A Scripture of the Ancient Tantra Collection: The Phur-pa bcu-gnyis

478 Pages·1996·34.587 MB·English

by  Robert Mayer

In memory of my father, Philip Mayer, 1910-1995
Professor of Anthropology
A
SCRIPTURE OF
THE ANCIENT TANTRA COLLECTION
The Phur-pa bcu-gnyis
Robert Mayer
KISCADALE PUBLICATIONS
Copyright © 1996 by Robert Mayer.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
translated in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, microfiche,
computer technology, or any other means without written permission
from the author.
First Edition
Published 1996 by
KISCADALE PUBLICATIONS
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Oxford OX3 2AD
England
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ISBN 1-870838-52-1
Cover: Tibetan print depicting VajrakIlaya, artist unknown
Cover design by Kerri Milton
v
CONTENTS
PREFACE IX
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS
CHAPTER 1: THE RNYING-MA-PA TANTRAS AND THE ISSUE
OF AUTHENTICITY I
1.1 Canonicity in Buddhism 6
1.1.1 India 8
1.1.2 Sri Lanka II
1.1.3 China 12
1.1.4 Tibet 14
1.1.5 Summary 20
1.2 Shamanic Buddhism and Clerical Buddhism: through
Wisdom to Means, through Means to Wisdom 22
1.2.1 Max Weber 23
1.2.2 Paul Demieville 24
1.2.3 Louis Dumont 25
1.2.4 Matthew Kapstein 28
1.2.5 S.K. Hookham 30
1.2.6 Geoffrey Samuel 31
1.3 Buddhist Perspectives 36
1.4 Shamanic and Clerical Attitudes in Tibetan Debates
over "Canonicity" 45
1.4.1 The clerical view of canonicity in Tibet 47
1.4.2 The shamanic view of canonicity in Tibet 5 I
1.5 Tibetan Buddhism, Modernity, and Postmodernity 56
CHAPTER 2: THE PCN AND THE CLAIMED METHODS OF
REVELATION OF THE MAHAYOGA TANTRAS 64
2.1 The Treasure and Pure Vision Systems of
Scriptural Revelation 70
2.1.1 The PraS 72
2.1.2 The pure vision system 74
2.1.3 The treasure system 75
2.2 Nidhi 82
vi A SCRIPTURE OF THE ANCIENT TANTRA COLLECTION
CHAPTER 3: WHERE DID THE PCN COME FROM?
THE EVIDENCE FROM ITS CONTENTS 91
3.1 The NGB in Tibet. 91
3.1.1 Ongoing revelation and the process of 'dul-ba 97
3.1.2 Colophons, "respectability" and "reputation" 99
3.2 Indic Materials 102
3.2.1 'Dul-ba and sgrol-ba in Indicperspective 104
3.2.2 Demon devotees in Indian religions 109
3.2.2.1 Siva as the Buddha's demon devotee 115
3.2.2.2 The converting of Mahesvara myths 116
3.3 The Conversion of the Four Malodorous Mumbling
Earth-Mistresses: the Evidence Attributed to Nepal 128 .
3.4 Arrow Sorcery and Problematic Mantras: The
Evidence From Tibet 132
3.5 The peN as a Paradigm Case 147
Chapter 4: CONCLUSIONS 149 .
4.1 The Spirit and the Letter: Two Ways of Interpreting
the Indian Heritage 149
4.2 Endnote: the Question of Reflexivity 153
TRANSLATION
PREFACE TO THE TRANSLATED SUMMARIES 158
SUMMARIES OF THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION 165
TEXTUAL CRITICISM
PREFACE TO THE EDITION 176
EDITORIAL POLICY 182
Indeterminacy in critically editing Kanjur scriptures 185
Indeterminacy and uncertainty in critically editing
NGB scriptures 188
External considerations 190
Eight Possible Contingencies in editing NGB texts 195
CONTENTS vii
Editorial policy and the open and closed models of Buddhist
canonical literature 207
How do we edit the scriptures of an open canonical tradition? 212
The diplomatic edition of the PCN based on the sDe-dge
xylograph recension, and my own conjectural corrections to it 221
THE EDITIONS OF THE NGB 223
Versions Used 232
A PROVISIONAL STEMMA OF THE PHUR-PA BCU-GNYIS 243
EDITION OF THE TIBETA N TEXT
CONVENTIONS USED IN THE EDITION 263
GCIG 266
GNYIS 346
GSUM 358
RTsA-BZHI 413
REFERENCE MATERIALS
BIBLIOGRAPHY 428
INDEX 459
IX
Preface
In the normal run of things, PhD dissertations are considerably
rewritten before publication in book form, and not without
justification. Much of this volume, however, comprises little more than
a raw version of my proefschrift (PhD dissertation), which was
defended at the Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden only a few days before
publication of the book. The only changes to have been attempted are
to the section on the textual criticism of the Tibetan text, but these still
remain substantially unfinished, representing a first preliminary
approach to this difficult task and not a fully considered final version.
I had hoped to complete more extensive re-thinking and re-writing
before pUblication, but this has not been possible because of a
combination of ill health and governmental policies for higher
education beyond any individual's control. I can only apologise to my
readers: had I not been dogged by ill health and had I been able to
hold back publication by four or five months, I could have thought
through the many outstanding problems of textual criticism that I feel
remain as yet so ill-digested, collated an important new manuscript
already in my possession, and integrated additional data that might
have substantially influenced the findings of this book. Also, I would
have liked to have expanded and made improvements to the
introductory chapters, especially Chapter 1, which in several respects
remains quite unfinished. However, I was required to meet the
deadline for the British higher education "Research Assessment
Exercise".
It remains only to give thanks and acknowledgement to those
who have helped me in the course of my academic research. First and
foremost among these is my wife,_ Dr. Cathy Cantwell, whose learning
is considerable in most fields covered by this study, and whose advice
and critical opinion I have sought at every turn.
Next I must thank my two Promotores at the Rijksuniversiteit te
Leiden, Professor Tilmann Vetter and Professor Alexis Sanderson (of
All Souls College, Oxford): without their generous and consistent
support, this work would never have achieved completion. In
particular, I have known Alexis Sanderson for many years, over which
time I have drawn constant inspiration from Alexis' uncompromising
x A SCRIPTURE OF THE ANCIENT TANTRA COLLECTION
commitment to good scholarship and intellectual integrity, such rare
qualities. My Co-promotor, Dr. Peter Verhagen, also proved himself
a true friend, whose minute word-by-word analysis of my translation
demonstrated his unequalled grasp of Tibetan grammar. My Referent,
Professor Leonard van der Kuijp (of Harvard University), was
extremely generous in his judgement of my work, for which I would
like to thank him. Likewise, I extend my thanks to my two Overige
leden, Professor K.R. van Kooij and Professor B.C.A. Walraven, for
the kindness they have shown me.
A special thanks must be offered to all at the Oriental Institute,
Oxford, who so generously made me welcome and gave me help and
support during difficult periods when I was without any other
institutional backing. Professor Richard Gombrich, Alexis Sanderson
and Dr. David Gellner all proved the most reliable and truest of
friends: I thank them.
Help came from several other quarters as well. In particular, the
renowned peripatetic Tibetologist, Dr. Dan Martin, has had a
transforming influence on this work from the sidelines, just as he has
done with several other recent Tibetological publications, including
some of great significance. By introducing me to choice passages from
the polemical literature, he changed the entire scope and orientation of
the introduction. However, I have not been able to agree with him on
one key point: the origins of the rnantroddhiira in Chapter Nineteen.
I continue to harbour lurking fears that this failure to agree with such
a fine scholar as Dan Martin might owe much to an inordinate degree
of rang bzo (freethinking) on my part; or else to my ris rned pa
ideological biases, that seek to exonerate the gsar rna pa polemicists
from the charge of senseless fault-finding, and instead try to identify
the main locus of differing views on canonicity within the multivalent
structure of Buddhism itself. As a lover of the rNying-ma-pa tradition
and its literature, I will of course be absolutely delighted if Dan's
analysis in the end proves more correct than my own. In the
meantime, I should add that Dan supplied much of the data on the
history of the rNying-ma'i rgyud~'bum editions, most of the remainder
being supplied by Dr. Franz-Karl Ehrhard, to whom I am also indebted
for two excellent microfilms. The stemma could never have been made
without the generous help of Dr. Paul Harrison, who so patiently
PREFACE xi
explained to me the basics of the genealogical method of textual
criticism, and carefully guided me to the conclusions arrived at; I am
greatly indebted to him. Dr. Helmut Eimer gave additional very
valuable advice on the edition and stemma, for which I would like to
thank him; I hope he can forgive me for failing to have time to do the
job as he and I would have liked. In addition, Dr. Harunaga Isaacson
very kindly found the time to give his concentrated attention to my
beginner's attempts at textual criticism, and in the simplest of terms
offered the most learned suggestions. Professor Paul Stirling, Professor
Geoffrey Samuel, and Paul Harrison also read some of the
introductory chapters, and made important theoretical comments that
were incorporated into the draft, while Professor David Jackson
likewise made some valuable suggestions that helped tighten up the
references. The English translation benefitted from the comments of
Professor Thubden Nyima (Ven. Zenkar Rinpoche), who answered my
interminable queries on difficult passages within the Phur-pa bcu-gnyis
with great patience. Dr. Gyurme Dorje interpreted at my sessions with
Prof. Nyima, and also made very valuable suggestions of his own to
the translation. At an earlier stage, gSang-sngags Rin-po-che of
Kathmandu also answered several queries about the translation, with
Kunga Rinpoche interpreting.
The costs of producing this volume were met in full by a
generous subvention from the University of Wales at Lampeter; I am
extremely grateful to all my colleagues there, and especially to
Professor Paul Badham, head of the Department of Theology and
Religious Studies. I must equally thank my good friend of so many
years, Paul Strachan, for so generously arranging publication of such
a specialised and entirely non-commercial volume at such short notice.
Likewise I must thank Jim Lavis, whose good humour and calm
professionalism made remarkably short work of all the last minute
hitches.
Finally, I should thank my children, Angela and George, for the
constant happiness and comfort they have given me throughout the
tiresome task of writing a PhD and a book. To all those who have
been mentioned here, and to many others who must remain
unmentioned, I extend my thanks.