Powerful Places and Dangerous Beings. A 18th Century dGe Lugs Pa Text on gCod.

Presenter:

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Abstract

In the practice and ritual of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of gCod, it is decisive, for the purpose of the practice or ritual themselves, to meditate in places and environments considered particularly dangerous and frightening, as abodes of powerful and hostile non-human beings. In the dGe lugs school of Tibetan Buddhism, the gCod experience has been transmitted mainly by two traditions: the dBen sa tradition and the oral tradition of the ḍākinīs, which partucularly stresses practices and meditations in 108 scary places after a special initiation. This paper investigates some special indications of a dBen sa tradition commentary text, the gCod gzhung thar ‘dod ded dpon ma’i tshig don gsal bar ston pa’i nyams len gsal ba’i sgron me, found in the volume 14 of the collected works of the 8th Dalai Lama’s tutor, the yongs ‘dzin Yes shes rgyal msthan (1713-1793). Such indications conern the definition and the construction of an inner ideal pilgrimage through the description of real scary places, defined by special and unique shapes and atmospheres, and perceived as abodes for a varied range of harmful spirits and non-human entities. All these elements are described by the text as necessary conditions for the manifestation of inner virtues and afflictions: scary places and their inhabitants are to be considered by the gcod pa as a starting point experience in itself at the beginning of his particular and dangerous spiritual path.