ON THE HISTORY AND PSYCHOLOGY OF THE 'DAS-LOGlearn how to control. After a period of training, the supernatural is consciously
invoked to take possession. (2) Possession by a supernatural is believed to lead
to the displacement of the oracle's own powers ofperception and mentition. He
"lends" his body and voice to the supernatural. (3) Departure of the deity is fol-
lowed by a return to somatic and mental normalcy.
In the case of the 'das-log ( 1) the departure of the soul is entirely involuntary
and unconscious. (2) Instead of gaining a "god's mind" in an empty body in this
world, the 'das-log acquires a "spirit-body" (yid-kyi Ius) for his soul, which is
then conducted through the underworld. (3) His own soul is reintegrated with his
body. Instead of his usual status, he has acquired a new one. The 'das-log
resembles the archaic shaman in the matters of how the soul travels out of the
body, the initiatory "illness," and in several other ways. In this regard his
experience is opposed to that of the enstatic mystic and to the penetration of the
oracle by a supernatural. While the mystic, the saint and the oracle (at least in
the post-initial phase) all possess voluntary control over the onset of their vision-
ary experiences, in the case of the 'das-log the action is involuntary only. While
others may repeat their experiences, there is absolutely no evidence in the
biographies to show that whatever happens to the 'das-log happens more than
once in their lifetimes. At the same time, the 'das-log resembles the Buddhist
saint to a certain extent, but, again, the latter's actions are voluntary and they
travel bodily.
In this set of oppositions, the 'das-log, vis-a-vis saints, oracles, shamans and
mystics, occupies an intermediate position in a hierarchy of charismatic reli-
gious specialists. Oracles, as opposed to mystics and the rest, are not highly
regarded in this hierarchy, and shamans are not only confined to the fringes of
ethnic Tibet ethnographically, but are regarded historically by Tibetans as repre-
senting a stage of religious development surpassed and supplanted by, and
morally inferior to, Buddhism. This hierarchy is based on two factors: sacred
power and relative purity (see Tambiah, 1970). In the first instance, we must ask
what powers are there that the charismatic taps into. In the second, the question
becomes what intentions are involved in the tapping of this power and how it is
transmuted. The oracle and shaman deal only with what Tibetans believe are
low-order supematurals. Purity of intentions and high degrees of mental self-
control are only minimally involved. Their intentions are to treat and cure this-
worldly ills and problems. The saint and mystic, on the other hand, are heroes
that undertake the rigors of well-intentioned meditations and moreover succeed
at them. These are clearly directed at other-worldly goals. The 'das-log 's career
begins as an involuntary act and ends in full-fledged Buddhist commitment. A
further parallel may be discerned in the relationship between possession and
non-possession shamanism and Buddhism and shamanism. Most possession
states (as in the modem Tibetan oracle), and, as Babb (1982) reminds us, karma
are amnestic; the possessed oracle cannot recall his deeds during his possession
state, nor can one know his past deeds other than by their fruition. The archaic
shaman thus presents a handier model for the 'das-log inasmuch as they