“clericalization” of retreat practice
III.2.2. The philosophy and practice of Ris med
Explaining the term “Ris med” poses certain difficulties, as the masters involved in the 19th century Khams pa renaissance did not provide a clear definition themselves. A definitive clarification is further complicated by the deconstructive attempts that were made, i.e. claims that the actions and ideas of the group centered around mChog gling, mKhyen brtse and Kong sprul were merely labeled “the Ris med movement” by Western scholars who followed the insights of E. Gene Smith.159
Smith himself asserts that much of the activities and concepts of the Ris med are a continuation of earlier ventures by the numerous masters seeking consensus and synthesis.160 Therefore, critics such as Gardner have seized the same argument and declare that the expression “Ris med” is an artificial concept, conceived as an analytical instrument of the religious and political occurrences in 19th-century Khams and that no such movement ever took place.161 Be that as it may, Western writings that appeared after Smith’s original publication on Ris med identify a number of movement’s traits, which are covered below. My argument for the existence of a movement is based on apparent and intentional cooperation between Kong sprul, mKhyen brtse and mChog gling that spread throughout Khams and continued in the subsequent generations.
If Kong sprul and associates did employ the term “Ris med,” it seems they did so without an initial purpose of creating a specific movement. Around 1842 Kong sprul wrote in his autobiography:
From this time on, the lotus of [my] trust in all teachings of the muni, which are undivided by bias (ris su ma chad pa), and in the holders of these teachings unfolded impartially (phyogs med du). 162
159 Compare Kong sprul, et al. 2003: xviii. Detailed discussion of the development of the label and its reception by the different Western and Tibetan authors by Gardner 2007: 112-118.
160 See E. G. Smith 2001: 227-274.
161 Gardner 2007: 117-118.
162 'di nas brtsam te rin par thub bstan ris su ma chad pa’i bstan dang bstan ’dzin thams cad la dad pa’i padma phyogs med du grol (Schuh 1976: lvi). The term Ris med had also appeared in the sDe dge rgyal rabs and later in mKhyen brtse’s writings (see Gardner 2007: 132-33), which included several additional elucidations on his unbiased attitude. Compare Tshe dbang rdo rje rig ’dzin 1994.
Thus, “Ris med” is an antonym based on the original designation ris su ma chad pa (from ris=limit, party, bias; ma chad pa= unceasing, unbroken, undivided, hence: “undivided by bias”), and synonymous with phyogs med pa, ris med pa, phyogs med ris med pa.163 Consequently, conscious non-sectarianism is one of the basic characteristics of the ideal presented by the Ris med triad and their associates. Further traits include 1) non-partiality regarding philosophical viewpoints; 2) favoring the practice of meditation over public rituals (and hermitages over monasteries) – in Samuelian terms the shamanic over the clerical; 3) revisiting the Indian Buddhist ideals; 4) dedication to the preservation of oral and scriptural lineages; and finally, 5) maintaining the doctrinal view of the gzhan stong.
These were the principles that became the conceptual means to overcome sectarian bias and create a new ideal of a Buddhist practitioner.164 The views were completed with 6). the emphasis on the gTer ma as new revelations were being included into established lineages and popularized by the combined forces of Kong sprul, mKhyen brtse, and mChog gling. These six traits come together into the characteristic make-up of what I refer to as the Ris med movement throughout this paper; these characteristics were also the ingredients of a specifically Khams pa fusion that helped the emergence of a local hermitic tradition.
Firstly, the non-sectarian approach was combined with the urge to preserve the diverse lineages and singular practices. Practically, it involved the search, collection and passing down of various doctrines and rituals, especially the sgrub brgyud, both the ones that still prevailed in the hermitic circles as well as those which were close to extinction. Kong sprul brought these together into large collections. The Rin chen gter mdzod, bKa’ brgyud sngags mdzod, Dam sngags mdzod and the sGrub thabs kun btus were vast anthologies of ritual texts including rNying ma pa, Mar pa bKa’ brgyud, Shangs pa bKa’ brgyud, Sa skya pa, bKa’
gdams pa, dGe lugs pa and Jo nangs pa, complete with commentaries and instructions for their application in retreat.165 They were transmitted in clusters of empowerments (dbang), which granted the recipient the option to practice any one of the hundreds of the sādhanās within.166
The opening proclamation of beyond-sectarian thinking seems to be the Shes bya mdzod, also referred to as “Kong sprul’s encyclopaedia.”167 However conservative in style, it is
163 Pema Kunsang 2003, s.v. “ris med.” For the synonyms see Hartley 1997: 49.
164 Gardner 2007: 117 and Samuel 1993: 533-543.
165 Kong sprul, et al. 1995: 33.
166 Samuel 1993: 533-543 and E. G. Smith 2001: 197. Bon was often incorporated; for Kong sprul’s claims on the equality of Bon and rDzogs chen see Tsering Thar 2002: 9.
167 See E. G. Smith 1970.
within the Shes bya mdzod, completed over the years at Kong sprul’s main hermitage at the request of mKhyen brtse, where Kong sprul advocates for non-partiality, an idea that would characterize Kong sprul’s view of the proper style of Buddhist practice.168
The shamanic aspect of meditation training in retreat was also one more means to transcend sectarian partitions. The techniques of meditation, empowerments as well as other rituals focused on specific deities, involved the cultivation of forces outside and inside the yogin’s body. These methods often originated through a gTer revelation and were being amassed into great collections in order to make them available to practitioners with any background. The Tantric apparatus helped to access what was understood as the universal basis of all experience, transcending concepts of doctrine and barriers of sectarian division. The rituals were cultivated mostly during longer or shorter periods of meditation in seclusion, which experienced a great revival of popularity in the second half of the 19th century and shall be elaborated on below.
The non-sectarian approach facilitated the collection of diverse material and also the preservation of different lineages. In this way, the lineages were consolidated by the lamas trained in the hermitages established by the Ris med masters. This aspect of the Ris med activity proved to be one of the most significant factors which supported the later, post-Mao religious revival in Khams, due to specific conditioning such as the critical deficiency of qualified specialists. In the next chapters, I shall describe a recent example of one such revivalist, whose agency was crucial to the preservation of Tantric Buddhism in Khams, since he was able to serve as a direct source of transmissions stemming from diverse schools and lineages.
The unbiased approach of the Ris med masters manifested in their tolerance and openness for all kinds of doctrines to such an extent that the group never asserted the superiority of one specific philosophical view. The view strongly promoted by Kong sprul was the gzhan stong, the affirmative explanation of śūnyatā associated with the Jo nang school, which had been adopted earlier by the bKa’ brgyud pa scholar Si tu Paṇ chen Chos kyi ’byung gnas (1700-1774), who had also been active in sDe dge.169 To Kong sprul, the gzhan stong was a
“unifying concept” that connected the various schools of Tibetan Buddhist thought.170
168 Some authors, such as Gardner (2007), do attribute a degree of sectarianism to Kong sprul’s activity. This matter is explained in greater detail below.
169 See: E. G. Smith 2001: 90, 251; Kong sprul, et al. 1995: 34.
170 Kong sprul, et al.1995: 266. It could also be argued that if one view is place above all others as the “unifying concept,” it is equally a way for one to become biased. Compare Gardner 2007: 145. Moreover, some masters connected with the Ris med, such as ’Ju Mi pham rgya mtsho, also claimed the validity of the Madhyamaka
As a consequence of the unbiased approach, the Ris med group developed a predilection for universalistic doctrines. Tenets like the rDzogs chen became the prevailing trend, since this particular system of philosophy and practice left plenty of room for synthetic procedures, given that it emphasized the unconstrained, all-pervading nature of the absolute mind.
Kong sprul, mKhyen brtse, and some of their associates who propagated the Ris med lore, such as Mi pham or gZhan phan chos kyi snang ba, also known as mKhan po gZhan dga’
(1871-1927), had a strong interest in reviving the old Indian paṇḍita-ideal through the thorough reform of the academic system, which at the same time, aimed at counterbalancing the dGe lugs pa influence in Khams pa scholarship.171 mKhan po gZhan dga’ became abbot of the newly founded rDzong gsar college (bshad grwa), which would become the model college for the new type of religious education.172 Its famous curriculum of thirteen great Indian textbooks was replicated in practically all non-dGe lugs pa colleges of Khams, beginning with dPal spungs, Thar lam, Kaḥ thog, rDzogs chen, and dPal yul.173
III.2.3. “The Twenty-Five Great Power Places of A mdo and Khams”
The gTer revelations, unearthed and popularized in the 19th century created the opportunity to promote Khams as an area of sacred ground, consecrated with the presence of the different enlightened power fields (Skt. maṇḍala, Tib. dkyil ’khor) and gurus of the past. gTer became potent means to advocate the significance and autonomy of Eastern Tibet, in the face of Qing territorial claims on the one side, and the ambitions of the Central Tibetan government on the other.
In 1857, on Eastern Tibetan ground at dPa’ bo dbang chen brag, mChog gyur gling pa revealed a scripture which proved instrumental not only for the purposes mentioned above, but also for the specific aims of the new non-sectarian movement.174 The Bod kyi gnas chen rnams kyi mdo byang dkar chags o rgyan gyi mkhas pa padma ’byung gnas kyis bkos pa, (“An Abrreviated Catalogue of the Great Holy Places of Tibet Arranged by the Wise One of Uḍḍiyāna, Padmasambhava”)175 as was the case of all Treasure texts, was claimed to have
concepts. This is one of the factors pointing to the fact that the Ris med was by no means a monolithic structure.
Compare also E. G. Smith 2001: 231.
171 E. G. Smith 1970: 25.
172 rDzong gsar monastery and its hermitages in the vicinity of the sDe dge capital was instrumental for the Ris med movement. See: Blo gros phun tshogs 1999, D.P. Jackson 2003: 536 and Kretschmar 2004: 128.
173 Kretschmar 2004: 232. The curriculum was seen as non-sectarian in that it constituted a return to the Indian instructions without sectarian interpretation and bias. Also see E. G. Smith 2001: 233, Blo gros phun tshogs 1999.
174 Ngawang Zangpo 2001: 97.
175 In mChog gyur gling pa 1977.
been authored by Padmasambhava and declared Khams to host five key power places and twenty-five major power places (gnas chen), symbolizing the enlightened body (sku), speech (gsung), mind (thugs), qualities (yon tan) and activity (’phrin las); as well as the four extraordinary locations and eight places endowed with a special power to train the minds of sentient beings.176 But most importantly, this “narrative map”177 of The Twenty-Five Great Power Places of A mdo and Khams (mDo khams gnas chen nyer lnga) re-constructed the sacred geography and religious history of Eastern Tibet as well as manifested powerful social and political implications.
The text of the revealed scripture begins with the claim that the narrative map designed for Khams can be compared to the samples of Buddhist cosmology present in India and Central Tibet. It is as real and as reliable as the old Indian spatial pīṭha networks and the authority behind them, the Cakrasaṃvara-tantra; it announces that Khams is the field of activity of Tantric deities, invited by Padmasambhava himself.178
The narrative map added to the construction of a new territorial identity of Khams. It was an indigenous venture that drew on local resources – the existing sacred geography of the region, inter-sectarian coalition between the meditation schools as well as rituals for the arrangement of space.179 This local initiative was vital to define Khams pa territory. Prior to the discovery of the twenty-five gnas, Eastern Tibet had been a fragmented area, with foreign powers from the East and the West seeking to incorporate the vast, fertile and strategically important region by repeatedly delineating its borders. The inner conflicts did nothing to prevent this; the bloody Nyag rong conquests ultimately compromised the independence of Eastern Tibetan kingdoms more than they helped to unify their vast territories.
Especially Qing cartography sought to define the perimeters of their empire such that it could prevent the multi-ethnic fringe from developing autonomy and to keep outside forces at bay. By 1850’s, the Middle Kingdom was already losing control of its peripheries. The Qing emperors understood the political significance of map-making, so delineating the territory of Khams became a part of the imperial campaign for mapping the changing face of new China, especially in the face of border disputes with Lha sa.180
Holy places had previously existed on Eastern Tibetan ground, but it was the discovery of the narrative map that made possible to present them as a concise system that could be
176 Ngawang Zangpo 2001: 97-8.
177 For the use of this term see Huber 1999: 61ff and Gardner 2007.
178 Gardner 2007: 52.
179 Gardner 2007: xiii.
180 Gardner 2007: 152-153.
implemented into the ritual, political and social landscape. The twenty-five gnas, which translated the fragmented area into a distinct territory, was as native project that offered an opportunity for Khams to gain independence from the powers in Lha sa and Beijing – even if this autonomy was primarily understood in ritual terms, and as such existed mostly on the figurative level. However, with the help of the narrative map, in the second half of the 19th century, the concept of gnas could reinforce the awareness of local identity. This was achieved by means of reaffirming ancient, indigenous values through gTer, in contrast to other identities: Khams versus Central Tibet or Qing China, politically weaker schools (mainly rNying ma pa) against the more dominant, clerical dGe lugs pa and Ngor pa sects.181
A similar process is taking place today. In the case study chapters, I will argue that sacred geography, religious history, myth, ritual and powerful paradigms of a hermitic lifestyle are applied today by the contemporary activists of the ethno-religious revival in order to counteract the repressive policies of the state and to accentuate ethnic and local identity.
The new way of perceiving Eastern Tibet as a pure field empowered by Padmasambhava also became the means to legitimize the religious and secular power held by the Ris med triumvirate.182 gTer recalled the authority of the past and as such was significant for building up the authority of the new movement, and although the Ris med group defined the influence of Treasures as religious in nature, eventually they too found their social and political modes of expression.
The disclosure of the narrative map occurred in the initial phase of the alliance between Kong sprul, mChog gling, and mKhyen brtse. Although both Kong sprul and mKhyen brtse had known mChog gling already since 1853 and played significant roles in the process of his recognition as Treasure revealer (which took place between 1853-55), their mutual exchange and collaboration would fully flourish only after 1857, as they began their cooperation through the revelation, transcription and popularization of various gTer ma, especially those centered around the cult of the new power places. Thus, developing literature on the Khams pa gnas became vital for cultivating the relationship between Kong sprul, mKhyen brtse and mChog gyur gling pa.183 Their triple coalition, consolidated by means of the narrative map, contributed to the dissemination of the Ris med ideology and practice and to solidifying their individual standing as important masters, whose initiative, textual works, political opinion and
181 Compare Rheingans (n.d.): 22-23, Schuh 1976: xxx-xxxi, E. G. Smith 1970: 23, Gardner 2007: 45.
182 Compare Gardner 2007: 57.
183 See Gardner 2007: 21-44.
ritual support were gaining increasing influence in the religious and political life in sDe dge and in adjacent polities of Khams.
Alexander P. Gardner claims that the discovery of the narrative map of the twenty-five gnas was actually triggered by Kong sprul’s ambition to promote his hermitage at Tsā ’dra, where he had moved in 1842.184 This new gTer ma finding and the subsequent revelations that proclaimed Tsā ’dra Rin chen brag to be standing on sacred ground, became landmarks in the development of the hermitage. Its ritual meaning increased together with its outer dimensions – it was no coincidence that after the numerous Treasure extractions, including the gazetteer of that holy site, Kong sprul could afford to expand the infrastructure and launch his plan of instigating structured meditation training in closed retreat.185 His schooling program, devised specifically according to his own understanding and interpretation of Buddhist theory and practice, helped build up his independent status as religious reformer. However minute in its original size, the meditation enclosure (sgrub khang)186 of Tsā ’dra along with its specific curriculum made a lasting impact on the development of the bKa’ brgyud schools.187
The narrative map of the twenty-five gnas, both as one of the first fruits of the new union of religious leaders and as an original topographic design, constituted an important factor in the delineation of the Ris med territory. The scripture, revealed by mChog gling and transcribed by Kong sprul, outlined a network of sites, whose identification, ritual opening and popularization depended entirely on the revealer and his assistants. This guaranteed that the specific ideas and interests of the Ris med alliance would find their spatial reference points – an important issue for any new movement, but especially vital in the Tibetan context of the cult of landscape as a living organism, capable of communicating and translating whole ideologies and cosmologies. Consequently, the narrative map became a way to articulate the ideas of the non-sectarian group.
’Jam mgon Kong sprul recognized the meaning of the new ritual demarcation of Khams.
Eleven years after the revelation he authored a commentary to the original text revealed by mChog gling. Kong sprul’s narrative map, named the mDo khams gnas chen nyer lnga yan
184 During mChog gling’s visit to Tsā ’dra, Kong sprul, encouraged by mKhyen brtse’s presumption from a year before, as well as his own premonition, asked for a gnas yig to be composed especially for that hermitage.
mChog gling understood the importance of the new alliance and reacted with a prophecy of a scripture that depicted the special qualities of the place. He promised Kong sprul to deliver it and thus, a few months later, the narrative map came to existence (Gardner 2007: 110).
185 See Schuh 1976: lxiv, as well as below in the section on the three-year retreat.
186 sGrub khang literally means “meditation house,” but the very special feature of this hermitage is its enclosed space and ritually sealed entrance. To emphasize this, I chose to translate the term as “meditation enclosure.”
187 See below for the development of Tsā ’dra as Kong sprul’s main site and the source of inspiration for reform of meditation training.