement, de mamere serielle104 «demons» = «canaux (niidf)>>, «vampires (vetiila)>> = «gouttes» (bindu), yak~a» = «pensees conceptuelles (vikalpa)>> a des elements de yoga du stade d'achevement; puis, a 1'actant-sujet, est substitue un autre element de ce meme stade, I' «Espace de la Claire Lumiere» qui devient sujet de 1'action de «vaincre ('joms/bcom)>> conferant de facto a celle-ci une valeur metaphorique. Un dernier terme de la strophe, rab mchog (la Supreme) est repris par Ie «sens cacM» (sbas don) pour etre identifie au corps de la deite obtenu a l'issue de cette phase de yoga.

2.1.2.4. Analyse des conceptions et de la methode de Taranatha Que peut-on deduire, d'une maniere generale, de ces trois exemples?

Taranatha semble etablir, Ie plus souvent, une sorte de correspondance ou de parallele entre Ie contenu des strophes et Ie deroulement de pra­tiques du stade d'achevement; par des series d'identifications de termes importants de la strophe a des elements de ces pratiques, il confere au texte de l' eloge une valeur metaphorique qui devient la forme d' expres­sion du «sens cacM». Ces identifications sont faites en etablissant des correspondances terme a terme comme si l'auteur avait recours a un lexique ou un code etabli. Cette hypothese pourrait etre confirmee par Ie fait qu'a la fin de son commentaire, il enumere une longue liste de significations qu'il n'a pas utilisees et indique les termes de l'eloge aux­quels elles sont assignables; malheureusement, il n'entre pas davantage dans Ie detail et renvoie a des ouvrages traitant de ces sujets105.

En ce qui concerne son utilisation (str.14) du «sens certain» (nftiirtha; rres don), il est difficile de conclure quant aux rapports reciproques du «sens cache» et du «sens certain»; on pourrait avoir l'impression que Ie «sens certain» est applicable de maniere ponctuelle et que Ie «sens cacM» I'est de maniere plus globale. On pourrait aussi penser que ces deux «sens» sont employes concurremment puisque il ne semble guere y avoir de difference entre les autres identifications faites au nom du «sens cachb> et celIe du «pied de la Deesse» faite en fonction du «sens

104. Au moyen de la particule te: [ ... ] gdon te rtsa / ro fans te thig Ie, etc. (Taranlltha, op. cit., p. 68. 5).

105. Ibid., pp. 71-72: gian yan fie bar rna go ba'i rnarn grans 'di Ita bu dag kyan / stan ka'i zla ba sags kyis zla ba dan sa bon las bskyed pa dan / fii rna zla ba rgyas pa sags kyis rnnon byan Ina las bskyed pa dan I [etc.]; il renvoie ensuite a l'ouvrage intitule Tiirii douce le jour, irritee ia nuit (sGroi rna fiin it rntshan khro), cf. P. ARENES, op. cit., p. 373.

, JIABS 21.2 200

certain»; par ailleurs, dans toutes ies strophes OU une interpretation du «sens cache» ne' suit pas l'explication generale, c'est une explication en «sens certain» qui prend sa place (str. 16, 18, 19)106; mai,s d'autres exemples de telles occurrences seraient necessaires p()ur confirmer ces hypotheses.

L' explication que parait vouloir donner Taranatha des categories d'interpretation qu'il utilise ne semble pas tres claire. En effet, alors qu'il interprete la derniere strophe en «sens cache», il cite un passage de l'ouvrage de CandrakIrti qui fait reference en la matiere, Ie Pradf­poddyotana; or ce passage traite de l'usage du «sens ultime» (kolikiirtha) pour expliquer la Claire Lumiere et l'Union ; selon cette citation, I'Ultime est explique (Mad pa) sous deux aspects (mam pa). Ensuite, Taranatha semble gloser cette citation en expliquant qu' outre Ie «sens ultime» expose par la tradition exegetique AIya du Guhyasamiija, il existe aussi Ie «sens cache», comme si cette tradition ignorait ou negligeait Ie «sens cache».

Si I' expression «deux aspects» de la citation renvoie a «sens cache» et «sens ultime», la demonstration de Taranatha est coherente mais, alors, Ie «sens cache» comme Ie «sens ultime» traitent de l'Ultime, en l' occur­rence, de la Claire Lumiere (prabhiisvara) et de I'Union (yuganaddha), ce qui est contradictoire avec les definitions habituelles du «sens cache»! En outre, dans ce passage de Candraldrti, il semblerait que ces deux aspects designent, en fait, la Claire Lumiere et l'Union107.

Pour conclure de ces exemples, ce qu'on peut dire, c'est que, si I'on ignore I'explication en «sens cache» (sbas don), il n'est en aucune maniere possible de I'induire ou de Ie deduire du texte de l' Eloge en Vingt et un Hommages. On ne peut affirmer pour autant, avec certitude, que ce texte est un texte de sens accommodatice, i.e. un texte auquel, a posteriori, un sens autre que Ie sens obvie aurait ete attribue par quel­qu'un ala fois connaissant precisement les pratiques de l' anuttarayoga­tantra et assez habile pour, en operant une lecture selective de ce texte, y discerner / dessiner une description metaphorique de ces pratiques. En effet, il n'est pas non plus insense d'envisager que ce texte ait pu etre

106, Cf. P. ARENES, op. cit., pp. 358, 362-363.

107. Cf. R. THuRMAN, op. cit., pp.140-141 (trad. du Pradfpoddyotana): The ultimate is explained to be twofold; Either showing clear light translucency [' od gsal], Or affording realization of integration [zu1i 'jug]; "Ultimate" means here "reaching the limit".

ARENBS 201

compose de maniere a en permettre deux lectures, Ia seconde n' etant accessible qu'a l'auteur lui-meme ou a toute autre personne autorisee et disposant des des d'interpretation.

Le developpement que Gun than 'Jam pa'i dbyans cons acre au «sens cache» et a sa' justification dans son commentaire du «sens cache» du Prajfiiipiiramitiihrdayasutra permet-il de preciser quelques~uns de ces points?

2.2. «Sens cache» (garbhyiirtha; sbas (pa'i) don) et Sutra

Le Ses rab sfiin po'i snags kyi mam Mad sbas don gsal ba sgron me n'est sans doute pas Ie plus connu des ouvrages de Gung than 'Jam pa'i dbyans (l762-1823) 108mais il s'inscrit dans la riche tradition exegetique de la litterature de la Prajfiiipiiramitii. Bcrit en 1816, ce commentaire qui traite de l'explication en «sens cachb> du Hrdayasutra, tout en faisant reference aux commentateurs indiens, s'appuie aussi sur Ie rNam Mad sfiin po'i rgyan de rGyal tshab rje (1364-1432) qui est lui-meme un commentaire de l'Abhisamayiila1'[Lkiira I09 . Cette application du «sens cache» a un texte qui non seulement a toutes les apparences d'un sutra mais est aussi intitul6 sutra, revet une importance particuliere.

108. Ses rab siiin po'i snags kyi mam bSad sbas don gsal ba sgron me, dans The Collected Works of Gun-than dKon-mchog bstan-pa'i sgron-me, vol. 1, pp.682-715, New Delhi: Ngawang Gelek Demo 1971. Dans cet article, cet ouvrage sera desormais abrege en sB. d. (= sBas don gsal ba).

Sur ce maitre, v. supra n.lO, et D. LOPEZ, The Heart Satra explained: Indian and Tibetan commentaries, pp.14-15 (Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications 1990): D. LOPEZ donne, en annexe, la traduction integrale de ce commentaire (pp. 161-186).

109. Ce texte, l' AbhisamayiilalJlkara, est considere comme un commentaire des Satra de la Prajiiiipiiramitii, mais lui-meme fait l'objet d'un subcommentaire, la Sphutiirthii (sur la litterature exegetique, cf. J.I. CABEZON: Buddhism and language. A Study of Indo-Tibetan Scholasticism, Albany: State Univ. of New York Press 1994).

JIABS 21.2 202

2.2.1. Application du «sens cache» a un sutra: Ie Prajiiiipiiramitiihrdaya­sutra Le Sutra du Cceur de la Perfection de SapiencellO est un texte extreme­ment bref qui traite, directement, de la Vacuite (ston pa iiid; sun,yatii), i.e. la Voie profonde (zab mo'i lam) et indirectement de la Voie etendue (rgya che ba'i lam, i.e. les qualites relevant des piiramitii autres que Priijiiii: la compassion, etc.). Le «sens cache» de cet enseignement, selon Gun than 'Jam pa'i dbyaIis (en accord avec la definition de dBal man dKon mchog rgyal mtshan et celle de la tradition hermeneutique), est en rapport avec les anuttarayogatantra111 et, constitue par les cinq etapes des «comprehensions superieures» (abhisamaya; mnon rtogs)112. Le commentaire decrit les pratiques a accomplir, leur ordre, les qualites a obtenir, etc., en expliquant de maniere a la fois poetique et judicieuse que, de meme que Ie chemin d'un oiseau ne peut etre decrit par les cantons de l'espace qu'il traverse mais par les plaines, les montagnes, les rivieres et les forets qu'il survole, de meme les etapes spirituelles ne peuvent etre decrites que par les qualites et aptitudes permettant de les atteindre 113 .

On peut en prendre comme exemple l'explication qu'il donne du celebre mantra: tadyathii O¥ gate gate piiragate piirasafJ1.gate bodhi sviihii. De meme que Ie texte qui Ie precede est divise en plusieurs parties correspondant aux divers chemins (miirga), de meme ce mantra (sauf O¥) se voit assigne comme «sens cache» (sbas don) les «cinq

110. Bhagavatz-prajfia-paramita-hrdaya; bCom ldan 'das ma ses rab pha rol tu phyin pa 'i sfiili po, P. 160, Vol. 6, 166.1.1-4-5 (quatre foI. seulement); trad. E. CONZE, dans Buddhist Wisdom Books, New York: Harper and Row 1972.

111. Cf. sB. d., p.707: [ ... ] ser mdo la 'byU/i ba de [= sbas don gyi tha sfiad] bla med kyi rgyud mthar thug pa mams dan khan fie da'i rtags pa yin I

112. Ibid.: des na snags' di ses rab sfiin po'i sbas don mnon rtogs gyi rim pa ston byed yin pas snags su gsuns te I. Aussi, p. 708: ser sfiin 'dir tshig fiun bas sbas don mnon rtog lam Ina tshan gcig las ma gsuns so I. En ce qui concerne les «comprehensions superieures» et leur rapport aux cinq chemins, cf. Asanga, Abhidharmasamuccaya (trad., W. RAHULA: Le Compendium de la Super­Doctrine (Abhidharmasamuccaya) d'Asanga, Paris: EFEO 1971, p. 160, 163), Mahiiyiinasaf[lgraha (trad. E. LAMOTTE, La Somme du Grand Vehicule d'Asanga, Louvain la Neuve: Institut orientaliste 1973, p. 172-173; bibl., p. 34).

113. Cf. sB. d., p. 697.

ARENES 203

chemins». II resume alors Ie «sens cache»114 et chaque element du man­tra est mis en correspondance avec une partie du texte:

Tadyathii: ce terme resume l'ensemble du contenu du prologue I 15.

O¥ renvoie au· «sens ultime», a la signification de EVA¥ contenue dans ce prologue : la nature du corps, de la parole et de l'esprit (de buddha). I 16

Gate gate indique Ie chemin de l'accumulation (saYj1bhiiramiirga; tshogs-lam) et Ie chemin de la preparation (prayogamiirga; sbyor-lam); ces deux mots correspondent a la partie du texte ou se trouve la phrase:

Sanputra, les fils ou les filles de qualite qui desirent pratiquer la profonde Sapience parfaite doivent voir [les choses] ainsi» 117.

Piiragate: Ie chemin de la vision (darsanamiirga; mthOli lam) correspond a la partie qui va de <des cinq agregats» jusqu'a «il n'y a pas d'obten­tion»118.

PiirasaYj1gate: Ie chemin de la meditation (bhiivaniimiirga; sgom lam) correspond a «Sariputra, ainsi [les bodhisattva n' ayant pas d' obtention, se fondent-ils sur la parfaite Sapience et demeurent-ils en elle; leur esprit etant sans voile, il est sans peur, etc.]»119.

Bodhi: Ie chemin au-dela-de-l'etude (asaik~amiirga; mi slob lam) corres­pond a : «[C'est en s'appuyant sur la Sapience parfaite que] les buddha des trois temps [obtiennent l'Eveil parfait, accompli, sublime]» 120.

Sviihii: signifie qu'il en soit ainsi121 •

114. Cf. sB. d, p. 712,4.: de yan chad kyi mdo'i don thams cad snags 'dis bsdus pa yin te I.

115. Ibid.: nan gi don rtogs ses rab dan ldan pa 'i sgo nas stan dgos tshul gyi man nag glen giis bsdus mams ta dya tha ies pas bstan I.

116. Ibid.: sku gsuri thugs gsum gyi bdag fiid e warn gyi don mthar thug pa glen gii'i khons na gnas pa de fiid om ies pas bstan I.

117. Ibid.: sa ri bu rigs kyi bu' am I nas I mam par blta bar bya ies pa 'j sbas don gyi tshogs sbyor gfiis ga te ga te ies pas bstan I.

118. Ibid.: phuri po ina po f ies pa nas I rna thob pa 'an med ces pa'i sbas don gyi mthon lam pii ra ga te ies pas bstan I.

119. sB. d., p. 713: de Ita bas naies sogs kyi sbasdon sgom lampiirasa1!lga te ies pas bstan f.

120. Ibid.: dus gsum du ies sogs kyi mi slob lam bo dhi ies pas bstan to JI.

121. Ibid.: sviihii ni gii tshugs ies brtan par byed pa 'i don te f.

JIABS 21.2 204

Comme on Ie voit, il n'est rien de <;ommun entre Ie «sens cach6> (sbas

don) et Ie mantra, hormis l'idee de progression exprimee par celui-ci : «alle, alle, alle par dela, completement aIle, Eveil», (i.e. «Quand on a continuement avance, quand on a atteint l' autre rive, quand on est arrive au but, c'est l'Eveil!») C'est d'ailleurs cette idee qui permet de lui rattacher la succession des chemins: «Ainsi, Ie premier «allez»122 (gate)

indique Ia maniere de progresser sur Ie chemin de I' accumulation [ ... ]»123. Pour les autres elements du mantra, la relation avec les cinq chemins est etablie par l' etymologie :

Par exemple :

«para» [rive, autre rive, but, limite, etc.] de «piiragate»124, etant explique cornme «au deUt», il faut aussi l'expliquer cornme «absolu» (don dam pa): en effet, en ajoutant quelques lettres a ce mot, on obtient <<.piiramartha» [paramarthaJ'25.

Jouant sur la similitude de ptira et de pra (de prayogamtirga, chemin de la preparation), Gun than 'Jam pa'i dbyans affirme que, quand pra se transforme en ptira, alors on se prepare a l' «absolu»126 (i.e. sur Ie «che­min de la preparation», on se prepare au chernin suivant, celui de la Vision?). De meme Ie saY[L de ptirasaY[Lgate, est rapproche de saY[Lsodha

si bien que ptirasaY[Lgate est alors associe a l'idee de «complete purifica­tion»127; rapproche aussi de saY[Lttina il est associe a l'idee de continuite de progres 128; Ie sens habituel de saY[L n'est pas oublie et c'est l'idee de I' elimination «complete» des erreurs qui mene a l' «accomplissement» du nirvti"(la129 qui est associee alors a ptirasaY[Lgate.

122. Le terme sanskrit, un verbal en -ta (gata) au locatif, a ete traduit en tibetain par un imperatif: sons sig.

123. sE. d., p. 693: de ltar na sons sig ces pa dan pas chos fiid kyi don la thos bsam gtso bar gyur pa'i tshogs lam bgrod tshul dan I.

124. Cf. MONIER-WILLIAMS: A Sanskrit-English Dictionary, (reedition), Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass 1995, p. 619.

125. sB. d., p. 695: des na piira gate ies pa'i para pha rol tu Mad pas don dam par yan Mad dgos te / de la yi ge bsnan pas piiramiirtha don dam pa La 'jug cin I.

126. sB. d., p. 698: der ma zad sbyor lam gyi skad dod prayogamarga [sic] ies pa pra piira byas tshe don dam pa La sbyor bies pa'i don du 'gyur bar Mad do II.

127. sE. d., ibid.: 'dir pii ra sal?'! gate ies pa'i sal?'! ni sal?'!sodha byas na yons su sbyan ba la 'jug I.

128. Ibid.: santana [sic] byas tshe rgyun du la 'jug pas yun bsrins nas goms te gon 'phel tu gton dgos pa'i don du 'gro la I.

129. Ibid.: phyin ci log las sin tu 'das nas my a nan las 'das par mthar phyin to t.

ARENES 205

S'il ne- parait pas illogique de penser que, pour expliquer comment n~aliser la Vacuite exposee dans ce siitra, il est utile de considerer les chemins qui y menent, en revanche, on a Ie sentiment que les rapproche­ments qui permettent d'articuler Ie «sens cache» au texte ne sont pas toujours justifie-s formellement l3o. En outre, il faut noter que, quoique Ie «sens cache» soit bien rapporte aux anuttarayogatantra, rien de similaire a ce qui est indique par dBai mail dKon mchog rgyal mtshan n'est mentionne ici; on n'y trouve qu'une tres breve explication concernant les Corps, Parole, Esprit de vajra et la maniere dont les anuttarayoga­tantra les realisentl31 . Comment expliquer cette apparente contradiction, comment Gun than ' Jam pa'i dbyans explique-t -ille «sens cache»?

2.2.2. Le «sens cache» (sbas don; garbhyartha) selon Gun than 'Jam pa'i dbyans

sbas don et tugs bstan

tugs bstan Pour expliquer Ie «sens cache», Gun than 'Jam pa'i dbyails Ie compare au «sens implicite» (tugs bstan): Ie «sens implicite» se trouve (even­tuellement) dans n'importe quel texte et il est possible de Ie comprendre par la force (stobs) d'un raisonnement (rigs-pa) qui analyse Ie «sens (de l' expose) explicite» ou direct (dit.os bstan )132.

II ne s'agit donc nullement, ici, d'une allusion puisque celle-ci exige que Ie lecteur (ou l'auditeur) soit en possession de l'information et que

130. Cette maniere de proceder «etymologico-philologique» se rapproche (partielle­ment), quand meme, du fonctionnement d'un alaTJ1kara, une categorie de double sens, Ie sabhaligatle~a qui peut reposer sur un phoneme (var~a), un mot (pada), un genre (liliga), une langue (bhil~a), un theme (Prakrti), un suffixe (pratyaya), une desinence (vibhakti), etc.: cf. M.C. PORCHER: Figures de style en sanskrit, Theorie des AlaTJ1karatastra, Paris: College de France, Institut de Civilisation fudienne 1978, p. 347.

131. sB. d., p. 703: bla med la sku 'grub byed bskyed rim 1 gsuli 'grub byed kun rdzob bsgyu ma'i rdzogs rim 1 thugs 'grub byed don dam 'od gsal gyi rdzogs rim yin la [ ... ] I.

132. sB. d., p. 707: tugs bstan ni zuli gali la 'ali yod cili dlios bstan gyi don la dpyad pa'i rigs pa'i stobs kyis rtogs nus zig yin I.

Cf. D SEYFORT RUEGG: "Purport, Implicature and Presupposition [ ... ]", 311-312: "[ ... J directly and explicitly (dlios su; mukhya ) or by implication (tugs kyis; samarthyat or don gyis = arthat) [ ... ]."

JIABS 21.2 206

I'auteur Ie sache; il ne s'agit pas non plus d'une suggestionl33 p~isque celle-ci representel'action par'laquelle une idee en appelle, en fait naitre une autre et qu'alors, aucune mediation n'intervient entre lys deux. Ce sugs bstan134 semble etre ce qui est «montre», «indique» (bstan paY par shugs : dans sugs, ce qu'il faut.retenir, c'est I'idee de potentialite, de virtualite, i.e. qui existe «en puissance» et non en acte135 mais c.ette virtualite n' est actualisee que par un raisonnement.

Par exemple, c'est par deduction qu'on peut comprendre de l'affirma­tion (explicite) selon laquelle Devadatta ne mangeait pas Ie jour, qu'il mangeait la nuit (implicite) 136: la mention d'un raisonnement dans l' actualisation d'une proposition connexe rapproche sugs bstan, Ie sens implique, de l'acception que «implicite» a en logique, c'est a dire d'iro­plication.

sbasdon En ce qui concerne Ie «sens cache» (sbas don), il n'est aucunement deductible d'un enonce, a la difference du sens implicite, aucun raison­nement ne permet d'y acceder:

En ce qui conceme Ie sens cache, il n'est pas possible, tout seul, de Ie comprendre en anaIysant [son enonce] sans [avoir recours aux] explications [fournies] par les instructions d'un maitrel37.

133. Nous entendons 130 suggestion dans Ie sens moderne du terme mais, parmi les aIa'!lkiira, Ie sens cache semble avoir quelques similitudes avec Ie dhvani : il est apprehende apres l'exprime, il peut naitre d'un mot, d'une phrase, d'un ouvrage entier, ou d'un phoneme, il requiert la connaissance d'eIements exterieurs au texte, il peut s'adresser a quelqu'un d'autre que Ie destinataire du sens obvie; neanmoins Ie dhvani est en relation avec Ie double sens du sle~a: cf. M.C. PORCHER,op. cit, pp. 371~372.

134. D. SEYFORT RUEGG, ibid., p. 312: "And what is thus implicitly communicated [ ... ] is designated in Tibetan by tugs bstan".

135. Inherent power (vertu, pouvoir inherent): cf. Chandra DAS: Tibetan English Dictionary, p. 1240; Bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo, Dza-A, p.2852: nus pa dan stobs.

136. Cf. Bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo, p.2853. C'est l'exemple donne de sugs bstan: dper na lHas sbyin chen pos fUn par zas mi za I ies pas fUn mor zas mi za Ia dnos su bstan nas I mtshan mor zas za ba sugs bstan pa' 0 I. Le sens implicite est d'ailleurs ainsi defmi comme un autre sens en relation avec Ie sens expressement enonce (explicite): don d:1ios su bstan pa'i ior nas don gian bstan pa [ ... ] I.

137. Cf. sB. d., p.707: sbas don ni bia ma'i man nag gis ma bstan par ran dban du dpyad pas rtogs mi nus pa iig yin I; seul: ran dban du (lit. de son propre chef, librement).

ARENES 207

C' est une propriete du Iangage que de pouvoir utiliser des mots dans un sens qui n'est pas connu au prealable par Ia communaute linguistique138; en general, on Ie fait comprendre par Ie contexte qui rend, alors, neces­smre ce nouveau sens : c'est, par exemple, Ie cas pour l'usage de meta­phores; en ce qui concerne Ie «sens cache», Ie contexte n'est d'aucune aide, ce sont les instructions du maitre qui permettent d'y acceder comme nous avons pu Ie voir dans Ies applications evoquees plus haut. C'est en ce sens que Ie savoir du maitre est, en quelque sorte, annexe au texte.

Un enonce dote d'un «sens cacM» ne comporte donc ni ambiguite Iii amphibolie; bien que «signifib>, i1 n'est pas ce qui manque au «signi­fiant» puisqu'il ne lui est pas assigne par un code linguistique ou culturel139; pas plus que Ie sens obvie, Ie «sens cache» n' a de rapport de res semblance avec la suite graphique ou sonore de l' enonce auquel il est assigne140: de ce point de vue, leur relation n'est pas «motivee». En ce qui concerne Ie caractere de «necessite»141, i1 semble plus difficile de trancher. II est un point, neanmoins, sur lequel Ie «sens cache» se rapproche du sens implicite, c'est que Ie «sens cacM» semble etre appeIe par Ie sens obvie. En effet, Gun than 'jam pa'i dbyans souligne, a propos du Prajfiiipiiramitiihrdayasutra, que ce «sens cache» est en quelque sorte «necessaire» :

Tout Ie texte ayant expose principalement la vacuite, on peut se demander comment mettre en pratique (cet enseignement)142.

C' est pour repondre a cette question que Ie «sens (cacM») du texte est organise de maniere a correspondre aux etapes de Ia voie143. Et notre auteur se montre plus precis encore, en affirmant :

138. Cf. T. TODOROV, "Signe" in Dictionnaire encyclopedique des sciences du Zangage, Paris: Editions du Seuil, p.137, 1972.

139. Cf. T. TODOROV, ibid, p. 133: a propos du «signifie» en general et du «signifie Saussurien» en particulier.

140. Bien que different du sens obvie, Ie sens cache, comme lui, n'est pas «motive» linguistiquement ainsi que l'est Ie «sens symbolique».

141. Au sens linguistique du terme: Ie signifie ne peut se passer du signifiant (ibid., p.13S).

142. Cf. sB. d., p. 707: giun ril pos ston iiid gtso bor bstan nas de siiams su len tshul ji ltar yin siiam pa la /

143. Ibid., p. 707: / giun don lam gyi rim par bsgrigs te [ ... ] /

·nABS 21.2 208

Lorsqu'il y a moyen d'indiquer un chemin comme senscacM d'un enseign~ment ayant pour sujet expres, la vacuite, il faut aussi que soit indiquee la Connaissance superieure (jfiiina) du chemin de la Vision (darsanamiirga; mthon lam) 144, Ie Corps ultime (mthar thug gi sku), etc.: c'est Iii qu'intervient pleineinent Ie sens des «quatre modes d'explicatioll» (caturvidhiikhyiiyikii; [bSad] tshul bii)145.

Cette necessite n'est pas, a strictement parler, d'ordre logique mais plut6t d'ordre teleologique146: Ie «sens cache» (sbas don) reintroduit'le contenu du texte a sa place, dans un ensemble doctrinal dont les fins sont clairement soteriologiques, il Ie situe par rapport aux etapes d'un processus conduisant a l' etat de buddha. Dans Ie cas du Prajfiaparamita­hrdayasutra, Ie «sens cache» semble avoir, avec lui, une relation de complementarite. Puisqu'on a affaire ici a une sorte de contigui:te de signifies doctrinaux, on pourrrait peut-etre faire etat, pour Ie «sens cache», de signification par collocation, si ce concept n'etait pas Ie plus souvent utilise pour des mots 147 . On pourrait aussi parler de trans­textualite, au sens ou I'entend G. GENETTE, a condition de s'en tenir a sa definition generale ou meme de «paratextualitb>, a condition d'en

144. A propos des cinq chemins et du «chemin de la Vision», v. AsaIiga, Abhi­dharmasamuccaya (trad.: W. RAHULA, Le Compendium de la Super Doctrine d'Asanga, p. 104-109); sur Ie chemin de la Vision, un arya «voit» directement la Vacuite, i.e., 1'absence d'existence en soi des pMnomenes.

145. Cf. sB. d., p.707: dnos su yul ston fiid gsun pa de'i sbas don la lam iig ston tshul yod tshe mthon lam gyi ye ses dan mthar thug gi sku sogs kyan ston tshul yod dgos pas tshul bii'i don tshan bar 'byun no I. Pour les quatre modes d'explication, v. supra, pp.185-188.

146. C'est iI dire que cette necessite est moyen d'une fin (la bouddMite); bien que «teleologique», ici, soit employe dans Ie sens que lui donne Kant dans sa Critique du ]ugement (Kritick der Urtheilskraft) 2e partie, § 84: «Nun haben wir nur eine einzige Art wesen in der Welt deren Kausalitat teleologisch, das ist auf Zwecke gerichtet und doch zugleich beschaffen [ ... ]» (cf. A. LALANDE, Vocabu­Zaire technique et critique de la Philosophie, Paris, P.U.F., 1976 (reed.), p.354), il se peut, neanmons, que, comme me 1'a suggere Ie Professeur E. STEIN­KELLNER, qu'il vaHle mieux parler - et plus subtilement peut-etre - d'une neces­site de «causalite proleptique».

147. II s'agit ici davantage de significations culturelles que linguistiques comme par exemple, pour un mot, Ie fait d' evoquer les proprietes de l' objet qu'il nomme en meme temps qu'ille nomme: Cf. lR. FIRTH, Papers in Linguistics 1934-1951, London: Oxford University Press 1957, pp. 190-215. De meme, W. EMPSON (dans The Structure of complex words, Londres: Chatto and Windus 1969, pp.I-45) fait etat du meme pMnomene, i.e. que, lorsqu'un mot est produit dans un enonce, il mobilise, en meme temps, tout un complexe de signifies, un sous ensemble ideologique.

ARENES 209

elargir Ie sens 148 , puisque Ie «sens cache» est, d'une certaine maniere, l'expression d'une coherence doctrinale et qu'il renvoie a d'autres textes portant sur des themes connexes voirecomplementaires. Mais si l' on se refere a «1' application» du «sens cache» aux Vingt et un «Hommage a Tara», cette complementarite apparait moins clairement149.

Si l' on rapporte, main tenant, cette definition du «sens cache» de Gun than 'Jam pa'i dbyans et Ie commentaire qui l'accompagne ala definiton donnee par dBal man dKon mchog rgyal mtshan, ces. definitions ne paraissent guere colncider. En effet, Gun than 'Jam pa'i dbyans semble se cantonner dans des considerations beaucoup plus generales. On con­state une quasi absence de commentaire developpe concernant les anutta­rayogatantra et l'on trouve pourtant, dans son expose, l'affirmation de ce qui devrait autoriser un tel commentaire, i.e. l' affirmation de la necessite des «quatre explications».

II semble donc qu'on ait affaire, en quelque sorte, a un «sens cache pteparatoire» a celui expose par dBal man dKon mchog rgyal mtshan. Ce caractere particulier serait-il en relation avec Ie fait que le texte auquelle «sens cache» est applique, n' est pas un tantra?

III. SUTRA ET TANTRA : PARTITION ET TRANSITION

1. Le Prajfiaparamitahrdayasfitra, texte «hybride» voire ambigu

Le «sens cache» (sbas don; garbhyartha ), normalement, n' est pas utilise pour d'autres textesque les tantra 150 • Neanmoins, il 1'a ete pour un siitra, Ie Prajiiaparamitahrdayasutra. Cette contradiction trouve son

148. G. GENETTE, dans Palimpsestes (1982) (Paris: Le Seuil, Points Essais, 1992), definit la «transtextualite» ou «transcendance textuelle du texte» comme ce qui englobe les differents types de relation manifeste ou cacMe que Ie texte entretient avec d'autres textes.

La «paratextualite» est la copresence autour ou Ii cote du texte, d'un texte exterieur qui l' encadre, Ie determine et en conditionne la lecture; Ie probleme, c' est que Ie «paratexte» est defini trop etroitement. n renvoie, en effet, aux titres, sous-titres, preface, notes, epigraphes, priere d'inserer, etc.

149. Malgre ses apparences d'hyrnne, sa nature de texte de kriyiitantra n'est guere douteuse, on peut done considerer que son commentaire comme anuttarayoga­tantra est, en quelque sorte, complementaire dans Ie cadre d'une progression des tantra inferieurs aux tantra superieurs.

150. Cf. supra, p. 191.

.JIABS 21.2 210

echo dans Ie double classement de ce texte : Bu ston cons acre cette ambi­gu'ite en faisant figurer Ie Prajiiapiiramitiihrdayasutra dans Ia sectio~ des Tantra et dans celie de la Prajiiiipiiramital51.

C'est Ia presence d'un mantra dans Ie Prajiiiipiiramitiihrdayasutra qui pose Ie probleme de sa nature, justifiant son interpretation en «sens cache», creant ainsi une «interface» entre tantra et sutra. En tibet~n, deux termes designent Ies tantra : Ies mots rgyud et gsan snags. Ce der­nier terme, gsan snags (guhyamantra, mot a mot, mantra secrets) parfois en concurrence avec snags (par ex. snags kyi thegs pa)152, est souvent utilise par GUD. than 'Jam pa'i dbyans et, quelquefois, non sans ambi­guite (mantra / tantra?). Cette ambiguite est quelque peu genante quand il s'agit de savoir si c'est Ie mantra seul qui peut etre qualifie de tantra ou si c'est Ie texte entier. Cette «curiosite Iexicale» et cette ambigu'ite ne renvoient-elles pas justement aces textes transitionneis de caractere hybride - textes comprenant mantra ou dhiira1J.l mais presentes comme sutra - deja evoques par J. FILLIOZATI53?

La justification de I'utilisation du «sens cache» pour expliquer ce Sutra du cceur de la perfection de Sapience donne lieu a un debat - dont GUD. than 'Jam pa'i dbyans se fait I'echo dans son argumentation - ou Ies commentateurs indiens et tiMtains en viennent a considerer Ies cri­teres de differenciation des sutra et des tantra, Ies rapports entre ceux-ci et leur definition respectivel54•

Les raisons utilisees pour demontrer Ia legitimite de l' attribution du statut de tantra au Prajiiiipiiramitiihrdayasutra etlou du mantra qu'il contient font, bien sur, etat des caracreres specifiques d'un tantra.

D'abord, GUD. than 'Jam pa'i dbyans cite Vimalamitra (Ville S.)155 selon Iequel c'est un tantra parce qu'enseigne en secret, i.e. sans etre reveIe a ceux dont Ies facultes sont faibles; Vimalamitra, ici, renvoie donc a une pratique, un fait mais aussi a une definition 156.

151. Cf. D. LOPEZ, op. cit., p.112.

152. Cf; infra, n.160 et 165; mais aussi opposition tantra/sutra: mdo-snags (v. infra, n. 164).

153. Cf. L. RENou et J. FlLLIOZAT, op. cit., II, § 2014-2015, pp. 373-374.

154. Cf. sB. d, pp.703-707.

155. Ce maitre aurait ete disciple de Buddhaguhya et de SrlsiIpha et se serait rendu au Tibet it l'epoque du roi Kbri sron Ide btsan: cf. D. LOpEZ, op. cit, pp. 8-9.

156. Cf. sB. d, p.703: dban rtulla gsan ste bstan pas gsan snags su brtags par gsuns I

ARENES 211

II faitaussi etat d'un autre argument, celui qu'utilise Vajrapa1).i (Xle S.)157 pour repondre par anticipation a une question concernant l'appar­tenance eventuelle au vehicule des caracteristiques (lak~alJayiina; mtshan fiid gyi theg pa = piiramitiiyiina) ou au vehicule des mantra (snags gyi theg pa = tantrayiina), d'instructions a propos du sens du Prajfiiipiira­mitiihrdayasutra. VajrapaI).i fait valoir qu'il est vrai que Ie mantra de ce sutra (gate gate piirasa1!lgate ... ) ne ressemble pas aux mantra utilises d'habitude dans les rituels de pacification, accroissement, subjugation, etc, necessaires a l' accomplissement des quatre activites (samudiiciira; 'phrin las) mais que, de meme que la realite est diverse dans son appa­rence et identique en sa nature profonde, de meme ce mantra constitue l'intime du sens de tous les mantra (gsan snags mams kyi don gyi sfiin po) et que compendre son sens lihere l'esprit158•

Gun than evoque un autre argument: Ie mantra (?) est aussi un tantra parce que Nagarjuna et Anandagarbha ont compose deux siidhana l'utili­sant comme base, l'un relevant des anuttarayogatantra et l'autre des yogatantra et qu'ainsi, les disciples «non ordinaires» peuvent Ie prati­quer comme un tantra159• lci encore, l'argument renvoie a un constat: c'est son usage atteste comme tantra qui justifie son statut et, en defini­tive, son commentaire en «sens cache».

157. Ce maitre, ne en 1017, disciple de MaitrIpa et expert en doha, aurait enseigne la Mahfunudra: cf. 'Gos 10 tsa ba, Deb ther snon po (trad. N. G. ROERICH: The Blues Annals, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass 1976 (lere ed. 1949), pp. 842-843).

158. sB. d., p.704: sems can mams kyi blo'i snan ba la tha dad du snan mod kyi / zab mo'i chos iiid la tha dad med de / de dra bas na ses rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i snags 'di ni gsan snags mams kyi don gyi siiin po yin no / Ces mantra sont, en quelque sorte, des cas particuliers de celui du Sutra du C(Eur. Cf. Ie Sarvatathagatakiiyaviikcittarahasyaguhyasamiijaniimamahakalpariija; De biin gsegs pa thams cad kyi sku gsun thugs kyi gsan chen gsan ba 'dus pa ies bya ba brtag pa'i rgyal po chen po (P. 81, vol. 3., 200. 4. 2., 69c-71b) it propos de l' explication classique du terme mantra, selon laquelle ce mot forme de man (esprit) et tra (proteger) signifie «proteger l'esprit»: ce qui protege l'esprit ultimement, c'est la comprehension directe de l'absence d'existence en soi des phenomenes, c'est l'acces it l'etat de buddha auquelle «sens cache» du mantra du Prajiiiipiiramitiihrdayasutra fait allusion.

159. sB. d., p.704: Klu sgrub kyis 'di'i sgrub thabs mdzad pa bla med dan 'gros mthun iin / Kun siiin gis mal 'byor rgyud dan bstun nas grub thabs mdzad pas gdul bya thun mon ma yin pa' 'ga' iig la ltos te snags su byas chog go /

.nABS 21.2 212

2. Relations entre les sUtra. et les tantra : continuite et specijicite

Pour justifier ce rapprochement entre sutra et tantra, Gun tha.J1 'Jam pa'i dbyans fait un expose convaincant sur les rapports entre sutra et tantra, ou il souligne leur specificite et .leur complementarite: les sutra con­duisent naturellement aux tantra; s'epanouissent en eux160, il faut donc les rapprocher voire les meler161 , et, selon Kulikapul).<;larIka, Ie vehicule de vajra conjugue la methode des mantra (snags kyi tshul) et la methode des piiramitii (pha rol tu phyin pa 'i tshul) qui sont, respectivement, de la nature du fruit et de la cause162• n ajoute qu'en depit de cette relation etroite, il convient, neanmoins, conformement a l'intention du Buddha de s'adapter au degre de maturite spirituelle des disciples I 63, de main­tenir une claire distinction entre sutra et tantra (Imantra).

3. Definition et caracteres des tantra : specijicite et usage

D'abord, ce qui distingue un tantra (lmantra) d'un sutra (Gun than 'Jam pa'i dbyans cite a ce sujet les affirmations de Vimalamitra et Atisa), c'est Ie fait d'etre enseigne en secret de ceux dont les facultes sont faibles (dban rtul) et comme on l'a vu plus haut, c'est un argument en faveur du statut de tantra du Sutra du C(Eur ou plus vraisemblable­ment de son mantra l64•

Ensuite, les sutra ne font que partiellement etat de cet «ultime» (mthar thug pa ) qu' on peut obtenir par Ie chemin des tantra ([gsan ] snags) du fruit I 65.

160. sB. d., p.705: spyir mdo thams cad sriags la giol ba yin I 161. sB. d., p.705: de gfiis gcig tu bsre ruri bar rna zad ries par 'dres dgos pa yin te I 162. sB. d., p.705: rdo rje theg pa ste sriags kyi tshul dari pha rol phyin pa'i tshul

'bras bu dari rgyu'i bdag fiid gcig tu 'dres par gyur pa'o I

163. sB. d., p.705: 'on kyari de'i ched du bya ba'i gdul bya la dari po nas snags lugs su byas nas bstan na stan pas mdo sriags so sor gsuris pa 'i dgoris pa rna phyed pa dari skabs 'chol ba'i skyon du 'gyur I

164. sB. d., p. 703: Le texte est ici ambigu parce qu'il pourrait s'agir du Prajiiii­piiramitiihrdayasutra ou de son mantra: '0 na 'di mdo sriags giiis las gari du gtogs siiam na I Bi rna la mi tras dbari rtulla gsari ste bstan pas gsari sriags su btags par gsuris I. Le demonstratif 'di devrait designer neanmoins Ie mantra dont on parle auparavant.

165. Ibid., p.705: des na 'bras bu sriags lam gyis thob bya'i mthar thug pa de zur tsam bstan kyari I

ARENES 213

En ou"tre, Ie chemin des tantra qualifie de «chemin (utilisant) des methodes habiles complementaires» n'est pas enseigne en meme temps que Ie chemin des sutra l66 . En effet, selon Tson kha pa167 , dans Ie vehicule des piiramitii, la methode permettant de produire Ie «fruit», la «Felicite de l'Eveil» (byan chub kyi bde ba), la grande «Felicite du chemin nee simultanement», n'est pas enseignee168 bien que, lorsqu'on parle du «fruit», il soit permis d'expliquer la «Grande FelicitiS».

Enfin, la presence, dans un texte, d'explications telles que celles qu'on trouve dans les tantra it propos du stade du «fruit», ne fait pas, pour autant, relever ce texte du vehicule des tantra; il faut, pour cela, que ces explications soient aussi accompagnees d'un expose du chemin per­mettant d'y accederl69.

Ces caracteres autorisant l' appellation de tantra, enonces par Gun than 'Jam pa'i dbyans, sont relativement precis et denues d'ambigulte mais que penser de ce qu'implique I'argument selon lequel Ie mantra du Prajiiiipiiramitiihrdayasutra est un tantra parce que Nagarjuna et Anandagarbha ont compose deux siidhana de niveau yogatantra et anuttarayogatantra l'utilisant comme base et qu'ainsi, les disciples «non-ordinaires» peuvent Ie pratiquer comme un tantra l70?

On peut en deduire, bien sur, que les tantra n'ont pas Ie meme «pu­blic» que les sutra mais ce qu'il faut surtout noter, c'est que l'usage de cet argument entraine un renversement de perspective puisque ce n' est plus Ie statut de tantra qui autorise son utilisation comme tel, c'est I'usa­ge qui en est fait qui legitime son statut : est considere comme tantra un texte qui donne lieu a des pratiques tantriques. Le point de vue pragma­tique qui inspire cet argument et l'utilisation particuliere du Sutra du C(Eur, est aussi celui qui inspire une pratique, voire une strategie plus generale : celIe de la transmission et de l' enseignement des tantra.

166. Ibid.: snon pa 'debs rgyu'i thabs mkhas kyi lam de dan po nas mfiam du ston pa min pas theg pa so so bar 'gro ba'i phyir te /

167. lei (sB. d., pp. 705-706), l'auteur cite Ie Rim Ina sgron gsal de Tson kha pa.

168. Ibid., p. 706: / Rim tna sgron gsallas / phar phyin gyi theg par 'bras bu byan chub kyi bde ba'i thabs rgyu lam gyi lhan skyes kyi bde ba chen po ma bstan pas / 'bras bu'i skabs su bde ba Mad du chug kyan theg pa gfiis khyad par che bar gsuns so /

169. Ibid .. : [ ... ] gsuns pa Ita bu snags kyi thun mon ma yin pa'i gnad don re re tsam bstan yan / de sgrub byed kyi lam dan bcas te ma gsuns pas snags kyi theg par mi 'gyur pa dan /

170. sB. d., p.704 (v. supra, n.159).

·JIABS 21.2 214

4. Typologie des textes, typoiogie des etres : d'une probIematiqufj! de l'articulation a une probIematique de la transition

4.1. Souci pedagogique, strategies et pratiques Les sutra trouvent donc leur prolongement dans les tantra tout en restant distincts de ceux-ci; mais comment se fait cette articulation des uns aux autres?

Les termes de «methode» (tshul), «chemin» (lam), «vehicule» (theg pa), utilises pour distinguer les uns des autres renvoient a ceux qui uti­lisent ces methodes et ces vehicules, empruntent ces chemins: les prati­quants ou disciples et c'est donc parrapport a eux, a leur progression spirituelle que ·se fait l'articulation des tantra aux sutra.

L'idee de gnidualisme est, bien sur, centrale dans Ie Mahiiyiina. On sait comment elle 1'a emporte au Tibet!7! contre les tendances subitistes. On sait combien sont importantes les notions de petit Vehicule et Grand Vehicule, de «terres» (bhumi; sa) et «chemins» (miirga; lam) ou encore Ie fait de distinguer les individus suivant leur motivation : ce sont ces considerations ou de similaires qui president a l' organisation, la mise en perspective de la transmission et de l' enseignement des tantra.

Ainsi, deux arguments, utilises pour soutenir Ie caractere tantrique du mantra du Prajiiiipiiramitiihrdayasutra introduisent une consideration capitale dans Ie fonctionnement des systemes d'interpretation: la diver~ site des sortes de disciples. Le premier distingue, comme on I' a vu, parmi les disciples ceux qui ont de «faibles facultes» (dban rtul) , auxquels les tantra ne peuvent etre enseignes172, et Ie second mentionne les disciples· «non ordinaires» (thun mon ma yin pa) susceptibles de pratiquer des siidhana derives du Prajiiiipiiramitiihrdayasutra173.

171. Cf. P. DEMIEVILLE: Le Condle de Lhasa. Une controverse sur le quiitisine entre les bouddhistes de l'Inde et de la Chine au Ville siecle de l'ere chretienne, Paris: P.D.F. 1952; Y. IMAEDA: "Documents tibetains de Touen-houang concernant Ie concile du Tibet", I.A. CCLXTII (1975): 125-146; D. SEYFORT RUEGG: Buddha nature, Mind and the problem of Gradualism in a comparative perspective: On the transmission and reception of Buddhism in India and Tibet, London: School of Oriental and African Studies 1989.

172. Cf. sB. d., p.703: dban rtulla gsan ste bstan pas gsan snags su brtags par gsuns I

173. sB. eL, p.704: Klu sgrub kyis 'di'i sgrub thabs mdzad pa bla med dan 'gros mthun tin I Kun sfiin gis mal 'byor rgyud dan bstun nas grub thabs mdzad pas gdul bya thun mon ma yin pa' 'ga' tig la ltos te snags su byas chog go I.

ARENES 215

La distinction «ordinaire» I «non ordinaire» (thun man pa 'i / thun man ma yin pa'i: litt. commun/non commun) correspond a des differences d'instruction, de developpement spirituel des pratiquants. C'est un souci didactico-soteriologique qui justifie alors la partition sutra-tantra, qui organise leurs rapports et qui legitime Ie caractere acroamatique des enseignements consideres comme les plus avances. Deux types de disciples sont distingues : ceux qui ne seraient pas encore prets ou qui seraient susceptibles de s' effaroucher si on leur parlait de tantra et des disciples dotes de la maturite spirituelle requise ou de capacites supe­rieures.

Sur ce point, Gun than 'Jam pa'idbyans decrit tres precisement la maniere prudente et pragmatique dont procedent les maltres spiritue1s pour guider leurs disciples sur cette Voie des sutra «qui se prolonge dans les tantra». 11 explique que les disciples de la voie etendue des sutra (mdo lugs kyi lam rkyan pa), suivent celle-ci dans la perspective d'atteindre ainsi l' «ultime» (mthar thug pa) (i.e. «Ie fruit» )174; quand ils ont obtenu une realisation suffisante de la voie commune (thun man lam), on leur enseigne que leur but ne peut etre atteint sans la pratique des tantra175, et on leur ens eigne ceux-ci.

Ce qu'il nous dit de la maniere d'utiliser Ie Prajfiiipiiramitiihrdaya­sidra comme «texte transitionnel» est plus significatif encore de ce point de vue pragmatique. Par exemple, en ce qui concerne Ie mantra de ce texte, il souligne que, bien qu'il soit possible d'enseigner, quant a son sens, l'intention profonde (dgons pa'i phugs) en relation avec ce mantra, il n' est pas necessairement souhaitable de I' enseigner en disant explicite­ment (tshig gis), des Ie debut, de Ie pratiquer en tant que tantra. lci, il est fait reference a des disciples qui pourraient prendre peur si on leur disait qu'il s'agit de tantra 176• Plus loin, par contre, il est fait allusion a

174. C'est-a-dire la «Felicite de l'Eveil», cf. supra, p. 213 et n.168 (sB. d., p.706).

175. Ibid., p. 705: des na 'bras bu snags lam gyis thob bya'i mthar thug pa de zur tsam bstan kyan t mdo'j ched du bya ba 'i gdul bya dan por de mdo lugs kyi lam rkyan pas thob thub pa 'i dban du byas nas bstan Gin fiams su blans te thun mon lam byan gi rtogs pa skyes zin pa na gzod 'di la snags kyi snon pa zig ma btab par 'bras bu de thob mi nus zes snags lam ston pa ma gtogs t.

176. Ibid., p. 704-705: don fa dgons pa 'i phugs snags dan bsres nas ston run yan t dan po nas snags [tar fiams su fons zes tshig gis ston mi run no I. Auparavant, l' auteur a fait allusion a une anecdote concernant un certain Pracandraprabha qui ne pouvait supporter d' entendre parler de beurre mais a qui il fallut en faire absorber sans Ie lui dire, pour des raisons medicaIes.

·nABS 21.2 216

des disciples avec lesquels il n'est pas besoin de prendre autant de precautions: des disciples de capacites superieures «qui comprennent Ie sens d'un simple mouvement de tete»177.

On voit donc qu'un maitre dispose d'une certaine marge de manreuvre. Lorsqu'il a affaire a des disciples·a un degre intermediaire de maturite, des disciples presque prets mais pas tout a fait, il peut moduler une approche plus souple de vues doctrinales et de pratiques encore incon­nues des vineya (gdul bya) qu'il doit guider, a condition de disposer de textes qui Ie lui permettent.

4.2. Textes hybrides et hypotheses: de l'ambiguite comme lieu privi­legie d'une didactique de la transition En effet, parmi les textes canoniques, il existe certains textes dont Ie statut «hybride» pourrait legitimement (?) autoriser un tel usage. Ainsi, certains sutra, en general courts, conserves dans des recueils de dhiirat}i (gzwis; formules magiques - celles~ci etant designees alternativement comme sutra ou dhiira7J.t) representeraient, selon J. FILLIOZATI78, des formes de passage entre les sutra anciens et la litterature tantrique.

Le Maiijusrfmulakalpa, par exemple, peut etre considere comme un texte de ce type puisque, bien qu'il soit presente comme un mulatantra et c1asse parmi les tantra, il est donne par la plupart de ses colophons comme un mahiiyiinavaipulyasutral79•

A l'instar de ces textes, Ie Prajiiiipiiramitiihrdayasutra, appeIe sutra, contenant un mantra180 considere comme tantra, et c1asse, ala fois, parmi les sutra et les tantra, peut etre considere comme un «texte transi­tionnel» parce qu'il semble avoir ete utilise pour constituer une transi­tion, une etape iIitroductive, en quelque sorte, une preparation a la pra­tique des tantra ..

Le statut du Prajiiiipiiramitiihrdayasutra, comme celui des «textes hybrides» mentionnes plus haut, reste ambigu : sutra ou tantra?

La reponse n'est pas donnee. Si Gun than 'jam pa'i dbyans affrrme bien que son mantra est de la nature des tantra, qu' il est interpretable en

177. Cf. ibid., p. 707: giuri don lam gyi rim par bsgrigs te gdul bya dban po sin tu mon sos mgo smos pa tsam gyis go ba mams La 'dis ston pa yin no I.

178. Cf. L. RENOuet J. Fil.LIOZAT, op. cit., n, § 2014-2015, pp. 373-374.

179. Ibid.

180. D'autres textes canoniques qui sont des sutra contiennent des mantra: Ie Lankiivatlirasutra, Ie RatnaketudhliraIJi, etc.

ARENES 217

«sens each€» (sbas don) (i.e. renvoie aux anuttarayogatantra), nt~an­moins, il ne dissipe pas toute ambigulte puisque, parlant des siidhana se rapportant au Prajfiiipiiramitiihrdayasiitra, il declare que ces textes sont bien (en la circonstance) des tantra (parce qu'utilisables par des disciples debutant dans fa pratique des tantra) mais qu'ils ne sont pas necessaire­ment des tantra, en generalI8!.

Mais qu'en est-il pour l'autre exemple d'application du «sens cache»? De meme que Ie Prajfiiipiiramitiihrdayasiitra, L'Eloge en Vingt et un

«Hommage il Tiirii» fait l'objet d'un double classement, son texte en sanskrit est considere comme un kriyiitantra et figure dans Ie chap. III du Sarvatathiigatamiitani [sic] Tarevisvakarmabhava-tantra-niima 182 et sa traduction tib6taine isolee, sous Ie titre de beom ldan 'das ma sGroI ma yan dag par rdzogs pa 'i sans rgyas bstod pa gsuns pa183, est classee parmi les anuttarayogatantra. Le Ier Dalai Lama, dGe 'dun grub pa (1391-1475) Ie classe parmi les kriyiitantra et rapporte que ce point fait l'objet d'une polemique en raison d'un commentaire qui l'explique en termes d' anuttarayogatantra184• Taranatha en revanche, dont on a vu Ie commentaire en «sens cache», Ie considere, et pour cause, comme un anuttarayo g atantra 185 .

Ces deux points de vue ne sont pas contradictoires et mKhas grub rje (1385-1438), dans son rGyud sde spyi'i rnam giag, eclaire quelque peu les raisons de cette double classification. II explique que cette double occurrence ne correspond pas a deux textes mais a une double maniere de commenter un meme texte et rappelle que l'iiciirya Suryagupta lui

181. Cf. sB. d, p. 707: de Itar na 'di'i sgrub thabs mams kymi snags Ia 'jug rin gyi gdul bya thun mon ma yin pa de 'j dban du byas pas de Ia ltos te snags yin kyan spyir snags yin mi dgos so I. lei, Ie tenne exact utilise pour qualifier les sadhana est snags, i.e. mantra, mais on ne peut pas dire qu'un texte de sadhana est ou non un mantra; par consequent, il faut comprendre snags comrne gsan snags (mantra secret) synonyme de tantra.

182. Sarvatathiigatamatani[sic]Tarevisvakarmabhava-tantra-nama, P. 390, vo1.8., 150.3.2-150.4.7 (v. P. ARENES, op. cit., p. 202-203, 275-276; en ce qui con­ceme la graphie miitani, v. p.275, n.126).

183. bCom Idan 'das ma sGroI ma yan dag par rdzogs pa'i sans rgyas bstod pa gsuns pa, P. 77, vol. 3, 154.2.3-154.4.7 (v. P. ARENES, ibid.).

184. Cf. dGe 'dun grub pa, sGroI ma phyag 'tshal ner gcig gi !fkka (sic) rin po che'i phren ba, The Collected Works, gsun 'bum, vol. 6, (CHA), p. 60 (v. P. ARENES, op. cit., p. 307).

185. Cf. Taranatha, op. cit., p. 39 (v. P. ARENES, op. cit., p. 335).

JIABS 21.2 218

meme avait commente ce texte en termes d'anuttarayogatantra 186; Le tantra de l' Eloge en Vingt et un «Hommage a Tara» n' est pas Ie seul tantra de ce type: en effet, la Mafijusrfnamasarrzglti a ete c,ommente comme un yogatantra par les acarya UHivajra et Mafijusriklrti mais Ie Vimalaprabha et Aryadeva 1'expliquent comme un anuttarayoga­tantra187.

Apparemment, Ie probleme n' est plus comme pour Ie Prajfiaparamita­hrdayasutra, de justifier Ie traitement de ce texte comme un tantra, puisque I 'Eloge en Vingt et un «Hommage a Tara» est un tantra. En realite, cela revient au meme puisqu'il s'agit de savoir s'il peut etre traite comme un anuttarayogatantra, i.e., pour ce qui nous concerne, etre commente en «sens cache» (sbas don).

La possibilite de commenter l'Eloge en Vingt et un «Hommage a Tara» en termes d' anuttarayogatantra tient-elle a!' origine de cet eloge, et, d'une maniere plus generale, un texte est-il un tantra par nature ou par destination?

D'abord, l' Eloge en Vingt et un «Hommage a Tara» (Namastare eka­virrzsatistotra), dans ses diverses versions, comporte des colophons diffe­rents ce qui pourrait laisser penser qu'il proviendrait d'un texte (ou groupe de textes) autre que Ie Sarvatathagatamatani [sic] Tarevisva­karmabhava-tantranama188• Ensuite, Taranatha considerant ce dernier tantra comme un tantra «compose» (brtsams rgyud) , est d'avis que l' Eloge en Vingt et un «Hommage a Tara» est un tantra resume qui provient d'un autre tantra plus developpe, Ie Roi des tantra de la Libe­ratrice en sept cents sections189• Cette origine particuliere pourrait expli­quer pourquoi, contrairement au texte dont il fait partie, il serait expli­cable comme un anuttarayogatantra. Enfin pour compliguer Ie tout, Ie colophon d'une de ses versions sanskrites Ie qualifie de sutra190•

11 faut noter, neanmoins, que ces variations dans la maniere de commenter certains tantra ne semblent pas choquer mKhas grub rje et

186. Tohoku n° 685-1689 (cf. F.D. LESSING et A. WAYMAN: Mkhas Grub Rje's Fundamentals of the Buddhist Tantras rGyud sde spyihimam par giag pa rgyas par brjod, La Haye-Paris: Mouton 1968, p. 127).

187. Ibid., p.127.

188. Cf. P. ARENES, op. cit, pp. 283-285.

189. Cf. Taranatha, op. cit., pp. 79-80 (v. P. ARENES, op. cit, p. 285,380).

190. Celui du texte sanskrit du bKa'-'gyur, au chapitre III du Sarvatathiigatamiitani [sic] TareviSvakarmabhava-tantra-niima, P. 390, vol. 8, 150.4.6-4.7 (v. P. ARENES, op. cit, p. 283).

ARENES 219

que Taranatha, lorsqu' il mentionne ses doutes quant a l' origine de l' Eloge en Vingt et un «Hommage a Tara», ne Ie fait pas pour justifier son interpretation en termes d' anuttarayogatantra; au contraire, quand il explique sa methode, on a Ie sentiment que, comme commentateur, il dispose d'une rdative liberte:

Celui-ci, je l' ai explique Ie plus souvent en accord avec deux cornrnentaires [ ... ] composes par des erudits indiens, ainsi qu'avec Ie contenu du Grand Commen­taire de Tantra de Dlparpkarasri[jnana]. Lorsque ceux-ci presentaient quelques discordances avec les instructions du Vajrayoga, j'ai compose mon propre com­mentaire [ ... ]. Me conforrnant a l' adage selon lequel, pour comprendre un tantra, il faut avoir recours a un autre tantra, j'ai cornrnente celui-ci en me reierant au Vajrayoga 191 .

En tout cas, il est bien difficile de dire si l' Eloge en Vingt et un «Hommage a Tara» est un ancien sutra transforme en tantra ou bien s'il a toujours ete un kriyatantra, ou encore, si c'est un kriyatantra dote d'un sens accommodatice d' anuttarayogatantra, ou meme s'il a toujours ete Ie support de deux types de pratique. Ce qu'on peut constater, c'est que, de meme que pour Ie Prajiiiiparamitahrdayasutra Ie «sens cache» (sbas don; garbhyartha), permet de menager une transition entre les sutra et les tantra, de meme, pour Ie Namastare ekavi1'[lsatistotra, Ie «sens cache» permet de transformer un texte de kriyatantra (ou utilise pour des pratiques de kriyatantra), en support de pratique d' anuttarayogatantra. Ce faisant, il etablit une continuite entre les tantra inferieurs et les tantra superieurs, 1'usage d'un meme texte constituant une maniere de transition susceptible de rassurer les disciples auxquels Ie «sens commun» n'aurait pas suffil92.

Le «sens cache», dans ce type d'usage, est particulierement utile parce que, tout en demeurant orthodoxe, il n' est pas fixe dans sa formulation meme, voire l'opportunite de celle-ci193, parce qu'il est a Ia discretion du maitre spirituel qui en est Ie seul detenteur, parce qu'il fonctionne comme un «sens accommodatice». Cet usage, en tout cas en ce qui concerne Ie Prajiiaparamitahrdayasutra, est atteste en lnde a partir du

191. Cf. Taranatha, op. cit., p. 70 (v. P. ARENES, op. cit, pp. 370-371).

192. Cf. supra, les «quatre explications», Ie «sens cornrnun», p.187 et n. 62.

193. II existe une version du cornrnentaire de Taranatha, Ie sGroI bstod rab gsal me loli, par Yon phun tshogs kyi dpal ba, ou tout ce qui conceme Ie «sens cache» . est enleve et qui est destinee a «tous ceux dont !'intelligence est inferieure» (v. P. ARENES, op. cit., p. 334).

JIABS 21.2 220

VIne S.194 mais il reste a savoir si sa pratique etait exceptionnellc: ou non.

n constitue, au moins dans quelques cas evoques ici, un iI!strument commode, adaptable, hermeneutique mais plus proprement maIeutique, des enseignements acroamatiques des tantra.

194. Cf. supra, p. 210 et n.155; Vimalamitra (Ville s.) a compose un commentaire intituIe Prajiiaparamittihrdaya!fkii, P. 5217 (cf. D. LOPEZ, op. cit, pp. 8-9).

ARENES 221

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Arenes, P. 1996: La Deesse sGroI ma (Tara), Orientalia Analecta Lovaniensia, Louvain: Peeters.

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Broido, M. 1982: "Does Tibetan henneneutics throw any light On Sandhabh~a?"

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1985: "Intention and suggestion in the Abhidharmakosa: Sandhabha~a revisited", Journal of Indian Philosophy 13: 327-381.

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1994: Buddhism and language. A Study of Indo-Tibetan Scholasticism, Albany: State Univ. of New York Press.

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1969: The Structure of complex words, Londres: Chatto and Windus.

1957: Papers in Linguistics (1934-1951), Londres: Oxford University Press. .

1992: Palimpsestes (lere M.: 1982), Paris: Le Seuil (points Essais).

1975: ''Documents tiMtains de Touen-houangconcemant Ie concile du Tibet", JournalAsiatique CCLXIII: 125-146.

Katsurni Mimaki et Toru Tomabechi (M.) 1994: Paiicakrama Sanskrit and Tibetan Texts Critically Edited with Verse Index and Facsimile Edition of the Sanskrit Manuscripts, Tokyo: The Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies for Unesco. .

Kelsang Gyatso (Geshe) 1986: Claire Lumiere de Felicite, Ie Mahamudra dans le Bouddhisme du Vajrayana, trad. de G. Million et G. Driessens, Editions Dharma.

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1976 (reed.): Vocabulaire technique et critique de la Philosophie, Paris: P.U.F.

1944: Le Traite de la Grande Vertu de Sagesse de Nagarjuna (MahaprajilliparamitiiSastra ), Louvain: Bureaux du Museon, t. I.

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1949: "Critique d'interpretation dans Ie bouddhisme", Annuaire de l'Institut de philologie et d'Histoire Orientale et Slave 9: 341-361.'

1973: La Somme du Grand vehicule d'Asaliga (Mahayanasrup.graha), Louvain la Neuve: Institut orientaliste. '

Lati Rinpoche et Hopkins, J. (et allii) 1980: La Mort, l'Etat Intermediaire et la . Renaissance dans Ie Bouddhisme Tibetain, (trad. G. Driessens) Peymeinade: Editions Dharma (lere ed., 1979).

Lessing F.D. et Wayman, A. 1968: Mkhas Grub Rje's Fundamentals of the Buddhist Tantras rGyud sde spyihi rnam par gzhag pa rgyas par brjod, La Haye-Paris: Mouton.

Lopez,D. 1990: The Heart Sutra explained: Indian and Tibetan commentaries, Delhi: SrI Satguru Public.

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Rahula, W. 1971: Le Compendium de la Super-Doctrine (Philosophie), (Abhidharmasamuccaya) d'Asaliga, trad. et annote, Paris: E.F.E.O.

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2. Textes canoniques :

bKa' 'gyur

Guhyasamiijatantra = Sarvatathiigatakiiyaviikcittarahasyaguhyasmiijaniimamahii­kalpariija; De biin gsegs pa thams cad kyi sku gsuri thugs kyi gsari chen gsari ba 'dus pa ies bya ba brtag pa'i rgyaI po chen po, P. 81, vol. 3, 174.3. 5-203. 2. 1 (T6hoku nO 442-443).

bCom ldan 'das ma sGroI ma yari dag par rdzogs pa'i saris rgyas bstod pa gsuris pa, P. 77, vol. 3, 154.2.3.-154.4.8 (trad. tib. du Namastiire-ekavilJ1sati).

Bhagavatf-prajfiii-piiramitii-hrdaya; bcom ldan ' das ma ses rab pha rol tu phyin pa'i sfiiri po, P. 160, vol. 6, 166.1.7-166.4.5 (T6hoku nO 21); trad. E. Conze, dans Buddhist Wisdom Books, New York: Harper and Row 1972.

Caturdevfpariprcchiitantra; lHa mo Mis yoris su sus pa, P. 85, vol. 3, 254.1.5-255.4.8 (T6hoku nO 446).

Vajrajfiiinasamuccaya-niima-tantra; Ye ses rdo rje kun las btus pa, P. 84, vol. 3, 252.3.2-254.1.5 (T6hoku nO 447).

Vaj ramiiliitantra = SrWajramiiliibhidhiinamahiiyo gatantra-sarvatantrahrdayaraha­syavibhariga-iti, P. 82,203.2.1-231.4.2 (T6hoku nO 445).

SandhivyiikarmJaniimatantra; dGoris pa luri bstan pa ses bya ba'i rgyud, P. 83, 231.4.2-252.3.2 (T6hoku nO 444).

Sarvatathiigatamiitani[sic]Tarevisvakarmabhava-tantra-niima; De biin gsegs pa thams cad kyi yum sGroi ma las sna tshogs 'byuri ba ies bya ba'i rgyud, P. 390, vol. 8, 149.3.5-155.5.8 (T6hoku n° 726) contenant Ie texte sanskrit du Namastiire-ekavilJ1sati (150. 3. 2-150. 3.7).

.JIABS 21.2 224

bsTan 'gyur

Asanga Abhidharmasamuccaya; Chos mnon pa kun las btus pa, P. 5550, vol. 112, 236.4.2-272.5.2 (Tohoku nO 4049).

AsaIi.ga MahiiyiinasaY[lgraha; Theg pa chen po bsdus pa, P. 5549, vol. 112, 215.1.1-236.4.2 (Tohoku nO 4048).

Asvagho~a GurupaficiiSikiij Bla malna bcu pa, P. 4544, vol. 81,205.2.7-206.2.3 (Tohoku nO 3721).

CandrakIrti Pradfpoddyotana-niima-!fkii; sGron ma gsal bar byed pa ies bya ba'i rgya cher bsad pa, P. 2650, vol. 60, 23. 1.1-117.3.7 (Tohoku nO 1785).

Nagarjuna Paficakrama; Rim pa Ina, P. 2667, vol. 61, 288. 3. 7-293. 5. 1 ( Tohoku n° 1802).

BhavyakIrti PradfpoddyotaniibhisaY[ldhiprakiiSikii-niima-vyiikhyiitfkii; sGron ma gsal bar byed pa'i dgons pa rab gsal ies bya ba bsad pa'i [fkii, P. 2658, vol. 60, 239.1.1-fin du vol. (Tohoku n° 1793).

Vimalarnitra Aryaprajfiiipiiramitiihrdayatfkii; 'Phags pa ses rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i sfiin po'i rgya cher Mad pa, P. 5217, vol. 94, 278.3.5-285.2.2 (Tohoku n° 818).

3. Ouvrages tibetains

Kran dbyi sun (et alii): Bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo, Mi rigs dpe skrun khang 1985.

Gun than 'jam pa'i dbyans (1762-1823): Dus gsum rgyal ba'i spyi gzugs rje btsun dkon mchog 'jigs med dban po'i ial sna nas kyi rnam par thar pa rgyal sras rgya mtsho 'i 'jug nogs dans The Collected Works of dKon mchog 'Jigs med dban po, vol. 1; reproduced from prints from Bla brang kra Mis 'khyil. New Delhi: Ngawang GelekDemo 1974, pp. 1-555.

rJe btsun dKon mchog 'jigs med dban po'i gsan ba'i rnam thar, dans The Collected Works of dKon mchog 'Jigs med dban po, vol. 1, reproduced from prints from Bla bran kra bsis 'khyil. New Delhi: Ngawang GelekDemo 1974, pp. 557-566.

Ses rab sfiin po'i snags kyi rnam Mad sbas don gsal ba sgron me, dans The Collected Works of Gun than dKon mchog bstan pa 'i sgron me, vol. 1, New Delhi: Ngawang GelekDemo 1971 pp. 682-715.

dGe 'dun grub pa (1391-1475): sGroI ma phyag 'tshal fier gcig gi tfkka rin po che'i phren ba, Collected Works, gsun 'bum, voL 6 (CHA), pp. 59-73, Gangtok: Dodrup Lama Sangye 1981.

'Gos 10 tsa ba Glon nu dpal (1392-1481): Bod kyi yul du chos dan chos smra baji ltar byun ba'i rim pa deb ther siLOn po, Mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1984 (trad. N. G. Roerich, The Blues Annals, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass 1976 (lere M. 1949)).

ARENES 225

rGyal rnkhan po Grags pa rgyal mtshan (1762-1837): rle bla ma mtshan brjod par dga' ba dkon mchog bstan pa'i sgron me dpal bzmi po'i rtogs pa brjodpa no mtshar Iha'i rol mo mkhas pa'i yid 'phrog, The Collected Works ofrGyal mkhan po Grags pa rgyal mtshan, vol. 5 (Institute of Peoples of Asia, Baradin Collection n° 5).

Taranatha (1575-i635?) sGroI ma'i 'grel pa, The Collected Works of 10 nan rje btsun Tiiraniitha, vol. 12, Sman rtsis shes rig Dpemjod[sicl, Leh: 1985, ff 553-581. Le texte utilise ici est sans mention d'editeur.

sGroI ma'i 10 rgyus, The Collected Works of 10 nan rje btsun Tiiraniitha, vol. 12, sSman rtsis shes rig Dpemjod [sic], Leh: 1985, pp.513-55l.

Bu ston rin chen grub (1290-1364): dPal gsan ba 'dus pa'i trkka sGron ma rab tu gsaI ba, The Collected Works of Bu ston, part 9, gSun 'bum, vol. TA, edited by Prof. Dr. Lokesh Chandra, International Academy of Indian Culture, New Delhi 1967;pp. 141-170.

Brag dgon Zabs drun dKon mchog bsTan pa rab rgyas (1801-?): Yons rdzogs bstan pa'i mna' bdag rje btsun bla ma rdo rje 'chan dkon mchog rgyal mtshan dpal bzan po'i ial sna nas kyi mam thar 'dod 'jug nogs, The Collected Works of dBal man dKon mchog rGyal mtshan, vol. 10 (Institute of Peoples of Asia, Baradin Collection nO.6).

dBal man dkon mchog rgyal mtshan (1764-1863); rGyud sde bii spyi'i don mam par biag pa snags pa'i 'jug pa'i sgo, vol. 5, The Collected Works of dBal man dKon mchog rGyal mtshan, reproduction de l'edition de A mchog dGa' ldan chos 'khor glin, New Delhi: Gyaltan Gelek Namgyal1974, pp.I-139.

lam dbyans bla ma rje btsun dKon mchog bstan pa'i sgron me 'j mam par thar pa brjod pa'i gtam dad pa'i padma Mad pa'i fiin byed, Collected Works of dEal man, dkon mchog rGyaZ mtshan, vol. 6 (Institute of Peoples of Asia, Baradin Collection nO.6).

Tson kha pa Blo bzan grags pa (1357-1419): rGyud kyi rgyal po dpal gsan ba 'dus pa 'i man nag Rim Ina rab tu gsal ba'j sgron me ses bya ba, P. 6167, vol. 158-159, 169. 1.1-81.1.1.

Dran ba dan izes pa'i don mam par phye ba'i bstan bcos Legs bsad sfiin po ses bya ba, P. 6142, vol. 153, 168.4.8-209.3.4.

dPal gsan ba 'dus pa'i Mad pa'i rgyud Ye ses rdo rje kun las btus pa 'i rgya cher Mad pa rGyud Mad thabs kyi man nag g sal bar bstan pa ies bya ba, P. 6198, vol. 160, 150.5.6-173.1.8 (Tohoku nO 5286).

rGyal ba khyab bdag rdo rje 'chan chen po 'i lam gyi rim pa gsan ba kun gyi gnad mam par phye ba, P. 6210, vol. 161, 53.1.1-fin du vol. (Tohoku n° 5281) (trad.: J. Hopkins, Tantra in Tibet, The Great Exposition of Secret Mantra by Tsong ka pa, The Wisdom of Tibet 3, London: George Allen & Unwin 1977).

JIABS 21.2 226

[dPal gsmi ba 'dus pa 'i rgya cher bSad pa Sgron ma gsal bar byed pa S'es bya ba slob dpon Zla ba grags pa mdzad pa'i mtshan' gyis gsal bar bSadpa], P. 6166, vol. 158, 1.1.1-169.1.1 (Tohoku nO 5282, titre different: rGyud thams cad kyi rgyal po dpal gsmi btl 'dus pa'i tgya cher bSad pas sgron ma gsal ba'i tshig don ji biin 'byed pa 'i mtshan gyi yan 'grel)

Yon phun tshogs kyi dpal ba: sGroi bstod rabgsal me lon, Bla bran Kra Mis 'khyil, Fonds Migot de la bibliotheque de l'EFEO (T. 0240).

Rab brtan, dOes shes T.: Dran nes rnam 'byed legs bSad siiin po dka' gnad rnams mtshan bur bkod pa gzur gnas dka' stan, reproduction par Lhun grub chos grags, Delhi 1978.

GEORGES DREYFUS

The Shuk -den Affair: History and Nature of a Quarrel

In recent years the community of Tibetan Buddhists has been agitated by an intense dispute concerning the practice of a controversial deity, Gyel-chen Dor-je Shuk-den (rgyal chen rdo rje sugs ldan).! Several Tibetan monks have been brutally murdered, and the Tibetan communi­ty in general and the Ge-Iuk tradition in particular have become pro­foundly polarized. Outsiders have been puzzled by the intensity of this dispute, for it concerns an unusual type of deity, the dharma protector (chos skyon srun rna), the concept of which is difficult to understand within the modern view of religion as a system of individual beliefs.

Despite the importance of these events and the coverage that it has re­ceived in both print and electronic media, modern scholars have remained relatively silent on the subject. One reason for this is that few scholars are willing to enter into a conflict as highly charged as this one. Moreover, the dispute concerns a rather baroque area of the Tibetan religious world that is neither well known nor easy for a modern observer to conceptualize. Nevertheless, this scholarly silence is regret­table, in that it has allowed less well-informed viewpoints to acquire legitimacy. It has also contributed to the irrational atmosphere that has surrounded this question.

In this essay, I will attempt to fill this scholarly gap and to promote a more rational approach by examining the quarrel surrounding Shuk-den and delineating some of the events leading to the present crisis. I will examine the narrative of Shuk-den's origin, focusing on the meaning of the hostility toward the Dalai-Lama which it displays and which is con­firmed by recent events. The irony is that Shuk-den is presented by his followers as the protector of the Ge-Iuk (dge lugs) school, of which the Dalai-Lama is the de facto leader. How can there be a practice in the Ge-luk tradition opposed to its own leader?

1. I would like to acknowledge all the people who have helped me in this project. Due to the sensitive nature of the topic, however, I feel that I should not mention any name and just thank them collectively.

Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Volume 21. Number 2 .1998

JIABS 21.2 228

To answer this question, I will, examine the historical development of the Shuk-den practice. I will first consider the events related in the Shuk-den story. I will then tum to later historical devc;;lopments, in particular the way in which Pa-bong-ka (pha bon kha, 1878-1941), the central figure in the Shuk-den lineage, developed this practice in response to contemporary events. I will also examine recent events in India, where the "Shuk-den Affair" started to emerge in the 1970s. I will show that although the dispute concerning this deity has an impor­tant political background, it primarily concerns the orientation of the Ge-Iuk tradition and its relation to other Buddhist traditions. In explor­ing these questions, I will also seek to answer other related questions such as: Why is Shuk-den so controversial? Is the practice of propitiat­ing Shuk-den different from the practices associated with other protec­tors? Why has the present Dalai-Lama been so opposed to the practice of propitiating Shuk-den? These are some of the questions that I seek to answer in this essay.

In order to address these questions, I explore the practice of Dor-je Shuk-den as it has been understood over time. In doing so, I follow the critical methods of the historical approach, whose assumptions are quite different from those of the believers. I examine how Shuk-den is pre­sented in the rare texts where he appears prior to the contemporary period, that is, as a wordly deity ('jig rten pa'i lha) who can be propiti­ated but not worshipped. His followers often reply that this description refers to the interpretable meaning (dran don) of the deity, not its ulti­mate meaning Cnes don), for in such a dimension Shuk-den is said to be fully enlightened (nes don la sails rgyas).2 It is this kind of normative distinction that I will leave aside here.

2. TRI-JANG Rin-bo-che, The Music that Rejoices the Ocean of Pledge Bound, Being an Account of the Amazing Three Secrets [of Body, Speech and Mind] of Great Magical Dharma Spirit Endowed with the Adamantine Force, The Supreme Manifested Deity Protecting the Ge-den Tradition (dge ldan bstan bsrwi ba'i lha mchog sprul pa'i chos rgyal chen po rdo rje tugs ldan rtsal gyi gsafz gsum rmad du byufz ba'i rtogs pa brjod pa' i gtam du bya ba dam can can rgya mtsho dgyes pa'i rol mo), Collected Works, Delhi: Guru Deva 1978), V. 5-159,8.

DREYFUS 229

The Founding Myth

When asked to explain the origin of the practice of Dor-je Shuk-den, his followers point to a rather obscure and bloody episode of Tibetan his­tory, the premature death of Trul-ku Drak-ba Gyel-tsen (sprul sku grags pa rgyal mtshan, 1618-1655)~ Drak-ba Gyel-tsen was an important Ge­luk lama who was a rival of the Fifth Dalai-Lama, Ngak-wang Lo-sang Gya-tso (nag dban bIo bzan rgya mtsho, 1617-1682).3 Drak-ba Gyel­tsen and Ngak-wang Lo-sang Gya-tso were born at a crucial time in the Ge-luk tradition. The tradition had by then survived a protracted civil war with the forces of Tsang (gtsan) backed by some of the other Tibetan Buddhist schools. It had not yet won the war but had begun to establish an alliance with Mongol groups that would allow it to triumph two decades later. Around the same time, two of the most important Ge­luk lamas had died: the fourth Dalai-Lama and the second reincarnation of Pru;t-chen S6-nam-drak-ba (bsod nams grags pa, 1478-1554), who was one of the most important Ge-Iuk teachers during the sixteenth century. Between the two boys, Ngak-wang Lo-sang Gya-tso was chosen as the Fifth Dalai-Lama over Drak-ba Gyel-tsen, who was designated by way of compensation as the third reincarnation of Pru;t-chen S6-nam­drak-ba.4 This choice did not seem, however, to have resolved the con­tention between the two lamas, as they remained rivals at the heads of two competing estates known as the "Upper Chamber" (zim khangon ma) under Drak-ba Gy~l-tsen and the "Lower Chamber" (zim khan 'og ma) under the Dalai-Lama.

During the next two decades, the struggle between the forces of Central Tibet supported by the Mongols of Gushrl Khan and the forces

3. Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's lineage is said to go back to Dul Dzin Drak-ba Gyel-tsen, a direct disciple of Dzong-ka-ba. This lineage is, however, a kind of spiritual lineage and quite different from the recognized lineage of a lama. See PA-BONG­KA: Supplement to the Explanation of the Preliminaries of the Life Entrusting [Ritual] (rgyal chen srog gtad gyi snon 'gro Mad pa' i mtshams sbyor kha bskon), Collected Works, New Delhi: Chopel Legdan 1973, VII. 517-532,520.

4. Sang-gye Gya-tso (sans rgyasrgya mtsho) explains that after Ngak-wang Ge­lek (nag dban dge legs) had died, the second reincarnation of PaI].-chen So-nam­drak-ba was found in the Ge-kha-sa (gad kha sa) family. He adds: "Although he had hopes for being the reincarnation of the All-knowing Yon-ten Gya-tso, he was made the reincarnation of Ngak-wang Ge-Iek" (thams cad mkhyen pa yon tan rgya mtsho'i sprul sku yon du re yan nag dban dge legs kyi sprul sku byas pas). Sangs-rgyas-rgya-mtsho, Vait}urya-ser-po, Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture 1960: 72.

JIABS 21.2 230

of Tsang continued, gradually turning to the advantage of the Jormer party. Due to his connection with the Mongols, which had been estab­lished by the Third Dalai-Lama and reinforced by the Fourth, the Fifth Dalai-Lama and his party were able to establish their supremacy. In 1642, the Fifth Dalai-Lama became the ruler of Tibet and entrusted the actual running of the state to his prime minister, So-nam Cho-pel (bsod nams chos 'phal). This victory, however, still did not eliminate the rivalry between the two lamas and their estates. Very little is known about the events that took place in the next ten years, but it is not unlike­ly that Drak-ba Gyel-tsen was a focus of the opposition to the rule of the Fifth Dalai-Lama and his prime minister within the Ge-Iuk hierarchy. In these circumstances, in 1655, Drak-ba Gyel-tsen suddenly died.

The exact conditions of his death are controversial. Some of the Fifth's sympathizers claimed that there was nothing extraordinary in Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's death. He had just died of a sudden illness. Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's sympathizers disagreed, arguing that he had died because he had not been able to bear the constant efforts from the Dalai-Lama's followers to undermine him. Others claimed that he was killed while in the custody of the Dalai-Lama's prime minister. Still others claimed that he submitted himself voluntarily to death by strangulation or by suffoca­tion in order to become a wrathful protector of the Ge-Iuk tradition.5 In a particularly dramatic and highly revealing account, Drak-ba Gyel­tsen's death is described as occurring after a traditional religious debate that he had with the Fifth Dalai-Lama. As an acknowledgment of his victory, Drak-ba Gyel-tsen had received a ceremonial scarf from the Fifth. Shortly after, however, he was found dead, the scarf stuffed down his throat.

Whatever the exact details of his death, the important point is that Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's death was perceived to be related to his rivalry with the Fifth Dalai-Lama. It was also taken to have been violent and hence the kind of death that leads people to take rebirth as dangerous spirits. According to standard Indian and Tibetan cultural assumptions, a person who is killed often becomes a ghost and seeks revenge. In his famous description of the demonology of Tibet, Nebesky-Wojkowitz provides several examples of the transformation of a person into a spirit due to a

5. Tru-JANG: Music, 101-109.

DREYFUS 231

violent death. 6 Such a spirit is considered more dangerous when the person has religious knowledge, which is said to explain the particular power of Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's spirit. He7 is not just one among many protectors but a particularly dangerous one as the vengeful ghost of a knowledgeable person who died violently and prematurely.

According to the Shuk-den legend, Drak-ba Gyel-tsen manifested him­self as a gyel-po, i.e., the dangerous red-spiritS of a person, often a reli­gious one, who is bent on extracting revenge against those involved in his death. Since he had been an important lama, however, Drak-ba Gyel­tsen turned his anger from a personal revenge to a nobler task, the pro­tection of the doctrinal purity of the Ge-luk tradition. According to the legend, he first manifestated his wrathful nature by haunting his silver mausoleum, which became animated by a buzzing noise, and by inflict­ing damage on his own estate. Then the monks serving the Fifth Dalai­Lama began to encounter difficulties in performing their ritual duties.9

Finally the Dalai-Lama himself became the target. He began to hear noises such as that of stones falling on the roof, which became so loud that it is said that he could not eat his meals without monks blowing large horns o~ the roof of his residence. Frightened by these wrathful manifestations, the prime minister So-nam CM-pel decided to get rid of the troublesome silver mausoleum by packing it into a wooden box and throwing it in the Kyi-chu river. Carried by the current the box reached Dol, a small pond in Southern Tibet. It is there that Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's spirit resided for a while in a small temple built for him at the order of the Fifth Dalai-lama, who decided to pacify his spirit by establishing a practice of propitiation under the name of Gyel-chen Dor-je Shuk-den (rgyal chen rdo rje tugs ldan ) and entrusting it to the Sa-gya schoo1.l0

6. R. NEBESKY-WOJKOWITZ: Oracles and Demons of Tibet, The Hague: Mouton 1956.

7. In this essay I will treat deities as "real persons" since they are experienced as such by Tibetans.

8. Such a spirit is also called tsan (often but not always the spirit of a monk who has either fallen from his monastic commitment or has been killed), who lives in rocks and must be pacified with special red offerings. Tibetans speak of eight classes of gods and spirits (lha srin sde brgyad). See: G. SAMUEL: Civilized Shamans, Washington: Smithsonian 1993: 161-163.

9. PA-BONG-KA: Supplement, 521.

10. PA-BONG-KA: Supplement, 523 and Tru-JANG, Music, 105.

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This story is striking. In particular, its undertone of hostility toward the Dalai-Lama is remarkable given that the Dalai-Lama represents to a large extent the ascendency of the Ge-Iuk school, also the school that the Shuk-den rituals seek to protect. Our first task here is to explain the meaning of this narrative, an important task given that the recent events in India seem to illustrate its hostility toward the Dalai-Lama. The most obvious and tempting explanation is to assume that this story is primari­ly a political tale reflecting the tension between a strong Dalai-Lama and a restive Ge-Iuk establishment. This may surprise an outside observer for whom the institution of the Dalai-Lama is a Ge-Iuk creation and repre­sents the power of this school. This interpretation appears more credible to an insider who knows that the Dalai-Lama institution rests on a com­plex coalition in which the Ge-Iuk school is central but which includes other people, such as members of aristocratic families, adherents of the Nying-ma tradition, etc.

In such a coalition, the relationship between the Dalai-Lama and the Ge-Iuk establishment is difficult and must be carefully negotiated. The delicacy of this situation is illustrated by the question of the leadership of the Ge-Iuk tradition. The nominal leader of the Ge-Iuk school is not the Dalai-Lama but the Tri Rin-bo-che (khri rin po che), the Holder of the Throne of Ga-den in direct line of succession from Dzong-ka-ba. But in times where the Dalai-Lama is strong, the leadership of the Hold­er of the Throne of Ga-den, who is chosen among the ex-abbots of the two tantric colleges, 11 is mostly nominal, and the Dalai-Lama exercises effective leadership over the Ge-Iuk school through his government.

The Ge-Iuk school and more particularly its three large monasteries around Lhasa have played a leading role in the Dalai-Lama's rule in Tibet. They have supported and legitimized his power and have received in return considerable socio-economic power. But this power also has been a source of tension with the Dalai-Lamas, particularly when he was a strong personality who had his own power basis and intended to lead. In the history of the Dalai-Lamas, there have been three such politically powerful figures: the Fifth, the Thirteenth and the Fourteenth Dalai­Lamas, and all three have had serious difficulties with the Ge-luk estab­lishment. It is also these same three Dalai-Lamas who are said to have

11. The Tri-ba seems at first to have been elected, which would have stenghtened his position. Later he was selected by the Dalai-Lama. When did this change occur? Only further research will provide an answer which will greatly help us in understanding the history of the Ge-Iuk tradition.

DREYFUS 233

had problems with Shuk-den. Shuk-den could then be a manifestation of the political resentment of the Ge-Iuk hierarchy against the power of a strong Dalai-Lama seeking to restrict and control it. The dispute sur­rounding Shuk-den would be a thinly disguised way for Ge-Iuk partisans to express their political opposition to an institution that does not suffi­ciently represent their parochial interests, an opposition manifested in the story of Drak-ba Gye1-tsen's wrathful manifestation against the Fifth Dalai-Lama.

I would argue that although tempting, this reading of the Shuk-den story is inadequate for at least two reasons. First, it fails to differentiate the stages in the relations between the Dalai-Lama and the Ge-Iuk estab­lishment. It is true that these relations have often been tense. But to run together the opposition between the Fifth Dalai-Lama and the Ge-Iuk hierarchy, and the tension surrounding the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Dalai-Lamas fails to take into account the profound transformations that the Dalai-Lama institution has undergone, particularly around the turn of the eighteenth century. Secondly, the political interpretation of the saga of Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's wrathful manifestation is anachronistic, confusing the story and the events that it narrates. Or, to put it different­ly, this interpretation fails to see that we are dealing here with two stories: the story of Drak-ba Gyel-tsen, a seventeenth century victim of the Fifth Dalai-Lama's power, and the story of Shuk-den, the spirit in charge of maintaining the purity of the Ge-Iuk tradition as understood by his twentieth century followers. The former narrative is clearly polit­ical but is not about Shuk-den. It concerns the nature of the Dalai-Lama institution and its relation to the Ge-Iuk hierarchy in the seventeenth century. The latter is about Shuk-den. It is mostly religious but does not concern directly the Dalai-Lama's political power.

To further clarify these two points, I will examine the political context in which the Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's story took place and the nature of the Dalai-Lama institution at that time. I will then consider the events sur­rounding Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's tragic death in a historical perspective, and try to reconstruct the way in which it was understood by his con­temporaries.

The Historical Context

The events surrounding Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's death must be understood in relation to its historical context, the political events surrounding the emergence of the Dalai-Lama institution as a centralizing power during

JIABS 21.2 234

the second half of the seventeenth century. The rule of this ~onarch seems to have been particularly resented by some elements in the Ge-Iuk tradition. It is quite probable that Drak-ba Gyel-tsen was &een after his death as a victim of the Dalai-Lama's power and hence became a symbol of opposition.

The resentment against the power of the Fifth Dalai-Lama was pri­marily connected to a broad and far-reaching issue, the desire of some of the more sectarian Ge-Iuk hierarchs to set up a purely Ge-Iuk rule. Some even seem to have argued for the suppression of the schools against which they had fought for more than a century, particularly the Kar-ma Ka-gyii tradition. I2 The Fifth seems to have realized that such a rule would have had little support and would have exacerbated the intersec­tarian violence that had marred the last two centuries of Tibetan history. To avoid this, he attempted to build a state with a broader power base, state which he presented as the re-establishment of the early Tibetan empire. His rule was to be supported by the Ge-Iuk tradition, but would also include groups affiliated with other religious traditions.

The Fifth was particularly well disposed toward the Nying-ma tradi­tion from which he derived a great deal of his practice and with which he had a relation through his family. This seems to have created a great deal of frustration among some Ge-Iuk circles, as expressed by several popular stories. The stories frequently involve a colorful figure, Ba-ko Rab-jam (bra sgo rab 'byams), who was a friend of the Dalai-Lama. In the stories, he is often depicted as making fun of the Fifth Dalai-Lama. For example, one day he comes to see the Dalai-Lama, but the enormous Pur-ba (ritual dagger) he wears in his belt prevents him from crossing the door, an obviously sarcastic reference to the Nying-ma leanings of the Fifth Dalai-Lama.

In the light of this opposition, it would seem that the narrative of Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's wrathful manifestation makes perfect sense. Is not the Shuk-den story about the revenge of a group, the Ge-Iuk hierarchy, in struggle against the Fifth's strong centralizing power? Although tempting, this interpretation completely ignores the historical transfor­mations of the Dalai-Lama institution. In particular, it ignores the fact that after the Fifth's death the Dalai-Lama institution was taken over by the Ge-Iuk hierarchy and radically changed. To put it colorfully, if

12. E.G. SMITH, "Introduction," Kongtrul's Encyclopedia of Indo-Tibetan Culture, New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture 1970: 17.

DREYFUS 235

Drak-ba Gyel-tsen had manifested as Shuk-den to protect the Ge-luk hierarchy against the encroachments of a Dalai-Lama not sufficiently sympathetic to the Ge-Iuk tradition, this vengeful spirit would have been out of business by the beginning of the eighteenth century when his par­tisans,the Ge-]uk hierarchy, won the day!

As long as the Fifth was alive, the Ge-luk hierarchy had to endure his rule, but his death changed the situation. His prime minister Sang-gye Gya-tso (sans rgyas rgya mtsho) at first tried to conceal this death. When this proved impossible, he attempted to continue the Fifth's tradition by appointing his candidate, Tsang-yang Gya-tso (tshans dbyans rgya mtsho), as the Sixth Dalai-Lama. But with the latter's failure to behave as a Dalai-Lama, Sang-gye Gya-tso lost the possibility to continue the task started by the Fifth. A few years later (1705) he was killed after being defeated by a complex coalition of Ge-luk hierarchs led by Jam­yang-shay-ba, the Dzungar Mongols and Lhab-zang Khan backed by the Manchu emperor. 13

After this defeat, the role of the Dalai-Lama was transformed. His po­litical power was limited and the nature of the ritual system supporting the institution was changed, as we shall see later. In these ways, the institution of the Dalai-Lama became a more purely Ge-luk creation. Hence, it makes very little sense to speak of Shuk-den as representing the spirit of Ge-luk opposition to the Dalai-Lama institution after the demise of the Fifth, for by then the institution had become to a large extent favorable to the Ge-Iuk hierarchy. Admittedly, there were a few incidents between the Thirteenth Dalai-Lama and some elements of the Ge-luk tradition. There was also some resentment against the high­handedness of this ruler but these were minor and should not be blown out of proportion.

Did Drak-ba Gyel-tsen Become a Spirit?

This interpretation is confirmed by an analysis of the perception of the contemporaries of these events. In the founding myth of the Shuk-den practice, Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's death and wrathful manifestation are pre­sented in a favourable light as being the view of his followers. Given the cultural assumptions of Tibetans, who consider deities as real persons, this scenario cannot dismissed a priori. Impressed by his violent death, Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's followers may have started to think of him as

13. L. PETECH: Introduction to Sangs-rgyas-rgya-mtsho, Vaitjurya-ser-po, xi-xiL

JIABS 21.2 236

having reincarnated as a wrathful spirit and may have begun to,propiti­ate him as such, feeling hostility against those whom they held respon­sible for his death. But although this scenario is culturally plausible, is it historical? That is, did Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's followers think of him in this way? This question is difficult, given the paucity of contemporary sources, but it needs to be asked, for we cannot simply assume that these legendary episodes reflect the perception of contemporaries. In fact, there are indications that they do not.

The most decisive evidence is provided by the later Ge-luk historian, Sum-pa Ken-po Ye-shay Pel-jor (sum pa mkhan po ye ses dpaZ 'byor, 1702-1788), who reports for the year 1657 (Fire Bird) the following:

The assertion that this Tibetan spirit (bod de'i rgyaZ po) is Drak-ba Gyel-tsen, the reincarnation of the Upper Chamber, is just an expression of prejudice. Thus, I believe that the rumor that it is So-nam Cho-pel, who after passing away in the same year, is protecting the Ge-luk tradition having assumed the form of a dharma protector through his ["]great concern for the Ge-Iuk tradition,["] is correct. 14

This passage is significant in several respects. First, it confirms the fact that there were stories of Drak-ba Gyel-tsen becoming Shuk-den quite early on. Although Sum-pa does not mention the deity by name, it seems quite clear that this is who he has in mind. But it also shows that Sum-pa Ken-po does not concede the identification of Shuk-den as the wrathful manifestation of Drak-ba Gyel-tsen, which he takes to be an insult to "the reincarnation of the Upper Chamber." In what is probably a tongue in cheek tit-for-tat, he rather identifies the troublesome spirit with Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's enemy, So-nam CM-pel, the hated first prime minister of the Fifth Dalai-Lama whom he sarcastically credits with a "great concern for the Ge-Iuk tradition."

Second, Sum-pa's remark is important because it reflects the view of Drak-ba Gyel-tsen'ssympathizers as the respectful epithet ("the reincar­nation of the Upper Chamber") makes clear. Sum-pa was the disciple of Jam-yang-shay-ba ('jam dbymis biadpa, 1648-1722), one of the leading Ge-luk lamas opposing the Fifth and his third prime minister (sde srid)

14. bod de'i rgyal po ni gzim khan gon ma sprul sku grags rgyan zer ba ni chag(s) sdan gi gtam kho nar zad do 1 des na bsod nams chos 'phel ni [0 'dir 'das nas khon dge lugs la thugs zen ches pas chosbsrun ba'i tshul bzun nas dge lugs pa skyon zes grags pa bden nam sfiam mo I. Rehu mig or chronological tables in Sum pa mkhan po: dPag bsam !jon bzan, Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture 1959: 70-1.

DREYFUS 237

Sang-gye Gya-tso. 15 Thus, when he denies that Drak-ba Gyel-tsen had become Shuk-den, Sum-pa is reflecting the views of the people who considered Drak-ba Gyel-tsen with sympathy as an unfortunate victim of arule they resented. The ironical remark about So-nam CM-pel ("his great concern for the Ge-Iuk tradition") and his identification as Shuk­den confirms this. Sum-pa hated So-nam CM-pel, whom he considered responsible for the Fifth's rule and Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's death.

Sum-pa's remark, however, raises a question. For, who then are the people claiming that Drak-ba Gyel-tsen had become Shuk-den if not the followers of this lama? Could it be that Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's followers had changed their minds by the time Sum-pa Ken-po wrote his account (1749)? Though further investigations may change our view, the eviden­ce seems to suggest that this is not the case. The people who were identi­fying Shuk-den as the wrathful manifestation of Drak-ba Gyel-tsen were not his followers but his enemies, i.e., the Fifth Dalai-Lama and his followers. This seems to be the implication of comments by Sang-gye Gya-tso when he says, referring to Drak-ba Gyel-tsen:

After [the death of] Ngak-wang So-nam Ge-Iek (PaI).-chen So-nam-drak-ba's second reincarnation), [his reincarnation was born] as a member of the Ge-kha-sa family. Although [this person] had at first hopes for being the reincarnation of the All-knowing Yon-ten Gya-tso (the Fourth Dalai-Lama), he was made the reincar­nation of Ngak-wang So-nam Ge-Iek and finally ended in a bad rebirth. 16

Although Sang-gye Gya-tso is not explicit, his words seem to refer to the story of Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's reincarnation as a spirit such as Shuk­den. This is confirmed by the Fifth Dalai-Lama, who describes Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's demise as leading to his becoming a spirit. The Fifth explains that:

15. This opposition had come to the fore when the prime minister tried to entice the Lo-sel-ling college of Dre-bung monastery to adopt the fifth Dalai-Lama's works as its textbooks in place of Pal).-chen So-nam-drak-ba's works. After the college's refusal, Sang-gye Gya-tso asked Jam-yang-shay-ba to refute Pal).-chen So-nam-drak-ba. This was an attempt at strengthening the government's control over the monasteries as well as a way of removing Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's posthumous influence, two goals with which Jam-yang-shay-ba had little sympathy. Hence, the latter refused to oblige.

16. de'i rjes su gad kha sa pa'i nan so gro (grod?) [hug thog mar thams cad mkhyen pa yon tan rgya mtsho'i sprul sku yon du re yan nag dban bsod nams dge legs kyi sprul sku byas pas mthar skye gnas mi bzan bar gyur to I. Sangs rgyas rgya mtsho: Vaitjiirya-ser-po, Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture 1960: 71-2.

JIABS 21.2 238

Due to the magic of a spirit (?), the son of the noble family Ge-kha-sa turned.into a false reincarnation of Ngak-wang So-nam Ge-Iek and became a spirit [motivated by] mistaken prayers (smon lam log pa'i dam srid).17

What this quote indicates is that after Trul-ku Drak"':ba Gyel-tsen's death the claim that he had become a. spirit such as Shuk-den was not a praise of his followers, but a denigration, not to say downright slander, by his enemies! It is not Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's partisans who were identifying him as Shuk-den, but his adversaries who were presenting this scenario as a way to explain away the events following his tragic demise.

We must wonder, however, why the Fifth Dalai-Lama and his follow­ers were interested in propagating the story of Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's wrathful manifestation, a story which the latter's followers were keen to dispel? The answer to this question is bound to be tentative and specula­tive, and it is unlikely that any clear historical evidence will answer this question. Nevertheless, I think that it is not unreasonable to assume the following scenario. Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's premature death must have been a momentous event in Tibet at that time. It must have created a consid­erable malaise among Tibetans, who consider the killing of a high lama a terrible crime that can affect a whole country (as attested by the per­ception of the Re-ting affair in this century). Such a perception of mis­fortune must have been accompanied by events perceived as bad omens. There were probably stories of the possession and destruction of objects associated with Drak-ba Gyel-tsen, as reported in the founding myth. Finally, there was the fact that the reincarnation of Drak-ba Gyel-tsen had not been sought for, an extraordinary occurrence given that he was the reincarnation of PaI,l-chen S6-nam-drak-ba, one of the foremost Ge­luk lamas.

It is in these circumstances that the story of his wrathful reincarnation must have appeared, not as a vindication of Drak-ba Gyel-tsen, but as an attempt by the Fifth Dalai-Lama and his followers to explain the absence of Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's reincarnation and to shift the blame for the bad omen that had followed his death. These events were not the karmic effects of his violent death but the results of his transformation into a dangerous spirit. The Fifth Dalai-Lama mentions that after Drak-ba

17. gad kha sa lags a rgyal gyi 'phrulla brten nag dban bsod nams dge legs dpal bzan gyi sku skye. rdzus ma lam du son ba smon lam log pa 'i dam srid gyur te I. Fifth Dalai-Lama: Collected Works, vol. Ha, 423-4. A similar scenario is presented in the Fifth's autobiography. Both passages were quoted by the present Dalai-Lama in a talk given in Los Angeles, June 1997.

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Gyel-tsen's demise his spirit started to harm people. In order to pacify him, the Fifth had a small temple built near the pond of Dol, but this did not help and the reports of harm continued unabated. With the help of several important lamas such as Ter-dag Ling-pa (gter bdag gliri pa), the Fifth decided to launch a final ritual assault and to bum the spirit during a fire ritual in which the spectators were said to have smelled the odor of burnt flesh.

As we realize, this description of Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's posthumous fate is highly partisan and it is no surprise that his followers rejected these explanations. They were keen on keeping the blame on the party of the Dalai-Lama, arguing that the unfortunate events were not due to the wrathful reincarnation of Drak-ba Gyel-tsen, who had taken rebirth as the emperor of China. 18 Thus, the legend of the origin of Shuk-den as the wrathful manifestation of Trul-ku Drak-ba Gyel-tsen is not fully historical. It is not the account of the followers of Drak-ba Gyel-tsen, as claimed by Shuk-den's modem followers, but only the highly partisan attempt by the Fifth Dalai-Lama and his followers to discredit a rival and shift away the blame for his death. In fact, the story of Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's demise as it appears in contemporary sources has little to do with Shuk-den. It is not about the deity but about Drak-ba Gyel-tsen. Only much later, when the significance of Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's story faded, did this story resurface and get taken as the account of the origin of Shuk-den.

The fact that the founding narrative of the Shuk-den practice is largely mythological does not mean that we should dismiss it. Rather we should inquire into its meaning. This is what I do in the following pages, where I examine the story of the violent manifestation of Trul-ku Drak-ba Gyel-tsen as the founding myth of the tradition of those who propitiate Shuk-den. I also inquire about the history of this propitiation, for if this practice did not start with Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's death, where does it come from?

18. In reference to the year 1655 (Wood Sheep), Sum-pa-rnkhan-po notes: "[Birth of] the Kangshi emperor renowned as the reincarnation of Tul-ku Drak-ba Gyel­tsen" (sprul sku grags rgyan skye bar grags pa'i khan ii bde skyid rgyal po) Rehu mig: 70.

· JIABS 21.2 240

The Early History of a Practice

To understand the history of the Shuk-den practice, we need to examine the way in which this deity has been considered throughout most of the history of the Ge-Iuk tradition. To his twentieth century followers, Shuk-den is known as Gyel-chen Dor-je Shuk-den Tsal (rgyal chen rdo rje sugs ldan rtsal), the "Great Magical Spirit Endowed with the Adamantine Force."19 If we look at earlier mentions, however, we can see that Shuk-den also appears under another and less exalted name, i.e., as Dol Gyel (dol rgyal). Even Pa-bong-ka calls him in this way when he says: "The wooden implements (i.e., crate) having been thrown in the water, the pond of DOl became whitish. After abiding there, he became known for a while as Dol-gyel."2o This name helps us to understand how Shuk -den was considered in the earlier period, that is, as a troublesome but minor spirit, an interpretation confirmed by the explanations con­cerning Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's reincarnation.

The name Dol Gyel is quite interesting, for it yields a possible expla­nation of the origin of Shuk-den. It suggests that originally Shuk-den had a close regional connection with the area of the Tsang-po and the Yar-Iung valleys where the pond of Dol lies. There, Shuk-denl Dbl-gyel was considered a gyel po (rgyal po), that is, the dangerous red-spirit of a religious person, who had died after falling from his monastic vows or had been killed in troubling circumstances.21 Shuk-den/Dol Gyel would

19. PA-BONG-KA gives the following gloss of Shuk-den's name: "[This] great protector, who holds the adamantine force which is all pervading regarding the destruction of the army of the devil, [this] spirit who is a war god, the protector of the Ge-den tradition, who assumes the pretense of being a wordly boastful god though he is beyond the world, is well known 'Great Magical Spirit Endowed with the Adamantine Force'" (de ltar 'jig rten las 'das kyan dregs pa'i zol 'chan dge ldan bstan snai dgra lha'i rgyal po / bdud kyi sde 'joms pa la thogs pa med pa'i rdo rje'i sugs 'chan ba bstan srun chen po rgyal chen dor je sugs ldan rtsal zes yons su grags pa). Supplement: 528.

20. sin cha rnams chu la bskyur ba dol chu mig dkar mor chags pas der gnas pas re zig bar du dol rgyal zes grags. PA-BONG-KA: Supplement, 52l.

21. Another informant has suggested that Shuk-den became at some point a monastic deity in charge of eliminating rogue monks who had broken their vows but still pretended to be pure. This hypothesis would account for the monastic appearance of Shuk-den's main form and provide a precedent for Shuk-den's opposition to Ge-luk practitioners who have adopted Nying-ma teachings. From punishing rogue monks, it is quite easy to imagine how DOl-gyel could have been trans­formed into a deity punishing "rogue Ge-Iuk-bas"! I have not found, however,

DREYFUS 241

then be a spirit from Southern Tibet, potentially troublesome like other red-spirits. No wonder then that his identification with Drak-ba Gyel­tsen was rejected by the latter's followers as an insult to this important and unfortun~te lama.

We find confirmation of Shuk-den's regional connection in the des­cription given in 1815 by a Nying-ma teacher Do Kyen-tse (mdo mkhyen brtse ye ses rdo rje). While narrating his travels, he mentions the un­pleasant presence of Shuk-den in Southern Tibet. On his way to Lhasa, after passing through the Nying-ma monastery of Dor-je Drak, Do Kyen-tse arrived in the area of Dra-thang (grwa thail.) where Gyel-po Shuk-den (this is the name he uses) was active. Nevertheless, the spirit was unable to interfere with his travel and he reached his destination safely.22 Thus, the existence of a deity, D61-gyell Shuk-den, and his regional connection with the area of Southern Tibet seem to have been well established quite early on.

This regional connection is further confirmed by the fact that Shuk­den was propitiated in some of the monasteries of the same area, particu­larly in Sam-ye (bsam yas), which was by then Sa-kya. There Shuk-den appears as a minor but dangerous wordly protector. This also suggests that this deity was first adopted by the tradition of the monastery of Sa­gya,23 a hypothesis further confirmed by the reference in the founding myth to his being taken over by the holder of the Sa-gya throne S6-nam-rin-chen (bsod nams rin chen). In one of the versions, Shuk-den

any source confinuing this hypothesis. That such a type of deity exists among Tibetans is well established (see NEBESKY-WOJKOWITZ, Oracles, 207), but the connection with Dol-Gyel or Shuk-den remains unfounded. For a description of Shuk-den's five forms, see Kelsang Gyatso: Heart Jewel: The Essential Practices of Kadampa Buddhism, London: Tharpa Publications 1997: 77.

22. phyi'i nan du ned ran phyir ldog cin / sku tshab drun du phyin nas smon lam rnam par dag pas mtshams sbyar nas / dur khrod du iag gcig bsdad pas tshar slon gi mtha' rdzogs pa byun / de nas theg cin btsan than g.yu yi Iha khan du iag gcig bsdad / rim biin gtsan chu'i srib nos nas / byams pa glin dan 0 rgyan smin grol gUn / thub bstan rdor brag sogs la mehod mjal ius / leags la'i sras mkhan rin po ehe dan mjal iin thugs yid gcig 'dres su gyur / grwa than du rgyal po sugs ldan nas eho 'phrul sna tshogs byun yan fie io rna nus bde bar leags zam ehu bo rir slebs. Autobiography of Mdo Mkhyen brtse Ye ses rdo rje, Gangtok: Namgyal Institutue of Tibetology 1974: 148.

23. The practice of propitiating DOl-gyel seems to have been absent in the Ngor-ba or Tshar-ba branches of the Sa-gya tradition. It also seems to have disappeared from this tradition due to the realization of its sectarian implications.

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first attempts to go to Ta-shi Lhung-po (bkra sis lhun po), the re~idence of his teacher,· the First Pen-chen Lama, Lob-zang ChO-gyen (bIo bzan chos kyi rgyaI mtshan, 1569-1662). He is prevented from doing so by Vaisrava.Q.a (rnam thos sras), the supra-mundane protector of the monastery. He is then taken in by So-nam-rin-chen, who pities him and writes a text for his propitiation~

This small text, which is the first ritual text focusing on Shuk-den that I have been able to trace, can be found in the collection of ritual texts for the protectors of the Sam-ye monastery and confirms the existence of the practice of Shuk-den early on in the Sa-gya tradition.24 Its title ("The Request to the Gyel-po [for the] Termination of Gane§a") suggests that Shuk-den was considered as an effective spirit in charge of clearing away Obstacles (Ganes a being the king of Obstacles).25 Shuk­den does not seem to have played, however, a major role in the Sa-gya tradition, where he seemed to have remained a relatively minor protec­tor. This is confirmed by a story told by Ka-Iu Rin-bo-che, who men­tions coming across a small Sa-gya temple for Shuk-den in Western Tibet and the profound fear that this deity inspired in the care-taker of this temple.26

Given this evidence, it is reasonable to assume that the practice of Dol­gyel was taken by the Ge-Iuk tradition from the Sa-gya school. But here another difficult question remains. When did this happen? The evidence available establishes that the practice of propitiating Dol-gyel existed in the Ge-Iuk tradition during the eighteenth century. One of the clearest proofs appears in the biography of the Ge-Iuk polymath Jang-gya-rol­bay-dor-jay (lcang skya rol pa'i rdo rje 1717-1786), written by his disciple Tu-gen-lo-sang-chO-gyi-nyi-ma (thu'u bkwan bIo bzan chos kyi

24. I 480 / IASWR microfilms 08.043. Dpal bsam yas lhun gyis grub pa'i gtsugs lag khan gi srun ma phrin las kyi mgon pa kun khyab rdo rje drag po rtsal gyi spyan 'dren bskan pa phrin beol, 12.b-16.a. It is by no means sure, however, that the present version is identical to the text written by So-nam-rin-chen. The colophon mentions the fact that the text was revised (beos) by Ngak-wang Kun­ga Lo-dro (nag dban kun dga' bio gros). The text is found among a collections of ritual texts of Anye Zhab (amyes tabs nag dban kun dga', 1597-1659).

25. rgyal gsollog 'dren tshar geod.

26. One of the main sources in this essay is the present Dalai-Lama, who has done a great deal of excellent research conceming Shuk-den, tracing several mentions of this deity in the early stages of the Ge-Iuk tradition. Here I am borrowing from his talk given on the 8th of May 1996.

DREYFUS 243

nz ma,1737-1802).27 Tu-gen reports that Jang-gya mentions that Dbl­gyel was propitiated by several Ga-den Tri-bas. After several unfortu­nate events, another Tri-ba, Ngak-wang Chok-den (nag dban mchog [dan, 1677-1751), the tutor of the Seventh Dalai-Lama Kel-zang Gya­tso(bskal bzan rgya tsho, 1708-1757) put an end to this practice by expelling Shuk-den from Ga-den monastery.

This mention of DOl-Gyel is quite interesting for a number of reasons. First, it dates the practice of propitiating this deity in the Ge-Iuk tradi­tion. This practice must have existed prior to Ngak-wang Chok-den's intervention, and it must have had a certain extension to have been adopted by several Ga-den Tri-bas. Second, it attests to the troublesome character of this deity. However, no connection is made with Trul-ku Drak-ba Gyel-tsen. Jang-gya was after all one of the followers of Jam­yang-shay-ba, one of the main Ge-Iuk hierarchs opposed to the Fifth, and hence not inclined to consider favorably the story of Shuk-den as Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's wrathful manifestation. Finally, this passage illus­trates the minor status of this deity in the Ge-luk tradition at that time, as Jang-gya mentions the expulsion of this deity in passing. This impres­sion of small importance is confirmed by the fact that it is so difficult to document the practice of Shuk-den prior to the beginning of this century.

But if Dbl-gyel, as he is called by Jang-gya, is minor, why did Ngak­wang Chok-den and Jang-gya oppose his propitiation? Possibly because of its troublesome character. Jang-gya mentions that the Tri-bas who propitiated Dbl-gyel encountered difficulties but he does not elaborate. Another possible reason for expelling Dbl-gyel from Ga-den is that no mundane deity is allowed to remain permanently in Ga-den. Even Ma­chen Pom-ra, the local god (yul Iha) of Dzong-ka-ba, the founder of the Ge-Iuk tradition, is not supposed to stay in Ga-den overnight, and must take his residence below the monastery.28 Finally, the political connec­tion alleged by the Fifth Dalai-Lama's followers between this deity and their nemesis, Drak-ba Gyel-tsen, may have played a role, though this is far from sure since by this time the story of the latter's demise must have started to fade away. Jang-gya may not have opposed the practice

27. Collected works of Thu-bkwan Blo-bzang-chos-kyi-nyi-ma, Delhi: Ngawang Gelek Demo 1969-1971: 1.5-831, 221.b. Quoted by the Dalai-Lama in his talk of the 8th of May 1996.

28. NEBESKY-WOJKOWITZ: Oracles, 210.

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in general, for we find a representation of Shuk-den in a collection of thanka paintings given to Jang-gya by the Qianlong Emperor. Because the thanka is not dated, we cannot be sure of the date of its, appearance in the collection. Despite this uncertainty concerning some details, an impression emerges which suggests that around the middle of the eigh­teenth century Dol-gyel was a troublesome but minor deity propitiated by some Ge-Iuk lamas.

The practice of Dol-gyel or Shuk-den also surfaced as an issue during the rule of the Thirteenth Dalai-Lama, who put restrictions on the oracle for Shuk-den but did not prohibit his activities completely. Dol-gyel could be propitiated in his proper place in the order of Tibetan gods, namely, as a minor mundane deity. His oracle was permitted only at certain fixed locations, such as Tro-de Khang-sar (spra bde khan gsar) in Lhasa or Tro-mo (gra rna) in the Chumbi valley, but not in any of the large monasteries. Finally, the Thirteenth Dalai-Lama and his govern­ment applied pressure on Pa-bong-ka to desist from propitiating Shuk­den. They were particularly displeased by the diffusion of the Shuk-den practice in Dre-bung. They perceived these efforts as attempts to dis­place Ne-chung, who is, as we will see later, the wordly protector of the Dre-bung monastery and the Tibetan government. Hence, they ordered him to abstain from propitiating Shuk-den altogether. According to his biographer, Pa-bong-ka promised not to propitiate Shuk-den any more. 29

These events seem to indicate that the propitiation of Shuk-den had spread to a certain extent during or just prior to the rule of the Thirteenth Dalai-Lama. This may have been due to a gradual spread of this practice during the nineteenth century, particularly its second half. This practice was widespread enough during the time of the Thirteenth to raise some concern in governmental circles. But even then references to Dol-gyel or Shuk-den remain very rare. Although the Thirteenth opposed what he saw as an excessive emphasis on Shuk-den by Pa-bong­ka, the issue was minor and there was little controversy concerning the practice of this deity.

Thus, what emerges from this impressionistic survey is that Shuk-den was a minor though troublesome deity in the Ge-Iuk pantheon through­out most of the history of this tradition. This deity does not seem to

29. Lob-zang Dor-je, Biography of Pha bong kha (pha bon kha pa bde chen sfiin po dpaZ bzan po'i roam par thar pa), 471.a-.b.

DREYFUS 245

have been considered early on as Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's manifestation, except by his enemies, who intended the identification disparagingly. Its gradual adoption in the Ge-luk tradition does not show any relation with either PaI).-chen So-nam-drak-ba or his third reincarnation, Drak-ba Gyel-tsen. Sliuk-den seems to have been adopted by Ge-luk lamas be­cause of his power as a wordly deity, not on the basis of a connection with PaI).-chen So-nam-drak-ba's lineage. Lamas who are part of this lineage do not show any special inclination toward Shuk-den. For example, the monks of the Lo-sel-ling college of Dre-bung, who take PaI).-chen So-nam-drak-ba's works as their textbooks (yig cha) and con­sider him as perhaps the foremost interpreter of Dzong-ka-ba's tradition, have had very little connection with Shuk-den (with a few individual exceptions).

How is it then that this minor spirit coming from an obscure location in Central Tibet has become the center of a raging controversy that has cost the lives of several Ge-Iuk monks and continues to threaten the unity of the Ge-luk tradition? Moreover, how is it that this deity is now so pervasively identified with Drak-ba Gyel-tsen by his staunchest sup­porters, who take this connection as a vindication of both Shuk-den and Drak-ba Gyel-tsen?

The Rise of a Spirit

To answer these questions, we must consider the changes that took place within the Ge-Iuk tradition during the first half of the twentieth century due to Pa-bong-ka (1878-1941) and the revival movement that he spear­headed. Though Pa-bong-ka was not particularly important by rank, he exercised a considerable influence through his very popular public teachings and his charismatic personality. Elder monks often mention the enchanting quality of his voice and the trans formative power of his teachings. Pa-bong-ka was also well served by his disciples, particularly the very gifted and versatile Tri-jang Rin-bo-che (khri byali rin po che, 1901-1983), a charismatic figure in his own right who became the present Dalai-Lama's tutor and exercised considerable influence over the Lhasa higher classes and the monastic elites of the three main Ge-luk monasteries around Lhasa. Another influential disciple was Tob-den La­ma (rtogs ldan bla rna), a stridently Ge-luk lama very active in dissemi­nating Pa-bong-ka's teachings in Khams. Because of his own charisma and the qualities and influence of his disciples, Pa-bong-ka had an enormous influence on the Ge-luk tradition that cannot be ignored in

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explaining the present conflict. 1I~ created a new understanding of the Ge-Iuk tradition focused on "three elements: VajrayoginI as the main meditational deity (yi dam,), Shuk-den as the protector, and,Pa-bong-ka as the guru.

Like other revivalist figures, Pa-bong-ka presented his teachings as embodying the orthodoxy of his tradition. But when compared wi~ the main teachings of his tradition as they appear in Dzong-ka-ba's writings, Pa-bong-ka's approach appears in several respects quite innovative. Although he insisted on the Stages of the Path (lam rim) as the basis of further practice, like other Ge-Iuk teachers, Pa-bong-ka differed in recommending VajrayoginI as the central meditational deity of the Ge­luk tradition. This emphasis is remarkable given the fact that the practice of this deity came originally from the Sa-gya tradition and is not included in Dzong-ka-ba's original synthesis, which is based on the practice of three meditational deities (Yamantaka, Guhyasamaja, and CakrasaIp.vara). The novelty of his approach is even clearer when we consider Pa-bong-ka's emphasis on Tara Cintamru;ri as a secondary medi­tational deity, for this practice is not canonical in the strict sense of the term but comes from the pure visions of one of Pa-bong-ka's main teachers, Ta-bu Pe-ma Baz-ra (sta bu padma badzra), a figure about whom very little is presently known.

We have to be clear, however, on the nature of Pa-bong-ka's innova­tions. He did not introduce these practices himself, for he received them from teachers such as Ta-bu Pe-ma Baz-ra and Dak-po Kel-zang Kay­drub (dwag po bskal bzan mkhas grub). Where Pa-bong-ka was innova­tive was in making formerly secondary teachings widespread and central to the Ge-Iuk tradition and claiming that they represented the essence of Dzong-ka-ba's teaching. This pattern, which is typical of a revival movement, also holds true for Pa-bong-ka's wide diffusion, particularly at the end of his life, of the practice of Dor-je Shuk-den as the central protector of the Ge-Iuk tradition. Whereas previously Shuk-den seems to have been a relatively minor protector in the Ge-Iuk tradition, Pa-bong­ka made him into one of the main protectors of the tradition. In this way, he founded a new and distinct way of conceiving the teachings of the Ge-Iuk tradition that is central to the "Shuk-den Affair."

In promoting Shuk-den as the protector of his charismatic movement, Pa-bong-ka did not invent the practice of this deity, which he received from Ta-bu Pe-ma Baz-ra, but he transformed a marginal practice into a central element of the Ge-Juk tradition. This transformation is illustrated

DREYFUS 247

by the -epithets used to refer to Shuk-den. Instead of being just "The Spirit from Dol" (dol rgyal) , or even "The Great Magical Spirit En­dowed with the Adamantine Force" (r.gyal chen rdo rje sugs ldan rtsal), he is described now by Pa-bong-ka and his disciples as "The Protector of the Tradition' of the Victorious Lord Mafijusrl (i.e., Dzong-ka-ba)" ('jam mgon rgyal ba'i bstan srU1i)30 and "The Supreme Protective Deity of the Ge-den (i.e., Ge-Iuk) Tradition" (dge ldan bstan bsruri ba'i lha mchog).31

These descriptions have been controversial. Traditionally, the Ge-Iuk tradition has been protected by the Dharma-king (dam can chos rgyal), the supra-mundane deity bound to an oath given to Dzong-ka-ba, the founder of the tradition. The tradition also speaks of three main protec­tors adapted to the three scopes of practice described in the Stages of the Path (skyes bu gsum gyi sruri ma): MahakaIa for the person of great scope, VaisravaI).a for the person of middling scope, and the Dharma­king for the person of small scope.32 By describing Shuk-den as "the protector of the tradition of the victorious lord MafijusrI," Pa-bong-ka suggests that he is the protector of the Ge-Iuk tradition, replacing the protectors appointed by Dzong-ka-ba himself. This impression is con­firmed by one of the stories that Shuk -den's partisans use to justify their claim. According to this story, the Dharma-king has left this world to retire in the pure land of Tu~ita having entrusted the protection of the Ge-Iuk tradition to Shuk-den. Thus, Shuk-den has become the man,. Ge­luk protector replacing the traditional supra-mundane protectors of the Ge-Iuk tradition, indeed a spectacular promotion in the pantheon of the tradition.

Pa-bong-ka's promotion of this deity has several reasons. There was an undeniable personal devotion to Shuk-den in Pa-bong-ka derived from his early experiences, dreams or visions. This devotion was also based on a family connection, for Shuk-den was his mother's female god (skyes ma'i rgyud kyi lha).33 Pa-bong-ka's writings reflect this strong devotion to Shuk-den, as is shown by the following passage:

Hu:rp.! Praise and prostration through remembering your three secrets, [praise and prostration to you] the violent poison for the obstacles, the enemies, [and] those

30. PA-BONG-KA: Collected Works, VITI. 498,533.

3l. TID-JANG: Music,S.

32. NEBESKY-WOJKOWITZ: Oracles,S.

33. Lob-zang Dor-je, Biography ofPha bong kha, 471.b.

JIABS 21.2 248

who have broken [their] pledges, [to you] the magical jewel who fulfills the hopes and wishes of the practitioners, [to you] the only life tree [i.e., support] in protecting Dzong-ka-ba's tradition.34

The very real personal devotion found in many of the Shuk-den texts written by Pa-bong-ka and his disciples explains Pa-bong-ka's fervor in diffusing Shuk-den. From the viewpoint of his followers, it is the most important element of Pa-bong-ka's heritage.

There is, however, another element that must be examined in order to understand the troublesome nature of the practice of Shuk-den, namely, the sectarian stance that it reflects. This is where the story of Drak-ba Gyel-tsen becomes relevant again. For Pa-bong-ka, particularly at the end of his life, one of the main functions of Gyel-chen Dor-je Shuk-den as Ge-luk protector is the use of violent means (the adamantine force) to protect the Ge-Iuk tradition. Pa-bong-ka quite explicitly states:

Hu.rp.! Now [I] exhort to violent actions Shuk-den, who is the main war-god of Dzong-ka-ba's tradition and its holders, the angry spirit, the Slayer of Yfuna (i.e., Yamantaka or Maiijusd in his wrathful form) .... In particular it is time [for you] to free (i.e., kill) in one moment the enemies of Dzong-ka-ba's tradition. Protector, set up [your] violent actions without [letting] your previous commit­ments dissipate. Quickly engage in violent actions without relaxing your loving promises. Quickly accomplish [these] requests and entrusted actions without leaving them aside (or without acting impartially). Quickly accomplish [these] actions [that I] entrust [to you], forI do not have any other source of hope.35

This passage clearly presents the goal of the propitiation of Shuk-den as the protection of the Ge-Iuk tradition through violent means, even including the killing of its enemies. We should wonder, however, what

34. hun I blo bzan bstan pa srun ba'i srog iin gcig I mal 'byor 'dod pa'i re skon yid biin nor / dam fiams dgra gegs srog la ha la'i dug / khyod kyi gsan gsum dran pas bstod phyag tshall PA-BONG-KA: Collection of [Rituals] concerning the Circle of Offerings, The Special Offering of Drinks, [and] the Exhortation to Action of the Powerful Protectors of Buddhism and [the propitiation of] Wealth Gods and Spirit (mthu ldan bstan srun khag gi 'phrin las bskul gser skyems tshogs mchod sogs dan / gnod sbyin nor lha' skor 'ga' iig phogs gcig tu bkod pa, Collected Works, New Delhi: Chopel Legdan 1973, VII.451-497, 467.

35. hun / khro rgyal gsin rje gsed / 'jam mgon bla ma tson kha pa'i / bstan dan bstan 'dzind dgra lha'i gtso / sugs ldan drag po las La bskull ... khyad par blo bzan bstan pa'i dgra / skad cig sgrol ba'i dus La bab / snon gyi dam tshig ma g.yel bar / chos skyon drag po'i las la biens / sfiin rin thugs dam ma lhod par / dra po'i las la myur du chos / bskul iin 'phrin las bcol ba'i las / bstan sfioms ma mdzad myur du sgrubs / bdag la re sa gian med kyi / bcol ba'i 'phrin las myur sgrubs. PA-BONG-KA: Collection, 468-469.

DREYFUS 249

this passage means? Is it to be taken literally? And who are these ene­mies?

To answer these questions in detail would take us beyond the purview cif this essay.' A short answer is that in certain ways the statements of this ritual text are' not very different from the ones found in similar texts devoted to other mundane protectors. By itself, this text does not prove very much. Combined with Pa-bong-ka's other writings, however, the statement about killing the enemies of the Ge-luk is more than the usual ritual incitements contained in manuals for the propitiation of protectors. Consider this rather explicit passage contained in an introduction to the text of the empowerment required to propitiate Shuk-den (the srog gtad, about which more will be said later):

[This protector of the doctrine] is extremely important for holding Dzong-ka-ba's tradition without mixing and corrupting [it] with confusions, [an importance] due to the great violence and the speed of the force of his actions, which fanlike lightning to punish violently all those beings who have wronged the Yellow Hat Tradition, whether they are high or low. [This protector is also particularly signif­icant with respect to the fact that] many from our own side, monks or lay people, high or low, are not content with Dzong-ka-ba's tradition, which is like pure gold, [and] have mixed and corrupted [this tradition with] the mistaken views and practices from other schools, which are tenet systems that are reputed to be incredibly profound and amazingly fast but are [in reality] mistakes among mis­takes, faulty, dangerous and misleading paths. In regard to this situation, this protector of the doctrine, this witness, manifests his own form or a variety of un­bearable manifestations of terrifying and frightening wrathful and fierce appear­ances. Due to that, a variety of events, some of them having happened or happen­ing, some of which have been heard or seen, seem to have taken place: some people become unhinged and mad, some have a heart attack and suddenly die, some [see] through a variety of inauspicious signs [their] wealth, accumulated possessions and descendants disappear without leaving any trace, like a pond whose feeding river has ceased, whereas some [find it] difficult to achieve any­thing in successive lifetimes.36

36. zwa gser gyi bstan pa la log par spyod pa 'i 'gro ba mchog dman kun la drag po 'i che pa thog ltar 'beb pa la 'phrin las kyi sugs sin tu myur tin I drag sul sin tu che bas na I ran phyogs kyi ser skya mchog dman man po tig kyan rje'i rin lugs gser sbyans btso ma lta bu 'di iiid kyis go ma chod par gtan phyogs pa 'I Ita grub 'khrul pa las kyan fild 'khrul mu 'byam du son ba'i lam log lam gol gyi grub mtha' myur myur mo dan I zab zab mor grags pa man po zig bse bslad byas pa la brten nas bstan bsrun gfian po 'dis ran gzugs dnos su bstan pa dan I khrog gtum 'jigs sin rliams pa'i rnam 'gyur mi bzad pa'i cho 'phrul sna tshogs pas kha cig myo tin 'bog pa dan Ila la khon khrag 'dren cin glo bur du tshe'! 'du byed pa I 'ga' zig ml 'dod pa 'i nan ltas ci rigs pas dpal 'byor 'du lons rigs rgyud dan bcas pa ltag chu chad pa 'i rdzin bu [tar rim biin rjes suI med par

JIABS 21.2 250

In this passage, which is based on notes taken by Tri-jang during a ceremony given by Pa-bong-ka and published in his Collected Works, Pa-bong-ka takes the references to eliminating the enemie~ of the the Ge-luk tradition as more than stylistic conventions or usual ritual incan­tations. It may concern the elimination of actual people by the protector. But who are these people?

A number of people may be included in this category. Several Nying­rna lamas have claimed to have been the target of Shuk-den, who is often greatly feared by the followers of this school. In this passage, however, Pa-bong-ka seems to have in mind less members of other schools than those Ge-luk practitioners who mix Dzong-ka-ba's tradition with elements from other traditions, particularly the Nying-ma Dzok­chen to which he refers indirectly but clearly.37 The mission of Shuk­den as defined here is to prevent Ge-luk practitioners from mixing tra­ditions and even visiting retribution on those who dare to go against this prescription.

This is also the central message of the founding myth of the Shuk -den practice as defined by Pa-bong-ka and his followers. Trul-ku Drak-ba Gyel-tsen becomes a wrathful deity to visit retribution, not on those who caused his death, but on those who defile Dsong-ka-ba's pure tradition. According to the legend, Shuk-den takes the Fifth Dalai-Lama as his target because the latter was eclectic, including in his practice many elements from the Nying-ma tradition, which provoked the anger of Shuk-den as a guardian of Ge-Iuk orthodoxy. Pa-bong-ka is quite explicit:

Because the All Seeing Great Fifth practiced and developed all tenets of the old and new [schools], this great protector through the power of previous prayers produced a variety of extremely frightful appearances to the supreme Powerful

btan ba dan / skye ba 'i phren ba gian mar 'gar yan ci byas pa la lam du rgyu dka' ba sags mnan sum du byun ba dan 'byun 'gyur man pa mthan thas kyi yul du 'gyur pa ltar lags pas bla bzan rgyal ba'i bstan pa grub mtha' chal chal gian gyis bse bslad med par 'dzin pa sin tu gal che iin. PA-BONG-KA:

Supplement, 526-527.

37. The ironical words myur myur ma dan / zab zab ma are clear references to Dzok-chen, which characterizes itself as having the most profound view and the fastest path.

DREYFUS 251

King (the Fifth Dalai-Lama) in order to protect and defend spotlessly Dzong-ka­ba's great tradition. 38

We may now understand the peculiar fate of the story of Drak-ba Gyel­tsen's wrathful manifestation as Shuk-den, which shifted from a slander of the former into a praise of the latter. Pa-bong-ka was aware of the stories surrounding Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's death but understood them quite differently from the way contemporaries of Drak-ba Gyel-tsen had. For him, the narrative was not about Drak-ba Gyel-tsen but about Shuk-den and the identification of the latter with the former was a way to legit­imize the diffusion of a practice that had been previously marginal.

The choice of Drak-ba Gyel-tsen was particularly meaningful for Pa­bong-ka, who had been pressured by the Thirteenth Dalai-Lama to renounce his practice of Shuk-den and may have been somewhat resent­ful. He may have felt a communion with Drak-ba Gyel-tsen, who like him had been the object of unwelcome attention from a strong Dalai­Lama. More importantly, however, Pa-bong-ka must have felt that Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's alleged posthumous antagonism to the Fifth Dalai­Lama's eclecticism paralleled his own opposition to the adoption of Nying-ma teachings by some Ge-Iuk-bas. Shuk-den's anger against the Fifth Dalai-Lama is not directed at the Dalai-Lama institution per se but at the Nying-ma leanings of the Fifth.

Keeping the Ge-luk Tradition Pure

We now begin to understand the main message of the founding myth of the Shuk-den practice. We are also in a position to grasp some of the reasons for the troublesome nature of this deity and we understand the history of this myth, which is a classical case of invention, or, perhaps re-invention, of tradition in which past events are re-interpreted in the light of a contemporary situation. Still, a few questions remain. For example, why was Pa-bong-ka so emphatic in his opposition to Ge-Iuk eclecticism? Why did he worry so much about this limited phenomenon which was no threat to the overwhelming domination of the Ge-Iuk

38. kun gzigs bia pa chen po grub mtha' gsar min thams cad 'dzin skyon spel bar mdzad pas / chos skyon chen po 'dis snon gyi thugs smon gyi dban gis 'jam mgon bla ma'i rin lugs dri rna med par bsrun tin skyon ba'i phyir / rgyal dban mchog la sin tu 'jigs su run ba'i rnam 'gyur sna tshogs ston pa'i gzigs snan byun ba na I. PA-BONG-KA: Supplement, 521. This text consists of notes taken by Pa-bong-ka's secretary Lob-zang Dor-je during one of Pa-bong-ka's Life Entrusting (srag gtad) ceremonies.

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tradition in Central Tibet? It is true that several important Ge-Iuk lamas such as the Fifth Pen-chen Lama Lob-zang Pal-den (blo bzan dp'al ldan choskyi grags pa, 1853-1882) and La-tsiin Rin-bo-che (lha,btsun rin po che) were attracted by Nying-ma practices of the Dzok-chen tradition. But this phenomenon remained limited in Central Tibet. Why did Pa­bong-ka feel the integrity of the Ge-Iuk tradition threatened?

To answer, we must place Pa-bong-ka in context. The idea of keeping the Ge-Iuk tradition pure (dge lugs tshan ma) was hardly new. It may even date to Kay-drub's tenure as the second Holder of the Throne of Ga-den during the first half of the fifteenth century. It appears that Kay­drub urged his followers to stick to Dzong-ka-ba's views and scolded those who did not. This approach became stronger during the seven­teenth century, probably as a result of the civil war that led to the emer­gence of the Dalai-Lama institution. But even then, not all Ge-Iuk-bas agreed with this approach. For example, the Fifth Dalai-Lama advocated a more eclectic and inclusive approach.

As we have seen, his approach did not meet the approval of several Ge-Iuk hierarchs. After their victory at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the more restrictive view became dominant. It is only much later, around the turn of the twentieth century, that this issue resurfaced in connection with the success of the Non-sectarian (ris med) movement in Eastern Tibet, which developed as a reaction against sectarian abuses among Non-Ge-Iuk schools. It was intended to promote a more ecu­menical atmosphere among these schools, but it was also a way for the weaker traditions to oppose the dominant Ge-Iuk tradition by presenting a united front. Their strategy was remarkably successful, and in short or­der the movement revived Non-Ge-Iuk institutions and greatly strength­ened their position, particularly in Khams. It also influenced several im­portant Ge-Iuk lamas, as we will see shortly.

This success could not but worry the more conservative elements of the Ge-Iuk establishment. Pa-bong-ka was particularly worried about the situation in Khams, which influenced his view of other traditions. In an earlier period of his life, Pa-bong-ka was rather open-minded. He had received several Dzok-chen teachings and was eclectic himself, despite his close personal connection with Shuk-den, his personal deity. After receiving these teachings, however, he became sick and attributed this interference to Shuk-den's displeasure. He thus refrained from taking any more Dzok-cen teaching and became more committed to a purely Ge-Iuk line of practice. Nevertheless, Pa-bong-ka did not immediately

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promote Shuk-den as the main protector of the Ge-Iuk tradition against other schools, perhaps because of the restrictions that the Thirteenth Dalai-Lama and his government placed on his practice of Shuk-den . . The situation changed after the death of the Thirteenth Dalai-Lama in 1933. Shortly' after, Pa-bong-ka left Lhasa and visited several important Ge-Iuk monasteries in Khams, the area where the Non-sec~arian move­ment was the strongest. There he could not but notice the strength of this movement as well as the poor shape of the Ge-Iuk institutions. Whereas in Amdo and Central Tibet, the Ge-Iuk school's hegemony was over­whelming and the challenge of other schools had little credibility, the situation in Khams was quite different. Ge-Iuk monasteries were large but had little to show for themselves. There were very few scholars and most monks were almost completely illiterate. Moreover, the level of discipline was poor. Given that situation, the success of the Non-sectar­ian movement was hardly surprising,

Pa-bong-ka perceived this situation as a serious threat to the overall Ge-Iuk supremacy, and this led him to a more sectarian and militant stance. He saw the inclusion by Ge-Iuk-bas of the teachings of other schools as a threat to the integrity of the Ge-Iuk tradition. The task of protecting the tradition from such encroachments was assigned to Shuk­den, the protector with whom he had a strong personal tie. This renewed emphasis on Shuk-den was also made possible by the Thirteenth Dalai­Lama's death which removed the restrictions imposed on Pa-bong-ka's practice and diffusion of Shuk-den.

The sectarian implications of Pa-bong-ka's revival movement and the role of Shuk-den therein became clear during the 1940s, when the cult of Shuk-den spread in Khams and the Ge-Iuk tradition became much more aggressive in its opposition to the other schools. Under one of Pa­bong-ka's disciples, Tob-den Rin-bo-che, several Nying-ma monasteries were forcefully transformed into Ge-Iuk establishments and statues of Gu-ru Rin-bo-che are said to have been destroyed. In certain parts of Khams, particularly in Ge-Iuk strongholds such as Dra-gyab and Cham­do, some Ge-Iuk fanatics tried to stamp out the other traditions in the name of Shuk-den. It is hard to know, however, what Pa-bong-ka thought about these events, which may have been the work of a few ex­tremists. It is clear, however, that since this time Shuk-den played a central role for Pa-bong-ka, who continued to promote his practice to support Ge-Iuk exclusivism after his return to Central Tibet.

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We now start to understand Shuk-den's particularities and the reason he is controversial. First is his origin as D6l-gyel, an angry and v~ngeful spirit. This makes him particularly effective and powerful Qut also dan­gerous according to standard Tibetan cultural assumptions. Second is his novelty as the protector of the tradition of the victorious lord MafijusrI, the protector of a Ge-luk revival movement who is said to replace the main supra-mundane protector of the tradition. This promotion is all the more controversial that it is recent, for Shuk-den was nothing but a minor Ge-Iuk protector before the the 1930s when Pa-bong-ka started to promote him aggressively as the main Ge-luk protector. Third is his sectarian role as Do-je Shuk-den, that is, holder of the adamantine vio­lence now understood to be aimed at keeping the Ge-luk tradition sepa­rate from and above other schools. Shuk-den is now depicted by his followers not just as the main Ge-luk protector, but as the one in charge of visiting retribution on those Ge-luk-bas tempted by the religious

. eclecticism of the Non-sectarian movement. Still, for many years nothing happened. Some Ge-luk teachers may

have been uncomfortable at the promotion of Shuk-den but there was no reason to engage in a controversy with Pa-bong-ka, who was popular but just one among many important Ge-luk lamas. Despite some tension between him and the Thirteenth Dalai-Lama, no major differences sur­faced and the Ge-luk tradition seemed strong and united. After the death of the Thirteenth Dalai-Lama, there was very little discussion concern­ing Shuk-den. Pa-bong-ka's promotion of Shuk-den's cult and its founding myth were not considered threatening to the Tibetan govern­ment or the young new Dalai-Lama, for the cult was not opposed to the Dalai-Lama institution but affirmed the primacy of the Ge-luk tradition, a goal shared by many in the Tibetan government. In later years, the importance of Pa-bong-ka's lineage was further reinforced by the nomi­nation of Tri-jang as the Junior Tutor of the Dalai-Lama.

The exile both confirmed this situation and changed it. Pa~bong-ka's disciple Tri-jang became the main source of teaching and inspiration for the Ge-luk tradition. The Dalai-Lama was still young; his other tutor, Ling Rin-bo-che, had a modest personality that took him out of conten­tion, and most of the other great Ge-luk lamas remained in Tibet. The preeminence of Tri-jang further strengthened the position of Pa-bong­ka's lineage as embodying the central orthodoxy of the tradition. More­over, Tri-jang seems to have been personally extremely devoted to

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Shuk-den. In his commentary on Pa-bong-ka's praise of Shuk-den,39 Tri-jang devotes several pages to explaining the many dreams of Shuk­den that he had from the age of seven. Tri-jang stressed this practice among his disciples and pushed the glorification of Shuk-den even fur­ther than Pa-bong-ka, insisting on the fact that this deity is ultimately a fully enlightened buddha who merely appears as a mundane deity.

Ge-Iuk teachers who were uncomfortable with this situation could say little against Tri-jang, the Dalai-Lama's own teacher. Moreover, every­one (myself included) was won over by Tri-jang's astonishing qualities, his command of the Tibetan tradition, his personal grace, his refined manners, his diplomatic skills, and commanding presence. Finally, there was no reason for open controversy, for there was enough room in the tradition to accomodate several views. Ling Rin-bo-che offered an alter­native to those who did not completely share Tri-jang's orientation. Thus, at the beginning of the 70s, the tradition seemed to be strong and united in its admiration of its great teachers, the Dalai-Lama and his two tutors, a trinity that almost providentially seemed to be the mirror image of the original relation between Dzong-ka-ba and his two disciples. Nobody would have dreamed of the crisis that was about to come.

The Dispute Begins

The situation began to deteriorate in 1975, a year which can be de­scribed as the Ge-luk ann us terribilis. In this year a book (henceforth the "Yellow Book") written in Tibetan about Shuk-den by Dze-may Rin-bo­che (dze smad rin po che, 1927-1996) was published.4o Retrospectively, we can say that the whole affrur started from this book and the Dalai­Lama's reaction to it. Prior to its publication, there was no controversy concerning Shuk-den. There may have been some tension between the Dalai-Lama and some Ge-Iuk-bas. Some of the more conservative ele­ments may have believed that the three monasteries should rule the Tibetan state and hence have resented the power and orientation of the last two Dalai-Lamas. These elements may have also tended toward the Shuk-den practice. Thus, elements of resentment, suspicion and discon­tent provided the background for the present crisis, but they did not create it. The present crisis is a new phenomenon, largely a product of contingent circumstances and even coincidence.

39. TRJ-JANG: Music.

40. See above for the bibliographical reference.

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The Yellow Book was intended, to complement Tri-jang's commentary on Pa-bong-ka's praise of Shuk-den.41 It consists of a series of stories which the author had heard informally from his teacher Ttj-jang during the many years of their relationship which he wanted to record for pos­terity before the death of his teacher. The book enumerates the many Ge-Iuk lamas whose lives are supposed to have been shortened by Shuk­den's displeasure at their practicing Nying-ma teachings. First, the Fifth Pen-chen Lama, Lob-zang Pal-den, is described as the object of Shuk­den's anger because he adopted Nying-ma practices. Despite the repeated warnings of the protector, Lob-zang Pal-den refused to mend his ways. After an unsuccessful ritual self-defense, which backfired, Lob-zang Pal-den died at the age of twenty nine.42 The book cites several other Ge-Iuk lamas who had similar fates. Most noticeable is the long descrip­tion of the Re-treng (rwa streit) affair. According to this account, Re­treng's tragic fate is not due to his real or alleged misdeeds,43 but be­cause he incurres the wrath of Shuk-den by practicing Nying-ma teach­ings.

Another particularly revealing story is that of the preceding reincarna­tion of Zi-gyab Rin-bo-che (gzigs rgyab rin po che), a lama from Tre­hor, who first studied at Tra-shi Lhung-po where he became learned and then developed a link with the Sixth Pen-chen Lama Tub-ten ChO-gi­nyi-ma (thub stan chos kyi iii ma, 1883-1937), who asked him to stay with him. Because of the past Pen-chen lama's eclectic ritual practice, Zi-gyab studied and practiced Nying-ma teachings. Later he decided to receive one of its central teachings, Jam-gon Kong-trul's ('jam mgon koit sprul, 1813-1899) Rin chen gter mdzod from Kyung Rin-bo-che (khyuit rin po che). According to the story, Shuk-den warned Zi-gyab against this course of action. When the lama refused to heed the protec­tor's advice, he fell sick and died suddenly without having been able to listen to the Rin chen gter mdzod. In short order Kyung also died sud­denly after several ominous signs of Shuk-den's anger. Shuk-den's anger at Zi-gyab's attempt to receive the Rin chen gter mdzod is particu-

41. TRI-JANG, Music. 42. Or thirty according to the Tibetan way of counting years. Dze-may, The Yellow

Book,4. 43. M. GOLDSTEIN, A History afModem Tibet, 1913-1951, Berkeley: University of

California 1989: 310-363.

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larly revealing in view of the central place held by this collection of teachings in the Non-sectarian movement.

Whatever the intentions of its author, the main message of the Yellow Book is hard to miss. Ge-Iuk lamas should absolutely not practice the teachings from other schools, otherwise they will incur Shuk -den's wrath and die prematurely. The author of the Yellow Book was repeat­ing the views already expressed by the two most important figures in the tradition of Shuk-den followers, Pa-bong-ka and Tri-jang, as illustrated by the above quote (for the former) and claimed by the book itself (for the latter).44 The Yellow Book provided a number of cases that illustrate this point, emphasizing that the dire warnings were not empty threats but based on "facts."

The Dalai-Lama reacted strongly to this book. He felt personally be­trayed by Dze-may, a lama for whom he had great hopes and to whom he had shown particular solicitude. More importantly, he felt that the Yellow Book was an attack on his role as Dalai-Lama, a rejection of his religious leadership by the Ge-Iuk establishment, and a betrayal of his efforts in the struggle for Tibetan freedom. In 1976 the first signs of the impending crisis appeared, which I will explore in some detail, since I do not believe that these events have been well documented even by Tibetans. I will use my own memories to supplement the sketchy public records.

One of the first public manifestations of the Dalai-Lama's state of mind was his refusal, after the Tibetan New Year of 1976, of the long life offerings made by the Tibetan government. Traditionally, the Dalai­Lama accepts such an offering after the new year as a sign of the pure bond (dam tshig tshan ma) that exists between him and Tibetans: this bond is based on his commitment to continue his work as Dalai-Lama and the Tibetans' allegiance. His refusal signaled in effect that he thought that the bond had been undermined and that the behavior of Tibetans was incompatible with his remaining as Dalai-Lama. When pressed by the National Assembly to accept the offerings, the Dalai-

44. When compared to Pa-bong-ka's explicit stance, TRI-JANG's stance toward other schools seems more moderate. In fact, it is clear that for him the devotional element is much more important than the sectarian element in the practice of Shuk-den. This is why some of his disciples seem to be genuinely surprised when they are accused of being sectarian. Nevertheless, TRI-JANG does point to the connection between the Fifth Pen-chen Lama's tragic fate, his Non-sectarian (ris su rna chad pa) orientation, and Shuk-den's action. Music, 134.

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Lama sent back even stronger signals, mentioning dreams i~ which <;iakinls had entreated him to return to the pure realms. The refusal of the offerings of long life was already bad enough. The menrion of these dreams was akin to a declaration of intention to abandon this world and his role therein. This sent the Tibetan community into a veritable ritual frenzy. The state oracle of Ne-chung ordered Tibetans to recite an enormous number of maI).i, the mantra of the bodhisattva A valokiteSvara of whom the Dalai-Lama is said to be a manifestation.

At that time I was living at the Rikon monastery in Switzerland. I did not witness the scenes I am describing but heard about them from Tibetan friends and read reports in the Ses Bya review in Tibetan. I re­member very clearly, however, the emotion that the news created among the monks living in Switzerland. Some were devastated, crying openly. I also remember the many hours that the Tibetan community in Switzerland spent reciting the number of required mantras. I was puz­zled by the fact that not all Ge-Iuk monks seemed equally affected. Some seemed to be distinctly cool, despite their participation in the public rituals intended to protect the life of the Dalai-Lama. Why were they so unmoved by the news of the Dalai-Lama's reaction?

The answer, about which I had no idea at the time, was that they agreed with the views expressed by the Yellow Book. Hence, they were less than moved by the Dalai-Lama's negative reaction. They understood that it manifested a profound division within the Ge-Iuk tradition, a di­vision about which they could not but worry. Primarily, however, they saw his reaction as a rejection and a betrayal of the teachings of his tutor, Tri-jang, whom they considered to be the main teacher of the Ge­luk tradition and the guardian of its orthodoxy. They also may have foreseen that the Dalai-Lama would counterattack. The crisis that has agitated the Ge-Iuk school since then had begun.

In the mid 1976, the Dalai-Lama finally accepted the long life offer­ings of the Tibetan government and the Tibetan people. He would lead them after all, but this was not the end of the story, for he would also take strong actions to strengthen the loyalty of the Ge-Iuk establishment. His offensive started at the beginning of 1977 when Dze-may was publicly berated for his book. He was expelled from one of the public teachings that the Dalai-Lama gave that year. The Dalai-Lama also began to apply pressure against the practice of Shuk-den, laying several restrictions on the practice. The three great monasteries of Dre-bung, Ga-den and Se-ra, which traditionally, though not unambiguously, have

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supported the Tibetan government, and the two tantric colleges were ordered not to propitiate Shuk-den in public ceremonies. Moreover, several statues of Shuk-den were removed from the chapels of the three monasteries. Finally, the Dalai-Lama ordered the monks of Se-ra in Bylakuppe not to use a building originally intended for the monthly ritual of Shuk-den. Individuals could continue their practice privately if they so chose, as long as they remained discreet about it.

The Ritual Basis of the Dalai-Lama Institution

Many found the Dalai-Lama's reaction excessive. After all, the views expressed by the book were rather unexceptional. The book was undeni­ably sectarian, but this is not rare in any of the four (or more) Tibetan schools. Similar sectarian views were held by Pa-bong-ka.45 Even the Non-sectarian movement had at times used its inclusive strategy against the dominance of the Ge-Iuk school. Thus, the mere presence of a sectarian element in the Yellow Book could not justify or explain the Dalai-Lama's strong reaction. We need to find another explanation.

Throughout the crisis, the Dalai-Lama has gone to great lengths to explain his position. At first reserved to a limited audience, these expla­nations, some of which are of great scholarly quality, are now available in Tibetan and are invaluable to understand the present crisis.46 The Dalai-Lama repeatedly points to the relation between Shuk-den and the ritual system underlying the institution of the Dalai-Lama as the source of the problem.

45. The best example of Ge-Iuk sectarianism is perhaps Sum-pa ken-po ye-shay-bel­jor's attack on the Nying-ma tradition. There has been, however, another tradition of Ge-luk thinkers who have defended and exemplified a more enlightened and tolerant view. Tu-gen rejected the conclusions of his teacher Sum-pa Ken-po and defended the authenticity of the Nying-ma tradition. See M. KAPSTEIN: "The Purificatory Gem and its Cleansing", History of Religions 28.3 (1989): 217-244. Another example is Jang-gya. More enlightened Ge-Iuk thinkers such as Tu-gen or Jang-gya should not be thought of as eclectic. They were not arguing for a more inclusive religious practice, as did the Fifth Dalai-Lama, but for a more tolerant outlook within a purely Ge-Iuk practice.

46. His collected speeches from 1978 to 1996 on the subject have been published in Gon sa skyabs mgon chen po mchog nas chos skyon bsten phyogs skor btsal ba'i bka' slob (Dharamsala: Religious Affairs, 1996) (henceforth DL).

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The institution of the Dalai-Lama is not just political, but also .rests on an elaborate ritual system, which has undergone several transformations. When the Fifth Dalai-Lama assumed power after 1642, he attempted to build a broad-based rule legitimized by a claim to reestablish the early Tibetan empire. This claim was supported by an elaborate ritual system, which sought to reenact the perceived religious basis of the Tibetan empire. This ritual system was not limited to the practices of the Ge-Iuk tradition but included teachings and figures closely associated with the Nying-ma tradition, the Buddhist school that for Tibetans has a close association with the early empire. The ritual system involves an ex­tremely complex network of practices which cannot be examined here. Two elements require mention, however.

The first element is devotion to Padmasarpbhava, the semi-mythical founder of the Nying-ma tradition. His role is central to the ritual system as conceived by the present Dalai-Lama, for Guru Rin-bo-che is responsible for taming the negative forces in Tibet. According to legend, he started the practice of transforming pre-Buddhist deities into worldly protectors by binding them through oaths. He is in charge of making sure that these gods keep their word, and he is the guarantor of all the worldly protectors of the Tibetan world.47

The second element of this ritual system is the primacy of the protec­tor Ne-chung. Like most other collective entities in the Tibetan cultural landscape, the institution of the Dalai-Lama and his government has a mundane protector. This deity has fulfilled this function for the Dalai­Lama institution since the Fifth Dalai-Lama. Ne-chung is one in an im­portant group of deities named "the five kings" (rgyal po sku bia, lit., five king-bodies). Among the five kings, the most famous is Pe-har, who was appointed by Padmasarpbhava as the main guardian of Buddhism. He is also described as one of the main protectors of the early Tibetan empire. Ne-chung is related to Pe-har and is usually iden­tified with Dor-je Drak-den (rdo rje grags ldan) , another of the five

47. DL, 24. This fact is recognized even by Shuk-den's followers. Pa-bong-ka describes how Pe-har, the main protector appointed by PadmasaIp.bhava, is supposed to have incited Shuk-den into protecting the Ge-Iuk tradition. Pe-har is depicted as saying: "I have been assigned by Guru Rin-bo-che to protect the Nying-ma tradition and hence cannot protect Dzong-ka-ba's tradition, the only truly faultless tradition. You should do it." Supplement, 519.

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king-body deities.48 The Fifth Dalai-Lama and his government have used Ne-chung's connection with Pe-har to emphasize their connection with the early empire and thus strengthen their legitimacy. This choice rdnforced the. centrality of Gum Rin-bo-che, and reflected the Fifth Dalai-Lama's personal association with the Nying-ma tradition.

The Yellow Book and the propitiation of Shuk-den threaten this eclectic system centered on the worship of Gum Rin-bo-che and the propitiation of Ne-chung. By presenting Shuk-den as a deity in charge of visiting retribution upon those Ge-luk who have adopted practices from the Nying-ma tradition, which is based on and closely associated with the devotion to Gum Rin-bo-che, the Yellow Book undermines the ritual system underlying the Dalai-Lama institution, and the present Dalai-Lama's efforts to implement this system more fully. I also believe that the timing of the Yellow Book was particularly disastrous.

In his early years, the present Dalai-Lama followed the advice of his teachers and practiced an almost purely Ge-Iuk ritual system. In doing so, he was continuing the tradition of the last seven Dalai-Lamas, who had adopted a strictly Ge-luk ritual system as the religious basis of their power. Important changes were introduced after the death of the Fifth and the defeat of his party, when the role of the Dalai-Lama and the ritual system supporting the institution were changed. Instead of an eclectic system emulating the religious basis of the early empire, a more purely Ge-Iuk ritual system was installed under the auspices of the Seventh Dalai-Lama Kel-zang Gya-tso. The monks of Nam-gyel, the personal monastery of the Dalai-Lama, were replaced by monks from the Ge-Iuk Tantric Colleges and the Nying-ma rituals that they had per­formed were discontinued.49 This situation continued into this century, forming the religious practice of the Thirteenth and the young Four­teenth.

As the Fourteenth became more mature, however, he started to ques­tion this orientation. He felt a strong appreciation for the Fifth's politi-

48. NEBESKY-WOJKOWITZ: Oracles, 107. The five king-bodies represent the five aspects of the group of deity: body, speech, mind, quality and action. Ne-chung is identified with Dor-je Drak-den, who represents the speech aspect, whereas Pe­har represents the action aspect.

49. gDong-thog mentions the discontinuation of the practice of 'Jam dpal gsin rje tshe bdag. Gon sa skyabs mgon rgyal ba'i dban po mchog gi lha srU1i bsten phyogs bka' slob la rgol ba'i rtsod zlog bden gtam sa gii ' dar ba'i 'brug sgra (Seattle: SapaI.1 Institute, 1996), 23.

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cal project, which he has described as a masterplan for building Tibet into a nation able to take part in the history of the region rather than a marginal state governed by religious hierarchs mostly preoccupied with the power of their monasteries and estates.50 He also felt a strong reli­gious bond with the Fifth and gradually came to the realization that he needed to implement the latter's ritual system. Consequently, he aban­doned his Shuk-den practice in the mid-seventies, for he could not keep propitiating this deity while using Ne-chung, the protector associated with Guru Rin-bo-che and with whom he had had a special relation for many years.51 He also attempted to promote the role of Guru Rin-bo-che in the ritual system of the Tibetan state. Only by strengthening this role, which he saw as vital to the integrity of the ritual basis of the Tibetan state, could the cause of Tibet be successfuL Were not the political diffi­culties experienced by Tibetans signs that this ritual support had been undermined?

As an expression of his resolve to return to the ritual system developed by the Fifth Dalai-Lama, the present Dalai-Lama developed the role of Nying-ma rituals in the practice of his own 'personal Nam-gyel monastery. The monastery's repertoire wasexpanded from the usual Ge-1uk tantric rituals to include typical Nying-ma practices such as Vajra­kIlaya and others. He invited several Nying-ma lamas to give teachings and empowerments to his monks. He also ordered them to do appropri­ate retreats. I remember the tongue in cheek comments of some of my friends of the Nam-gyel monastery about their "becoming Nying-ma­bas." They were surprised, taken aback and uncomfortable, for the rituals of the Nam-gyel monastery had been for many years Ge-Iuk, not very different from that of the two tantric colleges. They were ready to follow the Dalai-Lama, however, despite their obvious misgivings.

Another key element in the Dalai-Lama's strategy of returning to the Fifth's ritual system was the institution in October 1975 of a yearly ceremony of making a hundred thousands offerings to Guru Rin-bo-che. The collective worship of Guru Rin-bo-che would restore the synergy that existed between this figure and the Tibetan people, thus strengthen­ing the power of the gods appointed by Guru Rin-bo-che to protect Tibetans from danger. But this event was not very successful. Many Ge­luk monks and nuns felt rather lukewarm, if not downright hostile,

50. Oral interview given during the second visit of the Dalai-Lama in France (1987).

51. DL., 17-9.

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toward "Guru Rin-bo-che, and abstained from attending the event. They profoundly resented the adoption of rituals they saw as coming from an alien tradition . . This was precisely the time that the famous Yellow Book first circu­

lated, a coincidence I consider particularly unfortunate. 52 Although the connection between the low attendance at this new ceremony and the book is hard to establish, the Dalai-Lama felt that the Yellow Book had contributed to the lack of support among Ge-luk monks and nuns. More importantly, he felt that the appearance of such a book precisely when he was trying to restore the ritual basis of the Tibetan state represented an act of open defiance by the very people, the high Ge-luk lamas, who were supposed to support him. These were the same people who had thwarted the attempts of the Thirteenth Dalai-Lama toward reform with tragic consequences for Tibet. These were also particularly difficult times for Tibet politically. The repression in Tibet had gone on practi­cally uninterrupted since 1959 and there seemed no end in sight. The sadness and even desperation thereby induced in the exile community and the Dalai-Lama must have contributed to the crisis.53

Finally, the Dalai-Lama felt directly attacked by the Yellow Book. For, after all, who was the person who was designated as a potential target of Shuk-den, the person who was undermining the purity of the

52. This was also the time when the Dalai-Lama was trying to prevent Ne-chung from expressing through his oracle resentment against the success of Shuk-den, labeling this protector "the teacher of novelty seekers" (a sras mkhan po), and complaining that the practice of Shuk-den weakens him (DL, 20). The Dalai­Lama had ordered Ne-chung to keep silent on this topic, realizing the conflict that would be unleashed if he gave in to Ne-chung's requests. In these circumstances, the Dalai-Lama felt that the publication of the Yellow Book made his self­imposed restraint impossible. His efforts at moderation were not recognized and imitated. Henceforth, he felt that he could not stop Ne-chung from complaining and demanding that Shuk-den stop his activities. See DL, 20.

53. A factor in the developments analyzed here has been the political situation in Tibet The Dalai-Lama and the exile community have felt a strong urgency to do something about the situation in Tibet and that has probably exacerbated the "affair." It is not without reason that the most acute crises in the "Shuk-den Mfair" have occurred in moments (1975, 1996) where, for different reasons, the situation of Tibet seemed most difficult. R. Schwartz mentions the role that millenarian elements such as oracles and protectors have played in contemporary Tibetan political actions during the most difficult times when rational modes of action seemed impossible and hopeless. See Circle of Protest, New York: Columbia University Press 1994: 226-231.

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Ge-Iuk tradition by adopting practices from the Nying-ma tradition, if not himself? "Also, the Dalai-L~ma felt that this book was working against his efforts to promote harmony among the Tibetan schools. The matter was made much worse by the attribution of the 'opinions ex­pressed by the Yellow Book to Tri-jang, who, to my knowledge, has never rejected this attribution. In fact, everybody assumed that Dze-may had indeed reported the words of his teacher and this is why the book was thought to be particularly damaging. What could the Dalai-Lama say against his own teacher?

The Role of Shuk-den

If we can recognize the Dalai-Lama's reasons for reacting to the diffu­sion of the Yellow Book, we have yet to understand the place of the practice of Shuk-den in this affair. Why focus so exclusively on the propitiation of Shuk-den? We need to consider briefly the role of mun­dane protectors in Tibetan culture. Mundane protectors ('jig rten pa' i lha) are guardians in a universe alive with forces which can quickly become threatening, and are considered by Tibetans to be particularly effective because they are mundane, i.e., unenlightened. 54 They share human emotions such as anger or jealousy, which makes them more effective than the more remote supra-mundane deities ('jig rten las' das pa'i lha), but also more prone to take offense at the actions of humans or other protectors. Shuk-den, for example, is presented as being hostile to those Ge-luk-bas who do not stick to the pure tradition of Dzong-ka­ba and seek the teachings of other traditions. Shuk-den is also said to undermine Ne-chung, and the latter is said to resent the former's actions.

We may wonder about the meaning of these conflicts between deities. What does it mean to say that Ne-chung resents Shuk-den? For tradi­tional Tibetans, such a statement is perfectly clear and does not require any further explanation, since it refers to entities whose reality is as certain as that of the solar system is for scientifically educated people. The propitiation of these entities is an integral part of their culture, and the conflict between worldly protectors or gods is a normal occurence in a universe which is filled by entities who can harm humans. I remember at one point becoming quite close to a young lama and his servant. I used to eat with them and help them in various ways, until one day I was

54. Technically, mundane protectors are defmed as deities who have not attained the noble path Cphags lam, iiryamiirga) in their spiritual development.

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told that my visits were not welcome any more. They had had bad dreams. It seems that their protector was unhappy at my visits. My god apparently did not agree with theirs! . For modem educated people such an explanation is hardly satisfying.

In the case cif personal relations, incompatibilities can be easily ex­plained as temperamental. But what does it mean for Shuk-den and Ne­chung not to get along? Protectors are not just individual guardians, but also protect collective entities. Monasteries, households of lamas, region­al houses in large monasteries, and clans or families have their own pro­tectors. This collective dimension of protectors is most relevant to the present conflict between Shuk-den and Ne-chung, which is quite obvi­ously a reflection of the conflict between two groups, the conservative Ge-luk-bas, who resent the Dalai-Lama's reliance on the Nying-ma tra­dition, and the groups who accept or support the Dalai-Lama's eclectic approach.

The relation between groups and worldly protectors becomes clear if one remembers that the deities who are protectors are defined as such because they protect the person or the group, often by violent means, from enemies. These enemies are described as the "enemies of Buddhism" (bstan dgra); they are the "other" in opposition to which the person and the group define their identity. The connection between group and protector is very close.

There is, however, an important distinction to be made here. In the case of supra-mundane protectors, enemies of Buddhism threaten Buddhism as well as their own spiritual welfare.55 The violence that pro­tectors unleash against them is said to be strictly motivated by compas­sion and aims at benefiting the beings who are its target, much like the actions of bodhisattvas described in the Mahayana literature.56 This violence is impartial and cannot be used for one's personal advantage. However, the violence of mundane deities is quite different, for it in­volves para-human emotions. Since these deities experience these emo­tions, they are thought to be partial and can be enrolled in actions per-

55. I am explaining the Tibetan understanding of supra-mundane deities, who are mostly Indian in their origin. Whether these gods were understood in India in the same way is a different question.

56. The classical example in the Mahayana siitras is found in the story of the bodhisattva killing the person who was about to murder five hundred people on his ship. See G. CHANG: A Treasury of Mahliyana Satras, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass 1991: 452-465.

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formed on behalf of the person or the group who propitiates them. The term "enemies of Buddhism;' is used and the practitioner or the group will ask the protector to get rid of these beings. But in this ~ase the term "enemies of Buddhism" refers less to the objects of compassionate and impartial violence than to the b~ing perceived by the person or the group as threatening. An "enemy of Buddhism" may belong to a rival Buddhist group, or may be a member of one's own tradition, such as Ge-luk practitioners who are interested in other schools such as the Nying-maY We now begin to understand the close connection between group iden­tity and mundane protectors, and the reason why the propitiation of some protectors can be quite troubling.

Moreover, the close connection between group and protector is not just symbolic, it is also inscribed in the nature of the practices relating to protectors which is based on the notion of loyalty. The relation between a person or group and the protector is described as being based on the maintenance of "pure bond" or "pure commitment" (dam tshig tshan rna). This notion of pure bond is particularly important in Tibetan Buddhism, where there is a strong emphasis on preserving the commit­ment between students and their teachers, especially in the context of tantric practice. But this sense of loyalty goes well beyond the domain of tantric practice. It plays a vital role in the social life of Tibetans, who put a great emphasis on personal friendship and group loyalty. It also informs a part of Tibetan political life, as we noticed earlier.

It is this same sense of loyalty that lies at the basis of the relations between protectors and their followers. This is particularly true regard­ing the practice of Dor-je Shuk-den,a practice based on the taking of a solemn oath similar to that of friends swearing life-long loyalty to each other. The propitiation of Shuk-den requires a ceremony called "life entrusting" (srog gtad), during which the followers and the deity are introduced to each other by the guru who confers the empowerment.58

The follower swears his or her fidelity to Dor-je Shuk-den who in ex­change promises to serve him or her. It is clear that this practice fosters

57. PA-BONG-KA: Supplement, 526.

58. TIlls ceremony, which does not seem to have any source in the Indian tradition, is not unique to Dor-je Shuk-den. It seems to exist for some other wordly gods as well where it is called "life empowerment" (srog dban). It does not appear that these ceremonies are practiced in the case of protectors such as Ne-chung, but I have not been able to obtain clear information on this point.

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a very strong loyalty to the deity and by extension to the group that the deity represents.

In Shuk-den's case, devotion has been strengthened further by the central role of the charismatic teachers Pa-bong-ka and Tri-jang, who have transformed this formerly minor practice into one of the main ele­ments of the Ge-luk tradition. Because of the central place of keeping commitments to one's guru among Tibetans, and because of the consid­erable personal qualities of these teachers, they have succeeded in inspir­ing an extreme devotion in their followers, who seem to value their commitment to these figures more than anything else. In fact, from the point of view of many of Shuk-den's followers, the devotion to teachers such as Pa-bong-ka or Tri-jang is the basis for the practice of Shuk-den. They propitiate this deity first and foremost because it is the protector recommended by their guru. This situation has contributed significantly to the polarization that surrounds the issue and has further enhanced the troubling potential of the Shuk-den practice. For when the Dalai-Lama opposes Shuk-den, the followers of this deity feel his opposition is directed against the founding fathers of their own tradition, and hence an attack against their own group. They also feel misrepresented when they are accused of being sectarian, for in their perspective the sectarian ele­ment pales in significance when compared to their commitment to their guru and his tradition.

Nevertheless, other groups may feel that they fit the description "enemies of Buddhism" as defined by the Shuk-den rituals, even if the threat the rituals imply is not implemented by Shuk-den practitioners themselves or is considered by these practitioners as being secondary in nature. Thus the claim that the practice of Shuk-den disrupts the func­tioning of the Dalai-Lama institution becomes easier to understand. Shuk-den as a mundane protector is in charge of helping his followers against certain "enemies of Buddhism." These enemies are designated by Pa-bong-ka as those Ge-luk lamas who adopt Nying-ma practices.59 But, as we saw earlier, a number of Nying-ma rituals are precisely the basis of the Dalai-Lama institution as understood by the Fifth and the Four­teenth Dalai-Lamas. Does it not follow that the present Dalai-Lama is the "enemy of Buddhism" as implied by the practice of Shuk-den?

Most of Pa-bong-ka's followers would answer this question in the negative. They would argue that their practice is primarily not directed

59. PA-BONG-KA: Supplement, 526-527. See above.

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at anybody but stems from their religious commitments. Nevertheless, the fact that this shocking statement seems to follow logically from the way the practice of Shuk~den has been defined by its m~n proponents explains the challenge that such a practice raises for the leadership of the Dalai-Lama. It also throws some light on the claim that Ne-chung re­sents Shuk-den's success. Since Ne-chung is taken as the preeminent protector of the Dalai-Lama, he must indeed be disturbed by a cult that takes the very people he is meant to protect as its target. Finally, we understand the divisiveness of the practice of mundane protectors such as Shuk-den and the danger of violence that it contains. For, after all, what can one do with the enemies of Buddhism but fight them?

Weare also able to answer one of the questions raised at the beginning of this essay: is the practice of Shuk-den different from the practices associated with other protectors? It is clear that there are other wordly protectors within the world of Tibetan Buddhism. It also clear Shuk-den as a deity does not appear to be very different from other worldly pro­tectors who are all perceived to inspire awe and fear and hence have the potential for being put to troubling uses, though the particular cultural scenario associated with Shuk-den, i.e., being a spirit of a dead religious person (rgyal po), may mark him as a particularly fierce deity. A similar cultural scenario, however, is alleged in the case of Ne-chung, a deity sometimes presented as the spirit of a monk who broke his vows.60

Thus, the root of the problem raised by the Shuk-den affair is not the particular nature of the deity. So why is the practice of Shuk-den so problematic?

The answer is to be found in the sectarian ways in which this practice has been defined by its founders. Shuk-den was re-invented during this century not just to satisfy the wordly purposes of individuals or particu­lar institutions, but also and mostly to affirm and defend the identity of a revival movement opposed to other religious groups, particularly within the Ge-Iuk tradition. Shuk-den is the protector in charge not just of protecting individual practitioners but the integrity of the Ge-Iuk tradition as conceived by its most conservative elements. It is this agges­sively sectarian use of this deity that has been particularly problematic. The practices associated with the other protectors are different in that they are used by monasteries, lama's estates, families, or individuals for

60. Lob-zang eM-phe1: giun Ian dran sron rgan po'i 'bel gtam, Delhi: Dorje Shugden Society 1997: 120.

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this-wordly purposes as piecemeal elements cf a traditional network of religious practices, not to affirm a systematically sectarian outlook. As such they do not map into any large-scale socio-political distinction and their potential for abuse remains limited.

This sectarian stance is the central message of the founding myth of the Shuk-den tradition, the wrathful transformation of Trul-ku Drak-ba Gyel-tsen into Shuk-den and his hostility to the Fifth Dalai-Lama. This hostility reflects the attitude of a part of the Ge-luk tradition which advocates a strictly Ge-Iuk practice and opposes the importation of Nying-ma teachings into their tradition. This opposition between two visions of the Ge-Iuk tradition focuses on the figure of the Dalai-Lama because of the way in which the Fifth and the Fourteenth Dalai-Lamas have considered the institution they represent, i.e., as resting on an eclectic religious basis in which elements associated with the Nying-ma tradition combine with an overall Ge-Iukorientation. Shuk-den, then, is less the spirit of the Ge-luk political resentment against a strong Dalai­Lama, than it is the spirit of a. religious resentment against a perceived threat to the integrity of the Ge-Iuk tradition. The target of Shuk-den is not the Dalai-Lama per se but the accomodation toward other schools, particularly the Nying-ma, shown by the Fifth and the Fourteenth Dalai­Lamas, an attitude perceived by Shuk-den's followers as a defilement of Dzong-ka'ba's tradition.

When this sectarian orientation is combined with some of the particu­larities of the Shuk -den tradition such as the central role of charismatic figures such as Pa-bong-ka and Tri-jang, the extreme devotion they have inspired in their followers, as well as the intensity of the loyalty devel­oped by the Shuk-den cult based on the life entrusting ceremony men­tioned above, the troubling events that have revolved around the practice of Dor-je Shuk-den become less surprising. The strong opposition of the present Dalai-Lama also becomes more understandable. For a sectarian opposition to the Dalai-Lama institution cannot help but have strong political implications in contemporary Tibetan society where this institu­tion plays such a large role. The practice of propitiating Shuk-den threatens this institution and undermines its ability to function as a rally­ing point for Tibetans. Is it then surprising if he opposes it so vigor­ously?

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Author's note added in proofs

Since I have written these lines, I have been able to collec;t a few sup­plementary indications that confirm my argument and make it more precise, particularly in its historical part. First, it appears that So-nam­rin-chen, the holder of the Sa-gya throne referred to in the story in which Drak-ba Gyel-tsen manifests wrathfully as Shuk-den, lived long after the events in which he is supposed to have taken part. In the Shuk­den story, the Fifth Dalai-Lama is described as having entrusted to So­nam-rin-chen this cult. As we have seen, it is true that So-nam-rin-chen wrote the first ritual propitiating Shuk-den. New information, however, shows that it is highly unlikely he actually could have participated in the events described by the Shuk-den myth, given that he was born only in 1704, well after the recounted events. The considerable gap between So­nam-rin-chen and the events of the Shuk-den myth confirms my thesis that the story of Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's wrathful manifestation as Shuk-den is a later creation, incorporating a variety of narratives rearranged in the light of later situations.

Secondly, there are other Shuk-den stories that present the spirit later connected with Drak-ba Gyel-tsen as being already active prior to the latter's demise, even as early 1636 (See Du ku La'i gos bzang, II. 157. a-b.). If, according to these stories, Shuk-den was already active prior to Trul-ku Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's tragic demise, how then could he be the latter's wrathful manifestation? This shows that what we have here is not a unified narrative but several only partly overlapping stories. The founding myth of the Shuk-den tradition is composed from many stories concerning Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's tragic demise. It grew out of a nexus of narratives relating to these tragic events and developed in accordance with the new changing historical circumstances, an altogether not sur­prising scenario.

ROBERTMAYER*

The Figure of Mahesvara/Rudra in the rNiri-ma-pa Tantric Tradition

Most academic scholars of Buddhist Tantra should by now be reasonably familiar with Alexis SANDERSON's work on the dependence of the Buddhist Yogimtantras on Saiva scriptural sources - all the more so now that increasing quantities of this material is beginning to filter down from the somewhat hermetic confines of the academic research seminar, and into the bibliographical bases of such popular and best-selling works as Gavin FLOOD's widely praised Introduction to Hinduism, and Miranda SHAW's more controversial Passionate Enlightenment. 1

SANDERSON's work I am referring to includes his published paper "Vajrayana: Origin and Function",2 as well as a number of unpublished (yet nevertheless quite well-known and widely-circulated) seminar papers and public lectures given over the years at various universities and institutes.3 For specialists in Tantric Buddhism, the most significant

* This paper is a slightly revised version of a lecture given to the Tantric Studies Seminar at All Soul's College, Oxford, on April 29, 1996.

1. Gavin FLOOD, 1996. An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge, C.U.P.; and Miranda Shaw, 1994. Passionate Enlightenment. Princeton, Princeton University Press.

2. 1995: "Vajrayiina: Origin and Function". In Buddhism Into the Year 2000. Inter­national Conference Proceedings. Bangkok and Los Angeles: Dhamrnakaya Foundation,pp.89-102.

3. (i) "Evidence of the Textual Dependence of the Buddhist Yoganuttaratantras on the Tantric Saiva Canon", seminar delivered at the University of Hamburg, May 1990. (li) "The Dependence of the Herukatantras on the Saiva Tantras of the Vidyapltha", lecture series delivered at All Souls College, Oxford, May-June 1993. (iii) "Pious Plagiarism: Evidence of the Dependence of the Buddhist YoginItantras on Saiva Scriptural Sources", paper delivered at the Rijksuniversi­teit te Leiden, April 11, 1995. Items (i) and (ii) present excerpts from the Sanskrit texts of the Buddhist YoginItantras in parallel with their Saiva prototypes. Item (iii) introduces mythic narratives as well. Although not a Tibetanist himself, SANDERSON is able to draw significantly on Tibetan Buddhist materials from myself and Gyurme DORJE, juxtaposing these with fascinating Saiva myths from the Sanskrit.

Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Volume 21 • Number 2.1998

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result of SANDERSON's work has been to seriously call into quest~on the previously dominant view accepted by a majority of Buddhological scholars, who had suggested that any such observable parallels between the specifically kiipiilika or 'cemetery' strands within the Buddhist Vajrayana and a number of very similar Saiva systems, were primarily the result of both traditions arising from a common lndic cultural substrate. 4 While Martin KALFF since the 1970's and David SNELLGROVE since the mid-1980"s had already begun to question the validity of this unsatisfactorily vague position on the grounds of common sense and more generalised observation,5 it was only with the presentation of SANDERSON's minutely detailed and substantially docu­mented philological analysis that we have finally been able to conclude with a reasonable degree of certainty that such similarities are much better explained as a result of direct Buddhist borrowings from the Saiva sources.

In his papers, lectures and seminars, SANDERSON has analysed and discussed the phenomena of such Vajrayana dependence on Saivism from a. number of different perspectives and has used a number of different types of primary sources. Firstly, he has presented detailed philological evidence showing the movement of substantial passages of text from specific Saiva scriptural sources into specific Buddhist Heru­katantras. Secondly, he has shown how many of the general categories of the Buddhist Vajrayana appear to be calques on Saiva prototypes. Thirdly, SANDERSON has cited passages of Saiva mythology, which have provided an additional and valuable source of information for the relation of these two Tantric traditions. In particular, SANDERSON has shown how the Saiva myths agree in most instances with the Buddhist ones already analysed by Tibetanists that the predominant direction of the borrowings were from Saivism into Buddhism, even though the two

4. For an influential pioneering exposition of this view, see David SEYFORT RUEGG, "Sur les rapports entre Ie Bouddhisme et Ie 'substrat religieux' indien et tibetain", Journal Asiatique 252 (1964): 7-95; see also SEYFORTRUEGG's much later Review of David SNELLGROVE, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: Indian Buddhists and their Tibetan Successors in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 1989 (1) p.173;

5. SNELLGROVE, David L. 1987: Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: Indian Buddhists and their Tibetan Successors. London: Serindia. Pp.152ff, 462-463; and 1988: "Categories of Buddhist Tantras". In: G. Gnoli and L Lanciotti, eds. Orientalia Iosephi Tucci Memoriae Dicata. Serie Orientale Roma LVI. 3. Rome, IsMEO. P.136l.

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traditions might offer quite different interpretations of the religious significance of this fact.

In my recent book, A Scripture of ihe Ancient Tantra Collection: the Phur-pa bcu-gnyis, I took up some themes from this third group of sources, the mythology.6 Focusing mainly on the Buddhist sources, I discussed the well-known Buddhist myths of the 'Taming of Mahe­svara/Rudra'. This myth has been dealt with at length in a number of published secondary sources, and I expect the outlines of it are familiar to most specialists in the field.? In my book, I primarily understood the

6. Robert MAYER, 1996: A Scripture of the Ancient Tantra Collection. The Phur-pa bcu-gnyis. Oxford and Gartmore: Kiscadale Publications.

7. In a nutshell, a basic core narrative more or less shared by the many variant versions of these myths could be described as follows: typically, it might begin by relating how the all-powerful malignance of Siva and his entourage, specifi­cally in their more radically transgressive or kiipiilika tantric forms, seduced many beings into a demonic and evil religious practice, and also came to pose a serious threat to the survival of the Buddhist religion and even to the material welfare of the whole world. The severity of this predicament eventually induced the assem­bled Buddhas of the three times and ten directions to conclude that in the excep­tional case of such intractable and acutely dangerous enemies as these Saiva deities, there remained nO realistic alternative other than to tame them and convert them to Buddhism by brute force. However, this could only be achieved if the Buddhas themselves manifested in terryfying forms that exactly matched and resembled the ferocious Saiva deities (viz., the Tantric Buddhist Heruka and entourage); accordingly, such Buddhist kiipiiZika deities or Herukas were emanat­ed by the combined forces of all the Tathagatas, and were sent to engage the Saiva deities in combat. Having succeeded in killing the Saiva deities, the Buddhist Herukas are then typically described as resuscitating them and enslav­ing them as servants of Buddhism, giving them new Buddhist names, while like­wise co-opting the entire panoply of Saiva transgressive Tantric practice as a vehicle for disseminating Buddhist truths. It was under such circumstances, say the Buddhist texts, that the esoteric, specifically kiipiilika traditions of Vajrayana first appeared within history, and become accessible to the human beings of our world. Such myths appear in a great many extant Tantric texts in Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan. The main secondary sources I have consulted are as follows: (i) RA. STEIN, Annuaires du College de France, Annees 71-80, and more recently "La soumission de Rudra et autres contes tantriques", Journal Asiatique 283.1 (1995): 121-160. (ii) Martin Michael KALFF 1979: Selected Chapters from the Abhidhiinottara-tantra. The union offemale and male deities. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Columbia University. (iii) Nobumi IYANAGA 1985: "Recits de la soumission de Mahesvara par Trailokyavijaya, d'apres les sources chinoises et japonaises", in Michel Strickmann, ed. Tantric and Taoist Studies in Honour of R.A. Stein, vol. 3, Melanges Chinois et Bouddhiques vol. XXII. Institut BeIge des Hautes Etudes Chinoises, Bruxelles. (iv) David

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'Taming of Mahesvara/Rudra' narrative as the charter myth (more or less in a Maliilowskiansense) of the Vajrayana in its specifically kiipii­lika forms, in other words as the myth by which the Buddhi~ts explained and justified to themselves and to the world their co-option of so much of the religion of their Sai'va riyals. I also discussed this myth as repre­senting Siva as a 'demon devotee' of the Buddha, in other words of re­peating the widespread pattern found in Indian religions in which deities transform hostile demons into their loyal devotees (often giving them the specific function of guardian or protector) through the medium of first slaying them, and then bringing them back to life.8 I also showed how this myth can be seen as giving a Buddhist commentary (in the Geertzian sense) upon Saiva-Buddhist relations, and how it can be seen to document the process described by LEVI-STRAUSS as 'bricolage', in which persisting cultural materials are re-worked to create new cultural reconstructions.9 I also looked at the myth in terms of the category of 'shamanic mediation' more recently developed by the anthropologist Geoffrey SAMUEL, in this specific case referring to the use of altered states of consciousness by Tantric Buddhist ritual specialists to achieve a reconciliation or accommodation between their own tradition and con­flicting extraneous cultural forces.1o Finally, I located the notion of the taming of Mahesvara/Rudra within i!S broader emic frameworks, as a specific instance of the important Mahayana and Tantric Buddhist cate­gory of 'dul ba or 'taming',l1 which in general terms refers to a

SNELLGROVE, 1987: Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: Indian Buddhists and their Tibetan Successors. London: Serindia. pp.136-141. (v) Alexander W. MACDONALD 1990: "Hindu-isation, Buddha-isation then Lama-isation or: What happened at La-phyi?", in Indo-Tibetan Studies. Buddhica Britannica Series II. Ed. T. Skorupski. Tring.(vi) Ronald DAVIDSON 1991: "Reflections on the Mahesvara Subjugation Myth: Indic Materials, Sa-skya-pa Apologetics, and the Birth of Heruka", nABS 14.2. etc.

8. cf. Alf HILTEBElTEL 1989 (ed): Criminal Gods and Demon Devotees. Essays on the Guardians of Popular Hinduism. Albany, SUNY Press. HILTEBEITEL's introduction to the volume gives a clear outline.

9. Claude LEVI-STRAUSS 1976: The Savage Mind, London: Wiedenfield and Nicholson. See, for example, pp.16 ff.

10. Geoffrey SAMUEL 1990: Mind, Body and Culture. Cambridge: C.U.P.; and 1993: Civilized Shamans. Buddhism in Tibetan Societies. Washington: Smith­sonian Institution Press.

11. Perhaps this concept has its roots in early Buddhism? cf. the 'Ten Epithets of the Tathiigata', as cited, for example, in TAKASAKI Jikido, trans. Rolf GIEBEL 1987:

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conveyor-belt process in which all non-Buddhist beings throughout the universe are eventually to be converted to the Dharma and set irreversibly on the path to enlightenment; more specifically, Tantric Buddhism claims to possess unique skilful methods, by which even those hard cases particularly resistant to taming (such as MaheSvaral Rudra), can also be converted.

In this paper, however, I want to focus on a somewhat different aspect of this material. I want to address the question of what weight, or what significance, the figure of MaheSvara/Rudra and the Saiva categories associated with him have been accorded by the various traditions of Tibetan Buddhism themselves. From the Tibetans' own point of view, is Mahesvara/Rudra merely a marginal figure who appears occasionally in a few obscure myths that might be of more interest to foreign philo­logists than to the tradition itself? Or is the figure of Mahesvara/Rudra of great and central importance to the tradition as well? One part of the answer to this question is, of course, that Mahesvara/Rudra has been accorded a more prominent role in some areas of the diverse Tibetan Tantric traditions than in others. In particular, I wish to single out two areas where he is particularly significant. The first one is in the Yoginl­tantra traditions of Cakrasmp.vara. 12 The second one is in the Mahayoga traditions of the rNiil-ma-pa. The hypothesis I am putting forward here is that in the case of the Cakrasmp.vara tradition, the Saiva deity and the borrowed Saiva categories are, according to most traditional voices, acknowledged and allowed to play only a somewhat limited albeit dis­tinctive role: their true historical and structural importance to the Cakra­sarp.vara system is consistently understated and downplayed, even if usually admitted in somewhat oblique and nebulous terms within certain narrow and carefully delimited contexts. By contrast, in the Mahayoga traditions of the rNiil-ma-pa, the figure of Mahesvara/Rudra is accorded a much more substantial part with very little restriction, and here he is much more freely permitted to fulfil a broad and surprisingly pivotal symbolic role of crucial importance. Once again, however, what modern

An Introduction to Buddhism, Tokyo: T5h5 Gakkai, p. 50: epithet 8 is puruoJa­damya-siirath~ "one who controls men to be tamed".

12. The orthography 'Cakrasarpvara' is deliberate: I am following SANDERSON's extensive but as yet unpublished research on the orthographical problems of sa'!lvaral saT[lvara, based on Saiva and Buddhist sources in both Sanskrit and Tibetan. According to SANDERSON's findings, while 'CakrasaIp.vara' is probably more correct, most other instances should be spelt '-saT[lvara'.

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scholars might see as the actual historical nature of the relation of Saivism to Tailtric Buddhism is by and large tacitly ignored in fa~our of highly complex metaphysical re-interpretations of that history.

I. MaheSvara in the Yoginltantras

The renowned yi dam Cakrasllip.vara and his consort VajravarahI are among the most important deities of the Yoginltantras, which are more usually designated by Tibetan doxography as the 'Mother-Tantra' (ma rgyud) section of the Anuttarayogatantras. This is one of the areas of the tradition very closely studied by SANDERSON, and since many readers are probably already familiar with his work or can consult it directly, I shall deal with this topic only very briefly.

Within Tibetan Buddhism, the Cakrasllip.vara Tantras are pre-eminent­ly the speciality of the various bKa' -brgyud-pa schools, for whom these cycles are closely connected with their famous traditions of yoga and Mahamudra meditation. However, Cakrasllip.vara is also of great impor­tance to the gSar-ma-pa traditions in general, including the dGe-lugs-pa, the Sa-skya-pa, and so on. In the Cakrasa:rp.vara tradition, the Saiva deities take the form of Bhairava and his consort Kalaratri. As SANDER­SON has so clearly described, these non-Buddhist deities played a specific role in the general Cakrasllip.vara iconography and commentarial literature in Sanskrit, primarily as the seats of the Buddhist Herukas. 13

The Tibetan tradition preserves this feature, but in addition, as one might expect, Bhairava and Kalaratri have also come to be represented in a number of additional indigenous Tibetan cultural developments of the Cakrasa:rp.vara tradition. For example, there are important and elabo­rate pilgrimage and sacred site traditions connected with this cycle, in which a number of holy mountains, but most notably Kailas, La-phyi and Tsa-ri, are seen as concrete manifestations of the Cakrasllip.vara ma1}rJala of deities. These mountains must surely rank among the most famous of all the natural holy sites within the rich and so far largely uncatalogued inventory of the Tibetan religious landscape. As concrete manifestations of the Cakrasa:rp.vara ma1}rJala and being further identified with some of the ancient Indian pf!has described in the Yoginltantras, in terms of the iconography and the taming narratives of this tradition they should necessarily also include representations of

13. Origins & Functions, op.cit.; and "Pious Plagiarism", op.cit., pp.3-5.

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Bhairava and Kiilaratri. I believe these are in fact in evidence, although as yet I know only a very few details of their appearance. 14

My readings within the Cakrasmp-vara literature are by no means exhaustive; on balance, however, my impression is that consciousness of its substantially Saiva origins and of the predominantly Saiva forms of the deities in its pantheon are not and never have been of absolutely overwhelming importance to the Cakrasarp.vara tradition as represented in Tibet, nor to any other area of the gSar-ma-pa traditions as currently practised, for that matter. Representations of the Saiva forms might exist in iconography and mythology or possibly also in natural forms at sacred sites such as Tsa-ri, but these do not seem to have been allowed to penetrate to the inner core of the tradition, or to spread too deeply into its siidhana and commentarial systems. Rather, the taming myths persist as something attached to the tradition as an origin myth while remaining slightly extraneous to the ritual practice itself and the associated higher metaphysics, while the iconography of the Saiva deities as the Herukas' seats is seen as little more than a symbolic detail, open to a variety of standard Buddhist interpretations of the subjugation of evil. Even if there might be a widespread awareness and acknowledgement of the formal external similarities of the Cakrasamvara traditions to Saivism, as explained by the tmning narrative and commonly assented to by lamas of this tradition, this is never allowed to become a doctrinally pivotal point: it remains a mere detail, a mere contingency. The very names of Bhairava and Kalaratri appear within only a few contexts in the litera­ture, notably when the origin myth is being recounted, or when the

14. Traditional texts, such as an oral text known as the gNas chen tsari tra'i gsol 'debs, apparently claim that there are naturally-occurring stone liligas and yon is found at the hamlet of rDo-mtshan (lit. 'Sexed Stones') beside Tsa-ri. According to this tradition, these 'sexed stones' are apparently conceptualised according to the famous Indic cosmic dismemberment narratives connected with the Saival Sakta conceptions of the pf!ha system; in other words, as far as I understand it, following the taming myths, they are seen as the stone symbols of Mahesvara and his goddesses installed at Tsari (= the pf!ha Caritra) and at each of the other 24 pfthas, before their downfall to Heruka. Apparently these svayambhu stone phalluses and vulvas are not obvious or easy to perceive, except by advanced yogins. While important for Tantric meditators, they are more often seen by lay persons as bestowing special powers of procreation and fertility. These stones and other features of the sacred topography of Tsa-ri are described in Toni HUBER 1993: What is a Mountain? An Ethnohistory of Representation and Ritual at Pure Crystal Mountain in Tibet. PhD Dissertation, University of Canterbury, Christchurch (New Zealand), pp. 82ff.

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deities' seats are being described; otherwise, they seem to have no role to play, and there is no need to name them. One has the impressIon that were all its internal references to Saivism to become forgotten alto­gether, the Cakrasarp.vara traditions of Tibetan Buddhism could still con­tinue more or less unchanged. .

However, as I have said above, my knowledge of the Cakrasrup.vara traditions is by no means entirely exhaustive, and so my perception of its representations of Siva might yet prove to be mistaken. But if, as I expect, my current perceptions do indeed transpire to be accurate, this could be considered a little surprising, because there surely can be no area of the Buddhist tradition more intimately bound up with Saivism than the Cakrasarp.vara Tantras. As we know from SANDERSON's work, large sections of their major scriptures, such as the Laghusarrzvara and the Abhidhanottara, are borrowed virtually word for word from Saiva prototypes such as the Picumata and the Tantrasadbhava.1 5 In addition,

15. For those readers unfamiliar with SANDERSON's work, although I cannot review all the issues here, perhaps it might be useful to present one brief quotation from my recent book in which I review some of SANDERSON's findings (taken from MAYER 1996 op.cit., pp.59-60):

"A contemporary Indologist, Alexis SANDERSON, has already identified (through textual criticism) a good quarter of all the verses in the long and impor­tant LaghusafJtvara as having been adapted or borrowed virtually unchanged word-by-word from earlier Saiva texts such as the Picumatal Brahmayiimala, the SiddhayogeSvarfmata, and the Yoginfsamciira[prakara!Za] (which latter appears in the third ~atka, or section of 6000 verses, of the composite Jayadra­thayamala). This is remarkable for several reaSons. Firstly, the LaghuSafJtvara is often considered the single most important text of the Cakrasamvara cycle. Secondly, the quarter of the text so far demonstrably incorporated from Saiva sources might not reveal the full extent of the dependency, since not all the corpus of relevant Saiva texts survive; for example, the *YoginfjiilasafJtvara and the *Sarvavirasamiiyoga are two lost Saiva texts that were influential in the eighth century, a period when a matrix of Buddhist YoginItantras were produced whose very names may have been calques on the Saiva texts (I;>iiki!ZfjiilasafJtvara and Sarvabuddhasamiiyoga). Thirdly, a good part of the LaghusafJtvara consists of mantroddharas and the like that are written very much in the manner of a Saiva text, but which obviously could not be lifted in directly from Saiva sources, given the important function of mantras as a text's unique signatures. Since the impor­tant Cakrasatp.vara vyiikhyiitantra (explanatory tantra), theAbhidhtInottara, seems to draw on similar materials to the [proto-] LaghusafJtvara, a quantity of the same Saiva materials is found there as well, probably in an earlier form than the Laghusamvara as we have it now (SANDERSON op. cit. 1990; 1993; 1995). Among other shared materials are the all-important samayiU}. (tantric vows of conduct). (Thanks to Alexis SANDERSON for these references)."

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the CakrasaIp.vara iconography has probably remained closer to its Saiva prototypes than any other Buddhist iconography. On top of that, the colourful and popular CakrasaIpvara rendition· of the taming myth, even if doctrinally comparatively restricted in scope, is nevertheless extremely widely attested in Tibet, and numerous versions of it are preserved and frequently repeated at both learned and popular levels; at first glance, one might possibly have expected this fact alone to have had more impact in terms of an historical awareness of the relation of the two traditions. Yet the acknowledgement of anything Saiva does not seem to have been allowed to pervade very widely or deeply through the tradi­tion. As far as I am aware, the CakrasaIp.vara tradition in Tibet contrives to deny the surface meaning of its own origin myth, and presents itself as having an exclusively Buddhist nature, often even claiming to have been originally taught by the historical Buddha during his lifetime in a transcendent form at the Dhanyakaraka Stupa near AmaravatI in Andhra country, simultaneous to his preaching of the Mahayana Siltras in a more anthropomorphic form at the Vulture's Peak in Bihar (NEWMAN 1985: 53)16. Thus, within Tibet at least, the Cakrasarp.vara cycle is generally conceptualised as a product of a uniquely Buddhist environment with scant acknowledgement of any debts to or historical contacts with Saivism, or any realistic acknowledgement of the Saiva iconography of its maIJrjalas. It seems to me, then, that Buddhism has here decided to turn a blind eye to significant aspects of its own nature and origins: there seems to be a degree of deliberate avoidance or even denial of the full extent of the Cakrasarp.vara cycle's debts to Saivism. Even the appar­ently obvious message of the taIning narrative becomes ignored, isolated and negated by the denying attitudes of the broader tradition as a whole.

This traditional policy of denial has inevitably had its effect on modern Buddhology too. As recently as 1991, one of the finest of con­temporary Buddhologists working in Vajrayana, Ronald DAVIDSON, wrote of the list of 24 P1thaS as mentioned in the CakrasaIp.vara-cycle's Siva-taming narratives, that "it cannot be immediately assumed that [this] was a popular Hindu system subsumed into the Buddhist fold ... " DAVIDSON continues, "The Buddhist mythic contention that these [24] places were initially Saiva cannot be accepted as fact. Instead, the list is

16. John NEWMAN 1985; "A Brief History of the KaIacakra". In The Wheel afTime, ed. Geshe Lhundub Sopa, Roger Jackson & John Newman, Madison: Deer Park Books, pp. 51-84.

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developed out of such geographical lists of places noted in esoteric Buddhist literature as early as the Mahiimayurf-vidya-rajfif-dhara1Jr'.17 In other words, DAVIDSON admits that the taming nan::atives of the CakrasaqlVara tradition openly assert that the Buddhists took the system of pf!has from the Saivas; yet he argues that as critical modern scholars, we should not believe this unlikely story. To my mind, this compara­tively recent quotation from a first class scholar such as DAVIDSON only goes to show what a major long-term impact SANDERSON's extensive, painstakingly detailed and solidly founded philological work is likely to have on the Vajrayana branch of Buddhology: thanks to SANDERSON, we can now move on from educated speculation, to a terra firma of sorts; for as SANDERSON has conclusively shown, the Buddhists did indeed adopt the system of pffhas directly from the Saiva canon, exactly as the Buddhist taming narrative maintainsP8

I do not feel this is the moment to embark on a discussion of how things might have been in Indian Buddhism; however, as far as I can see, there seem to be three factors that can help account for this tradi­tional understatement of the surface message of the taming myths and other Saiva elements within the Cakrasarp.vara systems of Tibet:

[i] Firstly, as far as I know, the taming myths occurs only in commen­tarial texts of the Y oginItantras, and not in the actual canonical YoginI scriptures themselves. Hence they are by definition somewhat marginal to the tradition as a whole, and from a traditional point of view there is no compulsion for their message to make an appearance at deeper or broader levels of sadhana and metaphysics. According to Ronald DA VIDSON, it is not even quite clear to what extent the Cakrasarp.vara­cycle Siva taming myths as we currently have them derive from Indic sources, and to what extent they originate in Tibet. While R.A. STEIN has cited the following sources which he believes to be Indic, as far as I know he has not yet got round to publishing any findings from them: [1] A commentary by IndrabhUti, Peking bsTan-'gyur 2129; [2] Two com­mentaries by Vajra, Peking bsTan-'gyur 2128 and 2140. [3] A commen­tary by Naropa, Peking bsTan-'gyur 4628 [4] a text he identifies only as

17. Ronald M. DAVIDSON: "Reflections on the Mahesvara Subjugation Myth: Indic Materials, Sa-skya-pa Apologetics, and the Birth of Heruka", JIABS 14.2 (1991): 224.

18. See in particular Origin and Function, op.cit; and Pious Plagiarism, p. 15, with Sanskrit texts pp. 3-4.

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P. No.2624 [sic]. Following STEIN's lead, Ronald DAVIDSON reports that the two commentaries by IndrabhUti and Suravajra do indeed make the subjugation of MaheSvara "part of the lore surrounding the advent of the Cakrasa:rp.vara Tantras."19 Having read these two texts, however, DAVIDSON's' conclusion is that they are too brief to account for the fully comprehensive earliest known Tibetan version of the Cakrasa:rp.vara taming myth written by the early Sa-skya-pa patriarch Grags-pa rgyal­mtshan, who lived from 1167-1216. One feature of Grags-pa rgyal­mtshan's analysis mentioned by DAVIDSON was that the Buddhists' arch-fiend figure of Mahesvara/Rudra himself becomes re-interpreted as an aspect of the Buddha of primordial enlightenment, an interpretation highly typical of the rNin-ma-pa exegesis of the taming narratives. DAVIDSON concludes, "so far as I am able to determine, fully devel­oped forms [of the Cakrasa:rp.vara taming myth] occur only in indige­nous Tibetan language materials, and the text of a Tibetan author of the twelfth-thirteenth century appears to be the earliest version". (DAVIDSON 1991 op.cit., p.204).

[ii] A second reason for the understatement of the debts to Saivism is that Tibetan Buddhism did not have to co-exist with Saivism in the same way that Indian or Nepalese Buddhism has had to do. Hence Tibetan approaches to Hinduism in any of its aspects has always tended to reduce Hindu categories into convenient sets of mainly abstract symbols for purely domestic intellectual or scholastic consumption. With the actual presence of Hinduism so distant, there was no need to take it seriously as a living historical reality. The reduction by learned clerics of its few references to Saivism into purely abstract sets of symbols, is precisely what seems to have happened in the case of the Cakrasa:rp.vara cycle in Tibet.

[iii] Thirdly, the general tendency of the gSar-ma-pa traditions is to see the Tantras as the utterances of the historical Buddha, even if uttered by him in the transcendent form of Vajradhara. In other words, the gSar­ma-pa tend to support a closed canon, rejecting the idea of ongoing revelation and the continuous addition of new scripture to the existing

19. DAVIDSON gives exact citations: sricakrasa1J'!varatantrariijasa1J'!barasamuc­caya-vrtti, To. 1413, rgyud 'grel, vol. tsa, fol. 4ab; Mulatantrahrdaya­sa1J'!grahiibhidhiinottaratantra-malamulavrtti, To 1414, rgyud 'grel, voL tsa, fol. 121a7.

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canonical collections through the 'shamanic' (in SAMUEL'S, special technical sense) processes of colonising or 'taming' extraneous religious systems such as Saivism. Thus the historical implications ()f the taming myth, that so clearly identify the origins of the YoginItantras as an his­torical Buddhist response to Saivism involving a stategy of co-option, are possibly something of an embarrassment: they suggest an uncomfort­able truth, one that best remains understated.

II. The Taming myth in the rNin-ma-pa Tantric scriptures.

The other area of Tibetan Buddhism I wish to discuss in which the Mahesvara/Rudra myths are important lies within the Mahayoga tradi­tions of the rNin-ma-pa. Here, however, the figure of Mahesvaral Rudra takes on a very full and central role indeed, within the very heart of siidhana, within a great many aspects of ritual, and at the very deepest levels of commentarial exegesis. Here, little or no effort is made to ignore or contain the taming myths (with all their implicit implications of dependence), nor to deny Buddhist Tantrism's debts to the figures of MaheSvara/Rudra, even if these debts become heavily re­interpreted in Buddhism's favour. On the contrary, the very dependence of Vajrayana Buddhism on this hostile and alien figure is itself elevated to a valuable spiritual truth, and the Saiva deity himself is accorded a pervasive and pivotal role in rNin-ma-pa metaphysics, soteriology, and ritual. In the rest of this paper, I want to mainly look at this complex figure of Rudra in the rNin-ma-pa tantric tradition.

Unlike the Cakrasarpvara traditions, the taming of Mahesvara/Rudra narrative plays a significant part in a great many of the most important canonical Tantric scriptures of the rNin-ma-pa tradition. It is true, of course, that much of the main rNin-ma-pa tantric canon, the rNin-ma'i rgyud- 'bum (henceforth NGB), consists of materials composed or compiled in Tibet, rather than direct translations from Sanskrit as in the case of most of the Tantric texts of the gSar-ma-pa canon, the Kanjur. However, in integrating the taming myths into their scriptures, the rNin­ma-pa were certainly remaining true to a much older Sanskrit Vajrayana tradition. Arguably the oldest and most important of all versions of the MaheSvara/Rudra taming myths is that found in the Sarvatathiigata­tattvasa'!lgraha (henceforth STTS), the basic text of the older Yogatantra tradition, which became the source of the very wide dispersal of the taming myth in Far Eastern Tantric Buddhism. Likewise, taming myths occur in scriptures of the Mahayoga traditions found in the

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Tibetan Kanjur as well as in the NGB, and which are generally thought to have had an Indic origin, such as the Candraguhyatilaka-mahiitantra­riija,20 and the text known to the Tibetans as the *Guhyagarbha-tattva­viniscaya, which SANDERSON has possibly identified from Sanskrit sources as originally bearing the name of Guhyakosa.

In the rNiil.-ma-pa Tantras, the scriptural references to the taming myths are not merely fleeting or marginal. On the contrary, they assume the greatest possible significance, occupying large sections within the most important of the rNiil.-ma-pa Tantras. The taming myth occupies an entire chapter of the *Guhyagarbha-tattvaviniscaya, for example, and this text is widely considered the most important single scripture within the rNiil.-ma-pa Mahayoga tradition as a whole. In the Mdo dgOlis-pa , dus-pa, a text of uncertain origin said to have been translated from the 'Bru-sha language, which is the root text for the rNiil.-ma-pa Anuyoga tradition but also very influential for Mahayoga, the highly extended taming narrative occupies no less than eleven chapters, (chs. 20-31) and, in the words of Matthew KAPSTEIN, this taming narrative "has become the organising metaphor of the text as a whole")! No one has yet attempted a comprehensive survey of the frequency of scriptural occur-

20. This occurrence of the taming myth is reported by DAVIDSON op.cit. p.203, based on the version of the Candraguhyatilaka-mahiitantraraja as found in sDe­dge rgyud-'bum, vol. ja, fols. 281a-287a. It might be of interest to note that I recently made a brief and cursory ad hoc comparison of the opening chapter of the versions of the Candraguhyatilaka-maMtantraraja as contained in the sTog Kanjur (vol. 97 CHA, 226a3-297b5) and in the mTshams-brag NGB (vol 18 folios 357 ff); I found that substantial portions at the beginning of the text seemed to be dramatically at variance between the different editions, while other portions were more or less the same. Note also that quite different translators from differ­ent historical periods are mentioned in the colophons of the different versions.

21. See his "Samantabhadra and Rudra: Innate Enlightenment and Radical Evil in Tibetan Rnying-ma-pa Buddhism", in F. Reynolds and D. Tracy, eds., Discourse and Practice, SUNY 1992, p. 66. R.A. STEIN has recently written a characteristi­cally valuable and interesting paper in which he proposes that this extended version from the Mdo dg01is-pa 'dus-pa differs from Sanskrit texts such as the STTS and the *Guhyagarbha-tattvaviniscaya in that it talks more of Rudra than of Mahesvara; STEIN further suggests that it might be the source for the detailed taming narratives found in a number of other Mahayoga scriptures, including some he has closely studied that were placed in the rNying-rgyud section of the Kanjur, such as the Me-lee 'bar-ba (P466), the bDud-rtsi chen-po (P464, and an untitled text that accompanies them (P465) (STEIN 1995, op.cit). The Mdo dgons­pa 'dus-pa version of the taming narrative has also probably been very influential on important gTer-ma texts such as the Padma bka'i than.

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rences of the taming narratives within the rNiIi-ma-pa Tantric canons, but I have encountered them in casual readings of several othe~ rNiri­ma-pa tantras, such as the dPal rdo-rje phur-pa'i bsad-rgyud dri-med 'od, [Thimpu NGB Sa, 28]; in the Phur-pa mya-nan-Ias-'das-pa'i rgyud chen-po [Thimpu NGB Sa,28]; and in also in a doxographically more important text that I have looked at more carefully, the Phur-pa .bcu­gfiis, one of the main root texts for the VajrakIlaya tradition [Thimpu NGB Dza, 19]. STEIN has also reported extended taming myths in a number of other rNiri-ma-pa Tantras, such as the Me-Ice 'bar-ba (P466), the bDud-rtsi chen-po (P464), and an untitled text that accom­panies them (P465) (STEIN 1995, op.cit.). From the above evidence, it is not unreasonable to assume that taming narratives will eventually be found in a significant proportion of rNiri-ma-pa tantric scriptures. For example, they are quite likely to turn up in several more of the nineteen *Guhyagarbhatantras preserved in the NGB, and not merely in the single if most important specimen from among .this voluminous literature studied by Gyurme DORJE, namely the *Guhyagarbha-tattvaviniscaya mentioned above.22 On doctrinal grounds, we can also prediet a good likelihood of finding taming narratives in several more of the rNiIi-ma­pa tantras connected with major Heruka figures such as VajrakIlaya, Hayagdva, and so on.

The taming myth in Klon':'chen-pa' s Phyogs-bcu mun-sel

If the taming of Mahesvara/Rudra narratives loom so large within the rNiri-ma-pa scriptures, the question arises as to why? What important messages do they convey? To approach this complex question, I want to begin by citing a few key passages from a definitive traditional com­mentary on the *Guhyagarbha-tattvaviniscaya called the Phyogs-bcu mun-sel, 'Dispersing the darkness of the ten directions', written by that most influential of all rNiIi-ma-pa commentators, the fourteenth century sage Klori-chen-pa. This extensive commentary has been translated in full by Gyurme DORJE (DORJE 1987, op.cit.). Here, I can only sum­marise a few salient points from its treatment of the taming narrative.

Klori-chen-pa provides a comprehensive exegesis of the taming myth that aims only to bring out its soteriological implications: actual histori-

22. DORJE, Gyunne 1987: The Guhyagarbhatantra and its Fourteenth Century Tibetan Commentary Phyogs-bcu mun-sel. Unpublished PhD thesis, London: SOAS.

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cal fact, in the shape of the relations of Budd..1Usm with Saivism in India, are of no interest to him. Now, it is a famous feature of this particular commentary that Klon-chen-pa here seeks to intetpret even the root text for all Mahayoga, the *Guhyagarbha-tattvaviniscaya or rGyud gsan-ba sfiin-po, to 'some degree at least from the doctrinally higher and philosophically even less dualistic point of view of Atiyoga or rDzogs­chen. Hence it is that within this profound soteriological exegesis of the taming myth, Klon-chen-pa adopts above all the uncompromisingly and quite radically non-dual perspectives characteristic of Atiyoga, focusing more on themes of primal purity than on more typical Mahayoga themes of transformation. It is this bias towards Atiyoga which probably undetpins his strong emphasis on the proposal that even the evil demon Mahesvara, who here as elsewhere throughout the Mahayoga literature is consistently identified as the chief and worst of all the Maras, is ultimately an expression of primordial wisdom.

Firstly, Klon-chen-pa affirms that the Buddhist tanttic wrathful deities exist primordially, and are particularly connected with the head cakra, just as the Buddhist peaceful deities exist primordially and are particularly connected with the heart cakra. He explains that this is entirely in accord with Buddhist doctrines on the trikiiya and on the subtle body. It is therefore only to illustrate the principles of the Vajra­yana teachings to trainee sentient beings, that the Rudra-taming episode is enacted at all; in other words, Klon-chen-pa is saying that although the wrathful Buddhist kiipiilika deities exist primordially, they skilfully manifest themselves to beings via the occasion of the taming of Rudra. Thus Rudra himself is not really what he seems: he is in reality an ex­pression of primordial wisdom, appearing as a demon to be subdued in order to provide an occasion by which the principles of the secret mantrayana can be made clear to beings. In that he constitutes the unique condition for the revelation of the supreme Vajrayana itself, he is thus superior even to a Buddha's emanation in the usual guttic parlance.

If all this begs some questions about Rudra's behaviour in harming and killing so many sentient beings through illness, calamity, and false teachings, as so graphically described in the main body of the narrative, Klon-chen-pa compares the situation with that described in the Anguli­miilii-sutra. He writes:

This is reminiscent of a common sutra which reveals that when the dwarf Ailgulimaliya had formed a garland of the fingers of 999 men he had slain, he was tamed by the Buddha and ultimately shown to have no defect. However it

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was in fact an emanation of the Tathagatas who slew phantom human beings of his own emanation so that the garland was strung ... (translation from DORJE op.cit., p. 1088)

Thus Rudra is a phantasmagorical expression of Buddhist skilful means, who uniquely can demonstrate a negative example to sentient beings, without actually harming anyone. On the other hand, anyone foolish enough to attempt to emulate Rudra's outward behaviour would un­doubtedly cause great harm, and this fact becomes a very important point in rNin-ma-pa writings on ethics, doctrine and the Tantric samaya vows, as I shall describe later on.

In typical Buddhist fashion, Rudra becomes an archetype and is multiplied. There can be any number of Rudras in different worlds. We can all become Rudras if we misunderstand the tantras, taking them literally with no insight into Buddhist metaphysical truths. Thus Rudra becomes transformed from an historical Saiva deity, into a generalised symbol of evil with a very broad application. He has become elevated from history into myth, from a specific Hindu god to a universal symbol of evil equivalent to Mara.

Klon-chen-pa summarises this first part of his exegesis:

Rudra attained Buddhahood as Samantabhadra in primordial original time, and then, in order to subdue the Mara who appeared within his self-manifesting cakras, he became manifest in and of himself .... " (DORJE op.cit., p.1092)

In brief, just as the lion throne appears to symbolise the presence of the four kinds of fearlessness, Rudra appears to be subdued in order to symbolise victory over all demons and outside aggressors, and the complete mastery which over­whelms proud spirits. At the time when enlightenment is attained, Mara must appear to be subdued. Thus when the subjugation of Rudra, as the fIrst and fore­most of the host of proud demons or Maras, is revealed, one attains mastery over the appearances of the self-manifesting cakras.

It is crucial for an understanding of Klon-chen-pa to realise that Rudra is the chief of all Maras. He remains the closest thing to a Buddhist Satan, an inversion of all Buddhist values. It is only through the radical non­dualism of Klon-chen-pa's Atiyoga type of exegesis that even the chief of the Maras is realised to be an expression of primordial wisdom like Samantabhadra; for what is enlightenment other than the conquest of Mara, and how could Mara be conquered if he did not manifest? Therefore there can be no enlightenment without Mara, and so Mara must be an expression of primordial wisdom. As the foremost of the Maras, Rudra is also indispensable for enlightenment.

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It is worth noting that in this non-dual interpretation of Rudra as pri­mordially enlightened, Klon-chen-pa is not diverging from the early Sa­skya-pa exegesis of the CakrasaIp-vara taming myth. As DAVIDSON has pointed out, the Sa-skya-pa patriarch Grags-pa rgyal-mtshan took a very similar view in his work dPal he ru ka'i byUli tshul, a title which translates as "How Heruka was born".23 Here Grags-pa rgyal-mtshan distinguished two levels of the Cakrasarpvara tradition of the taming myth, the provisional meaning (neyiirtha) and the definitive meaning (nftiirtha). While the provisional meaning took the taming narrative at face value as a story of Buddhism conquering the wicked deities of the Saiva pantheon, according to the definitive meaning, the taIller and the taIlled become non-differentiated. The Saiva deities, including Bhairava and Kalaratri, are all seen as emanations of Mahesvara, who is in tum seen as an emanation of the Buddha Vajradhara. Likewise, all the Buddhist deities who effect the conversion are emanations of Sri Heruka, who is himself an emanation of Vajradhara. Thus, from the point of view of the definitive meaning, all the characters in the taming myth are emanations of MaMvajradhara (DAVIDSON 1991 op.cit., p.208). However, as DAVIDSON points out, Grags-pa rgyal-mtshan cited no written sources for this interpretation of his: he simply states, it is "culled from the speech of my guru".24 As a major early commentator of his own hereditary faInily lineage of the r1~in-ma Phur-pa tradition as well as of the newer tantras such as Hevajra and CakrasaIpvara, it is theoretically not impossible that Grags-pa rgyal-mtshan in fact borrowed this idea from the VajrakIlaya literature or other rNin-ma-pa sources. Until we have read more of the surviving Indic Cakrasarpvara commen­tarial texts such as those from the Tenjur mentioned above, we cannot easily assess how much of the CakrasaIpvara taming myth is indigenous to Tibet. However, my own hunch is that it probably does have a sub­stantially lndic basis; otherwise, it would be unlikely to have established so secure a place for itself within the writings of such seminal gSar-ma­pa authorities as Grags-pa rgyal-mtshan and Bu-ston, endowed as they were with such highly-developed critical faculties.

23. Sa-skya bka'-'bum (henceforth SKB), llI.298.4.2-300.2.6 (bSod-nams rgya­mtsho, ed., The Complete Works of the Great Masters of the Sa Skya Sect of the Tibetan Buddhism (Tokyo: Toyo Bunko 1968).

24. Dpal he ru ka'i byun tshul mam par biag pa bla ma'i gsun las cun zad btus teo SKB 1ll.300.2.6; cited in DAVIDSON op.cit., p. 231, n. 8

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Chapter Seven of the Phur-pa beu-gills.

I now want to consider more specific applications of the figure of Mahe­svara/Rudra within the VajrakUaya tradition, beginning 'by looking at the taming narrative of Chapter 7 of the Phur-pa bcu-gfiis-kyi rgyud, an important root-text from the NGB, counted by that tradition as one of the Eighteen [Root] Tantras of Mahayoga (tantra sde bco-brgyad).25 I want to show how the single episode of the taming of Mahesvara/Rudra can be seen as the central, pivotal moment for the unfolding of this whole scripture: for it is out of this single great and complex act of the taming of Mahesvara/Rudra that the Phur-pa bcu-gfiis seeks to derive all the most important teachings of the VajrakIlaya tradition, including the key doctrinal positions, the major iconographic features, the basic visualisation sequences used in VajrakIlaya siidhanas, the major Vajra­ldlaya ritual specialities, and the key VajrakIlaya textual passages, which latter function both as scripture and as the most important liturgical passages. Surprising though it might seem to those unfamiliar with the rNiIi-ma-pa Mahayoga traditions, according to the anonymous authors of the Phur-pa bcu-gfiis, all such absolutely fundamental components of this most pre-eminent among rNiIi-ma-pa yi dam soteriological systems should thus be seen as being directly derived from or directly linked to the taming narrative, and hence to the figure of Mahesvara/Rudra. In this way the figure of Mahesvara/Rudra seems to be invested with a scriptural prominence and a quite crucial doctrinal and even spiritual importance that I have not yet encountered in my readings of the Cakra­sarp.vara tradition (although I would not be entirely surprised if some­thing similar were eventually to turn up in some early precursors of the developed Cakrasarp.vara tradition).

25. The full title is Phur pa bcu gfiis kyi rgyud ces bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo. There are in fact several texts in the NGB with quite similar titles to this, but the particular one I am referring to is perhaps traditionally considered the most im­portant, since it has been selected as one of the special Eighteen Tantras. My analysis below is based on my consultation of this text as contained in the following editions of the NGB: the sDe-dge xylograph NGB, vol. PA, ff.176r-251 v; a manuscript NGB held in the National Archives, Kathmandu, vol MA, ff.37r-129v; the reprint edition of the mTshams-brag manuscript NGB preserved in the National Library, Thimpu, vol. DZA, 393r-507r (pages 785-1013); the Thimpu reprint of the gTing-skyes dgon-pa-byang monastery manuscript NGB, vpl. DZA, lr-100r (pages 1-199); and the Waddell Manuscript NGB, mainly held in the India Office Library, London, vol DZA, lr-91r.

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Perhaps I should begin with a brief summary of the chapter. It is enti­tled 'Chapter Seven, How the arrogant [gods] were tamed', gdug pa can btul ba'i le'u ste bdun pa'o II, and is found within pages 82-92 of the

. Thimpu reprint NGB, within pages 871-884 of the mTshams-brag Manuscript NCB, and within folios 206r to 210v of the sDe-dge xylo­graph NGB. This substantial prose chapter is dedicated e~tirely to a lengthy description of the taming of Mahesvara/Rudra and his en­tourage, containing no other material. To my mind, the narrative clearly appears here, as in many other rNiil-ma-pa Tantras, as a charter-myth for Buddhist kapalikaism. More specifically, it also gives the context for the first appearance of the main V ajrakIlaya ma~/.()ala itself, which up to this point had not yet made its appearance in the text. The narrative begins with the Buddhas noticing that the Saiva deities were causing terrible harm to the world by their savage attacks against the Buddhist religion. The Buddhas also perceived that the Saiva deities could never be influenced by peaceful means; hence VajrakIlaya manifested a special wrathful form with one thousand heads, a thousand arms, and ten billion feet, dwelling in a cemetery palace. From this form in turn was emanat­ed the six-armed, four-legged, three-headed basic form of Vajrakumara so familiar from rNiil-ma-pa siidhana texts, here called the 'Excellent Son', embracing his consort Ekajata. Easily victorious, Vajrakumara subdued and trampled the arrogant Saiva gods underfoot. To mark his victory, he was then invested by VajrakIlaya with the emblems of the Saiva gods, such as the· kha!viiitga and the other kiipiilika regalia. To proceed with the conquest of the remainder of the Saiva pantheon, the Buddhist deities next emanated some further forms, known as the 'KIlayas of the Five Families', i.e. BuddhakIlaya, Vajrakllaya, Ratna­kllaya, PadmakIlaya, and KarmakIlaya; each of these had upper bodies similar to Vajrakumara's, while their lower bodies were shaped like triangular kflas. Upon this, the subsidiary Saiva deity Vighnaraja (or Ganesa) with all his retinue of vighna deities (Tib. bgegs;as with the Sanskrit, literally, = 'obstacles') was summoned; to the accompaniment of some potent 'vajra verses', the assembled Saiva vighna deities were killed, and·their remainders roasted or burned and eaten.

Most significantly, in my opinion, it is only at this point within the scripture, after these great acts of conquest had been carried out, that the interlocutor figure becomes transformed for the first time from the general, less esoteric tantric form of Vajradharma, to the specifically kiipiilika, more esoteric Tantric form of Karmaheruka, which latter form

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he retains for. the duration of the remainder of the scripture. Th~s trans­formed into Karmaheruka, the interlocutor now asks Lord Vajrakilaya how the yo gins of future ages should emulate this great deed of subdu­ing the Saiva deities? Vajrakilaya replies with twenty-three lines of the most famous root verses of the Vajrakilaya tradition, verses that are found repeated verbatim in virtually every Vajrakllaya gter ma, siidh­ana, liturgy, commentary, and so on, verses which have also attracted far more important commentarial attention than any other section of the Vajrakilaya literature. They are known by heart in some version or an­other by most serious Tibetan practitioners of this cycle, and they also occur in the rTsa-ba'i dum-bu or Vajrakflayamiilatantrakhaly;la,26 the only fragment of Vajrakilaya literature to have gained entry into the Kanjur, in this case through the efforts of Grags-pa rgyal-mtshan's famous successor, Sa-skya PaI).<;J.ita. These root verses not only give the key teachings on the practice of 'liberative killing' (sgroI ba, mok~a) for which the rNiIi-ma-pa Mahayoga in general, and the Vajrakllaya cycle in particular are so farnous, but, according to the commentarial tradition, they also give the most crucial of all instructions on the main Mahayoga contemplative soteriology itself.27 After this important episode, the

26. Peking Kanjur 78,3; sTog Palace Kanjur Catalogue no. 405; sDe-dge Kanjur, Toh. no. 439; Ulan Bator Kanjur Handlist, no. 469.

27. Innumerable variants of these verses occur within the multifarious Phur pa tradi­tions taken as a whole (see MAYER op.cit. pages 212-215). Here, I show only the version given in Chapter 7 of the Phur-pa beu-gfiis itself, mainly following the sDe-dge xylograph NGB, vol PA, folio 209r, but including some of the main variant readings taken from other editions: / rdo rje khros pas ie sdaft geod II mtshon chen sfton po 'bar ba yis II nam mkha'i dkyil nas thigs par [thig pa] sar II srog gi go ru sar ba daft II sfiift gi go ru bsgom par bya II sfiift rjes bsgral ba'i dam tshig ni II gsad eift mnan pa ma yin te II phuft po rdo rjer gtams byas nas II rnam par ses pa rdo rjer bsgom II rdo rje gion nu'i rigs 'dzin rnams II srid pa rdo rje grub mdzod Gig II srid pa rdo rje phur pa 'i lha I [however, the previous four yig-rkang are omitted in sDe-dge; I take them here from mTshams-brag ms. vol DZA, p 880] lye ses khro bo 'grub [or grub] par mdzod II safts rgyas kun gyi ye ses sku II nan fiid rdo rje ehos dbyins las II 'bar ba 'i khro bo mi bzad pa II sku yi dbyig tu [sDe-dge reads dbyings su] bdag bskyed eift II thabs kyi spyod pas 'gro don du II byams daft sfiin rjes gan 'dul ba 1/ safts rgyas 'phrin las rdzogs bya'i phyir /1 dban daft byin rlabs 'dir stsol Gig II de rjes phyi nan gsmi gsum dban II byin rlabsbdag la stsal nas ni II de fiid du ni mi snad [or snang] 'gyur /1 de nas sras mehog yab yum gyis II gfiis med byaft chub sems las ni 1/ 'byun ba 'i gsan snags' di yin no I The soteriological meaning of these key verses is analysed at considerable length by 'Jam-mgon kon-sprul blo-'gros mtha'-yas in a famous commentary on the rTsa-ba'i dum-bu: see his dPal rdo rje phur pa

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taming narrative continues with the emanation of the well-known Maha­yoga versions of the 'Ten Wrathful Deities' (dasakrodha) , along with their female consorts and their zoomorphic attendants. By now, the Saiva deities have been reduced to a pulp, upon which the special Buddhist waste-disposal deity Ucchu~makrodha is emanated. The latter consumes the mess, through which process the Saiva pantheon become revived once more; now they take the service-names of 'Grub-pa Lailka' (sic), promising to protect future Buddhist yogins, and offering them­selves as the seats of the Buddhist deities. Next, VajrakIlaya copulates with each one of the consorts of the Saiva deities, and from these unions, the series of goddesses Gauri etc., Sinhama etc., and Arikusa etc., are born. After being used in this way, the Saiva female deities themselves are bound under oath as servants, and consigned to the out­side of the mm:u!ala (as the protective Twenty-eight ISvarls). With this, the emanation of the VajrakIlaya malJ-rJala of deities is complete.

Let us now look at how this narrative is interpreted and exploited by the tradition. To my mind, the taming narrative clearly signals sacrificial motifs, as I believe is also the case in Chapter 15 of the *Guhyagarbha­tattvaviniScaya. The main implement used by the Buddhist deities in their work is the kfla, which, as I have shown elsewhere, shares distinct iconographic and ritual features with the yupa, or sacrificial stake (MAYER 1991).28 The Saiva deities are slain, consumed by the Buddhist deities, digested by them, and then excreted, a symbolic representation of the transformation of impurity still widely current in India and which in itself has sacrificial overtones, here with the digestive fire of the deities analogous to the trans formative fire of the sacrifice.29 Through

rtsa ba'i rgyud kyi dum bu'i 'grel pa sfiiri po bsdus pa dpal chen dgyes pa'i ial luri ies bya ba (henceforth DG), 85 ff.

28. Robert MAYER 1991: "Observations on the Tibetan Phur-pa and the Indian KIla", in The Buddhist Forum vol. II, London: SOAS. A considerable quantity of data further reinforcing my original association of the phur pa with the yupa has come to light since this article was published. The reader might like to note that in this article, a computer-generated hyper-correction resulted in the two quite distinct Tibetan words phur pa and phur bu becoming conflated as a meaningless single word, *phur ba.

29. See Jonathan PARRY, 1985. "Death and Digestion: the Symbolism of Food and Eating in North Indian Mortuary Rites". In Man vol. 20A, pp. 612-630. PARRY writes: "Digestion is thought to distil the good and nourishing part of food from the bad waste products; and it is employed in a wide range of cultural contexts. It is argued that by ingesting and digesting the deceased, his impure sins are elirni-

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this process, the impure 'Proud Gods' are transmuted into pure. aspects of the VajrakIlaya ma1}cj.aia: in other words, we can see the en.tire process as a rite of passage, through which Rudrahood sheds its delusive aspects and achieves maturity into Herukahood.30 In this sense, the taming of Rudra is a symbol of the entire Buddhist path. But let us look more minutely at what the Phur-pa bcu-gfiis gives us out of this . great sacrifice of Mahesvaral Rudra.

To start with, the taming narrative becomes the opportunity to intro­duce the specifically VajrakIlaya ma1}cj.ala for the first time. Before this point in the Phur-pa bcu-gfiis, only general Vajrayana categories had been discussed, and only the non-specific peaceful ma1}cj.alas had been described in any great detail. Now, the main subject matter or the central ma1}cj.ala of the text is finally introduced (a moment marked by the change in the name of the interlocutor from Vajradharma to Karma­heruka, as I have already mentioned above). The manner of this intro­duction of the main subject matter. is also noteworthy: the detailed description of the Vajrala.laya or Vajrakumara ma1}cj.ala precisely and exactly matches the step by step stages of visualisation followed in the siidhana traditions. Now, we must remember that VajrakIlaya is a Maha­yoga cyCle, and in the rNm-ma-pa tradition, Mahayoga is understood to put a special emphasis on the visualisation processes of the" development stage, skyed rim or utpattikrama, which constitutes its main contempla­tive technique. Hence in giving the actual visualisations that are the main basis of the main practice through which yogins approach their main spiritual objective of identification with the deity Vajrakumara, the text is indeed at this point finally offering up its central tenet. The actual narrative runs as follows: in order to tame Mahesvara and his retinues, the teacher of this Tantra, the Lord, the Master of Supreme Secrets [VajrakIlaya], does the following acts (I paraphrase and summarise the text):

nated, while his pure essence is distilled and translated by the 'digestive fIre' of the stomach to the other world - as the corpse is transmittted by the fIre of cremation, and offerings to the gods by the sacrifIcial fIre" (summary, p. 612).

30. For analyses of sacrifIce as rites of passage, see Charles MALAMOUD's learned discussion of Vedic ritual, Cuire le monde, Paris 1989: 248 ff; for a broader theoretical view, see also Edmund LEACH, Culture and Communication: the logic by which symbols are connected. Cambridge University Press 1976; espe­cially pp. 77-93.

MAYER 293

Firstly, to build up the deity's palace, he emanates the syllables e, ya1!l, ra1!l, ma, SU1!l, ke1!l and bhru1!l, along with the utterance of the associated mantras, e iikiiSa hU1!l, karma rak~a ha1!l, ra1!l vajra jvala ra1!l, mahiirakta jViila maf}r;lala, SU1!l samaya hU1!l, ke1!l nirrti maf}r;lala, and bhru1!l bhiif}r;la (sic) jfiiinacakra jViila maf}r;lala. From these are built up the maf}r;lalas of the five elements and the cosmic mountain. that form the foundation of the deity's palace: the triangular pyramidal blue maf}r;lala of the space element, identified with SamantabhadrI, the green maf}r;lala of the air element shaped (in this case) like a crossed vajra and identified with Samayatara, the triangular red maf}r;lala of the fire ele­ment identified with Pa~:H;laravasinI, the circular white or red maf}r;lala of the water element identified with MamakI, and the square yellow maf}r;lala of the earth element identified with Buddhalocana; upon these bases arises the Mount Meru of skeletons, with the immeasurable blazing skull palace of the deity on the very top.3! Those familiar with VajrakIlaya siidhana texts will easily recognise that this sequence is virtually identical to the ones commonly found in the siidhana traditions of the Sa-skya-pa and rNiri-ma-pa alike; it can be found in numerous texts of all types, for example the long Sa-skya-pa Phur-chen, the short and popular Sa-skya-pa Nes-don thig-Ie (henceforth NT),32 or the extensive rNiri-ma-pa gNam-lcags sPu-gri (henceforth NP),33 etc. etc.

Next in the taming narrative of the Phur-pa bcu-gfiis we get the ema­nation of Vajrakumara's important main consort of union, Dlptacakra,34 through the utterance of the mantra 01!l vajra kllikllaya mahiikrodhi haY[!.

31. gTin-skyes dgon-pa-byan ms. reprint, vol. DZA, pages 83-85; sDe-dge xylo­graph, vol. PA, folios 206v-207r; mTshams-brag ms. reprint, vol DZA, pages 872-875.

32. My edition of the Phur Chen is from Rajpur, in 79 folios. NT can be found at sGrub-thabs kun-btus, vol. PA, pp.165-169.

33. dPal rDo-rje Phur-bu bDud- 'jams gNam-lcags sPu-gri, from The Collected Works of H.H. bDud- 'jams Rin-po-che, vols. 10 and 11. n.d., n.p.(for the fullest description of this sequence, see its bsiien yig folios 92ft).

34. Kon-sprul explains her name as follows: "Dlpta means blazing, and cakra means wheel". He goes on to explain the wheel specifically as a wheel of destruction that kills enemies (DG, folio 101, lines 1-2). The rendering of her name given by Martin BOORD as 'Trptacakra', interpreted by BOORD to indicate a 'wheel of bliss', is not attested in any of the commentaries I have so far seen. Unfortunately, BOORD does not cite any sources for his unusual rendering of the consort's name. See Martin J. BOORD 1993: The Cult of the Deity Vajrakfla. Tring: Institute of Buddhist Studies.

JIABS 21.2 294

She too has not appeared in the text up to this point. She is .closely followed by the first manifestation of the central deity Vajrakumara himself, the very well known form practised in siidhana and surely the most popular yi dam or i~!adevatii among the entire rNiil-ma-pa tradi­tion. In many respects, this is absolutely the central event of the whole scripture. I quote from my draft translation:

Then the fearsome lord VajrakIlaya uttered 'hal'(! hal'(! hal'(! vajrakflaya sarva­vighnan bal'(! hal'(! hal'(! hal'(! pha!!', upon which he emanated wrathful deities from out of his body, speech and mind. These emanated deities [killed and] 'liberated' the arrogant gods [Mahesvara etc.] in all the ten directions; and then, regathering, they merged together in front of the Lord, and transformed them­selves into the Excellent Son, Vajrakumara. He had three faces, the right one white, the left one red, and the middle one dark blue, which were very wrathful; and he stood with his four legs held in the posture with [two] drawn in and [two] extended. Filling the surrounding space with his vajra wings, his dark reddish brown hair bristled straight upwards. His head was ornamented with the blood­drinkers of the five [families], and a complete human skin was worn draped around the upper part of his body. A fresh elephant skin was worn at his flanks, and he was ornamented with garlands of dry and fresh heads. His four joints were ornamented with snakes of the four varJ?as, and he wore a lower wrap of tiger skin. Residing within a dark maroon mountain of cremation fire, he rested in the embrace of his consort Ekaja!a. Thus [the many wrathful deities] were trans­formed into the single [form of Vajrakumara], who, having trampled underfoot the vicious arrogant gods [Mahesvara etc.] , stood there like a servant attending his lord.35

The description given here is exactly that of the version of the deity as visualised in siidhana, in this case embracing the 'liberating' aspect of his consort, Ekajata, rather than her 'uniting' aspect Dlptacakra. So here we learn from the taming narrative that the great yi dam Vajrakumara, the focus of more rNiil-ma-pa siidhana practice than any other single

35. From sDe-dge xylograph NGB, vol PA, folio 207v: I de nas 'jigs byed kyi bdag po badzra kf fa yas II hal'(! hal'(! hal'(! badzra kf la ya I sarba bigh niin bal'(! hal'(! hal'(! hal'(! pha! lies brjod pas I sku gSUli thugs las phyun ba'i khro bo de dag gis I phyogs bcu'i dregs pa can de dag bsgral nas I slar 'dus te I bcom ldan 'das kyi spyan sna na sras mchog rdo rje gion nur gyur te I ial gsum pa I g-yas dkar po I g-yon dmar ba Ildbus mthin nag II ial sin tu yan mams pa I iabs bii brkyan bskum du biugs pa I rdo rje'i gsog pas gtams pa Iskra kham nag gyen du brdzes pa I khrag 'thun lnas dbu la brgyan cin g-yan gii ya kor du mnabs pa I glan chen gyi ko rlon go zur mnabs pa I thad pa skarn rlon gyi phren bas brgyan pa I sbrul rigs biis mdo biirbrgyan pa I stag lpags ky! sam thabs can I dur khrod kyi me ri smug nag gi nan na biugs sin I yum ral gcig rna dan 'khril pa'i tshul du biugs pa gcig tu gyur te I bran jo bo la bka' nod pa 'i tshul du biugs sin gdug pa can gyi dregs pa mams iabs 'og tu brdzis te gnas par gyur to I

MAYER 295

deity, was manifested especially and specifically to effect the killing of the hostile Saiva deity, MaheSvara/Rudra! The point I will try to draw out later on is that when in their daily sadhanas yogins practising Vajra­kumara build up the visualisation of the elements, the palace, and the deity in stages in exactly the same way as described here, they are quite consciously emulating the great archetypal act of taming which the Buddha, in his tantric aspect as the Great Lord, the Master of Supreme Secrets, first did in a bygone age: these later yogins too .are doing it for the express purpose of killing Rudrahood, even if not the original legendary Rudra himself, for he has already been slain. First, let us return to the sequence of the taming narrative. The next passage reads as follows:

Then, in order to endow [Vajrakumara] with the great [vajra] pride of the wrath­ful [dharmata], and to bestow empowerment [abhi,l"eka] [upon him], the Great Blood Drinker [VajrakIlaya] uttered the following [mantra]: 'HilYJ'l vajrakflaya hilYJ'l jiianavajra'; upon which he placed a nine-pointed vajra of wisdom Unana] into [Vajrakumara's] first right hand, a five-pointed vajra of the five wisdoms into [Vajrakumara's] middle right hand, and a Mt. Meru [kfla], for piercing the defilements [kleia], into the lower right hand. Then, placing the skull-cup of great compassion's lust in the first left hand, empowerment was bestowed. Since [Vajrakumara] had subjugated [all] the vicious [gods i.e. Mahesvara etc.] in [all] the ten directions, he [also] appropriated their emblem, the khatvanga, to be brandished as a sign of heroism in the middle left hand.36

Thus this passage describes how the hand-emblems of the deity are generated, once again in a sequence very like that of the sadhanas, and once again at least partly in terms of the conquest of MaheSvara/Rudra.

The narrative continues:

"Then, in order to [kill and] 'liberate' the [non-Buddhist] protector [deities] of the directions [of space], the King of the Blood Drinkers VajrakIlaya once more entered into the equanimity of a sam1idhi of vajra wrath; and from out of the body, speech and mind of VajrakIlaya himself, [the following mantras] issued forth:

36. From sDe-dge xylograph NGB, vol PA, folio 207v: I de nas khrag 'thun chen pas khros pa 'i na rgyal chen par byin te dban bskur ba'i phyir I hilYJ'l badzra kfla ya hilYJ'l dzfta na badzra ies brjod de lye ses kyi rdo rje rtse dgu pa ni g-yas kyi dan par byin lye ses tna'i rdo rje rtse lna pa ni phyag g-yas kyi bar mar byin I non mons pa gzir ba'i ri rab ni g-yas kyi tha mar byin I thugs rje chags pa'i bMn da ni g-yon gyi dan par byin te ban bskur ro II phyogs bcu'i gdug pa can btul nas de'i lag cha kha twaYJ'l ga phrog nas g-yon gyi bar ma na dpa' rtags su bsnams so I

JIABS 21.2 296

Ol!! buddhakilikflaya sarvavighnan bal!! hal!! pha! Ol!! vajrakilikflaya sarvavighnan bai'[! hal!! pha! Ol!! ratnakilikflaya sarvavighnan bal!! hal!! pha! Ol!! padmakilikflaya sarvavighnan bal!! hal!! pha! Ol!! karmakilikflaya sarvavighnan bal!! hal!! pha!

Upon this utterance, ten activity kflayas became emanated - those of the activity kflaya of the blood drinker's wrath, the activity kflaya of vajra wrath, the activity kflaya of ratna wrath, the activity kflaya of padma wrath, the activity kflaya of karma wrath, and the [five] activity kflayas [further] emanated from those of the five farnilies.37 [All of] these also had three faces and six arms for their upper body, but their lower body appeared as the three sided blade of an iron kfla. The reddish brown hair upon their heads bristled up on end in a triangular [shaped] lock, and their heads were perfected with the five [buddha] families. With seed syllables at their hearts, they obediently took up their positions before the Supreme Son Vajrakumara, upon thrones of [the syllable] e."38

The VajrakIlaya sadhanas often talk of three aspects to the malJrjala to be visualised: the dharmakaya malJrjala, the sambhogakaya malJrjala, and the nirmalJakaya malJrjala. These are typically built up in visualisa­tion in sequence, one after the other. With the figures aJready described above, up to and including the figures of BuddhakIlaya, VajrakIlaya, RatnakIlaya, PadmakIlaya and KarmakIlaya, the dharmakaya malJrjala is complete.39

37. The text here is rather obscure, in that it is unclear what the further five are. I have been unable to resolve this problem by consulting NP, NT, DG etc.; most likely, they are the consorts of the kflas of the five families.

38. From sDe-dge xylograph NGB, vol PA, folio 207v:-208r I de nas yan khrag 'thun gi rgyal po badzra kf la yas phyogs skyon ba bsgral ba'i ehed du I rdo rje khro bo'i tif! ne 'dzin la sfioms par iugs nas I rdo rje phur pa fiid kyi sku dan gsun dan thugs las thon to II Ol!! buddha kfli kf la ya sarba bighnan bal!! hal!! pha! 1/ Ol!! badzra kf li kf la ya sarba bighnan bal!! hal!! pha! / Ol!! ratna kf Ii kf la ya sarba bighnan bal!! hal!! pha! / ol!! padma kf li kf la ya sarba bighnan bal!! hal!! pha! I ol!! karma kf Ii kf la ya sarba bighnan bal!! hal!! pha! lies brjod pas /1 khrag 'thun khro bo las kyi phur pa dan I rdo rje khro bo las kyi phur pa dan I rin chen khro bo las kyi phur pa dan / padma khro bo las kyi phur pa dan I las kyi khro bo las kyi phur pa dan I rigs lna las gyur pa 'i las kyi phur pa bcu 'thon par gyur to II de yan sku stod ial gsum phyag drug pa I sku smad lcags kyi phur bu zur gsum du snan ba I dbu skra kham pa ral pa zur gsum pa gyen du snan ba I dbu la rigs ilia rdzogs pa I thugs kha na sa bon dan ldan pa I e'i gdan la sras mchog rdo rje gion nu'i spyan sna na bka' nod pa'i tshul du biugs so I

39. To give a highly typical example of this last aspect of the dharmakaya mmyjala: In NP, the kflayas of the five families immediately surround Vajraldlaya, Dlpta­cakra and Ekajata in the Root Mal).9ala. They are seen as direct expressions of Vakraldlaya in terms of the five jfianas. According to NP las byan: they all resemble the root deity in having three heads, two wings, six arms, and in having

MAYER 297

As one might expect, the taming narrative continues to proceed in following in the steps of the siidhana tradition, by presenting the sam­bhogakiiya malJrjala next; this mainly comprises the group of Heruka deities known as the Ten Wrathful Ones (khro-bo-bcu, dasakrodha), along with their consorts and attendant deities. Then come the various figures of the nirmiilJakiiya malJrjala, who have a more protective func­tion. There is neither space here nor, I feel, any need to give further de­scriptions of the highly complex sambhogakiiya and nirmiilJakiiya malJrjalas, but I should reiterate that this absolutely fundamental three­fold construction of the main central skyed rim or visualisation practice is not described anywhere else within the twenty-four chapters of the Phur-pa bcu-giiis other than here, in the context of the taming narrative, just as the twenty-three lines from the famous root verses do not occur elsewhere.

their two lower arms rolling a kfla, but the lower part of their bodies are formed into phur bus, rather like the Supreme Sons. To the right is blue Buddha-kIlaya, supreme body, right face white, left face red, upper right hands hold meteoric iron vajra and wheel, left ones hold kha.tviiliga and fire; lower hands roll a meteoric iron phur bu; the lower body is a conch phur bu. To the east is white Vajra­kIlaya, supreme mind, right face blue, left face red, upper right hands hold nine and five spoked vajras, left ones hold iron hook and skull-cup of blood; lower hands roll a silver phur pa; the lower body is a silver phur bu. To the south is yellow Ratna-1a.1aya, supreme qualities, right face white, the left red, upper right hands hold blazing jewel and war axe, left ones hold noose and skull-cup of blood; lower hands roll golden phur pa; the lower body is a golden phur bu. To the west is red Padma-kIlaya, supreme speech, right face white, left blue, upper right hands hold lotus and blazing sword, left ones hold skull-cup of blood and iron chains; lower hands roll a jewelled copper phur pa; lower body is a copper phur bu. To the north is green Karma-kIlaya, supreme activities, right face white, the left red, upper right hands hold crossed vajra and blazing skull staff, left ones hold mass of flames and bell; lower hands roll a jewelled turquoise phur pa; lower body is an iron phur bu (NP las bymi: 97-98).

JIABS 21.2 298

sGroi ba

I want to turn now from the standard or typical Mahayoga visualisation practices of Vajrakumara, to a particular yogic practice known as sgroI ba, or mok~a, which is the most famous speciality or hallmark of the VajrakIlaya tradition.4o Sgrolba is basically a practice of ritual killing. It takes many forms and is practised on many different occasions, but is most popularly done as a central component of the galJacakra or tshogs offerings connected with the extended forms of the standard siidhana practice. In this rite, an effigy is typically made, described as a liriga, to be ritually stabbed by the yogin with a kfla or phur pa. The idea is that spiritual negativities are visualised as concentrated within the liriga, and these are then forcibly transformed into wisdom through 'slaying' the liriga with the MIa. In the VajrakIlaya tradition, the liriga is commonly identified as 'Rudra', and the act of stabbing the liriga with the kfla can be seen as an emulation of the original act of Vajrakumara in slaying Mahesvara/Rudra. So here once again, a central aspect of the Vajra­kIlaya tradition is linked with the taming narrative,. and unsurprisingly MaheSvara-Rudra can frequently become the central focus of the entire rite. There are numerous examples of this in the siidhanas. I quote here from Cathy CANTWELL's translation of NP:

A liliga or effigy of Rudra is made and placed before the practitioner; the visuali­sation instructions are thus:41

"From the heart of oneself visualised as Vajrakumara, multitudes of wrathful emanations are sent forth ... all negative forces, lacking any independent power, become summoned and dissolve into the linga [of Rudra ]. .. "

While visualising as above, one recites:

... Multitudes of Rudras of breakers of samaya, hostile forces and obstacles, are summoned. The time for their 'killing and liberation' [sgroi] has come!'

Then, rolling the kfla, one strikes at the heart of the liriga, which by now embodies all the Rudras, and recites:

40. The most comprehensive treatment of this subject so far is by Catherine M. CANTWELL, forthcoming: "To Meditate on Consciousness as the Vajra Nature. Ritual 'Killing and Liberation' in the rNying-ma-pa tradition", in H. Krasser et al. eds., Tibetan Studies vol I, Vienna: Verlag der Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1997, pp.107··118.

41. Page 130, line 6, to page 131, line 3.

MAYER 299

These Rudras of the path of confused appearances Are 'killed and liberated' in the expanse of the unborn essence. They are purified in the great spontaneous three kayas .... They are united in the circle of Great Bliss ....

The instructions continue: after being stabbed at the heart with the kfla, the Rudra linga is to be stabbed in all its other cakras too. Then further weapons are employed. The linga is bombarded with magical black mustard seeds and other power substances; it is sliced with a small ritual sword; then each of the resulting slices is hammered with a small ritual hammer; and finally mashed with a pestle. Each of these actions is accompanied by the appropriate liturgy and visualisation. At the end, the mashed remains of Rudra are offered up to Vajrakumara and his retinue to be eaten.

As well as this standard practice of sgroi ba as a means of transform­ing one's own negativity, there is another, much rarer form that envis­ages the actual killing by magic of a living human being. Needless to say, given the Buddhist context of these rites, the tradition holds that such literal' killing should only be done in the most extreme circum­stances, when the heinous demerits being earned by a potential victim are so vast that it becomes an act of mercy to kill them, to save them from a certain rebirth in hell. In addition, tradition holds that the per­former of such rites must be highly accomplished, possessed of suffi­cient compassion and siddhi to unfailingly transfer the victim's con­sciousness to a higher realm - otherwise the performer will themselves incur the evil karma of murder. In the rNiIi-ma-pa tradition, potential victims of this rite are typically described as Buddhist yogins who have misunderstood the real meaning of Tantric practice. Instead of taming Rudra, they have become Rudra. Instead of a Buddhicised Mahayana­congruent kiipiilika practice, they have regressed into following an uregenerated version as originally taught by Rudra. The Phur-pa bcu­giiis Ch. 12 describes them as follows:

"Now for the characteristics of those who have fallen away from the purpose [of Vajrayana practice]. In performing their duties, they do various things wrong: They handle the sacred substances and ritual utensils in public; They practice the rites of tana and ghana [i.e. sexual union and killing], in a [purely literal] physical [way]; They tum their backs on the view and on contemplation; They are always ready to indulge in coarse behaviour; They express anger, rage and pride for no reason; They understand truthful oral instructions wrongly;

JIABS 21.2 300

When offering guidance to others, their [teaching of] Dharma is false; They are erudite in [any] lore that misleads; Casting aside precepts and scriptural authority, yet they embark on grandiose undertakings; They practice assorted perversions; Since such persons are genuine. Rudras, Even in [killing and] liberating them with the abhiciira [rites], one remains unstained by sin."42

MahefvaralRudra in Mahiiyoga Doctrine

I want to finish this section of my paper by briefly summarising how the figure of Mahesvara/Rudra fits into the Mahayoga doctrinal system as a whole. In very general terms, the basic view of the rNin-ma-pa Maha­yoga system is a non-dual one, not dissimilar to that of the YoginI­tantras. It holds that all phenomena, whether conventionally designated good or bad, pure or impure, should all ultimately be realised as being from the point of view of absolute truth the inseparability of appearance and emptiness (snali stoli dbyer med). To approach this from the point of view of relative truth, one meditates on all phenomena alike, whether pure or impure, whether good or bad, as the primally pure mal}fjala of the Tantric deities. The conventional dualistic designations we impose on phenomena as good or bad, pure or impure, are thus seen as having no ultimate validity and are considered illusory, predicated upon false notions of inherent existence (rali biin) and ontological duality (giiis 'dzin). A ritual corollary of this Mahayoga doctrine is that those factors of existence or mind designated as impurities or sins to be abandoned in the conventional Mahayana systems, are here to be retained as potential sources of wisdom, as the raw materials of spiritual practice; thus rather than merely abandon such negativities as the five moral defilements or kle§a of conventional Buddhism, in Mahayoga one seeks to overcome them through the alternative method of retaining them and exposing their true nature as aspects of the great purity of the mal}fjala of deities, and, from the ultimate point of view, as appearance and emptiness

42. From sDe-dge xylograph NGB, vol PA, folio 219r: I don las fiams pa'i mtshan fiid ni II bya ru mi ruli sna tshogs byed /1 rdzas dali lag cha mlion du 'dzin II tan gan sbyor sgroi dlios par spyod II Ita ba tili 'dzin rgyab tu bar II spyod pa brian po dali du len II khro gtum na rgyal rali gar gtoli II don gyi man nag log par go II pha rol 'dren la log pa'i chos II phyin ci log gi don la mkhas /1 bka' giuli bar nas rtsom pa che /1 log par spyod pa mtha' dag spyad II 'di ni ru dra dnos yin te II mlion spyod bsgral yali sdig mi gas I

MAYER 301

inseparable. To take a specific example: in the case of the defilement of aggression which is the main focus of the Vajraldlaya tradition, this would imply not abandoning it, but meditating on it; meditating on aggression should show it to have as its ultimate true nature, or to be from the point'of view of emptiness, the mirror-like wisdom (jiiiina) of the Buddha Ak~obhya. The method of meditating on aggres!'ion would be to visualise it as an aspect of the primal purity of the mat:u!-ala of the Tantric deity. Thus the basic method used to achieve the transformation of negativity in Mahayoga is to visualise all negative factors as aspects of the wrathful Heruka deity ma7J.rj.ala, and as components of the special tantric offerings made to the Heruka. A central principle behind this practice is discussed by 'Jam-mgon Kon-sprul in his commentary on the Vajraldlaya root verses I have mentioned above. He explains that the wrath of Herukas such as Vajrakumara is directed against the city of ego projections built upon the duality of subject and object and discriminat­ing discursive thoughts; such a wrath is quite unlike the hatred of per­sonal egotism aimed at a specific enemy; it is more like the radiant sun fiercely dispelling the gloom of discursive conceptualisation all round (DG p.81). Similarly, the Heruka's wrathful compassion cuts through hatred, because it can not co-exist in the mental continuum with hatred any more than heat can co-exist with cold in a single substrate, since compassion and hatred are mutually exclusive (DG p.82).43 The impli­cation seems to be that simply by putting whatever negativities there might be in direct proximity with the spiritual presence of Vajrakumara, all such negativities will spontaneously become destroyed and their energy will become transformed into wisdom. Thus one visualises the Heruka's cemetery palace as replete with negativity, graphically repre­sented by gruesome symbols drawn from kiipiilika iconography, because from the relative point of view, the compassionate Heruka is understood

43. DG p.81: gan la khros na I mtshan ma'i mam par rtog pa gzun 'dzin bdag rtog gi gron khyer la khros I tshul ji ltar khros na I ie sda1i ran rgyud pas mig sis nan dgra la khros pa Ita bu ma yin par fii ma 'char ba'i gzi brjid kyis mun pa'i smag rum mdun na mi gnas pa ltar I DG p.82: don ni I ie sdan gcod ces pa kun snan sfiin rjes ie sda1i gcod pa ste / dper na tsha reg gan na yod pa na gran reg med / gran reg gan na yod pa na tsha reg med pa de biin du I gan zag gcig gi rgyud la ie sdan skyes tshe sfiin rje med I sfiin rje skyes tshe ie sdan med pa lhan cig mi gnas 'gal ba yin cin I Cathy Cantwell informs me that this passage is probably not Kon-sprul's original composition: almost identical passages occur in the NP bsfien yig, for example, suggesting an older common source (NP bsfien yig pp.87-88).

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to delight in his bodhisattva's acts of effortlessly and spontap.eously transmuting negativities into wisdom, and thus he constantly immerses himself in negativity. At the same time, from the point of view of abso­lute truth, the Heruka maly;lala can be understood as the real nature of such negativities, once their empty or ultimate nature is understood as the inseparability of appearence and emptiness.

An additional significant point in Mahayoga doctrine is that its com­mentators also sometimes take a position found also in the Y oginItantras, which argues that since beings of the present dark age are so heavily defiled, they quite naturally have far more negativity than virtue. It follows that pragmatically speaking, the potential good results of a spiri­tual approach which aims at the transformation of negativities, in general tends to outweigh the potential good results of a path that aims at the cultivation of positive values, by sheer force of weight. From such a logic, it follows that environments and persons with a great deal of negativity are the ideal and intended sphere of operations for deities such as Vajrakumara; for if the heruka practice is being practiced success­fully, the more negativities there are, the more wisdom energy will be produced.

Now, as we have seen above, the commentarial tradition explains that from the point of view of conventional analysis, Rudra is the Vajrayana equivalent of Mara, the main Buddhist symbol of evil. From the abso­lute point of view, it also describes him as primordially pure, as an aspect of the Buddha Samantabhadra since beginningless time, merely appearing as evil and impure for the express purpose of allowing enlightenment to become manifest through the process of overcoming his apparent negativity. It would therefore make sense if in Mahayoga ritual, the negativities visualised in siidhana with the intention that their pure inner wisdom aspect should be revealed, are identified with Mahe­svara/Rudra; and this is in fact exactly what happens. Rudra stands for the primordial ground to be purified, or, to use the analogy of alchemy, the base metal of defilement to be transmuted into the gold of Buddhist enlightenment. Just as one can not alchemically make gold without first having some base metal to transmute, so one can not manifest enlighten­ment without a Rudra of egohood to liberate. In particular, in the Maha­yoga cycles, the specifically kiipiilika categories associated with Rudra in the taming narratives are expressly identified with the negativities to be transformed.

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In siidhana texts, one therefore comes across frequent references to Mahe:§vara I Rudra, in nearly all cases broadly identifying him with the negative basis of purification. In the NP las byan, currently a very popu­lar siidhana to Vajrakumara, the cemetery palace is visualised as built up of the dismembered fragments of Rudra's corpse, with the roof canopy, for example, being described as made of Rudra's flayed skin (NP las byan, Page 93, line 5). On the one hand, the palace as made of Rudra's dismembered corpse signifies the expanse of the negativities which need to be transmuted, within which the Heruka figure has his ideal field of activities; yet at the same time, the Rudra cemetery palace is also seen as an expression of pure primordial wisdom, a demonstration that confu­sions have primordially been of the nature of wisdom, in accordance with the primordially pure ultimate nature of Rudra as described in Klon-chen-pa's commentary on the *Guhyagarbha-tattvaviniscaya, Ch. l5~ Similarly, referring to the practices of a rDo rje gro lod and a Bla sgrub ritual manual of the bDud 'joms tradition, CANTWELL notes that the wrathful series of the so-called outer offerings (or in some cases the inner offerings), which include items such as the flowers of the senses, the incense of melting human fat, butter lamps of burning stomach fat, perfume of blood or urine, food of human flesh or excrement, and music of skull-drums and thigh-bone trumpet, are often explained as the parts of the body of Rudra.44 By offering these to the Buddhist Heruka, the idea is that the negativities they represent should become sponta­neously revealed as wisdom, a wisdom which is already inherent within them when they are understood from the ultimate level of emptiness.

So the specific function of the wrathful Buddhist Herukas in Maha­yoga is an aggressive one: rather than attempting to directly increase good qualities which are already inherent anyway, Herukas exist in order to counteract the negativities that mask the primordial perfection. Their function is primarily to destroy what needs to be destroyed, above all to demolish dualistic thinking and intellectual clinging to the idea of inher­ent existence, even more than to encourage or increase any good quali­ties. Their wrathful, exorcistic names, epithets and representations underline their primarily destructive orientation: VajrakIlaya is described as cutting through hatred much more frequently than he is described as

44. Catherine M. CANTWELL 1989: An Ethnographic Account of the Religious Practice in a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery in Northern India. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Kent at Canterbury. See pages 135, 180.

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building up love, while HayagrIva is described as subduing arrogance far more frequently than he is described as cultivating humility. Now, as we have already seen above, (embarrassing though this might be for the ecumenically-minded contemporary Buddhist seeking a rapprochement with, say, Kashmiri Saivism), the Mahayoga commentarial tradition has chosen as its main symbol of negativity the kapiilika figure of Mahe­svara/Rudra, which in this context largely displaces the more traditional Buddhist symbol of evil, Mara. It is not surprising then that one is often reminded within the literature that a major purpose of the Buddhist Heruka is to attack and destroy Mahesvara/Rudra! If Mahesvara/Rudra is the embodiment of all that needs to be destroyed, then, by an un­avoidable logic, it follows that the whole spiritual purpose of Mahayoga can be and often is symbolically expressed as the destruction of Mahesvara/Rudra. Thus, as the NP liturgy puts it, the whole point of Vajrakumara is that his "wrathful roar of hii1'[l! [shall] destroy the brains of Rudra" (NP las byan, p. 119, line 6); the whole point of his en­tourage is that they should "annihilate the Rudras of the teaching" (NP las byan p. 121, line 2); as the prayer of fulfilment (bskan ba) describes them, the Vajraldlaya deities are blessed and praised precisely because they "[have] the mighty power to subdue the Rudras of perverse views" (NP las byan, p.160, line 1). Thus through achieving union with such Heruka deities as Vajrakilaya, the Mahayoga sadhaka might aspire to emulate the greatgter stan and saint 'J a' -tshon sfiiiJ.-po, who famously earned that highest (if not ecumenically resonant!) spiritual accolade of the rNiiJ.-ma-pas, bdag 'dzin ru dra 'jams pa, 'The Vanquisher of Rudra-egohood. '

In Conclusion

In conclusion, we can see that Tibetan Buddhism seems to allow the figure of Mahesvara/Rudra to play only a comparatively small role in the Cakrasarp.vara traditions, although a considerably larger one in the rNiiJ.-ma-pa Mahayoga systems, where he functions as one of the most important symbolic categories of that tradition. In both cases, however, the Saiva deity and the traditions connected with him are predominantly constructed in abstract metaphysical terms. The actual concrete historical significance of the Saiva tantric traditions for Vajrayana Buddhism is only rarely or almost never the focus of Buddhist scholastic attention. The surface historical reading of the taming narrative, that so obviously to Westerners seems to admit that the kapiilika elements of the Buddhist

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Vajrayana are derivative of Saivism, is not widely followed by Tibetans. Instead, in the hands of the tradition, this underlying historical narrative is comprehensively and systematically reconstructed into a purely metaphysical set of symbols onto which psychological factors can be conelated in accordance with Buddhist doctrine.

Unfortunately, the question as to why the Tibetan Vajrayana tradition seems uninterested in its historical debts to Saivism is one I have not yet had much opportunity to think about. Nevertheless, it might be useful at this juncture to float a few largely speculative ideas on the subject, and I have already mentioned some of these earlier. On the one hand, it does seem to me at the moment that there is surely some degree of simple denial involved, some effort to gloss over what could be construed as an embarrassing historical fact for Buddhism: it can surely not be consid­ered a very comfortable situation for Buddhists to constantly to have to reflect on the substantially derivative nature of some of their most sacred traditions. On the other hand, it is no straightforward task to ascertain to what degree such denial is the case, for a number of reasons. Firstly, the strictly historical understandings of events of any kind, whether shame­ful or glorious, have never been of much interest or relevance to Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, especially in India. The Buddhist scholastic tradition has consistently mythologised every aspect of its history, the shameful and the glorious to an equal degree. We can see this from the highly mythologised traditional accounts of the Buddha's life, the hagiographies of Buddhist saints and kings, predictions about the decline of the sasana, and the stories about the origins of Buddhist scriptures and Buddhist sacred sites such as stupas. The Indian Buddhist scholastic tradition, like its many Hindu counterparts, seems to have quite consistently sought to distil what it saw as religiously valuable mythic narratives out of any historical events within its experience, and not merely the embanassing events. It is not impossible that the mythol­ogised approaches of the figure of Mahesvara/Rudra evidenced in Tibetan literature might derive from a typical Indian Buddhist mytho­logical response to history, just as much as from a specific cover-up attempt.

I am also not clear to what degree the different elements of the Buddhist tradition in India would have found the facts of its debts to Saivism embarrasssing. Surely the blatant bonowings of substantial un­edited passages from the scriptures of the Saiva canon into the Buddhist Y oginItantras must have been a considerable embarrassment to many

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among the more respectable cleri.cal elements of Indian Buddhism at the time; yet this raw co-option of Saiva material was presumably at the same time seen as a great coup by the 'shamanic' (in SAMYEL's techni­cal usage) or yogic Buddhist individuals who initiated it. Perhaps these yogins understood their coup in terms of a continuation of the process of the taming of MaheSvara described in already well established Yoga­tantra scriptures such as the STTS; this is a point that also needs to be carefully considered. Above all, however, as LAMOTTE remarked many years ago, we must remember the pervasive theme in pre-Tantric Buddhist literature of the conversion of Mara and his daughters to the Dharma. The Tantric narratives of the taming of MaheSvara/Rudra make clear allusion to these much older stories - for example, conver­sion of Mara's daughters by multiple simultaneous sexual intercourse (cf. Mahayoga) already existed in Mahayana scriptures such as the Suraf(Lgamasamiidhisutra, a text which devotes considerable attention to the taming of Mara and his daughters. With the identification of Mara as MaheSvara-Rudra, an ancient Buddhist literary template (cf. Suraf(L­gamasamiidhisutra, Mahiisaf(Lnipiita, Vimalakfrtinirde.fasutra, etc.) found a new concretely historical focus. Now there was a real, tangible Mara out there to be converted, not just a symbolic or mythical one.

So even from a clerical point of view, the general principle of Buddhism's co-option of Saiva kiipiilika tantrism might not have been altogether unacceptable. A basic tendency of Buddhism from its very inception is that it seems to have normally preferred to recode and to respond to or react to existing non-Buddhist categories, rather than to create new ones of its own ex nihilo. Most of my readers are probably aware of the work of Richard GOMBRICH and K.R. NORMAN, who have shown most of the key doctrines of early Buddhism to be construc­ted from recycled Brahmanical categories. This includes even such quintessential Buddhist ideas and technical terms such as karma, nirviilJ-a, and the Middle Way, all originally articulated through the medium of redefining existing non-Buddhist ideas. One can see another aspect of this tendency neatly represented in texts like the Brahmajiila Sutta, the first text of the Dfgha Nikiiya of the Pali Canon, which presents the Buddhist point of view through the medium of a critique of sixty-two specifically non-Buddhist theories. K.R. NORMAN writes as follows:

There have been those who thought that Buddhism was simply an offshoot of Hinduism, while there are others who maintain that there is no trace of Hinduism in Buddhism. The truth, as always, lies somewhere between these two extremes.

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What is certainly true is that Buddhism owes much, especially in tenninology, to Brahmanical Hinduism and much of the Buddha's preaching would have been unintelligible to those who had no knowledge of Brahmanical teaching. Although some of the technical terms of Buddhism are exclusive to that religion, mu'ch Buddhist tenninology is, in form, identical with that of brahmanism. At the same time it must be recognized that, although the Buddha took over some of the terminology of Brahmanical Hinduism, he gave it a new Buddhist sense.45

Although NORMAN was here discussing early Buddhism, it seems to me his words are substantially true of later Buddhism as well. On several significant occasions through its long history, Indian Buddhism seems to have recreated itself anew primarily through the medium of reinterpret­ing or reacting to the existing categories of its opponents, in preference to inventing new categories of its own. This process of subverting its rivals seems to have eventually become interpreted as a central Buddhist virtue and elevated to the level ofa conscious dialectic. Perhaps the most famous example is the way in which the Mahayana Buddhism of the early Perfection of Wisdom literature primarily defined itself through its critique of the Abhidharma, upon the categories of which it is by that very token substantially dependent for its articulation. Similarly, as Paul WILLIAMS suggested to me some years ago, it might be that Buddhist logic invented itself in an effort to defeat the Nyaya logicians in their own terms. Buddhist logic is therefore philosophically diametrically opposed to Nyaya - idealist or phenomenalist as opposed to Nyaya's naive realism - while nevertheless expressing itself almost entirely through the medium of originally Nyaya types of discourse. The most basic Mahayana philosophical notions often seem to encapsulate this sort of propensity - the apohaviida claims that nothing can be defined except in terms of what it is not, the Madhyamaka dialectic puts forward no argument of its own but merely negates those of its opponents.

In addition, the three major philosophical strands represented in Vajra­yana Buddhism, the emptiness doctrines of the Madhyamaka, the mind­only doctrines of the Y ogacara, and the Buddha-nature doctrines of the Tathagatagarbha sutras, all share an important basic axiom. They all hold that emptiness or the ultimate nature is already inherent within all the profane phenomena of sa1J1-siira, and can never be found or con­structed outside of them. Thus the major purpose of Buddhism was seen to be to expose the ultimately true nature already inherent in existing

45. K.R. NORMAN: "Theravada Buddhism and Brahmanical Hinduism: Brahmanical Terms in a Buddhist Guise", Buddhist Forum n, p.193.

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defiled phenomena, not to try to create new structures of truth oqtside of them. Truth or Dharma was· seen as self-existent and all pervading; the only purpose of Buddhism was to point it out to beings. To this kind of thinking, if an originally non-Buddhist deva were compelled by the skil­ful methods of Heruka to heed .the teachings of the Buddha and begin to realise his inherent Buddha-nature, he could become just as much a legitimate object of Buddhist devotion as any being of purely Buddhist lineage who had achieved realisation within a conventional sangha career. It seems to me that with such an ideological framework, many elements within Indian Buddhism might have been reasonably un­ashamed and unperturbed by the fact that their religion had taken sub­stantial borrowings from non-Buddhist sources.

The situation developing within contemporary Tibetan Buddhism is harder to assess. The barrier of the Himalayas has meant that for around 1,000 years Tibetan Buddhism had no significant social contact with Saivism, and as a result, Saivism remained of a mainly abstract and symbolic value within Tibetan thinking. It is only in very recent years that Tibetan Buddhist refugees have had to seriously confront their boundaries with Saivism in any concrete sense, and they have had to begin to do so with little or no traditional template or precedent to work from. Over recent decades, the Tibetan refugee experience of modem Hinduism has generally been very harmonious, but it has also been poli­tically fraught on some occasions. Several Tibetans have claimed that in Nepal, Hindu bureaucrats have sometimes compelled Tibetan refugee lamas to sign documents avowing their religion to be a minor subsection of Hinduism.46 In India, Hindu fundamentalism can be seen as a threat­ening force by some Tibetans. In Bhutan, the Buddhist populations feel their traditional way of life to be gravely threatened by what they see as an engulfmg tide of Hindu Nepalese settlers and colonists. As one might expect, in such circumstances a wide variety of responses to the question of historical relationships with Saivism seem to be forthcoming. I have discussed the problems of Saiva/Buddhist scriptural intertextuality with a number of Tibetan refugee lamas living in India and Nepal, including some major figures in the contemporary Tibetan Cakrasarp.vara tradi­tions, as well·as specialists in Mahayoga. My impression is that there are

46. David GELLNER likewise reports that the official Nepalese Government view has been that Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism are all branches of Hinduism. See his Monk, Householder and Tantric Priest: Newar Buddhism and its Hierarchy of Ritual, Cambridge University Press 1992, page 92.

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no fixed ideological positions dictated by sectarian or doctrinal affilia­tion; rather, responses seem to vary according to the individual. My initial impression is that the lamas most closely connected to the yogic side of Tibetan Buddhism, what Geoffrey SAMUEL calls its 'shamanic current', seem to be quite happy to admit a concrete historical relation­ship with Saivism, while the more clerical lamas seem more reluctant to admit to any Buddhist dependence on Saivism. Thus K:henpo A, a widely respected scholar of the Karma Bka' -brgyud-paand rNin-ma-pa traditions especially favoured by some among the more yogic side of the tradition, told me he had made a special study of the relation of the Vajrayana to Saivism whilst studying in Benares. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the idea that Vajrayana was derivative of Saivism, in the specific sense that Saivism had been tamed ('dul ba) by Buddhism. He told me that the next thing would be that Buddhism was going to tame technology and science, which were going to become a principal medium through which the Dharma would express itself in future cen­turies. B Rinpoche, a major incarnate lama with considerable back­ground in traditional mountain retreats dedicated to both the bKa'­brgyud-pa and rNin-ma-pa systems, firmly took the view that Saivism and the Vajrayana were often virtually identical in all ritual respects, but that Buddhism uniquely applied these rituals to the understanding of emptiness. He described to me Saiva tantric rituals he knew of, which he said were almost identical with those of Buddhism. However, he advised me to dissemble when discussing this fact with Buddhists of a more clerical or traditionalist mind set, because he said such talk would only upset them and achieve no benefit. C Rinpoche is the lama in charge of one of the leading yogic training centres within contemporary Tibetan Buddhism. His centre is particularly associated with the Cakrasarp.vara cycle and its associated yogas, which are practised there in the form of long solitary retreats of many years duration. C Rinpoche clearly felt very positively about certain aspects of Hinduism, and spoke warmly of the virtues that can be found within the Hindu traditions. Our conversa­tion on the subject of Saiva-Buddhist intertextuality came to a slightly uncomfortable close when I made remarks that could be interpreted to carry a slightly anti-Hindu nuance. D Rinpoche, who was mainly con­cerned with the social aspects of Buddhism and had no experience of retreat, had entirely different attitudes. At one stage I even became anx­ious that he might come to blows with the Hindu pa~<;lits we met at the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project offices in Kathmandu,

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when our conversation turned to Saiva/Buddhist parallels, and the PaJ)'9-its all asserted that the Buddhists had copied their rituals from the Hindus. We had to leave quite briskly. D's close friend, a senior monk and a recent escapee from Tibet, had only weeks before been arrested, beaten and, he alleged, forced to sign a humiliating document by the Nepalese police, asserting thatBuddhism was a minor offshoot ,of Hin­duism. It will be interesting to see how Tibetan Buddhism comes to terms over the coming years with the growing evidence of its historic debts to Saivism.

JOHN NEWMAN

Islam in the Kalacakra Tantra*

They totally differ from us in religion, as we believe in nothing in which they believe, and vice versa.

al-BIriinI, aI-HindI

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

Islam's impact on Indian Buddhism is well known to historians of reli­gion: after the Muslim conquest of the Buddhist homeland in north­eastern India at the beginning of the 13th century CE, Buddhism ceased to exist as an institutional religious force. Although remnants of Buddhist culture continued to survive for several centuries, Muslim po­litical and economic domination of northern India insured that Buddhist monasteries would not be reborn from their ashes.

The attitude of the Muslims who invaded India towards Buddhism is amply documented by Muslim historians - as idolatrous infidels Buddhists were put to the sword or enslaved, and their temples were looted and destroyed, all as acts of religious merit.2 It is not surprising that this violent persecution produced fear and hatred in the minds of the victims. Commenting on the results of Mal).mild· of Ghaznl's famous raids during the first decades of the 11 th century, al-BIrilni writes:

* An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1989 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion. I am grateful to Drs. Beth Newman, Michael Sweet, Leonard Zwilling, Cynthia Talbot, and Richard Salomon for criticism and comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

1. SACRAU 1989: 1.19.

2. For Muslim accounts of the Turkish attacks on East Indian Buddhist monasteries see WARDER 1980: 506-8. For a Tibetan eye-witness account of such raids see ROERICH 1959: xviii-xxii, 93-94.

"The notion [of diihiid] stems from the fundamental principle of the universality of Islam: this religion, along with the temporal authority which it implies, ought to embrace [the] whole universe, if necessary by force ... [With regard to idolaters:] their conversion to Islam is obligatory under pain of being put to death or reduced into slavery" (EI ii.538a),

Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Volume 21. Number 2 ·1998

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MaJ:!miid utterly ruined the prosperity of the country and performed there wonderful exploits, by which the [Indians] became like atoms of dust scattered in all directions, and like a tale of old in the mouth of the people. Their scattered remains cherish, of course, the most inveterate aversion towaFds all Muslims. This is the reason, too, why [Indian] sciences have retired far away from those parts of the country conquered by us, and have fled to places which our hand cannot yet reach, to Kashmir,Benares, and other places. And there the antago­nism between them and all foreigners receives more and more nourishment from both political and religious sources.3

Al-Blnlnl' s report that 'antagonism between Indians and foreigners re­ceived nourishment from religious sources' suggests Hindus and Buddhists were aware of the threat Islam posed. However, a standard history of India, commenting on Indian reactions to the Muslim Turkic invasions of the 11th and 12th centuries, states:

There was an awareness that an entirely new force had arrived on the Indian scene, but there was hardly any curiosity about it. That the conquerors would supersede the indigenous rulers in the political sphere was acknowledged; but the wider implications - such as the likelihood that the newcomers would alter and modify the pattern of Indian culture - was not at fIrst clearly realized (THAP AR 1974: 266). The people of India curiously do not seem to have perceived the new arrivals as a unifIed body of Muslims (THAPAR 1989: 223).

In fact as early as the beginning of the 11 th century some Indian Buddhists were very curious about the new religion that had recently appeared on their western horizon, and perceived it to be a threat to tra­ditional Indian culture. As we will see, the KaIacakra tantra is a remark­able exception to the rule that in classical Indian literature "the Muslims, who were not only present in India for many centuries, but were its actual rulers, appear only in vague and marginal references" (HALBFASS

1988: 182); "the Sanskrit tradition has never taken official notice of the existence of Islam" (ERNST 1992: 30); "I would lay stress on this - the religious identity of the Central Asians [who invaded India] is not once thematized in Sanskrit sources" (POLLOCK 1993: 286). In Sanskrit literature the Kalacakra tantra is unique in presenting a fairly compre­hensive and quite accurate portrayal of Islamic beliefs and practices.

3. SACHAU 1989: 1.22; see also 19-23. I have replaced Sachau's "Hindus" with [Indians], because in this passage al-Blri'inI clearly intends an inclusive ethnonym, not a religious denomination, as SACHAU himself no doubt recog­nized. Note also the following passage: "Another circumstance which increased the already existing antagonism between [Indians] and foreigners is that the so­called Shamaniyya (Buddhists), though they cordially hate the Brahmans, still are nearer akin to them than to others" (SACHAU 1989:1.21).

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Also, the Buddhist authors of the Kalacakra developed strategies for dealing with Islam that grew out of their own religious preoccupations, in line with the contemporary religious milieu.

The Kiilacakra Tantra

The source for this study is the literature of the Indian Buddhist Kalacakra tantra tradition.4 The Kalacakra, or "Wheel of Time," was the last major product of Indian Vajrayana Buddhism. All late Vajrayana Buddhism is syncretic - it takes elements from non-Buddhist religious traditions and assimilates them to a Buddhist context. However, in the Kalacakra tantra syncretism is unusually obvious and is even self­conscious - the tantra makes little effort to disguise its borrowings from the Saiva, Vai~l).ava, and Jaina traditions. The basic structure of the Kalacakra system is itself non-Buddhist: the Kalacakra uses the ancient idea of the homology of the macrocosm and the microcosm as the foun­dation of its soteriology. Islam appears in both the macrocosm and the microcosm of the Kalacakra mysticism.

In this essay I have attempted to collect, edit, translate, and analyze all of the references to Islamic beliefs and practices appearing in the earliest stratum of the Indian Kalacakra corpus. There are in addition numerous references to the Muslim "barbarians" in other passages dealing with the myth of the Kalkins of Sambhala (see below, and NEWMAN 1995), but they do not directly bear on our assessment of the Kalacakra's knowl­edge of Islam as a historical reality, the main focus of this study.

Much of the Indian KaIacakra literature exists in the original Sanskrit, and all of this is available in Tibetan translation. References to Islam appear in the following Indian Kalacakra texts:

I. Paramiidibuddhoddhrta-Srf-Kiilacakra-niima-tantrariija (hence­forth 'Srf Kiilacakra'), together with its commentary Vimalapra­bhii-niima-miilatantriinusiiri1Jf-dviidasasiihasrikii-laghukiilacakra­tantrariija!fkii (henceforth 'Vimalaprabhii').

II. Srf-Kiilacakra-tantrottara-Tantrahrdaya-niima (henceforth 'Tantrahrdaya').

III. Svadarsanamatoddda IV. Srf-Paramiirthasevii

4. Here tantra has two connotations: its primary meaning is a system of mysticism; by extension, it also refers to the revealed texts that teach such a system. Thus, the Kalacakra tantra is taught in the Srr Kiilacakra and other tantras belonging to the Kalacakra corpus of buddha-vacanam.

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The 5rf KiiZacakra and VimaZaprabha are complete in Sanskrit; ~t least one-fourth of the Sanskrit of the Paramiirthasevii has survived;5 but apart from brief quotations we have only Tibetan translations of the Tantrahrdaya and the Svadarsanamatoddesa.

The 5rf KiiZacakra is the KiUacakra Zaghutantra - it is traditionally held to be the condensed redaction of the Paramiidibuddha, the KJila­cakra muZatantra, which is attributed to the Buddha. The 5rf KiiZacakra is an esoteric treatise that, together with its massive commentary the VimaZaprabhii, is our main source for the Indian KaIacakra tantra tradi­tion. The 5rf KiiZacakra, according to its own account, was composed by Yasas, an emanation of the bodhisattva MafijusrI, who was the first Kalkin emperor of the mythical Inner Asian land of Sambhala. The VimaZaprabha claims itself to be written by Yasas' son Pu:r;t9arIka, the second Kalkin of Sambhala, an emanation of the bodhisattva A valoki­tesvara. The Tantrahrdaya is a supplement (tantrottara) to the 5rf KiiZa­cakra attributed to Yasas, and Yasas also composed the Svadarsana­matoddeia, an independent verse treatise. The Paramiirthasevii, by Pu:r;t9arIka, is an independent work of didactic poetry. 6

We can safely assume that 'Yasas' and 'Pu:r;t9arIka' are pseudonyms, elements of an elaborate mythology devised to provide the newly created Kiilacakra tantra with a suitable Buddhist pedigree, in an attempt to introduce the KaIacakra to the Indian Buddhist intelligentsia of the early 11th century. A passage in Abhayakaragupta's 5rf-Sarrzpu!a-tantrariija­!fkii-Amniiyamaiijarf-niima (composed ca. 1109 CE) informs us that some Buddhist cognoscenti indeed held 'Yasas' and 'Pu:r;t9arIka' to be pseudonyms, rejected their claim to the status of bodhisattva, and found much in the KaIacakra corpus that was incompatible with Buddhism (NEWMAN 1987b: 107-110). If we assume the names 'Yasas' and 'Pu:r;t9anKa'are products of

mythogenesis, we can make some observations about the historical authors of these texts based on their contents. First, the authors were

5. The incomplete MS of the Paramiirthasevii is National Archives Kathmandu no. 5-7235, Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project reel no. B 30/31, misleadingly. catalogued under the title Kiilacakratantra. Brief excerpts are also imbedded in the Paramiirthasa1'!lgraha, GU"(labhara"(lz, Sekoddesa!ippa"(lz, and Kriyiisamuccaya. Unfortunately, I have not found the verses I have edited and translated below among the portions of the text that survive in Sanskrit.

6. For discussion of the myth and history surrounding these authors and texts see NEWMAN 1985; 1987a; 1987b: 70-113; 1995; 1996.

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highly educated masters of late Indian Vajrayana Buddhism. The Kala­cakra literature demonstrates an intimate knowledge of 'anuttarayoga' tantras such as the Guhyasamaja, Hevajra, and Cakrasarpvara; it also pre­supposes a thorough grounding in Sravakayana and non-tantric Mahayana philosophy and soteriology. In addition, the Vimalaprabhil exhibits a more than passing acquaintance with brahmanical learning, citing such texts as the ~gveda, A~tiidhyiiYI, Siirrzkhyakiirikii, Manusmrti, Mahiibhiirata, etc. It is likely that the authors themselves were brahmans by caste, Buddhists by religious affiliation.

An unusual feature of the earliest stratum of the Indian Kalacakra literature is its interest in what we might call ethnography. Although the most striking example of this is the Kalacakra's information on Muslims and Islam, the texts also comment on t.lJ.e religious and social customs of other people in India and abroad. In brief, we can characterize the authors of the early Kalacakra literature as erudite Indian Buddhists who situated their mysticism in a cosmopolitan cultural milieu.

I believe the earliest stratum of the Indian Kalacakra literature, includ­ing the texts studied here, is the product of a small group of vajriiciiryas who flourished in northeastern India during the early decades of the 11 th century CEo Members of the original Kalacakra cult included Atisa's guru PiI).<;io - a brahman Buddhist monk born in Java, and Naro (Naropada) - the famous vajriiciirya of Nalanda. For discussion of this theory see NEWMAN 1987b:89-107.

The Sri Kiilacakra, Vimalaprabhii, Tantrahrdaya, Svadarsanamatod­dda, and Paramiirthasevii all can be dated with a remarkable degree of precision: all are quoted by name in the Paramiirthasarrzgraha-niima­Sekodddatlkii7 composed by Naro, who probably died ca. 1040 CE.8

7. For the ParamiirthasaYJ1graha quotations of the Srr Kiilacakra see NIHOM 1984: 20; NEWMAN 1987a: 90, n.ll; GNOLI and OROFINO 1994: index s.y. Laghukiilacakratantra. For the Vimalaprabhii see GNOLI and OROFINO 1994: index s.y. For the Tantrahrdaya (cited under the short titles Kiilacakrottara and Tantrottara) seeNIHOM 1984: 20; GNOLI and OROFINO 1994: 218, 316-17. For the Svadarsanamatodde.sa see ParamiirthasaYJ1graha p. 61 (cf. GNOLI and OROFINO 1994: 323). For the Paramiirthasevii see GNOLI and OROFINO 1994: index s.y.

8. See WYLIE 1982. WYLIE refers only to A1aka Chattopadhyaya's Atfsa and Tibet for the story of Naro's last days (WYLIE 1982: 688-89, n.14-16). For Tibetan sources for this important story see the Atisa biographies (EIMER 1979: 2.172-74, 1.225); dPa' bo gTsug lag phreng ba 1545: 673; and Padma dkar po 1575: 445. On Marpa's meeting with Atisa and his subsequent search for Naro, in

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Even more important is the fact that the Sri Kiilacakra ~nd the Vimalaprabhii contain a year - 403 - which forms the basis for the epoch of the KaIacakra system of chronology and astrono:rp.y. The year 403 is the year of the lord of the mlecchas, MuI:tammad (1.2,3),9 and it is a solar calendar reckoning of a year in the Hijra era that can be reckoned as corresponding to 1024/25 CE (see NEWMAN 1998). The appearance of this year in the SrI Kiilacakra and the Vimalaprabhii - a terminus post quem, together with Naro's citations - a terminus ante quem, proves that these texts were completed between 1025 and ca. 1040 CE. Also, the Indo-Tibetan Kalacakra guru lineages originate early in the 11 th century (NEWMAN 1987b: 89-107). In brief, both internal and external evidence indicates that the earliest stratum of the Kalacakra literature was com­posed during the early decades of the 11th century. It is certainly no mere coincidence that this was the very time Mal).mud of GhaznI launched his epoch-making raids into northwestern India.

Buddhist Perceptions of Islam: the Barbarian Tiiyin

The KaIacakra literature uniformly refers to Muslims as mlecchas - bar­barians, and Islam is called the mleccha-dharma, the barbarian religion (1. 1 ff.). In brahmanical usage the Sanskrit word mleccha commonly

addition to the Marpa hagiography cited by WYLIE (1982: 689), see Padma dkar po 1575: 445-52.

I follow WYLIE in relying on the stories that place Naro's death shortly before Atisa's departure to Tibet, i.e., ca. 1040. This is not unlikely given the fact Atisa was a junior contemporary of Naro. However, unlike WYLIE and other scholars, I have very little faith in the wonderfully precise dates given for the births and deaths of Tilo and Naro in their late Tibetan hagiographies. These dates are given in the Tibetan element-animal sexagenary cycle, which was never used in India. We must investigate how the Tibetans arrived at these dates before we rely too heavily on them.

9. Henceforth I cross-reference my discussion with the translations and text editions given in Parts 2 and 3. Thus (1.2,3) indicates the second and third extracts from the Srf KaZacakra and the VimaZaprabha; (ll.4) denotes the fourth extract from the Tantrahrdaya, etc.

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denotes any foreigner who does not follow Indian customs,tO but the KaIacakra texts seem to apply it only to Muslims. ll

The KaIacakra texts specify the identity of the barbarians: they are the Tayin. In Buddhist Sanskrit texts the word tiiyin is widely used as a laudatory epithet of buddhas and bodhisattvas, meaning, among other things, "a protector" (EDGERTON 1972: 251-52); in th~s sense the Tibetans translate tiiyin as skyob pa. And in fact this common usage is well-attested in the KaIacakra literature.1 2 However, in the KaIacakra's discussion of the mlecchas "tiiyin" is given another, very different meaning; in this context the Tibetans translate it as stag gzig. We should

10. See al-BIriinI: "[A]ll their fanaticism is directed against those who do not belong to them - against all foreigners. They call them mleccha, i.e. impure, and forbid having any connection with them, be it by intermarriage or any other kind of relationship, or by sitting, eating, and drinking with them, because thereby, they think, they would be polluted ... [I]n all manners and usages they differ from us to such a degree as to frighten their children with us, with our dress, and our ways and customs, and as to declare us to be devil's breed, and our doings the very opposite of all that is good and proper. By the by, we must confess, in order to be just, that a similar depreciation of foreigners not only prevails among us and the [Indians], but is common to all nations towards each other" (SACHAU 1989: I.19-20). For excellent discussions of traditional brahmanical xenology see THAPAR 1971; HALBFASS 1988: 172-96. Indian Buddhist attitudes towards foreigners seem to have been somewhat different from the normative brahmanical attitude; a valuable study could be done comparing the two.

11. With a few exceptions, one could accurately gloss mleccha as 'Muslim' throughout the Kalacakra literature. On the other hand, the texts do not employ the term mleccha when referring to non-Muslim foreigners. For example, the Tibetans, whose beef-eating and lack of hygiene are equally barbarous from the author's point of view, are not called mlecchas (see III.2; and Tantrahrdaya P 152a6: bod na khrus dang gtsang spra med: "In Tibet there is no bathing or cleanliness"). This is probably due to the fact that the authors recognized the Tibetans as fellow Buddhists (NEWMAN 1987b: 362; 1996: 494, n. 10).

12. SrI Ktilacakra 5.68c refers to the "beneficent attitude of the Tayin [- the buddhas . and bodhisattvas]" (ttiyintil'{l saukyabuddhis; skyob pa mams kyi bde ba'i blo gros). Similarly, the Paramtirthasal'{lgraha (p.28.24-25), commenting on "protector" (ttiyin; skyob pa) in Sekoddda 22b, reads: "The protection is [the buddhas'] proclamation of the path they saw. Since they do that, they are protectors, the Tathagatas and so forth" (ttiyalJ svadr~!amtirgoktilJ I tadyogtit ttiyinas tathtigattidayaJ:t 1 skyob pa nyid gzigs lam gsun pa 1 de La sbyor ba 'i phyir skyob ste 1 skyob pa ni skyob pa de biin gsegs pa la sogs mams so I) (see GNOLI and OROFINO 1994: 205). Naro's gloss takes ttiyin as a nominal stem in -in formed on ttiyalJ; see EDGERTON 1972: 251-52. For an extensive bibliography on Buddhist Sanskrit ttiyin see DE JONG 1974: 69, n.4.

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first note that all the examples found in the Sanskrit texts edite4 below are declined in the genitive plural: tiiyiniim (Sanskrit and Tibetan: 1.2,3,7,10; Tibetan only: II.l,4,7; IV.2). However, elsewhere in the Srf

Kiilacakra and Vimalaprabhii we find the feminine nominative singular form tiiyinf (Tib. stag gzig ma) in a list of eight ethnonyms denoting outcaste and tribal women.l 3 Thus, we can be confident that the underly­ing word is treated as nominal stem in -in; the masculine nominative singular would be tiiyf.

The Kalacakra texts use tiiyin in place of the common Sanskrit term tiijika to refer to the mlecchas of the West. In Sanskrit literature tiijika "urspriinglich die Araber bezeichnete, dann aber allgemein auf die westlichen islamischen Volker ausgedehnt wurde" (MA YRHOFER 1956: 492). Given the 11th century date of the Kalacakra texts, it is very unlikely that tiiyin refers specifically to 'Arabs,' who were not the main participants in the Muslim raids on India at the time. Since the Vimala­prabhii refers to Persians14 independently of the Tayin, the Tayin are not simply 'Persians.' Instead we assume 'Tayin,' like 'Tajika,' is a some­what vague ethnonym referring collectively to the Muslim Turks, Persians, and Arabs of the northwestern borderlands of the Indian world.

The question remains, why did the authors use a well-known epithet of the buddhas and bodhisattvas to designate their antithesis, the barbarian Muslims, when the well-established word 'Tajika' was available? I suspect at least two factors come into play here. First, the authors of the Kalacakra literature exhibit a playful attitude towards language which reflects their philosophical view that words are only conventionally related to the objects they signify; thus a single word can have multiple and even contrary referents (cf. NEWMAN 1988). Second, this coinage

13. Vimalaprabhii 3.5.126 (VP (S) B 132al [note: MS enumerates this verse as 124]; U 11.112.6); Sri Kiilacakra 3.134b, Vimalaprabhii 3.5.134b (VP (S) B 132b4 [note: MS enumerates this verse as 131]; U II.1l4.26, 115.4). VP (S) U consistently reads tiipiniwith no variants given. Although it is often very difficult to distinguishpa and ya in the MSS, I am confident in my reading, which agrees with Vira-Chandra (SK (S) V), Banerjee (SK (S) B) and, most importantly, with the Tibetan translation stag gzig ma

Tiiyinf stands at the northern point of the charnel-ground circle of the Kalacakra's galJacakra: MlecchI, Ha<;l~li, MatangI, TayinI, VarvarI, PukkasI, BhillI, and Saban. This list demonstrates that the author viewed the tiiyin - in Indian terms - as comparable to an outcaste or tribal group, and it shows that mleccha and tiiyin are not synonymous.

14. piirasika; pii ra si ka (NEWMAN 1987b: 362).

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reflects- their predilection to transcribe names of Arabic origin with meaningful Sanskrit terms: compare the etymologies of Vi~avimla, MadhumatI, V arabI, Mu~a, Isa, Matham, and Vagada in the Appendix.

First we will look at the Kalacakra literature's representation of the social customs of the barbarian Tayin, then we will examine its depic­tion of their religious ideology and practices.

Barbarian Customs

As a rule, the Kalacakra presents the barbarian customs as contrary to Indian brahmanical norms. The mleccha diet is especially abhorrent. In a verse in the Srf Kalacakra the Buddha says:

[The barbarians] kill camels, horses, and cattle, and briefly cook the flesh together with blood. They cook beef and amniotic fluid with butter and spice, rice mixed with vegetables, and forest fruit, all at once on the fIre. Men eat that, 0 king, and drink bird eggs, in the place of the demon [barbarians] (1.5. See also 1.6; II. 1,4; ill.2).

We do not know the extent to which this diet reflects actual Muslim practice, and how much of it is derogatory fiction. The reference to the barbarian fondness for beef and raw eggs, mentioned in several passages, is probably derived from observation. Beef-eating, of course, is particu­larly repugnant to orthodox brahmans. The alleged mleccha consump­tion of blood is noteworthy: blood is one of the few foods expressly for­bidden in the Koran and by later Islamic tradition (Ell iii.I56ab; EI ii.l06Ib, I069a). Perhaps the author encountered Muslims who ignored this fundamental dietary law; perhaps he simply falsely ascribed an imagined barbarity to them. In any case, the purpose of this verse and the other references to the mleccha diet is clear: the barbarian diet is an element of their conduct that serves to define them as barbarians, as outsiders who engage in unacceptable behavior. As we will see later, mleccha dietary practice also has a religious dimension.

Tayin marriage customs are similarly outlandish from an Indian brahmanical perspective. The Tantrahrdaya notes that in Makka (makha) a barbarian takes his paternal uncle's daughter in marriage (11.3; cf. L9; IV.I). Such a marriage of paternal parallel cousins is considered equiva­lent to incest between siblings. 15

15. EP iii.913b classes female descendants of aunts and great-aunts among blood relations prohibited as marriage partners; see also 912b. By implication a paternal parallel cousin would be permitted, although I do not know how prevalent such

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While these dietary and marriage practices do not find favor with the authors of the' KaIacakra texts, they note some barbarian customs with tacit approbation. The mleccha Tayin reject the doctrine of multiple castes, and live as a single group (Ll4; 11.4). This contrasts with the casteism of the brahmanical caste system (1.14).16 The barbarians respect each other's property, they are truthful, and they practice hygiene (llA). They avoid each other's wives, and maintain the "asceticism" of remain­ing faithful to their own wives (llA). The barbarians are fierce and heroic in battle (Ll), and the might of their cavalry is specifically men­tioned (ll.4).

Barbarian Teachers

We now tum to the history of the barbarian religion. In a verse in the Sri: Kalacakra the Buddha prophesies the origin and development of the mlecchadhanna:

Adam (arda), NuQ. (nogha), and IbrahIm (variiht) [are the fIrst three barbarian teachers]; there are also fIve others whose nature is tamas17 in the family of demonic snakes: Musa (mii~a), 'lsa (fsa), the White-Clad One (ivetavastrin), MuQ.ammad (madhupan), and the MahdI (mathani), who will be the eighth - he will belong to the darkness. The seventh will clearly be born in the city of Baghdad (viigadii) in the land ofMakka (makha), where the demonic incarnation - the mighty, merciless idol of the barbarians -lives in the world (1.5).18

marriages may have been among the Muslims the Kiilacakra authors are likely to have encountered.

Manu 3.5 says: "A woman who [does not] belong to the same lineage (of the sages) [gotra] on her father's side .. , is recommended for marriage to twice-born men" (DONIGER 1991: 43). A man's paternal uncle necessarily belongs to the same gotra, and thus his daughters are prohibited as marriage partners.

16. Buddhism, like Islam, generally espouses egalitarianism in the context of religioUS practice (see DE JONG 1990). It seems that the Kalacakra texts' references to Muslim egalitarianism reflect a perceived ritual and doctrinal parallel between Islam and Buddhism in contrast to the casteism and ritual exclusivity of orthodox brahmanism.

17. The Klilacakra appropriates the SliIpkhya notion of the three gu~as - sattva, rajas, tamas - as a religio-anthropological classifIcation system. Buddhists are siittvika - ~ndowed with goodness and light. itrthikas - the followers of non­Buddhist Indian religious traditions - are riijasa: their nature is a mixture of good and evil. The mleccha Tayin, of course, are tiimasa - having a vicious, dark nature. Manu 12.39-41 (DONIGER 1991: 282-83) posits a very different division of humanity on the basis of the three g~as, but agrees that mlecchas derive from tamas (Manu 12.43). Cf. HALBFASS 1991: 357-63.

18. For previous study of this verse see HOFFMANN 1960,1969; NEWMAN 1987b: 594-614; OROFINO 1995.

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As Daniel MARTIN and Giacomella OROFINO have suggested, it appears that this list of barbarians derives from a sevener ShI'I source. 19 The Isma'IlIs hold that Adam, NuJ::t (Noah), IbrahIm (Abraham), Musa (Moses), 'Isa (Jesus), and MuJ::tammad are the first six natiq ("enuncia­tors"), who will be followed by MuJ::tammad b. Isma'Il, the hidden imam who will return as the MahdI (EI iv.203ab; DAFTARY 1990: 139-40 and s.v. natiq). We know that Isma'IlI da'f- missionaries (see EI ii.97b-98a; DAFTARY 1990: s.v.) - were active in Sindh from the latter part of the 9th century, and that they succeeded in establishing an Isma'Ill stronghold in Multan during the second half of the 10th century which survived into the early 11th century (STERN 1949; AL-HAMDANI 1956: 1-8; EI iv.198a, 199a; WINK 1990: 212-18; DAFTARY 1990: 118-19, 125, 176, 180, 198,210-11,228).

On the other hand, the Mubayyi<;la (White-Clad) followers of AbU Muslim (d. 755 CE), also believed in a nearly identical succession of teachers, replacing (or identifying?) the MahdI with AbU Muslim:

About two decades after the death of Abu Muslim, al-MuJ.s:anna' ... appeared in Trans-oxania to lead another [anti-'Abbiisid] revolutionary movement. His following was composed of white-clad (Ar. Mubayyic;la, Pers. SapId-.Qjamagan) Soghdian peasants and by Turkish tribesman. He claimed to be the final divine incarnation after Adam, Nul;!, IbrahIm, Musa, 'lsa, Mul;!arnmad and Abu Muslim ... The sect of the Mubayyic;la is still mentioned as surviving in the 6th/12th century (EI v.64a; cf. EI iii.617a, iv.16ab, v.1234a).

The reference to "the White-Clad One" (svetavastrin) here, and refer­ences to white-clad (svetavastram, svetavasin) Tayin ascetics discussed below, may support the hypothesis that the Srf Kalacakra's list of barbarians derives from a Mubayyi<;la source.

However, thus far we have not solved the vexing puzzle of the identity of the sixth barbarian teacher - the White-Clad One.20 Also, it must be

19. This hypothesis linking the Srf Kiilacakra' s list of mlecchas with the Mubayyic;la or the Isma'ilis was first suggested in an unpublished paper titled "The veiled prophet of Khurasan and the revolutions of the Wheel of Time" written by Daniel MARTIN in 1984. Recently Giacomella OROFINO (1995) has independently arrived at a very similar hypothesis.

20. Helmut HOFFMANN (1960: 98; 1969: 57-59, 67) identified "The White-Clad One" as Mani, and interpreted this verse as reflecting a syncretic knowledge of "Manichaeism, Christianity, and Islam in the KaIacakra tantra." As I have argued elsewhere, it is much simpler to interpret the entire list of mlecchas as being

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noted that the Srf Kiilacakra specifies eight barbarian teacheJ;'s, with MulJammad as the seventh and the Mahdi as the eighth, whereas the Isma'm traditions that follow this sequence of nii!iqs appear to be unanimous that MulJammad was the sixth nii!iq and that the Mahdi will be the seventh (DAFTARY 1990: 105, 128-29, 139, 177-79,219). It is unclear whether this discrepancy represents confusion on the part of the author of the Srf Kiilacakra, or rather that his Muslim informant com­municated a variant sevener Shl'l tradition about which we have no information. The reference to Baghdad (see below) further complicates matters. It seems unlikely that a sevener Shl'i informant in the early 11th century would revere Baghdad given the long and bitter conflict between the ' Abbasid Caliphate and the Sill'I. Perhaps the author of the Srf Kiilacakra has drawn a composite picture of Islam based on a variety of sources.

With regard to the eighth barbarian teacher, the tantra reads: "the Mahdi, who will be the eighth - he will belong to the darkness" (ma­thanf yo '~!amaJ:t so 'ndhakaJ:t syiit). Given the context, I take it as cer­tain that mathanf- "the Destroyer" is a pejoratively meaningful trans­cription of Arabic mahdf- "the Rightly Guided One" (EI v.1230b ff.). The word andham indicates "darkness," and by extension, "spiritual ignorance." I interpret andhaka - "he will belong to the darkness" - as an allusion to the occultation of the Mahdi (EI v.1235b ff.; DAFTARY 1990: s.v. ghayba and "hidden imams"), noting that a literal reading of the Sanskrit carries a pejorative connotation. If this interpretation is correct, this reference to the occultation of the Mahdl in the KaIacakra's list of mleccha teachers strongly suggests that this list was obtained from a Shl'i source:

Belief in the coming of the Mahdi of the Family of the Prophet became a central aspect of the faith in radical ShI'ism in contrast to Sunnism. Distinctively Shi'i was also the common belief in a temporary absence or occultation (ghayba) of the MahdI and his eventual return in glory (EI v.1235b).

The Kalacakra literature pays special attention to the seventh of the mleccha teachers listed above. The person responsible for the introduc­tion of the barbarian religion will be "MulJammad, the incarnation

derived solely from an Islamic source, and there is no evidence that the authors of the KaIacakra had know ledge of Manichreism or any other Western religion apart from Islam (NEWMAN 1987b: 603-9).

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(avatara)21 of ar-Ral).man, the teacher of the barbarian religion, the guru and master (svamin) of the barbarian Tayin" (madhumatf rahma7:zavataro mlecchadharmadesako mlecchana1!l tayina1!l gurul:z svamt) (1.3; cf. 1.2; II.2,6). As noted above, the epoch of the KaIacakra astronomy is based on the era of Mul).ammad, the Hijra era (1.3). In the Srf Kiilacakra the Buddha prophesies that in fourteen hundred years22 Mul).ammad will introduce the demonic religion of the barbarian Tayin in the city of Baghdad (vagada) (1.4,5) in the land of Makka (makha) (1.2,5; II.3). There is, of course, some confusion here. Mul).ammad (d. 632 CE) was not born in Baghdad (founded 762 CE; EI i.S94b ff.), and Makka is not a "land." Howe.ver, it is easily understandable that a writer in 11th century India, just beyond the fringe of the Muslim conquests, could have made Malum - the birthplace of Mul).ammad and Islam's holiest city - into a country, and then placed in it Baghdad, the nominal politi­cal center of the Sunn! Islamic world.

Barbarian Ideology

What, then, are the beliefs of the followers of Mul).arnmad? The mleccha Tayin worship a mighty, merciless, demonic death-deity named ar­Ral).man (rahmalJ)23 (1.3,7,10). Here we recognize the most common Muslim epithet for Allah: in Arabic ar-Ral).man means "The Benefactor" (EI i.406b ff., 40Sa, lOS4b-S5a). Ar-Ral).man is the Creator who creates all animate and inanimate things for the enjoyment of the Tayin (1.7) (EI i.407a).

By satisfying ar-Ral).man a man achieves bliss in heaven; by displeas­ing ar-Ral).man a man suffers in hell (1.7,10) (EI i.40Sb-9a, 412b-13a).

21. In the bilingual Arabic-Sanskrit coins minted in the Punjab by Ma~iid of GhaznI in the Tajika years (tiijikfyena sarrzvatii) 418 and 419 (i.e., 418-19 A.H. = 1027-28 CE), the Sanskrit avatiira is used to translate Arabic rasiil- 'messen­ger' or 'prophet' - as an epithet of Mul;tarnmad in the kalima: avyaktam eka muhammada avatara nrpati mahamuda (SIReAR 1983: 650-51). The Vimala­prabha (1.3) refers to "the incarnation of the [barbarian] death-deity in battle" (sarrzgriime miiradevatiivatiiram).

22. The KaIacakra chronology places the Buddha in the 8th century BCE; see below, and NEWMAN 1998.

23. This is a consonant-final stem, declined like a root-stem. Thus in Srf Kiilacakra 2.158d and Vimalaprabha 2.7.158cd (I.7) we find the instrumental rahmalJii and the genitive rahmalJa~. LORENZEN (1972: 62) reports "a Raharnfu).a (a Muslim)" in a list of heretics found in Yasa!;tpaIa's Mohariijapariijaya, which he dates to ca. 1175 (1972: 49, n.141).

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At death a man is judged by ar-RaJ::tman, and experiences his de~tiny in heaven or hell in that very corporeal human form (1.10) (El iA07 a, 1092a). The Tayin assert that the person is spontaneously generated (upapiiduka-pudgala; cf. EDGERTON 1972: 162-63), an epiphenomenon (upapattyangika-pudgala) of the material human body it inhabits (1.14). The Tayin reject the Buddhist notion that a person's experiences are the results of his karma; they reject the concept of reincarnation (1.10); and they deny that there is any sort of nirvana beside the achievement of heaven (1.14).

Barbarian Religious Practices

From the Buddhist perspective, the most repugnant feature of the barba­rian religion is the practice of animal sacrifice. The mlecchas slit the throats of animals while saying the mantra of their demonic deity Vi~a­vimla, 'Withered by Poison'; that is, bismilliih - "in the name of Allah" (1.1; cf. IIL1).24 The mleccha religion prescribes eating the flesh of animals slaughtered with this mantra, and prohibits consuming the meat of those that die naturally, that die due to their own karma (1.1; cf. 1.6).25 Violation of this precept bars one from entrance to heaven (IV.2; cf. II.1).

24. EI ii.213b: "For the [sacrificial victim] to be validly put to death and the animal concerned to be permissible as food [the correct method must be employed]. Otherwise the dead animal will be regarded as carrion (mayta) and therefore legally unfit for consumption except in the case of absolute necessity. At the mo­ment of slaughter it is obligatory to have the necessary intention and to invoke the name of God. [I.e., the basmala. EI i.1084a: "The invocation of the basmala, at the beginning of every important act, calls down the divine blessing upon this act and consecrates it."] ... The [method of slaughter] consists of slitting the throat, including the trachea and the oesophagus; ... the head is not to be severed."

The Buddhist doctrine of non-violence, on the other hand, extends even to prohibit consumption of the meat of animals killed specifically for the consumer: "[I]f the monk who received meat and the donor who gave it to him were not responsible for killing the animal, if they had neither seen, heard, nor suspected that the animal had been killed on purpose for him, then the meat was pure; eating it was not an offense [against the monastic code]" (WIJAYARATNA 1990: 71). The same principle, in theory at least, is applied to the Buddhist laity. In both cases, however, the issue of 'responsibility' is narrowly defined, being restricted to actual slaughter or direct inducement to slaughter.

25. Ell iii.156: "Maita ... means an animal that has died in any way other than by slaughter. In later terminology the word means firstly an animal that has not been slain in the ritually prescribed fashion, the flesh of which therefore cannot be

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Not only do the barbarians eat forbidden and repulsive foods, they eat at odd times as well. While Buddhist ascetics take their meals during the day before noon, Tayin ascetics dine after sundown and at night (1.6; IV.2). The fact that the texts refer specifically to 'ascetic' fasting may indicate knowiedge of the Islamic voluntary fast (Ell iv.196a) rather than the obligatory fast of Rama<;lan (Ell iv.194b). In any case, the Islamic tradition of fasting during the daytime and eating at night (Ell iv.193b) is quite contrary to normative Buddhist asceticism, which restricts meals to the period between sunrise and noon (WIJAYARATNA 1990: 68).

Tayin religious garb is also. contrary to Buddhist conventions. Buddhist ascetics wear red clothing, and are forbidden the white clothing of Indian laymen. Mleccha ascetics (tapasvin) dress in white, but there is no rule on this matter for barbarian laymen (1.6; cf. 1.5,11). The Buddhist monastic code prohibits monks and nuns from wearing white clothing, and common Indian ascetic tradition advocates the wearing of ochre (WIJAYARATNA 1990: 37, cf. 32). However, the Kalacakra's specification that mleccha ascetics wear white is intriguing. We are not given enough information to identify with certainty the Muslim tradition alluded to, but as noted above, it may refer to some segment of the Mubayyi<;la ('White-Clad') movement.

Mleccha prayer practices are also noteworthy. The Tayin first wash, then they bow down, five times each day: at noon, in the afternoon, in the evening, at midnight, and at sunrise (IlA). When praising their deity they kneel (1.6), and draw in their limbs like a tortoise (I.12). This is a brief but fairly accurate description of the Islamic ritual prayer. The obligatory ritual ablution is mentioned (Ell iv.97b), and the order of the five services corresponds exactly to the traditional presentation of the sequence (Ell iiiA92b-93a). The 'bowing' presumably refers to the sud,iUd; the 'kneeling' to the Qjulus (ElI iv.99b).

The barbarian religion demands something of its followers that the author of the Paramiirthasevii found bizarre. It reads: "The Tayin cut the skin from the tips of their penises26 as a cause for happiness in heaven" (IV.2). Although the Muslim doctors of jurisprudence differ as

eaten ... ". By way of contrast, the Vimalaprabha's apology for meat consumption in Vajrayana ritual notes that Buddhist tantric yogis indeed consume various types of flesh (albeit in tiny pellets), but such meat must not be the product of a sacrifice, and the animal should preferably have died of natural causes (NEWMAN

1987b: 265-67),

26. EI v.20b: "As regards males it is obligatory to cut off the whole skin which covers the glans, so that this latter is wholly denuded."

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to whether circumcision is obligatory or merely customary (El .v.20a), its importance is well established in Islamic practice.27

Barbarian iconoclasm is also mentioned: the Tayin cavalry conduct raids to destroy Buddhist and non-Buddhist temples containing anthro­pomorphic images (ll.4; cf. II.5,6; I.8). During the first quarter of the 11th century Mal)mud of GhaznI made greed-motivated, religiously sanctioned raids on Indian temples a key element of his very active foreign policy.28 Given the date of the Kalacakra texts, their references to Muslim iconoclasm must refer to the expeditions of Mal;1mud, and they are echoes of the terrible jihad he visited upon northwestern India.

A Buddhist Appraisal of Islam

We may summarize the Kalacakra tantra's perception of Islamic beliefs and practices as follows: from the Buddhist point of view Islam is demonic and perverse, a perfect anti-religion which is the antithesis of Buddhism (daitya-dharma; asura-dharma; atyaniadharma; adharma) (1.13,14,15; see also Vimalaprabhii 1.8.22: viparyasa-dharma). Islam's theology of an omnipotent Creator who consigns men to heaven or hell based on their pleasing or displeasing him is classed with the lowest of Indian ideologies. 29 The Islamic belief that ar-RaJ:!man makes his

27. EI v.20b: "To the uneducated mass of Muslims ... as well as to the great mass of non-Muslims, both of whom pay the greatest attention to formalities, abstention from pork, together with circumcision, have even to a certain extent become the criteria of Islam. The exaggerated estimation of the two precepts finds no support in the law, for here they are on the same level with numerous other precepts, to which the mass attaches less importance."

28. See, e.g., GANGULY 1979: 5-23. GANGULY (1979: 23) is no doubt correct that "[Mal.Jmiid's] ruthless destruction of temples and images ... violated the most sacred and cherished sentiments of the Indian people, and his championship of Islam therefore merely served to degrade it in their eyes such as nothing else could." Referring to expeditions of plunder such as those of Mal.Jmiid, WINK (1990: 302) says, "The Turkish conquest of Northern India was, in the final analysis, a goldrush ... " He also makes the important point that "the rhetoric of the 'holy war'" in Muslim conquest historiography tends to obscure the underlying political and economic objectives of the Muslim invaders (WINK 1990: 196-201).

29. In the KaIacakra doxography Islamic dogma does not merit an independent refutation (NEWMAN 1992: 227-28; GRONBOLD 1992). On the one hand, Islamic creationism is covered by the standard Buddhist refutation of Isvara, Vi~l).u or Brahma as creator (see Srf Kalacakra 2;162; GRONBOW 1992: 287-88); on the other, the Islamic doctrine that Allah punishes and rewards humans based on their obedience to his law is passed over in silence. Also, Tayin beliefs are placed in the same verse as those of the Lokayata, materialists whom the Buddhists

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followers cut off their foreskins in order to enter heaven is viewed as exotic and bizarre.

The KaIacakra tantra represents Islam as a religion of violence (hirpsa­dharma) that advocates savage behavior (raudra-karman) (1.6). It under­stands the consecration in the name of Allah of animals to be slaughtered as an animal sacrifice to the barbarian god, who is a merciless deity of death (mara-devata) (1.1,5), a god of darkness (11.6) comparable to Rahu, the demon who devours the sun and the moon (11.4). The texts exhibit concern about the destructive raids of Tayin cavalry on the Buddhist and non-Buddhist temples of India (11.4,6). The KaIacakra tantra presents several strategies for dealing with the new Islamic challenge.

Buddhist Strategies for Dealing with Islam

First, the tantra prohibits its own adherents from participating in the barbarian religion. Second, it holds out the possibility of converting the barbarians to Buddhism. Third, it uses the threat of Islam in anti­brahman polemics. Finally, it prophesies a Buddhist holy war against Islam . . As an item in a list of twenty-five prohibited behaviors, the Srz

KaZacakra requires that initiates into this tantra refrain from practicing Islarn (1.13). This contrasts starkly with the tantra's general attitude of tolerance towards the performance of non-violent forms of tzrthika reli­gious practice,3D and it no doubt derives from the tantra's perception of Islam as being intrinsically contrary (taddharmavirodhi) (I.6) to the Buddhist principle of non-violence.

While recognizing the violent tendencies of the barbarian Tayin, the Kalacakra does not abandon them as being completely outside the range of the Buddha's compassion. It asserts that with skillful means the Buddha is able to wean the mlecchas away from their own crude dogma about the person, and to convert them to the personalist doctrine of the

consider to be nihilists. I assume this is due to a perceived similarity between Lokayata materialism and the Islamic doctrine that a person is inextricably connected to his material body.

30. For example, Srr Kiilacakra 3.169 and Vimalaprabhii 3.5.169 allow the Kalacakra initiate who understands reality to behave as a Buddhist, a Saiva, a naked Paramah3.I!lsa, a Vai~I).ava, a householder who has undergone brahmanical initiation, a brahman, a Kapalika, a Jaina, an ordinary householder, a guard, a silent hermit, a madman, a Kaula, a scholar, or a pupil.

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Buddhist Vaibha~ika school. Then, once they have heard the trapscen­dent doctrine of the bodhisattVas, some barbarians can indeed eventually go on to achieve the path of perfect buddhahood (Ll4).

Islam also appears in the Kalacakra in the context of Buddhist anti­brahman polemics. The Vimalaprabha compares the practice of animal sacrifice expounded in the Vedic tradition to the animal sacrifice of the mlecchas, and concludes that they amount to the same thing in so far as both depend on killing living beings. It then warns brahman followers of the Veda that if they do not convert to Vajrayana Buddhism, their descendants will eventually become barbarians. It says that since there is no difference between the mleccha religion and the Vedic religion with respect to animal sacrifice, when the brahmans see the power of the bar­barians in war, and the might of the barbarian death-deity, they will convert to the barbarian religion. Once the brahmans have converted, it says, the other castes will follow (Ll; cf. 19; IV.1).

The Kalacakra texts also use Muslim marriage practices to poke fun at brahman caste pretensions. To the brahman claim that their caste was born from the mouth of Brahma (cf. lJ-g Veda 10.90.11-12 [O'FLAHERTY 1981: 31]; Manu 1.31 [DONIGER 1991: 6-7]), the Buddhists reply that since female brahmans must originate from the same source, it follows that the brahmans commit incest, just like the mlecchas. This being the case, the brahmans degrade their caste, which according to brahmanicallaw results in birth in hell (I.9; IV.1; cf. ll.3).

In retrospect we can see that defusing the barbarian threat by convert­ing the mlecchas to Buddhism, or rallying Indians against foreign inva­sion by converting brahmans to Buddhism, had little chance for success. The Kalacakra tantra apparently recognizes this fact. Its primary approach to dealing with Islam is to counter the actual jihad of the Muslim invaders of South Asia with a prophetic apocalyptic myth of a Buddhist holy war against Islam. This Buddhist crusade is given both an exoteric and an esoteric interpretation, and we will consider each in turn.31

The Kalacakra tantra prophesies that in the future, in the last phase of the current degenerate age (kali-yuga), the barbarians will dominate southern Asia. All true religion will die out in the barbarian realm, and only the mleccha dharma will flourish. The mlecchas will be ruled by

31. For previous treatments of this topic see NEWMAN 1985: 54-58,78-80; 1987b: 578-654; 1995; 1996: 486-87.

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their Mahdi named Kplmati,32 Finally, at the very end of the age, the messianic Buddhist warrior-king KaIkin Raudra Cakrin - a reincarnation of Mafijusd Yasas, the first Kalkin of Sambhala - will appear in the Inner Asian land of Sambhala. This bodhisattva emperor will lead the army of Sambhala in a righteous crusade against the barbarian army of Makka, and in Baghdad the war will erupt with the forces of Sambhala and the brahmanical gods on one side, the mlecchas and the demons on the other. Having killed the barbarian Mahdi and utterly annihilated the barbarian horde, Kalkin Cakrin will re-establish the Buddha Dharma, and will reign over a new golden age of happiness, prosperity, and righteousness.33

So much for the exoteric version of the myth. As mentioned previ­ously, the Kalacakra tantra is primarily a mystical system of soteriology. In the esoteric interpretation the external war against the barbarians of Makka is explained to be a mere illusion that Kalkin Cakrin will conjure up to destroy the arrogance of the mlecchas:

At the tennination of the age, having seen the absolute anti-religion of the barbar­ians, [Kalkin Cakrin] will become as still as a mountain. By means of the mental concentration of the supreme horse, he will radiate limitless supreme horses that

32. Although it is not explicit in the tantra, I understand ~ati, referred to in Srf Kiilacakra 1.163 and 2.48, to be another name for MathanI, the MahdI referred to in Sri Kiilacakra 1.154. Inthis I agree with HOFFMANN (1960: 98). MathanI is the last of the prophesied Muslim teachers, and ~ati is the mleccha opponent whom Kalkin Cakrin will slay at the end of the kaliyuga (see NEWMAN 1995: 288-89). Thus I assume the author of the tantra envisaged an apocalypse in which the Buddhist KaIkin defeats the Muslim MahdI.

The verbal root krt means "to cut, cut off, divide, tear asunder, cut in pieces, destroy" (APTE 1986: 598), and matiJ:t means, among other things, "intellect, heart, thought, intention, inclination" (APTE 1986: 1224). Thus, krnmatiJ:t can be interpreted as a tatpuru~a: "the intention to destroy." This accords well with Vimalaprabhii 2.3.48d, comment on Srf Kiilacakra 2.48d: "the external Krnmati is, in the body, the path of non-virtue that gives suffering" (yo biihye krnmatir duJ:tkhadiitii akusalapatha iti dehe). Therefore, in the exoteric aspect of the apocalypse Kalkin Cakrin, the Buddhist messiah, will thwart the MahdI's intention to give further suffering to humankind. In the esoteric aspect of the apocalypse, KaIkin Cakrin, i.e., adamantine mind (vajrin, cittavajra), destroys the inclination towards evil that gives rise to samsaric suffering.

I suspect ~ati, like most of the other names for Muslim prophets found in the KaIacakra texts, is a pejorative transposition from an Arabic original, but I am unable to determine the underlying Arabic.

33. This prophesy is a Buddhist adaptation of the Vai~~ava myth of Kalki of Sambhala, the prophesied avatiira ofVi~~u; see NEWMAN 1995.

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will dismay the barbarians, thus establishing them in his own Dharma. He will eradicate their dharma, not kill them (US).

The actual war takes place within the human microcosm .. In the Kala­cakra mysticism the war on the mlecchas serves as an allegory for the personal transformation that is the main subject of the tantra. In this interpretation the barbarian MahdI symbolizes the path of nonvirtue. The mleccha army represents malice, ill-will, jealousy, and attachment. The Buddhist Kalkin is the gnosis of bliss and emptiness, and the Buddhist army stands for love, compassion, sympathy, and equanimity. Thus the myth of the external Armageddon is an allegory for the inner war of the spiritual path. The internal Buddhist jihad occurs when the gnosis actual­ized by the Kalacakra yoga destroys nescience and produces the golden age of enlightenment.34

The dual use of the Buddhist holy war against Islam exemplifies the basic structure of the Kalacakra tantra. In the macrocosm the prophesy of the destruction of the barbarians represents an apocalyptic revelation of the future of the world. In the microcosm the eradication of personal barbarism - ignorance and vice - ushers in a new age of enlightenment. Thus, in the Kalacakra the myth of the defeat of evil illustrates both the prophesied end of the world and the ultimate destiny of a human being.

Conclusion

The Kalacakra tantra's depiction of Islam can only be understood by placing it in its historical context. As al-BIriinI reports, Mal).illud of GhaznI's raids into northwestern India during the early decades of the 11 th century must have engendered "the most inveterate. aversion to­wards all Muslims" in the minds of many Indians. Mal).mud's wide-

34. Among the meanings of Qiihad is "an effort directed upon oneself for the attainment of moral and religious perfection. Certain writers, particularly among those of Shl'ite persuasion, qualify this .Qiihad as 'spiritual.Qiihad' and as 'the greater .Qiihad', in opposition to the .Qiihad [of military action] which is called 'physical.Qiihad' or 'the lesser .Qiihad.' It is, however, very much more usual for the term Qjihad to denote this latter form of "effort'" (EI ii.538a).

The notion of 'holy war' is fundamentally alien to Buddhist doctrine, but the Kalacakra's mythic eschatology is a product of indigenous Indian thought rather than a borrowing from Islam. The exoteric myth of the Buddhist Kalkins of Sambhala is clearly drawn from the Vai~t).ava tradition, and the internalized version of this myth is, I believe, a vision original to the author the Kalacakra tantra. It is nonetheless ironic that Buddhists adopted the idea of holy war from Hinduism in response to the religiously justified military aggression of Muslims.

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spread looting and destruction of major temples and pilgrimage centers in the name of Islam no doubt led some Indians to associate Islam with barbaric violence, iconoclasm, and religious persecution .

. The authors of the KaIacakra tantra responded to the new Islamic presence by investigating it and interpreting it in their own cultural and religious categories. We should first note the factuality with which the Kalacakra tantra depicts Islamic beliefs and practices. There is no discernible attempt to portray Muslims as monsters by falsifying or distorting their ideology and behavior. On the contrary, the texts even report that the barbarians are truthful, clean, honest, and chaste. Although the authors clearly found Islam to be exotic and evil, they appear to have faithfully recorded their observations of it. Indeed, it is quite remarkable that in terms of comprehensiveness, detail, and accu­racy the Kalacakra's representation of Islam is superior to the sum total of pre-modem Muslim knowledge of Buddhism.35 This relatively com­plete and accurate portrayal of Islam in the KaIacakra tantra leads us to assume that its authors had fairly extensive direct contact with Muslims. The KaIacakra account of Islamic theology and Muslim refutations of Buddhist dogma even conjures up an image of a Buddhist-Muslim doc­trinal discussion.

However, the authors of the Kalacakra tantra were not ethnographers dispassionately studying an alien culture, they were Indian Vajrayana Buddhist mystics who perceived Islam to be a mortal threat to their own tradition. We can understand the mythology of the Kalacakra tantra as a classic example of a "crisis cult."36 Crisis cults form when religious traditions confronted with real crises respond by creating myth to inter­pret and cope with their predicaments. Apocalyptic eschatology and millenarian messianism are hallmarks of crisis cults. As we have seen, Islam appears in the Kalacakra tantra in Buddhist prophecies depicting the end of the current age of degeneration, the kaliyuga. In fact the tantra as a whole is a "yoga for the liberation of men at the time of the kaliyuga."37 The idea that the kaliyuga is characterized by the advent of mleccha rulers and mleccha-dharma has a long history in brahmanical

35. For pre-modem Muslim treatments of Buddhism see SACHAU 1989: 1. xlv-xlvii, 1.8 (II.253-54), 1.21 (II.261); GIMARET 1969; SMITH 1973; LAWRENCE 1976: 42-43,100-14.

36. On crisis cults, see LA BARRE 1970.

37. Srf Kalacakra 1.Id: yogaI'{! srfktilacakre kaliyugasamaye muktihetor nara1}am.

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religious literature.38 The auth~rs of the KaIacakra tantra appropriate this brahmanical mythic topos, make it Buddhist by placing It in the mouth of the Buddha, and use it to explain their contempo~ary situation: the Muslim invaders are naturally identified as the mlecchas of the kaliyuga, and Islam, of CO"!ll"se, is the mleccha-dharma of this age of decadence. Also, the appearance of Islam is not understood in. mere human terms; instead it is viewed as an apocalyptic irruption of evil, a demonic anti-religion that threatens to entirely eclipse the Buddha Dharma.39 In response to this threat the KaIacakra tantra prophesies an eschatology in which a Buddhist messiah will use magical means to purify the world of Islam, thereby instituting a new age of perfection. Furthermore, the Islamic incursion into India is not treated as a unique historical event. It is depicted as the current instance of a phase that repeats regularly in the never-ending cycle of time: at the end of every age men become barbarians,and the Buddhist messiah returns to free the world from barbarism (II.6). Thus the Kalacakra's representation of Islam can be viewed as an example of the tendency in classical Indian religions to represent historical events in mythic, trans-historical terms.

In the introduction to his monumental al-Hind, al-BIriinI displays a scientific attitude toward the Indian Other:

This book is not a polemical one. I shall not produce the arguments of our antag­onists in order to refute such of them as I believe to be wrong. My book is nothing but a simple historic record offacts (SACRAU 1989: 7, emphasis in the original).

AI-BIriinI could relax in the knowledge that he belonged to the cultural elite of the strongest state in his region, and to a rapidly expanding reli­gious tradition that had recently come to dominate much of the known world. The authors of the KaIacakra tantra - al-BIriinI's contemporaries - were of course on the other side of this epoch-making clash of civi-

38. Designating the social and religious practices of foreign invaders as mleccha­dharma is an old trope drawn from the Mahiibhiirata and the Puriir;.as that is closely associated with the Vai~I].ava myth of the Kalki avatiira (see, e.g., TRAP AR 1971: 421). The KaIacakra tantra seems to be the earliest instance of the application of this concept to Islam.

39. The Kalacakra appears to be the earliest example of a tendency that continued throughout medieval times in India. See TALBOT 1995: 695-99, "The Muslim as Demonic Barbarian," especially p. 699: " ... Muslims were demonized, that is, represented as being like the demons of ancient myth who engaged in endless battle against the forces of good."

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lizations; they perceived themselves as members of a culture under attack. This being so, it is not surprising that they take a less 'scientific' attitude toward the barbarians at the gate, and resort to the mythic demo­nization that provides a context for their account of Islam. In any case we must credit the authors of the Kalacakra tantra with a remarkable degree of prescience. Less than two hundred years after the revelation of the Kalacakra, Muslim Turks swept over the Gangetic plain· and devas­tated the major centers of Buddhist learning, irrevocably altering the fate of Buddhism in the land of its birth.

Appendix: Arabic Loanwords in the KCilacakra Tantra

Arabic Sanskrit Tibetan English References

bismillah vi~avimla bi ~i mi lla / "in the name of I.1;Ill.l ("withered by bi si bi lla Allah" poison")

Makka makha makha Mecca 1.2,5; IT.3,6

Arabic: Tayyi' tayin (= tajika) stag gzig 1.2,3,7,10; PahlavI: Tazfg IT.l,4,7; IV.2

Muftammad madhumatf sbrali rtsi'i blo Muhammad 1.3; IT.2,6 ("wino") grosl

madhuma ti

madhupati sbrali rtsi'i blo 1.5 ("wine- gros [sic] master")

ar-Ral:zman rahmalJ rahma lJa "Beneficent 1.3,7,10 One"

Baghdad vagada ("giver bii ga da Baghdad 1.4,5 of speech")

Adam arda a dra [sic] Adam 1.5

Nul:z nogha a no gha [sic] Noah 1.5

Ibrahfm varahf phag [dan Abraham 1.5 ("swineherd")

Musa mu~a byiba Moses 1.5 ("mouse")

'lsa !Sa ("lord") dbalipo Jesus 1.5

al-Mahdf mathanf 'joms byed theMahdi 1.5 ("destroyer")

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PART 2: TRANSLATIONS

1.1. [Vimalaprabhii 1.3. This passage is a portion of a lectUre Yasas, the first Kalkin of Sambhala, delivered to Sl1ryaratha, leader of the brahman sages of Sambhala. For a translation of the entire lecture see NEWMAN

1985: 59-63; 1987b: 304-14.]

"[Sl1ryaratha, you and the other brahman sages must be initiated into the Kalacakra, and eat, drink and form marriage relations with the vajra family (vajrakulam) of the Vajrayana.] Otherwise, after eight hundred years have elapsed your descendants will engage in the barbarian dharma and will teach the barbarian dharma in the ninety-six great lands of Sambhala and so forth. Using the mantra of the barbarian deity Bismillah,40 they will slit the throats of animals with cleavers. Then they will prescribe eating the flesh of those beasts killed with the mantra of their own deity, and will prohibit eating the flesh of those that die due to their own karma. That very dharma is authoritative for you [brahman sages] because of the statement in the smrti: 'Beasts are created for sacrifice' (Manusmrti 5.39a). With regard to killing there is no differ­ence between the barbarian dharma and the Vedic dharma.

"Therefore, your descendents will see the valor of those barbarians and the incarnation of their death deity (miiradevatiivatiiram) in battle, and in the future, after eight hundred years have elapsed, they will become barbarians. Once they have become barbarians, everyone dwelling in the nine-hundred-and-sixty million villages [in Sambhala, etc.], the four castes and so forth, will also become barbarians. For the brahman sages say: 'Where the great man goes, that is the path' (Mahiibhiirata 3.297; appendix p. 1089, 1. 68).

"In the barbarian dharma as well as in the Vedic dharma one must kill for the sake of the deities and the ancestors, and the same is true in the dharma of the kshatriyas. For the brahman sages say: 'Having satisfied the ancestors and the gods, there is no fault in eating flesh' (Yiijiia­valkyasmrti 1.5.l78cd); and likewise: 'I see no fault in one who would

40. "In the name of Allah." VP (S) B: vi~avimlil; VP (S) U: vi~avilvil (MSS do not distinguish ba and va); VP (T): bi ~i mi lla; annotation to VP (T): "Ma [i.e., rMa dGe ba'i blo gros's translation of the Vimalaprabhil] says, bi smin ra ma lhaT; SvadarsanamatoddeSa [section (ill. 1) below]: bi si bi lla. Cf. HOFFMANN 1969: 62, 64-65; GRONBOLD 1992: 280, n. 26.

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do ill t6 a vicious [beast]' [quotation unidentified]. "Thus, holding the Vedic dharma to be authoritative, they will adopt

the barbarian dharma. For this reason, so that in the future you will not enter the barbarian dharma, I give you this precept. Therefore, you venerable sirs' must obey my command [to take initiation into the Kiila­cakra]."

1.2. [Srf Kalacakra 1.26 and Vimalaprabhii 1.9.26.] Now I will explain "from the first year" and so forth, with which the Tathagata prophesied the appearance of Mafijusrl in the land of Sambhala, the corruption of the astronomical siddhantas (jyoti~a­siddhiinta) due to the appearance of the barbarian dharma, and the intro­duction of the laghukara1}a.

Srf Kalacakra 1.26

Six hundred years from the first year, king Yasa will clearly appear in the [land] called 'SambhaIa.' Nag; [8] hundred years after that, the barbarian dharma will definitely appear in the land of Makka. At that time people on earth should know the clear laghukarar:za. The corruption of the siddhantas on the entire surface of the earth will occur in the yoga of time. II

Regarding, "Six hundred years from the first year, king Yasa will clear­ly appear in [the land] called 'Sambhala''': "The first" is the year the Tathagata taught the Dharma. Six hundred years from that year - "Yasa" is the reading in the text,41 i.e., the great Yasas - MafijusrI, "will clearly appear" in the land named Sambhala north of the SIta River.42 This means "[MafijusrI] will take up an emanation body [and appear as king Yasas]."

"Nag a [8] hundred years after that," refers to [eight hundred years] after Yasas' nirvana. "Naga," i.e., in eight hundred years, "definitely," i.e., certainly, the barbarian dharma will appear in the land of Makka. The demonic dharma of the barbarian Tayin will appear in the land of Makka [- the land of the Muslims (sog yul)43 -] endowed with ten

41. That is, "yasa" in the text of the tantra lacks a case ending. On irregular grammar in the early Kalacakra literature, see NEWMAN 1988.

42. The SUa River can be identified as the Tarim River in Eastern Turkestan, and SambhaIa corresponds to the region north of the Tian Shan; see NEWMAN 1996: 487.

43. The Tibetan ethnonym. sog po was applied to various peoples at different times (see HOFFMANN 1971, especially pp. 442-43). The itinerary of Urgyan pa (13th cent.) edited and translated by Tucci explicitly gives "Muslim" as a synonym. for

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million villages, south of the Smi [River]. At that time of the barbarians, people on the earth should know the clear laghukaralJ-a.44 .

Regarding, "the corruption of the siddhiintas": The Brah1}1a, Sauram, Yamanakam [= Yavana?; gcer bu pa rnams], and Romakam (sgra gcan) are the siddhiintas. 45 The corruption of these four is the corruption of the siddhiintas.

Regarding, "on the entire earth-surface": 'Entire' refers to everywhere on the surface of the earth south of the SUa that the tfrthika siddhiintas decline - there on the surface of the earth. It is not the case that the Buddhist siddhiinta in the lands of Sambhala and so forth will be corrupted.

Regarding, "will occur in the yoga of time": The yoga of time is the barbarian dharma. The joining (yoga; sbyor ba) of that with the [tfrthika] siddhiintas is the yoga of time - it will occur due to that yoga of time.46 Regarding, "in the yoga of time": [It should be in the ablative case, i.e., "due to," and the locative case, i.e., "in," is used. Thus,] the locative case is used for the ablative case.47 [Thus, the meaning is "due to the yoga of time."]

1.3 [Srf Kiilacakra 1.27a and Vimalaprabhii 1.9.27a. This passage estab­lishes the astronomical epoch of the KaIacakra laghukaralJ-a. For a study

sog po: la La na hin dhu ies pa rgya gar pa yod ILa fa na mu sur man ies pa sog po yod (TUCCI 1940: 94); "In some places there are 'Hindus,' Indians. In some places there are 'Mussulmans,' sog po" (cf. TUCCI's interpretation on p.45). Here and elsewhere in Eu ston's annotations to VP (T) I believe the translation "Muslim" is called for.

44. "Siddhiintas are comprehensive treatises deducing mean motions from the beginning of the Kalpa or the current Kaliyuga; karalJas are more concise expositions of astronomy in which the mean longitudes for a time close to the date of composition are given, and the mean . longitudes at later times are computed therefrom ... " (PINGREE 1981: 13-14).

45. Vimalaprabhii 1.9.86 [VP (S) U I.118; VP (S) T 552], commenting on Srf KiiLacakra 1.86, repeats this list. For these siddhiintas see PINGREE 1981: 11, 13-l7,21-26.

46. PINGREE (1981:30; cf. p. 34) says: "The influence of Islamic Ptolemaic theory upon Indian astronomy can be traced back to Mufijlila in the tenth century ... " The Kalacakra astronomy presents itself as a reaction against mleccha "corruption" of the trrthika siddhantas (NEWMAN 1987b: 531-38).

47. See NEWMAN 1988:130.

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of the Indian, Tibetan, and Western interpretations of this see NEWMAN 1998.] Now the laghukaral}a [of the Srf Kiilacakra] is discussed: "Add ... to fire [3] sky [0] ocean [4]."48

Srl KaIacakra 1.27a

Add the expired prabhava year to fIre [3] sky [0] ocean [4] - this establishes the [expired] year of the barbarian.

The epoch (dhruvaka; lies pa) in the [Srf Kiilacakra] King of Tantra is transient because the epoch is reset at the end of the sexagenary cycle.

The epoch in the karafJa - the era of [Kalkin] MafijusrI [Yasas] - is six hundred years after the era of the Tathagata. The era of the barbarian is eight hundred years after that. The era of KaJkin Aja - the Aja who corrected the laghukarafJa - is one hundred and eighty-two years prior to that era of the barbarian. That very era [of Aja] is the epoch in the karal}a, [caJculated] from the barbarian year.

Regarding "the expired prabhava year": Prabhava is the beginning -i.e., the first - of the sexagenary cycle that begins with prabhava. The year preceding the particular current year among these is the expired prabhava year. Adding [the numerical vaJue of its position in the sexa­genary cycle] to the quantity four hundred and three establishes the [expired] barbarian year. Having made one year the first, adding up to sixty years produces the expired prabhava year. That very [expired prabhava] year is established in aJl the other karal}as, like Sunday and the other days of the week. Adding that to the quantity four hundred and three years establishes the [expired] barbarian year. The barbarian is Mul:).ammad, the incarnation of ar-Ral:).man, the teacher of the barbarian dharma, the guru and leader of the barbarian Tayin (mleccho madhumatf rahmafJiivatiiro mlecchadharmade§ako mlecchiiniirp. tiiyiniirp. guru!; sviiml).

48. vahnau khe 'bdhau; me mkha' rgya mtsho. "Fire [3] sky [0] ocean [4]" are "number symbols" (Tib. grangs brda). PINGREE (1981: 1) gives the Sanskrit as bhutasmikhya, and explains that they are "common objects that appear or are understood to appear in the world in fIxed quantities [used] as synonyms for those quantities." In combination the symbols are read right-to-Ieft; thus, the above example symbolizes the number 403. See SK (S) B, appendix, for a list of these terms used in the KaIacakra corpus.

nABS 21.2 338

1.4. [Srf Kiilacakra 1.89d and Vtmalaprabha 1.9.89d.] [(Srf Kiilacakra 1.89d:) Atthe end of the kaliyuga] a fierce war will occur on earth between the gods and the demons. , [(Vimalaprabhii 1.9.89d:) At the end of the kaliyuga] a fierce war will occur on earth in the city of Baghdad (viigadii) between the gods and the demons - the barbarians.

1.5. [Srf Kiilacakra 1.154-155. For a translation and analysis of Srf Kiilacakra 1.150-170 see NEWMAN 1987b: 578-654; for a translation and discussion of Srf Kiilacakra 1.154-165 see NEWMAN 1995.]

SrI Kiilacakra 1.154

Adam, Niil;1, and ibrahIm [are the first three barbarian teachers]; there are also five others whose nature is tamas in the family of demonic snakes: Milsa, 'Isa, the White-Clad One, MU);J.ammad, and the MahdI, who will be the eighth - he will belong to the darkness. The seventh will clearly be born in the city of Baghdad in the land of Makka, where the demonic incarnation - the mighty, merciless idol of the barbarians -lives in the world.!1

SrI Kiilacakra 1.155

[The barbarians] kill camels, horses, and cattle, and briefly cook the flesh together with blood. They cook beef and amniotic fluid with butter and spice, rice mixed with vegetables, and forest fruit, all at once on the fire. Men eat that, 0 king, and drink bird eggs, in the place of the demon [barbarians].11

1.6. [Srf Kiilacakra 2.98-99 and Vimalaprabha 2.5.98-99.] Now "Knowledge" etc., states the times knowledge Uriiina; ye ses) arises for Buddhists and demonic barbarians:

Srf Kiilacakra 2.98

Knowledge arises for the Jinas in the sun, at daytime, at midnight [or] at day­break. It arises for demons in the moon, at nightime, in the middle of the day [ or] at the disappearance of the day. Those having correct and deceptive knowledge speak Sanskrit and Prakrit. Their actions in the three existences are peaceful and violent, heroic and vulgar. II

Here, indeed, there are three types of yogic practice: Buddhist, demonic, and ghostly. With regard to that, Buddhist yoga consists of emptiness and compassion; demonic [barbarian yoga is] an imaginary dharma. Ghostly [tfrthika yogic practice] is of two types: etemalist and annihila­tionist. Likewise, there are three types of yogi, in accordance with their different yogic practices. Among them, knowledge arises for Buddhist

NEWMAN 339

yogis in'the daytime. Knowledge arises for demonic yogis in the night­time, and for ghostly yogis in the time other than [those] four watches.

With regard to the allotments of time: "Knowledge arises for the Jinas iIi the sun, at daytime, at midnight [or] at daybreak. It arises for demons in the moon, at nighttime, at midday [or] at the disappearance of the day." Since the ghosts are not mentioned [explicitly in the tantra, knowledge arises for them] in the time other than those watches.

The empowerment of knowledge occurs for Buddhists at midnight or at daybreak. [Thus, the Buddha achieved buddhahood at dawn.] The empowerment of knowledge occurs for demons at midday or sundown. It occurs for ghosts in the other four watches: in daytime the empower­ment of eternalist knowledge, in nighttime the empowerment of annihi­lationist knowledge. With regard to the Buddhists and demons, Buddhists have correct knowledge, and demons have deceptive [knowledge] which is contrary to that [Buddhist] Dharma. Correct knowledge, like day vision, sees everything. Deceptive knowledge, like night vision, sees only a bit of the lives and deaths of sentient beings. How does one know that? - from [the truth and falsehood] of their dharma teachings.

With regard to, "Those having correct and deceptive knowledge speak Sanskrit and Prakrit": Those who have acquired correct knowledge speak Sanskrit, which consists of all utterances. Those who have acquired deceptive knowledge speak Prakrit because [their] teachers use the language of a single land.49 The knowledge of the Buddhists teaches peaceful karma - it consists of compassion for all sentient beings. The knowledge of the demons teaches violent karma - it harms animals for meat-eating. In the three existences the knowledge of the Buddhists teaches heroic karma. On earth the knowledge of the demons teaches vulgar karma. On earth [the knowledge] of the ghosts teaches mixed karma. This is the instruction that teaches knowledge. 119811

Now "From midday" etc., states the mealtimes of the Buddhists and the demons:

49. Compare this passage with PuJ}.9arlka'S statement elsewhere in the Vimalaprabhii that the Buddha uses the omniscient language (sarvajfiabhii~ii) that consists of the utterances of all sentient beings, in contrast to the parochial (priiddika) Sanskrit language of the tfrthikas, which is tied up with birth as a god (NEWMAN

1988: 129-30). I assume the 'Prakrit of the demon barbarians' refers to Arabic.

JIABS 21.2 340

Srf Kiilacakra 2.99

From midday to midriight, at day and at night, are the times they eat. Their foods are cooked rice and beef; their drinks are flavorful mixtures and the fluid of eggs. Their clothes are red and white. Like the paths of the sun and the moon, their abodes are heaven and the underworld. Their dharmas are non-violent and violent. In accordance with the precepts of their gurus, their sitting postures are the adamantine and the demonic. 119911

Each day from midday [backwards] through to midnight is daytime. From midnight [backwards] until midday is nighttime. The mealtimes of Buddhist and barbarian ascetics are in those day- and nighttimes, in the latter half of their respective periods; for householders there is no precept. With regard to the food50 and drink of the Buddhists and demons: Buddhists eat superior cooked rice, and the barbarian diet includes beef. Buddhists drink delicious, flavorful mixtures, and the barbarians drink the fluid of the eggs of fowl and so forth. Buddhists wear red cloth, and the barbarians wear white; this applies to ascetics, for householders there is no precept.

Likewise, after death their abodes are "like the paths of the sun and the moon" - the sun ascends and the moon descends. Like their paths, heaven, the path of the sun, is for the Buddhists, and the underworld -like the path of the moon - is for the demons. Likewise, the Bhagavan [Buddha] said in the Sekoddda of the basic tantra:

When all living beings die, the moon-nectar goes below, the sun-menses goes above, and Rahu-consciousness takes on the characteristic of rebirth. II (Sekoddefa 86)51

Likewise, their dharmas are as follows: the dharma of the Buddhists is non-violent, that of the barbarians is violent. The word "and" [in the tantra indicates that the dharma] of the ghosts [is violent also].

In accordance with the precepts of their gurus, when they meditate and when they praise their chosen deities the adamantine sitting posture is commended for Buddhists and the demonic sitting posture is com­mended for barbarians. The word "and" [in the tantra] indicates that at other [times they are] equal, neither prescribed nor prohibited. Here is

50. khiinam; bza' ba. See also Vimalaprabhii 1.3 (VP (S) U 1.27.13): khiinapiinam. I am grateful to Richard SALOMON for drawing my attention to this word, which is standard in Hindi but unusual in Sanskrit.

51. This verse alludes to the tantric doctrine that at death a person's natal semen and blood - the zygote obtained from one's father and mother - separates, with the semen exiting through the genitals and the blood exiting through the nose.

NEWMAN 341

the demonic sitting posture: On the ground extend the left knee; on top of the left foot is the right foot. The word "and" [in the tantra] indicates that underneath [oneself] the right foot is on top of the sole of the left foot. The word "and" also indicates one is sitting back on one's buttocks. The adamantine sitting posture, etc., will be explained later [in the tantra; see (I.12) below]. This is the instruction on the practices of the Buddhists and the demons. 119911 .

1.7. [Srf Kiilacakra 2.158cd and Vimalaprabhii 2.7.158cd. For previous study of this passage see NEWMAN 1987b: 606-7; GRONBOLD 1992: 277-78, 284.] Now "The Creator" and so forth states the beliefs of the barbarian Tayin.

SrI Kalacakra 2.158cd The Creator creates all mobile and immobile things for the enjoyment of the Tayin. Men certainly attain heaven by satisfying him. That is the doctrine of ar­Ra1;unan.1I

The Creator ar-Ral:).man creates all mobile - animate, and immobile -inanimate, things for the enjoyment of the "Tayin" - the white-clad bar­barians. Men certainly attain heaven by satisfying ar-Ral:).man; they attain hell by not satisfying him. That is the doctrine of ar-Ral:).man; [the bar­barian] practices were stated above [in Srf Kiilacakra 2.98-99; see (1.6)]. This is the instruction on the beliefs of the Tayin.

1.8. [Vimalaprabhii 2.7.160b, comment on Srf Kiilacakra 2.160b. See GRONBOLD 1992: 275-76,286.] Furthermore, the [brahmanical] scriptures claim: "When the Veda is nonexistent, when the barbarians have eradicated the Vedic dharma, then [Srf Kiilacakra 2.160b:] 'Brahma, with his four mouths, will proclaim the meaning with the ancient word ofthe Veda,' by reciting 'Indra be­came a beast,' etc." Thus it is proven that the meaning is different than the Veda.

1.9. [Vimalaprabhii 2.7.161, comment on Srf Kiilacakra 2.161.] Furthermore, [the brahmans] claim it is true that brahmans are born from the mouth of Brahma. Thus I ask, "Are female brahmans also born from that?" If so, then they are [the brahmans'] sisters because they originate from the same womb. The same is true for the kshatriyas and so forth. How could one marry one's sister? If one did one would adopt

JIABS 21.2 342

the barbarian dharma. By adopting the barbarian dharma one's ~ace is degraded. By degrading one's race one goes to hell. That is the [brah­manical] law.

1.10 [Srf Kiilacakra 2.168 and Vimalaprabhii 2.7.168.] Now, "A living being," etc., states a [Tayin] refutation [of the doctrine that one] experiences [the results of] previous karma [in the present life] and accumulates present karma [for the future]:

Srf Ktilacakra 2.168 [Buddhists claim:] A living being experiences previously created karmas [in the present life], and [the karmas created] in the present in another life. [The Tayin reply:] If this were so, men could not destroy karma because of [their] repeated other lives. There would be no exit from samsara, and no entrance to liberation, because of limitless existences. The rejection of other lives is indeed the belief of the Tayin.

[The Tayin] believe [the Buddhist doctrine that] a living being experi­ences previously created karmas [in this life], and [the karmas] created in this life in another life [is false]. If such were the case, [they say,] men could not destroy karma because they would experience the results of karma in repeated other lives. Thus there would be no exit from samsara, and no entrance to liberation, because of limitless existences. That is indeed the belief of the Tayin. However, [the tantra] says, "the rejection of other lives." The barbarian Tayin believe that a dead man experiences happiness or suffering in heaven or hell with that human body in accordance with ar-Ral).man's law. Thus, the rejection of other lives is [their] precept. 1116811

1.11. [Vimalaprabhii 3.1.3. This verse is part of a discussion that asserts the superiority of monk vajriiciiryas over house-holder vajriiciiryas.] Just as sinners get angry when they see a red-clad [monk], Buddhists fond of white-clad [lay vajracaryas] are enamored of the barbarian dharma.11

1.12. [Vimalaprabha 3.1.19c; comment on Srf Kiilacakra 3.19c. This passage appears in a section describing the postures used when perform­ing the eight magical rites.] "Demon" refers to the demonic sitting posture. For [the magical rite of] killing [one sits in] the demonic sitting posture, [with limbs drawn in] like the retracted legs of a tortoise.

NEWMAN 343

1.13. [SrI Kiilacakra 3.94ab and Vimalaprabhii 3.4.94ab; see also Paramiirthasarrzgraha p. 16; GNOLI and OROFINO 1994: 172.] [An initiate of the Kalacakra tantra] may not follow ... the dharma of the lord of the demons. [An initiate of the Kalacakra tantra] may not follow the demonic dharma, i.e., the barbarian dharma.

1.14. [Vimalaprabhii 5.3 (comment on Srf Kiilacakra 5.58).] From beginningless time sentient beings have been tfrthikas, fond of the dharmas of the gods, ghosts, and demons, deprived of the path of the Omniscient [Buddha], observing [the brahmanicallaw of] four castes or [the Muslim law of] one caste, craving enjoyment of a heavenly reward, proponents of a Creator and a Self.

Among them, the proponents of [Vedic] scriptural authority observe the dharma of the gods and the manes; they are proponents of a God, a Self, and casteism.

The barbarians observe the demonic dharma; they are proponents of a Creator, a soul, and are free of casteism. The barbarians have two dogmas: the dogma of [the body being] an aggregation of particles, and the dogma of an epiphenomenal person. They believe: "If there is no epiphenomenal person (upapattyaJigika-pudgala) dwelling within the physical body that is composed of an aggregation of particles, then who takes up another body when the body consisting of an aggregation of particles is destroyed? Thus, there is a spontaneously generated person (upapiiduka-pudgala). That proves that the heavenly reward is the re­ward of nirvana - there is no so-called 'nirvana' other than the heavenly reward."

When [the barbarians] ask about reality, the Bhagavan [Buddha] who knows reality, knowing their own beliefs, says [in the Bhiirahiira-siitra]: "There is a person who bears the burden; I do not say it is permanent, I do not say it is impermanent."52 That is indeed true, because it is the statement of the Bhagavan; one is unable to say that the person [who is a product of] mental propensities in the dream state is impermanent or permanent. Due to this statement of the Tathagata, [the barbarians] abandon the barbarian dharma and become Buddhist Vaibha~ikas.

52. This quotation is cited in Prakrit; likewise at VP (S) U 1266.9-10; in Sanskrit at VP (S) U 1.54.3-4, trans. NEWMAN 1987: 422. Bu ston's annotation identifies it as coming from the Bharahara-sutra (Khur khur ba'i mdo), on which see PRUDEN 1991: 1367, n. 71.

JIABS 21.2 344

Furthermore, some hear the transcendental Dharma being taught to the bodhisattvas, abandon the dogma of a person, and resort to the path of the true, perfect Buddha.

1.15. [VimaZaprabhii 5.3.J At the termination of the age [Kalkin Cakrin] will see the absolute anti­religion of the barbarians. He will become as still as a mountain. With the meditative concentration of the supreme horse he will radiate numberless supreme horses that will dismay the barbarians, thus estab­lishing them in his own Dharma. He will eradicate their dharma, not kill them.

11.1. [Srf-KaZacakra-tantrottara-Tantrahrdaya-nama.J ... the Tayin who vow to eat flesh ...

11.2. [Srf-KaZacakra-tantrottara-Tantrahrdaya-nama.J ... furthermore, Mul:).ammad (*madhumatf; ma dhu ma ti), the lord of the goblins (*rak:jasendra; srin po'i dban po), will appear.

11.3. [Srf-KaZacakra -tantrottara -Tantrahrdaya -nama.] ... also, in Makka one's own son takes one's brother's daughter [in marriage].

11.4. [Srf-Kiilacakra-tantrottara-Tantrahrdaya-nama.] The cavalry of the Tayin, engaged in war, will entirely destroy shrines (*devaZaya; lha rten) that display buddhas, bhairavas, men, women, and snakes. They belong to a single caste, and do not take [each] other's property; they speak the truth and practice hygiene. Their youths avoid others' wives, and upholding the precepts of asceticism, they resort to their own wives.

On earth and in heaven the lord of darkness (*tamasvfndra; mun can dban po) only protects those Tayin and tfrthikas who, having washed, prostrate to the worshipped Rahu (*i:j!arahu; 'dod pa'i sgra gcan) five times each day at noon, afternoon, evening, night, and sunrise.

In fierce battles [heJ protects [them] like a father [protecting his] sons and servants. Since the kshatriyas will not fight, [the TayinJ king, having worshipped the terrifying [deityJ with the flesh of birds and beasts, will cut off [the kshatriyaJ lineages by harming various sentient beings and pillaging others' wealth.

NEWMAN 345

IT.S. [Srr-Kiilacakra-tantrottara-Tantrahrdaya-niima.] o Siirya,53 in the future when the seed of Brahman [- *brahmabijam; tshans pa'i sa bon; i.e., the syllable O¥ representing the Veda, or else the brahman race -] is about to be destroyed, if one worships the earth­protector [Kalkin Raudra Cakrin] the barbarians and tfrthikas will be destroyed in battle.

IT.6. [SrI-Kalacakra-tantrottara-Tantrabrdaya-nama.] In the future the descendents, relatives, and men of the lord of the bar­barians MuJ;mmmad (*madhumatf; ma dhu ma ti) will destroy sixty-eight temples of the sacred sites (*sthiinam; gnas) and pilgrimage places (*k~etram; tin) on earth.

In eighteen hundred [?] years, in Makka (*makha; ma kha), etc., [and in India,] the land of the Aryans, I [KaIkin Yasas, having reincarnated as Kalkin Raudra Cakrin,] will annihilate the barbarians and the god of darkness (*tamasvin; mun can) whom they imagine to be the sun.

o Siirya, I will place living beings in happiness by establishing them in [the Dharma] through the rite of the three refuges in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Then I will go from Kalapa [in Sambhala] to Tu~ita, the supreme abode of the gods.

When XXXXXXX54 years have elapsed, men will again become bar­barians for eighteen hundred [?] years. Again and again I will appear in that kaliyuga to destroy them.

IT.7. [Srf-Kiilacakra-tantrottara-Tantrahrdaya-niima.] I have taught about ... the Tayin ...

ITI.t. [Svadarsanamatoddda] ... the thing to be held and the holder, the thing to be killed and the killer, for the mantra of Bismillah (*vi~avilla; bi si bi lla), Vigm and Bhairava protect.

53. The Tantrahrdaya, like the Srr Kalacakra, is buddhavacanam, but it was redacted by Yasas, the first Kalkin of Sambhala. In this passage Yasas addresses Siiryaratha, leader of the brahman sages of Sambhala.

54. nam mkha' mkha' dan dus dan dban po mig gis dus kyi dus. I am unable to decipher this number. Tibetan dus could stand for Sanskrit kala (3), yuga (4), or rtu (6); see SK (S) B, p. 267, appendix 1.

JIABS 21.2 346

III.2. [Svadarsanamatodde.§a] North of the [Himalaya] snow mountains the kings in Tibet and so forth eat cattle. To the west [of India] the barbarian kings kill cattle and birds (*dvija; gfiis skyes) as well. '

IV.1. [Srf-Paramiirthasevii] (1) If you assert (*kila; grags pa na) that brahmans are born from the mouth of Brahma, then are female brahmans also born from that very place? If both are born from the same womb, then it is unlawful for [such] brothers and sisters to marry. (2) If they do, they become barbar­ian people. If they become barbarians, it degrades their caste. If they destroy their caste, [they experience] fierce suffering in hell. This obtains for those [brahmans] because they are attached to their own caste.

IV.2. [Srf-Paramiirthasevii] (1) Others, for happiness in heaven, cut the skin from the tips of their own penises. The Tayin must eat at the end of the day and during the night. (2) They do not consume the flesh of animals that die due to their own karma. Having killed [animals], they eat them; [they believe that] if men do otherwise they do not go to heaven.

PART 3: SANSKRIT TEXTS AND TIBETAN TRANSLATIONS

I. Srf KiiZacakra and VimaZaprabhii. [VP (S) B is a superb manuscript copied early in the 12th century CE, about a century after the composition of the Vimalaprabhii - it is the earliest extant witness for this text. Because the early Kalacakra litera­ture self-consciously employs irregular grammar and spelling (see NEWMAN 1988), I reproduce VP (S) B's orthography and sandhi except for missing avagrahas and irregular doubling of consonants; I have supplied most of the da~t;las.]

1.1. Vimalaprabhii 1.3 [VP (S) B lOb3-6; U 1.27.15-28.3] anyatha a~!asate var~e gate] sati yu~matputrapautradayo mlecchadharme pravrttil!l k[tva sambhaladi~aI).l!.avatimahavi~aye~u mlecchadharmadeSa­nal!l kari~yanti I mlecchadevatavi~avimlamantrel).a2 kartrikaya grIvayal!l pasul!l hatva tatas te~a:tp. svadevatamantrel).ahatan~ pasuna:tp. mamsa:tp.

NEWMAN 347

bhak~ayi~yanti svakarmaI).amrtanfup. mamsam abhak~yaIp3 kari~yanti I so 'pi dharmo yu~makrup pramaJ;la:rp. yagarthe4 pasava1;l sr~ta iti smrti­vaeanat mleeehadharmavedadharmayor vise~o nasti praJ;latipatata1;l I tasmat yu~matkule putrapautradayas te~fup. mleeehanfup. prataprup dr~tva srupgrame maradevatavatarafi ea5 anagate 'dhvany a~tavar~asate gate sati mleeeha bhavi~yanti I te~u mleeehe~u jate~u satsu ~~avatikotigrama­nivasino 'pi eaturvar.t;ladaya1;l sarve mleeeha bhavi~yanti mabajano yena gata1;l sa pantha iti brahmar~ivaeanat I iha mleeehadhanne vedadharme 'pi devatapitrarthrup praJ;latipata1;l kartavya1;l k~atradharme 'pi ea tarpayi­tva pitrn devan khadan mamsrup na do~abhag iti brahmaqivaeanat6 I tatha do~an tatra na7 pasyami yo du~te du~tam aeared iti I evrup veda­dharmrup prama.t;lllqtya mleeehadharmaparigraha:rp. kari~yanti I tena karaI).enanagate 'dhvani mleeehadharmapravesaya yu~madbhyo maya niyamo· datta1;l1 tasmad bhavadbhir mamajfiii kartavyeti I

v.I.: 1) U: var~agate. 2) U: -vi~avilva-. 3) U: abhaqrup.. 4) U: yagarthiil,l. 5) U: -ava­tarrup. va. 6) U: br~a-. 7) B: omit na.

VP (T) 1.356.5-357.5 [This is Bu ston Rin chen grub's (1290-1364) revised and annotated edition of Son ston rDo rje rgyal mtshan's translation, the translation that appears in the bsTan 'gyur.J Imam pa gian du na 10 brgyad brgya 'das pa'i rjes la khyed kyi bu dan tsha bo la sogs pas kla klo'i ehos dar bar byas nas sambha la sogs pa'i yul chen po dgu beu rtsa drug tu kla klo'i ehos ston par byed par 'gyur ro II kla klo'i Iha [rna I bi smin ra rna lha'i zer] bi ~i mi lla'i snags kyis phyugs kyi ske gri gug gis bead de I de nas (add: ran gi) lha'i snags kyis bsad pa'i phyugs de mams kyi sa za bar byed ein ran gi las kyis si ba mams kyi sa za bar mi byed par 'gyur ro II ehos de yan khyed mams la tshad rna ste I mehod sbyin don du phyugs dag [bsad pal spros II ses pa'i giun gi tshig las so II kla klo'i ehos dan rig byed kyi ehos dagla yan khyad par med de I srog geod par byed pa'i phyir ro II de'i phyir khyed kyi rigs kyi bu dan tsha bo la sogs pa mams kyis kla klo de dag gi gzi byin dan g.yul du bdud kyi lha 'jug pa yan mthon nas rna 'ons pa'i dus 10 brgyad brgya 'das pa na kla klor 'gyur ro II de dag kla klor gyur pa na gron bye ba phrag dgu beu rtsa drug na gnas pa'i rigs bii la sogs pa thams cad kyan kla klor 'gyur te I skye bo chen po gan nas bgrod pa de ni lam mo ies tshans pa'i dran sron gis smras ba'i phyir ro II 'dir kla klo'i ehos dan rig byed kyi ehos la yanlha dan pha mes kyi don du srog geod par bya ba yin la I rgyal rigs kyi ehos la yan no II lha dan pha mes

JIABS 21.2 348

tshim byas na (read: byas nas) II sa zos skyon gyi cha yod min II zes pa dail I de Min du I gail zig gdug Ia gdug spyod pa II de Ia skyon ni rna mthoil ilo II zes bram zes smras ba'i phyir ro II de Itar rigs, byed (read: rig byed) kyi chos chad mar (read: tshad mar) byas nas kla klo'i chos yoils su 'dzin par ' gyur te I rgyu des na rna ' oils pa na kla klo' i chos mi 'jug par bya ba'i phyir khyed mams Ia bdag gis iles pa byin no II de bas khyed mams kyis bdag gi bka' Min bya'o zes so I

1.2. Srf Kiilacakra 1.26 and Vimalaprabhii 1.9.26 [VP (S) B 31a7-31b3; U 1.77.1-19] idiinIIp. sambhalavi~aye mafijusriya utpadaya I mlecchadharmotpadat jyo­ti~asiddhantavinasalaghukaraJ;lapravrttitathagatavyakaraJ;lam adyabdadity­adina vitanomIti I

Sri Kiilacakra 1.26

iidyiibdiit ~atsatiibdail;l prakata yasanwal;t sambhalakhye bhavi~yat tasmiin niiga.il;t satiibda.il;t khalu makhavi~aye mlecchadharmapravrttil;t I tasmin kale dharaI].yfu:p. sphuta1agh~ miinavair veditavyam siddhiintiinfu:p. vinasal;t sakalabhuvitale kalayoge bhavi~yat2 " 26 "

adyabdat ~atsatabd~ prakata yasaIlfPal;t sambhalakhye bhavi~yad iti I adyeti dharmadesanavar~aI!l tathagatasya I tasmad var~at ~atsatabdail;t sItanadyuttare sarp.bhalanamni vi~aye yasa ity agamapatbal;t mahayas03

mafijusrIl;1 prakato bhavi~yad iti4 nirma~akayagrahaJ;larp. kari~yatIty arthal;t I tasman nag~ satabdair iti tasmad yasaso nirvrtat I nagair ity a~tavar~asatail;t khalv iti niscitaI!l makhavi~aye mlecchadharmapravrttir bhavi~yati I sItaya5 dak~~e makhavi~aye kop.gramavibhU~ite mlecchanan tayinarp. asuradharmapravrttir bhavi~yati I tasmin mlecchakale dhara­~yarp. sphuralaghukaraJ;larp. manavair veditavYaI!l I siddhantanam vinas a iti siddhantarp. brahma sauraI!l yamanakaI!l romakam iti I e~arp. catu~am vinasal;t6 siddhantanam vinasal;t I sakalabhuvitale iti sakala iti yatra tIrthikasiddhanta nivartante7 tatra sakalaI!l bhuvitalaI!l sItadak~i~aI!l tasmin bhuvitale I na sambhaladivi~aye~u bauddhasiddhantasya vinas a iti I kalayoge bhavi~yad iti kalayog08 mlecchadharmal;t tena siddhantanarp. yogal;t kalayogal;t tasmat kalayogad bhavi~yat9 I kalayoga iti paficamy­arthe saptamI I

v.l.: 1) U: utpiidanrup. 2) U: 'bhavi~yat. 3) U: mahiiyasii. 4) U: bhavi~yati. 5) U: sItii-. 6) U: vinasrup. 7) U: varttante. 8) U: kalal;t. 9) U: bhavi~yati.

NEWMAN 349

VP (T) "1.477.1-478.3 II [gnas pa bcu gsum pal da ni 10 'di nas ni zes pa la sogs pas sambha la'i yul du 'jam dpal 'bymJ. ba dail I kla klo'i chos bymJ. nas [mu stegs kyi] skar rtsis kyis (read: kyi) grub pa'i mtha' mam par fiams pa dan fiun nu'i byed pa rab tu 'jug par de Min gsegs pas lun bstan pa bdag gis dgrol bar bya' 0 I

(SK (T) 1.9.4-5:)

110 ' di nas ni drug brgya'i 10 yis gsal bar rni bdag grags pa sarnbha la ies bya bar 'byunl I de nas klu yi 10 brgya mams kyis nes par rna kha'i yul du kla klo'i chos dag rab iu 'jug I I de yi dus su 'dzin rna la ni nun nu'i byed pa gsal bar rni mams dag gis rig par byal I mtha' dag sa gii la ni grub pa'i mtha' mams mam par nams pa dus kyi sbyor ba la 'byun 'gyur II 26

110 'di nas ni drug brgya'i 10 yis gsal bar mi bdag grags pa sambha 1a zes bya bar 'byun I zes pa la 110 'di zes pa ni I de Min gsegs pas [dus kyi 'khor lo'i] chos bstan pa'i 10 ste 110 de nas 10 drug brgya na chu bo Sl ta'i byail sambha la zes bya ba'i yu1 du grags pa [ya sa zes pa mam dbye med par byas pal zes pa ni Ilun gi brjod pa ste [sdeb sbyor gyi dbail yin gyi don la ya sal). '0 II ] I 'jam dpal grags pa chen po gsal bar 'byun zes pa I sprul pa'i sku' dzin par mdzad par ' gyur zes pa'i don to II de nas klu'i 10 brgya mams kyis ses pa ni I grags pars 10 brgya chos bstan pa'i rjes 1a] my a nan las 'das pa de nas I klu zes pa 10 brgyad brgya na I nes par zes pa ni gdon mi za bar I rna kha'i yul du kla klo'i chos dag rab tu 'jug par 'gyur te I chu bo Sl ta'i Tho phyogs [sog yul] rna kha'i yul gron bye bas mam par brgyan par I kla klo stag gzig mams kyi 1ha rna yin gyi chos rab tu 'jug par 'gyur ro II kla klo de'i dus su 'dzin rna la ni [mu stegs pa'i] fiun nu'i byed pa gsal bar rni mams dag gis rig par bya'o II grub pa'i mtha' mams mam par fiams pa zes pa ni I tshans pa dan ill rna dan gcer bu pa mams dan sgra gcan gi grub pa'i mtha' ste I 'di Mi mam par fiams pa ni I grub pa'i mtha' mams mam par fiams pa'o II mtha' dag sa gzi 1a ni zes pa la I mtha' dag ni I gail du mu stegs pa'i grub pa'i mtha' zugs pa de mtha' dag go I sa gzi ni chu bo 81 ta'i lho ste I sa gzi der ro I sambha 1a sogs pa'i yu1 mams su sails rgyas pa'i grub pa'i mtha' mam par fiams pa ni rna yin no II dus kyi sbyor ba la 'byun ' gyur zes pa la I dus kyi sbyor ba ni I k1a klo'i chos te I de yis [mu stegs kyi] grub pa'i mtha' mams la sbyor ba ni dus kyi sbyor ba las 'byun bar 'gyur ro II dus kyi sbyor ba la zes pa ni I [las zes Ina pa dgos pa la Ila zes bdun pa byas pas na I] rna pa'i don la bdun pa'o I

.JIABS 21.2 350

1.3. Srf Kiilacakra 1.27a and Vimalaprabhii 1.9.27a [VP (S) B 31b7-32a2; U 1.78.8-22] .

idanup.laghukaraJ?arp. tavad ucyate vahnau khe 'bdhau vimisram iti I

Sri Klilacakra 1.27a

vahnau khe 'bdhau vimisrarp. prabhavamukhagataIp. m1ecchavar~arp. prasiddlIam

iha dhruvako 'nityas tantraraje ~a~psamvatsarante punar dhruvaracanad1

iti I iha tathagatakaIat ~a~var~asatair mafijusrIkaIal}. karaJ?e dhruval}. I ta­smad a~!asatavar~ail). mlecchakaIal}. I tasmat mlecchakaIat dvyasItyadhika­satenahIno 'jakalkIkalo yenajena laghukaraJ?arp. visodhitarp.1 sa eva kaIal}. karaJ?e dhruvakarp. bhavati mlecchavar~ad iti I prabhavamukhagatam iti prabhavo mukham adir ye~rup. ~~!isamvatsar~rup. te prabhavamukhal). I te~u pratyekavartamanavar~asya purvavar~arp. prabhavamukhagatam iti I tan misrarp. tryadhikacatul).satarasau2 mlecchavar~arp. prasiddharp. bhavati I ekavar~am adiIp. lqtva yavat ~a~!ivar~am tavad vimisrarp. prabhava­mukhagatarp. bhavatIti I tad eva var~aq:t sarvakaraJ?antare prasiddhatp. bhavaty3 adityadivaravat I tena misrarp.4 tryadhikacatul).satavar~arasau iti mlecchavar~arp. prasiddhaIp. ·1 mleccho madhumatI rahmaI).avataro mlecchadharmadesako mlecchanrup. tayinrup. gurul). svamI I

v.I.: 1) U: dhruvakaraI].ad. 2) U: -satavar~arp.riiSau. 3) U: bhavatIty. 4) U: vimisritaIp..

VP (T) 1.480.1-481.3 I [gnas pa bcu bii pa I] da ni re sig fiUIi im'i byed pa gsUIis pa I

(SK (T) 1.9.5-6)

I me mkha' rgya mtsho roams 1a rab bYllIi.1a sogs ' das pa roams bsres kla klo' i 10 ni rab tu grub I

me mkha' rgya mtsho mams ses pa'o II rgyud kyi rgyal po 'di la nes pa ni I mi rtag pa ste 110 drug cu'i mthar slar yan nes pa 'god pa'i phyir ro II 'dir byed pa la nes pa ni I de biin gsegs pa'i dus [my a nan las 'das nas :les pa la sogs pa I] nas 10 drug brgya na 'jam dpal gyi dus so II de nas 10 brgyad brgya na kla klo'i dus so II kla klo'i dus [nas bzun ba'i lo'i tshogs] de las brgyad cu rtsa gfiis Ihag pa'i brgya yis dman pa ni I rgyal dka' gan gis fiun nu'i byed pa['i don du] mam parsbyon ba'i rigs Idan rgyal dka'i dus [nas bzun ba'i lo'i tshogs byed pas] so II dus de fiid ni I byed pa la nes par 'gyur te I [gan la sbyor na] kla klo'i 10 las so I (N.B.: Here Bu ston annotates VP (T) with six verses quoted from the Laghutantra!fkii that list the years of the sexagenary cycle; see NEWMAN

NEWMAN 351

1998: 344-45.) I rab bymJ. la sogs 'das pa ies pa ni 110 drug cu po gail dag gi dan po rab byun yin pa de dag ni rab byunla sogs te I de dag las so sor da ltar ba'i lo'i sna ma'i 10 ni rab byunia sogs 'das pa'o II de dag gsum lhag pa'i bii brgya'i phun po Ia bsres pa ni I Ida Ido'i [mgo zug tshun chad kyi] lor rab tu grub par 'gyur ro 1110 gcig dail por byas nas 10 drug cu ji sfied pa de fiid ni I rab byun Ia sogs 'das pa mams bsres su 'gyur ro II [rab byun gil 10 de fiid ni I byed pa gian thams cad Ia [10 mams kyi dail por] rab tu grags pa yin te I gza' ill ma [res gza' bdun gyi dail por grags pa I] biin no II gsum lhag pa'i bii brgya'i 10 yis phun po Ia de yis bsres pa ni I Ida Ido'i lor rab tu grub ste I Ida Ido ni I sbrail rtsi'i blo gros te I rahma :t;la'i 'jug pa Ida klo'i chos ston pa po Ida Ido stag gzig mams kyi bia ma dail rje bo'o I

1.4. Srf Kiilacakra 1.89d and Vimalaprabhii 1.9.89d [SK (S) B 23.4; VP (S) U I.l19.23] devanrup. danavanrup. k~itita1anilaye raudrayuddhmp. bhavi~yatl II

v.l.: 1) VP (S) U: bhavi~yati.

[VP (S) B 46a2; U I. 119.28-120.2] devanrup. danavana11l mlecchana11l k~ititalanilaye vagadayrup. nagaryrup. raudrayuddhmp. bhavi~yati I

SK (T) 1.24.7-1.25:1

Ilha mams dag danlha min roams kyi 'khrug pa drag po sa gii'i gnas mams su ni 'byun bar 'gyur I

VP (T) 1.554.4-5 [rtsod ldan gyi mjug] de'i dus su lha mams dag dail lha min Ida kio mams kyi 'khrug pa drag po sa gii'i gnas ba ga da mams su ni 'byun bar 'gyur te I

1.5. Srf Kiilacakra 1.154-155 [Note: I follow VP (S) U in numbering these verses; some MSS and the Tibetan translation given below omit verse 90 of this pa!ala, and thus number these verses as 153-154. My edition of these verses is based on the MS readings given in HOFFMANN 1969: 56-66; VP (S) U I.l53.15-22; SK (S) V 338-39; SK (S) B 39.1-8; SK (S) T 19a6-19b3; NEWMAN 1987a: 594-616]

JIABS 21.2 352

ardo nogho variihI danubhujagakule tamasanye 'pi paiica mil~esau svetavastrI madhupati mathanI yo '~tamal,1 so 'ndhakal,1 syat 1 sarp.bhiltil:). saptamasya sphuta makhavi~aye vagadadau nagaryam yasyiiIp.loke 'suriiIp.sI nivasati balavan nirdayo mlecchamfu1:il;lll15411 u*asvau gas ca hatva sarudhirapisitarp. suddhapakvarp. hi kiiicit gomiiIp.sarp. siltatoyarp. ghrtakatukasamarp. tru;l(;lularp. sakarnisram 1 ekasmin vahnipakvarp. vanaphalasahitarp. yatra bhojyarp. nariiI;tam panarp. ciiI;t<;larp. khaganiiIp. bhavati narapate tatpadarp. casuriiI;tam 1115511

VP (T) 1.40.7-41.6 [Without annotations; for discussion of this and other Tibetan translations of these verses see NEWMAN 1987b: 594-616]

1 a dra a no gha dail phag ldan lha min lag 'gro'i rigs la mun pa can ni gzan yail liJ.a 1

1 byi ba dban po gos dkar can dail sbrail rtsi'i blo gros 'joms byed brgyad pa gail de mun pa can 1 1 gsal bar ma kha'i yul gyi ba ga da sogs gron khyer du ni bdun pa yan dag skyes pa ste 1 1 gan du 'jig rten Iha min yan lag stobs dan ldan par gnas sin brtse ba med pa kla klo:i gzugs 1 153 1 rria morta dan ba Ian bsad nas khrag dail bcas pa'i sa ni chun zad btsos pa 'ba' zig daiJ. 1 1 ba Iail sa dail dnul chu chu dail mar dail tsha ba miiam pa 'bras dail 10 ma bsres pani 1 1 gcig tu me la btsos pa nags kyi 'bras bu dag dail bcas pa gail du mi mams dag gi zas 1 1 btun ba bya mams dag gi sgo nar 'gyur ro mi yi bdag po de ni Iha min mams kyi gnas 1154

1.6. SrI Kiilacakra 2.98-99 and Vimalaprabhii 2.5.98-99 [VP (S) B 78b5-79a6; U 1.222.10-223.24] idanIrp. bauddhanam asuraIJarp. rnlecchanarp. jfianotpattikala ucyate jfiana ityadina

Sri Kiilacakra 2.98

jiianotpattir jinaniiIp. ravidinasarnaye cardharatre nisante madhyahne casuriiI;tiiIp. sasinisisamaye nirgame vasarasya l

samyagjiiane vibhailge prabhavati vacanarp. sarp.slq.tarp. praIq.tarp. ca santarp. raudrarp. ca karma tribhuvananilaye pauru~arp. praIq.tarp. ca II 98 II

iha khalu trividho yogabhyasal). bauddha asuro bhautas ca I tatra bauddho yogaJ::!. sunyatakaruIJatmakaJ::!. asural). kalpanadharmaJ::!. bhautiko dviJ::!.pra­Ural). sasvatarupa ucchedarupas ca I evarp. trividho yogI sa eva vidyate yasya tadyogabhyasabalatvad2 iti I te~u divabhage bauddhayoginarp. jfia­notpattiJ::!. ratribhage asurayoginarp.3 catuJ::!.sandhyarahitakale4 bhautayogi-

NEWMAN 353

naJ1l jftanotpattir iti I atra kalavibhagaJ;!. jfianotpattir jinanaJ1l ravidina­samaye cardharatre nisante madhyahne easurfu;laJ1l sasinisisamaye nir­game vasarasya11 bhautanam anuktatvad api sandhyarahitakalel atrardha­tatre purvasandhyayaJ1l va jfianadhi~thanaJ1l5 bhavati bauddhanaJ1l I asura1).aJ1l madhyahnasaJ1ldhyayaJ1l astarigatasandhyayaJ1l6 va jfianadhi­~thanaJ1l5 bhavati I bhutanam aparacatuJ;!.praharasandhyayfup. divabhage sasvatajfianadhi~thanaJ1l ratribhage ucehedajfianadhi~thanaJ1l I anayor bauddhasurayor yathasaJ11khYaJ1l samyakjfianaJ1l bauddhanaJ1l bhavati vibharigaJ1l taddharmavirodhi bhavaty asura1).iiJ11 I samyakjfianaJ1l diva­lokavat sarvadarsi I vibharigaJ1l jfianaJ1l ratryalokavat kifieit sattvanaJ1l jivanamara1).adarsIti7 I kathaJ1l jfiayata ity8 aha .dharmaddanaya9 iti I iha samyagjfiane vibharige prabhavati vacanaJ1l saJ1lslqtaJ1l praIqtafi eeti I samyagjfianotpannanaJ1l saJ1lskrtaJ1l vakyaJ1l sarvarutatmakam iti I vibharigajfianotpannanaJ1l prakrtaJ1l vakyaJ1l bhavati desakanam eka·· vi~ayabha~antare1).eti I santakarmadesakaJ1l1O bauddhanaJ1l jfianaJ1l sarva­sattvakani1).atmakaJ1l I raudrakarmaddakaJ1l11 asura1).iiJ11 jfianaJ1l tiryak­sattvapakari mamsabhak~a1).ayeti I tribhuvananilaye pauru~aJ1l karma bauddhanaJ1ljfianaJ1l desayati I k~itau praIqtaJ1l karma asurfu;liiJ11 jfianaJ1l desayati I bhUtanam vimisraJ1l karma desayati prthivyam I iti jfianadesa­naniyamaJ;!. II 98 II idaillJ1l bauddhasurayor bhuktikala ucyate madhyahnad ityadina I

SrI KiiZacakra 2.99

madhyahnad ardharatr~ dinanisisamaye bhuktikaIas tayos ca ann~ gom~abhojy~ bahuvidharasad~ panam aI).qasya sukram I rakt~ svet~ ca vastr~ ravisasigativat svargapataIavasal,l dharmo 'hiJr!sa ca hi1p.sa guruniyamavasad vajradaityasan~ ca II 99 II

iha pratidine madhyahnadl2 arabhyardharatraJ1l yavat dinasamayaJ;!.13 I ardharatrad arabhya madhyahnaparyantaJ1l nisisamayaJ;!. I tasmin dinanisi­samaye svasvasamayasya parardhe bhuktikalaJ;!. tayor bauddhamlecchayor yathasaJ11khYaJ1l tapasvinaJ1l grhasthanam iti nal4 niyamaJ;!. I bauddhasur'a­yoJ;!. punaJ;!. khanaJ1l panaJ1l15 yathasaJ11khyaJ1l annaJ1l visi~tataram

bauddhanaJ1l gomamsasahitaJ1l mlecchanaJ1l I panaJ1l yathasaJ11khyaJ1l bahuvidharasadaJ1l mi~tam bauddhanaJ1l kukkuradlnam a1).c;lasya sukraJ1l panaJ1l16 mlecchanam iti I paridhanaJ1l yathasaJ11khyaJ1l raktavastraJ1l bauddhaniiJ11 svetaJ1l mlecchanaJ1l tapasviniiJ11 grhasthanam na niyamaJ;!.17 I tatha maraJ?ante avaso yathasaJ11khYaJ1l ravisasigativad iti raver urdhva­gatiJ;!.18 candrasyadhogatiJ;!. I tayor gativat svargavaso ravigatir bauddha­niiJ11 patalavaso 'surfu;liiJ11 candragativad iti I tatha19 m11latantre sekoddese bhagavan aha I

JIABS 21.2 354

adhas candramrtaIp. yati maraIJ.e sai-vadebinfup. I iirdhve siiryarajo20 rahuvijfianaIp. bhavalak~aIJ.e II (Sekoddefa 86)

tatha dharmo yathasarpkhymp. bauddhanarp. dharmo 'hinsa mlecchanarp. hinsa cakarat bhUtanarp. I guruniyamavasad21 bhavanakale i~!adevatastuti­kale yathasmp.khyarp. bauddhanarp. vajrasanarp. prasastarp.22 mlecchanarp. daityasanmp. prasastmp. cakarad apararp. samanyam iti tasya na viddhir23 na ni~edha iti I atra daityasanarp.24 bhutale25 varnajanuprasilral).26 vama­padordhvarp.27 dak~il).apadal).28 I cakarad adhal). dak~il).apada urdhvavarna­padatale29 'pi I cakarat pr~!he ka!ini~al).l).o 'pi iti30 vajrasanadikafi ca31

vak~yamal).e vaktavyam iti bauddhasurakriyaniyamal). II 99 II

v.l.: 1) U: vasavasya. 2) U: -ratatvad; Tib.: dga' ba las. 3) U: asura-. 4) U: -rabite kale. 5) U & B [emendation]: vagjfianadbi~fanaIp.; Ifollow Tib., which I believe reflects B's original reading. 6) U: aHaiJ.gata-. 7) U: jIva-. 8) U: ity ata. 9) U: -desanaya. 10) B: santarp. karrna-. 11) B: raudraIp. karrna-. 12) U: madhyanad. 13) U: -samayam. 14) U places this na after tapasvinfup.. 15) U: khanapanarp.. 16) U: sUkrapanarp.. 17) Breads yamaJ:!.; marginal emendation adds' ni-. 18) U: iirddhvarp. gatil;!. 19) U: yatha. 20) U: siiryarp. rajo. 21) B: -vasat. 22) B: prasastarp.. 23) B: nividher. 24) U: daityanfup.. 25) B: bhiitate. 26) U: -prasarataJ:!.. 27) U: vamajaniirddhvarp.. 28) U adds: dak~il).ajaniirddhvaprasaro vama­padorddhvarp. dak~il).apadaS. 29) U: iirddhvaIp. padatale. 30) U: kaj:ini~aIJ.I).a iti; B: omit cakarat pr~fhe kaj:ini~aIJ.I).o 'pi iti; marginal emendation adds, reading: kati­nisanno. 31) U: vajrasanadi-.

VP (T) 2.143.2-146.7 I da ni ye ses ses pa la sogs pas sails rgyas pa mams danlha min [ni kla klo dan rtag chad pa'i spyi yin pa'm I yan na lha min kla klo mams ses , gyur bcos I de rna yin na gon ' og , gal 10 II] mams dan kla klo mams kyi ye ses skye ba'i dus gsuns te I

(SK (T) 1.70.2-4)

lye ses skye ste rgyal ba mams kyi m rna mn mo'i dus su mtshan mo phyed dan mtshan mo'i mthar I Ilha min mams kyi zla ba mtshan mo'i dus su m rna phyed dan mn mo dag gi mjugtu'o I I yan dag ye ses mams (read: mam) fiams dag la tshig ni legs sbyar tha mal dag tu rab tu ' gyur ba ste I I ii dan drag po las te srid pa gsum gyi gnas su skyes bu fiid daiJ. tha mal dag kyaiJ. no II 98

I 'dir nes par mal 'byor goms pa mam pa gsum sans rgyas pa'i dan I Iha min gyi dan I 'byun po'i '0 II de la sans rgyas pa'i mal 'byor ni I ston pa fiid dan sfiin rje'i bdag fiid do II lha min [kla klo mams] gyi ni [bIos kun] btags pa'i chos so II 'byun po yi ni [mu stegs pal mam pa gilis te I

NEWMAN 355

rtag pa'i ilo bo[r 'dod pal dan chad pa'i ilo bo[r 'dod pal '0 II de biin du mal 'byor de goms pa la dga' ba iiid las 1 de iiid gailla yod pa'i mal 'byor pa mam pa gsum mo II de mams las [ye ses skye ba'i dus] iiin mo'icha la sails rgyas pa'i mal 'byor pa mams kyi ye ses skye'o II mtshan mo'i cha la lha min gyi mal 'byor pa mams kyi'o II thun mtshams bii spails pa'i [mtshams bii'i] dus su 'byuil po'i mal 'byor pa mams kyi ye ses .skye'o II 'dir dus kyi cha ni 1 ye ses skye ste 1 rgyal ba mams kyi iii rna fiin mo'i dus su [ye ses skye ba iiin mo'i dus ni I] mtshan mo phyed [nas] dail mtshan mo'i mthar [te tho rails kyi iii rna phyed kyi bar du'o II] Ilha min mams kyi zla ba mtshan mo'i dus su [ye ses skye ste mtshan mo'i dus ni I] iii rna phyed [nas] dail iiin mo dag gi mjug tu [ste nam phyed kyi bar du] '0 II 'byuil po mams kyi yail [rgyud du dilos su] rna brjod pa iiid las thun mtshams spails pa'i dus su'o II 'dir mtshan mo'i phyed dam ·sila dro'i thun mtshams la sails rgyas pa mams kyi ye ses lhag par gnas 'gyur [bas sails rgyas kyail tho rails sails rgyas pa Ita bu'i] ro II fii rna phyed dam nub par gyur pa'i thun mtshams la 1 lha min mams kyi ye ses [skye 'chi cuil zad tsam mthoil ba de] lhag par gnas par 'gyur ro II gian thun bii'i thun mishams la 'byuil po mams kyi ste 1 fiin mo'i cha la ['byunpo mams kyi] rtag pa'i ye ses lhag par gnas sm mtshan mo'i cha la chad pa'i ye ses lhag par gnas so II sails rgyas pa daillha min 'di dag gi grails biin du sails rgyas pa mams kyi yail dag ye ses su 'gyur ro II [sails rgyas pal 'di'i chos dail 'gal ba mam fiams ni 1 lha min mams kyrr (read: kyi) 'gyur ro II yail dag ses (read: ye ses) ni 1 fiin mo'i snail ba biin du tbams cad mthoil ba'o II mam fiams ye ses ni 1 mtshan mo' i snail ba biin du sems can mams kyi 'chi ba dail 'tsho ba cuil zad mthoil ba'o II ji ltar ses ie na 1 de'i phyir gsuils pa 1 chos ston pa['i rtags] las [ses]so ies pa ste 1 'dir yail dag ye ses mam fiams dag la tshig ni legs sbyar tha mal dag tu 'gyur ba ste 1 ies pa ni 1 yail dag ye ses skyes pa [sails rgyas] mams kyis (read: kyi) legs par sbyar ba'i ilag sgra thams cad kyi bdag iiid do II mam· fiams ye ses skyes pa mams kyi tha mal gyi ilag tu 'gyur te 1 ston par byed pa po mams kyi yul gcig gi skad kyi khyad par gyis so II sails rgyas pa mams kyi ye ses ni 1 [thog mtha' bar gsum dge ba ston pas I] sems can thams cad la ['tshe ba med pas I] siiiil rje'i bdag iiid can ii ba'i las ston par byed pa po'o IIlha min mams kyi ye ses ni 1 Sa bza' ba'i slad du dud 'gro'i sems can la gnod pa byed pa drag po'i las [bde sdug gi rgyur] ston par byed pa'o II srid pa gsum gyi gnas su sails rgyas pa mams kyi ye ses ni 1 [bde sdug gi rgyur] skyes bu fiid kyi [rail rail gil las ston par byed do II lha min [kla klo] mams kyi ye ses ni sa la tha mal gyi las [rail gis rna byas pa rgyur] ston par

JIABS 21.2 356

byed do II 'byun po [mu stegs pa] mams kyi ni 1 sa la [de giiis ka] mam par 'dres pa'i las ston par byed do II ye ses ston par byed pa'i nes pa'o II 98 da ni iii rna gun ies pa la sogs pas sails rgyas pa dan lha min dag gi za ba'i dus gsuils te 1

(SK (T) 1.70.4-5)

I iii rna gun dail. rntshan rno phyed nas iiin dail. rntshan rno'i dus su de dag gis (read: gi) ni za ba'i dus I I bza' ba zan dail. ba IaiI. sa ste btun ba rnam mail. bcud ster dag dail. sgo na'i khu ba'o I I gos ni dmar dail. dkar po dag dail. iii rna zla ba'i bgrod pa biin du rntho ris sa 'og gnasl I chos ni 'tshe rned 'tshe ba yail. ste bIa rna'i nes pa'i dbail. gis rdo rje Iha min gdan yail. no II 99

1 [iiin mtshan gyi tshul 'di ni kla klo'i 'dod lugs dail bstun gyi sans rgyas pa'i lugs ni 'di las ldog pa snar gyi biin no II] 'dir iiin iag so so la [yail na de rill] iii rna gun nas brtsams nas [mdail] mtshan mo'i phyed kyi bar du iiin mo [sails rgyas pa'i za ba]'i dus so II [mdail] mtshan mo phyed nas brtsams nas [sail] iii rna gun gi mthar thug pa ni intshan mo'i dus so II iiin mo dail mtshan mo'i dus de la rail ran gi dus kyi phyed phyi rna ni grails biin du sans rgyas pa dail kla klo de dag gi dka' thub pa mams kyi za ba'i dus te 1 khyim pa mams kyi ni [za dus nes pa bstan pa I] rna yin no ies pa ste nes pa' 0 II sans rgyas pa dan lha min dag gi bza' ba dail btun ba yail grails biin du sails rgyas pa mams kyi zan khyad par du , phags pa ste 1 kla klo mams kyi ba lail gi sa dail beas pa' 0 II btun ba ni grail Min du sails rgyas pa mams kyi ['0 rna la sogs pa] mam mail beud ster iim pa ste 1 kla klo mams kyi btun ba ni 1 bya gag [khyim bya] la sogs pa'i sgo na'i khu ba'o II bgo ba ni 1 grails biin du sans rgyas pa mams kyi gos dmar po ste 1 kla klo pa mams kyi ni 1 dkar po' 0 II [de mams kyail] dka' thub pa mams kyi ste 1 khyim pa mams kyi ni nes pa med do II de Min du si ba'i mthar gnas ni 1 grails Min du iii rna zla ba'i bgrod pa biin du ies pa ste 1 iii rna sten du bgrod cin zla ba 'og tu bgrod do II de dag gi bgrod pa biin du [dge ba'i dban gis] mtho ris kyi gnas iii ma'i bgrod pa ni I. sans rgyas la (read: pa) mams kyi ste 1 zla ba'i bgrod pa biin du [mi dge ba'i dbail gis] sa 'og gi gnas ni lha min mams kyi'o II de Min du rtsa ba'i rgyud kyi dbail mdor bstan pa las beom ldan 'das kyis gsuns pa 1 1 [lha mi lha ~in la sogs pa I] Ius ean thams ead si ba na [ste 'ehi ba'i dus su] 1

NEWMAN 357

I zla ba bdud rtsi [byail chub kyi sems 'pho ba'i bag chags goms pa las] 'og tu 'gro I I sten du iii rna rdul ['gro la] [mi ses pa rna rig pa'i bag chags daillhan cig stobs dailldan pa'i grog (read: srog) dail bcas pa'i] sgra gcan I I [mam ses srid'pa'i mtshan iiid do II] mam ses dIios [bha ba dIios po 'di biin legs so II] po'i mtshan iiid [de dge mi dge'i las kyis sprul pa'i skye ba srid pa gian du 'gro ba] do II de biin du chos ni I grails biin du sails rgyas pa mams kyi [sems can mams la] 'tshe ba med pa'o II kIa kIo pa mams kyi ni I 'tshe ba ste I yail yig las 'byun po mamskyi'o II bla ma'i Des pa'i dbail gis sgom pa'i dus dan 'dod pa'i lha la bstod pa'i dus su grails biin du sans rgyas pa mams la rdo rje'i gdan bsnags sin I kIa kIo pa ma~s la [de rna thag ston pa'i] lha min gyi gdan snags so II yail yig las gian ni I thun mon ba ste I de ni mi sgrub cin mi 'gog go II 'dir lha min gyi gdan ni I sa'i nos la pus mo g.yon gyi sten du pus mo g.yas brkyail iin rkail pa['i byin pal g.yon gyi sten du rkan pa['i byin pal g.yas pa'o II yail yig las [rkail pa bsgyur te rkan pa g.yas pal 'og tu ste I rkail pa g.yas pa'i sten du [rkail pa g.yon pal '0 II rkan pa'i mthil du yaill yan yig las rgyab tu dbyi biag pa'o II rdo rje'i gdan la sogs pa ni I 'chad par 'gyur pa las brjod par bya'o II sails rgyas pa daillha min gyi bya ba Des pa' 0 II 99

1.7. Srf Kalacakra 2.158cd and Vimalaprabha 2.7.158cd [VP (S) B 90a4-5; U 1.259.3-4, 11-15. The text of Srf Kalacakra 2.158cd given below is my edition based on the readings in SK (S) V, U, B, T (f. 39b4-5; p. 78.4-5). This is 2.164cd in all three printed editions of the Srf Kalacakra. Verses 2.116-121 in the printed editions are clearly alate interpolation. BANERJEE (SK (S) B p.72) notes that they do not appear in his two best MSS, nor in the Peking, sDe dge, or sNar thang editions' of the Tibetan translation. They are also absent from SK (T). Cf. VP (S) U 1.232-33, note.] idfuiiIp. m1ecchatayin~ matam ucyate kartretyadi I

Srf Kiilacakra 2.l58cd

kartra sr~trup. samastrup. sacaram acarajrup. tiiyinfup. bhuktiheto/;l svargas tasya prato~ad bhavati khalu np).fup. desana rahmaI).a/;l sa 11158 II

iha kartra rahmaI).a sr~tarp. samastarp. sacararp. jangamarp. acararp. sthavararp. vastu tayinam iti m1ecchan~ svetavasin~ bhuktiheto~ I svargas tasya rahmaI).~ prato~at aprato~an narako bhavati khalu nrI).~ desana1 rahmaI).~ sa I pllrvokta2 kriyeti tayin~3 mataniyam~ 11158 II v.I.: 1) U: omit desana. 2) U: piirvokta-. 3) U: tayi-.

JIABS 21.2 358

VP (T) 2.203.2-5 da ni [sog po ra rna I).a (read: rahma I).a) dan] kIa kIo stag gzig mams kyi 'dod pa gsUJ'ls pa I byed po zes pa la sogs pa ste I

SK (T) 1.83.7-84.1)

I byed porgyu dan mi rgyu las skyes mtha' dag bskyed cin stag gzig mams kyi thar pa dag gi rgyu I I de miies pa las nes par mi mams mtho ris su 'gyur de ni ra hma :t)a yi bstan pa' 0

11158

'dir byed po rahma I).as rgyu ba g.yo ba dan mi rgyu ba brtan pa'i dIios po mtha' dag skyed citi stag gzig mams kyi zes pa kIa kIo gos dkar po can mams kyi thar pa dag gi rgyu I [byed pa po] rahma l).aJ:! de mfies pa las lies par mi mams mtho ris dan I rna mfies pa las dmyal bar 'gyur ro zes pa de ni rahmaJ:!'i (read: rahma 1).aJ:!'i) bstan pa ste I bya ba ni [ye ses skye ba la sogs pa'i dus skabs su] sliar brjod pa'o II stag gzig gi 'dod pa lies pa'o II 158

1.8. Vimalaprabhii 2.7.160b, comment on Srf Kiilacakra 2.160b (166b of printed eds.) [VP (S) B 90b4; U 1.260.26-261.1] kin canyad iha kila sriiyate yada vedabhavo bhavati mlecchair veda­dharme ucchadite sati tada (SK 2.160b:) brahma vaktrais caturbhiJ:! prakatayati pura vedasabdena1 carthrup. indraJ:! pasur asld ityiidipatheneti I ato 'rtho 'nyo vedo 'nya iti siddham I

v.I.: 1) B: -sabdena.

VP (T) 2.206.3-5 gzan pa ci 'dir gan gi tshe [dan por rig byed yod kyan] kIa kIo mams kyis rig byed kyi chos [bzi po rgya mtshor bskyur nas] bsgribs par gyur pa na rig byed med par gyur pa de'i tshe [tshans pas dran nas] tshans pa'i gdon bzi dag gis slion gyi rig byed [de slar] sgra dag gis kyan don ni rab tu gsal bar byas te I dban po phyugs su gyur ces pa la sogs [pa rig byed 'don] pa'i kIog gis so zes zer ba thos so II de'i phyir don gzan dan rig byed gzan zes grub bo II

I.9~ Vimalaprabhii 2.7.161, comment on Srf Kiilacakra 2.161 (2.167 of printed eds.) [VP (S) B 90b7-91al; U 1.261.17-21] kin canyad iha brahmamukhat briihmal).a jatiiJ:! kila satyrup. I ataJ:! Pfccha­mi kirp brahmal).yol 'pi tato jatiiJ:!1 yadi syus tada bhaginyo bhavanti ekayonisamutpannatviid iti I evrup. k~atriyadInam api I vivahrup. bhaginya

NEWMAN 359

sardharp. bhavati katharp. I atha bhavati tada mlecchadharmapravrttir bhavati I mlecchadharmapravrttau jatik~ayal). jatik~ayan narakam iti nyaya1;l1

v.l.: 1) U: brabmal).ye.

VP (T) 2.207.5-208.2 I gzan pa ci I 'dir tshans pa'i kha nas bram ze mams skyes pa ni bden par grag go II de'i phyir bdag gis dri bar bya'o II bram ze mo mams kyan [tshans pa'i kha] de las skyes par gyur tam ci I gal te gyur na de'i tshe srin mor 'gyur te I skye gnas gcig las skyes pa fiid kyi phyir ro II de Min du rgyal rigs la sogs pa mams kyan no II de'i phyir srin mo dan Ihan cig bag rna ji ltar byed I ci ste byed na de'i tshe [bram ze mams] kla klo'i chos Ia zugs [par thaI te srin mo bag mar len pas] so II kla klo'i chos la zugs [par 'dod] na rigs fiams [par thaI] te [I kla klo'i chos la zugs pa'i phyir ro] II rigs fiams pa las [bram ze mams] dmyal ba ['gro ba]r 'gyur ro zes pa ni [bram ze'i] rigs pa'o II

1.10. Srf Kalacakra 2.168 (2.174 of printed eds.) and Vimalaprabha 2.7.168 [VP (S) B 93a7-93b1; U I.268.1-11] idanlrp. piirvakarmopabhogavartamanakarmasaficayaprati~edha ucyate jantur1 ityadi I

Sri Kalacakra 2.168

jantuJ.l piirvfu.ri karml1l).y anubhavati lqtany aihikany anyajatya yady eVaIll karmanaso na hi bhavati Il]:I.liiIp. jatijatyantarel).a I smpsaran nirgarnaJ.l syad aparirnitabhavair naiva mok~e pravesaJ.l2 etad vai tayiniiIp. tu prabhavati hi mataIll canyajatiprahIl).arn 11168 II

iha ye~arp. mate3 jantul). piirvakrtani karmal).i bhurp.kte iha janmani krtany anyajatya4 iti yady evarp. tada karmanaso na hi bhavati nrl).arp. jati­jatyantarel).a karmaphalopabhogata iti I evan na samsaran nirgamal). syad aparimitabhavair naiva mok~e pravdo bhavatHi I etad vai tayinarp. pra­bhavati hi matarp. I kintv anyajatiprahIl).am iti tayinarp. mlecchanam matarp. manu~yo mrtal). svarge va narake va 'naya manu~yamiirtya sukham va dul).kham va bhurp.kte rahmal).o niyameneti I ato 'nyajatipra­hIl).am iti niyarilal). II 168 II

v.l.: 1) B: yantur. 2) U: mok~apravesa. 3) U: mataIll. 4) U: anyajatyam.

JIABS 21.2 360

VP (T) 2.223.7-224.4 1 da ni sna ma;i las fie bar Ions spyod pa dan 1 da Itar gyi las gsog pa la dgag pa gsUIis pa 1 skye bo zes pa la sogs pa ste 1

(SK (T) 1.86.1-3)

I skye bo snon gyi las mams fiarris su myon 'gyur 'di la byas pa mams ni skye ba gzanla'o I I gal te de Ita yin na las ni 'jig par mi 'gyur mi mams skye dan skye ba gzan dag gi (read: gis) I I dpag med srid pa dag gis 'khor ba las ni 'byun bar 'gyur dan thar pa 'jug pa medpafiid I I 'di dag stag gzig mams kyan nes par 'dod par 'gyur te gzan pa'i rigs kyis rab tu dman pa'o 11168

'dir gan dag gi 'dod pa las 1 snar byas pa'i las mams [skye ba 'dir] skye bo Ions spyod cm 1 skye ba 'di la [las dge sdig] byas pa mams ni skye ba gzan la'o ies so II gal te de Ita yin na 1 de'i tshe las ni 'jig [pa dan zad] par mi 'gyur te 1 mi mams skye dan skye ba gzan dag gi (read: gis) las kyi 'bras bu fie bar Ions spyod pa'i phyir ro II de Itar na [lam bsgoms kyan] dpag med srid pa dag gis 'khor ba las ni 'byUIi bar 'gyur ba med cin 1 thar par 'jug pa med pa fud du 'gyur ro II 'di dag stag gzig mams kyan nes par 'dod par 'gyur te 1 'on kyan gzan pa'i rigs kyis rab tu dman pa' 0 zes pa la 1 kla klo stag gzig mams kyi 'dod pa ni 1 mi si ba dag 1

mtho ris sam dmyal bar mi'i Ius 'dis bde ba'm sdug bsnallons spyod de 1 [byed pa po] rahma ~a'i [rofies pa dan ma mfies pa] nes pas so zes pa'o 1 de'i phyir gzan pa'i [las byed pa po'i Ius de fud kyis byed par 'dod pa'i] rigs kyis rab tu dman pa'o zes pa ste nes pa'o 11168

1.11. VimaZaprabhii 3.1.3 [VP (S) B 96a6; U 11.6.21-22] raktambara:ql yatha dr~tii1 dve~a:ql gacchanti papinaI:t 1

mlecchadharmarata bauddhas tatha svemmbarapriya II iti 1

v.I.: 1) U: yada dr~tva.

VP (T) 2.244.2-5 [Note: parenthetical insertions are sub annotations] 1 [khyim pa slob dpon du byed pa] gan [gi] tshe gos dmar [gyi dge slon] mthon gyur nal [I sdig can kla klo'i chos (la) dga' mams II (gus pa med cin) ze sdan du 'gyur de yi tshe II sans rgyas pa mams gos dkar dga' 1

(bas de bzun ste rab tu byun ba'i rtags 'jig par 'gyur ro I) 1 'di bzin bsgyur na legs I] 1 ze sdan du 'gyur sans rgyas pa [mams kyan] II sdig can kla klo'i chos la dga' II de tshe dkar po'i gos la mos [te dkar po'i gos bzun bas rtags fiams pas bstan pa fiams dmas par 'gyur ro II] II ies so II

1.12. Vimalaprabhii 3.1.19c (comment on Srf Kiilacakra 3.19c) [VP (S) B 99b7-100a1; U II.18.1-2] daityam iti daityasanarp maraJ).e allkakarakurmapadavad iti daityasanarp.

VP (T) 2.262.1-2 Ilha min ies pa ni Ilha min gyi 'dug stails te 1 [sa'i ilos la Pl,lS mo g.yon gyi steil du pus mo g.yas brkyails iiill rkail pa g.yon gyi steil du rkail pa g.yas pa'o II yail yig las 'og tu ste 1 rkail pa g.yas pa'i steil du'o II rkail pa'i mthil du yail yail yig las rgyab tu dpyi Mag pa'o II ies Mad la sa dhu pu tras Ius bskums te rus sballtar gnas pa'i ies bsad ciil 'dir I] gsad pa la 'thap mo byed pa'i rus sbal gyi stabs Min no ies pa ni Ilha min gyi gdan no 1

1.13. Srf Kiilacakra 3.94ab and Vimalaprabhii 3.4.94ab [VP (S) B 124b4; U II.88.25, 89.2-3] -daityendradharmarp. ... na kuryat daityadharmarp mlecchadharmarp na kuryad iti

SK (T) 1.109.7-110.1 ... lha min dbail po'i chos ... mi bya'o I

VP (T) 2.386.2 ... lha min gyi chos ni I kla klo'i chos de mi bya'o ies pa 1

1.14. Vimalaprabhii 5.3 (comment on Srf Kiilacakra 5.58) [VP (S) B 198b2-6; U III.86.5-17] iha sattva anadikale futhikaJ). devabhUtasuradharmaratalf sarvajfiamarga­na~taJ). caturvarI).aikavarI).asritaJ). svargaphalopabhogabhila~il,lalf kartratma­vadinalf 1 te~arp. sabdavadino devapretadharmasrita Isvaravadinas catma­vadinas ca jativadinas ceti I mleccha 'suradharmasritalf kartrvadino jlva­vadino jativadarahitaJ). 1 e~arp mlecchanam ubhayagrahalf param3.J..lusan­dohagrahalf upapattyailgikapudgalagrahas ceti 1 e~am abhiprayal,l yadi paramal,lusarpdohatmake sarIre antarvarty upapattyailgikapudgalo nasti paramal,lusandohatmake kaye vina~te sati aparakayagrahaJ).arp kalf kari­~yati I tasmad upapadukapudgalo ' sti 1 tena sadhitena svargaphalarp nirval,laphalarpl bhavati svargaphalad apararp nirval,larp nama na syad iti 1 tattvaprcchakale te~arp. svacittabhiprayam abhijfiaya tattvavida bhagava­toktarp atthi puggalo bharavaho l,la l,liccam bhaJ).ami l,lal,liccarp bhal,lamlti

JIABS 21.2 362

I etad eva satyarp. bhagavato vacanat svapnavasthayarp. cittav~sana­pudgalo nanityo na nit yo vaktUrp.2 sakyate I anena tathagatavacanena mlecchadharmarp. tyaktva bauddha vaibha~ika jataI! I punar lokottara­dharmarp. deSyamanarp. srutva bodhisattvanam ilia pudgalagraharp. pari­tyajya ke cit samyaksarp.buddhamargam asrita iti I

v.I.: 1) B adds Q.a; emendation deletes; U: ca. 2) B: nityoktmp.; marginal emendation adds va. .

VP (T) 3.172.4-173.5 I 'dir sems can mams ni I thog rna med pa'i dus nas mu stegs pa Ilha dan 'byuil po dail lha rna yin gyi chos la dga' ba I thams cad mkhyen pa'i lam fiams pa I rigs bii dail rigs gcig la brten pa I mtho ris kyi 'bras bu'i Ioils spyod milon par 'dod pa I byed pa po dail bdag tu srnra ba po mams te I de mams las sgra srnra ba po mams ni Ilha dail yi dwags kyi chos la brten pa mams dan I dbail phyug srnra ba po mams dan I bdag srnra ba po mams dail I rigs srnra ba po mams so II kla klo ni I lha min gyi chos la brten pa mams dail I byed pa por srnra ba po mams dan I srog srnra ba po mams te I rigs smra ba dail bral ba mams so II kla klo 'di mams kyi 'dzin pa gfiis ka ste I rdul phra rab tshogs pa'i 'dzin pa dan I skye ba'i cha sas can gyi gail zag gi 'dzin pa' 0 II 'di mams kyi bsam pa ni I gal te rdul phra rab tshogs pa'i bdag fiid can gyi Ius la nail du 'jug pa po skye ba'i cha sas can gyi gail zag med na I rdul phra rab tshogs pa'i bdag fiid kyi Ius mam par fiams pa'i rjes la Ius gian su yis 'dzin par byed par 'gyur I de'i phyir rdzus te byuil ba'i gail zag yod do II de yis bsgrubs pas mtho ris kyi 'bras bu ni I my a ilan las 'das pa'i 'bras bur 'gyur te I mtho ris kyi 'bras bu las gian my a ilan las 'das pa ies bya ba med do ies pa ste I de khQ na fiid 'dri ba'i dus su de mams kyi rail gi sems kyi bsam pa milon par mkhyen nas I de ko na fiid srnra ba po bcom ldan 'das kyis gsuils pa I [khur khur ba'i mdo las] khur khur ba'i gail zag yod de I rtag padail mi rtag par bdag mi smra'o II ies pa'o II de fud bden te I bcom ldan 'das kyis gsuils pa'i phyir ro II rrni lam gyi gnas skabs su sems kyi bag chags kyi gan zag ni I rtag pa dari mi rtag par brjod par mi nus so II de biin gsegs pa'i gsuri 'di yis kla klo'i chos spans nas saris rgyas pa'i bye brag tu smra ba mams byuil bar gyur to II de nas byari chub sems dpa' mams la 'jig rten las 'das pa'i chos bstan pa thos nas I 'dir gail zag tu 'dzin pa yoils su sparis nas 'ga' iig yan dag par rdzogs pa'i saris rgyas kyi lam Ia brten to II

NEWMAN 363

1.15. Vimalaprabhii 5.3 [VP (S) B 203b7; U III.96.26-29] punar yugavasane rnlecchanam atyantadharmarp. dr~!va sailavan niQ.­kampo bhUtva paramasvasamadhina 'nantan pararnasvan spharayitva tair nilecchanarp. cittani dravayitva svadharme sthapayi~yati I te~arp. dharrnot­pa!anarp. kari~yati na pral).atyagarp. I

VP (T) 3.200.5-7 I slar yan dus bzi'i rnthar kla klo mams kyi sin tu chos rna yin pa gzigs nas ri bo Min du 'dar ba rned par 'gyur te I rta rnchog gi tin ne 'dzin gyis rta rnchog rntha'yas pa spros nas I de mams kyis kla klo mams kyi serns zurn par byas te I ran gi chos la 'god par 'gyur zin de marns kyi chos 'jorns par 'gyur gyi I srog gton ba ni rna yin no I

II. Srf-Kiilacakra-tantrottara-Tantrahrdaya-niima [D bKa' 'gyur rGyud 'bum KA; P bKa' 'gyur rGyud KA. I mostly follow the readings in P because D appears to have been polished.]

11.1. [D 137a5; P 150a2] ... sa yi dam tshig can gyi stag gzig ...

11.2. [D 137b4; P 150a8-150bl] ... gzan yan rna dhu rna ti srin po'i bdan po 'byun I

11.3. [D 138b7; P I52a5] ... rna khar yan ni spun zla'i bu rno ran gi bus (bag mar len) I

11.4. [D 141b3-6; P 155a2-6] I sans rgyas mams dan 'jigs byed skyes pa bud rned gdens can mams kyi bstan pa lha rten gan I I g.yul du zugs pa'i stag gzig mams kyi rta yi tshogs kyis de marns rna Ius 'jig par byed I I de mains rigs gcig gzan gyi nor mi len cin bden par srnra dan gtsan spra rab tu 'jug I I gzon nu gzan gyi chun rna spon zin dka' thub nes pa dan Idan ran gi chun rna bsten I I khrus byas gan zig 'dod pa'i sgra gcan rntshan rno so so'i dus su fun gun phyed yol dan I I srod dan thun gsurn dag dan fii rna ri la sar bar gyur nas Ian mal phyag byed cm I

nABS 21.2 364

1 sa steils2 1ha yu1 dag tu stag gzig mu stegs dag 1a mun can dbail pos gcig tu skyob I' . 1 drag po'i g.yu1 ilor pha 1tar skyob par byed ciil bu dail br~ biin 'gyur 1a rgyal po ni 1

1 rgyal rigs 'thab mo min pas3 gfi,is skyes phyugs kyi sa yis 'jigs byed las sogs4 mchod nas su 1 .

1 sna tshogs sems can gnod pa byed cm gian gyi nor 'phrog pa yis gduil rgyud 'chad pa 'byuil 1

v.l.: 1) D: mar. 2) D: steil. 3) D: mun pas. 4) D: la sogs.

n.s. [D 142a3; P 155b3] 1 fii rna gail du tshails pa'i sa bon fie bar 'jigs par 'gyur ba des na dus phyi mar 1

1 sa gii sky oil ba mchod na 'dir ni g.yul ilor kIa kIo dail ni mu stegs 'jigs! par gyur 1

v.I.: 1) P: 'jig.

n.6. [D 142a5-143bl; P 155b6-156al] 1 phyi nas sa steil son pa'i gnas dail im gi Iha khail! drug bcu2 rtsa brgyad kIa kIo yi 1

1 mgon po rna dhu rna ti bu dail bu mo spun zla skyes pa mams kyis 'jig parbyed 1

1 der ni bcwa brgyad3 lola brgya yis brgya 1a bsgyur bas rna kha las sogs4 'phags pa'i yull 1 kIa kIo mams dail 1ha gail mun can iii mar rtogs pa gail de ila yis bdag parbya 1

1 sails rgyas chos dail dge 'dun mams 1a skyabs gsum cho gas skye dgu mams ni der biag nas 1

1 bde la5 bkod de ka Hi pa nas lha gnas dga' 1dan mchog tu iii rna 'gro barbya 1

1 nam mkha' mkha' dail dus daIi dbaIi po mig gis dus kyi dus son pa yi6 10 yi tshad 1

1 slar yail skye bo mams ni kIakIo 'jug ste ji srid bcwa brgyad lola bsgyur dail bcas pa'i bar 1

1 yail nas yail du ila yis rtsod pa'i dus der byuil nas de mams giig par bya ba iiid 1

v.I.: 1) D: lha gaIi. D: drug eu. 3) D: beo brgyad. 4) D: la sogs. 5) P: bde ba. 6) D: dus su son pa'i.

NEWMAN 365

11.7. [D 144a5; P 157b7-8] 000 stag gzig mams 000 bdag gis bsten 1

In. Svadarsanamatodde§a [P gives the Sanskrit title of this text as Pra­dar§anumatodde§aparfk~ii-niimao I follow the form given by Naro in his Paramiirthasarrzgraha-niima-sekodde§arrkii (po 61.7). The text appears in P bsTan 'gyur rGyud 'grel PU, but not in D.]

111.1. [P 35b6-7] 1 ** bzun bya 'dzin pa dail 1

1 gsad bya dan ni gsod po dan 1

1 bi si bi lla'i snags ched du 1

1 khyab 'jug 'jigs byed skyob [*phyir] ro 1

111.2. [P 50a2-3] 1 gans ri'i byail du sa skyons mams 1

1 bod sogs mams su ba lail za 1

1 nub tu kla klo'i rgyal po mams 1

1 ba lail gills skyes mams kyan gsod 1

IV. Srf-Paramiirthasevii [D bsTan 'gyur rGyud NA; P bsTan 'gyur rGyud 'grel GA]

IV.l. [D 13b6-7; P 16b7-17a1] 1 tshails pa'i kha fiid las skyes bram ze grags pa na 1

.1 bram ze mo yan gnas de fiid las yin nam ci 1

1 gal te 'di dag skye gnas gcig las skyes gyur na 1

1 min po dan ni srin mo bag mar rigs rna yin 1 (1) 1 gal te yin na kla klo'i skye bo 'jug par 'gyur 1

1 kla klo 'jug par gyur na rigs ni fiams pas te 1

I rigs zad na ni dmyal bar sdug bsnal mi bzad pa 1

1 ran gi rigs ni 'dzin phyir de dag la 'gyur ro 1 (2)

IV.2. [D 17b7-18a2; P 22a6-8] 1 gian mams kyis kyail mtho ris bde ba'i rgyu III ni 1

1 ran gi lin ga'il rtse mo'i pags pa2 gcod par byed I

1 fiin mo'i mtha' dan mtshan mo'i sten du bza' ba ni I

1 nes par stag gzig3 mams kyis byed par 'gyur ba'o I (1)

JIABS 21.2 366

I rail gi las kyis si bar gyur pa'i phyugs mams kyi4 I I de yi sa ni fie bar spyod par mi byed do I I srog bead rab tu byas nas de fiid za byed de I I gian du na ni mi mams mtho ris ' gro ba med I (2)

v.l.: 1) P: linga'i. 2) P: lags pa. 3) P: stag gzir. 4) P&D: kyis.

NEWMAN 367

References & abbreviations

Primary Sources in Sanskrit and Tibetan

D sDe dge bKa' 'gyur and bsTan 'gyur. Delhi: Delhi Karmapae Chodhey 1980 ff.

Mahabharata Vishnu S. Sukthankar, ed. The Mahiibhiirata, Volume 4. Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute 1942.

Manusmrti Manusukharaya Mora, ed. Manusmrti. GurumaQ.«;lalagranthamala 24. Hava«;lii: Udayacala Press 1967.

P Daisetz T. Suzuki, ed. The Tibetan Tripitaka: Peking Edition. Tokyo­Kyoto: Tibetan Tripitaka Research Institute 1955 ff.

Padma dkar po 1575: Chos 'byung bstan pa'i padma rgyas pa'i nyin byed. In Collected Works (gSun-'bum) of Kun-mkhyen Padma-dkar-po vol. 2. Pp. 1-619. Darjeeling: Kargyud Sungrab Nyamso Khang 1973.

dPa' bo gTsug lag phreng ba 1545: rDo tje rgyal po, ed. Chos 'byung mkhas pa'i dga' ston, 2 vols. Beijing: Mi rigs dpe skrun khang 1986.

ParamiirthasalJ1.graha: Mario E. Carelli, ed. Sekoddesa!fkii of Nacj.apiida (Niiropii).

SekoddeSa

SK (S) B

SK (S) T

SK (S) V

SK (T)

VP (S) B

Gaekwad's Oriental Series no. 90. Baroda: Oriental Institute 1941.

Giacomella Orofino, ed. SekoddeSa: A Critical Edition of the Tibetan Translations with an Appendix by Raniero Gnoli on the Sanskrit Text. Serie Orientale Roma LXXII. Rome: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente 1994.

Biswanath Banerjee, ed. A Critical Edition of Srr Kiilacakratantra­raja (CoUated with the Tibetan Version). Calcutta: The Asiatic Society 1985.

Lokesh Chandra, ed. Sanskrit Manuscripts from Tibet (Facsimile Edition of the Kalacakra-tantra and of an Unidentified Palrnleaf Manu­script, both from Narthang Monastery). Sata-pitaka Series vol. 8l. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture 1971. [MS is palrnleaf; old Bengali script; dated parinirvaQ.a 1808 and Saka 1186 = 1263/64 CE.]

Raghu Vira and Lokesh Chandra, ed. Kiilacakra-tantra and Other Texts, Part 1. Sata-pitaka Series vol. 69. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture 1966.

Lokesh Chandra, ed. The Collected Works of Bu-ston, Part 1 (KA). Pp. 1-299. Sata-pitakaSeries vol. 41. New Delhi: International Acade­my ofIndian Culture 1965.

Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta, MS no. G.10766. [Palrnleaf; old Bengali script; dated 39th regnal year of Harivarmadeva of Bengal (reigned ca. 11th-12th centuries CE).]

JIABS 21.2 368

VP (S) U (1) Jagannatha Upadhyaya, ed. Vimalaprabhii!fkti of Kalki Srf PU1J.rja­rfka on Srf Laghukalacakratantrartija by Srf Maiijusrfyasa '[Vol. 1]. Bibliotheca lndo-Tibetica no. XI. Sarnath: Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies 1986.

VP (T)

(2) Vrajavailabh Dwivedi and S.S. Bahulkar, ed. Vimalaprabhii!fkii of Kalkin Srfpu1J.rjarfka on Srflaghukiilacakratantrariija by Srfmaiijusrf­yasas [Vol. II]. Rare Buddhist Texts Series 12. Sarnath: Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies 1994. (3) Vrajavallabh Dwivedi and S.S. Bahulkar, ed. Vimalaprabhii!fkii of Kalkin Srfpu1J.rjarlka on Srflaghukiilacakratantrartija by Srfmaiijusrf­yasas [Vol. III]. Rare Buddhist Texts Series 13. Sarnath: Central Institute Higher Tibetan Studies 1994.

Lokesh Chandra, ed. The Collected Works of Bu-ston, Part 1 (KA), Part 2 (KHA), Part 3 (GA). Sata-pitaka Series vol. 41-43. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture 1965.

Yiijiiavalkyasmrti: T. Ganapati Sastri, ed. The Yiijiiavalkyasmrti with the Commentary Biilakrfda of Visvarupiicharya. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers 1982.

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al-Hamdani, Abbas H. 1956: The Beginnings of the Ismii'flf Da 'wa in Northern India (Now Pakistan). Cairo: Dar AI Maaref.

Apte, Vaman Shivaram 1986: The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Kyoto: Rinsen Book Company reprint.

Daftary, Farhard 1990: The Ismti'flfs: Their History and Doctrines. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

deJong,J.W. 1974: "Notes on the Bhik~uI;1I-Vinaya of the Mahasi1Ip.gikas". In Buddhist Studies in Honour of I.B. Homer. Dordrecht.

1990: "Buddhism and the Equality of the Four Castes". In Earliest Buddhism and Madhyamaka, ed. David Seyfort Ruegg and Lambert Schmithausen. P. 58. Panels of the VIIth World Sanskrit Conference vol. II. Leiden: EJ. Brill.

Doniger, Wendy 1991: The Laws of Manu. Hannondsworth: Penguin Books.

Edgerton, Franklin 1972: Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Dictionary. Delhi: Motilal Banarsi­dass reprint.

Ell M. Th. Houtsma et al., ed. The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Leiden: E.I. Brill 1913-38.

EI H.A.R. Gibb et aI., ed. The Encyclopaedia of Islam: New Edition. Leiden: E.I. Brill 1960 ff.

Eimer, Helmut 1979: rNam thar rgyas pa: Materialien zu einer Biographie des Atisa (Dfpaf(!karasrfjfiiina), 2 vols. Asiatische Forschungen 84. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.

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Ernst, Cad W. 1992: Eternal Garden: Mysticism, History, and Politics at a South Asian Sufi Center. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Ganguly, D.C. 1979: "Ghaznavid Invasion". In The History and Culture of the Indian People, Volume V, The Struggle for Empire, ed. R.C. Majumd~. ~p.1-23. Bombay: Bharatiya VidyaBhavan.

Gimaret, Daniel 1969: "Bouddha et les bouddhistes dans la tradition musulmane", Journal Asiatique 257: 274-316.

Gnoli, Raniero and Giacomella Orofino 1994: Niiropii: Iniziazione Kiilacakra. Biblio­teca Orientale 1. Milan: Adelphi Edizioni.

Gronbold, Giinter 1992: "Heterodoxe Lehren und ihre Widedegung im KaJ.acakra­tantra", Indo-Iranian Journal 35: 273-97.

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1969: "Kiilacakra Studies I: Manichaeism, Christianity, and Islam in the Kiilacakra Tantra", Central Asiatic Joumal13: 52-73. "KaJ.acakra Studies I: Addenda et Corrigenda", Central Asiatic Journal 15 (1971-72) 298-301.

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Wylie, Turrell V. 1982: "Dating the Death of Naropa". In Indological and Buddhist Studies in Honor of l. W. de long, ed. L.A. Hercus et al .. pp. 687-92. Canberra: Faculty of Asian Studies of the Australian National Univer­sity].

MAXNIHOM

Vajravinaya and VajrasauIJ<;la: A 'Ghost' Goddess and her Syncretic Spouse

In Marie-Therese DE MALLMAN's Introduction a l'Iconographie du Tantrisme Bouddhique (1975), on page 431 one finds the entry Vajra­vinayii:

De vinaya, separer, rejeter. Deesse figurant parmi les divinites hindoues du MaI,lqaIa Durgatiparisodhana (NSP 22). Epouse de Vajrasau~<;la (i.e. Balarama), elle est pareille 11 lui; cependant, elle peut tenir de la gauche Ie kha,tvanga au lieu du soc.

The requisite passage in Abhayakaragupta's Ni~panniiyogiivall (p.89) indeed reads:

kuftjare vajrasau,!g.a/:l sita/:l savye vajrarrz vamena zanga lam / vajravinaya vajrasau'!4avat / vamena khatvaizgarrz bibhartiti vise~a/:l / VajraSaul).q.a, white, on an elephant, has in his right hand a vajra [and] in his left hand a plough. Vajravinaya is like Vajrasau~q.a. With her left hand she holds a khatvanga. Such is [her] particularity.

Similarly, in SKORUPSKI's edition of the Sarvadurgatiparisodhana­tantra, recension B, at 252.6-10 we find:

vajrasau'!g.o ga,!apatir gajavahano dak~irLakare,!a vajraf!l dhiirayed vamena laf!lgalaf!l dhiirayed avasthitaf:t / sitavar1}af:t / vajravinaya VajrasauIJ-rJavad ayan tu vi§e~o yad uta vamakareIJ-a kha.tviingadhiiriIJ-fti /

Here, the Tibetan translation reads:

rdo rje tshogs bdag glan sna glan po che ion pa can / phyag g.yas pas rdo rje 'dzin cin/ g.yon pas gsol 'dzin cin gnas pas /mdog dkar po'o/ rdo rje 'dul ma rdo rje glan sna Zta bu' 0/ 'di ni khyad par te gan ie na / phyag g.yon gyis kha.tvanga 'dzin pa'o /

Save that glan po che ion pa can implies *mahiigajaviihana, the Tibetan seems in accordance with the Sanskrit as printed. For gajaviihano manu­script Breads gajiiviihako and for dhiirayed manuscript G reads dharaft. These discrepancies are minor. Of more interest is that for vajravinayii, well represented by Tibetan rdo rje 'dul rna, no less than four manu­scripts (of seven), namely A, B, C and G, read vajravilayii.

Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Volume 21. Number 2.1998

JIABS 21.2 374

Obviously, given the SUppOlt of the Ni~panniiyogiivalf and the 'Tibetan of Sarvadurgatipari.§odhana~B, such would not seem to be a problem. However, although in the Ni~panniiyogiivalfthe set of gQds of which VajrasauI).Q.a and Vajravinaya are a part are found in the outer circle of the maI).Q.ala, and although SKORUPSKI, who indeed noted the almost total identity of the divinities cif the former with the set found in SDP­B, also suggests that these gods are found "beginning in the northeast" of the SarvadurgatiparisodhanamaI).Q.ala (1983: 87-91), in fact this set of gods is practically identical to the set described in the Vajrasamaya section of the Tattvasa1J1graha for the TrailokyavijayamaI).Q.ala (Tattva­sa1J1graha 172-173), where they are each the vajraniima or consecration name of an associated Hindu divinity. Tattvasa1J1graha 172.13 (Tib. 242a2/3) and 173.13 (Tib. 242b2/3):

madhumattiiya VajrasawyjaJ:t sbrari rtsis myos pa ni rdo rje'i glari po'i sna'ol

miiralJyai vajravilayii bsod ma ni rdo rje 'ju ma'o

We therefore have a 'problem'. Four of the seven manuscripts of Sarva­durgatiparisodhana-B confirm the reading of the Tattvasa1J1graha, that the spouse of VajrasauI).Q.a is not Vajravinaya, but Vajravilaya. More­over, vilayii makes more sense, since the Hindu goddess is MaraI).I, She Who Causes Death. Since, paleographically, an erroneous reading vinayii for vilayii is no problem at all, we may propose that the 'true' reading is vilayii, and that Tibetan SDP-B had as basis a faulty Sanskrit reading.

It may consequently be formally proposed that Vajravinaya, whatever her subsequent textual or art-historical development may be, is a divinity whose origin is an orthographic error.

This simple reasoning is nicely supported by Anandagarbha's Trai­lokyavijayamalJrjalopiiyikii's parallel to the SDP-B passage cited above. Indeed, the entire SDP-B section dealing with these divinites also found as reported by the Ni~pannayogiivalfin the exterior of the Sarvadurgati­parisodhanamaI).Q.ala is to be retrieved in the former text.2 45a8/b 1:

1. Compare Trailokyavijayamahiikalpariijii 64b6: chari gis myos pa ni rdo rjes zin pa' o. rdo rjes is clearly an error and may be corrected to rdo rje s[na].

2. Text-historical consequences may not be insignificant, since the Trailokyavijaya­malJ¢alopiiyikii also furnishes the set of mantras associated with the divinities of the TrilokacakramaJ.lqala of the Tattvasal"{lgraha in close propinquity to this passage which it shares with Sarvadurgatiparisodhana-B.

NIHOM 375

rdorje glan po 'i sna ni tshogs kyi bdag po ste I mdog dkar po I lag pa g.yas na rdo rje thogs pa I g.yon gsol thogs te gnas pa glan po che la ion pa' 0 II rdo rje 'ju rna ni glan sna dan 'dra ba las khyad par ni 'di yod de I 'di itar lag pa g.yon na kha.tviinga thogs pa'o II

Being found here and in the Tibetan of TattvasaYflgraha 173.13 above, the translation rdo rje 'ju ma, with 'ju ba meaning "to melt, digest"3 and with 'ju ba attested as representing vilfna,4 now irrefutably may be taken to be a reflex for vajravilayii.

Ancillary evidence for this conclusion is supplied by the parallel passage of the Vajrasekharatantra (peking 46a1): gsod byed rdo rje 'jigs ma ste II. Here, 'jigs ma should not be taken as representing bhlmii, bhairavf or the like, but as from a non-standard perfect of 'jig pa, 'to destroy, dissolve'.5 Further, we may adduce the mantra associated with

. Vajravilaya in the sarvavajrakulakarmamaJ).<;lala of the Trilokacakra in the TattvasaYflgraha (303.6-8):

atha vajravilayii svakarmasamayiim abhii~at I Ol'(! vajravi[laye6 chinda sina bhinda va]jri!'li miidayonmadaya piva piva hal'(! pha!11

The portion between brackets has been supplied by YAMADA on the basis of the Chinese and Tibetan. That it is correct to do so is proven by TrailokyavijayamalJrJ.alopiiyikii 44b5:

Ol'(! vajravilaye chinda asina bhinda vajre!'la maraya udmadaya piva priva hal'(! pha!11

I am unable to understand the readings sina and asina as Sanskrit (Chinese reconstructs to chindii sinii7), although perhaps sina is a Middle lndic imperative corresponding to the Sanskrit root snii, 'bathe'. TS vajrilJi, taken as afeminine vocative, may be better than vajrelJa, since the set of mantras of which this is one is partial to vocatives. While it is obvious that the mantra should read unmadaya, because Tibetan TS reads miiraya u[n]madaya and because the TattvasaYflgraha has identi­fied MaraI).l as Vajravilaya, it is not unlikely that one should read miiraya instead of miidaya or maraya, because the Trailokyavijaya-

3. JASCHKE 177.

4. LOKESH CHANDRA 1976: 810.

5. Cf. JASCHKE 175. The usual perfect is biig.

6. Tibetan TS (253d6) adds me.

7. YAMADA 1981: 303 note 7.

JIABS 21.2 376

malJ-r.Jalopiiyikii, in its list of consecration names associated with the Hindu divinities of the TrailokyavijayamaIJ.~ala states (64c5): gsod ma ni rdo rje gsod ma' 0 / "Marar.u is VajramaraIJ.1". ,

In the light of the data presented so far, it is more difficult to account for unmadaya. True, given the imperatives piva piva8, "drink! drink!", this statement seems insignificant.9 Yet acknowledgement of the impor­tance of intoxication for Vajravilaya presumes that her symbolism is to be regarded as structurally admixed with that of her spouse, Vajra­saul!~a, and this is a notion which, although certainly not unlikely, remains to be proved, since it would have consequences for our under­standing of all sixteen pairs of divinities of the Trailokyavijaya, Triloka­cakra and SarvadurgatiparisodhanamaIJ.~alas.

To this end, we may first cite Tattvasal[lgraha 284.8-9, which presents the mantra of Vajrasaul!~a in the sarvakulavajramaIJ.~ala of the Triloka­cakra:

atha VajrasaU1:u;laJ:t I a svasamayamudro.m abho.~at / Ol'(! vajramade I I hill'(! 1112

Then Vajrasau.Q.<;ia declared his own Pledge-Mudra: Ol'(! 0 (female) Vajra­Intoxication! hill'(!.

As male, Vajramada is found in the samayahrdaya of Vajrasaul!~a in the Trilokacakra mahiimalJ-r.Jala description at Tattvasal[lgraha 271.11: 0 l[l vajramada hUl[lI3. This name is also supported by Vajrasekharatantra 45e4: myos chen rdo rje myos pa ste, "Mahamada is Vajramada".I4

Curiously, the Tibetan (252c3) for Tattvasal[lgraha 271.11 reads: Ol[l vajradhama hUl[l. This dhama is definitely not an error: TS 294.6 has Ol[l mada mada hUl[l phar, for which the Tibetan (253a4/5) is Ol[l dhama dhama hUl[l phat. The word dhama is interesting: the root" dham may

8. priva of the Trailokyavijayamm:zrjalopiiyikii is an error.

9. See also Vajravilaya's svah[daya at Trailokyavijayamahiikalparo.jo. 77b8: Ol'(! khargamarini hill'(!. For marini, I suggest mo.rilJi, 'she destroying' . kharga is more difficult. Given kharjiko., "a relish that provokes drinking" (MONIER­WILLIAMS 1899: 337), might one conjecture kharja? kharjamo.rilJi would then be a vocative: 0 She destroying the itch to drink!

10. "Chinese inserts galJapatiJ:t" (YAMADA 1981: 284 note 4).

11. The Chinese suggests vajrasaUlJrje (YAMADA 1981: 284 note 5).

12. TS Tibetan 252c3/4: de nas rdo rje snas ran gi dam tshig phyag rgya smras pa I Ol'(! vajramede hill'(!.

13. Chinese hiii'(!. 14. See also Tattvasal'(!graha 279.9: madanfmadanftfvral'(!.

NIHOM 377

mean 'to blow a conch shell or any wind instrument, blow into, exhale, kindle a fire by blowing' (MW 509). As noun, it also means 'blowing, melting', but is also said of Kr~Ifa (ibid.).

VajrasauIJr;fa is most easily taken as meaning 'Vajra-Intoxication' (sauIJr;fa: 'fond of intoxicating liquor, drunk, intoxicated'). Although in accordance with mada, this hardly fits with the Tibetan translation glan sna, glan po'i sna or the like. These suggest that sauIJr;fa be taken as from su'!-r;fa, 'elephant-trunk', and imply a translation of 'Vajra­Elephant-Trunk'. From here, the trumpeting of an elephant could be seen to be implied by the imperatives dhama and dhama dhama in the mantras above, the more since dhamadhamii (ind.) means 'blowing repeatedly or the sort of sound made by blowing with a bellows or trumpet' (MW 509).

Such an association for VajrasauIfc;la with elephants is further support­ed by Anandagarbha's TrailokyavijayamalJr;falopiiyikii. There (39b7/8), parallel to the passages of the Tattvasa1!lgraha and Trailokyavijayamahii­kalpariijii identifying Hindu divinities with Buddhist ones, we find for MaraI).1/ Vajravilaya:

gsod rna ni gtso rna rda rje 'dzurn rna 'a II Mara¢" is the mistress Vajranguli.

This is at first obscure: 'Vajra-Finger' seems totally irrelevant. Never­theless, anguli also means "finger-like tip of an elephant's trunk" (MW 8). This word has been previously attested only lexicographically and in NilakaIftha's Miitangallla iii.U 5 Hence, analogous to the locution unmadaya in Vajravilaya's mantra above, we may use the presence of a particular association of the god (VajrasauIfc;la) to motivate the existence of aspects of his consort.

Now in fact understanding how, if not why, VajrasauIfc;la was under­stood to include references to both elephants and to intoxication is not very difficult. His 'Hindu' name, Madhumatta, could be understood as 'he (a furious elephant) drunk with liquor' or 'he (an elephant) intoxi­cated by the Spring (i.e. in rut)'. As such, that such an elephant would 'trumpet' or 'blow' (cf. dhama) with his trunk (sauIJr;fa, glan sna) is quite acceptable.

In any case, the connection of VajrasauIfc;la with elephants is also furnished by Trailokyavijayamahiikalpariija 77a2:

15. Cf. EDGERTON 1931: 58, 114.

JIABS 21.2 378

Of[l mahabalaka mahiiganade piva piva ruhrira sarvaduoJ!anana pha!

Most of these orthographic monstrosities are easy enough to correct. ruhrira may be corrected to rudhira1[l and sarvadu§tanii to sarvadu§tii­nii1[l, while mahiiganade should clearly be mahiiga1}apate.16 This leaves mahiibiiliika. Reading maMbiilaka, the immediate meaning is 'a great young one'. This is in context seemingly senseless, save that one recalls that Vajragarbha, the more 'orthodox' name for Vajrasaul).<;la, is the prime vajrabodhisattva associated with consecration. As such mahii­biilaka could be seen to refer to the tantric candidate. However, perhaps more to the point is another meaning furnished by the dictionary for biilaka: 'a young elephant five years old'.17 This meaning of a young bull elephant fits very well with the other aspects signified by mada, matta, and dhama, namely, the characteristic of impetuousity.

Of[l 0 great young bull elephant! Great Lord of Hosts! Drink! Drink the blood of all the evil ones! pha!

Yet this is not the end of the matter. Above we noted that another use of dhama is as a name of Kr~l).a. This again seems irrelevant: till, that is, one adduces the parallel to the passages equating the Hindu and Buddhist names from the Trailokyavijayama1}r;lalopiiyikii (38b3):

stobs bzwi ni tshogs kyi bdag po rdo rje glwi po'i sna'o II

MALLMAN deems Vajrasaul).<;la to be called Balabhadra, who is the elder brother of Kr~l).a (1975: 114). Indeed, Balabhadra, who is also known as Balarama, is found outside of the fourth circle of the Dharmadhatuvag­Isvaramal).<;lala (Ni§panniiyogiivalf no. 21) and is held in the skull in the fifth left hand of Visva<;laka in the northern circle of the Panca<;laka­mal).<;lala (Ni§panniiyogiivalf no. 24). Since stobs bzan is recorded as representing balabhadra,18 it follows that stobs bZaJi should also be so reconstructed. However, stobs bzan may also represent liingalin (ibid.), which is another name for Baladeva (MW 900) who is indeed the elder brother of Kr~l).a and whose distinctive iconographic attribute is the plough (Ziingala, hala. MALLMAN 1963: 270).

16. See also Tattvasaf[lgraha 263.2-5: atha vajrasaU1:ujo galJ-apatir bhagavate vajrapalJ-aye idaf[l hrdayan niryiitayati sma I Of[l vajrasauwja mahiigalJ-apati rakoJa sarvaduoJ{ebhyo vajradhariijfiiif[l palaya hUf[l pha! II

17. Cf. MW 729. However, in the Miitafzgalrla (v.2), Mla refers to "an elephant in the first year" (EDGERTON 1931: 121).

18. LOKESH CHANDRA 1976: 986; 1992-94: 805.

NIHOM 379

Now above we noted that MONIER-WILLIAMS records that dhama is said of Kr~I).a, but unfortunately no text locus is supplied. Nor is one found in the Petersburg Worterbuch: Assuming that dhama and/or dhama dhama. in the mantras cited above may be taken both as a name and as imperatives, the resultant discrepancy between the identification of VajrasauI).~a as Balabhadra/Langalin and as Kr~I).a is at first puzzling. On the other hand, evidence from Indian art exists of a syncretism between Vasudeva Kr~I).a and Balarama (MALLMAN 1968: 48 and note 49). Moreover, as MALLMAN has noted on several occasions, the elephant, here the mount of VajrasauI).~a, is in fact connected with Kr~I).a and not with Balabhadra (ibid.; 1964: 177; 1975: 114-115).

Therefore, we may conclude that the figure of V ajrasauI).~a is probably another example of such a syncretism. It is worth noting that the name Baladeva occurs only once in the Tattvasaf!Lgraha and that in the epithet baladevarak~i1!-i in the mantra of Vajrasana (TS 303.9-14),19 the consort of Vajramala whom MALLMAN (1964: 177) associates with Vasudeva (i.e. Kr~I).a). Moreover, since VajrasauI).~a (Madhumatta) is the first and Vajramala (Madhukara) the second of the four vajrabodhisattva in the South of the TrailokyavijayamaI).~ala, their positions may reflect the elder/younger brother relationship of Balarama and Kr~I).a.20 That the names Madhumatta and Madhukara are also similar is not likely to be chance. If not, then that the "maker of madhu" is Kr~I).a and the consumer is Baladeva (Balarama, Balabhadra) is also an interesting observation of the Tattvasaf!Lgraha on the relationship between these two brothers.21

The afore going provides the student both with interesting conclusions on the nature of the yogatantras and with troubling questions as the proper

19. TS 303.10-14: atha vajrasana svakarmasamayam abha~at I oY(t vajrasane bha [k,saya sarvadu~!an vajradasani saktidhari]lJ-i manu~a mansahare nararucira subhapriye majjavasanulepanaviliptagatre anaya sarvadhanadhanyahiralJ-ya­suva[rlJ-adini sal'{tkramaya baladevarak~i]lJ-i hiil'{t phat II

20. Note that VajraSaUi:).ga is white in colour and that Balarama is also said "of a white hair of Vi~I).u" (SORENSEN 1904: 107).

21. It also brings up the question of whether madhukara is a kind of pun on Kr~I).a' s famous epithet madhusiidana. Concern with the elder/younger brother relation­ship is found elsewhere, in particular vis it vis Skanda and GaI).esa (cf. SANFORD 1991: 297).

JIABS 21.2 380

methodology towards their study. Let us take on the aspect 9f doubt first.

We may be accused of an all too flippant use or misuse of philological methods. Thus, for example, we have postulated that the word dhama within a mantra may be seen both as an imperative verb and as a noun in the vocative. That is, not only have we insisted on the multi-interpreta­bility of words, but have also suggested that such a polyvalence extends to grammatical categories. This is, to my knowledge, not usual.

Nevertheless, one may hypothesize that in the yogatantras the multi­interpretability of names and mantras are precisely the salient feature. That is, these §le§a - if one may call them so - are what distinguishes tantric from non-tantric ritualizations. Indeed, I should like to go further. I suggest that the subsequent semantic 'overload' was intended by the writers of these texts. Perhaps, the idea is that by weighing the disciple down with ultimately unwieldly and unbearable masses of culturally determined meaning, the notion might arise that the meaning of words and acts is in truth disjoined from imposed externalities and resides solely in the mind of the disciple himself.

If this ratiocination has merit, it then follows that the academic student of these texts must search for the ambiguities in them, even while distinguishing between text developments external to the 'system' (e.g. vinaya as orthographic error for vilaya) and intended ambiguities as such. Clearly, this is in practise difficult, and may explain why so little progress has been achieved in our understanding of the particulars of these fascinating and recalcitrant texts.

NIHOM 381

Bibliography & Abbreviations

Eqgerton 1931: Franklin Edgerton, The Elephant Lore of the Hindus, New Haven i931.

Jiischke H.A.Jiischke, A Tibetan-English Dictionary, New Delhi 1987 (reprint of London edition of 1881).

Lokesh Chandra 1976: Lokesh Chandra, Tibetan-Sanskrit Dictionary, 2 vols., Kyoto 1976 (reprint of 12 volume 1959 edition).

Lokesh Chandra 1992-94: id., Tibetan-Sanskrit Dictionary, Supplementary Volumes 1-6, New Delhi 1992.

Mallman 1963 M.-T. de Mallman, Les enseignements iconographiques de l'Agni­Puriirta, Paris 1963.

Mallman 1964 id., Etudes iconographiques sur Manjusrf, Paris 1964 (publications de l'Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient, volume LV).

Mallman 1968 id., "Hindu Deities in Tantric Buddhism", Zentralasiatische Studien 2 (1968): 41-53.

Mallman 1975 id., Introduction a l'iconographie du tlintrisme bouddhique, Paris 1975.

MW Sir Monier Monier-Williams, Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Oxford 1899.

Ni~panniiyogiivalf: Benoytosh Bhattacharyya (ed.), Ni~pannayogiivalf of Mahiipart¢ita Abhayiikaragupta, Baroda 1972 (Gaekwad's Oriental Series no. 109) (reprint of first edition of 1949).

Sanford 1991 James H. Sanford, "Literary Aspects of Japan's Dual-Gailesa Cult", in Robert L. Brown (ed.), Ganesh: Studies of an Asian God, Albany 1991, pp. 287-336.

SarvadurgatipariSodhana: see Skorupski 1983.

Skorupski 1983: Tadeusz Skorupski (ed.), SarvadurgatipariSodhana Tantra: Elimina­tion of All Evil Destinies. Sanskrit and Tibetan texts with introduction, English translation and notes. New Delhi 1983.

Sorensen 1904 S. Sorensen, An Index to the Names in the Mahiibhiirata, New Delhi, 1978 (reprint of 1904 edition):

Tattvasaf!lgraha: for printed Sanskrit edition, see Yamada 1981. for facsimile reproduction of the single known manuscript, Lokesh Chandra and David Snellgrove, Sarva-Tathiigata-Tattva-Saf!lgraha: Facsimile Reproduction of a Tenth Century Sanskrit Manuscriptfrom Nepal, New Delhi 1981 (Sata-Pitaka Series vol. 269). Sarvatathiigatatattvasaf!lgraha, Tibetan translation, Peking edition, vol. 4 (no. 112), pp. 217al-283b8.

Trailokyavijayamahiikalpariijii: Trailokyavijayamahiikalpariijii, Tibetan translation, Peking edition, vol. 5 (no. 115), pp. 61al-83bl.

JIABS 21.2 382

Trailokyavijayamm:z{ialopayika: Anandagarbha' s SrftrailokyamalJ{ialopttyika arya­tattvasamgrahatantroddhrta (dpal khams gsum mam par rgyal ba'i dkyil 'khor gyi cho ga 'phags pa de kho na iiid bsdus pa'i rgyud las btus pa), Tibetan translation, Peking edition, vol.'74 (no. 3342), pp.32c8-52b8.

Vajrasekharatantra: Vajrasikharatantra (sic), Tibetan Translation, Peking edition, vol. 5 (no. 113), pp.1a1-56d7. Vajrasekharatantra, Tibetan Translation, Taipei edition, vol. 17 (no.480), pp.223d1-261a5.

Yamada 1981 1sshi Yamada (ed.), Sarva-Tathtigata-Tattva-Sarp.graha-Nttma-Mahti­yana-Satra, A crit. ed. based on a Sanskrit manuscript & Chinese & Tibetan transl. (Sata-Pitaka Series 262), New Delhi 1981.

TILMANN VETTER

Explanations of dukkha

The present contribution presents some philological observations and a historical assumption concenling the First Noble Truth.

It is well-known to most buddhologists and many Buddhists that the explanations of the First Noble Truth in the First Sermon as found in the Mahiivagga of the Vinayapitaka and in some other places conclude with a remark on the five upiidiinakkhandhii, literally: 'branches of appro­priation'. This remark is commonly understood as a summary.

Practically unknown is the fact that in Hermann OLDENBERG's edition of the Mahiivagga l (= Yin I) this concluding remark contains the parti­cle pi, like most of the preceding explanations of dukkha. The preceding explanations are: jiiti pi dukkhii, jarii pi dukkhii, vyiidhi pi dukkhii, marana1'(t pi dukkha1'(t, appiyehi sampayogo dukkho, piyehi vippayogo dukkho; ya1'(t p' iccha1'(t na labhati tam2 pi dukkha1'(t (Vin I 10.26). Wherever pi here appears it obviously has the function of coordinating examples of events or processes that cause pain (not: are pain3): birth is causing pain, as well as decay, etc.4

1. The Vinaya Pitakalfl. Vol. 1, The Mahavagga. London-Edinburgh 1879.

2. OLDENBERG's edition seems to reflect inconsistency of the manuscripts in some­times considering combinations of -Ifl with the particle pi as a real sandhi and writing -m pi.

3. dukkha- is an adjective here; it follows the gender of the preceding (pro)noun. Not so in the MUlasarvastivada version in The Gilgit Manuscript of the Sangha­bhedavastu, ed. by R. Gnoli and T. Venkatacharya, Part 1, Roma 1977, l37: jiltir duftkhalfl, jaril duftkhalfl, vyildhir duftkhalfl, maralJalfl duftkhalfl, priyaviprayogo duftkhalfl, apriyasalflprayogo duftkhalfl, yad apfcchan parye~amilno na labhate tad api duftkham, sank~epataft paiica upildilnaskandha duftkhalfl. Rere only yad apfcchan parye~amilno na labhate tad api duftkham contains api.

4. In translating the noun dukkha as 'pain' (and correspondingly the adjective as 'causing pain' or 'painful') I follow K. R. NORMAN "The Four Noble Truths", in: Indogical and Buddhist Studies (Festschrift lW. de Jong) ed. AL. Rercus et. al. Canberra 1982: 377-391, n.3 "without implying that this is necessarily the best translation" .

Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Volume 21. Number 2 .1998

JIABS 21.2 384

At Yin I 10.29, the concluding remark runs as follows: sarrzkhittena pane' upadanakkhandha pi5 dukkha. No note on this pi is found in OLDENBERG's generally trustworthy apparatus criticus. So ';'Ie may infer that the manuscripts consulted by OLDENBERG all contained this pi.

In the Dhammakaya CD-ROM [1.0, 1996], which, with some errors, represents the PTS editions, this pi is also found in other places where the concluding remark on dukkha appears, namely, DN II 305.5; 307. 17-20; SN V 421.23; Patis I 37.28; II 147.26; Vibh 99.10; 101.15. 20. However in the Niilanda-DevanagarI-Pali-Series (=NDP) [1958, etc.] it is missing in all these places (including Yin I 10.29), while it is found in AN 1177.2, where it is lacking in the Dhammakaya CD-ROM. In MN I 48.34 and 185.6 it is found neither in the PTS edition [ed. V. Trenckner, 1888] nor in NDP6. But TRENCKNER remarks on p.532 with regard to 48.34: "-kkhandha pi M and all the Burmese authorities known to me, also Yin. 1.c. [=Vin I 10.29]." The CD-ROMs BudsirIV of Mahidol University [1994] and Chattha Sangayana from Dhammagiri [1.1, 1997] consistently omit pi in these places.

We can therefore state: 1) TRENCKNER, whose edition of MN I nor­mally excells the average PTSeditions, has chosen a reading against all Burmese manuscripts; 2) NDP and the CD-ROMs mentioned above, all depending on the Sixth Council, do not accept this pi7; 3) other editions show there was a manuscript tradition of employing pi in the concluding remark in the Mahavagga as well as in Sutta and Abhidhamma texts.

How should we deal with these observations from a historical point of view? That TRENCKNER has made his choice against nearly all his witnesses is easily explained. On the third page of the Preface of his MN I edition he says: "Buddhaghosa's commentary has been of very great service. Whenever his readings, from his comments upon them, are unmistakable, they must, in my opinion, be adopted in spite of other authorities. His MSS. were at least fifteen centuries older than ours, and in a first edition we certainly cannot aim at anything higher than repro­ducing his text as far as possible (here he adds a footnote: 'Even if his readings may seem questionable, as [ ... ]')".

5. OLDENBERG writes: upiidiinakkhandhiipi

6. Note that at MN 148.34 in TRENCKNER's edition the passage appiyehi sampa­yogo dukkho, piyehi vippayogo dukkho of Yin 1 10.29 is replaced by sokapari­devadukkhadomanassupiiyiisii pi, while in NDP it is preceded by this long compound, and pi also appears after sampayago and vippayogo.

7. The pi at ND P AN I 177.2 seems to have escaped attention.

VETTER 385

What"does the commentary to MN I 48.34 say? It refers to the discus­sion of the four noble truths in [chapter XVI] of the Visuddhimagga. There (§ 57'-60 ed. H.C. Warren and Dh. Kosambi, Cambridge Mass., 1950) we read saitkhittena pancupiidiinakkhandhii dukkhii, without pi. The Sixth Council (perhaps influenced by TRENCKNER's view) may have had a similar motive for leaving out pi at all places where the con­cluding remark on dukkha appears, but I have no information about this and can therefore only deal with TRECKNER's statement ..

In the main, I am in favour of considering the oldest commentaries as very likely preserving old readings. But such a reading, especially when the commentator himself lives centuries after the composition of a text, cannot be preferred to another, if he employs ideas that cannot be found in the old texts, whereas the other reading can be defended by referring to their contents. This is precisely the case in Buddhaghosa's explanation of the reading without pi.

At Visuddhimagga XVI § 57-60 we get the impression that Buddha­ghosa (or a predecessor) had a text without pi before him (readings are not discussed) and made the best of it by explaining saitkhittena as indi­cating a summary of the preceding statements8 and declaring that the remark on the five 'branches' of appropriation implies all other state­ments about pain, because actual pain does not occur without them.9

But to my knowledge, there is no single place in the Plili Vinaya- and Suttapi!aka where the often occUrring statement that the five upiidiina­kkhandhii are dukkha is understood in this way, while there are many places where their being dukkha is understood as derived from their impermanence, which implies that in this context dukkha does not mean 'causing actual pain', but 'eventually disappointing' or 'unsatisfactory'. Moreover, there is, as far as I know, at best one place in the Vinaya- and Suttapi!aka where saitkhittena seems to suriunanze what precedes: at the end of MN no. 38 (I 270.37); and this place is doubtful, because it could be an inadequate copy of what happens in MN no. 37, where safikhittena

8. He depends on a text that included sokaparidevadukkhadomassupiiyiisii and appiyehi sampayogo dukkho piyehi vippayogo dukkho, not on the Mahiivagga passage.

9. The essence of the commentary is given in these verses: liitippabhutikarp. dukkhalJ1. yarp. vuttam idha tiidinii avuttarp. yan ca tarp. sabbalJ1. vinii ete na vijjati Yasmii, tasmii upiidiinakkhandhii sCllikhepato ime dukkhii ti vuttii dukkhantadesakena Mahesinii.

JIABS 21.2 386

appears at the start and at the end of the sutta. In all other cases I have checked, about 300, sankhittena announces an item that afterwards is, or should be, explained. .

Given this state of things it seems unlikely that pi in the last remark on dukkha is an error of uncontrolled repetition of the pi in the preceding sentences, now fortunately removed by TRENCKNER and the Sixth Council. It is much more probable that Buddhaghosa (or a predecessor) had a text where pi in the last remark had, accidentally or with some intention, been lost, and that he made the best of it, a nice interpretation that succeeds fairly well in maintaining an unequivocal meaning of dukkha, but is not important for the historian of early buddhism. For this historical purpose we have to accept the reading with pi, and to understand the last remark as another example of the usage of the adjec­tive dukkha, though in a slightly different meaning, which points to an addition. Sankhittena means nothing than: this is a short remark that has to be explained to the neophyte who does not know what the five upiidiinakkhandhas are and/or why they are are called dukkha, though they do not always actually cause pain. The translation then is: "Also the five branches of appropriation, briefly said (sankhittena), are causing pain."

Let us, finally, return to OLDENBERG. In his famous Buddha, sein Leben, seine Lehre, seine Gemeinde lo we find a translation of the con­cluding remark on dukkha that also seems to depend on the Visuddhi­magga, not on the Mahiivagga, the source OLDENBERG mentions in this connection: "kurz die fiinferlei Objekte des Ergreifens sind Leiden II". Perhaps he was inspired by TRENCKNER. But then one would expect a note referring to the reading established by himself in his edition of Yin I. I found no such note. Instead a note is attached to 'Objekte des Ergreifens' that gives German translations of the names of these five objects as they occur elsewhere, and moreover rejects, without any arguing, an assumption by KOEPPENI2 said to be given without any

10. The fourth edition (Stuttgart-Berlin 1903) was the earliest available to me; see p.146 and 293. I also checked the edition supervised by H. VON GLASENAPP (Stuttgart [1959?]) and saw that in this question nothing had changed; see p.137 and 224 and note p. 426.

11. dukkhii is of course not 'Leiden', but 'leidvoll', if one depends on the Pilli sources, as OLDENBERG says he does.

12. Carl Friedrich KOEPPEN, Die Religion des Buddha und ihre Entstehung. I, Berlin 1857.

VETTER 387

arguing: namely that the concluding remark on dukkha might be "ein metaphysischer Zusatz"13.

Exit KOEPPEN, at least in this question, on the basis of an ex cathedra judgement. A questionable tradition of translating this remark in books that pretend to' deal with the Buddha's teaching has been established here and is still flourishing. To arrive at his judgement against KOEPPEN, OLDENBERG had to forget (or to ignore) his own edition of the Mahii­vagga. He showed moreover, that he had not the slightest inkling of the problem that vedanii, the second of these 'Objekte des Ergreifens', is often explained as consisting of pleasant, unpleasant and neutral feeling and that pleasant and neutral feeling cannot be characterized as 'Leiden' and only in a slightly different sense as 'leidvoll'.14

13. "Koppen (1, S.222, Anm.l) findet in dies en letzten Worten einen 'meta­physischen Zusatz' zum ursprunglichen Text der vier Wahrheiten, ohne allen Grund. So viel metaphysische Terminologie, wie in diesen Worten liegt, hat der Buddhismus vonjeher besessen."

14. Already V.GLASENAPP, in his 'Nachwort' to OLDENBERG's Buddha [1959: 474] hinted at this problem, by pointing to the Ra~ogatasutta (SN no.36.11), though his approach is quite unhlstorical. There, replying to a question, the Buddha admits (SN IV 216.20) he has taught both: there are three kinds of feelings, pleasant, unpleasant and neutral, and: whatever one feels belongs to the unpleasant (ya,!! kind vedayita'!! ta,!! dukkhasmi,!!). But "the [second] statement has been made by me having in mind that salikhiirii as such are impermanent (mayii salikhiiriina'!! yeva aniccata,!! sandhiiya bhiisita'!!)". See Lambert SCHMITHAUSEN, "Zur buddhistischen Lehre von der dreifachen Leidhaftigkeit", ZDMG (Supplement TIL2) 1977: 918-931.

INDEX TO JlABS 11-21

by Toru Tomabechi

The present index covers the issues of the Journal of the International· Association of Buddhist Studies from 1988 (nABS 11.1) until 1998 (nABS 21.2). We have by and large taken as our model the index compiled by Bruce Cameron HALL in nABS 10.2 (1987), i.e., titles are given as the main entries for all items. Also following HALL, the titles of books being reviewed have been placed in italics. The reader can consult the explanations to be found in HALL 1987 (pp. 181-2) for more information on the organizational principles which we have adopted.

(The) Advent of Theravada Buddhism to Mainland South-east Asia, Peter SKILLING. 20.1 (1997): 93-107.

Alayavijfiiina: On the Origin and the Early Development of a Central Concept of Yogiiciira Philosophy, Lambert SCHMITHAUSEN. Review by Paul J. GRIFFITHs. 12.1 (1989): 170~177.

AMES, William L. see: (The) Soteriological Purpose of Nagarjuna'sPhilosophy: A Study of Chapter Twenty-Three of the MUla-madhyamaka-kiirikiis.

ANDREWS, Allan A. see: (The) Dawn of Chinese Pure Land Buddhist Doctrine: Ching-ying Hui-yiian's Commentary on the Visualisation Sutra. Honen and Popular Pure Land Piety: Assimilation and Transformation.

Anti-Chan Polemics in Post Tang Tiantai, Brook ZIPORYN. 17.1 (1994): 26-65.

(The) Application of the Vinaya Term niisanii, Ute HUSKEN. 20.2 (1997): 93-111.

Apropos of Some Recently Recovered Texts Belonging to the Lam 'bras Teachings of the Sa skyapa and Ko brag pa, Leonald W.J. VANDERKuup. 17.2 (1994): 175-201.

Architecture and Absence in the Secret Tantric History of the Great Perfection (rdzogs chen), David GERMANO. 17.2 (1994): 203-335.

ARENES, Pierre see: Hermeneutique des tantra: etude de quelques usages du «sens cache».

Asailga's Understanding of Madhyamika: Notes on the Shung-chung-Iun, John P. KEENAN. 12.1 (1989): 93-107.

[Obituary Harold Walter Bailey, see] Sir Harold Walter Bailey.

BECHERT, Heinz see: (The) Dating of the Historical Buddha. Die Datierung des Historischen Buddha, part I.

Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Volume 21. Number 2.1998

JIABS 21.2 390

BENTOR, Yael see: (The) Redactions of the Adbhutadharmaparyaya from Gilgit.

(A) Bibliography of Buddhist Materials in the Recorded Sound CpIlection of the Library of Congress, Floyd B. HOOKER. 16.1 (1993): 209-242.

BIELEFELDT, Carl see: (The) Four Levels of Pratftya-8amutpada According to the Fa-hua hsiian i.

BLACKBURN, Anne M. see: Religion, Kinship and Buddhism: Ambedkar's Vision ofa Moral Community.

BONGARD-LEVIN, G.M. see: (A) Fragment of the Larger Prajfiapliramita from Central Asia.

BOUCHER, Daniel see: (The) Pratltyasamutpadagatha and Its Role in the Medieval Cult of the Relics.

BREKKE, Torkel see: (The) Early Sarpgha and the Laity.

BRONKHORST, Johannes see: Did the Buddha Believe in Karma and Rebirth?

BROWN, Robert L. see: (A) Lajja Gauri in a Buddhist Context at Aurangabad. Studies in the Buddhist Art of South Asia.

BUCKNELL, Roderick S. see: Reinterpreting the Jhanas. The Twilight Language: Explorations in Buddhist Meditation and Symbolism.

Buddha in the Crown: Avalokitesvara in the Buddhist Traditions of Sri Lanka. Review by Vijitha RAJAPAKSE. 14.2 (1991): 331-341.

Buddhism and Law - Preface. Frank REYNOLDS. 18.1 (1995): 1-6.

Buddhism and Law - The View From Mandalay. Andrew HUXLEY. 18.1 (1995): 47-95.

Buddhism Transformed: Religious Change in Sri Lanka, Richard GOMBRICH and Gananath OBEYESEKERE. Review by Vijitha RAJAPAKSE. 13.2 (1990): 139-151.

Buddhist Law According to the Theravada-Vinaya, A Survey of Theory and Practice, Oskar VON HINDBER. 18.1 (1995): 7-45.

Buddhist Law According to the Theravlida Vinaya IT: Some Additions and Corrections, Oskar VON HINOBER. 20.2 (1997): 87-92.

Buddhist Sanskrit in the Kalacakra Tantra, John NEWMAN. 11.1 (1988): 123-140.

"Buddhist Soteriology": A Conference Report. Robert E. BUSWELL and Robert M. GIMELLO. 13.1 (1990): 79-99.

INDEX TO JIABS 11-21 391

Buddhist Studies as a Discipline and the Role of Thecry, Jose Ignacio CABEZON. 18.2 (1995): 231-268.

BUESCHER, John B. see: Tibetan Materials in the Asia Rare Book Collection of the Library of Congress.

BUSWElL, Robert E. see: [Conference report] "Buddhist Soteriology": A Conference Report, Chinul's Ambivalent Critique of Radical Subitism in Korean SOn. Three Recent Collections: Chinese Buddhist Apocrypha.

CABEZON, Jose Ignacio see: Buddhist Studies as a Discipline and the Role of Theory. The Emptiness of Emptiness: An Introduction to Early Indian MCldhyamika [Exchange] On Retreating to Method and Other Postmodem Turns: A Response to C.W. Huntington, Jr .. Yukti~a~tikiivrtti: Commentaire a la soixantaine sur Ie raisonnement ou Du vrai enseignement de la causalite par Ie Maitre indien Candrakfrti.

CAMPANY, Robert F. see: Notes on the Devotional Uses and Symbolic Functions of Sutra Texts as Depicted in Early Chinese Buddhist Miracle Tales and Hagiographies.

(The) Categories of T'i, Hsiang, and Yung: Evidence that Paramartha Composed the Awakening of Faith, WilliamH. GROSNICK.12.1 (1989): 65-92.

Ch'an Commentaries on the Heart Sutra: Preliminary Inferences on the Permutation of Chinese Buddhism, John R. MCRAE. 11.2 (1988): 87-115.

CHEN, Jinhua see: (The) Construction of Eady Tendai Esoteric Buddhism: The Japanese Prove­nance of Saich5's Transmission Documents and Three Esoteric Buddhist Apocrypha Attributed to SubhakarasiIi:lha.

Chinese Reliquary Inscriptionsand the San-chieh-chiao, Jamie HUBBARD. 14.2 (1991): 253-280.

Chinul's Ambivalent Critique of Radical Subitism in Korean Son, Robert E. BUSWElL. 12.2 (1989): 20-44.

Choix de Documents tibetains conserves a la Bibliotheque Nationale complete par quelques manuscrits de l'India Office et du British Museum, Yoshiro IMAEDA and Tsuguhito TAKEUClll. Review by Alexander W. MACDONALD. 15.1 (1992): 144-145.

Collected Papers, Vol. 2, K.R. NORMAN. Review by Nirmala S. SALGADO. 16.1 (1993): 183-186.

(A) Concordance of Buddhist Birth Stories, Leslie GREY. Review by Barend A. VAN NOOTEN.15.1 (1992): 145-147.

nABS 21.2 392

(The) Construction of Early Tendai Esoteric Buddhism: The Japanese Prove~ance of SaichO's Transmission Docilments and Three Esoteric Buddhist Apocrypha Attributed to SubhakarasiIi:lha, Jinhua CHEN. 21.1 (1998): 21-76.

Contributions to the Study of Popular Buddhism: The Newar Buddhist Festival of Gurplii Dharma. Todd T. Lewis. 16.2 (1993): 309-354.

Controversy Over Dharmakiiya in India and Tibet: A New Interpretation of Its Basis, Abhisamayiila7!lkiira, Chapter 8, JohnJ. MAKRANSKY. 12.2 (1989): 45"78.

(The) Cosmology of Law in Buddhist Tibet, Rebecca REDWOOD FRENCH. 18.1 (1995): 97-116.

cox, Collett see: On the Possibility of a Nonexistent Object of Consciousness: Sarviistiviidin- and Diir~tiintika Theories. Two New Fragments of Buddhist Sanskrit Manuscripts from Central Asia.

(The): Dating of the Historical Buddha. Die Datierung des Historischen Buddha, part I, (ed.) Heinz BECHERT. Review by AX NARAlN. 16.1 (1993): 187-201.

DAVIDSON, Ronald M. see: Reflections on the Mahesvara Subjugation Myth: Indic Materials, Sa-skya-pa Apologetics and the Birth ofHeruka.

(The) Dawn of Chinese Pure Land Buddhist Doctrine: Ching-ying Hui-yuan's Commentary on the Visualisation Sutra, Kenneth K. TANAKA. Review by Allan A. ANDREWS. 14.1 (1991): 181-190.

DE JONG, J.W. see: [Exchange] J.W. DE JONG's review of Jeffrey HOPKINS' Meditation on Emptiness.

Did the Buddha Believe in Karma and Rebirth? Johannes BRONKHORST. 21.1 (1998): 1-19.

Distortion as a Price for Comprehensibility? The rGyal tshab-Jackson Interpretation of DharmakIrti, Eli FRANCO. 20.1 (1997): 109-132.

Divine Revelation in Pali Buddhism, Peter MANSFIELD. Review by Charles HALUSEY. 11.1 (1988): 173-175.

Dagen's Raihaitokuzui and Women Teaching in Sung Ch'an, Miriam LEVERING. 21.1 (1998): 77-110.

DRAGONETTI, Carmen see: (An) Introduction to Buddhism.

DREYFUS, Georges see: Law, State, and Political Ideology in Tibet. (The) Shuk-den affair: History and nature of a quarrel. Tibetan Scholastic Education and The Role of Soteriology

(The) Early Srupgha and the Laity, Torkel BREKKE. 20.2 (1997): 7-32.

INDEX TO JIABS 11-21 393

(The) Emptiness of Emptiness: An Introduction to Early Indian Madhyamika, HUNTINGTON, C.W. & Geshe NAMGYAL WANGCHEN. Review by Jose Ignacio CABEZON. 13.2 (1990): 152-161.

EpSTEIN, Lawrence see: Three Recent Collections: Reflections on Tibetan Culture.

Explanation of dukkha, Tilmann VETIER. 21.2 (1998): 383-387.

FAURE, Bernard see: [Obituary] In Memoriam Michel Striclanan.

(The) Figure of Mahesvara/Rudra in the rNing-ma-pa Tantric Tradition. Robert MAYER. 21.2 (1998): 271-310.

FOULK, T. Griffith see: [Review article] Issues on the Field of East Asian Buddhist Studies: An Extended Review of Sudden and Graduat Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought, ed. Peter N. GREGORY.

(The) Four Levels of Pratftya-Samutpiida According to the Fa-hua hsiian i, Carl BIELEFELDT. 11.1 (1988): 7-29. .

(A) Fragment of the Larger Prajfiapararnita from Central Asia, G.M. BONGARD-LEVIN and Shin'ichir5 HORJ. 19.1 (1996): 19-60.

FRANCO, Eli see: Distortion as a Price for Comprehensibility? The rGyal tshab-Jackson Interpreta­tion of Dharmakirti .. (A) Short Response to Roger Jackson's Reply.

FRANK, Bernard see: Vacuite et corps actualise: Le probleme de la presence des "Personnages V eneres" dans leurs images selon la tradition du bouddhisme japonais.

(Die) Frau im friihen Buddhismus, Renata PITZER-REYL. Review by Vijitha RAJAPAKSE. 12.1 (1989): 165-170.

GARDINER, David L. see: MaJ;lc.lala, MaJ;lc.lala on the Wall: Variations of Usage in the Shingon School.

GELLNER, David N. see: Hodgeson's Blind Alley? On the So-called Schools of Nepalese Buddhism. A Newar Buddhist Liturgy: Sravakayiinist Ritual in Kwii Biihal:)., Lalitpur, Nepal.

Gender and Salvation: Jaina Debates on the Spiritual Liberation of Women, Padma­nabh S. JAIN!. Review by Serinity YOUNG. 16.1 (1993): 202-206.

GERMANO, David see: Architecture and Absence in the Secret Tantric History of the Great Perfection (rdzogs chen).

GIMELLO, Robert M. see: [Conference report] "Buddhist Soteriology": A Conference Report.

JIABS 21.2 394

GOBLE, Andrew see: Truth, Contradiction and Harmony in Medieval Japan: Emperor Himazono (1297-1348) and Buddhism.

GOMBRICH, Richard see: Buddhism Transformed: Religious Change in Sri Lanka.

GOMEZ, Luis O. see: Unspoken Paradigms: Meanderings through the Metaphors of a Field.

GRANOFF, Phyllis see: (The) Violence of Non-Violence: A Study of Some Jain Responses to Non-Jain Religious Practices.

GREGORY, Peter N. see: (The) Integration ofCh'an/Son and The Teaching (Chiao/Kyo) in Tsung-mi and Chinul. Traditions of Meditation in Chinese Buddhism.

GREY, Leslie see: (A) Concordance of Buddhist Birth Stories.

GRIFFITHS, Paul J. see: Alayavijiiiina: On the Origin and the Early Development of a Central Concept of Yogiiciira Philosophy. Miidhyamika and Yogiiciira: A Study of Mahiiyiina Philosophies. Mind Only: A Philosophical and Doctrinal Analysis of the Vijfiiinaviida. On being Mindless: Buddhist Meditation and the Mind-Body Problem. What Else Remains in Siinyata? An Investigation of Terms for Mental Imagery in the Madhyiintavibhiiga-Corpus.

GROSNICK, William H. see: (The) Categories of T'i, Hsiang, and Yung: Evidence that Paramiirtha Composed the Awakening ofF aith.

Guenther's Saraha: A Detailed Review of Ecstatic Spontaneity, Roger R. Jackson. 17.1 (1994): 111-143.

HALLISEY, Charles see: Divine Revelation in Pali Buddhism.

HAMLIN, Edward see: Magical Upiiya in the Vimalaklrtinirdda sutra.

HARRISON, Paul see: Is the Dharma-kiiya the Real "Phantom Body" of the Buddha?

(The) Heart Sutra: A Chinese Apocryphal Text? Jan NATTIER. 15.2 (1992): 153-223.

HEIRMAN, Ann see: Some Remarks on the Rise of the bhik/ful}lsaJ?lgha and on the Ordination Ceremony for bhik:;wJls according to the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya.

INDEX TO JIABS 11-21 395

Hermeneutique des tantra: etude de quelques usages du «sens cacM», Pierre ARENEs. 21.2 (1998): 173-226.

HEVIA, James see: Lamas, Emperors, and Rituals: Political Implications in Qing Imperial Ceremonies.

High Religion: A Cultural and Political History of Sherpa Buddhism, Sherry B. ORTNER. Review by AlexanderW. MACDONALD. 14.2 (1991): 341-344.

HINOBER, Oskar von see: Buddhist Law According to the Theraviida-Vinaya, A Survey of Theory and Practice. Buddhist Law According to the Theraviida Vinaya II: Some Additions and Corrections.

Hodgeson's Blind Alley? On the So-called Schools of Nepalese Buddhism, David N. GELLNER. 12.1 (1989): 7-20.

HOFFMAN, Frank see: On being Mindless: Buddhist Meditation and the Mind-Body Problem.

HOFFMAN, Frank J. see: Rationality and Mind in Early Buddhism.

HOLMBERG, David see: (Les) Tamang du Nepal: Usages et religion, religion de l'usage.

H5nen and Popular Pure Land Piety: Assimilation and Transformation, Allan A. ANDREWs. 17.1 (1994): 96-110.

HOOKER, FloydB. see: (A) Bibliography of Buddhist Materials in the Recorded Sound Collection of the Library of Congress.

HOPKINS, Jeffrey see: [Exchange] J.W. de Jong's review of Jeffrey HOPKINS' Meditation on Empti­ness.

HORI, Shin'ichir5 see: (A) Fragment of the Larger Prajiiapiiramitii from Central Asia.

HSIEH, Ding-Hwa Evelyn see: Yuan-wu K'o-ch'in's (1063-1l35) Teaching of Ch'an Kung-an Practice: A Translation from the Literary Study ofCh'anKung-an to the Practical K'an-hua Ch'an.

HUBl3ARD, Jamie see: Chinese Reliquary Inscriptions and the San-chieh-chiao. Mo Fa, The Three Levels Movement, and the Theory of the Three Periods. Upping the Ante: budstud@rnillenium.end.edu.

JIABS 21.2 396

HUNTINGTON, C.W. see: (The) Emptiness of Emptiness: An Introduction to Early Indian Miidhyamika [Exchange] The Theatre of Objectivity: Comments on Jose Cabez6n' s Interpretations ofmKhas grub rje's and C.W. Huntington, Jr.'s Interpretations of the Tibetan Translation of a Seventh Century Indian Buddhist Text. A Way of Reading.

HUNTINGTON, John C. see: (A) Reexamination of a Kani~ka Period Tetradrachm Coin Type with an Image of Metrago/Maitreya on the Reverse (GobI 793.1) and a Brief Notice on the Importance of the Inscription Relative to Bactro-Gandharan Buddhist Icono­graphy ofthe Period.

HOSKEN, Ute see: (The) Application of the Vinaya Term niisanii.

HUXLEY, Andrew see: Buddhism and Law - The View From Mandalay. Studying Theravada Legal Literature.

IMAEDA, Yoshiro see: Choix de Documents tibetains conserves d la Bibliotheque Nationale complete par quelques manuscrits de !'India Office et du British Museum.

In Memoriam Michel Strickman, Bernard FAURE. 17.2 (1994): 361-363.

Indian Altruism: A Study of the Terms bodhicitta and bodhicittotpiida, Gareth SPARHAM. 15.2 (1992): 224-242.

(The) Integration of Ch'an/Son and The Teaching (Chiao/Kyo) in Tsung-mi and Chinul, PeterN. GREGORY. 12.2 (1989): 7-19.

(The) International Association of Buddhist Studies and the World Wide Web, Joe Bransford WILSON. 20.1 (1997): 175-177.

(An) Introduction to Buddhism, Jikido TAKASAKI. Review by Carmen DRAGONETTI & Fernando TOLA. 11.2 (1988): 117-118.

Is it a Crow (P. dhaf!lka) or a Nurse (Skt. dhiifrl), or Milk (Skt. ~ira) or a Toy-Plough (P. vaf!lka)? Stephan H. LEvm. 16.1 (1993): 56-89.

Is the Dharma-kiiya the Real "Phantom Body" of the Buddha? Paul HARRISON. 15.1 (1992): 44-94.

Islam in the KaIacakra Tantra, John NEWMAN. 21.2 (1998): 311-37l.

Issues on the Field of East Asian Buddhist Studies: An Extended Review of Sudden and Gradual: Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought, ed. Peter N. GREGORY. T. GRIFFITH FOULK. 16.1 (1993): 93-180.

JACKSON, David see: Sa-skya Pat}.Qita the "Polemicist": Ancient Debates and Modern Interpretations.

INDEX TO ]lABS 11-21 397

JACKSON, Roger R. see: [Review article] Guenther's Saraba: A Detailed Review of Ecstatic Spontaneity [News and notice] Notice of the Buddhist Forum. Rationality and Mind in Early Buddhism. Three Recent Collections: Chinese Buddhist Apocrypha. Three Recent Collections: Reflections on Tibetan Culture. Three Recent Collections: The Buddhist Heritage. (The) Twilight Language: Explorations in Buddhist Meditation and Symbolism "(The) Whole Secret Lies in Arbitrariness": A Reply to Eli Franco.

JAINI, Padmanabh S. see: Gender and Salvation: Jaina Debates on the Spiritual Liberation of Women.

Jhana and Buddhist Scholaticism, Martin STUART-Fox. 12.2 (1989): 79-110.

JONES, Charles B. see: Stages in the Religious Life of Lay Buddhists in Taiwan.

J.W. de Jong's review of Jeffrey Hopkins' Meditation on Emptiness, J.W. DE JONG & JEFFREY HOPKINs. 12.2 (1989): 123-129.

KAHRS, Eivind see: [Obituary] Sir Harold Walter Bailey.

KAPSTEIN, Matthew see: Mahamudra: The quintessence of Mind and Meditation.

(The) Kathavatthu NiyiimaDebates, James P. MCDERMOTT. 12.1 (1989): 139-146.

KAWAMURA, Leslie S. see: Miidhyamika and Yogacara: A Study of Mahayana Philosophies.

KA W ANAMI, Hiroko see: (The) Religious Standing of Burmese Buddhist Nuns (thila-shin): The Ten Precepts and Religious Respect Words.

KEENAN, John P. see: Asanga's Understanding ofMadhyamika: Notes on the Shung-chung-lun.

KIEFFER-POLz, Petra . see: Rules for the sima Regulation in the Vinaya and its Commentaries and their Application in Thailand.

KINNARD, Jakob N. see: Reevaluating the Eighth-Ninth Century Piila Milieu: Icono-Conservatism and the Persistence of Sakyamuni.

KRITZER, Robert see: Vasubandhu on saTflskarapratyayaTfl vijiianam.

Kv iERNE, Per see: [News and notice] Notice of Studies in Central and East Asian Religions. Recent French Contributions to Himalayan and Tibetan Studies.

JIABS 21.2 398

(A) Lajja GaurI in a Buddhist Context at Aurangabad, Robert L. BROWN. 13.2 (1990): 1-16.

Lamas, Emperors, and Rituals: Political Implications in Qing Imperial Ceremonies, James HEVIA. 16.2 (1993): 243-278. '

Law, State, and Political Ideology in Tibet, Georges DREYFUS. 18.1 (1995): 117-138.

(The) Lay Ownership of Monasteries and the Role of the Monk in Miilasarvastivadin Monasticism, Gregory SCHOPEN. 19.1 (1996): 81-126.

LEVERING, Miriam see: Dagen's Raihaitokuzui and Women Teaching in Sung Ch'an.

LEVITT, Stephin H. see,' Is it a Crow (P. dhal?lka) or a Nurse (Skt. dhatrf), or Milk (Skt. ~fra) or a Toy­Plough (P. val'!lka)?

LEWIS, Todd T. see: Contributions to the Study of Popular Buddhism: The Newar Buddhist Festival of Guqila Dharma. Mahayana Vratas in Newar Buddhism.

(The) Life and Tibetan Legacy of the Indian Mahapa1:uj.ita Vibhilticandra, Cyrus Steams. 19.1 (1996): 127-171.

Lost in China, Found in Tibet: How Wonch'uk Became the Author of the Great Chinese Commentary, John POWERS. 15.1 (1992): 95-103.

MACDONALD, Alexander W. see: Choix de Documents tibetains conserves a la Bibliotheque Nationale complete par quelques manuscrits de l'India Office et du British Museum. High Religion: A Cultural and Political History of Sherpa Buddhism. [News and notice] Report on the 10th lABS Conference.

Miidhyamika and Yogacara: A Study of Mahiiyana Philosophies, Gadjin M. NAGAO (ed., tr., collated by Leslie S. KAwAMURA). Review by Paul J. GRIFFITHS. 14.2 (1991): 345-347.

Magical Upaya in the Vimalakfrtinirdda sutra, Edward HAMLIN. 11.1 (1988): 89-121.

Mahamudra: The quintessence of Mind and Meditation, Tashi NAMGYAL [tr. Lobsang Lhalungpa]. Review by Matthew KAPSTEIN. 13.1 (1990): 101-114.

Mahayana Vratas in Newar Buddhism, Todd T. LEWIS. 12.1 (1989): 109-138.

MAKRANSKY, John J. see: Controversy Over Dharmakiiya in India and Tibet: A New Interpretation of Its Basis, Abhisamyalal?lkara, Chapter 8.

MALANDRA, Geri H. see: (The) MaI,l<;lala at Ellora / Ellora in the MaI,l<;lala.

INDEX TO ]IABS 11-21 399

(The) MiuJ,9ala at Ellora / Ellorain the MaI].9ala, Geri H. MALANDRA. 19.2 (1996): 181-207.

MaI;l9ala, MaI].9ala on the Wall: Variations of Usage in the Shingon School, David L. GARDINER. 19.2 (1996): 245-279.

MaI;l9alas on the'Move: Reflections from Chinese Esoteric Buddhism Circa 800 C.B., Charles D. ORZECH. 19.2 (1996):209-244.

MANSFIELD, Peter see: Divine Revelation in Pali Buddhism.

(The) Mantra "Orrz maT}i-padme hftrrz" in an Early Tibetan Grammatical Treatise, Pieter C. VERHAGEN. 13.2 (1990): 133-138.

MARTIN, Dan see: [Translation] A Twelfth Century Tibetan Classic of Mahamudrii: The Path 0/ Ultimate Profondity: The Great Seal Instructions o/Zhang.

MAYER, Robert see: (The) Figure of Mahesvara / Rudra in the rNing-ma-pa Tantric Tradition.

MCDERMOTI, James P. see: (The) Kathavatthu Niyama Debates.

McRAE, John R. see: . Ch'an Commentaries on the Heart Sfttra: Preliminary Inferences on the Permuta­tion of Chinese Buddhism. Zen base CDl.

Meditation and Cosmology: The PhysiCal Basis of the Concentrations and Formless Absorptions According to dGe-lugs Tibetan Presentations, Leah ZAHLER. 13.1 (1990): 53-78. .

Mind Only: A Philosophical and Doctrinal Analysis o/the Vijfianavada, Thomas E. WOOD. Review by Paul 1. GRIFFITHS. 15.2 (1992): 320-324.

Mo Fa, The Three Levels Movement, and the Theory of the Three Periods, Jamie HUBBARD. 19.1 (1996): 1-17.

(The) Monastic Ownership of Servants or Slaves: Local and Legal Factors in the Redactional History of Two Vinayas, Gregory SCHOPEN. 17.2 (1994): 145-173.

(The) Moves MaI].9alas Make, John S. STRONG. 19.2 (1996): 301-312.

NAGAO, Gadjin M. see: Madhyamika and Yogacara: A Study o/Mahayana Philosophies.

NAMGYAL WANGCHEN(Geshe) see: (The) Emptiness o/Emptiness: An Introduction to Early Indian Madhyamika.

NARAIN, A.K. see: (The) Dating 0/ the Historical Buddha. Die Datierung des Historischen Buddha, part I Studies in the Buddhist Art 0/ South Asia.

JIABS 21.2 400

NAITIER, Jan see: (The) Heart Sidra: A Chinese Apocryphal Text?

(A) Newar Buddhist Liturgy: Sravakayarust Ritual in Kwa Bahal;l, Lalitpur, Nepal, David N. GELLNER. 14.2 (1991): 236-252.

NEWMAN, John see: Buddhist Sanslait in the Kiilacakra Tantra. Islam in the Kalacakra Tantra. Vajrayana Deities in an Illustrated Indian Manuscript of the A~tasiihasrikii­prajiiiipiiramitii.

NIHOM, Max see: Vajravinaya and VajrasaUI}.<;Ia: A 'Ghost' Goddess and her Syncretic Spouse.

NORMAN, K.R. see: Collected Papers, Vol. 2.

(A) Note on Pramii1Javiirttika, Pramii1Jasamuccaya and Nyiiyamukha. What is the svadharmin in Buddhist Logic? Tom J.F. TILLEMANS. 21.1 (1998): 111-124.

(A) Note on the Opening Formula of Buddhist Sutras, Jonathan A. SILK. 12.1 (1989): 158-163.

Notes on the Devotional Uses and Symbolic Functions of Sutra Texts as Depicted in Early Chinese Buddhist Miracle Tales and Hagiographies, Robert F. CAMPANY. 14.1 (1991): 28-72.

Notice of Studies in Central and East Asian Religions, Per KVLERNE. 13.1 (1990): 117-119.

Notice of the Buddhist Forum, Roger R. JACKSON. 13.2 (1990): 163.

OBEYESEKERE, Gananath see: Budq.hism Transformed: Religious Change in Sri Lanka.

(An) Old Inscription from Amaravati and the Cult of the Local Monastic Dead in Indian Buddhist Monasteries, Gregory SCHOPEN. 14.2 (1991): 281-329.

On a Recent Translation of the Sa1!ldhinirmocanasutra, Tom J.F. TILLEMANS. 20.1 (1997): 153-164.

On being Mindless: Buddhist Meditation and the Mind-Body Problem, Paul J. GRIFFITHS. Review by Frank HOFFMAN. 11.2 (1988): 118-123.

On Retreating to Method and Other Postmodern Turns: A Response to C.W: Huntington, Jr., Jose Ignacio CABEZON. 15.1 (1992): 134-143.

On the Possibility of a Nonexistent Object of Consciousness: Sarvastivadin and Dar~tantika Theories, Collett COX. 11:1 (1988): 31-87.

ORTNER Sherry B. see: High Religion: A Cultural and Political History of Sherpa Buddhism.

INDEX TO JIABS 11~21 401

ORZECH; Charles D. see: MaI.l<;lalas on the Move: Reflections from Chinese Esoteric Buddhism Circa 800 C.B.

PITZER-REYL, Renata see: (Die) Frau ·im friihen Buddhismus.

(A) Possible Citation of Candragomin's Lost *Kiiyatrayiivatiira, Peter SKILLING. 13.1 (1990): 41-51.

POWERS, John see: Lost in China, Found in Tibet: How Wonch'uk Became the Author of the Great Chinese Commentary.

(The) Pratftyasamutpiidagiithii and Its Role in the Medieval Cult of the Relics, Daniel BOUCHER. 14.1 (1991): 1-27.

Preface [On Mar.l.galas], Frank REYNOLDS. 19.2 (1996): 177-180.

Pudgalavada in Tibet? Assertions of Substantially Existent Selves in the Writings of Tsong-kha-pa and His Followers, Joe Bransford WILSON. 14.1 (1991): 155-180.

RAJAPAKSE, Vijitha see: Buddha in the Crown: AvalokiteSvara in the Buddhist Traditions of Sri Lanka Buddhism Transformed: Religious Change in Sri Lanka. (Die) Frau im friihen Buddhismus.

Rationality and Mind in EarlyBuddhism, Frank J. HOFFMAN. Review by Roger R. JACKSON. 12.2 (1989): 111-122.

Recent French Contributions to Himalayan and Tibetan Studies, Per KV.tERNE. 16.2 (1993): 299-308.

(The) Redactions of the Adbhutadharmaparyiiya from Gilgit, Yael BENTOR. 11.2 (1988): 21-52.

REDWOOD FRENCH, Rebecca see: (The) Cosmology of Law in Buddhist Tibet.

Reevaluating the Eighth-Ninth Century Pala Milieu: leono-Conservatism and the Persistence of Siikyamuni, Jakob N. KINNARD. 19.2 (1996): 281-300.

(A) Reexamination of a Kani~ka Period Tetradrachm Coin Type with an Image of Metrago/Maitreya on the Reverse (GobI 793.1) and a Brief Notice on the Importance of the Inscription Relative to Bactro-Gandharan Buddhist leonography of the Period, John C. HUNTINGTON. 16.2 (1993): 355-374.

Reflections on the Mahesvara Subjugation Myth: Indic Materials, Sa-skya-pa Apolo­getics and the Birth of Heruka, Ronald M. DAVIDSON. 14.2 (1991): 197-235.

Reinterpreting the Jhiinas, Roderick S. BUCKNELL. 16.2 (1993): 375-409.

(The) Religioius Standing of Burmese Buddhist Nuns (thild-shin): The Ten Precepts and Religious Respect Words, Hiroko KAWANAMI. 13.1 (1990): 17-39.

JIABS 21.2 402

Religion, Kinship and Buddhism: Ambedkar's Vision of a Moral Community, Anne M. BLACKBURN. 16.1 (1993): 1-23. .

Remarks on Philology, Tom J.P. TILLEMANS. 18.2 (1995): 269-277.

Replacing hu withfan: A Change in the Chinese Perception of Buddhism during the Medieval Period, Jidong YANG. 21.1 (1998): 157-170.

Report on the 10th lABS Conference, Alexander W. MACDONALD. 15.1 (1992): 148.

REYNOLDS, Frank see: Buddhism and Law - Preface. Preface [On MaIJ,Qalas].

Rules for the sima Regulation in the Vinaya and its Commentaries and their Application in Thailand, Petra KIEFFER-P'OLZ. 20.2 (1997): 141-153.

SALGADO, Nirmala S. see: Collected Papers, Vol. 2. Ways of Knowing and Transmitting Religious Knowledge: Case Studies of Theravada Buddhist Nuns.

SALOMON, Richard see: Two New Fragments of Buddhist Sanskrit Manuscripts from Central Asia.

Sa-skya PaIJ,Qita the "Polemicist": Ancient Debates and Modem Interpretations, David JACKSON. 13.2 (1990): 17-116.

SCHERRER-SCHAUB, Cristina Anna see: Yukti~a~tikavrtti: Commentaire a la soixantaine sur Ie raisonnement ou Du vrai enseignement de la causalite par Ie Maitre indien Candrakirti.

SCHN1ITHAUSEN, Lambert see: Alayavijiiana: On the Origin and the Early Development of a Central Concept of Yogacara Philosophy.

SCHOPEN, Gregory see: (Tht;) Lay Ownership of Monasteries and the Role of the Monk in MUlasarvasti­vadin Monasticism. (The) Monastic Ownership of Servants or Slaves: Local and Legal Factors in the Redactional History of Two Vinayas. (An) Old Inscription from Amaravati and the Cult of the Local Monastic Dead in Indian Buddhist Monasteries. (A) Verse from the BhadracariprmJidhana in a 10th Century Inscription found at Niilanda.

SEYFORT RUEGG, David see: [Presidential address] Some Observations on the Present and Future of Buddhist Studies. Some Reflections on the Place of Philosophy in the Study of Buddhism.

SHERBURNE, Richard see: Three Recent Collections: Reflections on Tibetan Culture.

INDEX TO ]JABS 11-21 403

SHINOHARA, Koichi see: (A) Source Analysis of the ruijing lu ("Records of Miraculous Scriptures").

(A) Short Response to Roger Jackson's Reply, Eli FRANCO. 20.1 (1997): 149-151.

(The) Shuk-den. affair: History and nature of a quarrel, Georges DREYFUS. 21.2 (1998): 227-269.

SILK, Jonathan A. see: (A) Note on the Opening Fonnula of Buddhist Sfttras.

Sir Harold Walter Bailey, Eivind KAHRs. 20.2 (1997): 3-5.

SKILLING, Peter see: (The) Advent of Theraviida Buddhism to Mainland South-east Asia. A Possible Citation of Can drago min's Lost *Kiiyatrcryiivatiira.

SKORUPSKI, Tadeusz see: Three Recent Collections: The Buddhist Heritage.

Some Observation s on the Present and Future of Buddhist Studies, David SEYFORT RUEGG. 15.1 (1992): 104-117.

Some Reflections on R.S.Y. Chi's Buddhist Formal Logic, Tom J.F. TILLEMANS. 11.1 (1988): 155-171.

Some Reflections on the Place of Philosophy in the Study of Buddhism, David SEYFORTRUEGG. 18.2 (1995): 145-181.

Some Remarks on the Rise of the bhik$u7J.fsaT{lgha and on the Ordination Ceremony for bhik$u7J.IS according to the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, Ann HEIRMAN. 20.2 (1997): 33-85.

S0RENSEN, Henrik H. see: Traditions of Meditation in Chinese Buddhism.

(The) Soteriological Purpose of Nagarjuna' s Philosophy: A Study of Chapter Twenty­Three of the Mftla-madhyamaka-kiirikiis, William L. AMEs. 11.2 (1988): 7-20.

(A) Source Analysis of the ruijing lu ("Records of Miraculous Scriptures"), Koichi SHINOHARA. 14.1 (1991): 73-154.

SPARHAM, Gareth see: Indian Altruism: A Study of the Tenns bodhicitta and bodhicittotpiida.

Stages in the Religious Life of Lay Buddhists in Taiwan, Charles B. JONES. 20.2 (1997): 113-139.

STEARNS, Cyrus see: (The) Life and Tibetan Legacy of the Indian Mahiipa7J.rj.ita Vibhiiticandra.

STEINMANN, Brigitte see: (Les) Tamang du Nepal: Usages et religion, religion de I'usage.

[Obituary Michel Strickman, see] In Memoriam Michel Strickman

JIABS 21.2 404

STRONG, John S. see: (The) Moves MaJ.1<;lalas Make.

STUART-FOX, Martin see: Jhana and Buddhist Scholaticism. (The) Twilight Language: Explorations in Buddhist Meditation and Symbolism.

Studies in the Buddhist Art of South Asia, (ed.) A.K. NARAIN. Review by Robert L. BROWN. 11.1 (1988): 175-179.

Studying Theravada Legal Literature, Andrew HUXLEY. 20.1 (1997): 63-91.

SWANSON, Paul L. see: Understanding Chih-i: Through a glass, darkly. What's Going on Here? Chih-i's Use (and Abuse) of Scripture.

TAKASAKI, Jikido see: (An) Introduction to Buddhism.

TAKEUCHI, Tsuguhito see: Choix de Documents tibetains conserves Ii fa Bibliotheque Nationale complete par quelques manuscrits de I'India Office et du British Museum.

(Les) Tamang du Nepal: Usages et religion, religion de I'usage, Brigitte STEINMANN. Review by David HOLMBERG. 13.1 (1990): 114-116.

TANAKA, Kenneth K. see: (The) Dawn of Chinese Pure Land Buddhist Doctrine: Ching-ying Hui-yiian 's Commentary on the Visualisation Sutra.

Tashi NAMGYAL [tr. Lobsang Lhalungpa] see: Mahamudra: The quintessence of Mind and Meditation.

(The) Theatre of Objectivity: Comments on Jose Cabezon's Interpretations of mKhas grub Ije's and C.W. Huntington, Jr.'s Interpretations of the Tibetan Translation of a Seventh Century Indian Buddhist Text, C.W. HUNTINGTON. 15.1 (1992): 118-133.

Three Recent Collections: Chinese Buddhist Apocrypha, (ed.) Robert E. BUSWELL. Review by Roger R. JACKSON. 14.1 (1991): 191-193.

Three Recent Collections: Reflections on Tibetan Culture, (eds.) Lawrence EpSTEIN and Richard SHERBURNE. Review by Roger R. JACKSON. 14.1 (1991): 191-193.

Three Recent Colle~tions: The Buddhist Heritage, (ed.) Tadeusz SKORUPSKI. Review by Roger R. JACKSON. 14.1 (1991): 191-193.

Tibetan Materials in the Asia Rare Book Collection of the Library of Congress, John B. BUESCHER. 13.1 (1990): 1-15.

Tibetan Scholastic Education and The Role of Soteriology, Georges DREYFUS. 20.1 (1997): 31-62.

INDEX TO JIABS 11-21 405

TILLEMANS, Tom J.F. see: (A) Note on Pramd1Javdrttika, Pramd1Jasamuccaya and Nydyamukha. What is the svadharmin in Buddhist Logic? On a Recent Translation of the Sa11ldhinirmocanasutra. Remarks ·on Philology. Some Reflections on R.S.Y. Chi's Buddhist Formal Logic.

TOLA, Fernando see: (An) Introduction to Buddhism.

Traditions 0/ Meditation in Chinese Buddhism, (ed.) Peter N. GREGORY. Review by HenrikH. S0RENSEN. 11.1 (1988): 179-184.

(A) Translation of the Madhyamakahrdayakdrikii with the Tarkajvdld ill. 137-146, Chikafumi WATANABE. 21.1 (1998): 125-155.

Truth, Contradiction and Harmony in Medieval Japan: Emperor Hanazono (1297-1348) and Buddhism, Andrew GOBLE. 12.1 (1989): 21-63.

(A) Twelfth Century Tibetan Classic of Mahamudra: The Path o/Ultimate Profundity: The Great Seal Instructions o/Zhang, Dan MARTIN. 15.2 (1992): 243-319.

(The) Twilight Language: Explorations in Buddhist Meditation and Symbolism, Roderick S. BUCKNELL & Martin STUART-Fox. Review by Roger R. JACKSON. 11.2 (1988): 123-130.

Two Mongol Xylographs (Hor pa ma) of the Tibetan Text of Sa skya P~<;lita' s Work on Buddhist Logic and Epistemology, Leonald W.J. VAN DER Kuup. 16.2 (1993): 279-298.

Two New Fragments of Buddhist Sanskrit Manuscripts from Central Asia, Richard SALOMON & Collett COX. 11.1 (1988): 141-153.

Understanding Chih-i: Through a glass, darkly, Paul L. SWANSON. 17.2 (1994): 337-360.

Unspoken Paradigms: Meanderings through the Metaphors of a Field, Luis O. G6MEZ. 18.2 (1995): 183-230.

Upping the Ante: budstud@rnillenium.end.edu, Jamie HUBBARD. 18.2 (1995): 309-. 322.

URBAN, Hugh B. see: What Else Remains in Siinyat:a? An Investigation of Terms for Mental Imagery in the Madhyiintavibhaga-Corpus.

Vacuite et corps actualise: Le probleme de la presence des "Personnages V eneres" dans leurs images selon la tradition du bouddhisme japonais, Bernard FRANK. 11.2 (1988): 53-86.

Vajravinaya and VajraSauQ.Q.a: A 'Ghost' Goddess and her Syncretic Spouse, Max NIHOM. 21.2 (1998): 373-382.

JIABS 21.2 406

Vajrayana Deities in an Illustrated Indian Manuscript of the A~tasiihasrikii-prajiiiipiiraniitii, John NEWMAN.. 13.2 (1990): 117-132. .

VANDERKUIJP, Leonald W.J. see: Apropos of Some Recently Recovered Texts Belonging to the Lam 'bras Teachings of the Sa skya pa and Ko brag pa. Two Mongol Xylographs (Hor p"a rna) of the Tibetan Text of Sa skya PaI.1Qita's Work on Buddhist Logic and Epistemology.

VAN NOOTEN, Barend A. see: (A) Concordance of Buddhist Birth Stories.

Vasubandhu on sarrzskiirapratyayarrz vijiiiinam, Robert KRITZER. 16.1 (1993): 24-55.

VERHAGEN, Pieter C. see: (The) Mantra "Orrz mal}i-padme hurrz" in an Early Tibetan Grammatical Treatise.

(A) Verse from the Bhadracaripra1J.idhiina in a 10th Century Inscription found at Nalanda, Gregory SCHOPEN. 12.1 (1989): 149-157.

VETTER, Tilmann see: Explanation of dukkha.

(The) Violence of Non-Violence: A Study of Some Jain Responses to Non-Jain Religious Practices, Phyllis GRANOFF. 15.1 (1992): 1-43.

WATANABE, Chikafumi see: (A) Translation of the Madhyamakahrdayakarikii with the Tarkajviilii III. 137-146.

(A) Way of Reading, C.W. Huntington. 18.2 (1995): 279-308.

Ways of Knowing and Transmitting Religious Knowledge: Case Studies of Theravada Buddhist Nuns, Nirmala S. SALGADO. 19.1 (1996): 61-79.

What Else Remains in Siinyata? An Investigation of Terms for Mental Imagery in the Madhyantavibhaga-Corpus, Hugh B. URBAN & Paul J. GRIFFITHS .. 17.1 (1994): 1-25.

What's Going on Here? Chih-i's Use (and Abuse) of Scripture, Paul L. SWANSON. 20.1 (1997): 1-30.

"(The) Whole Secret Lies in Arbitrariness": A Reply to Eli Franco, Roger R. JACKSON. 20.1 (1997): 133-148.

WILSON, Joe Bransford see: [News and notice 1 The International Association of Buddhist Studies and the World Wide Web. Pudgalaviida in Tibet? Assertions of Substantially Existent Selves in the Writings of Tsong-kha-pa and His Followers.

WOOD, Thomas E. see: Mind Only: A Philosophical and Doctrinal Analysis of the Vijiiiinaviida.

INDEX TO JIABS 11-21 407

YANG, Jidong see: Replacing hu withfan: A Change in the Chinese Perception of Buddhism during the Medieval Period.

YOUNG, Serinity see: Gender and-Salvation: Jaina Debates on the Spiritual Liberation of Women.

Yuan-wu K'o-ch'in's (1063-1135) Teaching of Ch'an Kung-an Practice: A Translation from the Literary Study of Ch'an Kung-an to the Practical K'an-hua Ch'an, Ding-HwaEvelyn HSIEH. 17.1 (1994): 66-95.

Yukti:;a:;tikiivrtti: Commentaire d la soixantaine sur Ie raisonnement ou Du vrai enseignement de la causatite par Ie Maitre indien Candrakirti, Cristina Anna SCHERRER-SCHAUB. Review by Jose Ignacio CABEZON. 15.2 (1992): 325-326.

ZAHLER, Leah see: Meditation and Cosmology: The Physical Basis of the Concentrations and Formless Absorptions According to dGe-Iugs Tibetan Presentations.

Zenbase CDl. Review by John R. MCRAE. 20.1 (1997): 165-174.

ZIPORYN, Brook see: Anti-Chan Polemics in Post Tang Tiantai.

PIERRE ARENES

Henneneutics of the Tantra: A Study of some Uses of the "Hidden Meaning~'·

The article deals with the hermeneutics of the tantras and concerns the "Four modes of Explanation" (caturvidhiikhyiiyikii; Mad tshul bii), the fourth of the "Seven ornaments" (saptiila'!lkiira; rgyan bdun) - the device_ most commonly used in the hermeneutic tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. The object of our study is the fourth, viz., the "Hidden Meaning" (garbhyiirtha; sbas (pa'O don), this being the. most unusual of the "Four modes of Explanation", and one that is remarkable for its relative autonomy.

This study is more specifically focused on the use of the "Hidden Meaning" as sens "accommodatice" for certain transitional or hybrid canonical texts (Namastiire ekavi'!lsati-stotra, Prajfiiipiiramitiihrdaya­sutra) whose vague classification as sutra or as tantra has been an object of controversy. The works of Taranatha (1575-1635), Gun than 'Jam pa'i dbyans (1762-1823) and dBal man dKon mchog rGyal mtshan (1764-1853) have been utilized.

It would appear that in the cases studied, the "Hidden Meaning" was employed with a didactical-soteriological purpose, either to encourage a smooth transition from the sutras to the tantras, or in order to transform a kriyiitantra text (or one utilized for the practice of kriyiitantra) into a support for an anuttarayogatantra practice, thus establishing a continuity between the lower and higher tantras.

* English Summary, see article on p. 173.

Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Volume 21. Number 2.1998

JIABS21.2 411

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The International Assocation of Buddhist Studies

Colette Caillat President

Gregory Schopen Vice-president

Oskar v. Hintiber General Secretary

Joe B. Wilson Treasurer

Regional Secretaries: Janet Gyatso (Americas)

S. Katsura (Asia) Oskar v. Hintiber (Europe) (temporary)

Members of the Board: Robert Buswell, H. Durt, R. Gupta, K. Kimura,

E. Steinkeller, T. TiIlemans, Akira Yuyama

The International Association of Buddhist Studies, founded in 1976, is devoted to promoting and supporting scholarship in Buddhist Studies in all its aspects, past and present, around the world. Membership is open to scholars of all academic disciplines.

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