Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, Vol 8, No 4 (2014)

The Earth as a Treasure in Tibetan Buddhism: Visionary Revelation and its Interactions with the Environment

Antonio Terrone
Issued Date: 11 Mar 2015

Abstract


In this article I examine conceptions of the environment in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of Treasure revelation that I propose are founded upon systems of exchange and relationality. Tibetan religious specialists known as Treasure revealers do not simply remove a Treasure from its place; they often leave a ‘replacement Treasure’ intended to appease both the local protective deity believed to be in charge of guarding the Buddhist Treasure and nourishing the local environment. I demonstrate that the logic of Treasure revelation is based on forming an interdependent exchange between humans and the land they inhabit. The source of the Treasure becomes a place deserving respect, protection, and devotion on both religious and ecological levels. I call this phenomenon ‘the ecology of revelation’, and I maintain that this is a fundamental socio-religious ethic characterized by respect for the environment and awareness of humans’ connection to it.

Download Media

PDF (Price: £17.50 )

DOI: 10.1558/jsrnc.v8i4.24415

References


Achard, Jean-Luc. 2004. Bon Po Hidden Treasures: A Catalogue of Gter Ston Bde Chen Gling
Pa’s Collected Revelations
(Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers). 



Ammerman, Nancy (ed.). 2007.
Everyday Religion: Observing Modern Religious Lives (Oxford: Oxford
University Press). href="Doi:%20http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/%209780195305418.001.0001">Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/
9780195305418.001.0001.




style='mso-column-break-before:always'>


Apffel-Marglin, Frédérique, and Pramod Parajuli.
2000.
‘Sacred Grove and Ecology: Ritual and Science’, in Christopher Key Chapple and Mary Evelyn Tucker (eds.), Hinduism and Ecology: The Intersection of Earth, Sky, and Water
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press): 291-316.



Atisha, Tenzin P. 2008. ‘The Tibetan Approach to Ecology’. View
Tibet Adventure Tours
. Online:  href="http://viewtibet.wordpress.com/2008/10/29/the-tibetan-approach-to-ecology/">http://viewtibet.wordpress.com/2008/10/29/the-tibetan-approach-to-ecology/.
[Tibetan Review, 1991 (25).2: 9-14].



Buffetrille, Katia. 1998. ‘Reflections on
Pilgrimage to Sacred Mountains, Lakes and Caves’, in Alex McKay (ed.), style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Pilgrimage in Tibet (Surrey, UK: Curzon
Press): 18-34.



Cipriani, Roberto. 1998. ‘Ecology of Religion’, in
William H. Swatos, Jr. (ed.), Encyclo­pedia of Religion and Society (Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press): 152-60.



Cuevas, Bryan J. 2003. The Hidden History of the Tibetan Book of the Dead (New York: Oxford
University Press).



Damdul Namgyal, Geshe. 1994. ‘Buddhist Ecology: Its
Theoretical Base’, Tibet Environment and
Development News
, vol. 1 (Dharamsala, India:
Department of Information and International Relations): 27-30.



Deegalle, Mahinda. 2006.
‘Buddhism for Sustainable Thinking: The Role of Religion in Protecting
Environment without Abandoning Science and Technology in the Development
Process’. Online: http://www.vesakday.mcu.ac.th/vesak49/
article/pdf/Sustainable_Thinking.pdf.



Derong, Cering Denzhub. 2007. ‘Traditional
Tibetan Beliefs and Environmental Pro­tection’, China’s Tibet. Online: href="http://2007.tibetmagazine.net/en/20045-p43.htm">http://2007.tibetmagazine.net/en/20045-p43.htm.



Doctor, Andreas. 2005. Tibetan Treasure Literature: Revelation, Tradition, and Accom­plishment
in Visionary Buddhism
(Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications).



Dodin, Thierry, and Heinz Räther
(eds.). 2001. Imagining Tibet: Perceptions, Projections,
and Fantasies
(Somerville,
MA: Wisdom Publications).



Dudjom Rinpoche, Jikdrel Yeshe Dorje. 1991. style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its
Fundamentals and History (ed. and trans. Gyurme Dorje and Matthew Kapstein;
Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications).



Durkheim,
Émile. 1976 [1912]. The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (London: Allen &
Unwin).



Germano, David, and Nicolas Tournadre. 2003. ‘THL
Simplified Phonetic Transcrip­tion of Standard Tibetan’. Online: href="http://www.thlib.org/reference/">http://www.thlib.org/reference/
transliteration/#!essay=/thl/phonetics/. 



Goossaert, Vincent, and David Palmer. 2011. style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>The Religious Question in Modern China (Chicago,
IL: Chicago University Press). href="Doi:%20http://dx.doi.org/10.7208/%20chicago/9780226304182.001.0001">Doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.7208/ chicago/9780226304182.001.0001.



Gottlieb, Roger. 2006. A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and Our Planet’s Future
(New York: Oxford University Press). href="Doi:%20http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/%20acprof:oso/9780195176483.001.0001">Doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ acprof:oso/9780195176483.001.0001.



Grim,
John A. (ed.). 2001. Indigenous Traditions and Ecology: The Interbeing
of Cosmology and Community
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard Press for the Center for the
Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School).



Gyatso, Janet. 1998. Apparitions of the Self: The Secret Autobiographies of a Tibetan
Visionary
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press).



Hanna,
Span. 1994. ‘Vast as the Sky: The Terma Tradition in
Modern Tibet’, in Geoffrey Samuel et al. (eds.), style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Tantra and Popular Religion in Tibet (Delhi: Aditya Prakashan):
1-13.



Huber,
Toni. 1997. ‘Green Tibetans: A Brief Social History’, in Frank J. Korom (ed.), Tibetan Culture in the Diaspora (Wien:
Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie
der Wissenschaften): 103-19.



———.
2001. ‘Shangri-La in Exile: Representation of Tibetan Identity and Transna­tional
Culture’, in Dodin and Räther 2001:
357-71.



Huber, Toni,
and Poul Pedersen. 1997. ‘Meteorological Knowledge
and Environ­mental Ideas in Traditional and Modern Societies: The Case of
Tibet’, Journal of the Royal
Anthropological Institute
3: 577-98. href="Doi:%20http://dx.doi.org/%2010.2307/%203034768">Doi: http://dx.doi.org/
10.2307/ 3034768.



Jacoby,
Sarah. 2014. Love and Liberation:
Autobiographical Writings of the Tibetan Buddhist Visionary Sera Khandro
(New York: Columbia University Press).



’Jam mgon Kong sprul blo gros mtha’
yas. 1975–76. Rgya chen bka’ mdzod
(dpal spungs par ma ’brug spa gro’i bskyar par ma) (Palpung, Sichuan,
PRC: Palpung Monastery Printing House). TBRC W21808.



Karmay, Samten G. 1996.
‘The Tibetan Cult of Mountain Deities and its Political Significance’, in
Anne-Marie Blondeau and Ernst Steinkeller
(eds.), Reflections of the
Mountain: Essays on the History and Social Meaning of the Mountain Cult in
Tibet and the Himalayas
(Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen
Akademie der Wissen­schaften):
59-75.



Martin, Dan. 2001. Unearthing Bon Treasures: Life and Contested Legacy of a Tibetan
Scripture Revealer
(Leiden:
Brill Academic Publishers).



McGuire,
Meredith B. 2008. Lived Religion: Faith and Practice in Everyday Life
(Oxford: Oxford University Press). href="Doi:%20http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/%209780195172621.001.0001">Doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/ 9780195172621.001.0001.



Mchog ’gyur bde chen
gling pa. 1975–76. style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Gter chen mchog gling nas seng
chen gnam brag gi zab chos
sde drug rten dang dam rdzas gter nas
spyan drangs skabs gter tshab
tu ’bul rgyu'i
’dod gsol smon tshig.
In ’Jam mgon kong
sprul blo gros mtha’ yas, style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'> Rgya chen bka’ mdzod
(dpal spungs par ma ’brug spa gro’i bskyar par ma) (Palpung, Sichuan,
PRC: Palpung Monastery Printing House), vol. 16, ff.
35-38. TBRC W21808.



Mkha’ ’gro bde skyong dbang
mo. 1981. Skyabs style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'> rje thams cad mkhyen pa grub pa’i dbang phyug
zab gter rgya mtsho’i mnga’
bdag rin po che padma
’gro ’dul gsang sngags gling
pa’i rnam par thar pa snying gi mun sel
dad pa’i shing rta ratna’i chun
’phyang utpala’i ’phreng ba (Dalhousie: Damchoe Sangpo). TBRC W23945.



Mou Zongjian. 2006. ‘Zongjiao wenhua shengtai de zhongguo moshi’, Zhongguo minzu bao 6: 536.



Nasr, Sayyed Hossein. 1996. style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Religion and the Order of Nature
(Oxford: Oxford Univer­sity Press). href="Doi:%20http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195108231.%20001.0001">Doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195108231. 001.0001.



Nebesky-Wojkowitz, Réne de. 1990 [1956]. Oracles and Demons
of Tibet: The Cult and Iconography of Tibetan Protective Deities

(Taipei, ROC: SMC Publishing).



Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya
mtsho. 2009. Thob yig gang gai chu
rgyun
, vol. 9, in style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Rgyal dbang lnga pa ngang dbang blo
bzang rgya mtsho’i gsung ’bum: The Collected
Works of the 5th Dalai Lama Ngagwang Lozang Gyatso (1617–1682)
(28
vols.; Beijing, PRC: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang [China Tibetan
Culture Publishing House]). TBRC W1PD107937.



Nha~t Hanh, Thích. 2008. The
World We Have: A Buddhist Approach to Peace and Ecology

(Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press).



Nor, Zaato Matthew. 2010. ‘Religion and Environmental
Sustainability’, in Yahya Oyewole
Imam (ed.), Religion and Environment
(Ibadan, Nigeria: Association for the Study of the Interplay between Religion
and Science): 45-72.



Norberg-Hodge, Halena.
2001. ‘Tibetan Culture as a Model of Ecological Sustain­ability’, in Dodin and Räther 2001: 331-38.



O rgyan gling pa. 1988. style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Padma bka’ thang (Chengdu, PRC: Sichuan Nationalities Publishing
House).



’Od gsal rdo
rje, bde chen. 1998. Rig ’dzin nus ldan rdo rje’i
rnam thar bsdus pa dri med rdo rje’i zlos
gar
(Nechen Pema, Qinghai, PRC, Unpublished
manuscript).



———.
1999. Bde chen rdo rje’i rnam thar
phran bu
(Nechen Pema, Qinghai, PRC. Unpublished manuscript).



Orsi, Robert A. 1997. ‘Everyday Miracles: The
Study of Lived Religion’, in David D. Hall (ed.), Lived Religion in America:
Toward a History of Practice
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press):
3-21.



———.
2002 [1985]. href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Madonna-115th-Street-Community/dp/0300157525/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1380152041&sr=8-2&keywords=robert+orsi"
target="_blank" title="Madonna of 115th Street">The Madonna of 115th Street:
Faith and Community in Italian Harlem, 1880–1950
(New Haven, CT: Yale
University Press).



———.
2004. Between Heaven and Earth: The
Religious Worlds People Make and the Scholars Who Study Them
(Princeton,
NJ: Princeton University Press).



Pearcey, Adam (trans.).
2005. ‘The Life of Tertön
Sogyal (1856–1926)’, style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Lotsawa House. Online: href="http://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/terton-sogyal/biography">http://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/terton-sogyal/biography



Pouillon, Jean. 1975. Fétiches sans
Fétichisme
(Paris: Maspero).



Ramble,
Charles. 2008. The Navel of the Demoness:
Tibetan Buddhism and Civil Religion in Highland Nepal
(New York: Oxford
University Press). href="Doi:%20http://dx.doi.org/%2010.1093/acprof:oso/9780195154146.001.0001">Doi:
http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195154146.001.0001.



Rappaport,
Roy A. 1979. Ecology, Meaning, and Religion (Richmond, CA: North Atlantic Books).



Sun,
Anna. 2013. Confucianism as a World
Religion: Contested Histories and Contemporary Realities
(Princeton,
NJ:  Princeton University Press).



Tarthang Tulku. 1991. style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Lineage of the Diamond Light (Crystal
Mirror Series, 5; Berkeley: Dharma Publishing).



Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama. 1990. My Tibet (London: Thames
& Hudson).



———.
1992. ‘A Buddhist Concept of Nature’, in His
Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet
. Online: href="http://www.dalailama.com/messages/environment/buddhist-concept-of-nature">http://www.dalailama.com/messages/environment/buddhist-concept-of-nature.



Terrone, Antonio. 2010. style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Bya rog prog zhu: The Raven Crest. The Life and Teachings of bDe chen
’od gsal rdo rje, Treasure Revealer in Contemporary Tibet
(PhD
dissertation, Leiden University, Netherlands).



Thondup, Tulku. 1984. The
Tantric Tradition of the Nyingmapa: The Origin of
Buddhism in Tibet
(Marion, MA: Buddhayana).



———. 1986. Hidden Teachings of Tibet: An
Explanation of the Terma Tradition of the Nyingma
School of Buddhism
(London: Wisdom Publications).



Tucker, Mary Evelyn, and Duncan Ryuken
Williams (eds.). 1997. Buddhism and Ecology: The
Interconnectedness of Dharma and Deeds
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press).



Wach, Joachim. 1944. Sociology of Religion (Chicago: University of Chicago Press). 



Wangdu, Pasang. 2000. dBa style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>’ bzhed: The Royal
Narrative concerning the Bringing of the Buddha’s Doctrine to Tibet (trans.
Hildegard Diemberger; Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften).



White, Lynn
Jr. 1967. ‘The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis’, Science 155.3767: 1203-207. href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.155.3767.1203" target="_blank">Doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.155.3767.1203.



Yeshi, Kim. 1991. ‘The Tibetan View of the
Environment’, Chö style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'> Yang: Year of Tibet Issue (Dharamsala, India: Council for Religious and Cultural
Affairs): 265-69.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.





Equinox Publishing Ltd - 415 The Workstation 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield, S1 2BX United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 (0)114 221-0285 - Email: info@equinoxpub.com

Privacy Policy