The Lords of the Northern Treasures: The Development of the Tibetan Institution of Rule by Successive Incarnations (original) (raw)
This dissertation is a case study that critically examines the development of one particular incarnation lineage, the Lords of the Northern Treasure Tradition. The analytical goal of the case study is to develop the foundations of a theoretical framework for the further analysis of the social institution of rule by successive incarnations, which is a ubiquitous form of institutional leadership in Tibet. As the 14th Dalai Lama advances in age, his status as an “incarnate lama” (sprul sku) will increasingly become more important as the world turns its attention to the subject of his succession. This popular interest is mirrored by an equal measure of academic attention in the form of a series of books, dissertations, and conferences that also examine the subject of serial incarnation. This investigation of the development of the incarnate Lords of the Northern Treasure Tradition (byang gter) is based upon a series of biographies and autobiographies of the early patriarchs of the tradition. This collective of charismatic leaders include: Nanam Dorjé Dujom (8th c.), Tropu Lotsawa (13th c.), Gödem Truchen (14th c.), Lekden Dorjé (16th c.), Ngakgi Wangpo (17th c.), and Pema Trinlé (17th c.). The resulting perspective offers insight into the transformation of a non-monastic Nyingmapa tradition into one of the most important Nyingmapa monasteries of the seventeenth century. This dissertation also examines the implicit shift in meaning of the term "tulku." I argue that this term that was originally used to describe the Buddha as a "magical emanation" of enlightenment, is best translated as "incarnation" or "steadfast incarnation" when used in the context of the tulku system to describe patriarchs that reliably return to human form.
Related papers
This dissertation is a case study that critically examines the development of one particular incarnation lineage, the Lords of the Northern Treasure Tradition. The analytical goal of the case study is to develop the foundations of a theoretical framework for the further analysis of the social institution of rule by successive incarnations, which is a ubiquitous form of institutional leadership in Tibet. As the 14 th Dalai Lama advances in age, his status as an "incarnate lama" (sprul sku) will increasingly become more important as the world turns its attention to the subject of his succession. This popular interest is mirrored by an equal measure of academic attention in the form of a series of books, dissertations, and conferences that also examine the subject of serial incarnation. This investigation of the development of the incarnate Lords of the Northern Treasure Tradition (byang gter) is based upon a series of biographies and autobiographies of the early patriarchs of the tradition. This collective of charismatic leaders include: Nanam Dorjé Dujom (8 th c.), Tropu Lotsawa (13 th c.), Gödem Truchen (14 th c.), Lekden Dorjé (16 th c.), Ngakgi Wangpo (17 th c.), and Pema Trinlé (17 th c.). The resulting perspective offers insight into the transformation of a non-monastic Nyingmapa tradition into one of the most important Nyingmapa monasteries of the seventeenth century. This dissertation also examines the implicit shift in meaning of the term "tulku." I argue that this term that was originally used to describe the Buddha as a "magical emanation" of enlightenment, is best translated as "incarnation" or "steadfast incarnation" when used in the context of the tulku system to describe patriarchs that reliably return to human form.
Reincarnation at Work: A Case Study of the Incarnation Lineage of Sum pa mkhan po
Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines, 2020
There were some shameless, deceitful, and cunning women who became pregnant and insisted to all directions like the wind that it was none other than a rebirth of the deceased lama in a false way, as I mentioned above. To this, even their husbands became confident. However, they gave birth to daughters eventually. 1
The Degraded Emperor: Theoretical Reflections on the Upstaging of a Bodhisattva King
Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines, 2019
Peter Schwieger (2000) has shown how Buddhism gradually became the dominant source of ethical values in Tibetan historiography by the 14th century. He states that Tibetan histories, which narrativise the remembered past, play a mythic role inasmuch as they confer constructed meaning on Tibetan culture, determine cultural self-interpretation to some extent and provide a source of normative claims concerning sociocultural interrelationships that hold true in the histories’ “present.” This article complements his analysis of the shift from a royal to a religious centre of society, by bringing theoretical insights from the field of narratology to bear on Tibetan historiography’s depiction of the emperors and their introduction of Buddhism to the Tibetan plateau. Investigating the Central Eurasian theme of exile and return to power in state formation mythology, as well as Indic narratives of renouncing the throne in favour of the spiritual life, helps to clarify the processes involved in the introduction of both of these important topoi into early Tibetan biographies. Understanding the divergences between the Central Eurasian and Indic heritage of these Tibetan tales then allows for a preliminary discussion of the changing relation between religious and royal figures in early Tibetan biographical narratives. Finally, grounding these changes in theoretical discussions of types of fiction, mythology and historiography uncovers some of the narrative mechanisms which enabled a shift from status based upon kinship, military endeavour and fealty to the emperor as the highest member of Tibet to religious status drawing on Indic social structures. It will be seen that such a shift opened up the possibility that a subject of the emperor (at least rhetorically) could outshine an instantiation of indigenous divine kingship—a Buddhist cleric superior to royalty.
A Post-Incarnate Usurper? Inheritance at the Dawn of Catenate Reincarnation in Tibet
2017
As a scion of the ancient Nyang clan and the first documented claimant to the reincarnation of emperor Tri Songdetsen (Khri Srong lde btsan, d. ca. 800), Nyangrel Nyima Öser (1124–92) was heir to orally transmitted lineages of tantric praxis as well as those treasures that were only recently recovered. As the end of his life approached, he explicitly entrusted the continuity of both legacies to his son, Namkhapel (Nam mkha’ dpal, d. 1235?), who subsequently passed them to his son, Ngadak Loden Sherab (Mnga’ bdag blo ldan shes rabs, thirteenth century) as had been done for generations of Nyang clan adepts. And yet despite this clear line of transmission, Guru Chöwang (Gu ru chos kyi dbang phyug, 1212–70) appears to have positioned himself as an heir to that inheritance. By declaring that he was none other than the reincarnation of Nyangrel himself, he challenged the singular authority of Nyangrel’s descendants and instigated what may be the earliest confrontation between patrilineal and reincarnate inheritance in Tibet. This article considers the ways in which Guru Chöwang constructed his claim through the remembrance of his and Nyangrel’s shared preincarnations, his displacement of Nyangrel in prophecies concerning the coming of an enlightened treasure revealer, and through devising a typology of tulku that reassured him of his rebirth as Nyangrel. In conclusion, I attempt to discern the effects of Guru Chöwang’s claim on the patrilineal inheritance of Nyang.
Loading Preview
Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.