Buddhism and Empire: The Political and Religious Culture of Early Tibet

343 Pages·2009·17.804 MB·English

by  Michael L. Walter

Buddhism and Empire
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Brill's
Tibetan Studies
Library
Edited by
Henk Blezer
Alex McKay
Charles Ramble
VOLUME22
Buddhism and Empire
The Political and Religious Culture of Early Tibet
By
Michael L. Walter
BRILL
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2009
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Walter, Michael L.
The political and religious culture of early Tibet I by Michael L. Walter.
p. em. - (Brill's Tibetan studies library; 22)
Includes bilbiographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-17584-6 (hardback: alk. paper) 1. Buddhism-China-Tibet
History. 2. Buddhism and state-China-Tibet-History. I. Title. II. Series.
BQ7580.W35 2009
294. 30951'5-dc22
2009012415
ISSN 1568-6183
ISBN 978 90 04 17584 6
Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NY, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
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PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
I dedicate this work to the memory
of my teacher, counselor, and good friend
Larry William Moses
1935-2008
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ............................................................................. ix
Abbreviations for Frequently-Cited Works ................................... xi
Introduction .......... ;.............................................................................. xvii
Prologue on Old Tibetan ................................................................... xx:i
Chapter One Religion and politics in Tibet's imperial
government, and the place of Buddhism therein ..................... 1
Politics and publication ................................................................. 1
Buddhism and society ................................................................... 4
Oaths and oathing .......................................................................... 10
Anti-Buddhist attitudes ................................................................. 13
Court religion ......................... .-........................................................ 14
The mythology of rule ................................................................... 18
The noble clans ............................................................................... 24
Tibet's military culture and the comitatus ................................. 26
The Tibetan court in context ........................................................ 30
Conclusions ..................................................................................... 36
Methodological observations ........................................................ 37
Endnotes .......................................................................................... 38
Chapter Two Sku, bla, lha, etc.: The language and phraseology
of early Tibetan politics and religion .......................................... 75
Language, ethnicity, and the Sino-Tibetan 'Theory' ................ 75
Tibet's honorific language ............................................................. 86
sku ..................................................................................................... 92
sku bla .............................................................................................. 97
bla, bla rna ....................................................................................... 106
lha ..................................................................................................... 110
A brief excursus on the concepts lha chos and myi chos ............. 123
Conclusions ..................................................................................... 130
Methodological observations ........................................................ 131
Endnotes .......................................................................................... 132
Chapter Three Rituals in the Imperium and later:
Continuity in the rituals of Tibetan Buddhism ........................ 165
rim gro, sku rim .............................................................................. 166
viii CONTENTS
Oathing rites, cup rites .................................................................. 17 4
Rites dealing with the founding of Bsam-yas ............................ 186
Confession rites .............................................................................. 189
The Bon tradition ........................................................................... 191
Conclusions ..................................................................................... 195
Methodological observations ........................................................ 196
Endnotes ....................................................................... :.................. 197
Chapter Four The intersection of religion and politics ............ 215
Why Avalokitesvara? ..................................................................... 215
Gtsug lag ........................................................................................... 225
A 'mountain cult' in the Imperium, and after? ......................... 230
Cakravartins in Tibet ..................................................................... 240
Btsan po and Rgyal po ................................................................... 245
Nongs ................................................................................................ 250
Conclusions ..................................................................................... 254
Methodological observations ........................................................ 257
Endnotes .......................................................................................... 259
Appendix One The religio-political significance of gold .......... 287
Appendix Two A brief excursus on Bon ..................................... 293
Select bibliography ............................................................................ 297
Index ................................................................................................... 307
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Even before I became engaged in this work, I was fortunate to have good
friends with whom I engaged in stimulating conversations and from
whom I was constantly learning. It is no exaggeration to say that this
work would not be what it is without that good council and support.
The result of the intellectual processes which this book represents
has been deeply informed by my friend and colleague, Christopher
Beckwith. His numerous researches on the early life and language of
the Tibetan peoples and their place in Central Eurasian culture have
motivated me to consider their implications for the study of Tibet's
early religious life. Through our countless conversations over many
cups of coffee I became ever more deeply impressed by the soundness
of his views, which time and again helped me make sense of the special
nature of Tibetan culture during its Imperial period.
The general approach of my work, looking for the values of religion
as embedded in political culture, was greatly influenced by the research
of another good friend and colleague, the late Larry Moses, likewise a
Professor in the Department of Central Eurasian Studies (retired) at
Indiana University. For years he sought such connections in the Secret
History of the Mongols, and much of his career has been spent in the
study of the relationship between Buddhism and politics among the
Mongolian peoples. He has kindly provided me with many insights
gained through years of work on this subject.
I also owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Christoph Clippers, Director
of the Lumbini International Research Institute, Lumbini, Nepal. Our
conversations there inspired me to include a modest amount of material
from later Tibetan government practice. His work on this little-studied
and difficult subject is a pioneering effort which will benefit our under
standing of the relationship between Buddhism and politics greatly.
In addition to pointing out similarities with older Tibetan beliefs and
practices, he generously provided me with much useful material which
I have utilized in Chapter Three.
The opportunity to pursue this work to its conclusion has been the
result of the uncommon patience and support of my wife, Tanaka
Juriko. I cannot do justice with words for the support she has given
me for this work. When we first met I told her, ''I'm working on a
book". This is it.