Channels = Veins, Nerves & What, Sinews?

I was planning a blog about chakras, but something else came up. I was reading Janet Gyatso’s translation and discussion on the typology of bodily channels that is findable in the Explanatory Tantra* when a remarkable parallel dawned on me, slowly. I have no intention to detract the least bit from Janet’s accomplishment. Quite the contrary, it is my fondest desire to send you off to read it so you will see for yourself how amazing it is. However, she uses that particular quote from the E.T. as a springboard to go into intricately nuanced studies of the historic discussions linking medical channels with those known from canonical Buddhist tantras. This problem occupies much of the heart of her book, while I spring off in a different direction.

(*One of the famous Four [Medical] Tantras, the Rgyud-bzhi. Although they do have the word tantra in the title, they do not form a part of the canonical Buddhist tantras. Confusing? Bear with us.)

Right now my finger joints are torturing me (perhaps tendonitis?) and I hope to avoid spilling a lot of my very limited keyboard energy. Instead I’d like to stop right there with the 3rd category of veins, called connective channels, since I noticed something very interesting, strongly suggesting what many will find a surprising connection with Byzantine or Graeco-Arabic medicine of the Hippocratic school. The four major categories are 1. formative channels, 2. evolving channels, 3. connective channels, and 4. lifespan channels. 

Now for no. 3, the connective channels, I quote the passage from the Explanatory Tantra, ch. 4, according to the official Mentsikhang translation (truncated just because at this late hour I think you and I will prefer something shorter):  

“The interconnecting channels are of two: white (nerves) and black (blood vessels) channels. The blood vessels having its main trunk branch upward to form twenty-four major blood vessels. These channels are responsible for the formation and development of blood components and muscle tissues. These twenty-four channels consist of eight major deep blood vessels, which are connected to the vital and vessel organs, and sixteen superficial blood vessels that are connected externally with the head and limbs... 

“The brain, being the base of the nervous system, is like vast ocean of channels from which the spinal cord descends like a descending root. There are nineteen peripheral nerves which are responsible for all physical mobility. Out of these, thirteen concealed nerves are connected with the internal organs like suspended silk cords, whereas six visible nerves which further branch into sixteen minor nerves are connected with the outer limbs.”

To unpack a bit, here there is a concern to distinguish structures visible on the surface, as many veins are, from those that are buried in deep tissue, and normally invisible. But note right away that in place of “sixteen minor nerves” we will probably prefer to read sixteen minor water channels (chu-rtsa phran-bu bcu-drug), although I suppose we could then argue that in this medical context, chu ought mean not just water, but bodily fluids in general. I suppose...

But wait one minute. Yonten Gyatso, in his review of Barry Clark’s translation of this passage criticizes him for translating chu-rtsa as tendons or as ligaments. The reviewer finds no reason that ligaments should appear in the context of channels, and there is indeed something puzzling about this. However, I would point out, there is a word chu-ba that means ligament, and the sixteen minor chu-rtsa are really and truly explained as connective tissues for bones* in the medical dictionaries available to me.  They even enumerate them, siting them in wrists, elbows and other joints.

(*Whether these sinews be tendons or ligaments, such are liable to be confounded in any language. In my understanding rgyus-pa should mean the tendon that connects muscles to bone, while chu-ba means the ligament that joins bone to bone. I have several hefty Tibetan-Tibetan medical dictionaries, but I’m too lazy to list their titles here. In her book, at pp. 229 and 447, Gyatso puts forward the correct spelling for the word for tendon as not chu-ba, but chus-pa, throwing us ever so slightly off track. No, the correct spelling is not chus-pa, and Yes, the chu in chu-rtsa is not the chu meaning water, but the chu that is short for chu-ba, so there is really no good reason to go on using the translation water channel.)

It would seem — I claim no expertise for myself — that in the Hippocratic Corpus there are three main classes of channels: phlebes meaning mainly the blood vessels, neura, the ligaments & nerves, and poroi for the irregular on-and-off valve-like openings for draining excess fluids. On these, see Craik’s article, especially p. 107.  

Taking down my Liddell & Scott, I find that the word neura in Greek means “a string or cord of sinew, a bowstring” (in Homer, Hesiod, etc.). The Latin for neura is nervus.

I think you will remember this the next time someone says you are high-strung or about to snap. We’re all a little neurotic sometimes, although I hope you’re not thinking I am as much as I fear you are.

But seriously, in both Greek and Tibetan medicine, it looks as if we are meant to understand that [1] sinews — those most connective of connective tissues, [2] nerves, and likewise [3] blood vessels, are all about connecting things. Has this never occurred to you? 

Or, to cut this short since I’m low on energy and you have demonstrated enough patience by now, I’ll just conclude with a summation: A long-influential strain of early Greek-style medicine had in common with the official bible of traditional Tibetan medicine a tendency to classify the sinews and the nerves together, or what might be saying the same thing, they had some trouble distinguishing them. This general point, while I believe it will hold true, does require finessing, should you feel so inclined to go into it with the necessary detail and rigor. Feel free and stress-free until next time, my friends.

Notice the "suspended silk cords" or tassels
hanging directly down from the brain
(with no detour via the spinal column)

Good to read just so you’ll know:

E.M. Craik, “Hippocratic Bodily ‘Channels’ and Oriental Parallels,” Medical History, vol. 53 (2009), pp. 105-116.  Try this link.

Frances Garrett & Vincanne Adams, with assistance from Jampa Kelsang, Yumba and Renchen Dhondup, “The Three Channels in Tibetan Medicine, with a Translation of Tsultrim Gyaltsen's A Clear Explanation of the Principal Structure and Location of the Circulatory Channels as Illustrated in the Medical Paintings,” Traditional South Asian Medicine, vol. 8 (2008), pp. 86-114.

Janet Gyatso, Being Human in a Buddhist World: An Intellectual History of Medicine in Early Modern Tibet, Columbia University Press (New York 2015).

I.M. Lonie, “Medical Theory in Heraclides of Pontus,” Mnemosyne, 4th series vol. 18, no. 2 (1965), pp. 126-143. Interesting for its treatment of the poroi, Lonie takes you into a Greek medical world no less fascinating and surprising than the Tibetan.

D. Martin, “An Early Tibetan History of Indian Medicine,” contained in: Mona Schrempf, ed., Soundings in Tibetan Medicine: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives, Brill (Leiden 2007), pp. 307-325. It reveals the existence in Rome of the lost medical history by Che-rje dating to very close to the beginning of the 13th century. Neglected in this study is any notice of the closely contemporary parallel sketch of medical historical pluralism in the Four Tantras itself:  See now Janet Gyatso's book, at p. 150, and see also the Mentsikhang's edition and translation of the Subsequent Tantra, at p. 295 (listed here below ↓ under “Yuthok”). This passage, quite oddly, attributes pulse and urine diagnostics to Tibet’s own indigenous medicine, even when we now can say there are sure indications that the former was largely informed by Chinese medicine — the Four Tantras actually make use of borrowed Chinese technical terms in this context — while the latter, urinalysis, has clearly dependent connections with Graeco-Arabic sources on that subject.

Wendy McDowell, “Medicine’s Unique Ways of Knowing: An Interview with Janet Gyatso,” Harvard Divinity School Bulletin (2016), go to this link.

Plinio Prioreschi, A History of Medicine, Volume Two: Greek Medicine, Horatio Press (Omaha 1996), p. 262:

“The Hippocratic physician knew very little of the nervous system; nerves were confused with tendons and ligaments and the word neuron meant tendon or sinew.”

Yang Ga (Dbyangs-dga'), The Sources for the Writing of the Rgyud bzhi, Tibetan Medical Classic, doctoral dissertation, Harvard University (Cambridge 2010). Here a number of connections are made between Tibetan and Greek medicines in fields of wound treatment, uroscopy, and so on. I should add that he finds many connections with Chinese and Indian medical systems as well. I notice, too,  that on p. 309 he translates chu-rtsa as “tendon-like channel.” For Graeco-medical urinalysis, Yang Ga drops the name of Theophilus (7th-9th century CE sometime), but see also R. Yoeli-Tlalim, who located impressive parallels elsewhere in the literature.

Ronit Yoeli-Tlalim, “On Urine Analysis and Tibetan Medicine's Connections with the West,” contained in:  Sienna Craig, Mingji Cuomu, Frances Garrett & Mona Schrempf, eds., Studies in Medical Pluralism in Tibetan History and Society, International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies (Halle 2010), pp. 195-211. In this article Ronit discusses Isaac Israeli, aka Isaac Judaeus (ca. 850-950 CE), a Jewish Egyptian-Tunisian medical writer, who composed his works in Arabic. His work was subsequently translated into Hebrew and Latin and became among the best known works on the subject in both the Middle East and Europe. The outline he supplies for his systematic treatment of urinalysis closely matches the outline of the urinalysis section in the Tibetan medical text the So-ma-ra-dza (Tibskrit for Somarâja, “King of Sleep,” an epithet of cannabis).

Yonten Gyatso, review of Barry Clark, The Quintessence Tantras of Tibetan Medicine, Snow Lion (Ithaca 1995), contained in Tibet Journal, vol. 28, no. 3 (Autumn 2003), pp. 97-106, and particularly p. 103, where the passage on the nerves is dealt with. The author is a contemporary figure in the field of Tibetan medicine, well-known for his herbarium project.

Yuthog Yonten Gonpo, The Basic Tantra and the Explanatory Tantra from the Secret Quintessential Instructions on the Eight Branches of the Ambrosia Essence Tantra, translated into English by the Translation Department, Men-Tsee-Khang Publications (Dharamsala 2011), the 2nd edition, in 337 pages; at pp. 62-65 you will find the main discussion of the channels. I find it interesting that this official publication gives the authorship credit without comment or discussion, since this has been a point of contention for much of Tibet’s history (see chap. 3 in Janet Gyatso's book). The cover page doesn’t distinguish the Elder from the Younger Yuthog, but we may learn from the Preface (p. v) that the Elder composed, while the Younger rewrote, the Four Tantras. As of today I believe it is quite sure and well established that the Four Tantras were put together in circa 1200 CE and that there never was an Elder Yuthog. So although it no longer makes sense to call him by this name, the Younger Yuthog (perhaps with aid of his immediate students) is to be regarded as the author/compiler of all of it.

Yuthok Yonten Gonpo, The Subsequent Tantra from the Secret Quintessential Instructions on the Eight Branches of the Ambrosia Essence Tantra, tr. into English by the Translation Department, Men-Tsee-Khang Publications (Dharamsala 2011).

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Afterwords:

If you want to try an experiment, go to this website and use their search-box to find “nerves” or “tendons” and see how they are seemingly identical (or confounded?) in a number of Hippocratic works.

The frontispiece, derived from the famous 17th-century medical illustrations that feature so largely in Janet Gyatso's not only well-written but beautifully produced book, is not actually meant to illustrate the channels themselves, but rather the pulses that indicate particular types of disorders. Don’t be surprised if I tell you that the Tibetan word rtsa means both channel and pulse. (Not every channel pulsates as much as the other, but well, I guess you got my point.)

From the pavement of Santa Catarina, Sinai.
We’re all interconnected, you betcha!
Look into it & you’ll start seeing things.

The Magical Medical Bag Texts

An instructional chart showing the positions of some of the internal organs

A library in Copenhagen, the Royal Library in fact, has what I once believed to be a unique manuscript of a medical collection that is attributed to the authorship of Padampa. When I noticed it in a catalog, I was a little more than just intrigued, I immediately wrote away to the city of the Tivoli Gardens and still other amusements in order to eventually acquire a copy of it for my personal perusal. I can’t say I was disappointed at what it contained, since I already had some idea of what it was about. I was much more surprised, even on the verge of shock when, several months later, I saw a manuscript of what appeared to be a text from the same cycle of medical texts on e-Bay. I couldn’t resist my immediate impulse to place a bid on it. I felt that I was saving it. At the time, at least, I thought so.

Now there are several reasons not to buy Tibetan texts on e-Bay. Without going into all of them all at once, one reason is that not so many people are able to tell how valuable these things are. This goes not just for buyers but also, or perhaps even more so, for the sellers. Sometimes texts that are extremely common are priced sky high, while rare or seldom encountered texts are sold for practically nothing. The latter was the case with our medical text. I think to most e-Bay buyers one page of Tibetan writing is as good as the next.

If you will allow me to pass on a lesson hard learned, there is yet another reason not to buy Tibetan texts on e-Bay. That is: You never know if you are getting the whole complete text, and anyway, the dealers might actually feel encouraged to split up texts into several batches to sell one batch at a time thereby squeezing more out of their money cow. They believe the buyer will never know. So why not? Although I can’t be sure, I believe this is what happened with this magical medical text, which is complete as far as it goes, but then stops very abruptly. I must confess, as a buyer of this e-Bay artifact I might have unwittingly aided and abetted this practice. And of course, there is the broader issue of the stripping of Mongolia and Tibet of their traditional Buddhist cultural items. Tourist-market fakes along with legitimate reproductions come in to meet the demand, with the positive effect of leaving the real things alone (if, that is, there are any real things left).


Now that I’ve no doubt succeeded in making you think less of me as a person, I would like to go on to talk about the text itself, albeit in the form of a different manuscript, at least enough to make much different sorts of points.  


The text in the Copenhagen library is listed in the Tarab - Buescher catalog, no. 983 at page 474 of volume 1.  Here the title is quite accurately given (I only fixed one small thing) as

Grub pa'i dbang phyug chen po dam pa sangs rgyas kyi rten 'brel dang bla ma brgyud pa'i gsol 'debs sogs dang man ngag 'khyug dpyad dkar nag khra gsum kha 'thor gyi 'khyug dpyad dang bcas pa phyogs gcig tu bkod pa me tog phreng mdzes zhes bya ba gzhan na med pa dge'o.  

The description of the content given here is also not 100% non-misleading. It says “Prayer related to the lineage of Pha Dam pa saṅs rgyas, followed by instructions on spiritual practices such as guru-yoga and on a number of (magical) practices expedient in all kinds of adversities.”


The first third is correct. There is a (but surely not the) lineage of Padampa there. The last third is correct, it's all about magical practices against various adversities (but primarily medical ones). The middle part is a little misleading. True, there is something there (on folio 4) that might be called guru-yoga, but very little. Really, it’s all about the magic — magic mainly against illnesses of the human body, but at the same time no reason not to include magic for solving social problems like gossip, or elemental disturbances in the environment, like floods. All very pragmatic. All very  much on the level of magic (and medicine), not spirituality.


The catalog entry tells us it was dictated to the scribe and disciple Rinchen Dargyé by his disciple Pel Wangchen Gargyi Wangchug Gyerab Dorjé.* 

(*In Wylie these names are Rin-chen-dar-rgyas and Dpal Dbang-chen-gar-gyi-dbang-phyug-rgyas-rab-rdo-rje — I think this last part should read dgyes-rab-rdo-rje. I have no idea who these people are, do you?).

The loose folio pages are numbered from 1 through 27.  Almost all the text, apart from the mantras, is in cursive and scribed in black ink except for occasional use of red ink for emphasis.


Another thing about the text as described there in the catalog that is liable to perk up some peoples’ interests:  “Part of the remaining space on fol. 27 verso has been used by a previous owner for adding, in dBu can script, a short instruction for magically obtaining success in various sorts of gambling.” Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Too bad if you are, because I’m going to try it out for myself first.


One thing the Copenhagen catalog does not tell us is who the Terton (gter-ston or gter-bton) was. Tertons, in case you are not yet aware of it, are treasure revealers. They do Buddhist-inspired archaeology, coming up with items of significance to their traditions. Many of these treasures (gter) are in the form of texts, or coded instructions for generating texts, or for touching off memory of the original teaching scene in the far distant past.


We may know this cycle of texts (or this three-fold cycle of texts) is one of these treasure texts because it is listed in the genre of texts called Teachings Received (Thob-yig or Gsan-yig) pertaining to such highly regarded historical teachers as Terdag Lingpa (1646‑1714), the Fifth Dalai Lama, Akhuching (1803‑1875), and the Tagdrag Regent (1874-1952). I’ve given some of the relevant content of some of these texts in an appended section below.


In the title itself, but also in the listings of contents, we may easily see that the cycle is a three-fold one. The word 'khyud-dpyad may cause problems for many Tibetanists, but the simple answer is that, whatever else it means, it means the medicine bag traditionally carried by Tibetan doctors. The three cycles could be translated as The White Medicine Bag, The Checkered Medicine Bag, and The Black Medicine Bag. I can easily show you what a Tibetan doctor’s bag looks like by pointing you to the Googlebooks version of Rechung Rinpoche's book that you will find here. I hope the link works for you. If not, the very same bag has been uploaded in color to various sites around the internet, so I feel free to pass it on (minus the misleading descriptive labeling).

A Medicine Bag (Wellcome Institute, London?)

From the just-mentioned Records of Teachings Received we may find revealed the name of the Terton who found the text. It was an obscure person by the name of Khamtön Sherabpel (Khams-ston Shes-rab-dpal) who found it at a place called Longtang Drolma (Klong-thang Sgrol-ma). 

This place in Kham, not too far from Dergé I believe, plays several roles in Tibetan history. Its temple was originally built by Emperor Songtsen Gampo in order to press down the left palm of a restless rakshasi, detected through geomantic methods, who would have wreaked havoc otherwise. It was a place associated with the 1oth-century visit of the Indian teacher Smriti. His story is well known. Although very learned, he couldn’t express himself in the local language and so had no choice but to find work as a shepherd. Eventually he was able to found an Abhidharma teaching school at Longtang. As an imperial period construction, it isn’t very surprising that treasures might be found there, and I’ve noticed another example. That Padampa personally hid the treasure there is an essential part of the story, and I haven’t located in biographical accounts of Padampa any information that he went there but, well, I’m still looking.


The Terton is so obscure I do not find anything about him in the standard histories of the Tertons.  We might guestimate his date by looking at the lineages. These place him 16 generations before the Fifth Dalai Lama (1617‑1682).  Let’s see, that would make him active somewhere around 1370, would it?


I won’t say more about the content of this work today. What you will see at the link that is soon to follow is a scan of the e-Bay version of the text. (Not, I repeat, not the Copenhagen library manuscript, since it is not within my rights to give — I hope they will put it up on their own site.) Those who already know Tibetan and are trained in magic can benefit from its content. Other people can just look at the pages and wonder, like I do, how such a work could ever have become associated with the name of Padampa.


I know it is rather odd and potentially confusing that all this time I have been describing to you one text, the Copenhagen manuscript, but now I send you a download link for a very different manuscript of (part of) the same collection that I have hardly described for you at all.


When you feel you are ready to go there, push here. See you soon, friends.

(If the download link doesn’t work for you at one try, please don’t give in to frustration. I suggest trying again several hours later or on another day. Use the fastest internet connection you can. Then if you still can’t make it work, I’m always ready to hear your complaints.)

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From the Record of Teachings Received of the Great Fifth Dalai Lama, vol. 2, fols. 86-88 (based on a digital version of the text produced by Ven. Carola Roloff):

+ rgya gar dam pa sangs rgyas kyis bod du lan gsum byon pa'i mtha' mar man ngag 'khyug dpyad dkar nag khra gsum khams kyi klong thang sgrol mar gter du sbas pa mkha' 'gro'i lung bstan ltar khams ston shes rab dpal gyis bton pa'i dang po

'khyug dpyad dkar po'i skor la /   'khrug pa dang nad zhi ba /   mi kha dang nad ngan phyogs ngan thub pa /   ske nad mkhal nad zhi ba /   mi phyugs kyi nad rgyun chad pa /   sris rmo ba /   snying rlung /   ro stod /   lag pa so dang ldan pa na ba rnams sel ba /   rlung gi mgo na ba /   dpral ba /   mig  /  bad kan gyi nad /   dpung pa /   ro stod /   pus mo /   byin pa /   long bu /   rkang mthil na ba rnams gso ba /   rlung /   tshad pa /   grang ba /   lus tsha hra ba byed pa rnams sel ba /   skyug pa /   'khru ba /   gzer nad /   mgo gcod sel ba /   rgyun du gnod pa'i 'dre zhi ba rnams /  

'khyug dpyad khra bo la /   rta phyugs kyi nad zhi ba /   'dre byed ba /   'thab mo nyung ba /   'dre gnod thog 'tshag 'od 'khrug zhi ba /   bkra shis shing sa dpyad ngan pa zhi ba /   yams nad 'chad cing zhi ba /   sa 'dul /   dag zhi ba /   ngag dang stobs zhi ba /   rlung chen ldang ba /   'dre thams cad thub pa /   mi kha dang dgra nyung ba /   stobs bskyed pa /   chu kha smras /   mes mi 'tshig pa dang [087a] me mched pa zhi ba /   phan gnod gang yang sdeb thub pa /   mi kha zhi ba /   dgra 'dre thub pa /   dgra jag 'thab rtsod zhi ba /   'thab mo mi 'byung ba /   'khrug pa bzlum pa /   rlung gnon /   lhog pa thub pa /   nam mkha'i nad zhi ba /   sel zhi ba /   nad ngan thub cing don 'grub pa /   'de drag po'i gnod pa dang zug gzer gcog pa /   rbad 'dre dang khyi du ba mtshan ma ngan pa rnams zhi ba /   ser ba zhi ba /   rkun jag grol ba /   smyo ba'am kha smras dang nad 'byung ba /   thog bsrung rnams /   nag po'i skor la /   'chi la khad bsos pa /   dmag bzlog pa /   dmag byer ba /   gral dpon 'chi ba /   nad kha bsgyur ba /   dmag dang gnod pa kha smras zhi ba /   gzer gyis 'chi ba /   sngo skam la 'gro ba /   khang pa 'gas pa rnams /   zla ba'i 'khyug dpyad la /   dmag  /  bag ma gtong len /   khyim rtsig 'jig  /  lam 'jug ldog  /  ston mo /   gyod len gang la'ang bkra shis par bya ba rnams /   tshes grangs kyi 'khyug dpyad kyis dmag  /  bag ma /   mkhar las /   lam zhugs /   ston mo /   kha mchu sogs gang la'ang shis par bya ba /   yi ge'i 'khyug dpyad kyis zug gcog cing nad rmang nas 'don pa /   skud pa'i 'khyug dpyad kyis nad rnams zhi ba /   mtshon cha'i 'khyug dpyad la /   thog 'tsheg pa dang /   gdon /   gnod byed zhi ba /   dmag bzlog  /  dgra bgegs zhi ba /   brgyal bar byed pa /   lhas ngan dang gnod pa zhi ba rnams /   'chi blu'i 'khyug dpyad kyis nad bso ba /   sna tshogs pa'i 'khyug dpyad la /   skyug pa gcod pa /   gzer nad zhi ba /   spos pa sel ba /   'khru pa gcod pa /   skran nad gso ba rnams /   drang srong rgyu skar gyi 'khyug dpyad la [087b] gsum gyi dkar po la /   skar ma so so'i zla skar la brten pa'i rten 'brel gyi nad gso ba /  

nag po'i 'khyug dpyad la /   sngags kyi kha bsgyur bstan pa /   rta /   bong bu /   glang /   mdzo /   rtol gsod pa /   bu chung ngu ba /   khyi zug pa zhi ba /   mdze 'ong ba /   khyi thams cad sgo la zug pa /   zhing la lo mi skye ba /   lo tog sngo skam la 'gro ba /   chang gtad /   pho mo dbye ba /   khang pa bshig pa /   ltas ngan gtong ba /   'od yong ba /   me 'byung ba /   bya sna tshogs 'bab pa /   gdung thams cad sbrul du 'gro ba /   chu khrag tu 'gro ba /   khang pa 'jig pa /   rmi lam ngan pa sna tshogs 'byung ba /   zhing sel /   bla mtshan nar mar 'bab pa /   lo tog gtan nas mi skye ba /   ljang pa ser skam du 'gro ba /   zhing ri dags kyis mi za ba /   smyo bar byed pa /   gnag thams cad 'gum par byed pa /   'byed pa /   mo mtshan smra bar 'gyur ba /   rabs chad pa /   zhing la ri bong bsrung ba /   dgra thams cad gnyid du 'gro ba rnams kyi lung thob pa'i brgyud pa ni /   'gro mgon dam pa sangs rgyas /   khams ston shes rab dpal /   ston pa chos brtson /   (khams ston shes rab dpal gyis gter ba rton nas ja sig tu bcug smon lam gyi gtad rgya dang bcas bskur ba yin no /   /  ) 'khrul zhig dkon cog gzhon nu /   mtshungs med rin cen shes rab /   'khrul zhig ye shes dpal ba /   rgyal sras shes rab bzang po /   mtshungs med kun dga'i mtshan can /   rtse sgang 'jigs med 'od 'phro /   drin can sangs rgyas bstan pa /   ri khrod pa grags pa bsod nams dpal dbang /   zhi byed bstan pa'i nyi ma karma chos grags /   grub dbang nyi zla grags pa /   rje mgon po lhun grub /   sprul sku sh'akya rin cen /   drin can [088a] gter bdag gling pa /   des bdag za hor bande la'o /   / 

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From the Record of Teachings Received of Akhuching:

What follows is a somewhat modified (made into Wylie) version of an extract from the work of Akhuching, dating to 1875, the year of his death, input by the Asian Classics Input Project.  Go here to find the source in its unmodified form.

Lineage of the magical medical text at p. 162v, one that includes Fifth Dalai Lama:

rgya gar dam pa sangs rgyas bod du lan gsum byon pa'i tha mar mkhyud spyad /  gangg'ara 'khyug dpyad zer /  dkar nag khra gsum khams kyi klong thang sgrol mar gter du sbas pa mkha' 'gros lung bstan ltar khams ston shes rab dpal gyis bton pa las /  drang srong rgyu skar gyi mkhyud spyad dkar nag gnyis gangg'ara yod kyang kun mkhyen 'jigs med dbang po'i gsan tho las dpe ma 'byor bas ma thob ces 'dug pa dngos su mthong /  de ma gtogs pa'i pha dam pa'i mkhyud spyad dkar nag khra gsum /  sna tshogs pa'i mkhyud spyad las mtshon cha'i mkhyud spyad kyi gnod byed zhi ba yan chad kyi tho gangg'a dang /  ma dros klong chen dang /  bla ma rdo rje 'chang gi gsan yig shog grangs brgya dang go lnga bar gsal ba ltar rdzogs par thob ba'i lung gi brgyud pa ni /  dam pa sangs rgyas /  khams ston shes rab dpal /  ston pa chos brtson /  'khrul zhig dkon mchog gzhon nu /  rin chen shes rab /  ye shes dpal pa /  shes rab bzang po /  kun dga'i mtshan can /  rtse sgang 'jigs med 'od 'phro /  sangs rgyas bstan pa /  grags pa bsod nams dpal bzang /  karma chos grags /  nyi zla grags pa /  mgon po lhun grub /  sprul sku sh'akya rin chen /  'gyur med rdo rje /  kun gzigs lnga pa chen po /  dge slong 'jam dbyangs grags pa /  bla ma mang thos rgya mtsho /  bla ma rin chen phun tshogs /  dka' chen thabs mkhas rgya mtsho /  rje btsun dkon mchog 'jigs med dbang po /  lcang lung khri rgan dge 'dun bstan 'dzin /  [163a] hor sprul sku blo bzang 'jam dbyangs /  dus 'khor dpon slob dkon mchog dar rgyas /  lha btsun dge legs bstan 'dzin /  rdo rje 'chang dkon mchog rgyal mtshan /  des bdag la'o //

yang na rdo rje 'chang dkon mchog rgyal mtshan /  grub dbang dkon mchog rgya mtsho /  des bdag la'o // mtshon cha'i mkhyud spyad kyi mjug man chad bla mas gsan dus dpe ma 'byor bar snang /  da lta dpe yod kyang lung rgyun btsal dgos /  om swa sti /  sna tshogs cho 'phrul snang ba ma 'gag pas // zhes pa'i dbu can gyi rdzas kyi rten 'brel dkar po brgyad cu /  yang na mo ratna gu ru /  a'a li k'a li'i sgra don bshad pa yis // zhes pa'i dbu can gyi sngags kyi rten 'brel gser gyi char ba gnyis gangg'a dang ma dros klung chen du med kyang tho yig bla ma'i gsan yig tu gsal ba cha tshang bar snga ma dang mnyam du rdo rje 'chang dkon mchog rgyal mtshan pa'i zhal snga nas las thob /

§  §  §

From the Record of Teachings Received of the Tagdrag Regent:

Source:  Works of the Regent Stag-brag Ngag-dbang-gsung-rab-mthu-stobs (1874-1952), vol. 1, pp. 767-775.  This is section NU in a larger title: (ja) Bod kyi mkhas grub rnams kyi gsung rgyun lung gi skor, which takes up vol. 1, pp. 321-858.  For the text of these collected works, see TBRC code no. W29272. I haven’t typed the entire text here, only part, since it is quite long.

(nu) Dam pa sangs rgyas kyi man ngag mkhyud spyad dkar nag khra gsum gyi skor (pp. 767-775). 

[fol. 224r]

NU / 'dir dam pa sangs rgyas kyis bod du lan gsum byon pa'i tha mar man ngag mkhyud spyad dkar nag khra gsum / khams kyi klong thang sgrol mar gter du sbas pa / mkha' 'gro'i lung bstan ltar khams ston shes rab dpal gyis bton pa'i dang po mkhyud spyad dkar po'i skor la / 'khrug pa dang nad zhi ba / mi kha dang nad ngan phyogs ngan thub pa / ske nad mkhas nad zhi ba / mi phyugs kyi nad rgyun chad pa / sris rmi ba / snying rlung / ro stod / lag pa so dang ldan pa na ba rnams sel ba / rlung gis mgo na ba / dpral ba mig / bad kan gyi nad / dpung pa / ro stod / pus mo / byin pa / long bu / rkang mthil na ba rnams gso ba /

rlung / tsha ba / grang ba / lus tsha hra ba byed pa rnams sel ba / skyug pa / 'khru ba / gzer nad / [224v] mgo gcong sel ba / rgyun du gnod pa'i 'dre zhi ba rnams /

[The Checkered Medicine Bag:]

+ mkhyud spyad khra bo la rta phyugs kyi nad zhi ba / 'dre byer ba / 'thab mo nyung ba / 'dre gnod / thog 'tshe ba / 'od 'khyug zhi ba / bkra shis shing sa dpyad ngan bzhi pa / yams nad cha cing zhi ba / sa 'dul / dgra zhi ba / dgra jag 'thab rtsod zhi ba / 'thab mo mi 'byung ba / 'khrug pa bsdum pa / rlung gnon pa / lhog pa thub pa / nam mkha'i nad zhi ba / sel zhi ba / nad ngan thub cing  don 'grub pa / 'dre drag po'i gnod pa dang zug gzer gcod pa / rbad 'dra dang / khyi ngu ba'i mtshan ma ngan pa rnams zhi ba / ser ba zhi ba / rkun jag grol ba / smyo ba'am kha smras dang nad zhi ba / thog bsrung rnams /

[The Black Medicine Bag:]

+ nag po'i skor la /

... ... ... ... text omitted ... ... ...

[226v, line 6]

+ sngags kyi rten 'brel gser gyi char pa'i skor la / 'gor / na mo ratna gu ru / â li kâ li'i sgra don bshad pa yis / [227r] sogs sho lo ka gnyis dang /

rten 'brel dngos la / bla ma'i thugs la 'dogs pa / shes rab me ltar 'bar ba / blo rno ba / rmi lam gsal ba / bud med dbang du bya ba / mi thams cad kyi snying du sdug pa / don grub pa / bdag la nyan pa / don thams cad grub pa / chu'i steng du 'gro ba / mkha' la bya bzhin 'gro ba / dgra zun thams cad kyis gsang tshigs smra ba / lha 'dre thams cad mthong zhing gtam smra ba / sa 'og gi gser mthong ba / sbrul mi 'ong ba / phyogs ngan bzlog pa / rlung mi skye ba /

... ... ... ... text omitted ... ... ... ...

Padampa in his Cutting form, with damaru rattle-drum and bell.

Biblio Notes:

Hartmut Buescher and Tarab Tulku, Catalogue of Tibetan Manuscripts and Xylographs, Det Kongelige Bibliotek (Copenhagen 2000), in two volumes. A PDF of the TOC and introduction of this pricey book may be downloaded without fee here.

The Royal Library in Copenhagen has kindly made freely available digitized versions of some most remarkable Nyingmapa texts from the collection of a famous Manchu prince by the name of Yunli (subject of an amusing yet educational book by Vladimir Uspensky of St. Petersburg that is warmly recommended), but more on that another time. Have a look here. These manuscripts are mainly in very beautifully executed cursive calligraphy, so worthwhile seeing even if you aren’t as eager to read them as you ought to be.


If you need to be introduced to the magic and mystery of Tibetan Tertons, there is nothing out there that can quite match Tulku Thondup Rinpoche's book Hidden Teachings of Tibet: An Explanation of the Terma Tradition of the Nyingma School of Buddhism. Read it if you dare. (It has photos.)

If you liked the frontispiece, and you have an hour to spare, go explore the fascinating Tibetan medical charts at Himalayan Art. Here is a good place to start. If you are wondering about the Tibetan labels in cursive script, they are, starting from the bottom, grod pa, stomach; snying, heart; glo ba, lungs. Then on your right brang rus, chest bone (sternum), and on your left brang khag, chest area (i.e. thoracic region; although you can’t see it here the lower part of the chart is labeled mtshang khag, pelvic region... Well, I like to think of this as a family friendly blog ...  Well, most of the time...). 

Hmm... I got all the way to the end of this blog without once alluding to, let alone paraphrasing or parodying, a famous song by James Brown? 

May all beings find themselves magically freed from every illness
(and never need to see doctors or magicians).




&  &  &

A P.S. for S.P.

re the discussion in the comment section below —

Here is a cutout of something I noticed in the January picture of the Wisdom Tibetan Art Calendar of 2011. I quote it here for commentarial purposes only. To see the complete picture you'll have to consult the calendar itself.  Oh, wait a minute. Somebody put up the entire thangka here. You'll still need to find the physically present calendar to find out what Olaf Czaja has to say about it.  The original is supposed to be in the Joachim Baader Gallery in Munich. The central figure is the Arhat Abheda.

You might expect Arhat paintings to be in an Indian setting, but in fact the figures in them tend to be rather international. Stylistically speaking, they tend to adhere more than Tibetan paintings usually do, to certain Chinese conventions (this is the thesis of Rob Linrothe's beautifully done book Paradise and Plumage: Chinese Connections in Tibetan Arhat Painting, Rubin Museum of Art [NY 2004]).  Still, I'd expect this turbaned figure with travel bags tied to each end of his stick would probably be an Indian sadhu type, perhaps the type known in more recent centuries as a Gosain (?).  He's got two green parrots (?) also, which makes him even more likely to be an Indian.  This is how I imagine Padampa's traveling provisions bag to look like, minus the birds.  Here's a little bigger quote from the same painting:

Notice near the sadhu the monkey entertainer
and the construction worker there next to the Arhat's robes.
I think all three of them are supposed to be Indians.
There must be a story concealed in this delightful detail.

P.P.P.S.


Here's another example of a sadhu's travel kit, taken from a Mongolian or Amdo blockprint that has been reproduced a number of times in publications like Alice Egyed's The Eighty-Four Siddhas (Budapest 1984), and more recently in A Terentyev's Buddhist Iconography Identification Guide (St. Petersburg 2004).  

The label says he is number 53 of the 84 Mahâsiddhas, and his name is given as Dzo-ki-pa, which is to say Yogipâ.  I guess his name doesn't mean much besides that he is a Yogin. His story is that his teacher sent him on pilgrimages to the 24 holy places, which took him twelve years. This nicely explains why he is depicted here on the road. I think this at least supplies a little bit more evidence for what the sadhu’s traveling bag would have looked like.  Speaking of bags, I’ve got a few of my own to pack.

Death, Rebirth and Being Human in Tibetan Buddhism

Our in-built bodily reproductive functions along with our tendency to waste away and die are two of the topics that interest us the most, or bother us the most, as you will. The concern with eros and thanatos is one academics share with everybody else, and not only the ones who work in Italy. I tried, but failed, to think of anyone I know who isn't the least bit concerned about reproduction and death. The first is part of sex, after all, and the second, well, part of life. In her lecture, Frances Garrett, Prof. at the University of Toronto and a well-known Tibetanist, emphasizes certain broad themes: for example, how the area of human health concerns gets divvied up — in culturally distinct ways — between the realms of [medical] science and religion. 

Although I assure you she does speak in an accessible manner, non-native or basic English speakers will be heartened to discover that a transcript is available, because like so many North Americans, she speaks a little too quickly. 

The video lasts 38 minutes, and your computer needs to be equipped to view "RealPlayer" videos. Bear in mind this is a streaming video. That means it can't normally be downloaded for later viewing or linked directly to — or embedded in — a blog. 

I recommend that when you have gone to this link, you immediately tap on the words below the video window: "Launch in a new window." That way you can control the size of the screen, which is otherwise quite small.

The Tibetan word korwa ('khor-ba) means 'circling' or 'cycling' (Jeffery Hopkins' frequently emulated translation is 'cyclic existence'), used to translate Sanskrit saṃsāra or संसार (often spelled sangsara, which is its normal pronunciation, too). The Sanskrit means a course or coursing (as of a river or of life), a 'flowing along.' Above all, it means the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. This is the subject of the painting shown above, the Wheel of Life (you will see more of it in the video, which is very nicely illustrated with Tibetan artworks).

Prof. G. tells part of the story of one Dawa Drölma (Zla-ba-sgrol-ma), a 'returner from the realm of the dead' Tibetans call a delog ('das-log).  I believe she must intend by that name the mother of Chagdud Rinpoche. This account by the late Rinpoche's mother is one of the few available in English translation, and is very highly recommended for all kinds of reasons.

Between the years 2007 and 2008 Frances Garrett served out the term of her David B. Larson Fellowship at the John W. Kluge Center, neighboring the U.S. Library of Congress in the U.S. capitol.  This video was made on August 12, 2008, during her tenure at the Kluge. I look forward to reading her recent and upcoming books on embryology.

ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ

A book we mentioned:  

Delog Dawa Drolma (1905-1941), Delog: Journey to Realms Beyond Death, "translated from the Tibetan by Richard Barron under the direction of His Eminence Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche," Padma Publishing (Junction City 1995). 

Another recent and perhaps more easily gotten book on the subject is the one by Bryan Cuevas.

The paintings:

The Tibetan painting that forms our frontispiece is from the collection of the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City. For more information on that painting, look here.  

Just above, you see the main thangka that illustrates the Blue Beryl ideas about conception, fetal development and childbirth. (I'm hoping it will appear much larger in a new window if you double-click on it, so give it a try!)  Some of this thangka will be seen in the video. It is very important to know right at the outset that some of these painted images were intended to be 'emblematic' (or mnemonic) for a topic in the outline. These were not meant to 'illustrate' in the modern photographic sense of the term. Equipped with that wrong assumption, many misunderstandings have occurred. The turtle stage, for example, doesn't have anything especially to do with turtles.  It just tells us that this is the point at which the major bodily limbs become evident, but before they reach their full extent. It may appear that the stages of fish > turtle > pig are the kind of recapitulation of evolution about which many modern embryologists have spoken, but really, these are (also?) three successive incarnations of Vishnu in Indian Puranic mythology.

The Tibetan medical chart you see just below is from the Rubin museum's collection. It also was painted as part of the set intended to illustrate the Blue Beryl medical work composed by Regent Sanggyé Gyatso. Look here to learn more.

To see a set of 77 medical paintings all in one place, look here.