The tradition of severance, like that of pacification,
is commonly classified among eight important tantric
traditions and transmission lineages that spread
throughout Tibet—the so-called eight great chariot-
like lineages of achievement (sgrub brgyud shing rta
chen po brgyad), a system that prefigures the develop-
ment of a fourfold sectarian division often noted in
writings on Tibetan Buddhism. Ma gcig lab sgron her-
self described severance as a practice that severs (gcod)
attachment to one’s body, dualistic thinking, and con-
ceptions of hope and fear. Although usually practiced
by solitary yogins in isolated and frightening locations,
severance liturgies are also performed by monastic as-
semblies, both accompanied by the ritual music of
hand drum and human thigh-bone trumpet. The med-
itation, rooted in the theory of the prajñaparamitaand
mahamudra,also involves the visualized offering of the
adept’s body—flesh, blood, bones, and organs—as
food for a vast assembly of beings, including local spir-
its and demons.
Ma gcig lab sgron is revered in Tibet as a DAKINI
goddess, an emanation of the Great Mother (Yum chen
mo) and the bodhisattva Tara. Her reincarnations have
also been recognized in contemporary individuals, in-
cluding the former abbess of the important Shug gseb
Nunnery near Lhasa, Rje btsun Rig ’dzin chos nyid
zang mo (1852–1953). Ma gcig lab sgron remains a pri-
mary Tibetan example of the ideal female practitioner
and her tradition of severance continues to be widely
employed among Tibetan Buddhist practitioners, both
lay and monastic, of all sectarian affiliations.
See also:PrajñaparamitaLiterature; Tibet; Women
Bibliography
Edou, Jérôme. Machig Labdrön and the Foundations of Chöd.
Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 1996.
Gyatso, Janet. “The Development of the Gcod Tradition.” In
Soundings in Tibetan Civilization,ed. Barbara Nimri Aziz
and Matthew Kapstein. Delhi: Manohar, 1985.
Roerich, George N., trans. and ed. The Blue Annals,2 vols. Cal-
cutta: Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1949. Reprint, New
Delhi: Motilal Benarsidass, 1989.
ANDREWQUINTMAN
MAHABODHI TEMPLE
The history of Mahabodhi, the temple located at the
site of the Buddha’s enlightenment at BODHGAYA, is
a contested one. According to the Chinese pilgrim
XUANZANG(ca. 600–664 C.E.), the imposing structure
visible during his lifetime was built over a smaller tem-
ple erected by King AS ́OKA. A Bharhut medallion shows
a circular open structure enclosing the diamond throne
and the bodhi tree above it. While the As ́okan pillar
beside it suggests that it may represent the original
As ́okan shrine, archaeological evidence for the latter is
inconclusive. The large stone slab resembling the dia-
mond throne of the Bharhut relief recovered from the
ruins might well be a conscious archaism.
The structural temple Xuanzang describes probably
dates from the third to fifth centuries C.E. (late Kushan
and Gupta dynasties). Myriads of tiered niches hous-
ing golden figures covered its soaring 170-foot high
tower of whitewashed brick. Stringed pearl and celes-
tial sages decorated its walls. A three-storied jeweled
pavilion with projecting eaves abutted the east wall.
Niches with ten-foot high silver figures of the bo-
dhisattvas MAITREYAand Avalokites ́vara flanked the
outside gate, while a Buddha image twice that size oc-
cupied the sanctuary’s massive diamond throne. The
Buddha’s earth-touching gesture (MUDRA) represented
the moment when the Buddha called the earth to wit-
ness his eligibility for enlightenment and MARAwas
defeated. The new structure necessitated the removal
of the bodhi tree from the sanctuary to a location out-
side the temple, which Gupta inscriptions called a ma-
hagandhakutl,or the great fragrant chamber where the
Buddha resides. Thus, in Bodh Gayaby the fifth cen-
tury, the bodhi tree as the primary locus of the Bud-
dha’s living presence was replaced by his residence,
throne, and image.
The present Mahabodhi temple is a late nineteenth-
century restoration of dubious authenticity. It has a tall
central tower with a high arch over the entrance and
identical smaller towers on each of its four corners. Ev-
idence from India, Burma, and Thailand indicates that
corner towers were present before the eleventh cen-
tury. This evidence consists of a small eleventh-
century model of the Mahabodhi from eastern India
and of its four Burmese and Thai re-creations begin-
ning in the eleventh century. In referencing the direc-
tions and the four continents, the corner towers
intensify the central tower’s kinship with Mount
Sumeru, thereby reinforcing the seat of enlighten-
ment’s increasing importance over the tree at Bodh
Gaya. By contrast, in Sri Lanka the bodhi tree at
Anuradhapura remains the prime relic of the enlight-
enment. No major enclosed structure has diminished
or usurped its primacy as one of Sri Lanka’s two ma-MAHABODHITEMPLE