Materializing Dreams and Omens: The Autobiographical
Subjectivity of the Tibetan Yoginī Kun dga’ ‘Phrin las
dbang mo (1585-1668)
Michael R. Sheehy
University of Virginia
rawing from a rare manuscript that I acquired in ‘Dzam thang
some years ago, this paper reflects on the autobiographical subjectivity of the seventeenth century Tibetan woman author and
yoginī Rje btsun ma Kun dga’ ‘Phrin las dbang mo (1585-1668).1 She
was a close disciple and secret consort (gsang yum) to Rje btsun
Tāranātha (1575-1635), a lineage-holder of the Jonang order and key
figure in the transmission of gzhan stong (zhentong) philosophy, and
during the latter period of her life, was a mentor to the generation of
masters who were instrumental in transplanting the Jonangpas from
Gtsang in central Tibet to ‘Dzam thang on the far eastern frontiers of
the plateau after the confiscation of Rtag brtan Dam chos gling
D
1
‘Phrin las dbang mo, Rje btsun rdo rje and subsequently published, ‘Phrin las dbang
mo 2013. On her dates, 1585-1668, these calculations are based on dated events in her
autobiography and the kha skongs by Rnam snang rdo rje. Evidence suggests that she
was ten years younger than Tāranātha who was born in 1575, making her birth year
1585. In the kha skongs, Rnam snang rdo rje verifies this by stating that in the chu mo bya
year, which would have been 1633/1634, Tāranātha was fifty-nine (i.e. 58) years old
and ‘Phrin las dbang mo was forty-nine (i.e. 48) years old, “chu mo bya’i lo la rje
btsun dam pa dgong grangs lnga bcu nga dgu bzhes/ ‘phrin las dbang mo zhe dgu yin.”
This dating is however confused elsewhere in the kha skongs where it states that she
was born in a sa mo bya year, which would have been 1609. Based on the other
evidence in both the autobiography and elsewhere in the kha skongs, this could very
well be a scribal error that should read, shing bya rather than sa mo bya, which
would make her birth year 1585, and would align with the other chronological evidence. Rnam snang rdo rje states that she lived to be eighty-four (i.e. 83) or eighty-five
(i.e. 84) years old, which would make her death date 1668. See Rnam snang rdo rje
2013, 215-217. For their feedback on earlier versions of this paper, I would like to thank
Annabella Pitkin and Holly Gayley, Cyrus Stearns for thinking through her dates with
me, Janet Gyatso for inviting me to read excerpts with her class, and Khenpo Ngawang
Dorje for pointing out key passages related to Kun dga’ Lha mdzes.
Michael R. Sheehy: “Materializing Dreams and Omens: The Autobiographical Subjectivity of the
Tibetan Yoginī Kun dga’ ‘Phrin las dbang mo (1585-1668)”, Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines, no. 56, Octobre 2020, pp. 263-292.
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Monastery by the Dga’ ldan pho brang.2
As we begin to reconstruct a portrait of this seventeenth century Tibetan author and yoginī from her autobiography as well as writings
that illustrate her life story, the profile of an extraordinary woman
comes into focus. One of the earliest accounts by a woman writing
about herself in Tibetan literature, ‘Phrin las dbang mo’s life story not
only serves as an example of female authorship in early modern Tibet,
her story provides insights into her historical moment, the roles she
played, and the broader social milieu in which she participated.
Throughout her life writing, she recounts critical moments in the intellectual history of the Jonang order of Tibetan Buddhism as well as the
broader cultural history of Tibet during her lifetime, filling-in important episodes. Her narrative reads linearly through her life from her
girlhood through her adulthood with Tāranātha in the remote Jo mo
nang valley until she became an elder during the final days of the
Jonangpa in Gtsang.
To introduce and situate ‘Phrin las dbang mo’s life story, this paper
(a) discusses the provenance of the manuscript of her autobiography,
the Gsang ba’i ye shes or The Secret Gnosis, and related source texts; (b)
contextualizes her autobiography in the broader Tibetan literature
written by and about women in Tibet; (c) presents her to be an author
whose writing style captures her relationality within a given social
context and ability to operate within juxtaposed lived worlds; and (d)
to exemplify the literary modes that she effectuates as an author, reflects on select dreams in her autobiography that describe the oneiric
consciousness that she pilots as a yoginī. To discern preliminary observations about the significance of the Gsang ba’i ye shes, I am concerned
with the historicity of the person who was ‘Phrin las dbang mo, the
literary style of her writing, and particularly in her case, how she reflexively facilitates her subjectivity. I conclude with thoughts on how
historical circumstance and religious virtuosity operated to construct
her autobiographical subjectivity and how she navigates and negotiates her complex identity through her first-person writing.
2
On gsang yum, see Gayley 2018, 6. Her tantric secret name (gsang mtshan) is Rin chen
Rdo rje ma (ratna badzri ṇi), see Rnam snang rdo rje 2013, 212. This includes ‘Brog ge
Kun dga’ dpal bzang (1629-1686) who traveled from Amdo to the Jo mo nang valley
after Tāranātha had passed to receive teachings from his disciples, especially ‘Phrin
las dbang mo, and returned home to establish ‘Brog ge Monastery in Rnga ba, one
of early major Jonang monasteries in Amdo. See Blo gros grags pa 1992, 77-78 and
Stearns 2010, 77. See also below for discussion about Blo gros rnam rgyal who consulted with her before traveling to ‘Dzam thang to establish Gtsang ba Monastery.
Materializing Dreams and Omens
265
The Gsang ba’i ye shes Manuscript
In the summer of 2006, while staying in the ‘Dzam thang valley in
Amdo, Tulku Kun dga’ Tshul khrims bzang po and I accrued a cache
of rare Tibetan manuscripts. We were documenting each of the Jonang
sites in the Tibet Autonomous Region and Amdo, and it was our habit
at each monastery that we visited to inquire and generate conversation
about the whereabouts of rare Jonang texts. About a week into our stay
at ‘Dzam thang, we met a monk who told us about a local lama who
had recently passed away. The deceased monk’s name was Lama Ngag
dbang Phun tshogs, and while he had not formally been affiliated with
a monastery since the Cultural Revolution, he was well-known
throughout the local area for performing ceremonial death rites.3 He
was a nomad monk who traveled throughout northern Kham and
southern Amdo, going from village to encampment, as he was invited
by families of the recently deceased to recite the Bar do thos grol and
perform associated passing rites. When Lama Phun tshogs visited each
family, he often stayed as a guest in their homes for days or weeks
while he performed the rites. As our monk informant reported, at each
home where Lama Phun tshogs made his temporary stay, he allegedly
would query his host about their library or any texts that they might
have for him to read. During the evening hours, after he had performed the rites for that day, Lama Phun tshogs would read the texts
that the family had lent him, and when he discovered a rare manuscript of a text of particular personal interest, he would meticulously
copy by hand the texts in cursive (dbu med). On other occasions, as a
gift for his services, families would give the lama texts that he had expressed an interest in reading. Every few months, after making the
rounds on his death ritual sojourns, Lama Phun tshogs would return
to his mother’s house in ‘Dzam thang where he would pile-up the personal manuscript copies that he had acquired. This went on for years
until Lama Phun tshogs unexpectedly died at a relatively young age,
leaving his private collection of handwritten manuscripts stockpiled in
his mother’s house. Upon hearing this story, Tulku Tshul khrims
bzang po and I informed Tulku ‘Jigs med rdo rje, the vajra-master at
Jonang Gstang ba Monastery in ‘Dzam thang. Tulku ‘Jigs med rdo rje
had not heard this account but knew this local elderly woman, and
vaguely recalled her son. Soon after, Tulku ‘Jigs med rdo rje and an
entourage of monks arrived at Lama Phun tshogs mother’s house. The
elderly woman knew nothing about her son’s books, in fact she
3
During the 1980’s and 1990’s in eastern Tibet, many of the texts that were hidden
during the Cultural Revolution began to surface and were passed around via local
circuits.
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confessed to being illiterate, but she invited the monks to take the
stockpiles of pechas that were wrapped in multicolor patchwork fabrics piled high in her deceased son’s room. She gifted her son’s entire
library to Tulku ‘Jigs med rdo rje, and within hours of our conversation
with the monk informant, we were in possession of a fantastically rich
collection of rare Tibetan manuscripts.
The manuscript cache that we acquired from the late Lama Phun
tshogs totals fifteen volumes and includes writings from Nyingma, Kagyu, and Jonang authors. Significant texts in this find include the biography and interlinear annotated commentary (mchan ‘grel) on the
Kālacakra Tantra and Vimalaprabhā by Mnga’ ris pa Phyogs las rnam
rgyal (1306-1386), one of Dol po pa Shes rab rgyal mtshan’s (1292-1361)
primary disciples; two volumes of miscellaneous writings (gsung thor
bu) by the Kālacakra adept Ratna bha dra (1489-1563); two volumes of
important writings by Kun dga’ Grol mchog (1507-1565), including ritual and liturgical texts concerning Hevajra, Vajrayoginī and the special
form of black Cakrasaṃvāra that is transmitted via the Jonangpa, instructions on the sixfold yoga of the Kālacakra, various poetic songs
and praises, a guidebook to the sacred sites and nooks of Chos lung
byang rtse Monastery, two works on Sakya Lam ‘bras and his writing
on gzhan stong;4 along with a handful of biographical writings by
Tāranātha’s closest disciples and their immediate Jonangpa successors
in Amdo.5
Among the instances of biographical writing by Tāranātha’s immediate disciples found in this collection was the autobiography of Rje
btsun ma Kun dga’ ‘Phrin las dbang mo. The full title of her life story
in thirty-three folios is, Rje btsun rdo rje rnal ‘byor ma’i sprul pa skal ldan
‘phrin las dbang mo’i rnam thar gsang ba’i ye shes.6 Though there is
4
5
6
Among the places where these works were composed include Gser mdog can Monastery, Ri chos chen mo hermitage at Jo mo nang, and his own Chos lung byang rtse
Monastery. Hence, the colophons of these writings give us a fuller picture of where
Kun dga’ Grol mchog lived and wrote. These manuscripts are being consulted as
part of a project to recompile the writings by Kun dga’ Grol mchog as well as by his
primary Kālacakra teacher Ratna bha dra, and are currently under preparation for
publication in the Jo nang dpe tshogs series by the Mi rigs dpe skrun khang, Beijing.
This version along with other extant versions of Phyogs las rnam rgyal’s Kālacakra
commentary were consulted in the production of the four volumes that were published as part of the Jo nang dpe tshogs series (vol. 17-20) by the Mi rigs dpe skrun
khang, Beijing.
The manuscript is a dbu med cursive copy, and to my knowledge, is the only extant
witness that we have available to-date. Her autobiography is not known by the elder
Jonangpa scholars in Tibet with whom I consulted, suggesting that it was a manuscript that had minimal circulation in Jonang circles through the late twentieth century. The nineteenth century Jonangpa scholar Rnam snang rdo rje’s supplemental
works are the most extensive treatment that we have (see below), albeit we can infer
Materializing Dreams and Omens
267
nothing to suggest that she titled her own work, and that the title was
not added by later editors, the title makes her connection to Vajrayogīni explicit with the phrase, “rdo rje rnal ‘byor ma’i sprul pa,” indicating that ‘Phrin las dbang mo is considered (or considered herself) an
embodiment of the deity. Perhaps it is the latter part of the title that is
however most revealing; here the phrase, “Gsang ba’i ye shes” which is
the primary title of the work, suggests her relationship with and possible self-imaging of guhyajñāna dakīni, a vermilion esoteric form of Vajrayogīni. This meditation deity (yi dam) is known by its full name,
Mkha’ ‘gro ma gsang ba ye shes, and is found in the Yi dam rgya mtsho
collection of sadhāna compiled by Tāranātha.7 A few folios into her autobiography, ‘Phrin las dbang mo describes having received the empowerment for Cakrasaṃvāra at age fifteen. This initiation seemingly
left a deep impression on her as a young woman, so much so that her
writing regularly and seamlessly quotes stanzas from the
Cakrasaṃvāra and Vajrayogīni literature, as reflected in the title of her
own life story. For those familiar with Tāranātha’s praxis, the implicit
linkage of her as Vajrayogīni will evoke the idyllic image of her in union with his yidam, Cakrasaṃvāra.
7
that Mkhan po Blo gros grags pa (1920-1975) drew information from it for his historical works. See Blo gros grags pa 1992 and Blo gros grags pa, Rje tā ra nā tha'i sku 'das.
See Tāranātha 1987a. During her lifetime, a form of Mkha’ ‘gro ma gsang ba ye shes was
also popularized through the gter ma revelations of Gter bdag Gling pa 'Gyur med
rdo rje (1646-1714). Another cycle is that of the Mkha’ ‘gro gsang ba ye shes kyi chos skor
compiled by the Rnying ma and Dge lugs master Sle lung Bzhad pa'i rdo rje (16971740). See Bailey 2020. These writings are relevant also because Bzhad pa'i rdo rje
authored several important works about women. In the extant versions of his gsung
‘bum; this includes a short work written to verify Ye shes mtsho rgyal to be a “flesh
and blood” woman (mi’i sha) – i.e. a historical person and not an ahistorical deification; an autobiographical account of his mystical unification experience with Ratna
Tārā and retinue of female deities (lha mo and mkha’ ‘gro) in the year 1730, and his
numerous writings on ḍākinī, especially a praise recalling the kindness of the queen
mother wisdom ḍākinī. See Bzhad pa’i rdo rje, Ye shes mtsho rgyal and Mkha' ‘gro and
Rgyal yum ye shes and Yid bzhin gyi nor bu. Three other important works not in his
extant gsung ‘bum are: (1) his Thabs lam zhal gdams text on the subject of tantric sex,
in which he details instructions on yogic postures and secretive practices, and states
that it was composed to “study and take-up the bliss of the ḍākinīs”; (2) his commentary on the famous ‘Dod pa’i bstan bcos, the Kāmaśāstra, attributed to the Vedic
philosopher Vātsyāyana, translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan and included in the
Bstan ‘gyur, a work that has not yet come to light, though there are rumors that it is
extant; and (3) his Mkha’ ‘gro rgya mtsho or Ocean of Dakinīs, a several hundred page
detailed autobiographical register of his consorts and female encounters. While conducting fieldwork during the summer 2015 in Tibet, after years of searching for this,
a manuscript of the Mkha’ ‘gro rgya mtsho surfaced. Future research on this work will
likely reveal much about the diary practices of a Tibetan Buddhist author, written
articulations of tantric sex, and socio-historical observations about sex and gender in
Tibet, at least as found within this single ledger. The full title is, Mkha’ ‘gro rgya
mtsho’i rtogs pa brjod cing rjes su bzung ba’i tshul gsal bar byed pa dwangs shel dkyil ‘khor.
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A year after this find, in 2007, Tulku Tshul khrims bzang po and I
digitized the Collected Works of the Jonangpa scholar from Swe Monastery in Rnga ba, Dpal ldan Rnam snang rdo rje (d. 1847). Within this
collection, there is both a supplement (kha skong) that augments and
comments on ‘Phrin las dbang mo’s autobiography as well as a supplication to her successive line of women re-embodiments (skyes ‘phreng
gsol ‘debs).8 These two texts are critical sources for contextualizing and
understanding ‘Phrin las dbang mo’s life writing and for situating her
historically. Drawing from a variety of sources, some currently unavailable, Rnam snang rdo rje’s supplement details missing or indefinite
historical information in her autobiography, including dates, places,
and key persons, as well as lineage transmission information.9 In addition, there are two brief works, if not others, that are dedicated to her:
(1) one is a letter written to her by the ‘Brug pa Kagyu master Mi pham
Dge legs rnam rgyal (1618-1685) that was preserved among his miscellaneous official letters (chab shog phyogs bsgrigs), expressing his plea for
her to pray for the rebirth of his recently deceased disciple; (2) the other
is a personal instruction (zhal gdams) that was advised to her by
Tāranātha.10 As for her own writings in addition to the autobiography,
she also transcribed, arranged, and compiled a handbook of handwritten notes based on Tāranātha’s oral explanations on the history and
practice of the Jonang protector deity Trak shad.11 Another important
source for contextualizing her is Tāranātha’s Collected Works wherein
she is documented in colophons as being active as a scribe, commentator, requestor, and close disciple.12
In Context of Tibetan Literary Women
While the Tibetan literary canon is rich with documentation on the
lives and practices of its most preeminent figures; documenting who
they were, when and where they lived, with whom they forged interpersonal relationships, what they wrote, etc. – in comparison to writing by and about men, writings by and about women remain a small,
8
9
10
11
12
See Rnam snang rdo rje 2013 and Rnam snang rdo rje, ‘Phrin las dbang mo’i rnam thar
kha skongs and Rnam snang rdo rje, ‘Phrin las dbang mo’i skyes ‘phreng. A special
thanks to Matthew Kapstein for encouraging us to search for this gsung ‘bum.
For instance, the kha skongs cites the record of teachings received (gsan yig) of Rwa
Ngag dbang ‘phrin las for information on which lineages she transmitted. Rnam snang
rdo rje 2013, 213.
See Mi pham dge legs rnam rgyal, Jo mo nang du rje bstun and Tā ra nā tha 2008a.
The colophon reads, “de ltar na dpal mgon trakshad kyi chos skor lo rgyus ‘di ni rje btsun
thams cad mkhyen pa’i gsung bzhin kun dga’ ‘phrin las dbang mos zin bris su bkod pa’i dge
ba’i mthus stobs kyis.” See Tā ra nā tha 2008b, 175. It is likely that she authored additional works, including liturgies and a work on the Kālacakra.
For instance, see Tāranātha 1987b.
Materializing Dreams and Omens
269
albeit significant fraction of this canon. In fact, it is estimated that historical Tibetan women were the authors or subjects of less than one
percent (1%) of the thousands of biographies that were written in the
Tibetan language.13 With this in mind, however, recent discoveries of
Tibetan language source materials by and about women, including
several important Tibetan language publications from inside Tibet
have broadened the known horizon of Tibetan literary women. Over
the past decade, numerous women personages have come to light in
historical records, most eminently in the written record of auto/biography and hagiography, though in other notable genres as well.
As a heuristic exercise, in order to gauge an approximate data sampling to enable a sketch of the bibliographic scope of Tibetan literary
women, I surveyed the extant literature to compile a list that includes
73 prominent historical women whom I have identified to be authors,
likely authors, and/or subjects of writing in Tibet.14 These Tibetan
women literati as well as women in literature were compiled from a
variety of Tibetan textual sources, including known, newly published,
and newfound or rediscovered rare materials. As recent scholarship
has shown, from the seventh to ninth century with imperial period
iconic women, we have writings attributed to and about women.15 This
survey however is concerned only with religious literary Tibetan
women from the twelfth century up to the twentieth, specifically those
who died prior to 1959; this sampling does not include South Asian
fore figures or modern and living Tibetan literary women. Of these 73
women identified and profiled in this survey, the breakdown by historical period was: the largest grouping of women lived or died during
the nineteenth century (16 women); the second largest grouping was
those who lived during the early twentieth century (10 women); the
same number of women are identified from the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries (7 women each cent.); there is the same sampling from
the twelfth and eighteenth centuries (5 women per cent.).16 From the
twelfth century onward, we have more stabilized contributions, with
13
14
15
16
See Schaeffer 2004, 4-5 and Jacoby 2014, 13.
First presented at the 2015 American Academy of Religion in Atlanta, Georgia in a
paper titled, “The Bibliographic Scope of Buddhist Women Literati in Tibet.” A precedent for this project is Tsering 1985. The primary source of person data for this research was the Buddhist Digital Resource Center.
See Uebach 2005.
Given that the majority of this literature is of the auto/biography and hagiography,
that the largest grouping is during the nineteenth century and the second largest
grouping during the early twentieth century aligns with the broader trend to mass
produce biographical and hagiographical literature, starting during the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries in Tibet. However, given this trend, that there are so few
extant women auto/biographies from the eighteenth century is surprising. See
Schaeffer 2011, 263 and 268.
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the exception of the sixteenth century for which there is a drop to zero
(0) women.17 We must also recognize that this sampling of currently
available titles and extant works does not in any way constitute the
total literary output of literary women in Tibet; works were certainly
lost, and it is quite possible that more recent works are overrepresented.18 Out of this sampling, there are 18 women who are authors
and 34 who are subjects of biographical or liturgical writings;19 48 of
these women have life writing about them, and 13 of these life writings
are autobiographical while the other 35 are subjects of either a fulllength biography or a brief biography in a history or lineage account.
We can estimate that approximately one third (1/3) of this sampling
has liturgical writings about these women in the form of long-life prayers (zhabs brtan) or supplications (gsol ‘debs). Of the extant written record of female authored works, in addition to auto/biography, genres
and subjects for which there are writings include lineage supplications,
chöd (gcod), various terma (gter ma) rites, personal advice (zhal gdams),
instruction manuals (khrid yig), and letters of correspondence (chag
shog).
To further contextualize ‘Phrin las dbang mo’s autobiographical
writing in this broader frame of literary women in Tibet, we might note
that her work not only gives unique insights into her time, but is a
prime example of female authorship in early modern Tibet. In fact, her
work is among the earliest known autobiographical accounts by a
woman writing in Tibet. Introducing the life writing of O rgyan Chos
kyi (1675-1729), the nun from Dol po who authored one of the earliest
autobiographies of a female in Tibet, Kurtis Schaeffer makes the point
that however unusual it was for a woman to write her autobiography
in Tibet, especially prior to the eighteenth century, it would be naïve
to assume that women did not tell their stories.20 With the case of ‘Phrin
las dbang mo, we have a woman who was born ninety years prior to
O rgyan Chos kyi and whose autobiographical writing extends at least
until the year 1665. This situates the authorship of ‘Phrin las dbang
mo’s autobiography approximately sixty years earlier that O rgyan
Chos kyi’s and makes her writing an important contribution to the history of biography by women in Tibet. Earlier women for whom we
have biographies include Bsod nams Dpal ‘dren (1328-1372) and A lce
17
18
19
20
Not having a single woman represented for the sixteenth century is curious but may
be due to the fact that dates for many women during this period have not yet been
identified. There are 15 women in this sampling for which their dates are not yet
known, several of which likely lived sometime during the fifteenth to sixteenth centuries.
See Schaeffer 2011, 267.
Women authors who wrote autobiographies were both the author and the subject.
See Schaeffer 2004, 4-5.
Materializing Dreams and Omens
271
Rig stong rgyal mo (15th c.), and contemporaneous female authors in
the seventeenth century for whom we have biographies include Lha
‘dzin Dbyangs can sgrol ma, A kham Lha mo, Bu Bzhin brtse ba’i ma,
and O rgyan Bu khrid.21
In addition to ‘Phrin las dbang mo’s work, recently emerging materials for female-authored Tibetan language auto/biographies are shedding new light on the lives and writings of Tibetan women, and prominent women in Tibetan literature are being studied for the first time.
Notable examples include: seven new versions of the life of Tibet’s
most iconic woman, Ye shes mtsho rgyal (8th c.);22 a biography of Kun
tu Bzang mo (15th c.), consort of the “Madman of Central Tibet,” Gtsang
smyon He ru ka sangs rgyas rgyal mtshan (1452-1507), who was a patron of Gtsang smyon He ru ka’s enterprise to mass print the songs and
biography of Mi la ras pa (1028/40-1111/23);23 a biography by a male
disciple of the female Nyingma hierarch Smin gling Rje btsun ma Mi
‘gyur dpal sgron (1699-1769), who was the daughter of Gter bdag Gling
pa ‘gyur med rdo rje (1646-1714) and niece to the Nyingma master Lo
chen Dharma shrī (1654-1718) – Lo chen Dharma shrī, it should be
noted, composed a biography of his mother, Lha ‘dzin Dbyangs can
sgrol ma (17th c.);24 and the autobiography by the early twentieth century woman Lo chen Chos dbyings bzang mo (1853-1951) who was a
guru to many of the aristocrats in high society Lhasa and who converted Shug gseb hermitage into a nunnery.25 There are also several
Tibetan women masters connected with the life of the important
Nyingma figure, Mdo Mkhyen brtse ye shes rdo rje (1800-1866) for
whom we now have biographical materials. In particular, his daughter
Mkha’ dbyings Sgrol ma (1823-1854), his granddaughter Tshe ‘dzin
Dbang mo (1894-1953), and his great granddaughter Zla gsal Dbang
mo (c. 1928) who authored works on the Gesar epic and history of the
21
22
23
24
25
Smin gling Mi ‘gyur dpal sgron is the next woman for whom we have a biography.
Though there is no extant biography of the yoginī Kun gsal dbang mo (17 c.), associated with the Smin gling lineage of Gter bdag gling pa, she is another candidate
who likely lived during at least part of the seventeenth century. See also Jacoby 2009,
fn 3.
See Bla rung 2013, 6, 5-331 and 7, 1-192 and Gyatso 2006.
Kun tu Bzang mo is also the biographer of Mon rdzong Ras chen zla ba rgyal mtshan
(1418-1506), with whom she was a consort, found in the ‘Ba’ ra bka brgyud gser ‘phreng
chen mo. See DiVelario 2015, 43-44.
Mi ‘gyur dpal sgron composed seventeen works on different genres including prayers, letters, and advice to disciples. An aside, Mi ‘gyur dpal sgron was reputedly
propositioned by Sle lung Bzhad pa'i rdo rje, but she refused his request to be his
consort on the grounds that she remain celibate. Lha ‘dzin Dbyangs can sgrol ma
was the mother to both Dharma shrī and Gter bdag Gling pa.
Her autobiographical memoir is over five-hundred folio and is available in several
versions, including xylographic print facsimiles from central Tibet.
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Mdo tshang lineage.26 The most important recent contribution to the
study of Tibetan literary women is the 16-volume Tibetan language anthology, compiled and produced by nuns at Larung Gar Buddhist
Academy in Kham, Bod kyi skyes chen ma dag gi rnam thar.27 This anthology includes biographical sources that extend our current register of
Tibetan literary women. Rare and previously unavailable biographies
of premodern Tibetan women that have come to light via this anthology include: Jo mo Sman mo (1248-1283), Kun dga’ ‘Bum (15th c.), Jo jo
Bong lha rje (d.u.), A ne Ye shes lha mtsho (b. 1900), Bu Bzhin brtse ba’i
ma (17th c.), and O rgyan Bu khrid (17th c.).28
The two most well-known women reincarnation lines are: (1) the
twelve Bsam sdings Rdo rje phag mo tulkus from Bo dong Monastery
near Yar ‘brog Lake, in proximity to where ‘Phrin las dbang mo was
born and lived her childhood, and (2) the seven Gung ru Mkha’ ‘gro
ma tulkus from Bla brang Brag dkar Monastery in Amdo.29 Of these,
there are biographical accounts of three of the Bsam sdings Rdo rje
phag mo tulkus, and Bsam sdings Rdo rje phag mo 09 Chos dbyings
Bde chen mtsho mo (d. 1843) authored at least one text that survives in
‘Jam mgon Kong sprul’s (1813-1899) Gdams ngag mdzod anthology of
contemplative instructions, though there are likely other writings by
the Rdo rje phag mo tulkus.30 There exists a biography of Gung ru
Mkha’ ‘gro 05 Rig ‘dzin dpal mo (1814-1891), written by the nineteenth
century monk from Bla brang Monastery, Zhang Ston pa rgya mtsho
(1825-1897) and a prayer for her succession of previous reincarnations
26
27
28
29
30
See Thub bstan Chos dar 2008 and Zla gsal Dbang mo 2007.
See Bla rung 2013. Five volumes are dedicated to Buddhist women drawn from the
Vinaya and Mahāyāna sūtra literature, female deities, and foremother South Asian
tantric adepts including Sukhasiddī, Niguma and Mekhālī – all of whose writings
were translated into the Tibetan Buddhist canon. The remaining ten volumes include
both known biographies of premodern women such as Ma gcig Lab sgron (10551149), Bsod nam Dpal ‘dren (1328-1372); and modern women authors including Se
ra Mkha’ ‘gro (1892-1940), Rta mgrin Lha mo (1923-1979) and Tā re Lha mo (19382002), aural fables (gtam rgyud) and operatic dramas. A catalogue is included, making it a total of 16 volumes, 15 of biographies.
Brief biographies of Jo mo Sman mo and Kun dga’ ‘Bum have been available in the
Gter ston brgya rtsa’i rnam thar collection compiled by ‘Jam mgon Kong sprul (18131899). See Kong sprul 2007, 132-134 and 37-138. O rgyan Bu khrid was a disciple and
consort of Gter ston Stag sham Nus ldan rdo rje (b. 1655).
See Schneider 2015, 464.
There are biographies of Bsam sdings Rdo rje phag mo 01 Chos kyi sgron ma (14221455/6), Bsam sdings Rdo rje phag mo 09 Chos dbyings Bde chen mtsho mo, and
Bsam sdings Rdo rje phag mo 12 Bde chen Chos kyi sgron me (c. 1938). There is also
a biography of Rdo rje Phag mo Bde skyong ye shes dbang mo (1886-1909). See
Jacoby 2014, 340, n. 32. On Rdo rje phag mo 01, see Diemberger 2007. See also Chos
dbyings bde chen mthos mo, Snyan brgyud rde’u bcud len and Bkra shis tshe ring 1993,
38-40 and Diemberger 2007, 290-315 and 325.
Materializing Dreams and Omens
273
(skyes rabs) by Sde khri 03 ‘Jam dbyangs Thub bstan nyin ma (17791862).31 While the Rdo rje phag mo and Gung ru Mkha’ ‘gro tulku lineages were quasi-regular lineages, many female tulku lines did not
continue to be successive rebirths of historical women but intermittently lapsed over the centuries.32 Among the irregular female reincarnation lines is that of the thirteenth century nomad woman, Bsod nams
Dpal ‘dren (1328-1372) who was the subject of an extensive biography
by her husband Rin chen Dpal, and was later reincarnated as Mkha’
‘gro Kun bzang who deceased in 2004.33 We also find women tulku
lines that occurred relatively early in Tibetan history, but fizzled out.
One of these such lines is that of the reincarnation of Mkha’ ‘gro ma
‘Gro ba bzang mo (d. 1259), the yoginī and consort of the thirteenth
century ‘Bri gung master Rgod tshang pa Mgon po rdo rje (1189-1258)
whose reincarnation was ‘Khrul zhig Kun ldan ras ma (14th cent.), a key
female figure in the Kagyu aural transmission (snyan brgyud) of Ras
chung pa (1084-1161).34 Lo chen Chos dbyings bzang mo, the early
twentieth century woman who converted Shug gseb into a nunnery
was considered a reincarnation of the Nyingma luminary Klong chen
Rab ‘byams dri med ‘od zer (1308-1364) in addition to being associated
with Ye shes mtsho rgyal and Ma gcig lab sgron (1055-1143).35
As is a common pattern among prominent female religious figures
in Tibet–including Mi ‘gyur Dpal sgron, Se ra Mkha’ ‘gro, and Mkha’
‘gro Tā re lha mo–we find reference to both female deities and legendary Buddhist women in many accounts of their previous lives (‘khrung
rabs), and ‘Phrin las dbang mo is no exception.36 ‘Phrin las dbang mo
was considered to be a re-embodiment of the female deity Vajrayogīni
and is associated with Sarasvatī, Niguma, and Ye shes mtsho rgyal.
31
32
33
34
35
36
There is a prayer for the long-life of Gung ru Mkha’ ‘gro 06. See Bstan pa rgya mtsho,
Gung ru and Bkra shis Tshe ring 1994.
See Schneider 2015, 465.
See Bessenger, 2016. Other notable women tulkus include, Rgyal yum O rgyan bu khrid,
Rygal rtse Rgyang ro dpal sding rje bstun ma, and La stod pa’i Brag dkar rje bstun ma.
See Bkra shis tshe ring 1994, 22. An example of a ‘das log ma succession of women
tulkus are Sangs rgyas chos ‘dzoms (19th c.) who was a reincarnation of Karma Dbang
‘dzin (18th c.), both of whom have autobiographical writings. On modern examples
of women tulkus, see Schneider 2015.
Biographical and supplementary writings are extant for both ‘Gro ba bzang mo and
Kun ldan ras ma, including several versions of ‘Gro ba bzang mo’s life story that
were adapted as an opera. ‘Gro ba bzang mo is also featured in the biography of O
rgyan Rin chen dpal (1229/30-1309), a disciple of Rgod tshang pa.
Rje btsun Lo chen Rin po che from Shug gseb Nunnery recently indicated that she
might reincarnate as a boy, see Schneider 2015, 465 and Havnevik 1999, 123.
Most common include the female deities Tārā, Vajrayoginī, Vajravārāhī, Samantabhadrī and the historical women Ye shes mtsho rgyal, Ma gcig lab sgron, and the
Indian nun, Dge slong ma dpal mo. See Schneider 2015, 464-465 and Melnick Dyer
2018, 215-223.
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This is made explicit in the title of her autobiography, the supplication
to her successive previous lives (skyes ‘phreng), and elsewhere.37 At the
beginning of her autobiography, she writes about her previous incarnations in Nepal, India, and Tibet.38 All of this situates ‘Phrin las dbang
mo not only as one of the few women authors in pre-1959 Tibet, but
includes her among Tibetan Buddhist women who claimed prominent
female figures among their past lives. This is however distinct from
women who spawned tulku lines of succession with an established
monastic seat, such as the Bsam sdings Rdo rje phag mo and Gung ru
Mkha’ ‘gro ma tulkus.39
Her Historicity and Literary Style
‘Phrin las dbang mo was born in the foothills on the southern shore of
the turquoise lake Yar ‘brog G.yum mtsho near the palace of the snowpeaked glacial Mount Gang bzang in Sna dkar rtse rdzong, south central Tibet.40 She writes that she was “born into a royal family,” and in
his supplement, Rnam snang rdo rje elaborates on this phrase by explaining that she was the “tsha mo” of Khri dpon chen po Bstan ‘dzin
mi ‘gyur (d.u.), the principle myriarch of the Yar 'brog Stag lung khri
skor area of Sna dkar rtse rdzong, making her a princess of royal decent.41 Here, the term “tsha mo” is ambiguous about whether she was
the niece or granddaughter of Bstan ‘dzin mi ‘gyur, since the term can
refer to both relationships. An interlinear note inserted into the autobiography helps to clarify, but not define this relationship, which states
that she was born into the familial care of Bstan ‘dzin mi ‘gyur.42 Why
this is historically important is that Khri lcam Kun dga’ lha mdzes, the
mother of the Fifth Dalai Lama Ngag dbang Blo bzang rgya mtsho
37
38
39
40
41
42
Rnam snang rdo rje, ‘Phrin las dbang mo’i skyes ‘phreng.
See ‘Phrin las dbang mo 2013, 180-181.
The words sprul pa or yang srid are often used to designate these associations in comparison to a one-to-one line of sprul sku succession with an established monastic seat.
‘Phrin las dbang mo writes that she was born in the foothills along the “lha chen po
gang ba bzang po’i pho brang” which is likely, Gangs ri gnod sbyin gang bzang (7,9191
m.). See ‘Phrin las dbang mo 2013, 181.
‘Phrin las dbang mo writes, “rgyal po’i rigs su skyes.” See ‘Phrin las dbang mo 2013,
181 and Rnam snang rdo rje 2013, 215. There were thirteen myriarchies (khri skor)
that constituted the Yar 'brog Stag lung khri skor area of Sna dkar rtse rdzong, of
which Yar ‘brog Stag lung thar gling chos sde Monastery was the chief monastery.
Bstan ‘dzin mi ‘gyur was an established ruler by the time that Tāranātha was four
years old because he mentions Khri dpon chen po Bstan ‘dzin mi ‘gyur dbang gi
rgyal po and his relationship with the royal family in his autobiography. See
Tāranātha 2008d, 17.
The insertion reads, “… khri dpon chen bstan ‘dzin mi ‘gyur dbang gi rgyal po’i ma mar
bya la sku ‘khrungs.” See ‘Phrin las dbang mo 2013, 181.
Materializing Dreams and Omens
275
(1617-1682), was contemporaneously the daughter of the Yar ‘brog
Khri dpon in Sna dkar rtse rdzong, as suggested by her appellation,
Khri lcam.43 While dates for Kun dga’ lha mdzes remain uncertain, it is
well documented that she gave birth to Ngag dbang Blo bzang rgya
mtsho in the year 1617, making it probable that she was born in the
1590s, making her roughly a decade or so younger than ‘Phrin las
dbang mo. Given the known and probable dates, ‘Phrin las dbang mo
was likely not the granddaughter, but rather was the niece of Khri
dpon chen po Bstan ‘dzin mi ‘gyur and she lived in his royal household
during her girlhood. That these women were relatives is made more
probable by Ngag dbang Blo bzang rgya mtsho’s autobiographical description of his mother being from a Jonangpa family in Sna dkar rtse
who were devoted to Kun dga’ Grol mchog and then his tulku,
Tāranātha.44 If Bstan ‘dzin mi ‘gyur was in fact the father of Kun dga’
lha mdzes, which the current biographical sources suggest, and ‘Phrin
las dbang mo was his niece, this would make ‘Phrin las dbnag mo a
cousin of the Fifth Dalai Lama’s mother, Kun dga’ lha mdzes.45 This
gives us not only a greater salience of the interpersonal relations
among the social and kinship worlds of Tāranātha and the Fifth Dalai
Lama, which become consequential for the religious history of Tibet,
but this contact tracing compounds the psychological and emotional
layers of this history.
Her life writing takes us linearly through her autobiographical narrative from the time when she first met Tāranātha as a young girl at
the age of seven until she moved to the Jo mo nang valley when she
was twenty-two, through her training as a yoginī and eventual lineageholder of the Jonangpa, to her days as an elder exemplar. She lived
43
44
45
This is made clear by the kāvya tutor to the Fifth Dalai Lama, Smon ‘gro ba Dbang
rgyal rdo rje, in his early biography of the Fifth where he describes his mother to be,
“yar ‘brog khri skor du grags pa’i sa skyong ba’i rigs kyi sras mo kun dga’ lha mdzes.” See
Smon ‘gro ba, 58. This is the same Smon ‘gro ba, that at least according to Si tu Paṇ
chen, is thought to have fueled animosities between the young Dalai Lama and
Tāranātha. See Smith 2001, 95 and Sheehy 2009, 21.
This is further evident in his mother’s own name, “Kun dga’,” Tāranātha’s lineage
name from Kun dga’ Snying po, and in fact, Ngag dbang Blo bzang rgya mtsho was
named Kun dga’ Mi ‘gyur stobs rgyal dbang gi rgyal po by Tāranātha when he was
a baby. See Smon ‘gro ba, 58 and Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho 1989, 41 and 4344 and Karmay 2014, 38 and 40 and Karmay 1998, 506.
The critical missing information is whether Kun dga’ Grags pa, the name that Ngag
dbang Blo bzang rgya mtsho uses for his grandfather, the father of Kun dga’ lha
mdzes, is a previous or religious name of Khri dpon chen po Bstan ‘dzin mi ‘gyur.
In that same passage, Ngag dbang Blo bzang rgya mtsho states that Tāranātha was
consulted about the marriage of his mother, and that Tāranātha sent a painting of
the five types of dhāraṇī, “thang ga zhig kyang bskyur bar mdzad.” See Ngag dbang blo
bzang rgya mtsho 1989, 41 and Karmay 2014, 38. The other missing piece are the
names of ‘Phrin las dbang mo’s mother and father.
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within the inner circle of Tāranātha and his closest disciples during her
entire adult life and was charged with compiling his Collected Works
after his passing.46 She was his consort (pho nya mo), and her intimacy
with Tāranātha performs multiple roles, including that of assisting him
as a female muse who becomes intrinsically entangled within his secret
autobiographical experiences (nyams) and realizations (rtogs);47 and by
her close association with him, she gained greater agency and authority. She was also a formidable intellectual who is said to have taught
gzhan stong philosophy “as it dawned spontaneously within her heart”
and is listed in Jonang lineage records as a primary figure in the transmission of gzhan stong after Tāranātha.48 She becomes an important human link in the transmission line of gzhan stong and other teachings
from Tāranātha to Zur Kun bzang dbang po (d.u.) who was the teacher
to Rig ‘dzin Tshe dbang nor bu (1698-1755), the torch-bearer who ignited the scholastic renaissance of Jonang teachings in eastern Tibet.49
During her lifetime, ‘Phrin las dbang mo was witness to pivotal
junctures in both the transplantation of the Jonang order as well as the
broader cultural history of Tibet. She observed up-close not only the
death of Tāranātha, but civil unrest in Gtsang, the fifteen year period
after the death of Tāranātha in 1635 that led to the Dga’ ldan Pho brang
takeover of Jonang headquarters at Rtag brtan Dam chos gling Monastery in 1650, its conversion into a Dge lugs establishment in 1658, and
the subsequent migration of the Jonangpas to remote regions of Amdo
on the margins of the Sino-Tibetan frontier. In fact, hers is one of the
only known first-person accounts of this critical moment in Jonang history.50 Her autobiography unveils her eye-witness account of these
events, her memories of intimate encounters and conversations with
Tāranātha, her relationships as a mentor to many of Tāranātha’s main
disciples, and her role as an heiress to the Jonang order. For instance,
46
47
48
49
50
Based on the account of Blo gsal Bstan skyong (b. 1804), after her compilation of the first
fourteen volumes of the gsung ‘bum that she arranged, the blocks were not immediately
carved and the printing was delayed at the Rtag brtan gling par khang.
That is, both in the technical sense associated with the practice during the third empowerment (dbang), i.e. the pho nya’i lam, as well as a person who is a source of inspiration. See Tāranātha 2008, Rdo rje’i gnas pa bcu.
See Rnam snang rdo rje 2013, 214 and ‘Phrin las dbang mo 2013, 184.
Other lineages that Tshe dbang nor bu cites that were transmitted via ‘Phrin las
dbang mo include, Rdzogs rim rlung sems dbyer med kyi man ngag and Thugs rje
mnga’ bdag spyan ras gzigs dbang po. See Tshe dbang nor bu 2006a, 396 and Tshe
dbang nor bu. 2006b, 477 and Stearns 2010, 78. She is also listed beside Tāranātha
in lineage records for the transmission of ‘Phags mchog spyan ras gzigs dbang
phyug gi sgrub thabs smar khrid and Thugs rje chen po’i smar khrid. See Chos kyi
dbang phyug 2011, 538-540 and Rnam snang rdo rje 2013, 213-214 and Sheehy 2019,
352.
See Sheehy 2009, 9-10.
Materializing Dreams and Omens
277
during an encounter that she recounts in her autobiography, ‘Phrin las
dbang mo describes an intimate conversation that she had with
Tāranātha during his final days about omens (rten ‘brel) that he intuited
about the future of the Jonangpa, and the volatile political climate that
would ensue after his passing.51 During this conversation, Tāranātha
revealed a series of omens that had recently transpired for him, and
that he believed would lead him to be reborn to benefit the Gelukpa.52
As history tells, the child born in Mongolia that same year that
Tāranātha died, Blo bzang Bstan pa’i rgyal mtshan (1635-1723)–known
as ‘Jam dbyangs Tulku–would soon be recognized by the Fifth Dalai
Lama Ngag dbang Blo bzang rgya mtsho, First Paṇchen Lama Blo
bzang Chos kyi rgyal mtshan (1567-1662), and the State Oracle of Tibet
to be the rebirth Tāranātha, the First Khal kha Rje btsun dam pa.53 Later
in her autobiography, ‘Phrin las dbang mo wrote that she rejoiced
when she heard this news of Tāranātha’s rebirth in Mongolia years
later, which was likely after the official confirmation in 1642.
By the spring of 1657, in her seventy-second year of life, while residing at the Ri khrod chen mo hermitage in Jo mo nang valley, she
was visited by Ngag dbang Blo gros rnam rgyal (1618-1683), a next
generation Jonangpa lineage-holder who was regarded as a reincarnation of Tāranātha’s mother.54 Blo gros rnam rgyal had recently undergone a series of visions that communicated the need for him to travel
eastward, on which he sought her advice.55 ‘Phrin las dbang mo encouraged him and contemplated whether to join him on his journey,
but decided to stay at Jonang. In August of that year, after his expedition east, Blo gros rnam rgyal and his caravan would arrive in the valley of ‘Dzam thang where he would found Gtsang ba Monastery, and
re-establish the central monastic seat of the Jonangpa. Then in 1664, as
one of the last living disciples of Tāranātha, she visited and met with
the Fifth Dalai Lama.56 In her brief description of this encounter, she
recounts receiving several authorization initiations (rjes gnang) from
the Dalai Lama including White Tārā and a guruyoga, and briefly
meeting Sde srid Sangs rgyas rgya mtsho (1653-1705). These historical
episodes in her autobiography make it clear that certainly by the end
of her life, ‘Phrin las dbang mo was considered not only an elder of the
Jonang order, but a mediator in the real politic of her time.
Oscillating between her recounts of historical time – including
51
52
53
54
55
56
See ‘Phrin las dbang mo 2013, 199-200 and Blo gros grags pa 1992, 59 and Blo gros
grags pa, Rje tā ra nā tha'i sku 'das, 134-135 and Sheehy 2009, 11-12.
See Sheehy 2009, 11-14 and Stearns 2010, 73-76.
See Sheehy 2009, 17-21 and Karmay 2014, 9-10.
See Sheehy 2009, 16.
See Kun dga’ ‘phrin las, Mtshungs med chos rje, 11.
See ‘Phrin las dbang mo 2013, 210 and Sheehy 2009, 20.
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conversations with Tāranātha, her real time observations of the political and social realities in which she was circumstanced – and the wondrous world of her contemplations and dreamtime visions, ‘Phrin las
dbang mo’s writing exhibits as much a historical record of the Jo mo
nang valley in the mid-seventeenth century as a sample of Tibetan visionary vernacular literature. With fluidity of composition, she seamlessly weaves her narrative of historical events that she witnessed with
poetic descriptions of an interior life that are embellished with metaphors, signs, and allusions. In so doing, the literary modes of her autobiographical subjectivity operate at multiple registers that switch from
reflections on candor to despondence to epiphanies to seeming nostalgia about her life circumstance to cryptic verses quoted from tantras.
‘Phrin las dbang mo’s writing is flowery yet not kāvya-influenced, but
rather is distinctively written in the educated vernacular of her seventeenth century Gtsang dialect. Her autobiographical writing challenges conventions commonly associated with the auto/biographical
(rang rnam, rnam thar) genre of Tibetan literature. In particular, her
writing style does not conform to preconceived patterns of the outer,
inner, and secret (phyi, nang, gsang) structure that came to frame Tibetan biographical writing. Throughout her autobiography, she presents the reader with her critical awareness, sentimentality, and testimonial in an unfiltered way that expresses the voice of her ongoing internal
dialogue.
Her Autobiographical Oneiric Life
For ‘Phrin las dbang mo dream is a powerful expressive domain to tell
her story. Throughout her autobiographical writing, she juxtaposes her
observations of waking-time circumstance with her dreamtime, intermingling and contrasting tensions inherent to her historical consciousness
with her interior oneiric life. She creatively employs dream in her writing
through a variety of literary modes and devices – including uses of temporality and liminality, alternating voices, visitations, and states of mind
– that ultimately contribute to the telling of her life story in a way that
reflect the continuities of her interior life paralleled to the discontinuities that she experienced as a woman author in seventeenth century
Tibet. Reading her dream communications, we are confronted with the
linguistic and literary features that she applies to encode, decode, and interpret the semiotics of her dream space.57 ‘Phrin las dbang mo’s autobiographical subjectivity may be read through her usage of dream and
dream interpretation as one of several literary devices that she employed to author her life story. Even more so, an emphasis on her
57
See Shulman and Stroumsa 1999, 3.
Materializing Dreams and Omens
279
dreams and oneiric life give readers insights into her autobiographical
subjectivity and how she navigates her life as a yoginī – throughout
both waking and dreaming. Moreover, because she writes about her
dreams and provides dream reports in her autobiographical writing,
she foregrounds and prioritizes the efficacy of oneiric consciousness
and its influence to inform her interior narrative.
Writing about dream as a key mode of inquiry and knowledge is far
from novel in Tibetan literature. Among the earliest Tibetan language
manuscripts, from the caches of eighth century bundles that were unearthed at the Inner Asian cave complex at Dunhuang, we find preclassical Tibetan texts that record and analyze the oneiric life.58 Tibetans wrote prolifically about their interior world, and dream in particular finds a variety of usages within Tibetan writing: from medium
states that prophesize, to devices that mobilize or alter a narrative, to
metaphors for life, to portals into other worlds, to tactics for authenticating or authorizing, to means for accessing knowledge, to methods
for personal yogic transformation.59 One of the most well-known forms
of Tibetan writing on dream is explanation about dream as a contemplative method, such as we find in dream yoga texts from the Niguma
and Nāropa sixfold cycles of instructions, of which ‘Phrin las dbang
mo was a practitioner.60 As we would expect, there is also a broad usage of dream found within Tibetan auto/biographical literature. In
fact, this is so much the case that we might glean a better understanding of contemplative practice through a closer look at how dreams and
other such interior narratives are utilized by Tibetan authors who
wrote biography. Vice-versa, a better understanding of Tibetan
auto/biography will profit from our reading contemplative writings
about dream and dream practices. For the practice of writing down
one’s dream is integral to both self-reflection on the yogin’s path as
well as to the compilation and ultimate authorization of a life story. For
some Tibetan writers, the two are not so separate.61
58
59
60
61
For an example of “probably one of the most ancient witnesses of such ‘literature,’”
dated to the late eighth century, see Crescenzi and Torricelli 1995, 8.
Texts on how to examine dream can be found by Indian and Kashmiri authors, preserved in the tantra section of the Bstan ‘gyur. There is a short text attributed to Padmasaṃbhava that is framed as a dialogue with the Emperor Khri srong lde bstan,
imparting the guru’s advice to the ruler on how to interpret his dreams. See Padma
‘byung gnas, Dregs pa spyi gnad las zhus lan.
She was a practitioner of the Ni gu chos drug, specifically. See ‘Phrin las dbang mo
2013, 182.
One example of autobiographical writing on dreams is the dream diary by Gu ru
Chos dbang (1212-1270), who utilized dream episodes as a means to access and describe his previous lives as well as to cultivate liturgical practice. See Chos kyi dbang
phyug 1979.
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The key to dreams however is not so much having them or even
writing about them but interpreting them. For this, we find a microgenre of Tibetan texts that explicate methods used to examine dream
(rmi lam brtag thabs).62 Such texts are fine-tuned specifically to the analyses of signs within the life of a dream, both supporting the advancement of yogic praxis as well as contextualizing dreamtime within a
storyline. What are critical in such texts are the methods described for
deciphering and cracking the semiotic code of a dream.
In much Tibetan autobiographical writing on dreams, a recurrent
motif is that the dream event is used to write about oneself in order to
work with waking experiences, to test and blur the intra-subjective
boundaries. To investigate ‘Phrin las dbang mo’s usage, we read a few
select autobiographical dream reports that she wrote to look at some of
the markers, tropes, and frames that she utilizes to mobilize her life story.
‘Phrin las dbang mo writes,
In a dream one night on the twenty-fifth day, my sublime lama
[Tāranātha] was giving a dharma talk to a crowded assembly. On the
seating line in the monastic assembly, someone sitting there looked at
me with a distressed expression and said, ‘It’s too hot! I can’t stand it!’
He got up and ran to the back of the line. Having dreamt this, I woke
up. My mind was serenely blissful.
Writing a text, on the line of words that read, ‘Imagine yourself in a
pureland, amidst a mound of offering clouds, pristine wisdoms and so
forth…’ There at the end of that line, a girl whom I'd never seen before
with the name of a goddess – Bde chen gsal sgron – arrived with red
and yellow flowers. We ate a meal together.
By putting together both my dream last night and the waking signs,
I see how these circumstances are different, yet similar. Even so, the
meaning is difficult for common people to analyze. It's like a flower
blooming in the rain and sun.63
62
63
This micro-genre is part of a larger Tibetan genre on methods of analysis (brtags thab)
that is devoted to the analysis of a variety of subjects, including gems, weapons,
horses, etc. For a discussion of a rmi lam brtag pa texts on the examination of dreams
from the Bstan ‘gyur, see Young 1999, 29-31.
See ‘Phrin las dbang mo 2013, 187, “… nyer lnga’i nub gcig rmi lam du / bla ma dam pa’i
[pas] ‘khor mang tshad gcig la bka’ chos gnang / chos gral de na bdag la mi dga’ ba’i rnam
‘gyur byed mi gcig ‘dug pa de na re/ tsha zer mi bjod pa ‘dug zer rgyab gral du bros song ba
rmis/ gnyid sad pa na[s] sems bde cham me ba dang / de [dpe] cha gcig bris pa'i tshig gral la
yang / rang snang zhing khams dang mchod pa'i sprin gyi phung po 'byung ba'i ye shes sogs
zer ba'i mtshams der/ bde chen gsal sgron gyi me tog dmar ser dang / sngar 'dris med pa'i
lha'i ming can zhig go zas 'brel byas/ mdang gi rmi lam dang dngos kyi ltas gnyis 'dzoms
pas gnas skyabs tha dad 'dra ba zhig yod kyang don phal pas dpyad dka' ste/ char dang nyi
ma la me tog rgyas pa bzhin no.”
Materializing Dreams and Omens
281
With this dream report, she presents a clear contrast between dreamtime
and waking time. She explicitly records her dream about sitting in an assembly hall while Tāranātha is teaching and being spoken to by a disgruntled person. The first sign is the person saying that it is too hot.64 The
episode coupled with this dream is not a dream. ‘Phrin las dbang mo is
awake, sitting in her study writing a liturgy until suddenly she is interrupted by a young girl. The implicit suggestion here is that the serendipitous appearance of this girl – Bde chen gsal sgron, whose name is that of
a goddess, bearing red and yellow flowers as offerings to her while she
composes an offering text, is a sign – as surreal as a dream. ‘Phrin las
dbang mo comments that her dream and waking experiences, however
different, have similarities. She sees these not as two disparate events that
occurred in entirely distinct modes, but rather as markers in a symbolic
universe that make-up a continuum, analogous to how rain and sun make
up a flower. These are the two circumstances (gnas skyabs gnyis): (a) the
dream (rmi lam) equals the rain (char ba) and (b) the waking signs (dngos
ltas) equal the sun (nyi ma). The two signs are the person in the assembly hall and the visitation of the young goddess-like girl. She interprets
both to be positive. ‘Phrin las dbang mo is problem solving. She states
that such interpretations are difficult for common people to make, yet she
enters into a dialogue with her oneiric consciousness, analyzing its meaning and import. By writing into her autobiography that the young goddess-like girl interrupts her while she is in the midst of writing a text, she
uses this influence to be like a muse that serves as a creative force for her
own literary composition. In this way, she uses dream events to serve as
devices for her writing.
Whereas in the previous dream report she deciphers radical signs, in
this next dream, her analysis of the dream is less determined. ‘Phrin las
dbang mo writes,
In another dream, a female messenger approached from the eastern direction and handed me a very sharply pointed knife. The next day, a
low-caste woman handed me some food. A few days later, there was
that same sharp knife from before. I cut open a belly sack and all kinds
of inner organs spewed out. Some of them, I offered as torma. Two
women barbecued a few more over a fire. This was all in a dream. However suspicious, there is little that I can make of this.65
64
65
Why it would be “too hot” to sit close to her is a subject of further interpretation.
See ‘Phrin las dbang mo 2013, 187, “yang rmi lam du shar phyogs nas pho nya zhig gis
gri rtse shin tu rno ba zhig sprad byung / sang nyin ‘gar [mgar] mo zhig gi[s] zas byin/ yang
zhag shas nas sngar gyi gri des grod pa zhig kha phye nang khrol sna tshogs kyi[s] nang
khengs/ la la gtor ma la phul/ 'ga' zhig bud med gnyis kyis me btang nas 'tshos par rmis/
rtog dpyad kyang cung zad byung.”
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Reflecting on her dream, ‘Phrin las dbang mo states that she is suspicious (rtog dpyad), and that in fact, she can’t derive meaning from these
episodes. Reading her dream, it is not because the dream is devoid of
symbols – the sharp knife and inner organs represent rich ciphers to decode – yet there is a residual ambiguity that remains a natural feature of
dream, and she is forced to contend with this. Though she shows interest
in decoding her own experience, and perhaps reconciling anxieties or
ambiguities, ‘Phrin las dbang mo points to how the dream is opaque,
to such an extent that the dream does not communicate decipherable
content. The reappearance of a sharp knife, inner organs as oblations;
these do not make meaningful sense to her. She concludes that the
dream has no message per se.66 Reminiscent of features written into
autobiography in modernity, we find her writing about life merely for
the sake of it, yet giving it no particular meaning, makes it important.
In this case, there is something mundane and thereby more real about
the dream.
One night, before she embarks on a journey, ‘Phrin las dbang mo
writes,
In my dream, there appeared the head of a Brahmā on a bell, and yet in
reality, there arose on the golden ground numerous appearances such
as variegated images painted in black ink. Signs concerning the one
who is most intimate with me [Tāranātha] were slightly reversed. Nevertheless, having carefully analyzed [the signs], no matter what the future holds, since I’ve arrived here, I know it will be beneficial.
Whatever the case, I must stay on the path uninterruptedly.
[On this occasion, while coming down from Dbus, Rje btsun dam
pa’s [i.e. Tāranātha’s] mother walked with Rje btsun ma Rdo rje bu dga’
[i.e. ‘Phrin las dbang mo] to glorious Jonang.]67
On the night that I reached Dge steng [Monastery],68 I had a dream
similar to before. Honoring that, an intuitive flash suggested that there
would be a solution. I gradually arrived at the Jetavana Grove at Rtag
brtan gling. I performed such activities as making donations and a community tea offering.
There are a variety of means for expressing the manifestations of a
dream and actual signs. Conviction was born within me with respect to
signs in a dream. Even thoughts of desire and hatred were purified, a
66
67
68
See Shulman and Stroumsa 1999, 9. On ambivalence in Tibetan autobiographical
writings, see Gyatso 1998, 233-235.
This is an interlinear note (mchan) in a third-person voice, suggesting that it was
inserted. See ‘Phrin las dbang mo 2013, 190. Explanation of this insertion does not
appear in the kha skongs. Rdo rje bu dga’ is abbreviated from her secret name, Ratna
badzri ṇi.
A small Sa skya Monastery in the vicinity.
Materializing Dreams and Omens
283
little.69
Albeit via a third-person narrator in the text, we again find this juxtaposition of dreamtime with real time. As ‘Phrin las dbang mo is commenting on the metaphor of staying on the path, the comment is interjected that she is in fact walking with Tāranātha’s mother along a path
up to the hermitage in the Jo mo nang valley where they lived. Her
narrative then shifts abruptly to visit Dge steng Monastery, and back
to the grove at the base of Rtag brtan gling Monastery, exemplifying
how she pivots across time, place, and agents in nonlinear ways.
She continues with a longer vignette,
Then, on one occasion, while performing a brief practice during a lunar
eclipse, I analyzed [my dreams] a little. Increasingly, my dreams became mildly worse.
When I was writing my commentary on the visualization and
maṇḍala of the Kālacakra, in a dream one night, there were hordes of
people taking-up weapons and going into battle.70 A young lady friend
said to me, ‘Get up right now! Put on this outfit!’ She gave me five different types of gear to wear, and handed me a full armor. After a moment elapsed, I went into battle. When I woke-up my mind was filled
with disturbing thoughts again. At that same time, in a dream, someone said to me, ‘You must stay for six years.’ There were many such
complications to examine.71
Starting this episode with a remark about how interpreting her dreams
makes them worse, she goes on to describe a dream that is rich with
allusions derived from the epic found in the Kālacakra Tantra with a
direct message about what to do. She writes further,
69
70
71
See ‘Phrin las dbang mo 2013, 190, “rmi lam du dril bu’i tshangs mgo ‘phrul pa dang /
dngos su’ang gser gyi sa gzhi la/ snag tsha’i rim o bzo dbyibs sna tshogs shar ba sogs byung
/ rang dang sems nye bag cig la ltas cung zad log da dung legs par dpyad pas phug ci ltar
yang / da res phyin pas phan thogs par shes/ gang la yang ma chags par lam du zhugs [‘di
skabs dbus nas mar yong ba’i dus rje btsun dam pa’i ma yum rje btsun ma rdo rje bu dga’
dang mnyam du dpal jo nang du phebs pa yin] dge steng du sleb pa’i nub yang sngar gyi
rmi lam/ de dang cha ‘dra ba la/ de la thabs ‘dra yod gyu ba yul le ba zhig byung rim pas/
yar yong nas rtag brtan gyi rgyal byed tshul du slebs/ mang ja ‘gyed sogs byas/ rmi lam
dang dngos ltas rnams mngon du gyur pa’i brjod sgo sna tshogs shig ‘dug pa/ rmi lam sogs
ltas la nges shes skyes shing / chags sdang gi blo yang cung zad dwangs.”
To-date, her commentary (Ti ka) on the Kālacakra is not known to be extant.
See ‘Phrin las dbang mo 2013, 192, “de nas skabs shig las phran bu sgrub pa dang / zla ba
gzas 'dzin dus 'dzoms pa rtog dpyad tsam dang / rim pas rmi lam 'tshub cha tsam las/ dus
'khor mngon dkyil gyi Ti ka 'bri ba'i nub cig rmi lam du/ mi mang po go mtshon thogs nas
g.yul du 'gro ba/ zla bdag la bud med gzhon nu gcig na re 'phral du long / gos 'di gyon zer
gos sna snga dang / go mtshon tshang ba bdag la gtad/ de dag thogs te g.yul du 'gro ba dang
/ nyin par yang yid mi bde snyam pa byung / der rmi lam du khyod lo drug sdod zer ba sogs
dpyad dka' ba mang du byung.”
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On another occasion, while I was composing my commentary on the
completion stages of the Kālacakra, a young lady appeared in my
dream and said, ‘Do you have someone that you can trust? Soon it will
be time to send him in a different direction.’ Ornamented with bones,
she danced in zigzags. According to this dream, there is someone to
send in the eastern direction.72
Again, a dream interrupts her writing. This time it forecasts an event.
Through reading the biography of her younger contemporary Ngag
dbang Blo gros rnam rgyal, we discover that this prognosticates his
journey to ‘Dzam thang, as mentioned above.73 Abruptly, she shifts to
write,
Then, after a few months had passed, I was at the old tattered house.
There was no warmth from the sun, the fire wouldn't ignite, there was
no water, no firewood, no milk to be found, no friends around. A vulture landed on the roof. A raven came and snatched the torma. I lost
my writing utensils to pen my compositions.
Like that, the meaning of these inimical signs manifested throughout the day and night. At the same time that they came about, their
meaning was that of the first of the three oral instructions. Just like the
sun sets and rises again, these omens will turn positive. That's how it’s
explained.74
Noting these nine signs that occur consecutively, she stresses how deriving meaning from them is important. However negative each may appear
to be, counter-intuitively they in fact signal optimism – like a setting sun
signals its inevitable rise.
Reflections on Her Autobiographical Subjectivity
‘Phrin las dbang mo’s story is told both synchronously across historical
time, geographical place, and persons as well as asynchronously across
72
73
74
See ‘Phrin las dbang mo 2013, 192, “yang dus 'khor gyi rdzogs rim gyi Ti ka bri ba'i
skabs rmi lam du bud med gzhon nu zhig na re/ khrod la blo gtad pa'i mi yod na/ dar cig
phyogs gzhan du gtong ba'i dus yin zer ba dang / keng rus sogs zar zer mang po 'khrab tu
byung / rmi lam ltar de shar phyogs su btang bas.”
See Sheehy 2009, 14-17.
See ‘Phrin las dbang mo 2013, 192-193, “de nas zla ba kha shas nas khang ba zur ral/
nyi ma la drod med me la mi gsos/ chu med shing bu med/ 'o ma ma rnyed/ mda’ [zla] bo
med/ bya rgod thog steng du bab[s]/ gtor [ma] ldeb bya rog gi[s] khyer gsung[s] rtsom 'bri
ba’i [ma'i] smyu gu phon cig bor/ de 'dra ba'i ltas mi legs pa nyin zhag gcig mngon sum
du [tu] byung ba'i don de ni zhor byung du bka' bab gsum gyi dang po de'i don rta bdun
nub nas/ slar shar ba ltar rten 'brel gsos pa'i don yin/ 'dir smras pa …” The three oral
instructions that she refers to here were taught to her by Tāranātha, and are written
earlier in the autobiography.
Materializing Dreams and Omens
285
dreamscapes and visionary landscapes in which she is active as a concomitant agent. She operates nonlinearly through her interior lifeworld of dreams, visions, and the construal of omens that shift times,
places, and agencies. These dynamics work within her autobiography
at different registers to form a selfhood that is not autonomous but is
rather contingent and relational. 75 Co-creative with the contingencies
of her lifeworld, albeit the temporal, spatial, and social worlds in which
she relationally inhabits and is embedded, her autobiographical subjectivity is reciprocally shaped by these very contingencies. For instance, her relational selfhood operates through a plurality of voices
that narrate her life story – whether it be via an intimate conversation
with Tāranātha or her interpretation of the young goddess-like girl Bde
chen gsal sgron with red and yellow flowers. Her autobiographical
subjectivity is shaped by these presences and their messages, even if
their voice is her own interpretation, as well as the ways in which she
navigates her relationality with these myriad interlocutors. While she
does not encounter all of these agents in her waking consciousness, she
nonetheless gives her relationship with them equal ontological importance to any agent that she encounters in her waking life. By so doing, she elicits and invites multiple dimensions of conscious lived
worlds into the formation of her narrative, further complexifying her
autobiographical subjectivity. In these ways, the formation of her subjectivity, both as an author and subject, is utterly contingent on the intersubjective relational dynamics in which she lives and dreams within
her lifeworld – dynamics with the characters, events, and places that
are other than her autobiographical agency, and yet it is these very dynamics that co-create her subjective agency.
Born into a royal family, she occupied a social life of privilege that
enabled her certain affordances, including her literacy and religious
life, that further shaped her social positionality. Living through the
first part of the seventeenth century in south central Tibet, in the social
worlds that she inhabited, she inevitably was aware of other powerful
religious women exemplars, for instance, the Bsam sdings Rdo rje phag
mo whose monastic seat at Bsams sdings Monastery was in the vicinity
of her birthplace.76 These factors are the kinds of affordances that enabled her to leverage her social positionality as well as historical circumstance, largely via the purview of her religious virtuosity, to represent
herself – as an author, yoginī, consort, and tulku – identities that she
draws from to shapeshift her autobiographical subjectivity.
Her historicity lends itself to questions about the authenticity of her
account due to the historical reality that the Dga’ ldan Pho brang
75
76
See Jacoby 2014, 12-14.
Bsam sdings Rdo rje phag mo 05 Ye shes mtsho mo was her contemporary.
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systematically eradicated or confiscated writings by Jonangpa authors
during her lifetime. This raises questions not only about how her intended
audience, which was likely the immediate and next generation Jonangpa
disciples, affected her autobiographical subjectivity; but also, if her account was scripted, edited, and/or rearranged to conform to a normative
account of history. The episode in which she describes a conversation with
Tāranātha in which he revealed a series of omens that he believed were
signs that he would be reborn to benefit the Gelukpa raises these suspicions. Because this manuscript was recopied and passed down by hand
over the centuries, and not committed to block print, there is the possibility that at least sections of her story were tampered with or rewritten to
alter the telling of her story. However, while there is reason for such suspicion, her creative and elliptic writing style along with vernacular language leave little doubt that her authorial narrative voice is authentic. The
stylistic coherence of her autobiography argues for a single author. As excerpts translated here attest, she wrote as much to work through the obscure riddles of dreams and omens as to record her historical circumstance, and a close read of her autobiography suggests that these cannot
be dis-entangled.
In what seems to be very conscious choices, ‘Phrin las dbang mo
works constantly to solve the riddles that are presented in her dreams
as well as omens. For instance, more than once throughout her autobiography, ‘Phrin las dbang mo writes-down the phrase, “rmi lam dang
dngos ltas rnams mgnon du ‘gyur” – which may be rendered more literally, “The signs that manifest in both dream and reality.” Though she
persists on differentiating circumstances that are dream from waking
reality, she remains intentionally enmeshed within this ambiguity. As
she slips lucidly in and out of hypnagogic states, and oscillates seamlessly between these modes of awareness, she seeks to discern the tensions between the real and surreal while at the same time, she blurs
such boundaries. As a yoginī, waking and dreaming realities are segues in a continuum of consciousness. As an author, she thrives on the
thresholds of her historical consciousness. These liminal spaces enable
her to use dreams and omens as media to communicate her concerns,
fears, images, and hopes so that she can interpret them. She utilizes
this liminality not only to balance her private interior world with an
outer abstract reality, but as a literary device that infuses her with powers to express, pivot, and spell-out her life story.77 Along this liminal
77
Shulman and Stroumsa write, “By their very liminality, dreams are at the confluence
of theology, cosmology, and anthropology. In a sense, they permit, where other media fail, a way of intracultural communication of great flexibility. In particular,
dreams offer a constant balance between the private world of latent images, fears,
and hopes, and outside reality, cosmic as well as social. Dreams present the means
to reestablish the constantly shattered equilibrium between these two realms. They
Materializing Dreams and Omens
287
continuum of waking and dream, she persistently remembers the
markers that she witnesses, records new signs, decodes, and interprets.
With each dream report more deeply enmeshed in the linearity of her
written narrative, ‘Phrin las dbang mo situates herself further in relation
to a complex universe of cultural symbols and intuitions that co-create her
universe from within.78 Reality for her, in its multiple modalities, is codified, and she believes that code can be cracked. Her task, both as a yoginī
as well as an author, is to definitively ascertain (nges shes) the signs (ltas).
Recognizing the expressivity of dreams, she employs this expressiveness to capture the themes, obsessions, and choices that she records in telling her life story. As she does so, and by providing prognostic clues to
how she interprets the terrain of her dreams according to her own semiotic maps, she navigates in ways that give her reader a fuller understanding of herself as a dreaming subject. In Tibetan autobiographical writing
on dreams, a recurrent motif is that the dream event is used to write
about oneself in order to work with waking experiences, to at once exercise authorial agency and test the permeability between dreaming
and the waking real. As cited in her dream episodes translated here,
there is a range of encoded dream communications, some she interprets
on the spot while others remain opaque or are only made meaningful by
events later in her autobiography. Though there are episodes that do, on
some occasions, her dream reports do not showcase the miraculous such
as her capacity to communicate with nonhuman interlocutors, including
protective deities or ḍākinīs, but are rather mundane. Nonetheless, as we
have seen, these episodes too serve to be important media for grounding
her narrative.
‘Phrin las dbang mo can however be read not only for the historical
value or even import of the content of her life writing, but also for the
literary modes and virtues that she employs as an author. As exemplified by instances chosen from her writing, she reflexively facilitates her
autobiographical subjectivity through her writing in ways that test and
blur the intra-subjective boundaries of dreamtime and historical time.
Caught in the turbulent transition of the Jonangpa, at a moment of historical precarity, as authors do, ‘Phrin las dbang mo writes to negotiate
her experience. As she writes her dreams and omens, her dreams and
omens help her to navigate her historical change. With this in mind,
‘Phrin las dbang mo can be read not merely for the value of her content,
but as a Tibetan belletrist by giving attention to the particular aesthetic
qualities, literary modes and virtues that define her writing style, as
well as to the particular literary features that compel her composition.
78
accomplish this essential task in different ways, always directly related to the individual religious cultures.” See Shulman and Stroumsa 1999, 6.
See Shulman and Stroumsa 1999, 3.
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As an author and subject of her writing, she embodies her literary
sensibilities, her sense of selfhood, and the boundaries that lie therein.
It is her very own vision of herself that not only imbues her complex
symbolic world with the intra-cultural meaning in which she participates as a dreamer, but that she communicates as an author. As she
witnesses a dream, commits it via language to text, and interprets it,
‘Phrin las dbang mo is participating in a universe of intra-cultural forms
and Tibetan religious values. She is also however textualizing her dream,
giving her intuition and imagination literary texturing. In so doing, she
actively involves herself both as a yoginī in the interiority of her selftransformation as well as an author in the process of her self-representation. In this eternal dialectical loop – to herself, from herself – she
lives in a regulated mode of reception that reiterates her visceral Buddhist sense of self – interpenetrated by non-self elements, not collective or
metaphorical, ultimately dissolvable.79 In such a way, her dreams speak
not only to the composition of her autobiographical writing, but also to
the composition of herself as a yoginī. For ‘Phrin las dbang mo, the practice of authorship is transformative.
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