Tibetological Remark s on an I tem in a Recent Asian Art Ca talog

A Bronze Portrait Image of Lo-ras-pa's Disciple

Dan Martin
J eru s a l em Ap ri l 6 , 20 0 6

The pur pose of this brief communication is to add some new information, based on my own research in Tibetan- language literary sources, to the description of an artwork published in a recent art museum ca talog:
Pra tapa d i t ya Pal , A rt f ro m t he Hi m al a y as & C hi n a ( Asi a n A rt at th e No rt on Si m on M us e u m, V ol u me 2) , Ya le U ni ve rs i t y Pre s s i n as soc ia t ion w i th Th e No rt on S i mo n Ar t Fo un da t ion ( N ew H a ven an d Lo n don 2 00 3 ). I SB N 0 3 00 0 9 92 6 6.

Not every prod uct of a search into the Tibetan literary sourc es will be of equal interest to the general museum- going public or deserve to figure prominently in museum label s and catalogs. Still, kn owledge ha s consequences even for viewers with the most strictly aesthetic interests. However striking the museum piece, we still want to know how, when, where, why and by whom it was ma de (i n a word, 'provenance') , j ust a s we want to know more a bout the subjec t portrayed. Bea uty and kn owledge dance together , sometimes uncomforta bly and awkwardly, but in the end both pr evail, perha ps gaining somewha t in the process. Not to push the analogy too far, we might also admi t that a lack of knowledge may at times enhance the sense of the beautif ul, since sometimes with art objects, as with dance partner s, a bit of enigma may form part of the attraction . Of course, it may be ra ther tedious to r ead about art without being able to see it, so I recommend getting a copy of this marvelously illustrated book righ t away. If the book i s not available in loc al book stor es or libraries, one may do the second best thing and view the objec t at its official website: www.nor tonsimon. org (and once there, use their search facility to look for "Jamyang Gonpo") . Of cour se those who live in the Pasadena area ought to be a ble to visit the i mage in per son. In the published catalog, a small bronze image is labeled as "La ma Jamyang Gonpo (?)" ( pa ge 150 and color illustra tion no. 101) . The illustration of the image bears a legible inscription (which is correctly transcribed in the accompanying description) : pha 'jam dbyangs mgon po la na mo . 1 The question mark following the identificati on is justified in the text with the following word s: "Despite the inscri ption, however , the monk remains to be identified. Very likely he belonged to the Sakya order for the style of the figure and design of the robes are more common for la mas of that order ."

A rather thorough search through the resourc es available to me turned up only one historical persona ge known by the name 'Jam-dbyangs- mgon-po, and He is a disci ple of L o-ras- pa . The fuller name of Lo-ra s-pa is Rgyal-ba Lo-ras-pa Dbang- phyug-br tson-'gr us, and His dates ar e 1187 to 1250 CE . Loras-pa initiated the special transmission of the Drukpa Kagy upa ('Br ug- pa Bka'-br gyud- pa) school known as the 'Lower Drukpa' (Smad 'Br ug) . 2 'Jamdbyangs- mgon-po wa s born in 1208, 3 and although we know He lived well beyond the age of 43, we d o not know the date of His dea th. It may be that He died d uring His visi t to Wu- t'ai Shan, the holy moun tain in China presided over by the Bodhisa ttva Maj u r . His name 'Jam-d byangs- mgonpo was r eceived rather late in life. The name is explained in the following way. He supervised a ritual performance intended to avert an a ttack by the Mongol army , and afterward people said that He was so wi se that He must be none other than the Bodhisattva of wisdom and eloq uence, Maj u r Himself (the 'Jam-d byangs element in His name actually translates Majugho a , yet another name of Maj u r , while mgon-po means 'lord' or in Sanskrit n tha ). Apart from Hi s impr essive studies of the Indic stra literatur e (in Tibetan translation of course), He received a l arge variety of the most esoteric Vajray na tran smissions tha t wer e available in the Tibet of His day . Most significantly for posterity , He wa s the carrier of a special tran smission called the Five Capa bilities ( Thu b-pa Lnga , or in short for m Thu b Lnga ) . This esoteric teaching was the main one that set the Lower Drukpa lineage apart from other s. 4 Lo-ra s-pa expanded somewhat on the words of His teacher Gtsan g-pa Rgya-ras- pa to create the 'root text' of this teaching. These Five Capabilities are: 1. Being ca pable of [facing] d eath: Mah mudr ( Phyag-rgyachen-po 'chi thub ) . 2. Being ca pa ble of the cotton cloth: psychic heat ( Gtum-mo ras thub ) . 3. Being c apa ble of the tantric activities d one in secl usion ( Gsang-spyod-kyi ri thu b ) 4. Being capable of [facing] the disturbances by 'don spirits: sickness ( Nad 'don-gyi 'khrug thub ) . 5. Being ca pa ble of [facing] circumsta nces: counter measures [or 'antidotes'] ( Gnyen-po rkyen thub-pa ). All these secret teachings are Completion Stage pr actices ( rdzogs rim ). They are secr et beca use they should n ot be studied by persons wh o are not directly involved in their prac tice. It isn't so much that it is for bidden a s that it would serve no practical purpose except to lead to misunder standing. Generally speaking, Completion Stage practices req uire first completing the Generation Stage ( bskyed rim ) and its very complex and demanding meditation s utilizing mantra repetitions and visualizations. Today 'Jam-d byangs-mgon-po ough t to be remembered n ot only as the main bearer of the L ower Dr ukpa lineage, but also as a figure in a number of 'Cutting' (Gcod) lineages tha t came down from Ma-gcig Lab-sgron, Tibet' s most famous woman saint. His known surviving works belong to the

Cutting lineage 5 and not to the Lower Drukpa . 6 Although certainly a monk, a scholar and a contempla tive who spent many years of His life in secl usion, He had a ra ther unusual inter est in worl dly subjects, as may be known from the titles of work s of His that, unfor tuna tely for science, have probably not survived. In addition to works corresponding to the typical Indic stra genres on judging humans and horses, on medicinals and astro-sciences He is said to have written something about making Chinese stoves (Rgya thab ). Not much is known about His life apart from the rather shor t biographies found in the Blue Annals and in Padma-dkar-po' s history. 7 Still, there are indications of the one-time existence of a separately titled autobiogra phy. 8 If this ever becomes available, it may be possible to achieve a fuller certainty on the identity of the person behind this portrait bronze, perha ps even better und erstand His iconogra phy. Meanwhile, since there is n o other candidate worthy of consideration, we may feel quite sure tha t the congenial Lama portrayed in this small statue is none other than the L ower Drukpa and Cutting ma ster of the 13th century. He was probably not a Sakyapa . 9

Bibliographic Key:
N o te : W o rk s wi th co m p le te c ita tio n s in th e n o t e s a re n o t re p ea te d h e re .

Appey , Dkar-chag Khenpo Appey (= Mkh an-po A-pad Yon-tan-bzang-po) , et al. , Dkar-chag Mthon g-bas Y id-'phrog Chos-mdzod Dbye-ba'i Lde-mig: A Bibliography of Sa-skya-pa Literature (= Sa-lugs Gsung-rab Dkar-chag Rag-bsdus ) , Nga wang Topgyal (New Delhi 1987). Bsod-nams-d on-gr ub, Bod-kyi Lo-rgyu s Bsod-na ms-don- grub, Bod-kyi Lorgyus Dpe-tho , Bod-ljon gs Mi-dmangs D pe- skrun-khang (Lhasa 2000). Dalai Lama V, Gsan-yig Dalai Lama V Nga g-dbang- blo-bzan g-rgya- mtsho (1617-1682) , Thob-yig Gangga'i Chu-rgyun , Nech ung & Lhakhar (Delhi 19701971), in four volumes. Dung-dkar's dictionary Mkhas-dbang Dung-dkar Blo-bzang-'phrin-las Mchoggis Mdzad-pa'i Bod Rig-pa'i Tsh ig-mdzod Ch en-mo Shes-bya Rab- gsal , Kr ung-go'i Bod Rig-pa Dpe- skr un-khang ( Beijing 2002). Essen and Thingo, Gtter Gerd-Wolfgan g Essen and Tsering Tashi Thingo, Die Gtter des Himalaya: Buddhistische Kunst Tibe ts, Die Sammlung GerdWolfgang Essen , Prestel- Verlag (Munich 1989) . Gangs-can Mkhas-gru b Ko-zh ul Grags- pa-'byun g-gna s and Rgyal-ba- blobzang- mkhas- grub, Gangs-can Mkhas-gru b Rim-by on Min g-mdzod , Kan-su'u Mirigs Dpe-skr un-khang (Lanzhou 1992). 'Gos Lo-ts - ba's history 'Gos Lo-ts -ba Gzhon-nu-dpal, The Blue Annals , George N. Roerich, et al., trs., Motilal Ban arsidass (Delhi 1949/1979). Grags-can Mi-sna Don-rdor and Bstan-'dzin-chos-grags, Gangs-ljon gs Lorgyus Thog-gi Grags-can M i-sna , Bod-ljongs Mi-dmangs D pe-skr un-khang (Lhasa 1993) .

Lo-ras-pa, Works Smad 'Brug Bstan-pa'i Mnga'-bdag Rgyal-ba Lo-ras-pa Gragspa-dbang-phyug Mchog-gi Gsung-' bum Rin- po-che , Venera ble Khen po Shed up Tenzin & Lama Thinley Namgyal, Shri Gautam Bud dha Vihar, Manjushri Bazar (Ka thmand u, Nepal 2002) , in 5 volumes. Martin, Gling-ra s-pa Dan Martin, Glin g-ras- pa and the Founding of the 'Brug- pa School, The Tibet Socie ty Bulletin , vol. 13 ( June 1979) , pp. 56- 69. Padma-dkar- po, Gsan-yig 'Brug-chen IV Padma-dkar-po (1527 1592), Bka'brgyud-kyi Bka'-'bu m Gsil-bu-rnams-kyi Gsa n-yig , c ontained in: Collected Works (Gsung-' bum) of Kun-mkhyen Padma-dkar-po , Kar gyud S ungra b Nyamso Khang (Darjeeling 1973- 76) , vol. 4, pp. 309- 496. Padma-dkar- po' s history Tibe tan Chronicle of Padma-dkar-po , ed. by Lokesh Chandra, with a foreword by E. Gene Smith, International Academy of Indian Culture ( New Delhi 1968) . Smith, Among Tibetan Texts E . Gene Smith, Among Tibetan Texts: History & Literature of the Himalayan Plateau , edited by Kurtis R. Schaeffer, Wisdom Publications ( Boston 2001) .

Notes:
The word na mo is slightly incorrec t Sanskrit for n mo , 'name' (less literally, and in this context, it mean s 'praise be [to]'), although in proper Sanskrit it would occ ur at the beginning, and not as here at the end of the expression . The syllable pha prefacing the name is simply an ordinary word for 'father' (it is considered bad form in Tibetan to pronounc e or write th e proper name of a holy person without a respectf ul pr eface of one kind or another).
1

In my youth, I published a brief paper on the Dr ukpa school (Mar tin, Gling-ras-pa) , which is not especial ly recommended and moreover undoubtedly difficult to loca te. My conc lusion was that the Dr ukpa ('Br ugpa) school was in fact founded by Gling-ras- pa, and not by His disci ple Gtsan g-pa Rgya-ras- pa . The various smaller transmission s of the Druk pa school are q uite difficult to trac e, and little has been wri tten on them in English apart from the brief outline in Smith, Among Tibetan Texts , pp. 4445. One section of 'Gos Lo-ts - ba's history (pp. 672-680) is d evoted to the Lower Druk pa , but in fact it contains nothing except the biogra phies of Loras-pa and His disci ple 'Jam-d byangs-mgon-po. At present, I know of no collection of biographies (no gser-'phreng ) of Lower Drukpa lineage holders. The Tibetan Buddhist Resourc e Center data base (accessed February 10, 2006) dates His birth one 12-year cycle earlier, in 1196 CE. At the moment I have no way of d eciding which date is correct.
3

The 'upper' transmission of the Drukpa school, the Upper Druk pa (Stod 'Brug) , had in place of the Five Capa bilities something known a s the Ei ght Great Guidances (Khrid-chen Brgyad) . Its root text wa s composed by Rgodtshang- pa Mgon- po-rd o-rje ( 1189-1258 CE). Generally 'upper' in Tibet means the western highlands of the pla teau, while 'lower' means the lower lands to the east of Central Tibet. In any case it is impor tant to stress that

the words 'higher' and 'lower' in the lineage names have nothing at all to do with one teaching being ranked a bove the other .
5

These Cutting work s are to be found i n Gcod Tshogs-kyi Lag-len sogs ["a collection of Gcod texts r epresenting the ancient practices of the a depts of the tradition, r epr oduc ed directly from a rare manuscript c ollection from Limi, Nepal "], D . Tsondu S enghe ( Bir 1985). The two titles found here are: [ Zab Don Thu gs-kyi Snyin g-po ] Bsdu s-don , on pp. 101- 103, and Spyi 'Khrid Chenmo , on pp. 105- 197 ( these same texts may be found in the Gdams-n gag Mdzod as well). Both texts supply the name of the a uth or in the Sanskritic form Manydzu- gho-sha-na-tha (i.e. Majugho an tha). I have located, but n ot yet inspec ted , another of His Cutting works in the c ollection of Tibetan book s kept in the Oriental Institute in St. Petersburg. It bears the title Dgongs-bskyod-ma , and the library n umber B6646/6. It i s a brief text, in five wood block printed folios. Pa dma-dkar- po, in His Gsan-yig , p. 464, confirms that the Lower Dr ukpa master and the Cutting teacher are one and the sa me person, in case any doubts r emain in our minds.
6

According to the Li brary of Congr ess rec ords, both He and His teacher Loras-pa cooperated in writing some or all of the three texts con tained in: Dam-chos Thu b-pa Lnga'i Sngon-' gro S kor , Topd en Tshering, Tibetan Bonpo Monastic Centre (Dolanji 1976) . All the works contained in this v olume are also to be found in Lo-ras-pa, Works , vol. 2, pp. 373-554; vol. 3, pp. 1- 616. In neither publication are ther e clear authorship c olophon s, with one single exception, which says it was composed by Lo-ras- pa. Indeed, Pa dma-dk arpo ( Gsan-yig , p. 420) seems to attri bute the main collected teachings of the Five Capabilities to Lo-ras- pa alone ( Bka'-tshoms-rnams Lo-ras-kyis mdzad-pa ), but He does attribute to 'Jam-d byangs- mgon-po some works on preliminary practices ( Sngon-'gro Chen-po Khrid Lnga / Byin-rlabs sogs Mkhas-pa 'Jamdbyangs-mgon-pos rgyas-su mdzad-pa ).
7

'Gos Lo- ts - ba's history, pp. 676- 680, and Padma-dk ar-po' s history , pp. 587- 588. The latter, although extremely brief, at lea st lists for us the titles of a few of His Cutting work s: Gcod-yul Zab-don Thugs-snying and Thabs-lam Rdo-rje Tsh ig-'byed . Most bi ogra phical reference work s simply extrac t their information from the Blue Annals account; see D ung-dkar's dictionary , p. 884; Gangs- can Mkhas-gru b , pp. 634- 636; Gr ags-can Mi- sna , pp. 301-303.
8

Nothing a part from the title is known: 'Jam-dbyangs-mgon-po'i Phyi Nang Gsang Gsum-gy i Rang-rnam . It i s listed in Bsod-nams-d on-gr ub , Bod-kyi Lorgyus , p. 168, no. 0836 ( this book does of ten list ti tles of works known only from the bibliogra phical literature, so th ere is no proof here tha t the book is presently available for inspection). One might think that this could concern a different 'Jam-d byangs- mgon-po than our Lower Drukpa master. However , Padma- dkar-po, in His Gsa n-yig , p. 450, c onfirms that an autobiography of the Lower Druk pa ma ster 'Jam-dbyan gs-mgon- po did exist (" Smad 'Brug-gi mkhas-pa 'Jam-dbyangs-mgon-po'i Rnam-thar nyid-kyis mdzadpar ...").
9

Without the help of a di gital text done under the spon sorship of Carola Roloff (Hamburg) , it would have been nigh impossible to locate a passage in Dalai Lama V, Gsan-yig (vol. 1, folios 287- 292). Her e one named 'Jamdbyangs- mgon-po is credi ted with writi ng an ancillary text to par ticular

teachings associated with the Dmar-po Skor Gsum ('Three Cycles of the Red [ c rya]'), one of the Gser Chos ('Golden Teachings') associated with the Sakyapa (S a-skya) school . The particul ar teachings are on K ag-chod [or Bkag-'chod] 'Dod-pa'i-rgyal-po; in Sanskrit, akkir ja. F or a remarka ble painting of this rather rarely depicted deity, who is no doubt a Vajray na transformation of the god of desire K ma , see Essen and Tingo, Gtter , plate 100 on p. 162. This would seem to raise the possi bility that there was a 'Jam-dbyangs-mgon- po belon ging to the Sakyapa, di stinct from our Lower Drukpa master. Still, He is menti oned here only as author of an ancillary text (and moreover one that was not par t of the 'common' [ thun-mong ] pool of teachings on the subjec t), and is not l isted amon g the lineage holders. I believe He is none other than our Lower Drukpa ma ster , who could have received the teachings related to this same deity via His Bka'- brgy ud-pa predec essor Pha g-mo- gru- pa , whose con nections with the Sa kyapa ar e well known (the Fifth Dalai Lama indeed mentions Phag-mo-gr u- pa a few times in connection with these very teachings; see also A ppey, Dkar- chag, p. 419, where both Phag-mo-gr u-pa and 'Ja m-dbyangs- mgon- po are mentioned in the context of a bibliogra phy of the a kkir ja teachings) . The Fifth Dalai Lama, due to political problems with th e emer ging state of Bhutan (' Brug Yul), wa s opposed to the Druk pa school in general, which is why Drukpa teachings ar e very seldom mentioned i n this work on the teachings He received. S till, 'Jam-d byangs-mgon-po is mentioned el sewher e in His Gsanyig (vol. 2, folios 85- 86) as a uthor of wor ks on Cutting, and as a member of Cutting lineages. Note 'Jam-dbyangs- mgon- po's presence in a lineage listing for yet another teaching that d escended from the Red c rya a t vol . 2, folio 225, as well a s the brief mention of the Lower Drukpa school a t vol. 2, folio 151. Some of the earliest teachers of the Sakyapa tra dition composed wor ks rela ted to akkir ja . Cl early more research could result in great clarity, which is the reason I hesitate to r ush to any conclusion of one-hundred- percent c ertainty.