{"id":507,"date":"2012-09-05T18:52:53","date_gmt":"2012-09-05T18:52:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.orient.ox.ac.uk\/kila\/?p=507"},"modified":"2013-10-21T21:15:43","modified_gmt":"2013-10-21T21:15:43","slug":"padmasambhava-in-early-tibetan-myth-and-ritual-part-3-miraculous-births-and-womb-births","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.orient.ox.ac.uk\/kila\/2012\/09\/05\/padmasambhava-in-early-tibetan-myth-and-ritual-part-3-miraculous-births-and-womb-births\/","title":{"rendered":"Padmasambhava in early Tibetan myth and ritual, Part 3: ‘miraculous births’ and ‘womb births’"},"content":{"rendered":"

In her seminal work on the Padmsambhava hagiographies, Anne-Marie Blondeau (1980) has famously described how the traditional narratives of Padmasambhava exist in parallel \u2018womb birth\u2019 (mngal skyes<\/em>) and \u2018miraculous birth\u2019 (rdzus skyes<\/em>) versions.[1]<\/a> Deservedly, her work has been inspirational for later generations of scholars, and she has been cited numerous times. But after a further thirty two years of scholarship, might her pioneering work now at long last deserve some slight further clarification, or a slightly different nuancing? We think so, and here is why.<\/p>\n

In brief, Blondeau was the first to to make it widely known to Western scholarship that a \u2018womb birth\u2019 account of Padma\u2019s birth existed in parallel to the more widespread and familiar \u2018miraculous birth\u2019 accounts. In addition, she mentioned Kong sprul\u2019s association of the \u2018womb birth\u2019 accounts with the bKa\u2019 ma<\/em> rather than the gTer ma<\/em>, and in particular, with the Phur pa transmission accounts (phur pa\u2019i lo rgyus<\/em>). Blondeau added that the account given in the Testament of Ba<\/em> is more commensurable with the traditional bKa\u2019 ma<\/em> transmission of the \u2018womb birth\u2019 version of Padmasambhava\u2019s life. As she further points out, we do not know exactly when the formalizing of the distinction between \u2018womb-birth\u2019 and \u2018miraculous birth\u2019 Padmasambhava biographies began, but we do know that the categories of \u2018womb-birth\u2019 and \u2018miraculous birth\u2019 derive from the abhidharma, and we also know that both types of Padmasambhava narratives share a very long parallel history in Tibet.<\/p>\n

What needs revising is the occasional interpretation of Blondeau as implying that the \u2018womb birth\u2019 accounts are somehow less miraculous and more realistic than the \u2018miraculous birth\u2019 accounts, in the sense that while the one describes a natural process, the other describes a miraculous process (in fact, we don\u2019t believe Blondeau really comes to any such simplistic conclusion, but her findings might sometimes be interpreted in this way). Be that as it may, as Cathy has been pointing out for many years now, closer analysis shows that this is not really the case at all: the \u2018womb birth\u2019 narrative is not in any way seeking to describing an ordinary event, and the\u2019womb birth\u2019 and \u2018miraculous birth\u2019 accounts are in fact both equally supramundane, equally miraculous, above all, both equally derived from the symbolic world of tantric ritual and its visualisations of pure perception.<\/p>\n

If one reads the actual sources, it becomes abundantly clear that the \u2018womb birth\u2019 narratives found in the Phur pa literature that Blondeau mentions are completely integrated with the \u2018miraculous birth\u2019 accounts, occuring together within the very same sources. Both are embedded side by side within the same cycles of tantric deity teachings and practices, in which their presentation by the guru on any specific occasion is designed to generate guru devotion and a pure vision (dag snang<\/em>) of all phenomena as the tantric ma\u1e47\u1e0dala. Thus, exactly like the \u2018miraculous birth\u2019 accounts, the \u2018womb birth\u2019 stories are highly symbolic and connected with tantric imagery, and so do not necessarily represent a more \u2018rationalist\u2019 strand of thinking at all. For example, Sog zlog pa\u2019s Phur pa lo rgyus<\/em>[2]<\/a> forms part of the cycle of texts for the Rong zom Phur pa tradition. Its focus on a \u2018womb birth\u2019 can best be seen as expressing a Mah\u0101yoga visionary perspective equating the physical body with the tantric deity. Hence in this account, Guru Padma is born in a physical body which is none other than the Phur pa deity and his ma\u1e47\u1e0dala: his waist is a knot like the middle section of a phur bu<\/em> ritual implement, his lower body triangular in shape, again like the phur bu<\/em>, while his hair is reddish brown like that of the Phur pa deity, and his eyes and mouth are semi-circular, thus resembling the three semi-circular shapes outlined by a circle around the central triangle, which is the standard graphic depiction of many Phur pa ma\u1e47\u1e0dalas. Here is Sog zlog pa\u2019s full description:<\/p>\n

\u201cCalled, \u015a\u0101ntarak\u1e63ita, (he) had a complexion of white with (a tinge) of red, the sign of the Lotus family, and his head perfected every wondrous ability. His waist was a knot, his upper body shaped to go inwards, while his lower body was triangular. His mouth and eyes were semi-circles, and his hair was reddish brown. (He was thus) born as one disfigured, (but) endowed with the phurpa\u2019s characteristics.\u201d (\u015b\u0101nta rak\u1e63i ta bya ba kha dog dkar la dmar ba\u2019i mdangs dang ldan pas padma\u2019i rigs kyi mtshan dang ldan zhing \/ sgyu rtsal thams cad rdzogs pa mgo dang sked pa rgya mdud \/ ro stod bcum gzhogs \/ ro smad zur gsum\/ kha dan mig zla gam \/ skra kham pa ste \/ mi sdug pa phur pa\u2019i mtshan nyid can zhig skyes so \/<\/em>, p.12)<\/p>\n

In the \u2018womb birth\u2019 account given in the reputedly very old Bum pa nag po<\/em>, a major source for all the Phur pa bKa\u2019 ma<\/em> transmissions, the accounts of the two types of birth are given together (bDud \u2019joms bKa\u2019 ma version, Volume Tha: 221-225; Boord 2002: 113-115).[3]<\/a> First, the \u2018womb birth\u2019 is presented, with a slightly different version of the features of the Guru\u2019s body from Sog zlog pa\u2019s, equally replete with potent tantric symbolism, and then there is a variant of the same story of his early years which is given in the following \u2018miraculous birth\u2019 story. The two accounts merge for the Guru\u2019s later deeds.<\/p>\n

A myes zhabs\u2019 Phur pa lo rgyus<\/em>, given within his commentary on the Sa skya Phur pa practice,[4]<\/a> also discusses the two types of birth together. He draws a rather Levi-Straussian symbolic opposition between the two. In this case, the womb birth is said to have taken place in the eastern region of the country of Zahor, while the miraculous birth took place in the western region of the country of Urgyan, so that the residents of the two both held the Guru to be the son of their King. He stresses that there is no contradition, since both types of birth are examples of an inconceivable array of enlightened emanations which accord with the beings to be tamed.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

Our conclusion: rather than making a primary analytic or \u2018etic\u2019 distinction between the \u2018womb birth\u2019 and \u2018lotus birth\u2019 accounts, both of which after all are in essence closely related lo rgyus<\/em> narratives often pertaining to the same tantric rituals, a better primary analytic distinction might be between such ritual narratives on the one hand, and the more historical narratives of a text like the Testament of Ba<\/em> on the other hand.\u00a0 The dBa\u2019 bzhed<\/em> for example refers to itself as a bKa\u2019 mchid<\/em> (royal discourse), while the sBa bzhed<\/em> refers to itself as a bKa\u2019 gtsigs<\/em> (royal edict). Both titles thereby indicate that their proper context is the sphere of state, not the sphere of religious devotion or ritual. By contrast, the traditional lo rgyus<\/em> accounts of \u2018womb birth\u2019 and \u2018lotus birth\u2019 alike are part of the transmission of religion. A note of caution, however: it remains a bit unclear how exactly to assess the Padma sections of the Testament of Ba<\/em>, since we do not yet know who wrote them, when, or why. But that is not for now: more on that in a future blog!<\/p>\n

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[1]<\/a> Blondeau, A.M. 1980. \u201cAnalysis of the biographies of Padmasambhava according to Tibetan tradition: classification of sources\u201d, in Tibetan Studies in Honour of Hugh Richardson<\/em>, eds. Michael Aris and Aung San Suu Kyi, Warminster: Aris and Philips: 45-52.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[2]<\/a> Sog zlog pa. dPal rdo rje phur pa\u2019i lo rgyus ngo mtshar rgya mtsho\u2019i rba rlabs<\/em>, version from the bDud<\/em> \u2019joms<\/em> bKa<\/em>\u2019 ma<\/em>: <\/strong>R\u00f1i\u1e45 ma Bka\u2019 ma rgyas pa <\/em>\u00a0(see below), vol. nya: 8-116.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[3]<\/a> bDud \u2019joms bKa\u2019 ma. R\u00f1i\u1e45 ma Bka\u2019 ma rgyas pa<\/em>, <\/em>compiled by Bdud-\u2019Joms \u2019Jigs-bral-ye-\u015bes-rdo-rje.\u00a0 Published by Dupjung Lama, Kalimpong, 58 volumes 1982-1987. An electronic version is available from the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center, New York (The Expanded Version of the Nyingma Kama Collection Teachings Passed in an Unbroken Lineage, W19229, 0448-0505); and Boord, M.J. 2002 A Bolt of Lightning From The Blue: the vast commentary of Vajrak\u012bla that clearly defines the essential points<\/em>. Annotated translations, including Phur \u2019grel \u2019bum nag<\/em> as transmitted to Ye-shes mtsho-rgyal.\u00a0 Berlin: edition khordong.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[4]<\/a> A myes zhabs. \u2019Jam-mgon A-myes-zhabs, Ngag-dbang-kun-dga\u2019-bsod-nams: bCom ldan \u2019das rdo rje gzhon nu\u2019i gdams pa nyams len gyi chu bo chen po sgrub pa\u2019i thabs kyi rnam par bshad pa \u2019phrin las kyi pad mo rab tu rgyas pa\u2019i nyin byed<\/em>, published in, \u2019Khon lugs Phur pa\u2019i rnam b\u015bad, \u2019Chams yig brjed bya\u1e45<\/em>, The Vajrak\u012bla rites as practiced by the \u2019Khon Lineage of Sa-skya,<\/em> reproduced from manuscript copies of the ancient Sa-skya xylographic prints by Ngawang Sopa, New Delhi, 1973 (TBRC W30340). [It is also available as vol. 8 of TBRC W29307.<\/em>]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[5]<\/a> shar phyogs za hor gyi yul mngal skyes kyis \u2019dul bar gzigs nas\/ grong khyer gzi brjid ldan zhes bya ba na\/ yab rgyal po thor cog zhes bya ba la btsun mo gnyis yod pa las \/ btsun mo nges ma zhes bya ba la sras thod gtsug can zhes bya bar sku \u2019khrungs par bzhed \/ brdzus skyes ltar na \/ nub phyogs urgyan gyi yul brdzus skyes kyis \u2019dul bar gzigs nas \/ dhana ko sha\u2019i gling du padma\u2019i sdong po las brdzus te \u2019khrungs par bzhed \/ de ltar mngal skyes dang brdzus skyes kyi lo rgyus mi \u2019dra ba las \/ shar phyogs za hor ba dang \/ nub phyogs urgyan ba gnyis mi mthun te \/ za hor pa na re \/ slob dpon padma nged kyi rgyal po\u2019i sras yin \/ mngal skyes yin zhes zer \/ urgyan pa na re nged kyi rgyal po\u2019i sras yin brdzus skyes yin zhes zer te \/ sprul pa\u2019i bkod pa yin pas gnyis ka bden pa yin te \/… \u2019dir gang la gang \u2019dul du sprul pa\u2019i bkod pa bsam gyis mi khyab pa bstan pa yin pas \/ de\u2019i yon tan gyi rnam par thar pa phyogs re tsam mthong ba la brten nas \/ lo rgyus \u2019chad tshul mi \u2019dra ba rnams \u2019byung ba yin te \/ gang ltar yang \u2019gal ba med do<\/em> (A myes zhabs: 33-34).<\/p>\n

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In her seminal work on the Padmsambhava hagiographies, Anne-Marie Blondeau (1980) has famously described how the traditional narratives of Padmasambhava exist in parallel \u2018womb birth\u2019 (mngal skyes) and \u2018miraculous birth\u2019 (rdzus skyes) versions.[1] Deservedly, her work has been inspirational for … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mainly-monthly-postings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.orient.ox.ac.uk\/kila\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.orient.ox.ac.uk\/kila\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.orient.ox.ac.uk\/kila\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.orient.ox.ac.uk\/kila\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.orient.ox.ac.uk\/kila\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.orient.ox.ac.uk\/kila\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":891,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.orient.ox.ac.uk\/kila\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507\/revisions\/891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.orient.ox.ac.uk\/kila\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.orient.ox.ac.uk\/kila\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.orient.ox.ac.uk\/kila\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}