Tsadra Foundation and the Buddhist Digital Resource Center
出版地
US [美國]
資料類型
期刊論文=Journal Article
使用語言
英文=English
關鍵詞
Mgur; vajra songs; Lama Zhang Tsalpa; early Tibetan literature; Tibetan poetry
摘要
This paper looks at two gur, or “vajra songs,” of the controversial twelfth-century yogin, sorcerer, tantric adept, literary innovator, statesman, and military leader Lama Zhang Tsalpa (bla ma zhang tshal pa, 1122–1193). Without context the two songs are mysterious: they call themselves “praises” but are full of self-criticisms, insults, and shaming. The language is animated and rhetorically varied and shows an unusu- ally acute self-awareness of the mechanics of language and literary genre, a self-awareness that manifests as parody, irony, and sarcasm. My approach is to view these songs along three axes: (1) the fact that both songs are characterized as requests from patrons, (2) the playful, almost taunting manner in which the songs use and then subvert the conventions of multiple literary genres—praise, autobiography, vajra song, and con- fession— and invent a hybrid genre of “self-shaming,” which plays into important Tibetan cultural themes of praise and shame, and (3) questions about the “textual economy” of songs such as this: Who wrote them? What were the circumstances under which they were composed? Who requested them and why? What does the phenomenon of patron-requested texts tell us about the relationships between patrons from powerful clans and the newly arising class of charismatic religious leaders in the later dissemination (phyi dar) period?
Abstract 5 A. Patronage and Commissioned Works 6 B. Songs of Praise, Songs of Shame 10 1. Reading the “Subtitles” 10 2. Praise Turned Upside-Down 14 3. Praise-Modifying Phrases 25 C. Hanging Questions 27 Question 1. Why would a lama write a work of self-praise? 27 a. “Praising oneself ” 27 b. Textual Economy and Ritual Context 27 Question 2. Why would a request for a work of self-praise be answered with a work of self-shaming? 33 a. Praise and Shame 33 b. Plausible Scenarios 36 Scenario 1: Contrition 36 Scenario 2: Mock Contrition 37 Scenario 3: Wonder and Shame 38 Question 3. What does the phenomenon of patron-commissioned works tell us about patron-lama relationships? 40 Bibliography 41 Works by Lama Zhang Tsalpa 41 Tibetan Language Works 41 European Language Works 42
