“pha dam pa sangs rgyas” in the iconography of Tibetan Siddhas

[Full title: Padampa Sanggye or Dampa Sangye (pha dam pa sangs rgyas) and Kangling (rkang gling) in the iconography of Tibetan Siddhas]

This chapter has thus far explored evidence for the gcod of Ma gcig as a valued part of the greater bKa’ brgyud ritual corpus and its visual culture after the thirteenth century. However, as Ma gcig’s teachings were circulated and diversified into various lineages, the iconographic function of the rkang gling took on a different significance in linking gcod to Pha dam pa as an Indian siddha and source for Buddhist tantra. This section explores how this charnel instrument was integrated into representations of Pha dam pa and other latter-day siddhas, tantric archetypes and brtul zhugs spyod pa yogins, further contextualizing the material culture of gcod as an innovative and specialized method of ritual expertise in Tibetan religious life.

Pha dam pa traveled in Tibet—as well as China and Kashmir—in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries teaching Buddhism (Skt. dharma, Tbt. chos) in the nondual traditions of Mahāmudrā and Prajñāparāmitā, and through which he encouraged socially provocative behavior through displays of public nudity, renunciation and feigned lunacy.^[1] In his earliest representations from thirteenth century manuscripts—initiated by his disciples in the community he established at Ding ri in southern Tibet—the teacher is nearly naked with a loose plain cloth around his waist and an animated expression, unruly hair, and shown teaching in dharmacakra mudrā or gesturing with raised and empty hands (figure 3.15).^[2] However, there is no evidence in these sources of Pha dam pa teaching anything he called zhi byed —a name likely given by later bKa’ brgyud authors and disciples—or gcod, nor of his use or possession of a rkang gling.^[3]

Figure 3.15: Pha dam pa (left) and his disciple Kun dga’ (1062-1124) from a 13th century manuscript produced in Grwa nang, National Archives in Kathmandu. Image from Martin 2006.

Elsewhere, Pha dam pa’s iconography was cultivated to represent him as a latter-day siddha—or mahāsiddha (Tbt. grub thob chen po) in Buddhist hagiographic narratives—where, like other such tantric figures, he illustrates both visually and historiographically the continuity of Tibetan Vajrayāna with its Indian sources.^[4] In a thirteenth century thang ka from central Tibet, Vajravārāhī and her assembly are surrounded by the eight great charnel grounds (as above in fig. 3.4) and Pha dam pa is in the bottom row to the right of a figure which may be the bKa’ brgyud translator Mar pa in a white robe with a text in his lap (figure 3.16).^[5] As in fig. 3.15, Pha dam pa is naked and loosely covered with a plain white cloth with hands in dharmacakra mudrā and an animated expression, though in fig. 3.16 he is rendered with very dark skin which, like the other siddhas seen here, emphasizes his geographical origin in south Asia. In this painting, the representation of Pha dam pa locates these bKa’ brgyud lineages and teachings as adjacent to and informed by the most recent (twelfth century) and locally valued transmissions from India.^[6]

 

Figure 3.16: Vajravārāhī (rDo rje phag mo) and assembly with bKa’ brgyud monastic figures, the translator Mar pa and Pha dam pa (bottom, second to right), central Tibet, 13th century, now in a private collection.

Though the Buddhist monastic community had deteriorated across most of south Asia by the twelfth century, in Tibet and the greater Himalayas they expanded by establishing themselves as institutions based on tantra and transmission lineages (rgyud pa) from historically Indian sources:

In that climate, the association of [‘Bri gung bKa’ brgyud lineage founder ‘Jig rten mgon po] with [Pha dam pa] fulfilled two critical roles simultaneously: the first was the emphatic need to identify the lineage in its early states with tantric yoga at a time when, in the first generation after [‘Jig rten mgon po], it was launching itself as a celibate monastic institution; second, as it was a need to firmly relate its founding—and its founder—to the all-important desideratum of a direct Indian transmission, the sine qua non of authenticity at the time. [Pha dam pa], as a yogi of south Indian origin, met both needs.^[7]

As the ‘Bri gung’s presence in the western Himalayas grew after the twelfth century, Pha dam pa would become a consistent feature of their monuments as well as a prominent figure in the cultivation of siddha iconography in these settings, visually supporting a connection between the teachings transmitted by the lineage of their founder ‘Jig rten mgon po—a lay tantric practitioner who was never ordained as a monk—and the Indian yogin.^[8]

This historiographic proximity is made explicit in the inner chamber of the dPal ldan ‘Bras spung mChod rten at Alchi Chos ‘khor, constructed in the early thirteenth century and wherein Pha dam pa—a naked and dark-skinned yogin with his knees raised and bound with a yogapaṭṭa —is positioned opposite ‘Jig rten mgon po (with his characteristically deep hairline) who is wearing monastic dress with his hands in dharmacakra mudrā (figures 3.17 and 3.18).^[9] Pha dam pa is moreover opposite the historical entrance to the mchod rten, placing a visitor below the ‘Bri gung teacher and face to face with the Indian siddha upon entering the chamber. The same iconography for Pha dam pa is found in the other, smaller mchod rten at Alchi Chos ‘khor as well, which was constructed at around the same time in the early the thirteenth century.^[10]

Nearby at the Chos ‘khor on the ground floor of the Alchi gSum brtegs, Pha dam pa is again seated with knees raised and bound by a yogapaṭṭa, naked and dark-skinned with a loose white covering and seated on an animal skin. He is facing the viewer squarely and positioned at the base of a large sculpted image of Mañjuśrī (‘Jam dpal dbyang) as the most prominent figure in a field of approximately eighty small, generic tantric practitioners and charnel ascetics painted onto the bodhisattva’s dhoti (figures 3.19 and 3.20, see also fig. 1.5).^[11] As noted by Rob Linrothe, of the three large sculpted images in the gSum brtsegs, the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī suggests the perfection of the Buddha’s body—with Avalokiteśvara and Maitreya illustrating those of speech and mind, respectively—and on which these siddhas can be interpreted as representations of Buddhist tantric methods used in this bKa’ brgyud context for the purposes of purification and transformation through ritual action.^[12]

Figure 3.17 (top-left): Pha dam pa in the dPal ldan ‘Bras spung mChod rten at Alchi Chos ‘khor, early 13th century. Image from Luczanits (forth-coming).

Figure 3.18 (top-right): Pha dam pa (at right) is opposite ‘Jig rten mgon po (left), looking up into the four-walled inner chamber of the dPal ldan ‘Bras spung mChod rten, April 2018.

Figures 3.19 (bottom-left) and 3.20 (bottom-right): Pha dam pa at the base of Mañjuśrī in the Alchi gSum brtsegs, c.1220. Images from Linrothe 2006 (3.19) and Tsering 2009 (3.20) with black square added at right by author to indicate the position of the detail.

Figure 3.21: Two-armed Lakulīśa from Śaiva monument at Balasore, Orissa, 8th-9th century. Image from Donaldson 2001.

However, Pha dam pa’s iconography in the Alchi gSum brtsegs and dPal ldan ‘Bras spung mChod rten also indicate how the teacher’s representation as a siddha and yogin resonated with historical sources and modes for ritualized charnel asceticism. An eighth or ninth century sculpture from Orissa shows the Pāśupata founder Lakulīśa in a similar pose to these thirteenth century images of Pha dam pa from Alchi, with yogapaṭṭa across his raised knees and naked—though ithyphallic after the Śaiva convention—and resting his characteristic club (Skt. laguḍa, lakula) on his left shoulder (figure 3.21).^[13] Like the Mahāmudrā of Pha dam pa—as well as the gcod of Ma gcig—the Pāśupata tradition advocated renunciation and yogic observance resulting in a state of being cut off (Skt. chedāvasthā) from distinctions between the self and deity, social conventions and other obstacles to liberation and/or empowerment.^[14]

Figure 3.22: Pha dam pa in the ‘Bri gung bKa’ brgyud monument of Sumda Chung (Zangskar), late 12-13th century; on the right with digital enhancement showing the plant cutting in the right hand, from George Weinberg at the Getty Research Institute. Image from Linrothe 2009.

This description of “cutting off” through ritual practice is moreover suggested by the plant held up in Pha dam pa’s right hand in the dPal ldan ‘Bras spung mChod rten and ground floor of the gSum brtsegs, as well as the approximately contemporaneous Sumda Chung in Zangskar (figure 3.22).^[15] However, the long white tubular object which Pha dam pa holds at center against his body in these representations is more provocative to this discussion of gcod iconography: While it is not clearly rendered as a musical instrument nor shaped as a human thighbone, this representation nevertheless indicates how, in this visual cultural setting, Pha dam pa’s teachings and contributions to the Buddhist tantric corpus might be illustrated as different objects.^[16]

 

Figures 3.23 and 3.24: Pha dam pa in the Alchi Lha khang So ma to the upper right of the Vajradhātu maṇḍala, mirroring an unidentified ascetic yogin (ras pa) in the same position on the left, 14th century. Image by Jaroslav Poncar with detail (left) and added square to indicated the position of the detail.

Elsewhere at Alchi and in later visual programs, this long white stick would come to be illustrated more clearly as a horn and/or tantric implement in variations of Pha dam pa’s representation as a siddha.^[17] In the fourteenth century Lha khang So ma, Pha dam pa is again a naked and dark-skinned yogin with yogapaṭṭa and loose white textile covering, holding a bone-shaped instrument horizontally in his left hand with the right raised opposite an unidentified cotton-wrapped ascetic (ras pa) on the far side who mirrors the teacher’s gesture (figures 3.23 and 3.24). Here, Pha dam pa’s image as a siddha is used to frame a maṇḍala which was historically associated with funerary practices and various modes of ritual empowerment described in the Sarvadurgatipariśodhana tantric corpus.^[18] This visual program is located on the left wall of the Lha khang So ma, adjacent to the rear wall on which Ma gcig—as a ḍākinī with rkang gling and ḍamaru —is illustrated with green Tārā and the eight dangers (figs. 3.5 and 3.6).

Figure 3.25: Pha dam pa in the Alchi Tsatsapuri sPyan ras gzigs Lha khang, 14th century. Image by Rob Linrothe.

Similarly, in the fourteenth century sPyan ras gzigs Lha khang at the nearby Tsatsapuri, Pha dam pa is positioned at the top of a set of four maṇḍala at the center of which is a green eight-armed Tārā, and with Ma gcig and her rkang gling nearby on the same wall (see fig. 3.2).^[19] In this iconographic program, the Indian teacher—with small knobs of black curly hair at the back of his head, naked, seated with raised knees and wrapped in a plain cloth—holds a white trumpet or horn to his mouth (figure 3.25). Unlike Ma gcig, whose representation is specific to gcod, Pha dam pa holds this implement with the right hand and it is less explicitly rendered as a bone-shaped instrument. In the left hand, however, Pha dam pa nevertheless holds a skull, which he was known by his disciples to have used and valued, and moreover indicates his knowledge of the charnel ritual methods and materials which were characteristic to the advanced teachings of Buddhist mahāyoga and yoginī tantra.^[20]

Pha dam pa’s iconography as a tantric yogin was moreover circulated and cultivated in a fourteenth century thang ka, for example, wherein he is framed on either side and above by a series of sixteen siddhas and their yoginī consorts (figure 3.26). In this painting, Pha dam pa—characteristically naked and dark-skinned with a loose white covering and animated expression—holds a thin bone-shaped instrument in the left hand and what is possibly a flower by the thumb and forefinger in the right, a central figure framed within a rainbow as mthong ba don ldan (see Ma gcig as same in fig. 3.9). Along the bottom, practitioners in lay and monastic dress indicate the diversity of lineage holders for his teachings. Reflecting this, the fifteenth century Deb ther ngon po credits Pha dam pa with the knowledge and transmission of many practices in the most specialized forms of tantra in addition to the nondual precepts of gcod and zhi byed.^[21]

Figure 3.26: Pha dam pa framed by siddhas and their consorts on a thang ka from central Tibet (?), 14th century, currently in a private collection.

While the above examples suggest how Pha dam pa was represented as a tantric authority within the bKa’ brgyud cultivation of siddha iconography, they demonstrate only an approximate relationship to Ma gcig as an illustration of the gcod practice. However, at the cave temples of Saspol in Ladakh, Pha dam pa and Ma gcig (fig. 3.11) are featured in a similar position of prominence in the largest and best preserved cave as the first two individual figures encountered in a clockwise reading of the visual program, just inside and to the left of the entrance (figures 3.27 and 3.28). As at Tsatsapuri, Pha dam pa has a short white instrument in his right hand with a skull in the left while below him, Ma gcig is shown with the ḍamaru in the right hand and a horn-shaped instrument—the rendering of which is damaged—raised in the left. At Saspol, these two figures and the traditions of religious knowledge or practice they represent are of equal size though the Indian siddha as the teacher is placed above on a lotus seat. Both Ma gcig and Pha dam pa are present in other caves at Saspol (see, for example, fig. 3.12) however it is only this space—the iconographic program of which favors tantric deities and the mahāsiddhas—that the two are found in proximity.

Figures 3.27 and 3.28: Pha dam pa at top and Ma gcig beneath (see fig. 3.11) in cave 3 at Saspol, 15th century. Images by Rob Linrothe.

Pha dam pa’s iconography with a bone-shaped instrument can be understood as an indication of his role in the transmission of doctrines and methods which would be the foundation of the gcod tradition. However, as this research indicates, the representation of this figure has been dynamic and diverse, while Ma gcig’s iconography is more consistent as a ḍākinī with implements specific to the practice of gcod, including the rkang gling, ḍamaru and bell.^[22] In the sculpture in fig. 3.29, for example, the Indian yogin is rendered instead in a manner more consistent with descriptions by his immediate disciples at Ding ri: naked, with a piercing gaze and holding a bag which may have contained divinatory materials or his few possessions.^[23] At the Guru Lha khang of Phyang—where Ma gcig is a large figure (fig. 3.9)—Pha dam pa’s image has been simplified as a dark-skinned and naked siddha with hands in dharmacakra mudrā, positioned between the eleventh century monastic reformer Atiśa and Guru Rinpoche with skull, rdo rje and khaṭvāṅga (not pictured; figure 3.30). While one of these fifteenth century images is more intimately shaped by his biography, the other suggests Pha dam pa’s fundamental status as a teacher of Buddhist tantra and source for Tibetan monastic traditions.^[24]

Figure 3.29: Pha dam pa as a naked ascetic with skull and bag (left hand, behind) with ornaments engraved on the chest arms and legs, central Tibet,15th century, currently at the Rubin Museum of Art (C2005.6.1).

Figure 3.30: Detail of Pha dam pa with Atiśa on the entrance wall of the Guru Lha khang in Phyang, 15th century. Image by Rob Linrothe.

Other images indicate Pha dam pa’s religious historiographic mobility during these centuries: A fourteenth century thang ka features Guru Rinpoche as the tantric master with skull, rdo rje and staff, with a long white-haired teacher who can be speculatively identified as the twelfth century rNying ma gter ton Nyang ral nyi ma ‘od zer at bottom left (figure 3.31, see also previous chapter). On the bottom right is a six-pointed maṇḍala of Khros ma nag mo, who would become an yi dam in the gcod tradition—alternatively or as a form of Vajravārāhī—and on whom Nyang ral nyi ma ‘od zer composed a sādhana, though not of lus sbyin.^[25] In the top right of this painting, Pha dam pa is shown between unidentified monastic figures as a dark-skinned yogin with horn (possibly a rkang gling) and ḍamaru raised in the right and left hands respectively, one of his earliest renderings demonstrating the practice of lus sbyin and as he would be seen in later gcod iconography (e.g. figs. 3.1 and 3.13).^[26]

Figure 3.31: Guru Rinpoche with Nyang ral nyi ma ‘od zer (1124-1194) (bottom left) and Khros ma nag mo in a six pointed maṇḍala, right, 14th century, now at the Rubin Museum of Art (P1994.26.1). Pha dam pa is in the top row, second from the right, holding ḍamaru and (likely) rkang gling.

Eventually, the rkang gling was integrated into the iconography of other charnel ascetic archetypes as well. A fifteenth century image of Mahākāla as

Figure 3.32 (left): Mahākāla Brahmanarupa (mGon po bram gzugs can) with a femur in his hair, Tibet, 15th century, currently at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (M.81.90.19).

Figure 3.33 (right): Mahākāla Brahmanarupa seated on a corpse, from the Sa skya tradition, Tibet, 17th century, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2007.1).

Brahmanarupa (mGon po bram gzugs can)—the deity in the form of an Indian ritual master and yogin, identified as a brahmin—has a human femur in the dreadlocked hair in addition to charnel ornaments on the head, chest, neck, arms and legs, and the skull and chopper in the left and right hands which are characteristic to forms of the protector Mahākāla (figure 3.32; see also chapter 2). Later representations like the seventeenth century sculpture in fig. 3.33 show the same deity form using the femur as a thighbone trumpet held up in the right hand with the skull in the left while seated on a corpse. This iconography reinforces the historical association of Indian tantric expertise with the ritual instruments of charnel asceticism, though the documented evidence engaged in this chapter indicates the rkang gling’s cultivation in Tibetan sources and primarily in association with the practice of lus sbyin.

The integration of gcod into the methods of brtul zhugs spyod pa and the observances of Heruka yoga moreover facilitated the adoption of the rkang gling as an indication of ritual expertise, as in representations of the rNying ma tantric master and Sikkimese cultural hero Lha btsun nam mkha’ ‘jigs med (1597-1653) (figure 3.34).^[27] Similar to the thirteenth century commentary by Grags pa rgyal mtshan, Lha btsun nam mkha’ ‘jigs med draws his articulation of brtul zhugs spyod pa primarily from the description of observances of a yogin in the sixth chapter of the first part of the Hevajra tantra, adding the rkang gling as one of the dam rdzas, or binding implements, of the secret empowerment of Heruka yoga.^[28] Building on the precedent of Pha dam pa—and a number of similar historical figures in various bKa’ brgyud traditions—the rkang gling and gcod have been re-contextualized and promoted in Tibetan visual and material culture by tantric yogins and ritual specialists like Lha btsun nam mkha’ ‘jigs med.^[29]

Figure 3.34: Lha btsun nam mkha’ ‘jigs med with a rkang gling in the right hand, a skull in the left, from the ‘du khang of gSang sngags chos gling in west Sikkim, a community which he founded in the seventeenth century, sculpture is 19-20th century. Photo by author in August 2018.

In conclusion, this research has described how changing representations of Pha dam pa and the rkang gling can be understood within the visual cultural innovations of Tibetan siddha iconography and how, as Ma gcig’s teacher, this figure is illustrated as an Indian source for gcod and a Buddhist ritual tradition which accomplishes the nondual. Moreover, this work has demonstrated a reliance on bKa’ brgyud settings for the preservation of these dynamic iconographies, and the historical and visual cultural valorization of the practice of lus sbyin and teachings of gcod.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

See Martin, “Crazy wisdom in moderation,” 199 on Pha dam pa’s use of extreme or “forceful” methods (btsan thabs). Aziz notes that ‘Gos lo tsā ba likely had access to the Zhi byed sngar bar phyi gsum gyi skor in writing the Deb ther ngon po and in which Pha dam pa is an active figure, c.f. ‘Gos lo tsā ba, op.cit., 684. Fig. 3.15 is taken from a thirteenth century copy of material from this collection.

[2]:

Martin, “Padampa Sangye”, 109.

[3]:

Pha dam pa’s disciples record instead the paucity of the teacher’s belongings and his frequent nudity, see Martin, ibid., 113.

[4]:

Rob Linrothe, “Subject, object and agent: Parsing the syntax of Tibetan mahasiddha art,” Orientations 37, no. 2 (2006): 82-90. See also Kapstein, “An inexhaustible treasury of verse,” 27ff on the documentation of siddhas as a visual and literary project and the historiographic emphasis on Mahāmudrā in twelfth and thirteenth century Tibetan sources.

[5]:

This painting is published in Pratyapaditya Pal, Tibetan Paintings: A Study of Tibetan Thankas, Eleventh to Nineteenth Centuries (London: Sotheby Publications, 1984), pl. 57. English finds that the bKa’ brgyud lineages actively preserve a number of Vajravārāhī traditions transmitted by the translator Mar pa, idem., Vajrayogini, xxii-xxiii.

[6]:

Pha dam pa was moreover one of the few Indian teachers who spoke Tibetan and attempted his own translations; Martin, “Phadampa Sangye,” 111 and idem., “Crazy wisdom in moderation,” 198. bKa’ brgyud lineages were not the only ones to celebrate associations with Pha dam pa’s teachings and transmissions from India during the early monastic period; see Davidson on similar work by Sa skya religious authors in idem., Tibetan Renaissance, 246. Note that according to Sa skya scholars, Pha dam pa was a student of the Lam ‘bras innovator and Indian siddha Virupa, c.f. Martin, ibid.,196.

[7]:

Rob Linrothe, “Strengthening the roots: An Indian yogi in early Drigung paintings of Ladakh and Zangskar”, Orientations 38, no. 4 (2007): 66.

[8]:

In addition to examples explored here, there are similar images of Pha dam pa at the late twelfth and thirteenth century sites of Wanla and Karsha and the Bardzong cave in west Tibet. My thanks to Rob Linrothe and Christian Luczanits for advising me on the distribution and dating of these sites. Luczanits notes that the ‘Bri gung emphasis on representations of siddhas distinguishes them from other bKa’ brgyud and monastic lineages, idem., “Beneficial to see”, 259. See also Geoffrey Samuel on the Tibetan definition of a siddha through ritual action and yoga, rather than adherence to monastic discipline, “The siddha as cultural category,” 37.

[9]:

These figures—including the two local ‘Bri gung authorities on adjacent walls—are discussed by Christian Luczanits in the chapter “Palden Drepung Chörten” in his forth-coming edition Alchi, Ladakh’s Hidden Buddhist Sanctuary (London: Serindia Publications).

[10]:

Linrothe, “Strengthening the roots”, 67.

[11]:

On the ambiguous identity of these figures and their relationship to Abhayadhatta’s twelfth century hagiography of the 84 mahāsiddhas, see Linrothe, “Group portrait”, 191.

[12]:

Linrothe, ibid., 199.

[13]:

Thomas Donaldson has explored iconographic exchanges between Pāśupata and Buddhist communities in Orissa during the eighth to eleventh centuries, including a visual emphasis on pedagogy in representations of their founding teachers, i.e. dharmacakra mudrā and facing the viewer directly (abhimukha), idem., Iconography of the Buddhist Sculpture of Orissa, 391-2.

[14]:

Davidson describes chedāvasthā as the fourth most specialized of five levels for practice and observance in the pre-fourth century Pāśupatasūtra, idem., Indian Esoteric Buddhism, 184. See also chapter 2, note 36. The poem on Prajñāparāmitā credited to Pha dam pa’s Indian teacher Āryadeva also describes cutting off (obstacles) at the root, see note 52 above.

[15]:

See Linrothe, “Strengthening the roots,” passim for a comprehensive review of Pha dam pa’s iconography in ‘Bri gung sites of the western Himalayas.

[16]:

The identification of this white stick, horn or tube remains speculative: Luczanits describes Pha dam pa’s implement as a stick or flute in “Palden Drepung Chörten”, 257 yet alternative sources identify this figure as Nāropa, from which Roger Goepper has suggested that this is a flute (Skt. nāḍa or nāḍī) and a reference to the siddha’s Sanskrit name, Nāḍapada, idem., Alchi: Ladakh’s Hidden Buddhist Sanctuary, 109. See also Nawang Tsering, Alchi: The Living Heritage of Ladakh (Leh: Central Institute of Buddhist Studies, 2009). This identification is undermined by the image of Nāropa with a ḍamaru, not a flute, in the top floor of the same structure (fig. 2.1).

[17]:

Pha dam pa’s position as a latter-day siddha is reinforced in the Alchi Shangrong Lha khang, also from the fourteenth century, where he is the final figure in a visual program of approximately 80 yogins, one of whom—named as Konkana in the inscription—also has a white flute; c.f. Luczanits, “Beneficial to see”, 249. Because these paintings are heavily damaged, they are difficult to read and not included here.

[18]:

See chapter 2, notes 119 and 120 as well as Zeff Bjerken, “On mandalas, monarchs, and mortuary magic: Siting the Sarvadurgatiparaśodhana Tantra in Tibet”, Journal of the American Academy of Religion 73, no. 3 (2005): 813-842. This was a fairly orthodox funerary practice in the western Himalayas by the eleventh century: The translator Rin chen bzang po performs its rituals after the death of Ye shes ‘od, for example; Snellgrove, “Rulers of western Tibet,” 176.

[19]:

The same array of maṇḍala in the earlier and adjacent mChod rten Lha khang at Tsatsapuri (e.g. fig. 3.3) has a monastic figure in this position, not Pha dam pa.

[20]:

Martin, “The woman illusion?,” 81n83. He once gifted a skull to one of his female disciples. On the iconography and functions of skulls as ritual objects, see chapter 2.

[21]:

See ‘Gos lo tsā ba, op.cit., 868-873. Despite my best efforts, the iconographic analysis of this painting is limited by the low resolution of available images.

[22]:

Luczanits has moreover suggested that Pha dam pa’s iconography represents more than one individual siddha, and is rather a combination of a number of “small, dark-skinned” figures from Tibetan hagiographic sources, idem.,“Beneficial to see”, 294n774.

[23]:

Martin, “Padampa Sangye”, 113-114. There is an inscription on the reverse of this sculpture identifying it as (Pha) Dam pa; see Linrothe, Holy Madness, pl. 79.

[24]:

On the mixed bKa’ brgyud and rNying ma iconographies at this and other sites in the western Himalayas, see Lo Bue, “The Gu ru lha khang at Phyi dbang”, 187.

[25]:

My thanks to Westin Harris for this information and a series of insightful discussions on the history of gcod and lus sbyin; idem., personal communication by email, 15 January 2020. Khros ma nag mo is recognized as an yi dam for gcod—characteristically black though notably playing the rkang gling, unlike Vajravārāhī—in the fifth chapter of the Phung po gzan skyur, see ibid., 177. The deity is also an yi dam in a gcod sādhana composed by the rNying ma teacher bDud ‘joms gling pa (1835-1903), see Harding, op.cit., 28. Khros ma nag mo is also seen at the bottom center of fig. 3.1.

[26]:

Nyang ral nyi ma ‘od zer is moreover associated with Pha dam pa through the gcod ritual method of Nam mkha’ sgo ‘byed by the rNying ma community at sMin grol gling; thanks again to Westin Harris for this information. See also Harding, op.cit., 50 and Edou, op.cit., 50.

[27]:

See notes 24-28 on historical sources for the rkang gling as an instrument of the brtul zhugs spyod pa, above.

[28]:

Lha btsun nam mkha’ ‘jigs med, “He ru ka’i chas kyi rnam bshad”, 5. This latter day Tibetan siddha is known for opening the sbas yul of Sikkim and the ritual establishment of its political legitimacy, in part through the use of rkang gling; see Gentry, Power Objects in Tibetan Buddhism, 415ff as well as chapter 4, section 4 of this dissertation. See also, for example, the implements of a tantric yogin—including rkang gling, ḍamaru, skull and ornaments—listed in the “Rigs 'dzin sngags kyi rnal 'byor pa'i chas rgyan,” in gSang rnying rgyan dang rol mo’i bstan bcos, op.cit., 205-249.

[29]:

Divalerio writes that bKa’ brgyud brtul zhugs pa frequently knew, practiced and taught gcod in addition to lineage-specific methods for empowerment like the Na ro chos drug, op.cit., 54. Divalerio notes that many of these figures had monastic training and formal religious educations.