146 Tibetan Literature

1988 fI A New Chronological Table of the Bon Religion. The bstan-rcis

of Hor-bcun bsTan-'jin-blo-gros (1888-:-1975)." 1n Tibetan Stud-
of the 4th Seminar of the International Associati011
Ed:.by Helga Uebach and Jampa 1. Panglung.
Studia Tibetica Quellen zur tibetischen Lexicographie B-nd 2.
Munich: Kommission fr zentralasiatischen Studien der
Bayerischen Akademie
1990 "A Bon po from 1804." 1n Indo-Tibetan Studies, pp.
151-169. Ed. by T. Skorupsk. Buddhica Britannica, Series Con-
tinua The 1nstitute of Buddhist Studies.
Nyi ma bstan 'dzin
KTDG bKa' 'gyur bl'ten 'gyur gyi sde tshan sgrgs tshul pa'i
spar ba'i rlung g.yab bon gy pad 1110 l'gyas byed nyi
Series 37, Part 11. New Delhi: 1nternational Academy of 1ndian
Culture, 1965.
Orofino, Giacomella
1990 Teachings on Death and Liberation. Bridgeport: Prism
Press. Translation and revision of Insegna111enti tibetani su l1wrte
e liberazione. Rome: Edizioni Mediterranee, 1985.
Rock, J. F.
1952 The Na-khi Nga Cult and Related Cel'emonies, Part 1. Serie Orien-
tale Roma 4/1. Rome: 1stituto ltaliano per il Medio ed Estremo
Oriente.
Roerich, George
1931 Trals to Inmost Asia. Five Years of Roel' ich
Central Asian Expedition. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Schuh, Dieter
1976 Tibetische und Blockdrucke. Teil 6.
des Blo-g1'OS Verzeichnis der orientalischen\
Handschriften in Oeutschland Band X1, 6. Wiesbaden: Franz
Steiner Ver1ag.
Snellgrove, D. 1.
1967 The Nine Ways of Bon. London Oriental Series 18. London: Ox-
ford University Press.
Smith, E. Gene
1970 1ntroduction to Kongtl'ul's Encyclopa.edia of Indo-Tibetan Culture,
pp. 1-87. Ed by Lokesh Chandra. Sata-Pitaka Series 50. New
Delhi: 1nternational Academy of 1ndian Culture.
Chapter 8
Drawn from the Tibetan Treasury:
The gTer ma Literature
Janet B. Gyatso
The rubric gter ma, or IfTreasure," cannot proper1y be character-
ized as representing a genre of Tibetan literature. Texts classified
as Treasure are of many different genres; in fact, the range of Trea-
sure genres ahnost repeats that of Tibetan literature as a whole.
Rather,the term Treasure refers figuratively to the place fr01n which
such a text was drawn. Or lnore precisely, Treasure means that
which was drawn fr01n such a place. The place is a treasure cache
(s01netiInes distinguished in Tibetan as gter kha, which we may
translate as If treasury"); the Treasure is the product extracted. This
product is lnost notably text, but there are also a variety of lnate-
rial objects (gter rdzas) which are purported to have been extracted
from such treasuries as well.
1
The following, however, will focus
upon those Treasures which are textual.
Place in Tibetan Literature and Legitimating Strategies
The fact that the range of Treasure genres C01npetes in breadth
with that of Tibetan literature as a whole alerts us to a critical fea-
ture of the tradition that needs to be noted fr01n the outset. The
various Treasure If cycles" (skor) that have been discovered by the
Tibetan IfTreasure discoverers" (gterston) often constitute cOlnplete
ritual and doctrinal systelns which in an hnportant sense stand on
148 Literatul'e
their Qwn. Such cyc1es of related texts function in their religious
lnilieu as authoritative sets of teachings which alnount to chal-
lenging alternatives to existing textual systelnS.
Treasure discovery is still practiced in the twentieth century by
contelnporary Tibetans in exile, such as Dillngo lnKhyen brtse
Rin po che and even in occupied Tibet, as seen in the
Treasure career of lnKhan po 'Jigs med phun tshogs
(b. 1933). The tradition seelns to have begun in Tibet in the tenth
century C.E.2. The practitioners of this lnode of introducing texts
have been prhnarily rNying lU, pas and Bon pos; these two groups
had lnuch over1ap in their Treasure activity.3 The newer (and, it
will be noted, lnore po1itically powerful) gSar lna pa schools tend
to doubt the Treasures' authenticity (Kapstein, 1989), although
there have been discoverers there too (Slnith: 10). We need hardly
note that Western scholars have a1so been dubious concerning Trea-
sure clalns (Aris, 1989).
The two priInary lnodes of Treasure discovery are the unearth-
ing of what is usually a fraglnentary text buried in the ground,
statue, or lnonastery wall (sa gter); and the finding of such a text
buried in one' s lnind (dgon.gs gter). In both cases, the discoverer
dalns that the iteln found had previously been hidden in that
very place at SOlne point in the past. This c!aln concerning the
past is another critiC.al feature of the Treasure tradition, which
strictly speaking distinguishes it frOln the other visionary lnodes
of revealing text in Tibet such as "pure vision" (dag sn. an.g) and
secret oral transmission (snyan brgyud) (though not infrequently
these labels are used lOQsely to characterize Treasure as we11).
Once discovered, lnany of the buried Treasure cyc1es came to
be Olnpiled into canons Qf their own. The ear1y Bon po Treasures
were incorporated into the Bon po bKa' 'gyur and brTen
which together fi11 approxlnately 300 volulnes; in fact, Treasures
lnake up near1y a11 of the fonner and lnuch of the latter parts of
this co11ection.
4
Per Kvaerne (1974: 39) estlnated that the Bon po
canon was asselubled 1450, approximately 150 years after the
cOlnpilation of the Tibetan Buddhist canon of the new schools, the
bKa' 'gyur and bsTan 'gyur.
5
The Buddhist Treasures were not
cOlnpi1ed into a co11ection of their own unti1 the nineteenth cen-
tury, when Kong sprul bLo gros lntha' yas edited the Rin chen
mdzod (RT), a co11ection of cycles wh

The gTel' nta Literatul'e 149

able nUlnber of Buddhist Treasures not included in the RT, such as
the two well-known "historical" cycles, the Mafli bka' 'bum and
the bKa' thang sde lnga, as we11 as S01ne of the esoteric sNying thig
('Heart-Sphere") Treasures, SOlne of which calne to be classified
as Atiyoga tantras of the "key instruction class" (man. ngag sde) and
included in the rNyin.g ma'i 'bum.
6
Also not included were
cycles that were not available to Kong sprul, as well as some that
were not deelned worthy of inclusion.
The subject lnatter of texts, as was already indi-
cated concerning genre, is as broad as that of the rest of Tibetan
literature. For the sake of SUlnlnary, the principal Treasure sub-
jects lnay be distinguished into two lnain types: those that pur-
port to recount history and/or hagiography; and those that present
religious teachings and practices. In the case of history, the Trea-
sure mode of textual generation performs the lnportant function
of offering an arena to recount cOlnpeting versions of past events,
i.e., versions that differ frOln orthodox or genera11y accepted
sions. As would be expected, such Treasure histories are vulner-
able to a charge of forgery; on the other hand, if the conceit of
discovery is granted, then the purported age of the text and the
status of its original author function to lend authenticity and
gitimacy to its narratives.
In the case of religious teachings, legitlnacy is clalned by char-
acterizing the "core" of the cycle as a revelation. The Bon pO Trea-
sures are often identified as teachings
rab mi bo (see Kvaerne, in this volume). In the Buddhist case, Trea-
sure revelations are placed explicitly on a par with the stras and
tantras of the more conventional Buddhist canon, and are said to
be, in one sense or another, the "word of the Buddha." We sha11
see below that the very mode in which the Buddhist Treasures are
transmitted is characterized as being in consonance with the mode
in which the more we11-known and accepted teachings of the Bud-
dha were translnitted. The Buddhist Treasures gain legitimacy in
particula! by explicitly linking themselves with the texts and prac-
tices of the "Old Tantras" said to have been translated from 8an-
skrit, and compiled into what is ca11ed the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum,
itself cha11enging alternative canon to the more conventional
canop., the Buddhist bKa' 'gyur with its "New
cases, the Buddhist Treasu
150 Tibetan Literature
than cOlnpeting with the Old Tantras they cOlnplelnent them, and
thus stand together with the Old canon as a joint challenge to the
New canon. However, the Buddhist Treasures stilllnaintain an
advantage over the canonical Old Tantras by virtue pf the posi-
tion of their discoverer: since the Treasures are received in a 11 close
translnission" (nye brgyud), their discoverer has greater proxlnity
to (and by hnplication, lnastery of) the source ofhis teachings than
does a lnaster of the Old Tantras, who has received the texts he is
teaching from a "10ng transmission" (ring brgyud), i.e., a succes-
sion of lnasters that stretches back into the distant past.
We have a1ready suggested at least three ways in which the re-
ligious Treasure lays clahn to authenticity: the exalted status of its
original expounder, such as the Buddha; the nature of its doctrines,
practices and lnode of translnission, which are shnilar to the more
and accepted doctrines, practices and mode of
lnission of canonicallnaterials; and the special powers of the
Treasure' s discoverer. That the powers of the discoverer are of criti-
cal concern in the Treasure tradition lnay be seen particularly in
the and sOlnetlnes accounts of the
individual discoverers' visionary quests for Treasure. In a series
of artic1es focusing on such accounts from the Buddhist Treasure
tradition (1986, 1993, and n.d.), I have shown that the personal
struggle to develop the power to find a Treasure, the difficulty in
deciphering the cryptic codes and in which the
Treasure is originally revealed, and the s many
self-doubts are all necessitated by the nature of the Buddhist myth
of the Treasul'es' previous concealment (see, e.g., Tulku Thondup
Rinpoche). Interestingly, this myth lnakes two legimating lnoves
at once: it harkens back to the authoritative past, and simulta-
neously sheds positive light on the discoverer in the present.
The Buddhist Treasure lnyth has come to center upon the ac-
tivities of Padmasambhava, the eighth-century lndic lnaster cred-
ited with introducing tantric Buddhism into Tibet, even though
there were a nUlnber of earlier traditions regarding the concealings
ofTreasures in Tibet, lnost notably those associated with the rDzogs
chen teachings of VhnalaInitra, another Indian teacher in Tibet
during the same period.
8
But by the time of discoverer Nyang ral
Nyi lna 'od ze
The gTer ma Literature 151
his nage as a princely but lay tantric lnaster reflected well the
style of the lay teacl:ers
aristocratic were developing what we lnight call the
full-blown Treasure tradition.
9
Nonetheless, in this lnyth,
Padlnasambhava is still but a lniddlelnan in the disselnination of
Treasure, if a very central middlelnan. The Treasure is lnost basi-
callv transmitted by a prhnordial buddha in a primordial pure land
(rgyal ba' dgongs brgyud).
"knowledge holders" In-
lna pa Only is it
taught in verbal fOr1n by PadlnaSalnbhava, in the eighth-century
Tibetan court, "into the ears of persons" (gang zag snyan khung du
brgyud) (Gyatso, 1986, 1993). Padlnasalnbhava then proceeds to
prepare the Treasure teaching for buria1. He the teach-
ing
which he specially certain disciples to rediscover it
in a future incarnation at a specified cOlnlnissioning that is
assured of fulfillment by virtue of a prophecy Padlnasambhava
utters to that effect (bka' babs lung bstan). Then he appoints
ful protectors to conceal the Treasure from everyone else until the
right along at the right tiIne (mkha' 'gro gtad rgya).
The point is that the wrong person lnust not discover the
sure; if he or she does, death will be imlninent.
10
Thus the crucial element in Buddhist Treasure discovery is that
the discoverer lnust prove both to hhnself and to the world that
he is indeed the previously comlnissioned individ ual. This is ac-
complished in a variety of ways, one of which is through signs
which delnonstrate the blessings of the exalted previous
ers of the Treasure, and another of which is by the discoverer's
own spiritual accomplishments, which demonstrate that he or she
already mastered the Treasure teachings while studying with
Padmasambhava in a past lifetime.
The Discovery of the Buried: History and Implications
The roots of this complex and arcane process of textual translnis-
sion lnay be recognized in the earlier and quite praglnatic Tibetan
custom of burying politicallY sensitive itelns underground as a
lneans of preventing their destruction. Tibetan histories state, for
eXaInple, that because of repressive lneasures taken by anti-Bud-
dhist lninisters after the death of the king Mes ag tshoms (ca. 750
152 Tibetan Literature
C.E.) certain Buddhist texts newly introduced in Tibet such as the
Vajracchedik Stra were hidden underground, and later retrieved
when the next Buddhist king, Khri srong lde btsan, took the throne
(KG: BC: 882). But this and other such incidents are not
considered to be instances of Treasure transmission.
In some accounts of early Treasure concealment in the Bon po
tradition, the reason for hiding texts is also primarily
The two principallnolnents of Bon Treasure burial occur in the
wake of the persecutions of Bon during the reigns of (1) the
historic Tibetan king Gri gum bTsan po, and (2) Khri srong lde
btsan.
ll
That this praglnatc view of the need for Treasure burial is
still operative in the Bon po tradition may be seen froln a recent
cOlnlnent by the contemporary Bon po master bsTan 'dzin rnaln
dag, who characterized the conceahnent of texts and objects after
the Chinese invasion of Tibet in the 1950s as a third Treasure
ceahnent, on the same order as the previous two (private inter-
view, 1989).
However, at SOlne yet undetennined lnoment in the
lnent of both the Buddhist and Bon po Treasure traditions, the
reasons given for concealment becOlne grounded in the mantc
powers of the concealer: rather than trying to protect texts from
present adverse conditions, the concealer of Treasure is concerned
with the future, which he perceives will be difficult, with special
teachings needed. The Treasures that he then hides are specifi-
cal1y formu1ated to benefit the beings in that future moment. This
future-detennined motive is especially characteristic of the Bud-
dhist Treasure lnyth that stars Padmasambhava, although early
Bon po sources refer to prophecies of the future as we11.
12
In addi-
tion to the motive for concea1ment, the mode of discovery a1so
changes. Rather than digging up an object based on a simple
memory or notation of the hiding p1ace, or indeed by accident,
is the case in some accounts of early Bon Treasure discoveries,13
the act of discovery becomes dependent upon visionary inspira-
tion, memory of
tra-
dition even goes so far disal10w the accidenta1 discoveries
that are sometimes reported in the Bon po Treasure tradition (see
Tu1ku Thondup Rinpoche: 103).
It is also the Bu
The gTer ma Literature 153
The Buddhist Treasure tradition thereby claims that
lnode of Treasure translnission is u1timate1y to be traced to
Indian Buddhisln. Indeed, at an early point Buddhisln had a1ready
allowed the preaching of authentic by individua1s
other than the Buddha, based either upon the Buddha' s inspira-
tion or on those individuals' own realizations (MacQueen).
e
Tibetan expounders of Treasure theory can even state-
hear
ings from and trees (NC: 511;
743). Buddhist legends concerning visionary receipt of scripture
often cited as precedents by the Treasure proponents are Maitreya' s
revelation of Buddhist philosophca1 texts to the fourth-century
Asaga, and Ngrjuna's retrieval of the Prajpralnit stras
froma reahn under the ocean. A1so noted was the Buddha' s
prophecy in the thirteenth chapter th: Stra
that this text wil1 "go into a cave in the ground" and 500 years
later, in degenerate tlnes, a few beings who have studied with
former buddhas and who have "brought wholesome potentialties
to lnaturity and planted seeds" will propagate the stra again
(Harrison: 96-108; YM: 223-224; GT, vol. 2: 448). Further, well
known to the Treasure tradition is the rNying ma pa account of
the Indian translnission of the Old Tantras of the bKa'
brgyad class, which their concealment
tion frOln the caitya at Stavana (NC: Dudjom Rinpoche:
482-483). In fact, as early as the thirteenth century, the Treasure
apo1ogist Guru Chos dbang is finding ana10gues to Treasure con-
cealment/reveahnent in virtual1y the entire history of the Bud-
dhist scripturesr fro1n the trans1nisSion of versions of the Vinayar
to that of certain stras, all classes of the Old Tantras, and even the
textual translnission of severa1 Mahyna sstras (GC: 89-95).
Never mentioned by the Treasure tradition to my knowledge is
its close affinitv to accounts of text concea1ment and reve1ation in
Chinese Ling-pao Taoisln. For exmnp1e, the third- to fourth-cen-
tury "Grotto Passage" tel1s that Ce1estia1 out of cOlnpas-
Sion for the suffering beings in a degenerate ager granted special
books written in a ce1estial script which came to be

154 Tibetan Literature
influence as well. Further, the doctrinal and lueditative teachings
of tlmrDzogs cheIL whichmany Buddhist and Bon Po Treasures
propagate, have certain connections with Chinese Ch' an, even if
are not to be equated 86-106; Kvaerne, 1983).
1n of Ch'an passages in the
thong(Tuccir1958;1JeYama)suggests that Treasure may have of-
fered a convenientmeans to reintroduce chran teachings in Tibet-
Such a theory is also huplied by Bu ston Rin chen grub, the four-
teenth-century scholar and historian who would have been criti-
cal of the Treasure tradition and its teachings; he states that when
Hva shang Mahyna was sent back to China after his loss in de-
bate to the 1ndian luaster his books were "hidde11. as
treasure" (BC: 890) .
If the Buddhist Treasure tradition itself locates its source in 1n-
dia, and the historian of religio11. can recognize influences from
China as well, the phenolue11.ologist of religion will notice the in-
digenous Tibetan elelnents operative in Treasure. have already
noted above that the practice of burying objects in the ground has
early Tibetan roots. The significance of retrieving a text out of the
Tibetan earth (or mind) should also not be lost 0 11. us. This is Dar-
ticularly evident in the Buddhist case, where 1ndic origin was a
?ritical criterion for a textFs inclusion inthe bkaFFgyur and bsTan
'gyurr the Buddhist canon with which Treasure competes-If we
bracket, for a moment, the Treasure tradition' s own construction
of lndian precedent, we luay note the thorough-going Tibetanness
of the eidos of TreasureF i.e-r the essentially Tibetan character, or
thrust, of a Treasure' s clalu to fame and at the mo-
lnent itis being presented into the Tibetan world. A Treasure is a
text that has not been propagated in 1ndia; it was concealed dur-
ing the period of the Tibetan nationrs apogee of military might
and golden age of Buddhist practice; it was formulated specifi-
cally for this particular moment in Tibetan history;its prophecies
in fact describe this moment pointedly;and now this particular
Tibetan master has revealed it to Tibet at the proper time.
Whether drawn out of the Tibetan ground or a Tibetan luind,
the Treasure stands as a uct, in this
independentofBuddhist and other traditions ofTibetFs neighbors-
This independence is repeated on tlmsmaller scale, too, within
the dynamics of internal
Literature 155
hi1nself is an autonOluous, luaverick figure, typically declaring his
independence received and the dis-
focuses on his own luind, his own visions, his own lnemory
of a previous life as disciple, hi, s
tinecl revelation that he propagates to his own circle of disciples.
This recourse to the independent master facilitated by the Trea-
sure tradition underlines the creativity that is thereby luade pos-
sible. The Treasure itself describes a new vision, and a new systeln
of meditation or ritual. The fact that innovation is luade possible
bv Treasure lueans that vita1ity, flexibility, and responsiveness to
situations and needs are lnaintai11.ed in Tibetan religion.
Content and Genres
Here we can only sketch out some of the general features of an
enonnous landscape. Futher, this overview is liInited to Buddhist
Treasure; a full study of the Bon Treasure 1iterature, especially when
the Bon po canon becOlues lnore readily available, will surely add
lnuch to our understanding of the Treasure tradition.
As already indicated, we luay luake a basic distinction between
two major types of Treasure subject luatter: (1) the Ifhistorical,"
which in the Buddhist case concerns the introduction of BuddhislU
to Tibet during the Yar lung dynasty, and (2) religious doctrine
and practice.
Again, the first type exemplifies the Treasure tradition' s focus
upon primarily Tibetan luatters. Tibetologists have long recognized
that despite certain genuine ancient passages preserved therein,
the Treasure narratives are greatly overlaid with myth and fan-
are not to be considered as providing historical informa-
tion (Vostrikov). Nonetheless, the Treasure accounts of the events
of the Yar lung dynasty are critical for our understanding of the
way that period was retrospectively romanticized and glorified in
Tibetans' views of their country' s past, as well as the iIuplications
of that period for the place of BuddhislU in Tibetan society alto-
gether. The Treasures SOlue of the luost detailed stories of the
seventh-century King Srong btsan sgam po, who builds many
Buddhist temples to subdue the wild indigenous 11 demoness" of
Tibet, and whose two wives from Nepal and China bring statues
of the Buddha; of King Khri srong lde btsan, who invites the 1n-
dian Buddhist philosopher and the tantric luaster
Padmasalubhava, and builds bSam yas Monastery; of Padlna-
Litcratul'c
salnbhava, who introduces tantric Buddhisln in Tibet, and brin2"s
under
protectors
IS in the uction of rDzogs chen of the
great debatebetweeMhe IndianImster kamalaala and the Chi-
nese master Hva Shang;and ofmany othermattersat the heart of
the founding of Buddhisln in Tibet.
1S
The Buddhist Treasures that present these storiesr along with
much other materialF date primarily from the twelfth to the four-
teenth centuries. The bka' 'bum is one of the few Buddhist
Treasures that does not dea1with padmasamblwa and tlmpL

with
and
purported teach111gs of srong btsan sgam
Po, It also presents
dhanas for as well as several lndic Buddhist ca
nonical texts connected to the cult

(Macdonald;






The

sde

has five books: rGyal po

mo
Blonpo(Ministers)FLopmp
(Translators andpandits)rand
Lhu'dye (Gods and Ghosts)F and was discovered in stages by O
gyan gling pa in the latter third of the fourteenth century
(Blondeaur1971:42).These texts focus on the events surrounding
Padmasambhava
,
but contain many other legends as well as pas-
ages with historical valuer along with such diverse materials as
an elaborate and lengthy
ofthegyi-
lung kings in the rGyul por and the chFanmaterials in the Blonpor
already for the Treasures devoted solely to the

of PMInasambhavar they have been analysed by
Blondeau (1980)
,
who found

the Treasure traditions of

renditions of
life speak of

birth." The
liest of the


hagiographies of Padmasalnbhava is the 2angs
ghng771Zy discovered by NYang ralNyima 'od zer(ZL);the two
best known are the shel bmg771OF discovered by O rgyan gling pa
(1329-1367)(translatedby
Toussai110r and thegserphrengr diS O
ered by Sangs rgyas gling pa (1340
,
1367)r which both contain a
separate chapter of prophecies of Treasure discoverers. Another
IJhistorical" Treasure is the hagiography of Pad
1711avars
Tibetan consort ye
shes mtsho rgyalr discovered by STag
shaln rdo rje in
The gTCl' ma Literatul'e 157
The
second type of subject lnatter
,
that which presents religious
teachings
,
sdhanas
,
and rituals
,
constitutes the content of the ma-
jority of Treasure cydes-Once againr let us note that since most

are purported to have been preached by Padma-
salnbhava
,
these cycles too contain "historical" passages concern-
ing the Yar lung period as well. But the bulk of the cycle is de-
to teachings and practices.
With the exception of several hagiographies of padmasambhava
,
biographies of the Treasure discoverers
,
and texts relating to the
structure of the collection
,
the one hundred plus volumes of the
RT are comprised of these sdhana/ritual cyc1es. The RT's editor
,
Kong sprul
,
has arranged much of the Treasures in this collection
according to the nature of the central visua1ized figure of the
sdh.ana/ritual. And since lnost of the Treasure cycles include sev-
eral sections which focus upon different figures
,
Kong sprul saw
fit to break these cyc1es up and insert the parts into their appropri-
ate volumes so as to fit into the general structure according to which
he arranged the collecton as a whole. Thus the Rig 'dzin 'dus pa
section of the famed Treasure cycle Klong chen snying thig wil1 be
found in volume 14 of the RT along with sections of other Trea-
sure cycles that focus on a visualizaton of the interior guru in
"peaceful form" as a nirm1}akya; the Bla sgrub thig le'i rgya can
section of that same cycle s in volume 17 along with other Trea-
sures presentng gurusdhanas; and the rDzogs chen sectons of
the cycle are in volume 89
,
in the rDzogs chen portion of the RT.
The man organzng prnciple of the RT is the group of the three
"inner tantras" of the Old canon: the

Anuyoga
,
and


predomnance of the first group
,
the Mahyoga
,
in
Treasure cycles may be seen from the fact volumes 3
to 85 of the RT. The Anuyoga is represented by but a few cycles in
volumes 85 and 86
,
and the Atyoga occupies volumes 86 to 91.
17
The deites of the Mahyoga are organized in the RT under the
three headings of guru
,
yi dam (the practitoner's principal deitYi
Skt.



These headings are further broken down
into such standard categories as the external/ internal dyad
,
and
the fourfold

typology of

The gurusdhanas are exceedingly numerous
,
occupying
fourteen volulnes of the RT. The yi da
158 Tibetan Literature
brgyad. The comprising five Volulnes of the RT, include a
variety of felnale deities. The Atiyoga Treasures also
the salne deites n their there is more in
these cycles on lneditative techniques that focus on
the lnind. A large varety of are introduced in the Trea-
sures tor recognizing that naturer and separate texts that focus on
such practices are again organized taxoomical1v,
When one examines an ir
finds too is divided into sections, but now at
this closer level the organizing principle is no deity, an
ratlh1er is literary genre.This genre-based organization is never
SPictly determinedrbutthe idealpatternrHone may saymcon-
what I have called a Hcore textf aMits
and ritual texts 1991). The core
text lnay be couched as a tantra or other sort of "root text" (mla;
rtsa ba), and it is lnost the revealed
vision or philosophical teaching itself. As such, it will be anonv-
lnous, or couched as the words of Padlnasambhava, or a
OE-deity.Itis
gter shad-a separating each line nstead the standard 1 used
in other forms of Tibetan literature. However, s01netimes the gter
shd is used improperly to mark the subsidiary commentaries and
associated rituals as well.
The authorship of the texts is often explicitly attrib-
uted to the d1scovererr or even to a disciple;thus Inany of the texts
included in the RTare strictly speakingnot revealed Treasures but
rather merelybaseduponthem.The principal subsidiary texts are
either descriptions of how to perform the empowerment ritual
whereby disciples are initiated into the practices of the root text
and/or its associated deity, or are how to iden-
tify oneselfas the deity invisualizationmeditation (see Cozort in
this volume). But then again, sometimes the revealed core text s
itself an elnpowennent or sdhana.
Tlmmanyothers-bsidiarygenrespresentthemanyothertypes
of rituals and liturgies associated with the core reveation,
that a typology of Tre re genres wll be a typology
betaIn 1rituals.SOIne of these rituals are placed close to their core
texts inthe RTr but others havebeen gathered in the last portion of
the Mahayoga sectionr in volumes64th
The gTer ma Literature 159
of the genres/rituals included here: construction of
lnanufacture of ritual hats and costulneS; ge01nantical analysis of
a place for its spiritual properties (sa dpyad); rituals to appease the
hUlnan and non-hUlnan 11 owners" of a place in which one intends
to practice (sa chog); lnethods to ascertain the disposition of the
large being that constitutes the entirety of a place (sa bdag lto 'phye);
invocation of blessings (byin 'bebs); general lneritorious rituals
performed between lnore c01nplex rituals (chos spyod); additional
rituals to cOlnpensate for ritual transgressions (bskang bzhags);
niques for eating bits of paper inscribed with therapeutic lnantra
letters (za yig snga.gs 'bum); construction of offering cakes
lnass liturgies (tshogs mchod); consecraton of icons
(rab gnas); rites for the dead; burnt juniper offerings (bsang); con-
struction of thread-crosses (mdos); uses of effigies (glud); crop cul-
tivation; weather control; turning back of annies; protective de-
vices against weapons; curing of physiological and psychological
disease; extending of lifespan (tshe sgrub). Surveying this litera-
ture, one realizes how lnuch a Treasure revelation is a starting point
for the colorful tantric dralnaturgy for which Tbetan religion is so
well known. Each discoverer introduces new styles, 1nages, and
technques; lnany have been accolnplished choreographers,
ers, sculptors, costume desgners.
Several genres that are to be found at some point in the Trea-
sure cycle are a function of the special features that distinguish
Treasure froln other forms of tantric literature. Most itnportant is
the prophecy (lung bstan) text, in whichPadlnasambhava predicts
the future discoverer and the lnolnent in history when the Trea-
sure wiU be revealed. This text (or passage elnbedded in another
text) is the centrallegnating device of the Treasure; it proves, or
attelnpts to prove, that the cycle was not authored by the discov-
erer but rather was fonnulated by PadlnaSa1nbhava in the past. It
also proves that the discoverer is in fact the person who was des-
ignated by Padlnasalnbhava for the revelation of this Treasure. A
related, distinctive Treasure genre is the certificate (byang bu; see
Gyatso, n.d.), a curious lnini-Treasure discovered prior to the
Treasure proper, which lnay also include prophecies as well as
explicit directions on how to find the rest
160 Ti betan Literatul'e
Another hnportant legithnating genre within the religious
sure is the history of the cycle (Solnetimes cal1ed 10 which
lnay or lnay not be part of the visionary core. 1 have identified two
main typesr one which recounts the transmission ofthe cycle from
its origin in a up to its conceahnent by
satnbhava, and the other which narrates the events of the
ery(Gyatsor1993), The account of the transmission of the cycle is
often i11corporated i11to the corer and functions to legitimate in
lnuch the salne way as the prophecy and certificate just discussed.
The secondr the account of the discovery}is of particular inter-
est, snce it too is lneant to legithnate, or to 11 engender confidence"
(11ges shes bSkyes Pu)in the Treasurer but it does so on entirely dif-
ferent grounds than do the references to padmasambhava and his
buddha predecessors. Here the reader is presented with an indi-
vidualistic account of the discovererrs trials and struggles in
realizing the revelatory vision. The text recounting this visionary
procemis oftenauthoredbythe discoverer, Insomeinstances itG
enough to or
vvmSionary autobiographyr', in that what is of concern is the
discoverer's visionary career and developlnent as a whole, as wel1
as the events fol1owing the clhnactic revelatory episode, such as
his decision to teach and publish the Treasure.Reading these ac-
countsr we can observe quite concretely that the Treasure argUE
ment for legitimation is notbased solely upon the inmcatioiof
the Treasure lnyth and the discoverer' s purported role in the burial
of the Treasure centuries earlier.Rathez> there is an equalr if not
greaterr emphasis placed upon a show of honesty and an admis-
sion of inadequacies and if such candor and display of
self-doubt would alsor ironically}engender confidence in the dis-
coverer. The Treasure tradition understands the discoverer ulti-
Imtely t?, become ahighlyrealized meditationmaster capable of
"ownng" and "controlling" the powerful and esoteric teachings
premh he is not simply Padmasambhavih
lnaihnan or delivery boy, as one representative of the Treasure tra-
dition recently put it.
18
The painting of the visions, dreams, and
personal qualities in the discovererrs autobiography gives us a
picture of an idiosyncratic personality on the way to such mas-
tery, and a sense of the importance of the
The gTel' ma Literatul'e 161
Notes
1. GC lists four main types of material objects that are hidden and then redis-
covered as Treasure which include wish-fulfi1ling jewels and auspi-
cious skull-cu):s, als_o items as entire val1eys hidden so a; to
be discovered later by followers of in order to escape en
emies; concealed supplies of water; condensed substances to be mixe'"d
bui1ding for the construction of temples; hidden forests for build-
ing in weal!h.to food for hungry Dharma practitio-
ners;magicaltechniques to subdue barbarians;and bodily exercises to im"
I:
rove
health also the various sorts of icons and mages
that are as (87-88). A rare glimpse of Treasure-discovered
icons, ritual objects, and scripts may be had fronl an excel1ent collection of
col?: published by Tulku Thondup Rinpoche (between pp. 144
and 145).
2., to Khyung po dpal dge belongs to the end
of tenth century. The first Bon po discovery-of by the three
Nepalese HOcdrym', (karmay}1972:xxxiv)is dated in one traditional Bon po
although Kvaerne (1974: 38) shows that the
first by th:se and_ other figures 'cannot taken place
before too e.arlier Bon p? chronological table recently
(1990) gives dates as much as 240 ye;rs later than
of the table published in Kvaerne (1971) which has fol1owed in most
of Bon prior to 1990. !n any case, the history of the develop-
of the Treas,ure needs more research. 1n particular, the
tailed individual Treasure cycles, in the
sNying thigya bzhi (e.g., OZ), merit close of the most lengthy and
surveys of the lives of tl1e Buddhist discoverer; a;e the
of the nine!een,th and twentieth centuries, for example GT, NO, TG,
lVC Earlier sources for the lives of the discoverers include the sixteenth-cen-
tury OL, a!:d Y!v1; _the SB; and the eighteenth-cen-
tury ST, as well as the brief "prophetic" summaries of the lives
it; earlier of Padmasambhava, such as chapter 92
0 rgyan g1ing Shel l1!a_ (T?ussaint: 376-389). Among th' many
other sources useful for a study of the lineages of the Bu
162 Tibetan Literature
and Per K vaerne. A promising, heretofore unexamined source concerning
Bon Treasure is gTer gyi kha byang by sGa ston Tshul khrims rgyal mtshan
(fourteenth century), a manuscript in 45 folios, reportedly being translated
current1y by Tenzin Wangyal and Ramon Pratz.
3. An important study of an ear1y example of the cross-pollination between
the Buddhist and Bon po Treasure traditions is Blondeau, 1984. See also
Blondeau, 1971, 1985, 1987, and especially 1988 concerning the inclusion of
Bon po materials in the RT. The fact that there have been numerous discover-
ers who have revealed both Bon and Buddhist Treasures is wel1 known. See
Tulku Thondup Rinpoche, Appendix 1, assessing the relationship from a
Buddhist standpoint.
4. Note that the spel1ing of the second section of the canon differs from that
of the Buddhist bsTan 'gyur (Kvaerne, 1974: 23).
5. If we are to fol1ow the bstan rtsis of Tshul khrims rgyal mtshan (Kvaerne,
1990) the date of the editing of this canon would be after 1475, the death date
of Shes rab rgyal mtshan according to this source. See also Kvaerne, in this
volume.
6. Concerning the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum, see n. 7. Regarding the sNying
thig literature, see n. 8.
7. See Gyatso, 1981: 233-250 for a descriptive analysis of the Grub thob thugs
tig Treasure of 'Jam dbyangs mkhyen brtse'i dbang po (1820-1892), noting
the many assertions, in the colophons of the various texts of that cycle, of
association with one or another of the Old Tantras. The rNying ma'i brgyud
'bum is current1y available in several editions which differ substantial1y in
content and order. It is usually said to have been compiled first by the
Gling pa, but there is evidence of its existence in some
fonn prior to him, at least as ear1y as the time of 'Gro ba mgon po Nam
mkha' dpal, son of Nyang ral Nyi ma 'od zer (1136-1204). Franz-Karl Ehrhard
is currently preparing a detailed historical study of the rNying ma'i rgyud
'bum.
8. Vimalamitra's Tibetan studen, Nyang ban Ting 'dzin bzang po, was said
to have concealed these teachings after the master went to China. The dis-
coverer was gNas brtan lDang ma lhun rgyal (eleventh century), who pro-
ceeded to transmit the material to lCe btsun Seng ge dbang phyug, one of the
first accomplished Tibetan Buddhist yogis, and to others. This sequence of
events narrated in the colophon of RR: 100.696-698. detailed
account is to be found in DZ: 163-169 et seq. See also Roeric
The gTer ma Literature 163
the life of is Zangs gling 711a (ZL). Regarding the devel-
opment of the hagiographies of Padnlasambhava, see Blondeau;-1980.
10. The great majority of Treasure discoverers were men, as far as we know.
One fel?ale nlD (thirteenth centurYi see Dudjom
Rinpoche, ;01: In this article 1 have primarily usec the male pro-
noun to refer to the discoverers.
11. For an ofboth these incidents see which
is a ?shad 111dzod,an_early twentieth-century history of
the Bon po tradition that draws extensively on early Bon pO sources as
the byang and fourteenth-century(?) Srid See
(xxxiii) suggesting "the possibility that later Bon po his-
torians have made two out of what was in fact only one?' Note
that n? are said to have been discovered after the first persecution
abated; the first Bon po Treasure discovery is that of the Nepale;e 11cryas."
Mo.s! of the Legs bshad 111dzod (Karmay, 1972) are
,?y prophec.ies qu?ted f!om Srid rgyud. The s-callec rGyaZ' rabs
bOl1 gyi 'byung gnas is another relatively early Bn po account that refers
to the appointing of Treasure and the making of prayers for the
future discovery 50). The Treasure tradition as a whole is la-
belled in that text as "the manner in which the Bon teachings increased due
to the force of [previous] prayers" (Das: 56).
13. The is the by the "three cryas"
116 seq.) that even this account is preceeded by the clan that it
happened "[t]hrough the power of the prayers of Dran-pa-Nam-mkha'." The
Treasure discovery by the three hunters 124) also appears to
be understood to have been accidental, and lHa dgon finds Treasrs based
upon an oral tradition originating with his great-grandfather' s assertion that
texts were hidden in that place (Karmay, 1972: 125). But see n. 12 above. It is
interesting to note that whereas the Bon po Treasure tra-
dition, suggests that those discoveries made by unlettered or that were
accidental argues for their authenticity (1972: xxxvi-xxxvii), the Buddhist Trea-
sure tradition in its fully developed form would not regard such an acciden-
tal event as an authentic discovery of Treasure for preclse
164 Tibetan Litemtu1'e
18. mKhan po tshe dbang, speaking of 'Jigs med gling pa i11 the i11troductio11
to an empowerment ritual to the Yum bka' give11 by the fourth rDo grub chen
Rin po che in New York City in July 1989.
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