Eye Shades

Apologies, dear reader, for the shady snapshot. It was taken under dark conditions in the Choijin Lama Temple in downtown Ulaan Baatar a few days ago. Just seeing this image (not the photo of it) was so exciting for me I was glad to fork over the astronomical camera fee of 25,000 tugruks. I’m supposing you’re already wondering about the title of today’s blog (is it about eye makeup? eyemasks for napping on the plane?) and what it could have to do with this fuzzy photo. Although this small item you can barely make out here has been subject to small but I would say significant confusions, I’ll hold you in suspense no longer than the absolute minimum time necessary, meaning no time at all.

The Yisun dictionary, at the end of its 3 (or 2, or 1) volumes, has among its illustrations something it calls mig-ra, and it looks like this:

I think mig-ra must etymologize as eye wall;
that is, unless you have some better idea.

Rather than calling them shades, perhaps they are better described as snow goggles or sun-reflecting-off-the-snow glasses (sans glass, of course). Anyway, they are used specifically for protecting the eyes from going blind from the glare of the sun on the snow, a condition naturally known as snow blindness.

Three centuries ago, the Jesuit missionary Desideri had this to say about them (in Michael Sweet's fresh new translation, p. 172):

“To protect the eyes from being damaged by the reflection of the sun's rays off the snows through which one has to travel, they use protectors resembling concave nets woven from black horsehair or the black hair of mountain oxen. Lacking these my eyes pained me greatly for some days, and I was in danger of losing my sight when my companions suggested that I rub my eyes with snow over and over, which proved to be the remedy.”

I find personally that hot towels can be very soothing to sore eyes, but I could also concede — or even swear — that the cause of the complaint can at times supply the cure.

William W. Rockhill, one of the most preeminent of the early North American Tibetologists, not only said this,

“The following day we managed, after much hard work through the deep, soft snow, to reach the summit of the Zonyig la (Altitude, 16,300 feet)...  The sky was clear, so the radiation of the sun on the snow caused us much discomfort, though we wore the horsehair eye-shades used in the country, and by the time we made camp in the Ranyik Valley, three of us were nearly blind.”

he even illustrated a set of mig-ra together with a case specially designed to hold it:

Although they do look rather abnormally large, I believe the mig-ra is the thing there on the head of the Karma Kagyü master Go-shri Dpal-’byor-don-grub, as he is depicted in David Jackson’s book, pp. 200-201, and not a “distinctive black-lobed headdress” as it is there infelicitously described. Here is a version of one of these thangkas found through a Google image search:

See, too, Christian Luczanits’s article for a reproduction of a “hitherto unidentified Sakya teacher of c. 1400 with a black net attached to the front of his hat.” I take the liberty of photographing the face of this image:

So sorry, wrong image. Let me try that again:

For those who by chance or innocence or total weirdness didn’t recognize His Holiness in shades, I assure you that what you saw there was none other than He Himself, styling some mean sunblocking instruments in Amsterdam, famous in world history for the invention of optical devices, being home of, among others, Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695), who proved that light doesn’t hit us all at once, but takes a bit of time. I could have told you that.

In Calgary

Here, too, we see Him wearing one of His very many hats. One of my favorites? The Calgary white cowboy hat. But anyway, these are hats, and a little bit off and over the subject.

There’s still a different type of eye shade that shouldn’t be confused with the mig-ra, since actually it’s more like a fringe.  You might see it worn by Tibetan Lamas during initiation rites (when they are wearing the དབང་རྫས་), as well as on Siberian shamans when they go into trance. You decide what that means, if you can.

I believe the word for this special kind of eye-covering fringe is dom-ra,* which would seem to mean bear wall, although the Yisun dictionary, in the previously mentioned section of illustrations, depicts what may be a special kind of dom-ra it knows as gzi-dom (གཟི་དོམ་).

(*Goldstein’s latest dictionary has an entry for དོམ་ར་: “a bear skin band worn with the fur hanging over the eyes to prevent snow blindness.”  For གཟི་དོམ་ there is nothing at all. I can point to one example of usage of the word dom-ra in Roerich’s Blue Annals, p. 888, that you can check if you’re curious.)

Does that name mean glare bear? I’d welcome clarification on this point. I’d love clarification on any point, actually. My idea is that the dom-ra may be placed above the eyes to protect them, but unlike the mig-ra it isn’t placed over the eyes, is it? I guess you can see what I’m getting at.

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Publications and/or web sources cited:

Alexander Gardner, “The First Gyeltsab, Peljor Dondrub.”  Look here, and take note of the shades.

David Jackson, Patron and Painter: Situ Panchen and the Revival of the Encampment Style, Rubin Museum of Art (New York City 2009), at pp. 200-201, with reproductions of two paintings of Go-shri Dpal-’byor-don-grub (གོ་ཤྲཱི་དཔལ་འབྱོར་དོན་གྲུབ་), regarded as the first Gyaltsab Rinpoche (རྒྱལ་ཚབ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་) of the Karma Kagyü (ཀརྨ་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་) order.  You can find a bit on him at this TBRC page, but much more in the Gardner entry from Treasury of Tibetan Lives just now noticed above.

Christian Luczanits, “Art-Historical Aspects of Dating Tibetan Art,” contained in: Ingrid Kreide-Damani, ed., Dating Tibetan Art, Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag (Wiesbaden 2003), pp. 25-57, at p. 46.

Rgod-tshang-pa Mgon-po-rdo-rje (1189-1258 CE).  In a listing of several publications of his collected and selected works, one typed by yours truly (for which, look here) there are several short titles devoted to the mig-ra that I ought to have a look at. I’ll report back to you when I have done this. These works would have a bearing on a question not yet asked about the age of the object in Tibetan cultural history.  (There are some possible but problematic mentions in Old Tibetan documents that ought to be considered.)  [August 21, 2013:  Oh my, this is interesting.  I'll have to put up a new blog on it, but in these 13th-century texts it is quite clear the mig-ra is used to shield the eyes of sentient beings from the intense light emanating from the eyes of the yogi wearing them (or it?)... It doesn't protect the eyes of the wearer from the glare of the light; just the contrary, it protects other people from the glare of the wearer's eyes...  Very interesting... especially in light of what came up in the comments section, below...  And yes, there is another motive for shading the eyes I haven't talked about, one much in evidence with Hollywood celebrities.]

William Woodville Rockhill (1854-1914), The Land of the Lamas: Notes of a Journey through China, Mongolia and Tibet, Longmans, Green and Co. (London 1891), quote at pp. 201-202, with illustration on p. 175.  Even better is another work by Rockhill entitled Notes on the Ethnology of Tibet, fortunately (since I have no print copy) archived on the internet here. Once there, go to the text on p. 722, and plate 30 that comes just after it.

Jeff Watt, “Eye Coverings.”  A much-recommended page at "Himalayan Art Resources."

Zhang Yisun (1893-1983), et al., Bod Rgya Tshig-mdzod Chen-mo, Mi-rigs Dpe-skrun-khang (Beijing 1985). I realize Yisun is not the family name, but I use it anyway because it is more distinctive.

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Nobody should be too surprised that there are some sites on the internet devoted to the hats of His Holiness. Try a google-box search for "Dalai Lama's Hats" and you'll see what pops up. One in particular I hesitate to link you to, even though the photo collection is a fine one, since some of the pictures have been doctored, and the text that goes with them is largely inspired by gangsta rap, which isn't everybody's idea of respect, or even good taste.  Oh well, here it is since you insist, although older people who aren't used to this language ought to stay home and avoid going there. Now go blame its blogger. On a lighter note, some fashion writers have had the temerity to question or cautiously laud His progressive sense of style in His choice of head accessories, in particular the visors, like this one.  One blog questions His tendency to always wear the hat of the home team in the place he happens to be, and there is really something to this when you think about it (besides, have a look at this photographic evidence overwhelmingly in favor of what could otherwise appear to be a feeble thesis).

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“Modern dark spectacles have nothing on primitive eye-shades. In the Arctic split bones or pieces of wood protect the eyes from snow-blindness; woven eye-shades of all shapes are common in Melanesia and Polynesia and in South America, with thin black-felt veils as their Tibetan counterparts.”

For the archived source of the quote, look here.

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Screen shot from the Dolan movie

Next time you're in Ulan Bator, check out the amazing Choijin (in Tibetan ཆོས་སྐྱོང་) Temple if you can possibly spare the time. It’s just south of the blue sky.

In the face of so much brilliance, you may need your eye protection. And if you do go there, be so kind as to check the lost and found for my prescription reading glasses. I might have left them there. They had green rims and I do miss them.

Padampa's Rosary Divination

Every Tibetan knows about divination, and of all the systems used to predict uncertain outcomes, rosary divination is probably the most popular. No doubt one reason for this is that so many Tibetans never go anywhere without their beads, their trengwa (འཕྲེང་བ་).

The simplest form of rosary divination results in very simple yes-or-no answers. Since the equipment is already at hand, it’s easy to get a grasp with thumbs and fingers of both hands on beads on either side of the loop. Then you start counting toward the center moving three beads at a time until you are left with one (positive), two (negative) or three (negative, but possible to change). At this level, it is a lot like flipping a coin.

But here’s where things can get complicated enough you might want to think about keeping a small text to keep track of the larger number of possible answers. What you do is you just repeat the process again, yielding a pair of numbers. It is said that some people even go on to do it a third time to get yet another number. Today’s text attributed to Padampa is for the two-timers only.

‘But wait a minute,’ some of you are thinking, ‘what does divination have to do with Buddhism, and what would it have to do with Padampa?’ both of them valid and related questions that deserve some answer, even if only partial. I recently planted a comment at the blog of Mountain Phoenix (link in the list of readings below), the most sparkling literary jewel of all the Tibet blogs.  Let me go over there and quote it for you (emending a few things here and there as is my right).

I see divinations as just one type of manifestation of human sign-consciousness. Humans have been seeking signs in nature since time began, it seems. It's what doctors do when they make a diagnosis, for example. So to dismiss it as superstitious all of a sudden without giving the problem considerable thought seems a little extreme. It's been said that divination was the first professional specialty, even that it was the first of sciences (so if you appreciate the sciences, you ought to respect their origins...). You know the Tibetan term tendril - རྟེན་འབྲེལ་ - is just a shortened version of "interdependent origination" - རྟེན་ཅིང་འབྲེལ་བར་འབྱུང་བ་ - which is all about cause and effect. It's the cause and effect Buddha found out about when reaching Enlightenment. And in a universe of mutually caused (or mutually emergent) phenomena, perhaps 'choice' isn't quite what moderns make it out to be after all, you think? Moderns like to imagine that they can make the best choice completely on their own without contingencies impinging on their much-valued freedoms. Of course this ideal sense of free choice is constantly frustrated — by such things as sickness or injury, for example. And these are just the sorts of things that drive us to do divinations. Anyway, reflecting on this is a good thing, I think.

Well, the more I reflect about it the more I think it’s entirely fair and natural to find a place for divination in Buddhist communities, perhaps even more so than in other religions, where co-emergent synchronicity is not situated at the doctrinal core as it is in Buddhism. Of course the diviner may not be too likely to comprehend in one fell swoop the full sweep of the Dharma Realm, but to sense one of its corners off to one side isn't necessarily counterproductive to Awakening. Why, in any case, did the Buddha include psychic powers (the མངོན་ཤེས་ལྔ་) among the possible outcomes of following his way if he was the rationalist he’s sometimes made out to be?

Then again, it’s true that too much is too much. If like me you’ve had the opportunity to visit Chinese Buddhist temples, it would appear that divination has taken over the central field of Buddhist practice. One of the most obvious of these practices is the dropping of the divination blocks. The shaking of the bamboo sticks before drawing one of them out is also a very noisy business.  The rattling and clacking divination sounds of the Chinese Buddhist temple could make it difficult to concentrate on other matters, I’d think. But this makes Chinese quite different from Tibetan temples. Tibetans go to lay specialists called mopa (མོ་པ་ or མོ་མ་) or to high Rinpoches for tukdam (ཐུགས་དམ་), but in either case, it’s done with a degree of privacy, and likely not happening inside the shrine hall.

It is true that, as in Chinese Buddhism, in Tibetan Buddhism there are a large number of possible ways of doing divinations, just that the set is a different set, with only partial intersection. Barbara Gerke, in her recent book Long Lives and Untimely Deaths, one I would very much like to read free of the impediments (བར་ཆད་) placed on it in Googlebooks, has a footnote swiftly and nicely outlining both the types and the studies done about them, so it ought to be quoted:

“Ekvall (1963: 34-35) describes various types of mo using dice, rosaries, songs, pebbles, butter lamps, or scapulas of sheep; Chime Radha Rinpoche (1981: 3-37) mentions Tibetan divinations employing visions, arrows, rosaries, dice, butter-lamps, and bird behavior. There are several studies on Tibetan divination, for example, Laufer (1914) on Tibetan bird divinations, Mortensen (2003) on raven augury, Orofino (1994) on divination with mirrors, and Rona-Tas (1956) on divination with dice.”

To tell another truth, to the best of my knowledge it doesn’t seem especially likely that Padampa actually initiated or even used any of the divination practices attributed to him. He had other preoccupations. Of course, I’m working with a picture of his life and person that comes primarily from the Peacemaking Collection that I’ve spoken about before, in the form of a 1245 CE manuscript. Even if not impossible, it doesn’t seem probable, and there seems to be little direct evidence as far as I have seen.* But then it wasn’t Raymond Moody, author of Life after Life that finally convinced me that there is indeed life after life, but rather it was Jan Assmann in his book Moses the Egyptian. Assmann shows very nicely the directions a person’s life can take after their death, particularly if they are destined, like Moses, to become a bigger-than-life cultural figure. I’ve been thinking for quite a long time now that what I ought to be thinking about doing in the study of the life of Padampa is to consider him as a cultural figure with a life that had a life of its own. That would mean not rejecting anything at all that is connected to his name. That would mean including the divination and magical medical texts.  In effect, I would be relinquishing the search for the historical Padampa, and pursuing instead the life of Padampa throughout history. Several divination texts have been attributed to Padampa. I don’t pretend to have traced them all, but apart from the rosary divination, copied from the manuscript kept in the Johan van Manen Collection in the Leiden University Library, I have also typed in (but in Wylie-style Romanization) a brief text devoted to finger divination and, even more curious and still briefer, another on stone divination.

(*There is in fact a little evidence, so I keep an open mind, hoping to look more closely at these things some other day.  The Blue Annals does make a reference to Padampa's pebble divination.)

So, down below you will find the incomplete Padampa text on rosary divination typed out for you in unicode Tibetan script.  (I tried to do it without introducing any corrections of my own, what is sometimes called texto style. I even follow its nonstandard punctuation standards. I did this because I was not granted permission to supply the original scans of the manuscript.) You will notice one thing right away if you are a person who reads Tibetan, which is that it is very oddly spelled. I have to admit I also have a lot of problem with that, but I’m afraid when you are dealing with popular subjects like this is, eccentric spellings are inevitable. Just try to make your peace with it and do your best. I don’t want to spoil the fun for you, so I will only do a quick and creaky translation of the beginning only (I cheat about something right away, reading ‘three’ as ‘two’... I think where you see cha you ought to read phywa...). The rest is up to you. So for now, I’ll just say, like the Italians, Buon auguri! and like the Tibetans, བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས་!

The Rosary Divination of Padampa

In this practice of the rosary divination of Padampa, you must first of all do the Refuge Taking.  Then repeat as many times as you can the mantras Oṃ shakya mu ne ye svāhāḥ.  Oṃ hra hra mu ne svāhāḥ.  Oṃ ha sha mu ne svā hā.  Then breathe on your rosary.  Imagine that your right hand is Sha-ri-bu and that your left hand is Me'u-'gal-bu.*  [1v]

Divide the rosary in two (not three) halves at some point, and stack the beads three by three.  If the result is that one is on top of one, it means that xxxxx (something cut off [or punished?] will continue?), it means that the dry mountain has water bursting out of it.  It means that the dried up tree has leaves sprouting on it.  It means that running away will result in freedom.  It means that an issueless woman will bear a child.  [2v]

It means the poor man will find wealth....

(*That means Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyaṇa, the two disciples of Buddha, often depicted on either side of Him.)

།།ཕ་དམ་པ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་འཕྲུངས་མོ་བཞུགྶོ།།

[1v]འདིར་ཕ་དམ་པའི་འཕྲེངས་མོ་འདི་ལ་ཐེག་མར་སྐྱབས་འགྲོ་བྱས་ནས་།།ཨོཾ་ཤཀྱ་མུ་ནེ་ཡེ་སྭཱ་ཧཱཿ།ཨོཾཧྲ་ཧྲ་མུ་ནེ་སྭཱ་ཧཱཿ།ཿཨོཾ་ཧ་ཤ་མུ་ནེ་སྭཱ་ཧཱཿ།ཅི་མང་དུ་བཟླས་།།དེ་ནས་འཕྲེངས་བ་ལ་ཕུ་བཏབ་ནས་ལག་པ་གཡས་ཤ་རི་བུ་དང་།གཡོན་མེའུ་འགལ་བུ་རུ་སྒོམ་།

[2r]འཕྲེངས་བ་གསུམ་སུ་ཅད་གསུམ་དུས་རྩེགས་ལ་།།གཅིག་ཐོག་དུ་གཅིག་བྱུང་ན་།།ཐེབས་པ་ཆད་པ་ཐུང་པའི་ངོ་།།རི་སྐམ་པོ་ལ་ཆུ་སྡོལ་པའི་ངོ་།།ཤིང་སྐམ་པོ་ལ་ལོ་འདབས་སྐྱེས་པའི་ངོས་།།བྲོ་ནས་ཐར་པའི་ངོ་།།རབ་ཆད་མ་ལ་བུ་སྐྱེས་པའི་ངོ་།།

[2v]དབུལ་པོ་ལ་ནོར་སྙེད་པའི་ངོ་།།སྔ་ནས་ཟིན་པའི་ངོ་།།བཙལ་ནས་སྙེད་པའི་ངོ་།།ཁྱིམ་ཆ་ལ་གཡང་ཆག་པའི་ངོ་།།སྲོག་ཆ་ལ་སྲོག་མོ་ཚ་པའི་ངོ་།།མགྲོན་ཆ་ལ་མགྲོན་པོ་ཡོང་པའི་ངོས་།།གང་ལ་བཏབ་ཀྱང་མོ་བཟང་།།གཅིག་ཐོག་དུ་གཉིས་བྱུང་ན་།།མུན་ནག་དང་མྱ་ངན་ཡོད་།།ཐབས་བརྩོ་དང་འཁྲུག་པ་འོང་པའི་ངོ་།།མི་ཕྱུག་ཆུ་ལ་སྒྲོལ་དོན་བྱས་ན་རང་ཆུའི་ཁྱེར་གཉེན་ཡོད་།།བུ་མེད་ལ་མི་གཙང་པའི་ལྷ་གནོད་པ་ཉེ་ཕྱོག་ཕྱོག་ན་མོད་བྱེད་པ་དང་།་གླེག་བམ་འདོན་

[3r]ལྷ་མ་དགའ་པའི་ལྷ་ལ་གསོལ་ཁ་ཐོང་།།ནད་པ་ཡོད་ན་ཁྲུས་བྱེད་།།ཁ་སྨྲར་ཡོད་ན་མི་ཁ་ཐོང་།།གཏོར་བ་མི་རྙེད་།།དགྲ་ཆ་ལ་དགྲ་མིང་།།སྲོག་ཆ་ལ་དབང་ཐང་ཆུད་།།རིམ་འགྲོ་ལ་འབད་མོ་ངན་ནོ།༔།གཅིག་ཐོག་དུ་གསུམ་བྱུང་ན་།བྱེ་མེའི་རི་ལ་གསེར་གྱི་ལྗང་པ་སྐྱེས་།།ཡལ་གའི་རྩེ་ལ་ཁུ་ཡུག་གསུང་སྙན་རྒྱུར་།ཡུག་ས་མོ་ལ་ཁྱོ་བོ་སྙེད་།།དབུལ་པའི་བུ་ལ་ནོར་སྙེད་།།ཅི་ལ་བཏབ་ཀྱང་བཟང་།

[3v]གཉིས་ཐོག་དུ་གཅིག་བྱུང་ན་།།རི་བོ་རྩེ་ཤིང་ནག་འཚལ་རྒྱས་།།རྒྱལ་བློན་དབང་དུ་འདུས་།བསམས་པའི་དོན་འགྲུབ་།།གཏམ་སྙན་ཐོས་།འགྲོན་པོ་གྲོག་བཅས་འོང་།དོན་ཆ་འགྲུབ་།ནང་པ་ཡོང་ན་ཟས་མི་གཙང་པའི་ལེན་།།རྒྱལ་པོ་གནོད་།རྣམས་འཇོམས་ཀྱི་འཁྲུས་བྱེད་།།གསེར་འོད་འདོན་།།གཞན་གང་ལ་བཏབ་ཀྱང་བཟང་།།གཉིས་ཐོག་དུ་གཉིས་བྱུང་ན་།ཐབས་མོད་དང་གཏོར་ཀླགས་ཡོད་པའི་ངོ་།།ཀླུ་བུར་དུ་ནད་བྱུང་པའི་ངོ་།།དགྲ་འདུག་པ་

[4r]ཚ་ཚ་ལོ་གྲང་ཐོབས་།།བཟུངས་སྡུས་འདོན་།།གང་ལ་བཏབ་ཀྱང་མོ་ངན་ནོ་།།གཉིས་ཐོག་དུ་གསུམ་བྱུང་ན་།།གསེར་གྱི་སྤང་ལ་གཡུའི་ལོ་འདབས་རྒྱས་།།མི་ངན་གཏམ་སྙན་འཚོར་།།གླག་སྙེན་ཁྱམ་པོ་ལ་ཡུལ་སྙེད་།།གྲོག་མེད་གྲོག་སྙེད་།།ཟས་ནོར་གང་ལ་གཡང་ཆག་།།ནོར་རྒྱུན་འདོན་།།དགྲ་ཆ་ལ་ཡིད་ཆག་པ་དགྲ་ལ་སྙིང་རྗེས་སྒོམ་།།དོན་ཆ་གྲོགས་ཆ་སྲོག་ཆ་ཁྱིམ་ཆ་ཀུན་ལ་བཟང་།།འགྲོན་པོ་

[4v]ལམ་དུ་ཞུག་ཡིད་ལ་བསམ་པའི་དོན་འགྲུབ་ཉལ་མཆོག་མོ་བཟང་།།གསུམ་ཐོག་ཏུ་གཅིག་བྱུང་ན་།།ལྷ་བཟང་པོས་མགོས་ཞིང་།།དགྲ་ལ་ཕུར་འགལ་ཚུར་མི་ཚུགས་།།ཕྲལ་དུ་ལས་སེམས་བདེ་ཀྱང་།།ཕུག་སུ་རྒྱབ་བརྟེན་བཟུང་།།ནང་པ་ཡོད་ན་ལྷ་བསྲུངས་དང་ལྷ་མཆོད་བྱས་།།རྒྱས་སྟོད་པ་འདོན་།།སྲོག་ལ་ཉེས་སྐྱོན་མེད་།།སྲིད་ཆ་ལ་སྲིད་འཕེལ་།།གྲོག་ཆ་དགྲ་ཆ་འགྲོན་ཆ་ཀུན་ལ་བཟང་།།གསུམ་ཐོག་ཏུ་གཉིས་བྱུང་ན་།།བཞིས་ལྷ་བཟང་གཞན་དྲིན་མི་ཤེས་།།


[5r]ཤ་དམར་ཟ་མར་ལེན་།།ལག་དུ་གསེར་ལེན་ཀྱག་།ཟང་ཚོད་བྱེད་ན་རྒྱལ་།།ནད་པ་ཡོད་དགེ་འདུན་གཞི་སྡེ་།ཚ་ཚ་སྟོང་འདེབས་།གཤེགས་པ་བྱེད་།།དགྲ་ཆ་ལ་དགྲ་འོང་དགྲ་ཟོར་འཕངས་།།སློག་བཟུངས་འདོན་།།བདུད་བཟློག་བྱེད་།།དེ་ལྟར་བྱེས་ན་བཟང་།།གསུམ་ཐོག་དུ་གསུམ་བྱུང་ན་།།སྔར་འགྱོད་

[5v]ཀྱང་ཕྱི་རང་རྒྱལ་པའི་ངོ་།།ཕྲལ་དུ་སྦྲུལ་ཆེ་ཡང་།།ཕུག་སུ་བདེ་སྐྱིད་ཡོད་པའི་ངོ་།།འཚོངས་བྱས་ན་རང་རྒྱལོ་།།བྱ་བ་གང་བྱས་ལམ་དུ་འགྲོ་།།ནད་ཡོད་ན་དམ་སྲི་གནོད་།།ལྷ་སྐྱོབས་།།ཕོ་ལྷ་ལ་གསོལ་ཁ་མྱུར་དུ་ཐོང་།།ཚེ་བཟུངས་དང་ཚེ་དབང་ཞུས་།།ཕྲལ་ཕུག་གཉིས་ཁ་བཟཽང།། །།བཀྲ་ཤིས་།་དགེའོ༔

Complete transcription of the text and partial translation done with permission of the Leiden University Library, Collection Institute Kern, 2740/M 463. With heartfelt gratitude to the librarians who made this possible.

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Phadampa's Finger, Stone and Arrow Divinations

Source:  Mo Dpe Phyogs-bsdus Snang Srid Gsal-ba'i Me-long, Ngagyur Nyingma Institute (Mysore 2000/2001), in 316 pp. at pp. 38-39.  The identical two titles may be found in a small pecha volume entitled Bkra-shis-tshe-ring-ma'i 'Phrul Mos Gtsos-pa'i Mo Dpe Phan-bde'i 'Byung-gnas, no publisher, no date (ca. 1992?), in 206 pages, purchased in Kathmandu in 1993, at pp. 57-60. (This same volume has a brief rosary divination attributed to Atisha that seems to have been printed a number of times. It is quite different from our Padampa text, visualizing the right hand as the lunar disk, and the left hand as the solar disk, with a number of other differences. However, in its interpretations of the results, there is very much in common.  So it would be profitable to study it in conjunction with the Padampa text...)

mdzub mo lnga yi mo bzhugs so //

mtheb chen shing gi khams /

mdzub mo me yi khams /

gung mo sa yi khams /

srin lag lcags kyi khams /

mthe'u chung chu yi khams so //

thog mar mtheb chen ston na / gdon phywa sa bdag dang rgyal po srin mos gnod / na tsha dpung pa dang kha thed pa og ma na / shes pa 'thibs pa'i na tsha yong / 'khon dang mi gtsang ba la gzab chu gtsang ster /  grib dang mi gtsang bas len / khrus dang bshags pa byas pas phan no //

mdzub mo ston na / gdon phywa btsan dang ma mos gnod / na tsha mig dang kha lce na / 'khor la mya ngan drag po cig yong nyen 'dug / sngar byung na des thub / ma byung na yong nyen yod / cho ga dang rim gro ci rig bya / klu bdud klu btsan gyi zhal bsgyur bya'o //

gung mo ston na / gdon phywa rgyal po dang bdud kyis gnod / nad glo bur du na / zing 'thab yong / bdud kyi zhal bsgyur dang dkar po drug mdos bya'o //

srin lag ston na / gdon phywa btsan dang 'dre mo sa srin dang shing srin gyis gnod / nad ni dmu chu yong / dmar ngo dang khrag ngo yong / 'khon dang 'thab sa'i bar du mi 'gro / klu dang bsen mo'i cho ga bya / skyes pa yin na btsan drag pos 'go ba yin no //

mthe'u chung ston na / gdon phywa mtsho sman dang ma mos gnod / bud med kyi phyir 'gron pa'i 'dres gnod / srin mo dang sa bdag gdong rtsub nas gnod / khyim du brag nag skyes na mi ston / sa bdag dang sa srin sdong bu'i cho ga bya'o //

pha dam pa sangs rgyas kyis mdzad pa mdzub lnga'i mo rdzogs so //

pha dam pa sangs rgyas kyis mdzad pa mdzub lnga'i mo rdzogs so //

pp. 40-41:

rdo mo'i mngon shes bzhugs so //

na mo gu ru pha dam pa rin po che la phyag 'tshal lo //

mkhyen pa rdo mo'i mngon shes gsal bar ston cig //

de la rang pha dam par sgom la /  mi gcig gi rdo gcig khyer la shog zer / de la dang po phyogs ston pa ni / rdo shar nas byung na / gdon du rgyal pos gnod rgyal po mchod / rdo lho nas 'byung na / gshin 'dre dang ma mos gnod / bsam pa grub grogs phywa bzang / rdo nub nas 'byung na / btsan dang klu yis gnod / srin mo yis mdos bya / mo 'bring tsam yin / rdo byang nas 'byung na / bdud dang rgyal pos gnod / bdud dang rgyal po mchod /

da ni kha dog ston pa ni / rang gis gsol ba'i lha yis gnod / mi gtsang ba'i sna len byed / rdo ser po 'byung na / rgyal po dang the'u rang gis gnod / rgyal don bya sgro thon / rdo dmar po 'byung na / btsan dang dkon mchog la mchod pa 'bul / rdo nag po 'byung na / bdud kyis gnod / rdo sngon po 'byung na / klus yis gnod klu mchod bya / spangs skongs dang klu bum thon gtor ma btang / rdo dkar po 'byung na / rgyal srin mo'i dgu mdos bya / rdo ser po 'byung dang phyed dmar 'byung na / btsan dang rgyal pos gnod / rdo dmar po dang sngon po 'byung na / klu dang bdud kyis gnod / rdo zlum po 'byung na / bsam pa grub / rdo dmar po 'byung na mo ci la btab pas bzang ngo // legs so //  //

°

I don’t have access to the arrow divination text yet.  I’ve noticed a title of a Stuttgart manuscript,* Dam-pa Sangs-rgyas-kyis mdzad-pa’i Mda’ Mo, with the mda’ mo evidently meaning ‘arrow divination.’  This text seems to employ feathers and arrows.  It may have actually been Phadampa's practice, to do divination with a bamboo in one hand and feather in the other, as we may note in one single passage of the Peacemaking Collection, unfortunately without the least indication of how the divination was performed. Chances are it was a form of rhabdomancy working on the same general principles as belomancy...

(*See Emil Schlagintweit, Verzeichnis der tibetischen Handschriften der Königlich Württembergischen Landesbibliothek zu Stuttgart, Sitzungsberichte der philosophisch-philologischen und historischen Klasse der königliche bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu München, Jahrgang 1904 (1905), pp. 245-270, at pp. 262-263 (you may see this for yourself at Internet Archive).  The text ends with the words “dam pa'i mda' mo thong ba gdong gsal mngon shes me long.” Any information on its present whereabouts would be much appreciated.)

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More to read out on the world-wide web:

Learn Dalai Lama Karma in Buddhism, Tibetan Astrology, Dough Ball, Dreams & Butter Lamp Divination in Dharamsala!  The page, including a bit on rosary divination, is here.

Tibetan Bead Counting:  Teng Mo.  A webpage belonging to the website Serena's Guide to Divination.  Teng Mo is phonetic for འཕྲེང་མོ་.

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A select bibliography on divination in Tibet (omitting mediums/oracles and astrology):

Anonymous, Sgrol-ma Nyer-gcig-ma'i Gsal-ba'i Mgron Mo,  a 9-folio text purchased in Lhasa in 1996.  Printed by Par-pa Dpal-ldan.  This title seems to have been attributed, elsewhere, to Atisha.

Anonymous, Shar Phyogs Rgyal-khams Chen-po'i Sa-glang Brtags-thabs Don-gsal Nyams-kyi Dbyangs-chu.  A 9-folio text, evidently on geomancy.

Jacques Bacot (1877-1965), La table des présages signifiés par l'éclair, Journal Asiatique, 11th series vol. 1 (1913), pp. 445-449.

C.R. Bawden, A Tibetan-Mongol Bilingual Text of Popular Religion, contained in: Serta Tibet-Mongolica (Wiesbaden 1973), pp. 15-32.  On scapulimancy, divination.  O'u-rod Phyogs-su Dar-ba'i Lug-gi Sog-pa la Blta-ba'i Mo Phywa Sgyu-ma'i Lung-ston by Sum-pa Mkhan-po.

C.R. Bawden, Divination, contained in: W. Heissig & C. Müller, eds., Die Mongolen (Innsbruck), pp. 227-231.

C.R. Bawden, On the Practice of Scapulimancy among the Mongols, Central Asiatic Journal, vol. 4 (1958), pp. 1-44.

Per-Arne Berglie, To Tell the Future by Using Threads: and Some Reflections on Tibetan Divination, Acta Orientalia Hungarica, vol. 43 (1989), pp. 171-176.

Mark Caltonhill, Private Prayers and Public Parades: Exploring the Religious Life of Taipei, Department of Information, Taipei City Government (Taipei 2002). This illustrated book is much recommended for its treatment of popular religion in a Chinese community, especially for curious beginners in the field like myself. The chapter on divination is on pp. 70-86.

Brandon Dotson, Divination and Law in the Tibetan Empire: The Role of Dice in the Legislation of Loans, Interest, Marital Law and Troop Conscription, contained in: Matthew T. Kapstein & Brandon Dotson, eds., Contributions to the Cultural History of Early Tibet, Brill (Leiden 2007), pp. 3-77.

Robert Ekvall, Some Aspects of Divination in Tibetan Society, Ethnology, vol. 2, no. 1 (January 1963) pp. 31-39.  See also his book Religious Observances in Tibet, pp. 251-282.

August Francke, Drei weitere Blätter des tibetischen Losbuches von Turfan, Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil.Hist. Kl. (1924? 1928?), pp. 110-118.

Jay Goldberg & Lobsang Dakpa, trs., Mo: Tibetan Divination System, by Mipham; foreword by Sakya Trizin,  Snow Lion (Ithaca 1990).

Jay Goldberg, Mirrors in the Sky: Tibetan Methods of Divination, contained in: John Matthews, ed., The World Atlas of Divination, Headline Book Publishing (London 1994), pp. 161-170.

Roger Housden, The Tibetan Oracle: Ancient Wisdom for Everyday Guidance, Harmony (1998).  Not seen.

Jiangbian Jiacuo, An Investigation of Gesar's Arrow Divination (Gesar mDav-mo), contained in: Per Kvaerne, ed., Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the 6th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Fagernes 1992, The Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture (Oslo 1994), vol. 1, pp. 403-407. 

Khri-gtsug-rnam-dag, Dge-bshes, Bon-gyi Rno-mthong Mo-yi Lam-lugs Skor, a paper delivered (in Tibetan) at the 10th IATS conference (Oxford 2003), on divination practices of Bon.

Susan S. Landesman, Mirror Divination: Shamanistic & Non-Shamanistic Divinations, Central and Inner Asian Studies, vol. 6 (1992), pp. 16-35.

Berthold Laufer, Bird Divination among the Tibetans, T'oung Pao, 2nd series vol. 15 (1914), pp. 1-110.

Peter Lindegger, Gute & Böse Tage: Aspekte des tibetischen Volksglaubens, Tibet-Institut Rikon Schriften nr. 16 (Rikon 1999), in 34 pp.  Mdzad-pa'i Kun-rdzob G.ya'-sel Me-long by Karma-chags-med.

Carole Morgan, Dog Divination from a Dunhuang Manuscript, Journal of the Hong-Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 23 (1983), pp. 184-93.

Carole Morgan, La divination d'après les croassements des corbeaux dans les manuscrits de Dunhuang, Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, vol. 3 (1987), pp. 55-76.

Eric Mortensen, Raven Augury in Tibet, Northwest Yunnan, Inner Asia, and Circumpolar Regions: A Study in Comparative Folklore and Religion, PhD dissertation, Harvard University (September 2003).

Eric Mortensen, Raven Augury from Tibet to Alaska, contained in: Paul Waldau and Kimberly Patton, eds., A Communion of Subjects: Animals in Religion, Science, & Ethic, Columbia University Press (New York 2006), pp. 421-438.

Eric Mortensen, Raven Divination in the Eastern Himalaya: A Comparative Study of Tibetan and Naxi Sources.  8th IATS, abstract.

Eric Mortensen, Tibetan Scapulamancy: A Comparative Study of Divination.  9th IATS, abstract.

Mountain Phoenix, Kiss Mo & Co Goodbye!  a blogpage at the blogsite Mountain Phoenix Over Tibet, dated April 2, 2013. Go directly there here.

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, The Deutrul Divination, a section contained in:  Drung, deu and Bön: Narrations, Symbolic Languages and the Bön Tradition in Ancient Tibet, Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (Dharamsala 1995), pp. 25-30.  Rde'u-'phrul, pebble divination.

R. Nebesky-Wojkowitz, Tibetan Drum Divination: "Ngamo,"  Ethnos, vol. 17 (1952), pp. 149-157.

Ai Nishida, An Old Tibetan Divination with Coins: IOL Tib J 742, contained in: Yoshiro Imaeda, Matthew Kapstein & Tsuguhito Takeuchi, eds., New Studies of the Old Tibetan Documents: Philology, History and Religion, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (Tokyo 2011), pp. 315-327.

Giacomella Orofino, Divination with Mirrors: Observations on a Simile Found in the Kâlacakra Literature, contained in: Per Kvaerne, ed., Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the 6th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Fagernes 1992, The Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture (Oslo 1994), pp. 612-628.

Gedun Rabsal (Dge-'dun-rab-gsal), A Note on the Tun-huang Manuscript (P.t. 1045) on Signs of Raven's Voice. Tibet Journal, vol. 23, no. 4 (Winter 1998), pp. 144-148.

Lama Chime Radha Rinpoche, Tibet, contained in: Michael Loewe & Carmen Blacker, ed., Divination and Oracles, Shambhala (Boulder 1981), pp. 3-37.

András Róna-tas, Tally-Stick and Divination-Dice in the Iconography of Lha-mo, Acta Orientalia Hungarica, vol. 6 (1956), pp. 163-179.

Alexander Smith, Remarks Concerning the Methodology and Symbolism of Bon Pebble Divination, Études Mongoles & Sibériennes Centralasiatiques & Tibétaines, vol. 42 (2011).  The illustrated article, in HTML (or PDF, if you prefer), is here.

Snang-rgyal Shes-rab-dge-legs, Zhang-zhung Ju-thig Dpyad Gleng-gi Sa-bon, Bon-sgo, vol. 20 (2007), pp. 71-83. About string divination.

R.A. Stein, Trente-trois fiches de divination tibétaines, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies (1939), pp. 318-321.

Dorje Tseten (Rdo-rje-tshe-brtan), Looking into the Future, Chö Yang, vol. 6 (1994), pp. 111-118.

L.A. Waddell, Divination (Buddhist), Hasting's Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. 4 (Edinburgh 1911), pp. 786-787.

Michael Walter, Areal Religious Phenomena in Tibet and Central Eurasia, contained in: Michael Gervers and Wayne Schlepp, eds., Historical Themes and Current Change in Central and Inner Asia, Toronto Studies in Central & Inner Asia no. 3, Joint Centre for Asia Pacific Studies (Toronto 1998), pp. 122-133.

Michael Walter, Scapula Cosmography and Divination in Tibet, Kailash, vol. 18, nos. 3-4 (1996), pp. 107-114. 

Alex Wayman, A Jotting on the Mirror: Those of Ladies, Mahfil, vol. 7 (Fall-Winter 1971), pp. 209-213.

Zhou Qi, Divination in Buddhist Theory and Practice.  Look here.

Van Manen helped his servant write his autobiography after teaching him to read and write—fascinating reading, whether or not you regard it as an early effort in the field of subaltern studies. It was published by The John Day Company (New York 1945, 1946, 1947).

After Word

Read what follows, about Padampa's arrow divination text that we've mentioned above, and prepare to be amazed!

R.K. of Munich wrote (June 4, 2013):

“I am referring to the Dam pa sangs rgyas kyis mdzad pa'i mda' mo by Pha dam pa sangs rgyas which came up in your latest blog.

“The manuscript of the text came to the Königliche Landesbibliothek (Royal State Library) of Württemberg (known as Württembergische Landesbibliothek today) by way of a present from the Empress of Russia Catherine II (or the Great, if you want, 1729-1796) to the court of the Duchy of Württemberg in Stuttgart (the Kingdom of Württemberg was only established thanks to Napoleon Bonaparte in 1806, not sure when exactly the manuscript actually reached Stuttgart). This provenance from Russia may hint at an origin of the manuscript in Mongolia, and Schlagintweit suspects that the items included in the gift may have reached St Petersburg thanks to the activities of Peter Simon Pallas (1741-1811) or Paul Ludwig Schilling von Cannstatt (1786-1837, well known in Buddhological circles simply as Baron Schilling von Cannstatt).

“In any case, as for the whereabouts, the manuscript still exists, so much I know. It is still kept by the Württembergische Landesbibliothek, where it sits along with all the other Tibetan items from Catherine's present under the shelfmark "Cod. orient. fol. Nr. 9". The exact reference to it would probably be Nr. 9 b 16 (assuming that Schlagintweits numbering occurs on the title page).”