ON THE HISTORY AND PSYCHOLOGY OF THE 'DAS-LOGis it you have had to stay here until now? You were born a lama's son
and did not accumulate sins." He said, "Sister, I did not accumulate the
sin of desiring wealth, but since my parents and elder brothers held me
in small esteem, I did not seek out necessary religious things. Though I
am a lama's son, I've no understanding of religion. I was even forced to
become a cowherd for cattle that were not mine. I knew nothing special
about cowherding, except how to muzzle a calf and a few small skills,
and I pretended to be an expert in drawing blood from cattle. I did not
know sin and virtue. Having caught small birds and marmots, I roasted
them alive. In consequence of that there is a great heap of fire from here
to yonder bridge, where the worker demons have taken me against my
will ... "26Generally, the 'das-log encounters persons both known and unknown to him
who recite their names, villages and the history of their crimes. While we have
no way of knowing whether these individuals were given their true identities in
the biographies, it is certain that they were but loosely disguised, and such a
device must have been strikingly effective among those hearing the recitation of
the biographies and their "acquaintances" pleas for help. Many plausible sound-
ing names and common shady activities are thus reported: a woman who had
been the mistress of a local leader (1, A: 93); a craftsman who makes imple-
ments for hunting and warfare (ibid.: 144 ); a merchant who maltreats his pack
animals (X, A: 66); a man who is cruel to his serfs ( op. cit.: 136), and so on.
Likewise, others are variously rewarded for their good deeds, even though these
might not strike one as being overwhelming, e.g.: two men are saved from pun-
ishment because they piously fed a dog (X, A: 78). Still others, we learn, are in
Bardo for even more vague and unanticipated reasons. Some suffer not through
their own failings, but those of their kinsmen who have neglected the proper
funerary arrangements (XVI, A: 171 ). Even more incomprehensible are those
that have been the victims of what appears to be simple bookeeping error. The
hell-workers occasionally mistake a name and a family and fetch a soul whose
life-span is not yet over. These poor chaps can wait in Bardo for years, contrary
to the formal teachings which allow only forty-nine days, because their families
have erred and destroyed their corpses (see, e.g., III A: 319; XI: 42-3; XII:
583)_27
From Bardo, the 'das-log eventually is taken to the court of the Dharmaraja,
before whom he witnesses various "trials," and tours he!J.2^8 This is generally not
a systematic tour of all the hot and cold hells, but sufficient to meet the didactic
purpose of the literature. On the other hand, the "trial" scenes before the Dhar-
maraja tend to be quite extensive, leaving little question of their intent. In the
biography of Long-wa A-drung, for example, each case is presented four times:
each person, upon being questioned by the Dharmaraja, narrates a catalogue of
his sins and virtues; the personal advocates, the god and the ghost who are born
together with each individual, then present their cases; the Dharmaraja orders a