The Treasury of Lives

Lingza Chokyi (gling bza' chos skyid) was a sixteenth century delok—someone who passes beyond the threshold of death and returns to tell about it. She is said to have lived in the Derge region of Kham, although her historicity cannot be confirmed. Nevertheless, her life story—one of the earliest autobiographies of a Tibetan woman—became very popular throughout Tibet and Bhutan, having a major impact on the region’s literature and religious beliefs. Editions of her story have been found as far west as Zanskar,[1] and it became a model on which future delok narratives were based.[2]

The account that follows is a paraphrase of her story as it is popularly received.[3]

Lingza Chokyi was born in a nomadic family in the sixteenth century. It is said that in her youth she wished to become a nun and commit herself to Buddhist practice. Her family, however, would not allow her and she was obliged to marry and live the domestic life. She was never able to receive tantric initiations or meditation instructions. Her religious activities were limited to giving occasional offerings and prayers, and she is said to have suffered anxiety about not having the opportunity to pursue religious goals. One reason for this was that her husband was unsupportive and without virtue. He and her sons nominally followed the Bon religion.

At some point in her twenties or thirties, she came down with an illness that did not respond to treatment. Feeling that she was likely to die after having not made much of her life, she requested that her husband use her jewelry to commission funerary rituals for her. She also asked him to let her two sons become Buddhist monks and not to allow another woman to raise them. Her husband expressed no intention of fulfilling her wishes, though he deigned to sponsor a few minimal ceremonies for her.

She then embarked on what would become in delok stories a standard narrative structure:

In a state of unhappiness and anxiety about her impending death and bleak afterlife prospects, she entered the phantasmagorical and frightening process of her consciousness’ disembodiment. After a short period of befuddled terror in the intermediate state or bardo, she then saw a lama in whom she had faith who told her to calm herself, and that the frightening experiences she was having were not real but the projections of her mind. This helped her have perspective and not be overwhelmed by the experiences she was going through.

With her consciousness in the intermediate state, it is said that she saw her body as a fetid pig's carcass, although she did not recognize it as related to her body at the time. An alternative version says that it was the form of a snake.[4] It is said that she also witnessed her relatives and neighbors clamoring and wailing, which caused disturbing sounds and experiences to her bardo consciousness. Finally, her younger brother, Chodron (chos sgron), who was a devout Buddhist, said that they needed to quiet down and request lamas to properly preside over her body and perform the transference of consciousness practice. A Kadampa monk referred to as Gomchen Tukje Rinpoche (sgom chen thugs rje rin po che) was summoned and recited the refuge prayer and Vajracchedikā Sūtra and performed the transference of consciousness practice over her body, which she continued to perceive of as that of a pig rather than her own. Each time the lama performed a Buddhist practice, it gave her mind some peace, but she was mostly confused, frightened, and hungry. When she saw everyone else eating, she wanted food but was given nothing. Then, when the lama added some food to the fire and dedicated it to her, she felt better. She also found respite when the lama recited Avalokiteśvara's mantra and she perceived him in the soothing form of the bodhisattva.

Next, her consciousness began to journey beyond the familiar confines of her old room into the unfamiliar territories of the intermediate states. She was accompanied by another being that was not clearly described. The first thing she saw resembled a town teeming with people, some in decent shape, but others grey, anguished, and monstrous, roiling like a mass of ants. When she asked one of the beings where she was, she was told that this was where dead beings go and wait for forty-nine days hoping that their family members will perform acts of virtue on their behalf to improve the conditions of their next life. She recognized many of the people she saw as villagers, monks, and other figures from her own region. All of the people there were awaiting trial by Yama the Lord of Death and she watched several of the trials with great interest as people were sent off to be reborn in lives of suffering for past misdeeds they committed. These misdeeds included the killing of animals, directly or indirectly; slandering a lama; medical malpractice; robbery; and murder. Her mind then traveled to each of the hot and cold hells, where she witnessed the overwhelming suffering of beings there. 

When Lingza Chokyi approached the Lord of Death, she was informed that there had been essentially an accounting mistake and that it was not her time to die and she should return to her life and commit herself to virtue. Her consciousness then returned to her room and her family was still there, attending over the body of that same pig in her bed, which was dressed in her clothes. Just when she decided to pull her clothes off of the pig, she lost consciousness and woke up in bed, shocking her relatives.

She then recounted her adventure to her family and informed them that in light of everything she had seen, she would become a nun, along with her daughter. She also exhorted everyone she could to accumulate merit and wisdom.

 

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