Historical note on “meditation schools”

Meditation schools of different type (sgom grwa/sgrub grwa/sgrub khang/ri khrod) are hermitages where beginner hermits train individually, but at the same live in a more or less organized group, usually centered around one meditation master.⁶⁹⁴ Thor Bjørnvig, in his analysis of the Tibetan ascetic practices on the example of Mi la ras pa’s rnam thar authored by gTsang smyon, distinguishes between “cenobitic” and “eremitic” asceticism. However, the existence of meditation schools provides evidence that these types of asceticism are not always mutually exclusive.⁶⁹⁵

Meditation schools are not a new phenomenon. Many records of Tibetan Buddhism report that great masters were known to have lived in secluded areas in the mountains alongside a group of disciples. Probably the most successful narrative model for this socio-religious phenomenon first appeared in the second half of the 15^th century with the emergence of the Mi la’i mgur ’bum. This reference goes further back in history, re-telling the 11^th-century legend of Mi la ras pa, whose junior ras pa-disciples (ras chung) settled around him in the mountains; the master and disciples would also move together to another area.⁶⁹⁶ It is true that the great hermit gave the gtum mo transmission only individually, but through the closeness of their master, beginners received support, byin rlabs as well as further instructions.⁶⁹⁷ Today, the creator of La phyi sgom grwa gladly evokes the image of Mi la ras pa’s meditation school.

The great hermit’s disciple sGam po pa is remembered for living in his cave above the monastery of Dwa lha sgam po (which was also the very monastery where Tshul khrims mthar phyin went into the three-year retreat), surrounded not only by his monastic students, but also a large cave-inhabiting community of yogins, who “adopted the twelve ascetic disciplines and meditated continuously, not even pausing to lie down.”⁶⁹⁸

My own observations from the field prove that this form of hermitism is currently flourishing in various parts of Khams, especially in the Sichuan and Qinghai provinces. Most

694 Compare Tulku Urgyen, et al. 2005: 161, where the difference betewen sgrub grwa and sgom grwa is explained – the first one is focused on the Thabs lam/skyes rim techniques of yi dam practice, mantra recitation, etc; while the latter is meant for practitioners of Thar lam/rdzogs rim. However, according to my own observations, the terms sgom grwa and sgrub grwa are also often used as synonyms across Khams today.

695 Bjørnvig 2007.

696 Roberts 2007: 85.

697 See Mi la ras pa, et al. 1996-1997.

698 Stewart 2004: 91, 101. Especially the policy of maintaining sitting posture resembles this case study of La phyi sgom grwa.

often it follows a certain pattern, confirmed by similar studies of Antonio Terrone.⁶⁹⁹ The model could be described as follows: one charismatic yogin settles in a remote area; after some time, he attracts followers, who then resolve to live in his immediate presence.⁷⁰⁰

Besides La phyi sgom grwa, I have visited 11 meditation schools: from the highly structured meditation training in a sealed (bcad rgya) sgrub khang that is usually also closely affiliated with the nearby monastery and supported by a visiting teacher, to the open-door training that often also entails intersectarian hermitages, where practitioners are free to join in or leave as they please.

Most of these venues are historical hermitages restored after the Cultural Revolution, but some of them are also new establishments, like La phyi itself. However, all of these forms trace their roots back to the specific convention of hermitic life, which has yogins begin their training by living in a group of people sharing the same objective and the regular, organized access to instructions.

In Chapter Three I presented a brief historical and doctrinal outline of the three-year retreat in the sgrub khang. This institutionalized, sealed type of retreat with strict rules also for the input of instructions distinguishes such a training principle from other types of meditation schools; several sgom grwa today, including La phyi, encompass one or more sgrub khang enclosures within their premises. The rough historical outline which follows in the next paragraphs will therefore be dedicated primarily to hermitages other than the sgrub khang.

Evidence of an earlier existence of meditation schools is fragmentary, especially because inhabitants of such shamanic institutions were rarely concerned with the production of chronicles and unlike their colleagues in the large monasteries, they were largely disconnected from direct political activity. In order to show that today’s venues follow a model that connects them to tradition, I provide a few examples of 19^th-century group hermitages.

In the Ris med era, the Gwa gu ri khrod in sDe dge area was a famous Sa skya training ground, encompassing many dozens of cabins. It had been founded at a gnas dedicated to Avalokiteśvara and directed by teachers who were in connection with the famous rDzong gsar bshad grwa, situated in the same region.⁷⁰¹

There were also large open-door retreat facilities, such as the meditation school/dharma encampment (chos sgar) of the late Ris med master Shākya Shrī, where hundreds of

699 Terrone 2010.

700 Most of the charismatic lamas I have met or heard of are men.

701 D.P. Jackson 2003 and Tulku Urgyen, et al. 2005. I also visited Gwa gu in 2007 and saw the hermitage blossom as it was directed by the charismatic expert-hermit ’Jam dbyangs seng ge. The original site for male hermits was extended to encompass a large sector for female meditators.

practitioners trained in meditation for several months or years.⁷⁰² The Ris med character of the venue was expressed by its topography: the Mahāmudrā meditators occupied one side of the mountain slope, whereas the rDzogs chen adepts lived on the other side.

Crook and Low report that Shākya Shrī’s lineage spread to the Western part of the Himalayas and consequently to several isolated areas of Ladakh, where it developed many

“schools for hermits,” which were in fact three-year retreats with an extensive preliminary program.

A whole variety of names express the idea of group retreat; they can either describe their different traits or be used synonymously.⁷⁰³ Thus, in addition to the general term ri khrod and the very specific sgrub khang, one also hears terms such as sgrub grwa, sgrub sde, sgom grwa, etc. Especially interesting are situations when meditation schools are named chos sgar, such as in the case of Shākya Shrī’s hermitage. This occurs also today, even if the encampment-hermitages have lost their itinerant nature for mostly political reasons.⁷⁰⁴

In Dilgo Khyentse’s autobiography, his consort Khandro Lhamo (=mKha’ ’gro lha mo, 1913-2003) reports on the existence of a large retreat site centered around the rNying ma pa yogin Trungram Gyaltrul (=Drung ram rgyal sprul?, 19^th/20^th century).⁷⁰⁵ He stayed in strict seclusion; outsiders were banned from visiting him with an exception of great lamas like Dilgo Khyentse. Gyaltrul followed an austere practice routine, almost never slept and ate only once a week:

His cave was in the middle of a large rock outcropping shaped like a vajra and surrounded by meadows. Five or six hundred disciples lived in the surrounding caves and practiced the Guru Rinpoche sādhanā.⁷⁰⁶

The model known from today’s sgom grwa is also one of a master surrounded by disciples in the manner of a maṇḍala.

A very important model for La phyi sgom grwa and other meditation schools in Nang chen was set in the 19^th century at Ge chags monastery,⁷⁰⁷ founded by the yogin Tshangs dbyangs

702 Although Shā kya Shrī was a Khams pa lama, his dharma encampment was situated outside of East Tibet. In fact, his influence became even more beyond-regional. Crook & Low (1997) report of the many disciples of this master, who settled in this Western part of the Himalayas and continued his lineage in retreat.

703 For instance sgrub khang=sgrub grwa=sgrub sde.

704 Also see Terrone 2010. The chos sgar would be an interesting research topic but it unfortunately exceeds the scope of this thesis.

705 The orthography of his name is uncertain.

706 Rab gsal zla ba, et al. 2008: 164.

707 Other spelling variants Ge bcags, Gad chags and Ge cag. For Ge chags monastery see sGa Karma don grub, et al. 1999: 1 and 33-40.

rgya mtsho, disciple to Tshogs gnyis (b.1828).⁷⁰⁸ Following the instructions of his guru, the former master built two nunneries, one of which encompassed 13 retreat centers. An exact description of Ge chags’ inner life exists today through Tulku Urgyen, who in his childhood paid frequent visits to this center since his father was responsible for bestowing rtsa rlung practice instructions to the nuns there.⁷⁰⁹ Moreover, according to Nang chen rgyal rabs, the Ge chags nuns followed a life of strict yogic discipline, never lying down and practicing tirelessly in meditation boxes (sgom khri);⁷¹⁰ they were known for gtum mo performances that took place once a year where they would place wet sheets on their naked bodies and dry them via the force of their meditation.⁷¹¹