Keywords
mKhas grub Lung rtogs rGyam thso
shin rtsis
bar do
rtsis
rgyud
gtsug lag
g.yung drung bon
rnying ma
Kar gling Zhi khro
Bar do Thos grol
gZi brJid
Srid gshen Theg pa
Dus 'khor
How to Cite
Abstract
The main object of historical-philosophical and cultural analysis was a text from the Tibetan archaic “black” astronomy (nag rtsis) called “The Mirror of the Phenomenal World” (the text was compiled in the 19th century by Bon master mKhas grub Lung rtogs rGyam thso). According to this text the prescriptions for the rite of burial of the deceased are calculated. The article presents the overview of the text on the section of “calculations of death” (shin rtsis) to understand the peculiarities of Tibetan traditions – both in approaches to the practice of dying (in particular, the bar do practices) and in attempts to rationalize the experience of death (in particular, making the rtsis calculations) – which are based on a certain metaphysical view of the world from the texts of rgyud traditions. And since the text we have chosen belongs to the class of Tibetan traditional sciences of gtsug lag, we tried to focus on the rational component of the content of the text, including metaphysical narratives that are taught in the canonical collections of texts: on the posthumous experience of “Kar gling Zhi khro” from the rnying ma school, to which includes the famous Tibetan book of the dead “Bar do Thos grol”; on the extensive biography of the Buddha sTon pa gShen rab Mi wo from the g.yung drung bon school, entitled “gZi brJid”, which includes the similar text “Srid gshen Theg pa”; as well as the traditional doctrine of time “Dus 'khor”, which is conceptually presented in both Buddhist and pre-Buddhist canonical literatures and is inextricably associated with the Tibetan doctrine of death. Against the background of the current increasing research attention of modern Tibetologists to the philosophical component of the teachings of rgyud, we emphasize the need for a critical and systematic analysis of archaic astronomical traditions and the importance of special translations of the relevant primary sources of gtsug lag.
References
1. Archard, J.-L. (2017). The six lamps: Secret Dzogchen instructions of the Bön tradition. Wisdom Publications. https://books.google.com.ua/books/about/The_Six_Lamps.html?id=CKBvDgAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y
2. bCu pa ston pas theg pa bzhi pa srid gshen gyi bon gtan la phab paʼi leʼu. (1999). In bKaʼ ʼgyur (bon po) (Par gzhi dang po, Vol. 16, pp. 5–112). Si khron zhing chen par khrun lte gnas par ʼdebs khang. http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW21872_275DD8
3. Bellezza, J. V. (2010). gShen-rab Myi-bo, his life and times according to Tibet’s earliest literary sources. Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines, (19), 31–118. https://d1i1jdw69xsqx0.cloudfront.net/digitalhimalaya/collections/journals/ret/pdf/ret_19_03.pdf
4. Berzin, A. (n.d.). Study Buddhism by Berzin Archives: Glossary. https://studybuddhism.com/en/glossary/no-longer-happening?synonym_for=Passed-happening
5. bKaʼ ʼgyur (bon po). (1999). (Par gzhi dang po, Vol. 1–179). Si khron zhing chen par khrun lte gnas par ʼdebs khang. http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW21872
6. Cech, K. (1986). The history, teaching and practice of dialectics according to the Bon tradition. The Tibet Journal, 11(2), 3–28. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43300201
7. Den, M. (2005). A catalog of the Bon Kanjur. Bon Studies 8. Senri Ethnological Reports 40. National Museum of Ethnology. https://www.academia.edu/3999387/A_CATALOGUE_OF_THE_BON_KANJUR
8. Duckworth, D. S. (2019). Tibetan Buddhist philosophy of mind and nature. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190883959.001.0001
9. Ellwood, R. S., Jr. (1977). Words of the world's religions: An anthology. Prentice-Hall. https://archive.org/details/wordsofworldsrel0000unse
10. Ermakov, D. (2008). Bo and Bon: Ancient shamanic traditions of Siberia and Tibet in their relation to the teachings of a Central Asian Buddha. Kathmandu, Nepal. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351823373_B_and_Bon_Ancient_Shamanic_Traditions_of_Siberia_and_Tibet_in_their_Relation_to_the_Teachings_of_a_Central_Asian_Buddha
11. Evans-Wentz, W. Y., & Samdup, K. D. (1949). The Tibetan book of the dead (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. https://ia800302.us.archive.org/6/items/TheTibetanBookOfTheDead_201607/The%20Tibetan%20Book%20of%20the%20Dead_text.pdf
12. Fremantle, F., & Trungpa, C. (1987). The Tibetan book of the dead: The great liberation through hearing in the Bardo. Shambhala. https://archive.org/details/tibetanbookofdea00karm_0
13. gLing pa, K. (2003). Bar do thos grol chen mo (Vol. 1–1). [Pad+ma ’phrin Las]. http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW00EGS1017040
14. gZhon nu dpal, 'Gos Lo tsa ba. (2016). The blue annals (Trans. G. N. Roerich, Vols. I–II). Delhi, India.
15. Hahn, M. (1997). A propos the term Gtsug lag. In H. Krasser et al. (Eds.), Tibetan studies (Vol. 1, pp. 347–354). Vienna.
16. Henning, E. (2007). Kalacakra and the Tibetan calendar. American Institute of Buddhist Studies.
17. Hopkins, J. (2003). Maps of the profound: Jam-Yang-Shay-Ba's great exposition of Buddhist and non-Buddhist views on the nature of reality. Snow Lion Publications. https://books.google.com.ua/books/about/Maps_of_the_Profound.html?id=0isLAAAAYAAJ&redir_esc=y
18. Kalantarova, O. (2019a). Tybetskyi buddyzm i nauka: Dialoh na osnovi vchennia Kalachakry [Tibetan Buddhism and science: Dialogue based on the Kalachakra teaching]. Naukovi zapysky NaUKMA. Istoriia i teoriia kultury, (2), 88–97. https://doi.org/10.18523/2617-8907.2019.2.88-97 (in Ukrainian)
19. Kalantarova, O. (2019b). Osoblyvosti intehratsii tybetskoi medytsyny v Zakhidnyi kulturnyi prostir kriz pryzmu dialohu buddyzmu z naukoiu [Features of the integration of Tibetan medicine into the Western cultural space through the prism of the dialogue between Buddhism and science]. In Materialy konferentsii: Relihiia ta Medytsyna (pp. 165–169). Kyiv: NMU im. O. O. Bohomoltsia. https://www.academia.edu/39663283/FEATURES_OF_THE_INTEGRATION_OF_TIBET_MEDICINE_INTO_THE_WEST_CULTURE_IN_THE_CONTEXT_OF_THE_BUDDHISM_SCIENCE_DIALOGUE (in Ukrainian)
20. Kalantarova, O. (2021). Rol “Sutry Sertsia” u stanovlenni vchen vadzhraiany kriz pryzmu tradytsii Kalachakra-tantry [The role of the "Heart Sutra" in the formation of Vajrayana through the prism of the Kalachakra-tantra tradition]. Skhidnyi svit, 4(113), 145–163. https://doi.org/10.15407/orientw2021.04.145 (in Ukrainian)
21. Kalantarova, O. (2022). Meditations on Philosophy of Mind in Tibetan Buddhism. Douglas S. Duckworth (2019). Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy of Mind and Nature. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sententiae, 41(3), 132–154. https://doi.org/10.31649/sent41.03.132 (in Ukrainian)
22. Kalantarova, O. Yu., & Korol, D. O. (2016). Tsyvilizatsiini ta ideolohichni transformatsii v tsentralnii Azii. Sproba kulturolohichnoho analizu prats B. I. Kuznietsova [Civilizational and ideological transformations in Central Asia. An attempt at a cultural analysis of B. I. Kuznetsov’s works]. Naukovi zapysky NaUKMA, (179), 68–75. https://ekmair.ukma.edu.ua/server/api/core/bitstreams/e83bb078-02c8-448c-9eae-9a6dfe8a1200/content (in Ukrainian)
23. Kapstein, M. (2000). The Tibetan assimilation of Buddhism: Conversion, contestation, and memory. Oxford University Press. https://archive.org/details/tibetanassimilat0000kaps
24. Kapstein, M., & Dotson, B. (Eds.). (2007). Contributions to the cultural history of early Tibet. Brill. https://books.google.com.ua/books/about/Contributions_to_the_Cultural_History_of.html?id=fIpwbzRUylkC&redir_esc=y
25. Karmay, S. G. (2014). The arrow and the spindle: Studies in history, myths, rituals and beliefs in Tibet (Vol. III). Kathmandu, Nepal. https://www.academia.edu/40493484/The_Arrow_and_the_Spindle_Studies_in_History_Myths_Rituals_and_Beliefs_in_Tibet
26. Kuzminski, A. (2021). Pyrrhonian Buddhism: A philosophical reconstruction (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003112372
27. Lhadrepa, K., & Davis, C. (2017). The art of awakening: A user's guide to Tibetan Buddhist art and practice. Boulder, CO. https://books.google.com.ua/books/about/The_Art_of_Awakening.html?id=afmGDgAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y
28. Norbu, C. N. (2013). A History of Zhang Zhung and Tibet, Volume One: The Early Period (Vol. 1). North Atlantic Books. https://books.google.com.ua/books/about/A_History_of_Zhang_Zhung_and_Tibet_Volum.html?id=TAoKh5R7AYAC&redir_esc=y
29. Nyi shu pa ston pas rinachena rab tu brten par mdzad paʼi leʼu. (1999). In bKaʼ ʼgyur (bon po) (Par gzhi dang po, Vol. 17, pp. 595–736). Si khron zhing chen par khrun lte gnas par ʼdebs khang. http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW21872_D35CD7
30. Orofino, G. (1990). Sacred Tibetan teachings on death and liberation. Prism Unity. https://archive.org/details/sacredtibetantea0000unse
31. Powers, J., & Templeman, D. (2012). Historical dictionary of Tibet (Historical Dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East). Scarecrow Press. https://books.google.com.ua/books/about/Historical_Dictionary_of_Tibet.html?id=LVlyX6iSDEQC&redir_esc=y
32. Ramble, C. (2013). The Assimilation of Astrology in the Tibetan Bon Religion. Extrême-Orient Extrême-Occident, (35), 199–232. https://doi.org/10.4000/extremeorient.288
33. rGya mtsho, mKhas grub L. (2005). Nag rtsis snang srid me long dang ʼbras rtsis bden don snying po (1st ed., Vol. 1–1). gʹYung drung bon gyi bshad sgrub ʼdus sde. http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW1KG13780
34. rGya mtsho, S. S. (1996–1997). Bai ḍūrya dkar po (Par gzhi dang po, Vol. 1–2). Krung goʼi bod kyi shes rig dpe bskrun khang. http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/W2CZ8040
35. Sakai, M. (2011). Bhāva and abhāva in the Buddhist theory of momentariness: The view of Dharmottara and Prajñākaragupta. In XVIth Congress of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 2011 (p. 239). Jinshan, Taiwan. https://researchmap.jp/masamichi-sakai/presentations/6921585?lang=en
36. Sherab, T., & Jamling, T. T. (Eds.). (2012). A concise introduction to Tibetan astrology. Dharamshala: Department of Astrology and Men-Tsee Literary Research Department Men-Tsee-Khang.
37. Skorupski, T. (1986). Tibetan G-Yung-Drung Bon monastery in India. The Tibet Journal, 11(2), 36–49. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43300203
38. Snellgrove, D. (Tr. & Ed.). (2010). The nine ways of Bon: Excerpts from Gzi-Brjid. Thailand. https://books.google.com.ua/books/about/The_Nine_Ways_of_Bon.html?id=9V8SPQAACAAJ&redir_esc=y
39. Snellgrove, D., & Richardson, H. (1995). A cultural history of Tibet. Shambhala. https://archive.org/details/aculturalhistoryoftibetdavidsnellgrovel.hughrichardson_443_W
40. Stein, R. A. (2010). Rolf Stein's Tibetica antiqua: With additional materials (Ed. A. P. McKeown, Series: Brill's Tibetan Studies Library, Book 24). Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004183384.i-384
41. Thuken, L. C. N. (2009). The crystal mirror of philosophical system: A Tibetan study of Asian religious thought (Trans. G. L. Sopa, Ed. R. R. Jackson). Wisdom Publications. https://books.google.com.ua/books/about/The_Crystal_Mirror_of_Philosophical_Syst.html?id=7qY2rghGsO8C&redir_esc=y
42. van Schaik, S. (2013). The naming of Tibetan religion: Bon and Chos in the Tibetan imperial period. Journal of the International Association for Bon Research, 1(Inaugural Issue), 226–257. https://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/jiabr/pdf/JIABR_01_12.pdf
43. van Schaik, S. (2022). The advent of the Dharma: Religion and rationality in the coming of Buddhism to Tibet. In G. Hazod, M. Fermer, & C. Jahoda (Eds.), The social and the religious in the making of Tibetan societies: New perspectives on imperial Tibet (pp. 141–148). Austrian Academy of Sciences. https://austriaca.at/0xc1aa5572%200x003d7e4d.pdf
44. Wangyal, O. T., & O thog bsTan ‘dzin dBang rgyal. (1986). An introduction to the index of gZi-brjid and gZer-mig. The Tibet Journal, 11(2), 29–35. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43300202
45. Westerhoff, J. (2018). The golden age of Indian Buddhist philosophy. Oxford University Press. https://philpapers.org/rec/WESTGA-7
46. 5 bar doʼi rtsa tshig. (2003). In Bar do thos grol chen mo (Vol. 1–1, pp. 121–126). [Pad+ma ’phrin Las]. http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW00EGS1017040_7D382A
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2025 Olena Kalantarova