Table Of ContentHidden Lands in Himalayan Myth and History
Brill’s
Tibetan Studies
Library
Edited by
Henk Blezer (Leiden University)
Alex McKay (University of London)
Charles Ramble (École pratique des hautes études (EPHE, Sorbonne), Paris)
volume 46
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/btsl
Hidden Lands in Himalayan
Myth and History
Transformations of sbas yul through Time
Edited by
Frances Garrett
Elizabeth McDougal
Geoffrey Samuel
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Cover illustration: Entering Beyul Khenpalung. Photo by Hildegard Diemberger.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Garrett, Frances Mary, editor. | McDougal, Elizabeth, editor. |
Samuel, Geoffrey, editor.
Title: Hidden lands in Himalayan myth and history : transformations of sbas
yul through time / edited by Frances Garrett, Elizabeth McDougal,
Geoffrey Samuel.
Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2021] | Series: Brill’s Tibetan
studies library, 1568-6183 ; volume 46 | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020037580 (print) | LCCN 2020037581 (ebook) |
ISBN 9789004437494 (hardback) | ISBN 9789004437685 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Sacred space—China—Tibet Autonomous Region. | Sacred
space—Himalaya Mountains Region. | Buddhist mythology—China—Tibet
Autonomous Region. | Buddhist mythology—Himalaya Mountains Region. |
Environmental protection—Religious aspects—Buddhism. |
Tourism—Religious aspects—Buddhism. | Buddhism—China—Tibet
Autonomous Region—History. | Buddhism—Himalaya Mountains
Region—History. | Tibet Autonomous Region (China)—Civilization. |
Himalaya Mountains Region—Civilization.
Classification: LCC BQ6349.T552 H53 2021 (print) | LCC BQ6349.T552
(ebook) | DDC 294.3/43509515—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020037580
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020037581
Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface.
ISSN 1568-6183
ISBN 978-90-04-43749-4 (hardback)
ISBN 978-90-04-43768-5 (e-book)
Copyright 2021 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi,
Brill Sense, Hotei Publishing, mentis Verlag, Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh and Wilhelm Fink Verlag.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without prior written permission from the publisher. Requests for re-use and/or translations must be
addressed to Koninklijke Brill NV via brill.com or copyright.com.
This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.
Contents
Preface ix
Geoffrey Samuel, Frances Garrett and Elizabeth McDougal
Note on the Locations of the sbas yul xiii
Maps xvi
Editors and Contributors xxiii
Part 1
Introducing the sbas yul
Photo Essay: The Terrestrial Buddha Realm of sbas yul Padma bkod:
A Visual Pilgrimage 3
Ian Baker
1 Hidden Lands of Tibet in Myth and History 51
Geoffrey Samuel
Part 2
The sbas yul over Time: Historical Perspectives
2 Healing Mountains and Hidden Lands 95
Frances Garrett
3 Did sbas yul Play a Part in the Development of Tibetan
Book Culture? 108
Hildegard Diemberger
4 Early Echoes of sbas yul Padma bkod in the Lifestory of Thang stong
rgyal po 123
Annie Heckman
5 Padma bkod through the Lens of Two Pilgrimage Guidebooks:
Walking the Body of Rdo rje phag mo 143
Barbara Hazelton
vi Contents
6 “A Great and Small Padma bkod”: Guidebooks and
Individual Journeys 162
Franz-Karl Ehrhard
7 Prophecy and Fantastical Reality in Sle lung Bzhad pa’i rdo rje’s Journey
to Padma bkod 185
Tom Greensmith
8 The Shapeshifting Goddess: The Consecration of Padma bkod’s Yang
Sang Chu Region by the 20th-Century gter ston, Bdud ’joms drag sngags
gling pa 207
Elizabeth McDougal
Part 3
The sbas yul in the Modern World: Ethnographic Perspectives
9 The Arising of Padma bkod in the Western World 229
Samuel Thévoz
10 Voices from the Mountainside: Vernacular sbas yul in the Western
Himalaya 256
Callum Pearce
11 Pachakshiri: A Little-Known Hidden Land between Tsa ri and Padma
bkod in the Eastern Himalaya 276
Kerstin Grothmann
12 How Is This Sacred Place Arrayed? Pacification, Increase, Magnetism,
and Wrath in the Establishment of an Eastern Himalayan sbas yul 297
Amelia Hall
Photo Essay: Glimpses of a Hidden Land: The sbas yul of Yol mo 315
Jon Kwan with Khenpo Nyima Dondrup
Contents vii
Part 4
Two Guidebooks to the Hidden Land of Padma Bkod
’Ja’ tshon snying po’s Guidebook to the Hidden Land of Padma bkod 331
Translated by Barbara Hazelton
Bdud ’joms gling pa’s Hidden Sacred Land of Padma bkod 342
Translated by Barbara Hazelton
Index 347
Preface
Geoffrey Samuel, Frances Garrett and Elizabeth McDougal
The sbas yul or ‘hidden lands’ of the Himalayas are an important theme in
Tibetan culture, closely linked to the gter ston or ‘treasure finders,’ visionary
lamas who have received increasing attention in recent years. In addition to
their other activities, some of these visionary lamas were engaged in locating,
identifying, and ‘opening’ sbas yul or hidden lands, as well as in writing guide-
books (gnas yig, lam yig) that explained their significance and special nature.
Western scholarship on the sbas yul goes back to the writings of Jacques
Bacot and others in the early twentieth century, but there has been a consid-
erable growth in research in recent years, particularly in relation to the best-
known sbas yul, Padma bkod in southern Tibet. The original view of the sbas
yul as places for spiritual cultivation and of refuge from war and oppressive
regimes has been complicated by more recent studies, some of which are in-
cluded in this book. These have explored such themes as the political and eco-
nomic role of the gter ston and their sbas yul discoveries, the impact of Tibetan
settlement in sbas yul on pre-existing indigenous populations, and even the
modern use of sbas yul concepts for environmental protection and tourist
promotion.
Certainly, the sbas yul concept has meant different things, and been used
in different ways, in various times and places. This book grew out of a work-
shop in late 2017 which brought together many of the leading contemporary
researchers on sbas yul in order to survey the present state of knowledge on
these ‘hidden lands.’ It includes revised versions of most of the papers from the
original workshop, with three additional invited contributions. We believe that
the book provides a comprehensive view of the sbas yul from both historical
and contemporary perspectives and will open up new and unexpected facets
even to those who already have some knowledge of this fascinating theme.
The sbas yul is an essentially Himalayan phenomenon, and the areas cov-
ered in our chapters include Himalayan areas of India and Nepal, and Tibetan
regions of China. The book also includes two photographic essays, one at the
start of the book and another near its close. Ian Baker is well known for his
book, The Heart of the World, about his multiple journeys to Padma bkod on
the border between Chinese-controlled Tibet and India. He has provided an
exquisite set of colour photographs of the landscape and inhabitants of these
hidden lands, focussing on Padma bkod, and preceded by a short essay giving
his own understanding of the meaning and contemporary significance of the
x Samuel, Garrett and McDougal
sbas yul. Ian’s images convey a strong sense of the magic and mystique of the
sbas yul of the past.
Chapter 1, which follows, is by Geoffrey Samuel, and explores the history of
the sbas yul or ‘hidden land’ concept in Tibet, along with the history of Western
study of the sbas yul. It traces the sources of the concept of sbas yul or ‘hidden
land’ in the post-imperial period in Tibet and sketches its historical evolution
over the following centuries. Particular attention is given to the different kinds
of sbas yul, their transformations over time, and the different ways in which
Western scholars have approached the sbas yul.
Frances Garrett’s chapter, which follows, looks at how the Tibetan epic tra-
dition of King Ge sar represents Hidden Lands as regions rich in medicinal
resources. In a series of recently published episodes, King Ge sar travels to re-
gions typically referred to as Medicinal Lands (sman rdzong), but also some-
times as Hidden Lands (sbas yul), which are especially known for medicinal
plants or minerals, to gather those substances and bring them back to his
people. Although until recently these episodes have received little attention
in Tibetan academic writing, let alone scholarship outside of Tibet, this is a
widely-performed category of Ge sar story today, and it is a significant source
for information about the role of healing knowledge in the epic tradition. Much
of the plotline in these Medicinal Land stories involves the effort to gain access
to hidden lands inside mountains, which are regions described as replete with
the greatest botanical, mineral, and animal treasures on earth.
These treasures were by no means just literary conceits. Chapter 3, by
Hildegard Diemberger, explores the political and economic dimension of sbas
yul. Generally located at the margins of the Tibetan plateau, often in moister
and more vegetation rich environments, sbas yul were important sources of
medicinal plants, wood, bamboo and paper plants. Access to them, Diemberger
suggests, played a crucial role in the introduction of printing and the transfor-
mation of book culture in Central Tibet.
Chapter 4, by Annie Heckman, is the first of a group dealing with the literary
records of Padma bkod, best known of all the sbas yul, and traces early descrip-
tions of this region in the biography of Thang stong rgyal po from 1609, and
in the autobiographical writings of the gter ston (‘treasure revealer’) ’Ja’ tshon
snying po later in the 17th century. Heckman suggests that we revisit ques-
tions of origin and invention in the development of hidden lands and consider
the concept of sbas yul as a type of medium, as a form through which various
forms of legitimation and authority can pass.
Barbara Hazelton’s chapter, which follows, uses guidebooks to explore how
pre-modern Tibetan tantric adepts envisioned their relationship with the envi-
ronment as intrinsic to tantric deity practice within their sacred mandalas. The
