BON

THE EVERLASTING RELIGION OF TIBET

TIBETAN STUDIES IN HONOUR OFPROFESSOR DAVID L. SNELLGROVE

Papers Presented at the International Conference on Bon22-27 June 2008, Shenten Dargye Ling, Château de la Modetais, Blou, France

New Horizons of Bon Studies, 2

Samten G. Karmay and Donatella Rossi, Editors

Founded by Giuseppe Tucci

A QUARTERLY PUBLISHED BY THEISTITUTO ITALIANO PER L’AFRICA E L’ORIENTE

I s I A O

Vol. 59 - Nos. 1-4 (December 2009)

EDITORIAL BOARD

† Domenico Faccenna

Gherardo Gnoli, Chairman

Lionello Lanciotti

Luciano Petech

Art Director: Beniamino Melasecchi

Editorial staff: Matteo De Chiara, Elisabetta Valento

ISSN 0012-8376

Yearly subscription: € 200,00 (mail expenses not included)Subscription orders must be sent direct to: www.mediastore.isiao.it

Manuscripts should be sent to the Editorial Board of East and West

Administrative and Editorial Offices: Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente

Direttore scientifico: Gherardo Gnoli; Direttore editoriale: Francesco D’ArelliArt director: Beniamino Melasecchi; Coord. redazionale: Elisabetta Valento

Redazione: Paola Bacchetti, Matteo De Chiara

Via Ulisse Aldrovandi 16, 00197 Rome

C O N T E N T S

Preface by Gherardo Gnoli................................................................................................ 11Introduction by Samten G. Karmay................................................................................... 13

Part I. Myths and History

Per Kværne, Bon and Shamanism ...................................................................................... 19Tsering Thar, Mount Ti se (Kailash) Area: The Center of Himalayan Civilization .......... 25Francisco Ayllón, Lha: Towards Assessing Discontinuity in Paradigms of the Sacred...... 31Samten G. Karmay, A New Discovery of Ancient Bon Manuscripts from a Buddhist

st∑pa in Southern Tibet ............................................................................................... 55

Part II. Monasticism and Philosophy

Stéphane Arguillère, mNyam med Shes rab rgyal mtshan on the Special Features of the Bon Monastic Discipline .............................................................................................. 87

Matthew T. Kapstein, The Commentaries of the Four Clever Men: A Doctrinal and Philosophical Corpus in the Bon po rDzogs chen Tradition ....................................... 107

Seiji Kumagai, Development of the Theory of the ‘Two Truths’ in the Bon Religion ....... 131

Part III. Medicine and Yogic Practices

Colin Millard, The Life and Medical Legacy of Khyung sprul 'Jigs med nam mkha'i rdo rje (1897-1955).................................................................................................................. 147

Alejandro Chaoul, From Caves to the Clinic and Research: Bon Magical Movement(rtsa rlung 'phrul 'khor) Can Help People with Cancer.............................................. 167

Philippe Cornu, A Comparative Study of the Bar do Views in the Bon Religion and the rNying ma pa School .................................................................................................... 191

Part IV. Ritual and Society

Charles Ramble, Playing Dice with the Devil: Two Bonpo Soul-retrieval Texts and Their Interpretation in Mustang, Nepal ...................................................................... 205

J.F. Marc des Jardins, Bon Institutions in Contemporary Tibetan Territories and the Dynamics of Religious Authority ................................................................................. 233

Heather Stoddard, The Lexicon of Zhangzhung and Bonpo Terms. Some Aspects of Vocabulary in Relation to Material Culture and the Persian World ........................... 245

Kengo Konishi, Reconstruction of the Education System in a Bon Monastery: A Case Study of sKyang tshang Monastery in Amdo Shar khog Today ................................... 265

Hiroyuki Suzuki, Tibetan Dialects Spoken in Shar khog and Khod po khog .................... 273Mona Schrempf and Jack Patrick Hayes, From Temple to Commodity? Tourism in

Songpan and the Bon Monasteries of A'mdo Shar khog .............................................. 285Katia Buffetrille, Khyung mo Monastery (A'mdo) and Its ‘Map’ of 'Ol mo lung ring...... 313Mara Arizaga, An Introduction to the Study of Bon in Modern China ............................. 327Donatella Rossi, A Brief Note on the Bonpo Texts of the Giuseppe Tucci Fund Preserved

at the Library of IsIAO ................................................................................................ 337

* * *

Brief Notes and Items for Discussion.................................................................................. 347

Chiara Bellini, An Autobiography by David Snellgrove..................................................... 349Gherardo Gnoli, Giuseppe Vignato, Saerji and Francesco D’Arelli, Giuseppe Tucci’s

Indo-tibetica. A Chinese Edition ................................................................................ 357Fabio Scialpi, The Figure of the Great Mother in India. A Comparison between the

East and the West ........................................................................................................ 365

Obituaries

Ahmed Hassan Dani (1920-2009) (by Luca M. Olivieri) .................................................. 379Walter Belardi (1923-2008) (by Gherardo Gnoli and Adriano V. Rossi) ........................ 385F.A. Khan (1910-2009) (by Sh. Khurshid Hasan)............................................................. 393

Book Reviews

by Michela Clemente, Matteo De Chiara, Marcello De Martino, Lionello Lanciotti ..... 395

Books Received ................................................................................................................... 408

List of Contributors ............................................................................................................ 411

Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... 413

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AAA — Archives of Asian ArtAAH — Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum HungaricaeACASA — Archives of the Chinese Art Society of AmericaActaO — Acta Orientalia, CopenhagenActaOH — Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum HungaricaeADMG — Abhandlungen der Deutschen Morgenländischen GesellschaftAION — Annali dell’Istituto (Universitario) Orientale di NapoliAJA — American Journal of ArchaeologyAMI — Archäologische Mitteilungen aus IranArOr — Archiv OrientálníASIAR — Annual Reports (Archaeological Survey of India)BEFEO — Bulletin de l’École Française d’Extrême-OrientBMC — Catalogue of Coins in the British MuseumBMFEA — Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern AntiquitiesBMMA — Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of ArtBSO(A)S — Bulletin of the School of Oriental (and African) StudiesCAH — Cambridge Ancient HistoryCAJ — Central Asiatic JournalCHC — Cambridge History of ChinaCHInd — Cambridge History of IndiaCHIr — Cambridge History of IranCIInd — Corpus Inscriptionum IndicarumCIIr — Corpus Inscriptionum IranicarumCIS — Corpus Inscriptionum SemiticarumCRAI — Comptes rendus des séances (Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres)EW — East and WestHJAS — Harvard Journal of Asiatic StudiesHR — History of ReligionsIIJ — Indo-Iranian JournalJA — Journal AsiatiqueJAH — Journal of Asian HistoryJAOS — Journal of the American Oriental Society

JAS — Journal of Asian StudiesJASB — Journal of the Asiatic Society of BengalJESHO — Journal of the Economic and Social History of the OrientJGJRI — Journal of the Ganganath Jha Research InstituteJIABS — Journal of the International Association of Buddhist StudiesJISOA — Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental ArtJNES — Journal of Near Eastern StudiesJRAS — Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and IrelandJUPHS — Journal of the Uttar Pradesh (formerly: United Provinces) Historical SocietyKSIA — Kratkie soobs̆c̆enija Instituta ArheologiiMASI — Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of IndiaMCB — Mélanges chinois et bouddhiquesMDAFA — Mémoires de la Délégation Archéologique Française en AfghanistanMIA — Materialy i issledovanija po Arheologii SSSRMTB — Memoirs of the Research Department of the Tôyô BunkoNTS — Norsk Tidsskrift for SprogvidenskapOLZ — Orientalistische LiteraturzeitungPSAS — Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian StudiesREI — Revue des Études IslamiquesRepMem — Reports and Memoirs (IsIAO [formerly IsMEO], Centro Studi e Scavi

Archeologici)RHR — Revue de l’Histoire des ReligionsRSO — Rivista degli Studi OrientaliSA — Sovetskaja ArheologijaSAS — South Asian StudiesSOR — Serie Orientale Roma (IsIAO [formerly IsMEO])TOCS — Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic SocietyTP — T’oung PaoTPS — Transactions of the Philological SocietyVDI — Vestnik drevnej istoriiWZKM — Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des MorgenlandesWZKS — Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens und Archiv für indische PhilosophieZAS — Zentralasiatische StudienZDMG — Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft

Preface

It is with great pleasure that I welcome the publication of this Special Volume inthe East and West collection. The unique series of articles contained in the presentVolume definitely show the state-of-the-art in terms of research carried out by first-ratescholars in a great variety of fields pertaining to the ever-flourishing discipline ofTibetan Studies; however, their value becomes even greater, if we consider that theywere all written to honour the geniality and the pioneering work of the great scholar towhom the Volume is wholeheartedly dedicated: Professor David Llewellyn Snellgrove.I take this opportunity to express my admiration and respect for his scholarship, and alsofor his personal character, which I have both appreciated in various occasions, occasionsthat have also progressively become the locus of our longstanding relation and friendship.

Prof. Snellgrove was the first Western scholar to embark, during the second half oflast century, in the daunting task of presenting the Bon religion and its multi-facetedexpressions in a way that eschewed biased cultural superimpositions, thus allowing thisreligious tradition to finally speak for itself, by way of some of its most knowledgeablerepresentatives. In the touching Introduction written by Prof. Karmay, readers will beable to understand the ways in which such a seminal task was undertaken. The resultsand effects of David Snellgrove pioneering endeavours, as well as the influence of hisfar-reaching vision can now be assessed through the philological and field researches,publications, and conference panels focused upon the Bon religion and Bonpotraditions, which have multiplied during the course of time, and which continueto shed light and deepen our understanding of one of the most valuable componentsof the Tibetan culture, especially as far as its foundation and origins are concerned.

In this regard, we cannot but gratefully turn our minds to the memory of GiuseppeTucci, who in addition to his innumerable outstanding accomplishments, founded theEast and West Review in 1950. I believe that the prestige of this historical Review isconfirmed and enhanced by this Special Volume, and I hope that in future times it willalso come to be considered as a preferred interface for many more scholarly works inthe field of Tibetology, such as the ones presented here.

GHERARDO GNOLI

Introduction

From the 22nd to 25th of June 2008 an international conference on the Bonreligion was held under the auspices of the Bon religious centre Shenten DargyeLing at Blou, France. It was Rev. Tenpa Yungdrung, the Abbot of the TritanNorbutse Monastery in Kathmandu and the head of Shenten Dargye Ling whowished for a conference of scholars of Bon studies to be convened. This was part ofhis project to foster the development of Bon studies by scholars in parallel with thespiritual practices which the religion professes, and whose centuries old spiritualtradition brings benefits to modern practitioners. An Organizing Committeeconsisting of four members, the Abbot himself, Isabelle Catona, StéphaneArguillère, and myself was formed. The conference was entitled: Bon, theIndigenous Source of Tibetan Religion and Culture. The conference was attendedby internationally renowned scholars in the field, and by a number of youngPh.D. candidates from The Netherlands, Japan, China, and Taiwan. Twenty-sevenout of thirty-three, who were invited, participated in the gathering. They were fromtwelve countries.

It turned out to be a very enjoyable occasion, blessed with good weather, and thecalm of the country-side of the Val de Loire.

However, this was not the first time such an international conference on the Bonreligion had been organized. In 2002 Professor Yasuhiko Nagano of The NationalMuseum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan convened a similar one under the title of NewHorizons of Bon Studies. It was the first of its kind. Its proceedings were publishedin 2000 (New Horizons of Bon Studies, Bon Studies, 2, Senri Ethnological Reports,15, National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka).

European Bon studies date back to the nineteenth century, but it was only in the1960s that a serious attempt was made for the first time to understand the religion,its history, and literature with the first-hand knowledge of the indigenous sources, ararity outside of Tibet before 1959.

It was Professor David Llewellyn Snellgrove, who having developed a stronginterest in the Bon religion after his field trip to Dolpo in 1956, embarked on aresearch project of this religion. In 1961, with the financial assistance of theRockfeller Foundation, he invited Lopon Tenzin Namdak, Sangye Tenzin, now theAbbot of the Menri Monastery (Dolanji, Himachal Pradesh, India), and myself tothe University of London to work with him. We were refugees in India.

Although this volume is published in his honour, it is not my intention to give adetailed account of David’s life here: this is far beyond our scope, and also beyondthe too many facets of this great traveler-scholar, who covered almost every field oforiental studies. Moreover, Dr Tadeusz Skorupski has written an excellent account

of David’s life entitled ‘The life and Adventures of David Snellgrove’ in Indo-TibetanStudies, which is dedicated to him (Indo-Tibetan Studies, Buddhica Britannica, Seriescontinua II, The Institute of Buddhist Studies, Tring, U.K. 1990, pp. 1-21). Davidhimself has also published a major account of his own life (Asian Commitment, Travelsand Studies in the Indian Sub-Continent and Southeast Asia, White Orchid 2000).

I met David in India in March 1961. One early morning around six o’clocksomebody woke me up. I was sleeping on a long table in a printing house in OldDelhi where my companion Sangye Tenzin and I were having Bon texts printed. Iwas completely taken by surprise by his sudden incursion. He was the first Westernman I had come across then. He said something to me which I could scarcelyunderstand, but finally I managed to work out that he would come and see me lateron that day. It was a few months later on the green lawn near the edge of aswimming pool in the Claridges Hotel’s garden in New Delhi that for the first timehe began to teach us the Roman alphabet, after giving an exercise book and a pencilto each of us.

In order to help us open our minds to other non-Tibetan religions, he often ledus to visit Churches, Christian monasteries and to attend Masses on Sundays in thelocal church, where we used to light candles. After arriving in England from India in1961, he let us all lodge in his house in Berkhamsted for more than six months. Hehimself being a bachelor, there were no other family members at his home. This gaveus a unique chance to know David, who in a very short time had become somewhatof a father-figure for all of us, particularly for myself, since I was the youngest one inthe group.

From the very beginning of our meeting he began to initiate us into Westerneducation by teaching us such subjects as geography, history of religions, andscience, not in formal college classes, but through conversations at meal times, orduring afternoon walks in the woods.

* * *

Later David begun to work with the assistance of Lopon Tenzin Namdak on thetranslation of excerpts from the twelve volume, fourteenth century compendiumcalled gZi brjid, The Glorious One. It was an experience to watch the two workingside by side at the same desk. Most of the time they worked very calmly, but therewere moments when they stumbled over difficult passages, and you could feel theirfrustration and hot temper. Later, in his Introduction to the volume, David wrote:

Tibetans who can help with these texts are now very rare indeed [...] They know theirmonastic liturgies and the names of their own bonpo gods, but very rarely indeedare they at all experienced in reading the sort of bonpo texts in which we most needassistance, namely material which represents ‘pre-Buddhist’ traditions. This lack offamiliarity on the part of present-day bonpos with what Western scholars wouldregard as real bonpo material, may come as a disappointment.

14 [2]

It was true: we totally lacked the modern philological method of critical readingand explaining which we were then learning from him.

In 1967 the fruit of this cooperation was later published under the title of NineWays of Bon (London Oriental Series, Vol. 18, Oxford University Press, London).

This publication, which prompted further academic interest in the subject, laid asolid foundation for future studies of the Bon religion. Since then, a number ofworks has been published, and it is most encouraging to see that more and moreyoung scholars have taken up Bon studies. This is not just an isolated development,but falls within the general upward trend of Tibetology. At the Conference in Blou,when it was proposed that the proceedings be published in honour of David inrecognition of his pioneering work, all the participants unanimously agreed.

In October 2008, when I was writing this introduction, a Festschrift was verykindly published in my honour by Françoise Pommaret and Jean-Luc Achard inRevue Tibétaine (RET, 14, 15, 2008). David contributed to the volume by writing anarticle entitled ‘How Samten came to Europe’. Naturally, I thanked him for his kindcontribution. Later, I received an e-mail message from David, who is now 88 yearsold, reading:

Thank you for your kind message. I have led a quiet summer here, swimming everyday so long as the weather was good. I shall leave here for Cambodia on October 27th(2008), and intend to stay at my house in Siem Reap until mid-March. I lead a veryquiet life, made up of reading, writing, swimming, and short walks around Angkor […]

It is encouraging that he is still carrying on his intellectual life.

* * *

The present volume contains most of the papers presented at the conference,and it shows various aspects related to Bon studies.

The first part begins with a discussion whether Bon has any connection withShamanism. This is followed by a presentation of Zhang zhung which was regardedas the place where the Bon religion originated. That leads to the study of theconcept of the ‘sacred’. A recent discovery of ancient Bon manuscripts is thendiscussed.

The second part begins with the study of the monastic discipline. It is followedby the study of rDzogs chen tradition and the philosophical concept of the ‘two truths’.

The third part deals with history and practice of medicine. These are followed bythe studies of the ancient yogic practices, and the concept of the ‘intermediate state’.

The fourth part contains an anthropological study of the ‘Soul-retrieval ritual’,accounts of reconstructions of monasteries, aspects of the local culture and languageof the Sharwa people in Shar khog (Amdo), a full account of Bon studies in modernChina, and an overview of the collection of Bonpo texts of the Giuseppe Tucci Fundpreserved at IsIAO.

[3] 15

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Professor Gherardo Gnoli,President of IsIAO, for graciously accepting to publish the proceedings of theconference in the East and West journal.

The two editors also owe many thanks to Dr Francesco D’Arelli, Director ofIsIAO Library, who very kindly gave us much advice for the preparation of thispublication, and to Dr Beniamino Melasecchi, Art Director of East and West, for hisprecious cooperation.

SAMTEN GYALTSEN KARMAY

Kyoto, October 2008

16 [4]

Part IV

Ritual and Society

Playing Dice with the DevilTwo Bonpo Soul-retrieval Texts

and Their Interpretation in Mustang, Nepal

by CHARLES RAMBLE

Introduction

In August 2007 I was passing through the settlement of Kag (Nep. Kagbeni) inNepal’s Mustang District, and stopped to visit my friend Pema Drolkar, the ownerof the well-known Red House Lodge. Here I found another friend, Lama Tshultrim,a hereditary tantric priest from the nearby Bonpo community of Lubrak (Klu brag).Lama Tshultrim, Pema Drolkar’s family chaplain, had been invited to the house toperform a healing ceremony for Pema Drolkar’s daughter-in-law – also called PemaDrolkar – who had been feeling unwell and unsettled for some time. She wasanxiously awaiting the outcome of an application for a visa to travel to the USA, andshe was expecting a baby. Lama Tshultrim had earlier diagnosed the cause of heraffliction: she had lost her soul. The two-day ceremony for the retrieval of the errantsoul was about to begin, and the family asked me if I would like to stay and attend.

Rituals for recapturing lost souls are well known among the Tibeto-Burmanpopulations of the Himalayan region, but few studies have been carried out on therelated textual traditions. The pioneering work in this field is Ferdinand Lessing’s‘Calling the Soul: A Lamaist Ritual’ (Lessing 1951). Lessing’s study is based on a textcomposed by the 18th century Tibetan scholar Thu'u kwan Chos kyi nyi ma. He didnot have access to the Tibetan original, but depended instead on a Chinese translation.As he points out, the text ‘provides a good illustration of how a “pagan” practicewas disguised as an orthodox Buddhist rite and integrated in a body of Buddhistceremonies’ (ibid.: 264). Lessing cites an excerpt from Thu'u kwan’s introduction:

This is one of the rites instituted through the grace of the Buddhist religion for thebenefit of those who maintain such superstitious beliefs in spirits harassingmankind. For them this ritual is designed in order to set their fear-tortured hearts atrest. (Ibid.: 264).

This excerpt suggests that Thu'u kwan’s project was not a matter of disguising apagan ritual so much as appropriating it and re-identifying it as a lowly Buddhistpractice. The process is analagous to the Buddhist (and Bonpo) strategy ofrecognising local divinities as minor proctectors in the mandalas of central tantric

[1] 205

tutelary gods, dignifying them through conversion while diminishing them in thenew hegemonic scheme. Lessing’s article contains a number of misunderstandingsthat have been pointed out by Samten Karmay (1998a: 310-11) but it neverthelessprovides information that has comparative value for the texts I shall examine presently.

A Mongolian soul-retrieval ritual is one of two works considered in Charles Bawden’s‘Calling the Soul: A Mongolian Litany’ (Bawden 1962). Taken together, the two ‘form aninteresting illustration of the process of adaptation of shamanism to lamaism resultingfrom lamaist missionary activity’ (ibid.: 84). Nevertheless, it is clear that the second of thetwo, which is concerned specifically with summoning the soul, is relatively free ofBuddhist influence. Further reference to this litany will be made below, since it sharescertain interesting features with one of the two Tibetan works I propose to examinei(1).

The fullest and most important study to date of the Tibetan concept of the soul andassociated rituals is Samten Karmay’s ‘The Soul and the Turquoise: A Ritual forRecalling the bla’ (Karmay 1998a). This work addresses the Tibetan concept of the souland the notion of soul loss through a range of Buddhist and Bonpo sources, includingtexts from Dunhuang that contain some of the earliest-known occurrences of the termbla. The texts are supported by the author’s account of a soul-retrieval performed at theBonpo monastic settlement of Dolanji in north-west India. The texts that formed themain scriptural component of the performance were two compositions by the 19th-century Bonpo scholar Nyi ma bstan 'dzin, who ‘wrote the first after he had a visionand the second at the request of a devotee. [...] This suggests that the Bonpo may havelost the original texts’ (ibid.: 321). In the conclusion I shall consider the matter of thesources on which Nyi ma bstan 'dzin’s composition may be based. Among thenumerous other soul-retrieval texts mentioned by Karmay is one by Padma gling pa(1450-1521), in which the Buddha, the original officiant, tells his patient:

Since you have made no offerings to the gods,They were unable to protect you.By inviting 'Phrul gyi rgyal poYou must give a ransom for your soul. (Ibid.: 323).

Karmay expresses his conviction that this text is a Buddhist adaptation of anolder Bonpo work: one of the clues lies in the name 'Phrul gyi rgyal po, an epithetthat commonly refers to legendary sage Kong tse, of whom we shall see more below.

Lama Tshultrim does not usually perform the soul-retrieval in isolation butcombines it with the exorcistic ritual known as the mi nag (or gto nag) mgo gsum, andthis occasion was no different. He maintained that such ceremonies are more efficaciouswhen performed in association and, on the second day, also performed a ritual ‘to closethe sky-door and the earth-door’ (gnam sgo sa sgo bcad pa). Since the focus of this articleis the soul-retrieval, I shall say nothing more about the gnam sgo sa sgo bcad pa or the gto

206 [2]

(1) More texts concerning the Mongolian tradition of soul-retrieval have recently been publishedby Sárközi (1996) and Sárközi & Sazykin (2004), but they will not be considered here.

nag mgo gsum, although it should be noted that the latter in particular was carried outsimultaneously with the bla 'gug – that is to say, sections of one ritual alternated with thoseof the other, to the extent that it was not always obvious which was being performed.

The gto nag and the bla 'gug make a convenient combination insofar as both canbe performed with the invocation of just two tutelary deities, whereas some rituals,such as the g.yang 'gug (retrieval of good fortune), require three.

The ceremony was performed in the chapel, which houses a large image ofMaitreya. Tshultrim and his assistant (zhabs phyi), Kemi, set up their drum and otherritual paraphernalia to the (true) left of the room (right for anyone entering the room),and arranged the altar to their right, between themselves and the Maitreya image. Thealtar arrangement was as follows: on the topmost of three levels, in the centre, was the‘vase of long life’ (tshe dpag bum pa), containing consecrated water ('khrus).

Propped up against the vase were a set of cards (tsa ka li) associated with the ‘lifefortification’ (tshe grub) ritual, although the ritual itself was not performed. In front of thiswere tormas of the two tutelary divinities: on the right was Zhi ba gSang ba 'dus pa, andon the left sTag la me 'bar, representing the ‘wrathful’ (khro bo) aspect. To the right of

[3] 207

Fig. 1 - The shrine room in the patron’s house: the patient and her daughter facing the lama and his assistant.

Fig

. 2 -

The

ope

ning

folio

s of

Kon

g ts

e bl

a gl

ud.

Zhi ba were tormasi(2) of four protectors: A bse mdung dmar, chief of the btsan; Nyipang sad, chief of the rgyal po; Mi bdud, the head of the bdud class and, finally, theterritorial god (yul rtsa) of Lubrak, the community of the two Bonpo officiants. To the leftof sTag la were the tormas of the goddesses sGra bla ma, Mi dred ma and sMan mo. Zhiba’s side was the ‘male line’ (pho rgyud), while that of sTag la the ‘female line’ (mo rgyud).

On the second level, in front of this arrangement, were a three-tiered white-metal mandala containing rice, and to its right a large butterlamp. On the third levelstood the food offerings: a bowl of rakta (red clay in water mixed with the heartblood of a yak), for the wrathful gods, one of milk for the benign divinities, and abowl of beer (phud chang) for both; and small tormas which, along with thelibations, were offered up outside at appropriate intervals during the recitation. Alsoon this level were a small butterlamp and, later on, a ‘wrathful’ bam tshogs, a dougheffigy of a stylised corpse coated in red-dyed butter.

The Ritual Textsi(3)

The ritual for the soul retrieval itself took place on the second day. Two maintexts were used. One is entitled Kong rtse 'phrul rgyal gyis mdzad pa'i bla glud, ‘Thesoul-ransom ritual that was composed by the wise king Kong tse’; and the second:Bla bslu snang srid zhi bde chen mo: ‘Great peace and happiness in the phenomenalworld: [a ritual for] the recovery of souls [by means of deception]’. Both texts formpart of a set of nearly 900 folios comprising between 90 and 100 rituals. The text issaid to be a copy of an older version that had been in the possession of the priestlyYa ngal family, the founders of Lubrak. When the Lubrak branch of the lineagecame to an end around the middle of the 19th century the text, along with the entireestate, was willed to Tshultrim’s great-great grandfather.

Kong tse bla glud

The first text is seven folios long, and though it has no colophon the title attributesits authorship to Kong tse 'phrul [gyi] rgyal [po]. I shall refer to it henceforth simplyas Kong tse or Kong tse bla glud. According to Karmay, ‘Confucius is the prototype ofKong-tse 'phrul-gyi rgyal-po, whom the Bonpo tradition makes [...] the inventor ofdivination [...]’ (Karmay 1998b: 176, n. 5). It may be the case that the emphasis givenin this work to divinatory devices relating to soul loss is a particular feature of itsattribution to Kong tse. The transliterated text of this work and a full translation areprovided below, but here I shall provide a brief outline of its structure and content.

The opening lines state that the rite comprises four parts: the arrangement of theritual items (yas); the bestowal of blessings; the invitation of the divinities, and the

[5] 209

(2) For the sake of convenience I shall render more familiar Tibetan words (such as torma, tsampa,chuba and the like) as if they were English terms, roughly phonetically and in Roman font.

(3) I am grateful to Lama Tshultrim for permitting me to photograph the texts, and to KhenpoTenpa Yungdrung for helping me with difficulties of translation.

dedication of merit (fol. 1b). The first three parts are all dealt with by the end of fol.2a, and there is no further mention of the final part, the dedication of merit. Most ofthe text, therefore, is occupied with the third section, the invitation. There is apreliminary invocation of just six lines (fols. 2a-2b) in which the following categoriesof gods and demons are summoned: 1. gods of the elements; 2. gods of the trigrams(spar kha); 3. gods of the nine numerical squares (sme ba); 4. gods of sciences andastrology (gtsug lag rtsis); 5. the eight categories of haughty gods and demons (sdebrgyad dregs pa'i lha 'dre); 6. obstructive demons (bgegs); 7. gods and demons of thephenomenal world (snang zhing srid pa'i lha 'dre).

This section is followed by a brief set of directions for summoning the soul anddetermining whether or not it has been recovered (2b-3a). The remainder of the textis occupied with more elaborate entreaties to seven sets of divinities to release thesoul in exchange for the ransom that is being offered. These sets are evidently meantto correspond to the seven categories invoked in the preliminary invitation.

1. The five elements: each group is invited to return the part of the patron thatcorresponds to its respective element, in exchange for an appropriate component ofthe ransom. The corresponding ‘outer’ and ‘inner’ elements are as follows: rock/i(4)bone; earth/flesh; water/blood; fire/bodily warmth; wind/breath.

2. The eight trigrams: the section lists eight combinations of circumstances in whichthe soul might have been abducted. In most cases the conditions that caused theaffliction are cited in pairs, in which case one of the pair entails an offence orsolecism and the other an event that may have rendered the patient vulnerable.

Circumstance? rol po kha nag dus

Walking in frozen meadowsSitting on a green hill or in a greenvalleyOpening an irrigation canalSitting on frozen earth or rockSitting in a meadow where flowerswere opening (?)The solsticeBeing on a meadow with a yellowsurface

OffenceUnclean stove or other pollution(mkhon)Fratricidei(5)Incest

Fratricide and widowhood[none given]Being quarrelsome

Sleeping in a frightening placePolluting the stove with burnedcooking

TrigramKhon

DaKhen

KhamGinZin

ZonLi

210 [6]

(4) We would rather expect to find wood than rock here. For a similar list, see Karmay 1998a: 332.(5) smes = dme/rme. It should be noted, however, that in Mustang the term dme signifies incest,

not fratricide. On the relationship between the terms dme and nal see Ramble 1998: 130-31, n. 14.

3. The directions

Divinity Location ColourgZa' Above BlueGrul 'bum South YellowKlu West RedgNod sbyin North GreenDri za East WhiteMe lha Interstices VaricolouredSa bdag Below Brown/orange

4. The bdud, dmu, btsan, rgyal po and klu.

5. Eight categories of gods and demons (snang srid lha srin 'dre sde brgyad thams cad).

6. The chud: these are ‘a special category of spirits’ associated ‘with the lowersphere’ (Karmay 1998a: 325, n. 65).

7. Again, the eight categories of gods and demons of the phenomenal world.

sTong rgyung bla bslu

This comprises 18 folios and has the following brief colophon: ces slob dponstong rgyung mthu chen gyis/ gnam mtsho'i do la mdzad pa'o/: ‘this work wascomposed by the Teacher sTong rgyung mthu chen on the promontory at LakegNam mtsho’. sTong rgyung mthu chen is regarded by Bonpos as the first of FourTranslators (lo tsa bzhi), the other three being his disciples. He is variously placedeither in the 8th century or in the reign of sPu lde gung rgyal, the heir of the ill-fatedDri gum btsan po. As the colophon suggests, he is associated with gNam mtsho,particularly the long promontory known as bKra shis do (see Id. 1972: 8, n. 4,27, 72-73). There is insufficient space here to present the text and translation of thiswork, but excerpts will be cited where relevant.

The Performance of the Rituali(6)

The litany of both texts was chanted by Lama Tshultrim and his acolyte Kemi,and some of (though not all) the intercalated instructions in both works (written in asmaller script) were followed. The significance of this selectiveness will beconsidered in the conclusion. Kong tse opens with the list of the signs from whichsoul-loss can be diagnosed:

[7] 211

(6) Although there are many similarities between this performance and that described by Karmay,I shall draw attention to only a few features.

If [astrological calculations reveal that] the trigrams are in a state of enmity, thesoul is said to be in hostile territory, or has entered a cemetery or has beenabducted by srin po demons, these signs will appear: dreaming that one is naked, orlying in a wilderness, being taken away by enemies, wandering around in a desertedvalley, being swept away by a powerful current, falling from a cliff, or actually beingcarried off by gods and demons (fol. 1b).

The text then goes on to specify the ritual items that should constitute theransom – thread crosses, splints, and various dough effigies. Thirteen of each ofthese items should be made, in accordance with the name of the ritual as it is givenin the opening line: ‘the thirteen-fold ritual for ransoming souls’. In fact, LamaTshultrim did not make thirteen of each but just three, on the grounds that thesewould be sufficient thanks to the parallel performance of the gto nag mgo gsum. Thecentral figure around which these items were placed is nowhere specified in Kong tsebut is alluded to in sTong rgyung variously as a glud, a bdud and a mdos.

This demon ought to have been made out of black clay, but because all the clayprovided by the patron’s household had been used for the constrution of the gtonag, Tshultrim instead used bitter buckwheat dough with a clay wash. The text alsorequires an effigy of an animal: a horse, a sheep, a deer, a cow or a goat, that shouldbe placed in the innermost part of the room as a ‘soul support’ (bla rten). The effigyshould be weighed at the beginning and at the end of the ceremony: an increase inweight is an indication that the soul has been successfully retrieved.

Although the text refers to this soul support as a ‘ransom’ (glud), it is not in factexpelled from the village as an offering to the soul’s captors but eaten by the patientat the end of the ceremony, one of several food items in which the recovered soul isembodied. One of these items is the foreleg of a sheep or goat, which ‘should beplaced in the hem of the chuba worn by a man who should call the patron’s name’,and summon his or her soul back from the possession of whichever category ofsupernatural predator might have purloined it. sTong rgyung opens with a set ofdirections that clearly correspond to this passage in Kong tse:

The requirements for a soul-retrieval are: first, an arrow with coloured cloths; a lead-rope (? sgang thag); three sheep or goats that should be preceded (dran = 'dren?) by(gi = gis) some kind of palanquin (to le = do li?) (or: with some sort of palanquinbeing pulled by one [of the animals]); a piece of conch shell and a turquoise shouldbe attached [to the arrow]. First in the procession should be someone beating an ironskillet, followed by the man holding the arrow, and then someone holding a leg (blalu = brla lhu) of mutton. After this should be someone holding a yak tail wrapped in awhite cloth, as well as whatever weaponry belonging to the patrons can be assembled.The group should make three circuits around the tent or the house.i(7)

212 [8]

(7) bla bslu byed pa la/ dang po mda' dar cig/ sgang thag gcig/ ra lug gsum/ to le gang rung cig gi dranpa dang/ dung rdog cig/ g.yu gcig btag/ sngon nas slang nga cig brdung nas 'gro/ de nas mda' bzung mi'gro/ de nas lug gi bla bzung 'gro/ g.yag rnga ma cig ras dkar po zhig gis dkris la/ yon bdag rnams kyismtshon cha gang 'dzom rnams bzung nas sbra khang gang yin la bskor ba gsum bya/ (fols. 1b-2a).

It is not clear from the text whether the sheep are meant to be leaders orfollowers. The role of the sheep as a psychopomp (that is, a guide for a departedsoul) in Himalayan and in early Tibetan rituals is well attested, but it is equally truethat the soul itself is sometimes treated as a lost sheep (cf. Karmay 1998a: 315).

In practice, no sheep or goats were involved in this part of the ceremony. KarmaChogle, a neighbour who is often solicited in Kag for this purpose, was invited to takepart. He put on a chuba and went on to the roof of the house with two companions:Tenzin Sherab, the husband of the patient; and Ngawang Tshering, a young visitorfrom a nearby village. Karma Chogle carried the mda' dar, the decorated arrow, towhich was affixed a turquoise and a piece of conch shell; and a brass plate containingthe foreleg of a goat, wrapped in a khata, a blouse belonging to the patient, the leftsleeve of which was tied into a pouch containing a mana (about a third of a kilo) ofwheat. Karma Chogle led the small procession in clockwise circles around the roof.When I later asked Lama Tshultrim about the direction of the circles he said that hewould have preferred an anticlockwise trajectory, but that the direction did not reallymatter. Kag is a Buddhist village, and Karma Chogle had his own familiar routine forthis part of the ritual. After him came young Ngawang Tshering, holding a black yak

[9] 213

Fig. 3 - Summoning the lost soul with decorated arrow, yak tail and iron skillet.

tail with its base wrapped in a whitecloth, and finally Tenzin Sherab, with aniron skillet and a rod with which to beat it.

As they walked around the roofKarma Chogle slowly rotated the arrowthat he held in his right hand, and sang asong to summon the lost soul of PemaDrolkar. The sequence begins with aninvocation to each of the four directionsand their representative divinities. Thefirst line, for example, runs ‘Come back,soul! Soul, come back unharmed fromthe land of the fragrance-eaters in theeast’i(8)! After probing the four directions,the song invokes suspects on a verticalaxis: the gods above, the serpent-spiritsbelow, and the btsan in the middle; and

finally the animals that inhabit the seven levels of an idealised vertical topography,beginning with the snow-lion on the glaciers and ending with the fishes in the river.Ngawang Tshering, meanwhile, brandished the yak tail with a hooking action, and gaveperiodic exclamations of ‘Soul of Lady Pema Drolkar, who was born in an earth horseyear, come back’i(9)! Souls being summoned in this way are identified by their owner’sname and the year of birth. The advisability of this practice is particularly apparent inthis case, where two members of the same household are named Lady Pema Drolkar.

Tenzin Sherab brought up the rear, making the skillet ring like a gong bystriking it with his stick.

While this was going on, Lama Tshultrim and Kemi remained in the chapel,reading the invitation to the gods contained in sTong rgyung. The group on the roofrepeated their cycle until the section of the reading reached its conclusion, and therhythmic clashing of cymbals gave them the signal to return inside.

The ‘soul-support’ (bla rten) mentioned in Kong tse also finds its correspondencein sTong rgyung, where it is referred to variously as a ‘soul-sign’ (bla rtags), a ‘soul-place’ (bla gzhi) and a ‘soul-abode’ (bla gnas):

A butter effigy of [the patient’s] soul-sign should be made and placed in a woodenplate that is free of cracks, then covered with any cloth. [Place] in front [of thealtar?] a metal container – iron or copper will do – filled with water. Place the soul-sign on the surface and spin it around.i(10)

214 [10]

(8) bla khu-yo/ shar dri za'i yul-lo nas bla ma nyams pa bla khu-yo/(9) sras mo padma sgrol dkar sa rta lo'i bla khu yo/(10) yon bdag gi bla rtag gang yin te ngos gzugs mar la bya/ shing sder gas chag med pa gcig gi nang du

bzhag/ steng du dar ras gang yin gcig gis bkab/ mdun du lcags zang gang yin chu yis bkang la/ de'i stengdu bla rtag bzhag la bskor ba byed du bcug/ (fol. 2a)

Fig. 4 - The ‘receptacle for the soul’ (bla rten),represented by a butter sculpture of a praying goat.

The soul-sign in question was a butter effigy of a goat in an attitude of prayer.The goat is one of the five animals listed in Kong tse. Lama Tshultrim placed it in

a wooden teacup, and after filling a copper cauldron with water containing petals ofcalendula, commonly used as a substitute for saffron (gur gum), set the teacup on thesurface of the water. Before ascending to the roof to call the soul, Karma Choglestirred the water briskly with the decorated arrow and covered the cauldron with asmall tent-like contraption. The instructions continue:

If it [comes to rest] facing the officiant, that is a good sign, indicating that the soulhas been retrieved. If the soul has not been recovered, the soul-retrieval should beperformed again, and [the soul-sign] again made to spin around.i(11)

After returning from the roof, Karma Chogle rotated the brass platecontaining the sheep’s leg and the blouse with the grain-filled sleeve over thehead of the seated Pema Drolkar before placing it on the altar, with the arrow. Itwas at this point that the cauldron was uncovered to check the orientation of thefloating goat.

The ritual contained two further procedures for determining whether PemaDrolkar’s soul had been recovered. One consisted of putting six white and sixblack stones into the cauldron. These are referred to in sTong rgyung respectively as‘soul stones’ (bla rdo) and ‘demon stones’ (bdud rdo). When he returned from hisfirst visit to the roof, after inspecting the orientation of the soul-floating supportKarma Chogle plunged his hand into the murky water and pulled out one of thestones. To everyone’s relief and satisfaction it was a white stone, which was thenplaced in a saucer on the altar. Had it been black, the exercise would have had tobe repeated.

The second divination, which was altogether more complex and stressful,consisted of a game of dice between the patient and the kidnappers of the soul,represented by the dough demon. A black-and-grey striped goathair sack was laidlengthwise in the middle of the chapel floor, between the right row where the priestssat and the left row, occupied by Pema Drolkar and anyone else who happened towander into the room. Lama Tshultrim said that the cloth should ideally have beenentirely black, but that in the absence of such an item the striped sack would servethe purpose. A smaller white cloth was laid on top of the sack at the altar end. Therelevant passage of the text provides the following instructions:

White dice should then [be cast] on a white surface. The man with the soul-cloth,weapon in hand, should hold the dice while the following words are recited: ‘Kyai!From the palace of the five elements is a pitched rainbow tent, kyi li li! The clearlight of the Bon sphere shines ya la la; the sharp tormas thrust against the fivepoisons, zangs se zangs; the molten butter of right view flows ya la la; the music of

[11] 215

(11) bla bon la mgo bo bstan na bzang/ bla khug pa'i rtag yin/ ma khug na bla 'gug bskyar zhing darung skor bar bya/ (fol. 2a)

drums and flat bells plays, di ri ri. The pho lha who was born at the same time asour patron is present, clad in white silk and holding a decorated arrow and the vaseof long life. Be an ally to the white side and to virtue! If you are the god who wasborn at the same time as our patron, let not the gods submit to the demons! Giveour patron’s soul divine protection! Do not pull out the firm peg of her life; do notlet her wandering soul be lost to the demons, but may it be protected night and dayby the gods. Kyai! May these act as impartial witnesses: the lama and the tutelarygod; the protectors; the dakinis and the treasure-guardians; the place gods and thelords of the soil; the eight categories of gods and demons. Act as impartialprotectors today! If the patron’s soul and life are retrieved, may the divine whitedice secure a higher score!’ The dice should then be cast.i(12)

At the end of the litany, Tenzin Sherab, Pema Drolkar’s husband, rolled thewhite dice on the white cloth with his right hand, towards the altar. Next came thedemon’s turn. First, Tshultrim and Kemi chanted the following passage fromsTong rgyung:

Kyai! In the depths of densest darkness is the fearsome black Lord of Life whotakes away the vital breath of all living creatures. If you are the demon who wasborn at the same time as our patron, roll the black dice, the black stones, in yourhand. If our patron’s soul and life have not been returned, let the black demon-stones show a higher score! With these words, the dice should be cast.i(13)

While the passage was being read, Karma Chogle stood at the altar end of themat, facing the demon and holding a large knife in his hand. After the reading, PemaDrolkar’s mother-in-law took the black dice in her left hand and rolled them on thegoathair sack towards the demon. As she did so, Karma Chogle and all the otherspresent in the chapel shouted loudly, while Karma Chogle brandished his knife, inan effort to distract the demon from his game. Between the two passages of litanythat preceded the turns of the patient and the demon, the text gives the followingdirections:

216 [12]

(12) de nas sho rde'u gzhi ma dkar po'i steng du/ bla dar ba'i mi cig gis mtshon cha thog la/ sho bzungnas 'di skad-do/ kye-kye 'byung ba lnga'i pho-brang nas/ gzha' tshon gur phub kyi li li/ bon nyid 'od gsalya la la/ dug lnga'i dbal gtor zangs se zangs/ lta ba'i zhun mar ya la la/ rnga gshang sgra dbyangs di ri ri/lhan cig skyes pa'i pho lha bzhugs/ sku la dar dkar nab bza' gsol/ phyag na mda' dar tshe bum bsnams/dkar po dge ba'i sdong grogs mdzod/ khyed lhan cig skyes pa'i lha yin na/ lha yang bdud du ma 'beb cig/yon bdag bla tshe lha yis skyobs/ tshe'i brtan phur ma 'bud cig/ bla 'khyam 'dre la ma shor cig/ nyinmtshan med par lha yis skyobs/ kye-kye bla ma yi dam gzu dang dpang/ bon skyong bsrung ma gzu dangdpang/ mkha' 'gro gter bdag gzu dang dpang/ bon skyongs bsrungs ma gzu dang dpang/ mkha' 'gro gterbdag gzu dang dpang/ yul sa gzhi bdag / lha srin sde brgyad / de ring gzu dang dpang po mdzod/ bla dangtshe ni khug gyur na/ lha sho dkar po che thob shog/ ces sho 'gyed do/ (fols. 15b-16b). Note: for thesignificance of hyphens and of vertical and oblique strokes, see below, ‘Note on transliteration’.

(13) mun nag 'khrigs pa'i klong dkyil na/ srog bdag nag po nga ro can/ skye 'gro yongs kyi srog dbugslen/ khyod lhan cig skyes pa'i bdud yin n/ lag na sho nag rdo nag bsgril/ bla dang tshe ni ma khug na/ 'dresho nag po che gyur cig/ ces sho 'gyed do/

If it does not work out [in favourof white, then each side] shouldroll three times. If white has ahigher score, that is very good, buta higher score for black is a verybad sign, requiring a reading of the'Bum and the Khams chen, and theworship of the yi dam and theprotectors. The white and blackdice should be rolled alternately,and the black dice should be heldby a woman.i(14)

The score for the first round was:patient 3: demon 11. The passagescited above were again read, to theaccompaniment of drum and cymbals,and the white and the black dice werecast, as before: patient 2: demon 6. In order to secure the game, the patient had towin only one of the three bouts. The outcome of the third round: patient 8: demon10. Tshultrim had previously declared that, if the patient did not win one of threerounds, the entire ceremony would have to be repeated, while the text states that areading of two sizeable canonical works should be commissioned. However, he nowsimply announced that another round of dice should be played, and the procedurewas duly repeated, with the result: patient 4: demon 10.

The tension in the room was mounting: not to the degree one might haveexpected for the fate of a souls in the balance, but with an ambience moreappropriate to, say, a gripping game of cards. Lama Tshultrim announced that, sincea white stone had been pulled out of the cauldron, the demon’s victory in theserounds was not conclusive, and that the game should continue. At the next roll, thepatient scored 7, and the demon 11.

At this point the lama stated that each side should cast a single die. The patientrolled a 6 and the demon a 3: the patient had won. Following this successful recovery ofthe errant soul, the demon could be removed from the house. The next phase in theritual was particularly confusing to an untutored observer attempting to make sense ofthe proceedings, insofar as some of the activities that were being performed related thebla 'gug and others to the gto nag. To focus exclusively on the former is to misrepresentthe intricacy of this phase of the ceremony, but the present narrow concern with thesoul-retrieval forbids a more detailed account. In short, the two effigies were removedfrom the house by members of the family and visiting friends; while the three-headed

[13] 217

(14) The corresponding passage in the text by Padma gling pa cited by Karmay specifies ‘an uglywoman’ (1998a: 336).

Fig. 5 - The demon (tshe bdud or bla bdud) withthe black dice that have been rolled in front of him.

gto nag was taken beyond the boundaryof the village, the effigy of the demon wasdeposited at the junction of two trailswithin the settlement.

The final part of the ritual consisted ofLama Tshultrim blessing Pema Drolkarwith the decorated arrow and tying thesoul-turquoise (bla g.yu) around her neck.Karma Chogle gave her the brass platecontaining the sleeveful of grain, the leg ofmutton and the butter goat, and lamaTshultrim told her that she should have amember of the household cook it into asoup that she alone should consume.

The combination of rituals thatLama Tshultrim had performed on thesetwo days was regarded as having asuccessful outcome. Pema Drolkar'sanxiety, which had been attributed tosoul loss, was dispelled; she was grantedher visa for the USA, and she later gavebirth to a healthy baby daughter.

Conclusion

It is a commonplace in the arena of Tibetan Studies that ritual performance is notjust an exact reproduction of a set of textual prescriptions. The ritual described here isone of many that Lama Tshultrim performs either as part of a calendrical routine, or inthe event of unforeseen adversity, for almost fifty patrons, whether private householdsor whole communities. A proper understanding of the relationship between the textualtradition and the theatre, so to speak, within which the performance takes place, wouldrequire a fuller understanding of the very heterogeneous network of patronage thatsurrounds Lama Tshultrim. The single ceremony described here does not enable us tomake meaningful generalisations about the dialectic between text and performance inTibetan ritual, but it is at least possible to draw attention to certain features of therelationship between the scripture and its interpretation in the present case.

The first thing to note is the amount of activity that is not specified, or else isalluded to only eliptically, in the text. A salient example is the actual soul-calling thatwas carried out on the roof. The instructions for this are more detailed in sTongrgyung than in Kong tse, but neither text provides the words in which the soul wasactually called. I would suggest – without a good deal of supporting evidence – thatthis part of the ritual is an independent, lay tradition that has been incorporated intothis composite ceremony. The procedure is almost identical to the corresponding part

218 [14]

Fig. 6 - The patient’s errant soul is restored to her at the end of the ceremony.

of rituals for summoning good fortune (g.yang 'gug). It also resembles the daily callingof the consciousness of a dead person to be fed every day for a short period afterdeath that is still, though decreasingly, practised in Mustang (Ramble 1982: 339-40).

The authority of the lama as far as the interpretation of the text is concerned isalso evident. Where Kong tse requires that thirteen of each item in a list of ritualaccoutrements be made and incorporated into the ransom, Lama Tshultrim madeonly three. There is nothing in the text to indicate that such a reduction might be aviable option. There were also significant omissions in the performance: forexample, the diagnostic exercise that the patient’s ‘soul-receptacle’ be weighedbefore and after the soul-summoning was not performed; nor, at any point, were thesleeveful of grain and the leg of mutton ever placed under the patient’s armpit.Perhaps the most spectacular ‘liberty’ taken by Lama Tshultrim concerned the gameof dice. sTong rgyung specifies that a failure on the part of the patient to win at leastone out of three rounds is ‘very bad’ (shin tu ngan). The implication, as understoodby Lama Tshultrim himself, is that the whole ceremony should be repeated, whilesTong rgyung explicitly states that the reading of certain texts be commissioned. Infact, what the lama effectively did was to change the rules of the game in thepatient’s favour, by declaring that one winning throw out of six was good enough.

There is a certain ambiguity in sTong rgyung about whether the dice-game is adivination, one of several diagnostic devices to determine whether or not the soul hasbeen recovered, or a game in which possession of the soul is at stake. The enaction ofthe episode, however, clearly shows that all the participants understood it as acontest, complete with tactics of gamesmanship such as threatening the demon in anattempt to distract him. Lama Tshultrim’s diversion from the ‘rules’ laid down in thetext was not seen as a violation that would render the ritual ineffective; it was seenrather as cheating in a game that had to be won at any cost. And the cheat, asHuizinga observes, is preferable to the spoilsport, who ‘shatters the play-world’; thecheat, at least, ‘still acknowledges the magic circle’ (Huizinga 1955: 11).

The small number of soul-retrieval texts that have been examined in the scholarlyliterature, and the larger number of further such works to which these studies (andparticularly that of Karmay 1998a) make incidental reference, bear witness to a corpusof material from which it might be possible to discern distinct traditions within thisritual complex, and to establish how the strands might be connected. Although such acomparative study would be premature in view of the limited state of our currentknowledge, I would like to conclude by making some tentative suggestions about thepossible relationship between some of the texts considered here. In the ceremony Iwitnessed in Kag, the two texts sTong rgyung and Kong tse were treated as if they werecomponents of a single ritual. There are, however, significant areas of thematicredundancy between the two: specifications for the construction of the same categoriesof ritual effigies; signs that the soul has – or has not – been successfully retrieved, andinvocations to similar cagegories of gods and demons to release the captive soul. As faras signs of success are concerned, Kong tse specifies only one: an increase in the weight

[15] 219

of the ‘soul receptacle’ at the conclusion of the ritual. In sTong rgyung there are three:the direction in which the floating soul-support is facing when it has ceased to spin;the extraction of a white stone from the cauldron; the victory of the white dice overthe black. Let us consider the secondary sources discussed above.

The Mongolian ritual described by Bawden specifies weighing alone as anindication of the ritual’s success (Bawden 1969: 100); the text composed by Nyi mabstan 'dzin and described by Samten Karmay specifies the same three indications asthose given in sTong rgyung – but not the procedure of weighing a soul receptacleprescribed by Kong tse and the Mongolian version; the text compiled by Thu'u kwanprescribes both the weighing of a soul receptacle (specifically, the patient’s clothes) andthe orientation of a ‘life lamb’ that is floated on a bowl of water, in addition to severalother divinations involving the leg of mutton (Lessing 1951: 274). There are proceduresin Thu'u kwan’s compilation that appear to be very similar to those contained in sTongrgyung, while certain passages seem to correspond verbatim to parts of Kong tse.

These observations invite the tentative conclusion that the two texts from Lubrak,Kong tse and sTong rgyung, represent independent traditions of soul retrieval thathave been conflated in the performative tradition inherited by Lama Tshultrim. TheMongolian account would, according to this hypothesis, have a ‘genetic’ link with thevariant represent in Kong tse, while sTong rgyung and Nyi ma bstan 'dzin’s text wouldbe similarly related to each other. The likelihood that Thu'u kwan’s version is asynthetic compilation is borne out by the fact that it contains recognisable features ofboth the putative traditions as represented by the two Lubrak texts.

In closing, I would like to offer a possible answer to the question, raised byKarmay, concerning the works on which Nyi ma bstan 'dzin based his composition.Could the sTong rgyung bla bslu from Lubrak possibly have been one of his sources?Nyi ma bstan 'dzin, who was born in 1813, was the twenty-second throne-holder ofthe Bonpo monastery of sMan ri, in gTsang. One of his most important mentors wasdKar ru grub dbang bsTan 'dzin rin chen (1801-1861), a native of eastern Tibet whotravelled extensively in the Himalayan region. dKar ru was especially closely associatedwith the Bonpo village of Lubrak, to which he made numerous visits of varyingduration between 1844 and 1852 and even built a temple there in 1846i(15). One of hisdisciples here was a nun named Ga ga (‘the Noblewoman’) Nyi shari(16), the lastsurvivor of the Ya ngal clan and therefore the owner of the compendium to which thesTong rgyung bla 'gug belongs (Autobiography: 311). It would not be unreasonable tosuppose that when dKar ru eventually returned to Tibet he took with him copies oftexts from the Bonpo communities of Dolpo and Mustang that had caught his interest.After leaving Nepal for the last time he travelled straight to sMan ri for an extendedstay beginning in 1852 – the very year in which Nyi ma bstan 'dzin composed his text.

220 [16]

(15) For a recent overview of dKar ru's travels in the Himalayas see Ramble 2008.(16) The identification of Ga ga [Chos 'dzom] nyi shar as the last member of the Ya ngal clan is

derived not from dKar ru’s Autobiography but from the archives of Lubrak.

THE TEXT

Note on Transliteration

The transliterated text is presented without any attempt to amend orthographicirregularities. However, where the English rendering is based on a reading that may not beobvious from the text itself, the proposed amendments are supplied in the translation.

Contracted forms (bsdus yig) are spelled out in full, but the syllables are separated withhypens. Unorthodox spellings within the contractions are not, however, reproduced in theextended transliteration: for example, the contracted form sharog is rendered as shar-phyogs,not shar-phyog.

The smaller cursive hand in which the text gives instructions related to the performanceof the ritual is represented by italics. Other conventions used here are as follows:

[2] – the number of letters (or stacks) indicated are illegible.

[±3S] – approximately the number of syllables indicated are illegible.

{'theb rkyu | ngar gyi} – intentional deletions.

The normal shad is represented by the oblique stroke (/), the broken shad thatcorresponds to a ‘ditto’ mark to signify a refrain is indicated by a vertical line (|).

TRANSLITERATION

(1a) kong rtse 'phrul rgyal gyis mdzad pa'i bla glud dbus phyogs bzhugs-s+ho (1b) stonpa gshen rabs sku la phyag-'tshal-lo/ lha kong rtse 'phrul rgyal gyi mdzad pa'i bla bslubcu-gsum pa 'di la don bzhi'i bstan te/ yas bshams pa dang/ byin-rlabs pa dang/ spyen-drang pa dang/ bsngo ba'o/ dang po nad pa sogs/ spar kha dgra thog du song ba dang/dgra steng yul du bla 'khyams dang/ bla dur du zhugs pa dang/ bla srin pos khyer ba zhesbyas ste/ rtag 'di rnams 'byung/ gcer bur byas pa smin pa dang/ thang stong la nyal padang/ dgra'i khrid pa dang/ lung stong du 'khyams pa dang/ chu chen-po'i khyer pa dang/dbyang la lhums pa/ dngos-su lha-'dres khrid pa/ de rnams sna re 'byung na 'di byas so/yas sogs la/ rin-po-che'i nam-mkha’ bcu-gsum/ (2a) rin-po-che'i rgyang bu bcu-gsum/ gsolpa la/ pho thong bcu-gsum/ mo thong bcu-gsum/ 'bru sogs la/ ngar mi bcu-gsum changzan | 'theb kyu | gtor-ma | bshos bu | skyogs | khams sogs la/ ri rabs bang rim gsum la cigbyas/ de la yas rnams bkod/ pho la g.yas/ mo la g.yon/ sha brla blu ma nyams pa cig/ de lakhams gang yin gyis kha dog srin/ rta lug sha ba ra srogs chag gang yin gyi gzugs byas/phugs-su bla rten bzhag-go/ sngags drug phyag drug-gis byin-gyis-rlabs/ spyen-drangs pani/ kyai / kong rtse phrul gyi gto/ lha yang gson la mi yang nyon/ (2b) 'byung ba lnga'ilha-tshogs rnams/ glud la spyan-dren gshegs-su-gsol/ spar kha brgyad kyi lha-tshogsrnams/ glud la | sme ba dgu'i lha-tshogs | glud la | gtsug lag rtsis kyi lha-tshogs | glud la |

[17] 221

sde-brgyad dregs pa'i lha-'dre | glud la | bgegs rig stong phrag brgya {1}cu | glud laspyen | snang zhing srid pa'i lha-'dre | glud la | 'byon pa rnams la yang 'byon lug dgos/zhe-sdang sdug pa'i sems kyis ma 'byon cig/ gti mug rmongs pa'i sems kyi ma 'byon cig/'dod-chag zhen pa'i sems kyi ma 'byon | byams dang zhi ba'i sems kyi gshegs-su-gsol/sarba/ yaksha/ sarba pre ta sa ma ya dza dza/ pho la mda' la dar dkar rtag la g.yas-suzhag/ bu-med la 'phang la bal dkar rtag la g.yon du bzhag/ glud srangs la theg la lci rusong na bla khugs pa yin/ lci ru ma song na ma khugs pa yin/ mi gos dkar-po gon (3a) pa'ithu par bla lu bcug la/ yon-bdag mi nas 'bos/ steng lha/ 'og klu/ bar btsan/ lag nas khug/lha-'dre-srin sde-brgyad lag nas khug/ khug cig lan mang du byas/ thu khud dam la nanglog/ bla glud ras dkar la dril la/ mchan khung g.yon du cug/ bla chung dang bla changthung/ bla g.yu skyed la rtags/ bla nas phu dung g.yas-su blug/ kyai stong gsum stong gis'jig-rten nang/ nam-mkha' stong gi 'jig-rten nang/ 'dus pa dang po sems kyi glud/'byung pa chen-po mkha' la stong/ mkha' la gnas pa'i lha-'dre-srin rnams/ de ring yon-bdag mi'u rin-chen la/ snga phyis lan-chags 'dres pa yi// bla la brkus-sam bzhoms sridna// bla glud gser skyem gtor-ma 'di bzhes la/ bzung ba thong la bcings pa khrol//mnan pa theg la bsdam pa slod/ zhi ba chen-po'i ngang la bzhugs/ kyai stong gsumstong gi 'jig-rten (3b) na/ brag rig stong gis lha ma yin/ 'dus pa chen-po rus pa'i glud//'dus pa chen-po brag la stong// brag la gnas pa'i lha ma srin/ sngon gyis lan chags 'brelpa yi/ de ring yon-bdag mi'u rin-chen gyi/ bla la rkus-sam bzhoms srid na/ bla glud gserskyem gtor ma 'di bzhes la/ bzung ba thong la bcings ba | mnan pa theg la | zhi ba chen-po'i nang la | kyai stong gsum srid pa'i 'jig-rten na/ sa phyogs stong gi 'jig-rten na/ 'dusba chen-po'i sha'i glud/ 'byung ba chen-po sa la bstang/ sa la gnas lha ma srin/ sngongyis lan-chags 'brel ba yis/ de ring yon-bdag mi'u rin-chen | bla la brkus-sam bzhoms |bla glud gser skyem gtor-ma 'di | bzung ba thong la bcing ba | mnan pa theg la bsdampa | zhi ba chen-po'i ngang | kyai stong gsum stong gi 'jig-rten na/ (4a) rgya mtsho stonggi 'jig-rten na/ ’byung ba chen-po khrag-gi glud/ chu la gnas pa'i lha ma srin/ sngon gyilhan-chags 'brel pa'i/ de ring yon-bdag mi'u rin-chen | bla la brkus-sam | bla glud gserskyem | bzung ba thong la | mnan pa theg la | zhi ba chen-po'i | kyai stong gsum stong gi'jig-rten na/ 'dus pa dang po drod kyis glud/ 'byung ba chen-po me la st{o}ng/ drod lagnas pa'i lha mi srin/ sngon gyi lan-chags 'brel pa yi/ de ring yon-bdag mi'u rin-chen |bla la brkus-sam | bla glud gser skyem gtor-ma 'di | bzung ba thong la bcings | mnan patheg la bsdam | zhi ba chen-po'i ngang | kyai stong gsum stong gi 'jig-rten na/ rlungphyogs stong gi 'jig-rten na/ 'dus pa chen-po rlung gi glud/ 'byung ba chen-po rlung lastang/ rlung la gnas pa'i lha-'dre-srin rnams/ (4b) sngon gyis lan-chags 'brel pa yi/ dering yon-bdag mi'u rin-chen | bla la brkus-sam | bla glud gser skyem | bzung ba thong la| mnan pa theg la | zhi ba chen-po | kyai stong gsum stong 'jig-rten na/ lho nub khon gyigdan steng na/ sa bdag phug bdag stong pa nyid/ mi btsang thabs dang mkhon la rnyadbtags na/ kha sang rol po kha nag dus/ yon-bdag mi'u rin-chen | bla la brkus-sam | blaglud nam-mkha' dpal-ldan dang | rin-chen rgyang bu 'phan bzang dang | ngar mi mu-yis (?) rgyan ldan dang/ pho thong dang ni mo thong dang/ chang zan 'theb kyu dang/gtor-ma bshos bu rnams ni glud du 'bul/ bzung ba thong la | mnan pa theg la bsdam |zhi ba chen-po'i | kyai nub phyogs spar kha da thog na/ bdud dang skyes bu sdong pa

222 [18]

yi/ smes pho'i dri la snyad btag na/ na ni 'khyag pa chom chom la (5a) yon-bdag mi'urin-chen | bla la brkus-sam | bla glud nam-mkha' rgyan dang ldan/ rgyang phu rin-chen'phan bzang dang/ pho thong dang ni mo | chang zan 'theb kyu rnams ni glud du 'bul/bzung ba thong ma | mnan pa theg la | zhi ba chen-po'i ngang | kyai byang-nub spar khakhen thog na/ rgyal 'gong thel rang bsdong pa yi/ mi gtsang nal gyis nyen bslang nas/sdod cig ri sngo lung sngo la/ yon-bdag mi'u rin-chen | bla la brkus-sam | bla glud nam-mkha' rin-chen dang ldan dang/ rin-chen rgyang bu phan bzang dang/ ngar gyi mi morgyan dang bcas/ pho thong dang ni mo | zan chang theb kyu rnams ni glud du | bzungba thong la | mnan pa theg la | zhi ba chen-po'i ngang | kyai byang phyogs spar khakhams thog na/ klu dang ma mo bsdong pa yi/ nal dang yug la snyad brtag (5b) nas/ recig lu ma kha byed dus/ yon-bdag mi'u rin-chen | bla la brkus-sam | bla glud nam-mkha' rin-chen mdangs ldang dang/ rin-chen rgyang bu 'phan bzang dang/ ngar gyi mimo rgyan ldan bcas/ pho thong mo thong bshos bu dang/ 'theb skyu chang zan rnamsni glud du 'bul/ bzung ba thong la | mnan pa theg la | zhi ba chen-po'i | kyai byang-sharspar kha ging thog na/ ban-dhe'i lha-'dre-srin bsrungs-ma ma'i (?)/ rdod (?) mig sakhyag sdo 'khyag la/ yon-bdag mi'u | bla la brkus-sam | bla glud nam-mkha' | rin rgyangbu 'phan | pho thong mo thong bshos bu | ngar gyi mi pho rgyan can dang / 'theb rkyuchang zan rnams ni glud du | bzung ba thong la | mnan pa theg la | zhi ba chen-po'i |kyai shar-phyogs spar kha zin thog na/ bskor ba ga gnyan dang bsdongs (6a) pa yi/thing gtsod 'thab rtsod snyad bslangs nas/ rdod cig ni sing kha bus la/ yon-bdag mi'urin-chen | bla la brkus-sam | bla glud nam-mkha' rin-chen dang | rin-chen rgyang bu'phan bzang | pho thong mo bshos | {'theb rkyu | ngar gyi} ngar gyi mi mo rgyan bzang |'theb rkyu chang zan rnams ni glud du | bzung ba thong la | mnan pa theg la | zhi bachen-po'i | kyai 'lho-phyogs spar kha zon steng na/ rgyal 'gong bsnyo 'dre bsdong payin/ 'jigs par nyal ba snyad btags nas/ rdod cig nyi ma log 'tshams na/ yon-bdag mi'u |bla la brkus-sam | bla glud nam-mkha' rin-chen dang rin-chen rgyang bu 'phan bzangdang/ ngar gyi mi mo rgyan dang/ pho tho mo thong bshos | 'thib brkyu chang zanrnams ni glud du | bzung ba thong la | mnan (6b) pa theg | zhi ba chen-po'i | kyai lhophyogs spar kha li steng na/ btsan dang dri po bsdongs pa yi/ thabs gzhob gnyis lasnyad btag nas/ rtod cig spang po kha ser la/ yon-bdag mi'u | bla la brkus-sam | rin-chen nam-mkha' | rin-chen rgyang bu | ngar gyi mi mo rgyan | pho-thong mo-thong |'theb brkyu chang zas rnams ni | bzung pa thong la | mnan pa theg la bsdam | zhi bachen-po'i | kyai stong gsum stong gi 'jig-rten na/ steng phyogs gza' bdu 'jig-rten na/ miyang sngo la rta yang sngo/ ber yang sngo la thod yang sngo po bcing/ dar mdungsngon po phyag na thog/ khyi yang sngo la bya sngon lding/ mda' dang zhags pa sngonpo 'phen/ steng na gnas pa'i lha ma srin/ stengs phyogs khams la dbang sgyur ba'i/ khasang kha (7a) ning nyi mo la/ yon-bdag mi'u | bla la brkus-sam | bla glud nam-mkha' |rin-chen rgyang bu 'phan | gser bskyem ngar mi rgyan dang bcas/ pho-thong mo-thongglud du 'bul/ bzung ba thong la | mnan pa theg la | zhi ba chen-po'i | kyai stong gsumstong gi 'jig-rten na/ lho phyogs stong gi 'jig-rten na/ lho phyogs grul 'bum gshin-rje'igdon/ mi yang ser la rta yang ser/ ber yang ser la thod yang ser/ khyi yang ser la bya serlding/ dar mdung ser po phyag na rnams/ mda' dang zhags pa ser po 'phen/ khyed ni

[19] 223

lho phyogs lha ma srin/ lho phyogs khams la dbang sgyur ba'i/ kha tsang kha nyin nyinmo kun/ yon-bdag mi'u | bla la brkus-sam | bla glud nam-mkha' rin-chen | rin-chenrgyang bu 'phan/ mnan pa theg la | zhi ba chen-po'i | (7b) kyai stong gsum stong gi 'jig-rten na/ nub phyogs stong gi 'jig-rten na/ klu bdud gdon ni dmar-po cig/ mi yang dmarla rta yang dmar/ ber yang dmar la thod dmar bcing/ khyi yang dmar la bya dmarlding/ mdung dmar-po phyag na snams/ mda' dang zhags pa dmar po snams/ nub kyiphyogs lha ma srin/ nub phyogs khams la dbang rgyur la/ kha sang kha nyin nyi mokun/ yon-bdag mi'u | bla la brkus-sam | bla glud nam-mkha' rin-chen | rin-chen rgyangbu 'phan | gser skyems ngar mi rgyan dang bcas/ bzung ba thong la | mnan ba theg la |zhi ba chen-po'i | kyai stong gsum stong gi 'jig-rten na/ byang-phyogs stong gi 'jig-rtenna/ gnod byin gdon ni ljang khu cig/ mi yang ljang la rta yang ljang/ ber yang ljang lathod ljang (8a) bcing/ dar mdung ljang khu phyag na rnams/ khyi yang ljang la byaljang lding/ mda' dang zhags pa ljang khu 'phen/ khyed byang gi phyogs kyi lha masrin/ byang phyogs khams la dbang brgyur ma/ kha tsang kha nyin ni mo kun/ yon-bdag mi'u | bla la brkus-sam | bla glud nam-mkha' rin-chen | rin-chen rgyang bu 'phen |gser skyems ngar mi rgyan dan bcas/ bzung pa thong la | mnan pa theg la | zhi ba chen-po'i/ kyai stong gsum stong gi 'jig-rten na/ shar phyogs stong gi 'jig-rten na/ dri' za'igdon ni dkar po cig/ mi yang dkar la rta yang dkar/ ber yang dkar la thod dkar bcing/dar mdung dkar po phyag na snams/ khyi yang dkar la bya dkar lding/ mda' dang zhags(8b) pa dkar po 'phen/ khyed shar kyi phyogs kyi lha ma srin/ shar-phyogs khams ladbang bsgyur bas/ yon-bdag mi'u | bla la brkus-sam | bla glud nam-mkha' rin-chenrgyang bu | gser skyems ngar mi rgyan | bzung ba thong | mnan ba theg la | zhi ba chen-po'i | kyai stong gsum stong gi 'jig-rten na/ 'tshams zhi steng gi 'jig rten na/ me lha sku-mdog khra bo cig mi yang khra'o rta khra zhon/ khyi yang khra bo bya khra lding/ darmdung khra bo phyag na snams/ mda' dang zhags pa khra bo 'phen/ khyed 'tshamskyis phyogs kyi lha ma srin/ 'tshams bzhi bdag la dbang bsgyur ba'i/ yon-bdag mi'u |bla la brkus-sam bzhoms | bla glud nam-mkha' rin-chen | rin-chen rgyang bu 'phen |gser skyems ngar mi rgyan dang bcas/ (9a) bzung ba thong | mnan pa theg | zhi bachen-po'i | kyai 'og phyogs sa bdag nag po'i gdon/ mi ni khams nag rta nag cig/ rta nikhams nag ral chen zhon/ ber yang khams nag lus la gon/ dur kha'i thod khyer gho labcings/ khyi dang bya yang du kha lding/ mda' dang zhags pa dud kha 'phen/ khyed'og gi phyogs kyi lha ma srin/ 'og-gi phyogs la dbang sgyur bas/ kha tsang kha ring nyinmo kun/ yon-bdag mi'u | bla la brkus-sam | bla glud nam-mkha' rin-chen | gser skyemsngar mi rgyan | bzung ba thong la | mnan pa theg | zhi ba chen-po'i | kyai bdud kyi rgyalpo tri ti ghong yag dang/ ye zlum thang po dang | (?) bdud rje rmang khug dang/ (9b)'dzin pa zhags thogs dang/ gcod pa stags thogs/ ce re mi rkun dang/ che ba bdud kyisde tshogs dang/ yon dag mi'u | bla la brkus-sam | bla glud nam-mkha' | rin-chen rgyangbu 'phan | gser skyems ngar mi rgyan | bzung ba thong | mnan ba theg | zhi ba chen-po'i| kyai btsun pa dmu'i lha-tshogs na/ dmu rje btsan pa dang/ dmu blon dkag pa dang/dmu phyugs skyer zhon zor thogs dang/ long ba dmu long dang/ zha ba dmu zha dang/gru bu dmu grum dang/ lkugs pa dmu lkugs dang/ dmu'i stong sde 'khor-bcas kyis/yon-bdag mi'u | bla la bskums | khyed la bla glud nam-mkha' mdang ldang dang/ rin-

224 [20]

chen rgyang bu 'phan / gser skyems ngar mi rgyan | bzung ba thong | mnan pa theg | zhiba chen-po'i | (10a) kyai drag po btsan gyi sde tshogs kyi/ spyi btsan kha zhi dmigbrgyad dang/ lha bcan drag btsan gang btsan klu btsan gangs btsan dang/ nag btsanspang btsan g.ya' btsan dang/ kun kyang nam-bza' sna-tshogs gsol/ yon-bdag mi'u | blala brkus-sam | bla glud nam-mkha' | rin-chen rgyang bu | gser-skyems ngar mi | bzungba thong | mnan pa theg | zhi ba chen-po'i | kyai ya cho rgyal po'i sde tshogs ni/ gnamlha dkar po dang/ ding gung dkar-po dang/ 'ur gyung dkar-po dang/ khu le lag dgudang/ yab zhur dmar-po dang/ lag pa spa gu dang/ 'gying chen rdo-rjer legs pa dang/rgyal-po'i sde tshogs thams-cad kyi/ yon-bdag mi'u | bla la brkugs | bla glud nam-mkha'| rin-chen rgyang bu | (10b) gser-skyems ngar mi | bzung ba thong la | mnan ba theg |zhi ba chen-po | kyai klu gnyan sa bdag sde tshogs ni/ rje rig rmang rig dang bram ze'irig dang rgyal rigs dang/ brdol ba nag-po 'khor-dang-bcas/ sa bdag rtsang-rtsang 'khorba dang/ sa'i lha mo stan ma dang/ shar kyi sa bdag stag kya bo dang/ lho'i sa bdag'brug sngon po dang/ nub kyi sa bdag bya dmar-po dang/ byang gis sa bdag 'brong rogpo dang/ lo zla zhag dang dus tshod kyi sa bdag dang/ klu gnyan sa bdag sde tshogs'khor-bcas kyi/ yon-bdag mi'u | bla la brkus-sam | bla glud nam-mkha' rin-chen rgyangbu dang/ gser skyems ngar mi bshos bu glud du 'bul/ bzung ba thong la | mnan pa thegla | zhi ba chen-po'i | kyai snang srid lha-srin-'dre sde-brgyad thams-cad la/ bla gludgser skyems (11a) bcu-gsum dang/ nam-mkha' rin-chen | rgyang bu 'phan bzang | ngarmi brgyan can | 'bru'i chang zas | 'theb skyu | rgyan mdzes zhin du smra khas pa | pho-thong mo-thong | bshos bu gtor-ma dang/ bla glud ngo chen bcu-gsum 'di/ lha bu bcu-gnyis mgo dang bcu-gsum gyi/ glud du 'bul/ lus ngag yid gsum gyi | rnams shes tshogsbrgyad kyi | bzung ba | bcing ba | mnan ba theg | zhi ba chen-po'i | ma yam chud kyi sdetshogs ni/ steng bdud rgyal-mo dang/ bar gyi bran mo dang/ mkha'i blon mo dang/yang g.yog khyo 'khor dgu/ 'tshams kyi blon mo dang/ steng bdud ma mo'i sde-tshogs(?) kyis/ yon-bdag mi'u rin-chen gyi/ bla la rkums zhoms srid na/ bla glud bcu-gsum 'di'bul gyis/ bzung ba thong la bcings ba khrol/ mnan ba (11b) theg la sdam ba slong/ zhiba chen-po'i ngang la bzhugs// kyai snang srid lha srin sde-brgyad rnams/ phul pa'iglud 'di bzhes la/ bde-bar-gshegs ba'i bka' la nyon/ gnod pa'i bdug sems zhi ba dang/phan pa byang chub kyis sems dang ldan par shog/ rdzogs-s+ho/ bkra shis dar la rgyaspar shog/

TRANSLATION

(1a) Ritual for ransoming the soul, composed by Kong tse (1b) Homage to the bodyof sTon pa gshen rab! This thirteen-fold ritual for ransoming souls, composed by thewise king Kong tse, comprises four main divisions: the arrangement of the yas offerings;the bestowal of blessings; the invitation [of the divinities], and the dedication of merit.First, regarding the patient and suchlike: if [astrological calculations reveal that] the

[21] 225

trigrams are in a state of enmityi(17), the soul is said to be in hostile territory [in itsperegrinations around the body], or has entered a cemetery or has been abducted bysrin po demons, these signs will appear: dreaming (smin = rmi) that one is naked, orlying in a wilderness, being taken away by enemies, wandering around in a desertedvalley, being swept away by a powerful current, falling from cliff, or actually beingcarried off by gods and demons. If any of these occur, you should arrange these ritualaccoutrements: thirteen thread crosses (2a) and thirteen splintsi(18). The offeringsshould consist of thirteen male and thirteen female effigies. With the grain and so forththere should be 13 ngar mii(19); 13 chang zani(20); 13 theb kyui(21); tormas, dough food-offerings (bshos bu) and dough cupsi(22). To represent the realms, make a three-tieredMt Meru and arrange the offerings on it. [If the patient is] male, it should be to hisright, and if female, to her left. There should also be an unblemished foreleg [of a sheepor a goat], daubed with the colour of whatever happens to be the element [of the yearof the patient’s birth]. An effigy should be made of an animal – a horse, a sheep, a deer,a cow or a goat – and placed in the innermost part of the room as the ‘soul support’. Itshould be blessed with the six-fold set of mantras and hand-gestures.

Kyai! The gto ceremony of Kong tse 'phrul [rgyal]: Gods hear me, and men, too,listen! (2b) Divine hosts of the five elements, I invite you to come to this ransom!Divine hosts of the eight trigrams, I invite you to come to this ransom! Divine hostsof the nine numerical squares (sme ba), I invite you to come to this ransom! Divinehosts of science and astrology, I invite you to come to this ransom! Haughty godsand demons of the eight categories, I invite you to come to this ransom! You, theone hundred and ten thousand kinds of obstructive demons, I invite you to come tothis ransom! Gods and demons of appearance and of the phenomenal world, I invite

226 [22]

(17) This would be case if, for example, the element of the patient’s trigram were fire and that ofthe year in question were water – which is enemy to fire. This information is generally derived from theappropriate pages of the annually-published Tibetan calendars.

(18) According to Lessing, byang bu are ‘decorated wooden tablets resembling arrows of the typecalled in Ch[inese] ling-chen’. A footnote at this point adds that ‘The ling-chien’commanding arrow ‘isan arrow with a triangular flag attached to it. It was used in China as an identification for messengersconveying orders or reports between the armies’ (Lessing 1951: 267, 283, n. 18). Blondeau refers tothem as ‘tree symbols’ (2000: 254). The translation ‘splint’ that I have employed here is intended torepresent their appearance in this performance – thin pieces of bamboo partly wrapped in colouredwool – rather than any ritual function they may have.

(19) Human figurines made by pressing dough into the appropriate mould of a carved woodblock(zan par). Painted images may also be used. Lessing states that the ngar mi are intended to appease ‘aspecial class of malignant spirits called bla-gçed, “soul-killers” ’ (1951: 267).

(20) Lumps of dough that are squeezed into a roughly cylindrical shape in the palm of the hand.According to Lessing, these ‘are moulded by pressing the knuckles of the fist into the dough’ (ibid.: 267).

(21) Lumps of dough that are pinched to a sharp apex between the thumb and first two fingers.Lessing describes these as ‘a food offering made of tsam-pa and resembling small tetrahedrons’ (ibid.: 267).

(22) The rendering of the term skyogs as ‘cup’ is questionable. The usual word for the mouldeddough receptacles that often accompany these arrangements is gzhong bu.

you to come to this ransom! You who are coming should do so in a particularmanner: come not in a spirit of anger or dismay; come not in a spirit of dullness andstupidity; come not in a spirit of lust and clinging, but come rather in a spirit ofgentleness and peace. (Mantras follow).

If [the patron is] a man, place to his right an arrow with a white silken cloth; inthe case of a woman, a spindle with some white wool attached to it should be set onher left. Weigh the ransom effigy on a set of scales, and if it is heavier [at the end ofthe ritual than at the beginning], this signifies that the soul has been retrieved; but ifit has not increased in weight, the soul has not been recovered. The leg of meatshould be placed in the hem of a white chuba (3a) worn by a man who should [gooutside and] call out the patron’s name (mi = ming), together with the words ‘Bringher back from the grasp of the gods on high, the serpent-spirits beneath, the btsan inthe middle! Bring her back from the clutches of the eight categories of gods anddemons! Bring her back’! After repeating this numerous times, he should bundle upthe hem of the chuba and tie it tightly, and then return inside. Wrap the ransom-effigy of the soul in a white cloth and place it in the left armpit [of the patron]. Sheshould drink the soul-water (chung = chu) and the soul-beer, tie the soul turquoisearound her neck and put the soul barley into her right sleeve.

Kyai! In the thousand million worlds, in the world of the thousand skies, sendthis first accumulation, the ransom for the mind, to the great element of the sky.Gods and demons who dwell in the sky, today, concerning this precious little one,our patron: if as a result of the confluence of the ripening of her ancient and morerecent karma, you have stolen or harmed her soul, accept these tormas and libationsas a ransom for her soul; free your captive, release the one who is bound, let thedowntrodden one rise, unbind your prisoner, and abide in great peace.

Kyai! In the thousand million worlds, (3b) you non-humans of the thousandkinds of crags, this accumulation that is the ransom for her bones, send this greataccumulation to the crags! You non-humans who dwell in the crags, if, as a result ofthe connections among the results of her past action you have stolen or harmed thesoul of this little one, our precious patron, accept these libations and these tormastoday as a ransom for her soul. Free your captive...!

Kyai! In the thousand million worlds, in the realm of earth, with a thousandplaces, send this vast accumulation that is the ransom for her flesh to the greatelement of earth. O demigods who dwell in the earth, if, as a result of theconnections among the results of her past actions you have stolen or harmed the soulof this little one, our precious patron, accept these libations and these tormas todayas a ransom for her soul. Free your captive! (etc.)

(4a) In the realm of a thousand oceans, demigods who dwell in the water acceptthis great element of blood and ... free your captive!i(23) (etc.)

[23] 227

(23) Sic; but 'byung ba chen po (‘this great element’) here is surely an error for 'dus pa chen po, ‘thisgreat accumulation’.

In the thousand million worlds, send this first (sic) accumulation, this ransom forbodily warmth, the great element of fire. Demigods who dwell in bodily warmthi(24)... free your captive! (etc)

In the realm of the wind with the thousand directions, send this greataccumulation, this substitute for vital air, to the great element of windi(25).Demigods who dwell in the wind (4b) ... free your captive! (etc.)

Upon the seat of the Khon trigram of the southeast, if you, lords of the soil andthe lords of the caves, acting in unison, accused her of having an unclean stove, or ofbeing polluted (mkhon) and, while ...i(26) you stole or harmed the soul of this littleone, our precious patron, I offer you this soul-ransom that is [as vast as] the glorioussky, as well as these precious splints and fine pendant banners, these ngar mi withtheir adorned human forms, the effigies of males and females, these chang zan andthese theb kyu, these tormas and this food – these things I offer you as a ransom.Free your captive! (etc)

Kyai! Upon the seat of the Da trigram to the south, if you, demons and men inunion, accused her of being defiled by fratricide and, as she walked, crunching along(chom chom), in frozen water-meadows, (5a) you stole or harmed the soul of thislittle one, our precious patron, I offer you this soul-ransom... (etc.)

Kyai! Upon the Khen trigram in the northwest, if you, rgyal 'gong demons andthel rang acting in union, accused her of being unclean due to incest and, as she saton a green hill or in a green valley, you stole or harmed the soul of this little one, ourprecious patron, I offer you this soul-ransom... (etc.)

Kyai! Upon the Kham trigram in the north, if you, serpent-spirits and ma mo,acting in unison, accused her of [being polluted by] fratricide and widowhood (5b)and, while she was opening an irrigation channel, you stole or harmed the soul ofthis little one, our precious patron, I offer you this soul-ransom...(etc.)

Kyai! Upon the Gin (recte for ging) trigram in the northeast, O protective godsand demons of the Buddhist priesthood, if, while she was seated on frozen earth oron a frozen rock, you stole or harmed the soul of this little one, our precious patron,I offer you this soul-ransom... (etc.)

Kyai! Upon the Zin trigram in the east, if you, warden divinities and mountaingods acting in unison, (6a) accused her of being quarrelsome and, while she wasseated on a meadow where [flowers?] were opening (?),you stole or harmed the soulof this little one, our precious patron, I offer you this soul-ransom... (etc.)

Kyai! Upon the Zon trigram of the southeast, if you, rgyal 'gong demons anddemons of madness acting in unison, accused her of sleeping in a frightening place

228 [24]

(24) drod (bodily warmth) here is almost certainly an error for me, fire.(25) In texts where analogies are drawn between natural elements and bodily components, the

corresponding component for the element of wind, rlung, is not usually vital air (also rlung) as here, butbreath (dbugs).

(26) I am unable to find a satisfactory interpretation for the words kha sang rol po kha nag dus.

and, at the time of the solstice, when the sun had reached its limit and was turningback, you stole or harmed the soul of this little one, our precious patron, I offer youthis soul-ransom... (etc.)

(6b) Kyai! Upon the Li trigram in the south, if you, btsan and sorcerers, acting inunison, accused her of [polluting] the stove and producing a smell of scorching,and, while she was on a meadow with a yellow surface, you stole or harmed the soulof this little one, our precious patron, I offer you this soul-ransom... (etc.)

Kyai! In the thousand million worlds, in the realm of the demons of the planetson high, the riders are blue and have blue horses; their cloaks and the turbans theywear are blue; they bear lances with blue silks; their dogs are blue and their birds areblue; their arrows and their nooses are blue.

Demigods who dwell above, ruling over that exalted realm, if, a few days ago,you stole or harmed the soul of this little one, our precious patron, I offer you thissoul-ransom... (etc.)

(7a) Kyai! In the thousand million worlds, in the thousand worlds of the south,you malign grul 'bum, demons of the lords of the dead, where both the riders andtheir mounts are yellow, their cloaks and their turbans are yellow, and their dogs areyellow and their yellow birds soar; holding spears with yellow silks, loosing yellowarrows and casting yellow nooses: O demigods of the south, who rule over thesouthern realm, if, a few days ago, you stole or harmed the soul of this little one, ourprecious patron, I offer you this soul-ransom... (etc.)

(7b) Kyai! In the thousand million worlds, in the thousand worlds of the west, isa malign red serpent-spirit demon. Both rider and horse are red; he has a red cloakand wears a red turban, with a red dog and a soaring red bird; holding a fierce redlance in his hand, with red arrows and a red lasso; demigod of the west, ruler of therealm of the west, if a few days ago or on any other day you stole or harmed the soulof this little one, our precious patron, I offer you this soul-ransom... (etc.)

Kyai! In the thousand million worlds, in the thousand worlds of the north, is amalign yakßa. Both rider and horse are green. His cloak is green and he wears agreen turban, (8a) and he holds a green lance in his hand. His dog is green, and hisgreen bird soars. He looses green arrows and casts a green lasso. Demigod of thenorth, ruler of the realm of the north, if a few days ago or on any other day you stoleor harmed the soul of this little one, our precious patron, I offer you this soul-ransom... (etc.)

Kyai! In the thousand million worlds, in the thousand worlds of the east, is amalign white fragrance-eater. Both rider and horse are white. He wears a white cloakand a white turban, and holds a white lance. His dog is white, and his white birdsoars. He looses white arrows and casts a white noose. (8b) Demigod of the east,ruler of the realm of the east, if you have stolen or harmed the soul of this little one,our precious patron, I offer you this soul-ransom... (etc.)

Kyai! In the thousand million worlds, in the thousand worlds of the fourinterstices, is a varicoloured fire-god. The rider is varicoloured, and so is the horse

[25] 229

he rides. He has a mottled dog, and his mottled bird soars. He holds a varicolouredlance in his hand. He looses varicoloured arrows and casts a varicoloured noose.Demigod of the insterstices, ruling over the realm (bdag for khams?) of theinterstices, if you have stolen or harmed the soul of this little one, our preciouspatron, I offer you this soul-ransom... (etc.)

(9a) Kyai! Malign one of the black earth-lords of the underworld, a dark brownrider mounted on a dark brown horse, a horse with a tangled dark brown mane;wearing a dark brown cloak, and on his head an orange turban. He has an orangedog, and his orange bird soars. He looses orange arrows and casts an orange lasso.Demigod of the underworld, ruling over the underworld, if you have stolen orharmed the soul of this little one, our precious patron, I offer you this soul-ransom...(etc.)

Kyai! Demon king Ri (recte for tri) ti ghong yag, Ye zlum (two illegible syllables),bDud rje rmang khug, (9b) 'Dzin pa zhags thogs, gCod pa stags thogs, Ce re mirkun and the host of mighty demons - if you have stolen or harmed the soul of thislittle one, our precious patron, I offer you this soul-ransom... (etc.)

Kyai! Lordlyi(27) dMu, dMu rje btsan pa, dMu blon dkag pa, dMu phyugsskyer zhon zor thogs, Long ba dmu long, Zha ba dmu zha, Grum bu dmu grum,lKugs pa dmu lkugsi(28) and the thousand-fold entourage of dMu, if you havestolen or harmed the soul of this little one, our precious patron, I offer you thissoul-ransom... (etc.)

(10a) Kyai! Host of ferocious btsan: foremost btsan with the four faces and eighteyes; Divine btsan, btsan of the crags (drag = brag), btsan of the glaciers (gang forgangs), btsan of the serpent-spirits, btsan of the glaciersi(29); btsan of the forests,btsan of the meadows, btsan of the slate hills, don these various garments! If youhave stolen or harmed the soul of this little one, our precious patron, I offer you thissoul-ransom... (etc.)

Kyai! Host of the ya cho (?) rgyal po! gNam lha dkar po, Ding gung dkar po, 'Urgyur dkar po, Khu la lag dgu, Yab zhur dmar po, Lag pa spu gu, 'Gying chen rDorje legs pa and all the hosts of the rgyal po, if you have stolen or harmed the soul ofthis little one, our precious patron, I offer you this soul-ransom... (etc.)

(10b) Kyai! Host of the ... (lacuna) [serpent-spirits!]: you of lordly and ofcommoner rank, of priestly and royal rank, with your entourage of black outcastes;Lord of the Soil rTsang rtsang and your entourage; Goddess of the Earth with yourbrtan ma; Eastern Lord of the Soil, with your grey tiger; Southern Lord of the Soil

230 [26]

(27) btsun pa, ‘lordly’, is a standard epithet for the dmu divinities.(28) Note that the names of dmu frequently indicate the afflictions with which they are believed to

be associated. Thus, zha ba and grum pa: lame, crippled; lkugs pa: mute; long ba: blind.(29) The repetition of gang/gangs may be an error, or else one of the two may be meant to represent

sgang, ‘ridge’ or ‘hill’. In any event, in a topographic sequence of this sort gangs would usually comefirst, followed by brag.

with your blue dragon; Western Lord of the Soil with your red bird; Northern Lordof the Soil with your black wild yak; lords of the soil of the year, the month, the dayand the hour; host of serpent-spirits, mountain gods, lords of the soil with yourcompanions, if you have stolen or harmed the soul of this little one, our preciouspatron, I offer you this soul-ransom... (etc.)

Kyai! All you eight classes of gods and demons of the phenomenal world, I offeryou this thirteen-fold soul ransom and libation; these (11a) thirteen precious threadcrosses; these thirteen beneficial splints, these thirteen ornamented ngar mi; thesethirteen chang zan; these thirteen theb kyu; these thirteen male and female effigies,beautifully adorned and well-spoken; these thirteen tormas as your food. I offer youthis thirteen-fold patrician soul-ransom in exchange for the twelve princes, thirteenwith their leader (?); for the body, speech and mind [of our patron], and her eightconsciousnesses. Free your captive, release the one who is bound, let thedowntrodden one rise, unbind your prisoner, and abide in great peace.

Host of ma yam goddesses among the chud class: demon-queens above; slaves inthe middle; female ministers in the sky; the servants of your servants, a company ofnine men; female ministers of the interstices; host of demoness-ma mo above, if youhave stolen or harmed her soul, accept these tormas and libations as a ransom forher soul; free your captive, release the one who is bound, let the downtrodden onerise, (11b) unbind your prisoner, and abide in great peace.

Kyai! You eight classes of gods and demons of the phenomenal world, receivethis ransom that I am offering you! Obey the command of the tathågatas; let yourharmful hearts be calmed; come with a helpful, enlightened attitude. The end. Maygood fortune prosper and flourish.

[27] 231

REFERENCES

Works in Tibetan

Autobiography: dKar ru Grub dbang bsTan 'dzin rin chen (1801-1861). The Autobiography of dKar-ruGrub-dbang bsTan-'dzin rin-chen: dPal snya chen rig 'dzin mchog gi rnam sprul båi'u ldong btsungrub pa'i dbang phyug bstan 'dzin rin chen rgyal mtshan bde chen snying po can gyi rnam par thar parmad 'byung yon tan yid bzhin nor bu'i gter (Tibetan Bonpo Monastic Centre, Dolanji 1974).

Kong tse: Kong rtse 'phrul rgyal gyis mdzad pa'i bla glud dbus phyogs, manuscript in dbu med, fols. 1a-9b.sTong rgyung: Bla bslu snang srid zhi bde chen mo, manuscript in dbu med, fols. 1a-18b.

Works in English

Bawden, Ch.R. (1962) Calling the Soul: A Mongolian Litany. BSOAS, 25, 1/3, pp. 81-103.Blondeau, A.-M. (2000) The mKha' klong gsang mdos: Some Questions on Ritual Structure and

Cosmology. In S.G. Karmay & Y. Nagano, eds., New Horizons in Bon Studies, pp. 249-88. BonStudies, 2. Senri Ethnological Reports, 15. National Museum of Ethnology. Osaka.

Huizinga, J. (1955) Homo Ludens. Boston.Karmay, S.G. (1972) The Treasury of Good Sayings: A Tibetan History of Bon. Oxford University Press.

London.Karmay, S.G. (1998a) The Soul and the Turquoise: A Ritual for Recalling the bla. In S.G. Karmay,

The Arrow and the Spindle: Studies in History, Myths and Beliefs in Tibet, pp. 310-38. Kathmandu.Karmay, S.G. (1998b) The Interview between Phyva Keng-tse lan-med and Confucius. In S.G. Karmay,

The Arrow and the Spindle: Studies in History, Myths and Beliefs in Tibet, pp. 169-89. Kathmandu.Lessing, F.D. (1951) Calling the Soul: A Lamaist Ritual. In W.J. Fischel, ed., Semitic and Oriental

Studies, pp. 263-84. University of California Press. Berkeley-Los Angeles.Ramble, Ch. (1982) Status and Death: Mortuary Rites and Attitudes to the Body in a Tibetan Village.

Kailash, 9, pp. 333-59.Ramble, Ch. (1998) The Classification of Territorial Divinities in Pagan and Buddhist Rituals of South

Mustang. In A.-M. Blondeau, ed., Tibetan Mountain Deities, Their Cults and Representations,pp. 123-44. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Wien.

Ramble, Ch. (2008) A Nineteenth-century Bonpo Pilgrim in Western Tibet and Nepal: Episodes fromthe Life of dKar ru grub dbang bsTan 'dzin rin chen. In J.-L. Achard, ed., Tibetan Studiesin Honour of Samten Karmay, Revue d’études tibétaines, Vol. 15, 2, pp. 481-502. (http://digitalhimalaya.com/collections/journals/ret/index.php?selection=14).

Sárközi, A. (1996) Calling Back the Soul of the Dying. Texts from the St Petersburg Collection. InÉtudes mongoles et sibériennes. Actes de la 37e PIAC conférence internationale permanente desétudes altaïques, Chantilly, 20-24 juin 1994, pp. 275-85.

Sárközi, A. & A.G. Sazykin (2004) Calling the Soul of the Dead, 1: Texts of Mongol Folk-religion in theSt Petersburg Institute of Oriental Studies. Silk Road Studies, 9. Turnhout.

232 [28]