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Liberating Last Rites: Ritual Rescue of the Dead in Tibetan Buddhist Discourse |
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| Author |
Lindsay, Rory (撰)
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| Date | 2018 |
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| Pages | 280 |
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| Publisher | Harvard University |
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| Publisher Url |
https://www.harvard.edu/
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| Location | Cambridge, MA, US [劍橋, 麻薩諸塞州, 美國] |
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| Content type | 博碩士論文=Thesis and Dissertation |
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| Language | 英文=English |
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| Degree | doctor |
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| Institution | Harvard University |
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| Department | South Asian Studies |
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| Advisor | van der Kuijp, Leonard W.; Gyatso, Janet; Monius, Anne E. |
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| Publication year | 2018 |
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| Keyword | Tibetan Buddhism; Tantra; Funerary Rites; Ritual; Agency; Yogatantra; Sarvadurgatipariśodhana Tantra; Kun rig; Sa skya; Rje btsun Grags pa rgyal mtshan; Bardo |
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| Abstract | This dissertation examines Tibetan funerary manuals based on the Sarvadurgatipariśodhana Tantra (SDP), an Indian Buddhist work first translated into Tibetan in the eighth century. I trace the transmission and study of the SDP in Tibet and the ways that it and the works it inspired distribute agency across multiple actors—human, divine, and material—in describing ritual methods for saving the dead from bad rebirths. A fundamental claim in these texts is that their rites can liberate even those who have committed terrible acts over many lifetimes. Focusing on Rje btsun Grags pa rgyal mtshan's (1147–1216) Light Rays for the Benefit of Others (Kun rig gi cho ga gzhan phan 'od zer) and several manuals and polemical works written in response to it, I explore how these texts shift responsibility away from the deceased and assign it to a network of actors including the ritual officiant and his disciples, a panoply of deities, and ritual objects. This speaks to contemporary discussions of agency and materiality, and emphasizes the importance of the latter in the study of ritual manuals.
Focusing on agency also reveals a critical difference between works based on yogatantric sources like the SDP and those inspired by advanced yogic practices characteristic of Highest Yogatantra. While SDP-oriented manuals frame the dead as passive recipients of liberating rites, texts like Liberation upon Hearing in the Bardo (Bar do thos grol) imagine the dead as agents capable of securing their own freedom. This difference in necroliberative strategy is underscored by the Sa skya pa scholar A mes zhabs Ngag dbang kun dga' bsod nams' (1597–1659) Dispelling All Obscurations: Explaining the Bardo Teachings (Bar do chos bshad sgrib pa kun sel), which attempts to integrate these two models. Through a close examination of these writings, this dissertation contributes to our understanding of Tibetan traditions of Yogatantra and Highest Yogatantra vis-à-vis mortuary practices and the afterlife. |
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| Table of contents | ABSTRACT iii–iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vi–viii
LIST OF TABLES ix
ABBREVIATIONS x–xi
INTRODUCTION 1
Methodology 7
An Invitation to Grags pa rgyal mtshan's Funeral 13
Contributions 17
Chapter Overview 25
CHAPTER ONE: AUTHORSHIP AND THE RHETORIC OF AUTHORITY IN THE TRANSMISSION OF THE SARVADURGATIPARIŚODHANA TANTRA TO TIBET 30
The Reception of the SDP in Tibet 30
Commentaries on the SDP and Questions of Authenticity 46
Grags pa rgyal mtshan as an Author(ity) 54
CHAPTER TWO: WHO CAN SAVE THE DEAD? ON THE MANY ACTORS IN LIGHT RAYS FOR THE BENEFIT OF OTHERS 71
A Note on the Available Versions of Light Rays 72
The Contents of Light Rays 75
Agency in Light Rays 88
Conclusion 145
CHAPTER THREE: DEATH RITUAL POLEMICS 147
Texts and Contexts 148
The Controversies 172
Conclusion 200
CHAPTER FOUR: WHAT THE DEAD CAN DO 203
Agents in the Bardo 204
The Dead in the SDP and Its Canonical Commentaries 213
The Bardo in Grags pa rgyal mtshan's Funeral Manuals 224
The Bardo in Later Tibetan Works on the SDP 233
A mes zhabs' Attempt at Synthesis 235
Conclusion 247
CONCLUSION 249
APPENDIX 254
BIBLIOGRAPHY 258
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| Hits | 410 |
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| Created date | 2021.12.12 |
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