Comparing Kuntu Sangmo’s Songs with the Songs of Tsangnyön Heruka

This paper will compare the songs (mgur) of the yogini Kuntu Sangmo (1464–1549) with the songs of her partner and teacher, the mad yogi Tsangnyön Heruka (1452–1507).The songs of Kuntu Sangmo are included in a 73-folio manuscript biography, which was compiled by her male disciple Kenrab Wangchuk a few years after her passing. Being the expressions of a female master’s thoughts, Kuntu Sangmo’s songs are unique, not only for being probably the only extant songs of a sixteenth-century Tibetan woman, but also for showing that a female practitioner could obtain success and high status in Tibetan Buddhism during this historical period. Her songs, and the narrative context around them, provide us with insight into a yogic tradition where women participated and at times had an instrumental role. The tradition that arose around Tsangnyön was different from many other Tibetan traditions in so far that it was upheld by male and female yogis who operated outside of the confines of monasteries. By appointing Kuntu Sangmo as one of his successors just before he passed away, Tsangnyön showed that it was possible for a woman to attain the highest possible position in his lineage.After the mad yogi’s passing, Kuntu Sangmo became an important master in her own right, printing religious texts, attracting a large following, and composing songs of realization. Like her teacher, Kuntu Sangmo declined the prestigious position of being the head of a monastery. Instead, she lived a wandering life, founded hermitages, and spent long periods in retreat. Resembling her teacher, she transmitted her teachings by means of oral instructions, songs of realization, and living example. Kuntu Sangmo’s songs and personal example show that women participated and shaped this ascetically inclined variation of the Kagyu tradition, a tradition where the wandering yogi were venerated and served as a role model.When comparing the twenty-five songs which are found in Kuntu Sangmo’s biography with the approximately twenty-seven songs which are found in Tsangnyön’s song collection, one notices many similarities, both regarding style and content. There are also some minor differences between their respective songs. The paper will investigate these differences and consider if the differences has anything to do with the fact that Kuntu Sangmo was female and Tsangnyön was male.Besides comparing their songs, the paper will highlight the women who are mentioned in the songs and in the narrative contexts surrounding them. It is noteworthy that many of the songs were directed toward specific women who are named in the texts. The paper thus respond to the call by gender historians for a review of the available sources to gather more historical information about women and rectify their under-representation in both the primary sources and in modern academic study. Both the songs of Kuntu Sangmo and the songs of Tsangnyön demonstrate that women, not only participated and practiced Buddhism in sixteenth-century Tibet, but also had a prominent position, serving as teachers, patrons, and even lineage holders.Three short question-and-answer songs (zhus lan gi mgur) that Tsangnyön sang to Kuntu Sangmo will serve as a point of departure for the paper. Since these songs are found in both Kuntu Sangmo’s biography and in Tsangnyön’s song collection, they provide us with a direct intertextual link between the two works, and may thus serve as an apt starting point when comparing and analyzing the material.