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Ma.n.dala and Landscape.
Edited By Alexander W. Macdonald. Delhi: D.K. Printworld / South Asia Books, 1997, ISBN: 8124600600, US $140.00
Reviewed By Cathy Cantwell
University of Kent
Canterbury
r.mayer@ukc.ac.uk
This large hardback (not far short of 500 pages), complete with lavish color photographs and excellent illustrations, is a work aimed at an audience with scholarly interests in Tibetan, Himalayan, and Buddhist studies. Some of the articles are major contributions and most have lengthy technical notes. Several of those drawing on Tibetan written sources include a transliteration or photocopy of the Tibetan text(s). The theme addressed by the book is important: the relationships between conceptions of ma.n.dala and actual physical landscapes, a topic which, Macdonald points out in his Foreword (p. vii), has been comparatively neglected both in traditional and modern academic writings. The editor's explicit intention (p. ix) is to bring together research on the ways in which ma.n.dala structures may be variously applied in differing geographical and social contexts. This project raises a number of related issues -- different understandings of ma.n.dalas, complementarity or tension with alternative conceptualizations of landscape, and relationships between ideologies of sacred landscape and the sociopolitical order. The authors, of various disciplinary backgrounds and theoretical approaches, present a wealth of material from different geographical sites and religious traditions.
The two opening chapters deal with East Asian traditions. Ulrich Mammitzsch (pp. 1-39) writes on the merging of Buddhist and Shinto and other ideologies and practices in Japan. In the case of several Japanese sacred mountain complexes, Japanese Buddhist notions of Pure Lands and the possibility of direct access to Buddhahood have been fused with ideas concerning mountain spirits and practices such as ritualistic mountain climbing. One common feature appears to be a rejection of the typical ma.n.dala pattern emphasizing a central point, and an alternative stress on natural harmony and "indescribable essence" (p. 35). Perhaps most interestingly, Mammitzsch traces dynamic developments within specific examples, illustrating how forms such as the Kasuga ma.n.dala were not necessarily fixed but might be creatively adapted over time. Sandrine Chenivesse (pp. 41-74) examines "charts" or esoteric maps of Mount Fengdu and other Daoist holy places in China, which are designed to allow the practitioner to "enter the mountain," rejoin the spirits, and attain immortality. The imagery also relates to Daoist practices connected with the breath (p. 61). As in Indian tantra, there seems to be an identification between the outer environment represented on the chart and the respiratory process. As in the Tibetan gter ma tradition, it appears that such charts are thought to be hidden in the grottoes of sacred mountains and are revealed by the mountain gods to the right human, in this case, one destined to realize Dao.
The Tibetan cultural world is entered with Katia Buffetrille's article (pp. 75-132) on pilgrimages around the A-myes rma-chen range in A-mdo. Buffetrille supplies us with a fascinating description of a pilgrimage in 1990, but this is not only an ethnographic report. Buffetrille gives the text and translation of a "Guide Book" (gnas kyi rten bshad) to the place, and discusses the purposes of such texts, that is, to structure the pilgrim's perception of the landscape as a Buddhist ma.n.dala rather than to "guide" the pilgrim through the route. Some sites mentioned in the Guide Book do clearly correspond to actual places but their exact locations are not specified. Buffetrille compares and contrasts the text with the actual pilgrimage practices, concluding that the considerable discrepancies indicate the comparatively recent and incomplete "Buddhicizing" of the landscape. While generally sound, this point may be a little overstated; many of the pilgrimage practices she describes might better be seen as popular Buddhist devotion drawing on indigenous ritual traditions rather than ancient non-Buddhist rites sitting uneasily with Buddhism, as her rather stark contrast might suggest. Her own photograph (p. 103) of the cave of the early nineteenth century Zhabs-dkar, and references to him (pp. 78, 86), indicate that the route may not be quite so bereft of the "imprint of [Buddhist]... saints" as she concludes (p. 112). This slight reservation should not detract from the extremely valuable contribution which Buffetrille has made in her detailed analysis of text and practice.
Charles Ramble (pp. 133-232) also draws on a pilgrims' Guide, as well as on a manual of rites to the mountain deities and on participant observation in his study of the principal Bon-po sacred place, the Mountain of Kongpo (rkong po bon ri). In this instance, rather than a relatively straightforward contrast between the text and local traditions, we find a number of variant oral traditions, and a text, probably compiled in the mid-nineteenth century, which draws on classical Bon-po scriptures but supplements or rewrites those sources for its own purposes in eulogizing and making the mountain its central focus. It creatively elaborates on the mountain's features according to a ma.n.dala model. It also integrates certain elements found in oral accounts. Ramble argues (p. 197) that ideas indigenous to the Kongpo area may have contributed to the Guide's modifications of the standard Bon-po narratives. In conclusion, Ramble further suggests that some of the Guide's mythical scenarios may have been incorporated from more distant sources -- including Biblical stories possibly deriving from eighteenth-century Capuchin missionaries -- and he makes the general point that it is typical for narrative elements to be transferred from one body of myths to another, being given entirely new contexts in the process. At 100 pages, this excellent "article" could have been produced as a publication in its own right.
Toni Huber's work (pp. 233-286) also examines a Guide Book, that to La-phyi, which is part of a group of the principal Buddhist pilgrimage sites in the Himalayas, and which is associated with the Cakrasa.mvara tantric cycle. As well as translation of and commentary on parts of the text, Huber discusses the historical development of the site. While most of the Tibetan Buddhist schools have come to accept the mythology of the creation of the site as a Buddhist ma.n.dala, one influential tradition refutes the identification of La-phyi as site of the Cakrasa.mvara ma.n.dala, necessitating spirited defenses on the part of those supporting the association. Huber traces the various fortunes in the area of those schools most committed to the cult and, like Buffetrille and Ramble, he also comments on the relationship between literate and oral narratives and practices. He points out that ordinary pilgrims' interpretations of natural features of the landscape as concrete manifestations of Cakrasa.mvara and his consort may represent a challenge to the "elite" tantric specialists who deny validity to the perceptions of the uninitiated. He suggests that the political implications of such challenges in the Tibetan context can account for literate refutations of them, using the example of a passage found in the Guide Book under discussion, which was written by an early twentieth-century lama. Although Huber is right to highlight connections between political and religious authority, his statement (p. 240) that the elite lamas must necessarily reject commonplace accounts in order to justify their own status is a little stark, especially when one considers that popular voices may find their way into the literate tradition, as Ramble documents in his chapter.
The next two articles examine the Tibetan concept of "hidden lands" (sbas yul). Hildegard Diemberger (pp. 287-334) focuses on Khenbalung (mkhan pa lung) in Eastern Nepal, the processes by which the site came to be equated with a gter ma tradition concerning a "Hidden Valley of the Artemisia," and the continuing interplay between Buddhist and non-Buddhist understandings of and practices in relation to the landscape. The Nepalese area is not the only candidate for the "Valley of the Artemisia": there is a site in Bhutan with equally impressive credentials -- lamas who recognized and "opened" the place and a literature justifying the authentication. Sections of the principal work associated with the Bhutanese site, apparently written by Padma Gling-pa, are reproduced in the Guide Book relating to the Nepalese site (p. 294)! In this instance, the valley in Nepal is linked with the gter ston Rig-'dzin rGod-ldem but it seems to be unclear how far this tradition reflects historical realities and how far the famous figure has been co-opted by later local interpreters (p. 296). In either case, associations with the prestigious and literate Tibetan Buddhist world have given local lamas their status (dbu 'phrang), which in some contexts sets them above the merely local religious power bases of the non-Buddhist religious specialists (lhaven). Diemberger elaborates on the social order and the interactions of differing worldviews and ritual practices, noting (p. 329, note 97), for instance, that the mountain environment may be described in terms of an orientation to the cardinal points as in classical descriptions of ma.n.dalas but that an alternative perspective stressing an up/down opposition -- which is, in fact, widespread in the Tibetan cultural context -- is more central.
Franz-Karl Ehrhard (pp. 335-364) begins with a reference to the disputed identification of mkhan pa lung, making the general point that the gter ma traditions are replete with overlapping tradition, textual material typically moving from one gter ston to another and being applied to different geographical contexts. Ehrhard follows this observation with an examination of texts relating to another "hidden land": that of gNam-sgo zla-gam. He looks at the polemics on the geographical location of the site, which include lists of criteria for hidden lands and discussion of the process of, "identification of a sacred place" (gnas kyi ngos 'dzin) by the right person at the right time. Ehrhard also supplies us with a clear reproduction of one of the texts (351ff).
There is an important thread linking several contributions to this book. Five of the articles illustrate that associations between Buddhist ma.n.dalas and mythologies on one hand, and actual geographical places on the other, are not necessarily fixed or undisputed: there is Chenivesse on Mount Fengdu in China, the location of which moved between the sixth and ninth centuries CE (pp. 46-47); Ramble on the development of Bon-ri, incorporating myths which had earlier had other associations (p. 188); Huber on La-phyi, not fully accepted as a site of the Cakrasa.mvara ma.n.dala by all (p. 274); Diemberger on Khenbalung, and Ehrhard on gNam-sgo zla-gam.
The remaining articles leave aside these questions of ma.n.dala and geographical sites as portrayed in Tibetan literature. Richard Kohn (pp. 365-405) gives a very detailed description of the sand ma.n.dala (rdul tshon dkyil 'khor) used in the Mani Rimdu festival in Buddhist monasteries in Nepal. Kohn's doctoral research -- and his film, Lord of the Dance -- are well-known to Tibetologists, although unfortunately little of his material has been produced in academic publications, so this contribution is especially welcome. Kohn combines ethnographic observation of the rites, thoughtful comments (such as his discussion on page 366 of the juxtaposition of elevation and plan in two-dimensional representations of ma.n.dalas) with selective translations of relevant parts of the ritual manuals. His account is thorough, and since the tradition of sand ma.n.dalas is widespread in Tibetan Buddhism and many of the ritual acts are shared by other ritual cycles, the article is of relevance beyond the Mani Rimdu festival alone. However, unlike other authors in this volume, Kohn does not include his Tibetan texts, although these would have been very valuable to specialist scholars. His translations do nonetheless give the impression of high competence, but I am left with a couple of very small quibbles. We read (p. 371) of "ghosts" -- given the context, possibly bgegs ("obstacles")? -- and of "gnomes" (apparently dam sri) who must be suppressed. Perhaps American cultural associations are rather different but the English have some affection for garden (and other varieties of) gnomes and might find this choice of imagery for negative forces rather puzzling! The four door protectresses (sgo ma/ phra men ma bzhi) are described as "sorceresses" (pp. 393-394), which might be a little misleading were it not for the extensive glosses of their ritual activity and function, which Kohn supplies.
A chapter by Jean-Yvers Loude and Viviane LiËvre (pp. 407-433) on the Kalash of the Hindu Kush and one by N. J. Allen (pp. 435-451) comparing various Himalayan drainage myths conclude the volume. Allen's discussion of how a common mythical heritage of the region has been variously adapted in accordance with local geography and belief is interesting although it does not appear to have been written specifically for the book and an attempt to relate it more explicitly to the topic of ma.n.dala and landscape would have been useful. The chapter on the Kalash seems to be at best tangential to the theme: indeed, the authors (p. 429) note that amongst the Kalash, the world is not symbolically represented in forms such as ma.n.dalas.
Overall, we have here an impressive collection of scholarly work on ma.n.dala and landscape. Perhaps, however, the book could have benefited from a longer introductory or a concluding chapter, commenting on the different articles and their broader relevance to the theme.
