For a critical history of Northern Treasures (FCHNT)

Abstract

For a Critical History of the Northern Treasures (FCHNT)

The history of Tibet remains obscure in many respects, despite the research accumulated over recent decades. And yet, there are tens of thousands of pages of untapped historiographical material.

This documentation takes the form of religious genealogies - series of biographies of individuals belonging to institutions that see themselves as families. The writing of history is often linked to the construction of legitimacy; in Tibet, it takes the form of the narration of the spiritual pedigree of the masters: the transmission of tantric materials must be authentic, continuous and illustrated in each generation by heroic figures demonstrating the power and value of what they transmitted.

So, with the great historical synthesis as our horizon, we must first follow these many singular threads, then try to reweave them according to the way they were actually arranged in the actual weave of Tibetan history.

There is therefore an intermediary stage between the primary sources and these syntheses proper: the task of philologists who edit, compare documents, restore their meaning, detail what is presented as facts while trying to locate and date them by cross-referencing available sources, with also the idea of giving them more context.

For such preliminary work, it is necessary to choose, from among the many Tibetan religious lineages, one that is sufficiently documented by well-preserved literature, that has cultivated a sense of its identity over many centuries, and that has played an important role in many aspects of Tibetan life, so that its study sheds light on many unknown aspects of Tibetan history. We have therefore chosen a branch of the "Ancient Order" (rNying ma) of Tibetan Buddhism: the Jangter (Byang gter) or "Treasures of the North", which perfectly meets these three requirements.

The Nyingmapas trace their origins back to the first spread of Buddhism in the 8th century. But most of their doctrines, practices and liturgies fall into the category of "hidden treasures" (gter ma), the fruits of a subsequent and ongoing process of revelation of which the "Northern Treasures" are a typical, if singular, case.

It was in 1366 that Rigdzin Gödem (1337-1408) is said to have extracted from a cave in central Tibet one of the most famous sets of these "treasure-texts" (15 strong volumes), the initial nucleus of the "Treasures of the North", to which were amalgamated the "discoveries" of his later reincarnations, but also those of other mystics.

A very large part of the corpus of this tradition, hitherto inaccessible, was published in 2015 in a collection (63 vol.), a complete copy of which was acquired by the Instituts d'Asie of the Collège de France, making our project both possible and necessary: we must exploit this treasure finally available.

T. 62 of this collection is a large Histoire des Trésors du Nord (905 p.) which will give our project its canvas. It will consist of a critical translation of this chronicle, supplemented and amended by material available elsewhere (4000 p. of historiographical documents in this collection, not counting the countless precious elements scattered throughout the ritual texts).

The team of specialists submitting the present project has set itself the goal of producing four volumes respecting the general architecture of this History, while adding to it the chapters it lacks on aspects that have not been retained due to the taste of Tibetan historians for linear narratives in the form of genealogies. The four years over which this program will be spread should be sufficient to bring these four volumes, if not to a directly publishable state, at least to a form now requiring only editing work for publication in subsequent years.

Project start and end dates

02/2022 - 09/2026

Scientific team

Stéphane Arguillère, IFRAE, Inalco (coordinator)

ACHARD Jean-Luc, CRCAO, CNRS

VALENTINE Jay, Troy University (Alabama)

Project objectives

Our research focuses on the history of a branch of the Ancient school (rNying ma) of Tibetan Buddhism, and more specifically on a sub-branch of this school, known as the Northern Treasures (Byang gter). The rNying ma school is the one that first introduced Buddhism to Tibet (mainly in the 8th century CE). It is also characterized by a form of ongoing revelation, either via "pure visions" (dag snang), or through "hidden treasures" (gter ma). The Northern Treasures have their main source in a vast corpus of revelations of this second type, circa 1366.

Project methodology

In 2015, a hitherto little-accessible 63-vol. collection of Northern Treasures literature was published in Tibet and then made available online on the American BDRC website. It contains a wealth of ritual material, as well as biographies and a chronicle (vol. 62, approx. 800 pages), compiled by a contemporary author, Khenpo Chöying. It has the common faults of Tibetan historiography-apologetic character, anachronistic preoccupations...-but the author is an intelligent compiler, very well informed and concerned with coherence and accuracy. We have undertaken a critical translation of this chronicle-not only in the sense of verifying the statements by cross-referencing sources not all fully exploited by the Tibetan author, but also by filling in the gaps in the narrative.

Expected results

Our research is at the frontiers of history and philology. The state of the art does not allow us to deviate much from the sources, nor to indulge in bold speculation. In sum:

  • Until now, the first introduction of Buddhism into Tibet has been reduced to the second half of the eighth century. We have shown that it continued until the 10th century.
  • We have documented hitherto neglected bodies of offensive magic, essential for understanding the position of the Nyingmapas as state magicians in the construction of the modern Tibetan state.
  • We have refuted a recurring misconception that Rigdzin Gödem was a half-Buddhist, half-Bönpo master.
  • The identification of one of his masters has made certain aspects of his revelations more comprehensible.

Deliverables

  • 3 special issues of Revue d'Etudes Tibétaines (CNRS), open source;
  • 3 vols. of Northern Treasures Histories (two in press), open source;
  • 2 books in press (Berlin: Wandel Verlag);
  • 1 panel at IATS World Symposium (Prague 2022);
  • 1 symposium at Inalco (Oct. 2024);
  • 30+ research notes on a blog Carnets d'Hypothèse, open source.

Key words

Tibet; Tibetan religions; history of Tibet; Tibetan philology; biographies / hagiographies; Buddhism (history of Buddhism).

References

An., 2015, sNga 'gyur byang gter chos skor phyogs bsgrigs, S.l., Byang gter dpe sgrig tshogs chung.

Cantwell, C., 2020, Dudjom Rinpoche's Vajrakīlaya's Works, Oxford Series for Buddhist Studies Monographs, Bristol, Equinox Publishing.

Cuevas, Br. J., 2003, The Hidden History of the Tibetan Book of the Dead, New York, Oxford University Press.

Dalton, J., 2016, The Gathering of Intentions, New York, Columbia University Press.