ON THE HISTORY AND PSYCHOLOGY OF THE 'DAS-LOGpossession states, see Bourguignon, 1968, 1973 and Sargent, 1974. For reviews of the
literature see the papers in Hitchcock and Jones, 1976, esp. those by Paul and
Rinhard; and Nowak and Durrant, 1977. For shamans in the Tibetan culture area, see
also Hoffman, 1972; Paul, 1971 and 1982, Ortner, 1978 and n. d.; Peters, 1982. See
also Durrant, 1979 and Obeyesekere, 1981 for interesting comparisons in other Asian
cultural areas.
32 See also Cameron, 1963: 362-3 on regression in dissociative reactions; see also
Prince Savage, 1972 for an excellent review of the literature.
33 It might be asked why the 'das-log 's regression is only partial. Regression to a more
archaic state in which all objects become estranged or the distinction of self and object
were entirely lost would result in either schizoid self-destruction or a mystical enstasis.
Neither of these is apparent in the biographical material. While 'das-logs exhibit some
signs of the schizoid condition, their partial regression makes it possible for them to
become reconstituted through the reactivation of primitive ego components.
34 Here the question is: who is it that really wants to leave, the separating ego or the
maternal figure. The answer is, of course, to be sought in the ambivalence of the rap-
prochement stage. We might also note that notions of split female imagos also occur
in the bar-do writings: The Mani-bka '-'bum (p. 437) says that "in the bar-do of death,
it is like a nephew going to a house of an unkind aunt (a-ne)."
35 For a full study of this figure, see Paul, 1982, chaps. 5 & 6. This view also concords
with Paul's statements (1971: 195 ff) that in Tibetan cultures, fathers are remote and
powerful, but essentially benevolent, figures. The biographies are notable for their
absence of references to fathers, except as they occur in the figure of the Dharmaraja
and in vague reference to parents.
We also note the difference of the 'das-log's psychological experience and that of
the saint, such as Maudgalyayana and Guru Chos-'dbang, who visits hell. In the
latters' case, we are witnessing a patent Oedipal drama. The texts imply that their
mothers are implicated in the death of their fathers, who leave the mothers to the sons
to be looked after. However, the sons, both juveniles cannot adequately fill their
fathers' shoes, and so the mothers die. Oedipal guilt drives them to rescue the 'bad
mothers' to complete their fathers' wishes, and in both cases the phallic symbolism of
beating down the doors of hell with staffs (in Maudgalyayana's case, borrowed from
the Buddha, the ultimate father) is evident.
36 This model of inside/outside is, of course, based on the Za ma tog. See also, e.g., I, A:
194 ff.; 347 ff.; III, A: 280; IX, B: f. 34a ff.; X, A: 240 ff.
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