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From Legend to Flesh and Bone: The Reenactment of a Tantric Narrative

From Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia
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Joel S. Gruber

There is a persistent set of characteristics that define Superman through decades of creative voices and it’s that essential, unshakeable quality of Superman-ness the character possesses in every incarnation, which is divinity by any other name.

—Grant Morrison1

According to contemporary Tibetan accounts, Vimalamitra was a late eighth century Indian Buddhist saint who became renowned throughout the medieval kingdoms of India for possessing a mastery of both exoteric sutra and esoteric tantric teachings. Upon hearing of Vimalamitras proficiency in all aspects of the Buddhadharma, the great Tibetan king Trisong Detsen (r. 755-ca. 797), dispatched an envoy of translators to request that Vimalamitra assist him in disseminating Buddhism across the newly converted Buddhist kingdom of Tibet. Vimalamitra dutifully accepted the king’s request and left his homeland to venture outward across the Himalayas. In Tibet, he spent the better part of the next decade fastidiously composing and translating a number of important texts on a vast array of Buddhist subjects. Despite the prodigious doctrinal range evident within his scholarship, the Indian saint is best known for emanating dozens of times throughout the Tibetan plateau, from the twelfth century to the present day, each time “revealing never-before-seen” tantric texts.

The oldest extant details of Vimalamitras life (ca. tenth century) exclusively focused on his ability to extend his life and then emanate, abilities that strategically “validate” his status as a tantric practitioner. By the twelfth century, his spiritual biography was significantly expanded to include the dates, names of persons, texts, and accomplishments that, through the medium of narrative, legitimate his newfound status as the author of Dzogchen texts. Positioning him as the author of these texts also, of course, “proved” the Indian pedigree of these works. This strategy involved creating an unbroken line of transmission extending from the eighth-century founding figure, Vimalamitra, to the prominent Tibetan Dzogchen masters of the tenth through twelfth centuries. Establishing this requisite lineal consistency required that the historical Vimalamitra, known to have traveled to Tibet in the eighth century, was a highly accomplished tantrika with the power to emanate and bestow teaching transmissions to multiple Tibetans born hundreds of years following his departure from the Himalayan Kingdom. Once this approach proved successful, the need to rewrite and debate his “pre-emanation” life story as a means to legitimate disputed claims to lineal descent became obsolete. Instead of rewriting a biographical account that was standardized around the fourteenth century, the proponents of the Nyingma tradition focused on novel narrative based arguments designed to authenticate innovative developments in tantric doctrine and ritual by constructing biographies explaining the life and teachings of contemporary Nyingma saints believed to be Vimalamitras emanations.

This chapter briefly summarizes the development of the legend of Vimalamitra and his Tibetan emanations, as well as the political function of these narratives. It explores the complexity of Tibetan belief in Buddhist hagiographies by analyzing instances within contemporary American popular culture in which, as folklorist Linda Degh has written, “the style, context. . . transmission and reception of [a] legend sometimes suggests that... narratives can turn into facts.” By comparing the evolution of Vimalamitras life story and his Tibetan emanations with a small but growing group of “real-life superheroes” and their reenactment of superhero comics, I argue that we can gain valuable insights regarding the reason why Tibetans believed in the historical veracity of embellished hagiographies, despite knowing they were embellished or fictionalized. To conclude, I argue that Tibetans aware of the Active content within Vimalamitra-related narratives regarded these accounts to be true because they repeatedly witnessed, or at least believed they repeatedly witnessed, these fictions be reenacted as historical acts, or something like facts. The Emanation Prototype

Nupchen Sangye Yeshes (Gnubs chen Sangs rgyas Ye shes, ca. tenth century) late ninth- or early tenth-century Lamp for the Eye in Contemplation (Bsam gtan smig gron) contains the oldest extant biographical details of an Indian named Vimalamitra,3 one of the first known citations of a tantric text he purportedly composed, and the oldest record of his appearing in two places at one time. Vimalamitra is featured most prominently in the Lamp for the Eye in Contemplations chapter that outlines the views, practices, and results of Mahayoga, the third of four Buddhistpaths” presented in the texts doxographical schema. After the results of the path have been outlined, Nupchen boldly writes that past generations have witnessed accomplished masters perform acts demonstrating their exceptional realizations, and as proof he invokes a narrative (perhaps oral?) of Vimalamitras time in Tibet: “When Vimalamitra seemingly displayed death in Tibet, he actually remained in India without truly having died.”5 In this single line, Nupchen claims that Vimalamitra transcended death and appeared in two places at once,6 both of which constitute yogic achievements doctrinally consistent with the power to emanate (sprul).

As a result of Nupchens strategic deployment of Vimalamitra’s name, his citation of Vimala’s commentaries, and his reference to an event potentially based on a previously existent legend, it is clear that Vimalamitra is, for Nupchen, a tantric figure integral to accomplishing his texts purported goals, which include establishing the supremacy of these newly developed Tibetan Mahayoga practices. Therefore, the Vimalamitra of the Lamp for the Eye in Contemplation is an Indian tantrika whose commentaries and meditative accomplishments legitimate a series of texts detailing the intricacies of a Mahayoga path in its formative stages in Tibet during the late ninth century, and furthermore, it is evident that this Vimalamitra functions as a “proof” that the results promised in these Mahayoga texts can be obtained from the practices they outline.

The Foundation for the Emanation

The innovative developments in Tibetan spiritual biographies that followed Nupchens Lamp for the Eye in Contemplation offered emerging tantric traditions new narrative license to describe the lives and practices of their revered Buddhist saints with a level of detail and sophistication that far surpassed the preceding minimalist approach to Buddhist biography. As part of a broader literary movement, the circa twelfth-century The Great Elistory of Dzokchen Nyingtik (Rdzogs pa chen po snying thig gyi lo rgyus chen mo; henceforth Great History) reimagines Vimalamitra’s life story and further elevates his status to the point where he is now considered one of the most powerful tantric masters to grace the storied annals of Tibetan history.7 The text embellishes his journeys through the kingdoms of India, the charnel grounds of China, and the Himalayan Mountains of Tibet, and highlights a series of miraculous deeds that were strategically designed, and elaborated upon, by the Great History s author(s) in large part to demonstrate the unequivocal greatness of Vimalamitra’s Nyingtik practices.

Although the forty folio-sides of narrative devoted to Vima are often entertaining and well written, the story rarely loses sight of its primary objective: to prove that secret Nyingtik texts were transmitted to Tibet by an exceptionally realized Indian. Several different dialogues, teachings, and travel adventures are centered around these Nyingtik texts, and each element of their plots is carefully chosen to address the three most common twelfth-century critiques leveled against Nyingtik by rival schools, namely that the Nyingtik tantras are not from India, are not part of the initial imperial translation project, and are apocryphal texts recently produced by Tibetans. Therefore, Vimalamitra’s life story should be read first and foremost as a twelfth-century narrative-based argument intended to legitimate the Nyingtik tradition purportedly derived from Vimalamitra, demonstrate the results of these practices, and legitimate several of the Nyingtik texts purportedly produced by revelatory means. Prior to the Great History’s rendering of Vimalamitras life story, patron deities or bodhisattvas such as Manjusri, Avalokitesvara and Tara, emanated in the presence of Tibetan masters, but in this particular account, a quasi-historical Indian emanates to authorize dharma texts and practices, a promise that is fulfilled once the story turns to the revelations of the tenth through twelfth centuries.

The Vow to Emanate

The Great History claims that fifty years after Vimalamitras departure from Tibet, his disciple, a Tibetan named Nyang Tingzin Sangpo, concealed the secret texts Vimalamitra entrusted to him in the Temple of the Hat (Zha’i lha khang), where they remained for an additional one hundred years prior to being discovered by Dangma Lhungyal (Ldang ma Lhun gyi Rgyal mtshan, d.u.). At that time, the reader is told that Dangma Lhungyal had no students of his own and was forced to conduct an exhaustive search for his lineal heir. After three years of peripatetic wandering, he encounters Chetsun Senge Wangchuk and enthusiastically proclaims, “Because I have bestowed the incomparable unsurpassable secret oral instruction of the Nyingtik upon you, we have established a karmic connection.”9 Shortly after, Chetsun dreams he is visited by a terrifying blue Indian who says:

I am the Learned One, Vimalamitra.

Fortunate being! If you desire to find the quintessential meaning, You will do so on the side of the mountain at Trakmar Gegon in Chimpu. Go retrieve the precious secret Nyingtik texts!

Take them and meditate unseen for seven years

at an enclosure of rocks above Uyuk Chigong.

By doing as directed, the contaminated aggregates will disappear.10

When Vimalamitra manifested in the presence of Chetsun Senge Wangchuk, his emanation marked the beginning of a tradition in which the famed Indian tantrika continuously manifested across the Tibetan landscape to preserve the Nyingtik lineage. Vimalamitras emanations performed the same function as both Vajrasattva and the dakini that appeared to guide Vimalamitra earlier on in the Great History, while he was on his own quest for the Nyingtik texts. Over the course of the story, Vimalamitra had transformed from being guided by divine agents to becoming one himself, capable of emanating to lead Tibetans on their spiritual journeys for the Nyingtik teachings. In order to reach such elevated heights, he first attained the power to live indefinitely through practicing the Nyingtik teachings, thereby proving their efficacy. Other accomplishments include his ability to transform into a lion and ride a garuda —acts that prove his mastery over corporeal forms. Despite the rumors of his purported death, he emanates multiple times hundreds of years later to assist the founding Tibetan visionaries central to the Vimalamitra Nyingthig lineage. The Great History therefore provides the foundational narrative for legitimizing some of the earliest Nyingtik teachings, and Vimalamitras subsequent emanations provide the tradition an opportunity to legitimate the next nine-hundred years of his revelations.

The Embodied Emanation

The famous polymath Longchenpa's (Klong chen pa, 1308-64) Nyingthig Yabshi (Snying thigya bshi) is a compilation of redacted and “revealed” Nyingtik views, practices, and histories based on the teachings attributed to Vimalamitra (Bi ma Snying thig), which he paired with another collection of doctrinal works, spiritual biographies, and practice manuals from a more recent revelatory tradition featuring Padmasambhava (‘Kha ‘dro Snying thig). He then grouped this pair with his own contributions, the Three Yangti Sum (Yang ti Gsum). The methods by which Longchenpa arranged the histories and spiritual biographies of the prominent lineal figures within the Bima Nyingtik likely ensured that, for the first time, the lives and revelations of Nyingtik figures were chronologically and topically consistent.12 Shortly after Longchenpa finished his compilation, and the Bima Nyingtik was promulgated, the revelatory or visionary model featuring Vimalamitra became popularized.

The spiritual biographies within Longchenpa's Bima Nyingtik are arranged chronologically, beginning with the biography of Shangton Tashi Dorje (Zhang ston Bkra shi Rdo rje, 1097-1167), who the Nyingtik tradition claims was Chetsun’s student and Western scholars claim was the “anonymous” narrator of The Great History.13 According to his biography, Shangton Tashi Dorje passed the teachings to his son Nyima Bum (Nyi ma ‘Bum, 1158-1213), whose own son, Guru Jober (Gu ru Jo ‘ber, 1196-1255), transmitted these same rituals and practices to his student, Trulshik Senge Gyapa (‘Khrul zhig Seng ge Rgya pa, thirteenth century), who then entrusted the Nyingtik revelations to Drupchen Melong Dorje (Me long Rdo rje, 1243-1303).14 Triilshik Senge Gyapa and Melong Dorje maintained the necessary unbroken transmission, and as a sign of their tantric proficiency, they achieved the highest result, but neither of the two revealed additional Nyingtik treatises. In the Shang family—including Shangton Tashi Dorje, his son, and his grandson—it was the Shang patriarch alone who uncovered additional treasure texts purportedly concealed during imperial times. Thus the biographies of each of these prominent persons are seemingly governed by a consistent principle that determined the rules of revelation: if they acquire additional Nyingtik teachings, this requires Vimalamitra to emanate (to Shangton Tashi Dorje and Chetsun Senge Wangchuk); conversely, when practitioners do not purport to possess new Nyingtik texts (Nyima Bum, Guru Jober, Trulshig Senge Gyapa, and Melong Dorje), Vimalamitra does not manifest.

In the decades leading to the fourteenth century, Vimalamitra had manifested during visionary quests of the prominent Tibetans mentioned, each of whom discovered hidden teachings that revealed the quintessential meanings and practices of Dzogchen most esteemed lineage. Prior to Longchenpa, however, Vimalamitra had merely emanated in visions to other Tibetans, he had not incarnated as a Tibetan in flesh and bone. It seems that once again Longchenpa was responsible for a pivotal development in the history of the Nyingma tradition, a point that would permanently alter the trajectory of the Vimalamitra emanationbased narratives that became important to the treasure tradition; toward the completion of a spiritual biography that Longchenpa composed in honor of his beloved guru, Kumaraja, he penned a homage that may seem at first glance to be little more than a collection of unremarkable lines of praise, but in actuality these verses are representative of a quantum leap in the history of Vimalamitra’s emanations:

Om ah hum. Praise to the guru, Kumaraja.

I prostrate before the one undifferentiated from the Primordial Lord,

The great vidyadhara, the actual Vimalamitra,

Endowed with an ocean of great qualities equal to the reaches of space,

I bow at the feet of the Lord of Dharma, Kumaraja.15

When Vimalamitra emanated as Kumaraja, a living Tibetan meditation master became a dynamic representation of an important figure from the imperial era, and thus when Kumaraja transmitted the teachings to Longchenpa he did so as one of the greatest Buddhist heroes of Tibet’s mythical past, who at that moment purportedly had manifested in a corporeal form to inhabit the present-day world of Longchenpa. An Indian tantric archetype constructed in part to represent the Nyingma traditions idealized vision of a highly realized tantric practitioner became more Tibetan than ever. Future Nyingmapas, courtesy of Longchenpas innovations, could now follow suite and recognize their most esteemed teachers as Vimalamitra.

Longchenpa was neither the first to claim that a living Tibetan was the incarnation of a past saint nor the last to refer to a revered guru as an emanation. But he did set the stage for an extensive list of Tibetan masters within the Nyingma lineage (one that eventually included Longchenpa himself) to be recognized as emanations of Vimalamitra. As a result, Vimalamitra was henceforth emanating as a Tibetan in addition to manifesting (e.g., in the visionary experience) to them. This development became central to the quintessential model for recognizingauthenticVimalamitra emanations, and it has been replicated in many guru-as-Vimalamitra narrative since: Vimalamitra emanates as an embodied Tibetan master in order to mark the legitimacy of that masters revealed texts, his accomplishments as a guru, and the tantric proficiency of the student.

The Emanation Multiplies

Longchenpas impressive scholarly contributions cast a towering shadow over the next generations of Nyingma intellectuals. Despite his brilliance, an extensive exegetical tradition based on his work did not follow; both his doctrinal mastery of sutra-based traditions and the precision of his thought remained difficult to duplicate. In addition, visionary revelations attributed to imperial period figures continued to dominate the Nyingma tradition, and his ideas were often incorporated into these revelations without citation. Jikme Lingpa (“Jigs med Gling pa,” 1730-98), however, was an exception to this post-Longchenpa trend. He sought to clarify the internal structure of the diverse and at times contradictory approaches to the Dzokchen practices of his time by following some of the organizing principles previously established by Longchenpa for composing, redacting, and also revealing the numerous works necessary to restructure and re-present a wide range of orthodox and heteroclitic Nyingma practices. It is therefore fitting that Jikme Lingpa’s collection of teachings, the self-contained and all-encompassing assemblage of contemporary doctrine, ritual, and meditative practices that became the gold standard for Nyingtik traditions throughout Tibet, was based on the model laid down by Longchenpa, which Jikme Lingpa aptly named the Longchen Nyingtik.16

Jikme Lingpa frequently referred to the work of Longchenpa, and at times noted that the verses he penned were inspired by Longhcenpa; but in addition, he too partook in the time-honored Nyingtik revelatory tradition, and accordingly, claimed to have experienced three separate and distinct visions of Longchenpa. More specifically, he claimed in the first of his autobiographies that, during one of his many practice retreats, he uncovered a prophecy previously hidden within Padmasambhava’s retreat enclave stating that he, Jigme Lingpa, was indeed an emanation of Vimalamitra.17 In a second autobiography, he also recounted a visionary experience that was so powerful and vivid, he claimed to have attained the requisite pure perception that enables the perfect recollection of each former life, and during this time of insight, he recognized that he had been both Vimalamitra and Longchenpa in previous births.18 Just as Vimalamitra appeared to Chetsun Senge Wangchuk roughly 600 years earlier to provide revelatory assistance to his Tibetan lineal heir, Longchenpa did the same for Jigme Lingpa, and Just as Longchenpa had a vision in which he recognized that Kumaraja was the living embodiment of Vimalamitra, Jigme Lingpa envisioned Longchenpa in his purest form, as the living embodiment of Vimalamitra—and at that very moment, Jigme Lingpa also realized that he too, the mastermind behind the Longchen Nyingtik, was none other than a living incarnation of the noble Vimalamitra!

Prominent contemporary Nyingma masters such as Jigme Lingpa were therefore considered the Joint emanation of figures such as Vimalamitra and Longchenpa. This enabled the master to be seen as the embodiment of two lineages: one to the imperial period and the other to the eminent scholar who most influenced that master’s own updated tantric doctrines and practices. In addition to Jigme Lingpa, Lhatsun Namkha Jigme (Lha btsun Nam mkha’ “Jigs med,” 1597-1653) was recognized as an emanation of Vimalamitra and Longchenpa, and others, such as the first Drubwang Pema Norbu (Pad ma Nor bu, 1679-1757), were identified as being composite emanations that synthesized the enlightened qualities of Vimalamitra and other Tibetans, such as Jatson Nyingpo (“Ja” tshon Snying po, 1585-1656). Once Vimalamitra started to be incorporated into the incarnation lineage of a few living Nyingma masters, it was not long before his emanations multiplied exponentially. Ihe institution of the tulku, or reincarnated lama, is generally said to have begun with the Karma Kagyu sect that identified Rangjung Dorje (Rang “byung Rdo rje,” 1284-1339) as the reincarnation of the second Karmapa. Within a short time this had become a pan-sectarian phenomenon, occurring with a frequency that would have been difficult for either Longchenpa or Rangjung Dorje to envision. For example, shortly after Jigme Lingpa’s eighteenth-century incarnation drew his last breath, his subsequent incarnation lines divided into three: body, speech, and mind emanations. Ihe three tulkus were recognized according to a tripartite division that then further subdivided at such a prolific rate that two hundred years after Jigme Lingpa’s three initial emanations were named, no less than thirty additional distinct individuals were believed to have inherited his incarnation and emanation lines (twenty of these recognitions belonged to the Khyentse line).19 Therefore, this lone figure produced over thirty historical Tibetans who were also regarded, at least nominally, as the emanation of Vimalamitra, a total that surpassed the original one-emanation-per-century-vow decreed by Vimalamitra in the Great History by an average of fifteen times, for two consecutive centuries!20

As tulku reincarnations became exceedingly common, other prominent Nyingma figures such as Chokgyur Lingpa (Mchog gyur Gling pa, 1829-70) experienced visions in which they saw their guru as Vimalamitra, in addition to encountering emanations of the Indian tantrika as himself.21 When Chokgyur Lingpa received the Lama Yangthig (Bla ma Yang thig) empowerment from his teacher, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, he saw the great Khyentse as Vimalamitra, and when he opened the doorway to the famous Indian saint’s former practice enclave, Vimalamitra immediately manifested in an ethereal form surrounded by a blue light to provide the famous terton, a revealer of previously hidden sacred texts, with further oral instructions for the highest Nyingtik practices.22 In yet another vision, Vimalamitra appeared in the presence of Chokgyur Lingpa to bestow the texts he prophesied centuries ago would be necessary for Tibetans to survive these particularly degenerate times.23 By the end of his life, Chokgyur Lingpa’s bevy of Vimalamitra emanations included instances in which Vimalamitra manifested as a Tibetan and others in which he emanated as himself.

The Posthumous Emanations

The dozens of Tibetans throughout the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries who purportedly experienced a Vimalamitra-related encounter— whether in visions or through the process or incarnation—were all part of a broader movement in which the hagiographies of seminal but previously unrecognized Nyingtik lineal greats were rewritten to include what was in essence a posthumous acknowledgment of their accomplishments in the form of a newfound honorary title, “emanation of Vimalamitra.” This process of bestowing titles of honorary recognition included, perhaps predictably, the first Tibetan who purportedly disintered Vimalamitras concealed works, Dangma Lhiingyal.

Dudjom Rinpoches The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism details the spiritual biography of Dangma according to the outline provided by the original account of his life, as found in the Great History; yet in the updated version Dangma Lhiingyal is designated as “an emanation of Vimalamitra.”24 Dangma was not the only figure to posthumously receive a lifetime visionary-achievement award. Nyoshul Khenpo’s A Marvelous Garland of Rare Gems presents a “more contemporary” version of the original Melong Dorje spiritual biography from the Bima Nyingtik; for the first two-thirds of his life story, the basic narrative appears unchanged and follows the format of the original. But toward the end of Nyoshul Khenpo’s work, a single line has been added wherein Kumaraja, the first known Tibetan to be regarded as an emanation of Vimalamitra, realizes that his own guru, Melong Dorje, possesses all “the marks of Vimalamitra.”25 Both Nyoshul Khenpo and Dudjom Rinpoche also claim that Longchenpa was indeed an emanation of Vimalamitra, an identification that cannot be corroborated by his original biography.26 But it is Nyoshul Khenpo’s account alone that presents the most impressive and exceptional example of the traditions newfound impulse to overload the past with the emanations of Vimalamitra. When Longchenpa searches for his soon-to-be guru, their first contact is glamorized in a manner that would not have been possible for most of Nyingma history. The meeting of the two legendary figures is framed as if it were a predestined rendezvous between an emanation of Vimalamitra as the guru (Kumaraja) and an emanation of Vimalamitra as the student (Longchenpa), who is informed by the former of a prophecy he received from an emanation of Vimalamitra (as a scholar in a dream):

When Longchenpa was twenty-seven, he set out to meet Rigdzin Kumaraja in the Yartokyam Uplands, where the latter and some of his students were living in felt tents. As soon as he saw Kumaraja, Longchenpa knew with certainty that before him was Vimalamitra in person. The guru himself was extremely delighted and said, “Last night I dreamed of an amazing bird, which I was told was of divine origin, surrounded by a flock of a thousand smaller birds. They took my texts and flew away in all directions. When I saw you, I immediately knew that you would become a holder of my lineage of spiritual teachings.” . . . Later [[[Kumaraja]]] told [[[Longchenpa]]], “In a dream, I met a scholar who I was told was Vimalamitra, wearing a scholar’s cap and carrying a text. He said to me, ‘This fellow Drime Ozer is a holy person who has prayed and aspired to safeguard my teachings. You, Zhonnu Gyalpo, will give him the pith instructions in their entirety. He will become the custodian of your teachings and a protector of the Dzogchen teachings.’”27

As is evident from this passage, the two Nyingma masters involved in the first known recognition of a Vimalamitra incarnation are also made to play a significant role in another monumental development, the movement to rewrite the past in order to claim that Vimalamitra emanated during the visions of past Tibetan masters or was the incarnation of seminal figures within the Nyingtik lineage.

The Eternal Return of the Emanations

The religious studies scholar Mircea Eliade used the term “eternal return” to describe an overarching impulse that led “religious” cultures to ritually reenact their origins in an effort to revisit bygone eras of the sacred past: “The eternal return is a belief expressed (sometimes implicitly, but often explicitly) in religious behavior, in the ability to return to the mythical age, to become contemporary with the events described in ones myths.”28 When Eliades theory is utilized as a hermeneutical concept that is neither binding nor all-encompassing, it functions as a useful tool for understanding the evolution of Vimalamitras emanations in the Nyingma tradition.

The first instance of Vimalamitraemanating” was recorded by Nupchen Sangye Yeshe during the late ninth or early tenth century to legitimate emerging Mahayoga doctrines and meditative techniques. Next, the author(s) of The Great History transformed Vimalamitra into a tantrika with the power to emanate and return hundreds of years after his departure from Tibet. Within the spiritual biographies of the Bima Nyingthig, Vimalamitra appeared before Tibetans to present them with concealed texts from the eighth century. When Vimalamitra emanated, Tibetan authors came face to face with a hero from the golden age of Tibetan Buddhism. This meeting established a continuous lineal connection that remained firmly grounded in the enlightened activities of a sacred past. Moreover, each time that Vimalamitra emanated, his primeval transmission of the teachings was repeated, or reenacted.

The Vimalamitra mythos that glorified the imperial era was further developed when Longchenpa declared that Kumaraja was an incarnation of Vimalamitra. At that moment, Longchenpa, the Tibetan figure responsible for first creating a cohesive Nyingtik tradition, re-animated a founding figure into the body of a Tibetan, Kumaraja. Material relics containing “never-before-seen” teachings were now accompanied by a corporeal relic. The primary difference between these attempts to return to a mythical past and those described by Eliade is that Vimalamitramanifested” in the present as a living Tibetan who literally embodied the traditions mythical past.

By the eighteenth century, the number of Tibetans who had inherited a Vimalamitra emanation line, had been recognized as Vimalamitra, or had a visionary exchange with the Indian saint had grown exponentially. Not long after, Nyingma histories were updated to ensure that important members of the tradition that had not been previously associated with Vimalamitra were regarded as emanations of the Indian saint as well. By the twenty-first century, the Nyingma tradition had successfully resurrected the past and brought it into the present, creating a “reverse eternal return” whereby Nyingma practitioners brought the past to the present rather than “return to the mythical past.” As a result, devoted and accomplished students had ready access to a living embodiment of Vimalamitra. However, these emanations did not foment the coming of a second golden age. Instead the ever-increasing number of Vimalamitra emanations produced literature that reflected a self-awareness of this excess, adjusted accordingly, and then continued to pay homage to the traditions established history.

Emanating Then and Now

Several of Vimalamitra’s most recent twentieth-century emanations are among the cast of Nyingma characters driving the subplots of Tulku Urgyen’s memoirs (Sprul sku O rgyan, 1920-96), entitled Blazing Splendor.29 There is one particular recognition story, however, that stands apart from the others for its level of detail and uncharacteristically raw depiction of human foibles and misadventure. The tale begins one night when Tsikey Chokling Rinpoche (Rtsi khe Mchog gling Dkon mchog “Gyur med,” 1871—1939)30 experiences avision in which his guru, Samten Gyatso (Bsam gtan Rgya mtsho, 1881-1945/46),31 manifests in his presence as the actual embodiment of Vimalamitra, prompting the devoted student to immediately transcribe a “mind treasure, a small volume of texts including a sadhana revealing the magical nature of Samten Gyatsos present incarnation.”32

After recording the mind treasure—yet ever afraid of the elderly lama’s temper—he keeps the texts hidden (and with him at all times), until one day at the intersection of the Tsichu and Khechu rivers,33 as Samten Gyatso watches Tsikey Chokling swim, he prepares to move his student’s belongings from the edge of the water. When he lifts the discarded bunched-up robes to a less precarious location, a single text falls to the ground. Tsikey Chokling’s request to leave the text only stokes Samten Gyatsos curiosity, prompting the beloved teacher to quickly read through several key passages. After a few moments, he becomes infuriated and unleashes the following diatribe:

You are supposed to be a reincarnation of Chokgyur Lingpa—at least according to the great Khyentse—and until today I had absolute faith that this was true. I was counting on you to uphold the New Treasures for the benefit of the Dharma and all sentient beings. But now, when I look at these scribbles of yours, I see that you are a charlatan through and through, a deceiver of other people, an outright liar! What a disgrace to the Dharma! Swear to me that from this day on you will never again succumb to writing down such pretentious nonsense!34

Samten Gyatso then violently tosses the text into the river, ensuring that it could never be read again, before continuing to berate his young student: “You’re making this old monk, who is completely devoid of any qualities, into something he’s not! What a preposterous fraud! If you are going to act like this, there is no benefit in your being the tulku of Chokgyur Lingpa.” Tulku Urgyen the narrator of the story, carefully contextualizes Samten Gyatsos anger by immediately explaining that his dear uncle grew irate because he was actually a humble practitioner personally committed to keeping his accomplishments a secret, a motivation befitting of a hidden yogi: “Ihe moment a special ability is announced, worldly people will see it as nothing but an attempt to aggrandize oneself. If we truly care about the well-being of others, we should not give them the least pretext to think such negative thoughts about [[[esoteric Buddhism]]] and its practitioners.”36 Despite the exegesis provided, Tulku Urgyen ironically retells the recognition account that Tsikey Chokling was ordered in no uncertain terms to never again repeat.

Beyond illuminating the potential hazards of naming an emanation, this narrative follows the precedence established for recognizing Nyingma figures as the eighth- or ninth-century tantrika: Vimalamitra emanates as an embodied Tibetan master, authenticating texts purportedly produced via revelatory means, and the experiential account of the recognition is then disseminated in order to mark the accomplishments of the guru as well as the student. Yet this particular tale takes an unexpected turn the moment that Samten Gyatso heaves a revealed treasure text into the river and berates his student for being, among other things, a fraud, a misrecognized Chokgyur Lingpa! Samten Gyatsos rage and his accompanying litany of insults are difficult to interpret, particularly because Tulku Urgyens didactic explanation becomes problematic the moment he retells the story. Though some may argue that Samten Gyatsos diatribe could be considered a demonstration of humility, or a refusal to publicly acknowledge his accomplishments, Tulku Urgyens exegesis remains inconsistent with at least one of the primary motivations underlying one thousand years of Vimalamitra-related narratives: to establish the legitimacy of the lineage and its revelatory tradition.

Perhaps Samten Gyatso was frustrated with the over-recognitions of contemporary incarnations, or perhaps like Lama Gonpo (Kun bzang Shan pan “Od zer,” 1906-91), the student of Jigme Lingpa’s body emanation, Tso Patrul Rinpoche (Tso Dpal sprul, twentieth century), he was entirely uninterested in the formalities dictating such recognitions.37 Or, perhaps Samten Gyatsos response was typical and in accordance with a preexistent oral tradition among prominent Nyingma families. If this is the case, the most unique aspect of Tulku Urgyens retelling of the story might not lie in the details themselves, but rather in that these details reached the general public. Regardless, beyond the difficult-to-ignore incident in which he destroys his students “pretentious scribbles,” traditionally regarded as being precious and divine revelations, Samten Gyatso reifies the import of properly recognizing an emanation of Vimalamitra when he exclaims, “You’re making this old monk, who is completely devoid of any qualities, into something he’s not!” While humbly rejecting his own “improper” recognition, he reemphasizes the accomplishments of a lineage that began when Vimalamitra seemingly approached death in Nup Chen’s Lamp for the Eye in Meditation and persisted through Tsikey Chokling’s near death at the hands of Samten Gyatso, who despite his protests has since been confirmed as an embodied emanation of Vimalamitra. Despite awareness of Samten Gyatso’s admonishments, the contemporary Nyingma tradition, like Tsikey Chokling, regards Samten Gyatso as a living embodiment of Vimalamitra. Though it is unclear whether Tsikey Chokling removed the embellishments Samten Gyatso scolded him for inserting in the biography, the text currently includes content that appears, at least to a Western reader, as embellishment. Yet, a majority of the Nyingma practitioners who are aware of these stories believe Samten Gyatso was an emanation of Vimalamitra and regard Chokgyur Tingpas hagiography as biographical history.

One of my longtime friends is a Tibetan student of the great Nyingma practitioner, Penor Rinpoche (Pad nor Rin po che, 1932-2009),38 one of the more famous contemporary teachers to be recognized as an emanation of Vimalamitra. In addition to having read Blazing Splendor, during the past six years my friend has helped me with the translation of some of the more difficult passages within Vimalamitras early hagiographies and dozens of the tantric texts attributed to him. As a result, he has seen firsthand that Tibetans wrote these tantric texts, and that the early spiritual biographies were gradually constructed as part of a narrative based argument defending the legitimacy of Nyingma tantras. In other words, he understands that Vimalamitras lasting legacy is in large part a product of the Tibetan imagination. Yet, he maintains faith that the contemporary “biography” of Vimalamitra contains important truths, and, like Tsikey Chokling, he believes that his recently deceased teacher, Penor Rinpoche, was an emanation of Vimalamitra. His belief is neither the result of naivety nor blind faith. It is instead reflective of a Tibetan technique of balancing the tensions that exist between the dyad of skepticism and belief that is quite different than the way contemporary scholars read Nyingma spiritual biographies. For example, Blazing Splendor contains several passages wherein Samten Gyatso asks Tsikey Chokling to compile a hagiography for Chokgyur Lingpa. When Tsikey Chokling embellishes the hagiography by including quotations from previously composed, revered, and well-known Nyingma hagiographies, Samten Gyatso rebukes his student for these exaggerations and tells him to start over. To remedy the situation, Samten Gyatso sends Tsikey Chokley to consult his own mother, who explains that Tibetans, especially those in the eastern part of Kham, are extremely skeptical, so it is important to focus on presenting the truth.39 The end product is not “true” according to Western notions of historiography, but it is true according to Tibetans.

During several discussions with my friend regarding his understanding of Vimalamitras life story, many of the explanations he provided were similar to those publicly stated by his more famous contemporary, a Nyingma scholar named Tarthang Tulku, who has argued that a belief in the facticity of these early hagiographies, including those of Indian saints such as Vimalamitra enabled Tibetan practitioners to visualize, via narrative, a path toward spiritual transformation. Moreover, they enabled Tibetans to construct a distinctly Nyingma identity and define what it means to be a tantrika. In other words, Tarthang Tulku is arguing that these miraculous life stories have, for generation after generation, encouraged Tibetan practitioners to become dedicated to tantric practice and benefit society in ways that might not have otherwise been possible. When framed in these terms, the question of interest becomes as following: are there examples in contemporary American culture that are even remotely comparable?

Enacting Fictions

Thirty years ago, renowned folklorists Linda Degh and Andrew Vazsonyi wrote an article providing numerous contemporary examples in which Active narratives, both good and bad, were reenacted as real-life historical events, concluding that “the style, context... way of transmission and reception of [a] legend sometimes suggests that. . . . narratives can turn into facts.”40 Contra to this chapters focus on Tibetan spiritual biographies, their research primarily focused on deviant behavior modeled by individuals repeatedly exposed to violence via television serials, graphic novels, and movies. Degh and Vazsonyi explain:

Violence on TV is of special concern. It might well be true that TV not only depicts violence, but that it also instructs the viewer on how to carry out that violence. But this is only one of its dangers. The other is more serious; through mere frequency, TV creates an impression that violence is a dominant social behavior. Experiments show that those who spend four hours a day watching TV see life as ten times more violent than it really is.41

Considering their article was composed over thirty years ago, Degh and Vazsonyis warning appears startlingly prophetic. Through repeated exposure to fiction-based violence, numerous recent studies suggest that, the consumer consistently misinterprets the world as being more violent than it actually is, and, more problematically, believes that acts of this sort are “dominant,” and thus more “normal” ways of behaving than a more realistic survey of individual and community behavior would indicate. Furthermore, if we analyze the correlation between single-shooter video games and the alarmingly frequent single-shooter homicides committed at schools, churches, movie theaters, and other public places, we have to ask whether it is merely a coincidence that Nintendo 64 s GoldenEye 007, a single-shooter video game that sold over eight million copies between 1997 and 1999, was one of the most popular video games available at the same time when two students executed the first of the many mass homicides at Columbine High School.

Enacting Spiritual Biographies

Until the late twentieth century, Tibetans did not have access to violent movies and television serials. Throughout much of Tibetan history, literate Buddhists read the life stories of Buddhist saints such as Vimalamitra, and they told stories about the miraculous deeds of these same saints, as well as those of contemporary masters— some of whom claim to have encountered emanations of Vimalamitra, and some of whom were considered to be emanations of the Indian saint themselves. Is it possible that as a result of prolonged exposure to these narratives and these spiritual biographies, Tibetans believed the world they inhabited was more enlightened than it actually was? Furthermore, did this exposure cause Tibetans to experience what anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann calls an “interpretive drift,” wherein Active “enlightenednarratives written and told as histories caused religious practitioners to interpret their own experiences as being more akin to those described in saintly life stories?42 Were Tibetans culturally conditioned via these narratives to interpret their own personal “religiousexperiences in the terms, topics, and themes utilized to narrate saintly miracles, which in turn ensured they were more likely to view the world as being more enlightened than a more Western, post-Enlightenment secular worldview would allow? And if so, did this Tibetan interpretation of reality then also ensure they were more likely to believe Vimalamitras spiritual biography was true? Moreover, did these narratives, as Degh has argued regarding violence in TV, encourage and instruct Tibetans on how to enact saintly activity? In simpler terms, did a belief in the “truth” of these biographies ensure Tibetans acted in a way more comparable to texts narratives that stress the importance of meditative practice and acts of compassion than they might have otherwise acted? If so, did Vimalamitras biographies and accounts of his emanations create a truth that anthropologists are now capable of quantifying, measuring, and analyzing?

As the XVII Karmapa, Orgyen Trinle Dorje (O rgyanPhrin las Rdo rje,” b. 1985), one of Tibet’s most influential contemporary religious leaders has pointed out, “When masters [told] their life stories it’s not just their words or teachings, but their own lived experience of putting the dharma into practice. Their life stories are living instructions.”43 But the question remains: how could Vimalamitras hagiography instruct Tibetans to perform miraculous deeds that included flying, achieving near-immortality, and shape-shifting? The recognized emanations of Vimalamitra, including Samten Gyatso, Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro, and Penor Rinpoche, did not perform these types of miracles.

Enacting Heroic Deeds

Comic book historian Bradford Wright has written: “Just as each generation writes its own history, each reads its own comic books. The two activities are not unrelated; comic books are histories [that] frame a worldview and define a sense of self for the generations who have grown up with them.”44 In 2011, Michael Barnett created a documentary about an increasingly prominent collection of individuals who call themselves real-life superheroes. As of now, in the United States alone, there are more than 300 “officially” registered real-life superheroes, individuals who dress up in costumes and patrol their neighborhoods, aiming to bound by an unnamed (and unspoken) oath to hide innovations within an origin story of the sacred past. Generation after generation, this coterie developed the Vimalamitra character by also maintaining an unshakable Vimalamitra-ness— divinity personified by a single name. As generations of Nyingma tantrikas strived to achieve an ideal initially presented to them by Active biographies such as those featuring Vimalamitra and his emanations, their efforts to reach this ideal subsequently enabled tantrikas to achieve heroic deeds that might not otherwise have been possible.

When compared to Vimalamitra’s biography in the Great History, their achievements are always of the less-fantastic sort; but these same achievements, whether they be the introduction of new tantric teachings enabling devoted meditators to better apply their practice to a more contemporary world or acts of compassion rooted in community service, are also more capable of being measured, charted, and classified by the contemporary scholar as indicative of historical realities.


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