James Gentry | Stanford University (original) (raw)

Papers by James Gentry

Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines, 2023

For details about Padampa Sangyé's travels in China and evidence for his activities and legacy in... more For details about Padampa Sangyé's travels in China and evidence for his activities and legacy in the Tangut kingdom of Xia, as recorded in the Chinese language, see Sun 2013.

Revue d'Etude Tibétaines, 2023

I would like to thank Jacob Dalton for his feedback on an earlier draft of this paper and for gen... more I would like to thank Jacob Dalton for his feedback on an earlier draft of this paper and for generously sharing with me the page proofs of his 2023 book, and Ana Cristina Lopes for her sound suggestions on two earlier drafts of this paper. Thanks also to Khenpo Yeshi for working through a few difficult Tibetan passages with me, and to anonymous reviews for offering several revisions. I would also like to thank Barbara Gerke, Jan van der Valk, and Calum Blaikie for organizing and inviting me to take part in the workshop "Materiality, Agency and Power: Crafting Potency in Sowa Rigpa and Ritual Practice," held at University of Vienna in July 12-13, 2022. This workshop, where I presented a preliminary consideration of this paper, provided a particularly stimulating forum for discussion and development of many of the themes presented herein. Many thanks to all the workshop participants for such rich and lively conversation, and especially Tawni Tidwell, for generously sharing with me her expertise in Tibetan medicinal substances and resources important for their use and study, and Reinier Langelaar, for generously sharing with me his valuable work on kinship in Tibetan societies. Thanks also to Cathy Cantwell, who attended the workshop virtually, for her valuable feedback on my presentation.

Project Himalayan Art, Rubin Museum of Art, 2023

The Routledge Handbook of Religion and the Body, 2023

This chapter considers Buddhist attitudes about the body by examining how a Tantric pill traditio... more This chapter considers Buddhist attitudes about the body by examining how a Tantric pill tradition featuring the ritual consecration and consumption of the flesh of the Buddhist “special dead” has encapsulated several different conceptions of embodiment throughout its storied history in Tibet. It focuses on three pivotal periods of this 1000-year history to illustrate that multivalent rhetoric in Indian Buddhist tantras translated into Tibetan between the tenth and twelfth century calling for the consumption of the flesh of “seven-times-born” humans transformed in Tibet to become the basis of a popular relic-pill tradition known as the maṇi pill that survives to the present. Following the maṇi pill through its formation and most significant transformations reveals its manufacture and consecration to be one of the most pervasive, enduring, and diverse ritual traditions in the history of Tibet. It also provides a unique lens into the Tibetan reception and adaptation of Indian Buddhist Tantra – the beginnings of a material cultural history of Tantra in Tibet – with ramifications for the historical study of the interface between Tibetan medicine and Buddhist Tantra, and how this interface has influenced Tibetan Buddhist conceptions of the body.

Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Volume 44, 2021

This paper considers Buddhist conceptions of what a buddha’s state of awakening is like by bringi... more This paper considers Buddhist conceptions of what a buddha’s state of awakening is like by bringing to light a previously unstudied current of interpretation from the Heart Essence (sNying thig) tradition of Great Perfection (rDzogs chen) theory and practice belonging to the Old School (rNying ma) of Tibetan Buddhism. It presents evidence that contrary to contemporary Buddhist Studies and Old School Heart Essence depictions of the moment of awakening as presaged by the dissolution of all perceptual appearances at the culmination of four visionary phases, there was another strain of thinking on this issue in Tibet which was once prevalent but has nearly been expunged from the Old School historical record. According to this little-known account, awakening involves not the final dissolution of visionary experience, but rather its final refinement and stabilization—the ongoing immersion in one’s own innate, nondual knowing, in the form of luminous and colorful buddhas and their mandalic purelands. The discussion traces this strain of interpretation from questions posed by Ratna Lingpa in the 15th century to responses offered by Sokdokpa Lodrö Gyeltsen in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. It then compares Sokdokpa’s opinion to the position of the 14th century figure Longchenpa, with whom Sokdokpa explicitly took issue on this point. It then interrogates the interpretive possibilities of their common scriptural source, the Seventeen Tantras, and the related reflections of the late 12th and early 13th century Heart Essence figure Nyima Bum, before turning to the 17th century attempt by Lhatsün Namkha Jikmé to reconcile these two positions in proposing his own idiosyncratic account. In conclusion, it asks what the implications of this disagreement could be for Longchenpa’s reception in the 16th and 17th centuries, and when and how Longchenpa’s opinion finally eclipsed its counterpoint. It also suggests that the Heart Essence disagreement over the status of visionary experience in awakened cognition and embodiment could be a continuation, in the contemplative visionary idiom of this Tibetan tradition, of a broader Mahāyāna Buddhist conundrum over how a buddha can transcend the conditionality of samsaric existence while nonetheless remaining cognizant of and active within it to bring benefit to beings.

"From Khyung lung to Lhasa, A Festschrift for Dan Martin," Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines 64, 2022

tories featuring Kalmāṣapāda, the human-flesh devouring king with "spotted feet" (kalmāṣa-pāda), ... more tories featuring Kalmāṣapāda, the human-flesh devouring king with "spotted feet" (kalmāṣa-pāda), have been told throughout Indian literature ranging from Vedic, Epic, and Purāṇic narrative traditions to Jain and Buddhist narrative traditions in both Pāli and Sanskrit. With the spread of Buddhism from India, renditions of the Kalmāṣapāda story circulated across Central Asia, China, Japan, Tibet, and the rest of the Buddhist world. This paper traces the transformations of this narrative that took place in Tibet through the introduction of tantric Buddhist elements from the 11 th to the 17 th century. I argue that these tantric transformations of the Kalmāṣapāda story enabled it to serve in Tibet as a charter narrative for a tantric practice featuring the consumption of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara's flesh that survives to the present. In so doing, I seek to show how the transformations of this narrative in Tibet reflect changes in the rhetorical and material relationships to the practice of human-flesh consumption as Tibetans assimilated Indian Buddhist tantric traditions and made them their own. The discussion draws from a broader book project tracing the history of the seven-times-born flesh in Tibetan Buddhism from the 11 th century to the present. This avenue of research would likely be unthinkable without Dan Martin's pioneering contributions to the study of Tibetan material culture, polemics, and the complex interactions between Tibetans and their neighbors. I am particularly grateful for Dan Martin's studies of relics, reliquaries, and pills of power in Tibet, and the polemical discourses about them among some of Tibet's leading intellectuals. 1 These studies have made new inroads into the study of Tibetan material religion that have only recently begun to surface and gain traction. The present discussion, and the broader project of which it partakes, draws inspiration from Dan's capacious historical approach to material culture to explore what tracing the historical trajectory of a single narrative vignette featuring the consumption of human flesh can contribute to our knowledge of 1

Religions, 2021

This article discusses Buddhist apologetics in Tibet by examining the formation, revision, and re... more This article discusses Buddhist apologetics in Tibet by examining the formation, revision, and reception of the most renowned literary apologia ever written in defense of the Old School of Tibetan Buddhism: Sokdokpa Lodrö Gyeltsen’s early 17th-century magnum opus the Thunder of Definitive Meaning. It reconstructs in broad strokes the history of the Thunder’s reception from the early 17th century to the present and relates this to details in different versions of the Thunder and its addendum to shed light on the process by which this work was composed and edited. By considering this work’s peculiar context of production and history of reception alongside passages it presents revealing how it was conceived and revised, this analysis aims to prepare the ground for its study and translation. In so doing, this discussion attempts to show how a broadly historical approach can work in tandem with a fine-grained philological approach to yield fresh insights into the production and reception of Buddhist literary works that have important ramifications for their understanding and translation.

About Padmasambhava: Historical Narratives and Later Transformations of Guru Rinpoche, 2020

Religions, 2019

This article examines the relationship between the practice and theory of medicine and Buddhism i... more This article examines the relationship between the practice and theory of medicine and Buddhism in premodern Tibet. It considers a polemical text composed by the 16th-17th-century Tibetan physician and tantric Buddhist expert Sokdokpa Lodrö Gyeltsen, intending to prove the Buddhist canonical status of the Four Medical Tantras, the foundational text of the Tibetan medical tradition. While presenting and analyzing Sokdokpa's polemical writing in the context of the broader debate over the Buddhist pedigree of the Four Tantras that took place during his time, this discussion situates Sokdokpa's reflections on the topic in terms of his broader career as both a practicing physician and a tantric Buddhist ritual and contemplative specialist. It suggests that by virtue of Sokdokpa's tightly interwoven activities in the spheres of medicine and Buddhism, his contribution to this debate gives voice to a sensibility in which empiricist, historicist, and Buddhist ritual and contemplative inflections intermingle in ways that resist easy disentanglement and classification. In this it argues that Sokdokpa's reflections form an important counterpoint to the perspectives considered thus far in the scholarly study of this debate. It also questions if Sokdokpa's style of argumentation might call for a recalibration of how scholars currently construe the roles of tantric Buddhist practice in the appeal by premodern Tibetan physicians to critical and probative criteria.

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. Oxford University Press, 2019

As Tibetans began to import Buddhist scriptures and translate them into the Tibetan lan­guage in ... more As Tibetans began to import Buddhist scriptures and translate them into the Tibetan lan­guage in the 8th and 9th centuries, they also imported items like relics, reliquaries, stat­ues, paintings, amulets, and other material objects believed to embody and transmit pow­er through their physical connections with buddhas, bodhisattvas, and saints of the past. Guided by scriptural pronouncements, as these resonated with indigenous sensibilities Ti­betans came to hold that sensory interactions with Buddhist power objects would enable unmediated access to the powerful sources of the Buddhist tradition for a range of prag­matic and transcendent goals. Such encounters were held to be so efficacious that they were sometimes promoted as viable complements or substitutes for the study and cultiva­tion of Buddhist doctrine. As Tibetans integrated Buddhism into Tibetan culture they began crafting their own Bud­dhist power objects. These became so ubiquitous and diverse in Tibetan Buddhist soci­eties that there is no single Tibetan term that directly corresponds with the category of "power objects" to encapsulate their full range. Patterned after Indian prototypes, Ti­betans developed their own terms and rubrics for these kinds of objects. They also adapt­ed them to include a wider spectrum of items and advanced theories of their power and efficacy that extend beyond their Indian Buddhist counterparts. On this account, contro­versies sometimes erupted among Tibetan ecclesiastical scholars over the purported na­ture and potency of such things. The prominent role given to Buddhist power objects in Tibet entailed they would serve as touchstones for the formation of Tibetan Buddhist communities, institutions, and states. Yet, sustained discussion of these kinds of objects has only been sporadic among traditional Tibetan exegetes and modern academic schol­ars of Tibetan Buddhism.

Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines, no. 50, 2019

Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines, no 50, 2019

Most Tibetan Buddhist ritual is premised on the intimate contiguity between persons, landscapes, ... more Most Tibetan Buddhist ritual is premised on the intimate contiguity between persons, landscapes, and hosts of landscape spirits of all kinds. 1 Such contiguity assumes that human bodies, habitations, and settlements are impinged upon by the nonhuman forces that surround and inhabit them. Safeguarding the health and integrity of the corporate entities of human body, household, and community from the threats posed by contact with the capricious spirit world thus constitutes a major preoccupation for Tibetan Buddhist ritual specialists. Clergy have at their disposal a repertoire of ritual treatments to subjugate these threatening presences, exorcise them from the precincts of body, home, or territory, and restore internal health and cohesion.

Book Reviews by James Gentry

Journal of Chinese Religions, 2019

Papers and Presentations by James Gentry

IATS Paris, 2019

It is often taken for granted that the vast majority of Buddhist scriptures in currently availabl... more It is often taken for granted that the vast majority of Buddhist scriptures in currently available Tibetan bka’ ’gyur and proto-bka’ ’gyur collections was translated directly from Sanskrit source texts. It is nonetheless also well attested that during and after the imperial period Tibetans sometimes considered Indian Buddhist scriptures previously rendered into Chinese, Khotanese, and other languages to be acceptable source texts for translation into Tibetan. Yet the general unreliability of translation colophons and centuries of scribal and editorial activity, which often included efforts during the imperial period and thereafter to standardize Tibetan scriptural translations according to an imperially-decreed common lexicon, have obscured the process by which these collections and their translations came into being and were transmitted. As a result, the role of Chinese and other language translations of Indic texts in Tibetan translation activity and the formation of Tibetan scriptural language remains little understood.

This paper presents preliminary findings of ongoing research into how translators and translation teams used Chinese source texts to translate, edit, and finalize translations into Tibetan, particularly during the imperial period. This research was initiated in an attempt to critically interrogate and potentially build on Rolf Stein’s (1983/2010) pioneering work on a group of Chinese texts that served as source texts for Tibetan translations. In the course of his investigation Stein postulates the possible prevalence of a “Sino-Tibetan” translation lexicon, distinct in several respects from the “Indo-Tibetan” translation lexicon represented in the imperial-period -vyutpatti tradition that served as the source by which imperial period and later canonical editors would sometimes attempt to standardize the lexical choices of Tibetan language scriptures.

The present research project interrogates Stein’s postulate through analysis of a wider range of translations and through use of electronically searchable canonical collections, according to the following three-stage methodology: 1) identify texts such as the Lokadharaparipṛcchā-sūtra, the Pūrṇaparipṛcchā-sūtra, and other Tibetan canonical translations with mercurial colophons, murky historical origins in Tibet, and overwhelming similarities with existing Chinese translations; 2) record rarely-encountered terms and phrases that appear in this group of texts; and 3) trace their recurrence throughout existing electronic bka’ ’gyur collections and their predecessors, particularly in other Tibetan translations explicitly rendered from Chinese source texts.

The presentation of our guiding research question, methodology, and preliminary findings will then serve as a springboard to reflect on the possibility that there may be more canonical Tibetan translations based wholly or partially on Chinese source texts than previously acknowledged in translation colophons; and that the revisions of such translations, perhaps in multiple stages, unevenly, and in consultation with different source-language texts and lexicons, may have resulted in translations rendered from hybrid and multilingual sources not entirely traceable to either Sanskrit or Chinese lexical influence. This presentation concludes with an analysis of the broader implications of these findings for our understandings of the sources of Buddhist scriptural language in Tibet and how to effectively work with translated Tibetan scriptures as scholars and translators.

Book Press Releases by James Gentry

In Power Objects in Tibetan Buddhism: The Life, Writings, and Legacy of Sokdokpa Lodrö Gyeltsen, ... more In Power Objects in Tibetan Buddhism: The Life, Writings, and Legacy of Sokdokpa Lodrö Gyeltsen, James Duncan Gentry explores how objects of power figure in Tibetan religion, society, and polity through a study of the life of the Tibetan Buddhist ritual specialist Sokdokpa Lodrö Gyeltsen (1552-1624) within the broader context of sixteenth-and seventeenth-century Tibet. In presenting Sokdokpa's career and legacy, Gentry traces the theme of power objects across a wide spectrum of genres to show how Tibetan Buddhists themselves have theorized about objects of power and implemented them in practice. This study therefore provides a lens into how power objects serve as points of convergence for elite doctrinal discourses, socio-political dynamics, and popular religious practices in Tibetan Buddhist societies.

Translations by James Gentry

The Sūtra “Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm,” Mahā­sāhasra­pramardanī­nāma­sūtra, English Translation, 2016

Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm is one of five texts that together constitute the Pañcarakṣā... more Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm is one of five texts that together constitute the Pañcarakṣā scriptural collection, popular for centuries as an important facet of Mahāyāna-Vajrayāna Buddhism’s traditional approach to personal and communal misfortunes of all kinds. Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm primarily addresses illnesses caused by spirit entities thought to devour the vitality of humans and animals. The text describes them as belonging to four different subspecies, presided over by the four great kings, guardians of the world, who hold sovereignty over the spirit beings in the four cardinal directions. The text also includes ritual prescriptions for the monastic community to purify its consumption of alms tainted by the “five impure foods.” This refers generally to alms that contain meat, the consumption of which is expressly prohibited for successful implementation of the Pañcarakṣā’s dhāraṇī incantations.

The Queen of Incantations: The Great Peahen, Mahā­māyūrī­vidyārājñī, English Translation, 2023

The Queen of Incantations: The Great Peahen is one of five texts that together constitute the Pañ... more The Queen of Incantations: The Great Peahen is one of five texts that together constitute the Pañcarakṣā scriptural collection and has been among the most popular texts used for pragmatic purposes throughout the Mahāyāna Buddhist world. Although its incantations (vidyā) are framed specifically to counteract the deadly effects of poisonous snakebites, it also aims to address the entire range of possible human ailments and diseases contracted through the interference of animals, nonhuman beings, and humoral and environmental imbalances, along with a range of other misfortunes, such as sorcery, losing one’s way, robbery, natural disaster, and criminal punishment, to name but a few. In the text the Buddha Śākyamuni advocates for the invocation of a number of deities within the pantheon of Indian gods and goddesses, including numerous local deities who dwell throughout the subcontinent. He stipulates that just “upholding” or intoning these names along with the mantra formula that accompanies each grouping will hasten the deities to the service of saṅgha members administering to the pragmatic medical needs of their own and surrounding communities.

The Noble Queen of Incantations: The Great Amulet, Ārya­mahāprati­sarāvidyā­rājñī, English Translation, 2023

The Noble Queen of Incantations: The Great Amulet, one of five texts that constitute the Pañcarak... more The Noble Queen of Incantations: The Great Amulet, one of five texts that constitute the Pañcarakṣā scriptural collection, has been among the most popular texts used for pragmatic purposes throughout the Mahāyāna Buddhist world. As its title suggests, The Great Amulet prescribes the use of amulets into which the incantation is physically incorporated. These devices are then worn around the neck or arm, attached to flags, interred in stūpas and funeral pyres, or otherwise used anywhere their presence is deemed beneficial. Wearing or encountering the incantation promises a range of effects, including the prevention and healing of illness, the conception and birth of male offspring, and control over the world of nonhuman spirit entities. The text also protects against consequences of negative deeds, delivering evildoers from negative rebirths and ensuring their place among the gods. The promise of augmenting merit even extends in one passage to an increase of mindfulness and liberation from saṃsāra.

The Sūtra of Great Cool Grove, Mahāśītavanī­sūtra, English Translation, 2023

The Sūtra of Great Cool Grove, one of five texts that constitute the Pañcarakṣā scriptural collec... more The Sūtra of Great Cool Grove, one of five texts that constitute the Pañcarakṣā scriptural collection, has been among the most popular texts used for pragmatic purposes throughout the Mahāyāna Buddhist world. This sūtra promises protection for the Buddha’s “four communities”‍—monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen‍—against a range of illnesses and obstacles originating from the hosts of spirit entities who reside in remote wilderness retreats. The text centers specifically on threats of illness posed by the capricious spirit world of “nonhumans,” known collectively as grahas or bhūtas, who feed off the vitality, flesh, and blood of members of the Buddhist spiritual community engaging in spiritual practice at those remote hermitages. The sūtra is proclaimed by the Four Great Kings, each of whom reigns over a host of bhūtas, with the goal of quelling the hostile forces who assail those diligently practicing the Buddha’s teachings. Also included are ritual prescriptions for properly performing the sūtra and descriptions of the many benefits that ensue.

Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines, 2023

For details about Padampa Sangyé's travels in China and evidence for his activities and legacy in... more For details about Padampa Sangyé's travels in China and evidence for his activities and legacy in the Tangut kingdom of Xia, as recorded in the Chinese language, see Sun 2013.

Revue d'Etude Tibétaines, 2023

I would like to thank Jacob Dalton for his feedback on an earlier draft of this paper and for gen... more I would like to thank Jacob Dalton for his feedback on an earlier draft of this paper and for generously sharing with me the page proofs of his 2023 book, and Ana Cristina Lopes for her sound suggestions on two earlier drafts of this paper. Thanks also to Khenpo Yeshi for working through a few difficult Tibetan passages with me, and to anonymous reviews for offering several revisions. I would also like to thank Barbara Gerke, Jan van der Valk, and Calum Blaikie for organizing and inviting me to take part in the workshop "Materiality, Agency and Power: Crafting Potency in Sowa Rigpa and Ritual Practice," held at University of Vienna in July 12-13, 2022. This workshop, where I presented a preliminary consideration of this paper, provided a particularly stimulating forum for discussion and development of many of the themes presented herein. Many thanks to all the workshop participants for such rich and lively conversation, and especially Tawni Tidwell, for generously sharing with me her expertise in Tibetan medicinal substances and resources important for their use and study, and Reinier Langelaar, for generously sharing with me his valuable work on kinship in Tibetan societies. Thanks also to Cathy Cantwell, who attended the workshop virtually, for her valuable feedback on my presentation.

Project Himalayan Art, Rubin Museum of Art, 2023

The Routledge Handbook of Religion and the Body, 2023

This chapter considers Buddhist attitudes about the body by examining how a Tantric pill traditio... more This chapter considers Buddhist attitudes about the body by examining how a Tantric pill tradition featuring the ritual consecration and consumption of the flesh of the Buddhist “special dead” has encapsulated several different conceptions of embodiment throughout its storied history in Tibet. It focuses on three pivotal periods of this 1000-year history to illustrate that multivalent rhetoric in Indian Buddhist tantras translated into Tibetan between the tenth and twelfth century calling for the consumption of the flesh of “seven-times-born” humans transformed in Tibet to become the basis of a popular relic-pill tradition known as the maṇi pill that survives to the present. Following the maṇi pill through its formation and most significant transformations reveals its manufacture and consecration to be one of the most pervasive, enduring, and diverse ritual traditions in the history of Tibet. It also provides a unique lens into the Tibetan reception and adaptation of Indian Buddhist Tantra – the beginnings of a material cultural history of Tantra in Tibet – with ramifications for the historical study of the interface between Tibetan medicine and Buddhist Tantra, and how this interface has influenced Tibetan Buddhist conceptions of the body.

Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Volume 44, 2021

This paper considers Buddhist conceptions of what a buddha’s state of awakening is like by bringi... more This paper considers Buddhist conceptions of what a buddha’s state of awakening is like by bringing to light a previously unstudied current of interpretation from the Heart Essence (sNying thig) tradition of Great Perfection (rDzogs chen) theory and practice belonging to the Old School (rNying ma) of Tibetan Buddhism. It presents evidence that contrary to contemporary Buddhist Studies and Old School Heart Essence depictions of the moment of awakening as presaged by the dissolution of all perceptual appearances at the culmination of four visionary phases, there was another strain of thinking on this issue in Tibet which was once prevalent but has nearly been expunged from the Old School historical record. According to this little-known account, awakening involves not the final dissolution of visionary experience, but rather its final refinement and stabilization—the ongoing immersion in one’s own innate, nondual knowing, in the form of luminous and colorful buddhas and their mandalic purelands. The discussion traces this strain of interpretation from questions posed by Ratna Lingpa in the 15th century to responses offered by Sokdokpa Lodrö Gyeltsen in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. It then compares Sokdokpa’s opinion to the position of the 14th century figure Longchenpa, with whom Sokdokpa explicitly took issue on this point. It then interrogates the interpretive possibilities of their common scriptural source, the Seventeen Tantras, and the related reflections of the late 12th and early 13th century Heart Essence figure Nyima Bum, before turning to the 17th century attempt by Lhatsün Namkha Jikmé to reconcile these two positions in proposing his own idiosyncratic account. In conclusion, it asks what the implications of this disagreement could be for Longchenpa’s reception in the 16th and 17th centuries, and when and how Longchenpa’s opinion finally eclipsed its counterpoint. It also suggests that the Heart Essence disagreement over the status of visionary experience in awakened cognition and embodiment could be a continuation, in the contemplative visionary idiom of this Tibetan tradition, of a broader Mahāyāna Buddhist conundrum over how a buddha can transcend the conditionality of samsaric existence while nonetheless remaining cognizant of and active within it to bring benefit to beings.

"From Khyung lung to Lhasa, A Festschrift for Dan Martin," Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines 64, 2022

tories featuring Kalmāṣapāda, the human-flesh devouring king with "spotted feet" (kalmāṣa-pāda), ... more tories featuring Kalmāṣapāda, the human-flesh devouring king with "spotted feet" (kalmāṣa-pāda), have been told throughout Indian literature ranging from Vedic, Epic, and Purāṇic narrative traditions to Jain and Buddhist narrative traditions in both Pāli and Sanskrit. With the spread of Buddhism from India, renditions of the Kalmāṣapāda story circulated across Central Asia, China, Japan, Tibet, and the rest of the Buddhist world. This paper traces the transformations of this narrative that took place in Tibet through the introduction of tantric Buddhist elements from the 11 th to the 17 th century. I argue that these tantric transformations of the Kalmāṣapāda story enabled it to serve in Tibet as a charter narrative for a tantric practice featuring the consumption of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara's flesh that survives to the present. In so doing, I seek to show how the transformations of this narrative in Tibet reflect changes in the rhetorical and material relationships to the practice of human-flesh consumption as Tibetans assimilated Indian Buddhist tantric traditions and made them their own. The discussion draws from a broader book project tracing the history of the seven-times-born flesh in Tibetan Buddhism from the 11 th century to the present. This avenue of research would likely be unthinkable without Dan Martin's pioneering contributions to the study of Tibetan material culture, polemics, and the complex interactions between Tibetans and their neighbors. I am particularly grateful for Dan Martin's studies of relics, reliquaries, and pills of power in Tibet, and the polemical discourses about them among some of Tibet's leading intellectuals. 1 These studies have made new inroads into the study of Tibetan material religion that have only recently begun to surface and gain traction. The present discussion, and the broader project of which it partakes, draws inspiration from Dan's capacious historical approach to material culture to explore what tracing the historical trajectory of a single narrative vignette featuring the consumption of human flesh can contribute to our knowledge of 1

Religions, 2021

This article discusses Buddhist apologetics in Tibet by examining the formation, revision, and re... more This article discusses Buddhist apologetics in Tibet by examining the formation, revision, and reception of the most renowned literary apologia ever written in defense of the Old School of Tibetan Buddhism: Sokdokpa Lodrö Gyeltsen’s early 17th-century magnum opus the Thunder of Definitive Meaning. It reconstructs in broad strokes the history of the Thunder’s reception from the early 17th century to the present and relates this to details in different versions of the Thunder and its addendum to shed light on the process by which this work was composed and edited. By considering this work’s peculiar context of production and history of reception alongside passages it presents revealing how it was conceived and revised, this analysis aims to prepare the ground for its study and translation. In so doing, this discussion attempts to show how a broadly historical approach can work in tandem with a fine-grained philological approach to yield fresh insights into the production and reception of Buddhist literary works that have important ramifications for their understanding and translation.

About Padmasambhava: Historical Narratives and Later Transformations of Guru Rinpoche, 2020

Religions, 2019

This article examines the relationship between the practice and theory of medicine and Buddhism i... more This article examines the relationship between the practice and theory of medicine and Buddhism in premodern Tibet. It considers a polemical text composed by the 16th-17th-century Tibetan physician and tantric Buddhist expert Sokdokpa Lodrö Gyeltsen, intending to prove the Buddhist canonical status of the Four Medical Tantras, the foundational text of the Tibetan medical tradition. While presenting and analyzing Sokdokpa's polemical writing in the context of the broader debate over the Buddhist pedigree of the Four Tantras that took place during his time, this discussion situates Sokdokpa's reflections on the topic in terms of his broader career as both a practicing physician and a tantric Buddhist ritual and contemplative specialist. It suggests that by virtue of Sokdokpa's tightly interwoven activities in the spheres of medicine and Buddhism, his contribution to this debate gives voice to a sensibility in which empiricist, historicist, and Buddhist ritual and contemplative inflections intermingle in ways that resist easy disentanglement and classification. In this it argues that Sokdokpa's reflections form an important counterpoint to the perspectives considered thus far in the scholarly study of this debate. It also questions if Sokdokpa's style of argumentation might call for a recalibration of how scholars currently construe the roles of tantric Buddhist practice in the appeal by premodern Tibetan physicians to critical and probative criteria.

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. Oxford University Press, 2019

As Tibetans began to import Buddhist scriptures and translate them into the Tibetan lan­guage in ... more As Tibetans began to import Buddhist scriptures and translate them into the Tibetan lan­guage in the 8th and 9th centuries, they also imported items like relics, reliquaries, stat­ues, paintings, amulets, and other material objects believed to embody and transmit pow­er through their physical connections with buddhas, bodhisattvas, and saints of the past. Guided by scriptural pronouncements, as these resonated with indigenous sensibilities Ti­betans came to hold that sensory interactions with Buddhist power objects would enable unmediated access to the powerful sources of the Buddhist tradition for a range of prag­matic and transcendent goals. Such encounters were held to be so efficacious that they were sometimes promoted as viable complements or substitutes for the study and cultiva­tion of Buddhist doctrine. As Tibetans integrated Buddhism into Tibetan culture they began crafting their own Bud­dhist power objects. These became so ubiquitous and diverse in Tibetan Buddhist soci­eties that there is no single Tibetan term that directly corresponds with the category of "power objects" to encapsulate their full range. Patterned after Indian prototypes, Ti­betans developed their own terms and rubrics for these kinds of objects. They also adapt­ed them to include a wider spectrum of items and advanced theories of their power and efficacy that extend beyond their Indian Buddhist counterparts. On this account, contro­versies sometimes erupted among Tibetan ecclesiastical scholars over the purported na­ture and potency of such things. The prominent role given to Buddhist power objects in Tibet entailed they would serve as touchstones for the formation of Tibetan Buddhist communities, institutions, and states. Yet, sustained discussion of these kinds of objects has only been sporadic among traditional Tibetan exegetes and modern academic schol­ars of Tibetan Buddhism.

Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines, no. 50, 2019

Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines, no 50, 2019

Most Tibetan Buddhist ritual is premised on the intimate contiguity between persons, landscapes, ... more Most Tibetan Buddhist ritual is premised on the intimate contiguity between persons, landscapes, and hosts of landscape spirits of all kinds. 1 Such contiguity assumes that human bodies, habitations, and settlements are impinged upon by the nonhuman forces that surround and inhabit them. Safeguarding the health and integrity of the corporate entities of human body, household, and community from the threats posed by contact with the capricious spirit world thus constitutes a major preoccupation for Tibetan Buddhist ritual specialists. Clergy have at their disposal a repertoire of ritual treatments to subjugate these threatening presences, exorcise them from the precincts of body, home, or territory, and restore internal health and cohesion.

IATS Paris, 2019

It is often taken for granted that the vast majority of Buddhist scriptures in currently availabl... more It is often taken for granted that the vast majority of Buddhist scriptures in currently available Tibetan bka’ ’gyur and proto-bka’ ’gyur collections was translated directly from Sanskrit source texts. It is nonetheless also well attested that during and after the imperial period Tibetans sometimes considered Indian Buddhist scriptures previously rendered into Chinese, Khotanese, and other languages to be acceptable source texts for translation into Tibetan. Yet the general unreliability of translation colophons and centuries of scribal and editorial activity, which often included efforts during the imperial period and thereafter to standardize Tibetan scriptural translations according to an imperially-decreed common lexicon, have obscured the process by which these collections and their translations came into being and were transmitted. As a result, the role of Chinese and other language translations of Indic texts in Tibetan translation activity and the formation of Tibetan scriptural language remains little understood.

This paper presents preliminary findings of ongoing research into how translators and translation teams used Chinese source texts to translate, edit, and finalize translations into Tibetan, particularly during the imperial period. This research was initiated in an attempt to critically interrogate and potentially build on Rolf Stein’s (1983/2010) pioneering work on a group of Chinese texts that served as source texts for Tibetan translations. In the course of his investigation Stein postulates the possible prevalence of a “Sino-Tibetan” translation lexicon, distinct in several respects from the “Indo-Tibetan” translation lexicon represented in the imperial-period -vyutpatti tradition that served as the source by which imperial period and later canonical editors would sometimes attempt to standardize the lexical choices of Tibetan language scriptures.

The present research project interrogates Stein’s postulate through analysis of a wider range of translations and through use of electronically searchable canonical collections, according to the following three-stage methodology: 1) identify texts such as the Lokadharaparipṛcchā-sūtra, the Pūrṇaparipṛcchā-sūtra, and other Tibetan canonical translations with mercurial colophons, murky historical origins in Tibet, and overwhelming similarities with existing Chinese translations; 2) record rarely-encountered terms and phrases that appear in this group of texts; and 3) trace their recurrence throughout existing electronic bka’ ’gyur collections and their predecessors, particularly in other Tibetan translations explicitly rendered from Chinese source texts.

The presentation of our guiding research question, methodology, and preliminary findings will then serve as a springboard to reflect on the possibility that there may be more canonical Tibetan translations based wholly or partially on Chinese source texts than previously acknowledged in translation colophons; and that the revisions of such translations, perhaps in multiple stages, unevenly, and in consultation with different source-language texts and lexicons, may have resulted in translations rendered from hybrid and multilingual sources not entirely traceable to either Sanskrit or Chinese lexical influence. This presentation concludes with an analysis of the broader implications of these findings for our understandings of the sources of Buddhist scriptural language in Tibet and how to effectively work with translated Tibetan scriptures as scholars and translators.

In Power Objects in Tibetan Buddhism: The Life, Writings, and Legacy of Sokdokpa Lodrö Gyeltsen, ... more In Power Objects in Tibetan Buddhism: The Life, Writings, and Legacy of Sokdokpa Lodrö Gyeltsen, James Duncan Gentry explores how objects of power figure in Tibetan religion, society, and polity through a study of the life of the Tibetan Buddhist ritual specialist Sokdokpa Lodrö Gyeltsen (1552-1624) within the broader context of sixteenth-and seventeenth-century Tibet. In presenting Sokdokpa's career and legacy, Gentry traces the theme of power objects across a wide spectrum of genres to show how Tibetan Buddhists themselves have theorized about objects of power and implemented them in practice. This study therefore provides a lens into how power objects serve as points of convergence for elite doctrinal discourses, socio-political dynamics, and popular religious practices in Tibetan Buddhist societies.

The Sūtra “Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm,” Mahā­sāhasra­pramardanī­nāma­sūtra, English Translation, 2016

Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm is one of five texts that together constitute the Pañcarakṣā... more Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm is one of five texts that together constitute the Pañcarakṣā scriptural collection, popular for centuries as an important facet of Mahāyāna-Vajrayāna Buddhism’s traditional approach to personal and communal misfortunes of all kinds. Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm primarily addresses illnesses caused by spirit entities thought to devour the vitality of humans and animals. The text describes them as belonging to four different subspecies, presided over by the four great kings, guardians of the world, who hold sovereignty over the spirit beings in the four cardinal directions. The text also includes ritual prescriptions for the monastic community to purify its consumption of alms tainted by the “five impure foods.” This refers generally to alms that contain meat, the consumption of which is expressly prohibited for successful implementation of the Pañcarakṣā’s dhāraṇī incantations.

The Queen of Incantations: The Great Peahen, Mahā­māyūrī­vidyārājñī, English Translation, 2023

The Queen of Incantations: The Great Peahen is one of five texts that together constitute the Pañ... more The Queen of Incantations: The Great Peahen is one of five texts that together constitute the Pañcarakṣā scriptural collection and has been among the most popular texts used for pragmatic purposes throughout the Mahāyāna Buddhist world. Although its incantations (vidyā) are framed specifically to counteract the deadly effects of poisonous snakebites, it also aims to address the entire range of possible human ailments and diseases contracted through the interference of animals, nonhuman beings, and humoral and environmental imbalances, along with a range of other misfortunes, such as sorcery, losing one’s way, robbery, natural disaster, and criminal punishment, to name but a few. In the text the Buddha Śākyamuni advocates for the invocation of a number of deities within the pantheon of Indian gods and goddesses, including numerous local deities who dwell throughout the subcontinent. He stipulates that just “upholding” or intoning these names along with the mantra formula that accompanies each grouping will hasten the deities to the service of saṅgha members administering to the pragmatic medical needs of their own and surrounding communities.

The Noble Queen of Incantations: The Great Amulet, Ārya­mahāprati­sarāvidyā­rājñī, English Translation, 2023

The Noble Queen of Incantations: The Great Amulet, one of five texts that constitute the Pañcarak... more The Noble Queen of Incantations: The Great Amulet, one of five texts that constitute the Pañcarakṣā scriptural collection, has been among the most popular texts used for pragmatic purposes throughout the Mahāyāna Buddhist world. As its title suggests, The Great Amulet prescribes the use of amulets into which the incantation is physically incorporated. These devices are then worn around the neck or arm, attached to flags, interred in stūpas and funeral pyres, or otherwise used anywhere their presence is deemed beneficial. Wearing or encountering the incantation promises a range of effects, including the prevention and healing of illness, the conception and birth of male offspring, and control over the world of nonhuman spirit entities. The text also protects against consequences of negative deeds, delivering evildoers from negative rebirths and ensuring their place among the gods. The promise of augmenting merit even extends in one passage to an increase of mindfulness and liberation from saṃsāra.

The Sūtra of Great Cool Grove, Mahāśītavanī­sūtra, English Translation, 2023

The Sūtra of Great Cool Grove, one of five texts that constitute the Pañcarakṣā scriptural collec... more The Sūtra of Great Cool Grove, one of five texts that constitute the Pañcarakṣā scriptural collection, has been among the most popular texts used for pragmatic purposes throughout the Mahāyāna Buddhist world. This sūtra promises protection for the Buddha’s “four communities”‍—monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen‍—against a range of illnesses and obstacles originating from the hosts of spirit entities who reside in remote wilderness retreats. The text centers specifically on threats of illness posed by the capricious spirit world of “nonhumans,” known collectively as grahas or bhūtas, who feed off the vitality, flesh, and blood of members of the Buddhist spiritual community engaging in spiritual practice at those remote hermitages. The sūtra is proclaimed by the Four Great Kings, each of whom reigns over a host of bhūtas, with the goal of quelling the hostile forces who assail those diligently practicing the Buddha’s teachings. Also included are ritual prescriptions for properly performing the sūtra and descriptions of the many benefits that ensue.

The Sūtra “Great Upholder of the Secret Mantra,” Mahā­mantrānudhāriṇī­sūtra, English Translation, 2016

Great Upholder of the Secret Mantra is one of five texts that together constitute the Pañcarakṣā ... more Great Upholder of the Secret Mantra is one of five texts that together constitute the Pañcarakṣā scriptural collection, popular for centuries as an important facet of Mahāyāna-Vajrayāna Buddhism’s traditional approach to personal and communal misfortunes of all kinds. It addresses a range of human ailments, as well as misfortunes such as robbery, natural disaster, and criminal punishment, thought to be brought on especially through the animosity of non-human spirit entities. The sūtra stipulates the invocation of these spirit entities, which it separates into hierarchically ordered groups and thus renders subordinate to the command of the Buddha and members of his saṅgha. The Buddha stipulates that just “upholding” or intoning their names and the mantra formula for each will quell the violent interventions of non-human entities and even hasten them to provide for the pragmatic needs of the saṅgha and its surrounding communities.