A Certain Spirit

I find this book thoroughly fascinating, for it combines an analysis of the theory of Tibetan Buddhism with the practical application of Buddhist doctrines among the Tibetan people. Reading the biographies of these four lamas (three of who lived in the fifteenth-century, and one in the sixteenth), one is aware of a mixture of the strange and the familiar. The life of Tibet is strange to me, and the names of the various tutelary spirits who play so large a part in the spiritual drama of Tantric Buddhism; yet one feels again and again that essentially the same impulses are at work that prompted the legends of medieval Christian saints. Certain men try to live holy lives, within the pattern of their religion; and then the minds of their disciples, or the folk mind, will re-interpret the events of their lives to construct a satisfying myth. Thus, at the death of the lama Lord of Merit –

Again those around him asked: ‘Which of the pure realms will you go to, O Lord? Since we who remain behind will make supplication to you there, we beg you to treat us with compassion.’

He replied: ‘First I shall go to the Glorious Copper-Coloured Mountains. Then I shall ask leave of Lotus-Born and go to the feet of Maitreya in the Joyful Realm. So it will do wherever you make your supplications.’

At that time the king of the birds and other creatures were heard calling. A rainbow appeared in the form of a tent. Flowers showered down and there was the sound of music. There was a sweet smell of incense and various other wonderful signs . . .

It seems most likely that the external signs that accompanied the death of the Buddhist saint were a symbolic expression of real but subjective changes in his disciples; though one cannot wholly set aside the possibility of the miraculous. Within the context of Tibetan Buddhism such events, however, would be wholly expected; and, as is usual in such circumstances, our contemporary distinction between objective and subjective would never be rigidly maintained. Indeed one of the goals of Buddhism is to convince the disciple of the illusion of such distinctions.

I find it impossible to convey with a few comments or extracts the great richness of this book. On its own, the translator’s preliminary description of his journeys into the Dolpo area of Tibet has the simplicity and strength of a saga –

We then loaded the yaks and set off. The leading yaks were sent up with no loads, so that they would be able to force a way through the snow unimpeded, but they found the going very difficult. Then they began to turn back in their ranks, and this caused general confusion. Several loads fell off, and the yak men had to toil through the snow, lead the animals back to their loads and strap them on once more. It was thus impossible to maintain any proper order in the caravan, and when the leading yaks finally refused to advance any further and just stood buried up to their flanks in deep snow . . . the yak men could do nothing but order a general retreat . . .

The endurance and acceptance of great hardship is a constant undertone in these narratives, whether they describe the life of the lamas or that of the ordinary people. There is no more than passing mention of the Chinese invasion and subjugation of Tibet. In a sense this book gives me hope; for though the practices the author describes (they have their obscurantist and negative aspect) may belong to an era now dead, on account of a forced conversion to Communism, a certain spirituality that springs from this area of hardship may be indestructible.

1967 (478)