The Methodology and Ethics of Writing Histories of Visionary Traditions: The Great Perfection in Tibet

The Seminal Heart (snying thig) tradition of the Great Perfection (rdzogs chen) begins with revelations in the eleventh century, becomes the dominant Great Perfection tradition in the Nyingma school by the fourteenth century, and has continued as such right into the present. The difference, however, in narrative, philosophy, and practice between these two poles of eleventh century origins and twenty first century contemporary realities is extraordinary, though the tradition continues to rhetorically point to and value the original scriptural sources and stress fundamental continuity.  

Scripturally,  the basis of the eleventh and twelfth centuries are The Seventeen Tantras, their commentaries, and the diverse textual collections that came to be anthologized as The Seminal Heart of Vimalamitra, but early on was known as “the four volumes” (po ti bzhi) and “one hundred and nineteen experiential precepts” (man ngag brgya dang dgu bcu).  These are narratively characterized by a focus on the Indian Vimalamitra  in his visionary transmissions and appearances and have nothing whatsoever to do with Padmasambhava, while they fashion an elaborate cosmology unique to these texts grounded in stories of primordial and cosmological Buddhas, saints vanishing in light, a vast range of worlds in eons of dark and light, and three sources of the teachings in the form of a magical statue, vajra, and book.  Philosophically, the tradition is dominated by elemental theory—earth, water, fire, and wind—with consequent interests in medical practices, astrology, and material substances, and by the creative primacy of gnosis in all aspects of human life. Contemplatively, the tradition offers new visionary practices of cultivated spontaneous experiences of luminosity, but also a variety of practices focused on experiencing material elements through recipes, sensory practices, and a great range of mantra practices.  Ideologically, as well, there is an overarching nomadic imagery in these early origins, as well as an intertwined focus on Land, the sentient, agentive character of things we might consider inanimate, and the way in which souls (bla) are profoundly diverse, distributed, and located outside as much as inside the individual self. 

By the fourteenth century, Padmasamabhava had largely displaced Vimalamitra, the elaborate cosmology was on the decline, elemental theory was increasingly marginalized, and material, elemental meditations as well as mantra experimentation were vanishing. These changes accelerated over time, and a new dynamic increasingly focused on mainstream meditations of deity evocation by visualization according to practice handbooks (sādhana) emerged as well, while an increasing focus on exoteric Buddhist philosophy impacted upon the distinctive nature of Seminal Heart discourses. Meanwhile, ideologically, the deep nomadic imagery gets partially sublimated, and the deep interrelations of self, Land, and matter become sanitized. Two scriptural traditions, with their concomitant narratives, philosophies, and meditations—Mahāyoga and Kālacakra—have been dominant, if hidden, dialog partners for the Seminal Heart in its origins and over time, though the nature of the influence has been shifting and complex. In addition, discarded elements of the tradition possibly manifest in complex ways elsewhere, and separate histories of things such as dark retreats, amulets, contemplative material reciparies, and so forth are necessary to fully understand these complex histories. 

These striking transformations are not significantly acknowledged by Tibetan authors in the tradition, apart from scattered references to some practices no longer being done, texts being lost, and transmissions being attenuated; there is even less to no attempt to explain or theorize these vast differences.  In addition, the early extraordinary innovations are deferred to Indian agency, and attempts to recover the agency of Tibetans, Tibetan culture, and Tibetan Land are dismissed due to concerns of lineal authenticity when Indian origins are the touchstone of legitimacy. 

I will offer a history and theorization of these changes over eleven centuries that attempts to make sense of the drivers and significance of these dynamic patterns of profound continuity and discontinuity in a famous Tibetan religious tradition, as well as contextualize them within Tibetan agencies. In addition to detailing my methodology for writing such a sweeping history, I will reflect on the ethics and social conundrums of crafting such a historical account of a modern visionary tradition which reveals intricate cultural processes in esoteric practices that the tradition sees as the logic of reality, discerns deep discontinuities where the tradition primarily sees continuity, and argues for a new secret and irreducibly Tibetan history deeply concealed within the tradition’s own prosaic and visionary histories of itself.