Contextualization as a means of expansion

Contextualization in space and in tradition became an important method by which the 19^th -century non-sectarian masters legitimated their own status and ideology. The primary method was expressing new trends in the broad framework of gTer ma mythology.

The numerous publications on the newly founded power places, both as revealed material and the texts composed by the trio – the guidebooks (gnas yig), inventories (dkar chag), eulogies (rtogs brjod) or supplications (gsol ’debs) helped to develop the cult of the exceptional new sites. A brief look into one of Kong sprul’s compositions of that sort uncovers a strategy typical for religious organizations aiming at a ritual “colonization” of an area. In the beginning in the 13^th century, the ’Bri gung pa and ’Brug pa bKa’ brgyud pa lamas arranged the landscape of the south-western Tibetan power places of Tsā ri and La phyi according to the cosmic drama of Cakrasaṃvara and to the geographic representation of the life story of Mi la ras pa – as transmitted by the hierarchs of their sects. The “colonization”

was literal, as they established themselves in the various hermitages at the mentioned areas and developed a literary corpus that extolled the values of the sacred landscape there.²⁰⁵

204 Karma, situated right next to the oldest seat of the Karma pas in Eastern Tibet; rTsi ke, close to sMan bda’;

gNas rten in Ri bo che; and gTer ston in Nang chen area. See Karma phrin las 1965: 66.

205 Huber 1999: 246.

However, their descriptions of hallowed ground were not only conceived as eulogies: as Toni Huber has it, gnas yig often entail a strong didactic purpose.²⁰⁶ In fact, they frequently served as advertisements and promotions of particular Tantric cosmologies, masters, entire lineages or schools and as such, they were used as tools to win primacy over Quintman’s “contested space/ contested place.”²⁰⁷

The same was true about Kong sprul’s vision of the sacred geography of Khams. His Thugs kyi gnas mchog chen po de bī ko ṭī tsā ’dra rin chen brag gi rtog pa brjod pa yid kyi rgya mtsho’i rol mo, written in 1859, extolled the qualities of his first hermitage at Tsā ’dra Rin chen brag, as the title suggests, but also provided a general, broad definition of a power place.²⁰⁸ Even if his discussion of gnas draws on centuries of traditional Tantric Buddhist discourse, in the context of a new movement expanding its influence, it becomes more than just another commentary.

According to the classical explanation delivered by Kong sprul, a gnas is not a fixed entity, but a reflection of the pilgrim’s cognitive level. For the reader, this meant to depend on those, who are able to grasp the ultimate meaning of a site, which practically amounts to the author and his collaborators, responsible for the disclosure of the gnas yig text as well as for the consecration and development of the venue. The indirect message of Kong sprul’s definition is therefore: “anyone who relies on us, will obtain the blessings of this holy place.” Here again, a gnas yig text becomes an instrument for controlling space, as well as an indirect advertisement for the Ris med ideology and its territory as a pilgrimage destination.

The sacred geography of 19^th century Khams seemed to reflect the main interests of the Ris med movement: unification and invigoration of the different religious currents.²⁰⁹ This came about in many ways. Non-sectarian cooperation, just like sectarian practice, needs to be attributed to an area. With their narrative maps, mChog gling and Kong sprul drew attention to their place of activity:

Simply locating these places on a map forces one to reevaluate the presumed structural partitions. Collaborations happen on the ground, but if that ground is not known, the activity that took place there cannot be recognized. Without a spatial foundation, the history of Tibet drifts away.²¹⁰

206 Huber 1994: 40.

207 Quintman 2008.

208 Kong sprul 2005: 34-35.

209 Huber 1990: 413.

210 Gardner 2007: 170.

In Tibetan history, the need for creating networks of consecrated sites and contextualization within existing ones was a factor that not only created competition over locations, but also brought the various sectarian and historical influences together. Accordingly, the designations of some of the sites revealed by mChog gling alluded to well-known pilgrimage destinations situated in dBus and in the greater Tibetan region. For instance, the site of sKyo brag seng ge rdzong, mentioned in the first position on the narrative map and situated in the vicinity of the

’Ba’ rom bKa’ brgyud pa monastery of sKyo brag, could easily be associated with any of the existing sites with a related name; in fact, a Seng ge rdzong gnas had already been in operation in the Nang chen area.²¹¹ Moreover, as presented in the case study chapters that elaborate on the very location of sKyo brag as a local power place connected to a newly built hermitage, a considerable body of textual sources had existed on this site and the chronicles that had referred to the sKyo brag gnas by the designation of Seng ge rdzong preceded mChog gling’s discovery by over five centuries.²¹²

Since the narrative map of Khams presented the new gnas in coherent unification with the established ones, the newly founded venues were automatically legitimated; the same was possible for mChog gling’s legitimation as an authentic gter ston.²¹³

Tsā ’dra Rin chen brag, which became Kong sprul’s main hermitage and headquarters, openly alluded to the famous Tsāri, itself a Tibetan replica of the Indian site of Cāritra.²¹⁴ As Toni Huber observes, when in his guidebook to Tsā ’dra Kong sprul equates the venue with the great pīṭha of ancient India as their “branch” (yan lag) or “division” (bye brag), he employs typical Ris med rhetoric. Here, Kong sprul deliberately places the new gnas into the traditional Indian Tantric context, and instead of asserting that his site would be the only

211 Gruschke 2004: 251 n. 62 and 110.

212 Additional examples: It was perhaps no accident that the name of Padma Shel phug, describing mKhyen brtse’s very own hermitage, was identical with a meditation cave (sgrub phug) of Padmasambhava situated in Central Tibet, which mKhyen brtse himself attributes in his gnas yig to the holy places of that region; see Ferrari 1958: 51. The ri khrod of dKar mo sTag tshang, a popular place for practice among the Ris med masters, was believed to be a component of thirteen other “tiger nests” (stag tshang) connected with rDo rje gro lod, a wrathful aspect of Padmasambhava, portrayed riding a pregnant tigress. Compare Blo gros phun tshogs 2004-2005: 35. Furthermore, there is some textual evidence as to the fact that a location associated with Guru Rinpoche and named sTag tshang had already existed in Khams long before mChog gling’s narrative map emerged– if not as actual pilgrimage and meditation venue, then at least in the gTer literature through the revelation by sTag sham nus ldan rdo rje (1655-?), also known as bSam gtan gling pa. See sTag sham, et al.

2002: 134. Furthermore, Kaḥ thog and Kaṃ po gang ra had already been well known as places of meditation and learning, Nam kha mdzod had been recognized as a holy site between 1613-1622 and much of the glory of Ru dam gang gi ra ba or ’Og min Karma was borrowed from its immediate vicinity to the ancient monasteries of respectively, rDzogs chen and Karma’i dGon, the original seat of the Zhwa nag Karma pas. See Karma rgyal mtshan 2007: 315-324.

213 Compare Gardner 2007: 23.

214 Tsā ’dra = “like Tsā ri”; the place is equaled to Devīkoṭa.

genuine Cāritra and Devikoṭa on Tibetan soil, he presents the new power places as coexisting with the venues established previously in Central and Western Tibet.²¹⁵

Like both of his illustrious colleagues, Kong sprul had gone to Tsāri for a pilgrimage in 1857-58. With Tsā ’dra affirmed in the role of a power place, he could proclaim that Khams pa pilgrims did not have to undertake the arduous journey, rather that the holy place itself would appear in Eastern Tibet.²¹⁶ The claim elevated the Khams area to a position equal to Central Tibet both in the religious and mundane sense of the word.²¹⁷ This was crucial, especially in the light of the denigration that the Lha sa principality often displayed in relation to the Khams pa polities and peoples. Again, Kong sprul’s agenda revealed the aspiration to establish geographical coherence within Khams due to its progressing political fragmentation and vulnerability to outside forces.

The fact that the twenty-five gnas were all connected and contextualized within the same ideology, vision of history, teachers, doctrines, scriptures and rituals, contributed to the consolidation of Ris med as the Khams pa tradition. Today, many of the twenty-five power places are being revived and new networks are appearing. In the case study chapters, I will argue that contemporary hermits are again claiming territories through religious history, myth and ritual and sketching their own coherent field of autonomy and power vis-à-vis state control and oppression. Much like the Ris med movement, they cooperate in a non-sectarian fashion to recreate the kind of territory, past, philosophy and practice that would prove capable of counteracting foreign domination and deprecation.