The Arrow and the Spindle

The Arrow and the Spindle
.Studies in History, Myths, Rituals and Beliefs in
TIBET
Samten G. Karmay
1998
MANDALA BOOK POINT·
Table of Contents
Published by
Madhab 1. Maharjan
MANDAIA BOOK POINT
Kantipath, Kathmandu
Nepal
Preface
Acknowledgement
Abbreviations
vii
xi
xii
Part I. Edicts
1
The Ordinance oflHa Bla-ma Ye-shes-'od
3
(M. Aris et S. Aung San, ed., Tibetan Studies in Honour of
Hugh Richardson, Warminster, Aris and Phillips,. 1980.
150·160)
© Sam ten G. Karmay, 1998
2
An Open Letter by Pho-brang Zhi-ba-'od
17
(The Tibet Journal. V-3, Dbararosala, 1980. 1-28)
3
The Decree of the Khro-chen King
41
(Acta Orientalia, 51, Copenhague, 1990. 141-59)
4
Inscriptions Dating from the Reign of
btsan po Khri IDe-srong-btsan
55
(E. Steinkellner, ed., Tibetan Studies, GraziAustria)
First Edition: 1998
Part If. rDzogs chen Philosophy in Tibetan
. Buddhism
5
The Doctrinal Position of rDzogs chen
from the Tenth to the Thirteenth
Centuries
69
(Journal Asiatique ,Tome CCLXIII, 1-2, 1975. 147-56)
6
King TsaIDza and Vajrayana
76
(M. Strickmann, ed., Tantric and Taoist Studies in Honour
of RAStein, Vol. One, Bruxelles, 1981. 192-211)
Typesetting by
DONGOL PRINTERS
7
Tel: 256932
rDzogs chen in its earliest text: a
Manuscript from Dunhuang
94
(B.N. Aziz et M. Kapstein, ed., Soundings in Tibetan
Civilisation, New Delhi: Manoha,1985. 272-82)
Part III. The Bon religion
8
Printed at: Nepal Lithographing Co. Pvt. Ltd
Goldhunga, Balaju, Kathmandu.
A General Introduction to the History and
Doctrines of Bon
(Memoires of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko,
no. 33, Tokyo, Toyo Bunko, 1975. 171-218)
104
60
65
70
75
80
sprul ba sum brgya drug cu bsangl
pha myes rigs kyi rgyud gsas bsangl
slob dpon gnyan gyi drin gsas bsangl
bla ri gangs dkar ti se bsangl
bla mtsho ma pang g.yu mtsho bsangl
shel gyer bdag gi srung rna bsangl
sri'u gso ba'i lha gsas bsangl
rno mthong ston pa'i 'phrag Iha bsangr
gar ' dug yul sa gnyan po bsangl
za kha 'byed pa'i zhal Ice bsangl (p.81)
bdag cag shel gyer sgrub pa posl
khas rta sha bshul mo zos pa' am!
lag pas mi ro dmar la reg pa' am!
lha rgod thub chod byas pa'am!
gnyan rgod bzbag len byas pa' am!
dam tshig chag nyams shor ba'am!
yi dam spang len byas pa'am!
mun nag mo dang rngul 'dres saml
dme rag mo dang mal gcig gam!
ya rna can gyi gos gyon nam!
nyams pa can gyi zas zos saml
de liar lha rgod mi dgyes pal
dang po nongs pa sems gyis mtholl
bar du ' gyod pa tshig gis bshagsl
tha mar dag pa rtsi yis bsang/......
Wind-horse and
Well-being of Man
r
he first visible sign that a traveller sees from a distance when he
approaches a Tibetan settlement whether in Tibet or elsewhere is the
so-called 'prayer-flag', dar leog in Tibetan, literally it means the 'cloth
(attached to) the pinnacle or turret'. The Tibetan term has no religious
connotation and indeed the flag was originally not a religious article as the
word 'prayer-flag' suggests. However, it has developed into one as
Buddhism came to penetrate all aspects of Tibetan culture. As a result the
dar leog can nOw contain nothing but prayers and mantra.
The focus of this paper is the concept of the 'wind-horse prayerflag', its myth and ritual.
. 1. Problem of the origin of klung/rlung rfa
The Tibetan word for this is rlung rta. There are two ways of
spelling of this word: klung rta which literally means 'river-horse' or the
'horse of the river' and rlung rta, meaning 'wind-horse'. Since the first
syllable of both spellings has the same sound, ambiguity concerning its
meaning has given rise to a certain amount of confusion. L.A. Waddell
. has taken the spelling as being a phonetic representation of the Chinese
word lung meaning 'dragon' and coimects it with the Chinese phrase lung
rna, 'dragon-horse'.1 If that is so, one wonders why it was not translated
by 'brug, dragon siace ma is translated by rta, horse. It would then be
'brug rta in Tibetan which would surely prove his finding correct. Lung
rna is represented by a dragon in Chin.ese mythology (Plate 38). Such a
representation in Tibetan culture is unknown. Paintings of lung ma are
found in Dunhuang manuscripts 2 and therefore it is of ancient origin. It is
the symbol of grandeur according to Waddell. But Waddell is confused by
his own spelling of the syllable, which he writes as lung, a form that
never occurs in Tibetan texts or if it does, would be considered incorrect.
However, dragon and horse are indeed both animals which detennine the
make-up of the rlung rta as we shall see. The ambiguity about the
spelling is apparent from many texts and the Tibetans themselves have
been aware of this as we see in the following remark made by 'Ju Mipham(1846-1912) at the beginning of this century. He says: "to write
klung rta is not beautiful. It should be written as rlung rta ", but no
L Waddell, 1971:408-418
2. Pelliot chinois 2683. lowe this information to my colleague Kuo Liying.
412
413
explanation is given 3
While the Tibetan tradition of the dkar itsis astrology comes entirely
from India with the appearance of the Kalacakratantra III TIbet in 1027
A.D., Tibetan tradition attributes its nag rtsis astrology to China and
indeed there are indications that certain types of Chinese astrology came to
be known there already during the Tibetan imperial period, i.e. from the
seventh to the ninth centuries A.D. It is from this astrological tradition
that the idea of rlung rta developed, for the word klung na, 'river-horse' is
one of the four basic elements in Tibetan astrology although the sense in
this astrological context is by no means clear. The four elements are:
I. srag, 'vital force'
2. Ius, 'body'
3. dbang thang, 'power', 'prosperity'
4. klung na, 'river-horse'4
The term klung rIa is, in my opipion, a transformation of the idea
of lung ma, 'dragon-horse', because this mythic animal is in Chinese
mythology always associated with rivers from which it rises often
carrying on its back the eight geomantic figures (spar kha) (Plate 38).5 It
is from this mythological sense of lung ma that the old Tibetan spelling
klung na, the 'river-horse' or the 'horse from the rivers' is derived, but the
Tibetans somehow have not accepted the actual form of lung rna itself and
the dragon element has been left out.
As I mentioned earlier, 'Ju Mi-pham does not give any reasons
why the spelling klung (river) should be changed into rlung (wind). It
may be because the ideal horse (rta mchag) in Tibetan literature is always
associated with the wind because of its speed and it takes several epithets
containing the word rlung, for example, rlung gi gshag pa can, the 'one
which has the wind-wing'; rlung las skyes, the 'one which is born of the
wind'. These epithets are ofIndian origin and the ideal horse is one of the
seven gems in Buddhist texts and that is why it often carries on its back
the three jewels symbolising the three ralna. As is often the case,
Buddhist hence Indian ideas carry more weight in Tibetan tradition and so
tbe 'wind-horse' seems to have come to prevail, but at the same time to
symbolise a mundane notion of the layman rather than a Buddhist
religious ideal.
It may be because of these reasons that the spelling rlung, the
wind, is now generally accepted and is translated by 'wind-horse'.
Professor Stein further specifies that the rlung, 'wind' here stands for the
breath 6 while Professor Snellgrove translates it conceptually as 'wellbeing',1 However, the word is still and often mistakenly taken to mean
only the actual flag planted on the roof of a house or on a high place near
a village. In fact, it is a symbol of the idea of well-being or good fortune.
This idea is clear in such expressions as rlung ria dar ba, the 'increase of
the rlung ria' when things go well with someone; rlung rIa rgud pa, the
'decline of the rlung rIa' when the opposite happenes. The colloquial
equivalent for this is lam 'gro which also means luck.
2, The features of the rlung rfa
The image of the rlung rIa is usually printed. Its size varies from
Plate 38: PC 2683. The Chinese characters read: he tu, lit.
"River chart" (spar kha, pa gua). The pagua is carried at the back of Long rna,
'(dragon horse". Photo. Courtesy of the Biblitheque nationale, Paris
6 inches to 2 feet square printed on cotton or paper. If it is printed on
paper the size is usually small and the impression can run to thousands of
copies. At the end of the bsang ritual, they are thrown into the air group
by group in a successive action so that they float in the air separately like
a multidue of kites. If the rlung rIa is printed on cotton, it is usually
attached to a pole which can have the shape of an arrow or attached to tall
trees or any high place. The tissue or paper can be of the colour for the
year in which one is born, for example, if one is born in the year fireJJorse, the colour of his rlung rIa should be red.
The principal feature of the rlung rIa are the horse often with a
wishing jewel on its back occupying the centre, an eagle and a dragon in
the upper corners and a tiger and a lion in the lower corners (Plate 39).
Other animals of mythical origin especially the three victory symbols are
3. I read this in one of the works of Mi~pham, but have been unable to relocate it for the
present.
4. VK, chapter 22, f.162a,2 et seq., Cj. Cornu, 1990: 95, 103.
5. Dieny, 1987: 72, 116-117.
414
6. Stein, 1981:\80, 195.
7. Snellgrove, 1967: 32, 34; 44,24; 56,36; 88, 21; 257, n.lO.
415
som~times added to this group (Plate 40), but they are a later i']1UO'vation'~~'
and so do not represent an integral part of the rlung rta composition.
animals which are fonnd in the four cortlers are called the 'four great' ••··.
gnyan' for a particular reason to which I shall return below. They are • '
considered as the four divinities of rlung rta (rlung rta'i lha bzhi) in later:
texts and it has been suggested that they also represent the four Cardin~
points,S but each of the four animals does not always find itself inth~
same direction. The rlung rta representation may also contain mantra and '.
even prayers inscribed in the space between the animal representations,
but they are purely a later Buddhist addition, for the original concepto(
the rlung ria bears no relation to Buddhism apart from the elements which
we have discussed earlier on.
Plate 39: An ordinary form of rlung-rta
L. A. Waddell remarks that the form of the rlung rta is borrowed
from the Asoka pillars and he says: "the Lamas have degraded much of
their Indian symbolism and perverted it to sordid and selfish objects".9 It
is, of course, true that the lamas have made much alteration of the
autochthonic symbols to their own ends, but the rlung rta symbol a~ a
whole itself has no relation to Indian symbolism.
8. Stein, 1959: 17, n.46
9. Waddell. 1971: 409-10,
416
3. The myth and ritnal of the rlung rIa
The rlung rta constitutes an important part of the bsang ritual, the
fumigation offering of the juniper branches. This is often called ri bsang
dung rta, the 'fumigation offering and (the throwing into the wind or
planting) of the rlung rta high up in the mountains'. The performance of
this ritual is recommended prior to whenever there is an important
undertaking. It is primarily a secular ritual. During the performance,
which requires no presence of any special officiant whether public or
private, the layman usually entreats the mountain divinity to help him
"increase his fortune like the galloping of a horse and expand his
prosperity like the boiling over of milk" (rlung rta rta rgyug rgyug/ kha
rje '0 rna 'phyur 'phyur/J.
In many of the popular rituals, the astrological elements have a
very important role, for example, the one which is called the 'Ritual of
the four Productions'. to The purpose of this ritual is to increase and
generate the above mentioned four components. Special interest in this
ritual is the way in which the 3rd component, power, is treated. Its
symbol is a vase with four sides likened to four doors. In the east, it has
merit, in the south the gift of oratory, in the west fame and in the north
wealth." The 4th component, the klung rta in this ritual contains an
. origin myth,]2 but it is too short to be fully explicit. It is simply stated
that Ye-smon rgyal-po and his wife, the primaeval couple who are the
creators of the world in the Bonpo cosmogony13 have, as their offspring,
five klung rta brothers representing the five astrological elements, viz.
fire, earth, iron, wood and water. These five klung rta brothers are
believed to help man to pluck u~ his courage, to make everybody listen to
him, to realise his wishes, to have continuous success in his action, to
have athletic strength, prestige, political power, glory, wealth and fame.
A detailed study of the mountain cult which is closely connected with the
rlung rta concept and which begets political power among the Amdo
Sharwa people is being published.]4
There is another ritual known as 'Erecting the pillar of the rlung
rta'." This ritual is also associated with the astrological tradition, but it
contains a special feature, the roleplayed by the notion of the 'heavenly
cord' (dmu thag). In the myth of the first Tibetan king, gNya' -khri btsanpo, it is the 'heavenly cord' by means of which he descends to earth, and
10. bsKyedpa bzhi ldan gyi gM chog (in gTo chog skot, Thimphu, 1987) pp.175-193.
II. BTh. pp.183-187.
LK. pp.l89-193,
12.
13.
!4.
15.
On this primaeval couple, see Article No.17, p. 265.
Samten Karmay, Philippe Sagant, Les Neuf Forces de l'Homme (in press),
Rlung rla'j ka 'dzugs bsod nams dpung bskyed, Smanrtsis shesrig spendzod, VoL30,
Leh, 1976,
417
even though the king Dri-gum btsan-po, six generations later, cuts
'heavenly cord' accidentally and so puts an end to the capacity or lcetulmh,.
to the heavens, the idea of the 'heavenly cord' lives on in popular
It is believed that not only the early kings but also everybody is
with this cord on his head. For example, in the marriage ritual, CUlIOU1Ced-'' j"
threads are attached to the heads of the couple to symbolise this' nlea\'enly<L
cord' which signifies man's divine origin. 16 This particular [raaIt10nal.. '.·•.
ceremony of attaching threads is later simply replaced by the celceroloniial
scarf (kha btags). In the ritual of the rlung rta under discussion, th~;
'heavenly cord' is to be attached to the notch of a ritual arrow ·and then
hoisted by holding the top end of the arrow. This ritual gesture seems to
have a symbolic significance. It renews the former concord between man
and the heavens whereby the early kings went back to heaven. 17
Now I come back to the question of the origin myth of the four .
animals which are found in the four corners of the rlung rta flag. It must
be stated that neither written nor oral explanations exist anywhere for
these animal representations except in a manuscript to which we shalI .
come back below. As far as the the horse is concerned, it is not so
surprising that it should be found in this symbol since it is so closely ..
associ ted with man. In the myth of the war beween the horse and the yak,
man takes the side of the horse against the yak, but it is not because of
this myth that the horse is represented here, since the yak also finds itself
in the same representation as we shall see. As I mentioned earlier, the four
animals are:
1. khyung, eagle
2. 'brug, dragon
3. stag, tiger
4. seng ge, lion
However, in a manuscript entitled 'The Appearance of the Little
black-headed Man' the text of which was composed around the thirteenth
century A.D.,lS it is the yak and not the lion that we find in the rlung rta
composition. The same representation with the yak is also found in a
Nakhi painting. 19 It is therefore obvious that from a certain period the yak
is replaced by the lion probably when the lion became the national
emblem of Tibet. So change and evolution has occurred in the rlung rta
make-up. In certain ritual texts even a synthesis of different elements is
tried in order to give a coherent picture of the rlung rta. Thus, each of the
four animals is made to represent one of the four astrological elements
together with its habitat and qualification. To the four astrological
elements, the soul (bla dpal) is added in order to give a symbolic meaning
for the horse which occupies the centre, but such an arrangement is very
uns·atsifactory. since the lion and not the horse is made to represent the
k/ung rta. 20 This has obviously brought further confusion, but I am not
going to bother you here with this further Tibetan elaboration.
1. srog
eagle
sky
eternity
2. Ius
tiger
forest
growth
3. dbang thang
dragon
lake
fullness
4. rlung rta
lion
snow mountain
lustre
5. b/a dpal
horse
cloud
abundaoce
The manuscript which I mentioned earlier contains a myth which
not only explains why the four animals are found in the rlung rta
representation, but also how each of the four animals came to be
associated with a particular clan. According to this myth, Khri-tho, the
primeval man, has six sons: !Dong, dBra and 'Gru by his gNyan wife;
sGa by his second wife who is from the dMu; dBa' and IDa' by his third
wife who is a she-demon. The names of these brothers become those of
the six primtitive Tibetan clans (bod mi'u gdung drug). Here is a summary
of the narration:
"Khri-tho tends his yaks on a mountain called IRa-ri. Seven
mounted demon robbers come charging up and drive away all the
yaks. Kbri-tho pursues them, but his gNyan wife, fearing that her
husband may be killed by the robbers, turns herself into a large
white frog. It then tries to stop him galloping on his way. When
he tries to by-pass it on the right, it jumps to the right. When he
tries to by-pass it on the left, it jumps to the left. Khri-tho, already
furious, is now even more so. He suddenly draws his sword and
hits the frog on the back. The latter gives out a threefold scream. It
was heard by the old gNyan-rgan De-ba, the father of the gNyan
wife. gNyan-rgan realises that his daughter is being killed. He
then shoots his dreaded lethal arrow which kills Khri-tho dead
beside his wife. Khri-tho's six sons then discuss on whom to take
revenge, the gNyan or the demon robbers. They finally agree that
they will first demand the gNyan to pay compensation for the
killing of their father and then take revenge upon the robbers. A
Phyva god then proposes himself as the mediator between the
gNyan and the six brothers. The gNyan finally agrees to give as
16. Cf, Article No.S, p. 150.
17. Cf Slein, 1981: 196.
18. dBu nag mi'u 'dra chags (Article No.17).
19. For an illustration of this painting, see Article No.1?
418
20. Cf Article No.17, pp. 254-55.
419
compensation a dragon to lOong, an eagle to dBra, a yak to
tiger to sGar, a brown goat to dBa' and a white dog to gDa"'.21
.L::::..
0
0
0
Khri-tho
gNyan-bza'
dMu-bza'
bDud-bza'
I
IDing
I I I
I
I
.L::::.. .L::::.. .L::::.. 6. 6.
dBra
'Gru
sGa
dBa'
dragon eagle
yak
tiger
goat
I
I
I
I
I
.L::::..
IDa
I
dog
4. The four gnyan gods
I curtail the rest of the narration, because it is too long to give here
in full. The first four animals then become the dgra bla. the 'warriot
divinity' of each of the first four brothers or clans. The two youngest
brothers, curiously enough, ultimately refuse to join in the expediti()n
against the robbers on account of the compensation given to them being
too insignificant. ·In some other versions of the myth, the two are
expelled, but no reason is given. It may be because of their failure in
solidarity that the goat and the dog are not included in the representation.
Like the early mythical kings, Khri-tho's wives are not human as
we have seen. His matrimonial relations do not prevent him from having
social conflict with either the gNyan or the bDud nor do the cousins, at
any rate the first four brothers stop claiming compensation from their
maternal uncle.
The association of the animals with rlung ria shows the fact that in
early Tibetan beliefs, natural species, especially animals, had an important
symbolic role. It is rather tempting to see in these representations a kind
of totemic belief, but since the publication of Levi-Strauss's work on
totemism22 and the ensuing conflict of assessment,23 there has been a
tendency not to talk about it among anthropologists. So I dare not venture
on to such unsafe ground here. However, as the names of the brothers
became the names of different primitive clans, each clan has its own dgra
bla represented by one of the these animals as a cult-object. This myth
therefore, in my opinion, indicates how, at a given period in Tibetan
society, social groups or clans distinguished themeselves from each other
21. Ibid.• pp. 272-73.
22. Levi "Strauss, 1962.
23. Worsley. 1967.
association of each one with a particular animal, but it does not
why the gNyan chose to give these particular animals in
compensation. Only the dragon is mythical and not all of them have
economiC relevance. Therefore they may have been selected for theIr
·.!ndiVIGu.al characteristics. As we have seen, the two youngest brothers are
not content with the compensation which is a goat and a dog. Although
these last two have symbolic 'social value' in a marginal way, they do not
normally occasion exploitation of their characteristics as the other four
animals do, for example,
1. eagle, skill
2. dragon, resounding
3. tiger, bravery
4. yak, strength
Plate 40: A farm ofrlung-rta containing afigure of Gesar.
Plates 39 . 40: SGK 1987
In the Gesar epic, eagle, dragon and lion are the symbols of three
lineages in the Gling community and the tiger is sometimes added in order
to represent the family of sTag-rong, Gesar's paternal uncle. 24 Because of
24. Stein, 1959a: 496.
420
421
the representation of these different lineages, we often see what
be a rlung rIa image, but in the centre the horse is ridden by a warior
Plate 4). In this case, it is a representation of King Gesar and his
and not the rlung na properly speaking. King Gesar himself Del'Jngs
the clan IDong, his family's symbol is therefore the dragon.
This myth and the bsang ritual are not only closely connected
the concept of the rlung na, but also the whole concept of the rlung na
it developed is part of Tibet's secular cult of height and mountains, a
theme on which I gave a paper at the London conference in April
year. 25
MoU.ntain Cult and National
,~.tD... t';1hT in Tibet
nWhen secular customs break down, when traditional
ways of life disappear. when the old solidarities
crumble, it is, indeed, frequent that crises of identity
arise"l
The early Tibetans, that is to say those of the Imperial Period
which lasted from the seventh to the ninth centuries A.D., were aware
in many different ways of their own ethnic identity. For example, they
were very proud of the geographical location of the country. We find
in ancient documents eulogies of the way in which the country is
situated, its natural beauty, purity and wildness. One such hymn
expre:;ses this pride:
"Tibet is high and its land is pure.
Its snowy mountains are at the head of everything,
The sources of innumerable rivers and streams.
It is the centre of the sphere of the gods"2
During this period, too, the country's geographical identity was
expressed in terms of its centrality in relation to four other countries
with which there was contact. India in the south was looked to as the
source of religion; Iran in the west was envied for its great wealth;
Turkestan in the north was feared for its military aggresiveness, and
China in the east was admired for its knowledge of science.
One of the elements which playa significant role in Tibet's
cultural identity, as much today as in the past, is the mountain cult. An
example of this is the cult of Mount !Ha-ri Gyang-to in Kong-po, upon
the summit of which according to an ancient myth,3 the first Tibetan
king descended from heaven and the deity of Mount Yar-Iha Sham-po in
Yarlung, which was considered as the ancestral deity of the Yarlung
Dynasty,4 is also good evidence for this cult. One of the early kings is
even named gNam-ri, 'Sky Mountain' which is one of the reasons why
the Tibetan national flag has an image of a mountain and a snow lion, the
emblem of Tibet, in its centre. This flag is now, of course, forbidden in
1. Levi-Strauss, 1977: Preface. Translation from French by the present author.
2. Article No.6. pp. 89-93.
3. On this mountain see Article No. 14.
4. Bacot et aI, 1940: 81, 86.
25. Cf Article No.23.
422
423

Download Report