Littérature scientifique sur le sujet « Tibet (China) – Biography »

The article is devoted to the analysis of the development of Buddhism in Northwest China in the 14th century. This process was described in the treatise of the Mongol scholar Chahar Geshe [Tib. cha har dge bshes blo bzang tshul khrims, 1740–1810] “The source of goodness and happiness: the biography of the Great Omniscient Rje Tsong kha pa, presented in an easy-to-understand manner.” [Tib. rje thams cad mkhyen pa’i tsong kha pa chen po’i rnam thar go sla bar brjod pa bde legs kun gyi ‘byung gnas]. This work is an example of Buddhist historical thought, which was developed in the traditional culture of the Tibetans and Mongols in the 18th-19th centuries. The authors of the article claim that the “The biography of the Great Omniscient Rje Tsong kha pa” has a specificity of presentation, determined by the author’s personality, historical and cultural circumstances. This specificity is related to the post-classical period of the history of Tibetan scholasticism, within which the work was written. Chahar Geshe tried to understand the results of the most important stages of the Buddhist history in the vast region based on the works of previous generations. The treatise can be described as a scholastic work and Chahar Geshe as an outstanding scholar and theorist of his time. The fragment of the relationship of the great reformer of Tibetan Buddhism with his teacher Dondub Rinchen from the work is fundamental historical evidence of the most important religious and cultural processes that took place in the vast territories of Northwestern China during the 14th century. Keywords: Buddhism, Tibet, Northwest China, 14th century, biography of Je Tsongkhapa, Dondub Rinchen

आचार्याश्वघोषः महान् दार्शनिकः, सङ्गीतज्ञः, नाटककारः, महाकविश्चासीत् । महाकवेरश्वघोषस्य जीवनवृत्तविषये चीनतिब्बतादिषु बौद्धदेशेषु पर्याप्तरूपेण सामग्र्यः प्राप्यन्ते । महाकवेरश्वघोषस्य जीवनवृत्तमाधारीकृत्य रचितस्य सौन्दरनन्दमित्यस्य ग्रन्थस्यावलोकनेन ज्ञायते यदयं महाकवि अश्वघोषः महापण्डित–महाराजेत्यादिभिः उपाधिभिरलङ्कृत इति । महाकवेरश्वघोषस्य नामकरणविषये प्रामाणिकरूपेण कुत्राप्य'ल्लेखो न प्राप्यते,तथापि अनेकैराचार्यैः इदं भवितुं शक्नोति वेति रूपेणैव नामकरणं कृतं दृश्यते । महाकवेरश्वघोषस्य कृतिषु मध्ये बुद्धचरित–सौन्दरनन्द–बज्रसूचीप्रभृतयः ग्रन्थाः मुख्याःमन्यन्ते आचार्याः । केषाञ्चन विदुषां मतं वर्तते यत् अयमश्वघोषः महायानसम्प्रदायस्य तत्सिद्धान्तस्य च प्रचारक आसीदिति । तिब्बतीपरम्परायामयं सर्वास्तिवादित्वेन स्वीक्रियते । एतेन अश्वघोषः हीनयानसम्प्रदायस्य वर्तत इति ज्ञायते । अयमालेख आगमनविधिमवलम्ब्य प्रस्तुतो विद्यते । बौद्धदर्शनविकासाय महाकवेरश्वघोषस्य योगदानं तत्कृतीनांच वैशिष्ट्यं प्रतिपाद्यान्त्ये निष्कर्षः प्रदत्तः वर्तते । अस्मान्निष्कर्षाद्बौद्धदर्शनक्षेत्रे अश्वघोषस्य योगदानविषयकचिन्तने सारल्यं भविष्यतीत्यपेक्ष्यते । [Acharya Ashwaghosh was a great philosopher, musician, dramatist and poet. There are many materials about the biography of Mahakavi Ashwaghosha in Buddhist countries like China and Tibet. Looking at the book called Soundarananda based on the biography of Mahakavi Ashwaghosha, it shows that Mahakavi Ashwaghosha was honored with titles like Mahapandit and Maharaja. There is no authenticity of the name of Mahakavi Ashwaghosha, however, many scholars seem to have named him on the basis of probability. Acharya considers Buddhacharita, Soundarananda, Bajrasuchi and other books to be the most important works of Mahakavi Ashwaghosha. Some scholars believe that Ashwaghosha was the propagator of the Mahayana sect and its doctrines. In the Tibetan tradition, he is accepted as a universalist. This shows that Ashwaghosha belonged to the Hinayana sect. The contribution of Mahakavi Ashwaghosha in the development of Buddhadarshan and the characteristics of his works are discussed in this article. This article makes it easier to know about Ashwaghosha's contribution in the field of Buddhist philosophy.]

The article is devoted to the analysis of the Buddhist monastic history in Northwest China, described in the treatise of the Buryat scholar Kensur Nawang Nima “The lamp of collected quotations from classical works of the Buddhist history”. This work is an example of Buddhist historical thought, which was developed in the traditional culture of the Buryats in the pre-revolutionary period. The authors of the article claim that “The lamp of collected quotations” has a specificity of presentation, determined by the author’s personality, historical and cultural circumstances. This specificity is related to the post-classical period of the history of Tibetan scholasticism, within which the work was written. Buddhist historical thought tried to understand the results of the most important stages of the Buddhist history in the vast region based on the works of previous generations. The treatise can be described as a scholastic work and Nawang Nima as an outstanding scholar and theorist of his time. Analysis of the structure of the work has showed that the author focused primarily on the history of the Geluk School, which he belonged to. Due to this specificity, most of the text is devoted to the biography of the founder of the school Je Tsongkhapa. The volume of work directly related to the history of Buddhist monasteries in northwestern China is extremely small. Nawang Nima describes the Genesis of the Geluk Buddhist monasteries: Chacung (bya khyung), Kumbum (sku ‘bum byams pa gling), Gonlung (dgon lung byams pa gling), Ganden (lga ldan dam chos gling), Rongwo (rong bo dgon chen), Labrang (bla brang bkra shis ‘khyil), Chone (сone dgon chen), etc. This fragment of the work “The lamp of collected quotations from classical works of the Buddhist history” is a fundamental historical description of the most important religious and cultural processes in the territories of Inner Asia in the period from the 19th up to the 20th century. Keywords: Buddhism, history, monastery, Buryatia, Tibet, Northwest China, Nawang Nima

En este artículo se presenta la biografía de Antonio de Monserrat con el objeto de insertar en el pensamiento crítico budista a quien se considera el primer occidental iniciado en la filosofía tántrica e impulsor de ésta en Occidente a través de la Compañía de Jesús. Para ello, primero se hace un recorrido histórico que pone en foco cómo el budismo es desplazado de la India y se refugia entre las poblaciones de Asia central como la etnia Uigur en la actual Turquestán, cómo es adoptado por los emperadores chinos y se expande a lo largo de toda la Ruta de la Seda. La combinación del budismo indio con influencias occidentales (grecobudismo) dio origen a diversas escuelas budistas en Asia Central y en China. Luego se caracteriza en forma sintética la versión esotérica que adquiere el budismo (el tantra) y que se consolida en el siglo VIII en el Tíbet como budismo vajrayana (tántrico).Ésta es la forma de budismo que toman los gobernantes, que promueve la igualdad completa de personas y género, la idea del sujeto como una construcción de la cultura y la noción de deidades metafóricas —útiles para modelar el carácter de las personas pero de absoluta inexistencia— además del postulado budista de verdad relativa. Esta visión no teísta —o transteísta, como Gómez la prefiere llamar— se reflejaba en la total tolerancia religiosa del imperio Chino, Uigur y Mongol, que garantizaba la seguridad y el libre intercambio por la Ruta de la Seda. Es esta visión de sujetos no divididos en castas ni diferenciados por sangre lo que maravilla a de Montserrat al decir que los tibetanos “no tienen reyes entre sí” e inflama la avidez de quienes viajaron especialmente (a partir de los escritos de éste) a iniciarse en el budismo tántrico tibetano como los jesuitas Antonio de Andrade y Juan de Brito. El tercer apartado se dedica de lleno a la biografía de Antonio de Monserrat y a precisar su contacto con el tantra.Abstract This article presents Antonio de Montserrat’s biography to insert him in Buddhist critical thinking as whom is considered the first Westerner initiated into tantric philosophy and who became a driver thereof in the West through the Society of Jesus. To do so, a historical review is first presented to focus on the way Buddhism was removed from India and found refuge among the peoples of Central Asia such as the Uyghurs in present-day Turkistan, how it was then adopted by Chinese emperors and spread throughout the Silk Road. The combination of Indian Buddhism and Western influences (Greco-Buddhism) gave rise to several Buddhist schools in Central Asia and China. Then, the esoteric form Buddhism took (tantra) is briefly described, which was consolidated as Vajrayana (tantric) Buddhism in Tibet in the eighth century. That is the Buddhist form rulers have adopted, which promotes full social and gender equality, the idea of the subject as a cultural construction and the notion of metaphorical deities —useful to model people’s character but completely non-existent— in addition to the Buddhist principle of relative truth (not absolute). This non theistic view —or transtheistic, as Gómez would rather call, was projected in the absolute religious tolerance within the Chinese, Uyghur, and Mongolian empires, which ensured safety and free exchange on the Silk Route. Such standpoint of people not divided into castes or differentiated by reason of bloodline is what amazes de Montserrat when saying Tibetans "have no kings among them" and what encourages those who made a journey (based on de Montserrat’s writings) especially to receive initiation into Tibetan Tantric Buddhism such as Jesuits Antonio de Andrade and John de Brito. Finally, the article jumps in Antonio de Montserrat’s biography and it shows its connection with tantrism.

Bzhad pa'i rdo rje (1697-1740), the Fifth Sle lung Rin po che, was a religiously and politically controversial figure and an incredibly prolific author, having written or compiled over 46 volumes worth of mainly religious texts. A high-ranking Dge lugs pa sprul sku, Sle lung is seen as having gradually "defected" to the Rnying ma school, although he self-identified as a follower of the "non-sectarian" (ris med) perspective. Sle lung also acted as a spiritual advisor to most of the major central Tibetan rulers during the course of his life, most significantly Mi dbang Pho lha nas (r. 1729-1747). But despite numerous features of fascinating interest, Sle lung and his writings have received very little scholarly attention, and this thesis is intended to fill this unfortunate lacuna. The present study begins with an extended biographical examination of Sle lung's life, and the political and religious unrest in central Tibet at the time in which he was deeply invested. I pay special attention to the controversies that surrounded him, particularly his purported sexual licentiousness and his ecumenical work which was unpopular among his more sectarian Dge lugs pa critics. This opening biography provides critical historical context as I move on to examine two of Sle lung's most important literary works. The first is the sixteen-volume Gsang ba ye shes chos skor, a massive cycle of teachings by Sle lung and his students that integrates tantric theories derived from Sle lung's experience with Gsar ma (specifically Dge lugs pa) teachings. The second work is the Bstan srung rgya mtsho'i rnam thar, a unique text in Tibetan literature which consists of an apparently unprecedented compilation of Tibetan Buddhist protector deity (bstan srung, chos skyong) origin myths. I will make sense of key features of these two works within the larger context of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, as well as the political and personal concerns of Sle lung himself.