The Avalokiteshvara Cult in the Tenth Century Dunhuang and the Mani mantra

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Volan
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The Avalokiteshvara Cult in the Tenth Century Dunhuang and the Mani mantra

Post by Volan »

Paper by Sam Van Schaik

The Tibetan Avalokitesvara Cult in the Tenth Century: Evidence from the Dunhuang Manuscripts
https://www.academia.edu/2039964/The_Ti ... anuscripts
A compendium of short texts also concerned with death and theafter-death state was examined by Yoshiro Imaeda. One of these, called Overcoming the three poisons (Gdug gsum ’dul ba), contained Avalokiteśvara’s six-syllable mantra.8 Like the text studied by Stein, this one seemed to be addressed to an audience familiar with pre-Buddhist rituals. Imaeda pointed out that this was the only example of the six-syllable mantra found in the Pelliot collection, and suggested that the role of Avalokiteśvara in ancient Tibet might be much less significant than the later tradition tells us. His work, along with Macdonald’s examination of ancient material related to King Srongbtsan sgam po, challenges the traditional accounts of the significance of Avalokiteśvara in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet. Based on these studies, Matthew Kapstein has argued in his recent book The Tibetan Assimilation of Buddhism that the Tibetan cult of Avalokiteśvara is primarily a product of the period of the later spread of the teachings, that is, from the eleventh century onwards.

The Avalokiteśvara chapter from the Lotus sutra was very popular, while the Kārandavyūha sūtra wasn`t:
There are dozens of Chinese manuscript copies of The Universal Gateway in the Dunhuang collections.
The other major sūtric source for the cult of Avalokiteśvara found in the Ldan dkar ma is the
Kārandavyūha sūtra. This late sūtra displays several features found in tantric literature, including a mantra (the six-syllable mantra itself) and a mandala. In the sūtra, Avalokiteśvara has the role of a universal saviour. There is no Tibetan translation of the Kārandavyūha in the Dunhuang collections
We have two stotras:
Hymn to the deity in the six-armed form of Cintāmanicakra.
108 epithets of Avalokiteśvara - in this text Avalokiteśvara has four arms, holding a lotus,a vase, a staff and a rosary.

Dharanis: "Different texts are dedicated to the eleven-headed form, the thousand-armed form, and the Amoghapāśa form."

Sadhanas:
Yogatantra sadhanas have mantra based on the seed syllables of Avalokiteśvara according to the Vajradhātu mandala of the Sarvatathāgatatattvasamgraha.
The sadhana, which might be classified as Mahāyoga - red Avalokiteśvara, with one face and two arms.
Some ritual texts, which invoke Avalokiteśvara in his thousand-armed form, or in the form of Amoghapāśa.
Only one ritual, where the six-syllable mantra makes cryptic appearance.

Pictorial representations of Avalokiteśvara in the wall-paintings and painted silk hangings from Dunhuang:
The eleven-headed form is the most often represented, followed by the thousand-armed form and Cintāmanicakra form, with Amoghapāśa being the least popular.The majority of these paintings date from the mid-eighth century to the early eleventh: exactly the same period covered by the Tibetan Dunhuang manuscripts.
In fact, the first firm Tibetan textual evidence for the centrality of the six-syllable mantra are the
Bka’ ’chems ka khol ma and Mani bka’ ’bum collections, both of which date from the twelfth century.
So the mani mantra doesn`t seem to be so important around that time, it was Nyangral Nyima Özer terton who has "popularized" this mantra - he has discovered this terma century after this mantra has been already popularized by the followers of Atisha, Bhikshuni Lakshmi and some other sarma lineages.
Danny
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Re: The Avalokiteshvara Cult in the Tenth Century Dunhuang and the Mani mantra

Post by Danny »

Very interesting take on things.
But I would forward that the Avalokiteśvara “cult” as it’s presented, in terms of the terma tradition is older than the sarma tradition, but please feel free to investigate why Avalokiteśvara is so important, it’s related to means and testing of authenticity of termas. Not all termas hold up to verification.

Still thanks for posting. Appreciate new studies and research.

Don’t forget the creation myth....
Can be gleaned in Tibetan opera, but your gonna have to know your stuff to appreciate what’s going on.
Very subtle.
Danny
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Re: The Avalokiteshvara Cult in the Tenth Century Dunhuang and the Mani mantra

Post by Danny »

No retorts to my post?

Wtf? I’m right?
Cannot be right on dharmawheel...

It’s a natural manure
Malcolm
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Re: The Avalokiteshvara Cult in the Tenth Century Dunhuang and the Mani mantra

Post by Malcolm »

Danny wrote: Sun Apr 11, 2021 9:36 pm
Don’t forget the creation myth....
There is more than one Tibetan creation myth.
Danny
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Re: The Avalokiteshvara Cult in the Tenth Century Dunhuang and the Mani mantra

Post by Danny »

Malcolm wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 4:35 am
Danny wrote: Sun Apr 11, 2021 9:36 pm
Don’t forget the creation myth....
There is more than one Tibetan creation myth.
Indeed, but in context of Tibetan power
Politics, Potala being the center of concentrated authority,
and the mythical seat of Avalokiteshvara on earth..

it’s a weird thought process, and would require a lengthy around the world walk to explain...
Power projected, power perceived type of thing.
Malcolm
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Re: The Avalokiteshvara Cult in the Tenth Century Dunhuang and the Mani mantra

Post by Malcolm »

Danny wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 3:06 pm
Malcolm wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 4:35 am
Danny wrote: Sun Apr 11, 2021 9:36 pm
Don’t forget the creation myth....
There is more than one Tibetan creation myth.
Indeed, but in context of Tibetan power
You were not that specific.
Volan
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Joined: Fri Feb 26, 2021 2:27 am

Re: The Avalokiteshvara Cult in the Tenth Century Dunhuang and the Mani mantra

Post by Volan »

Taranatha`s opinion on Mani Kabum (from the "Remarks on the Mani Kabum and the Cult of Avalokitesvara in Tibet" by Matthew T. Kapstein):
the means for the attainment of the deity [found in] The Collected Works of the King [Gyelpo kabum ] and the roots of the precepts appear, certainly, to have been composed by the religious-king Songtsen Gampo.Therefore, they are the actual words of Arya Avalokita and are really the ancient ancestral religion of Tibet. It is well known that they were concealed as treasures by master Padma [-sambhava]. Moreover, the history and most of the ancillary texts were composed by the treasure discoverer, siddha Ngödrup, by Nyangrel, and by others.
Kapstein:
It is of interest to compare, too, Taranatha’s mild suggestion that the treasure discoverers composed, rather than found, some parts of the Mani Bka ’ ’ bum with Sum pa mkhen po Ye shes dpal ’byor’s vociferous remarks
Sum pa mkhen po Ye shes dpal ’byor’s opinion (from the "Tibetan historical literature" by Vostrikov):
In his small but highly interesting critical and bibliographical work gSun-rab-rna-dog-chu`i-dri-ma-sei-byed-nor-bo-ke-ta-ka, written in 1782,1 Sum-pa-mkhan-po Ye-shes-dpal-`byor devotes a special section to a survey of “various (texts), falsely attributed to the teacher Padma from Udayana". Here, he literally says: “We have no information that the great Yogi Padmasambhava, who arrived at the time of building up of bSam-yas monastery—the first in Tibet—compiled many treatises in this land of snow. Though the Padma-than-yig and Than-yig-sde-lna were also compiled during his period, it is doubtful if there are no interpolations in them. As regards the other works, for instance Ma-nl-bka'-'bum, Bar-do-thos-grol and texts included in the gZuns-'dus—Nis-pa-kun-sel, rNa-sgra, and Nan-snaags-phyir-zlog-'khor-lo-already mentioned and other similar numerous old books which are now used in Tibet, one can easily understand even from the very first words that they have not been compiled by those [authors, to whom they arc attributed]. Any learned and sensible person who looks on them will easily understand that these old books later attributed to Padma from Udyana, and other books known as “sealed” and “ treasured” were compiled by a personal survey by various foolish persons by adding some terms accepted in the Buddhist texts” . In his earlier work on the history of Buddhism in India, China (including Tibet) and Mongolia, about which we have mentioned above, the same author gives a number of propositions illustrating canonical and partly historical unfoundedness of the Padma-than-yig, bKa'-than-sde-lna and Ma-ni-bka`-'bum. He also names many authors who had earlier commented on these obviously apocryphal works.
Opinion from the scholar - Per K. Sørensen "In his Name: The Fake Royal Biography—Fabricated Prophecy and Literary Imposture":
The popularity of the deity cult soon led to the composition or rather compilation of number of Vita narratives attuned to this sutric rendition, notably, as commonly known, Bka’ chems Ka khol ma (the Pillar Testament) and Ma ṇi bka’ ’bum (i.e. Jewel Collection) both considered early gter ma or gter chos texts)12 followed by later historiographical treatises that were to draw extensively and almost authoritatively on this corpus of indigenous narratives, notably what should become the Tibetan master narrative par excellence: Rgyal rabs gsal ba’i me long, that in many ways should set the standard for how to depict Tibet’s early royal history and its pioneering heroes of yore. This particular depiction of the king should become standard and surprisingly authoritative too, also for lack of assertive alternative portraitures. Indeed, the transmitted depiction of the king in these “biographies” paints the picture of a pious and divine soul, a worthy Buddhist saint. It generally lacks any substantial reference to verifiable historical events, aside from the mere names of the dramatis personae (kings, queens, ministers or councilors in the narratives, amid a number of semi-historical figures) commonly known to us from more reliable sources.

Matthew T. Kapstein - Remarks on the Mani Kabum and the Cult of Avalokitesvara in Tibet:
A. I. Vostrikov, writing some one hundred years later, sought to provide a more accurate assessment of the Mani Kabum, saying that it

. . . contains much interesting material from the point of view of literature and folklore. Its fairly frequent deviations from the dominant views of Tibetan Buddhism are of great interest. As a historical source, however, it is of absolutely no value and cannot be classed under historical works.
Danny
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Re: The Avalokiteshvara Cult in the Tenth Century Dunhuang and the Mani mantra

Post by Danny »

Malcolm wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 5:07 pm
Danny wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 3:06 pm
Malcolm wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 4:35 am

There is more than one Tibetan creation myth.
Indeed, but in context of Tibetan power
You were not that specific.
Intentionally so.
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