1 00:00:08,310 --> 00:00:19,050 Welcome people all around the world, and thank you for once again joining us for another interesting talk this week. 2 00:00:19,050 --> 00:00:23,220 We're very happy to have Brent and some of them joining us. 3 00:00:23,220 --> 00:00:33,120 Who is the author of his latest book, Building a Religious Empire, Tibetan Buddhism, Bureaucracy and The Rise of the Globe. 4 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:48,800 Fresh off the press and it is a continuation, I think of his doctoral thesis, which already dealt with a very important monastery in under. 5 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:56,390 And he mixed up a lot of various disciplines, so that's going to be field work notes, 6 00:00:56,390 --> 00:01:01,610 there's going to be proper philology, there's going to be diplomatic studies. 7 00:01:01,610 --> 00:01:09,770 And he will also introduce the general outline of his book and then delve into the third chapter, 8 00:01:09,770 --> 00:01:15,200 which deals with the institutionalisation of culture. 9 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:22,880 Brenton is currently an assistant professor of Buddhism and East Asian religions at Colgate University, 10 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:28,670 and was recently awarded a Fulbright Scholar Award to commence his research on a new project, 11 00:01:28,670 --> 00:01:38,330 which is going to be the sort of precursor to his latest book, focussing on the three Dundon project periods. 12 00:01:38,330 --> 00:01:43,350 And without further ado, Branson. Welcome. 13 00:01:43,350 --> 00:01:50,790 Thank you very much. Thank you, Daniel, for inviting me and thank you to the the Tibetan Graduate Studies seminar and for having me. 14 00:01:50,790 --> 00:01:59,460 I made the mistake just now of looking through the people present and and now deeply, 15 00:01:59,460 --> 00:02:05,640 not deeply, but somewhat anxious because of the impressive roster of established scholars, 16 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:12,480 published scholars, as well as talking to a no doubt impressive group of Oxford graduate students. 17 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:21,870 So but it's also flattering, and it does make make this whole job of of learning about Tibet and researching 18 00:02:21,870 --> 00:02:26,820 the history of Tibet seem more worthwhile to be able to share it with others. 19 00:02:26,820 --> 00:02:37,140 So I really look forward to your feedback on this. As Daniel just said, I am mixing a lot of methodologies and I think I do that quite consciously. 20 00:02:37,140 --> 00:02:42,660 But I suppose that's also my weakness. And so I'm not an expert in tantra. 21 00:02:42,660 --> 00:02:52,920 I've been I have a fledgling interest in understanding it as practitioners understanding understand it, and I'm doing my best to to do that. 22 00:02:52,920 --> 00:02:58,380 But the approach I take is somewhat different, as you'll see. 23 00:02:58,380 --> 00:03:11,280 So as Daniel mentioned, my my talk is based somewhat on my recent, well, based very much on my recent book, Building a Religious Empire. 24 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:15,810 Tibetan Buddhism, Bureaucracy and the Rise of the Group. 25 00:03:15,810 --> 00:03:27,130 But it's also based on a trip I took in 2016 from Hohhot. 26 00:03:27,130 --> 00:03:30,880 To either side, and from there up onto the Tibetan plateau, it's shining. 27 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:41,260 I travelled this route with a scholar in Inner Mongolia named Change City, who really did a lot of the work in opening doors for me there at Alisan. 28 00:03:41,260 --> 00:03:52,810 He himself is a a student of the late Josten Rinpoche, and it seems the Queen has written about the history of this monastery. 29 00:03:52,810 --> 00:03:57,310 So together we've been working on a perhaps an article. 30 00:03:57,310 --> 00:04:07,630 It's still very much in the works, but I'll talk a little bit about that near the end of my talk today so that my talk today is. 31 00:04:07,630 --> 00:04:15,820 I should kind of lay some general parameters before diving into the specific topic of a the domestication of tantra, 32 00:04:15,820 --> 00:04:25,670 if I, as I've titled my talk today. My sustained academic interest has always been on institutions and institution building. 33 00:04:25,670 --> 00:04:33,950 So as a graduate student, for instance, and as a postdoc, I was drawn to such thinkers as Max Faber, Robert Bela, Amitai Etzioni. 34 00:04:33,950 --> 00:04:43,520 These are thinkers who, as I see it, see beyond the individual and also see through the hoary guise of ideology to 35 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:48,650 the inner workings of groups of communities of societies and institutions. 36 00:04:48,650 --> 00:04:52,790 More recently been shown that Otago University, 37 00:04:52,790 --> 00:05:02,840 who has himself written about senala monastic constitutions or Kattegat test for Buddhism in Sri Lanka, has brought to my attention. 38 00:05:02,840 --> 00:05:08,090 An article published recently in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion 39 00:05:08,090 --> 00:05:13,670 by a group of scholars who studied Japanese religion and Japanese Buddhism. 40 00:05:13,670 --> 00:05:19,850 The title here why scholars of religion must investigate the corporate form. 41 00:05:19,850 --> 00:05:27,710 The article Prevent presents a manifesto, and it calls scholars to take seriously the corporate form, 42 00:05:27,710 --> 00:05:33,650 meaning the variety of ways in which people have collectivised and created organisations that 43 00:05:33,650 --> 00:05:41,030 are seen as larger than any one individual and also seem to outlive the life of any individual. 44 00:05:41,030 --> 00:05:52,070 They argue that that much attention has been given to religious doctrine, to values, to ritual, even to ritual specialists. 45 00:05:52,070 --> 00:06:00,680 The laity. But the corporate form is what embodies all of these and often goes unnoticed and unexplored. 46 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:09,080 They further argue that the corporate form allows us to see where many of these different aspects of religion most intersect. 47 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:14,960 They say the corporate, the corporation, the corporate form, the institution is where individual subjects are made. 48 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:17,900 It's where their values and habits are stamped upon them. 49 00:06:17,900 --> 00:06:26,920 It's where individuals contend over the purpose of their organisation and their determine its values and mission. 50 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:29,200 I have a few quotes from that article. 51 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:35,320 One is the corporate form, these corporations, they traverse and erode the artificial division of public and private, 52 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:38,290 in which many conceptions of religion depend. 53 00:06:38,290 --> 00:06:48,270 And by this, I mean, I take it that they mean that the study of the corporation of the institution of the organisation. 54 00:06:48,270 --> 00:06:58,040 By default causes to question some of the categories we create a scholar such as religion and secular or religious and political. 55 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:01,280 Their manifesto caught my attention because I spent the better part of the last 56 00:07:01,280 --> 00:07:06,780 decade studying Buddhist monasteries on the on the plateau and the Tibetan Plateau. 57 00:07:06,780 --> 00:07:14,670 They argue further that corporations make demands on all segments of society, 58 00:07:14,670 --> 00:07:23,780 and so they by studying the corporate form, it presents some of the most important features of any society. 59 00:07:23,780 --> 00:07:27,860 When people I quote here from their article, when people organise collective enterprises, 60 00:07:27,860 --> 00:07:33,680 however informal or illegal, they need to negotiate their degrees of responsibility and goals of growth, 61 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:46,790 basically formal members, external stakeholders and societal expectations so all of society gets roped into the corporate form. 62 00:07:46,790 --> 00:07:54,020 Finally, they urge scholars of religion to pay attention in particular to some of the following, and here I have three points from their article. 63 00:07:54,020 --> 00:08:00,530 One is how religious organisations emphasise their contribution to the public good and work to strike a 64 00:08:00,530 --> 00:08:06,870 balance between their shareholders who make up the organisation and stakeholders from society at large. 65 00:08:06,870 --> 00:08:14,660 Have something to gain or lose by the organisation's existence and endeavours. I call this the what's good for General Motors is good for the country. 66 00:08:14,660 --> 00:08:23,330 This is a quote from a former CEO of General Motors from the 80s, I believe. 67 00:08:23,330 --> 00:08:24,860 Next, from again, 68 00:08:24,860 --> 00:08:34,520 a point from their article that I think reflects my own interest in the study of institutions is how the organisation regularly presents itself as 69 00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:44,250 an entity that can and must endure forever while presenting individual members as fungible and in the service of the organisation's larger mission. 70 00:08:44,250 --> 00:08:52,140 And thirdly, how religious organisations require intricate systems of management to resolve internal tensions and disputes, 71 00:08:52,140 --> 00:08:57,090 to maintain harmony and to maintain a positive public image, amongst other things. 72 00:08:57,090 --> 00:09:05,010 And so. What I what I focus on in this in particular and this point is the intricacy of these organisations of these 73 00:09:05,010 --> 00:09:18,680 institutions and also their role in helping to maintain and promote a positive public image of the organisation. 74 00:09:18,680 --> 00:09:22,610 So all this has been rather theoretical and abstract, 75 00:09:22,610 --> 00:09:28,020 so let me try to connect some of it up with my own work on the history of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries. 76 00:09:28,020 --> 00:09:31,410 The the you my book can be summarised pretty easily. 77 00:09:31,410 --> 00:09:43,230 The history of religion and it on the Tibetan Plateau over the past 400 years has been the history of the Gaelic school. 78 00:09:43,230 --> 00:09:53,520 How that school came to power is often explained as having made very strategic alliances with martial and wealthy inner Asian powers. 79 00:09:53,520 --> 00:09:57,720 First, the aurora and then later the Manchu ching. 80 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:00,480 And I don't argue with any of that, 81 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:08,040 but I do argue that it's not the complete story that the complete story must take account of what what these gave Luke, 82 00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:13,350 what the Gaelic School did and what its advocates the Gaelic Lamas did once they secured that patronage. 83 00:10:13,350 --> 00:10:22,260 And the answer as far as I'm concerned, is bureaucracy. That is, they legislated and administered a far flung bureaucracy. 84 00:10:22,260 --> 00:10:29,550 So bureaucracy for me is the key word in the book's title. It's in the subtitle, but I had originally had it in the title. 85 00:10:29,550 --> 00:10:38,730 I think the editors didn't find it sell very well, and so they they put it in the subtitle, but it for me, is the key word. 86 00:10:38,730 --> 00:10:43,440 Bureaucracy calls to mind, of course, writing record keeping standardisation. 87 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:53,440 These are some of the hallmarks of bureaucracy. Max Faber called it the most rationalised known means of exercising authority over human beings, 88 00:10:53,440 --> 00:11:04,060 by which he meant a system that attempts to maximise predictability through standardising action through codified, codified laws and practises. 89 00:11:04,060 --> 00:11:09,610 In naming bureaucracy as the key to understanding the rise of the Gaelic school, 90 00:11:09,610 --> 00:11:17,440 I am suggesting that it is best understood alongside states and state making and the practises of state making, 91 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:31,780 such as such as standardisation record keeping, organising, concentrating manpower in urban cores, conscription of males and so forth. 92 00:11:31,780 --> 00:11:38,880 Unfortunately, some of the best records for looking at all of those aspects of. 93 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:45,390 Institution building lights say conscription requires archives. 94 00:11:45,390 --> 00:11:53,100 And many of those are still unavailable to us, they're housed in secret in a way in the Potala Palace or in some major monasteries on the plateau. 95 00:11:53,100 --> 00:12:00,270 So instead, I've made use of principally Azerbaijan of text known as Jike or monastic constitutions 96 00:12:00,270 --> 00:12:06,730 to better understand how Gaelic leaders legislated and administered administrative life. 97 00:12:06,730 --> 00:12:16,530 In these monasteries. So that means my attention has been drawn to the subject matter of these texts of these men as the Constitution's. 98 00:12:16,530 --> 00:12:24,060 Here's some examples of what these monastic constitutions look like this is the first one I ever looked like looked at very short. 99 00:12:24,060 --> 00:12:26,790 Then they get much longer at times, 100 00:12:26,790 --> 00:12:34,860 so you will find them on brocades like this rolled up and usually held on to by the highest officers in the monastery, 101 00:12:34,860 --> 00:12:38,580 either the Abbot or the disciplinarian. And then what? 102 00:12:38,580 --> 00:12:45,870 More often one has access to them as this as a scholar in the form of block trends, which you see in the lower image here. 103 00:12:45,870 --> 00:12:50,430 And many of these have been published in The Sun. 104 00:12:50,430 --> 00:12:59,910 Boomer collected works of Gaelic Lamas, so the subject matter of these constitutions covers a whole range of things. 105 00:12:59,910 --> 00:13:06,180 But the ones that I see most common occurring are these discipline and individual comportment, 106 00:13:06,180 --> 00:13:09,960 delineating administrative offices and roles within the monastery, 107 00:13:09,960 --> 00:13:17,560 codifying compensation and salaries, designating responsible parties for financing the upkeep of the monastery. 108 00:13:17,560 --> 00:13:23,380 Creating a calendar of ritual activities be carried out hourly, daily, monthly and annually. 109 00:13:23,380 --> 00:13:31,900 Designating a curriculum curricula of study, complete with protocols for debate examinations and the awarding of degrees, 110 00:13:31,900 --> 00:13:37,420 creating a schedule and protocols for the proper execution of collective Typekit rights and more. 111 00:13:37,420 --> 00:13:48,640 And you can guess that my focus today is on the last of these are the schedule and protocols for the proper execution of collective contract rights. 112 00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:54,250 And what I said earlier that my methodology is mixed and then I'm not a specialist. 113 00:13:54,250 --> 00:14:03,310 In part of the reason for that is because in looking through these, these monastic constitutions, they call upon a wide variety, 114 00:14:03,310 --> 00:14:07,600 a range of different specialisations in, say, 115 00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:18,340 scholastic system and Tibetan gave philosophy in the NAIA and discipline in tantra, amongst other things. 116 00:14:18,340 --> 00:14:22,540 But again, today, my focus is on the latter of these. 117 00:14:22,540 --> 00:14:30,580 I don't claim that the group are ruled by bureaucratic authority alone, clearly they have recourse to charisma and tradition too. 118 00:14:30,580 --> 00:14:39,610 And I also am not claiming that other schools of Buddhism did not exercise similar tendencies toward legislation and administration. 119 00:14:39,610 --> 00:14:40,810 In fact, the most, 120 00:14:40,810 --> 00:14:52,540 most obvious example of a non-Catholic school that did have these tendencies towards legislation and administration is the Karmakar new school. 121 00:14:52,540 --> 00:14:58,330 Most of the subjects these subjects here before you that you find in a Gaelic 122 00:14:58,330 --> 00:15:06,820 constitution can be found in karma constitute a cornucopia of constitutions as well, 123 00:15:06,820 --> 00:15:14,340 and notably, they're often earlier. So we're talking, in the case of the Karmakar argue constitutions about the 16th century. 124 00:15:14,340 --> 00:15:21,240 However, the topics here are often scattered piecemeal across the various kamikaze constitutions, 125 00:15:21,240 --> 00:15:32,010 rather than being found within a an entire constitution for organising administrating a large scale monastery. 126 00:15:32,010 --> 00:15:40,440 The major takeaway also is this earlier non-NATO constitutions tend to have these characteristics in general. 127 00:15:40,440 --> 00:15:51,810 They're mostly composed for retreats or hermit edges, and therefore focussed on maintaining the boundaries the sima of the retreat or some in Tibetan. 128 00:15:51,810 --> 00:15:57,180 Their focus, therefore on having few possessions. The importance of meditation. They are guru centric. 129 00:15:57,180 --> 00:16:02,850 They're focussed on the Lama, who is the founder of that retreat site. 130 00:16:02,850 --> 00:16:10,870 There is also then a greater emphasis on the commitments to Somalia that bind a Tajik family together. 131 00:16:10,870 --> 00:16:16,480 And they're often written by a prelate for his own monastery, 132 00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:19,720 and that's also a significant difference because when we look at later date 133 00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:25,300 constitutions beginning especially in the 1840s and then continuing on from there, 134 00:16:25,300 --> 00:16:35,270 we see instead concerted attempts to codify these arrangements that many of which I've already I've already referenced. 135 00:16:35,270 --> 00:16:43,730 Curricula, tantric rituals, liturgy, administrative offices and responsibilities and many, many other things. 136 00:16:43,730 --> 00:16:49,130 There's a greater emphasis on the importance of impartiality amongst officers. 137 00:16:49,130 --> 00:16:58,700 They may make explicit reference to other more centrally located monasteries, thereby creating networks a relationship between institutions. 138 00:16:58,700 --> 00:17:11,060 And finally, they're often composed for monasteries far away by lamas that do not necessarily have any direct relationship with that institution. 139 00:17:11,060 --> 00:17:16,460 So they're not necessarily the founders of that institution or or have any sort of ownership. 140 00:17:16,460 --> 00:17:26,460 They're not going back proprietors or anything of that monastery. And so what they are doing are creating guidelines for the running of a monastery. 141 00:17:26,460 --> 00:17:38,130 In the absence of a lama of a guru guru's presence, right, instead they emphasise and strengthen the the institutional protocols. 142 00:17:38,130 --> 00:17:41,370 Right. And this is the hallmark of bureaucracy. 143 00:17:41,370 --> 00:17:50,820 So if we return to some of these points I drew from that Journal of the American Academy of Religion article about the corporate form they are, 144 00:17:50,820 --> 00:17:54,690 how religious organisations that we should be paying attention to, 145 00:17:54,690 --> 00:17:59,010 how organisations emphasise their contribution to the public good, 146 00:17:59,010 --> 00:18:07,080 how organisations regularly present themselves or the organisation regularly presents itself as an entity that can and must endure forever, 147 00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:11,010 representing the individual members as fungible. 148 00:18:11,010 --> 00:18:17,640 And how organisations require intricate systems of management to, amongst other things, maintain a positive public image. 149 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:28,080 Well, then we might think of, for instance, this line that appears in many Gaelic monastic institutions. 150 00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:37,050 And this one is taken from John Cobas Monastic Constitution for the General Sangha. 151 00:18:37,050 --> 00:18:43,320 As it is said in the entrance, the way of the body shop that this is Shanti Davies body cardio about data, 152 00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:51,870 the soul of medicine for the suffering of wondering beings, the source for all happiness may the teachings abide along with support and honour. 153 00:18:51,870 --> 00:19:01,110 And when this appears and ends on Cuba's constitution, as it does in later Gaelic constitutions, is often followed by this as well. 154 00:19:01,110 --> 00:19:05,430 This is a paraphrase taken from the Abbey Dharma Kosher. 155 00:19:05,430 --> 00:19:14,220 That that is the teachings are twofold, as for all the teachings of scripture, they are found with certainty in the three collections this Topeka. 156 00:19:14,220 --> 00:19:20,010 And as for the teachings of Practise, they are the three categories of precious trainings there. 157 00:19:20,010 --> 00:19:26,580 Moreover, as for the training of discipline, it is the support of the it is the support of the other two. 158 00:19:26,580 --> 00:19:32,520 It's the support of the growth, stability and flourishing of the other two trainings. The Buddha spoke thus on more than one occasion. 159 00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:36,000 Therefore, here most importantly, we begin from the training of discipline. 160 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:44,400 So doing, one must speak about some of the rules that will serve to purify the behaviour of those who reside in our monasteries. 161 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:48,060 So what we get from this is an emphasis on an argument. 162 00:19:48,060 --> 00:20:00,480 Me made that Buddhism as a whole depends upon the well running of these monasteries and that these constitutions are required for that. 163 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:06,720 Sometimes you see even more grandiose claims, such as this one. 164 00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:13,860 The happiness of society depends upon the teachings of the Buddha, and the teachings depend upon centres of the Sangha. 165 00:20:13,860 --> 00:20:19,200 Those, moreover, depend upon the firm establishment of order, even if there is a large Sangha without order. 166 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:25,050 It is of no benefit other than causing great destruction to the teachings. When I say grandiose, it's not really the right word here. 167 00:20:25,050 --> 00:20:32,730 But what I'm referring to here is this the happiness of society that depending on the teachings of the Buddha, 168 00:20:32,730 --> 00:20:40,800 that that's the added element here, that that all of society that's actually already present in this earlier example, right? 169 00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:46,470 That the soul medicine for the suffering of all wondering beings that is dependent upon what it depending upon the teachings, 170 00:20:46,470 --> 00:20:53,370 the teachings depend upon what they depend upon discipline and order and where it is discipline and order come from. 171 00:20:53,370 --> 00:21:00,740 It comes from the proper running of monasteries. So we might think of some of these things, 172 00:21:00,740 --> 00:21:10,970 or we might know how how the offices went in the monastery are said to transcend 173 00:21:10,970 --> 00:21:16,340 the prerogatives of any individual who might be inhabiting that office at a time. 174 00:21:16,340 --> 00:21:25,070 So back to this earlier point, then how an organisation regular presents itself as an entity that can and must endure forever, 175 00:21:25,070 --> 00:21:29,910 representing individual members as fungible. One example of this is the disciplinarian. 176 00:21:29,910 --> 00:21:37,100 He, the office, is given precedence over the disciplinarian himself, and there are various rules about how that is. 177 00:21:37,100 --> 00:21:43,880 The individual occupying that office must abide by lest the office itself suffer. 178 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:51,200 Again, a hallmark of bureaucracy or we might think of. 179 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:56,860 Let's see, is this the quote I was looking for? 180 00:21:56,860 --> 00:22:05,530 Right, so this has to do with favouritism, but it also has to do with has to do with the positive public image of the monastery. 181 00:22:05,530 --> 00:22:11,770 There's a quote taken from a constitution written for DOONG Monastery. 182 00:22:11,770 --> 00:22:16,220 Given that this monastery was newly established as the field for receiving offerings for all in this region, 183 00:22:16,220 --> 00:22:23,620 the officers must be universally upright, not succumbing to one's personal favourites or partiality. 184 00:22:23,620 --> 00:22:32,710 This point was made early on, incidentally, by Tara Ellingson and one of the first English language articles on Jike on monastic constitutions, 185 00:22:32,710 --> 00:22:38,140 and he wrote the principle underlying such requirements of aesthetics and religions in religious practise 186 00:22:38,140 --> 00:22:43,790 is that the life of the monastic community should embody a Jolan xaba or a beautiful path of practise. 187 00:22:43,790 --> 00:22:52,660 And this is tied to the importance of appearing morally upright in the eyes of lady and potential patrons. 188 00:22:52,660 --> 00:23:05,290 So this speaks to that earlier point about the intricacy of the of corporations and how that intricate management is. 189 00:23:05,290 --> 00:23:12,940 What it does, amongst other things, is help to promote and advocate the end of the positive public image of the corporation itself. 190 00:23:12,940 --> 00:23:18,220 Now, tantra does not escape the attention of the authors of constitutions. 191 00:23:18,220 --> 00:23:28,070 It, too is institutionalised that. That's my argument. I think tantra naturally lends itself to an an an analysis of transmission. 192 00:23:28,070 --> 00:23:37,040 After all, the heart of tantra is the guru disciple relationship and the unbroken chain of transmission of counter teachings. 193 00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:44,480 However, when we think of Tantra, I think we often think first and foremost of the individual benefits of tantra and 194 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:49,940 the intrepid practitioner who seeks out his or her guru to seek transmission. 195 00:23:49,940 --> 00:23:59,840 For example, the first John Young shaper and the second Zhangjiakou took to both from and travelled to song in Central Tibet, 196 00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:04,670 western central Tibet, where they sought out initiation and training. 197 00:24:04,670 --> 00:24:12,290 In that same tradition of the Typekit generation and completion stages of the deity goo the major, 198 00:24:12,290 --> 00:24:17,510 the figure that ultimately gave them transmission was known as is known as gunshot air. 199 00:24:17,510 --> 00:24:19,880 He was over 80 years old when they approached him, 200 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:26,990 and he had previously not found anybody suitable to whom he could bequeath these teachings on who has a major. 201 00:24:26,990 --> 00:24:35,890 But then he did. Ultimately, in sixteen eighty give these teachings to the first young man shaped by and sixteen eighty one to Janja. 202 00:24:35,890 --> 00:24:44,290 Afterwards, both both jumping ship and and the Janja, who both had a, I think, 203 00:24:44,290 --> 00:24:50,360 a very understandable response, they wanted to go off and meditate and practise. 204 00:24:50,360 --> 00:24:57,910 And when they told this to one of the disciples of the late Panchen Lama, there they were immediately reprimanded and told this. 205 00:24:57,910 --> 00:25:03,250 Are you going to throw away the teachings of the victors on Cuba? Are you able to independently go your own way? 206 00:25:03,250 --> 00:25:09,880 This is not fitting for great scholars who desire to maintain the correct philosophical viewpoint, such as yourselves. 207 00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:17,580 In other words, they were told to go back and build institutions and teach others. 208 00:25:17,580 --> 00:25:21,900 So when we think of torture, we often think of this sort of individual, though, 209 00:25:21,900 --> 00:25:30,690 trekking out to find the teacher and meditating on that, or we might think of tantra in legitimising political power. 210 00:25:30,690 --> 00:25:37,500 We might think, of course, of the Chilean relationship between political, donor and religious Dhoni. 211 00:25:37,500 --> 00:25:43,860 But I think we often lose sight of the more fundamental role that Tantra has played in institutions, 212 00:25:43,860 --> 00:25:48,210 in legitimising monastic institutions and in inner sectarian warfare. 213 00:25:48,210 --> 00:25:49,920 So here I'm thinking, amongst other things, 214 00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:58,620 of an episode that occurred in 16 11 when the punching lama requests tantric rights such as the sixty ritual cake 215 00:25:58,620 --> 00:26:08,350 offerings of budget by Rama to be performed by Gaelic monks in their war with Islam and the Karmapa School. 216 00:26:08,350 --> 00:26:16,180 I'm also thinking of and I recognise that he's in the audience today, so hopefully I'm not misquoting or misrepresenting. 217 00:26:16,180 --> 00:26:22,390 I'm thinking of Mark Mills work and how in that that very complex work, amongst other things, 218 00:26:22,390 --> 00:26:27,460 he argues for the essential nature of the tantric lama at the monastery. 219 00:26:27,460 --> 00:26:29,110 There is no monastery just for monks. 220 00:26:29,110 --> 00:26:41,380 There can't be, because, amongst other things, they play a foundational role and in the most important tantric rituals at the monastery, 221 00:26:41,380 --> 00:26:50,130 such as the rituals focussed on the principle protectors of the monastery. 222 00:26:50,130 --> 00:27:00,030 I would add then to that, of course, no modest, I don't know, no monastery, but arguably most monasteries, all monasteries, I don't know. 223 00:27:00,030 --> 00:27:07,770 I'd like to hear what others think, how the founding myth involving the tantric taming of local spirits, 224 00:27:07,770 --> 00:27:16,830 and I'm sure you all can list off several examples. Here are three that are that came to me as I was preparing for this this morning. 225 00:27:16,830 --> 00:27:22,560 One is that Google Monastery and armed up and we read in the Chronicle the history of that monastery, 226 00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:27,240 how a ad of who erected a statue of the Lord of Secrets. 227 00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:32,540 But upon. And afterwards, the dreadful gods and spirits of this place were all tamed, 228 00:27:32,540 --> 00:27:38,600 in particular in a Blackwell beneath what appeared like the genitals of a rock ogre led the pernicious serpent spirit. 229 00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:44,870 It was only after that, of course, that going on could be founded, I think, to another modern day with which I'm most familiar. 230 00:27:44,870 --> 00:27:56,360 Having spent most of my time in Orlando of Canton, which is a monastery in modern day Gansu province in the region known as Wadi Ore body and Ondo, 231 00:27:56,360 --> 00:28:03,590 where it would all be, Dawjee came through in the early 14th century, taming lots of noxious serpent spirits along the way. 232 00:28:03,590 --> 00:28:11,450 In this case, he is said to have also established 108 stupors, whereby he gave the monastery its current name short and dumb. 233 00:28:11,450 --> 00:28:19,310 I think also of another small temple retreat actually in this same region known as Cesare, too. 234 00:28:19,310 --> 00:28:25,580 And here Rope-A-Dope is again gone out of the gorge is said to have come through tamed a 235 00:28:25,580 --> 00:28:32,190 local noxious spirit and defeated it with by throwing this particular red store at it. 236 00:28:32,190 --> 00:28:37,160 And then on the right, we have the meditation cave where he is said to have meditated. 237 00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:48,740 So there's lots of these myths about that that signal the really essential nature of the tantric adept of the Lama at a monastery. 238 00:28:48,740 --> 00:28:53,060 I'd also add that to go back to Martin Mills book again, 239 00:28:53,060 --> 00:28:57,650 his particular case study in that book of a certain goomba monastery in Ladakh demonstrates 240 00:28:57,650 --> 00:29:02,090 the pattern of high ranking lamas coming from more centrally located monasteries, 241 00:29:02,090 --> 00:29:08,300 usually and often in Lhasa, to more remote peripheral ones to officiate over tantric rites, 242 00:29:08,300 --> 00:29:14,240 and that this leads to official and unofficial root branch relationships. 243 00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:26,090 And more importantly, it ensured a level of ritual, orthodoxy and consistency across a very vast, dense distances. 244 00:29:26,090 --> 00:29:31,970 All of these examples, I think all of the all of these examples, I think push us, 245 00:29:31,970 --> 00:29:40,070 encourage us to think about touch and not just as an individual pursuit, not just as in its relationship with quote unquote secular political powers, 246 00:29:40,070 --> 00:29:46,340 but also in its institutional setting and then specifically in monasteries. 247 00:29:46,340 --> 00:29:51,470 Of course, the Gaelic, but did not invent the association between tantra and monasteries. 248 00:29:51,470 --> 00:29:56,030 So returning to the title of my talk today, the Gaelic domestication of tantra, 249 00:29:56,030 --> 00:30:04,370 what is it that the Gaelic deity uniquely and my answer focuses on two historical phenomena. 250 00:30:04,370 --> 00:30:13,130 The establishment of Tantra Colleges Group at that time and the movement across the plateau of very prolific lamas. 251 00:30:13,130 --> 00:30:19,910 And then in analysing those historical phenomena, I think there are two observations that can be made. 252 00:30:19,910 --> 00:30:27,680 One is that what we see is the establishment of institutions that are specialising in the study and practise of tantra, amongst other things. 253 00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:33,100 And this specialisation is a hallmark of bureaucracy and to. 254 00:30:33,100 --> 00:30:37,300 The standardisation of Typekit study and practise what an observation we can make and draw 255 00:30:37,300 --> 00:30:43,360 is that what we see is the standardisation of study and practise across Tibet and Mongolia. 256 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:48,700 So there's consistency being formed across again, very vast distances. 257 00:30:48,700 --> 00:31:00,460 Now this wasn't done exclusively or even primarily through Jake or monastic constitutions, for instance, to go back to Jiang Janja, 258 00:31:00,460 --> 00:31:04,390 who took to who I was just talking about a moment ago, 259 00:31:04,390 --> 00:31:16,210 how he sought out the the sage tradition of tantric practises on Buddhism Marjah and wanted to then going into retreat meditate. 260 00:31:16,210 --> 00:31:19,090 But it was reprimanded and sent back. Well, afterwards. 261 00:31:19,090 --> 00:31:27,310 Not surprisingly, he wrote a a tract on the practises of these practises that he has since learnt. 262 00:31:27,310 --> 00:31:35,200 And these, of course, are one of the primary ways by which Tantra and its orthodoxy would be disseminated. 263 00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:46,330 Likewise, we see here in the case of the third two one loss on Chicken Ima, he wrote for his home monastery of Goolagong in Amado. 264 00:31:46,330 --> 00:31:54,410 This track the manner for offering the day to day trauma or the Seder to host an llamo the glorious goddess. 265 00:31:54,410 --> 00:32:04,250 And in that particular track, he he attempts to he claims to be correcting misunderstandings about vocabulary, 266 00:32:04,250 --> 00:32:11,590 ritual substances and various other omissions and errors that monks at his home monastery were making. 267 00:32:11,590 --> 00:32:20,470 The one goes on to claim further that his ritual manual is an unmodified presentation of the ritual that was introduced to the monastery 268 00:32:20,470 --> 00:32:26,860 by its founder in the early 17th century and that that itself was a practise laid down earlier by the second third Dalai Lama. 269 00:32:26,860 --> 00:32:35,350 So again, what we see is there are other various means by which ritual orthodoxy proxy is established and these connexions, 270 00:32:35,350 --> 00:32:42,590 these networks between institutions are drawn. But the Jake. 271 00:32:42,590 --> 00:32:50,010 Give us a bird's eye view of how this took place. And. 272 00:32:50,010 --> 00:32:57,720 They they they give us a bird's eye view of it, and they they do so. 273 00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:06,060 And with a focus on the institution, sintering the institution, these constitutions are for institutions unlike, say, 274 00:33:06,060 --> 00:33:14,250 the ritual manuals here, which are not necessarily specific they can be, but they're not necessarily specific to an institutional context. 275 00:33:14,250 --> 00:33:20,920 So as for these constitutions? 276 00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:24,850 I've seen very few. That deal with. 277 00:33:24,850 --> 00:33:34,540 Let me back up for a second. I've seen very few that deal with Typekit colleges, in fact, there's only one I've had been able to see and read, 278 00:33:34,540 --> 00:33:39,610 and that's the $7 Dalai almost monastic constitution for a gumbo monastery in Ondo. 279 00:33:39,610 --> 00:33:43,870 It's likely there are more, but that they're just kept in secret. 280 00:33:43,870 --> 00:33:50,320 For instance, it said that the founder of gunmen was minus guns Hunter College, 281 00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:55,600 who is the jungle and shaped by the first championship from LeBron Monastery, 282 00:33:55,600 --> 00:34:02,320 that he delivered a disciplinary sermon, a ticktum for the newly established Hunter College, 283 00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:08,500 and then later that was required to be memorised by monks enrolled in that college. 284 00:34:08,500 --> 00:34:17,860 So they took time. Incidentally, this disciplinary sermons disciplinary sermons are often delivered based on Jake. 285 00:34:17,860 --> 00:34:27,490 And so whatever it is this time was or is, and that monks were required to memorise this very likely like a constitution. 286 00:34:27,490 --> 00:34:32,970 Unfortunately, again, I haven't been able to see it. 287 00:34:32,970 --> 00:34:40,290 So where did the impetus for this institutionalisation and standardisation via constitutions come from? 288 00:34:40,290 --> 00:34:46,290 Well, like so many other things, it starts with the great fifth Dalai Lama. 289 00:34:46,290 --> 00:34:54,730 He was the most prolific author of monastic constitutions, second only to the second man shaped commando. 290 00:34:54,730 --> 00:34:59,500 His two constitutions for to cajole monastery in southern Tibet, I think, 291 00:34:59,500 --> 00:35:11,080 illustrate the degree to which he went to specify specialised places and specialised times for the performance of Tantra. 292 00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:14,440 Now to gel, it's an it's an excuse me, 293 00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:23,350 it's an exceptional monastery since it was founded by the second Dalai Lama and therefore is recognised as the Personal Monastery of the Dalai Lama. 294 00:35:23,350 --> 00:35:35,030 But it can nonetheless really illustrate the organising and codifying intentions behind the fifth Dalai Lama's composition. 295 00:35:35,030 --> 00:35:43,930 So he actually wrote two two monastic constitutions for court job one in 16:45 and another six years later, 296 00:35:43,930 --> 00:35:50,890 and sixteen fifty one not coincidentally in the intervening years. 297 00:35:50,890 --> 00:35:55,750 The Dalai Lama had composed a ritual manual for invoking the protectors of the monastery. 298 00:35:55,750 --> 00:36:05,080 And for this, I'm very, very much depend upon the work of Chris Bell, amongst others, 299 00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:11,500 for drawing my attention to some of the best sources for understanding that history. 300 00:36:11,500 --> 00:36:17,690 So. He had composed a ritual manual for invoking the protectors of the monastery. 301 00:36:17,690 --> 00:36:29,480 And so the second constitution is meant to direct its readers and the residents of Chicago to follow his the Dalai Lama's ritual programme. 302 00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:38,330 What is this? Is it a pretty lengthy text and so I've only taken out two passages, one I quote in the next, it's just a paraphrase. 303 00:36:38,330 --> 00:36:43,040 Here's one quote taken from this second monastic constitution directing the reader, 304 00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:48,280 directing the residents of Chicago to follow his Ritual Typekit programme. 305 00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:54,610 Maintain the detailed schedule of ritual text to be memorised, the ancient restoration ritual manuals from before. 306 00:36:54,610 --> 00:36:57,900 For three headed McCollough by Saravana in the mock storm, 307 00:36:57,900 --> 00:37:03,820 a glorious goddess called in come together with the newly compiled manuals for restoration rituals, 308 00:37:03,820 --> 00:37:15,750 ritual cake offerings, praises and exhortations for Pinjarra McCollough and for Face Makhachkala and their two messages Putra indexing. 309 00:37:15,750 --> 00:37:17,850 Later in this same constitution, 310 00:37:17,850 --> 00:37:27,570 he specifies the specific dates and groves or places for the periodic and monthly rituals dedicated to Gaelic protector duties. 311 00:37:27,570 --> 00:37:33,420 So back say, for instance, his worship in the Cool Grove on the 5th of each month. 312 00:37:33,420 --> 00:37:38,940 Punjab McCullough on the 4th is McCullough are worshipped in the Cool Grove on the 8th and 23rd of each month. 313 00:37:38,940 --> 00:37:44,820 The monks are glorious. Goddess is worshipped at the Goddess Palace on the 15th and 25th of each month. 314 00:37:44,820 --> 00:37:53,870 The former Hakala and several others are in our worship at the protected palace on the 9th and 19th of each month and so on. 315 00:37:53,870 --> 00:38:00,480 Now, the Dalai Lama, I mentioned he was the most prolific author of monastic constitutions. 316 00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:07,400 Up until the 18th century, and he wrote many for monasteries. 317 00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:14,000 Across the plateau, for instance, he wrote one for content who took the Rapture, 318 00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:21,530 and in that particular constitution, he tells us that to take on Colbert's own charters as one's base. 319 00:38:21,530 --> 00:38:29,240 And then he additionally instructs monks to adhere to specific country instructions by John Colbert by Tom Colbert, 320 00:38:29,240 --> 00:38:36,510 disciple by the second Dalai Lama and by the Dalai Lama's disciple. 321 00:38:36,510 --> 00:38:45,570 And to worship and visualise the three principal patron deities of the Gaelic school, as well as by two economy types and many other gods here. 322 00:38:45,570 --> 00:38:54,390 So he instructs he here he is, building and disseminating a programme focussed on the principal architects of the Gaelic School, 323 00:38:54,390 --> 00:39:03,900 its founder, the Dalai Lama's those figures disciples. That same liturgy of tantric rituals, including schedules, 324 00:39:03,900 --> 00:39:12,810 is then repeated almost verbatim for the monastic constitution of NetOne Monastery and calm and Bach and independent. 325 00:39:12,810 --> 00:39:18,710 And also in come. After the fifth Dalai Lama. 326 00:39:18,710 --> 00:39:25,290 Others followed suit. So. 327 00:39:25,290 --> 00:39:33,180 Some of these practises are literally carried to other more peripheral monasteries and installed there, 328 00:39:33,180 --> 00:39:42,450 so recall my earlier reference to two one loss on chicken Nima and how he had written a ritual manual meant to 329 00:39:42,450 --> 00:39:48,540 correct omissions and mistakes in the performance of that said or date trauma at his own home monastery of Gulam. 330 00:39:48,540 --> 00:39:58,440 Trampling in that same manual to one tells us that the monasteries founder in the early 17th century had brought to gun on a 331 00:39:58,440 --> 00:40:05,400 drawing of the glorious goddess that had been used by generations of the Dalai Lama's and that it now served that schoolrooms. 332 00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:10,300 Inner sacra. It's not been. In addition, 333 00:40:10,300 --> 00:40:16,400 he writes that the young or contour tones and music of that right of the day they talk 334 00:40:16,400 --> 00:40:22,840 the or at Gunung are modelled on those implemented at Cajal by the second Dalai Lama. 335 00:40:22,840 --> 00:40:30,890 A tradition that itself is said to have spread throughout all of the song, though, and come. 336 00:40:30,890 --> 00:40:41,150 So in some cases, these are literally carried. But these later these ritual programmes are literally carried to other places on their periphery, 337 00:40:41,150 --> 00:40:48,980 but often to these climates were composing monastic constitutions of their own. 338 00:40:48,980 --> 00:40:56,400 One monastery that I've spent a lot of time studying over the years is going on chaplain. 339 00:40:56,400 --> 00:41:09,540 Here's an image of its Hunter College. It's Hunter College was founded in 1710, a full century after the monastery itself was founded. 340 00:41:09,540 --> 00:41:11,850 Incidentally, when the monastery was founded, 341 00:41:11,850 --> 00:41:21,750 it was recognised as two distinct groups one living a few miles up the valley at a hermitage that was known as the Duke Day. 342 00:41:21,750 --> 00:41:31,250 The practise group and then down here was the shape of the exegesis group. 343 00:41:31,250 --> 00:41:35,000 This Hunter College again, was founded about a century after that time in 1710, 344 00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:39,470 and it may have been founded with financial support from the XI emperor. 345 00:41:39,470 --> 00:41:48,260 This is actually similar to Joseph Cobb. His son has written about Sarah Sarah, Monasteries Hunter College in Lhasa. 346 00:41:48,260 --> 00:41:55,020 He says that that Hunter College is the youngest of Sarah's three colleges founded in the early 18th century. 347 00:41:55,020 --> 00:42:02,620 As the Personal Ritual College of the ruler of Tibet left Hong Kong. 348 00:42:02,620 --> 00:42:14,630 So. As I mentioned earlier. I've not seen the Constitution or discipline disciplinary sermon before going on to college here, 349 00:42:14,630 --> 00:42:20,690 but we can get a sense of what the makeup of that college was like from other historical sources. 350 00:42:20,690 --> 00:42:29,720 Recall earlier the story of Georgia, the second Georgia going on with John Young Schaper to Zong to seek out the same tradition of has a 351 00:42:29,720 --> 00:42:37,220 major practise after these two were reprimanded and returned to Ondo upon John George's request. 352 00:42:37,220 --> 00:42:47,120 The young man shaped from LeBron founded Go amongst Hunter College again in 1710 and gave the transmission and exegesis of the four part commentary. 353 00:42:47,120 --> 00:42:55,880 And that's a major. This is a text by its own. And he gave a black protection cord of the same lineage by Jeff Holder to the abbot of Gorman, 354 00:42:55,880 --> 00:43:02,450 to the former abbot of Long and to other elders at the monastery and then a former abbot. 355 00:43:02,450 --> 00:43:06,170 The former Abbott of Goodman was appointed as the head of the Hunter College, 356 00:43:06,170 --> 00:43:13,620 and then another figure was made the ritual head, or the Lama Uzi of the Hunter College. 357 00:43:13,620 --> 00:43:20,640 Now, if we stop and think about what that moment represents, we can say, yes, there's transmission right there, 358 00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:28,440 is this transmission of this, say teachings out of don't call us the four part commentary and us a major. 359 00:43:28,440 --> 00:43:36,450 But what we don't see is this being exclusively given to quote unquote cart disciples, right? 360 00:43:36,450 --> 00:43:43,590 We don't see, as was the case for Janja and G.M. when they sought out these teachings in song from Jakarta. 361 00:43:43,590 --> 00:43:48,300 He was 80 on his on death's door had not yet bequeathed its teachings anyone. 362 00:43:48,300 --> 00:43:57,660 Now, instead, we're in an institutional context where the recipients of these teachings are residents in the monastic in the Hunter College. 363 00:43:57,660 --> 00:44:06,840 We also see that the figures who receive these black protection cords are not heart disciples rather than monastic officers. 364 00:44:06,840 --> 00:44:14,930 They are the lama of the Hunter College, the head and then the ritual head of the Hunter College. 365 00:44:14,930 --> 00:44:18,900 We also see that we also know that in this Hunter College, 366 00:44:18,900 --> 00:44:25,500 it going on a commemoration day a day or two was established for the founder of the Hunter College. 367 00:44:25,500 --> 00:44:30,590 Right. So the founder of the college, not of this say tradition, but rather of the college himself, 368 00:44:30,590 --> 00:44:37,730 as elevated to such a point that he has his own commemoration day within the annual calendar of the institution. 369 00:44:37,730 --> 00:44:45,350 And then finally, we also know that later Ritual Heads, the alumni USA of the Hunter College were chosen based on a very, 370 00:44:45,350 --> 00:44:52,720 very bureaucratic criterion, namely attendance how often they attended. 371 00:44:52,720 --> 00:45:02,700 Now, the one constitution, I have seen that. I don't know that I have actually images in these later slides, I ran out of time. 372 00:45:02,700 --> 00:45:14,090 There's one image, a few images, but maybe I can just stop sharing my screen for a moment or two. 373 00:45:14,090 --> 00:45:20,660 So the one constitution for ritual college that I have seen is the seventh Dalai Lama's view, 374 00:45:20,660 --> 00:45:27,200 but that's the seventh under the most constitution for the give, but that's long ago boom and armado. 375 00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:32,600 And I think the thing that most jumps out when you do look at that particular monastic college is how 376 00:45:32,600 --> 00:45:39,320 similar it is to other monastic constitutions written for monasteries or philosophical colleges. 377 00:45:39,320 --> 00:45:46,850 He doesn't. The Typekit College is described as having its own courtyard, its own kitchen, its own, 378 00:45:46,850 --> 00:45:55,820 its own hall for assembling it had a full staff of specialised offices and officers such as the again the head of the Hunter Carmel College, 379 00:45:55,820 --> 00:46:07,610 the llama. The original had the llama whimsy, the disciplinarian all the way down to the functionaries that blow on the corn they don't can. 380 00:46:07,610 --> 00:46:11,780 The Constitution specifies an elaborate routine of ritual and worship. 381 00:46:11,780 --> 00:46:17,060 It specifies the responsibilities that all these officers and functionaries are to carry out. 382 00:46:17,060 --> 00:46:23,750 There's a curriculum complete with the same pedagogical techniques seen in the philosophical colleges. 383 00:46:23,750 --> 00:46:28,640 And there's a calendar and specified salaries for the monks enrolled in the college. 384 00:46:28,640 --> 00:46:33,230 So in short, the teacher in this case is not really something special. 385 00:46:33,230 --> 00:46:41,230 It's simply another institutional option within the larger monastic complex. 386 00:46:41,230 --> 00:46:42,130 And on that note, 387 00:46:42,130 --> 00:46:52,390 I can say to that the Hunter College operated as part of a very orchestrated monastery wide programme that included the other institutions within it, 388 00:46:52,390 --> 00:46:58,340 so the philosophical college, a medical college protector's hall and so on. 389 00:46:58,340 --> 00:47:06,230 So Tantra has become part of the monastery. 390 00:47:06,230 --> 00:47:14,510 Tantra also serves to protect the to protect and promote the monastery and the wider Gaelic school. 391 00:47:14,510 --> 00:47:25,170 And another way, I think this is a pretty conspicuous example if you look at the evening assemblies at monasteries often referred to as good in. 392 00:47:25,170 --> 00:47:35,250 Sarcophagus subject in these obstacle clearing is siblings George Dreyfus has referred to as the main ritual of the day. 393 00:47:35,250 --> 00:47:40,380 And this is corroborated in the monastic constitutions that I've looked at to where they say, 394 00:47:40,380 --> 00:47:43,800 if you've missed some of the earlier assemblies of the day, 395 00:47:43,800 --> 00:47:49,500 you can make it up by going to the evening when the in the evening one is the principle of monastic constitution of the day. 396 00:47:49,500 --> 00:47:57,280 The main function of this assembly appears to be protecting the well-being and integrity of the monastery, as well as the health of the monks. 397 00:47:57,280 --> 00:48:01,720 So at Google, when you look at the the liturgical makeup of that evening assembly, 398 00:48:01,720 --> 00:48:09,100 it's filled with a poster of basic rights meant to ward off evil meant to ward off disease and harm, 399 00:48:09,100 --> 00:48:15,910 such as the white umbrella, the God, the Torah, the Heart Sutra, and it's a picture perfect recitation. 400 00:48:15,910 --> 00:48:22,340 And the fourth punch in Lamas sangoma the lion faced when. 401 00:48:22,340 --> 00:48:30,920 One finds that exact same literature, and right now I'm speaking principally about the as an example, I'm talking about the good in the evening. 402 00:48:30,920 --> 00:48:41,660 Simply, I go to a monastery, but one finds the exact same programme of even an assembly at a Mongol monastery in the Sunni banner of Inner Mongolia. 403 00:48:41,660 --> 00:48:45,980 And this is not a coincidence this because to go out in the third to callous and to Geneva 404 00:48:45,980 --> 00:48:52,840 wrote a monastic constitution from his home and go along for that inner Mongolian monastery. 405 00:48:52,840 --> 00:49:00,430 So perhaps you've noticed, maybe not, maybe it's confused, but perhaps you've noticed that I've been going in a somewhat chronological order, 406 00:49:00,430 --> 00:49:03,820 starting with the fifth Dalai Lama, 407 00:49:03,820 --> 00:49:11,020 his monastic constitutions and moving forward in time to figures like taekwondo's and shooting him out in the 18th century. 408 00:49:11,020 --> 00:49:16,960 And I've also been moving from centre to periphery, from Lhasa to Ondo to Inner Mongolia. 409 00:49:16,960 --> 00:49:23,770 And this has been my method in researching this book more generally. 410 00:49:23,770 --> 00:49:32,110 First, we know that the gabled school came to dominate the religious and political landscape beginning in the 17th century. 411 00:49:32,110 --> 00:49:38,530 It was centred first in Lhasa and from there spread outward, especially into Ondo Mongolia and the Manchu King Court. 412 00:49:38,530 --> 00:49:44,060 And second, some of the largest Gaelic monasteries were located in Ondo. 413 00:49:44,060 --> 00:49:49,260 And those ultimately became. Centres in their own right. 414 00:49:49,260 --> 00:49:53,520 Spreading Caillou teachings tantra outward from there. 415 00:49:53,520 --> 00:49:57,390 Many of these had extensive properties, states, satellite temples and so forth. 416 00:49:57,390 --> 00:50:02,910 Go along, for example, is said to have had anywhere between 42 and 49 satellite monasteries. 417 00:50:02,910 --> 00:50:09,150 Most of them are in the same region where it's located. But some of them are as far away as changeable. 418 00:50:09,150 --> 00:50:15,570 And so my methodology has been trying to track down whenever possible constitutions 419 00:50:15,570 --> 00:50:21,450 or other ritual texts composed by lamas associated with these new peripheral centres, 420 00:50:21,450 --> 00:50:29,430 if you will, like Gurnam written for its branch monasteries or monasteries even farther afield in Mongolia. 421 00:50:29,430 --> 00:50:34,890 And I've found several examples of this. So one is the constitution that I just mentioned. 422 00:50:34,890 --> 00:50:42,020 They just alluded to that to go us. I'm choosing whom I wrote for a monastery and Suneet banner. 423 00:50:42,020 --> 00:50:51,500 And so sometimes identifying these, the the dissemination of a tantric programme is interpretive, in other words, 424 00:50:51,500 --> 00:50:58,880 it's looking literally sending them side by side and just looking at comparing them and seeing whether or not they 425 00:50:58,880 --> 00:51:05,870 are the same as was the case with good long evening assembly and this Inner Mongolia monastery in Stoneybatter, 426 00:51:05,870 --> 00:51:11,000 which were entirely the same. In other cases, though, it's just very explicit. 427 00:51:11,000 --> 00:51:19,790 For instance, Armados LeBron Monastery, it's Hunter College, was founded in 1769, shortly after it was. 428 00:51:19,790 --> 00:51:28,220 The monastery itself was founded, and just a couple of years after that, in 1719, the first jumping ship composed a constitution for his monastery. 429 00:51:28,220 --> 00:51:32,090 And in that he tells us quote that well, 430 00:51:32,090 --> 00:51:41,030 he tells us that tantra is said to be quote bound to the tradition of contour tones and melodic chants at the glorious Lower Hunter College. 431 00:51:41,030 --> 00:51:48,680 Do you, me and Lisa go along also explicitly said to be modelled on you and Lisa another. 432 00:51:48,680 --> 00:51:59,000 The bottom height the South Monastery in Alaska that I showed an image of at the very outset that two is said to be modelled on you, 433 00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:06,100 me and Lhasa, as well as actually a shallow monastery. 434 00:52:06,100 --> 00:52:12,140 So we see. This movement outward, further and further outward. 435 00:52:12,140 --> 00:52:18,410 Another example is one of Google's branch monasteries. 436 00:52:18,410 --> 00:52:25,590 There. The local farmer who had trained at the Long Goes to this branch monastery and establishes 437 00:52:25,590 --> 00:52:30,780 the territory the first day trauma offering to Lama quote like that going on. 438 00:52:30,780 --> 00:52:34,380 So again, it's a very explicit reference here that what we see as a mapping, 439 00:52:34,380 --> 00:52:39,310 a modelling of what peripheral monasteries are more centrally located once. 440 00:52:39,310 --> 00:52:44,680 The final example I'll give of this movement outwards, this process of standardisation and dissemination. 441 00:52:44,680 --> 00:52:47,830 Actually, you know, I see that we're running short on time. 442 00:52:47,830 --> 00:52:54,700 When I was going to point to the last example is of Byton Height, the South Monastery in Alaska. 443 00:52:54,700 --> 00:52:59,330 That constitution written by this the third John. 444 00:52:59,330 --> 00:53:04,810 So the rebirth of the figure who had gone to Zong and sought out the sage tradition of Typekit teachings. 445 00:53:04,810 --> 00:53:14,410 He, sometime after the founding of Barton Heights, or sometime after 1757, composed a monastic constitution for this Mongol monastery in Alaska. 446 00:53:14,410 --> 00:53:21,790 And it's a thoroughly tantric constitution and the main takeaway amongst many things. 447 00:53:21,790 --> 00:53:26,800 There's a very long constitution too, but very explicitly in that constitution. 448 00:53:26,800 --> 00:53:34,330 It says that the practises there are to be modelled on the Duma in Lhasa and shallow as well. 449 00:53:34,330 --> 00:53:46,430 So. Those are that that's the main methodology I followed in trying to map out this process of standardising monastic practises, 450 00:53:46,430 --> 00:53:51,470 standardising monastic administration and then disseminating it outward so as to 451 00:53:51,470 --> 00:53:56,490 build what I somewhat provocatively call in my book title of Buddhist empire, 452 00:53:56,490 --> 00:54:01,250 right? A cohesive, a cohesive Buddhist system. 453 00:54:01,250 --> 00:54:23,849 I'll stop there. Thank you. Very much of.