I suppose even in a group of Tibet-wallas like this it may
be that two or three people have not already learned that there is such a thing as
the Middle Transmission of Zhijé. Please, no need to raise your
hands. It is not your fault. The fact is, very little has been published
in Tibetan, let alone translated. From
some perspective, these words “very little” might tempt you to translate into ‘more than enough.’ Well, I hope to convince you otherwise some day.
Just let me say a few words to start with about the sources
we have had access to until now on this subject. That way we can ensure that the appearance of
the new sources we will introduce here will be greeted with just the right level of astonishment.
What does “Middle Transmission” mean? To begin with, the genuinely early expression is brgyud-pa bar-pa although we do find in some texts dating back about three centuries occasional use of bka'-babs bar-pa.
In the past, for several reasons the most significant
available source was the Blue Annals
in both its Tibetan- and English-language versions.
[Note: Could also mention the Crystal Mirror of Philosophical Systems of Thuken (Thu'u-bkwan). There are about seven pages devoted to Zhijé in
this work that has been recently translated in its entirety into English. Of these seven pages nearly three are devoted to the
Middle Transmission.]
About the only other publication of much significance we had
available in the past was a section contained in the anthology known as the Treasury of Esoteric Precepts (Gdams ngag mdzod). This selection of
Zhijé texts has not yet been translated into another language, although I understand one is underway. Here we find a brief and presumably representative
set of texts. However, for
the Middle Transmission the subjects are limited to initiation rites and
lineage prayers. Although chief
editorship of the entire Treasury of Esoteric Precepts is credited to Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé (Kong-sprul Blo-gros-mtha'-yas) during the years 1871 through
1881 CE, in the case of the Zhijé works, he simply adopted a ready-made anthology
done in 1706 by Lochen Dharmashri (Lo-chen Dharma-shrî) of Mindroling (Smin-grol-gling) Monastery. Although his dates are rather late, I think
just because this Nyingmapa teacher showed an interested in Zhijé teachings, it
points to something we might regard as unexpected or even unusual. Well, I hope I can say something more about the
Nyingma connection and how the Bhutanese collections have steered my own mind
more in favor of historical relations between these two schools of Tibetan Buddhism. At the same time, this Middle Transmission
collection could help us explore a remarkable example of a historical
connection between the Zhijé founder and a particular teaching that belongs to
the Bon tradition. And we will also spare some words about the (still) largely mysterious origins of
the Cutting or Chö (Gcod) tradition.
Meanwhile, let’s say a few quick words about Padampa, the
problem of his various names, and the main/major publications of his works so far.
Here we see the most famous image of this south Indian (now in the collection of the LACMA), along with the names he is most usually known by in more recent times,
as well as the dates he is normally given. Although for reasons of the datings of the western Tibetan royal line (relying largely on the studies of Roberto Vitali), I
believe his stay in Tingri may have to be shifted back in time by one twelve-year
cycle (and Cyrus Stearns, on the basis of one Tibetan-language chronological study, has suggested the same).
It is most important to be aware that he had two ordination
names, first his novice name Kamalaśrī and secondly his full ordination name Kamalaśīla. These two names are often found in colophons
of Tanjur texts associated with him, and both of them have often caused
confusion in the past until now. On account of the name Kamalaśrī, he is sometimes
confused with the Indian informant of Rashid ad-Din (Hamadani) in mid-thirteenth-century Persia,
which is of course chronologically impossible. As Kamalaśīla he is often presumed to be the Indian teacher by that name
who visited the court of Emperor Trisongdetsen in the late eighth century, also a
chronological impossibility unless we were to accept some Tibetan writers’ ideas that Padampa had an improbably long life. The other Indic names that you can see here we will not discuss because
they occur only rarely, even if they, too, cause confusion.
Now for the very different names he received in Tibet. In the earliest texts, one of the most common
ways to refer to him is Dampa Gyagar (Dam-pa Rgya-gar), but even more often simply Dampa. Other names, especially the ones
that emphasize his blackness, seem to get used more and more frequently in the
course of the 12th century (especially among Kagyü writers starting around the mid-12th century). His followers regarded his blackness as one among a number of his qualities that made him remarkable and special... and worthy of respect. I should emphasize, particularly for those who may find the statement surprising: Racial prejudice in the American tradition did not exist in Tingri in those days. At the same time, clearly, Padampa consciously played with local Tingrians’ stereotypes about the atsara, the gold-greedy sadhus who sometimes wandered through. He often uses atsara as his way to refer to himself.
As for what is by far the best source (speaking as a historian) available for his stay in Tingri,
it is the one published on the basis of a single manuscript long ago in Thimphu with an important English preface
by Barbara Nimri Aziz. For convenience,
I refer to this as the Zhijé Collection.
I have also worked hard to reconstitute
the scarcely legible title on the basis of evidence internal to the manuscript
itself, as well as on the reading done by the cataloguer of the Nepal-German
Manuscript Preservation Project, who could directly inspect the original title page. Here is my translation of this
reconstituted title: “Among the Zhijé Teachings
that Lay at the Heart of the Holy Dharma, This is the Text of the Later Oral
Transmission Known as The Exceptionally
Profound.”
One thing I hope will be noticed here is that according to
both its title and its actual content, this text is nearly 100% devoted to the
so-called “Later Transmission.” Even so, a different title has been sanctioned by the Library of
Congress and is still in use by the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center (TBRC), despite
my continuing objections. The title you
see in TBRC is this one: Zhi byed snga bar phyi gsum gyi skor, “Cycle of Teachings of the Early, Middle and Later Schools of Zhijé.” There is even a mistake in the normal syntax
of this title, since in every case we find in the Tibetan sources the word order “Early, Later and Middle constituting three,” and never “Early, Middle
and Later” as we find here. I believe
this added title was invented on the basis of the Zhijé section of the Blue Annals. Still, it does not correctly label the Zhijé Collection and it should be [must
be] removed.
Anyway, I will spare you the details why, but I believe I
have succeeded in dating the full Zhijé
Collection manuscript, on the basis of its content primarily, to more-or-less
1246 CE, with the bulk of its content copied from a previously made golden
manuscript made in 1207 CE that is not known to be extant in our times.
So now let me say something about Padampa's travels. Many sources say Padampa traveled to Tibet five or seven times. I won’t enter into this
problem now. It will be quite difficult to find our way through the confusion
unless we can excavate Padampa's Indian passport with its entrance and exit
stamps intact. For now I will keep it simple and
follow the earliest sources, the ones from the first decades of the thirteenth century
and before, in saying he stayed in Tibet for three periods. The Early Transmission does not correspond to his first
sojourn. The Early Transmission occurred
in India. In Padampa's first Tibet
sojourn he travelled by the Northern Route (Byang-lam) where he encountered two
Tibetans and gave them a few precepts. As we’ll mention later, in the case of one of
them Padampa not only gave, but also received instruction. Anyway, the periods
of his second and third sojourns do indeed coincide with the Middle and Late Transmissions. A three-year stay in China at Wutai Shan, followed
by some years back in India, came between his first and second sojourns, although
some place Wutai Shan just before the third.
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His second sojourn of about ten years was in Central Tibet,
including both Ü and Tsang. This was
the time of the Middle Transmission lineages that you can see in the middle
of this slide, where I would like to draw your attention. I should emphasize, too, that what you see
here as a neat outline of the three major and three minor transmissions is a
retrospective understanding dating to around the end-of-twelfth or beginning of
the thirteenth century when there was an effort to search out and collect all the Zhijé lineages by three brothers of the Rog family (about them more
soon). The early members of these
lineages would not have known they belonged to a lineage with a
name, or would be counted as part of a group called the Middle Transmission, let
alone that they belonged inside the structure of an outline like this.
So let’s leave this nicely made chart for a moment and look
at what I believe is most likely the earliest discussion ever of what would one
day become known as the Middle Transmission. Here “Dampa” is the common way of addressing Padampa and “Atsara,” as already noted, is a common way for Padampa to refer to himself. The person
asking the question is a Tangut.
Menyag Dragsé (Me-nyag Grags-se) said, “Dampa,
you are said to have spent a long period down there in Ü. How many lineage holding disciples were
there?”
Dampa replied. “The Atsara planted growing trees in the
Four Horns, and the main one was planted in Ü. Kamgom Yeshé Gyeltsen (Skam-sgom Ye-shes-rgyal-mtshan) achieved revulsion from suffering, and
then he could hold discussions with Maitreya. Magom Chöki Sherab (Rma-sgom Chos-kyi-shes-rab) mastered awareness so he could travel into
the sky life. So Gendun Bar (So Dge-'dun-'bar) through
his practice overcame the sense spheres, and could not be met face to face
(reading gdong thug pa in place of gdong thub pa). Gyigom (Bgyi'-bsgom) and Drochungpa ('Bro-chung-pa) both were left
silent and just put up with it (?). With Majo Chönema (Ma-jo Mchod-gnas-ma) I had nothing to do apart from a few pieces of heart
advice. She is a wild woman. She was
made to pair up with one Nyaggom Kholharempo (Snyags-sgom Kho-lha-rem-po). Gugom ('Gu-sgom) he mounted the horse of the Innate
and travelled into the sky life. The
Atsara had scarcely any lineage holders, although there were many who achieved
an entry-level liberation (sgo-thar).”
There is a lot to discuss in this not-all-that-clear passage
(I would appreciate your suggestions for improvement!). In all the four (or in its published form five)
volumes of the Zhijé Collection, it is the only bit I could find that sheds light on the
Middle Transmission (albeit without using the name) as a whole, and most remarkably is supplied as Padampa’s
own words. The rare term sgo-thar at the end is one that I’ve
attempted to translate as “entry-level liberation,” although I’m not
sure what Padampa would have meant by it exactly. It’s possible it is sinitic
in its origins, and this is a possibility I would like to explore more
thoroughly some day. And of course, what
may be the most interesting thing of all is Padampa’s statement that he had
little to do with the “wild woman” Majo Chönema, whom everyone
ought to know (despite some undeniably justifiable confusion) is none other than the one famous to all
of us under her later name Machig Labdrön (Ma-gcig Lab-sgron). The name of her male companion is a very strange one, and I’m unable to identify what person lies behind it. That this is so is in itself an interesting issue for further thinking in the future.
So now my introduction is over and time is running out. I’d like to conclude with even more
introductions, without yet promising anything like the closure that ought to
come with conclusions.
In what remains of my allotted time, I’d like to talk about the sudden
emergence of three remarkable manuscripts in Bhutan, and the illumination one of them
in particular might (or might not) provide for a set of issues, primarily
issues of sectarian emergence and inter-sectarian relations. I will ignore for today the Zhijé-Kagyü
relationship, and the famous account of an encounter between Milarepa and
Padampa that we find in the Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa, interesting as this, too, might be.
Here you are seeing the outwardly visible title page of a pecha loose-leaf manuscript that is
preserved in the Nyingma monastery called Drametse in far eastern Bhutan. It was made available as part of the British Library's Endangered Archives Project (EAP). As the team of Karma Phuntsho filmed it, it
takes up 142 folios, so it is of a quite
significant size. Although difficult to enumerate because of untitled, nested texts and so
on, I would say there are thirteen distinct works of various authorship contained in
it. I have nothing specific to say yet about the age
of the physical manuscript, which appears old. I think it will be possible to make conclusions about the making of the
anthology as a whole, as it was likely done by one Benchung Gar (Ban-chung ’Gar) who appears
as author of two initiation texts, including the one at the end of the
collection. I haven’t been able yet to
come to definite conclusions about his identity or his date.
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At the moment, the most impressive thing I can say about this
manuscript is that it contains three previously unexpected and unknown
histories of the Middle Transmission. The
first two were authored by Rog Bande (Rog Bande Shes-rab-’od, 1166‑1244). He is best known to the world today as author
of the text translated by José Cabezón, The
Buddha’s Doctrine and the Nine Vehicles: Rog Bande Sherab’s Lamp of the
Teachings, Oxford University Press (Oxford 2013). The third history listed here, on the Ma (Rma) lineage, was done by one Chüpa (Chus-pa) on the basis of a compilation by Khugom (Khu-bsgom). I believe this places the
history in the vicinity of 1200 more or less.
Rog Bande's younger brother Rog Zhigpo authored the standard
history of the Later Transmission that has been available in published form for
several decades now. Although much
ignored in our times, it was a primary source of material for the author of
the Blue Annals. The title of the first you have seen already
in the previous slide. Here I’ve listed
all four of the so-far known Zhijé histories set down in the decades
surrounding 1200 (for present purposes excluding biographies of single Zhijé
teachers, which are also surfacing in recent years).
For the time that remains I would like to
stress the importance of this as well as two other Zhijé manuscript collections filmed in Bhutan. My point (for today) is mainly that they are potentially
important for knowledge of sectarian emergence and inter-lineage relations in
Tibetan history. The three specific
areas I would like to touch upon are: [1] Zhijé relations with the Nyingmapa,
[2] the Zhijé connections with teachings of the Cutting School, and [3] the
puzzling relationship between Padampa and the Bon religion of Tibet.
[1] Zhijé relations with the
Nyingmapa.
There are several points spread out over nearly a millennium
of Zhijé history where Nyingma contacts may be shown. Among the most prominent revivers of Zhijé
teachings in recent centuries was Lochen Dharmashri at the Nyingma monastery
of Mindroling, as we've noted before. But even in the earliest days we can
point to the sharing of some otherwise rather unique metaphors between the
Nyingma teacher Zurchungpa and Padampa. Also, a few texts in the latest layers in the Zhijé Collection (meaning late in the 12th century) start making
occasional use of Nyingma-style language like Auto-emergent Full Knowledge, Rangjung Yeshé (in the forms rang-byung ye-shes as well as rang-byung-gi ye-shes), and even a quote from one of the Nyingma tantras with Great Sky (Nam mkha' che) in its title, for examples (I haven’t yet traced which of those Nyingma tantras contains the quote).
And remember, too, the philosophical treatment of the Nine
Vehicles according to Nyingma School by Rog Bande that José Cabezón translated. I should have been less surprised than I was
to learn from yet another Zhijé manuscript from Drametse Monastery as well as
another similar collection filmed at Tsakaling, a connection between the
long-lived teacher of the Rog brothers by the name of Tenné (Rten-ne) and Nyangral Nyima Özer (Myang-ral Nyi-ma-’od-zer). Even if the two were
clearly contemporaries, I’d never before heard that they had come into
contact.
Although I cannot go into the problem right now, it is
possible that the collection found in these two different manuscripts, one from
Tsakaling and one from Drametse (quite close, but not completely identical in
their content) contain what could be a somewhat earlier compilation than the
Zhijé Collection, which makes them remarkably important for future textual
studies and editions.
Here you see the words near the end of the Tsakaling manuscript
that tell us that cycle of teachings known as the Cholu was granted by
Drubthob Ngödrup (that means Tenné) to Nyang Ralpacan, and that “it” [does this mean the original
collection or this manuscript??] was scribed at Mawo Chok, the place where
Nyangral resided, in fact in the Tamshul valley, quite close to eastern Bhutan.
To sum up, the Bhutanese manuscripts help cement the idea
that Zhijé-Nyingma connections were relatively strong and early.
[2] Zhijé connections with teachings
of the Cutting School.
Although perhaps the most interesting question, we can't go
into it much right now. I have long
puzzled over why it is that there is scarcely more than a hint of the Cutting
teachings or Machik Labdrön to be found in the Zhijé Collection. It is as if they scarcely existed for members
of the Later Transmission. Yet Cutting's origins have to be sought among the lineage initiators of the Middle
Transmission and Padampa’s Second Sojourn. Therefore anything we can learn about the Middle Transmission will help us
attempt to trace the origins of Cutting, and for this Drametse 041 is a crucial
source. As far as the two other
Bhutanese manuscripts are concerned, they contain a once nearly impossible to
obtain and (until a few years ago) unpublished text on Cutting in the words of
Padampa himself. Its title is Brul-tsho Drug-pa. This contains teachings given by Padampa to
his disciple in the Yarlung Valley named Mara Serpo (Sma-ra Ser-po). Although that may seem to undercut claims that
Machig originated the Cutting practice of body offering, this remains to be seen
after close study.*
*(I’m just saying: There is promise of future progress.)
I should add: The circa 1210 history by Rog Zhigpo says Mara Serpo and Machik both
received Cutting teachings directly from Padampa. Here are its exact words (ZC IV 346):
zangs ri'i ma cig lam sgron (~ma gcig lab sgron) dang / yar lungs kyi
stond pa sma ra se'o can (sma ra ser po can) la / shes rab kyi pha rol du
phyind pa gcod kyi gdams pa gnang /
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