Tibetan and Himalayan Library - THL

THL Title Text
Date Of Record Release: 2007-11-02 13:58:51
Title: Re-Assessing the Supine Demoness: Royal Buddhist Geomancy in the Srong btsan sgam po Mythology
Language of title: English
Author/Creator: Martin A. Mills
One Sentence Summary: A re-assessment of the supine demoness image in Tibetan mythic histories.

Description: Creator's Description: The myth of the Chinese princess Kong jo’s geomantic divination of Tibet prior to the founding of the Central Temple of Lhasa (Lha sa gtsug lag khang) – and in particular the striking image of the land of Tibet as a “supine demoness” – has been the object of considerable academic comment. Generally, it has been read as a metaphor either of monastic Buddhism’s misogynist tendencies, or of its superposition over putative religious precursors. In this article, the difficulties that attend these interpretations of the supine demoness image are assessed when examined within the context of the princess’s wider divination, as presented in Tibetan mythic histories such as the Ma ni bka’ ’bum, The Clear Mirror of Royal Genealogy, and the Pillar Testament (Bka’ chems ka khol ma), and in particular when it is viewed within the context of the Valley’s actual topographic structure. In light of these, it is proposed that both the supine demoness image and the other elements of Kong jo’s divination should be understood as it has always been presented by Tibetan sources – as part of an established tradition of Chinese geomancy, a tradition which has itself been re-organized as a medium for Buddhist themes of liberation.

Publisher: Tibetan and Himalayan Library
Normalized publisher place: Charlottesville, VA
Publisher country: United States
Publisher URL: http://www.thlib.org/
Published Date: 2007-12
URL: http://www.thlib.org/collections/texts/jiats/#jiats=/03/mills/
Classification: Tibetan and Himalayan -- Journals -- THL-Hosted Online Journals -- JIATS -- Issue 3 (December 2007)
Tibetan and Himalayan -- Journals -- Journals Focused on Regions -- Tibet -- JIATS -- Issue 3 (December 2007)
Cultural Coverage: Tibet
Temporal coverage: 7th century CE
8th century CE
9th century CE
10th century CE
Language: English
Source URL: http://www.jiats.org/
Source: Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies
Source Editor: José Cabezón
Source Type: Journal
Source Number: 3
ISBN/ISSN: 1550-6363

Means of availability: online

Access rights: public domain
Format: Online resource
Media type: Text
Resource Type: Article
Digital Encoding: xml
Release Flag: OK for viewing
Date Of Record Creation: 2007-11-18 08:24:09
Date Record Checked: 2005-09-20
Date Last Modified: 2008-11-20 19:12:00
Cumulative Rating: this resource has a 1 star rating
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