The Tibet Journal Vol. 21 No.1 Spring 1996

Review Article

The Byang-gter and other Phur-pa traditions:

Reflections on Martin J Boord's The Cult of the Deity Vajrakfla, According to the Northern Treasures Tradition of Tibet (Byang-gter phur-ba) Cathy Cantwell

Book Reviews

The Three Levels of Spiritual Perception Deshung Rinpoche Trans: Jared Rhoton Gareth Sparham

Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism John Powers Gareth Sparham

Enlightened Beings. Life Stories from the Ganden Oral Tradition Janice D. Willis Gareth Sparham

Contributors

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100

100

103

106

Review Article

The Byang-gter and ot:her Phur-pa traditions: Reflections on Martin] Boord's The Cult of the Deity Vajrakila, According to the Northern Treasures Tradition of Tibet (Byang-gter phur-ba), Institute of Buddhist Studies, Tring, 1993.

$ 12.95

Reviewer: Cathy Cantwell

Martin Boord's The Cult of the Deity Vajraklla is a detailed study of the textual materials and practice s of the Byang-gter tradition of rDo-rje Phur­pa (Vajrakllaya). It has a long section on the kIla and the Indian back­ground to the rites; it presents and assesses the traditional histories of the Byang-gter and specifically the Byang-gter phur-pa, and it indudes much on the ritual practices themselves, discussing the two Byang-gter Phur-pa tantras at length. Martin Boord's life's work has been on the Byang-gter, and his contribution in making this material publicly available is to be welcomed. The book raise s issues of appropriate Western academic ap­proaches to the study of such Tibetan ritual texts, which I intend to explore in focusing on certain aspects of the book 1

In parts, some of the language used is reminiscent of a previous generation of Western scholars, whose heritage persists in contemporary popular literature but is not usually now found in serious academic analysis. Occasionally, we find morally judgemental and simplistic cha­racterisations of rites: "nefarious pursuits of the . .. Kriyii period" (p.58), "the darkest images of witchcraft" (p.I7), (the Phur-pa cult's) "somewhat bizarre approach to the ... quest for enlightenment" (p.18), the "cryptic gloom" (of the ritual texts) (p.13) are examples. Such wording suggests a lack of reflexivity on the author's part, but most of all, it fits uneasily with his involvement in and admiration for the Phur-pa teachings. In the context of the entire book, misleading statements are offset by the presentation of traditional commentary. For example, in Chapter 3, a contrast is made between the s1nJ:id-las rites which Boord describes as, "akin to witchcraft or black magic" (p.74) and the stad-las rites relating to Enlightenment. He' fails to mention how the smad-las rituals can also be used on the Enlightenment path, and in fact complement the stad-las, by destroying the obstacles and hostile forces which obstruct the Vajrayana

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practitioner from his/her goal of realisation. Later, however, and indeed, in the final sentence of the Conclusion (p.225), Boord summarises the traditional exegesis of the "violent" rites. The forcefulness of the ritual symbolism is certainly to be found in its implications of literally taking life, and the tension between this destructive activity and the most funda­mental Buddhist precept Unlike some modem authors, Boord at least, makes no attempt to gloss over the literal level of interpretation: it is only a pity that this is portrayed in an uncritical way in various passages and not clearly related to the "inner" levels.

Many of the slightly misleading comments do not seem to be due to an inadequacy in Boord's understanding of the material so much as un­fortunate choices of words which carry rather inaccurate implications. The union between the deity and consort is described (p.SS) as "an image of desire fulfilled". Had "transcended" been substituted for "fulfilled", the entire passage would have been rendered as a more accurate account. In this respect, a final round of careful editing could have much enhanced the presentation of the book: it is to be hoped that this will be considered for any future editions.

The chapters on India are rather weaker than the rest of the book and might have the unfortunate effect of detracting specialists in this area from the very valuable later chapters on the Byang-gter Phur-pa. The dis­cussion on the origins of the kila and its Buddhist assimilation, which is largely a resume of many of the available secondary sources, is interesting and useful, but marred by some slight misrepresentations of these sources. On page 6, we learn that a Buddhist form of Mahakala with kila legs was worshipped in Khotan: a point Boord uses to demonstrate the antiquity of an association between Mahakala and the klla. However, Nebesky­Wojkowitz (1975), who is given as Boord's source, actually merely says (p.51):

According to ... one of my informants, this form of mgon-po is supposed to have been worshipped especially among the Buddhists of Khotan (Li yul)

: in other words, we are dealing with an anecdotal account of a con­temporary Tibetan tradition about this deity, which may or may not have a firm historical foundation.

Boord discusses M.A. Stein's Dun-huang discoveries of "kilas" which probably date back to the first century Be, and on the basis of this, he makes the definite statement (p.3) that in this case,

the form of the kfla unambiguously reflects its identification with a wrathful divinity.

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However, the pages of Stein's work to which he refers us would not appear to justify such certainty. Stein (In1, Vol.lI: 649) talks not of "kilas" but of "wooden pegs of a curious type", which had tops roughly carved and painted to resemble the human head and which had evidently been driven in the ground but lacked the strength of tent pegs. Stein is careful not to draw premature conclusions and simply notes that their "purpose has not yet been determined".

Passages in Lessing and Wayman (1968) which Boord refers to do not seem to exactly correspond to his summary of them. Noting Lessing and Wayman p.272, Boord (p.52) asserts that the Vajrahrdayalaftkiira-tantra says that an acarya must be skilled in, "the rite of accomplishing the fierce act of tying down the gods with the magic kila," and concludes from this that a

basic knowledge of kfla rites ... appears to have been widely regarded as essential to the tantric adept of India.

Although this conclusion may not be incorrect, Lessing and Wayman (p.272, nbA), are in fact quoting Tsong kha-pa's slob rna'i re ba kun slang, which gives a list of categories in the Vajrahrdayiilankiira-tantra, together with commentary. Number 8 is, "the rite of accomplishing the fierce act". Lessing and Wayman add in square brackets, presumably indicating Tsong kha-pa's commentary: "[ie. tying down the gods .. .]". We thus have no evidence from this source that the tantra itself equates the "fierce act" with a kila ritual - only that a later commentarial tradition interprets it in this way. Perhaps less seriously (and possibly as the result of a typing error), p.283 of Lessing and Wayman does not appear to bear any relation to the subject matter which Boord (p.6S) attributes to it.

In the Western academic tradition, knowledge is cumulative: one attempts to build On previous work, putting one's own work in the context of other studies. A problem is that if one researcher makes an error, or s/he is misquoted by another, then future writers may copy and compound the error, so that highly misleading characterisations of the subject matter can persist for long periods of time. Perhaps no scholar is free of distortion of others' material, but it is important to attempt to be extremely careful in the ways in which one refers to one's sources.

Once dealing with his own Byang-gter sources, Boord gives the im­pression of being on firmer ground. He presents a detailed accQunt of the traditional history of the rDo-rje Phur-pa practice, basing much of it on the work of the eighteenth century Byang-gter scholar 'Phrin-Ias bdud­'joms. Even on Tibetan history, there are occasional misleading statements, perhaps rather exaggerating the Byang-gter's significance vis-a-vis other

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traditions. For example, in the Introduction (p.9), Boord quotes Dargyay (1979: p.173) to argue that the Fifth Dalai Lama thought the Byang-gter to be the most reliable of the rNying-ma-pa traditions. Dargyay's translation of bDud-'joms Rin-po-che's history of the rNying-ma-pa, however, can be checked against Dorje and Kapstein's, which was also available to Boord. There it is clear that the reference was to an individual master, Cangpa Trashi Topgyel (Byang-pa bkra-shis stobs-rgyal), whose tradition the Dalai Lama, "cherished above all" (Dudjom 1991: 824). Eulogies of one lama do not imply that the Fifth Dalai Lama had any reservations about other rNying-ma-pa teachings, especially given his widely known association with other rNying-ma-pa masters, such as gTer-bdag gling-pa (see also Dudjom 1991: 830). Similarly, the claim (p.33) that the Byang-gter mona­stery dCa' -gdong-dgon's oracle of Shing-bya-can was the second most important oracle in Tibet, may be correct, but the references given -Nebesky-Wojkowitz 1975: 5, 109-15 etc. - only mention Shing-bya-can or the oracle without giving him any exalted status. Thus, it is worth treating Boord's enthusiastic presentation of the Byang-gter with a degree of caution. Having said that, the book certainly contains a wealth of material on the traditional history of the Byang-gter and specifically of its Phur-pa cycle.

The heart of the study, and Boord's main contribution, is found in the second half of the book: Part 3, The Northern Treasures Kila. Here, he examines the two root tantras of the Byang-gter Phur-pa system: the rDo­rje phur-pa thugs gsang ba sku'i rgyud (throughout referred to by the -presumably reconstructed - Sanskrit title Vajrakflacittaguhyakiiyatantra) and the rDo-rje phur-pa spu gri nag po rab tu gsang ba'i rgyud (which he refers to by the shortened English title, the Black Razor Tantra), summarising and assessing their contents. Other textual sources for Phur-pa ritual practices - a sadhana for the special Byang-gter black Phur-pa form, texts on em­powerment, on thecrdzogs-rim section of practice, on rites for the pro­tectors and for performing the fierce activities, as well as a longevity ritual, are described and commented upon.

Both the above mentioned root tantras are from the gter-mas of Rig-'dzin rgod-Idem: Boord pOints out that the rDo-rje phur-pa thugs gsang ba sku'i rgyud contains more ancient material and much which has little direct relevance to contemporary practitioners. It presumably originally derives from a very early period before the Phur-pa teachings were systematized,2 in contrast to the Black Razor Tantra, the contents of which suggest a later composition. Boord's summaries of these tantras are extremely useful, and it is particularly valuable to have an edition of the short Black Razor Tantra included in an Appendix.

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Although Boord demonstrates familiarity with this genre of Tibetan ritual literature, there are a few problems with his translation. Through­out, he uses reconstructions of presumed Sanskrit originals for names and terms. Many common Buddhist terms are better known in the West b y their Sanskrit equivalents and a non-specialist audience may find Sanskrit more accessible than Tibetan. Furthermore, the use of Sanskrit has the advantage - as he argues (p.13) - of facilitating comparison with non­Tibetan sources. However, it is not always possible to equate language from Tibetan gter-ma texts with Sanskrit, and the senses in which it is used may, in some cases, be different enough to mean that the apparent equivalents are more misleading than helpful. Therefore, to resort to Sanskrit for virtually all terms, names of deities, (Tibetan) texts etc. would seem rather excessive.

Moreover, there are instances in which Boord uses Sanskrit recon­structions which are not established and are questionable. The very name of the deity - rDo-rje Phur-pa - is usually given in Tibetan sources as "VajrakIlaya". Boord follows certain other Western scholars in correcting this to "Vajraklla", but it may well be that the Tibetan scholars who preserved the name as Vajrakllaya (including the Sa-skya Pa:r:tdita, who edited the canonical Phur pa rlsa ba'i durn bu) were not as "unfamiliar with

the technicalities of Sanskrit" as Boord (p.5) supposes.3 Again, the deity's consort - 'Khor-lo rgyas-' debs-rna - is usually given in Tibetan sources as Dlptacakra, but Boord uses Tr:ptacakra, which I have never encountered elsewhere, without any comment.

.

There is one point where Boord's reconstruction of Sanskrit in his translation constitutes a questionable procedure. Chapter 10 of the Black Razor Tanlra includes commentary on the name "Phur-pa", clearly with the intention of demonstrating how the name itself embraces the totality of the path of Enlightenment. Thus:

phur ni tharns cad byang chub semsl pa ni lharns cad kun la khyab/ phur ni Iharns cad gtso bo rnchag/ pa ni tharns cad 'khar gyis tshull phur ni thams cad skl)e ba rned/ pa ni ral pa 'gags pa rned/ phur ni byang chub sems su gcigl pa ni thams cad de ru 'grub/ (Boord: 250).

Boord (p.141) describes this as, "a religious etymology of the word 'kIla'" and translates,

'Kj' means that all and everything is the mind of enlightenment. 'La' means that the enlightened mind pervades all things.

Even if "kHa" rather than "kllaya" were the established equivalent for "phur-pa", it would be inappropriate to translate "phur-pa" into its

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Sanskrit in this kind of context. A commentary on the syllables of "byang­chub" could become incoherent if the syllables of its accepted Sanskrit equivalent, "bodhi" were substituted! Many Tibetan works include commentaries on Sanskrit words, but in such cases, the Sanskrit is preserved in Tibetan transliteration. Examples include Kong-sprul's glosses on the name Vajrakllaya (65-66), his discussion of the Vajrakilaya mantra (99-100), and Kanna gling-pa's gter-ma, the badzra gu ru'i phan yon (umg 'bru 'grel. This is a commentary on the Sanskrit syllables of the Vajra Guru mantra, not so much explaining their literal meanings in isolation, but illustrating analogical relationships between them. For instance, where om a/J /Jam represent (Buddha) body, speech and mind, vajra is the vajra family, guru the ratna family, padma the pad rna family, siddhi the karma family and ham the buddha family. Where om iili ham are the life heart of the three tantras, vajra is the life heart of the vinaya and satras, guru of the abhidharma and kriya (tantra), padma of upa and yoga, siddhi of maha and anu and ham of ati.4

Kong-sprul deals with the Phur-pa mantra in a similar way, with a list of various possible interpretations of the syllables or words, some of which bear little apparent relationship to the literal meanings of the individual components. In some verses, the literal meanings do, however, partly inform the imagery being developed. Thus the verse attributed to the Nepalese Guru Slla(maiiju) reads (99, line 3-4):

Om is the five primordial awarenesses; vajra kfli is the phur-bu; kflaya5

is (the phur-bu) striking; sarva (means) all. Vighniin is to suppress with the phur-bu's mount meru; bam is to bring under control. With hum, the (deity's) form is generated; pha! means (that it) emanates forth6

Kong-sprul's passage On the name Vajrakllaya consists firstly of a discussion of the lexical implications of the name - ego Vajra (p.65) is said to imply the indestructibility of the unChanging (nature). This is followed by a commentary, in which the components "Vajra" and "Kflaya" are respectively equated with the non-dual dhatu (dharmakaya) and the display of primordial awareness (rupakaya). Thus, such elaborations of names, terms or mantras can involve literal meanings, freer interpretations or both. The Black Razor Tantra's passage on phur-pa is similar to Karma gling-pa's inspirational text, except that it relates to the Tibetan syllables constituting the name "Phur-pa". The commentary is referring to the relationships between the two syllables rather than their literal meanings: they encompass the apparent dualities of the Lord (central deity) and the retinue, of birthlessness and unending manifestation etc. Thus, virtually any two specific syllables could have been substituted without losing the

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sense of the passage, so that Boord's introduction of the syllables "Kl" and "la" is less likely to be noticed than in the case of a commentary giving literal meanings. It is nonetheless an unscholarly method, liable to give the mistaken impreSSion that it is the Black Razor Tantra itself which discusses "KY' and "la" rather than "Phur-pa". Moreover, the suggestion that this poetic exegesis is an "etymology" is surely misleading.

There are a number of instances where Boord's translations are unusual or surprising, but they are presented with little or no comment or discussion. Thus, it is not clear how far his translations reflect his own idiosyncracies, and how far they stem from Byang-gter commentarial sources or the oral explanations of Byang-gter lamas. Given Boord's long immersion in the Byang-gter tradition, the latter is more likely, but the work's value would be greatly increased if we could be supplied with references to or acknowledgement of those SOurces. Scholarly rigour is hard to maintain in working with a subject matter which deals with human understandings as much as "objective facts" in the outer world. Modern translations of Tibetan meditative texts inevitably reflect some­thing of the assumptions of the translator, and include interpretations which help to make the material accessible to Western audiences. It is often difficult for the translator to recognise how far their own biases have informed their translations? However, it is important for us to attempt. in published work, t o make clear the extent of our dependence on our Tibetan mentors, as fully as possible. In this case, if Boord were to do so, it would then be feasible t o more effectively relate the Byang-gter Phur-pa literature and its oral interpretations to the wider Phur-pa com­mentarial traditions - a task f rom which Boord, after all, with his ex­tremely wide reading and knowledge of the specifics of the Byang-gter, can be excused.

To give some striking examples of instances where Boord's work could be relevant to the Phur-pa traditions as a whole, the Black RazQr Tanlra, as most other Phur-pa texts of any length, contains selections from the canonical Plwr-pa rtsa-ba'i dum-bu. Elsewhere, there are various explana­tions and elaborations of its key verses. Boord's rendition reads more as an interpretation than a translation, but clear references are not made to the sources which informed his interpretation, which differs significantly from other Phur-pa traditions with which I am familiar. The first verse reads:s

hUm/ rdo rje khros pas zhe sdang gcod/ mlshon chen sngon po 'bar ba yis/ nam mkha'i dkyil nas thigs pa shari srog gi sgo ru shar ba dang/ snying gi dkyil du bsgom par bya/

Boord (p.137) translates from mtshan chen: "Within a blue blazing circle of

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sharp weapons, the essential point arises from the centre of the sky". Other traditions explain the "Great blue weapon" (mtshon chen) - or "symbol" in some commentaries - to be the syllable hum, which arises as a creative seed (since it gives rise to the mandala), in the centre of the sky. There is nothing in the Tibetan of the verse to indicate the words, "Within a ... circle of', nor to justify Boord's elaboration of the verse in note 508. There he compares the Hindu teachings on the "puru�a" with the "mahabindu" here, and refers to the Brahmasamhita V.3, in which a vajraklla9 upon a lotus in the heart is surrounded by a protective circle of ten spikes. He adds that this is the intended meaning here, stating that this is made explicit in the abhiseka text he discusses in the following chapter. However, I can find no commentary in the next chapter to sup­port this unusual reading. Indeed, in two places, he refers rather to a single weapon: "ferocious samadhi of the blazing great blue weapon in his heart" (p.146); "By means of the blazing great blue weapon, great wisdom ... arises" (p.155).

The next line of the verse is translated by Boord: "It enters the door of the life force ... ". There are two variants - "sgo" (door) and "go" (place)} which appear in Phur-pa texts, one of which presumably originally arose as a result of a scribal error}1 but now, both have long established commentarial traditions. Although there may be some inconsistency even within specific textual cycles,12 in general "sgo" seems to be mqre usual in the Sa-skya-pa Phur-pa texts, while " go" appears to occur more often in rNying-ma-pa texts. The Phur-pa rtsa-ba'i dum-bu edited by the Sa-skya Pandita has ."sgo", and is accordingly commented upon in Kong-sprul (p.85, line 6 - 88, line 5), while the Phur-pa bcu-gnyis (various editions, Ch.7 - see Mayer, 1996) has " go".13 It would be interesting if the rNying-ma-pa Byang-gter tradition consistently agrees with the reading which is more usual in the Sa-skya-pa tradition. This is certainly implied by Boord's edition of the Black Razor Tantra and from the translation here (which is also repeated in the future chapters relating to other texts which include the verse). However, some uncertainty remains since Boord makes rIO comment on the alternative reading - perhaps it is unattested in the Byang-gter?

In Kong-sprul's commentary, "sgo ru shar" is interpreted as "arising as the door ... ", implying that the causal seed-syllable (hum) is the door through which the deity and the mandala arises. While Boord's "enters the door" is a perfectly acceptable translation, it is unclear wh'ether this is the most usual Byang-gter interpretation. It would seem (p.146) that the rdo rje phur pa thugs gsang ba sku'i rgyud explains the line as relating to the meditation on Hayagnva's seecj-syllable which protects the " door of life" in the heart, but the reference is not entirely explicit.

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Boord's translation of the Black Razor Tanlra's version of the second verse of the Phllr-pa rlsa-ba'; dllm-bu is perhaps even more surprising. The verse

reads:2

hUm/ snying rjes bsgral ba'i dam Ishig nil bsad cing mnan pa ma yin tel phung po rdo rjer gtam byas nasi mam par shes pa rdo rjer bsgom

It is worth noting that in the case of this verse, the Black Razor Tanlra is in line with other rNying-ma-pa sources rather than the Sa-skya-pa ver­sion of the verse3 Boord's translation (p.138) reads:

Hum. The sacred oaths of killing by compassion and never to harm or oppress are gathered together in the form of a vajra and one should meditate upon it as the vajra of the mind.

It is difficult to see how "phung po rdo rjer gtam byas nas", which is usually explained as "the skandhas/aggregates (phung-po) having been pervaded with the vajra (state)"} could have become, "gathered together in the form of a vajra", unless Boord is drawing on a Byang-gter commentarial source, which is not given. Similarly, "meditate upon it as the vajra of the mind" is a surprising interpretation of the more usual, "meditate upon consciousness as the vajra (nature)".

It is unfortunate that the absence of commentary on these translations also makes one uncertain of the basis for the translations of materials for

which the Tibetan is not supplied, even though they are probably largely sound. It is to be hoped that future editions of the book will include much more to explicitly relate the translations to the Byang-gter inter­pretations.

A further general point which similarly concerns the relationship between Boord's translations or summaries and the tradition itself, is that most of the ritual manuals are discussed with little or no reference to their actual performance. Thus, Rig-'dzin rGod-ldem's work on an empower­ment rite (spu gri nag po'i bdang chog) is discussed purely in abstract terms (p.158-162). It is probable that Boord may himself have witnessed con­temporary performances of some of these rituals, but he presents the textual materials without discussion of the context in which the rites may take place or the ways in which the manuals are interpreted in practice.s

This limits a book which could have been an extremely important contribution to the understanding of the practice of Byang-gter rites, to a more limited study of a number of texts, their significance for the Byang-gter tradition's practice not always being entirely clear. Yet, per­haps it is unfair to suggest that the book fails to deal with an aspect which the author never intended to cover! The main point is that ritual texts cannot be divorced from the social context in which they are used

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and while it is of benefit to have more translations made available, it is a pity if a translator with such extensive knowledge of the context should not include some consideration of it.

Overall. the mass of useful material which is included means that The Cult of the Deity Vajrakfla constitutes a valuable addition to the collections of scholars working on Tibetan Vajrayana rituals.

Finally, there are a few printing errors for which the author cannot be held responsible. For example, "phur-pa" is given as "phur-ba" (p.239) and "bcom" is given as "bchom" (p.249) in the edition of the Black Razor Tantra (in contrast to the correct forms in the author's thesis). The form "phur-ba" is also given in the book's subtitle and in one of the entries in the index, although it is clear from the list of texts in Appendix 1 that "phur-pa" is the form consistently used in Byang-gter sources (as else­where).

Notes 1. Thanks are due to Martin Boord whose work has stimulated this article. 2. A note on this (p.l36, note 504) is, however, a little misleading. Boord

contrasts the tantra's account of the taming of Rudra by Vajrapar:ti, which agrees with the Yogatantra Sarvatatluigatatattvasamgraha, with later Mahayoga accounts in which Rudra is tarned by Hayagrtva. In fact, there are numerous variants in the Mahayoga literature; Hayagnva is not always held responsible.

3. Robert Mayer, 1996 (Chapter One), has shown it to be quite possible that the original name in Indic sources could have been VajrakIlaya (a causative imperative verb form)} and that there is therefore as yet inadequate data to justify so radically emending the traditional Tibetan transliteration. Later Tibetan sources do not evidence ignorance of the implications of the Sanskrit name: for instance, rather than glossing the name as meaning UVajra spike" or "nail" (as VajrakUa would be), Kong-sprul (1.65, line 3) says that kllaya

means the action of causing to strike. 4. I have drawn these examples from a translation which I made with the help

of the late B1a-ma Blo-gros of Rewalsar. An unattributed translation of thjs text js publicly available in Crystal Mirror Volu1]1e II, <972, Tibetan Nyingrna Meditation Center (Berkeley, California: Dharma Publishing): 17-38. sTag­sham nus-Idan rdo-rje's Bod kyi ja rna ye shes rntsho rgyal gyi mdzad tshulrnam

par thar pa gab pa mngon byung rgyud mangs dri za'i glu 'phreng also contains short comments on the syllables of the Vajra Guru mantra (K. Dowman 1984: 184-5).

5. I have amended this from kiliya - see the Tibetan in next note. 6. "Om ye shes Inga! badzra klli phur bu/ klli ya 'debs pal sarba thams cadi

bighnan phur bu'i ri rab kyis mnan pal bam dbang du sdud pal hum gis sku bskyed pal phat spro ba'i don du 'chad do/".

7. My work is certainly not exempt from such problems. Returning to notes

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and translations I made of ritual practice manuals while conducting fieldwork at the Rewalsar Tibetan monastery, I find difficulty in clearly distinguishinJ> between interpretations which were informed by the monks' suggestions (and specific perspectives which were perhaps unique to my main mentor, Bla-ma BIo-gros) and my own assumptions, stemming from my own Buddhist studies conducted in the U.K.

8. For simplicity, I only quote Boord's Black Razor Tanlra edition, without its variant readings, w hieh can be found on p.241-2.

9. The word "vajrakHa" can have various connotations in different Indian contexts and Boord fails to make clear what exactly it means in this specific Hindu text and whether - as the reference might imply but does not make explicit - we can safely equate the tenn here with its Tibetan Buddhist meaning.

10. There is also an alternative interpretation of "ga" as "go-cha" (armour). 11. An alternative possibility is that one variant arose as an innovation brought

about by the meditative insights of a Tibetan master of the Phur-pa practice. 12. Thus, my edition of the bDud-Joms phur-pa bsnyen-yig (p.90, line 4) has "sgo",

while the bDud-Joms phur-pa las-byang (p.90, line 4) has "go". I am hoping to locate an older edition, to see whether one variant has arisen as the result of a scribal error in the modem version. In the collection of Sa-skya-pa phur-pa texts in the sGrub-lhabs kun-blus (Vol.PA), there is an instance of "go" (p.147, line 2) in the dpal rdo rje phur pa'i bsnyen sgrub gsal byed bdud rlsi'i 'ad can.

This case is almost certainly a misprint, since it does not agree with the shorter Or longer versions of the sadhana, nor with the version of the phur-pn rtsa-ba'i dum-bu which is given a few pages beforehand (p.127, line 2), nor with a brief commentary also included (p.133, line 2), nor with oral explanations given by contemporary Sa-skya-pa masLers.

13. This issue of the sgo versus go readings is discussed at some length in Mayer, 1996 (Editorial Policy). 0

14. Here, I again only quote Boord's Black Razor Tantra edition (p.242) without its variant readings.

15. See Cantwell 1995. 16. One C<ln compare the Sa�skya-pa version, referring to "the essential vajra

nature (of) the skandhas" ("phung po rdo-rje'i bdag nyid de"). Kong-sprul (p.98, line 1-2) explains the two variants as different translations with the same meanmg.

17. There are a few tantalising references to actual ritual practice, hidden away in notes (eg. nole 740, p.207), but virtually no information given on the context for the perfonnances.

Bibliography

English sources C. Cantwell 1995 "To meditate upon consciousness as Vajra: ritual 'killing and li­

beration' in the rNying-ma-pa tradition," paper delivered to the 7th Seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, Austria, June 1995.

Crystal Mirror Volume H, 1972, Tibetan Nyingma meditation center (Berkeley, Cali-

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fomia: Dhanna Publishing). E. Dargyay 1979 The Rise of Esoteric Buddhism in Tibet (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass). K. Dowman 1984 Sky Dancer: the secret life and songs of the lady Yeshe Tsogyel

(London: Routledge and Kegan Paul). Dudjom Rinpoche 1991 The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: its jundilmentals and

history. Translated and edited by Gyurme Dorje with the collaboration of Mat­thew Kapstein (Boston Ma: Wisdom Publications).

F.D. Lessing and A. Wayman 1968 Introduction to the Buddhist Tantrie Systems (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass).

RD.S. Mayer 1996 The Phur-pa beu-guyis. A scripture from the rNying-ma'i rgyud-'bum. Ph.D thesis, University of Leiden.

R. de Nebesky-Wojkowitz 1975 Oracles and Demons of Tibet (Graz: Akademische Druck-u. Verlagsanstalt).

M.A. Stein 1921 Serindia: detailed report of explorations in Central Asia and Westernmost China (Oxford).

Tibetan sources

Karma gling-pa badzra gu ru'i plum yon dang 'bTU 'grel, manuscript, n.d., n.p. Kong-sprul commentary on the Phur-pa rtsa-ba'i dum-bu: 'Jam-mgon Kong-sprul,

dpal rdo rie phur pa Ttsa ba'i rgyud kyi dum bu'i 'grel pa snying po bsdus pa dpal chen dgyes pa'; zhol lung, n.d., n.p.

bDud-joms phur-pa bsnyen-y;g: bDud-'joms 'jigs-bral ye-shes rdo-rje, dpal rdo rje phur bu bdud Joms gnam leags spu gr;'i stod las byang chub sgrub pa'; man ngag gsal bar byas pa dngas grub rgya mtsho'; dga' stan. From the Collected Works of HH. bDud-'joms Rin-po-che, Vol. 11.

bDud-'jams phur-pa las-byang: bDud-'joms 'jigs-bral ye-shes rdo-rje, dpal rdo rje phur bu thugs gyi sgrub pa gsang ba'; rgya can bdud Jams guam lcags spu gri'i las byang khrag 'thung mngon par rol pa'; dga' stOll. From the Collected Works of HH bDud-"joms Rin-po-che, VoI.10.

dpal rdo rie phur pa'i bsnyen sgrub gsal byed bdud rtsti 'ad can: 'Jam-pa'i dbyangs kun­dga' bsod-nams grags-pa rgyal-mtshan dpal-bzang-po, with notes added by later masters. In the sGrub-thobs kun-btus, VoI.PA, p.140-165.

Phur-jJa rtsa-ba'i dum-bu: rdo rie phur pa rtsa ba'i rgyud kyi dum bu. Three editions: one from the Peking bka'-'gyur, Voi.3, no.78; one from the Kong-sprul commentary (see above): 17-25; one from the sGrub-thabs kun-btus, VoI.PA, p.127-131.