Reflections on Rasāyana, Bcud Len and Related Practices in Nyingma (Rnying Ma) Tantric Ritual

Cantwell, Cathy

doi:10.18732/hssa.v5i2.17

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…316-32. For discussion and analysis of closely related practices centering on the production of tantric "accomplished medicine", see (Cantwell 2015(Cantwell , 2017Sehnalova 2018Sehnalova , 2019aSehnalova , 2019b. For a detailed discussion of an important Indian Buddhist precedent for the preparation and ritual treatment of tantric medicines and pills, whose ingredients also often figure in broader Indian medical traditions, see Stablein (1976).…”

Section: Critique and Reconciliation: Sokdokpa's Reflections On The Mmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arguing over the Buddhist Pedigree of Tibetan Medicine: A Case Study of Empirical Observation and Traditional Learning in 16th- and 17th-Century Tibet

Gentry

2019

Religions

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This article examines the relationship between the practice and theory of medicine and Buddhism in premodern Tibet. It considers a polemical text composed by the 16th-17th-century Tibetan physician and tantric Buddhist expert Sokdokpa Lodrö Gyeltsen, intending to prove the Buddhist canonical status of the Four Medical Tantras, the foundational text of the Tibetan medical tradition. While presenting and analyzing Sokdokpa's polemical writing in the context of the broader debate over the Buddhist pedigree of the Four Tantras that took place during his time, this discussion situates Sokdokpa's reflections on the topic in terms of his broader career as both a practicing physician and a tantric Buddhist ritual and contemplative specialist. It suggests that by virtue of Sokdokpa's tightly interwoven activities in the spheres of medicine and Buddhism, his contribution to this debate gives voice to a sensibility in which empiricist, historicist, and Buddhist ritual and contemplative inflections intermingle in ways that resist easy disentanglement and classification. In this it argues that Sokdokpa's reflections form an important counterpoint to the perspectives considered thus far in the scholarly study of this debate. It also questions if Sokdokpa's style of argumentation might call for a recalibration of how scholars currently construe the roles of tantric Buddhist practice in the appeal by premodern Tibetan physicians to critical and probative criteria. 95 Sog bzlog pa Blo gros rgyal mtshan (1975b), Nges don 'brug sgra, pp. 509-44. 96 Nges don snying po, pp. 233.2-233.3. 97 Nges don snying po, pp. 232.3-232.6. 98 Nges don snying po, p. 234.1. 99 Nges don snying po, pp. 233.6-234.1. On this point Sokdokpa seems to be paraphrasing Tashi Pelzang's 15th century defense. Cf. Gyatso (2015), p. 160. 100 Nges don snying po, pp. 234.1-234.4.

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Section: Critique and Reconciliation: Sokdokpa's Reflections On The Mmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arguing over the Buddhist Pedigree of Tibetan Medicine: A Case Study of Empirical Observation and Traditional Learning in 16th- and 17th-Century Tibet

Gentry

2019

Religions

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“…Different teaching lineages 14 of the Bonpos have their own mendrup rituals of different yidam deities, i.e., of particular and often individually attributed tantric deities to be meditated upon in order to guide the adepts to awakening. For the prevailing Bonpo Dru (Bru, also spelled Gru, 'Bru, 'Gru) lineage, 15 inherently tied to the Menri monastery, the two main yidams for a mendrup ritual are the deities Trowo Tsochok Khagying (Khro bo gtso mchog 13 The ritual in Menri was mentioned by Cech (1988), and in Triten Norbutse by Tsetan (1998). 14 The liturgic and teaching lineages of the Bonpos originated from hereditary family father-son transmission lineages.…”

Section: T He B O N P O M E N D Ru P Ri T Ua L P R Ac T I C Ementioning

confidence: 99%

Tibetan Bonpo Mendrup: The Precious Formula’s Transmission

Sehnalova

2017

Hist. Sci. South Asia

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The article presents the traceable history of the Tibetan Bonpo mendrup ritual practice in textual sources, as it has been recorded by the Bonpos themselves. These records are put into context with the current performance of the practice by the Bonpo exile community. The study aims to embrace all the relevant Bonpo historical material accessible, and thus deals with documents of a wide time spam, from the eleventh or twelfth century onwards until the early twentieth century. The Bonpo mendrup is a healing, longevity, rejuvenation and enlightenment-seeking contemplative meditational practice of the Tibetan tantric tradition with a strong emphasis on its medicinal component. It embodies various spheres of knowledge and their principles, as the Indian tantrism, a strong Buddhist cosmological organisational and soteriological framework, the Tibetan medical tradition, with embedded elements of alchemy and Tibetan indigenous religious notions. As the studied sources reveal, its origin can be traced to the intellectually vibrant times in Tibet of around the twelfth century, where all these fields of expertise came together. Thus the case provides an example of such a complex composed of tantra, medicine and alchemic influences specific for Tibet. Since then, the Bonpo mendrup can be followed by varied records in a number of Bonpo literary sources of different genres. These are compared with the present form of the ritual. The sources support the ritual’s anticipated transmission and practice throughout the history. They show that different ideas apply to its origin, and particularly its revelation as a treasure text, and that the ritual existed in varied forms, and was shared and imparted among different lineages of Bon. The most important finding is that the practice is actually traceable throughout the history, and likely have never ceased to be active over the centuries from the very early times until today.

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“…Consecrated substances used in the various pill traditions are called damdzé (dam rdzas) and often include relics. The resulting pills are referred to variously as "Dharma Medicine" or chömen (chos sman), "Nectar Pills" dütsi rilbu (bdud rtsi ril bu), "Nectar Dharma Medicine" or dütsi chömen (bdud rtsi chos sman), and "Accomplished Medicines" called mendrup (sman sgrub) (Cantwell 2015(Cantwell , 2017Garrett 2009;Sehnalova 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…See (Blaikie 2014) for examples of papta used as accomplished medicine or as mendrup in rituals in Ladakh, Sehnalova (2018, n.d.) for papta used in Bonpo mendrup rituals, and Cantwell (2015Cantwell ( , 2017 for papta in Nyingma ritual contexts. Looking around the museum, we discovered two kinds of Domo Geshe Rinpoche's pills on exhibit as well as little statues made out of the jinten pill material (Figure 3).…”

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confidence: 99%

The Buddhist–Medical Interface in Tibet: Black Pill Traditions in Transformation

Gerke¹

2019

Religions

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This paper introduces Tibetan pill traditions and examines two exceptional pill formulas that emerged from an early Buddhist–medical interface in Tibet, but followed different trajectories due to the increased specialization of religious and medical knowledge. “Black pills” are the most revered consecrated healing compound of the Karmapas (the incarnate heads of the Karma Kagyü School of Tibetan Buddhism), while the “Cold Compound Black Pill”—a precious pill known as Rinchen Drangjor—is one of Tibetan medicine’s most complex formulas still produced today. Based on both textual research and ethnographic fieldwork in India, I critically explore the principal factors that link these black pill traditions. I argue that parallels in the use of potent substances and their processing offer examples of how strongly entangled medical and religious approaches are with respect to healing practices that include blessings, protection, spiritual support, and medical treatment. My findings reveal that although there are distinct areas of medical and religious specialized practices in the black pill traditions, consecrated multi-compounds are added to both types of black pills to enhance potency and ensure the continuation of lineage affiliations to certain Buddhist schools. I also show how political and sectarian conflicts within certain Buddhist schools may affect some of these rare pill practices.

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Reflections on Rasāyana, Bcud Len and Related Practices in Nyingma (Rnying Ma) Tantric Ritual

Cited by 5 publications

References 1 publication

Arguing over the Buddhist Pedigree of Tibetan Medicine: A Case Study of Empirical Observation and Traditional Learning in 16th- and 17th-Century Tibet

Arguing over the Buddhist Pedigree of Tibetan Medicine: A Case Study of Empirical Observation and Traditional Learning in 16th- and 17th-Century Tibet

Tibetan Bonpo Mendrup: The Precious Formula’s Transmission

The Buddhist–Medical Interface in Tibet: Black Pill Traditions in Transformation

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