Treasure-Traditions of Western Tibet: Rig-'dzin Gar-bdang rdo-rje snying-po and His Activities in Mang-yul Gung-thang

Hardcover, 366 pages, München 2014, new copy!

From the fourteenth century onwards the treasure-tradition of Tibetan Buddhism (gter ma) played a significant role in the small south-western Tibetan kingdom of Mang-yul Gung-thang. The treasure-discoverer (gter ston) Rig-’dzin rGod-ldem-can (1337–1408) defined both the religious and political environment with his activities, e.g. through disclosing treasure-texts in the dominion and transmitting them directly to it’s rulers, and, more particularly, through designating the region as one of the famed hidden valleys (sbas yul), i.e. sKyid-mo-lung. The treasure-discoverers who were to come after him, i.e. most prominently Rig-’dzin mChog-ldan mgon-po (1497–1531) and Rig-’dzin bsTan-gnyis gling-pa (1480–1536), carried on rGod-ldem-can’s activities. It becomes clear that all of them effectively transcended the mere religious sphere and directly affected the political landscape through processes of legitimation and a calculated construction of prestige for themselves and the rulers of the kingdom. After the fall of the kingdom through the installment of the central Tibetan government led by the Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngag-dbang Blo-bzang rgya-mtsho (1617–1682), it was the treasure-discoverer Rig-’dzin Gar-dbang rdo-rje (1640–1685) who perpetuated these dynamics that had been established by his predecessors.