by Marc Laidlaw
Amrita: A divine elixir which brings ecstasy, purification, and even immortality to those fortunate enough to encounter it. It is often meant to represent a medicine made from poisons, as when we are granted the understanding to transform the painful events of our lives into enlightening lessons.
Avalokiteshvara: See Chenrezi.
Bardo: The intermediate state between death and rebirth.
Bardo Thodol: The Tibetan Book of the Dead. A guide for the souls of the recently departed, which is often read aloud by a Lama throughout the period in which the soul is presumed to be lost and wandering between incarnations.
Bod-Chenpo: “Bod” is the native’s name for Tibet. The natives call themselves “Bod-pa.” “Bod-Chenpo” refers to Greater Tibet, including the farthest reaches of the country.
Bodhisattva: An enlightened being who has forsaken nirvana until all sentient beings have been freed from blindness and suffering, and who thus chooses to cling to the Wheel of Life through countless incarnations, pursuing this goal.
Bon: The ancient religion of Tibet, a once vigorous shamanic tradition which is in part responsible for the unique color and fantastic imagery of Tibetan Buddhism.
Buddha: One who has attained the state of complete enlightenment.
Changthang: The wastelands of northern and central Tibet, marked by scouring winds, vast plains of salt and borax, and salt lakes whose shores are caked with potash and soda.
Chenrezi: The god of compassion, Tibet's father and patron saint, whose earthly incarnations are known as the Dalai Lamas. Known in Sanskrit as Avalokiteshvara. Although Chenrezi is worshipped as a male in Tibet, he may be identified with the feminine Kuan Yin of Chinese myth or the Japanese Kwannon.
Chod: A ritual in which the ego is destroyed by self-invoked demons, so that it may not stand in the way of spiritual attainment.
Chorten: A sacred tower, a reliquary housing fragments of honored saints or even the historical Buddha. The chorten is built in tiers and levels which represent the path to liberation. (Known in Sanskrit as a “stupa.”)
Chuba: A common, loose-fitting Himalayan garment, often with long sleeves which may be drawn back for free movement of the arms, or folded over the hands to keep them warm.
Chushi Gangdruk: The Tibetan resistance, formed in 1958 by Gompo Tashi Andrugstang. Literally, the name means “Four Rivers, Six Ranges,” which refers to the eastern homeland of Tibet's first freedom fighters, who in early days were aided by the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency.
Daka: Male beings who aid in meditation, expressing masculine aspects of the mind. (See dakini.)
Dakini: Female consort of a wrathful male yidam, representing the feminine qualities of one’s inner nature. The distinctive Tibetan representations of these figures may derive from icons of ancient local goddesses.
Dalai Lama: The god-king of Tibet, widely revered as an incarnation of Chenrezi. His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was born in 1935 and has resided in Dharamsala, India, since the Chinese occupation of Tibet.
Dawachen: The Land of Bliss, a way station along the road to enlightenment. After death, some diligent souls find themselves reborn from a lotus blossom into Dawachen, where they may concentrate on perfecting their spiritual development without distraction.
Dharma: May refer to the doctrines of Buddhism, Universal Law, or the pattern of energy which sustains our universe.
Dorje: See vajra.
Dorje Drakden: The Spirit Minister who guides the course of Tibetan history by advising government administrators. The regular possession of the State Oracle of Tibet by Dorje Drakden is an important ritual to this day.
Drilbu: A ritual bell, bearing a vajra-wand tip. It is the feminine counterpart of the more phallic wand.
Dze: The female yak.
Gesar of Ling: Tibet’s national hero, subject of the country’s greatest epic poem.
Ghat: The steps along riverbanks where funeral pyres are burned.
Gyayum Chenmo: Tibetan term meaning “Great Mother.” A title generally reserved for the mothers of Dalai Lamas.
Kagyu: One of the three main schools of Vajrayana, along with the Sakya and Gelug schools.
Kali Yuga: The age of darkness into which Earth is expected to fall once the teachings of Sakyamuni Buddha have faded with the passing of time.
Kashag: The Council of Ministers, a core group in the Tibetan government; comprised of four lay and monastic officials along with a prime minister, the Silon.
Kham: The rugged, mountainous country of eastern Tibet, where many of Asia’s great rivers have their headwaters.
Khampa: A native of Kham, or a descendant of such.
Khawachen: The Land of Snows. An old name for Tibet. (See Bod-Chenpo.)
Lung-gom: The ancient technique of trance-walking by which certain of Tibet’s lamas and messengers were said to have crossed the vast hostile wastelands of the Changthang on foot and at great speed, with little need for food or rest.
Mahakala: Literally, “Great Blackness.” The wrathful aspect of Chenrezi; a guardian of Buddhism. Mahakala’s ferocity is that of a mother lion protecting her cubs.
Maitreya: The Buddha of the Future, who is expected to visit Earth five thousand years after Sakyamuni’s life, when the power of the present Buddha’s teaching has mainly passed away.
Mandala: A “sacred circle” representing all of existence. It may be used in rituals as an altar or an aid to divination, but it is also one of humanity’s oldest symbols for the soul. A common Vajrayana mandala is comprised of the four directions and the center. Each quarter is assigned an element, an ornament, and the power of one of the tantric yogas. The east is associated with water; here the diamond scepter, or vajra, converts anger into mirrorlike wisdom. The south is the direction of Earth, where we find the Wish-Fulfilling Gem transforming arrogance into the wisdom of equanimity. To the west lies the element of fire, symbolized by the lotus of compassion, which changes reckless passion into discriminating wisdom. The symbol of the windy north in Marianne’s mandala is the pitcher of amrita, which converts envy into all-accomplishing action: one accepts one’s limitations and does what needs to be done in that place at that time. Finally, at the center is the wheel, in the element of space; it is here that the ego’s highly selective blindness is transmuted into the wisdom of all-pervading awareness.
Mantra: Written, visualized, or chanted syllables, each with the power to invoke or magnetize some enlightening quality in the phenomenal world.
Mapa: Buttered tsampa; a favorite dish in Tibet.
Momo: Tibetan dumplings, stuffed with meat or vegetables.
Mudra: Hand-signs representing actions of the enlightened mind.
Nirvana: Total liberation from samsara.
Padmasambhava: Tibet’s greatest saint, he traveled from India carrying the esoteric teachings of Buddhism and communicating them in a form that could be embraced by practitioners of Bon. Thus it is said that he subdued the wild demons of Tibet and posted them as guardians of Buddhism, working for the benefit of all life.
Potala: The winter palace of the Dalai Lamas, named for the heavenly cloud-palace of Chenrezi.
Puja: A devotional ceremony.
Sakyamuni: Siddhartha, Gautama Buddha. The historical Buddha, or Buddha of the present age. Contrast with Maitreya, the Buddha of the Future.
Samsara: The ever-changing world of phenomena, marked by illusions, ignorance, and mainly suffering.
Silon: Prime minister of the Kashag.
Skandhas: The five eternal, irreducible elements from which the universe is created, known as Form, Sensation, Name, Conformation, and Consciousness. The ego is created through the interaction of these elements and comes to perceive itself as “real,” much as we may look at an object composed of subatomic particles dancing in emptiness and perceive it as “solid.” At death, the skandhas separate, but such is the ego’s power over the illusory world which it inhabits that it may cling to matter and draw itself back into s
amsaric existence.
Stupa: See chorten.
Tantra: Teachings which instruct one in the conduct of worldly activities (such as yoga and meditation) that may facilitate the achievement of enlightenment in the midst of the phenomenological world.
Tara: A feminine emanation of Chenrezi. She manifests in a variety of colors, each having a particular power.
Tsampa: Roast barley flour, usually moistened with tea, water, or beer and rolled into balls to be eaten.
Tumo fire: The mystic heat which is generated through specialized techniques of visualization. What begins as a mental image swiftly becomes, with practice, a physical manifestation. Particularly useful to the hermits who dwelt in cold Himalayan caves to pursue their meditations.
Vajra: Literally, “diamond.” A ritual wand symbolizing the indestructible nature of the enlightened mind. (“Dorje” is the Tibetan equivalent.)
Vajrapani: A bodhisattva. In his wrathful form he is Lord of Energy.
Vajrayana: The Diamond Path. The Tantric Buddhism of Tibet.
Wish-Fulfilling Gem: In Tibetan iconography, a symbol of the Buddhist faith.
Yidam: A personal spiritual guide, usually bestowed on one by a Lama during initiation into one of the paths of Vajrayana. Yidams are often selected according to the practitioner’s nature, and represent an ideal, enlightened aspect of one’s mind. A passive individual might receive a yidam possessing an aggressive nature. “Receive” may be a misleading concept in this case, as the yidam is called from within, rather than drawn in from without. In fact, a yidam is not separate from oneself.
Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge a tremendous debt that I owe the many gifted writers who have explored Tibetan themes. Among the most inspiring books I’ve encountered are John F. Avedon’s In Exile from the Land of Snows (Knopf), Heinrich Harrer’s Seven Years in Tibet (J.P. Tarcher), Alexandra David-Neel’s Magic and Mystery in Tibet (Dover), and Michael Harris Goodman’s The Last Dalai Lama (Shambhala). I have also benefited from the writings of modern Tibetan Buddhist philosophers, Tarthang Tulku and Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche. I can recommend these works highly to anyone whose imagination and sympathies are stirred by Tibetan history.
The soaring Tibetan Bells compositions of Henry Wolff and Nancy Hennings provided continual inspiration during much of the book’s writing. They make an ideal soundtrack as well.
For the loan of these and other indispensable source materials, I want to thank Richard Kadrey and Lincoln Raphael. For introducing me to San Francisco’s Kagyu Droden Kunchab temple, whose color and vitality had a strong influence on this book, my thanks go to Zohra Todorovich. For more subtle inspiration, I offer my appreciation to Lama Lodo and His Eminence Kalu Rinpoche. Pat Murphy was generous with advice and encouragement, as were my agent Merrilee Heifetz and my editor Shawna McCarthy. Rudy Rucker was invaluable for recalibrating the Bardo device. And as always, I am grateful to my wife Geraldine for her patience, enthusiasm, and support through the various phases of this novel’s development.
Finally, I must thank the proprietors of Tibet West on Christopher Street. I happened across this shop on my first night in New York City, and therein held a conversation with a Tibetan gentleman who kindly dispelled my reluctance to write of a land that was not my own. On that evening, numerous stray intentions came together and this book was finally born. It was indeed an auspicious encounter. Tashi deleg!
Table of Contents
PART ONE: THE BARDO DEVICE
1. The Oracle in Exile
2. Beyond the Clear Light
3. Recognition
PART TWO: RAINBOW TARA
5. Map and Mandala
6. Prayers at a Two-Way Shrine
PART THREE: LOTUS SONG
7. In the Mines of Joy
8. Mr. Fang
10. Tumo Fire
PART FOUR: THE BODHI SYSTEM
11. Tibetan Truckstop
12. The Laughter in Tsaidam
13. The Opening of the Wisdom Eye
14. Nectar Analysis
15. The Powerplant of Nothingness
PART FIVE: THE CLOUD PRISON
16. Reforming the Formless
17. Lhasa Rising
18. The Great Darkness
19. The Wish-Fulfilling Gem