한국불교학 제93집, pp.535~570. 서울：(사)한국불교학회, 2020.02.29. DOI URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22255/JKABS.93.18 The Magic of Secret Gnosis : A Theoretical Analysis of a Tibetan Buddhist “Grimoire” $BNFSPO
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6OJW       Introduction The Magic of Secret Gnosis Systems of Magic “Magically Storming the Gates of Buddhahood” Types of Magic Spell Analysis * This article is adapted and expanded from the second chapter of my DPhil thesis, “A Feast for Scholars: The Life and Works of Sle lung Bzhad pa'i rdo rje.” My thanks to Bryan Cuevas for proofreading and suggesting improvements and additional references. 536 한국불교학 93집 [ 국문요약 ] 뺷쿊춆 힇 쭎츛뺸 츹 켎뻖 ˑ쭎츛튢˒흖 뺆 짦 켊튣 탄트라 불교의 의례와 교리는 역사적으로 주된 것은 아니지만 중요하게 여기어 수행자의 초능력 성취에 초점을 맞추어왔다. 그 성취란 자연스럽게 얻어지는 능력 의 형태이기도 하고, 특정한 의식 행위를 한 결과이기도 하다. 그러한 능력은 산스 크리뜨 “싯디(siddhi)”와 “아비짜라(abhicara)”에서부터 티벳어 “툴(’phrul)”과 “투(mthu)”에 이르기까지 일련의 용어들로 이미크(emic)1)적으로 언급된다. 이것 들은 비교문화학적으로 재미있게 이해하기 위해 합리적이고 학구적으로 “마법”이 란 포괄적 용어 아래 모아놓을 수 있다. 일반적으로 금강승 불교와 영향을 주고받은 인도의 마법 수행과 문헌에 관한 연구들이 어느 정도 있어왔지만, 그 문헌들이 티벳에 전파되어 수용되고 활용된 과 정에 관한 연구와 이해는 대단히 불충분하다. 탄트라 학계에선 마법 능력을 갖기 위한 필수 선행조건으로 믿어온 철학과 명상기법에는 널리 주목하면서도, 탄트라 숙련자들이 어떤 수준의 명상적 깨달음을 성취하고나면 실행할 수 있는 것으로 믿 었던 의례 기법(간단히 말해서 ⽢倀)에 관한 상세한 문헌은 몇몇 중요한 예외들을 제외하곤 학자들이 거의 다루지 않았다. 불교에서 마법의 힘은 자기 변혁을 위한 탄트라 기법의 중대한 부분인 수행 의례라기보다는 문학적 수사라는 시각에서 더 많이 연구되어왔다. 본고는 1730년대에 닝마파 및 겔룩파 숙련자와 환생한 라마 레룽 쉐뻬 도르지 (Sle lung Bzhad pa’i rdo rje, 1697-1740)가 초기 자료들로부터 엮어 편집한 <비밀 영지 다키니>(Gsang ba ye shes mkha’ ’gro, Secet Gnosis Dakini, 이하 GYCK로 약칭)의 탄트라 일군(┞聁)에 보이는 몇몇 주문 마법서2)에서 그러한 마법 
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emic -
첾쫞 왷흖튢 etic
뺂 쒆얞휺
퟾켆 빊붆 훊쑒 숺켆 팒 축 뾶쐫 쯺흖튢 휾휺숞 첾쬂 흶뻲 잖쐚 튪찋즪쐚 뾂 춯푣 
흲뾶튢뽾쬲빦칾빦숺숺 ˑ쭎츛튢(grimoires)˒줂쐚쑮휺쬂쑮펢푣쭎츛뻖칾 찮줂쐚죁짢툲쑪
쭎츛푣쑺븉텖쭒훊쑎줂
뽾붆쭎 The
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Bailey 537 들을 고찰하고자 한다. 츛빦 켆줂쐚 쵾쐚 훊쑎쑪
ˑ쭎츛튢ˑ ퟆ 쵾흖 뺆튢쐚 Davis
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 538 한국불교학 93집 Introduction The rituals and doctrines of Tantric Buddhism have historically been significantly, if not primarily, geared toward the practitioner’s attainment of supernormal powers, both in the form of spontaneous abilities and as the fruits of specific ritual actions. Such powers are emically referred to with a range of terms, from the Sanskrit “siddhi” and “abhicara” to the Tibetan “'phrul” and “mthu,” which can be reasonably and heuristically, for the interests of cross-cultural understanding, collected under the umbrella term “magic.” While there have been some studies of Indian magical practices and literature generally, which influenced and were influenced by Vajrayana Buddhism, the way such literature was transmitted, adapted, and used in Tibet is very poorly researched and understood. While tantric scholarship has largely focused on the philosophy and meditation techniques believed to be a necessary prerequisite to magic power, the detailed literature on the ritual techniques —put simply, the magic spells— that tantric adepts are believed to be able to execute once they have achieved a certain level of meditative realization has been barely touched by scholars, with some important exceptions. Magic power in Buddhism has been studied more from the perspective of a literary trope than as practical ritual that is a critical part of the tantric techniques of self-transformation. This paper seeks to examine such magical techniques in several grimoires3) of spells found in the tantric cycle of Gsang ba ye shes mkha' 'gro (Secret Gnosis Dakini, henceforth the “GYCK”) compiled and edited from earlier sources by the Rnying ma pa / Dge lugs pa adept and reincarnate lama Sle lung Bzhad pa'i rdo rje (1697-1740) in the 1730s. 3) Here and throughout I use the word “grimoire” to simply mean a collection of ritual magic instructions. I do not mean it in the sense of a book that not only contains knowledge of magic, but is itself a magical, talismanic object. On the definition and significance of grimoires, see Davies (2009). The
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Bailey 539 The Magic of Secret Gnosis The Secret Gnosis cycle is a massive, 16-volume collection that Sle lung dedicated to his main meditational deity, and which he adapted from the great Rnying ma treasure revealer Gter bdag gling pa’s (1646-1714) final gter ma discovery. This treasure cycle, compiled at Smin grol gling and redacted by the gter ston’s son 'Gyur med rgya mtsho (1686-1718) into its final four-volume form around 1713, focuses on the red Jinasagara, or 'Gyur med rgya mtsho, form of Avalokiteshvara in union with a consort, namely Gsang ba ye shes. Sle lung’s cycle, four times the length of the treasure cycle that inspired it, was produced approximately from 1729-1737.4) In the GYCK collection, Sle lung essentially extracts Gsang ba ye shes from the original gter ma cycle and makes her a stand-alone, self-sufficient deity, effectively a Rnying ma form of solitary Vajrayoginī. The first volume of the Secret Gnosis cycle is comprised of ritual texts taken directly from 'Gyur med rgya mtsho’s redaction of his father’s original treasure revelations, which focus on the yum, “mother” deity, in solitary form, as well as Sle lung’s own commentaries on these practices. Following this, the remaining fifteen volumes of the Secret Gnosis cycle are elaborate accretions which Sle lung gradually added on during the 1730s, either at his own discretion or at the prompting of his students. Ultimately, Sle lung produced what is essentially a self-contained mini-canon, the subjects of which run the gamut of Tibetan Buddhist thought and practice, including elaborate, erudite commentaries on, among other things, completion stage practices, karmic causality, and even a general introduction to the Buddhist path. Other texts focus on “mundane” “magical” practices aimed at such things as apotropaic rituals for keeping mice away from crops. It is to these latter practices that we shall here turn our attention, precisely because of the relatively little attention they have received in Tibetan scholarship. First, it should be noted that there is little apparent systematic organization in the later volumes of the GYCK, 4) Based on the dates in the colophons of the GYCK. 540 한국불교학 93집 as the various texts in them are apparently simply arranged in the order that Sle lung added them through the years, with texts on sometimes wildly different subjects catalogued together. The magic texts, that is, texts that give instructions on specific rituals that claim to be able to produce miraculous effects for worldly goals, are most highly concentrated in volumes four and 12 of the GYCK. The volume four texts are largely concerned with climatecontrolling practices, everything from assuring adequate rainfall, to warding off crop-destroying vermin, to preventing floods. For instance, a text partially titled The Vajra Dam (Rdor rje'i chu lon), gives instructions on how to make a talisman5) from a paper fish with mantras on it placed inside a yak horn in order to prevent floods. 'JH

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  In contrast to the magical texts from volume four, those in volume 12 have a huge variety of technique and purpose.6) Since most, if not all, of the texts in this volume are concerned with spell craft, it is not unfair to say this is the most “magical” volume of the Secret Gnosis cycle. Most of these magical texts are spell collections focused on a particular type of magic. For example, the 5) “Talisman,” from an Arabic word meaning “that to which power over something is conferred” (Attrell and Porreca 2019, 14). One possible Tibetan equivalent is bsgrubs rdzas, literally “accomplishment substance,” but which in the context of the magic spells in the GYCK has more of a sense of “power object.” For the significance of “power objects” in Tibetan Buddhism see Gentry (2017). For the related use of effigies in Tibetan magical ritual see Cuevas (2011). 6) It might even be appropriate to classify the entirety of volume 12 as a grimoire in and of itself, with the individual texts simply being sub-sections of the book as a whole. The
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Bailey 541 fifth and sixth texts in the volume, The Vajra Finger (Rdo rje'i sor mo)7) and The Poison-cleansing Ganges (Dug sel gAnga+ga),8) focus on protection from harmful sorcery, while the seventh, The Vajra Obstacle Dispeller (Rdo rje'i rkhyen sel)9) is focused on protection from negative astrological influences. The Magic Lasso ('Phrul zhags),10) the second text in the volume, is entirely focused on subjugating, or magnetizing (dbang sdud), magic. There is no standard genre by which Sle lung classifies these texts of magic ritual instruction. Some are called man ngag (secret instructions), while others are called “supplemental activities”. The first text of volume 12, and in many ways the most interesting of all the magical texts in the GYCK, is classified as a “las tshogs,” literally a “collection of activities” or “yogic applications,” “Which Brings all that is Desired”.11) A true grimoire, this text is a series of 92 short spell instructions, particularly striking and interesting for its great variety of goals, ranging from curing a toothache to killing an enemy, with an equally large variety of techniques, from visualizing oneself as a golden stupa to washing oneself in urine and running around naked making animal sounds. Most of the spells in this text also employ mantras, but some do not. Some rely entirely on visualization, while some rely simply on the proper combination of specialized ingredients, and most use some combination thereof. We shall examine some of the spells from this highly varied text in specific detail at the end of this paper. Regardless of their exact genre name, these grimoires of magic spell instructions are fairly pervasive in Tibetan Buddhism and are often found in larger tantric cycles like the GYCK or included in the collected works of great lamas.12) In Berounsky’s estimation the operations in such texts are “an amalgam of tantric interventions 7) GYCK v. 12, 149-163. 8) GYCK v. 12, 164-226. 9) GYCK v. 12, 227-235. 10) GYCK v. 12, 72-122. 11) GYCK v. 12, 1-71. 12) Another common genre name for such grimoires in Tibetan is “be'u 'bum”. See Cuevas (2010) for a study of just such a collection of magic spells by the great Rnying ma scholar 'Ju Mi pham (1846-1912). 542 한국불교학 93집 combined with popular magic.”13) Ullrey objects to this kind of view (though not to Berounsky specifically), writing about Indian tantric magic that “a common false argument is that pre-medieval magic and the magic tantras are both inspired by a universal folk magic substratum.”14) While I am not in a position here to argue for or against a popular or vernacular “magic substratum” which may or may not have influenced Indo-Tibetan tantric magic, some discussion of the pervasiveness of magical thought in antiquity is necessary to begin to grasp the significance of these Tibetan grimoires. Systems of Magic Perhaps the first theorist of magic was the third century Neoplatonist15) philosopher Plotinus who wrote in The Enneads that magic works “by sympathy and by the fact that there is a natural concord of things that are alike and opposition of things that are different” and, as such, things that are in concord or opposition can act upon one another at a distance. Plotinus specifically references the example of heavenly bodies, the planets and stars, being linked to a person through a hidden connection of “sympathy” and that this link can be “plucked” like the string of an instrument to create 13) Berounsky (2015), 101. 14) Ullrey (2016), 35. 15) Throughout this paper I repeatedly cite examples from Neoplatonic philosophy especially, first because its influence is pervasive in Western magical thought specifically, and perhaps beyond, and also because this tradition easily functions as a “foil” to Buddhism, particularly tantric Buddhism. In the literary context, a foil is often a character that is strikingly similar to but also different from the protagonist in certain key ways, and is used as a device to highlight certain qualities of the protagonist. Thus, when I note striking parallels between Buddhism and Neoplatonism it is not for the sake of mere idle comparativism, but as a way to highlight the importance of aspects of the Buddhist tradition. I have also found that the philosophy of the Neoplatonists, while not more advanced than Buddhist philosophy, can be used heuristically to illuminate aspects of Buddhism, particularly tantric ritual, in perhaps a more revealing light. The
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Bailey 543 a resonance between the two.16) This concept of sympathy should be understood within the context of Neoplatonic emanationism, in which the universe radiates out in a “great chain of being” from the single divine principle of the supreme One.17) The metaphor of the “chain” here is critically important since it implies that everything at every level of the universe is linked. Later theorists of magic, particularly the Islamic scholar Yaʻqūb ibn ʼIsḥāq al-Kindī (801-873), whose work was highly influential in Western magic and esotericism, were significantly influenced by Neoplatonist thought; al-Kindī literalized Plotinus’s metaphor of musical strings with his theory of subtle light rays: Everything which actually exists in the world of the elements sends out rays in all directions. These rays fill the entire world of the elements in their own way. Hence each place in this world contains the rays of all things which actually exist in it. Just as each thing differs from the next, so the rays of each thing differ in their effect and nature from the rays of all other things. For this reason the rays affect all different things differently.18) The job and skill of the sorcerer, then, is to control these connections and correspondences. As al-Kindī’s theories, like the Neoplatonists before him, are particularly focused on astral magic, this specifically means manipulating, or taking advantage of, the resonances between heavenly bodies and terrestrial things to supernormal, that is to say “magical,” effect. In the highly influential tenth-century grimoire of astral magic, the Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm (The Goal of the Wise), better known in the West from its Latin translation, the Picatrix, the magician conducts his work in accord with the positions of the planets, precisely calculated through highly refined astrological knowledge, in order to “catch” specific influences or energies from these heavenly bodies to achieve certain goals, usually the empowerment of a talisman which, if constructed and energized 16) The Enneads 4.4.40F, quoted and paraphrased from Otto and Stausberg (2013), 28-30. 17) Attrell and Porreca (2019), 13 and Saif (2015), 31. 18) From al-Kindī’s De Radiis, quoted from Saif (2015), 33. For a history of magic in Islam generally see also Knight 2016. 544 한국불교학 93집 properly, will then create the desired effect. To Neoplatonists, among them the author and a great many readers of Picatrix, the world was a hierarchy of levels of being, down which currents of influence cascaded from the divine unity at its summit. The work of the magician consisted of learning the ways of these currents, and drawing upon them to perform magical works when they were at their strongest.19) The philosophy of the universe being made up of a network of subtle rays has virtually identical parallels in, or was perhaps directly or indirectly inspired by, Indian religion as early as the Brāhmaṇas and Upaniṣads, where “all living beings are not only connected to the sun through its rays but have the potential for being linked to all that exists ... through rays emanating from their incandescent inner selves or persons and outward via their sense organs in every act of perception.”20) White argues this idea is pervasive in Indian religion from the “solar mysticism of the Upaniṣads [to the] light metaphysics of Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy.”21) Scholars of Buddhism will be familiar with the many Mahāyāna sutras in which the Buddha, or other deity, sends forth light rays to communicate with or directly summon buddhas or bodhisattvas from other universes. The idea of a universe of infinite subtle connections between all things also directly parallels the Buddhist philosophical idea of interdependent origination, especially in its Mādhyamaka formulation, so vividly captured in the imagery of Indra’s Net in, for instance, the Avataṃsaka Sūtra.22) Concordantly, the practice of magic is also pervasive in Indian religion from the earliest scriptures. 19) Greer and Warnock (2010-2011), 12. 20) White (2009), 123. 21) White (2009), 124. 22) “[All buddhas] know all phenomena come from interdependent origination. They know all world systems exhaustively. They know all the different phenomena in all worlds, interrelated in Indra’s Net” (Cleary 1993, 925). Indra’s Net appears as an icon or metaphor of magical power in Indian religion as early as the Vedas (on which see Goudriaan 1978, 211-250) which Buddhists employed, among other things, to communicate the philosophical concept of interdependent origination. The
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Bailey 545 In his article “Black Magic in Tibetan Buddhism,”23) Peter Schwieger makes the critical point that magic is systematically part of the doctrine of Buddhism, and not a “subcultural phenomenon” which is integrated ex post facto. Given the prevalence of magic rituals in Indian society as attested in the Atharva Veda and its commentarial literature,24) which are essentially grimoires of spells themselves, Buddhist practices arose within a religious and social matrix where magic rituals were a regular part of religious practice from the time of India’s earliest scriptures. In the medieval, tantric period, pre-medieval magical lore was ever further expanded and elaborated,25) to the point that many Buddhist and non-Buddhist tantras are essentially collections of magic spells (especially true of the “Kriya” class of tantra in the Buddhist context26)), what Ullrey refers to as “encyclopedic tantras,” which he defines as “grimoires that catalog discrete rituals with specific effects bearing little organization other than grouping rituals that have similar effects or techniques.”27) “Magically Storming the Gates of Buddhahood” Sle lung, in a commentarial aside in volume four of the GYCK, directly equates the performance of magic with the realization of liberating gnosis. He states: All animate and inanimate phenomena lack true existence. Furthermore, they amount to nothing more than interdependent origination. If you realize that essentially magic [“'phrul”] is the union of appearance and emptiness, you will accomplish the 23) 24) 25) 26) See Schwieger (2010). See Stutley (1980). Ullrey (2016), 35. See for instance the Siddhaikaviratantram ̄ Toh 544 (D) vol. 89 (rgyud ’bum, pa), folios 1.b–13.a, recently translated by the Dharmacakra Translation Committee for the 84000 project: http://read.84000.co/translation/toh544.html 27) Ullrey (2016), 157. 546 한국불교학 93집 ordinary and supreme siddhis without too much effort.28) Another las tshogs text, this one from the fifteenth century and focused around the magical employment of Tsong kha pa’s (13571419) Dmigs brtse ma mantra/prayer, Tsong kha pa’s personal wisdom and understanding of emptiness and the Mādhyamaka philosophy of Nāgārjuna (c. 150-250), is presented as the reason for his personal prayer’s magical effectiveness.29) This marriage of magic and wisdom power is not a particularly tantric development, but is pervasive in Indian Mahāyāna thought generally. As Gomez puts it in his article on “The Bodhisattva as Wonder-worker”: “the...doctrine of magical productions...is the corollary of the illusionistic ontology of Buddhism,” and “thaumaturgic manifestation appears as the embodiment of a liberating truth.”30) This “liberating truth”, as Sle lung points out in the quote above, is often equated with the doctrine of interdependent origination, which is, in part, a philosophy of sympathy somewhat similar to the Neoplatonist conceptions mentioned previously. There are, however, a number of distinct philosophical and practical differences between Western magic and esotericism and tantric Buddhism. Space does not allow a full, detailed analysis between the two traditions. However, at the risk of oversimplification we can note a few key distinctions which will have bearing on the data presented later in this paper. Stephan Beyer, in his classic study of Tibetan magic and ritual, makes the statement that just as a Western astrologer mediates the influence of the planets through manipulation of their corresponding colors, minerals, and plants, the Tantric seeks in the world and in himself 28) snang srid chos kun bden [213] par ma grub pas/ kun kyang rten cing 'brel pa tsam du zad/ snang stong zung 'jug gnad kyi 'phrul shes na/ mchog thun dngos grub 'grub par dka' tshegs med GYCK vol. 4, 212-213. 29) Berounsky (2015), 107. 30) Gomez (1977), 227 and 230. Gomez here is specifically discussing the doctrine of illusory productions and its relationship to the idea of the Dharmadhātu in the Gaṇḍavyūha Sūtra, but I believe his conclusions are more generally applicable across Mahāyāna Buddhism than perhaps he himself was willing to claim. The
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Bailey 547 as many interconnections as he can find and the yogin’s body is the magical simulacrum...of the deity...31) While Beyer’s work overall was groundbreaking and still immensely useful today, this particular assessment is, while on one level accurate, is, on another, oversimplified, and obscures more than it reveals. First of all, much of Indo-Tibetan tantric magic, especially in the classes of tantra that are considered “lower” in Buddhism, particularly the Kriya class, are full of the same kind of manipulation of correspondence that Beyer here ascribes to the Western astrologer.32) Furthermore, specifically astral magic of the type explicated in the Picatrix was pervasive in premodern cultures, particularly in India.33) But in the Highest Yoga Tantra-influenced systems of magical practice we will be particularly examining below, the practitioner does not wait around to passively catch auspicious influences at certain astrologically powerful times.34) Rather, the primary mechanism by which these spells are accomplished is the yogin’s ability to imaginatively summon various deities, people, things, and fundamental aspects of the universe, employing the medium, or mechanism, of visualized light rays, which is pervasive 31) Beyer (1973), 93-94. 32) By which he really means magician, although of course, as for example the Picatrix makes clear, the magician must be a skilled astrologer, as magic is intimately based on knowing the movements of the planets and stars (see for instance Attrell and Porreca 2019, 45ff). 33) In fact, the Picatrix itself was directly and significantly influenced by specifically Indian astral magic. For example, book one chapter four is mostly a discussion of the 28 lunar mansions (Skt. Nakṣatra) and notes that “the wise Indians held these twenty-eight mansions as foundational in all their rituals and elections” (Attrell and Porreca 2019, 51). On Indian astral magic generally see Pingree (1989). On some of the earliest traditions of astral magic from Babylon which likely served as the historical basis for its practice throughout Eurasia at least, see Reiner (1995). 34) For the most part. As we shall see, however, there are a few spells in the Tibetan text examined below that specifically instruct performance at certain times of the day or month and appear to be a remnant of earlier astral magic. Most of the spells do not rely on astrological calculation, however. 548 한국불교학 93집 in tantric generation-stage meditation. In Western magic, on the other hand, the “notion of magical power as a function of the magician’s will energizing forms in the imagination” is as late as the nineteenth century.35) In his discussion of the Buddhist philosophical basis of Tibetan magic, Beyer notes the influence of Yogācāra philosophy,36) and the concomitant conceptualization of the ontological “softness of reality” it produced. At the risk of oversimplification, the key aspect of Yogācāra, at least for the purposes of the present discussion, is that it actually flips Neoplatonic emanationism on its head. Rather than reality cascading downward, with humans at or near the bottom of the chain of being, in Yogācāra the universe effectively emanates out from the mind of the individual. In tantric generation-stage meditation, there is still a sense of drawing “down” power, as when the yogin draws down the jñānasattva to empower the samayasattva. But tantric Buddhist cosmology, in some respects, is radically different from the Neoplatonic cosmology that informs Western magic. Far from being a “far efficient cause” whose power is filtered down to earth through the “proximate efficient causes” of the heavenly bodies before finally reaching earth, in tantric thought the ultimate divine principle is the “innate gnosis that pervades the minds of all sentient beings.”37) This is what is known in Kālacakra hermeneutics as the Adībuddha, and further within Kālacakra thought the cosmos, specifically the heavenly bodies such as the sun, moon, and the lunar ascending node Rāhu, are homologized within the subtle body of the yogin, literalizing the Hermetic maxim “as above, so below.” Schwieger argues that the attainment of magical abilities in which one is able to assert his will over the external universe via imaginative visualization is the natural outgrowth of the experiential collapse of subject-object dualism that the tantric yogin experiences when he, based on Yogācāra assumptions, dissolves the defiled world of ordinary experience and re-emanates it as an enlightened mandala ̣ ̣ 35) Greer and Warnock (2010-2011), 16. 36) Beyer (1973), 92-99. 37) Wallace (2001), 18. The
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Bailey 549 during deity yoga, in which the yogin establishes or takes advantage of a metaphysical bond (often with visualized light rays), not with a planet or star as in astral magic, but directly with an enlightened deity. The establishment of sympathy with a deity through the medium of visualized light rays is a key aspect of Highest Yoga Tantra but is also common in the “lower” tantras where essentially the entire point and method of practice is gaining and performing magical abilities by harnessing the power of a Buddha or other deity. In the three lower tantras Action, Performance, and Yoga deity yoga is used to bring about speedy achievement of many common [magical] feats and to directly come under the care of Buddhas and high Bodhisattvas, receiving their blessings, and so forth. This faster progress is achieved through a threefold process known as prior approximation, effecting the achievement of [magical] feats, and using the feats in the performance of activities for the welfare of others.38) In Highest Yoga Tantra, the implementation of magical powers is an integral part of the “Stage of Great Attainment” in the Arya ̄ 39) Guhyasamaja ̄ tradition, exegetically and hermeneutically one of the best developed meditative systems of tantric Buddhism. This implementation of magical powers is actually one of the primary purposes of the pure illusory body, the specialty of the “Father ̄ tantras,” exemplified by the Guhyasamaja, which is believed to be created in the final stages of Guhyasamaja ̄ practice, for the purpose of benefitting others (as opposed to the “gnosis body,” the realization of which benefits oneself).40) In the tantric context, being effectively part of the illusory body, or a function of it, the performance of magical action is more 38) Tsongkhapa (2017), 201. 39) Jamgon ̈ Kongtrul (2008), 77. 40) This theology is by no means peculiar to tantra. Even in the context of Pāli Buddhism, the production of an illusory body and the attainment of various magical powers such as flight and passing through solid objects are explained by the Buddha to be one of the primary “fruits of the homeless life” achieved after intensive meditation practice, on the way to final nirvana ̄ ̣ . See the Sāmaññaphala Sutta (Walshe 1995, 104-105). 550 한국불교학 93집 specifically aligned with the generation stage of tantric meditation, where the yogin imaginatively deifies himself and all other beings ̣ ̣ palace. and re-forms the universe into a mandala Beyer explicitly argues that the theory of generation-stage practice is in fact a theory of magic: “The Process of Generation is a sequence of contemplative events that produce a divine body; both the body and the events are simulacra for the magical control of a wide range of realities.”41) Beyer also explicitly notes the parallel between the empowerment of the samayasattva in generation-stage practice and the empowerment of a talisman in magical rituals.42) As we shall see in the spells from Sle lung’s las tshogs text below, the mechanism of visualized light rays used to summon consciousnesses and what we might vaguely call “energy” from a distance, so critical to the accomplishment of magical action, is employed in very much the same way as “ordinary” generation-stage meditation. As such, in that they affect and manipulate metaphysical sympathetic bonds between practitioner and deity, the self-transformation procedures of the generation stage in general can very reasonably be classified as a form of magic per Plotinus’s metaphor of strumming a "string" which metaphysically connects an ordinary human with a celestial entity. Thus, Beyer succinctly and accurately defines tantra as “a technique for magically storming the gates of Buddhahood.”43) The connection between magical action and specifically the generation stage is noted in a number of Guhyasamaja ̄ commentaries. Referring to a Guhyasamaja ̄ commentary by Candrakīrti (c. 600-650), Tsong kha pa writes “the tenth chapter says that the generation-stage practitioner can accomplish the four [magical] feats” by the vajra recitation of the three seed syllables.44) The (in)famous 41) Beyer (1973), 127. 42) Beyer (1973), 103. 43) Beyer (1973), 92. 44) Tsongkhapa (2012), 255. It should be noted, however, that Tsong kha pa references different ways that both the generation stage and completion stage can lead to the attainment of magical powers. In the case of the completion stage, mastery of the four “root winds” leads to the attainment of the four types of magical action (284). However, this later The
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Bailey 551 master of the Vajrabhairava methods of illusory body (which are at ̄ hermenuetical system45)) least in part inspired by the Guhyasamaja and sorcery, Rwa Lotsāwa Rdo rje 'brag (1016-1128), explicitly links the generation-stage meditation and the four types of Buddhist magical action in one of his songs of realization, an ode to the greatness of the generation stage: … the spiritual actions of pacification, enrichment, subjugation, and ferocity Are accomplished through the generation-stage meditation. … bringing immeasurable benefit to living beings Comes about through the generation-stage meditation.46) Thus, in tantric practice magical powers, especially application of ritual spells, are one of the primary ways the yogin implements the bodhisattva ethic of aiding other sentient beings. Within the Mahā yoga ritual practice of the Rnying ma school (which roughly corresponds to the generation stage), for instance, there are two levels of ritual, stod las (primary action), and smad las (secondary action). Despite their names, both are considered to be equally important, with the first meant to liberate oneself and associated with gnosis, and the second to be done on behalf of others, associated with compassion.47) In smad las rites, magic for ostensibly mundane goals is explicitly ̄ integrated with and interpreted through a soteriological Mahayoga pure-vision framework: For example, one popular smad las rite gathers up all the community’s mundane obstacles like illness and poverty around a single weapon torma, which embodies the tantric deity expressing the destructive force of wisdom. This is then hurled at the yogin's own deeper causes of suffering, namely, ignorance technique could simply be one example among many of convenient numerical correlation within tantric hermeneutics. 45) On the influence of the Guhyasamaja ̄ on the Vajrabhairava meditation system see Tanaka (2018), 192-193. On the Guhyasamaja ̄ generationstage system of tantric practice in general see Bentor and Dorjee (2019). 46) Ra Yeshé Sengé (2015), 121. 47) Cathy Cantwell, electronic communication, 7/1/2015. 552 한국불교학 93집 and the three poisons. Thus, the wider community’s mundane obstacles are transformed into the means of eradicating the religious specialist’s deeper spiritual ills, in a single if complex ritual process.48) Similarly, in another spiritual song attributed to Rwa Lotsāwa, the sorcerer equates the repelling of a Mongol army by means of a weaponized gtor ma with the metaphorical internal battles he fought to achieve enlightenment.49) Types of Magic While Schwieger’s assessment that magic is not a “sub-cultural” phenomenon within Buddhism but rather fully integrated within the doctrine and philosophy of Buddhism is essentially accurate, this claim requires more nuance. That is, when studying magic in general and within a Buddhist context specifically, we should distinguish between two basic types of magic. The first is the type this paper is mainly concerned with  ritual magic. The second is what we might call spontaneous superhuman capabilities, or miracle powers, ̣ .50) The distinction is that what in early Buddhism are called rddhi the second type does not require spell instructions, material ingredients, or specific procedures to implement, but rather can be simply manifested at will by the person who has attained them. Buddhist doctrine through the centuries generally views this latter type of magic positively, and readily acknowledges it as a useful tool for awakened beings that they develop as a kind of 48) Cantwell and Mayer (2008), 32. 49) Ra Yeshé Sengé (2015), 124-127. On the significance of Tibetan “war magic” see also Cuevas (2019). 50) Gomez notes three kinds of spontaneous supernormal powers discussed in Pālī Nikāya literature, namely: iddhi (Skt. rddhi ̣ ) which Gomez translates as “thaumaturgy,” which is equivalent to the “magic” power mainly focused on in this paper; ādesanā, referring specifically to the power of mind-reading; and finally anusāni, referring to the instruction of the Dharma, which is treated as the highest and best type of “magic” or “marvel” (Gomez 1977, 221). The
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Bailey 553 spontaneous side-effect of their wisdom and meditative accomplishment.51) However, Buddhists seem to have historically had a more ambivalent attitude toward ritual magic. In the first sutta of the Pālī canon, the Buddha condemns the use of magical spells, including it in a long list of “base arts” from which he refrains.52) In the very next sutta, however, he positively cites a whole range of miraculous superhuman powers as one of the “fruits of the homeless” life.53) In a more tantric context, in which one would expect magic, even ritual magic, to be universally positively viewed, Buddhist literature still treats ritual magic with ambiguity. For instance, ritual magic is tacitly condemned in the biography of Mi la ras pa (1040-1123). Perhaps most significantly, ritual magic is famously the way that Mi la ras pa commits the murder of dozens of people, the remorse over which leads him to seek out “true Dharma.” Also, his guru Mar pa (1012-1097) is depicted berating him over his use of killing magic, mockingly naming him the “Great Magician.”54) Similarly in Mi la ras pa’s gur 'bum, his collection of “100,000” songs, in one famous story, the “Song of the Wild Asses,” Mi la ras pa is depicted burning his disciple Ras chung pa’s magic texts because he fears they will lead him astray. In the same story, however, Mi la ras pa is shown performing all kinds of miraculous superhuman feats to try to win back Ras chung pa’s faith.55) Even in the stories of Padmasambhava, Rwa Lotsāwa, and Ba ri Lotsāwa (1040-1111), all renowned and (in)famous sorcerers, ritual magic is 51) Although, of course, attachment to or excessive pride in these superhuman abilities is sometimes highlighted as a particular problem and a potential obstacle to the full realization of enlightenment. See for instance the story of the Mahāsiddha Kṛṣṇācārya whose pride in his miracle powers lead to his downfall and death (Templeman 1989, 37-50). 52) Walshe (1995), 72-73. 53) Part, or even most, of this bias in Buddhist literature seems to stem from the anxiety that ritual magic could mimic the miracle powers of the Buddha and his followers while functioning completely independent of the moral, meditative, and gnostic advancement such powers were the natural result of in the normative Buddhist context (see Granoff 1996, 83-84). 54) Tsangnyon ̈ Heruka (2010), 54. ̈ Heruka (2016), 465-480. 55) Tsangnyon 554 한국불교학 93집 treated ambiguously at best. In all three cases, their first encounter with ritual magic is when they are attacked by non-Buddhists with evil spells, and their retaliatory use of similar techniques is depicted as simply a necessary response.56) The sense in this literary motif is that these great Buddhist tantric masters, like turning poison into nectar, were able to transform an evil thing (ritual spell craft) into something positive. The objection might be made that the authors of these stories only meant to single out “black” magic, used to harm others, as a moral hazard. While that may be true, it is interesting that other forms of magic in these stories tend to be of the spontaneous miracle type, while the only type depicted as potentially problematic is the ritual type. The moral distinction between spontaneous miracle powers and ritual magic is not particularly unique to Buddhism and is actually quite pervasive in world religions. A book could be written citing relevant examples but, briefly, I will mention some in the context of Neoplatonism. Plotinus himself, although perhaps the first theorist of magic and who argued for its reality, ultimately: regarded ‘magic’ as an obstacle for the soul’s ascension because the motives usually associated with the practice of ‘magic’ in antiquity (gaining love or wealth, harming others, foreseeing the future, etc.) correspond to [the] lower emotions and bind the soul to human affairs.57) Plotinus himself, however, was believed to have miraculously reflected a hostile magical attack with his superior spiritual power.58) 56) In Padmasambhava’s case he is forced to retaliate after four non-Buddhist teachers attack him with black magic (Yeshé Tsogyel 2004, 50-51). In Rwa Lotsāwa’s case he seeks out magical practices after being attacked by a Hindu sorcerer named Purna the Black (Ra Yeshé Sengé 2015, 13-15). Similarly, in Ba ri Lotsāwa’s case, he lethally defended himself from an attacking non-Buddhist (van Schaik, Sam. “Magic, Healing, and Ethics in Tibetan Buddhism.” 4th Aris Lecture in Tibetan and Himalayan Studies, 15th November 2018, Wolfson College, Oxford, UK. http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/magic-healing-and-ethics-tibetan-buddhism). 57) Otto and Stausberg (2013), 28. The
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Bailey 555 Even in the later, more ritualized Neoplatonism brilliantly formulated by Iamblichus (245-325), magic was regarded negatively. Iamblichus rejected the sole focus on formless contemplation of The One advocated by Plotinus and his spiritual heir Porphyry in favor of the inclusion of ritual worship (theurgy) of lower gods and daemons in order to harmonize unbalanced elements of the soul.59) The theurgical philosophy of Iamblichus in many ways nicely parallels the tantric Buddhist ritual worship in general, but specifically of protector deities and lower spirit beings like nāgas and sa bdag.60) But even Iamblichus was, at best, suspicious of ritual magic. Iamblichus condemned the makers of magical talismans and idols on the grounds that their work was artificial (technikōs) and not theurgic (theourgikōs)...Iamblichus argued that while theurgy revealed the creative powers of the Demiurge and was rooted in uniform essences, the art of the idol maker concerned merely the last efflux of nature and attempted to manipulate the world with sympathetic attractions.61) Iamblichus was also known to have miracle powers, however, and in one famous incident is said to have summoned two water spirits at the prompting of his students. But “the demonstration of the miraculous was entirely a divine prerogative according to Iamblichus; wonder-working by man was at best impious, at worst an example of meaningless sorcery.”62) For Iamblichus, theurgic miracle, which came wholly from the gods, but could be channeled through humans, was qualitatively and ontologically different from ordinary magic.63) However, in even later Neoplatonism ritual 58) Merlan (1953), 341. 59) Shaw (2014), 176-178. 60) Gregory Shaw has explicitly and compellingly argued that Iamblichus’s tradition of “theurgy” should be regarded as “Platonic Tantra” (Shaw 2018). 61) Shaw (2014), 42-43. 62) Iamblichus (2003), xxvi. 63) See Clarke (2001, 19-31) for a more detailed analysis of Iamblichus’ “supernatural” worldview as it pertained to theurgy. According to Granoff (1996, 84-87), early Buddhist literature does not seem to have 556 한국불교학 93집 magic, when properly used within a theurgic context, was regarded as an essential tool. An “enlightened” Neoplatonist was regarded as someone who, in the terminology of Proclus (412-485), could live a dual “Cronian” and “Zeusian” life, which is to say, a life of contemplation detached from the sensible world, while simul- taneously still having power within the world. “Thus, for instance, Proclus, without interrupting the contemplation of the divine, but rather, continuing to contemplate the divine in symbols and ritual action, [helped] his fellow men by saving Attica from drought through a theurgic ritual to cause rain.”64) This recalls the tantric yogin’s implementation of magic rites through contemplation of and metaphysical union with his yi dam deity, and the pure illusory body (Zeusian), which magically serves other beings, that is the natural product of self-salvational gnosis (Cronian).65) Still, with the pervasive ambivalence toward ritual magic (again, not limited to Buddhism), it is not surprising that such magic within the las tshog rituals invoking the las bzhi, the “four types of magical action” (pacifying, increase, subjugation, and destruction), with its focus on creating and consecrating physical power objects such as talismans, effigies, etc., which we might classify as “technikōs,” is often classified as the lowest form of magic the yogin can enact. Tantric commentarial literature classifies “mundane” magical powers (which is to say magical powers short of full enlightenment) into three groups: lesser, middling, and greater. For instance, Grags pa rgyal mtshan (1147-1216), one of the great Sa skya patriarchs, in a treatise called Rgyud kyi mngon par rtogs pa rin po che'i ljon shing made such an ontological distinction between the miracle powers of the Buddha and other types or sources of magical power, using the term abubhāva (something that does not have natural cause) for both. However, I would argue that in the tantric context there is an implicit ontological distinction between power effectively harnessed or channeled from a deity (or practitioner as deity, which would be generally similar to theurgic powers in the Neoplatonist context) and that which comes from other sources, although I am unaware of any clear semantic distinction made in Indo-Tibetan tantric literature. 64) Helmig and Vargas (2014), 263. 65) Shaw (2015) compares the adepts of Neoplatonism to tantric siddhas. The
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Bailey 557 (The Precious Tree: A Clear Understanding of Tantra), outlines a kind of systematic theory of tantric Buddhist magic, defining the lesser type of magical powers as the four types of ritual magic which he illustrates with the examples of pacifying disease and evil spirits; increasing life-span, fortune, and enjoyments; subjugating or summoning a king and other types of people; and finally killing, expelling, isolating, or petrifying others. The middling type of magical power is a standard list of magical attainments, taken specifically from the Vajrapañjara Tantra, most of which also rely on special power objects but are not explicitly dependent on ritual action per se, including the ability to travel to the celestial realms by means of a magical sword, the ability to see other dimensions with magical eye ointment, the knowledge/ability to create elixirs of immortality, etc. Finally, the higher types of magical attainments are the spontaneous superhuman powers reminiscent of rddhi ̣ , which include the ability to instantly have whatever one wishes and to be able to travel to Buddha lands and receive teachings directly from enlightened beings.66) The nineteenth century ris med (non-sectarian) master 'Jam mgon kong sprul (1813-1899) classifies the three types of “mundane” magical powers slightly differently. For him, both ritual magic and the eight types of magic that employ magical elixirs, pills, swords, and so forth are counted as the lesser type of magic. The middling type of magic includes “becoming like a god of the desire realm” and spontaneously attaining whatever one desires. The highest type is where one “becomes like a god of the form realm” and is able to travel to Buddha realms and also manifest various emanations to aid sentient beings.67) It is interesting to note here that only the highest type of magical attainment is explicitly “religious,” or has the Dharma as its explicit concern (receiving teachings directly from Buddhas and helping sentient beings by being able to produce illusory emanations), although again, the lesser types of magic are implicitly religious as well in that their normative purpose is meant also to help relieve the sufferings of beings. It is also important to note, 66) Beyer (1973), 249-253. 67) Kongtrul (2008), 282, n.14. 558 한국불교학 93집 per our discussion above, that the lesser types of magic are essentially “technikōs” in that they rely on ritual and special power objects, whereas the highest type of magic is described as being the spontaneous-miracle-power type of magic. These higher magical attainments are generalized abilities that do not depend upon specific ritual techniques for their accomplishment; they are talents that seem to appear spontaneously in the course of contemplation, and they are symbols of the acquisition of comprehensive divine power.68) Beyer goes on to (usefully) impose a further, etic level of threefold classification on the “lower” ritual magic of the four actions.69) In other words, according to Beyer, all tantric ritual magic can be divided up into three sub-types based on their general technique. The first is what he calls “direct application.” Direct application magic is the least “technikōs” in that it does not actually rely on physical substances or supports. Rather, in the case of direct application magic, the yogin simply focuses and asserts his will by means of visualization and/or mantra recitation in what is essentially just a generation-stage practice with a goal aimed at effecting external events as opposed to being oriented toward self-transformation. The next subtype of ritual magic is what Beyer calls “recipes.” These are spells that rely particularly on the mixing of certain types of, usually pharmacological, ingredients to produce medicinal substances. This particular type of magic appears to be heavily influenced by the Ayurvedic tradition of Indo-Tibetan medicine, and many of the ingredients listed in the recipe-type magic in Sle lung’s las tshogs appear as important medicinal substances in the famous Four Medical Tantras (Rgyud bzhi) that are the basis of traditional Tibetan medicine.70) Beyer characterizes “recipe magic” as channeling “the protective power of the deity...through the medium of recipes, materials generated as magical substances and then 68) Beyer (1973), 253. 69) Beyer (1973), 280-291. 70) On the Rgyud bzhi see Clifford 1984. The
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Bailey 559 ingested.”71) But as we shall see in Sle lung’s las tshogs, some of the recipe-focused spells do not explicitly mention the channeling of deity power. The simple assemblage of ingredients is sufficient to produce the magical effect. The last subtype Beyer calls “magical devices” and generally seems to be the most common type in tantric grimoires. This type of spell relies on the specialized creation and use of an empowered object, usually a talisman and/or effigy, that is then worn or hidden somewhere to create the magical effect.72) This type of magic is pervasive in Indian religion since the time of the Atharva Veda. While the spells in the GYCK show far more reliance on meditative visualization practice than their Vedic counterparts (that is, using the mechanics of generation-stage meditation), in both texts the spells are (in most cases) dependent on three interlocking elements: mantra (recitation), karman (action), and dravya (material or substance).73) The Tibetan equivalents of these elements would be “sngags,” “las,” and “thun.” In both the early Indian texts and the much later Tibetan ones, the practitioner is enjoined to empower a material object (thun/dravya) with a religiously powerful recitation (sngags/mantra), and then do something with the empowered object (las/karman), such as tying it on his body or the body of another to afford protection or attract wealth, etc. This is the magic that would also be most recognizable to the Neoplatonist, and to a practitioner in the Western esoteric tradition. Namely, it relies, at least in part, on catching and exploiting the natural sympathetic metaphysical bonds between things. But in the tantric Buddhist context of the GYCK, in most (but not all) cases, this “natural philosophy” of magic common to most 71) Beyer (1973), 283. 72) While my definition of this type of Tibetan magic is somewhat more expansive, Beyer uses the term "devices" to refer specifically to magic circles, or cakras (Tib. khor lo), which are employed in magical rituals, often as talismans for protection. See The Beneficial Moon Rays: A Compendium of Chakras and Various Illustrations Pertaining to The Great Treasury of Rediscovered Teachings, New Delhi: Shechen Publications, 2018. 73) For a discussion of these three elements in the context of the Atharva Veda and its related literature, see Bahulkar (1994), 40-49. 560 한국불교학 93집 of the ancient world is enhanced with the deity yoga-based emanation and reabsorption of light and energy so specific to and prevalent in tantric ritual. Spell Analysis Now, based on this historical, philosophical, and religious context we can now informatively analyze Sle lung’s grimoire, the las tshogs text at the beginning of volume 12 of the GYCK. Space does not allow a full translation of all 92 spells, but we will examine a few examples that illustrate the concepts surveyed above. Sle lung opens his text with a brief introduction, stating: The yogin who has completed the accomplishment of the ḍākinī Secret Gnosis, if he wishes, may put into practice this collection of enlightened activities which is in accordance with the “Tantra of Qualities, the Life Pillar of the Teachings,” from the Gathering of the Lamas’ Intentions.74) This paragraph notes two significant points, first that Sle lung adapted these spells from Sangs rgyas gling pa’s (1340-1396) highly influential 14th-century Bla ma dgongs 'dus treasure cycle for use in the context of his personal meditational deity. Second, Sle lung notes that, in line with the normative understanding of magic collections like this, one cannot practice the spells without being highly experienced in deity yoga meditation. Logistically this typically means that the yogin has done an extended meditational retreat on a particular enlightened deity, such as Gsang ba ye shes, recited a certain number of the deity’s mantra, and reached a point where his mind and the deity’s mind have mingled, or become inseparable.75) 74) 'dir gsang ba ye shes kyi mkha' 'gro'i bsnyen sgrub thems pa'i rnal 'byor pas bla ma dgongs pa 'dus pa'i yon tan gyi rgyud bstan pa'i srog shing las sungs pa ltar gyi las tshogs rnams lag tu blang bar 'dod na. GYCK v. 12, 2. 75) For the details of this “accomplishment” phase which empowers a yogin The
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Bailey 561 While Sle lung specifies that one must have become accomplished in the practice of Gsang ba ye shes specifically, theoretically, yogic accomplishment of any enlightened yi dam is sufficient. However, in the context of the GYCK when the spell refers to the “root mantra” (see spell three below), when no other deity or mantra is specified, we can presume that this refers to Gsang ba ye shes’s mantra. Since this grimoire was originally assembled and used in a tantric ritual cycle that had nothing to do with the goddess Secret Gnosis, it never explicitly mentions her, although it does give specific meditation instructions on a number of other deities. The first spell exemplifies this, as it describes what is essentially just a very short generationstage meditation focused on Amitayus (the Buddha of long life) for the purpose of achieving long life: First, to achieve long life, at dawn, before you say anything, meditate on yourself as the Buddha Amitāyus. As you meditate, visualize gathering the essence of life. If you recite “Om vajra jñāna ā yu she life brum swa hā”76) one pointedly, you will obtain long life.77) This is one of 20 spells in the collection that are wholly visualized, that do not depend on any material object or substance for its effect, and clearly belong to the “direct application” subtype of Tibetan Buddhist magic. Of these 20, seven, including this first one, employ the use of a mantra, while the other 13 are simply to perform magic, see Beyer (1973), 361ff. The key point about this prerequisite is that the magic thus ultimately stems from the deity, or the practitioner as deity, not from the practitioner as ordinary human wonder-worker. Thus, we could tentatively classify these powers as properly “theurgic” in Iamblichean terms. 76) In my translations of the mantras used in these spells, I render the Tibetan words into English while leaving the Sanskrit words untranslated. The reason for this is that for the Tibetan audience of these spells, the original Sanskrit words would have had symbolic power exceeding their literal meanings. 77) dang po tshe sgrub pa ni/ tho [3] rengs dag ma shor ba'i gong du rang nyid tshe dpag med du bsgoms la/ tshe bcud bsdu ba'i dmigs pa dang bcas/ oM badzre dznya na A yu she bruM swA hA/ zhes rtse gcig tu bzlas na tshe'i dngos grub thob par 'gyuro/ GYCK v. 12, 2-3. 562 한국불교학 93집 imagined without the apparent need for mantra recitation. Another noteworthy aspect of this first spell is that it specifies a time of day, dawn, to perform it. Spell ten, another directapplication spell, also specifies a time of day during which the practice should be done, specifically sunset: Tenth, if you wish to repel black magic, meditate on yourself as the wrathful deity Hayagrīva in the middle of a thousandspoked wheel made of meteoric iron. Imagine that the wheel spins with intensity counterclockwise, reducing evil sorcerers together with their protector deities to dust. After the mantra of Hayagrīva, recite “Repel all harm doers, evil sorcerers and māras ! The heart of such and such a person mā ra ya bhyoh bhyoh completely, completely evil sorcerers, destroy them, bring them down, the evil sorcerers’ spell, may it land back on them, nri mā ra ya evil sorcerers dzah dzah.” By reciting this intensely in front of the setting sun you will completely repel black magic.78) While almost entirely reliant on the mind and will of the practitioner, the specification of different times in these two spells is reminiscent of astral magic, in which the positions of the celestial bodies influence efficacy. In the case of the first spell, what is clearly an example of increasing magic for enhancing lifespan is logically connected to the beginning of the day, when the sun is ascending. In contrast spell ten, a destructive rite, is connected to the end of the day when the sun is about to disappear into night. In other words, there is a conceptual or metaphorical sympathy established between the time of day and the type of magic. A very few other spells show the influence of astral magic. Spell three, for increasing wealth, and spell 61, for ensuring the birth of a son, both give instructions for the “magical device” type of magic, instructing in 78) bcu pa rbod gtong bzlog par 'dod na/ gnam lcags las grub pa'i 'khor lo rtsibs stong gi dbus su rang nyid rta mgrin du bsgoms la 'khor lo g.yon du drag por 'khor bas byad ma lha srungs dang bcas pa rngul phran bzhin du brlag par bsams la/ rta mgrin gyi sngags gsham du/ gnod byed byad ma sarwa mA ra ya bzlog byer/ che ge mo'i tsitta mA ra ya bhyoH [9] bhyoH rbad rbad byad ma rang gshed rang la phob/ byad ma rang byad rang la bzlog/ nri mA ra ya byad ma dzaH zhes nyi ma bzhud gdong du drag bor bzlas pas bzlog pa'i mchog tu 'gyuro GYCK v. 12, 8-9. The
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Bailey 563 both cases that certain talismans should be made or used during a day when the moon is in the lunar mansion (Skt. nakṣatra, Tib. rgyu skar) of puṣya/rgyal, one of the most auspicious asterisms in Indo-Tibetan astrology.79) Third, if you wish to increase wealth, on a day of the constellation puṣya, make a golden tablet encrusted with nine turquoise stones [lit. “eyes”]. Collect and dissolve the essence of samsara and nirvana into this tablet, and recite the root mantra, along with “Pushtim ku ru ye swā hā.” Having accomplished that, roll the tablet up in red cloth and without letting other people touch it, if you tie it to your body, your wealth will increase.80) Eleven spells mention “summoning and dissolving” things into physical objects, usually the consciousnesses of people, animals, or spirits the yogin is trying to control or destroy. Even more, usually of the direct application type, rely on visualizing and “dissolving” light rays and/or syllables into oneself, a technique pervasive in normative generation-stage meditation. Twenty-seventh, if you want a pleasant voice and to be articulate, visualize yourself clearly as your meditation deity. Imagine a white, eight-petalled lotus on your tongue. On top of that, meditate on a four-finger-width crystal sword radiating light rays. Recite “hrīh bam e” twenty-one times and imagine the light wraps around the tongue which dissolves into light. Imagine the sword blends inseparably with the white lotus and after that leave it in that state. Practice continuously like that and you will have a pleasant voice and articulate speech.81) 79) Cornu (1997), 130-141. 80) longs spyod ’phel bar ’dod na/ skar ma rgyal gyi nyin mo gser gyi byang bu mig dgu g.yu ’phra can bcos par ’khor ’das kyi bcud thams cad bsdus te thim par bsams nas rtsa sngags kyi gsham du ba su pushTiM ku ru ye swA hA/ zhes nan tan du bsgrubs nas dar dmar gyis bsgril/ mi lag ma ’grims bar lus la bcangs pas longs spyod/ ’phel bar ’gyur ro 3. 81) nyer bdun pa skad dang lce bde bar byed na/ rang lhar gsal ba'i lce'i steng du pad dkar 'dab brgyad/ de'i steng du shel gyi ral gri sor bzhi pa 'od zer 'phro ba bsgoms la/ hriH baM e zhes nyer gcig bgrangs pas ral gri'i 'od kyis lce la dkris pas lce zhu/ ral gri pad dkar dang bcas pa dbyer med gcig tu 'dres par bsams la mthar mi g.yo ba'i ngang la glod/ de ltar 564 한국불교학 93집 Unlike, for instance, the Mi pham be'u 'bum studied by Cuevas, Sle lung’s las tshogs and most tantric grimoires I have examined do not neatly categorize their various spells, or label them based on the four types of tantric Buddhist magic. However, in Sle lung’s (or perhaps more accurately, in the Tantra of Qualities text) certain spells appear to be grouped together based on similarity of purpose and technique, just as in the Indian “encyclopedic grimoires” studied by Ullrey (see above). For example, spells 17 through 20 all focus on accumulating material wealth. Spells 30-34 are concerned with success in competitions, whether that be games, business, or warfare. One of the most interesting of these groupings comes near the end of the text: spells 75-90 are all concerned with protection from various types of spirits, from Indian classes of “spirits-deities”82) such as gods (Skt. devas, Tib. lha) down through nāgas, grāha (planetary spirits), and so forth, to specifically Tibetan classes of spirits such as rgyal po, the'u rang, and bstan. Many of these spells seem medical in nature, what Beyer calls the “recipe” type of magic, using various medicinal substances to produce pills. However, these pills are not to be ingested, but are meant to be kept on one’s person like a talisman or amulet, thus complicating the distinction between “recipes” and “magical devices.” Some of the ingredients of the pills, however, are not typical medicinal substances. For example: Eighty-fifth, if you wish to be protected from the harm of monk-demons, mix the earth of an old holy place with the excrement and urine of a monk of good conduct and a mantra practitioner with unbroken vows and make pills the size of wet rabbit droppings. Put the pills in a case made of human flesh, frankincense, and monkey flesh. After the root mantra recite “ra tsa tri ling hur wrap up rot mind sa ma ya myogs myogs ra tsa bam ri li li mā ra ya completely” thousands of times. If you keep the case on your body, you will be protected from harm by monk-demons.83) rgyun du nyams su blangs pas skad dang lce rab tu bde bar 'gyur ro/ GYCK v. 12, 22. 82) Term borrowed from DeCaroli (2004). 83) gya lnga rgyal 'gong gi gnod pa bsrung bar 'dod na/ chos 'khor rnying pa'i sa dang/ khrims ldan gyi dge slong/ dam tshigs nyams pa'i sngags The
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Bailey 565 Rgyal po demons84) are often believed to be the ghostly rebirths of monks who died with wrong views. Note that this spell relies on substances from holy ground and virtuous monks, things “naturally opposite” to their targets, to metaphysically repel them, rather than create a bond of sympathy using conceptually alike things. The mantric phrase “wrap up rot mind” may be an idiom for suppressing or controlling the wrong views of its target.85) The final spell in the collection is simultaneously the least and most interesting in the entire grimoire, least interesting for its purpose and most interesting for its technique. Ninety-second, if you want all your wishes to be fulfilled, in the morning, expel stale air, visualize your self-awareness as a Bhrum syllable from which shines the radiance and splendid majesty of a wish-fulfilling jewel. Into this dissolve all the assemblies of deities of the three roots. Hold the vase-breath. Again, radiate light rays and pervade all phenomena with them. Think that whatever you wish is accomplished and establish yourself in the sphere of non-conceptual emptiness and you will accomplish whatever you wish.86) pa'i dri chen dri chu sbyar bar ril bu ri bong gi ril ma rlon pa tsam bcos pa dang/ mi sha gu gul sprel sha rnams kyi rdzas thum la rtsa sngags kyi gsham du/ ra tsa tri ling hur thums myags tsitta sa ma ya myogs myogs/ ra tsa baM ri li li mA ra ya rbad/ ces stong phrag bzlas nas lus la bcangs na/ rgyal gnod bsrung bar 'gyuro/ GYCK v. 12, 66-67. 84) Translated more literally as “king” demons. 85) My thanks to Susan McMullin for this suggestion. 86) go gnyis pa ci bsam 'grub par 'dod na/ tho rengs rlung ro dbyung la rang rig bhruM las yid bzhin gyi nor bu dgos 'dod kun 'byung bkrag mdangs dang gzi brjid phun sum tshogs par bskyed la rtsa gsum gyi lha tshogs thams cad bstim/ bum can bzung/ slar yang 'od zer 'phros te snang srid thams cad khyab/ ci bsam yid bzhin du 'grub par bsams la mi dmigs pa'i ngang la bzhad pas ci bsam yid bzhin du 'grub par 'gyur ro/ GYCK v. 12, 70. 566 한국불교학 93집 The goal of this spell is rather generic and actually seems more akin to the “middling” type of magic discussed above and not the typical tantric ritual magic spell which tends to have more limited, specific goals. It appears to be a direct-application type of spell and includes normative generation-stage-style visualizations. What is most interesting about it, however, is its employment of completionstage practices as well, including reference to the sprul 'khor87) cleansing breath practice and the vase-breathing technique, which in the completion stage of tantric Buddhist meditation is usually employed to help generate inner heat in gtum mo practice. The final dissolution into emptiness is also something one would more expect to find in a Mahāmudra or rdzogs chen meditation than a grimoire. In fact, this “spell” is essentially just a normative tantric meditation practice, including both the generation and completion stages. By ending the grimoire with this, the implicit message here seems to be that such meditation practice is indeed the ultimate magic. 87) Skt. yantra, a term that can reasonably be translated as "magic circle." The
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