Travels in the Netherworld: Buddhist Popular Narratives of Death and the Afterlife in Tibet

212 Pages·2008·1.76 MB·English

by  Bryan J Cuevas

Travels in the Netherworld
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Travels in the
Netherworld
Buddhist Popular Narratives of Death
and the Afterlife in Tibet
bryan j. cuevas
1
2008
3
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Cuevas,BryanJ.,1967–
Travelsinthenetherworld:Buddhistpopularnarrativesofdeath
andtheafterlifeinTibet/BryanJ.Cuevas.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-19-534116-4
1. Death—Religiousaspects—Buddhism. 2. Buddhism—China—Tibet—Customs
andpractices. 3. Near–deathexperiences—China—Tibet. I. Title.
BQ4487.C84 2008
294.3'423—dc22 2007034720
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
onacid-freepaper
For my parents
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Acknowledgments
Thisbookhasbeenlonginthemaking.Myfirststepsinthedirection
of research and writing began whenI was a postdoctoral fellow at
PrincetonUniversity’sCenterfortheStudyofReligion.Iwouldliketo
thankthedirector,RobertWuthnow,andtheotherstaffandfellowsof
the center, fortheircordiality and generoussupport. In particular, I
wish to thankJacqueline Stone and Stephen‘‘Buzzy’’ Teiser for
helping tomakethat year at Princeton so glorious and memorable,
and fortheirenduring friendship. TheCollege ofArtsandSciences
at Florida State University andmy former chairman,John Kelsay,
intheDepartmentofReligion,wereverykindtoallowmeayear(and
then some)of research leave thatfreed me from teaching and other
administrative dutiesso that I could set thegroundwork forthis
project. I hope theyagree thatthe time was well spent; Iappreciate
their continued support.
Along the way, Amanda Morgan and Trent Pomplun read and
rereadsuccessive drafts of themanuscript, andprovided countless
suggestions forimprovement and clarification; their keeneyes,pa-
tient aid, andfriendshiphave beeninvaluable throughtheyears.I
wish to thankMatthew Kapstein, Franc¸oise Pommaret,and two
anonymous reviewersofan earlierdraft,whose criticism and in-
sightful comments substantially improved thequality ofthe book. I
am also grateful tothemany colleagueswho readand criticized sec-
tionsofthemanuscriptatvariousstages,whocommentedonportions
of thework Ipresented at conferences andlectures, who sharedin
viii acknowledgments
conversationorovere-mailtheirthoughtsandinsightsonthesubject,orwho
providedalltypesofinformationandreferencematerials.Amongthem,Iwant
especiallytothankRaoulBirnbaum,BenjaminBogin,Jose´Cabezo´n,Yangdon
Dhondup, Lawrence Epstein, Phyllis Granoff, Jampel Gyatso (Jiangbian Jia-
cuo), Lauran Hartley, Matthew Kapstein, Martin Kavka, Derek Maher, Dan
Martin,ReikoOhnuma,Franc¸oisePommaret,AlysonPrude,KurtisSchaeffer,
Gregory Schopen, Koichi Shinohara, E. Gene Smith, Jacqueline Stone, Ste-
phen Teiser, Tashi Tsering, Leonard van der Kuijp, andMichael Walter.
Several students in my advanced Tibetan language courses contributed
insights from their own reading and interpretations of the Tibetan texts—
Chris Bell, Michelle Bryan, Lindsay McCune, Arnoud Sekre`ve, and Christina
Stoltz at Florida State University; and Nancy Lin and Dan Stuart at the Uni-
versityofCalifornia, Berkeley. It has been a great joy to learn from them.
I am greatly indebted to Cynthia Read, executive editor at Oxford Uni-
versity Press, for her continued support of my work. I also extend my appre-
ciation to Krishna Mukerji and the staff of Oxford University Press; to Kelly
Martin, my copyeditor; and to Mary Mortensen, who prepared the index. For
permissiontoincorporateportionsofpreviouslypublishedworkintochapters
1,2,and4,IamgratefultotheKurodaInstituteandtheUniversityofHawai’i
Press.
With warmest thoughts, I dedicate this book to my parents, Janice and
John,forguidingmealongthispathweallmusttravel.Ihavebeenblessedby
their wisdom, love, and understanding.
Contents
A Note on Tibetan Words, xi
1. To Hell and Back, 3
2. Travels of a Tibetan Housewife, 21
3. A Lama in Distress, 55
4. The Return of a Noble Young Lady, 71
5. A Ghost in Monk’s Robes, 107
6. Storytellers, 123
Spellings of Tibetan Names and Terms, 141
Notes, 147
Bibliography, 169
Index, 193