ISYT Conference: Ngor chen biographies, Phajo and dances in Bhutan, and coin divination texts from Dunhuang

ISYT Conference Day 4

The fourth day of presentations was an interesting mix of discussions on Tibetan history, women’s studies, and anthropology.

One of the most interesting was a presentation entitled “Sources for Researching the life of Ngor chen kun dga’ bzang po” by Jörg Heimbel of the University of Hamburg. This important branch of the Sa skya school is based at Ngor E waM chos ldan, founded in 1429 in a valley southwest of gzhi ka rtse (now only a 1-hour jeep ride). The Ngor school enjoyed the patronage of the Kings of Mustang and later the Kings of Derge. According to Jörg’s research there are only three different biographies available for Ngor chen, some of which have multiple editions available. Several biographies seem to be missing as Appey Rinpoche’s text on the Saskya literature notes 13 total biographies (whether or not this was an accurate count was questioned).  The three extent editions are: 1) Mus chen sems dpa’ chen po dkon mchog rgyal mtshan’s biography (he was the 2nd Ngor abbot and much of it was written during Ngor chen’s life); 2) Gu ge paNDi ta grags pa rgyal mtshan (1415-1456/87?), also a personal disciple of Ngor chen- apparently van der Kuijp has an edition but Jörg was unable to obtain it. 3) Sangs rgyas phun tshogs (1649-1705) wrote the famous Ngor chos ‘byung and the gdan rabs (abbatial history) of Ngor monastery. Jörg focused on his fascination with Sangs rgyas phun tshogs work as an editor and compiler who cited his sources extensively and provided his readers with as many sources as possible on the subjects he discussed.

Ariana Maki, an art historian from Ohio State University presented her research on the monastery at gcal kha and the dances performed there. Although her title was “Framing the Future: Phajo Dudjom Zhigpo (1184-1251 CE) and the Establishment of Drukpa Kagyu Buddhism in Bhutan,” most of the talk was focused on the dances and only part on the history of the Drukpa Kagyu in Bhutan. She did note, however, the great reverence of Phajo in Bhutan (perhaps equal with guru rinpoche) and the battles fought between Drigung Kagyu and Drukpa Kagyu schools. Apparently the Drigung Kagyu were already established in Bhutan when Phajo came, saw, and conquered. She also mentioned an important story establishing the authority of Phajo through connection to Naropa. Apparently one evening when Phajo was in retreat, he heard a noise outside and went to investigate. When he came outside he found a mask that spoke to him. It was Naropa come to give him teachings. This mask then plays an important role in the dances of the community Ariana studied. One important dance she described was interesting in that it was performed once a year almost entirely by the lay community. All the actual dancers are brought in from the community, although the dance is performed in the monastery. A group of men dress up as the “khams lnga” (interpreted as Khampa warriors by the locals) who then reenact victories of the Drukpa tradition in Bhutan through yelling insults north west at Tibet. This particular town performs this practice in response to the fifth Dalai Lama who sent four different armies to take over Bhutan but was never successful. The town across the valley apparently performs a similar dance, but throws their insults at this very town that Ariana studied, as they have had many disputes over the years. The dance is preceded by the making of effigies. One is a woman who embodies all the negativities of the community and is paraded around and later thrown into ceremonial fire. Perhaps the significance of this was discussed in the other panel on women, but I was unable to attend that section as it was taking place at the same time.

Ai Nishida (Kobe University of Foreign Studies, Japan)

“Old Tibetan divination texts with coins”

Nishida’s presentation was another example of the excellent scholarship coming out of Japanese universities. Her work on the Dunhuang cave texts, http://otdo.aa.tufs.ac.jp/archives.cgi, analyzed the genre of divination and focused on one specific type, coin divination. This divination involves throwing twelve copper coins at once and determining the count of sides showing. Nishida’s research showed that the texts are complex compositions of two types of divination result descriptions, usually separate in other types of divination texts. These types of result descriptions were phrases that provided descriptive scenes as results of the divination (also found in dice divination texts) and classic good, bad, and neutral results. She felt that they probably originated in Dunhuang society and followed Samten Karmay in reading the references to “dkong rtse” as references to Confucius. This was the source of some debate, which had to be stopped by the moderator who felt it was not directly relevant to the paper, not to mention that no one present in the room was really prepared to defend any position well enough to convince anyone. Suffice it to say that wether or not some of the texts were written by an incarnation of Confucius, a son of Confucius, Confucius himself, or someone totally different, they were certainly influenced by Chinese divination texts.

The end of the day on Thursday was taken up by a board meeting of the ISYT and a later trip to the Tour Eiffel. Almost every participant attended the dinner at 58 Tour Eiffel, which capped a wonderful week of presentation and exchange in this young scholarly community. Oddly enough, we ran into a Tibetan waiter at the top of the Eiffel Tower and a great deal of merriment ensued. The significance of having this Tibetology conference in Paris was a point of discussion for everyone and it seemed that a new energy was returning to one of the most famous cities for Tibetan studies. The following day was set for sightseeing with all the participants and so most went home early to rest for the 8:30 bus ride around Paris.