Violence, Gender, and Ethics in Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhism

Through reading and translating "Prophecies and Pure Perceptions" (ལུང་བསྟན་དང་ཉམས་མྱོང་དག་སྣང་།), found in vol. 149 of the Bon Katen spanning 52 pages, by Khandro Dechen Wangmo (1868-1935?), a female Bonpo treasure revealer from Kham Nyarong, located in the current Ganzi prefecture of Sichuan Province, China, I analyze the functions of this text and the ways in which she claims authority and agency through specific literary strategies. These strategies include the juxtaposition between the Dakinis' immediate recognition of her and Khandro Dechen Wangmo's "feigned ignorance," which allows her to claim a certain authority, along with her transition from being a medium receiving prophecy from various dakinis and siddhis to the agent who gives prophecy to others. This paper also discusses writing prophecy in the face of violence committed by political and social upheaval at the time to cope with and process the misfortunes that change has brought.

The Seminal Heart (snying thig) tradition of the Great Perfection (rdzogs chen) begins with eleventh century Tibetan revelations, becomes dominant by the fourteenth, and has continued as such into the present. The difference in narrative, philosophy, and practice between these origins and contemporary realities is extraordinary, though the tradition stressed continuity throughout with the original scriptural sources. These striking transformations are not significantly acknowledged by Tibetan authors, apart from scattered references to discontinued practices, lost texts, and attenuated transmissions; there is even less attempt to explain or theorize these vast differences.  I will offer a history and theorization of these changes  to make sense of the drivers and significance of these patterns of profound continuity and discontinuity. In addition to detailing my methodology, I will reflect on the ethics and social conundrums of writing a history of a visionary tradition that is in deep tension with its own modern narratives.