The Treasury of Lives

Gelongma Pelmo’s life is described in more than half a dozen narratives which differ in important ways such that a definite identification of a single historical figure is difficult. Although it is possible that several figures existed, Tibetan traditions have regarded her as a single person with variations in her life story, which is not uncommon in hagiographic literature. This article follows this tradition of speaking of one Gelongma Pelmo with a variety of facets to her life. 

Her names are given variously as Lakṣmī or Pelmo (dpal mo), meaning "Glorious One," or "Good Fortune"; Śrīlakṣmi or Pelden Pelmo (dpal ldan dpal mo), meaning "Illustrious Glorious One"; Lakṣmīṃkarā, or Pelden Dzema (dpal mdzad ma), meaning "She who Makes Good Fortune"; Pelden Lhamo (dpal ldan lha mo) meaning "Glorious Goddess," and others. Scholars identify three to five historical figures by the name of Gelongma Pelmo and her variants.[1]

Gelongma Pelmo is held in Himalayan and Tibetan Buddhist communities to be the legendary founder of the nyungne (bsnyung / smyung gnas) fasting meditation and is credited with the authorship of several praises and liturgical manuals dedicated to Avalokiteśvara, Mahākaruṇika ("the Great Compassionate One," a form of Avalokiteśvara), and Tārā. Her ordination name is given as Pelgyi Lodroma (dpal gyi blo gros ma), meaning "Glorious Intelligent One," and she is also associated with certain tantric practices of Vajravarāhī Cinnamastā/Chinnamuṇḍā or Dorje Pamo Uchema (rdo rje phag mo dbu bcad ma)—"Adamantine Sow with the Severed Head"—as well as of sahaja (lhan cig skye pa), a multivalent term variously translated as "coemergence," "connate," or "innate," which came to be applied to the natural state of mind in which all dichotomies indivisibly blend.

Lakṣmīṃkarā or Śrīlakṣmī (bcom ldan 'das ma lak+Shi mi), which means "The Transcendent Victorious Glorious One," is credited as the author of various tantric texts, some of which deal with coemegence and with Vajrayoginī. However, these texts' colophons and the life stories contained therein show significant differences among them, such as her place of origin or her relationship to Indrabhūti (aka Indrabodhi).

The following account should therefore not be understood as a reconstruction of one, or even several, identifiable historical persons, but rather as a compilation of the most well-known elements of Gelongma Pelmo's life stories, along with a historical and literary contextualization, wherever possible.

Regarding the dating of Gelongma Pelmo, textual evidence suggests that the various historical figures associated with her name lived between the ninth and the eleventh centuries. Tāranātha mentions Lakṣmīṃkarā as the guru of Virupa, who is thought to have lived around the ninth century.[2] Alternatively, according to the fifteenth century Blue Annals by Go Lotsāwa Zhonnu Pel ('go lo tsA ba gzhon nu dpal, 1392–1481), Gelongma Pelmo transmitted the Cycle of the Great Compassionate One, Mahākaruṇika, to Srībhādra (dpal gyi bzang po) whose life dates are unknown. He then taught it to his contemporary, Rinchen Zangpo (rin chen bzang po, 958–1055), thus placing Gelongma Pelmo before or in the eleventh century. The first known translations of compositions credited to her were executed by Atiśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna (982–1054) sometime during the early eleventh century.[3]

Most life stories of Gelongma Pelmo tell us that she was of royal descent, born as Princess Lakṣmī or Lakṣmīṃkarā, who was either the daughter, the sister, or even the wife of the king and mahāsiddha Indrabhūti. Her birthplace is said to be Khache, the Tibetan designation for Kashmir. However, her father, brother, or husband Indrabhūti was said to be the king of the medieval country Uḍḍiyāna, which is often associated with the Swat Valley of today's Pakistan. Princess Lakṣmī is depicted as a strong-willed woman who refused to get married, despite marriage proposals by several kings from surrounding kingdoms.[4] Some versions explain that her aversion to marriage was sparked by seeing her prospect bridegroom(s) hunting and slaughtering animals.[5] An autobiographical account found in Lakṣmīṃkarā’s Guide to the Accomplishment of Coemergence (Sahajasiddhipaddhati), however, does not mention any marriage proposals.[6]

Renouncing her kingdom, Princess Lakṣmī ordained as a nun to pursue the study and practice of dharma under the guidance of a guru. Eventually, Bhikṣuṇī Lakṣmī—Gelongma Pelmo in Tibetan—rose to prominence and was elevated to the position of an abbess at an unnamed monastery. However, she contracted leprosy, which disfigured her skin, causing her a great deal of pain. The disease led to the loss of the usage of her arm, obliging her "to eat like an animal,"[7] and she was ultimately expelled from her own monastery. Many biographers explain her disease as the result of past negative deeds.[8] It had a cathartic function for Gelongma Pelmo, instilling an acute understanding of impermanence and the futility of saṃsāra. To cure herself, she began a fast and meditated on Avalokiteśvara, reciting his mantra, and singing his praises. Attaining visions of Avalokiteśvara with eleven faces and one thousand arms (spyan ras gzigs bcu gcig zhal), her body miraculously recovered, and she continued her teaching activities, propagating what came to be known as nyungne.

The main aim of the nyungne practice is to purify one's negative karma and accumulate merit. A typical ritual comprises two days: The fast begins after noon of the first day and lasts the entire following day. While practitioners engage in recitations, prostrations, and meditations focused on Avalokiteśvara, they abstain not only from eating, but also from drinking, speaking, and consuming intoxicants. It is common to practice the ritual as a community, including monastics and lay practitioners who will take temporary vows for the duration of the practice. The two-day practice unit is repeated, sometimes up to 108 repetitions, thus engaging practitioners in religious activities over many months.

Gelongma Pelmo is credited with the authorship of the following five praises and liturgical manuals dedicated to Avalokiteśvara preserved in the Tibetan Canon:

• Lokeśvarastotra ('jig rten dbang phyug la bstod pa), Toh 2729
• Bhaṭṭārakāryaikā­daśa­mukhāvalokiteśvara­sādhana (rje btsun 'phags pa spyan ras gzigs dbang phyug zhal bcu gcig pa'i sgrub thabs), Toh 2737
• Āryāvalokiteśvarasya stotra (phags pa spyan ras gzigs dbang phyug la bstod pa), Toh 2738
• Āryāvalokiteśvara­stotra ('phags pa spyan ras gzigs dbang phyug gi bstod pa), Toh 2739
• Bhaṭṭāraka­mahākāruṇika­stotra (rje btsun thugs rje chen po la bstod pa), Toh 2740

The lineage of the fasting meditation on Avalokiteśvara lineage varies in different sources. According to Go Lotsāwa, it went from Gelongma Pelmo to the Indian Paṇḍita Jñānabhadra and further to the Nepalese scholar Belpo Peñaba.[9] Zaya Paṇḍita (dza ya paN+Di ta blo bzang 'phrin las, 1642–1715) adds in Paṇḍita Candrakumāra (zla ba gzhon nu) before Jñanabhadra.[10] The commentarial tradition of Avalokiteśvara called the Cycle of Mahākaruṇikā, the Great Compassionate One, was transmitted to Srībhādra, Rinchen Zangpo and Atiśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna.

Gelongma Pelmo's life stories contain another narrative line that depicts her as a tantric practitioner of sahaja (lhan gcig skye pa), or coemergence, and the Cinnamastā/ Chinnamuṇḍā form of Vajrayoginī with a severed head (dbu bcad ma), by which she attained the level of a mahāsiddha. Some narratives give these tantric activities following her miraculous healing through nyungne, whereas others present her as a tantric adept without any such connection. In the first case, the tantric narrative begins with an initiation the leprosy-stricken and ostracized Gelongma Pelmo received in a vision. Therein, King Indrabhūti appeared with a crystal vase, pouring water of Mahākāruṇika Avalokiteśvara into the crown of her head, soothing her pain. He instructed her to use the illness as the motivating force for her practice and to focus on the sādhana of eleven-faced Avalokiteśvara. Her spiritual progress was further accompanied by visions of Mañjuśrī, Tārā, red padma ḍākinīs, protectors, various deities of the Kriyātantra, and, finally, that of the eleven-faced, thousand-arm and thousand-eye Avalokiteśvara.

A characteristic feature of her turn to tantric practice is the story of her miraculous severing and rejoining of her head. Having been accused of transgressing her monastic vows through tantric practice – the details of the story vary in terms of the actual transgression – she was forced to demonstrate her superior realization of an eighth-level bodhisattva by means of a miracle.[11] She cut off her own head, whereupon the severed head proclaimed that it could only rejoin her body if she had kept her vows intact. The head immediately did so, proving her purity and spiritual superiority as a siddha.[12] The trope of the female siddha performing the miracle of cutting off her own head is not uncommon in siddha literature, being related to the practice of Vajrayoginī with a severed head.

Other narratives tell of the life of a Lakṣmī/ṃkarā without any reference to the nyungne narrative. In Abhayadatta's twelfth-century collection of the biographies of eighty-four mahāsiddhas (Caturaśītisiddhapravṛtti), we find Mahāsiddha Lakṣmīṃkarā as the sister of Indrabhūti. She feigns insanity to evade marriage and goes on to becomes an accomplished adept. Alternatively, in an autobiographical account found in the Guide to the Accomplishment of Coemergence (Sahajasiddhipaddhati), Lakṣmīṃkarā does not fight any marriage proposals, but does pursue the path of a tantrika, and eventually even becomes the teacher of her elder brother Indrabhūti. Among the tantric texts attributed to Lakṣmī’s authorship preserved in the Tibetan canon, only the first is extant also in Sanskrit:

• Advaya­siddhi­sādhana­nāma (gnyis su med par grub pa'i sgrub thabs zhes bya ba, A Sādhana Establishing Non-duality), Toh 2220
• *Sahajasiddhipaddhati (lhan cig skyes grub kyi gzhung 'grel, Guide to the Accomplishment of Coemergence), Toh 2261
• *Chinnamuṇḍavajravārāhīsādhana (rdo rje phag mo dbu bcad ma'i sgrub thabs, Sādhana of the Vajra Sow with the Severed Head), Toh 1554
• *Vajrayoginīsādhana (rdo rje rnal ʼbyor ma'i sgrub pa'i thabs, Sādhana of Vajrayoginī), Toh 1547
• *Pañcakramaṭīkākramārthaprakāśikānāma (rim pa lnga’i don gsal bar byed pa zhes bya ba, a commentary on Ārya Nāgārjuna’s Pañcakrama called Clarifying the Five Stages), Toh 1842

No narratives of the life of Gelongma Pelmo include details of her death. However, relics of Gelongma Pelmo are documented in Zhalu Monastery (zhwa lu dgon): her liver (sku mchin) is believed to be inside an image of Mahākaruṇika Jinasāgara (thugs chen rgyal ba rgya mtsho) and other relics in a medicinal image (sman sku) of Avalokiteśvara.[13]

 

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