Subversive Sainthood and Tantric Fundamentalism
Author: David Michael DiValerio
Publisher:
Published: 2011
Total Pages:
ISBN-13:
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The Holy Madmen of Tibet
Author: David M. DiValerio
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2015
Total Pages: 369
ISBN-13: 0199391203
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThroughout the past millennium, certain Tibetan Buddhist yogins have taken on profoundly norm-overturning modes of dress and behavior, including draping themselves in human remains, consuming filth, provoking others to violence, and even performing sacrilege. They became known far and wide as "madmen" (smyon pa, pronounced nyönpa), achieving a degree of saintliness in the process. This book offers the first comprehensive study of Tibet's "holy madmen" drawing on their biographies and writings, as well as tantric commentaries, later histories, oral traditions, and more. Much of The Holy Madmen of Tibet is dedicated to examining the lives and legacies of the three most famous "holy madmen" who were all of the Kagyü sect: the Madman of Tsang (author of The Life of Milarepa), the Madman of Ü, and Drukpa Künlé, Madman of the Drukpa Kagyü. Each born in the 1450s, they rose to prominence during a period of civil war and of great shifts in Tibet's religious culture. By focusing on literature written by and about the "holy madmen" and on the yogins' relationships with their public, this book offers in-depth looks at the narrative and social processes out of which sainthood arises, and at the role biographical literature can play in the formation of sectarian identities. By showing how understandings of the "madmen" have changed over time, this study allows for new insights into current notions of "crazy wisdom." In the end, the "holy madmen" are seen as self-aware and purposeful individuals who were anything but insane.
The Yogin and the Madman
Author: Andrew Quintman
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2013-11-12
Total Pages: 332
ISBN-13: 0231164157
DOWNLOAD EBOOKTibetan biographers began writing Jetsun Milarepa’s (1052–1135) life story shortly after his death, initiating a literary tradition that turned the poet and saint into a model of virtuosic Buddhist practice throughout the Himalayan world. Andrew Quintman traces this history and its innovations in narrative and aesthetic representation across four centuries, culminating in a detailed analysis of the genre’s most famous example, composed in 1488 by Tsangnyön Heruka, or the “Madman of Western Tibet.” Quintman imagines these works as a kind of physical body supplanting the yogin’s corporeal relics.
Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Hagiographical Strategies
Author: Massimo A. Rondolino
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2017-01-12
Total Pages: 243
ISBN-13: 1317156943
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book examines the potential of conducting studies in comparative hagiology, through parallel literary and historical analyses of spiritual life writings pertaining to distinct religious contexts. In particular, it focuses on a comparative analysis of the early sources on the medieval Christian Saint Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) and the Tibetan Buddhist Milarepa (c. 1052-1135), up to and including the so-called ‘standard versions’ of their life stories written by Bonaventure of Bagnoregio (1221-1274) and Tsangnyön Heruka (1452-1507) respectively. The book thus demonstrates how in the social and religious contexts of both 1200s Italy and 1400s Tibet, narratives of the lives, deeds and teachings of two individuals recognized as spiritual champions were seen as the most effective means to promote spiritual, doctrinal and political agendas. Therefore, as well being highly relevant to those studying hagiographical sources, this book will be of interest to scholars working across the fields of religion and the comparative study of religious phenomena, as well as history and literature in the pre-modern period.
The Gongkar Lamdre: Masters in Khyenluk Style
Author: བློ་གསལ་དོན་གྲུབ།
Publisher: Gongkar Choede, Dehradun
Published: 2024-04-01
Total Pages: 276
ISBN-13: 8197229791
DOWNLOAD EBOOKTibetan text by Losal Dondup (Gongkar Choede); English text by Mathias Fermer (University of Vienna, Austria). Dehradun: Gongkar Choede Monastery, 2024. Tibetan and English; 312 mm x 252 mm; 216 illustrations, appendices A-D.
Crazy for Wisdom
Author: Stefan Larsson
Publisher: BRILL
Published: 2012-09-14
Total Pages: 375
ISBN-13: 9004203931
DOWNLOAD EBOOKBest known today as the author of the Life of Milarepa, Tsangnyön Heruka (1452–1507) was one of the most influential mad yogins of Tibet. Stefan Larsson’s Crazy for Wisdom, describes Tsangnyön Heruka's life, based on narratives by his disciples, and examines an unexpected aspect of fifteenth-century Tibetan Buddhist practice.
The Selfless Ego
Author: Lucia Galli
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2021-05-13
Total Pages: 320
ISBN-13: 1000343332
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe essays collected in The Selfless Ego propose an innovative approach to one of the most fascinating aspects of Tibetan literature: life writing. Departing from past schemes of interpretation, this book addresses issues of literary theory and identity construction, eluding the strictures imposed by the adoption of the hagiographical master narrative as synonymous with the genre. The book is divided into two parts. Ideally conceived as an 'introduction' to traditional forms of life writing as expressed in Buddhist milieus, Part I. Memory and Imagination in Tibetan Hagiographical Writing centres on the inner tensions between literary convention and self-expression that permeate indigenous hagiographies, mystical songs, records of teachings, and autobiographies. Part II: Conjuring Tibetan Lives explores the most unconventional traits of the genre, sifting through the narrative configuration of Tibetan biographical writings as 'liberation stories' to unearth those fragments of life that compose an individual’s multifaceted existence. This volume is the first to approach Tibetan life writing from a literary and narratological perspective, encompassing a wide range of disciplines, themes, media, and historical periods, and thus opening new and vibrant areas of research to future scholarship across the Humanities. The chapters in this book were originally published as two special issues of Life Writing.
Vision and Violence
Author: Carl Yamamoto
Publisher: BRILL
Published: 2012-05-11
Total Pages: 406
ISBN-13: 9004230106
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book offers the first in-depth examination of the life and writings of Lama Zhang (1122-1193), key figure in the "Tibetan renaissance." Controversial, larger-than-life, already revered as a literary innovator and tantric meditation master, Zhang entered public life in mid-career and forged a new model of rulership and religious community that would set the standard for later religious rulers of Lhasa—most notably the Dalai Lamas. The focus of the model was the tantric hermit who comes down from the mountains and sustains a worldly community through his mastery of space, time, and symbol. The subject is approached through a complex of related issues: lineage and tradition-formation, charisma and hegemony, literary genre, textual economy, and the politics of tantra.
The Buddhist World
Author: John Powers
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2015-10-05
Total Pages: 831
ISBN-13: 1317420160
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Buddhist World joins a series of books on the world’s great religions and cultures, offering a lively and up-to-date survey of Buddhist studies for students and scholars alike. It explores regional varieties of Buddhism and core topics including buddha-nature, ritual, and pilgrimage. In addition to historical and geo-political views of Buddhism, the volume features thematic chapters on philosophical concepts such as ethics, as well as social constructs and categories such as community and family. The book also addresses lived Buddhism in its many forms, examining the ways in which modernity is reshaping traditional structures, ancient doctrines, and cosmological beliefs.
Tales of a Mad Yogi
Author: Elizabeth L. Monson
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
Published: 2021-08-24
Total Pages: 258
ISBN-13: 0834843730
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA fascinating biography of Drukpa Kunley, a Tibetan Buddhist master and crazy yogi. The fifteenth-century Himalayan saint Drukpa Kunley is a beloved figure throughout Tibet, Bhutan, and Nepal, known both for his profound mastery of Buddhist practice as well as his highly unconventional and often humorous behavior. Ever the proverbial trickster and “crazy wisdom” yogi, his outward appearance and conduct of carousing, philandering, and breaking social norms is understood to be a means to rouse ordinary people out of habitual ways of thinking and lead them toward spiritual awakening. Elizabeth L. Monson has spent decades traveling throughout the Himalayas, retracing Drukpa Kunley’s steps and translating his works. In this creative telling, direct translations of his teachings are woven into a life story based on historical accounts, autobiographical sketches, folktales, and first-hand ethnographic research. The result, with flourishes of magical encounters and references to his superhuman capacities, is a poignant narrative of Kunley’s life, revealing to the reader the quintessential example of the capacity of Buddhism to skillfully bring people to liberation.
