THE SRIN MO DEMONESS AND HER SUBMISSION TO THE BUDDHIST TIBETAN DHARMA

Some Different modeS of Her tranSformation

by Carla Gianotti

Among the many representations of pre-Buddhist deities that in the later Tibetan tradition turn into protectors of the Buddhist Dharma, a primary role is played by the terrific female demon called srin mo (‘demoness’). In singular or plural form, she traverses all the different periods of Tibetan religious life, performing a central role in folklore and literature as well, and reveals an outstanding vitality in her various transformations. After surveying

some “canonical sources” on the srin mo,2 I will here try to add some new elements on the shaping of her image by taking into consideration two literary sources, namely the Ro sgrung (Tales of the Corpse)3 and the mGur ’bum (Hundred Thousand Songs [of

1 I have already touched upon the same points in a previous work, Cenerentola nel Paese delle Nevi. Fiaba Tibetana, 2003. 2 These are discussed by J. Gyatso in “Down With the Demoness: Reflections on a Feminine Ground in Tibet”, 1989, a work that still remains, as far as I know, the best starting point for a comprehensive analysis on the demoness srin mo. 3 dPal mgon ’phags pa klu sgrub kyis mdzad pa’i ro langs gser ’gyur gyi chos sgrung nyer gcig pa

rgyas par phye ba, 1980 (henceforth RG). A version of the RG has been analysed and translated by A. Macdonald in Matériaux pour l’étude de la littérature populaire tibétaine I. Édition et traduction de deux manuscripts tibétains des «Histoires du cadavre», 1967 (ch.1initial part of ch. 19) and in Matériaux pour l’étude de la littérature populaire tibétaine II. Édition et traduction d’un trosième manuscrit tibétain des «Histoire du cadavre», 1972 (ch.19-21).

On Ro langs stories in Tibetan literature see P-A. Berglie, “When the Corpses Rise: Some Tibetan Ro langs Stories”, 1982; L. Lörincz, “Les «Contes du cadavre ensorcelé» (Ro sgrung) dans la littérature et le folklore tibétains”, 1965, and “Les recueils Ro sgrung tibétains contenant 21 contes”, 1968; R. Riva, “The Tales of the Bewitched Corpse: A Literary Journey from India to China”, 1998; F. Robin, Contes facétieux du cadavre. Version bilingue tibétain-

français, 2005 and “Les jeux de la sapience et de la censure: genèse des Contes facétieux du cadavre au Tibet”, 2006; M. Walter, “Of Corpses and Gold: Materials for the Study of the Vetåla and the Ro Mi la ras pa]),4 where she is portrayed in two contrasting roles, completely negative in one case, both negative and positive in the other.5

The image of the srin mo from pre-Bon to Buddhism The srin mo, together with her male counterpart, the srin po, forms the class of srin demons, a group of ancient Tibetan deites probably belonging to a substratum of pre-Bon beliefs that we define, roughly speaking, as “animistic”, but that remain in some

respects still indecipherable.6 The srin represent the personification of the manifold calamities, disasters and dangers the obscure and powerful World of the Dead carries against the World of the Living. The pre-Bon image of the world appears to be characterised by adverse principles, maintaining the idea of a dual cosmos, Up-Below (ya yogs) or Earth-Underworld (sa ’og), inhabited by two mutually opposed realms, the Living and the Dead. In this dual world the

Dead (mtshun), however, are distinct from their powerful forms, the Te or The, which roam on earth and threaten the Living. These have as their specific feature a dreadful envy of the vital power (bla) they have lost, and an eager yearning for Langs”, 2004. The translation of the Tibetan “Tales of the Corpse” in Mongolian literature has been studied by L. Lörincz in “Les «Contes du cadavre

ensorcelé» (Ro sgrung) dans la littérature et le folklore mongols”, 1967. On the Indian vetåla see M.B. Emeneau, Jambhaladatta’s Version of the Vetålapañcaviµßati. A Critical Sanskrit Text in Translitteration, with an Introduction, and English Translation, 1967 (or. edn. 1934); L. Renou, Contes du Vampire, 1963; and the extraordinary study by H. Zimmer, The King and the Corpse. Tales of the Soul’s Conquest of Evil, Princeton, NJ, 1971, pp. 202-35

(or. edn. 1956). 4 Rus pa’i rgyan can, rNal ’byor gyi dbang phyug chen po mi la ras pa’i rnam mgur, 1989 (henceforth NG). Composed by gTsang sMyon Heruka (1452-1507), this is one of the most popular Tibetan Buddhist hagiographies. Translated many times into Western languages, the most accurate versions are the English and the French ones carried out respectively by Garma C.C. Chang (The Hundred Thousand Songs of Mi la ras pa, 1977) and by Marie-Jose Lamothe

(Mi la ras pa, Les Cent Mille Chants, 1986-1993). 5 The present paper is to be considered a preliminary report on work in progress. There will hopefully be further investigation on my part into the symbolic value of the functions of the srin mo in the Tibetan religious milieu. 6 Cf. E. Haarh, The Yar lung Dynasty, 1969, p. 111.

regaining it. The pre-Bon tradition, known as Yang bsang the’u rang lugs, is then characterised by “secret things” (yang bsang) regarding the the’u rang (or the’u brang, probably a later derivative form of te or the),7 a term that refers, in addition to the dead in their active form, to the mythical Spirit

of the Ancestors from whom the progenitor of the cosmos descended. Against this background of beliefs in a dual world the Bon religion,8 in the form known as g.Yung drung Bon, reshaped the whole system of earlier ideas by introducing a third celestial sphere in the concept of the cosmos and a third divine world in the concept of existence, deriving them from the Western regions of Zhang zhung and Bru zha.9 While the most ancient Bon, called rDol Bon or ’Jol

Bon, supposedly represents the beliefs prevailing in Central Tibet until the time of the reign of Gri gum btsam po, it is with the death of this king that we come across a turning point in the Bon religion and in the cultural life of the ancient Tibetan people. At that moment a new doctrine was in fact introduced

7 Cf. ibid., pp. 218-19. 8 Starting with the pioneering study of David Snellgrove (The Nine Ways of Bon. Excerpts from the gZi-brjid, 1967), Bon religion has undergone a radical re-assessment as to its origins and doctrine. Bon is no longer considered the shamanistic religion of pre-Buddhist Tibet

(e.g. H. Hoffmann, The Religions of Tibet, 1961, p. 15), as one can find hardly any shamanistic elements in it: its cult is entirely ritualistic (e.g. P. Kvaerne, Tibet Bon Religion. A Death Ritual of the Tibetan Bonpos, 1985, p. 3). The other misunderstanding that has affected a correct comprehension of the Bon tradition is that of equating pre-Buddhist religious practises (Bon as ‘priest who invokes’) with the religion later known as Bon (the follower of Bon

as Tibetan religion). On the different aspects of ancient religious beliefs and on Bon religion in general, see S.G. Karmay, The Treasury of Good Sayings. A Tibetan History of Bon, 1972; P. Kvaerne, “A Preliminary Study of chap. VI of the gZer-mig”, 1980; “Aspects of the Origin of the Buddhist Tradition in Tibet”, 1972; “Monti sacri e signori della terra. Dai re celesti alle feste di paese in Tibet”, 2006; The Bon Religion of Tibet, 1995; “The Literature of

Bon”, 1996; Tibet Bon Religion. A Death Ritual of the Tibetan Bonpos, 1985; D. Snellgrove, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, 1987, pp. 388-407; D. Snellgrove and H.D. Richardson, A Cultural History of Tibet, 1986 (or. edn. 1968), pp. 99-105. For an outline of the early stages of Bon, see also Namgyal Nyima Dagkar, “The Early Spread of Bon”, 1998. On the myths and legends of Ancient Tibet and on Bon religion with reference to the origin and nature of the king see E. Haarh,

The Yar lung Dynasty, 1969. For an updated bibliography on Bonpo studies see D. Martin, Bön Bibliography, 2009. 9 Cf. E. Haarh, The Yar lung Dynasty, 1969, p. 318.

into Central Tibet from its Western neighbouring countries, particularly from Zhang zhung (corresponding to the region later known as mNga’ ris), and Bru zha (Gilgit).10 This change in the religious ideology and rites is considered as the second stage of Bon,11 the ’Khyar bon (‘Erroneus Bon’), also known as

Dur Bon (‘Bon of the Tombs’), because the royal funeral rites, in charge of the Dur gshen or grave shamans,12 assumed a central role in this period. More specifically, the above mentioned g.Yung drung Bon or Svåstika Bon is viewed as a further developed form of the ’Khyar Bon that appeared at the time of the king Gri gum bstan po and represented the prevailing religion during the Tibetan dynasty until the appearance of Buddhism.13 The religious power of the

g.Yung drung Bon, deeply connected with the Tibetan royalty, was represented by a sacerdotal class whose members were commonly called gshen (‘invoker’). Within them two groups are identified with the names of sgrung (‘legends’) and the lde’u (‘enigmas’), probably priests transmitting sgrung legends and

lde’u enigmas to the Tibetan people.14 This second phase of Bon, considered to last until the time of the Buddhist king Khri srong lde’u bstan (742-797? AD), is followed—from late the 9th to the mid-11th century—by the bsGyur Bon (‘Transformed Bon’),15 also known as gSar Bon (lit. ‘New Bon’). This is the so-called third diffusion of Bon, which, however, we do not take into consideration here. In the second diffusion of Bon, as we have said, the main task Bon po priests at first carried out was that of exorcising the chthonic world of the dead in all its manifold manifestations. “[They] made tombs (dur) for

10 Cf. E. Haarh, The Yar lung Dynasty, 1969, p. 106 and pp. 100-4. On the three stages in the diffusion of Bon as related in a later Buddhist source, see Grub mtha’ shel gyi me long (Crystal Mirror of the [[[Exposition]]] of Tenets) 162.292 (ibid., pp. 102-3). On the myths and legends regarding the king Gri gum btsan po, see ibid., pp. 142-67. 11 Regarding the fact that ancient Bon is considered as distinctly separate from g.Yung drung Bon in the biographies of

sTon pa gShen rab, see Namgyal Nyima Dagkar, “The Early Spread of Bon”, 1998, p. 8 ff. 12 The ignorance of the performance of funeral customs and rites at the burial of the king Gri gum bstan po is regarded as the principal reason for introducing the Bon religion in Tibet. Cf. E. Haarh, The Yar lung Dynasty, 1969, pp. 113-14. 13 Cf. ibid., p. 106. 14 Cf. ibid., p. 108. 15 Cf. ibid., pp. 102-3 and p. 106. tHe Srin Mo DemoneSS anD Her SubmiSSion 73

the Dead”16 in order to win power over the ’dre (‘spirits’) and the srin of the Underworld, because no other power could be as dangerous to the World of

the Living. As a laconic passage in the Grub mtha’ shel gyi me long (Crystal Mirror of the [[[Exposition]]] of Tenets) relates: The Dur gshen possessing weapons removed the obstacles of the Living, made tombs for the Dead, subdued the Chung gi Sri, observed the celestial constellations [and] crushed the

’Dre of the Earth.17 The Bon po officiants made possible such a transformation in religious cosmology by introducing a conception of the world as formed of three distinct spheres, Underworld (mar), Upper World (yar) and Middle World (bar), respectively occupied by demons (’dre and srin), gods (lha) and human beings (mi). This tripartite cosmos was intended to replace the previous bipartite world based on the opposition of Living and Dead. In fact, among the main feats attributed to the great gShen rab mi bo, considered as an incarnation of the Buddha,18 we read: …He opened the door to the lha of all the Living, he shut the door to the Tombs of all the Dead, and led the Living along the Path of the Swastika (g.[[Yung drung lam).19 By closing the doors of the

tombs, then, the Dur gshen, i.e., the Bon officiants of the Graves, cut the bonds with the World of the Dead and, 16 See infra. 17 Grub mtha’ shel gyi me long, 60.64v in E. Haarh, The Yar lung Dynasty, 1969, p. 111. See also rGyal po bka’i thang yig 37.19 v-20r (ibid., pp. 100-1). 18 According to Bon sources, gShen rab mi bo (‘Great Hero gShen rab’), or sTon pa gShen rab (‘gShen rab the Teacher’), is regarded as

the Enlightened One of our age, who came from the country of sTag gzig, to the West or North-West of Tibet, and brought the Bon religion into the country of Zhang Zhung. From there this reached Tibet, where Bon texts were translated from their original Zhang Zhung language. gShen rab mi bo must be regarded as a title that does not apply to a historical individual. His religious biography presents similarities with those of Padmasambhava (the 8th century yogin

and magician) and Ge sar (the great hero of the Tibetan epic). It is handed down in three versions: one long (the gZhi brjid), one of medium length (the gZer mig) and one short (the mDo ’dus). See P. Kvaerne, 1972, “Aspects of the Origin of the Buddhist Tradition in Tibet”, p. 11 and D. Snellgrove, The Nine Ways of Bon. Excerpts from the gZi-brjid, 1980, pp. 3-13. 19 Cf. E. Haarh, The Yar lung Dynasty, 1969, p. 111.

by opening the door to the lha, they introduced a third celestial sphere in the cosmos, making “…the idea of Heaven a religious reality in the Tibetan concept of world and existence”.20 However, from this also came a profound change in the position of the World of Man. Placed now in a intermediary

position (bar), between the forces of the Underworld and the gods of the Upper, Celestial World, human beings became dependent on those powerful officiants, in charge both of taming the World of Dead (by performing funeral rites and taking care of the ritual treatment of corpses) and of creating a new link with the World of Gods (by teaching the path of the Svåstika Bon or Yung drung Bon). The three disciplines propagated since the time of king Gri

gum bstan po by the Yung drung Bon were summarized as subduing the ’dre and srin of the Underworld (mar), sacrificing to the venerable lha of the Upper world (yar) and digging out the household hearth in the Middle World (bar).21 In other words, one of the main purposes of the Yung drung] Bon was that of controlling any dreadful demon noxious to mankind, i.e., the Demons of the Earth (sa’i ’dre) or simply Demons (’dre), and the prominent srin demons of the

[[[Wikipedia:Underworld|Underworld]], conceived as manifestations of defunct persons]]

These srin, inclusive of both srin po and srin mo, Demons and Demoness— forced into the obscure depths of the Underworld and there confined—did not completely disappear in later Buddhist developments. Having been pushed into the deep recesses of the earth meant that they were identified with the

powerful vital forces hidden within the obscurity of the earth itself, and therefore charged with that generative function with whom the term srin seems to be etymologically related.22 In later Buddhist myths about the 20 Ibid., p. 112. 21 Cf. ibid., p. 103 and p. 111. 22 Considering that the terms sri, srin and srid seem to be related to each other, we may assume

that srid pa, used in later Buddhist contexts with the meaning of ‘existence, cosmos’ as a noun, or of ‘to be, to exist, to grow’ as a verb, is also strictly connected with the words sri and srin. Besides this, since the term srid pa suggests a basic form *s+√ri and a fundamental meaning coming from the root *√ri ‘having a concrete form’, the three above terms are most likely related to the idea of “taking a form” and “coming into existence”, bearing perhaps etymological evidence of the generative

origins of the land and people of Tibet, the srin demons then became the primordial ancestors, responsible for having shaped in the likeness of their own image both the Land and the physiognomy of the Tibetans, and from whom the Tibetan people held themselves to have been generated. In the same mythical

narratives, it is reported that Tibet was in the beginning a savage land, populated by demons harmful to human beings. The Lha ’dre bka’i thang yig (Legends of Gods and Demons), the first chapter of the bKa’ thang sde lnga (Fivefold Series of Rolls), the gter ma or ‘hidden treasure’, “rediscovered” by Orgyan gling pa (1329-1367 or 13231360), says: In the land of the Yi dwags, Pretapuri [or] Bod kyi yul, There is the land of the noxious beings (gDug pa

can gyi yul), the three countries Dwags po, Kong po [and] Nyang po. And later in the same text: The Land of the Most Noxious Beings is the three [countries] Nyang, Dwags, (and) Kong.23 In the same way, the rGyal po bka’i thang yig (Legends of Kings) reports: Then the bDud and Srin mo ruled. The name [of Tibet] was determined as Lha Srin gnyis kyi yul (‘The Land of Gods and Demons’).24 The belief in the existence of the srin demons seems to be so rooted

in Tibetan culture that in the earliest account referring to primordial times25 Tibet was imagined to be the original land of the srin demons, the abode of those hostile powers of demoniac nature that ruled the country and needed to be subdued. Tibetans, on the other hand, were considered the descendants of the srin ancestors and thus Flesh-Eaters (zha sa).26

function that srin had in later Tibetan Buddhist culture. See E. Haarh, The Yar lung Dynasty, 1969, p. 112 and pp. 269-70. 23 Ibid., p. 237. 24 Ibid., p. 291. 25 On this myth, see ibid., p. 259 ff.; G. Tucci, Tibetan Painted Scrolls, 1949, p. 711 ff.; D. Snellgrove, Buddhist Himålaya. Travels and Studies in Quest of the Origin and Nature of Tibetan Religion, 1957, pp. 122-35. 26 Cf. C. Gianotti, Cenerentola nel Paese delle Nevi. Fiaba tibetana, 2003, p.

It was in the framework of the pre-Bon and Bon ideas here briefly surveyed that the srin mo seems to have been earlier conceived of, and thenceforth recorded in later Buddhist literature as the female progenitor of the Tibetan people.

The forms of the srin mo in Tibetan Buddhism and the image of the supine demoness According to the most popular legend about the origins of the land and the people of Tibet, the progeny of Flesh-Eaters or Red-faced Flesh-Eaters (gdong dmar zha sa) descended from the ancestral couple formed by an Ape of the Forests (spre’u) and a Rock-Demoness (brag srin mo). This well-known account is reported in many texts and goes back to pre-Buddhist motifs.27 It began to

be reproduced in Buddhist literature probably already around the 8th century. Here the primordial Ape and Demoness were presented, at first, as disciples of the two principal divinities of Tibetan Buddhism, i.e., the bodhisattva sPyan ras gzigs (Skt. Avalokiteßvara) and the goddess sGrol ma (Skt. Tårå), and, shortly after, as their embodiments on earth.28 However, the identification of the srin mo with sGrol ma is to be considered as only one development—

probably the most recent one— in her transformations within Tibetan Buddhism. In fact, in singular or plural form (in groups of three, four or, most frequently, nine), she was induced to serve the Buddhist Dharma assuming terrific aspects of sometimes zoomorphic character in the retinue of well-known protective deities such as dPal ldan lha mo or Nag po chen po (Skt. Mahåkåla).29 Moreover, the srin mo was forced into the titanic task of supporting in a

27 See above note 25. 28 So it is reported, for instance, in the Gangtok edition of the Deb ther dmar po (quoted by E. Haarh, The Yar lung Dynasty, 1969, p. 295). 29 The Srin mo bzhi (‘four demonesses’) are a group of minor goddesses in the retinue of dPal ldan lha mo, holding each one a skull-cup in their left hand, and a hook, a snare, a chain, and a bell in the right; the Srin mo spun dgu (‘nine sisters demonesses’) is considered a group of nine dregs pa

(lit. ‘great ones’), again a class of minor guardian deities, although there are times when the name of dregs pa refers to higher ranking dharmapåla. Concerning the iconographical representations of the different srin mo see R. De Nebesky-Wojkowitz, Oracles and Demons of Tibet. The Cult and the Iconography of the Tibetan Protective Deities, 1975, pp. 36-37; pp. 60-63 and p. 280 ff.

supine position temples erected on the focal points or geomantic sites (me tsa, also spelt me btsa’ or me rtsa, lit. ‘fire vein’) of her body, identified

with the Land of Tibet.30 According to this myth—reported in the Chos ’byung (History of the Doctrine) by Bu ston,31 in the rGyal rabs gsal ba’i me long (Clear Mirror of Royal Genealogies),32 and in two different versions in the Maˆi bka’ ’bum (Hundred Thousand Words of Mani),33 to mention only a few

noteworthy texts—the many difficulties the wives of king Srong brtsan sgam po (c. 627-649), namely the Nepalese Khri btsun and the Chinese Wencheng, had to face as zealous builders of Buddhist temples were caused by the uncontrolled forces that burst forth from the body of the srin mo. Only when the temples had been erected in thirteen focal points (i.e., the heart-blood, the shoulders, the hips, the elbows, the knees, the hands and the feet) to form three

concentric circles to protect her heart, was the dreadful power of the wild demoness disciplined.34 For instance, as far as the difficulties encountered by Khri btsun are concerned, we read in the Chos ’byung by Bu ston (1290-1364): [The king] saw that the ground (sa gzhi) of Tibet was like [the body of] a shedevil (srin mo) that had fallen on her back, and that it was necessary to press down [this she-devil]. Accordingly, on the right shoulder [he caused to build] the monastery of sKa tshal, on the left one Khra ’brug, on the right leg gTsang 30 For a discussion on the meaning of the term me tsa and the interesting correspondences between the earth-body of the srin mo (as macrocosm) and the human body (as microcosm) put forward by some scholars, see E. Stutchbury, “Perceptions of Landscape in Karza: ‘Sacred’ Geography and the Tibetan System of

Geomancy”, 1994. 31 Cf. E. Obermiller, History of Buddhism (Chos-’byung) by Buston. Part II: The History of Buddhism in India and Tibet, 1986 and J. Szerb, Buston’s History of Buddhism in Tibet, 1990. 32 P.K. Sorensen, “A Fourteenth Century Tibetan Historical Work: Rgyal rabs gsal ba’i me long”, 1986, p. 84 ff. 33 Both versions of the myth are analysed by M. Aris in Bhutan, The Early History of a Himalayan Kingdom, 1979, pp. 8-12. 34 See Dudjom Rinpoche, Jikdrel Yeshe Dorje, The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism. Its Fundamentals and History, 1991, note 543. As far as I know, the mythical account of the supine demoness, which reports the foundation of the thirteen religious constructions as a “creation” of a new order that needs “immolation” is still to be fully investigated in its symbolic value, especially in relation to similar cosmogonical narratives in India and Asia in general. Cf. also J.

Gyatso, “Down with the Demoness: Reflections on a Feminine Ground in Tibet”, 1989, pp. 39-44.

’gram and on the left Grom pa rgyang, these being “the four monasteries of the four flanks”. Then on the right elbow, [the monastery of] Kong po bu chu, on the left Lho brag khom mthing, on the right knee sKa brag and on the left Bra dum rtse, “the four subduers of the borders” were constructed. Thereafter on

the palms of the right hand rLung gnod of Byang tshal and on that of the left one the ’Dan klong thang sgron ma of Kham, on the right foot Byams sprin of [[[Mang yul]] and on the left, the Bum thang spa gro skyer chu of Mon yul were built and many other monasteries besides. Thereafter, in the middle of the lake O thang, [the king] made a foundation of stone covered with wood. Cement having been made out of the mould of the Någas and earth having been brought with

the help of a goat, the ground was levelled and the monastery of Lhasa, the Ras ’phrul snang was built…35 From the above passage it emerges quite clearly that the new-born Tibetan kingdom needed to establish control over peripheral areas as well as spread and establish the Buddhist faith over the whole territory. Besides this, it is worth mentioning that, according to the study by R.J. Miller,36 the sequence in which the srin mo is nailed to the ground

reproduces the sequence of the conquests ascribed to the reign of Srong brtsan sgam po. At the same time, the area her body covers in that way corresponds to the dimensions reached by the kingdom of Tibet between the 8th and 9th centuries.37 In the correspondence between sacred and political space, natural geography has been reshaped as conventional imagery in order to subjugate (dul ’ba) the “disorder” caused by the local autonomous divinities with the

“order” of the new conquering religion. As mentioned above, another version of the myth is contained in the rGyal rabs gsal ba’i me long (Clear Mirror of Royal Genealogies), compiled by the famous Sa skya pa author, bSod nams rgyal mtshan (1321-1375). This work contains a detailed account of the marriage of king Srong brtsan sgam po with the Chinese princess Wencheng (known to the Tibetans as ’Um Shing Kong jo), and reports that his other wife, the Nepalese

lady Khri btsun, asked Kong jo for astrological advice as to where would be the most favourable site to build a temple. As an expert in black Chinese astrology (nag rtsis pa) as well as in the divinatory sciences (gab rtse), Wencheng 35 E. Obermiller, The History of Buddhism in India and Tibet by Bu ston, 1986 (or. edn. 1932), pp. 184-85. 36 R.J. Miller, “The Supine Demoness (Srin mo) and the Consolidation of Empire”, 1998. 37 R.A. Stein, La civilisation tib¡taine, 1962, pp. 18-24.

declared that Tibet had the shape of a demoness laying on her back (srin mo gan rkyal du nal ba’i gzugs) that needed to be subjugated.38 The king decided then to keep her under permanent control by driving thirteen nails into different parts of her body, the nails being the thirteen Buddhist temples erected on it. What seems remarkable in this story is that many of the localities of Tibet are conceived as the abode of evil beings hostile to Buddhism (such as

klu, klu bud, the’u rang, btsan, mi ma yin, etc.), whereas many “antagonist earthy forces” (sa sgra) are likened to mountains that are identified in their topographical shape with them.39 This idea, possibly of Bon po origin, of anthropomorphic mountains needing religious edifices to be erected on them in

order to neutralize their negativity seems to be the direct antecedent of the myth of the supine demoness.40 The account given in the [[rGyal rabs gsal ba’i me long is already transmitted in the sBa bzhed (lit. ‘Exposition of gSal snang of sBa’), the chronicle of the foundation of the temple of bSam yas, attributed to the minister

38 The rGyal rabs gsal ba’i me long affirms the Chinese origin both of Tibetan geomancy and of Tibetan black astrology, while astrological methods derived from India are regarded in Tibet as “white astrology” (dkar rtsis). A precise account comparing Tibetan and Chinese systems of geomancy and the role played

by the Tibetan geomantic specialists compared to the Chinese geomancers is given in E. Stutchbury, “Perceptions of Landscape in Karza: ‘Sacred’ Geography and the Tibetan System of Geomancy”, 1994, pp. 78-82. 39 Another example of this popular Buddhist belief is the geomantic subjugation of the “peering demon” (bdud bya ra byed pa) reported in Maˆi ka’ ’bum literature. Moreover, the acquisition of a territory by taming a landscape with anthropomorphic

features supports the hypothesis that at least some of the sites related to tamed demons were eminent Bon po holy places later “converted” to Buddhism. See M. Akester “[[Khyung tshang brag: the ‘Black Demon Peering’ at Lha sa”, 2001. 40 The Bon po conception of the mountain as “deity of the local territory” (yul lha) or as “lord of the earth” (gzhi bdag), iconographically represented, for example, as an aggressive warrior, has been researched by P. Kvaerne, “Monti

sacri e signori della terra. Dai re celesti alle feste di paese in Tibet”, 2006. On the cult of the yul lha among the laity and on the cult of the gnas ri, i.e., “mountains where there are residing or have resided holy persons”, connected with religious movements, see S.G. Karmay, “Concepts of Territorial Organisation and Their Transformation into Buddhist Sacred Sites”, 2005. With regard to Tibetan sacred geography and, particularly, to an attempted

typological representation of sacred landscape in Bon po sources according to a chronological evolution, see C. Ramble, “Gaining Ground: Representations of Territory in Bon and Tibetan Popular Tradition”, 1995.

gSal snang]] of the clan of sBa.41 In the part concerning Khri Dar ma (or gLang dar ma), the last king of the Yar lung dynasty and persecutor of the Buddhists, Buddhism is accused of being responsible for the many famines and epidemics afflicting the whole country: in particular, the magic practices

performed by the Chinese Kong jo, devoted to Lord Buddha, are openly condemned. As the sBa bzhed says: “What is the cause [of all that has happened]? Do you know the reason?” asked [the king to the assembly of his subjects]. “We do not know” they answered. “[Well,] I know. There was a female gnod sbyin called Kong chong the Chinese. As a consequence of the misfortune brought by her tutelary deity, the socalled Íåkyamuni, this female gnod sbyin went to the

top of Mount Sumeru, and she attacked and won against the gods, leading them to [total] ruin. Then she went to U rgyan and destroyed U rgyan. Then she went to Magadha and destroyed Magadha. Then she went to China and destroyed China. Then she went to Tibet, and being an expert in geomancy (sa spyad), she did geomancy. On the twenty-one spine bones of Mount Cags ka that looks like the White Lioness (seng ge dkar mo) leaping into the sky, she put twenty-one

st¨pas as twenty-one acupuncture pins (me rtsa). She pressed down the head [of Mount lCags po ri] with a black st¨pa with nine levels, and having built a temple on the top of the hole, she pressed down the [area of] sTod. If she hadn’t pressed that down, we would have conquered India. On the nose of Mount dMar po which looks like a tiger entering the nest of a mouse, she hammered in a wooden spike. If she hadn’t done that, China would be under [our] control.

41 The version of the text edited by R.A. Stein, which ends with the arrival of At¥ßa in Tibet, has been assigned to the 14th century by H. Richardson, to the 12th-13th centuries by G.N. Roerich, and to a period later that the end of the 11th century by R.A. Stein (Une chronique ancienne de bSam-yas : sBa-bzhed”, 1961, pp. v-vi). The sBa (or dBa’[s]/rBa/’Ba’) bzhed is above all the history of bSam yas, the first royally patronised monastery of Tibet erected

during the reign of the king Khri srong lde’u btsan, and it can be considered mainly a religious narrative in the form of a chos ’byung (lit. ‘History of the Doctrine’) concerning the introduction of Buddhism in Tibet. Although attributed to the minister gSal snang of sBa and directly related to the period

of reign of Khri srong lde’u btsan, the sBa bzhed is credited to be in reality an anonymous compilation datable from after the 12th century, aimed at legitimating the role of the dominant sBa clan in the post-dynastic struggle for power. Cf. P. Denwood, “Some Remarks on the Status and the Dating of the sBa bzhed”, 1990, and P. Wangdu and H. Diemberger, dBa’ bzhed. The Royal Narrative concerning the Bringing of the Buddha’s Doctrine to Tibet, 2000, pp. ix-xv and pp. 3-21. 42 lCags po ri.

She cut off the neck of Mount Me sna’i gdong at Yar lung, which looks like a rice sprout. If she had not done that, Tibet would not have a famine…”43 Different aspects emerge, then, in the Buddhist representations of the srin mo taken into consideration up to this point. In her singular form she is mainly presented in three distinct ways, i.e., as the progenitrix of the land of Tibet, as the anthropomorphic embodiment of the earth and as a form of

sGrol ma (Skt. Tårå). Plurally, on the other hand, the srin mo appears in one of the many groups of dam can (lit. ‘Vow-holder’) divinities subdued by Guru Rin po che (or Padmasambhava, third quarter of the 8th century) to the Buddhist Dharma so that they would protect it in a coral, albeit somehow marginal way.44 What links together all these powerful female images can possibly be found in the demoness’ role of generating and sustaining, protecting and nurturing the new-born Buddhist doctrine, tracing in the meanwhile the necessary mediation between past and present religious forms. Finally, given her

place in the folklore and imaginary since pre-Buddhist times, the demoness srin mo also enacts an interesting role in two main works of Tibetan literature, namely the Ro sgrung (Tales of the Corpse), probably diffused in Tibet by the arrival (1042) of paˆ∂ita At¥ßa (982-1054),45 43 R.A. Stein, Une chronique ancienne de bSam-yas : sBa-bzhed, 1961, pp 78-79. Translation in J. Gyatso, “Down with the Demoness: Reflections on a Feminine Ground in Tibet”, 1987, pp. 48-49. 44 In the Lha ’dre bka’ thang, the first chapter of the bKa’ thang sde lnga (the gter ma attributed to the

gter ston O rgyan gling pa, 14th century), “discovered” in 1347 and focused on the submission of lha (‘gods’) and ’dre (‘spirits’) in Tibet by Padmasambhava, we are told of three srin mo sisters of Nyang po, Dvags po and Kong po, living in the region of ’Phang yul North of Lhasa. They engaged in a

terrible fight with Padmasambhava, and “…aimed at killing him, threw [at him] innumerable sharpened weapons and produced terrifying phenomena”. At the end of the fighting “The protectresses of Tibet (Bod skyong), after having offered the quintessence of their life, were bound by an oath and they were given

the responsibility to protect a great treasure” (folios 32b-33b=pp. 86-87). The Lha ’dre bka’ thang has been analysed and translated into French by Anne-Marie Blondeau (“[[Le Lha-’Dre Bka’-[thang]]”, 1971). 45 The most ancient written mention of the Vetålapañcaviµßati in Tibet is found in the Chos ’byung by

Bu ston, in relation to a teaching given by At¥ßa (see A. Macdonald, Matériaux pour l’étude de la littérature populaire tibétaine I. Édition et traduction de deux manuscripts tibétains des «Histoires du cadavre», 1967, pp. 13-16). In reality, the date and the ways of the diffusion of the vetåla tales in Tibet are difficult to ascertain, especially

and the mGur ’bum (Hundred Thousand Songs) of Mi la ras pa (1040-1123), completed by gTsang smyon Heruka by the beginning of the 16th century (1507). In the first case she is portrayed as a totally malevolent and ill-disposed being, while in the latter she is endowed with contradictory characters, evilminded and with an ugly shape on the one hand, Dharma-teacher (and teacher of the yogin Mi la ras pa) on the other.

The srin mo in the Ro sgrung: chapters 11 and 17 The srin mo plays the role of the villainess in chapter 11 of the Ro sgrung, in a story that has been identified as a Tibetan version of the well-known fairy-tale of Cinderella.46 This story, bearing the title of “Story of the girl deceived by the Demoness”, is set in two opposite geographic places: an when one considers the many changes that the Tibetan collection introduces. The Tibetan versions of the Ro sgrung differ from their Sanskrit counterparts

as to the frame-story, and to the number of tales and their contents. While all the six Indian versions handed down to us present the same frame-story and contain the same tales in the same number (twenty-five), in Tibetan we have a long and a shorter text with two different frames, and not less than twenty different versions with a variable number of stories (thirteen, sixteen, twenty-one, or, rarely, twenty-five) for a total of sixty episodes in all (F. Robin, “Les jeux de la sapience et de la censure: genèse des Contes facétieux du cadavre au Tibet”, 2006, pp. 182-84 and R. Riva, “The Tales of the

Bewitched Corpse: A Literary Journey from India to China”, 1998). Moreover, the fact that none of the tales in the Ro sgrungs is contained in the Vetålapañcaviµßati has led to the hypothesis that the Tibetan collection could have been part of an unknown version (or of many versions) of a Sanskrit text not yet identified (see F. Robin, op. cit., pp. 181-84). The existence of a Buddhist version of the Vetålapañcaviµßati preceding the six we know, that would have been later hinduised by Brahmanical missionaries, was firstly suggested by A. Macdonald (op. cit., pp. 16-17). Furthermore, three episodes of

the Tibetan Ro sgrung not in the Vetålapañcaviµßati occur instead in three stories of the Kathåsaritsågara (The Ocean of the Streams of Stories), compiled by the great Indian poet Somadeva between 1063 and 1081, and this fact certainly gives an idea of the complex play of elements—in terms of both space and time—in the transmission of vetåla stories from India to Tibet (cf. F. Robin, op. cit., pp. 182-84). 46 For a translation into Italian of chapter 11 of the RG, see C. Gianotti, Cenerentola nel paese delle nevi. Fiaba tibetana, 2003. On chapter 11 cf. also A. Macdonald, Matériaux pour l’étude de la littérature populaire tibétaine I. Édition et traduction de deux manuscripts tibétains des «Histoires du cadavre», 1967 and “Cendrillon au Tibet”, 1990.

“above” (the upper reaches of the valley), where at the beginning of the plot two female dyads live—both composed of a mother and a daughter, human in one case, demoniac in the other; and a “below” (the lower reaches of the valley) where is the residence of the king.47 The narrative begins when the human girl goes to the two demonesses to ask them for fire. There she tastes the food that is being cooked: nothing less than human ears, which she takes for grilled

turnips. The mother-demoness then convinces the girl to kill her own mother, and soon thereafter the evil creatures will devour the flesh of that human mother. At this point, the poor girl enters into the darkest period of her life, forced to live with the two demonesses as the lowliest of their servants,

with the heaviest duties, hungry and dressed in rags. However, in order to help her daughter, the dead mother is reborn as a cow. Magically, she procures her girl good food and the splendid dresses with which she will stun the great king. The tale continues with the human girl meeting the king, and then

losing her boot—or, more precisely, the wool-shoe inside the boot (we are in Tibet, needless to say!)—which will be found in due time by the king’s omniscient horse. There follows the recognition of the heroine and her marriage with the great king. Yet, as occurs in many Cinderella stories (unlike the

better-known European versions of Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm), our Tibetan tale does not end with the marriage of the girl. After the birth of a son to the royal couple, the two demonesses, out of jealousy, devise another terrible plan: the true queen will be thrown in the lake and the

daughter demoness will take her place, without the king knowing it. Thanks again to the same omniscient horse, the queen is recognized: from a tear of the horse fallen in the lake where he is watering, soon a beautiful little bird appears, golden and turquoise in colour (alias of the human girl); this bird

gives precise instructions to the king and his ministers to defeat her “sister”, restore herself to human form and resume her role as queen. At the end, the daughter-demoness is beheaded, while her mother continues to live in the upper reaches of the valley, lonely, impotent and deprived of the only good

thing she actually possessed—her own daughter. Below, in 47 On the symbolical value of this story, especially in relation to some recurrent motifs of Western fairy-tales assuming a psychological relevance, cf. C. Gianotti, Cenerentola nel Paese delle Nevi. Fiaba tibetana, 2003, pp. 37-54.

the lower reaches of the valley, on the other hand, the royal triad (king, queen, and prince) is firmly established for all time to come. As a main character the srin mo occurs again in the 17th story of the Ro sgrung, entitled “The pig-headed diviner who subjugated the couple of srin by practising

deception”.48 This story tells of a couple of srin, husband and wife, who lived in the Land of Demons (srin po’i yul). Once upon a time, their whole country was threatened by a powerful human king, a true dharmaråja (chos rgyal) ruling according to the Law, whose qualities were so extraordinary that not a single bride could possibly have been considered worthy of him. Instead of openly fighting against the king, the srin decided to use a trick to defeat

him. To his kingdom (identified with the land of Tibet) they sent a couple of srin, male and female, who were skilful in assuming deceitful appearances. The srin po took the aspect of a big black yak with no horns, loaded with silver, copper and gold, while the srin mo became a beautiful girl, adorned with many wish-fulfilling jewels. Soon after the couple had reached Tibet, the girl married the king, and, as a consequence, the sovereign fell prey to a mortal

illness. One after the other, the five brothers of the king suffered the same terrible fate upon ascending to the throne and marrying the same bride. It is at this point that the diviner with a pig’s-head in the title of the story is invited to the kingdom of Tibet to bring the disease to an end. Thanks to his luck and skill, both srin are tied up and forced to show themselves in their true and horrific form: the srin po, two-headed with tusks; the srin mo

(presumably also two-headed, although the text is not explicit on this point), with tusks and long breasts that she carries on her shoulders.49 Then, in order to reestablish the Law, they are both thrown into the fire. It is worth mentioning here that, although the two srin are both flesheaters, it is actually the srin mo who plays the role of villainess, as it is she

48 RG, pp. 167-80. 49 The motif of the long breasts is also present in the third story of the RG, where an old woman is roasting barley, and, having no pliers because of her extreme poverty, uses her breasts to hold the frying-pan (cf. A.W. Macdonald, Matériaux pour l’étude de la littérature populaire tibétaine I. Édition et traduction de deux manuscripts tibétains des «Histoires du cadavre», 1967, p. 63) and “Cendrillon au Tibet”, 1990. In the same way,

the witches of Western fairy-tales, in accordance with the exaggerated sexual attributes characterising them, have enormous breasts wrapping around them or hanging down to the ground.

who devours the six kings one after the other. Killing only the husband (i.e., the yak) would not do much benefit to the country—the king says. In order to save the kingdom, it is the beautiful lady from the srin po land that must be destroyed.50

The srin mo in the mGur ’bum: chapters 4 and 28 The srin mo also occupies a relevant position in two chapters of the mGur ’bum, the 4th and the 28th. In the latter the female demoness is portrayed as a totally negative being, in accordance with the clear-cut mode typical of fairy-tales when representing good and evil: she is terrifying in her aspect, she is evil-minded, she has only negative traits. While meditating in a quiet spot near Ding ma brin, in

the snowy peaks on the border between Nepal and Tibet, Mi la ras pa was attacked by eighteen great demons (gdon chen). Leading the spirits of the whole universe as their retinue, they came to divert the yogin from his practice, and in their attempt to kill him by any means they shout: “Now the Lord of Death will devour you and the black rope of karman will tie you up in a flash”.51 Among this multitude, of particular note were the Five Flesh-eating

Demonesses, whose most terrifying, wild and fierce features distinguish their appearance from that of all the other demons. In the song entitled “Calling the Buddhas and the Ḍåkin¥s for my Army”,52 they are described as follows: In general, [all] the demons and the spirits of the phenomenal world are assembled here: none is left out. In particular, the Five Demonesses (bud med) magically emanated are there, displaying their repulsive form, seeking the

chance to harm me and to hinder [my meditation]. I see a demoness whose grin [is like] a skeleton’s: she hoists Mount Sumeru on her lap. I see one, red in colour, whose jackal face is dripping with blood: she swallows the ocean waters in one gulp. 50 See RG, p. 177. 51 mGur ’bum: NG, p. 455. 52 Lha dang ∂å ki la dmag sbran pa.

I see one, the most terrifying one, that has the form of the Lord of Death: she clashes sun and moon together like cymbals. I see one demoness (bud med) black [ash-smeared] and laughing loudly: she disperses stars and planets in the sky. I see a very beautiful one, she resembles a goddess, gazing on her can never satiate: she smiles at the game of seduction.53 Then, the Five Demonesses and the multitude of demons will only be appeased when Mi la ras pa, as a

fully realised master having gone beyond any attachment to the objects of senses, offers his own body to them. The demons, in return, will give him their teaching: the obstacle they constitute—they say—is but created by his own attachment to conceptual thoughts. Shortly after, gods and demons (lha ’dre) gather together and present to the Venerable a song entitled “Revelation of the Hindrances”:54 There are the Eighteen Great Demons (gdon) at first, there are the Retinue Demons (gdon), protectors of the Ten Directions, there are the Fifteen Great Demons malevolent to children.55 In particular, there are the

five Great Flesh-eating [Demonesses]: when they smell flesh and blood of humans, the cracking of their jaws becomes unbearable: these are the demonesses (srin mo) of mundane karman. We, gods and demons (lha srin) here assembled, have heaped white and black pebbles responding to the dice: a clear divination came: “It is your turn [to be slaughtered, it says]”.56 Then, in the following song, Mi la ras pa speaks to the goddess Tshe ring ma of the innumerable groups of demons that populate the different spheres of existence. In particular, there are five terrifying demonesses (srin mo), swearing at me with

abusive language. “You must depart from this life”, they say. Having been above all terrified by death, 53 mGur ’bum: NG, pp. 452-53. 54 Bar chad lung bstan. 55 On the contrary, in R. De Nebesky-Wojkowits, Oracles and Demons of Tibet. The Cult and the Iconography of the Tibetan Protective Deities, 1975, p. 310, the “great gdon who injure children” (byis pa’i gdon chen) are numbered as eighteen. 56 mGgur ’bum: NG, p. 455.

I meditate [absorbed] in the natural condition, the primordial and immortal mental.57 As a conclusion, however, he will then announce: I do not fear either life or death anymore.58 Incidentally, it would not be superfluous to remark that in the mGur ’bum the srin mo could be identified with the image of the

old woman, in accordance with well diffused Eastern and Western literary topoi that consider the loss of beauty of the female body as a general prototype for impermanence and its aging as a reflection of her natural wickedness. In ch. 12 of the mGur ’bum, entitled “The Second Visit to Rag ma”,59 when Mi la ras pa describes the many aspects of mundane life he has abandoned (i.e., country, wife, son, daughter, relatives, and so on), the wife is compared to an

authentic demoness (srin mo): At first, the sweetheart is like a smiling goddess: admiring her face is never enough. Later, she is a demoness (srin mo) with corpse’s eyes: if you say one word to her, she shouts two back; if you pull her hair, she seizes your knees; if you beat her, she brandishes you with a ladle. In the end, she is an old cow with no teeth,60 a demoness (srin mo) with angry eyes devouring the mind. I renounced fighting with [such] a demoness (bdud mo):61 For your young sweetheart I have no desire.62 Let us now turn to chapter 4 of the mGur ’bum, the last text to be presented here. The

yogin Mi la ras pa and the demoness of the rock Ling pa (Ling pa brag srin mo) confront each other in nine songs, five pronounced by Mi la ras pa and four by her.63 From a crevice of the rock

57 Ibid., p. 458. 58 Ibid. 59 Rag ma’i skor phyi ma. 60 Ba rgan so med ma. 61 The two terms, srin mo and bdud mo are almost interchangeable in this chapter. 62 mGur ’bum: NG, p. 287. 63 On the relationship of demonesses and goddesses (especially rDo rje phag mo, Skt. Vajravåråh¥, ‘the Adamantine Sow’) with rocks and caves, and the interesting image of soil and rocks as the body of the goddess lying on her back (gang rgyal or gang du

Ling pa, chosen at that time by Mi la ras pa as his meditation spot, the srin mo springs forth showing herself in various ways. At first she is a beautiful woman (bud med bzang mo) leading a black deer with a red man on its back (i.e., her brother, a demon, too), but later on she appears as a red bitch (kyi mo dmar po) that catches Mi la ras pa by his foot and holds him back.64 As the yogin asks her not to harm him and leave the place, the demoness entrusts to

him profound teachings about the illusory nature of demons, whose origins are to be traced to the habitual tendencies (bags chags, Skt. våsanå) of the subject. She says: If you, when meditating, concentrated one-pointedly, by the power of your strong habitual tendencies, and due to the original cause of the illusions of your mind, do not consider discursive thoughts as enemies, how could I, the Demoness of the Rock, become your enemy? … If you recognised by yourself the nature of the mind, [all] the unfavourable circumstances would become your friends and even I, the Demoness of the Rock, would become your

servant.65 From the very beginning, however, the yogin recognizes the truth of the demoness’s teaching, praising her harmonious song: Although I have travelled from country to country, never have I heard a song so beautiful! Even should one compare it with one hundred scholars, not a truth could be superior to that. Demoness, from your mouth came good words: they are like a golden needle, that sting the heart of my consciousness …66 ’gyel) see R.A. Stein, Grottes-matrices et lieux saints de la déesse en Asie Orientale, 1988, pp. 37-49. 64 The close association of female demons with

rocks as their dwelling place and, particularly, the connection of witches and mkha’ ’gro ma with white rocks (brag dkar) are motifs still present in the Tibetan cultural regions nowadays. Cf. H. Diemberger and G. Hazod, “Machig Zhama’s Recovery. Traces of Ancient History and Myth in the South Tibetan Landscape of Kharta and Phadrug”, 1994, p. 32. 65 mGur ’bum: NG, p. 232. 66 Ibid., pp. 232-33. tHe Srin Mo DemoneSS anD Her SubmiSSion 89

And shortly after: Suddenly the mindfulness of the original awareness has been awoken in me.67 Then, at the end of the dialogue the srin mo exists only as a voice, her body having somehow magically disappeared during the course of it.68 From the songs she uttered Mi la ras pa can recognise her nature as nothing other than a magical display deriving from his still deluded mind. The demoness’s power to injure is to be put in relation with the defilements accumulated in his own past experiences. The narrative ends—as usually occurs in the hagiographic stories of the mGur ’bum—with the submission of the

demoness to the superior Dharma of the yogin and her vow to protect and serve Buddhist teachings. Significantly, this happens when she recognises the absence of intrinsic reality in her own existence, which is represented by the terrific appearance of a repellent body never satisfied. (She, in fact, feeds herself with flesh and blood, and, as a suffering body, wanders through the villages of the flesh-eaters).69 Her repulsive form, as well as her malignant, mendacious nature, both caused by excessive attachment, fully represents the karmic retribution for previous negative acts of body, speech and mind, in particular for vows and sacred commitments not fulfilled.70 Conclusions: the characters of the srin mo in the Ro sgrung and in the mGur ’bum The srin mo appears, then, in the Ro sgrung as the typical female inhabitant of a terra damnata, a destructive and devouring Land. As a reverse character (anti-mother and anti-queen) she is mainly marked by her lack of something. For example, in chapter 11, the mother-demoness and her daughter are begging for food in town (lack of food); their terrible schemes for taking

over the highest rank the human girl has obtained are motivated by their envy (lack of acknowledged social position, wealth, 67 Dran pa’i ye shes tur gyis sad, mGur ’bum: NG, p. 233. 68 “A voice without a body…” says the Tibetan text (gzugs med pa’i skad gcig), mGur ’bum: NG, p. 235. 69 Ibid. 70 Ibid.

etc.); again, in chapter 17 the srin mo is described as having such long— and obviously empty—breasts that she has to carry them on her shoulders (lack of vital energy/life). All this evidence seems to be pointing to the destructive aspect of the feminine archetype. When refused or negated by the collective

consciousness, its image is likely to be projected as terrifying “diversity”, and experienced—to use a modern psychological term—as a dreadful “shadow”. Moreover the srin mo reminds us of other well-known ferocious figures of the Hindu pantheon, such as the dakini (female sky-goers), the måt•kå (mothers) or the råkΣas¥ (ogresses or demonesses), all linked—although in different ways—to the motifs of sickness/death or obstructed womanhood/ motherhood. They are

female spirits and demons especially dangerous for women and mothers, as they curse them with infertility or with the death of their children. More specifically, the voracious srin mo brings to mind those groups of Tibetan Buddhist deities known as ma mo (‘mothers’), a numerous class of demonesses whose name derives from sanskrit måt•kå but may have a pre-Buddhist origin. Bound by an oath, they were later accepted into the Buddhist pantheon with the

title of dam can (‘vow-holder’), and are represented as black flesh-eaters, empty-breasted, with dishevelled hair, holding a sack full of diseases (nad kyi rkyal pa), the magical notched stick (khram shing) and the black snare (zhags pa nag po) used to kidnap children. However, the ma mo sometimes assume a protective role, taking care of the world’s quarters, or being part of the guarding retinue of such deities as gShin rje (Yama), the Lord of Death, or rDo rje phag mo (Vajravårah¥), the Adamantine Sow.71 The image of a starving, blood-thirsty deity attributed to the srin mo in the Ro sgrung seems to be a recurring feature connected to the obscure

71 See R. De Nebesky-Wojkowitz, Oracles and Demons of Tibet. The Cult and the Iconography of the Tibetan Protective Deities, 1975, pp. 269-73. The twelve

mThu chen ma mo (‘powerful ma mo’) are supposed to lie in the twelve directions of the world (the four quarters and the upper and the lower part of each of them). Moreover, it is worth noticing that dPal ldan lha mo, the chief-guardian goddess of the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon and chief protectress of the dGe lugs pa school, is also regarded as the mistress of the ma mo. The retinue of Yama is formed by a sisterhood of twelve ma mo, that of rDo rje phag mo by one of three ma mo.

aspect of the Great Mother, who gives birth and sustains life, but, in order to continue to be what she is, needs to be fed over and over again. The hunger of the srin mo, then, can be viewed as expressing both the necessity and the implicit paradox of life, continuously recreated by nolife, or death. In the

mGur ’bum, the srin mo is represented as holder of death. She is explicitly indicated as such, and her attributes also point to the same nature: she is eager for flesh and blood, is dominated by rage, fury and desires, is marked by a horrible laugh and dishevelled hair. All these characteristics, alluding to her uncontrolled hunger and fury, recall what above all is constrictive in human life, that is to say death. Over death humans have no control

whatsoever. However, in the mGur ’bum such a terrifying representation is nevertheless associated with a more mature concept of the demonic, as the srin mo is considered only an illusory image created by human experience, being no different in its ultimate nature from Emptiness itself. And as a mental deluded image, she apparently undergoes the last of her metamorphoses in Tibetan Buddhism. She becomes a powerful agent of inner transformation. As Mi la ras pa

says in chapter 4 of the mGur ’bum referring to the srin mo: If one conceives a demon as a demon, it brings harm. If one recognizes a demon as voidness, it disappears. If one comprehends a demon as dharmatå, it is [the way to] liberation. If one recognizes a demon as one’s own father-mother, it dissolves.72 By encountering the demoness, i.e., the threatening aspect of one’s own mind already rejected, the “terrifying-she” assumes the power to ripen into a vehicle

of liberation.73 This constitutes, in my opinion, the psychological 72 mGur ’bum: NG, p.237. The verb zin pa, here translated as ‘dissolves’, literally indicates either something that is “accomplished” and “completed”, or something that is “conjoined” and “embraced”. 73 The representation of the srin mo given here, i.e., of a powerful female being that, by creating

obstacles to the practice of the yogin and by giving him profound oral teachings, becomes a turning point in his path to Awakening, easily recalls the mkha’ ’gro ma (Skt. ∂åkin¥). These well-known female sky-goers are described in Tibetan hagiographies (rnam thar, lit. ‘complete liberation’) mostly in terrific forms (especially when not openly invoked), and they play the role of teachers of uncomfortable truths about the narrowness of ego-experiences.

value of the last representation of the srin mo demoness in the mGur ’bum. It is a meaningful image of the fecundity of the terrifying, which can lead into life if one is willing to accept it in a motherly, compassionate way, as in the verses quoted above.

ReferenceS

Abbreviations NG Mi la ras pa’i rnam mgur: Rus pa’i gyan can, rNal ’byor gyi dbang phyug chen po mi la ras pa’i rnam mgur. RG Ro sgrung: dPal mgon ’phags pa klu sgrub kyis mdzad pa’i ro langs gser ’gyur chos sgrung nyer gcig pa rgyas par phye ba. Sources Bu ston rin chen grub, Bu ston chos ’byung, Krung go’i bod kyi shes rig dpe skrun khang, Xining, 1988. Rus pa’i rgyan can, rNal ’byor gyi dbang phyug chen po mi la ras pa’i rnam mgur, mTsho sngon mi rigs dpe grung khang, Xining, 1989. dPal mgon ’Phags pa Klu sgrub, dPal mgon ’phags pa klu sgrub kyis mdzad pa’i ro langs gser ’gyur gyi chos sgrung nyer gcig rgyas par phye ba, Bod ljongs mi dmangs dpe skrun khang, Lhasa, 1980. Books and articles Akester, Matthew 2001 “Khyung tshang brag: the ‘Black Demon Peering’ at Lha sa”. The Tibet Journal, 26, 1 (2001), pp. 25-34. Aris, Michael 1979 Bhutan, The Early History of a Himalayan Kingdom, Warminster, 1979. Berglie, Per-Arne 1979 “Mount Targo and Lake Dangra: a Contribution to

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