ON THE HISTORY AND PSYCHOLOGY OF THE 'DAS-LOGvarious purposes. In his commentary on Karma-chags-med's Rnam dag bde chen
zhing gi smon lam, Rme-ri dge-slong notes that Maudgalyayana took two lazy
nephews of Gna' Kun-dga'-bo to hell in order to have them mend their ways. It so
frightened them that they eventually became arhants (p. 326). Maudgalyayana died as
a direct result of a trip from hell. On a trip there he meets the dead Kun-tu-rgyu
teacher 'Od-srung-rdzogs-byed who asks him to tell his disciples to follow the
Buddha, lest they meet the same fate. He does so, and the Kun-tu-rgyu accuse him of
blasphemy, where-upon they beat him and he dies of his wounds (Dpal-sprul 1971:
183--4). Byang-chub-Sengge notes that in hell flowers grow from Maudgalyayana's
footprints (X, A: 145).
13 For Chinese sources, see Frick, 1950; Seaman, 1976; Waley, 1960. While I have not
found Southeast Asian sources, see Keyes, 1982, for an interesting parallel found in
Thai ordination rituals.
14 See Evans-Wentz, 1960; Lauf, op. cit.; Poucha, op. cit.; Trungpa and Freemantle,
1975;Thurman, 1978.
15 On the relationship of text and context, see Keyes and Daniel (ed.), 1982.
16 Such statements are, of course, commonplace in all Buddhist introductory texts.
17 See Lichter and Epstein, 1982, for a full discussion of love and friendship as a Tibetan
"good" and their ironical implications as models of suffering. See also Ortner, n.d.
18 A Ice rig stong rgyal mo'i rnam thar in Two Texts of the a-lee lha-mo 'i rnam thar
Genre from Gnas Padma-bkod, Delhi, 1977.
19 Plum and Posner note that coma with psychiatric disorders is rare ( 1966), but Wit-
tkower and Prince (1974: 542) write that schizophrenic catatonic states are more
common in Asian countries: "The frequency of catatonic stupors in these countries
may be due to the teaching both by Hinduism and Buddhism of social and emotional
withdrawal as an acceptable mode of reacting to difficulties; the frequency of cataonic
rigidity and negativism in Indian schizophrenics may be due to a traditional passive-
aggressive response to a threatening world." It is to be noted here that various cul-
tures mold in various ways the content of hallucinations and delusions.
20 See Lati Rinpoche and Hopkins (1979) for an extended discussion of the dying
process.
21 See Ardussi and Epstein, 1978.
22 The question of whether 'das-logs really die, of course, is a cogent one. Answers to
this question vary, naturally, and cover a wide range of opinion. Some informants
regard the 'das-log as truly dead, and attribute their return to "a miracle of
Avalokitesvara." Others point out that they are really qiikinl or avatars of Ava!okita in
any regard so that perhaps natural law does not apply to them. Others are of the
opinion that the rnam-shes is highly partible and one can be all but corporeally dead.
They point out that, barring the extraordinary powers of sainthood, or super-natural
status, once Bardo has been entered a new rebirth is demanded; that the body of the
'das-log does not compose; and that the byang-sems do not emerge. Therefore, some
element of the life-process must be present. Most seem to regard the 'das-log
experience as a form of "vision" (nyams-snang) and point of the Sman bla 'i mdo
(Rgyud, ta: 429 ff.) in which the Buddha says: "In future times and lives, beings will
be completely afflicted by various diseases and chronic diseases will dry up and
consume their bodies' flesh. Their lips will become dry and they will just on the point
of dying ('gum pa Ia ni mngon du phyogs ). They will be surrounded by their loved
ones, kin and family. They will see darkness in all directions. Yama's people will
take them and the rnam-shes sleeping in their bodies and take it before Y ama-
Dharmaraja. The person, and the god born together with him and whatever there is
following him will write exactly all his virtues and sins and give it to Dharmaraja,
who will question him and examine him and will accordingly divide his virtues and