Transcript Introduction to Tibetan *Literature

Buddhism and
Literature in
South Asia
Week 5: Tibetan
Biography
Overview of Syllabus
Week 1: Introduction to Buddhist Literature,
Jātaka Tales
Week 2: Indian Buddhist Sūtra Literature
Week 3: Life story of the Buddha in Indian
poetry
Week 4: Indian Buddhist Drama
Week 5: Buddhist Inspirational poetry
(Week 6) :
Buddhist Biography and Hagiography in Tibet
Gur, or “Songs of Experience”
• Doha-s enter Tibet as gur (mgur), socalled “songs of experience”
• Does the genre change in Tibet? Yes!
Mgur and Nyams gyur
“songs of realization”
• Originating from the Indian siddha’s doha
tradition, gur came to denote a more
Buddhistic type of song
• Buddhist in content
• sung poetry forms characteristic of the tantric
movement
• Sometimes spontaneously composed verses by
Tibetan lamas, such as Milarepa
Tibetan Biography, Autobiography, and
Hagiography
What distinguishes biography as a genre?
biography versus “biographical writings”
What are some of the features of a biography?
autobiography?
Development of the biographical genre
in the West…
• Often hagiographical accounts dominated
biographies (such as those on church figures
during the Middle Ages in Europe)
• Originally a subset of historical writing
• Rise of education and cheap printing in 19th
century led to increased popularity of biography
and autobiography as a literary genre.
• The influence of psychology and sociology turn
of the 20th century led to increased production of
autobiographies in particular.
In non-Asian countries, autobiography is
widely regarded as a product of
individualism of modern civilization.
Reading as a practice
• Modern reading is a silent and solitary activity
• By contrast, ancient reading was usually oral,
either aloud, in groups, or individually, in a
muffled voice.
• In the West, the practice of silent reading
developed during the period from late antiquity
(10th century) to the 15th century
See Paul Saenger, Space Between Words: The Origins of Silent Reading
In Tibet and in much of South Asia—both in
monasteries/nunneries and in traditional
educational institutions, even to the present
day, reading is often taught as an oral practice.
How might reading practices influence
the production of literature?
Would we expect
autobiography
to emerge from
a collectivereading
culture?
What makes the
Tibetan case
different?
What features might you expect in Tibetan autobiographies
that might not emerge in the Western context?
What’s in a name?
• Namthar (rnam thar, “liberation” [story])
• Rangnam (rang gi rnam thar, “selfliberation [story]”
Question for thought/discussion:
What do the Tibetan words for biography tell
us about the genre?
What are some reasons why
namthar/rangnam would be popular as a
genre in Tibet?
Authorship and Audience…
Who authors a namthar?
Rangnam?
Who is the intended audience?
How might you expect the intended
audience of a namthar/rangnam
to influence the genre in Tibet?
Why does autobiography as a genre seem
incongruous with the tenets of Buddhism?
“For what is autobiography if not a celebration of
just the self—oneself—along with that self’s
own history, actions, development, virtues,
failings?”
“…one of the crucial features which characterizes
a text as autobiography proper [in the Western
context] is the degree of the sense of individual
selfhood that the author displays.”
Gyatso, Autobiography in Tibetan Religious Literature, 466, 468.
What are some ways in which these
apparent incongruities between non-self
and the ‘self’ in autobiography resolved
within the Tibetan tradition?
To keep in mind for later discussion:
Some features of namthar/rangnam
• The presentation of the subject of a
Rangnam can range from self-deprecatory
to self-aggrandizing
• Namthar and Rangnam can range from
‘biographical’ to hagiographical in content.
• Prose, or often mix of verse and prose
• Linguistic register? Often composed in a
‘colloquial’ literary style; range of
honorifics from formal to informal
Let’s look at some other Tibetan
biographies and autobiographies!
Introduction to
Tibetan scholar
Tāranātha’s (16th
century)
autobiography
(From Gyatso,
“Autobiography”, p. 465)
Selection from one of Khalu Rinpoche’s autobiographies
(From Gyatso, “Autobiography”, p. 472)
autobiographical writings….
Terma prophecy from Jigme Lingpa’s
Longchen Nyingthik
(From Gyatso, “Autobiography”, p. 473)
Tsangnyon
Heruka's
The Life
and Songs
of
Milarepa
The ‘founders’ of the Kagyu
tradition:
 Tilopa (988-1089) – Indian tantric practitioner from East Bengal
(then India). Transmitted Four Lineages of Instructions, a
Mahāmudrā (Great seal) practice (lay).
 Nāropa (1016–1100) codified the Four Lineages of Instructions
into what became called the Six Doctrines or Six Yogas of
Nāropa (lay)..
 Marpa Chökyi Lodrö (1012–1097)– visited India three
times to receive transmissions from Nāropa lineage (lay).
 Jetsun Milarepa (1040–1123)—studied directly under
Marpa Lotsawa (lay).
 Gampopa Sonam Rinchen (1079-1153)—studied
under Milarepa; combined the stages of the path
tradition of the Kadampa order with teaching and
practice of the Great Seal and the Six Yogas of
Nāropa he received from Milarepa synthesizing
them into one lineage (monk!)
Tsangnyön Heruka (1452-1507)
• biographer and compiler of the "The Life of
Milarepa" and "The Hundred Thousand Songs of
Milarepa“
• 'religious madmen' (nyönpa, Wylie: smyon pa)
• He was ordained as a young monk but at the age
of twenty one renounced his vows and trained
under various tantric yogis from different schools
• After he left the monastery, he became a
wandering yogi for the rest of his life, never
staying in one place permanently.
Recap: Some features of
namthar/rangnam
• The presentation of the subject of a
Rangnam can range from self-deprecatory
to self-aggrandizing
• Namthar and Rangnam can range from
‘biographical’ to hagiographical in content.
• Prose, or often mix of verse and prose
• Linguistic register? Often composed in a
‘colloquial’ literary style; range of
honorifics from formal to informal
What features of Tibetan biography
are present in the Life of Milarepa?
What were your reactions to the
excerpts from the Life of Milarepa ?
Similarities between Milarepa’s and
the Buddha’s life stories
• Similar beginning to Buddhist
sutta/sutras: “Thus have I heard”
• Similar to the life-stories of the Buddha,
the life-story of Milarepa is told to a chief
disciple: Rechungpa
• Milarepa’s life story organized into
thematic chapters similar to that of the
Buddha’s life-story.
• Milarepa similarly described as being
aware of when he is going to die and
choosing to consume food that will kill him
Recap: “Poetry” and “Songs” in Tibet
• mgur (gur) – songs of realization/poetical
songs
• glu (lu) – songs
• snyan ngag (nyän ngak) – ornate poetry
Glu “songs”
• Most secular of the poetic genres
• Most musically oriented of the genres
 generally performed (rather than read)
 often accompanied by dance
• Two major subcategories
 Royal songs (rgyal po’i glu)
 Popular songs (‘bangs kyi glu): love and
marriage, planting and harvest, advice,
riddle songs
je nye ni je nye na
yar pa ni dgung dang nye
dgung skar ni si li li
Nearer, ah, nearer yet
Yarpa, ah, near the sky
Sky-stars, ah, si-li-li.
Je nye [ni] je nye na
gla skar ni brag dang nye
brag skar ni si li li
Nearer, ah, nearer yet
Lakar, ah, near the stone
Stone-stars, ah, si-li-li.
sdur ba ni chab dang nye
Gyur sram ni pyo la la’
Durwa, ah, near the stream
Otter, ah, pyo-la-la.
nyen kar ni dog dang nye
‘bras drug ni si li li
Nyenkar, ah, near the earth
Al fruits, ah, si-li-li.
mal tro ni [klum] dang nye
syi bser ni spu ru ru
Maltro, ah, near to Lum
Cold winds, ah, pu-ru-ru!
What is nyän ngak (snyan ngag)?
• Ornate poetry composed in Tibetan, but in
imitation of Sanskrit poetry (kāvya)
• Follows the guidelines of Tibetan
commentaries on Sanskrit poetician
Dandin’s Mirror of Poetry
• Content can be ‘Buddhist’ or ‘secular’
Mgur and Nyams gyur
“songs of realization”
• Mgur came to denote a more Buddhistic
type of song
• Buddhist in content
• sung poetry forms characteristic of
the tantric movement
• Sometimes spontaneously composed
verses by Tibetan lamas, such as in the
songs of Milarepa.
Mgur from The Life of Milarepa
Feeling great faith and devotion toward the lama, I knelt down and joined my
palms in prayer. With tears streaming from my eyes, as a prelude to presenting my
experience and realization, I first offered this sevenfold service to the lama in song:
I bow to your various emanation bodies
Displayed before impure disciples,
And to your venerable enjoyment body
Revealed to your circle of pure disciples.
I bow to your mind, changeless reality body,
Which embraces all objects of knowledge
While remaining unobscured by conceptual
marks
In the space of the luminosity reality body.
I bow to your speech, at once audible and
empty,
Which enunciates the eighty-four
thousand true dharmas
With the sixty qualities of Brahma's voice
To each person in his own language.
I bow down at the feet of great lady Dakme,
Birth mother of the buddhas of the three
times,
Unchanging selfless (dakme) illusory body
Dwelling in the pure palace of reality's
expanse.
I prostrate with unfeigned devotion
To the spiritual sons you have gathered,
The assembly of disciples who practice as
taught,
Together with all of their followers.
In your presence I offer my body
And whatever material offerings exist
Throughout all realms of the universe.
I confess each of my negative deeds.
I rejoice in all forms of merit.
I pray that you turn the great wheel of dharma.
I pray that the glorious lama remain
Until life's round is emptied.
I dedicate my accumulated virtue to the benefit
of sentient beings;
"Having first offered the sevenfold service in this way," I continued, "to my sovereign
master, I present the meager understanding I have gained through the utterly pure
enlightened activity of the lama-inseparable from Vajradhara-his consort and children,
through the power of the blessings of his immeasurable compassion, and through his
unbounded kindness. I pray listen to my words of little eloquence with your
mind in the state of unchanging reality.
Overview of Syllabus
Week 1: Introduction to Buddhist Literature, Jātaka
Tales
Week 2: Indian Buddhist Sūtra Literature
Week 3: Life story of the Buddha in Indian poetry
Week 4: Indian Buddhist Poetry and Drama
Week 5: Tibetan Buddhist Inspirational poetry
Week 6: Buddhist Biography and Hagiography in Tibet
Next Week:
Week 7: Modern Buddhist Biographies: the 14th Dalai
Lama’s Autobiography
Week 8: Buddhist-inspired fiction in the 20th century