Hermitages as new religious centers

In 1859, two years after the extraction of the narrative map, mChog gyur gling pa, whose competence as gter ston, an envoy of Padmasambhava, had recently been authorized by mKhyen brtse dbang po as well as other hierarchs, met with Kong sprul and advised that a hermitage and a temple be built in each of the twenty-five gnas.¹⁹¹ The new movement’s proponents were clearly looking for ways to spread their influence and mark the territory of their activity; they did so by establishing hermitages at places proclaimed to be sacred or by declaring that the already founded centers for meditation in retreat, significant for the activity of the Ris med masters, stood on sacred ground. It was at the hermitages of Tsā ’dra, Dzong shod, Kar mo sTag tshang, Ru dam gang gi ra ba, or Padma Shel phug and at around ten other retreat sites that the Ris med masters composed their works, revealed and transcribed new teachings, as well as ensured the continuation of their legacy by training others and exchanging important transmissions. In this way, the practices introduced and popularized by the Ris med, such as those included in the great collections assembled by Kong sprul or mKhyen brtse or found in the mChog gling gter gsar, could find natural venues for their performance.

Finally, the Ris med hermitages were the very sites where the three masters built up their power through assisting each other in coining their fame. Thus, the power that the triad exercised in sDe dge was etched into in the landscape of Khams. Furthermore, the spiritual coherence created by mChog gling’s narrative map produced a web of interrelated meditation sites – a structure unified, sustained and justified by the doctrines and practices of the non-sectarian movement.

Previously, there had been similar patterns in Tibetan history. It was not uncommon for chronicles (lo rgyus) and hagiographies (rnam thar) to report on a monastery that was established at a site identified as gnas chen in accordance with a vision by the founder’s root lama (rtsa ba’i bla ma).¹⁹² Other sources, such as those belonging to the multifaceted gnas yig genre, also account for popular power places crowned over time with the founding of a dgon pa. But even though it had been a traditional procedure, establishing religious dwellings at power places found its own mode of expression in the 19^th-century Khams. This time it was

191 Ngawang Zangpo 2001: 136.

192 See for instance: Tulku Urgyen, et al. 2005: 13.

not great institutions such as monasteries, rather mainly independent hermitages that marked the expansion of the Ris med.¹⁹³

It seems that during the second half of the1800’s the social and religious status quo in sDe dge did not encourage the new movement to found monastic institutions. By that time, great monasteries had already been operating and consuming much of the means and attention of the principal economic and political beneficiaries, both of the private sponsors and the ruling dynasty of sDe dge, the main religious patron in the kingdom and that in spite of the economic surplus generated in Eastern Tibetan regions through the trade in expensive exotic local goods mentioned above. The sDe dge dgon chen, Kaḥ thog, Zhe chen, rDzogs chen, dPal spung or dPal yul were all sizeable monasteries that also possessed additional branches in the neighboring areas. With the number of monks ranging from around 200 (Zhe chen) through 600 (dPal yul) and 800 (Kaḥ thog, rDzogs chen) up to 1000 (dPal spung), they absorbed most of the benefactors could donate. The socio-political organization also left little room for novelty. As corporate landowners under royal custody, bound by a unique tie of mutual benefits and sustained with sprul sku candidates from wealthy clans, the monasteries of sDe dge had enough weight to counterbalance the authority of local chiefs.¹⁹⁴ This created a tightly interwoven and unique power structure.

It is also true that the gTer chen gsum, later Mi pham and other lamas of the subsequent generation, who were associated with the non-sectarian movement, became the official chaplains of the House of sDe dge. Although in connection with their ritual services, they obtained rewards, favors or occasionally even land, this support was neither regular nor sufficient to administer new monastic establishments. Other financial resources of the movement included sporadic donations of wealthy clans (such as Khang gsar or ’Ja’ brag),¹⁹⁵ but since Kong sprul himself promoted his creed by a frequent commissioning of certain rituals, the financial input and output of the group often remained locked within a closed circuit. Such financial conditions did not offer prospects for territorial expansion through founding monasteries.

At the height of the Ris med popularity, heads of great monasteries like dPal spungs, rDzong gsar, rDzog chen or Kaḥ thog actively took part in perpetrating the Ris med thought and rituals, yet, in 19^th-century Khams, widening the area of one’s influence meant opting for original ways to win new territories. For Kong sprul, mKhyen brtse and mChog gling, it was

193 Huber (1999 c: 246) mentions a parallel from the 13^th-century bKa’ brgyud pa expansion into the holy sites of Tsā ri and La phyi: see below for additional details.

194 See Hartley 1997: 38.

195 The orthography of ’Ja’ brag is uncertain.

not enough to settle in the existing ri khrod, habitually associated with a monastery by means of doctrinal and financial support, since this meant dependence on those institutions. Exerting greater influence and instigating reform required more self-reliance, which implied acting from a self-created locus of power.

Kong sprul was very talented in this regard and gradually built up his position by settling at an unknown site, which he then elevated to the rank of gnas chen and gter gnas. Later in his life, the decision to rely on Tsā ’dra as an area for autonomous activity proved to be valuable for both continuing his work and sustaining his authority, since Kong sprul was expelled from dPal spungs in 1873 due to internal feuds concerning his preceptor, dBon sprul (?- 1873).

Schuh and Zangpo both claim that the opposition against him arose as a reaction to the growing importance of the Ris med ideology and practice. Whether their claims are accurate or not, Kong sprul steered clear of the seat of the Si tu pas for fourteen consecutive years, and the hermitages he had founded became his refuge. ¹⁹⁶

As abbot and chief reincarnate at rDzong gsar, ’Jam dbyangs mKhyen brtse was compelled to operate within the framework of this major Sa skya institution, but both as a prolific gter ston and innovative scholar, he probably required a shift from the ritually and doctrinally predetermined environment of the monastery to more shamanic places, where he would be able to express his creativity. In fact, the locale of Padma Shel phug,¹⁹⁷ which became the latter’s main hermitage, is emblematic for mKhyen brtse’s unique position in, or perhaps slightly outside of, the clerical world. Greatly elevated above his monastery of rDzong gsar, this remote cave complex provided the space necessary for the meditation of a visionary, the pioneering work of a gter ston and scholar with a wide, non-sectarian approach.¹⁹⁸

As it was already mentioned, mChog gling was the most shamanic of the great triad, therefore he was in need of validation of his authenticity as Treasure revealer. The authorization also required an appropriation of territory, spreading into new areas – a practice well known in history of gTer ma.¹⁹⁹ The newly opened ritual landscape provided a perfect scene for the expansion of the movement, especially if the newly established gnas and

196 Kong sprul, et al. 1995: 31-32 and Schuh 1976: lxxii-lxxvi.

197 For more on Padma Shel phug, see my upcoming publication: “The Lotus Crystal Cave: Reflections of Ritual and Social Renewal in Khams.”

198 The yang srid of mKhyen brtse, Chos kyi blo gros, the successor and great propagator of the Ris med activity even had the wish to move to Padma Shel phug entirely. This occurred when he took a consort; this way his relationship to the site again became linked with gTer revelations (Rab gsal zla ba, et al. 2008: 128). The same master also developed a nearby retreat school at dKar mo sTag tshang, famous for its five-year non-sectarian curriculum, revived in the 1990’s. See Blo gros phun tshogs 2004-2005: 35.

199 See Erhard 1999: 233.

hermitages were skillfully connected by means of the same philosophy, authorities, symbolism and practice.

Today, a network of new and re-established Eastern Tibetan hermitages has again become an independent setting suitable for spreading ideologies that flow around or oppose the status quo. Active within this network are lamas who, much like mChog gling and Kong sprul, needed to legitimize and channel their activity through founding their own retreat sites, where the naturally shamanic environment opens possibilities for reform and innovation.

When establishing centers for retreat that functioned independently of the great monasteries, the Ris med group presented themselves as reformers who questioned the traditional position of monasteries as leaders in the perpetuation of Buddhism. At the same time, they drew attention to the fact that monastic schools played a role in creating dissent through constructing rigid sectarian identities. This is quite apparent throughout Kong sprul’s writings. It was the Eight Great Chariots [of] Practice Lineages, sgrub brgyud shing rta chen mo brgyad), a specific system of categorizing Tibetan Buddhist developments that Kong sprul favored over the less sophisticated division into the monastic schools of rNying ma, Sa skya, bKa’ brgyud, dGe lugs and their sub-sects.²⁰⁰ In contrast to these institutional bodies, characterized by hierarchy and self-regulating administration, the Eight Great Chariots were vehicles of transmission that had originated in India and were perpetrated according to lineages of accomplishment, where gurus passed down not just the scriptural corpora, but most importantly, the essence of ritual and mystical experience.²⁰¹ This approach to the entirety of the Buddhist doctrinal architecture was more suitable to be disseminated in shamanic surroundings.

Several scholars, such as Samuel, argue that a clerical environment imposed creating an institutionalized framework that in the case of Ris med, would entirely contradict the eclectic flow of doctrines and their shamanic practice concerned with individual spiritual growth.²⁰² However, it must be emphasized that it is a simplification to claim that Kong sprul and his colleagues wholly rejected monasticism, as is sometimes asserted.²⁰³ As clever reformers, the gTer chen gsum must have known that the best way to make a lasting impression in religious history is by introducing innovations while relying on the support of the establishment,

200 Kong sprul did not invent the eight-fold system, but greatly popularized it through the Shes bya mdzod and most of all, by utilizing the structure as a composition principle for the gDams ngag mdzod.

201 Kapstein 1996: 277-280. See also Thub bstan nyi ma 1999. For an exposition in English see Ngawang Zangpo 2001 and Ringu Tulku 2006.

202 Samuel 1993: 537-8.

203 See Powers 2007: 362, Ngawang Zangpo 2001: 24-25.

instead of overthrowing it completely. Accordingly, mKhyen brtse upheld his seat at rDzong gsar and kept his position as head of the monastic community, although he mainly stayed in retreat at his bKra shis lha rtse residence above the monastery grounds. Kong sprul skillfully used the existing web of great monasteries to acquire education (Zhe chen and dPal spungs), and to develop his career and propagate the Ris med ideology (dPal spungs, rDzong gsar). As for mChog gling, this master, thought to be the most shamanic of the great triad, actually founded several monasteries, when he was at the peak of his career. Two of them, Karma and gNas rten were associated with the gnas chen that his narrative map extolled.²⁰⁴

In the next generations, the movement expanded even more and its rituals, texts and practices were infused into virtually all non-dGe lugs pa monasteries in Khams. At the same time, the new generation cultivated the Ris med tradition in the hermitages founded by the original triad. At present, the amalgamation of clerical and shamanic is again supporting the revivalist cause. In the case study chapters, I present how a network of hermitages cooperates in a non-sectarian manner and how their shamanic activities strongly rely on the local clerical structure.