The Teachings of Padmasambhava 9004105425, 9789004105423

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THE TEACHINGS OF PADMASAMBHAVA

BRILL'S

INDOLOGICAL LIBRARY EDITED BY

]OHANNESBRONKHORST IN CO-OPERATION WITH

RICHARD GOMBRICH • OSKAR VON HINUBER KATSUMI MIMAKI • ARVIND SHARMA VOLUME 12

THE TEACHINGS OF PADMASAMBHAVA BY

HERBERT GUENTHER

E].BRILL LEIDEN . NEW YORK' KOLN . 1996

The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Guenther, Herbert V. The teachings of Padmasambhava / Herbert Guenther. p. cm. - (Brill's Indologicallibrary; v. 12) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 9004105425 (cloth: alk. paper) I. Padma Sambhava, ca. 717-ca. 762. I. Title. ll. Series. BQ7950.P327G84 1996 294.3'923'092-dc20 96-18308 CIP

ISSN 0925-2916 ISBN 90 04 10542 5 © Copyright 1996 by EJ.

Bril~

Lei.den, The Netherlands

All rights reserved. No part qf this publication ml!1' be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval ~stem, or transmitted in a1!Jl Jorm or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission .from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items Jor internal or personal use is granted by EJ. Brill provided that the appropriate fees are paid directfy to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910 Danvers AM 01923, USA. Fees are sullject to change. PRINTED IN THE NETHERlANDS

To Edith and Michael in gratitude

CONTENTS Preface .................................................................................. ::........... ix Introduction ....................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: A tripartite cosmos ........................................................ 39 Chapter 2: Into the world-Transcending the world Introductory remarks ................................................................. 72 A. The Locale ............................................................................ 92 B. The Mission ......................................................................... 103 C. The Experiencing ................................................................ 112 Chapter 3: Symbols (brda'): the luminous language of BeingSimiles (dpe): interpretive pointers to Being Introductory remarks ............................................................... A. The moral imperative: wholeness personified (bla-ma) ..... B. The mystery spell (gsang-sngags) and its articulation, the symbol (brda r) •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• C. Encountering (ngo-sprod) our existential reality or the mystery-that-we-are ...................................................... D. Similes/illustrative instances (dpe) .....................................

127 132 144 158 171

Epilogue ........................................................................................ 203 Bibliography ................................................................................. 219 Subject Index ................................................................................ 223 Index of Technical Terms and Phrases Specific to the rNyingma Tradition .................................... 227

PREFACE Although in the Indo-Tibetan cultural area and among those who study it the name Padmasambhava has become a household word, little is known about this enigmatic person who goes by this cryptonym, and still less about his ideas. His so-called biographies, more properly termed hagiographies, are late compositions, centuries removed from his time, as is evident from the language in which they are written, and are concerned with the miraculous feats of their hero, rather than with his visions and ideas. As expressions of a person's inner life, these are a matter of psychology and philosophy in which, in addition to linguistics and literary forms, I personally am particularly interested. My fascination with the unknown (not necessarily, the obscure and occult) goes back to my student days when first I came across pictorial representations of Padmasambhava whose very physiognomy was so different from other Tibetan portrait paintings and statues. But when I tried to learn something about his visions and ideas, I drew a blank. There simply was no original source material available. Another aggravating circumstance was the general intellectual-academic climate that was more or less averse to the literary genre that goes by its Indian name of Tantra-literally, this word means a "loom" and, figuratively, "a weaving of one's life" (which involves the whole person). This climate did not, nor does it today, care much for spiritual realities pertaining to a higher level than the one that can be perceived by a merely rational approach. By aiming at a detached view, this approach bases itself on the metaphysical assumption that what does not fit into its narrow frame is not of great relevance. As a consequence, this arrogant assumption has had devastating effects in the cultural sphere and, in the field of IndoTibetan studies, has led to the neglect of indigenous Tibetan contributions. Texts of which no Sanskrit sources were available and could be consulted, were dismissed as not worth an in-depth study. My hope to find out more about Padmasambhava's ideas and visions was shattered when I went to and spent many years in India

x

PREFACE

where under the auspices of the Indian Government I initiated Tibetan studies in their own right at the Varanaseya Sanskrit University, and attracted learned Tibetans, irrespective of their doctrinal affiliations. Although because of my impartiality all of them were most eager to share what they knew with me, whenever I tried to find out something about Padmasambhava's ideas, I drew a blank. "He was a great man, a second Buddha (sangs-rgyas gnyis-pa), a precious guru (guru rin-po-che)" was all they could tell me. Of his own works they did not know anything and, as· a matter of fact, very few among these learned Tibetans would honestly admit that they no longer understood the old language. The situation changed drastically when I acquired a complete set of the rNying-ma rgyud-' bum-still one of the best collections of the "older" (mying-ma) texts of Buddhism, among which Padmasambhava's own works (as attested to by his interpreter-translatoreditor, the lotsava sKa-ba-dpal-brtsegs) figure prominently. Finally I could implement Edmund Husserl's call Zuriick zu den Dingen ("back to basics"). A detailed study of Padmasambhava's writings opened up an incredible wealth of ideas and psychological insights on his part. They confirmed me in my contention that the works in which these images and the insights they express figure so prominently, are genuinely phenomenological reports of experiences that tend to become distorted the moment they are mistaken for truth-claims. By their very nature of being mere claims, they are spurious and ephemeral postulates in misplaced concreteness. The symbols or archetypal images through which the deeply moving insights of the experiencer present themselves and the allegories into which they are woven to form a kind of narrative, have an enduring appeal because they speak directly to our innermost being. However, the poetic charm of the original imagery is unfortunately lost in any translation into any Western language because Western languages, based on Aristotelian categories, are so totally different from the Tibetan language. Nonetheless, as far as possible I have tried to preserve the original diction, and in order to give the reader a visual and, mediately, auditive impression I have added the original Tibetan version to the translated passages. Very few libraries and/or private persons own Tibetan collections.

PREFACE

xi

I hope the reader will be as much impressed by the largely neglected visionary thinker Padmasambhavaas I have been over the many years I devoted to the study of his writings in India and here in Canada. Acknowledgements

Although the phenomenological-hermeneutical approach to the subject matter of this book is entirely my own, I would be remiss in not acknowledging the help I received from friends and colleagues. David Michael Levin introduced me to phenomenology and encouraged me in pursuing this approach by making valuable suggestions. Stanley Krippner rekindled my interest in the kind of psychology that had not yet banished the psyche from its repertoire, and encouraged and helped me formulate a terminology more appropriate to Padmasambhava's psychological insights. Allan Combs prodded me toward a deeper understanding of process oriented thinking that underlies much of Buddhist thinking with its insistence on experience rather than on impoverishing logical reductionism. In this context I also must express my gratitude to Sonam T. Kazi who is one of the few persons who still know the older Tibetan language. and its vocabulary that is not to be found in any of the standard dictionaries. I am especially grateful to my former students and friends, Jeanette Lavigne and Mariana Neves, for carefully reading the whole manuscript. Their continual questions forced me to clarify certain points (which I deemed to be self-evident). But above all, my thanks go to my daughter Edith and her husband Michael Kimbell for their literary and editorial skill, and, last but not least, to my wife Use for her patience and for her unflagging zeal in checking the translation with the original Tibetan text and preparing the indices.

INTRODUCTION Who was (or is) Padmasambhava7 The answer to this question, as to many others, remains unresolved. Apart from the legends that have accrued around Padmasambhava, as they tend to around other unusual personalities, he has to this day remained as much an enigma as he must have been when he captured the respect of the culturally ambitious Tibetans in the eighth century. Equally enigmatic is the rich world of his ideas which defies any facile (and fashionable) reductionism to Indian rationalistic, causal-mechanistic thought and belief systems. While the historicity of the person who goes by the name of Padmasambhava is beyond doubt, and while there also is no reason to doubt the tradition that he was not an Indian, but a "foreigner" who hailed from Urgyan, famous for its magicians, stayed for some time at the court of king Khri-srong lde'u-btsan (742-74(7) C.E.) in connection with the construction and inauguration of the famous bSam-yas college-monastery, and then, after years of travelling all over Tibet, left (or was forced to leave) the country under mysterious circumstances, everything else about him has slipped into obscurity. I I sTag-tshang rdzong-pa dPal-sbyor bzang-po states in his rGya-bod yig-tshang (composed 1434), pp. i86f., that Padmasambhava stayed in Tibet fifty-four years and, during this time, converted all the gods (lha) and noxious demons (klu) to Buddhism, turned many stretches of the wild country and its mountainous terrains into habitable areas, and concealed innumerable treasures of a spiritual and material nature. The prolific dGe-lugs-pa scholar Sum-pa mkhan-chen Ye-shes dpal-'byor (1704-1788) even goes so far as to claim that there had been two Padmasambhavas: "a 'true' Padmasambhava who had spent a long time in Tibet subduing all the local gods and demons, and a 'false' Padmasambhava who was just a Nepalese medium and only stayed a short while in Tibet" (R.A. Stein, Tibetan Civilization, p. 66). All the incidents in the life of Padmasambhava, be they actual reminiscences or pious inventions, can be traced back to the gter-ma ("hidden treasures") tradition that began with Sangs-rgyas bla-ma (ca. 1000-1080) and, in the specific case of Padmasambhava, started with Nyang-ral nyi-ma 'od-zer (1124-1192), the "discoverer" of the Slob-dpon Padma'byung-gnas-kyi skyes-rabs chos- 'byung nor-bu'i phreng-ba rnam-thar zangs-gling-ma (of which several versions exists), and continued through a long line of "discoverers of hidden texts" (gter-ston) of whom the more important ones are (1) Chos-kyi dbangphyug (1212-1270), the "discoverer" of the bKa'-thang sde-lnga-the discovery occurred in 1231--of which the third section from among the five sections, the bTsun-

2

INTRODUCTION

Even his name Padmasambhava (Padma 'byung-gnas in Tibetan) "He whose origin is a lotus" is not a proper name in the strict sepse of the word, but an epithet with symbolic significance. One such symbolic indication is related to the observable fact that a lotus grows from the mud in water, without being soiled by it, a circum-

mo'i bka'i thang-yig, is the most significant one because it contains old material, though no linguistic archaisms, and (2) Urgyan (or Orgyan) gling-pa (1323 or 1329-ca. 1360 or 1367), the discoverer of the U-rgyan guru Padma- 'byung-gnas-kyi skyes-rabs rnam-par thar-pa rgyas-par bkod-pa in 1346. This text is better known by its short title of Padma bka' -thang of which an excellent edition was published by the Si-khron rni-rigs (Minorities) Publishing House (China) in 1987. From a historical point of view these "rediscovered" texts are of little relevance: there are too many discrepancies, if not to say, blatant contradictions in one and the same text or the texts ascribed to one and the same author, concerning what we know to be historical facts. But from a literary point of view these "rediscovered" texts are of enormous importance. Written in verse form in the language as spoken by the "discoverer" at the time of their discovery, these texts reflect the Zeitgeist that demanded that everything had to be "Indian" and, therefore, as tendencious writings, they increasingly marginalize Padmasambhava's "foreign" (Urgyan, also spelled Orgy an) and even Tibetan connection. Thus, Padmasambhava's consort, mKhar-chen-bza' Yeshes 'tsho-rgyal (also spelled mtsho-rgyal), originally one of king Khri-srong Ide'ubtsan's five wives, requested by Padmasambhava and given to him by the king "for services rendered," is completely overshadowed by the princess Mandarava, daughter of the king of Zahor (somewhere situated between Nepal and Assam). It is this last mentioned text that makes Padmasambhava a callous murderer in Urgyan and shows him to have had an inordinate interest in young girls. Thus, of the two generally recognized consorts of Padmasambhava, mKhar-chen-bza' Ye-shes 'tsho-rgyal was about twelve years of age when Padmasambhava firsts met her, and the princess (Iha-Icam) Mandarava was thirteen years of age when he got involved with her. In an episode, recorded in the bTsun-mo bka'i thang (Paro edition 1976, p. 551; Berthold Laufer, Der Roman einer tibetichen Kdnigin, text and translation, .Leipzig 1911, pp. 82 and 190), Padmasambhava is reported to have said when the king and his Bon queen Tshespong-bza' dmar-rgyan offered him their young and beautiful daughter Khrom-pa rgyan, as a reward for having cured the queen of leprosy: Iha-Icam Khrom-pa rgyan-Ia dgongs-pa mdzad phyi yul bzang-Ia nang sems dag-pas [Laufer, dge-basJ snang 'gro-ba'i don mdzad sems-can mthun-par bya rabs-chad ma-ning bya-ba'i ngag bcad phyir gurus khab-tu bzhes-par zhal-gyis bzhes

I have thought about the princess Khrom-pa rgyan; Physically she is beautiful and mentally she is (still) innocent. Acting on behalf of the living beings she will make them live in harmony. In order to put an end to the rumor that my line will die out (because) I am impotent, I, the guru, promise to take her to be my wife. As the story goes, he had two sons from her, the one was a no-good and died young, the other was precocious, but failed to establish a "lineage." It is therefore very likely that these "rediscovered" texts are compositions in the manner of historical fiction by the respective discoverers.

INTRODUCTION

3

stance that lends itself admirably to express the idea of a human being's living in the world without being polluted by its vicissitudes.In poetic diction this fact and sentiment has been expressed in the GalJq,avyuhasutra: 2 May I live in all worldly walks of life free from Karmic blunderings, emotional entanglements, and the errors into which Mara would lead me: Like a lotus, unsoiled by water, Like sun and moon, not stuck in the sky.

This cryptonym, which, if we are to believe tradition, replaced the earlier cryptonyms "Saroruha" and "Saroruhavajra" (mtsho'khrungs and mtsho-skyes rdo-rje, respectively),3 as well as the scanty data about Padmasambhava's life as a real person, already suffice to place him firmly in the main stream of the tradition of the magi. 4 This tradition consists of exceptional personages, visionaries and mystics· whose paramount duty was to ensure the welfare of the society to which they belonged, even if they as forward-looking persons were reviled, persecuted, and killed, given the opportunity, by the backward-looking traditionalists and conformists. The mystery that surrounds Padmasambhava is compounded by the vagueness concerning the location of his homeland, Urgyan. Where is Urgyan (also spelled Orgyan) or U