The new “Ris med” of sKyo brag

The smon lam chant book, entitled dPal ldan ’ba’ rom bka’ brgyud kyi smon lam chen mo’i zhal ’don, provides several good examples of self-authorization strategies used in the revival.⁵⁹⁷ Since no living ’Ba’ rom pa lineage holder can empower the revivalists to perform their tasks, they are employing a technique popular in the ethno-religious revival in Khams – they insist on a connection with local and broader “tradition,” especially a connection with the masters and lineages who supported the ’Ba’ rom pas in the past.

For virtually all practice lineages, the broad understanding of the religious tradition often means contextualization within the legacy of the Ris med movement. In the sKyo brag revival, recalling the authority of Ris med is a complex strategy that exceeds mere rhetoric.

At a first glance, it is already apparent that dPal ldan ’ba’ rom bka’ brgyud kyi smon lam chen mo’i zhal ’don has had a considerable amount of contribution from Kong sprul, mKhyen

uprising. Thus, several public empowerments and religious congregations are reported to have been banned in Sichuan, Qinghai and Gansu, and the La brang monastery remained closed to tourism for much of 2008.

594 This is after my fieldwork period was completed. However, since the first smon lam had been carefully planned years before and contains so many striking features that present my case study of La phyi in a wider context, I will briefly analyze the role of the ’Ba’ rom smon lam below.

595 Tshul khrims mthar phyin was not present; he was teaching at Dwa lha sgam po (TAR).

596 It is not clear whether it was ’pho ba practice or the sādhanā. See “Bardor Tulku Rinpoche at Kyodrak Monastery (August 2009)” at http://kunzang.org/news-2009.html (accessed 15.01.2011).

597 gSal byed & dPa’ brtan 2009. The 1^st ’Bar ba’i rdo rje was the one who compiled the first ’Ba’ rom smon lam songbook, this one however, was edited by the local yogin-scholars gSal byed rin po che and dPa’ brtan mkhan po. Compare Yeshe Gyamtso 2005: 171.

brtse and mChog gling in the form of wishing-prayers (smon lam), supplications (gsol ’debs) and chanted liturgies (bklag thabs).⁵⁹⁸ Many of these texts were composed by the Ris med master at their gnas/hermitages of Tsā ’dra; rDzong gsar bkra shis lha rtse or Seng chen gnam brag. One of the compositions by Kong sprul, reproduced for the smon lam is in fact “a long-life wishing prayer for the holders of teachings without bias” (ris med pa’i bstan ’dzin gyi zhab brtan smon tshig).⁵⁹⁹

The Prayer Festival cites Ris med in many ways, not just by replicating scriptures authored by the creators of the movement. The influence of the Ris med legacy prevails at sKyo brag in those who created the concept of the annual ceremony and contribute to the ’Ba’ rom revival in a broader manner. One must not forget that Karma nor bu, root guru to gSal byed (as well as the root guru of Tshul khrims mthar phyin), for all his Karma bKa’ brgyud pa background, was commonly referred to and celebrated as a “Ris med teacher.”⁶⁰⁰ Moreover, Bardor Tulku, invited to support the smon lam and brought into Khams from his center in the U.S., is a reincarnate of ’Bar ba’i rdo rje, the Ris med revivalist active at sKyo brag.

Thus, the new revival directly legitimizes the novelty of its projects by drawing on an earlier wave of restoration. What is more, today’s revival, which occurs after the inertia and devastation of the Maoist period, bears many similarities with the Ris med era. Collecting extinct material and oral lineages, compiling them into large anthologies or channeling them into one site in order to secure their survival, as well as cooperating between the different sects, are traits of the 19^th-century religious restoration and of the present revival in Khams.

The smon lam songbook draws on another proven strategy that the ’Ba’ rom pas have used in the past to regain their waning power. Through the reproduction of prayers addressed to the twelve bKa’ brgyud pa sects or authored by the various Karma pas, ’Bri gung masters, etc., the ’Ba’ rom pas are drawing on their old corporate identity, known from the historical presence of the different doctrinal forces at sKyo brag.⁶⁰¹ Whether the role of other schools, especially the Karma pa institution, has been to overpower or to support the ’Ba’ rom, reinvoking the entire setup today becomes an important technique of emphasizing the traditional mosaic of indigenous influences present at sKyo brag – in opposition to China’s ideology of a uniform culture, particularly true during the Maoist period.

598 gSal byed & dPa’ brtan 2009, 61-62, 67-70, 72-86, 130-158, 207-209. That amounts to 43 pages out of a total of 215 pages.

599 Kong sprul 2009: 62-65.

600 See above for Kar nor’s lifestory.

601 Additional examples of important Karma pa influences are provided in the curriculum of La phyi.

In modern China, the rhetoric of diversity is designed by the state in order to maintain control over the monumental political organism of the PRC, but also to “package and sell”

ethnic and religious minorities as expressed by Epstein and Wenbin.⁶⁰² The Party-state has assumed the role of authority in creating norms for religions and mediating the mutual relationships between religious and ethnic groups.⁶⁰³ Thus, the locality has lost its influence in determining religious identity, and through accentuating the complexity and historical interdependence of both divisive and uniting local differences, the sKyo brag revivalists are working towards the goal of the indigenous cultural revival.

There are many instances of beyond-sectarian cooperation at sKyo brag that go beyond the mutual support within the broader bKa’ brgyud pa complex. Grub chen Karma nor bu, both role model and antecedent for the local revival, was known for accepting disciples of all schools, since his own Ris med training could compensate for the deficiency of qualified Tantric masters, who at the same time had kept their samaya vows intact. In this way, in the 1980s, Karma nor bu’s sKyo brag disciples and some of the high lamas of the monastery, like gSal byed or Sonam Tenzin, did not just receive the traditional ’Ba’ rom and Karma bKa’

brgyud training, but additionally obtained some rNying ma pa education.⁶⁰⁴

Moreover, when Tshul khrims mthar phyin gained fame as Six Yogas instructor, he was invited by a Sa skya/Ris med master yogin Chos dbyings rdor je to give teachings at his meditation school linked to the Thub bstan dar rgyas gling convent in the sKye dgu mdo region.

As for A bstan phun tshogs, I was informed that he had studied at the gSer rta institute,⁶⁰⁵ which is open to students from all schools, yet specializes in the Ātiyoga curriculum. This connection was commemorated in an unusual way – mKhan po ’Jigs med phun tshogs’ cabin was offered to the young sKyo brag reincarnate, disassembled, transported across Khams from the far east to the north-west, and re-assembled again on Khang ne monastery premises.

Now it is used as A bstan’s personal retreat hut.

mKhan po ’Jigs phun’s cabin marks the sKyo brag landscape as a direct indication of the beyond-sectarian cooperation taking place in the area. This collaboration fueled the scholastic

602 Epstein & Wenbin 1998: 136-137: also see Huber 2006: 23-28.

603 Also see Vermander 2009.

604 Sonam Tenzin learned from mKhan chen Pad ma tshe dbang, abbot of the rDzogs chen Shri Singha college.

See Biography of the 4th Venerable Sonam Tenzin Rinpoche,” 8.

605 gSer rta bla rung sgar, estimated as the largest Buddhist community in the Tibetan world and famous for the quality of schooling also among exiled Tibetans, is a monastic academy in Sichuan. For a study on gSer rta and its founder mKhan po ’Jigs med phun tshogs see Germano 1998. During my short visit to gSer rta in late November 2007, I estimated the number of its inhabitants at roughly 20.000. Also see Kolås & Thowsen 2005:

88-89.

revival as well, since one of the new-generation bshad grwa instructors and important local author, mKhan po dPa’ brtan, has also gone to gSer rta to study with’Jigs phun himself and other rNying ma pa experts.⁶⁰⁶

In the following sections, I will describe the case study of La phyi sgom grwa, which closely collaborates with the rNying ma pa meditation school of Ya chen in gSer rta area on many levels, and as such is a particularly good example of the non-sectarian nature of the revival.

VII.3.1.1.1. The scholar-yogins of sKyo brag

The revival of scholasticism throughout Khams and other Tibetan areas has been described by Germano, Kolås and others, mostly via the example of the gSer rta Institute. Both of these sources along with several exiled scholars confirm that the academy has reached the highest intellectual standards, which outshine great institutes of Tibetan Buddhist learning in India or Nepal.⁶⁰⁷ In spite of the apparent informality, illustrated by the virtual lack of entry requirements for meditation schools, as well as the flexibility of ecumenical approach, the level of both scholastic and meditation training in Khams is becoming acknowledged among the diaspora – and gSer rta is only one example of this.

This dissertation focuses on the training of hermits, but in the current passage I would like to point out the interdependence of academic and yogic efforts for the sKyo brag revival, which surrounds the case study of La phyi sgom grwa.

Apart from the Legs bshad gling bshad grwa, which re-opened around 1982, there is one other college in sKyo brag – at the Khang ne monastery.⁶⁰⁸ Since the ’Ba’ rom is an esoteric practice lineage, its masters did not produce philosophical treatises. Therefore, the intellectual training at sKyo brag resembles any bKa’ brgyud pa curriculum, with the Mahāyanā texts like the Bodhisattvacaryāvatarā, rGyal sras lag len, scriptures belonging to the Prajñāpāramitā-cycle, as well as a special program dedicated to the study of the textual tradition of Mar pa Lo tsā ba.⁶⁰⁹

The sKyo brag bshad grwa director mKhan po dPa’ brtan believes that intellectual schooling is the necessary prerequisite for meditation in retreat, something which my

606 dPa’ brtan & Dam chos zla ba 2007: 91.

607 See Kolås & Thowsen 2005, Germano 1998.

608 The classes are still taking place in the old building, but a new large building is constructed 30 minutes outside of the Khang ne premises and the students are expected to move in soon.

609 “Biography of the 4th Venerable Sonam Tenzin Rinpoche” contains the rough outline of the bshad grwa curriculum. Also see “Chodrak Monastery” at http://www.baromkagyu.org/pageBK3.html (accessed 24.10.2010).

informants from the hermitages above the college do not always agree with. However, the bshad grwa students are obliged to take meditation classes already during the study period and for some of them, it will become a way to increase their appetites for more intense training. In order to do this, they can join one of the twelve functioning retreat venues in the area. Other career options, which unite the clerical and the shamanic, is teaching at retreat sites.

It is not uncommon that the graduates lecture or settle at meditation schools, institutes, or monasteries, which have a different sectarian background than their own. This is one of the ways in which the serious shortage of qualified instructors is dealt with across many religious educational venues in Khams. La phyi itself is regularly supported with courses offered by young lama-scholars from Ya chen, a mixture of an institute and meditation school in the nomadic regions of Sichuan.⁶¹⁰

sKyo brag has become the scene for a major scriptural revival. The mentioned mKhan po dPa’ brtan, the senior mKhan po Dam chos zla ba, together with gSal byed, are the main local authors and editors. At the same time, these lamas are recounted among the disciples of the charismatic Karma nor bu and the local saint Ye shes rab rgyas. The latter’s biography is currently being composed by mkhan po Dam chos zla ba,⁶¹¹ whose other works on ritual and philosophy are registered in the digital Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center archive on the Internet.⁶¹² The ritual texts authored or edited with the help of the local hermit-yogins are put to use in the hermitages of sKyo brag; I will examine one such specimen in the section on scriptures used at the meditation school of La phyi.

Apart from the inclination for the clerical-shamanic synthesis in the style of the Ris med masters, there is an additional aspect of the scholastic and scriptural revival worth mentioning.

When portraying local lineage holders, the new religious chronicles (lo rgyus) describing Nang chen and sKyo brag, also include the exiled teachers. Thus, they present the lineages as uninterrupted.⁶¹³ For example, the first pages of Khams sgom sde nang chen pa’i dgon khag do not only show photographs of regional monasteries, hermitages and their patron lamas, but also photos of those, who have lived outside Khams for their entire life.⁶¹⁴ Linking lineage holders from abroad with the ’Ba’ rom revival within the PRC constitutes another strategy for

610 The exact nature of this cooperation and its consequences will be discussed in the next chapter.

611 According to Sonam Tenzin (oral communication from 13.03.2008).

612 http://www.tbrc.org/#library_person_Object-P9469, s.v. Dam chos zla ba (accessed 15.12.2010).

613 For the lifestory of Si tu pa Padma Don yod (b.1954) who escaped Tibet in infancy, see Karma rgyal mtshan 2007: 293-347 Also see Kolås & Thowsen 2005: 86.

614 sGa Karma don grub, et al. 1999 (contained in the non-paginated photograph section at the beginning of the text).

the revival of the continuity of that school. It is a declaration of the value of the local tradition as the main source of authority in the face of the boundaries and limitations imposed by the state, which Tibetans, both within and outside of the borders are unwilling to accept. Since the revival was launched and is directed mainly by local clergy, the sKyo brag gSal byed and his disciples and colleagues, it is also a statement of autonomy and capability vis-à-vis the voices in the diaspora trying to discredit the revivalist efforts on grounds of the shortage of leaders as well as the samaya-breaches and ruptures in the cultural flow that occurred during the Cultural Revolution.

VII.3.1.1.1.1. The life of gSal byed rin po che

The agency of the main scholar-yogin of sKyo brag gSal byed rin po che (also known as the sKyo brag gSal dga’), is vital for the local restorative activities at the monastery and also at the hermitages around it – including La phyi. For this reason I will now introduce him in greater detail. The following biography was composed on the basis of local sources and interviews.

The current gSal dga’ was born in 1955 as the 9^th gSal byed incarnation, ⁶¹⁵ one of the three most important lineages of sKyo brag and a re-embodiment of Glang ras pa, founder of sKyo brag monastery.⁶¹⁶ At the age of three, he was recognized and enthroned by the 16^th Karma pa and 11^th Si tu pa and received the name Karma sGrub brgyud bstan pa’i rgyal mtshan. His first important teacher was the sKyo brag siddha Ye shes rab rgyas, whose “geomantic insight” later contributed to the landscape of La phyi sgom grwa. However, it was Karma nor bu who became the root guru for gSal byed. When the worst turmoil of the Tibetan Revolt (1956-9)⁶¹⁷ launched in response to the “democratic reforms” and collectivization passed, the young incarnate took preliminary ordination (dge tshul) under the legendary

“Second Mi la ras pa,” Karma nor bu.⁶¹⁸

In fact, after the official launch of the religious revival movement for Qinghai in 1980, several other sKyo brag lamas are noted to have been sent by gSal byed to receive teachings on the Six Yogas from Karma nor bu during the four years until the latter’s death – the later junior mkhan po of the bshad grwa included.⁶¹⁹ Both my informants, as well as written sources available on gSal dga’s life diplomatically omit discussing the fate of this master during the turbulent time of the Cultural Revolution. Like in other examples of local saints discussed in this

615 Not to be mistaken with another gSal byed of the Nang chen region, compare ’Brong pa rgyal po 2003: 338-339.

616 sGa Karma don grub, et al. 1999: 300-301.

617 sGa Karma don grub, et al. (1999) repeatedly gives the year 1958 as the worst for the sKyo brag region.

Compare W.W. Smith 1994: 61-67.

618 It is interesting to note that when describing the training of gSal byed in the time of famine that followed the Great Leap Forward, sGa Karma don grub, et al. (1999: 301) extols Karma nor bu’s ability to survive on stones and spring water; it is as if his ascetic skills could help him survive in the time of the famine.

619 sGa Karma don grub, et al. 1999: 304, dPa’ brtan & Dam chos zla ba 2007: 91.

dissertation, such as Tshul khrims mthar phyin or Karma nor bu, biographers were determined to leave out the details that might be embarrassing or polluting for the reputation of the great lama. Thus, gSal dga’s official biography leaps from 1960 to 1985, when the 12^th Si tu pa, who had fled to India at the age of six, appeared in Tibetan areas for the first time.⁶²⁰ On that occasion, in the presence of a large monastic assembly, gSal byed renewed his dge slong vows; he was resolved to follow Si tu’s order to pass them on to others.⁶²¹

In fact, together with Dung dkar 6^th, gSal dga’ helped to reestablish the monastic community in 1980.⁶²² It was then that gSal byed became the abbot of the monastery.

Later he also met another prominent Karma bKa’ brgyud pa lama, educated in exile, whom he counts among his gurus. The 3^rd Kong sprul travelled throughout Khams in 1991 and while at sKyo brag, he suggested new places for three-year retreat enclosures to be constructed. gSal dga’ carried out the wish and today, the monks at the sgrub khang of sKyo brag also house two ethnic Han trainees. In fact, as head of the monastery, revivalist of the ’Ba’ rom school and famous hermit, gSal byed rin po che has many Han disciples. His journey to Taiwan brought a great deal of funds to the monastery. One of the Chinese disciples financed the construction of the copy of the Sras khar dgu thog tower at the main temple.

gSal dga’s other gurus include Tshangs gsar Blo gros rin chen (dates unknown), a sngags pa ’Ba’ rom lineage holder and an important local historian. gSal byed also learned from several rNying ma masters of both bKa’ ma and gTer ma lineages.⁶²³

gSal dga’s other gurus include Tshangs gsar Blo gros rin chen (dates unknown), a sngags pa ’Ba’ rom lineage holder and an important local historian. gSal byed also learned from several rNying ma masters of both bKa’ ma and gTer ma lineages.⁶²³

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