To place Bsod nams rin chen's manifold teachings in their proper context, it is helpful first to view them from the broader perspective of the traditions of monasticism and Tantrism practiced in Tibet during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. For, just as the hagiographies portray B sod nams rin chen as having gone back and forth between the monastic establish
ment of the Bka ' gdams pa order and the Tantric tradition of the yogi counter-culture, his extant teachings also form a medley of elements from both traditions.
After Buddhism in Tibet had gone through a period of decline in the late ninth and early tenth centuries, a new influx of Indian Buddhism began towards the end of the tenth century. The revival culminated during the eleventh century in the form of cooperation between numerous Indian teachers and Tibetan translators. The Tibetans were very fascina
ted with the Anuttarayogatantras, which were in vogue among Indian Buddhists at the time, and the Tibetans therefore emphasized the Tantric teachings of these texts.
There seem to have been two reasons for this. First, Tibetan translators had already translated the main Indian corpus of Buddhist Mahayana Siitras during the eighth and ninth centuries, and consequently the translators of the tenth and eleventh centuries were seeking new materials to translate and transmit to Tibet, which they especially found in the litera
ture of the Anuttarayogatantras. Secondly, the Tantric subculture of the Anuttarayoga
tantras had in the meantime entered a process of becoming integrated into mainstream Indian Buddhism, and the teachings of the Tantras were accordingly practiced and ex
pounded by the maj ority of the Indian masters whom the Tibetans encountered.
One of the most influential figures in this Tibetan epoch was the Indian master Atifa Diparpkarasr1jfiana (ca. 982- 1 054
)
, who came to Tibet in 1 042 and stayed there till his death in 1 054. Atifa exerted a major influence through his edifying activity, which was his attempt at bridging some of the internal contradictions within Indian Buddhism.At the time, North Indian Buddhism had developed two major trends that were difficult to reconcile. On the one hand, there was the tradition of Common Mahayana Buddhism, which was deeply anchored in the monastic culture. On the other hand, a new movement of Tantrism had emerged from the sixth and seventh centuries onwards, which had gradually become an increasingly dominant element in Indian Buddhism, given that the meditation techniques of the Tantras promised quick spiritual Awakening.
Chapter 4: The Manifold Sayings of Dags po -Background and Transmi�ion 1 57
The Mahayana Siitras had already begun to emerge in the first century CE at a time when Indian Buddhism was becoming institutionalized with a monastic establishment. In most of these scriptures, spiritual realization was taught to be very distant for the ordinary practitioner, because the attainment of Awakening was said to require three immeasurable aeons, which is an almost endless period.428 The high and noble but somewhat pessimistic ideal of the Si"itras was challenged in the sixth-seventh centuries, when India experienced a sort of spiritual optimism with the emergence of the Tantras, some of which promised Awakening to be attainable even within a single lifetime. The higher Tantras, however, do not seem to have arisen within the monastic establishment but were rather texts belonging to certain lay and yogi communities that formed an extrinsic subculture. Thus, the Tantras did not replace the Mahayana Siitras and commentaries, but the two trends continued to develop side by side.
Eventually, the Tantric subculture began to be absorbed into the monastic establishment, probably beginning with the less controversial, more ritualistic forms of Tantra. Thus, when the first wave of Buddhism was introduced into Tibet during the seventh to ninth centuries, a great number of Tantras were taught in Tibet, but it seems that the Tantric practitioners were laymen living in hermitages apart from the monks.429 During the tenth and eleventh centuries, however, even the most controversial forms of Tantra, such as the Anuttarayogatantras , began to become part of the monastic life, as is attested by the archaeological evidence of numerous Tantric images found at monastic sites during this period, e.g. , at the grand monastery Nalanda in Bihar. This integration was not unproble
matic. As many of the Tantras involved sexual techniques, they were fundamentally at odds with the chaste life of the monks.
The Tibetans imported both types of Indian Buddhism, but often felt a need to empha
size one type above the other. A number of Tibetan lay translators, such as 'Brog mi and Mar pa, focused solely on the Tantras, whereas a few ordained translators, e.g., Rin chen bzang po (95 8- 1 055), tried to combine the two. When the Indian monk Ati:Sa came to Tibet in the middle of the eleventh century, he initiated a shift in emphasis that came to have a strong bearing on subsequent Tibetan Buddhism.
Ati:Sa propagated monkhood to be the proper basis for Buddhism, the Mahayana bodhi
sattva ideal to be its core, and the practice of the Tantras to be just one possible method among many others. The movement initiated by Ati:Sa became known as the Bka ' gdams pa tradition. Since it consisted mainly of monks, it quickly established itself in institutional form with a number of key monasteries, such as Rwa sgreng dgon pa and Snar thang dgon pa. The other Tibetan traditions gradually adopted similar organizational structures and Tibetan Buddhism thus became institutionalized. SNELLGROVE ( 1 987:493) has character
ized this process as follows:
428 For details from the fourth-century Yogaciirabhiimi, see KRAGH (20 1 3 a:93 fn. 206 and p. 208).
429 The situation must have been similar in India at the time; cf. , e.g., the many prohibitions against monks practicing Tantra given in Indian Tantric treatises of this period quoted by Ati§a (D3948.289a4ff.).
1 5 8 Chapter 4: The Manifold Sayings of Dags p o -Background and Transmission
Thus it would seem that Atlfa and [his student] 'Brom-ston in founding the bKa'
gdams-pa Order were in effect the founders of the whole later Tibetan monastic tradition. Not only the Sa-skya-pa and the bKa'-brgyud-pa Orders, but also the Rnying-ma-pas and the Bon-pos inevitably followed suit, when from the fourteenth century onward they too began to establish some celibate religious communities.
As for the dGe-lugs-pas, they quite consciously modeled their new communities [in the fifteenth century] on those of the earlier bKa'-gdams-pas, thus claiming to restore a purer monastic way of life, which from their point of view had become muddied by the literal interpretation and the actual practice of many of the Tantric rituals imported from India.
Atifa was a grand master of the Common Mahayana and - in spite of being a monk -he was also very well-versed in the Tantras.430 In 1 042, he traveled from India to Tibet invitation of the Tibetan royal monk Byang chub 'od ( 1 1 th century), who belonged to the ruling family of Gu ge in Western Tibet. Atifa spent the next thirteen years in Tibet until his death in Central Tibet in 1 054.
The basis for Atifa's teachings is epitomized in his treatise "A Beacon for the Path to Awakening " (Bodhipathaprad!pa).431 He wrote this work at Mtho gling monastery in Gu ge shortly after arriving in Tibet at the request of Byang chub 'od in order to counter what the latter considered improper Tantric practices and instead to elucidate the proper Mahayana path.432 The treatise is devoted to explaining the stages of Buddhist practice (lam rim), laying a strong emphasis on monkhood and the gradual teachings of the Common Maha
yana. In particular, it stresses the Mahayana contemplative practices of tranquility (§ama
tha, zhi gnas) and insight (vipa§yana, lhag mthong) meditation in accordance with the philosophical doctrine of the Indian Madhyamaka tradition. In the final verses of the text, Atifa laid down his view on Tantric practice:
The Secret and Insight-[Knowledge] Empowerments Should not be taken by religious celibates,
Because that is emphatically forbidden In The Great Tantra of the Primal Buddha.
If those empowerments were taken by someone living In the austerity of celibacy,
It would violate his vow of austerity,
Because he would have performed something forbidden.
43° For a detailed analysis of Atifa and his life, see EIMER ( 1 979) .
43 1 Tibetan title Byang chub lam gyi sgron me (Q5343/D3947). For the Tibetan editions and a German translation, see EIMER ( 1 97 8 ) ; for an English translation, see S HERBURNE ( 1 983 ; 2000) .
432 See CHATTOPADHYAYA ( 1 967 :287), EIMER ( 1 978 :7- 1 0), and SHERBURNE ( 1 983 :xii). On Byang chub 'od's opposition to Tantric sexual practices and ritual killing, see WANGCHUK (2002).
Chapter 4 : The Sayings Dags po B ackground and Transmission
It would cause transgressions That defeat an ascetic;
And there would never be [any] accomplishment, Since he would definitely fall into bad rebirths.
Those who have received the Master empowerment And those who see reality incur no fault
In hearing and explaining all the Tantras, Making fire-rituals, offerings, and so forth.433
1 59
expression "religious celibate" (tshangs par spyod pa, *brahmaciirin) refers to monks nuns. The Secret Empowerment (gsang ba 'i dbang, *guhyiibhi:jeka) and the Insight
Knowledge Empowerment (shes rab ye shes kyi dbang, '1-prajfiiijfiiinabhi:jeka) are the second and third empowerments of the Anuttarayogatantras and are in the Tantric deity
associated with the meditations of the Completion Stage (rdzogs rim, *sm,npanna
Thus, Atifa was very explicit in saying that Buddhist monks and nuns are prohibited taking the second and third empowerments and - in extension thereof - to engage in associated yogas, because these rituals involve practices that violate the monastic vow chastity. The yogas to which Atifa hints are the practices involving a so-called
"knowledge seal" (jfianamudrii), i.e., an imaginary female partner for sexual practices performed in conjunction with the Secret Empowerment, and a so-called "action seal"
(karmamudrii), i.e., a real female partner for sexual practices associated with the Insight
Knowledge Empowerment. Since these meditations of the Anuttarayogatantras aim at approaching spiritual Awakening through the experience of the arousal and bliss of sexual intercourse and orgasm, Atifa considered them completely unsuitable for monks and nuns who have vowed to remain celibate.
The last verse of the quoted passage explains which Tantric practices certain qualified monks and nuns are permitted to perform. It is stated that celibates are allowed to study and teach all the Tantras, and are also allowed to perform fire-rituals, make offerings, and the like. For men and women of the cloth, Atifa thus limited Tantric practice to intellectual study and the performance of some of its purely ritual parts.
Atifa, moreover, prescribed that an ordained individual who aspires to engage in these limited Tantric practices must possess two qualifications. The first qualification is that the monk or nun should have received the "Master Empowerment, " i.e., the so-called Vajra 433 The present translation is partly based on SHERBURNE's English translation ( 1 983 : 1 2) . For another translation, see EIMER ( 1 978 : 1 38- 1 39). Bodhipathapradfpa (Byang chub lam gyi sgron me, D3947.240br24 l a2) : dang po 'i sangs rgyas rgyud chen las/ /rah tu 'bad pas bkag pa 'i phyir! !gsang shes rah dbang bskur nil ltshangs par spyod pas blang mi bya! /gal te dbang bskur de 'dzin na!
ltshangs spyod dka ' thub la gnas pas/ /bkag pa spyad par gyur pa 'i phyir/ /dka' thub sdom pa de nyams tel lbrtul zhugs can de pham pa yi! /!tung ha dag ni 'byung 'gyur zhing/ Ide ni ngan song nges
!tung bas! /grub pa nam yang yod ma yin/ /rgyud kun nyan dang 'chad pa dang/ /sbyin sreg mchod sbyin sags byed pal /slob dpon dbang bskur myed 'gyur zhing! Ide nyid rig la nyes pa med/.
Chapter 4: The Manifold Sayings of Dags po -B ackground and Transmission
Master Empowerment (rdo rje slob dpon gyi dbang, *vajracaryabhi�eka). In the initiatory system of the Anuttarayogatantras, this empowerment constitutes the final stage of Vase Empowerment (bum pa 'i dbang, *kalasabhi�eka). The Vase Empowerment is the first of the four overall empowerments of the Anuttarayogatantras and it precedes the Secret Empowerment and the Insight-Knowledge Empowerment. 434 In other words, the qualification is that the monk or nun must have received the complete Vase Empowerment up to and including its final step called the Vajra Master Empowerment. As pointed out the auto-commentary to this verse of Atifa's text,435 this prescription means that the may receive the Vase Empowerment and practice the above-mentioned outer rituals, only pertain to the Generation Stage (bskyed rim, *utpattikrama) of Tantric deity practice, but the ordained practitioner must avoid receiving and practicing the controversial and third empowerments belonging to the Completion Stage of the practice.
The second qualification that a monk or nun ought to possess in order to engage in above-mentioned ritual aspects of Tantric practice is that he or she sees or knows reality
(de
nyid rig, *tattvavid) . According to the auto-commentary,436 this phrase means that he or she, as a minimum, must have achieved a firsthand meditative experience of emptiness, in the Buddhist structure of the path is said to occur on the third stage called "Endurance"(bzad pa, k�anti) of the Path of Integration (sbyor lam, prayogamarga). In other words, the monk or nun has achieved an advanced stage of meditation practice by relying on techniques of Tranquility and Insight as taught in the Common Mahayana, no fault will incurred if s/he performs the ritual aspects of the Generation Stage of Tantric practice.
There is, however, a slight unclarity in the Tibetan version437 of the final verse quoted above, because - with a bit of stretched interpretation - the Tibetan text also could be read in the following manner:
In hearing and explaining all the Tantras, Making fire-rituals , offerings, and so forth,
Those who have received the Master empowerment [incur no fault] , While those who see reality incur no fault [whatsoever ] .438
434 The four overall empowerments are generally enumerated as the Vase Empowerment (bum pa 'i dbang, kalasiibhi�eka), the Secret Empowerment (gsang ba 'i dbang, guhyabhi�eka), the Insight
Knowledge Empowerment (shes rab ye shes kyi dbang, prajiiajiiiinabhi�eka), and the Word Empo
werment (tshig gi dbang, ak�arabhiseka).
435 See SHERBURNE ( 1 983 : 1 77- 1 79) . The auto-commentary, entitled *Bodhimargapradlpapaiijikii (Byang chub lam gyi sgron me 'i dka ' 'grel, Q5344/D3948), may or may not be an authentic work Atifa (EIMER, 1 97 8 :46, fn. 2), but is in any case a very early commentary. In favor of the text being an authentic work by Atifa, it may be noted that the text speaks of Ati fa's guru Bhik�u *Pain�apatika of Java (Dge slang B sod snyoms pa Ya ba dwi pa) as "my teacher" (bdag gi bla ma), using the first
person pronoun; see D3948 .289b 1-2.
436 See SHERBURNE (ibid.).
437 The original Sanskrit versions of the text and the auto-commentary are not extant.
Chapter 4: The Manifold Sayings of Dags po -B ackground and Transmi'),Sion 1 6 1
Hence, from the Tibetan version of the verse, i t i s not entirely clear whether someone who experienced emptiness would incur a fault even in the case that he or she were to engage in the higher Tantric practices of the second and third empowerments, or whether such an advanced practitioner would still remain limited to perform only the practices of the first empowerment. The auto-commentary does not clarify this point and is therefore of little help in this regard. Since the argument used here might suggest that someone who has experienced emptiness never incurs faults in any case, it seems to follow that such an advanced individual may be allowed to perform any Tantric practice, if he or she should wish to do so. The manner in which ordained monks and nuns may or may not be permitted
to engage in higher Tantric practices of sexual nature remains to this day a grey area, which has not been researched in detail by modem scholarship.
In any case, for the common practitioner Atifa's prohibition must have set a forceful limitation to more advanced Tantric practices. This, in turn, put the Bka ' gdams pas in square opposition to the lay Tiintrikas of the other schools of Tibetan Buddhism, such as the teachers Mar pa, Mi la ras pa, and Ras chung pa of the Bka ' brgyud tradition. While it still remains uncertain how and to which extent the Bka ' gdams pas truly followed Atifa's rule on the ground, there can be no doubt that Bka ' gdams pa monks maintained certain restrictions on Tantric practice.
The fifteenth-century religious history, The Blue Annals, illustrated this point with the following narrative derived from the later Sgam po pa hagiographical tradition, telling a story about an exchange that the monk Bsod nams rin chen is supposed to have had with his non-monastic teacher, the yogf Mi la ras pa, when they first met in 1 1 09:
[Bsod nams rin chen] requested: "Please, give me the profound instructions " , [to which Mi la ras pa] responded, "Have you received empowerment?" [Bsod nams rin chen] answered: "I have received many empowerments, such as the Six Jewel Ornaments (rin chen rgyan drug), Cakrasamvara, and others, from Mar yul Blo ldan [shes rab] . I have also listened to many expositions of the Bka ' gdams instructions in Central Tibet in the north. And I have stayed in samadhi for thirteen consecutive days . " [Mi la ras pa] emitted a loud laugh "Ha, ha ! " and said: "The samadhi of the gods of the form and formless realms, who are able to meditate throughout an entire aeon, is better than your samadhi, but it is of no benefit to
438 A somewhat similar interpretation is given by SHERBURNE (2000: 1 9), although his translation incorrectly suggests taking the present tense finite verb myed 'gyur as a gerund meaning "having acquired" , namely: "Having acquired the Preceptor-Initiation, he may listen to all tantras and explain them; perform fire-offering, gift-worship, and the like: there is no wrong in wisdom about reality. "
E!MER's ( 1 97 8 : 1 39) translation, which outright ignores that the Tibetan phrase de nyid ( *tattva) follows after the coordinating verbal conjunction zhing, differs slightly therefrom but amounts to the same meaning: "Wenn einer, der alle Tantras studiert und predigt, Feueropfer [und] Opferdarbring
ungen und ahnliches vollzieht, die "Lehrer"-Weihe erhalt, so ist eben dies passend, und es liegt kein Pehler darin. " English Translation: "If someone, who studies and preaches all the Tantras, performs fire-rituals , makes offerings , and the like, obtains the 'teacher'-initiation, then that is suitable just so and there is no error therein. "
1 62 Chapter 4: The Manifold Sayings of Dags po -B ackground and Transmission
Awakening. It is similar to sand that will never become oil when pounded. The Bka ' gdams pas have explanations (gdams ngag, *avaviida) but they have no instructions (man ngag, *upadefa). Since a demon penetrated the heart of Tibet, Atifa was not allowed to explain the secret Mantrayiina. If he would have been allowed to do so, Tibet would by now have been filled with siddhas ! The Bka ' gdams pa's Generation Stage consists only of lone male deities and their Comple
tion Stage is merely a dissolving of the world and its inhabitants into radiance.
Now you should meditate on my Inner Heat of the A-stroke (gtum mo a thung). "439
This is generally how Tibetan texts of later centuries, probably somewhat anachronistically, viewed the supposed twelfth-century tension between Bka ' gdams pa monks and lay yogfs, as here exemplified in the meeting between Bsod nams rin chen and Mi la ras pa.440
The struggle to reconcile Tantra with the Common Mahayana in general and with monasticism in particular was widespread in the period leading up to B sod nams rin chen, and Atifa's restrictive approach was by no means the only opinion on this crucial matter.
The struggle to reconcile Tantra with the Common Mahayana in general and with monasticism in particular was widespread in the period leading up to B sod nams rin chen, and Atifa's restrictive approach was by no means the only opinion on this crucial matter.