An Account of Padma-Bkod: Hidden Land in Southeastern Tibet

An Account of Padma-Bkod: Hidden Land in Southeastern Tibet

Harvard University

Padma-bkod is the most famous of Tibet's legendary hidden lands (sbas-yul). Located in a forgotten corner of south-east Tibet where the Brahmaputra River cuts a deep chasm towards the plains of northern India, this region is separated by mountains and dense fore就s. Surrounded by a formidable ring of high passes, the difficult journey to the sacred s辻es，of this hidden-valley is possible only in late summer, when the blizzards briefly abate, and a path can be cut in the snow.

Over the centuries the inaccessible ravines of Padma-bkod served as an ideal refuge from the invasions and civil wars which shook Tibet. According to ancient prophecies attributed tio Padmasambhava (8th cent.), the patron saint of Tibetan Buddhism, somewhere in this untamed wilderness Tibetans believed

they would find an earthly paradise; a pure realm abounding in fniits and self sown crops which would provide a sanctuary during the Buddhist dark-age. For the yogis of the Rnying-ina and Bka'-brgyud orders who held the transmission lineage of these prophecies, the journey into the Brahmaputra gorge became an obsession. Defying fierce tribes, wild animals, and a variety of tropical disease, they repeatedly entered this wilderness trying to open the doors to its earthly paradise.

The legends of Padma-bkod first spread in Tibet in the middle of the 17th century. Guidebooks to the hidden land appeared in the prophetic revelations of the Rnying-ma-pa gter-ston Rig-'dzin 'Ja'-tshon- snying-po (1585-2 / Kailash 1656) who lived during the turbulent reign of the 5th Dalai Lama.1 For 'Ja'-tshon-snying-po, Padma-bkod was the ultimate pilgrimage to undertake in this final dark age (kali yuga). Those who enter this,realm, he says, obtain the

'vajra-body' and dissolve into rainbow 丘ght upon death. Merely taking seven steps towards Padma-bkod guarantees rebirth in this pure realm after death. (Lam-yig: 13; 4-6). When the Qosot Mongols overran Central Tibet in the middle of the 17th century, Ja'-tshon-snjring-po appointed his disciple Rig-'dzin

pdud-'dul-rdo-rje (1615-72) to convert the aboriginal tribes of the Brahmaputra gorge to the Buddha's teachings and open the way to the hidden land. Bdud-'dul-rdo-rje journeyed to the kingdom of Spo-bo, situated at the entrance to the vast wilderness of the Brahmaputra gorge. According to local

tradition, he mapped a circumambulatory pilgrimage path around Padma-bkod, called 'Padma^Sri'. This master in turn passed on his teachings to Stag-sham-pa Nus-ldan-rdo-ije (1655-1708), a famed Rnjdng-ma-pa master from Kham who had settled in the kingdom of Spo-bo and discovered many hidden gter-ma teachings.

In the prophecies of the Rtsa gsum yi dam dgongs 'dus, Stag-sham-pa describes eight hidden lands which unfold like the petals of a lotus in Tibet, at the center of which he locates Padma-bkod, which he further subdivides 'into the 12 outer territories, the 40 inner ravines, and the 16 secret territories.'2

During Stag-sham-pa's time Padma-bkod was still an uncharted hunting ground wliabited by a fierce confederation of Mishmi and Abor tribes; vassals of the warrior kings of Ahom who had overran the Assam Valley and enslaved the Naga (John 1933; 34-5). In his visions, Stag-sham-pa perceived this untamed

wtMerness as the geographic representation of the goddess VajravBr^kr； Ms own secret tutelary deity. The ritual piigriniage through the See Sbas yul Padma bkod kyi lam yig dang sku tshab padma bskes gnyen 'gro dul dang skye bdun. dkar chags; in the collection: Sbas yul padma bkod kyi lam yig ma 'tings liung bst^m sna tshogs phyogs gcig tu bsdus pa'i gsung pod. Tezu: 1974; Ms. 1-35. Also see Ehrhard, 1994, for discussion of material related to this hidden land in the gter-ma cycle called Rdo-rje khro lod rtsal gyi sgrub skor.

2 (Yi-dam:521). See also Ehrhard (1994) for further discussion of Stag-sham-pa

Nus-ldan-Tdo-rje's guidebooks to Padma-bkod in the gter-ma cycles Yi dam dgongs 'dus rta mchog rol-pa, and the Rta-mgrin dgongs 'dus. For a general discussion of Sbas-yul including Padma-bkod in the prophetic revelations of Stag-sham-pa see Bia ma rdo-rje gro lod kyi mam thar, Delhi: 1985. The great bend of the tsangpo River (View from Zachu/Pemako).

Ait, Account of Padma-Blmd:A Hidden land in southern Tibet / S

'chakras* of her body followed the Brahmaputra river white symbolized her central channel, begging from her head in Tibet and culminating in her womb somewhere in the jun^es of Northern India.3 The outer journey tbnmg^i the cloud forest became an inner journey of sel^discovery, and the landscape itself became a rejection of the yogi's own *body-mandala* visualize in meditation. Stag-sham-pa's visionary guidebooks became the basis for the exploration of Padmarbkod and ihe identification of her 'cdmts* at the tum of the next century.

When the Dzungar Mongols sacked Lhasa in 1717, many gter-stons familiar with the prophecies of Padmasambhava believed that the wars signaling the . decline of the Buddhist teachings were at hand . According to Chos-ije>gling-pa alias *Dzam-gliiig>rdo-ije-rtsalf (b. 1682), the abbot of the Bka'-brgyud cloister of Ras-chung>phug in Yar-klung, the time had come to escape to the hidden land of Padma>bkodL4

Although this master was a reincarnated lama of the ^ca'-lnrgyiid order, he was particularly drawn towards the teachings of the Nyingma schooL Early in his career Chos^je-^ing-pa had already received a imq>hecy from the Rnying-ma-pa gter-ston Stag.sham Nus-l<hm>rdo-ije, designing hitii as <me who would open the doors of the hidden \anASRnam-thar:325;5Y As 血e Dzungar armies carried th虽 bloody campaign to the cloisters of sou伽eastern

3 It is unclear when Padma-bkod was first identified with the body of the goddess Vajravarahi possessing 5 'cakras*. Sle-Iung bzhad-pa*i rdoije (b. 1697) while travelling to Padma-bhxxl in the 1729 already refers to sections of the Rta>mgrin dgongs-'dus of Stag-sham<pa which contained the description of Padma>bkod having 5 'cakras.' see The Collected Works (Gsung 'Bum) of Sle-Iung Bje-drung Bzhad-pai-rdo-rje. Vol. 8, Leh: 1984. »

° On the identification of this master as the reincarnation of tiie former abbot of Ras>chung-phug, Zhabs-drung ^hi-med-dbang-po see the Bod du byung ba'i gsartg sngags snga 'gyur gyi bstan 'dzin skyes mcht^ rim byon gyi mam thar nor bu'i do shal. Dalhousie: 1976, fol. 322; line 2. Of special inter^t is the account of Chos-ije>glmg-pa,s joufney to Central Tibet prior to his escape to Padma* bkod, during which he is hosted by both the Kar・ma・pa and Shwa-dmar-pa hierarchs, and is also counted as one of those present at the enthronement of the 'pseudo* 7th Dalai lama. He is also reported to have gained a personal audience with Lhazang Khan, the Qosot chieftan and the then de-facto ruler of Central Tibet.

Tibet, Chos-ije-gling-pa and his followers fled to Padma-bkod from the high passes in the kingdom of Spo-bo: [During] a time of great unimaginable persecution of the the 'Ancient Teachings' by the Dzungars, [who were} the manifestation of [the Mara] Kamadeva, this master set his mind for the departure to the hidden land called 'Lotus Grove' (Sbas-yul padma 'i-tshal). Having arrived in Spu-bo, he endeavored towards opening the 'door' of the sacred place of Padma-bkod......having written clarifications and guidebooks, he put all

his visions into writing. Bestowing the religious pronouncements onto the people of Klo who were like beasts, he laid down the inclination for religion. The Klo in turn paid homage and reverence according to the customs of the country.5

The career of this master in Padma-bkod was cut short when he suddenly contracted a sharp rheumatic attack and passed away in the damp cloud forests of the hidden land. But even after his death, Klo-pa hunters of 'pure' disposition, reported seeing his emanational body surrounded by a retinue of female companions deep in the jungle slopes (Rnam-thar: 326; 1-2). Qhos-rje-gling-pa's lineage endured and became the bedrock of Buddhism in the Klo-pa inhabited territories of Northern Padma-bkod.

His reincarnation, Kun-bzang-'od-zer Gar-bang-Chi-med-rdo-ije (b. 1763) was born into a Mon-pa family in Padma-bkod where he continued to develop and spread the teachings of his predecessor called the 'Immortal Heart-drop' (Chi med thugs thig). Like his former incarnation Kun-bzang-'od-zer showed a keen interest in mapping out the sacred geography of the hidden land. He is remembered as a skilled Buddhiist 'wizard who 'reopened' the head and throat 'cakras.' of the hidden-valley, and brought into his following the people of Klo

5 Gu bkhra-i Chas Sinkiang, p・ 415:・・dga‘ rab dbang phyug gi mam

'phrul rdzun gar bas mying bstan mtha* dag dmigs med dji rgyas ‘debs pa'i tshe rje ldi nyid sbas yul padmaU tshal du phebs pa'i thugs gra bsgrigs te spu bor phebs nas padma bkod kyi gnas sgo 'byed pa'i thugs rtsol gnang! rim gyis gnas riang du phebs pas—gnas kyi gsal cha dong lam yig sogs mdzad nas gzigs snang thams cad gtan la phab! klo mi dud ‘gro 'dra ba de mams la'ng bka' ehos bstsal nas chos kyi bag chags 'jog par mdzad / klo> mams kyis kydng dad gus dang zhabs tog yul lugs dang bstun pa'i bsnyen bkur bstabsf …

and Mon 'by means of the four [pacifying, increasing, bewitching, and destroying] activities'529).

In the late 18th century, even after the fires of the Dzungar invasion subsided, the; legendary land of Padma-bkod continued to attract maverick Tibetan yogis in search of vision and adventure. The career of the Sth Sgam-po-pa O-rgyan-'Gro^'duI-gling-pa (b.1757), the scion of the aftcient Oia^rgya-ri family who ascended to the abba^r of Dvag-lha-sgam-po is a case in point.

Early in his career this Bka'-brgyud master also showed a strong predeliction for the rediscovered gter-ma teachings of the Rnying-m9-pa school. He received initiaticms fram the gter-ston of Padma-bkod Kun-bzang-'od-zer Gar-bang-Chi-med-rdo-rje, and further teachings from B4e-chen>r^ral-po the gter-

ston of'Brug-thang who further inducted the young 5th S^tm-po*pa into the apocalyptic ideology of the Rnying-ma-pa order. Imitated into the secret language ofgteZtg Hie 5th Sgam>po>pa obtained speci^e mshruetions 血 the necessity to 'open* the door to the hidden land and perform fierce mag^c rituals to turn back military invasions which threatened T^bet (Rnam-thar: 341; 5-6).

Then, when war broke out between Nepal and Tibet, several inauspicious omens appeared in the vicinity of Lhasa. People reported seeing a strange beast which was neither a tiger or a leopard, the cry of an elephant arose from the lake at 'Bam-ra, and the great flag pole at Dga'-ldan fell down (Rnam^thar

II: 197). At this time the 5th Sgam-po-pa travelled to the sacred shrines of Ceniral Tibet where he participated in rituals to repel the invading armies of the King of Gorkha. He then returned to Spo-bo, and with the support of the local king, Nyi-ma-rgyal-po, he attempted further to open the hidden sites of Padma-bkod (Rnam-thar: 342-3).

Reunited with Kun-bzang-'od-zer, they became the principle recipients of the teachings of Rig-'dzin Rdo-ije-thogs-med (1746-97), called The Seven Profound Teachings of the Lumious Web Opening the Gate of the Hidden land (Tshe-'grub 'od gyi 'dra-ba zab chos bdun pa sbas-yul gnas sgo byed). Collectively these three lamas became known in local tradition as the 'Three

Vidhyadaras of the Hidden land'.6 7 Their teachings, especially the gter-ma cycle of the Luminous Web, spread among the numerous Mon-pa clans migrating tb Padma-bkod from Bhutan at the end of the 18th century.

After" Rdo-rje-thogs-med's death, the 5th Sgam-po-pa ventured further down the Brahmaputra gorge to reveal the sacred site corresponding to the Goddess* heart. At dawn, on the 9th day of the 5th month of the Wood-Tiger year 1794, an acarya and a woman in ragged clothes appeared to him in a dream instructing

him to build a temple on a nearby hill in the shape of a rice heap (Rnam-thar II: 722). Rising above the confluence of Brahmaputra and Shumo -rivers this hill was located in the hunting grounds of the Klo-pa tribes. The tribal elders fearing that the drum-beating and conch-blowing of Buddhist monks would

scare away the wild game, submitted an exorbitant list of demands, which included a gift of cows, yak half-breeds, pigs, chickens, wool cloth, swords, knives, axes, copper utensils, and silver ornaments (Rnam-thar ".•723).7

6 For the list of 'sbas-yul rig-'dzin mam-gsum* see Dudjoms Rinpoche (1991). For an zdtemative list see Spo-bo Zq

7 While the conception of Padma-bkod as the geographic representation of Vajrayogini started to gain currency after the 17th century, there was not always agreement as to the topographical identification of her cakras. The Spo-bo lo rgyus, quoted by Ehrhard identifies Bod-lung-pa as the heart of the

Goddess and Rin-chen spungs as the navel cakra. This identification also accords with information contained in Gnas gsol bar cited kun sei phrin las myur 'grub by the 2nd Chos^ije gling-pa, Kun-bzang 'Od-zer Gar-dbang Chi-med Rdo-ije.

Scholars up to now were working under the impression that the 'cakras' of the Goddess represented precise topographical locations (see Stein 1988; Ehrhard 1991). What is interesting about Kun*bzang 'Od-zer's text is that 辻 identifies the 'cakras* of the Goddess not with specific places but entire sections of

the Brahmaputra gorge. The throat cakra, for example, not only covers Mngon-po gnas but extends all the way to Dga'-lde. Similarly, the heart area comprises a vast region begining &om Kong-yul, passing through Bod-lung-pa and ending at Rin-chen-spungs, wbdch is considered to be the begining of the navel cakra.

But it seems that there was not always an effort to correlate with past visions of the Goddess' 'okras'. Instead, each lama seems to have identified the 'cakras' of the Goddess with his own personal visual field of reference depending on where they settled in Padma-bkod. For a different topographical identification of the 'cakrsas' see Sle-lung Bzhad-pa'i rdo-ije, who following sections of Stagsham Nus-ldan Rdo-rje's Rta-mgrin dgongs 'dus locates Rin-chen-spung at the

Surrounded on all sides by valleys which fwmed out like the petals of a lotus, Rin-chen-spungs became the center of religious life in Padma-bkod. The guidebook of the Luminous Web describes the protector deity of the heart cakra of Padma-bkod as the Indian god Shiva (dbang-phyug), and in the surrounding

groves one is said to find a plethora of healing plants and wild fruits such as the delicious 'tamanta‘，which feeds up to five people (Lam-yig: 285)» In the gter-ma cycle of the 'Luminous Web' we also find what appears to be the first Tibetan discussion of hallucigenic plants. Near Rin-chen-spungs one is said to find a plant called the 'cutting of the kleshas'. By eating this it is said that one forgets food, and the 'knots' (mdud) of the bodies subtle channels are untied producing visions of various Buddha fields.8 Padma-bkod, with its perpetual rain, wild animals and fierce tribes may not have conformed to most peoples idea of paradise, but for the 5th Sgam-po-pa and his disciples it was the perfect 'tmitric' paradise. The journey though this untamed wilderaess was heaven and hell at the same time, and as such it became

a skillAill means for the testing and transformation of the human spirit in this dark age. Comparing it to Devikota, one of India's legendary tantric assembly grounds, the 5th Sgam-po-pa says 'the actions of whoever enters this place are beyond good and evil.'9 heart, as does Rdo-ije Thogs-med in the Tshe sgrub 'od kyi dra ba'i lam byang rnying gi mun sei.

8 Ibid. fols. 294-95: nyon mongs kun gcod rtsa mchog sus zes pa % rtsa mdud kun grol shing khams sna tshogs mthong % bza' btung rtogs pa yid la mi skye zhing % tin nge 'dzin rang ? rgyud la skye bar 'gyur % tshangs pa'i dbyangs Idan dus gsum mkhyen par 'gyur % A further description of these five

special plants occurs in the Rtsa mchog rman pa Inga rtags thabs gsal ba*i me long; in Sbas yul padma bkod kyi lam yig ma 'ongs lung bstan sna tshogs phyogs gcig tu bsdus pa 'i gsung pod; fol. 250-63).

9 E.ma.ho/ dus gsum rgyal ba'i zhing mchog gnas kyi mchog!/ o rgyan byin rlabs de wi ko ta'i sai / gangs can bod kyi Iho nub rgya bod mtshams! / gzugs can gang phyin las la bzatig ngan med 11 .... from Sbas-yul padma-bkod kyi lam-yig, a handwritten text in cursive script on damaged rice paper signed by O-rgyan Gro-'dul gling-pa. Photographed from the library of Ka-ba sprul-sku of Chamdo in August 1995 by the author. Deposited at the Sanskrit Library, Harvard University.

For the yogi initiated into the secret topics of the Mother Tantras, the physical landscape of Padma-bkod served as a geographical referent for deeper levels of meditative vision. The guidebook of the Luminous Web describe Rin-chen-spungs as just a rock shaped like a 'pitched tent', but on the Inner*

level it is said to be the temple of herukas. On the 'secret* level the hill is described as the transformed mandala of emotions and thoughts represented by the 100 peaceful and wrathful deities of the zhi-'khro tantra, and its 'innermos t secre t' reality is equated with the non-dual awareness mandala of the primordial Buddha Samantabhadra, the symbol of perfect realization. (Lam-yig: 265-66).

For the ordinary pilgrim who could not directly experience these visionary levels, the physical journey through Padma-bkod became the ultimate excercise in pure vision. The warlike aboriginees were seen as the fierce human gatekeepers of the hidden land, venomous snakes on the.path were considered supports for mindfulness, and the leeches were believed to be sucking away ones sins. Even the hunters inhabiting the Brahmaputra gorge saw their activity as a

sacramental rite. Convinced that they live in the perfect 'tantric' paradise, they came to believe that the minds of the animals they kill are instantly liberated and the venison is 'tshog-shathe symbolic meat offering of a Buddhist tantric feast.10 Celebrating the paradoxical power of the hidden land m a spiritual song, Rdo-rje-drag-sngag-tsal, the 5tih Sgam-po-pa's foremost disciple, calls Padma-bkod the paradise of the future Buddha Maitreya, praising her medicinal groves filled with rainbows and the sonorous voice of dakinis. At the same time, however, he describes it as a gathering place of fierce btsan spirits, teeming with tigers, leopards, bears, and poisonous snakes baring their fangs.11

1° On several of my visits to Padma-bkod, our Monpa porters insisted on bringing their guns to hunt Takin (Budorcas taxicolor}. According to their oral tradition the 5th Sgam-po-pa permitted them to conceive of the hunt as a sacramental rite. According to a convenient legend this beast is a gter-ma created

for the people of the hidden land by Padmasambhava as a source of food. I found no textual source which confirms this claim, but the Monpas tracked down this beast with impunity without fearing any karmic repercussions. To justify their act they point to a little space between the horns of this magnificent beast to show wh^re the mind of the animal is automatically liberated after being killed. Ma bzhengs lun gyis grub pa'i rang byung padma bkod chen/ ma dang mkha' 'gro rgya mthso snang stong 'ja' 'od 'khyil ba'il ma-'ong dus kyi tha ma las

The paradoxical power of the hidden land was probably best exempHfied by the summer pilgrimage to the mountain of Kun-'dus rddrs-sems-pho-brang initiated by the 5th Sgam-po-pa. Perceived as the holy abode of the Buddhist deity Vajrasattva, the outer'ci rcumambulation route cdf this mountain extended into the

territory of the 'black* ISlo-pa (klo-ndg), a ：term used to identify the unconverted Abor and Mishmi tribes still living beyond :ihe fray of Buddhism. For the intrepid and often naive Tibetan pil^iin the benefits of completing one round of this peak was said to equall 39 visits to the aneient Jokhang temple in Lhasa (Lam-yig: 202-3). Risking theif*1iV6s, every year pilgrims from various parts of Eastern Tibet attempted to circumambulate this mountainunder the threat of Mishmi sotows.

The 5th Sgam>po-pa's principal gurus incarnated' as his sons and immediate disciples, continuing the missionary work amohg tiie Mon-pai and Klo-pa populations of Padma-bkod.12 By the close of the 19th century, the Buddhist inhabitants of hidden land paid taxes to the kiiig of Spo in butter and pelts,

and he in return projected their villages against attacks from the

'phro 'jams pa'i gdan sal ma btsegs rdo rje bra dzongs dus gsum rgyal ba'i shing khams! og min padma bkod chen bsarn zhing snang ba'i skyid byung! rang sems mam par dag pa'i glu byangs mchod pa bid lol gang sngon nam mkha'i 'byings nas 'ja' tshon sprin dkar khyug khyug/ o rgyan mkha' 'gro rgya mtsho zhal

mjal gsung nyan lang Zang/.... From the O-rgyan Rdo-rje Drag-sngags kyis gsungs pa'i padma bkod kyis yon tan rdzogs pa'i glus byangs. Haxidwritten text copied from the library of Phun-tshogs-rnam-rgyal of Padma-bkod. jn May 1996 by the author. Deposited at the Sanskrit Library, Harvard University.

12 Bde-chen-rgyal-po reincarnated as Sgam-po-pa's eldest son Rgyal-sras Bde-chen-gling-pa who established his seat at the village of Yid-'ong-phel on the right bank of the Brahmaputra oppos辻e Rin-chen-spungs： From here he initiated the pilgrimage to the holy mountain of Buddha-tshe-phug. According to one

local tradition Rdor-sems pho-brang and Buddha-tshe-phug are known respectively as the 'father' (yab) and 'mother' (yum) pilgrimage sites. The 2nd Chos-ije-gling-pa, Kun-bzang-'od-zer reincarnated as another one of the 5th Sgam-po-pa's sons; Gar-dbang-Bstan-pa'i -nyi-ma. He continued to reside and teach at

the village of Dga'-lde, the traditional seat of the Chos-rje-gling-pa' incarnations in Northern Padma-bkod. Rdo-ije-thogs-med was also recognized as the 5th Sgam-po-pa's disciple Rdo-ije-drag-sngag-tsal . He continued to expand the gter-ma cycle of the Luminous Web brought to light by his previous incarnation.

'black* Klo^pa. For the Rnying-ma-pa order, Padma-bkod became not only a refsge fr^i fi^eign invasions and reEgious persecution, but a testing ground for Buddhism as a 'taming' force. The hidden land became the focus of an archet^al encounter between the 'civilized* center and the 'barbaric' periphery.

The Tibetans, however, were not the only ones obsessed with entering this wild frontier. For the last British imperial explorers Padma-bkod harbored one of Asia's last geographical riddles. It was into this nearly impenetrable region that the Tsang-po River dissappeared from the Tibetan plateau, amid speculation that it eventually emerged in India as the Brahmaputra river.

In an effort to determine whether the Tsang-po and the Brahmaputra were the same river, the Survey of India trained Tibetan speaking secret agents called 'pundits'. Equipped with dummy prayer wheels in which they hid their paper and tools, they were instructed to use their rosaries to count paces, and measure altitude by boiling water.13

The 'pundite'. failed to fallow the entire course of the river from Tibet to India, due to the hostility of the Klo-pa tribes, but their accounts convinced many that the Tsang-po and the Brahmaputra rivers were indeed the same. There remained, however, a further unsolved riddle. The river lost so much

13 The bravest of these 'pundits' was a Sikkimese man called Kinthup who along with a Mongolian ldma was sent to explore the Tsangpo gorge in 1880. He was equipped with a dummy prayer wheel containing the paper and tools necessary for making a record of his journey and was to use his prayer beads to count distances in paces. Once in the gorge, he was to drill information into logs and release them into the river to be picked up downstream by the Survey in

Assam. Having accrued a gambling debt along the way, the Mongolian lama sold Kinthup intx> slavery and was never heard of again. Kinthup escaped into the gorge, until his master's envoys caught up with him at the village of Marpung, near Rin-chen-spungs, where he convinced the local lama to buy him as his own servant. Then, on the pretext of going on pilgrimage, he' left several times to cut and release his logs. These went unnoticed

however, for the Survey had already Given up looking for them. Unable to follow the Tsang-po River all the way fr^n Tibet to India because of the hostility of the Abor tribes, Kinthup was forced to return home retracing his footsteps through Tibet. For the story of Kinthup see F.M. Bailey, No Passport to Tibet, London: 1957.

An Account of Padma-Bkod: A Hidden land in southeastern Tibet / 13 altitude in such a short distance between Tibet and India, that many geographers speculated that the unobserved sections of the gorge harbored giant waterfalls, surpassing even those of the Niagara.

In 1913, Captain Moreshead and Lieutenant. Bailey, the first westerners to enter Padma-bkod, set off in search of the fabled waterfalls. Their journey began from Mipi, where they encountered a group of frightened Tibetans searching for the hidden, land. Treating them for spear wounds suffered in a Mishmi ambush, Bailey writes:

Here in Mipi we had come upon these seekers for the promised land. But they had not found 辻.The exact geographical position of Pemako was imprecise. AU that was known was that somewhere on the Dihang-lohit watershed there was a holy mountain of glass and around this holy mountain lay fertile valleys (Bailey 1957: 35-7).

The wounded Tibetans Bailey encountered were part of a wave of refugees from various parts of eastern Tibet, escaping the depredations of the Chinese warlord Chao Erh-Fen.g! The first wave of about a hundred Tibetans entered the upper valleys of Padma-bkod over the passes at the head of the Dri, Matun

and Tsu valleys in 1902, where they settled among, the Chulikattas Mishmis from whom they bought land. Then in the fallowing years about two thousand more Tibetans set out from Kham, Der-ge, SjM)-bo and other places. Among tins exodus many were the followers of Rje-drung-'Jam-pa-byung-gnas, a Rnying-ma-pa gter-ston from Ri-bo-che, whose attempts further to reveal the sacred sites of the hidden land reached into India.

With the support of the king of Spo-bo, Rje-drung first settled in the Chimdro Valley in Northern Padma-bkod, from where he attempted to locate the geographical site corresponding to the womb cakra of the Goddess. His search led his party into the lands of the Chulikatta Mishmi in Arunachal Pradesh where he built a temple near the village ef Mipi called Dkar-mo-gling. Somewhere in this wilderness supposedly lay the legendary Lotus Crystal Mountain,

'Padma-shel-described as a ' show mountain like a heaped mandala.1 Around this mountain Rje-drung describes ' eight great valleys and many sub-valleys. Some connect to this mountain, and some do not. There is room for two-thirds of the world's population.. It is the thousand-petalled lotus island. It is the assembly which protects from evil invaders. It is th6 force that turns back disease, weapons and invaders. It is the weapon that kills the

cause, the three poisons, and the fruit. It 运 tha all-encompassing glorious citadel.*14

Rj&drung was forced to interrupt his seardi for this legendary mountain when the armies of the Kuomintang attacked Spo-bo, forcing the local king to flee and take refuge with the British at Sadiya in Assam. Leaving his party behind in Padma-bkod, Rje-drung returned to Kham to help rebuild his home city of

Ri-bo-che after it was sacked by the Chinese.. Upon arrival he was arrested by malicious Tibetan officials on truriiped up charges of sedition and imprisoned at Byang Stag<lung where he passed away shortly after. Rje-drung's followers in Padma>bkod were now left stranded in the wilderness of the Brahmaputra gorge without spiritual guidance or military protection

against the Klo-pa tribes. According to one account quarrels arose when the Tibetans began stealing from Mishmi grain stores.15 In the ensuing battle, Bailey explains that although the Tibetans were armed, the reflections off their matlock rifles made them easy targets for the Misled archers who picked them off with poisoned arrows. 'Experts at jungle warfare,* the Mishmi laid ambushes and set traps on the jungle paths and attacked the Tibetans at every

opportunity. They also set fire to the Tibetans' houses and crops* (Bailey 1957: 35-37). Failing to negotiate a lasting truce between the Tibetans’ and the Mishmi, the British expedition traversed the Yangyap-la and the Pu叫那mg-la, reaching the main Tibetan settlements in Northern Padma*bkod. From here Bailey and Moreshead entered the Brahmaputra gorge mapping the river upstream between the mountains of Gyala Pelri and Namche Barwa. Their expedition failed to discover any giant waterfalls, but they left roughly 30 miles of the river unobserved around the place called the'great bend*.

以 Rtsa gsum yid bzhin nor bu'i chos sde las sbas yul lam yig gsal bct'i sgron me. Fol. 235-6, ...'di dang 'brel dang ma 'brel ba'i % lung chen brgyad lung phran mang% 'jam gling sum gnyis shong ba yod% snogs stong Idan padma gling% mtha' dmag gdug can srung ba'i gong% nad "mtshon mu ge bzlog pa'i dpung% dug gsum rgyu 'bras bsad pa'i mtshon% kun 'dus dpal gyi grong khyer yin% in Sbas yul padma bkod kyi lam yig ma 'ongs lung bstan sna tshogs phyogs gcig tu bsdus pa'i gsung pod.

g Oral account of the headman of Shinku village in Chimdro (Northern Padma* bkod).

An Account of Padma-Bkod: A Hidden land in southeastern Tibet 7 15

In 1924 the famous English plant collector Francis Kingdon Ward once again attempted to determine whether such water-falls existed in the Brahmaputra gorge, but he was also forced to turn back short of about 5 miles of the 'great bend'. At this time Kingdon Ward observed, that many Tibetans firom Kham and Spo-bo were still coming in search of the promised land. He writes:

...the only thing common to the whole region being perpetual rain; snakes and wild animals, giant stinging nettles and myriads of biting and blood-sucking ticks, hornets, flies, and leeches...Why, it may be asked, this anxiety to settle in Pemako? It is because this is the promised land of the Tibetan

prophecy. This prophecy was to the eFFect that, when their religion was persecuted in Tibet, the people should go to Pemako, a land flowing with, milk and honey, where the crops grew of their own accord. Most races have their promised land, and such legendary places must necessarily be somewhat inaccessible, hidden behind misty barriers where ordinary men do not go... (Kingdon Ward 1926: 110-11).

Not everyone was so impressed, however. In Tibet rival sdiolars sudi as Rje-btsun Shes-rab-rgya-mtsho (b.1884), the notorious polemicist of the Dge-lugs-pa order, denounced the Padma-bkod guidebooks as lies, accusing false Rnying-ma-pa and Bka-brgyud-pa gter-ston of leading people to their deaths. The people of this land are, for the most part, of wild disposition. Dressing in ape-skins, [and] brandishing long swords they engage in the revelry of

dogs, monkeys and the like.....[the guidebooks] say whoever wishing to go takes seven steps towards this sacred place, even if he dies, he will be certainly reborn in this place. Ha Ha!16

16 Bje btsun shes rab rgya mtsho 'jam dpal dgyes pd'i bio gros kyi gsung rtsom pod gsum pa bzhugs so, p. 451 de'i mi mams phal cher gtum po'i rang bzhinl sprel $log gyon zhing gri ring thogs nos khyi dang spre'u sags rol du khrid de.......gangs can bod kyi Iho nub rgya bod mtshams/ gzugs can gang phyin lus

la bzang ngan med! gnas der 'gro *dod gom pa bdun bor na/ shi bar gyur kyang gnas der nges par skye/ zhes smras/ ha ha!/ Shes-rabs Rgya-mtsho himself was probably unaware that the spiritual patriarch of his own school, the 13th Dalai lama, had secretly dispatched a mission to Padma-bkod. According to Bha-ka sprul-sku these envoys were Dpal-*bar gter<-ston *Gro-dul-drag-sngags-gling-pa and Chamdo Phags-pa-la an eminent Dge-lugs-pa lama from

Such derisory remarks, however, did not detract from the appeal of Padma-bkod. When the Chinese Red Army forced the Dalai Lama to escape from Tibet in 1959, thousands of Tibetans again went in search of the Hidden land. Confronted with the hazards of travelling to this cloud forest, many became

disillusioned and headed south for India. Soon, Indian border posts were overrun by thousands of Tibetans on the brink of starvation, relating gripping accounts of their search for a legendary crystal mountain in a region of dense jungle separated by snow covered mountains below the bend of the Brahmaputra River.

Interpreting the hardships as a test for the human spirit, some Tibetans remained in Padma-bkod. In 1956 Bka'-gyur Rinpoche, one of Rje-drung's disciples travelled into the uninhabited valleys below the mountain Kun」dus-rdor-sems-pho-brang. Here, according to local tradition, Bka'-gyur Rinpoche had many

profound visions. On one occasion it is reported that he entered a waterfall emerging into a vaLLey filled with the songs of dakinis. He interpreted this as the 'innermost secret place* (Yang-gsang-gnas), but his followers were apparently unable to 'enter' this visionary dimension of the hidden land.

Succumbing to the hardships of the physical journey, the party continued further south settling in Tuting, under Indian Jurisdiction. A year later in 1957, Lha-brdong sprul-sku, another disciple of Bje-drung, travelled from Northern Padma-bkod with seven households to the uninhabited

valleys south of the mountain Kun-'dus-rdors-sems-pho-brang. In these fertile valleys they herded yaks and cows, and successfully Cultivated barley. After three years they were spotted by an Indian helicopter gunship on border patrol. Indian commandos were sent up to relocate the Tibetans.17

Today many parts of Padma-bkod remain unexplored. Many Tibetans believe that the time to open the 'innermost secret place* of the hidden land has not yet come. Access to this area remains difficult, for on either side two of Asia's most powerful armies confront each other in a border dispute. As a

Chamdo. This mission reached as far as Kila-'gyu-rdzong, after which it returned. At the moment, no further information concerning these personalities has come forth. It is hoped however, that sources will eventually be found to shed light on the 13th Dalai Lama's secret mission to Padma-bkod. Lha-brdong sprul-sku's family now lives in Tezu.

Cham dancer wearing Khyung (garuda) mask

A Monpa household.

An Account of Padma-Bkod: A Hidden land in southeastern Tibet / 19 hidden land, some would argue, Padma-bkod could not be more ideally located. ABBreviations

Rnam-thar = Bod du byung ba'i gsang sngags snga 'gyur gyi bstan 'dzin skyes mchog rim, byon gyi rnam thar nor bu'i do shal. Author: Kun-bzang nges don klong yangs (19th, cent.) Pub. Damchoe Sangpo: Dalhousie, 1976

Rnam-thar 11= The Autobiography of the Fifth Sgam-po Mchog-sprtd of Dwags-la Sgam-po O-rgyan 'Gro-'dul'-gling-pa (b. 1757) Pub. Chopal Lama, Darjeeling, 1985.

Chos-byung = Bstan pa'i snying pogsang chert snga 'gyur nges don zab mo'i chos kyi 'byung ba gsal bar byed pa'i legs bshad mkhas pa dga' byed ngo mtshar gtam gyi rol mtsho. Author: Stag-sgang mkhas-mchog Ngag-dbangblo-gros, Gu-ru Bkra-shis (19th centt). Sinkiang: Mtsho sngon mi rigs par khang, 1990. Sbas-yul = Sbas yul padma bkod kyi lam yig ma 'ongs lung bstan sna tshogs phyogs gcig tu bsdus pa'i gsung pod. A Collection of Prophecies of Things to Come and Accounts of Padma-bkod from the Library of Ri^bo-che Rje-drun of Padma-bkod.' Published by Tseten Doiji, Tibetan Nyingma Monastery, Tezu, Arunadkal Pradesh, 1974.

Rtsa-gsum= Rtsa gsum yi dam dgongs 'dus. A Collection of Nyingma Teachings Rediscovered by Stag-sham, Nus-ldan-rdo-rje. Vol. L D. Gy詛tsan and L. Lekshay, New Delln, 1972.

Bibliography

Bacot, Jean, Le Tibet R6volt6: Vers Nepemako, la Terre Promise des Tibétains. Paris, 1912. Bailey, Captain F.M., 'Reports on an Exploration of the North-East Frontier', Dehradun: Political Department and the Survey of India, 1913. ____No Passport to Tibet, London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1957.

Blondeau, Anne-Marie, 'Les pelerinages tibetains', in Sources Orientates 3, Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1960, 199-246. Brauen-Dolma, Martin, 'Millenarianism in Tibetan Religion,' in Barbara Aziz and Matthew Kapstein, eds, Soundings in Tibetan Civilization, Delhi: Manohar, 1985.

Dudjom Rinpoche, Jigdrel Yeshe Dorje (1904-1987), The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism. Translated by Gyurme Dorje and Matthew Kapstein, Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2 vols., 1991.

Ehrhard, Franz-Karl, 'The Role of 'Treasure Discoverers' and their writings in the search for Himalayan sacred lands', The Tibet Journal 19 (3), 1994. John, Major Sitaram,Where India, China, and Burma Meet. Calcutta: Thacker Spink & Co., 1933.

Stein, R. A., Grottes-Matrices et Lieux Saints de la Deesse en Asie Orientate, Paris: Publications de l'Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient 151, 1988, 37-50. Primary Sources arranged according to title

____O rgyan Rdo rje drag sngags kyis gsungs pa'i padma bkod kyis yon tan rdzogs pa'i glus byangs. Handwritten text copied from the library of Lama Phun-tshogs Rnam-rgyal of Padma-bkod in May 1996 by the author. Department of Sanskrit and Tibetan Studies, Harvard University. ____Spo bo lo rgyus, Xinhua: Bod-ljongs mi dmangs dpe-skrun khang, 1988. ____Gnas gsol bar ched kun sei phrin las myur 'grub. 2nd Chas-ije gling-pa, Kun-bzang'Od-zer Gar-dbang Chi-med Rdo-rje. Handwritten text copied from the library of Kha-ba sprul-sku of Padma-bkod in May 1996 by the author. Department of Sanskrit and Tibetan Studies, Harvard University^

An Account of Padma-Bkod: A Hidden land in southeastern Tibet / 21

____Sbasyul padma bkod kyi lam yig ma 'ons lun bstan snatshogs phyogs gcig tu. bsdus pa'i gsurt pod. A Collection of Prophecies of Things to Come and Accounts of Padma-bkod from the Library of Ri-bo-che Rje-drun of Padma-bkod. Published by Tseten Dorji, Tibetan Nyingma Monastery, Tezu, Arunachal Pradesh, 1974.

Ma 'ongs lung bstan gsal ba'i sgron me. A Reproduction of a Manuscript from the Library of Basgo Tongpon in Ladakh Containing a Collection of Prophecies of Guru Padmasambhava (being chapters 89-108 Of the rnam-thar chen-mo mthong ba don ldan,) and Related Accounts of the Various Sbas-yul from the Rediscoveries of Rig-'dzin Rgod-kyi-ldem-'phru-can and Others. Tondup Tashi, Leh, 1973.

Primary sources arranged according to author Kun-bzang nges-don klong-yangs (19th cent.)

____Bod du, byung ba'igsang sngags snga 'gyurgyi bstan 'dzin skyes mchog rim byon gyi mam thar nor bu'i do shal. Pub. Damchoe Sangpo, Dalhousie: 1976 Sgam-po>mchog-sprul O-rgyan-'gro-'dul-gling-pa (b. 1757)

______ The Autobiography of the Fifth Sgam-po Mchog-sprul ofDwags-la Sgam-po O-rgyan 'Gro-'dul-gling-pa. Pub. Chopal Lama, Darjeeling: 1985. Stag-sgang mkhas-mchog Ngag-dbang blo-gros, Gu-ru Bkra shis (19th cent.) ____Bstan pa'i snying po gsang chen snga 'gyur nges don zab mo'i chos kyi 'byung ba gsal bar byed pa'i legs bshad mkhas pa dga' byed ng® mtshar gtam gyi rol mtsho. Sinkiang: Mtsho sngon mi rigs par khang, 1990. Rig-'dzin Rgod kyi ldem-'phru-can (1337-1408)

____Sbas yul spy Vi them byang , 17 fols., in Byang gter lugs kyi mam thar dang ma 'ongs lung bstan , Sherab Gyaltsen, Gangtx)k: 1983. Stag-sham Nus-ldan rdo-ije (b. 1655) ____Gu-ru, rdo-rje gro-lod kyi rnam-thar, published by Ritul Rigzen Choegyal Rinpoche, Thubten Mindoling Monastery, Orissa: 1985.