Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
www.brill.nl/nu
Toward a Geographic Biography:
Mi la ras pa in the Tibetan Landscape
Andrew Quintman
Department of Religion, Princeton University,
Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
quintman@Princeton.edu
Abstract
Few Tibetan figures have left an impression on the Himalayan landscape, both literary
and geographic, as indelibly as Mi la ras pa (ca. 1028–1111), whose career as meditator and poet was punctuated by travel across the borderlands of southern Tibet. his
essay will begin to address the defining role of place in Tibetan biographical literature
by examining the intersections of text and terrain in the recording of an individual’s
life. In particular, this study examines sites of transformation in Mi la ras pa’s biographical narratives, arguing for what might be called a geographic biography by
examining the dialogical relationship between a life story recorded on paper and a life
imprinted on the ground. It first considers the broad paradigms for landscaping the
environment witnessed in Tibetan literature. It then examines ways in which the yogin’s early biographical tradition treated the category of sacred place, creating increasingly detailed maps of the yogin’s life, and how those maps were understood and
reinterpreted. he paper concludes by addressing two specific modes of transformation in the life story — contested place and re-imagined place — exploring new geographies of consecration, dominion, and praxis.
Keywords
Tibet, Tibetan literature, Mi la ras pa, biography, hagiography, sacred geography
Geographic Lives
Few Tibetan figures have left an impression on the Himalayan landscape, both literary and geographic, as indelibly as Mi la ras pa
(ca. 1028–1111), whose career as meditator and poet was punctuated
by travel among mountain retreats across the borderlands of southern
Tibet. Stories of his converting disciples, taming wild places, and
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2008
DOI: 10.1163/156852708X310509
364
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
subjugating local spirits carved out a terrain fertile for the spread of
dharma, thereby defining the contours of a Buddhist topography on
both sides of the Himalayan range. Early versions of the biography
recorded dozens of locations connected to his life. It was only at the
close of the fifteenth-century, however, that the yogin’s illustrious biographer Gtsang smyon Heruka (1452–1507) — the so-called “Madman
of Tsang” — codified the map of authentic Mi la sites along this borderland, much as he standardized previous written accounts of the
yogin’s activities that were closely associated with them.
he life of a saint, it has been suggested, is a “composition of places,”
charting an itinerary of departures and returns that ultimately comes to
define the life through the places it inhabits (Certeau 1988:281). Early
scholars of Buddhism, including Alfred Foucher, noted the central role
of place and pilgrimage in the development of the Buddha’s biographical tradition.1 Studies of East Asian traditions have explored the relationship between Buddhist lives and places.2 Likewise, a general Tibetan
tendency toward topophilia — to invoke Yi-fü Tuan’s famous title —
has been widely described, and the role of sacred landscape in the con-
his thesis is succinctly laid out in Foucher (1963:7–9). Tradition ascribes the origins of Buddhist pilgrimage and its delineation of sacred space to the Mahāparinibbāna
Sutta, an important work from the Pāli canon recounting the final days of the Buddha’s life. In this narrative, the Buddha himself enumerates four sites to be visited and
venerated by his disciples after his passing: “Here the Tathāgata was born. . . . Here the
Tathāgata attained supreme enlightenment. . . . Here the Tathāgata set in motion the
Wheel of Dhamma. . . . Here the Tathāgata attained the Nibbāna-element without
remainder” (Mahāparinibbāna Sutta 5.8; translation after Walshe [1987:263].) his
passage famously describes these locations — later known as the caturmahāprātihārya,
or the “four great wonders” — not with geographical place-names but in direct reference to the four central acts of the Buddha’s life. Following Foucher’s theory, Étienne
Lamotte (1988:665) re-emphasized the relationship between text and terrain, noting
that “It is not possible to separate the biography of the Buddha from the sacred topography of Buddhism.” In his view, one of the earliest extensive accounts of the Buddha’s
life, the Lalitavistara Sūtra, appears in the form of an “enlarged . . . edition of several
pilgrimage guide books placed end to end.”
2)
See, for example, Grapard (1982); Shinohara (2003). he latter forms part of a
publication directly addressing the intersections of sacred place and biography manifesting in various religious traditions across East, South, and Southeast Asia (although
Tibet is conspicuously absent). See Granoff and Shinohara (2003).
1)
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
365
text of Himalayan pilgrimage and ritual traditions has become a
sub-field in its own right.3 Austrian mountaineer (and companion of
Heinrich Harrer) Peter Aufschnaiter was among the first to systematically document the sites associated with Mi la ras pa’s life, based upon
his explorations of the Skyid grong valley in southern Tibet.4 Yet little
attention has been paid to the relationship between sacred geography
and narrative in the context of Tibetan life writing. he present essay
will thus begin to address this lacuna in contemporary scholarship,
examining the defining role of place in Tibetan biographical literature
by surveying the intersections of text and terrain in the recording of Mi
la ras pa’s life story.
In what follows, I will propose two interrelated points about the
relationship between biographical narrative and the formulation of
sacred geography in Tibet. First, I would like to suggest that the topography of Mi la ras pa’s life constitutes an important (but frequently
overlooked) form of life writing in its own right, what might be considered geographic biography. he places associated with a life, set forth in
literature, can also be read on the ground as a kind of biographical text.
he notion of a geographic biography is thus useful as a means for teasing out the relationship between Tibetan life writing and sacred geography while critically addressing received notions about the forms they
inhabit.
Mi la ras pa’s biographical tradition is valuable here because it forms
such a rich intertextual archive, preserving materials that range from
simple vitae to detailed compendia. he earliest examples, originating
in the records of his direct disciples, grew increasingly complex, and
culminate in the standard two-volume edition (the Life and Collected
Songs) in 1488, nearly four centuries after the yogin’s death. Together,
these sources offer fertile soil for excavating layers of representation
that, in cross-section, reveal the programmatic purposes that life writing served in Tibet (much as it did in Medieval Europe). As Mi la ras
Recent publications include Diemberger (1991, 1993); Ehrhard (1997, 1999a,
1999b); Huber (1999a, 1999b); and MacDonald (1997).
4)
Aufschnaiter’s observations first appeared in his posthumous publication “Lands
and Places of Milarepa.” See Aufschnaiter (1976). For an English translation of his
journals, which make frequent mention of Mi la ras pa and the yogin’s meditation
sites, see Brauen (2002).
3)
366
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
pa’s followers coalesced into the Buddhist traditions known as the
Bkaʾ brgyud (literally, Oral Transmission), stories of the yogin’s life thus
became a powerful vehicle for promoting personal, institutional, or
doctrinal considerations, including the claiming, demarcating, and
mapping of sacred space.
he narrative tradition of Mi la ras pa’s life is also relevant in this
context because it foregrounds the role of place, even as it simultaneously deemphasizes the element of time. he life story records only the
most general sense of time passing: Mi la’s early childhood folds into his
later years with very few external temporal markers. he Songs compress the element of time even further, serving as biographical networks
largely synchronic in nature. Several Tibetan commentators have plotted general chronologies of Mi la ras pa’s life, calculating the period
he spent with Mar pa (1002/12–1097) and the length of his various
retreats, yet even the most basic temporal facts of his biography — the
dates of his birth and death — are hotly contested.5 Instead, the biographical tradition manifests largely in terms of place: regions through
which Mi la traveled, caves in which he meditated, where he met disciples, tamed demons, sang his songs. Reading through the extensive
biographies, we find long lists of the places in Mi la’s life but have
almost no idea when he visited them.
he second point I would like to argue is that the topography of Mi
la ras pa’s biographical tradition was unstable, subject to both change
and revision much like its literary cousin. As individual locations
evolved over time, they appear to have served as powerful sites for
remembering episodes of the yogin’s life story and for re-recording how
those stories were told. he sites of transformation in the geographic
biography thus reveal a dialogical relationship between a life story
recorded on paper and a life imprinted on the ground. Biographical
narratives may landscape the terrain, but sacred sites in turn serve to
re-imagine how those narratives can be written and read.
Recent studies in geography have begun to argue against notions of
place as a static dimension, “devoid of effect or implications” (Massey
1994:3). Rather, place is unstable and changing, not unlike the bioFor an extensive chronological analysis of Mi la ras pa’s life, see Tshe dbang nor bu,
SDN. Chos kyi dbang phyug, in his DTL, and Zhi byed ri pa, in NDO, also attempt
to reconstruct chronologies of the yogin’s life.
5)
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
367
graphical tradition itself; each may transform, and be transformed, over
time. In some cases, the ground itself is understood as having the potential to move: China maintains “floating” mountains; sacred peaks are
said to have “flown” from India to Japan; the very earth of Tibet is
described as being restrained by a series of “taming” temples to insure
its receptivity to Buddhism.6 Sacred sites could be transported and
transplanted, most famously illustrated by the Indian Mount Potalaka
in the form of Lhasa’s Potala Palace, revered as the abode of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara who is believed to manifest in the figure of the Dalai
Lamas. Tibet imported India’s complex system of sacred lands (pīṭha)
to reconstruct a native geography based upon tantric traditions of literature and practice. Sacred places could also move within Tibet’s own
borders, as did the acclaimed mountain pilgrimage of Tsā ri, recreated
in eastern Tibet as the retreat hermitage Rin chen brag called Tsa ʾdra,
literally “like Tsā ri.”7 Buddhist traditions therefore seem to have understood, at least implicitly, the dynamic and unfixed nature of sacred
places.
Traditional geographic theory, often labeled “environmental determinism,” long held that “it is place that creates man and his culture as
well as his character, rather than the other way round” (Smith 1987:30).
Yet, as J. Z. Smith has proposed, “What if space were not the recipient
but rather the creation of the human project? What if place were an
active production of intellection rather than its passive receptacle?”
(ibid. 26).
Such a position was not unknown to Tibetan commentators. A century and a half prior to Smith’s query, Chos kyi dbang phyug (1775–
1837), the famed nineteenth-century scholar from Brag dkar rta so in
southern Tibet, argued for a similar case about the intersection of
person and place. He noted two modes of interaction between people
and places: sacred sites that are blessed by individuals and individuals
who are blessed by sacred sites.8 his perhaps echoes the mainstream
On the flying mountains of Japan see Grapard (1982); flying mountains in Tibet,
and references to Chinese hovering mountains, are described in Buffetrille (1996). On
the taming of the Tibetan landscape in relation to the introduction of Buddhism, see
Aris (1979) and Gyatso (1989).
7)
On the geography of Tsa ʾdra, see Ngawang Zangpo (2001).
8)
Chos kyi dbang phyug, DTL, 8b.
6)
368
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
Buddhist belief that a sacred site may be transformed through a charismatic figure’s consecration, just as visitors to that site at a later time are
themselves transformed long after the original individual has gone. Following this lead, the present essay will consider sacred place not (or not
only) as the passive product of a powerful master’s blessing (byin rlabs)
or auspicious connection (rten ʾbrel ) as recorded in texts, but as playing
a creative and dynamic role in the formation of his life story and biographical tradition. hough mountain caves served as Mi la’s home for
much of his life, their locations and their understanding within the
tradition were not carved in stone; they were unstable, magma-like,
continuing to transform even as the strata of his literary life story coalesced and solidified.
What implications does this then have for the kind of life writing in
Mi la ras pa’s biographical tradition? To a large degree, the recording of
a life is an act of memory: memorializing the lives of others, crafting a
memoir of one’s own. Indeed, one of the yogin’s earliest biographers,
Ngan rdzong ras pa Byang chub rgyal po (b. eleventh century) was
renowned for his mnemic skills, and his colophons describe his motivation from fear that his guru’s life story will be forgotten — a theme
common to many Tibetan biographies.9 Pertinent to the present conNgan rdzong ras pa’s own biography opens with a verse praising his faculty of perfect memory:
9)
I respectfully bow down at the feet of Ngan rdzong ston pa:
Learned sovereign who first perfected study,
Accomplished sovereign who then perfected meditation,
he one named Bo[dhi] [Ra]ja, scholar-adept who attained an indelible memory.
See Dam pa ras chen, NDN, 2. (dang por sbyangs pa mthar phyir <phyin> mkhas paʾi
gtso/ der rjes sgom pa mthar phyin grub paʾi gtso/ mkhas grub mi rjed gzungs thob bo jiʾi
mtshan/ ngan rdzong ston paʾi zhabs la gus phyag ʾtshal/ ) His biography then continues:
“He brought appearances under his power and then performed inconceivable enlightened activity in taming disciples. He attained an indelible memory and then compiled
the sayings of the great Rje btsun Mi la ras pa, thereby benefiting beings.” (ibid. 15:
snang ba dbang du ʾdus nas gdul nas gdul bya phrin las bsam gyi mi khyab pa mdzad/ mi
rjed paʾi gzungs thob nas/ rje btsun chen po mi la ras paʾi gsung sgros bkaʾi bsdu ba mdzad
pas sems can la phan btags/ )
he term used to describe Ngan rdzong’s abilities (mi brjed paʾi gzung), literally “the
memory (or retention) that does not forget,” is here rendered as “indelible memory.”
he Tibetan gzung — defined as “retaining the words and the meaning of dharma
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
369
text, however, Edward Casey has described a particularly close relationship between place and memory, arguing that “memory is naturally
place-oriented or at least place-supported . . . a place wherein the past
can revive and survive”; memory, he notes, is “a place for places” (Casey
1987:186).10 And insofar as life writing serves as an exterior narrative
without forgetting them” (chos kyi tshig don mi brjed par ʾdzin pa) — was also used by
Tibetan translators to render the Sanskrit dhāraṇ ī. he word is frequently understood
as referring to a kind of magic formula, ranging in length from a single syllable to the
entire Sanskrit alphabet, and often devoid of any clear semantic meaning. In that
context, a dhāraṇ ī is believed to capture and retain the essence of an element of the
Buddhist teaching or a text describing it, a function illustrated by the term’s foundation in the verbal root “to hold” (dhṛ). Dhāraṇ īs are also believed to serve as a form of
protection, in which case they may be compared with the paritta of the Pāli canon,
although they are most frequently discussed in relation to mantra, found in the literature of both the sūtras and the tantras. For a discussion of the literature pertaining to
dhāraṇ ī and mantra, and the relationships between the two, see Gyatso (1992:198
n. 11). In a broader sense, however, the term dhāraṇ ī refers to a form of memory.
According to the Akṣayamatinirdeśa,
Dhāraṇ ī is to keep, retain in memory and not forget, to truly retain by remembrance the eighty-four thousand multitudes of religion. . . . Again, dhāraṇ ī is that
by which one retains the sayings of all the bodhisattvas, pratyekabuddhas, śrāvakas
and all living beings, that by which one retains all good sayings without remainder. (Quoted in Braarvig [1985:18])
he Bodhisattvabhūmi classifies four types of dhāraṇ ī: (1) dharma dhāraṇ ī (2) meaning
dhāraṇ ī (arthadhāraṇ ī), (3) mantra dhāraṇ ī, and (4) forbearance dhāraṇ ī (kṣāntidhāraṇ ī)
(ibid. 19–20). Of these, the first refers to the mnemic ability to retain in memory the
formulation of oral or written dharma, such as a sermon or a book, for an infinite
period of time. he second category identifies the ability to retain the meaning of
those teachings, and not just the syntactic formation of their words. Mantra dhāraṇ ī
refers to the verbal formula employed by a bodhisattva for the benefit of beings; it is
both the formula retained in mind and the efficacy retained by the formula. Forbearance dhāraṇ ī refers to the bodhisattva’s realization, gained through the use of a dhāraṇ ī
formula, that the ultimate nature lies beyond verbal expressions. hus, if in this context dhāraṇ ī might be translated as “the power of retaining in memory . . . through
memory of extraordinary power,” the term describes both the faculty of memory and
the remembrance itself.
10)
In a subsequent publication, Casey further explores the philosophical implications
of place, “its power to direct and stabilize us, to memorialize and identify us, and tell
us who and what we are in terms of where we are (as well as where we are not)” (Casey
1993:xv).
370
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
of memory, it too seems to be naturally place oriented: a place where
both the past and its places survive. In this sense, biography appears to
preserve a form of what Casey has called “place memory,” the representation of the past in its own place. Here, place-memory describes the
underlying narratives preserving an individual’s life as being both place
oriented and place saturated.
Place memory also describes a quality of places themselves: the ability of place to serve as a “container of experiences,” holding narratives
of the past in place (Casey 1987:187). In this case, it aptly designates
the memory of an individual in a place and in reference to that place
(ibid.). he relationship between life and landscape thus forms a dialogue in which biographical narrative creates and preserves the sacred
space inhabited by an individual, while specific sites serve as a parallel
means for remembering and re-imagining an individual’s life in those
places. Mi la ras pa’s biographical tradition thus serves as the memory
of his life firmly situated in the topography of his life story. Landscape
forms the fundament upon which Mi la ras pa’s life might be written,
but it also records and preserves the life story as if they were inscribed
in the rocky cliffs and lush forests of the Himalayan borderlands. he
conundrum of place, Casey has noted, is that it is unstable and changing, while persisting as memory. his essay will argue for an understanding of place as unstable, while persisting through the memory of
individuals whose lives were spent there, and through which their lives
were written.
Paradigms for Landscaping the Environment
Before turning to the details of Mi la ras pa’s biographical tradition, it
will be useful to briefly review some of the paradigms through which
Tibetan sacred geography has taken shape. Accounts of Buddhism’s
early transplantation in the high plateau are grounded, literally, in the
Tibetan soil. In turn, the Himalayan ground has largely been shaped
through a process that will later be described as landscaping: the production and formulation of sacred space through a variety of means.
Although literary, ritual, and other praxis-oriented traditions may form
and reform landscape, in the present context it is the narrative traditions of Mi la ras pa’s life story that shape the land.
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
371
In Tibet’s myth of origins for the Buddhist domination over its indigenous religion, the landscape is imagined as a great supine demoness
(srin mo) spread across the earth, an obstructing force antithetical to the
“civilizing” influences of the Buddhadharma. It is Tibet’s great religious
monarch and consolidator of its early empire Srong btsan sgam po
(d. 649) who is said to have first subdued this demoness, paving the
way for his empire’s gradual conversion. To do so, he famously constructed a series of “taming temples,” effectively pinning down the
demoness at various points on her body and rendering her ineffective,
but also inscribing a new hierarchy of Tibetan space imagined as radiating out toward an untamed frontier from the Jo khang temple in Lhasa
resting upon her heart at the center.11
But it is the extensive biographical tradition of Padmasambhava —
the eighth-century tantric adept of India, the Precious Guru (Guru Rin
po che), and Tibet’s “Second Buddha” — and the literature attributed
to him therein, that has served to shape much of Tibet’s sacred landscape. his is evident most clearly in stories of the adept’s own subjugation, several generations after the Tibetan king, of the hosts of
malevolent non-human beings inimical to Buddhism believed to populate the countryside. Perhaps the clearest example of the early creation
of Tibetan sacred space is in Padmasambhava’s formulation of “hidden
lands” (sbas yul ) — sanctuaries for meditation practice and refuges
from the harsh realities of war and social strife — ascribed to him in the
form of revealed guidebooks and catalogues. Such natural enclaves
mark the borders of Tibet, Nepal, India, and Bhutan, spanning both
sides of the Himalayan slope.
Several centuries later, during the period of the subsequent dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet (phyi dar), and within several generations of
Mi la ras pa’s death, influential Bkaʾ brgyud masters began to promote
new — or at least newly imagined — conceptions of Tibetan sacred
geography. hese most famously crystallized through the visionary geography of recently translated Indian tantric literature, and served to support the nascent communities of yogic practitioners that began to spread.
he organization of Tibetan sacred space and places reached a crescendo
11)
See Aris (1979), chapter 1, and Gyatso (1989).
372
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
about a century after Mi la’s biographer Gtsang smyon Heruka’s own
literary endeavors as the fifteenth century drew to a close.
he early 1600s witnessed a resurgence of literature attempting to
“revive, by way of new foundations or renovations of old structures,” a
sacred landscape dating from earlier periods of the Tibetan kingdom
(Ehrhard 1999b:240). hese writings largely belong to a Tibetan genre
known as “treasure” ( gter ma), texts believed originally to have been
hidden by Padmasambhava in the eight century, which were then recovered many centuries later by a special class of individuals known as
“treasure revealers” ( gter ston).12 In many cases, the sites described in
such texts were originally associated with charismatic figures in Tibetan
history, possessing “special qualities because of the spiritual presence of
Padmasambhava or the early yogins of the Bkaʾ brgyud pa school”; foremost among the latter, of course, was Mi la ras pa himself (Ehrhard
1999b:240).13 Authors and commentators were then free to order and
categorize these sites as part of their contemporary religious milieu.
It is against such a backdrop that this survey of Mi la ras pa’s geographic biography should be viewed. his will begin with the broad
representations of place in Mi la ras pa’s biographical tradition, and
For a brief overview of the treasure tradition in Tibet, see Doctor (2005). On the
use of this system as a means of legitimating new forms of literature, see Gyatso
(1993).
13)
hese schemes could take many forms. One influential system classified a series of
sacred sites in relation to the attributes of Padmasambhava based, according to tradition, on his own prophecies. his system identified five “isolated sacred sites” (dben
gnas) representing the master’s body, speech, mind, qualities, and activities, to which
three additional sites — including Spa gro Stag tshang, the “tiger’s den” — are occasionally appended. See the list in Ricard (1994:272 n. 59). his categorization of
sacred places occurred at least as early as the fourteenth century in Padmasambhava’s
famed biography Padma bkaʾ thang yig, a treasure text discovered by O rgyan gling pa
(b. 1323). See Ehrhard (1999b:249 n. 2.) A more recent system, based upon a treasure
revelation by Mchog ʾgyur Bde chen gling pa (1829–1870) in 1857, identifies twentyfive sacred sites describing locations blessed by Padmasambhava during the course of
his life. On this tradition and its wider political context, see Gardner (2006); and
Dudjom Rinpoche (1991, vol. 1:518; vol. 2:43 n. 558, 181). his network rose to
prominence through the conjunction of powerful and charismatic figures aligned in
the so-called nonsectarian movement (ris med ) based in eastern Tibet, primarily
Khams, and helped to define a broad sense of regional Khams pa identity.
12)
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
373
how those representations changed over time from the earliest sources
to the standard version produced some four centuries later. he following sections will discuss the dynamic interaction of life-texts and life-maps
by identifying two sites of geographic formation and transformation:
(1) contested place, in which layers of biographical writing appear in
conflict or conversation about geographic locations visited first by Padmasambhava and then Mi la ras pa; and (2) re-imagined place, where
new life-maps are superimposed upon a known landscape, such as those
charting Mi la’s progression in the practice of tantric yoga.
Mapping Mi la ras pa’s Life
As suggested by a recent title on the study of life writing, one function
of biography is the mapping of lives (France and St. Clair 2002). While
the maps of that publication are symbolic of the “the functions which
[biography] can serve and has served in different societies, its uses,” they
need not only function metaphorically; life stories can also map — in a
literal sense — the topography of an individual’s life (ibid. 4). If biographical maps are not simply metaphors, neither are the maps of Mi la
ras pa’s biographical tradition purely generic or theoretical, as the yogin’s
life story served to claim specific sites for followers in his tradition. he
catalogue of places codified in the standard Life and Songs led to a thriving pilgrimage tradition among innumerable retreat sites and meditation caves.
he sites most clearly established in Gtsang smyon Heruka’s texts
became an important part of almost any trip through the southern border regions of Tibet and Nepal. his was true for individuals of all sectarian affiliations, from the ʾBrug pa and ʾBri gung Bkaʾ brgyud
followers of Mi la ras pa who visited them in great numbers to Rdo ring
Bstan ʾdzin dpal ʾbyor (b. 1760), the famed eighteenth-century Dge
lugs statesman whose autobiography documents his great interest in Mi
la ras pa and the places associated with his life.14 Many of these sites are
located, perhaps unsurprisingly, on or near the traditional trade and
pilgrimage routes between Tibet and Nepal, especially those in Mang
14)
See Bstan ʾdzin dpal ʾbyor, GZN.
374
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
yul, Skyid grong, and La phyi. Tibetans frequently visited these sites as
part of a pilgrimage to Kathmandu. Modern-day yogins continue to
visit and practice in Mi la’s meditation caves. One site — the cave
known as Hovering in Space (Nam mkhaʾ lding) — has become an
obligatory tourist destination for foreign visitors as they descend Tibet’s
high plateau for the lush valleys of Nepal.
To unfold the maps of Mi la ras pa’s life, we turn first to the texts
themselves. he earliest works in the biographical tradition are extremely
conservative in their recording of biographical space. hese texts tend
to emphasize general setting (the mountains of Mang yul, or the forest
of Sing ga la) over specifically named meditation sites, demarcating
only a few keystone locations, such as Mi la’s principal retreat known as
White-rock Horse-tooth (Brag dkar rta so). he earliest known biographical works, such as those by Mi la ras pa’s direct disciple Sgam po
pa Bsod nams rin chen (1079–1153) and his contemporary Bla ma
Zhang (1123–1193) record virtually no locations by name apart from
general references to a few prominent locations such as La phyi and
Brin.15 he next datable biography, by the ʾBri gung Bkaʾ brgyud master
Don mo ri pa (b. 1203) preserves several new locations, referred to as
“caves,” including Pigeon Cave (Phug ron phug), as well as “fortresses”
(rdzong), such as Enlightenment Fortress (Byang chub rdzong).16 he
ideal of the meditation fortress, witnessed here for the first time, will later
come to dominate the landscape as an important geographical marker.
15)
he authorship, and therefore the date, of some writings included in Sgam po pa’s
Collected Works have been called into question by both Tibetan historians and contemporary scholarship. See, for example, the comments in Jackson (1990:2).
16)
he writings of Don mo ri pa are contained in a larger, and later, biographical collection by Rdo rje Mdzes ʾod (active mid-fourteenth century): Bkaʾ brgyud kyi rnam
thar chen mo rin po cheʾi gter mdzod dgos ʾdod ʾbyung gnas [Great Biographies of the
Kagyu: A Treasury of Jewels, the Source for All Wishes] (Bir, India: D. Tsondu Senghe
1985). While this compilation appears to date from the mid-fourteenth century, all
but the final few biographies were written perhaps a century earlier by Don mo ri pa
(b. 1203) around 1245. hese life stories are described as having been dictated by Don
mo ri pa’s guru, known as Ri khrod dbang phyug (1181–1225), who was himself a
spiritual grandson (yang slob) of Phag mo gru pa; this would place the biography of Mi
la ras pa only four teacher-student generations from the yogin himself. See Roberts
(2007:9). A partial (and fairly loose) English translation of Rdo rje mdzes ʾod’s text was
published in Gyaltsen and Huckenpahler (1990).
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
375
he first systematic mapping of the yogin’s life appears late in the
thirteenth century, in a text called he King of Rje btsuns. Its author,
Rgyal thang pa Bde chen rdo rje (thirteenth century), draws upon earlier works to develop, perhaps for the first time, a new category of
preeminent meditation sites: the six fortresses (rdzong drug).17 In his
seventeenth chapter, the second of two verses describing the yogin’s
period of intense meditation and ascetic retreat, Rgyal thang pa enumerates these sites in the following way, naming only four of the six
locations:18
1. Red Rock Fortress of Ling nga (Ling nga brag dmar gyi rdzong)
2. Shadow Fortress of Smin rgyud (Smin rgyud grib maʾi rdzong)
3. Celestial Fortress of Rkyang dpal (Rkyang dpal nam mkhaʾi
rdzong)
4. Enlightenment Fortress of Rag ma (Rag ma byang chub kyi
rdzong)
hese are all situated in the Mang yul/Skyid grong valley near Mi la’s
principal retreat site at Brag dkar rta so, which is itself strangely absent
from the list.
he twenty-fifth and penultimate chapter of Rgyal thang pa’s work
catalogues Mi la ras pa’s geo-biography in even greater detail. his section first registers the locations he visited and then lists the disciples he
trained. Gtsang smyon Heruka’s own version of the life story closely
follows Rgyal thang pa’s framework here, possibly drawing on it as a
conceptual model for his own penultimate chapter.19 Rgyal thang pa
begins with the verse:
he text is found in a collection of Bkaʾ brgyud biographies titled Gser riʾi phreng
baʾi rnam thar [he Garland Biographies of Golden Mountain] published as Dkar brgyud
gser ʾphreng: A hirteenth Century Collection of Verse Hagiographies of the Succession of
Eminent Masters of the ʾBrug-pa dkar-brgyud-pa Tradition (Tashijong, India: Sungrab
Nyamso Gyunphel Parkhang 1973). Rgyal thang pa’s dates have been discussed in
Roberts (2007:11). Tiso (1989) also presents a study of this text.
18)
Rgyal thang pa, JGM, 227.
19)
Gtsang smyon Heruka was the first author to publish Mi la ras pa’s Life and Songs
as separate volumes. In doing so, he inserted into the biography a brief summary of
events that occur in Songs; this constitutes much of the Life’s eleventh chapter.
17)
376
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
hus, yogin Rje btsun Mid la
Stayed not there [at rest] but [left] for Mngaʾ ris skor gsum,
G.yas ru Byang, Gtsang, and places like that.
I bow with devotion to his roaming ’round mountain retreats.20
he prose commentary then describes the yogin’s travel across Tibet,
systematically enumerating sites as if marking points on the compass,
laying survey stakes to define the sphere of Mi la ras pa’s activity.21
Indeed, at each locale the chapter describes Mi la ras pa as having
“planted the teachings of the practice lineage” (sgrub brgyud kyi bstan pa
gtsugs). Unlike the six fortresses above, however, these locations lack the
poetic names often associated with the yogin’s retreat sites, and are
instead structured almost entirely along political, administrative, and
regional lines. he list begins in the region of far western Tibet called
Stod Mngaʾ ris skor gsum, including Mt. Kailāsa and Lake Manasārowar,
and then records Pu rang, Blo bo, Gung thang, and Mang yul.22
Although not stated explicitly in the text, together these locations
encompass both upper and lower Mngaʾ ris (Mngaʾ ris stod and Mngaʾ
ris smad) and thus the entire sweep of far western Tibet is placed under
Mi la ras pa’s feet.23
20)
Rgyal thang pa, JGM, 255. de ltaʾi rje btsun mid la rnal ʾbyor pas// sa der ma bzhugs
mngaʾ ris skor gsum dang// g.yas ru byang rtsang ga <gi> sa cha sogs// ri khrod phyogs med
ʾgrims la gus phyag ʾtshal//.
21)
Tiso’s translation (1989:422) appears to miss Rgyal thang pa’s conceptual layout of
the geography.
22)
Rgyal thang pa, JGM, 256. Although Sgam po pa and Bla ma Zhang both describe
Mi la ras pa’s cremation at Mt. Kailāsa, this may be the earliest reference to his activities in that location. his is one of the few versions known to refer to Pu rang, south
of Kailāsa, near the border of western Nepal. Blo bo, a corruption of Glo bo, refers to
modern day Mustang in northwestern region of Nepal formerly aligned with the kingdoms of Mngaʾ ris. Gung thang and Mang yul are the regions associated with Mi la ras
pa’s homeland and early meditation.
23)
General Tibetan conceptions of their landscape describe the terrain in the far west
as geographically high in elevation and sloping downward to the east. he Tibetan
designation stod (upper) usually refers to locations further west and higher, and smad
(lower) to those further east and lower. See Aris (1979:18 ff.).
377
Map 1: Cultural Tibet
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
378
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
he chapter next describes Mi la’s travels through southwestern Tibet,
specifically designated in the text as La stod G.yas ru lho byang. his is
a compound toponym that may be understood in the following way.
he central Tibetan regions of Dbus and Gtsang were comprised of
four military and administrative units (ru, literally “horns”) established
during Tibet’s dynastic period in the seventh and eighth centuries: G.yas
ru and Ru lag in Gtsang, G.yo ru and Dbu ru in Dbus.24 G.yas ru thus
comprises one-half of Gtsang.25 La stod lho (southern La stod) and La
stod byang (northern La stod) each form one of the thirteen administrative regions or “myriarchies” (khri skor) of central and western Tibet
said to have been established by the Yuan court and placed under the
direction of ʾPhags pa Blo gros rgyal mtshan (1235–1280), the acclaimed
thirteenth-century Sa skya hierarch.26 (Refer to Map 1.) Here, the text
describes how Mi la traveled through G.yas ru, first visiting Lha stod lho
and then La stod byang, each of which is further demarcated by listing
four distinct locations. his is most clearly depicted in outline form:27
I. [G.yas ru] La stod lho:
1. Ding ri28
2. Bong shod29
3. Shri ri30
4. Khrom31
For an analysis of this system largely based upon early sources, see Uray (1960).
he Mkhas pa ldeʾu Chos ʾbyung, a thirteen-century work whose author was likely a
close contemporary of Rgyal thang pa, demarcates the boundaries of G.yas ru as follows: Srag [Brag] gi glang ma gur phub (east); Bye ma la dgu (west); Rmi sti chu nag
(north); Snye nam g.yag po sna (south); Shangs kyi zhong tshal (center). See Mkhas
pa ldeʾu, KDC, 272.
26)
On the formation of the khri skor, see Petech (1990:50 ff.). By the mid-fourteenth
century, La stod byang was centered around the monastery of Byang Ngam rings and
La stod lho around Shel dkar rdzong (ibid. 53) While the khri skor largely replaced the
ru bzhi as a means of geo-political organization, later writers continued to use the
system of “horns” as a broad territorial framework. See Uray (1960:34 n.9.).
27)
See Rgyal thang pa, JGM, 256–57.
28)
he well-known village and center of religious activities for individuals such as Pha
dam pa Sangs rgyas and Ko brag pa.
29)
A location in the Rtsib ri region of southwest Tibet.
30)
An alternate, and ancient, name for the sacred mountain (gnas ri) Rtsib ri.
31)
Unidentified, although a location called Rgyal khrom is mentioned in the Shel dkar
Chos ʾbyung. See Wangdu and Diemberger (1996:46).
24)
25)
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
379
II. G.yas ru [La stod] byang:
1. Rgyal thang brgya[d] bcuʾi brag32
2. Shel lcag33
3. Glu rgyal gling po34
4. Mchog dkar gyi brag35
Further study may clarify how each sub-location served to circumscribe
the larger geo-political region. Rgyal thang pa’s intent, however, seems
clear: to demonstrate how Mi la ras pa’s activities systematically claimed
large areas of Tibet’s southwest as part of the Bkaʾ brgyud sectarian
landscape. With the geographic biography in its infancy, the emphasis
here is not on the creation of new space but rather the transfer into Mi
la ras pa’s dominion topographic features and administrative zones
already on the map. In doing so, the author situates Mi la ras pa, anachronistically it seems, in a landscape that did not exist until the yogin
had been dead for more than a century. But this is perhaps unsurprising
since ʾPhags pa, the author’s contemporary, granted initiation to Qubilai Qan who, in 1264, reciprocated by presenting the Tibetan ruler
with political control over Tibet in the form of the thirteen myriarchies.
Here, Mi la ras pa’s geographic biography (and by extension, the yogin’s
Bkaʾ brgyud tradition) appears to push back against the newly emerging Sa skya hegemony. Indeed, the narrative concludes by affirming
that “he one called Lord Mi la himself traveled among mountain
retreats without partiality in order to plant the teachings of the practice
lineage (sgrub brgyud ) in every direction, and then carried out the limitless benefit of transmigrating beings.”36
his last line carries an unintended note of irony, however, since so
many of these places were forgotten in the subsequent biographical
Unidentified, although it clearly does not refer to the Rgyal thang of southern
Khams in eastern Tibet, as asserted by Tiso. he Shel dkar Chos ʾbyung refers to Rgyal
nor, established by village communities from Khams. See Wangdu and Diemberger
(1996:34, 112). he TBRC database mentions a Rgyal thang dgon in Snye mo
district.
33)
Unidentified.
34)
Unidentified.
35)
Unidentified.
36)
Ibid. 259. rje mid la ces pa de nyid kyis/ phyogs thams cad du sgrub brgyud kyi bstan
pa gtsugs paʾi phyir/ phyogs med kyi ri khrod du gshegs nas/ ʾgro ba sems can paʾi don tshad
med pa mdzad do//.
32)
380
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
tradition; some cannot be identified today. Later authors appear to have
largely rejected Rgyal thang pa’s early attempt at charting the yogin’s life
in terms of existing geo-political boundaries, turning instead toward
increasingly symbolic topographic structures. he result is that the
locations recorded in this work have literally been wiped off the map.
We are left with a faint echo of their names even if we can no longer
visit them. his seems to illustrate the deeply literary nature of sacred
biography, with such places appearing like a tantalizing list of texts preserved in a historical source but which are no longer extant.
he process of cataloguing individual sites of Mi la’s practice, in
addition to naming new ones, matured within the next literary stratum, a number of extensive and comprehensive works produced in the
centuries following Mi la ras pa’s death.37 In as many as seventy discrete
chapters, these Collected Songs (and to a lesser extent, the Lives proper)
form geographic atlases, much as they do song collections, preserving
the names of individual locations together with brief anecdotes of the
yogin’s activities in them. In general, they show little evidence of Rgyal
thang pa’s concern with spatial arrangement or local geo-politics.
Instead, they tend to foreground symbolic categories and classifications
of space, illustrated here by a variant but more complete form of the six
fortresses, identical in each of the major compendia:38
1. Winning Enlightenment Fortress of Rag ma (Rag ma byang chub
bsgrub paʾi rdzong)
2. Celestial Fortress of Spos ri spos mthon (Spos ri spos mthon nam
mkhaʾ rdzong)
his refers principally to three comprehensive versions of the life story: (1) the socalled Twelve Great Disciples (Bu chen bcu gnyis), BC; (2) he Black Treasury (Mdzod
nag ma), Rang byung rdo rje (attributed), DNM; and (3) A River of Blessings (Byin
rlabs kyi chu rgyun), Anonymous, JLC. he considerable uncertainty surrounding the
second source listed here has grown recently, with the acquisition of new manuscripts
in my possession and with the publication of several new versions of the life story in
Rang byung rdo rje’s Collected Works. See Karma pa Rang byung rdo rjeʾi gsung ʾbum,
Vol. Ga (Ziling: Tshur phu mkhan po lo yag bkra shis 2006).
38)
See BCN, 108a; DNM, 138a.6; JCGS, 302.8. Gtsang smyon Heruka imports this
list in its entirety, although he changes the name of #5 to Stag phug senge rdzong, as
part of a strategy to emphasize the latter location in Yol mo, Nepal. Cf. Gtsang smyon
Heruka, NG, 523; Chang (1962:364). he English translations provided for many of
these place names are provisional.
37)
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
381
3. Agate Sanctuary Garuḍa Fortress of Brag dmar (Brag dmar
mchongs gling khyung gi rdzong)
4. Cheerful Cave Sun Fortress of Mon (Mon gyi skyid phug nyi
maʾi rdzong)
5. Crystal Cave Bamboo Fortress of Ka ti (Ka ti shel phug chu shing
rdzong)
6. Central Channel Fortress of Brag dkar rta so (Brag dkar rta so
dbu maʾi rdzong)
Here, we see the codification of a system joining poetic names for meditation retreats together with local toponyms. In this way, the text’s
biographical narrative could identify and claim new territory on its
own terms, divorced from the restraints of previous geo-political boundaries while remaining connected to locations known on the ground.
he geographic biography began to take shape.
Another fourteenth-century text, he Illuminating Lamp by G.yung
ston Zhi byed ri pa (mid-fourteenth century) continued the process of
systematizing groups of retreat sites, identifying a slightly different category of meditation caves.39 his text refers to another set of six caves
known as “the six lotus fortresses” ( padma rdzong drug):40
Zhi byed ri pa, NDO. his text called he Illuminating Lamp of Sun and Moon
Beams, completed in 1373, appears to have formed something of a landmark in the
development of Mi la ras pa’s biographical tradition prior to Gtsang smyon’s standard
version. Its author, one G.yung ston Zhi byed ri pa, clearly draws upon earlier versions
of the life story; he was famed for having seen 127 different versions. In this work, he
has produced a composite survey of the entire biographical tradition, incorporating
biographical narrative, historical analysis, chronological clarifications, literary criticism, question and answer records, an assessment of existing oral traditions, documentation of transmission lines, all mixed together with a good deal of autobiographical
reflection. he text forms what in modern parlance might be called a “state of the
field” survey of Mi la ras pa studies in the late fourteenth century. In the introduction
of his English translation of he Life of Milarepa, Lhalungpa refers to Zhi byed ri pa as
a contemporary of Bo dong Phyogs las rnam rgyal (1377–1451). He also notes, in
agreement with Chos kyi dbang phyug, that Si tu Paṇ chen’s autobiography refers to a
manuscript version of the Illuminating Lamp preserved at Chu bar monastery. See
Lhalungpa (1977, xxx). I am currently in the process of preparing a study of this text
and its author.
40)
Zhi byed ri pa, NDO, 22. his passage records what appears to be the earliest mention of the name Stag phug seng ge rdzong (Tiger Cave Lion Fortress).
39)
382
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
Celestial Cave of Rgya brag (Rgya brag nam mkhaʾ rdzong)
Hidden Cave Demoness Fortress (Sbas phug ma mo rdzong)
Tiger Cave Lion Fortress (Stag phug seng ge rdzong)
Lotus Fortress of La phug (La phug padma rdzong)
Adamantine Fortress of Khro rgyal (Khro rgyal rdo rje rdzong)
Nāga Fortress of Glang sgo (Glang sgo kluʾi rdzong)
hese six sites, all located around the Dpal khud Lake in Spo rong, were
named the “lotus fortresses,” Zhi byed ri pa informs us, because they
were previously blessed by Padmasambhava — the “Lotus Born” — a
point to which we shall return in the next section.41
Fifteenth-century historian Tshe dbang rgyal further synthesized
these traditions in his important historical work A Religious History of
Lho Rong (Lho rong chos ʾbyung), completed in 1451, establishing a
paradigm that would find its way into the standard biography several
decades later. In his description of Mi la ras pa’s life, the author enumerates “eighteen well-known great fortresses” (yongs su grags paʾi rdzong
chen bco brgyad ), divided into three groups of six: (1) Mi la’s six fortresses (mi laʾi rdzong drug), (2) the six fortresses of Sku thang (sku
thang rdzong drug), and (3) the six heroine fortresses (dpaʾ mo rdzong
drug), with the addition of two smaller fortresses (rdzong chung gnyis).42
he first among these is a variation of the six fortresses recorded in the
larger compendia, noted previously; the second seems to refer to locations in the Sku thang region of northern Nepal; the last division repeats
Zhi byed ri pa’s list under a different name. He also includes two small
he great lake is located in the plain called Dpal mo dpal thang that figures prominently in the life story. he lake’s traditional Tibetan name is Lha mtsho srin mtsho.
42)
Tshe dbang rgyal, LRC, 102. he mi laʾi rdzong drug include: (1) Brag dmar li nga
rdzong; (2) Rta so dbu ma rdzong; (3) Brag dkar spos mtho rdzong; (4) Rgyang ʾphan
nam mkhaʾ rdzong; (5) Rag ma byang chub rdzong; (6) Smin khyug grib ma rdzong.
he sku thang rdzong drug include: (1) Brag skya rdo rje rdzong; (2) Khra tshang srin
po rdzong; (3) Skyid sa nyi ma rdzong; (4) Khu byug dbyen pa rdzong; (5) Shel phug
nam mkhaʾ rdzong; (6) Rtsig pa rkang mthil rdzong. he dpaʾ mo rdzong drug include:
(1) Rgya brag nam mkhaʾ rdzong; (2) Sbas phug ma mo rdzong; (3) La phug padma
rdzong; (4) Khro rgyal rdo rje rdzong; (5) Glang mgo klu bdud rdzong. he sixth cave
of this last group, which should be Stag phug seng ge rdzong, is strangely absent from
the list. he rdzong chung gnyis include (1) Brag dmar spos mthon nam mkhaʾ rdzong;
and (2) Skyid phug nyi ma rdzong.
41)
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
383
fortresses (rdzong chung gnyis) and several miscellaneous locations
including Ti se (Kailāsa), Rtsib ri, and Spa gro stag tshang.
If these early versions of the life story display a significant degree of
flexibility and gradual refinement in the mapping of Mi la ras pa’s activities, Gtsang smyon Heruka imported wholesale much of this topography into his version of the Life and Songs, completed in 1488, where he
then re-formulated the best-known structure of Mi la ras pa’s geographical biography. Clearly drawing on the works of Rgyal thang pa and
Tshe dbang rgyal as models, the Life’s eleventh chapter presents a brief
synopsis of the entire body of narratives recorded in the Songs, including a comprehensive catalogue of retreat locations. hrough Mi la’s
voice, Gtsang smyon enumerates eighteen cave locations as in the Religious History of Lho rong, but he employs a more standardized Tibetan
typology that would shape Mi la ras pa’s geographical biography into a
form more immediately recognizable to his Tibetan audience, and one
fitting an already standardized interpretive system. his new classification
of so-called “well-known outer fortresses,” ( yongs su grags pa phyiʾi
rdzong) “unknown inner fortresses,” (ma grags pa nang gi rdzong) and
“secret fortresses” ( gsang baʾi rdzong) echoes the categories frequently
found in Tibetan life writing: outer (phyi ba), inner (nang ba), and
secret ( gsang ba) biographies, which might respectively describe the
subject’s mundane affairs, his or her spiritual career, and finally a record
of visions and inner yogic experiences.43
As with previous models, Gtsang smyon Heruka’s framework grouped
together sites located in a single geographic area: Skyid grong, Rong
shar, and Lake Dpal khud, respectively.44 (Refer to Maps 2–5.) he last
of these simply copies the lists of Zhi byed ri pa and Tshe dbang rgyal
Rdo ring Bstan ʾdzin dpal ʾbyor similarly describes the three groups of retreat sites
using this system when recording his travels through the region in 1789. See Bstan
ʾdzin dpal ʾbyor, GZN, 501.
44)
he correspondence of each group of six fortresses to these three geographic regions
is not explicitly noted in the text. Maps 2–5 are based largely upon site surveys conducted between 1996–2007. In several instances (Brag skya rdo rje rdzong, Skyang
phan nam mkhaʾ rdzong), these data have been augmented by information provided
by local informants. hree of the “unknown” sites (Be rtse ʾdod yon rdzong, Rtsig pa
rkang mthil rdzong, Khu byug dben pa rdzong) have been provisionally mapped based
upon descriptions in Bstan ʾdzin Chos kyi blo gros, LNY.
43)
384
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
under yet another name to fit within his known/unknown/secret
scheme. Gtsang smyon additionally lists four well-known large caves
( yongs su grags paʾi phug chen bzhi), and four unknown caves (ma grags
paʾi bzhi).
Altogether, some twenty-eight caves are enumerated under this
scheme, not including several other important sites, constituting, in Mi
la’s words, “all of the sacred places I have ever stayed.”45 And much as he
did for the text of the biography, Gtsang smyon Heruka, editor of the
yogin’s best-known biography, has Mi la ras pa empower the places
associated with his life story, thus completing the landscaping process.
he yogin states, “If you meditate in these places, favorable conditions
will gather in your solitude. Since they have been infused with the
blessings of my lineage, go and meditate [in them].”46 he geographic
biography here takes its most clearly articulated form, consecrated and
authorized by the subject himself.
Landscaping the Map
As Gtsang smyon Heruka standardized Mi la ras pa’s biographical tradition, he not only re-mapped the geography of the yogin’s life, but also
re-arranged its terrain to fit his new biographical model. hus, in addition to describing the lay of the land, the notion of “landscape” here
retains its verbal sense of arranging geographic elements to intentionally
form a particular setting. If “landscape refers to the shape — the material topography — of a piece of land,” it also refers to its shaping (Cresswell 2004:11). Gtsang smyon may thus be understood as actively
landscaping the environment, serving as an architect not only of literary narrative but also of biographical space. his process began, in part,
with the renaming and categorizing of sites in the local terrain; once
identified, Gtsang smyon further incorporated them into the biographical tradition through the use of prophetic narrative.
For the list of these sites, see de Jong (1959:156.13); Lhalungpa (1977:146 ff.).
de Jong (1959:157). Cf. Lhalungpa (1977:147). de rnams su sgom pa byung na dben
la mthun rkyen ʾdzom pa yang yod cing/ brgyud paʾi byin rlabs ʾjug pa yin pas sgoms shig
gsungs pas/.
45)
46)
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
385
Map 2: Mi la ras pa’s Outer, Inner, and Secret Fortresses.
386
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
Map 3: Mi la ras pa’s Outer Fortresses.
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
Map 4: Mi la ras pa’s Inner Fortresses.
387
388
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
Map 5: Mi la ras pa’s Secret Fortresses.
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
389
As noted previously, the earliest biographical works record few locations by name. he subsequent compendia delineate a host of new
places within the comprehensive cycles of their Collected Songs. It is
Gtsang smyon Heruka, however, who most effectively — and systematically — landscapes the terrain. For the first time, retreat caves and
hermitages with evocative names such as Cheerful Sun Fortress (Skyid
pa nyi ma rdzong) and Crystal Cave Bamboo Fortress (Shel phug chu
shing rdzong) were re-grouped, and in some cases perhaps re-named,
to form a unique and recognizable geography within Mi la ras pa’s
biographical tradition. his new topography paralleled a literary classification familiar to Tibetan readers, and would endure as the canonical
map of the yogin’s life.
Naming is often asserted to be an expression of power, in Yi-fü Tuan’s
words, “[a] creative power to call something into being, to render the
invisible visible” (Tuan 1991:688). Naming also serves as an expression
of dominion over place, a process already visible in the early work of
Rgyal thang pa. Here, Gtsang smyon Heruka’s steady landscaping
through naming and classification illustrates the production of place
even as it lays claim to the places of Mi la ras pa’s life. In Gtsang smyon’s
hands, the Life and Songs carved out a newly defined Buddhist terrain
across southern Tibet, a terrain that would later serve to again reimagine and re-map Mi la ras pa’s biographical tradition, as will be
discussed below.
he increasingly central use of the term “fortress” (rdzong) is revealing, indicating not only the delineation of space, but also its fortification.
he fortification of sacred space in Mi la ras pa’s biography began early
on, and was subsequently expanded in the biographical compendia and
in historical materials. Here the term began to serve as a metaphor for
a place conducive to steady meditation — a mental fortification. In
Gtsang smyon Heruka’s formulation, the fortress provided a new framework for conceptualizing categories of sacred space. he later tradition
then applied new layers of meaning to each of these categories, creating
a new key for reading and interpreting the map of Mi la ras pa’s life. In
his history of Brag dkar rta so’s retreat complex, itself founded upon several of the yogin’s meditation sites, Chos kyi dbang phyug provides such
a key by defining these three categories, with the addition of a fourth:
390
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
he name fortress (rdzong) is applied to practice places that are outer, inner, secret,
and further fortresses. To use the example of a worldly king’s fortress-castle,
extremely sturdy so that an opposing enemy army could not damage it: an outer
fortress ( phyi ʾi rdzong) is called a fortress because it is a fortification of renunciation and revulsion, keeping at bay the countless activities of the saṃ sāric world
that appear in this life, and because the commotion and distraction of the eight
worldly affairs are unable to assail the castle-master. An inner fortress (nang gi
rdzong) is called a fortress because it is a fortification that generates the Vajrayāna
path, a fortress that, by means of deep samādhi, an army of conceptuality — the
three poisons, the five poisons, and so forth — is unable to trample. A secret fortress ( gsang baʾi rdzong) is called a fortress because it is a fortification of the perfectly pure life force, the dharmakāya of bliss-emptiness coemergent wisdom, the
view free from all fabrications that is unblemished by the enemy of grasping at the
mental constructs of perceiver and perceived. A further fortress ( yang rdzong) is
given the name further fortress because, until the qualities of such experience and
realization are perfected, it is necessary for their unabated river-like continuity,
nurturing their increase, and for the attainment of steadfastness in them.47
Designated as fortresses, these meditation sites became places of refuge,
impenetrable by “the countless activities of the saṃ sāric world,” and
impervious to an “army of conceptuality.” If not quite interior castles,
they serve as strongholds to support and protect the renunciate meditator following in Mi la ras pa’s footsteps. hey also became identifiable
Chos kyi dbang phyug, DTL, 4b. de yang brag dkar rta so dbu ma rdzong/ zhes paʾi
gnas kyi mtshan sgra bshad du smra na/ gnas ʾdiʾi ʾog gi sked pa nas brag dkar po dar dkar
gyi yol ba rkyang pa lta bu zam ma chad pas dkris pa ltar yod pas brag dkar dang/ sgrub
phug gi steng ngos brag dkar po rta yi so ltar rtsigs pa yod pas rta so dang/ rje btsun chen po
nyid kyi rtsa bu maʾi mdud pa grol bas na dbu ma dang/ sgrub gnas phyi nang gsang ba
yang rdzong dang bcas par rdzong zhes ʾdogs par mdzad pa ni/ dper mtshon na/ ʾjigs rten
rgyal poʾi mkhar rdzong shin du gtsan pa zhig la phar rol dgra sdeʾi dmag dpungs gis ʾtshe
par mi nus pa bzhin ʾdir yang phyiʾi rdzong ni/ tshe ʾdi snang ʾjigs rten ʾkhor baʾi bya bzhag
mthaʾ dag rgyangs sring zhing nges ʾbyung zhen log gi rdzong brtsan por dgra chos brgyad
la songs pa ʾdu ʾdzi rnam dbyengs <g.yeng> gi dpung gis klags lta bar mi nus pas na rdzong
zhes dang/ nang gi rdzong ni rdo rje theg [6a] paʾi lam gyi bskyed rdzong zab moʾi ting nge
ʾdzin gyis rdzong la dgra dug gsum dug lnga la sogs pa rnam par rtog paʾi dpung gis rdzi
bar mi nus pas rdzong zhes dang/ gsang baʾi rdzong ni/ bde stong lhan cig skyes paʾi ye shes
de kho na nyid chos sku spros pa thams cad dang bral ba lta ba rnam par dag paʾi srog
rdzong la dgra ma rig bzung ʾdzin blos byas zhen ʾdzin gyi <gyis> ma gos paʾi phyir rdzong
zhes dang/ yang rdzong ni/ de lta buʾi nyams rtogs yon tan thar phyin paʾi bar du chu boʾi
rgyun bzhin mi chad cing gong ʾphel du skyongs ba dang brtan pa thob dgos paʾi phyir yang
rdzong gi tha snyad du ʾjog paʾo/.
47)
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
391
structures, bastions for holders of the yogin’s lineage; indeed some
locations, such as Brag dkar rta so and Chu bar, did eventually become
influential monastic institutions, serving as important outposts of Bkaʾ
brgyud religious and political influence.48 In this context however — as
with Padmasambhava’s hidden lands — the natural environment, and
the yogin’s activities in it, have been claimed, ordered, and fortified
without laying a single brick.
Having landscaped the terrain of Mi la ras pa’s life story, Gtsang
smyon authenticates his new sites and empowers them by incorporating their names into the biography through prophetic narrative. In his
standard version of the Life, Mi la receives this final advice from his
guru Mar pa before departing for his homeland:
Take refuge in the solitude of the barren mountains, the snows, and the forests. In
the solitude the mountains there is Rgyal gyi Śrī of La stod, which has been
blessed by the great adepts of India. Go there and meditate. here is Gangs Ti se
[Mt. Kailāsa], which the Buddha spoke of as Himālaya (Ri bo gangs can) and
which is the palace of the chosen deity Cakrasaṃ vara. Go there and meditate.
here is La phyi gangs ra, which is Godāvarī, one of the twenty-four sacred lands.
Go there and meditate. here are Ri bo dpal ʾbar of Mang yul and Yol mo gangs
ra, the sacred sites prophesized in the Avataṃ saka Sūtra. Go there and meditate.
here is Chu bar of Brin, dwelling place of the ḍākinīs who protect the region. Go
there and meditate.49
Of particular interest is the identification of Kailāsa and La phyi with
two of twenty-four sacred lands (T. yul, S. pīṭha) named in the literature of the Cakrasaṃ vara Tantra as geographic locations efficacious for
Buddhist practice. Already by the time of the ʾBri gung master ʾJig rten
mgon po (1143–1217), Bkaʾ brgyud followers had established popular
pilgrimage traditions to the three great sacred mountains at Kailāsa, La
phyi, and Tsā ri, identifying them with Himālaya/Himavat, Godāvarī,
48)
he Chu bar monastery and retreat center began as a ʾBri gung institution that
eventually passed through the stewardship of the sixth Zhwa dmar pa who likewise
offered it to the tenth Karma pa. It was subsequently converted to a Dge lugs center
under the fifth Dalai Lama. For a brief history and catalogue of its contents, see Bstan
ʾdzin Chos kyi blo gros, LNY, 35ff. A detailed history of the Brag dkar rta so complex,
including a record of its abbatial lineage, is recorded in Chos kyi dbang phyug, DTL.
49)
Adapted from Lhalungpa (1977:94). Cf. de Jong (1959:102–3).
392
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
and Cāritra/Devīkoṭa from the list of twenty-four sites, as well as with
Cakrasaṃ vara’s body, speech, and mind.50 Here, Gtsang smyon was
aligning the life story with a tradition of sacred geography already several centuries old and firmly controlled by adherents of Mi la ras pa’s
Bkaʾ brgyud tradition. He incorporates locations such as Rgyal gyi Śrī
(contemporary Rtsib ri) prominent in the early biographical tradition.
And as we shall see in the following section, the remaining sites (Ri bo
dpal ʾbar, Yol mo, and Chu bar) were formerly associated with another
central figure in Tibet’s religious history: Padmasambhava.51
In this passage, Gtsang smyon Heruka adds one final location,
recorded in the life story for the first time: the border region of southern Tibet known as Tsā ri. In the centuries following Mi la ras pa’s
death, Tsā ri became an important pilgrimage location and retreat site,
especially associated with followers of the yogin’s Bkaʾ brgyud lineage.
Gtsang smyon himself is said to have spent three years in its vast wilderness tracts during which time he began to display the erratic behavior
for which he was named (Madman of Gtsang). No record exists, however, that Mi la ras pa visited Tsā ri. It is therefore perhaps with a touch
of self-reflective humor that Gtsang smyon adds this final note to the
geography of Mi la ras pa’s life, in the form of a prophecy delivered by
the yogin’s master Mar pa the Translator:
In the east lies the great sacred sites of Devīkoṭa and Tsā ri which are interconnected. It is not, at present, the time to open them. In the future your spiritual
descendants will establish themselves there.52
he spiritual descendants no doubt refer, among others, to Gtsang
smyon Heruka himself.
See Huber (1990, 1997); MacDonald (1990).
It is also worth noting the Gtsang smyon Heruka himself was sent by his guru Sha
ra rab ʾbyams pa to travel to La phyi, Chu bar, and Kailāsa, as well as Mi la ras pa’s six
fortresses. See Rgod tshang ras pa, TNG, 25. In this way, he was also realigning Mi la
ras pa’s life story with the places central to his own early training.
52)
de Jong (1959:103); Lhalungpa (1977:94). shar phyogs na gnas chen de wi ko ṭa
dang/ tsa ri ʾbrel nas yod de/ de da lta zhal byed ma ran/ ma ʾongs pa na khyod kyi bu rgyud
kyis ʾdzin pa zhig ʾong ba yin/.
50)
51)
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
393
Contested Place: Mi la ras pa’s Life on Hallowed Ground
Having broadly examined the maps of Mi la ras pa’s life and their landscaping by his biographers, we turn now to a specific mode of transformation in text and terrain taking the form of what might be called
“contested place.” Social geographer Doreen Massey has noted that
places “do not have single, unique ‘identities,’ ” but are rather described
as “full of internal conflicts” (Massey 1994:155). Indeed, one needs
only to look at recent events in Jerusalem or India’s Babri Mosque in
Ayodhya to understand that a place is frequently defined through
conflict, “conflict over what its past has been (the nature of its ‘heritage’), conflict over what should be its present development, conflict
over what should be its future” (ibid.). In the following discussion,
however, the word contested may be too strong a term, since the process
at work here refers to voices less in conflict than in conversation. he
phenomenon of sacred sites established upon previously consecrated
ground has been well documented in other contexts, and, indeed, sifting through the strata of Mi la ras pa’s biographical tradition we find
that many of his sites were originally visited and blessed by the Indian
siddha extraordinaire, Padmasambhava. How, then, does the phenomenon of contested space manifest in the context of Tibetan life writing?
What are its forms, its effects?
As noted above, Padmasambhava’s subjugation of local spirits inimical to Buddhism is a theme ubiquitous throughout his life stories, where
he is credited with taming the fertile, if yet uncivilized, Tibetan soil.
he acclaimed treasure revealer Nyang ral nyi maʾi ʾod zer (1136–1204),
writing in his twelfth-century religious history Honey from the Center of
the Flower (Chos ʾbyung me tog snying po sbrang rtsiʾi bcud), notes the
following account of Padmasambhava’s journey through the Tibetan
borderland, describing his vanquishing of the hostile forces: “[Padmasambhava] . . . subjugated Bkra shis tshe ring ma (Lady of Auspicious
Long Life), demoness of the border regions Brin and Chu dbar, and
then bound her under oath.”53 Biographical accounts of Tibetan figures
such as Padmasambhava and Mi la ras pa frequently describe episodes
in which the non-human forces hostile to Buddhism are subjugated
Nyang ral nyi maʾi ʾod zer, CMN, 278. brin chu dbar gyi so mtshams kyi lha srin bkra
shis tshe ring ma btul nas dam la btags te . . . /.
53)
394
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
and forced to swear their allegiance to the dharma under penalty of
death and to protect those who follow its teachings. his brief episode
is just one among dozens underlying the origin myths of Buddhism in
Tibet that continue to serve as powerful sites of historical and religious
legitmiation.
Interestingly, however, this event occurred in the region that would
later serve as Mi la ras pa’s heartland: repository of his numerous retreat
caves, home to his many patrons, and the site of his death and cremation. And four of Mi la’s earliest biographical narratives — the quartet
of song cycles individually signed by Ngan rdzong ras pa, himself a close
predecessor of Nyang ral — describe a similar meeting of Mi la ras pa
and the same demoness, this time with Bkra shis tshe ring ma manifesting as five sisters, the Tshe ring mched lnga (Five Long Life Sisters), and
identified not as demonic but ḍākinīs, tantric goddesses. Having first
attempted to harm the yogin, the sisters repent their deeds and, in the
third chapter, state their qualifications for receiving instructions thus:
When the ācārya Padmasambhava came to Tibet, we went to meet him in Kha la
rong sgo intending to cause him harm, but we were overcome by the splendor of
his mighty gestures and were compelled to become his followers. We straightforwardly offered him the core of our being. At that time we also received many
teachings of the sūtra class on cause and effect.54
he sisters, of course, go on to become Mi la ras pa’s steadfast devotees,
the chief among them serving as his consort in sexual yoga. hese two
passages raise questions of source material and literary chronology
beyond the scope of this study. Yet they also clearly illustrate the instability of local space (whose dominion shifts from Padmasambhava to
Mi la) even as the various strata of its religious affiliation are maintained
through biographical memory. Justification for why a local spirit and its
geographic abode require re-subjugation some three centuries later is
found in another episode from Mi la ras pa’s life.
During the yogin’s stay at the site called Red Rock Fortress of Ling
nga (Ling nga brag dmar rdzong) near Skyid grong, a demoness living
he earliest form of this passage is found in the Bu chen bcu gnyis (BCN, 181a.5),
and was preserved in nearly identical form by Gtsang smyon Heruka. See Gtsang
smyon Heruka, NG, 503; Chang (1962:343).
54)
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
395
in the rocky cave once again assails him. Eventually, she is moved to
describe her dreadful situation in song, here referring to Padmasambhava by his secret name hod phreng rtsal:
I am a follower of hod phreng’s lineage.
I’ve listened to a string of authentic dharma words.
I’ve heard the words but have great craving.
.................................
My mind is kind hearted and my outlook pure, yet
My ugly body feels great hunger for nourishment.
hrough evil karma, I roam the earth’s settlements
Hungry for food in flesh and blood form.
I enter the mind of whomever I meet.
I incite the hearts of fair maidens.
I infect fine men with desire.
.................................
For a home I dwell in Ling baʾi brag.
hese are my types of activity.55
In response, Mi la ras pa renews her vows of refuge and bodhicitta,
sealed with a promise to aid future meditators. he demoness, and by
extension the landscape itself, describes its own volatility: once converted but now relapsed through the power of karmic compulsion, like
a novice unaccustomed to celibate life. She remains a follower of Padmasambhava’s lineage, but has gone astray. And some three hundred
years later, as new lord of this domain, Mi la ras pa is charged with
refurbishing the land, converting it anew, even as he gains authority
from the powerful traces of its previous occupant and master.
his episode is recorded in the Bu chen bcu gnyis (BCN, 52a.4) and in nearly identical form in Gtsang smyon’s standard version. See Gtsang smyon Heruka, NG, 234;
Chang (1962:45). /nga padma thod phreng rgyud <brgyud> pa ʾdzin/ /dam chos tshig gi
phreng ba nyan/ /tshig thos pa yod kyang zhen pa che/ /nga rnal ʾbyor yongs kyi tshogs khang
ʾgrim/ /las ʾphro can rnams dge la ʾgod/ /skal ba can rnams don dang sprod/ /sems bzang
snang ba dkar lags kyang/ /lus ngan ma sos ltogs tshor che/ /las ngan ʾdzam gling grong khyer
myul/ /zas su sha dang khrag la dgaʾ/ /mi tsam po yongs kyi sems la ʾjug/ /sman mchor mo
kun la snying rlung slong/ /pho mchor po kun la mtshal ris btab/ /mig gis kun la ltad mo
bltas/ /sems kyis rgyal khams zhe la mnan/ /lus kyis kun la g.yeng ʾdegs byas/ /gnas ni ling
paʾi brag la gnas/ /de tsho nga yi spyod ʾgros yin/.
55)
396
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
he stratification of sacred space in Mi la’s biographical tradition is
perhaps most powerfully illustrated by the yogin’s famed hermitage of
Brag dkar rta so. Accounts of Padmasambhava’s life describe his journey
north from Nepal through the Tibetan borderlands of the Skyid grong
and Mang yul valleys; his three months in the region, according to
Chos kyi dbang phyug’s history, included a stay at Brag dkar rta so
itself. he spot was therefore already established as a sacred site by the
time Mi la returned home to begin his yogic career when he sang, “I go
now to meditate at White-rock Horse-tooth.” It was Padmasambhava’s
consecrated ground that drew him there for the first time.56
At this early stage in Mi la ras pa’s life he is, in Chos kyi dbang
phyug’s terms, an “individual blessed by a sacred site.” he story of his
life is thus defined through yogic practice at a place sanctified by former
masters, until the location transferred its principal affiliation to Mi la
ras pa himself, thereby transforming into a “sacred site blessed by a
(new) individual.” And in Chos kyi dbang phyug’s estimation, this
same process occurred at many of the yogin’s most famous retreats. He
writes: “he places directly prophesied by Mar pa the Translator to Lord
Mi la — Rtsa ri, Lho brag, Rgyal gyi shri, La phyi and Chu dbar, Dpal
ʾbar, Yol mo gangs ra, and so forth — were all previously renowned as
Guru [Padmasambhava’s] practice places.”57
Each one of these locations, with the exception of Tsā ri as noted
above, then shifts during the course of Mi la’s life (and the writing of his
biographies) as he renews the vows of local spirits and re-consecrates
their terrain. Chos kyi dbang phyug describes this pattern, beginning
with the Tshe ring ma sisters: “It is also taught in the responses to questions how the five long life sisters met the ācārya [Padmasambhava]
when he went to Kha la rong sgo, and were bound under oath.”58 He
then continues to describe many of Mi la’s major retreat sites:
Chos kyi dbang phyug, DTL, 8a. his line is appended to the end of each verse of
Mi la’s famed song of essenselessness (snying po med paʾi mgur), found or referred to in
most early versions of the rnam thar. Gtsang smyon Heruka, however, was the first to
specifically associate the song with Brag dkar rta so by name.
57)
Ibid. 9a. To this list we might add the six “secret fortresses” that, according to Zhi
byed ri pa, were likewise originally blessed by Padmasambhava. rje mi lar sgra sgyur
mar pas/ rtsa ri/ lho brag/ rgyal gyi shri/ la phyi chu dbar/ dpal ʾbar/ yol mo gangs ra sogs
dngos su lung bstan pa de kun gu ruʾi grub gnas su sngon nas grags zin pa . . . /.
58)
Ibid. 9b. tshe ring mched lngas kha la rong sgor slob dpon byon dus bsus shing dam la
btags paʾi tshul zhus lan du gsung pa bzhin dang/.
56)
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
397
Likewise, for the local lord ( gnas bdag) of Yol mo, the local protector ( gnas srung)
of Dpal ʾbar, the lha btsan deities of Gangs Ti se, and so forth: the Mahācārya
[Padmasambhava] bound them under oath. hen later on, they once again
restored their oaths and vows of bodhicitta before Rje btsun [Mi la ras pa] himself,
and having done so they were ordered to support the practice lineage.59
Chos kyi dbang phyug likely had motives for emphasizing these two
layers, forming a dialogue of sorts between the lives of founding figures
esteemed by followers in both Rnying ma and Bkaʾ brgyud traditions.
Further research on the life of this important early-modern scholar may
clarify this point. But these stories illustrate ways in which the ground
has been consecrated and re-consecrated, transferring its religious
affiliation while retaining the memory of its earlier biographical strata.
In the account from Mi la ras pa’s encounter at Ling nga brag cited
above, the yogin’s assailant is described as a brag srin mo, the srin mo
forming a class of indigenous and particularly fearsome female entities;
a brag srin mo is such a being inhabiting rocky places (NebeskyWojkowitz 1956:280). As a srin mo, she is of the same “race” as the
great supine demoness famously subdued by the Tibetan king, effectively
taming the whole of the Tibetan landscape. And like her namesake, Mi
la’s attacker was not killed off during her initial encounter with Padmasambhava but was allowed to live on newly converted, in order to promote and protect the Buddhist teachings (see Gyatso 1989:42). It is in
part through her continued presence, and through the presence of so
many non-human spirits first tamed by Padmasambhava only to reappear in the stories of Mi la’s life, that allow the yogin to reaffirm his
presence — and his dominion — over the land.
Like the more prosaic soil, sacred space could be viewed as forming
layers, independent strata preserving discrete narrative traditions from
the lives of different masters. It is here that Casey’s notion of place as a
“container of experiences” seems particularly apt. In some cases these
layers might be isolated from one another, separated by centuries of accretion. In others, such as those examined here, they might seem to converge through the literary activities of biographers and historians. he
acclaimed master Kaḥ thog Rig ʾdzin Tshe dbang nor bu (1698–1775)
Ibid. 9b. yol moʾi gnas bdag/ dpal ʾbar gyi gnas srung/ gangs ti seʾi lha btsan sogs slob
dpon chen pos dam la btags zin rjes slar yang rje btsun nyid kyi drung du dam tshig dang
sems bskyed gsos te sgrub brgyud skyongs bar bkaʾ bsgos pas . . ./.
59)
398
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
summarized the relationship formed between these layers and illustrates
their shifting nature in his song of praise to Mi la ras pa’s premier retreat
site Brag dkar rta so ( gnas bstod kyi mgur), where he writes:
Formerly, it was blessed by Guru [Padmasambhava].
Later on, unrivaled Lord Mi la,
Became pleased in this place,
he great vajra ground of intrinsic reality.
herefore, understand the second Vajrāsana as inhabiting this site.60
he ground has shifted once again, but is here elevated to a level transcending the purely local. Based upon its multiple levels of biographical
correspondence, the abode first of Padmasambhava and then Mi la ras
pa now equals the site of the Buddha’s enlightenment itself: Bodhgayā,
Vajrāsana, the adamantine ground. he unstable landscape has, in the
end, become immutable.
Re-Imagined Place: New Geographies of Praxis
If Gtsang smyon Heruka produced what would become Tibet’s most
widely recognized map of Mi la ras pa’s life, he was not the only author
to survey the land or to interpret it in new ways. As noted above, Rgyal
thang pa described the yogin’s life in largely geo-political terms, delimiting the boundaries of a Buddhist terrain aligned with the religious
tradition of his followers. Biographers also re-imagined the places of Mi
la ras pa’s life story by superimposing new life-maps upon the known
landscape, specifically charting the progress of his personal yogic practice. As we shall see below, the land itself could thus be read as a biographical text, narrating the yogin’s progression through the four stages
of Mahāmudrā meditation or the tantric purification of the five wheels
(cakras) along the central channel from the base of his spine to the
crown of his head. Although they do not appear in any of the larger
biographical compendia, including the standard version itself, each of
these re-imagined maps implicitly supports the notion of Mi la’s liberaQuoted ibid. 8a. sngon tshe ni gu rus byin gyis brlabs// bar du ni ʾgran bral mi la rjes //
yang dag don rdo rjeʾi sa chen po// gnas ʾdi ru mnyes par gyur pas na// rdo rje gdan gnyis pa
gnas ʾdir khums//.
60)
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
399
tion in one lifetime and a single body, a trope that became a central
motif in Gtsang smyon’s work and a defining feature of the life story.
Indian Buddhist tantras and their commentarial literature describe
elaborate systems of tantric geography referring both to locations in the
external world and to sites within the yogin’s own subtle body.61 he
Cakrasaṃ vara Tantra, for example, famously lists twenty-four such
sacred sites, many of which were re-mapped onto the Tibetan landscape
as translators carried such works back to their homeland and transmitted them among their followers.62 he Tibetan landscape was likewise
imagined as literally embodying tantric deities, as was the case for the
regions of Spo bo and Padma bkod in southern Tibet, home to some of
Tibet’s most acclaimed hidden lands (sbas yul ). Different traditions of
revealed literature variously describe these regions as surveying points
on the body of the tantric deity Vajravārāhī, or as mapping the deity’s
subtle physiology by associating its five channel wheels with specific
sites on the ground.63
Authors in Mi la ras pa’s biographical tradition, too, developed new
systems for mapping the life story, specifically emphasizing the yogin’s
practice of tantric yoga and the development of his subtle yogic body.
Tshal pa Kun dgaʾ rdo rje (1309–1364), in his mid-fourteenth-century
religious history he Red Annals (Deb gter dmar po), provides one such
re-imagined map, produced more than a century prior to Gtsang
smyon’s standard version. His brief sketch of Mi la ras pa’s life recounts
how the yogin left Mar pa for his homeland and wandered among many
isolated retreats including the six fortresses, La phyi, and Chu bar. For
nine years he meditated one-pointedly, undergoing intense hardship
but failed to gain any experience or realization whatsoever.64 hen, during the span of half a month, his obstacles were dispelled and he made
great progress as spiritual realization blazed forth all at once. he author
See, for example, Tsuda (1978:215–131). A more general overview is provided in
Ngawang Zangpo (2001:50–74). Templeman (1999) discusses this inner and outer
tantric geography in terms of Indian pilgrimage traditions recorded in Tibetan biographical sources.
62)
On the Tibetan assimilation of Indian tantric sites, see Huber (1990).
63)
See Stein (1988:40–48) for examples from Tsā ri and Padma bkod. See also Ehrhard
(1999a).
64)
Tshal pa Kun dgaʾ rdo rje, RA, 79.
61)
400
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
then describes Mi la’s progressive attainment of the four stages of
Mahāmudrā meditation called the “four yogas” (rnal ʾbyor bzhi), each
in a different location:
At ʾChong lung, during the time of the first demon horde [attack], he perfected
the yoga of one-pointedness. At La phyi chu bzang, during the time of the second
demon horde [attack], he perfected non-elaboration. At Chu bar, during the time
of the third demon horde [attack], he perfected one taste. hen he bound under
oath the five long life sisters. He fully realized the yoga of non-meditation and, by
means of clairvoyance and numerous miracles, he tamed all of his human and
non-human disciples.65
According to Kun dgaʾ rdo rje, Mi la ras pa’s progression on the path —
from his entrance to the bodhisattva levels to his attainment of buddhahood — therefore begins and ends within a narrowly circumscribed
geographic space.66
Mi la ras pa’s biographical tradition also mapped the yogin’s life in
terms of his yogic practice and developing the subtle physiology of
channels (S. nāḍ ī, T. rtsa), currents (S. prāṇ a, T. rlung), and drops (S.
bindu, T. thig le). Perhaps the most famous example is Mi la’s renowned
Ibid. ʾchong lung du ʾdre dmag dang poʾi dus su rtse gcig gi rnal ʾbyor rdzogs/ la phyi chu
bzang su ʾdre dmag bar pa la spros bral rdzogs/ chu bar du ʾdre dmag gsum pa la ro gcig
rdzogs nas/ tshe rings ma spun lnga dam la thogs/ sgom med kyi rnam ʾbyor la mngon du
phyogs shing/ mngon shes rdzu ʾphrul du mas gdul bya mi dang mi ma yin pa thams cad
btul/.
66)
Many Bkaʾ brgyud traditions describe progress on the path of Mahāmudrā meditation practice in terms of four stages of yoga, a system codified in Tibet as early as the
twelfth century by Rgod tshang pa Mgon po rdo rje: one-pointedness (rtse gcig), nonelaboration (spros bral ), one taste (ro gcig), and non-meditation (sgom med ). Although
they formed an autonomous system, Bkaʾ brgyud exegetes mapped elaborate concordances between the four yogas and the more widely described five paths (S. pañcamārga,
T. lam lnga) and ten levels (S. daśabhūmi, T. sa bcu) of the bodhisattva. See, for example, the ninth Karma pa Dbang phyug rdo rje’s presentation in his Phyag chen nges don
rgya mtsho (n.d., Rumtek ed. 123b ff.) and a similar discussion in Dwags po Bkra shis
rnam rgyal’s (1512/13–1587) Phyag chen zla baʾi ʾod zer, translated in Namgyal
(1986:354 ff.). Although these concordances vary, they uniformly equate the beginning of the yoga of non-fabrication as the first bodhisattva level, the path of seeing (S.
darśanamārga, T. mthong lam), the fleeting initial experience of emptiness. Likewise,
the yoga of non-meditation marks the end of the path as the fully awakened state of a
buddha.
65)
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
401
meditation spot at Brag dkar rta so called the Central Channel Fortress
(Dbu ma rdzong), whose name is frequently explained in the following
way:
To provide an etymology for the name of the sacred place called White-rock
Horse-tooth Central Channel Fortress (brag dkar rta so dbu ma rdzong): it is
called white rock (brag dkar) because there is a white rock in the middle of this
site’s lower part, like a drape of white silk spread out, wrapped around [the mountain] in an unbroken manner. It is called horse tooth (rta so) because there is a
white rock, like a horse’s tooth, erected in the upper part of the practice cave. It is
called central channel (dbu ma) because the knots of the central channel of the
great Rje btsun himself came unraveled [in this place].67
Several centuries later, the acclaimed Bkaʾ brgyud historian Dpaʾ bo
Gtsug lag phreng ba (1504–1566) constructed a map of Mi la’s yogic
practice following Kun dgaʾ rdo rje’s model, with some variations. At
Brag dkar rta so, he records, the yogin attained accomplishment (siddhi)
and then at Ling ba brag, site of Mi la’s encounter with the demoness
discussed previously, “he drew the subtle current of fire into the lower
Chos kyi dbang phyug, DTL, 5b. de yang brag dkar rta so dbu ma rdzong/ zhes paʾi
gnas kyi mtshan sgra bshad du smra na/ gnas ʾdiʾi ʾog gi sked pa nas brag dkar po dar dkar
gyi yol ba rkyang pa lta bu zam ma chad pas dkris pa ltar yod pas brag dkar dang/ sgrub
phug gi steng ngos brag dkar po rta yi so ltar rtsigs pa yod pas rta so dang/ rje btsun chen po
nyid kyi rtsa bu maʾi mdud pa grol bas na dbu ma dang/
Rdo ring Bstan ʾdzin dpal ʾbyor glosses the name dbu ma by noting that it describes
the cave in which the view of the Prāsaṅgika Madhyamaka, the “middle way consequence” philosophy, was born in Mi la’s mind. (Bstan ʾdzin dpal ʾbyor, GZN, 518).
Chos kyi dbang phyug acknowledges this tradition although it is an etymology with
which he — and most Bkaʾ brgyud commentators — disagree:
67)
Furthermore, it is, indeed, not contradictory to say the name dbu ma is given
because it is the sacred place in which [Mi la] actualized an understanding of the
profound abiding nature, the ultimate great middle way, free from all fabricated
extremes. However, it is taught that it is called dbu ma because this is the place
where the knots of the central channel (rtsa dbu ma) were loosened; this is certain.
(Ibid. yang na dbu ma zhes pa zab moʾi gnas lugs chos kyi dbyings spros paʾi mthaʾ
thams cad dang bral baʾi mthar thug dbu ma chen poʾi dgongs pa mngon du gyur paʾi
bsti gnas yin paʾi phyir dbu ma zhes btang kyang mi ʾgal mod/ ʾdir ni rtsa dbu maʾi
mdud pa grol baʾi phyir dbu ma zhes gsung par nges so/ ).
402
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
central channel due to which the miracles of the rock demoness
appeared; and at Sman lung Chu bar, he loosened the knot of the throat
channel wheel due to which cycles on Tshe ring ma appeared.”68
his theme was elaborated upon by the ʾBrug pa Bkaʾ brgyud master
Padma dkar po (1527–1592) several decades later in his History of the
ʾBrug pa (ʾBrug paʾi chos ʾbyung), where he also describes Mi la’s meditation at Brag dkar rta so. For nine years the yogin practices with little
result until, refreshed by good food and inspired by a scroll of yogic
instructions imparted by his guru, “the channel-knot at his secret place
came unraveled and he achieved the first and second bodhisattva levels;
then, exerting himself for about a year the channel-knot at his navel
came unraveled.”69 Later, after his winter retreat in La phyi, “the
channel-knot at his heart came unraveled and he attained the sixth
bodhisattva level.”70 After his meeting with the sisters of long life in the
region of Chu bar, and after receiving the chief among them as his yogic
consort, “the enjoyment channel-wheel at his throat was filled with
vital energy (dwangs ma) whereby he attained the realization of the
eighth bodhisattva level.”71 Finally, after Ras chung pa returned from
India, filled with pride about the teachings and texts he had received,
Mi la displays an array of miraculous performances. At this time, just
before setting off for the Nepalese outpost of Bal po rdzong, “he revealed
the process in which the channel-knot at his forehead came unraveled,
whereby he became a bodhisattva of the tenth level,” a state, the text
describes, undifferentiated from that of the Tathāgatas.72
hese two forms of life-map differ in content, one documenting Mi
la’s progress on the path of Mahāmudrā meditation, the other, the
Gtsug lag phreng ba, KGT, 783. ling paʾi brag tu dbu maʾi mar snar me rlung tshud
baʾi rten ʾbrel brag srin moʾi cho ʾphrul snang ba dang/ sman lung chu bar du mgrin paʾi
rtsa mdud zhig paʾi rten ʾbrel tshe ring maʾi skor snang/.
69)
Pamda dkar po, DCJ, 367. gsang gnas kyi rtsa mdud grol/ sa dang po dang gnyis pa
non/ de nas lo tsam du brtson par mdzad pas lte baʾi rtsa mdud grol/.
70)
Ibid. 368. de dus snying kaʾi rtsa mdud grol/ sa drug pa non pa yin te/.
71)
Ibid. 370. deʾi dus mgrin pa longs spyod kyi ʾkhor lo dwangs mas gang bas sa brgyad kyi
rtogs pa rnyed/.
72)
Ibid. 371. deʾi skabs su dpral baʾi rtsa mdud grol bas sa bcuʾi byang chub sems dpar
gyur paʾi tshul bstan/ Chos kyi dbang phyug later copied this mapping of Mi la’s yogic
attainments, first in his history of Brag dkar rta so in 1816 and then again in his 1820
golden rosary collection of ʾBrug pa Bkaʾ brgyud biographies. See Chos kyi dbang
phyug, DTL, 19a–21b; and DKS, 24a–25b.
68)
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
403
development of his subtle yogic physiology. Yet they equally emphasize
the trope of his liberation in one life and a single body by illustrating
his progression along the five paths and ten levels, from first insight to
full awakening. To this end, they support the division of his life into
two broad periods: first, from his early life up to the first retreats at Brag
dkar rta so, and second, his mature teaching career as a realized yogic
master, an ārya being who had passed through the path of vision and
entered the bodhisattva levels.
he early extensive biographies explicitly incorporated these divisions into their narrative structure. Although they lacked the detailed
praxis-oriented maps described here, they demarcated an early period
prior to yogic attainment and a later period once he had gained realization.73 he briefer works discussed above achieved a similar aim by
describing Mi la ras pa’s activities at Brag dkar rta so, and those shortly
thereafter, as fundamentally transformative, marking the moment in
which he passes from ordinary individual to realized siddha. he topography in which these activities occur thereby map discrete advances to
specific locations; the landscape thus becomes both the ground upon
which the transformation occurs and the medium in which it is transcribed and recorded.
Reflections
As the genre of sacred biography aims to capture the arc of a saint’s life
over time, it also traces his or her acts in space. And the life of a saint,
in one critic’s view, overwhelmingly emphasizes the latter, so that
“[h]agiography is marked by a predominance of precise indications of
he Bu chen bcu gnyis, for example, divides the narrative into two broad sections:
1) the qualities of hardships he faced, which are related to his family (rigs dang ʾbrel ba
dkaʾ ba sbyad paʾi yon tan); and (2) the qualities of his experience, which are related to
his meditation (ting nge ʾdzin dang ʾbrel ba nyams su myong baʾi yon tan). Numerous
early rnam thar of Bkaʾ brgyud masters appear to follow this format, which may have
served as an important literary structure in Tibet’s nascent biographical tradition.
Gtsang smyon Heruka orgainzed his standard version of the life story of “twelve marvelous and amazing deeds” into three “ordinary worldly deeds” (thun mong srid pa ʾjig
rten paʾi mdzad pa) during the early part of the yogin’s life and nine subsequent “deeds
of supreme peace and nirvāṇa” (mchog gyur zhi ba mya ngan las ʾdas paʾi mdzad pa).
73)
404
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
place over those of time” as the story itself becomes “translated into a
course of places and changes of scene” ultimately defining a “geography
of the sacred” (Certeau 1988:280). his essay has examined the topography of Mi la ras pa’s life to argue for what might be considered a
geographic biography: the life story inscribed in the “course of places”
revealing maps of the life inscribed as points on the ground. he earliest
versions of the biographical tradition represented the yogin in skeletal
form and likewise drew the maps of his life in only the broadest of
strokes. As the life story matured and drew portraits with progressively
finer attention to detail, it likewise produced maps on a larger scale,
culminating in a comprehensive survey of places visited, converted,
lived in, and tamed. With few explicit chronological signs, the Life is
indeed marked by a predominance of place over time.
Mi la ras pa’s geographic biography, much like its literary partner,
never fell to the level of mere received tradition. As authors of the biographical tradition laid greater emphasis on the places of Mi la ras pa’s
life, they formulated new and creative means for landscaping the story
by laying alternative ground lines and marking new territories. Wilderness retreat sites were named and fortified, and those places were then
organized into recognizable categories. his process culminated in
Gtsang smyon Heruka’s standard version in which this geography was
reshaped and reclassified, with individual sites moved and, on occasion,
removed.
his essay has likewise argued for a dialogical relationship between
the writing of a life and the formation of sacred place. As dynamic
phenomena, sacred places could shift and transform through the literary efforts of Mi la ras pa’s biographers; those new mappings then
helped reframe the ways in which the life story was understood. his
essay has shown how dominion over much of southern Tibet passed
from Padmasambhava to Mi la ras pa as narratives seem to converse
across different strata of place and biographical memory. It has also
revealed new maps of Mi la ras pa’s life, emphasizing the trope of his
liberation in one body and a single lifetime by connecting the stages of
his yogic development to a series of specific locations on the ground.
As noted earlier, the maps of Mi la ras pa’s life were not merely conceptual diagrams creating meditation castles in the sand. hey described
a physical topography visited by generations of devotees, pilgrims, and
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
405
meditators. Some places remain relatively undeveloped and infrequently
accessed. Others became prominent and powerful Bkaʾ brgyud institutions, supporting the spread of Mi la ras pa’s legacy. But the sacrality of
such locations could also transform the land so that the physical earth
itself was considered sacred. Rdo ring Bstan ʾdzin dpal ʾbyor records
how, during his journey through southern Tibet in 1790, he collected
earth, stones, and wood from the outer, inner, and secret fortresses, as
well as the minor caves associated with Mi la ras pa’s life. He then
describes using these materials as geographic relics to consecrate statues
of Mi la ras pa and his retinue.74 Although dead nearly seven centuries,
the yogin persisted in the local environment as the land itself had
become a geographic relic. his constellation of retreat caves and meditation sites, formed from rock and dirt and imagined as impenetrable
strongholds, consolidated Mi la ras pa’s footing across large portions of
the southern Himalaya. he resulting terrain marked what would eventually come to be known, according to one modern pilgrimage guide,
as “Milarepa Country” (Chan 1994:924).
References
Tibetan Language Sources
Anonymous
JLC
Byin rlabs kyi chu rgyun.
Editions:
JLCI Indian edition. Cover title: Rnal ʾbyor gyi dbang phyug mi la bzhad pa rdo
rjeʾi gsung mgur ma mdzod nag ma zhes pa ka rma pa rang byung rdo rjes
phyog bcig. Dalhousie: Damchoe Sangpo. 1978. 2 vols.
JLCS Smith edition. Cover title: Rje rnal sbyor gyi dbang phyug dpal bzhad paʾi rdo
rjeʾi ʾgur ʾtshogs tshad phyogs gcig du bsgrig pa lo rgyus kyis sbas pa zhes bya ba
bzhugs so. Unpublished dbu med manuscript.
Bstan ʾdzin dpal ʾbyor, GZN, 517. He further notes an old proverb stating that
keeping a statue of Phag mo gru pa in the home will make you wealthy, constructing
a statue of Mi la ras pa will make you poor. (ʾjig rten rgan rabs kyi kha rgyun la phag
gruʾi sku khyim do nyar na phyugs tu ʾgro zhing/ rje btsun gyi sku nyar na dbul du phyin
yong zer ba bcas ma bzhengs pa).
74)
406
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
Bstan ʾdzin Chos kyi blo gros (1868–1906)
LNY Gsang lam sgrub paʾi gnas chen nyer bzhiʾi ya gyal gau då wa riʾam/ ʾbrog la
phyi gangs kyi ra baʾi sngon byung gi tshul las tsam paʾi gtam gyi rab tu phyed
pa nyung ngu rnam gsal. Gangtok: Sherab Gyaltsen 1983.
Bstan ʾdzin dpal ʾbyor, Rdo ring (b. 1760)
GZN Dgaʾ bzhi baʾi rnam thar. Lhasa: Bod ljongs mi dmangs dpe skrun khang
1988.
Chos kyi dbang phyug, Brag dkar rta so sprul sku (1775–1837)
DKS Dpal ldan gzhung ʾbrug pa Bkaʾ brgyud gser phreng. Written 1820. Microfilm. Kathmandu, Nepal. NGMPP reel no. L381/1, 55 folios. Dbu med
manuscript.
DTL Grub paʾi gnas chen brag dkar rta soʾi gnas dang gdan rabs bla ma brgyud paʾi
lo rgyus mdo tsam brjod pa mos ldan dad paʾi gdung sel drang srong dgaʾ baʾi
dal gtam zhes bya ba bzhugs so. Written in 1816. Microfilm. Kathmandu,
Nepal. NGMPP reel no. 940/8, 52 folios. Dbu med manuscript.
Dam pa ras chen (ca. early twelfth century).
NDN Rgyud pa yid bzhin nor bu las rje btsun ngan rdzong ras paʾi rnam thar ʾkhrul
med. In Ngam rdzong snyan brgyud kyi skor. Bir: D. Tsondu Senghe 1985,
pp. 1–17.
Gtsang smyon Heruka (1452–1507)
NG
Rnal ʾbyor gyi dbang phyug chen po mi la ras paʾi rnam mgur. Mtsho sngon
mi rigs dpe skrun khang 1981; reprint ed. 1989.
Gtsug lag phreng ba, Dpaʾ bo II (1504–1564)
KGT Chos ʾbyung mkhas paʾi dgaʾ ston. 2 vols. Beijing: Mi rigs dpe skrun khang
1986.
Mkhas pa ldeʾu (thirteenth century)
KDC Rgya bod kyi chos ʾbyung rgyas pa. Lhasa: Bod ljongs mi rigs dpe skrun
khang 1987.
Ngan rdzong ston pa Byang chub rgyal po (b. late eleventh century) et al.
BC
Bu chen bcu gnyis
Editions:
BCN Newark edition. Cover title: Rje btsun chen po mid la ras paʾi rnam thar zab
mo. n.p., n.d. 244 folios. Dbu can manuscript in the collection of the
Newark Museum, microfilm master negative No. 0001, the Tibetan Book
Collection, Folio 36.280, Biography of Milarepa, IIB R 16.
BCO Oxford edition: No cover title. No title page. n.p., n.d. Dbu can manuscript
in the Bodlean Library Microfilm Reel No. SN 1207 ms. Tib. a. 11a.
Nyang ral Nyi maʾi ʾod zer (1124/36–1192/1204)
CMN Chos ʾbyung me tog snying po sbrang rtsiʾi bcud. Gang can rig mdzod series
no. 5, Lhasa: Bod ljongs mi dmangs dpe skrun khang 1988.
Padma dkar po (1527–1592)
DCJ ʾBrug paʾi chos ʾbyung. Gang-can rig-mdzod series no. 19. Lhasa: Bod-ljongs
Bod-yig Dpe-rnying Dpe-skrun-khang 1992.
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
407
Rang byung rdor je, Karmapa III (1284–1339)
DNM Rje btsun mi la rdo rje rgyal mtshan gyi rnam par thar paʾi dbu phyogs lags.
Dbu med manuscript in the archives of ʾBras spung Monastery. ʾBras spung
dkar chag: phyi ra 42, 017082. 309 folios.
Rgod tshang ras pa Sna tshogs rang grol (1495–1570)
TNG Gtsang smyon her ru ka phyogs thams cad las rnam par rgyal baʾi rnam thar
rdo rje theg paʾi gsal byed nyi maʾi snying po. he Life of the Saint of Gtsaṅ.
(Śata piṭaka Series Indo Asian Literatures 79.) Lokesh Chandra, New Delhi
1969.
Rgyal thang pa Bde chen rdo rje (ca. thirteenth century).
JGM Rje btsun gyi rgyal po mid la ras pʾi rnam thar. In Dkar brgyud gser ʾphreng:
A hirteenth Century Collection of Verse Hagiographies of the Succession of
Eminent Masters of the ʾBrug-pa Dkar-brgyud-pa Tradition, Tashijong, India:
Sungrab Nyamso Gyunphel Parkhang 1973, 189–265.
Tshal pa Kun dgaʾ rdo rje (1309–1364)
RA
Deb gter dmar po. Mi rigs dpe skrun khang: Beijing: Mi rigs dpe skrun
khang 1981.
Tshe dbang rgyal (ca. fifteenth century)
LRC Dam paʾi chos kyi byung baʾi legs bshad lho rong chos ʾbyung ngam rta tshag
chos ʾbyung zhes rtsom paʾi yul ming du chags paʾi ngo mtshar zhing dkon paʾi
dpe khyed par chan. Khangs can rig mdzod 26. Bod ljongs bod yig dpe
rnying dpe skrun khang 1994.
Tshe dbang nor bu, Kaḥ thog rigs ʾdzin. (1698–1755)
SDN Mar mi dwags po jo bo rje yab sras sog dam pa ʾgaʾ zhug gi rnam thar sa bon
dus kyi nges pa brjod pa dag ldan nyung gsal. In Selected Writings of Kaḥ thog
Rig ʾdzin Tshe dbang Nor bu. 6 vols. Darjeeling: Kargyu Sungrab Nyamso
Khang 1973, vol. 1, pp. 669–705.
Zhi byed ri pa (fourteenth century)
NDO Rje btsun mid la ras paʾi rnam par thar pa nyi zlaʾi ʾod zer sgron ma. Manuscript in the archives of ʾBras spung Monastery. ʾBras spungs dkar chag: phyi
ra 72, 017188, 105ff, 45 x 8 cm. (Pagination refers to computer print-out.)
Western Language Sources
Aris, Michael. 1979. Bhutan: he Early History of a Himalayan Kingdom. Warminster,
England: Aris & Phillips Ltd.
Aufschnaiter, Peter. 1976. “Lands and Places of Milarepa.” East and West 26(1–2):
175–189.
Aziz, Barbara Nimri. 1975. “Tibetan Manuscript Maps of Dingri Valley.” he Canadian Cartographer 12(1):28–38.
Brauen, Martin (ed.). 2002. Eight Years in Tibet. Bangkok: Orchid Press.
Braarvig, Jens. 1985. “Dhāraṇ ī and Pratibhāna: Memory and Eloquence of the Bodhisattvas.” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 8:17–29.
408
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
Buffetrille, Katia. 1996. “One Day the Mountains Will Go Away: Preliminary Remarks
on the Flying Mountains of Tibet.” In A.-M. Blondeau and E. Steinkellner (eds.),
Reflections of the Mountain: Essays on the History and Social Meaning of the Mountain Cult in Tibet and the Himalaya, Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie
der Wissenschaften, 77–90.
Casey, Edward S. 1987. Remembering: A Phenomenological Study. Bloomington, IN:
Indiana University Press.
———. 1993. Getting Back Into Place: Toward a Renewed Understanding of the PlaceWorld. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Certeau, Michel de. 1988. he Writing of History. New York: Columbia University Press.
Chan, Victor. 1994. Tibet Handbook. Hong Kong: Moon Publications.
Chang, Garma C. C. 1962. he Hundred housand Songs of Milarepa. New Hyde Park,
N.Y.: University Books. Reprint (2 vols. in 1), Boston: Shambhala Publications
1999.
Cresswell, Tim. 2004. Place: A Short Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.
de Jong, J. W. 1959. Mi la ras paʾi rnam thar: Texte Tibétain de la vie de Milarépa. he
Hague: Mouton.
Diemberger, Hildegard. 1991. “Lhakama [lha-bkaʾ-ma] and Khandroma [mkhaʾ-ʾgroma]: he Sacred Ladies of the Beyul Khenbalung [sbas-yul mKhan-pa-lung].” In
E. Steinkellner (ed.), Tibetan History and Language: Studies Dedicated to Uray
Géza on his Seventieth Birthday, Wien: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien Universität Wien, 137–153.
———. 1993. “Gangla Tshechu, Beyul Khenbalung: Pilgrimage to Hidden Valleys,
Sacred Mountains and Springs of Life Water in Southern Tibet and Eastern
Nepal.” In C. Ramble and M. Brauen (eds.), Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalaya, Zürich: Völkerkundemuseum der Universität Zürich, 60–72.
Dudjom Rinpoche, Jigdral Yeshe Dorje. 1991. he Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals and History. Translated by G. Dorje and M. Kapstein.
2 vols. Boston: Wisdom Publications.
Doctor, Andreas. 2005. Tibetan Treasure Literature: Revelation, Tradition, and Accomplishment in Visionary Buddhism. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications.
Ehrhard, Franz-Karl. 1997. “‘he Lands are like a Wiped Golden Basin’: he Sixth
Zhva-dmar-pa’s Journey to Nepal and his Travelogue (1629/30).” In S. Karmay
and P. Sagant (eds.), Les Habitants du Toit du Monde, Nanterre: Société d’ethnologie,
125–138.
———. 1999a. “Political and Ritual Aspects of the Search for Himalayan Sacred
Lands.” In Huber 1999b: 240–257.
———. 1999b. “he Role of ‘Treasure Discoverers’ and heir Writings in the Search
for Himalayan Sacred Lands.” In Huber 1999b:227–239.
———. 2001. “Religious Geography and Literary Traditions: he Foundations of the
Monastery Brag-dkar bsam-gling.” Journal of the Nepal Research Center 12:101–114.
Foucher, Alfred. 1963. he Life of the Buddha According to the Ancient Texts and Monuments of India. Translated by S. B. Boas. 1st ed. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press. (Original edition, 1949.)
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
409
France, Peter, and William St. Clair. (eds.). 2002. Mapping Lives: he Uses of Biography.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gardner, Alexander. 2006. “he Twenty-five Great Sites of Khams: Religious Geography, Revelation, and Nonsectarianism in Nineteenth-Century Eastern Tibet.”
Ph.D. dissertation. University of Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor, MI.
Granoff, Phyllis, and Koichi Shinohara (eds.). 2003. Pilgrims, Patrons, and Place:
Localizing Sanctity in Asian Religions. Vancouver and Toronto: University of British Columbia.
Grapard, Allan G. 1982. “Flying Mountains and Walkers of Emptiness: Towards a
Definition of Sacred Space in Japanese Religions.” History of Religions 21(3):
195–221.
Gyaltsen, Khenpo Rinpochay Könchok, and Victoria Huckenpahler. 1990. he Great
Kagyu Masters : he Golden Lineage Treasury. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications.
Gyatso, Janet. 1989. “Down with the Demoness: Reflections on a Feminine Ground
in Tibet.” In J. D. Willis (ed.), Feminine Ground: Essays on Women and Tibet,
Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 33–51.
———. 1992. “Letter Magic: A Peircean Perspective on the Semiotics of Rdo Grubchen’s Dhāraṇī Memory.” In J. Gyatso (ed.), In the Mirror of Memory: Reflections
on Mindfulness and Remembrance in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, New York:
SUNY Press, 173–213.
———. 1993. “he Logic and Legitimation in the Tibetan Treasure Tradition.” History of Religions 33(1):97–134.
Huber, Toni. 1990. “Where Exactly are Cārita, Devikoṭa and Himavat? A Sacred
Geography Controversy and the Development of Tantric Buddhist Pilgrimage
Sites in Tibet.” Kailash 16(3–4):121–164.
———. 1997. “A Guide to the La-phyi Maṇḍala: History, Landscape and Ritual in
South-Western Tibet.” In MacDonald 1997:233–286.
———. 1999a. he Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain: Popular Pilgrimage and Visionary
Landscape in Southeast Tibet. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
——— (ed.). 1999b. Sacred Spaces and Powerful Places in Tibetan Culture: A Collection of Essays. Dharamsala, India: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives.
Jackson, David. 1990. “Sa-skya Pandita the ‘Polemicist’: Ancient Debates and Modern
Interpretations.” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies
13(2):17–117.
Lamotte, Étienne. 1988. History of Indian Buddhism: From the Origins to the Śaka Era.
Translated by Sara Webb-Boin. Louvain-la-neuve: Université Catholique de Louvain, Institut Orientaliste. (Original edition, Histoire du Bouddhisme Indien, des
origins à l’ère Śaka, 1958.)
Lhalungpa, Lobsang P. 1977. he Life of Milarepa. New York: Dutton. Reprint, Boston: Shambhala Publications 1984.
MacDonald, Alexander W. (ed.). 1990. “Hindu-isation, Buddha-isation, then Lamaisation or: What Happened at La-phyi.” In T. Skorupski (ed.), Indo-Tibetan Studies: Papers in Honour and Appreciation of Professor David L. Snellgrove’s Contribution
to Indo-Tibetan Studies, Tring: Institute of Buddhist Studies, 199–208.
410
A. Quintman / Numen 55 (2008) 363 – 410
MacDonald, Alexander W. (ed.). 1997. Maṇ ḍ ala and Landscape. New Delhi: D. K.
Printworld.
Massey, Doreen. 1994. Space, Place, and Gender. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Namgyal, Takpo Tashi. 1986. Mahāmudrā: he Quintessence of Mind and Meditation.
Translated by L. P. Lhalungpa. Boston: Shambhala Publications.
Ngawang Zangpo. 2001. Sacred Ground: Jamgon Kongtrul on Pilgrimage and Sacred
Geography. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion.
Nebesky-Wojkowitz, René de. 1956. Oracles and Demons of Tibet: he Cult and Iconography of the Tibetan Protective Deities. Gravenhage: Mouton.
Petech, Luciano. 1990. Central Tibet and the Mongols: he Yüan-Sa-skya period of
Tibetan History. (Serie orientale Roma 65.) Rome: Istituto Italiano per il Medio
ed Estremo Oriente.
Ricard, Matthieu. 1994. he Life of Shabkar: he Autobiography of a Tibetan Yogin.
Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Roberts, Peter Alan. 2007. he Biographies of Rechungpa: he Evolution of a Tibetan
Hagiography. London: Routledge.
Shinohara, Koichi. 2003. “he Story of the Buddha’s Begging Bowl: Imagining a Biography and Sacred Places.” In Granoff and Shinohara 2003:68–107.
Smith, Jonathan Z. 1987. To Take Place. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Stein, Rolf A. 1988. Grottes-matrices et lieux saints de la Déesse en Asie orientale. (Publications de l’École Française d’Extrême-Orient CLI.) Paris: École Française
d’Extrême-Orient.
Templeman, David. 1999. “Internal and External Geography in Spiritual Biography.”
In Huber 1999b:187–197.
Tiso, Frances. 1989. “A Study of the Buddhist Saint in Relation to the Biographical
Tradition of Milarepa.” Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University.
Tsuda, Shinichi. 1978. A Critical Tantrism. (Memoires of the Research Department of
the Toyo Bunko 36.) Tokyo: Toyo Bunko.
Tuan, Yi-fü. 1990. Topophilia: A Study of Environmental Perception, Attitudes, and Values. New York: Columbia University Press. (Original edition, Prentice-Hall Inc.
1974.)
———. 1991. “Language and the Making of Place: A Narrative-Descriptive
Approach.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 81(4):684–696.
Uray, Géza. 1960. “he Four Horns of Tibet.” Acta Orientalia 10:31–57.
Walshe, Maurice (transl). 1987. hus Have I Heard: he Long Discourses of the Buddha.
London: Wisdom Publications.
Wangdu, Pasang, and Hildegard Diemberger. 1996. Shel Dhar Chos ʾbyung: History of
the “White Crystal.” Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.