Feeling the Way to Revelation: Patterns of Doubt and Persuasion in Tibetan Buddhist Auto/biographical Treasure Narratives

Abstract

In the Tibetan Buddhist Treasure (gter ma) tradition, communities cohere around the marking of certain visions as offering insight into the proper method of ritual practices, the veracity of reincarnation claims, decisions about institutional structures, assertions of lineage relationships, and most importantly for the purposes of this article, the phenomenology of Buddhist enlightenment for readers lacking such experience. There is a long and robust history of doubt around such visions and their narrative accounts. Doubters seek to debunk and disenfranchise those whose visions they dispute. This article analyzes the emotional dynamics and aesthetic charge of five exemplary visionary accounts from the 17th–20th century, with a focus on how doubts are overcome through intense positive sensory experiences within their life stories. Such narratives generate a sense of religious belonging in Tibetan Buddhist Treasure communities, beginning with the visionary him- or herself whose successful navigation of doubt is resolved by the persuasive power of intensely positive aesthetic experience.

The Aesthetics and Emotions of Religious Belonging: Examples from the Buddhist World

“…We follow actors who negotiate the authenticity of religious objects through their "aesthetic habitus" (Brox 2021), who sustain belonging through "feeling apart" (Caple 2021), or whose communities center on emotions that relate simultaneously to multiple temporalities (Baffelli and Schröer 2021). Our actors are found embedded in complex aesthetic formations of spectacle (Williams-Oerberg 2021), foodways (Kolata and Gillson 2021), musical practice (McLaughlin 2021), and textual narrative (Townsend 2021b). The works collected here break with popular perceptions of Buddhism as emotionally austere (Cassaniti 2014: 280-281).…”

“…The specific cases we examine extend from socio-historically embedded "traditional" Buddhist communities (Brox 2021;Caple 2021;Kolata and Gillson 2021) and emerging or expanding lineage traditions (Townsend 2021b;Williams-Oerberg 2021) to stigma-laden "new religions" (Baffelli and Schröer 2021;McLaughlin 2021). The authors treat each case as a carefully contextualized site within which to explore our shared questions about how it feels the way it does to belong to a Buddhist community and how these communities' constituent aesthetic practices guide their participants' understandings of themselves.…”

“…An important dimension of belonging highlighted by the articles is everyday affective labor, central to the ongoing formation of Buddhist communities. This includes the creative use of aesthetic forms by established authorities to "strengthen and expand religious community" (Williams-Oerberg 2021) or by visionaries engaging in an aesthetics of persuasion oriented as much toward themselves as others (Townsend 2021b). It can also include the care taken in the preparation of a dish of rice and beans (Kolata and Gillson 2021); the dedication of working through basic exercises to perfect instrumental technique (McLaughlin 2021); the sorting of sounds, smells, and sights as one shops in a market (Brox 2021); or even the act of rising to one's feet when someone enters a room (Caple 2021).…”

“…It can also include the care taken in the preparation of a dish of rice and beans (Kolata and Gillson 2021); the dedication of working through basic exercises to perfect instrumental technique (McLaughlin 2021); the sorting of sounds, smells, and sights as one shops in a market (Brox 2021); or even the act of rising to one's feet when someone enters a room (Caple 2021). The upheaval of extraordinary events can precipitate the formation of new communities and connections (Baffelli and Schröer 2021;Townsend 2021b;Williams-Oerberg 2021). But bonds between members are sustained and shaped through everyday aesthetic forms and emotional practices, as well as through their refusal (Caple 2021;Kolata and Gillson 2021;Williams-Oerberg 2021) or appropriation (Brox 2021).…”

“…There are always tensions inherent within even the most routine or modest practices of belonging, for so much is at stake. Aesthetic forms and emotional practices are central to the control and expansion of politically powerful institutions that amass material wealth (Williams-Oerberg 2021); the authority to establish new dharma lineages and authenticate newly discovered teachings (Townsend 2021b); the right to the last word on ritual conduct or doctrinal interpretation (Kolata and Gillson 2021;McLaughlin 2021); or a community's very survival (Baffelli and Schröer 2021;Brox 2021;Caple 2021). Lessons Learned from Buddhist Belonging While there is no reliable answer to the question "what counts as Buddhist?…”