Taking three short religious poems/songs (mgur) that the crazy yogi gTsang smyon Heruka (1452–1507) sang to his female partner and disciple Kun tu bzang mo (1464–1549) as a point of departure, this essay will offer a preliminary analysis and comparison of their respective songs.

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.

In his early twenties, the Tibetan monk Sangyé Gyaltsen (1452–1507) left his monastery to become a wandering tantric yogin. As he moved from place to place, seeking enlightenment beyond the bounds of monasticism, his behavior became increasingly erratic. While some were shocked or even angered by his actions, others were drawn to him. Sangyé Gyaltsen’s followers described his transgressive behaviors as enlightened action, rooted in authoritative Buddhist scripture. Using biographical sources, Stefan Larsson explores Sangyé Gyaltsen’s transformation into the charismatic ‘Madman of Tsang,’ Tsangnyön Heruka.

Best known today as the author of the Life of Milarepa, Tsangnyön Heruka was one of the most influential mad yogins of Tibet. His biography brings its reader face-to-face with an unexpected aspect of Buddhist practice that flourished in fifteenth-century Tibet.

According to his disciples and himself, Gtsang smyon Heruka (1452-1507) was an incarnation of Mi la ras pa, one of the most famous and popular composers of mgur in Tibet. Gtsang smyon devoted his life to following in the footsteps of his former incarnation. He meditated in the same caves, wandered the same paths, and like Mi la ras pa, he expressed his realization in songs. Gtsang smyon also compiled and printed Mi la ras pa’s song collection (mgur ’bum), and thereby contributed a great deal to making Mi la ras pa’s poetry well known. Mi la ras pa’s religious songs is likely the most famous and important examples of mgur ever recorded in Tibet. In contrast, Gtsang smyon’s own songs, which are strikingly similar to Mi la ras pa’s, remain quite unknown. Besides Gtsang smyon’s disciples, few Tibetan writers quote or refer to them, and relatively few Tibetans seem to be aware of their existence. In 1508, a group of disciples compiled these songs, and a song collection entitled Rje btsun gtsang pa he ru ka’i mgur ’bum rin po che dbang gi rgyal po thams cad mkhyen pa’i lam ston was printed. I have spent the last years translating this text and the present paper will be devoted to presenting and analyzing some of the songs in it. The songs, which are strikingly similar to Mi la ras pa’s, are a testimony of Gtsang smyon’s mastery of mgur and provides us with insight to the way in which Gtsang smyon taught Dharma to his disciples. The songs also offers fascinating glimpses of the wandering yogic life style that both he and many of his disciples followed. Focusing on the songs that Gtsang smyon sang to his heart son Rin chen dpal bzang po (n.d.) and to his female companion Kun tu bzang mo (1464-1549), the paper will scrutinize Gtsang smyon’s songs and describe some of their main characteristics. Having analyzed these songs and quoted sections from them, I will compare the songs in Gtsang smyon’s song collection with the same songs as rendered by his disciples Rgod tshang ras pa (1482-1559) and Lha btsun rin chen rnam rgyal (1473-1557) in their respective biographies of Gtsang smyon. Although Lha btsun rin chen rnam rgyal compiled his version of the biography later than Rgod tshang ras pa, he renders the songs somewhat differently. These differences indicates that diverse versions of Gtsang smyon’s songs were in circulation among his disciples after his collected songs had been printed. This raises questions regarding how songs such as these were transmitted.

Although Tibetan Buddhism is often associated with monks and canonical texts, other types of Buddhist practitioners and texts arealso important. Before the Fifth Dalai Lama came to power and Tibetan Buddhism became systematized, charismatic yoginscomposed and printed songs and biographies to promote a non-monastic ideal with remarkable success. Modeling their lifestyleupon Indian tantric siddhas and the 11th century Tibetan yogin Milarepa, whose tradition they followed and propagated, theyattempted to reform Tibetan Buddhism. Taking as a point of departure four texts which were printed in Southern Tibet in the earlysixteenth-century by a group of such yogins, this project will investigate how Buddhist songs and biographies were codified into adistinct genre in Tibet. By combining a traditional philological and historical approach with theories concerning the interaction betweenlife and texts, the history, function, and contents of these songs and biographies will be explored. Moreover, the people who collectedand printed the texts will be portrayed. The texts upon which the project focuses have never been translated, and the historical periodwhen they were produced has generally been neglected in contemporary scholarship. By scrutinizing this unique body of material,the project will contribute with important basic research. The project will also break new ground in unfolding the complicated web ofinterfaces between lives and texts, and in the textual corpus.

Många svenskar har bilder eller statyer av Buddha i sina hem och böcker som på olika sätt anknyter till buddhismen i sina bokhyllor. Buddhistisk meditation utförs i en mängd kristna kyrkor och mindfulness-baserade terapier används i den svenska hälso- och sjukvården. Ett stort antal svenskar tror på karma och reinkarnation samt tillämpar vissa praktiker som är hämtade från buddhismen i sin vardag. Invånare i Sveriges är således influerade och inspirerade av buddhismen på olika sätt, utan att för den skull uppfatta sig själva som buddhister.

I detta kapitel kommer jag titta närmare på de buddhisminfluerade svenskarna och hoppas genom detta nyansera bilden av buddhismen i Sverige. För att förstå dessa personer måste vi också förstå de svenskar som faktiskt är buddhister och även få kunskaper om hur det gick till då buddhismen kom till Sverige. Därför kommer även detta beskrivas i korthet. Vidare diskuteras var gränsen går mellan att vara buddhist och att vara influerad eller inspirerad av buddhismen. Min förhoppning är att jag, genom att lyfta fram svenskar som befinner sig i buddhismens periferi, ska tydliggöra några av buddhismens karaktäristiska kännetecken, kännetecken som återfinns också på andra platser dit buddhismen spridits.

gTsang smyon Heruka (1452–1507) is one of Tibet’s most famous mad yogins. The mad yogins represent a relatively unknown aspect of Tibetan Buddhism that flourished in the 15th and 16th centuries. The mad yogins (and their disciples) claimed that they were following in the footsteps of the Indian Buddhist siddhas, and carrying out advanced Buddhist tantric practices by acting in unconventional and transgressive ways.

Like some of the Indian siddhas, gTsang smyon started his religious career as a monk. When he was about twenty years old, inspired by a vision of his meditation deity, he suddenly started to act in a seemingly crazy manner. He left his monastery and spent the rest of his life wandering around as a homeless vagabond, practising a form of radical asceticism called “disciplined conduct”. Soon after he left his monastery, his antinomian and mad behavior led people to begin to call him gTsang smyon – “The Madman of gTsang”.

Paradoxically, gTsang smyon’s crazy way of acting and dressing seems to have contributed to making him popular and successful. According to his hagiographies, gTsang smyon was supported by several powerful political leaders. This made it possible for him to accomplish the deeds for which he later became famous: compiling and printing the hagiography and song collection of the bKa’ brgyud master Milarepa (1052–1135); and also compiling an extensive collection of the Aural Transmissions of the bKa’ brgyud tradition.

The most important aims of the present study are to describe how gTsang smyon was transformed into a mad yogin – a heruka – and to look at his subsequent activities as a mad yogin. The main sources on which the dissertation is based are three Tibetan hagiographies written by his disciples.

Although Tibetan Buddhism is often associated with monks and canonical texts, other types of Buddhist practitioners and texts arealso important. Before the Fifth Dalai Lama came to power and Tibetan Buddhism became systematized, charismatic yoginscomposed and printed songs and biographies to promote a non-monastic ideal with remarkable success. Modeling their lifestyleupon Indian tantric siddhas and the 11th century Tibetan yogin Milarepa, whose tradition they followed and propagated, theyattempted to reform Tibetan Buddhism. Taking as a point of departure four texts which were printed in Southern Tibet in the earlysixteenth-century by a group of such yogins, this project will investigate how Buddhist songs and biographies were codified into adistinct genre in Tibet. By combining a traditional philological and historical approach with theories concerning the interaction betweenlife and texts, the history, function, and contents of these songs and biographies will be explored. Moreover, the people who collectedand printed the texts will be portrayed. The texts upon which the project focuses have never been translated, and the historical periodwhen they were produced has generally been neglected in contemporary scholarship. By scrutinizing this unique body of material,the project will contribute with important basic research. The project will also break new ground in unfolding the complicated web ofinterfaces between lives and texts, and in the textual corpus.

Tsangnyön Heruka (1452-1507) was an important but nowadays largely forgotten Tibetan yogin. Because of the deliberate madnessthat he engaged in he became known as a "mad yogin". His message is particularly clearly formulated in a collection of songs,attributed to Tsangnyön and compiled by his closest disciples after he passed away. These songs provide us with a unique insightinto the peculiar form of Buddhism that Tsangnyön and his disciples advocated and practised. By looking at the narrative context ofthe songs it is sometimes possible to discern why, when, and where the songs were sung. By also studying the other texts written byTsangnyön and his disciples (i.e. the so-called "School of Tsangnyön") it is possible to obtain a rather precise picture of thisinteresting "alternative" form of Tibetan Buddhism. A study of this unique body of material provides us with much insight into a littleknown historical period, a social milieu, Esoteric Buddhism, and into the network of disciples and patrons around Tsangnyön. Thuswe may gain specific information about this important and influential movement that nowadays is mainly accessible to us indirectly,by means of the hagiographies and songs, attributed to early Kagyu masters such as Milarepa and Marpa that Tsangnyön and hisdisciples compiled and printed. The creators of these texts (i.e. Tsangnyön and his disciples) have so far remained obscure andunknown. This research project aims at changing this situation.

In 1976, following his teacher’s command, Lama Ngawang (1927-2011) moved to Sweden to oversee a newly founded Buddhist Center. Coming from a Tibetan nomadic background, with little exposure of Western culture, this was quite a challenge. Lama Ngawang’s contribution to the dissemination of Buddhism in Sweden will be explored in this presentation. 

Although Tibetan Buddhism is often associated with monks and canonical texts, other types of Buddhist practitioners and texts arealso important. Before the Fifth Dalai Lama came to power and Tibetan Buddhism became systematized, charismatic yoginscomposed and printed songs and biographies to promote a non-monastic ideal with remarkable success. Modeling their lifestyleupon Indian tantric siddhas and the 11th century Tibetan yogin Milarepa, whose tradition they followed and propagated, theyattempted to reform Tibetan Buddhism. Taking as a point of departure four texts which were printed in Southern Tibet in the earlysixteenth-century by a group of such yogins, this project will investigate how Buddhist songs and biographies were codified into adistinct genre in Tibet. By combining a traditional philological and historical approach with theories concerning the interaction betweenlife and texts, the history, function, and contents of these songs and biographies will be explored. Moreover, the people who collectedand printed the texts will be portrayed. The texts upon which the project focuses have never been translated, and the historical periodwhen they were produced has generally been neglected in contemporary scholarship. By scrutinizing this unique body of material,the project will contribute with important basic research. The project will also break new ground in unfolding the complicated web ofinterfaces between lives and texts, and in the textual corpus.

Tsangnyön Heruka (1452-1507) was an important but nowadays largely forgotten Tibetan yogin. Because of the deliberate madnessthat he engaged in he became known as a "mad yogin". His message is particularly clearly formulated in a collection of songs,attributed to Tsangnyön and compiled by his closest disciples after he passed away. These songs provide us with a unique insightinto the peculiar form of Buddhism that Tsangnyön and his disciples advocated and practised. By looking at the narrative context ofthe songs it is sometimes possible to discern why, when, and where the songs were sung. By also studying the other texts written byTsangnyön and his disciples (i.e. the so-called "School of Tsangnyön") it is possible to obtain a rather precise picture of thisinteresting "alternative" form of Tibetan Buddhism. A study of this unique body of material provides us with much insight into a littleknown historical period, a social milieu, Esoteric Buddhism, and into the network of disciples and patrons around Tsangnyön. Thuswe may gain specific information about this important and influential movement that nowadays is mainly accessible to us indirectly,by means of the hagiographies and songs, attributed to early Kagyu masters such as Milarepa and Marpa that Tsangnyön and hisdisciples compiled and printed. The creators of these texts (i.e. Tsangnyön and his disciples) have so far remained obscure andunknown. This research project aims at changing this situation.

Tsangnyön Heruka (1452-1507) was an important but nowadays largely forgotten Tibetan yogin. Because of the deliberate madnessthat he engaged in he became known as a "mad yogin". His message is particularly clearly formulated in a collection of songs,attributed to Tsangnyön and compiled by his closest disciples after he passed away. These songs provide us with a unique insightinto the peculiar form of Buddhism that Tsangnyön and his disciples advocated and practised. By looking at the narrative context ofthe songs it is sometimes possible to discern why, when, and where the songs were sung. By also studying the other texts written byTsangnyön and his disciples (i.e. the so-called "School of Tsangnyön") it is possible to obtain a rather precise picture of thisinteresting "alternative" form of Tibetan Buddhism. A study of this unique body of material provides us with much insight into a littleknown historical period, a social milieu, Esoteric Buddhism, and into the network of disciples and patrons around Tsangnyön. Thuswe may gain specific information about this important and influential movement that nowadays is mainly accessible to us indirectly,by means of the hagiographies and songs, attributed to early Kagyu masters such as Milarepa and Marpa that Tsangnyön and hisdisciples compiled and printed. The creators of these texts (i.e. Tsangnyön and his disciples) have so far remained obscure andunknown. This research project aims at changing this situation.