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Translated from the German and Italian by GEOFFREY
SAMUEL
Routledge & Kegan Paul London and Henley
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First published as Die Religionen Tibets in Die Religionen Tibets und der Mongolei by Giuseppe Tucci and Walther Heissig © 1970 W, Kohlhammer GmbH, Stuttgart Berlin Köln Mainz This translationfirstpublished in 1980 by Routledge & Kegan Paul Lid '39 Store Street, London WC1E 7DD and Broadway House, Newtown Road, Henley-on-Thames, OxonRG91EN Set in 10 on llpt Baskerville and printed in Great Britain by Lowe & Brydone Printers Ltd, Thetford, Norfolk English translation © Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd 1980 No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, exceptfor the quotation of brief passages in criticism British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Tucci, Giuseppe The religions of Tibet, 1. Lamaism I. Title 294.3*923 BQ7604 ISBN 0 7100 02041
Printed in Great Britain
C O N T E N T S
Preface
'
Note on transcription and pronunciation 1
vii xii
The first diffusion of Buddhism in Tibet 1 The beginnings 2 Co-existence and conflict-among the various tendencies at the time of the first introduction of Buddhism into Tibet 3 ordination of monks, foundation of monasteries, donations to monasteries . 4 The Indian and Chinese currents
8 12
2
The second diffusion of Buddhism 1 The revival of Buddhism 2 Rin chenbzangpo and Atisa 3 The foundation of the great monasteries '
16 U> 20 26
3
General characteristics of Lamaism 1 Fundamentals' 2 The most important schools 3 The conflicts between the schools and their significance for the political history of Tibet. The office of Dalai Lama 4 The figure of the religious teacher \{bla ma)
29 29 33
4
^
The doctrines of the most important schools 1 Assumptions common to all schools . 2 The vehicle of the Mantra 3 Investiture and consecrations 4 The Tantric process of transcendence: mental-body, mû^û-body, body of transcendent consciousness 5 Sems and light
1 î 5
,'19 44 1-7 47 50 37 58 63
f> Suî>3û" •: iialir.in of the Jo nangpa school 7 Th^ ",• '"' /-•rry^.'i/>a school C 1 "an i '. i > • Yf-j ci s ce according to the tradition of the Bla >w ,iv>i : :)-d ' " 9 11 ic ij\ r'-">i itiapa school 10 r Hi e ti: < " • :7 ü a d i I ion f 1 Concli .**«,.•]!. The special nature of the Lamaist tcachtr- - of salvation Appox :i*: The process of transformation of Sems and ,-/>/,-£.5
6
7
Monkhood, monastery life, religious calendar and festivals 1 Orgwüi ^ ion of monastic community: hierarchy and office-. 2 Religion • calendar and festivals ?> Th e h c >. i fi t c. ' way of life • ^ The piv : c rty of the monastery and its administration
67 70 71 76 87 93 106 110 110 146 156 158
The folk ye- -ion î Gcneîrtf rharacteristics ^. M^n |-»< ; jo face with divine and demonic powers 3 l'ersoi)? ^'"oîcclion and protection of the house 4 The For1 ' :> Death h Thchvi.t v or suffirnen (offering of incense) / Lcokii},^ *nlo the future: investigating the favourable ÖL unfav :u.' able omens for an action il T he p i o • r c i io n of property and of flocks 9 Final CÛ: Triera lions .
163 163 171 187 190 193 199 202 204 205
The Bon religion
213
Chronological table
249
Notes
257
Bibliography 1 Tibetan sources 2 Books and articles
275 275
Index
280
PREFACE
At the beginning of 1958, when Dr C. M. Schröder asked me to write the volume on Tibetan religion for the collection edited by him, 'Die Religionen der Menschheit', which in its totality constitutes a remarkable body of material on the history of religion, I hesitated before I accepted. The writing of a book on the subject of Tibetan religion is not a task to be taken on light-heartedly. The main reason for this is that we still know little about Tibetan religion in comparison with other religions; the vast literature which it has produced, and which illuminates its history, is still far from having been made fullyaccessible or edited, and is in any case so enormous that a single human life is not enough to master it. In addition there is a deep division between monastic Lamaism and religion as it is lived by the people; the former, too, is fragmented into many schools, while the latter shows numerous variations from place to place. While I was writing it became progressively clearer to me that an account of Lamaism presupposed a presentation of its theoretical foundations; for these, as always in Buddhism, condition the actual religious experience, and give the individual schools their particular character. This however makes it necessary to refer continually to the theory of Indian Buddhism. On the other hand my task was precisely to uncover and ascertain what in Tibetan Buddhism had been created in the meeting between old forms of religious experience and new ideas and motives that was new and individual. A further difficulty, perhaps the greatest of all, has still to be mentioned; no agreement has yet been reached on the precise translation of the religious terminology, of the technical terms, that is, which are used in Tibetan religion and gnosis. One wavers between the two extremes of a comparatively literal rendition, as has mostly been used for Indian Buddhism (although there too there has been a similar lack of unanimity), and the recent fashion of adopting the vocabulary of the more modern philosophical schools of the West as a terminological basis for this area, which is so different in its nature. This latter procedure is certainly the more dangerous of the two, for it misrepresents or even vii
PREFACE falsifies Tibetan modes of thought. I became convinced of this when I showed Tibetans who knew English well certain translations which had recently appeared of particular works or of commentaries on the doctrines they contained. The Tibetan scholars found it difficult to make any sense of these translations, since Buddhist thought was expressed in them in a mode other than that in which they were used to understanding it. Besides this, many Tibetan concepts and doctrines refer to interior and mystical experiences, and their transposition into rational concepts and expressions is extremely problematic. The corresponding Tibetan words are symbols, which can evoke living experiences which the word as such can only suggest but not define. We are faced here with an extremely difficult, almost impossible task: to coin equivalent technical terms for experiences which take place within the spiritual realm, and which can radically modify our psychic and spiritual reality. I have tried to translate Tibetan expressions in such a way as to avoid both of the extremes mentioned above, those of over-literalness and of arbitrariness, and have struggled throughout to render the Tibetan termini technici with words of meaning close to that which the Tibetan masters appear to give to them. I am not sure that I have always succeeded, but I believe that I have done my best to make accessible to Western readers the complex speculative structure which constitutes the foundation of Tibetan religion. At the same time 1 recognize that in this field there are real limiting cases. To give an example: the word sems, a pillar of the Lamaist doctrinal edifice, is sometimes translated in English as 'mind', 'mind-stufF and so on; in the German edition of this book it was rendered as Geist.* All the same it is evident that the terms Geist and sems do not entirely coincide. The meaning of the term sems will only become clearer to the reader when he has attained an overview of the whole region of signification which this wrord has, after acquainting himself with the entire contents of the book. For this reason I have, to avoid misunderstanding, almost always retained the Tibetan form sems, so as to lead the reader gradually to connect the word with the corresponding concept or range of concepts. In the writing of this book I was able to call upon both my personal
* Some writers have used 'spirit' and related terms in English; thus W. Rahula renders the Sanskrit word citla (= Tib. sems) as esprit in his translation of the Abhidharmasamuccaya, and in T. C, Dhongthog's recent The New Light English-Tibe Dictionary the English word 'spirit' is translated by sems, (G.T.) 'Spirit' in English however (unlike Geist, and esprit and spirito, used in the French and Italian translations) nowadays refers almost exclusively to the transcendent and external, and I have generally felt it less confusing to use 'mind' and 'mental'. Wherever possible, however, the Tibetan form itself is used. (G.B.S.) viii
PREFACE experiences and a critical review which I had recently carried out of the literature, both that which was known and which was previously unfamiliar to me. The reader will find many of these texts in the bibliography at the end of the work, which however makes no claim to be comprehensive. I have only included those works which have become familiar to me through constant usage.. In the text references are given only where it has appeared necessary to indicate the sources and explanatory material concerned. Considering that my intention was to give in this work an overview of the Tibetan religious world, such indications had to be kept to a minimum, in other words primarily to isolated facts and references to sources. Taken all in all my presentation may serve as a summary of past researches, and at the same time as an anticipation of future, more conclusive studies; it is in short an attempt at a bringing to account of the results of an involvement with Tibetan Buddhism which has lasted many years. What is said above will scarcely seem surprising if it Is remembered that we have not yet succeeded in completing a comprehensive and convincing account of the Indian world of thought, and particularly of the religious conceptions of India, although today the sources are more easily accessible than in the past, and for many years now accounts of the individual philosophical and religious schools have constantly been appearing. I myself have attempted such a synthesis in my Storia dellafilosofia Indiana (Bari, 1957), although 1 did it more with the aim of clarifying my own ideas in this field than to present those of others. In my work I have been greatly aided by the counsel, always freely given, of Geshe (Lha rampa) Jampel Sanghie, a scholar initiated into all the doctrinal problems and details of the reformed school oïTsong kha pa and of its. offshoots, and also by the assistance of Professor Namkhai Norbu, formerly a sprul sku of Gönchen monastery, who is closely familiar with all the philosophical doctrines of the rNjing ma pa school, and also served as a pre-eminent source of information on the folk traditions. Both these two Tibetan religious scholars have lived in Rome for ten years as collaborators of the Istituto Italian© per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente (IsMEO). Professor Norbu teaches Tibetan language at the Istituto Universitario oriental in Naples. He is also responsible for the drawings which accompany the book, which were prepared in a form suitable for publication by Mr Fiorentini of IsMEO. I am deeply indebted to both gentlemen for this valuable co-operation. I owe much gratitude also to Dr Giovanna Vallauri Galluppi of Rome, who during my absence of a year (in connection with the archaeological excavations entrusted to me in the Orient) maintained contact with Dr C. M. Schröder, assisted me with valuable advice, IX
PREFACE and also helped untiringly with the correction of the proofs. r i hi<% English version includes certain modifications and additions ma- iC in the Italian translation. These include two summaries which cla> !iV the meditative stages of the two processes which are open to the nc.onhyir; (a) the gradual method of the Prajnaparamita, as systematical by Nagarjuna and his followers, and presented in the ANi:."f'.mGyaiamkara\ and (b) the method of the Tantra (rgyud) which ii?tpiviiiy starts off from the previous method, which forms an indispensable preliminary training, but is more corfiplex, in particular in f:.-::i; it proposes experiencing in this very life the concatenation of the