Category Archives: Mainly monthly postings

One Clue Fewer about Klu sgrub.[1] Not long ago, I read, with Ogyan Tanzin Rinpoche, a 13th century partly autobiographical work by Guru Chowang (Chos dbang), his Great Treasure History (gTer ‘byung chen mo).[2] It is clear from the narrative that nāgas (klu) are … Continue reading →

Is treasure actually a thing in India? That entirely depends on who you ask.  If one were to rely exclusively on Western academic publications, one might easily conclude that treasure is not really a thing in India, and never has … Continue reading →

Scholars have been fascinated for many years by an intriguing and obviously important yet still little understood series of connections between the tantric traditions of north west India, including the old holy land of Uḍḍiyāna, and the tantric Buddhism of … Continue reading →

Cathy and I are very gratified by the positive reception of our work in critical editing, even though I am certain I do not deserve it, and remain acutely aware of the many failings in my work. We are above … Continue reading →

Numerous guru yoga liturgies are found throughout the many schools of Tibetan Buddhism, far more than one can hope to enumerate.  A few of them are very famous, for example, the guru yoga for Tsongkhapa known as the dGa’ ldan … Continue reading →

This belated blog is, as promised, for Dan Martin, who had questions for me some weeks ago about the way Śāntigarbha is thought about in the later rNying ma tradition.  So just who was Śāntigarbha? Śāntigarbha, an Indian paṇḍit whom … Continue reading →

In her seminal work on the Padmsambhava hagiographies, Anne-Marie Blondeau (1980) has famously described how the traditional narratives of Padmasambhava exist in parallel ‘womb birth’ (mngal skyes) and ‘miraculous birth’ (rdzus skyes) versions.[1] Deservedly, her work has been inspirational for … Continue reading →

According to Pasang Wangdu and Hildegaard Diemberger’s translation of the dBa’ bzhed, [1]  Pa gor Vairocana, the great translator and Buddhist culture hero of Imperial-period Tibet, might have been absolutely crawling with the repulsive little creatures. There is a passage in the dBa’ bzhed which … Continue reading →

Much has been written about many Tibetan lamas in recent years, but one who has received perhaps less attention than he deserves is the great Khu tsha zla ‘od. According to Kongtrul (1813-1899), he lived during the second rab byung, which … Continue reading →

Tibetans, especially Nyingmapas, recount numerous legends of ‘Hidden Lands’ (sbas yul). These are places of refuge where the Dharma can be safeguarded in times of political danger and religious persecution, when temples are vandalised and religious books burned. Such ‘Hidden … Continue reading →