Tri Gyelmotsen (khri rgyal mo btsan), known also as Tri Gyel Mangmotsen (khri rgyal mang mo btsan) was a member of the Dro clan ('bro). She was married to the Tibetan emperor Tri Songdetsen (khri srong lde'u btsan, 742–796). It appears that she had a son, possibly in 760, who died young.[1]
She was a patron of a temple at Samye (bsam yas) named Gegye Jema Temple (dge rgyas bye ma gling). That temple is either no longer extant, or its name was changed. She donated funds for a copper roof and metal statues, cast in western Tibet, including possibly an Amitāyus with eight associated deities.[2] She is generally believed to be the queen who donated a bell still hanging at Samye, most likely cast by Chinese craftsmen, the inscription of which reads:
Queen Gyelmotsen, the mother and her son, had this bell made for the worship of the Three Jewels of the ten directions and pray that by the power of that merit the divine king Tri Songdetsen, father, son, and consort, may be endowed with the harmonious sound of the sixty attributes of the voice of the Buddha and attain supreme enlightenment.[3]
She is considered the first Tibetan woman to receive Buddhist ordination. Her preceptor was a Chinese monk, possibly Hvashang Mahāyāna (hwa shang ma hA yA na; Ch: Heshang Moheyan 和尚摩訶衍), or a monk whose Tibetan name is given as the abbot Barana (mkhan po sba ra sna)[4]. Her ordination name was Jangchub Je (byang chub rje). Early Tibetan sources describe her as devout and dedicated to morality.[5] Her husband's maternal aunt and thirty other noble ladies also became nuns. Her ordination appears to have been occasioned in part by the death of her son.[6]
She is said to have been present at the so-called Samye Debate of the late eighth century when the Indian monk Kamalaśīla and Moheyan presented the relative merits of the Indian, or "gradual path" and the Chinese, or "sudden path" in a debate. The Testimony of the Ba Clan ('ba'/sba'/dba' bzhed) places her in the rows of those supporting the sudden path. [7] Tibetan sources are not unified on the identity of the victor, and in any case contemporary scholars have argued that rather than a formal debate, representatives from Indian and Chinese Buddhist traditions were in conversation in Tibet over a period of time. Contrary to popular narratives, the Chinese tradition does not appear to have been suppressed after the king is said to have declared his partiality for the Indian tradition, for Jangchub Je and presumably her fellow nuns ordained in the Chinese tradition remained in positions of influence. During the reign of her husband's son Tri Desongtsen (khri lde srong brtsan) she sponsored a second bell, much larger than the first, at Trandruk (khra 'brug), again most likely cast by Chinese craftsmen. In the inscription she is identified by her ordination name.[8]
She is also credited with initiating a set of laws known as the "Droza Child" ('bro bza' bu chung), the precise nature of which is not entirely clear. Uebach translates these as "Men should do male obeisance and women should do female obeisance" and, "The Foundation for obtaining wealth is to mark the field with border stones and to balance autumn and spring."[9]
According to Konchok Gyatso (don mchog rgya mtsho) she composed a prayer which is preserved in the Tengyur.[10]
[1] Richardson, p. 32.
[2] Uebach, p. 42; Dkon mchog rgya mtsho, p. 31.
[3] Richardson, p. 35, Uebach, p. 41. See also Tucci, p. 69; Iwao, Hill, and Takeuchi, p. 70; and Doney, pp. 126–129.
[4] Dkon mchog rgya mtsho, p. 31.
[5] Uebach, p. 42; Demiéville, p. 25–33,
[6] Richardson, p. 32.
[7] Pasang Wangdu and Diemberger, p. 79; Uebach p. 42.
[8] Richardson, p. 83. See also Iwao, Hill, and Takeuchi, p. 70; Doney, pp. 129–134; and Sørensen, Hazod, and Tsering Gyelbo, pp. 102–103 and 159–161, where they raise the possibility that the Jangchub of the Trandruk bell is a different woman.
[9] Skyes pa la pho phyag bud med la mo phyag bslabs and phyag pos bun gtong ba / zhing la mo rdo btsugs pa / ston dpyid kyi bar kha mnyam pa rnams mdzad. Uebach, p. 42; Dkon mchog rgya mtsho, p. 31; Hazod, pp. 292–293.
[10] Dkon mchog rgya mtsho, p. 31.
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Bibliography
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