Tibetan yoga and mysticism a textual study of the yoga ( (142)

Bsod nams rin chen 's Shortcut to Instant Awakening The special contribution by the Buddhist monk dge slang, bhik�u Sgam po pa B sod nams rin chen 1 079- 1 1 5 3 CE' to the Tibetan Bka

Theoretical Preamble 27

semantic field of deep fore-structures built up in the longue durée of the Tibetan

hagiographical tradition of a religious founder This circle reorients the sayings as an object

of knowledge for the study of an entire community of religious writers The third circle of presenting a neostructuralist reading of the corpus in Part III spreads out the semantic field

by forming a new fore-structure of both synchronic and diachronic dimensions This circle

reconstitutes The Manifold Sayings as an object of knowledge for the study of text In

unison, the turnings of these three hermeneutical circles will lift up the reader's gaze from the scholastic textual production of the medieval Buddhist seminaries seated at the floor of Himalayan valleys up to the discourses spoken in the simple hermitages of Tibetan mystics

and yoga practitioners nestled high in the mountains

Part I

Bsod nams rin chen's Mahāmudrā

And its Early Reception History

Chapter 1

The Essence of Mahamudra

1 Bsod nams rin chen 's Shortcut to Instant Awakening

The special contribution by the Buddhist monk (dge slang, bhik�u) Sgam po pa B sod nams rin chen ( 1 079- 1 1 5 3 CE)' to the Tibetan Bka ' brgyud traditions has in Tibetan works often been characterized as consisting in a special teaching-style that combined doctrinal Bka ' gdams pa teachings on the stages of the Mahiiyiina path with a particular meditative system known as *Mahiimudrii (phyag rgya chen po, or in brief phyag chen).2 Thus, B sod nams rin chen is said to have "merged the two streams of Bka ' gdams pa and Mahamudrii" (bka ' phyag elm bo gnyis 'dres) This signature phrase, which is used to captivate the particular style of teaching for which B sod nams rin chen became so renowned, occurs in several later Tibetan works.3 In general, the word Mahamudrii, literally meaning "great (mahii) seal

(mudrii), " is a term used in some of the Indian and Tibetan Tantric literature for the most advanced stage of Buddhist Tantric practice, on which the practitioner realizes full and direct Awakening (byang chub, bodhi) However, in the present context, Mahiimudrii takes

on a new and special meaning

In the Tantric teachings, Mahiimudrii designates the meditative practices and experi­ ences associated with the final empowerment of the Unparalleled Yogatantra, in Sanskrit called *Anuttarayogatantra or Yoganiruttaratantra Bsod nams rin chen is said to have separated Mahiimudrii meditation from its original Tantric setting and to have

recontex-1 Sgam po pa Bsod nams rin chen will henceforth be referred to primarily by his personal monastic name, Bsod nams rin chen, leaving out the epithet Sgam po pa Though the epithet Sgam

po pa, meaning "he of [Mt.] S gam po, " is chiefly associated with B sod nams rin chen, it has also been assigned to several later masters, especially to the line of Sgam po pa sprul skus of Dags Iha sgam po monastery Other popular epithets associated with B sod nams rin chen include Zia 'od gzhon nu (*Candraprabha kumara) meaning "young man Moonlight" , Dags po Iha rje "the doctor from Dags po, " and Dags po rin po che "the precious one from Dags po" Dags po (in later sources mostly spelled Dwags po) is the name of a region in central Tibet The epithet Sgam po pa is in modem Chinese sources rendered as IXJ)E!le.:1., pronounced Gangboba

2 For an overview of the existing research and secondary literature on Indian and Tibetan Mahii­ mudra, see Roger R JACKSON (20 1 1 )

3 See, e.g., the religious history The Blue Annals (Deb ther sngon po, TBRC W7494-38 l 8), Tibe­ tan reprint by CHANDRA ( 1 974:400) and the English translation by ROERICH ( 1 949 :460) For a translation of the full passage, see below The sentence is also quoted in the history of Dags lha sgam

po monastery entitled Gdan sa chen po dpal dwags Iha sgam po 'i ngo mtshar gyi bod pa dad pa 'i gter chen, reprinted in S0RENSEN & DOLMA (2007 : 1 98 , folio l 6b2, text G)

Chapter I: The Essence of MahamudriJ 3 1

tualized it in a frame of Common Mahayana teachings The expression "Common Maha­ yana" (theg chen thun mong pa) is a key term used in this book to signify the teachings of the Indian Mahayana Sutras and Sastras, which as a doctrinal system and path to buddha­ hood also are labeled the Paramita Vehicle (Piiramitayana, phar phyin theg pa) These teachings are common to all followers of Mahayana Buddhism, as generally found in the various forms of Indian, East Asian, and Tibetan Buddhism They are doctrinally and prag­ matically distinguished from the teachings of the Buddhist Tantras, which theoretically also are subsumed under the Mahayana system but as Tantric methods are not practiced by all

Mahayana adherents Consequently, the Tantric methods are sometimes in Tibetan sources referred to as the "Uncommon Mahiiyiina" (theg chen thun mong ma yin pa).4

As attested by the extant textual tradition, Bsod nams rin chen in some instances taught

Mahiimudra in a broader context of Common Mahayana teachings and thereby separated these Mahamudra instructions from their original framework of the Tantras The conse­ quence was that Mahiimudra no longer was a doctrine reserved for the initiated practitio­ ners of the secret Tantras with their yoga and sexual techniques, but Mahamudra became generally accessible to all followers of the Mahayana, perhaps especially addressed to monks wishing to practice the Tantras without violating their vows of celibacy With B sod nams rin chen's conception of such a novel approach to Mahamudra practice, a new and distinct tradition evolved within Tibetan Buddhism This tradition gradually became known

as the Bka ' brgyud school and in the course of the following decades and centuries it developed into several Bka ' brgyud sub-traditions Hence, a study of B sod nams rin chen's

Mahamudra teachings and techniques reaches back to some of the most formative years of Tibetan Buddhism in the eleventh and twelfth centuries when the maj ority of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism were in the process of being founded

The collection of texts that contain B sod nams rin chen's oral teachings, known in Tibe­ tan as the Dags po 'i bka ' 'bum corpus, definitely includes a series of distinct works, whose focus is on the Mahayana path, Mahiimudra meditation, or a mixture of the two, thereby il­ lustrating the kind of "blending the two streams of Bka ' gdams pa and Mahiimudra" (bka ' phyag chu bo gnyis 'dres) that later sources characteristically ascribe to B sod nams rin chen

as the hallmark of his teachings However, it should be noted that the corpus also includes works that are focused on several other topics, especially on the yoga practices known in later literature as the " Six Doctrines of Naropa" (na ro 'i chos drug).5 Even so, according to hagiographical sources, it appears that Bsod nams rin chen only taught these higher Tantric

yoga techniques to a small number of advanced students The majority of his disciples were instead taught contemplative theory drawn from Common Mahayana doctrines, as exempli­ fied in the texts on Teachings to the Gathering (tshogs chos) or his well-known doctrinal treatise on the stages of the path (lam rim) entitled The Jewel Ornament of Liberation (short

4 The English word "Tantric" is here used adjectivally to characterize a person, teaching, or tradi­ tion adhering to the Buddhist Tantras and their techniques However, for a well-conceived critique and problematization of the use of this term in the Buddhist context, see ONIANS (2003 : 8-9)

5 For the Tibetan nii ro 'i chos drug literature and the Dags po 'i bka ' 'bum, see KRAGH (20 1 l a)