Robert Mayer's analysis of Guru Chowang's enduring connection between territorial deity cosmologies and the preservation of hidden teachings in Tibetan Buddhism Academic scholars are accustomed to understanding gter as sacred texts often associated with Padmasambhava, within a cult deriving historically from ancient imperial burials. Yet the great 13th-century Padmasambhava devotee Guru Chowang primarily understood gter, by definition, within a mundane framework, barely mentioning Padmasambhava at first, and with not a word about ancient tombs. Even more striking about Chowang’s understandings of gter are their widespread and continuing persistence, as suggested by recent ethnographies of Tibet’s territorial deity cosmologies. For rather than place ancient tombs at the centre of his analysis, Chowang looked to popular terrestrial deity cosmologies to provide a vehicle for Padmasambhava’s hidden teachings. This graft of Indian Buddhist notions of transcendent, spiritual, transmission onto mundane Tibetan territorial deity cosmologies still thrives to this day. Indeed, Tibetan scholars understood Indian Buddhism previously to have made a similar use of India’s nāga and yakṣa territorial deity cosmologies for the concealment and rediscovery of Buddhist teachings.
All content for Tibetan Graduate Studies Seminar is the property of Oxford University and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Robert Mayer's analysis of Guru Chowang's enduring connection between territorial deity cosmologies and the preservation of hidden teachings in Tibetan Buddhism Academic scholars are accustomed to understanding gter as sacred texts often associated with Padmasambhava, within a cult deriving historically from ancient imperial burials. Yet the great 13th-century Padmasambhava devotee Guru Chowang primarily understood gter, by definition, within a mundane framework, barely mentioning Padmasambhava at first, and with not a word about ancient tombs. Even more striking about Chowang’s understandings of gter are their widespread and continuing persistence, as suggested by recent ethnographies of Tibet’s territorial deity cosmologies. For rather than place ancient tombs at the centre of his analysis, Chowang looked to popular terrestrial deity cosmologies to provide a vehicle for Padmasambhava’s hidden teachings. This graft of Indian Buddhist notions of transcendent, spiritual, transmission onto mundane Tibetan territorial deity cosmologies still thrives to this day. Indeed, Tibetan scholars understood Indian Buddhism previously to have made a similar use of India’s nāga and yakṣa territorial deity cosmologies for the concealment and rediscovery of Buddhist teachings.
The Rgyud sde spyi rnam ascribed to Rin chen bzang po (958–1055) and its authoritative sources
Tibetan Graduate Studies Seminar
41 minutes
2 years ago
The Rgyud sde spyi rnam ascribed to Rin chen bzang po (958–1055) and its authoritative sources
Sonam Choden discusses Lo tsā ba Rin chen bzang po's composition of his "General Presentation of the Tantric Systems" and its authoritative sources While numerous Indian works translated by Lo-chen Rin-chen-bzang-po (958–1055) have been transmitted through the Tibetan Buddhist Canon and are thus easily available, works composed (or believed to have been composed) by him have been rarely accessible. Recently, however a work titled rGyud sde spy’i rnam par gzhag pa ’thad ldan lung gi rgyan gyis spras pa (hence forth: rGyud sde spyi rnam) attributed to Lo-chen Rin-chen-bzang-po has surfaced. The title may be rendered into English as “A General Presentation of the Tantric [Systems/Doctrines] Adorned by the Ornaments of Tenable Authoritative Sources.” Indeed, the work is “adorned” with numerous authoritative scriptures.
Rin-chen-bzang-po, not only cites many canonical sources in support of his exposition, but he also present them as a backup against presumed refutations to it. Moreover, he also relies on canonical sources in order to present the opponents’ position. Sometimes, he cites the same verse as an additional source for two different arguments without providing any further explanation. It is intriguing not only to learn how the translator had composed his ‘Presentation of Tantric Systems’ based on his vast knowledge of numerous tantras, but also to witness the authority he provides to those sources to support both his own and the opponents’ position.
This talk proposes to discuss how Rin-chen-bzang-po had deployed authoritative sources in support of his composition of the rGyud sde spyi rnam. And the affinity between his authoritative sources in the rGyud sde spyi rnam and the Canonical Sources. Since this work seems to be the earliest among the Tibetan works belonging to this genre, it also bears an important role as an early textual witness. Hence, this talk also aims to explore whether subsequent Tibetan scholars provide any authority to Rin-chen-bzang-po as they compose their own rGyud sde spyi rnam. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/
Tibetan Graduate Studies Seminar
Robert Mayer's analysis of Guru Chowang's enduring connection between territorial deity cosmologies and the preservation of hidden teachings in Tibetan Buddhism Academic scholars are accustomed to understanding gter as sacred texts often associated with Padmasambhava, within a cult deriving historically from ancient imperial burials. Yet the great 13th-century Padmasambhava devotee Guru Chowang primarily understood gter, by definition, within a mundane framework, barely mentioning Padmasambhava at first, and with not a word about ancient tombs. Even more striking about Chowang’s understandings of gter are their widespread and continuing persistence, as suggested by recent ethnographies of Tibet’s territorial deity cosmologies. For rather than place ancient tombs at the centre of his analysis, Chowang looked to popular terrestrial deity cosmologies to provide a vehicle for Padmasambhava’s hidden teachings. This graft of Indian Buddhist notions of transcendent, spiritual, transmission onto mundane Tibetan territorial deity cosmologies still thrives to this day. Indeed, Tibetan scholars understood Indian Buddhism previously to have made a similar use of India’s nāga and yakṣa territorial deity cosmologies for the concealment and rediscovery of Buddhist teachings.
