Section 9
of 9
Copyright © 2004
by José Ignacio Cabezón and THL.
by José Ignacio Cabezón and THL.
Notes
[1] Since the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama, the Tibetan governmental
bureaucracy had two branches that worked jointly. One was manned by non-monk
aristocrats, and the other by monks who were awarded these positions largely on
the basis of merit.
[3] There are also female
monastics in the Tibetan tradition, called nuns (ania
ni). In India there existed different levels of female monastic
ordination, from the ordination of novices to full ordination (gelongmadge slong ma). It has traditionally been thought that the lineage of
full ordination for women was lost in India before it could be passed on to
Tibetans. Recently, however, Kurtis Schaeffer has claimed that there are passages
in some Tibetan historical texts that point to the existence of fully ordained
nuns in Tibet; see http://www.aarweb.org/ (type A161 as
session number). Be that as it may, there is no lineage of full ordination for
women in Tibetan Buddhism today. There are discussions under way, however,
concerning the reintroduction of full monastic ordination for women in Tibetan
Buddhism. See, for example, http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/, and
http://www.thubtenchodron.org.
[4] In a
more general sense, the term rapjungrab byung refers to any monk
or nun who has taken the vows of novice or above; that is, it is simply another
name for the clergy. While it is not clear that rapjungrab byung
as a monastic status different from novice and fully ordained is recognized formally in the Vinaya, it
does seem to be one that was recognized in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries. See,
for example, Geshe Sopa, Lectures on Tibetan Religious
Culture, vol. 1 (Dharamsala, India:
Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, 1983), 4:
“It is permissible for (a young boy)
not to take the vows of a novice or a fully ordained monk right away. Even if
he does not take vows, he can become a monk (raptujungrab tu
byung) by changing his clothes (for monks’ robes) and shaving his
hair” (gnas skabs dge tshul dang dge slong gi sdom pa ma blangs kyang
’grigs/ de dus sdom pa ma blangs kyang gos bsgyur ba dang/ skra bregs pa
sogs byas te rab tu byung).
[5] These
are the upāsaka (Tib. genyendge
snyen) vows: not lying, not killing, not stealing, not engaging in sexual
misconduct, and not taking intoxicants.
[6] For a list of the vows taken by novices in
the Tibetan tradition, see http://www.thubtenchodron.org.
[7] This number varies from one Buddhist tradition
to the next, and so the traditions do differ, but only on minor points. For
example, in the Theravāda Buddhist Vinaya, practiced in most of Southeast Asia,
fully ordained monks take 227 vows. Tibetan Buddhists follow the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, where the vows number 253. For the list of vows in Theravāda Buddhism
(preserved in a text called the Patimokkha), see
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/.
[8] This, however, is generally looked down upon. Monks who leave the
monkhood are called dralokgrwa log. The first
part of this compound, dragrwa simply means monk.
The word loklog has two meanings: a verbal one (“to return, to
turn away from”), and a nominal one (“a mistake”). The word dralokgrwa log carries both
connotations of the word loklog. The ex-monk has not only turned away from
monasticism, he has also committed an error. Far from being neutral, then, the
word carries a negative connotation.
[9] In the context of the Vinaya, the abbot is the
chief monk in charge of the ordination ceremony. Only later did the term come to
be used to designate the head of a monastery. In some schools of Tibetan Buddhism,
the term is also used to designate a rank of scholar, but this is an even more
recent usage.
[10] For a complete listing of these, see Charles S. Prebish,
Buddhist Monastic Discipline: The Sanskrit Pratimokṣa Sūtras of the
Mahāsāṃghikas and Mūlasarvāstivādins (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1974).
[11] It remains to be seen how severely the
other two “defeats” were dealt with.
[12] White is the symbol of the Buddhist laity, since
in India lay people wore white; using a soiled garment is symbolic of the
individual’s now polluted or “defeated” status.
[14] Since monks were discrete about sexual encounters and
relationships of this sort, we do not really know how widespread such practices
were. From anecdotal evidence it seems that it was more prevalent among adolescent
boys, and that it tapered off later in life. The dopdopldob ldob (on which, see below)
were especially renowned for their homosexual liaisons. A typical form of sexual
contact involved copulation between the thighs of the partner, a sexual action
that avoided an expellable offense (“defeat”) since it did not involve penetration
of the mouth or anus of the partner. Nor, it would seem, were such relationships
only between monks. Melvyn C. Goldstein et al., ed., The Struggle for Modern Tibet: The
Autobiography of Tashi Tsering (Armonck: M.E. Sharpe, 1997), 26-30, offers us details of such a relationship between
an older monk official and a young non-monk dancer (Tashi TseringBkra shis tshe ring himself). Tashi TseringBkra shis tshe ring
also describes how he was abducted by a SeraSe ra dopdopldob ldob on more than one
occasion.
[15] Today, at SeraSe ra-India, the monastery
serves no meat to monks, or even to lay patrons (even if individual monks continue
to buy and to eat meat). But this is a recent departure from custom.
[16] See Charles S. Prebish, “The Vinaya Piṭaka,” in Buddhism: A Modern Perspective, ed. Charles S. Prebish (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1978), 49-53, for a brief overview and a list of additional
readings.
[18]
Of these, the most important for the
GelukDge lugs school was the so-called Vinayasūtra Of Guṇaprabhā. For the Sanskrit, see http://www.google.com. An outline of the Tibetan text in English can be
obtained as a downloadable PDF file by clicking on Prayers, Course Syllabus and
Readings on the ACIP course website. This same file
contains other important texts that are studied in the Vinaya portion of the SeraSe ra
curriculum.
[19]
Today this has important, negative consequences for nuns, who have thus far been
impeded from obtaining the geshédge bshes degree because they do not study the monastic
discipline of monks.
[20] On the
qualities that characterize Tibetan Buddhism as a form of scholasticism, see José
I. Cabezón, Buddhism and Language: A Study of Indo-Tibetan
Scholasticism (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994).
[21] Of course, there were also in the monastery a number of
monks who did not study or engage in formal work. Some
of these were senior monks who simply tended to the affairs of their
household. Others were engaged in intensive
practice (e.g., retreat). Still others were what, in today’s parlance, we
would call “slackers.” Given that it was impossible to subsist on the
offerings that monks received from their college and from other regular
sources (e.g., from donors in assemblies, at the Great Prayer Festival (Mönlam ChenmoSmon lam chen mo),
etc.), slackers had to have outside sources of funding to survive at
SeraSe ra.
[22] Assuming, of
course, that the monks were more or less equals, e.g., in age. It would be
unlikely that a very junior monk of any kind would challenge a senior monk. See
the memoirs of Tashi Khedrup, a dopdopldob ldob worker monk
at SeraSe ra, on his run-in with some textualists:
[23] On the different
types of geshédge bshes degrees, see the relevant section of the essay by Prof. Georges
Dreyfus on the Sera Project Website; see also
http://www.tibet.com/. Both of these articles
are based on the system in place at Drepung’Bras spungs, where the terminology was somewhat
different. Instead of SeraSe ra’s rikramparigs rams pa, for
example, Drepung’Bras spungs used the term dorampardo rams pa. It
remains to be seen whether these two forms of the geshédge bshes degree are identical.
[24] See, for example,
the decree directed at SeraSe ra by the TsemönlingTshe smon gling regent in 1820. In Tshe dbang rin chen, ed., Se ra theg chen gling (Pe cin: Mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1995), 122-24 and
168-71.
[25]
See Melvyn C. Goldstein, “A Study of the Ldob Ldob,"
Central Asiatic Journal9, no. 2 (1964):
125-41.
[26] Lay people in central Tibet tend to
call all monks “reverend” or kuzhapsku zhabs, but within the GelukDge lugs monasteries, this term is
reserved for lamabla mas. Hence, only lamabla mas are called “kuzhapsku zhabs”
at SeraSe ra.
[27] For example,
the RadrengRwa sgreng lamabla mas held this rank. After the Fifth Rwa sgreng rin po che’s murder, his
lineage was demoted to that of a lamabla ma of the Great Assembly Hall (TsokchenTshogs chen). See
Melvyn C. Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet,
1913-1951: The Demise of the Lamaist State (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989), 514.
[28] In reality the issue is not so clear-cut. For example, an
ordinary monk who became a great scholar or teacher would probably not be
called an “ordinary monk” by his disciples, but he would
probably refer to himself as an ordinary monk (for example, if he was asked
whether or not he was a lamabla ma), and in any case, he would probably never refer
to himself as a lamabla ma (out of humility if nothing else). Also, “religious
devotees” (see below), it might be claimed, were not ordinary monks because of
the privileged position they enjoyed. Metaphysically and institutionally,
however, there is a clear-cut line between those monks who were recognized
incarnations and those who were not.
[29] Some lamabla mas had
their own estates, and derived income from this source. Even those who did not
received many donations that accompanied requests for prayers from lay people
[30] The word “intelligence” in this context is perhaps somewhat
misleading, since it includes not only critical acumen, but also the ability to
memorize. There is arguably no one English word that conveys both meanings in
the English language.
[31] See Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet, 446.
[32] Much of this section is based on the work of Dge bshes ye shes dbang phyug, Ser smad thos bsam nor bu gling grwa tshang gi chos ’byung lo rgyus nor bu’i phreng ba (Bylakuppe, Mysore, Karnataka: Ser smad dpe mdzod khang, 1996), 185-87.
[33] Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet, 351, reports that the TöpaStod pa abbacy was often a
steppingstone to the abbacy of one of the philosophical colleges.
[35]
For a detailed account of this incident see Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet, ch. 14.
[36] For an
instance of the JéByes and NgakpaSngags pa abbots being dismissed, see Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet,
440-45.
[37] The Rangjung Yeshe
Dictionary suggests an alternative etymology that involves not facing, but turning away. This is also possible, given that
turning away from someone of high status (not showing one’s face to him, not
making eye-contact) was considered proper etiquette in Tibet.
[38] The Great Exhortation (tsoktam chenmotshogs gtam chen mo) tradition of the Jé College is an
example of this. See José I. Cabezón, “The Rules of a Monastery,” in Religions of Tibet in Practice, ed. Donald S.
Lopez (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1997), 335-51.
[39] Being selected for these debuts was considered a great
accomplishment, often signaling a promising scholarly career. As was mentioned
previously, lamabla mas had an advantage come time for such selections, and they were
usually given places in the ranking simply as a courtesy.
[40] Dge bshes ye shes dbang phyug, Ser smad thos bsam nor bu gling grwa tshang gi chos ’byung lo rgyus nor bu’i phreng ba, 187.
[41] See, for example, the description of this office by Dung dkar blo bzang ’phrin las, in Se ra theg chen gling, 121.
[42] It is hardly
surprising that the institution of the “religious devotee” has gone by the wayside
in both Tibet and in India. The granting of a special status on the basis of
socio-economic class is of course contrary both to Marxist ideology of
Chinese-controlled Tibet and to the egalitarianism that is increasingly a
predominant part of the world of diaspora Tibetans. And even if there were not
ideological obstacles to the persistence of such an institution, there are
probably economic ones. The buying of such a status for one’s son is a luxury that
neither Tibetans in Tibet nor diaspora Tibetans in India can easily afford.
[43]
Interestingly, it is sometimes “resurrected” during certain ritual functions. On
these occasions one or more monks will dress like dopdopldob ldobs throughout the duration
of the event. But in these contexts the dopdopldob ldob part has turned into a kind of
nostalgic parody wherein monks playact the dopdopldob ldob role almost as comic
theatre.
[44] The words
pakhaand kucha are
not Tibetan but rather Hindi words. Given that the word “raw” is
derogatory, it is clear why the “ripe” young Tibetans who came up with the
distinction would have chosen to use terminology from a language that would have
been (at least initially) incomprehensible to the “raw.”
[45] After a monk has spent several years in India and
become acculturated to life there, he may come to be considered “ripe,” even if he
came in a later wave of immigrants. The dividing-line, as one might imagine, is
vague, depending more on the individual and on context than on any fixed, temporal
criterion. It is also relative, someone who from one
perspective is “raw” may be “ripe” with respect to someone that is more “raw” than
he is.
[46] This is now changing, since monks who come
from Tibet are increasingly exposed to things like the internet before they arrive
in India.
[47] Sde srid sang rgyas rgya mtsho, Bai ḍūrya ser po (1991), 138: “When the monastic
population became too large, (Jamchen Chöjé) instituted four colleges – Tö, Mé,
Gya and Drongteng, and then he placed Dargyé Zangpo, master of the ten treatises,
on the throne” (dge ’dun yang ’du che bar
stod smad rgya ’brong[sic] steng ste grwa tshang bzhi btsugs de nas bka bcu
smra ba dar rgyas bzang po gdan sar bskos). According to other sources, however, the four colleges were
instituted at a slightly later date.
[49] L. Augustine Waddell, Lhasa and Its
Mysteries, 372.
[50] That this number is more or less on target is supported by the
fact that in 1944/5 when word was sent out from the Jé College that all monks of
the College from all over Tibet were to assemble in LhasaLha sa for a special assembly,
about five thousand arrived; Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet,
444.
[51] This is something
that I was not aware of until I had almost finished the survey in 2002. Were I
to repeat this work, I would now interview elder monks, inquiring about the maximum and minimum number of monks
that were associated with their regional house within their lifetime.
[52]
The number of official monks has been declining in recent years. As monks leave or
pass away, the monastery has not been permitted to fill all of these vacancies in
recent years (2002).
[53] The
rationale for this derives from Chinese policy that in most instances restricts a
student’s educational venues to the institutions within his/her home region. To
cross official provincial borders for education is not a trivial thing in
China.
#!essay=/cabezon/sera/people/monks/
Sera Monks, by José Ignacio Cabezón
People Home
Table of Contents
- What is a Monk?
- The Vows
- The Vinaya
- Hierarchy and Status
- Contemporary Distinctions
- Demographics
- The Sera Monks Archives
- Glossary
- Notes
- Specify View:
- Specify Format:
#!essay=/cabezon/sera/people/monks/
![]() | ![]() | ![]() |