The Epic of Gesar of Ling Page 2

  All epics share certain characteristics. There are nine generally accepted characteristics of the epic form, which include such things as humanity’s interactions with deities, long lists and long speeches, and a heroine or hero who manifests the virtue of a civilization. The first recorded epic of which we are aware is that of Gilgamesh, thought to be a ruler of Sumeria circa 2700 B.C.E., which tells a somewhat convoluted and gruesome story that displays both the good and bad of those Sumerian times. The oldest written copy of the Epic of Gilgamesh comes from a library compiled in the seventh century B.C.E. In a similar way we can see that for most epics there is an oral tradition that exists for some time prior to its being set in stone, velum, papyrus, or paper.

  Epics impart to the inhabitants of a land the information they need to live in harmony and to understand their place in the world. Whether it’s the Iliad, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Arthurian legend of the Lady of the Lake, the Mahabharata, or the great tales of Scandinavia, Native America, or Africa; they all impart cultural knowledge vital to their respective people. While the times and places may vary across the globe and across millennia, the basic characteristics of what epics do and how they do it are fairly constant.

  For instance, among other things, the Iliad tells us how to make a feast and how to organize a battle. It also tells how to negotiate and what forms of rhetoric one should employ when making a speech in counsel. The Iliad shows how to settle matters in tribal meetings, how to lay waste to a town, and how to defend. It tells what to do in battle with a spear. It tells a warrior how he should act toward his colleagues in arms and toward the enemy. It taught all the things that a warrior would need to know, from personal grooming to the handling of horses.

  Likewise, the Gesar epic contains information needed in order to inform native Tibetans of their cultural heritage. As Lama Chönam’s introduction indicates, the epic has particular resonance for the people of eastern Tibet known as the Gologpas. Along with the oral tradition exemplified by the Gesar epic, this area of Tibet has also given birth to many great teachers of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, from the first seeds of Buddhism in this area in the eighth century C.E. up until the present day. While we in the West may think of nomadic people as somehow simple, the epic shows their civilization to be rich, profound, colorful, and sophisticated.

  So what could be said about the Gesar epic that is unique, and why might we be interested? It certainly provides a glimpse into the civilization of the Tibetan people, and this in itself is of prime interest. It describes how knowledge and wisdom, in this case with some Buddhist trappings but actually universal, can be transmitted. It is an example of how the best qualities of being human, such as loyalty, compassion, and virtue, will triumph over evil, deception, and self-interest. This describes how an unsullied mind, awake and aware, frees one from the taint of confusion and ignorance and aids in one’s journey to insight itself. Aside from this, the epic’s use of proverb is unusually extensive and could represent an area of ongoing interest and study, completely worthy of being its own self-contained contemplative practice. While the use of proverbs is common in other epics, the Gesar epic stands out for the breadth and depth of its proverbs. Their importance to the Tibetan people as well as nomadic people in general cannot be overstated. The proverbs represent the major method by which the cultural, philosophical, and religious knowledge of Tibet is transmitted by the epic. All the proverbs are arguments by analogy. For instance, they may imply that “the timing of action is all-important” by saying, “If the rain has not moistened the crops, then what is the point of placing seeds there?” This is obvious to the farmer, but has broad application. Each of the proverbs may be understood on many levels and are vital to the culture. The elderly and the educated would use the proverbs both to teach as well as to sway public opinion. When important decisions were to be made, all the members of a tribe would gather and they would listen to the petitioners recount the proverbs that they thought germane to the discussion. In this way the group would move toward consensus.

  THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT

  To get a flavor of the beginning of the Gesar epic, we will start with a quote:

  Formerly, during the lives of the three ancestral dharma kings, when the land of Tibet passed from Bön to Buddhism, in order to naturally pacify the envy of the vicious gods and demons of Tibet, Padma Tötreng [Lotus Skull Garland], the great mantra adept, bound them by oath. If he had managed to make them swear their oaths of fealty to the buddhadharma three times, then the dharma kings would have been long-lived and their subjects would have enjoyed well-being and happiness. However, powerful demon ministers took control over the subjects and, faced with this opposition, Padma was only able to tame and bind the spirits of Tibet twice, not thrice. This caused war in the four directions and the auspicious coincidence of the glorious gateway, the perfect astrological conjunction, was missed. The foreign borderland demons wandered into central Tibet, and the dharma kings fell down to the level of commoners.

  This description of the history of Tibet comes in the beginning of the first volume of the epic.

  Within Tibet there were and, to some degree still are, two main religions. The religion that predominated prior to Buddhism is known as Bön and probably came from the western areas of Tibet, perhaps as an Indo-Iranian-Manichean blend of folk beliefs and shamanic culture. It is clear from more recent research that just as Buddhism incorporated beliefs from Hinduism in India and Bön in Tibet, so too Bön incorporated much from a well-established preexisting set of folk beliefs. In any case, the first wave of Buddhism in Tibet was instigated by the Tibetan king who invited the Abbott Śāntarakṣita and the Vajra Master Padmasambhava to Tibet to instruct the people in Buddhism. This occurred in the eighth century C.E. In a relatively short time Buddhism flowered and flourished widely. Then, during the reign of King Langdarma (802–842 C.E.), Buddhism in Tibet was suppressed such that eventually this evil king was assassinated by the yogin Lhalung Palgyi Dorje. Following the king’s death, chaos ensued. The king left two concubines who fought over the territory, and very rapidly the lineage of Tibetan kings fell away and Tibet became what it had been before, a large land mass ruled by warlords, with bitter rivalries and a variety of political systems.

  There was then a second (known now as the New Schools) wave of Indian teachers who reached Tibet in the twelfth century. The Gesar epic, which has versions from Mongolia in the north; China in the east; and Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, and India rimming the south, probably began as an oral tradition during this time. In most versions, and the one that is presented here, Gesar is nondual with the great Vajra Master of India, Padmasambhava. Padmasambhava, while known to be an historical personage, has also become part of the celestial realm of deities for Tibetan Buddhist practitioners. The story of Gesar of Ling is one of reestablishing Buddhism in Tibet by eradicating the perverted rulers and their followers who had encroached to extend throughout the four directional borderlands. It should be noted that, not too surprisingly, in the Bön version of the epic, Gesar is able to unify Tibet and establish the primacy of Bön. (The Bön that existed in the twelfth century in Tibet differed from Buddhism to a degree that is no longer true for present-day Bön practitioners.) Nor is it surprising that in the Mongol version a Gesar known as Gesar Khan is victorious. Nonetheless, for the vast majority of the Tibetans for whom this represents the national epic, it is an epic that proclaims not just the cultural heritage of Tibet but also the primacy of the Buddhist ideals in worship and warriorship.

  According to the Gesar epic, the problem of the age was that the non-Buddhist and Buddhist aristocrats were at war with each other. Bön and Buddhism were in opposition, and the Bönpo native Tibetan deities did not support the state. During the first introduction of Buddhism into Tibet, Padmasambhava was able to tame these deities twice, but not the third time required for the establishment of a fully tamed utopian Buddhist state. Because that did not happen, there came to be tumult in the invisible world and the necessary gl
orious gateway was missed. This is a very technical term: a glorious gateway is a moment when the planets and karmic energies are aligned such that something great can be accomplished. But this was not to be, and hence the tale is told.

  It is interesting and important to note that there is an invisible world to keep track of where the important energies flourish. This is not a question of being superstitious, because generally in order to succeed at something there must be a viable plan, enough resources, and some degree of organization. Nevertheless, if there is to be success then the forces of coincidence also have to be in one’s favor. Having this kind of so-called good luck is a science in Tibetan Buddhism. Understanding local energies, whether this be called politics or spirit worship, is much the same. To get things done, our understanding of the environment in which we function is critical. Unbeknownst to most humans, there are in fact things that affect local spirits and determine our ability to succeed in the world. Whether we are aware of this or not, all humans interact with these energies on a daily basis.

  So it was that the dharma kings of Tibet fell, and the land of Tibet lapsed into chaos. Throughout the whole world in general, and in particular in the land of Tibet, the people became oppressed by suffering. Unable to bear this, one of the many manifestations of the Buddha, Avalokiteśvara, supplicated another manifestation of the Buddha, Amitābha, for help with this problem. This marks the beginning of the epic, and according to this version of the epic, Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, sees the discord and suffering in the world and goes to the Buddha Amitābha for help.

  The first three volumes of the epic are completely devoted to Gesar, who is at this point known by the name Joru, as he acquires all the necessary articles and implements that were promised to him when it was determined that he would incarnate in the human realm to bring an end to suffering. He doesn’t actually fight any wars during this time. He just takes rebirth in this world and grows up as a very unconventional boy who manages to acquire all of his necessities, one by one, in order to assume the golden throne of Ling. When he’s completely possessed of all of the objects that he needs to carry out Avalokiteśvara’s plan, then the war sagas of the epic will finally begin.

  CONCERNING REINCARNATION

  The notion of reincarnation is central to Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism in particular. In general, until attaining enlightenment all beings are reborn lifetime after lifetime for eons of time. Particular enlightened beings, known as tulkus, who are no longer subject to the round of endless rebirth, may decide to return to this world for the benefit of others. They, unlike the vast rest of us, will be able to direct and choose when and how they will be reborn. Concerning this notion of reincarnation, and the intentional incarnation of a tulku in particular, there are many conditions that are necessary to sustain this kind of rebirth, such as the circumstance of one’s parents. In the case of Gesar it was important that his mother be a nāginī, not a human being. This was one of his many requirements. In fact most of the major enlightened beings all promised to reincarnate at the same time in order to help Gesar in one way or another. Thus his whole family, and all the mighty warriors, supernal maidens, and the like who surrounded him, were all incarnations of great saints from India and Tibet. Actually what we are witnessing is a cosmic plot, a cosmic complicity to affect the world and take advantage of the glorious gateway that had previously been missed.

  THE GESAR TRANSLATION GROUP AND THIS PROJECT

  In 1991 Dr. Robin Kornman began to research the Gesar epic. At the time, Kornman was a Buddhist student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and had just completed his doctorate in linguistic study, and the epic became so central to his life and breath that he would pursue the research until his death in 2007. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, whose lineage descends directly from the Mukpo clan of Ling, encouraged his students to study Gesar, and Chögyam Trungpa’s son, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, is said to be a reincarnation of the Mipham who was fundamental to the compiling of the version of the epic that forms the basis of this translation. In 1991 Kornman met with R. A. Stein, a French professor who was probably the foremost Western scholar of Gesar at the time and who inspired a number of scholars who are carrying on his work. It was Kornman’s plan for the current three volumes to be but a beginning of a much larger work that would see many translators and scholars working to render into accurate English an increasingly larger portion of the Gesar canon. Although he began the work more or less alone, in 1995 he began active collaboration with Lama Chönam and Sangye Khandro.

  Kornman was born in New Orleans in 1947. He worked for his father, helping in construction projects most summers, during which time he came into contact with, we believe, the asbestos that led to his death in 2007 from disseminated peritoneal mesothelioma. Kornman was the first director of Trungpa Rinpoche’s initial retreat center, then known as Tail of the Tiger, now Karme Chöling, in Barnet, Vermont. He was one of the founding members of the Nālandā Translation Group and also taught at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, eventually going back to school and obtaining his PhD from Princeton University. His doctoral dissertation was a comparative study of the Gesar of Ling epic. In 1993 he accepted a three-year fellowship with the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. There, as was his talent and want, he developed close friendships in academia as well as within the sangha and the community.

  As part of his dissertation, Kornman had completed a rough translation of the first chapter of the Gesar epic. After meeting Sangye Khandro in Halifax in 1995, he began the collaboration that included Lama Chönam and allowed for the three of them to complete the rough-draft translation of the first three volumes over the next six years. He also began teaching a small number of students Tibetan, one of whom was Jane Hawes, who went on to become an important contributor to this translation.

  Lama Chönam was born in 1964 in the Golog region of northeastern Tibet. He entered the Wayen Monastery at the age of fourteen, where he studied and received teachings from many important lamas in Tibet. Lama Chönam’s root master was the great Khenpo Münsel, in whose presence he remained for many years. During this time he was fortunate to receive many of the traditional Great Perfection transmissions and practices in a retreat environment with his master. Lama Chönam left Tibet in 1990 to fulfill his hope of meeting His Holiness the Dalai Lama and making a pilgrimage in India and Nepal before returning home. After accomplishing that, he was invited to visit the United States, which has become his new home. Lama Chönam has a lifetime interest in the epic of Gesar, having read extensively within it but also as a child hearing the epic from the bards of his native land. In 1999, with Sangye Khandro he founded the Light of Berotsana Translation Group.

  Sangye Khandro, born Nanci Gustafson, traveled to India in 1971 to meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama and study Tibetan Buddhism. She arrived in Dharamsala, India, shortly after the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives had opened its doors to Western students. For the next seven years she traveled and studied extensively in India and Nepal, becoming adept in the teachings as well as preparing herself to become one of the foremost translators of spoken Tibetan. In 1977 she met the Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche, with whom she collaborated in establishing a number of Buddhist centers in California and Oregon under the auspices of Düdjom Rinpoche. She has offered oral translation for a veritable who’s who of Tibetan teachers, including His Holiness Düdjom Rinpoche, His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, His Holiness Khenpo Jigmed Phuntsog Rinpoche, Khenchen Namdröl Rinpoche, Dungsei Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, and many others.

  From 1995 to 1999 Lama Chönam and Sangye Khandro traveled to Milwaukee to work closely with Kornman for several months of each year, going through the three volumes that make up this text. The practice was to read the Tibetan aloud and go through the text word by word. All of the sessions were audiotaped. As many of the terms were specific to the Golog region of Tibet, having Lama Chönam (who hails from this region) in attendance was vital to the success of the project. After 2000, Kornman worked with a s
mall group in Milwaukee—Jane Hawes, Julie Brefczynski-Lewis, and Elise Collet—editing the translation of the text. Following Robin Kornman’s death, and with the aspiration to finish this project, Lama Chönam, Sangye Khandro, and Jane Hawes joined together to review and retranslate large portions of these three volumes.

  Jane Hawes had become a student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1976. A practicing physician, she began to study Tibetan with Robin Kornman in the mid-2000s, collaborating with him on a number of translations but devoting most of her time to working with him on the epic. Jane was responsible for safeguarding all the tape recordings and original translations that were made by the three translators during those long years of research. In 2009 Jane joined the Light of Berotsana Translation Group. With the publication of this book, Lama Chönam, Sangye Khandro, and Jane Hawes intend to continue to translate the great sagas of the epic, and have already begun work on the fourth volume, which depicts the subjugation of the land of Düd, and the māras. It is their sincere aspiration that the contents of this epic will always serve as a beacon of hope for those who aspire to participate in an enlightened society that is uplifted and facing toward the direction of the Eastern Sun.