TANTRIC BUDDHISM (INCLUDING CHINA AND JAPAN)Gshin-Ije Chos-kyi-rgyal-po, who knows the means, who divides the
fruits of sin and virtue, who is the reliable authority for the belief in the
necessity to carefully calculate karma. To this I exhort all these world's
beings.^6I hypothesize, for reasons which will be more fully discussed below, that there is
an intimate connection between the 'das-log phenomenon and the missioniza-
tion of border regions.
The second effect of Central Tibetan sectarian policies upon the appearance
of the 'das-log literature is related to revivalistic movements in general. I have
mentioned that the 'das-log's central function is to urge mankind to take cog-
nizance of the basic tenets of Buddhism, and especially the salvation ethics of
the A valokitdvara cult. It is well known that soteriological movements often
occur during periods of stress.^7 In this connection some of the 'das-log biogra-
phies mention the depredations of the Mongols against the politically disfavored
sects in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Chos-dbang-rgyal-mo, a 'das-
log from a monastic community called Dge-'khor bla-brang in G.ya' -sgo, a
village in Srad, revives from her trip to the nether regions, and finds the place
deserted. "Recently, the people of the bla-brang, fearing the Mongols (Hor),
consulted about going south to Sikkim ('Bras-mo-ljong). The excess people
joined those from the bla-brang and have already gone south," she thinks (IV: f.
23b ). It is likely that this passage refers to Gushri Khan's incursions against the
Gtsang-pa in 1641-2 (see Shakabpa 1967, chap. 7). Additionally, the 'das-log
Karma-dbang-'dzin, from Lho-brag, meets in Bardo a young woman from Lho-
stod Sne'u-gdong who was apparently killed by Mongols (I, A: 88). This might
refer to one of the several incursions southward into Bhutan in the 1640s;
however, other references seem to point to later times. In another scene in Bardo
(lA: 176ff.), as a result of a nun's prayer, a number of persons are freed from
hell. But several amongst them are not, including a Gtsang-gi-phyogs-na Mda'-
dpon 'Gog-lung-pa, one Gangs-can-nas Dpon-mo (Cho(s)-skyid, and a Lcag-rtse
Gri-gu'i-zhol-nas Gnas-chen Bsod-namsdar-rgya(s). It is just possible that these
are veiled references to Khang-chennas and the father of the Seventh Dalai
Lama, and hence the entire incident might allude to the 1714 invasion of Lha-
bzang's troops or to events thereafter which saw Dzungar armies in and around
Bhutan. As the 'das-log biographies generally espouse Bka' -brgyud, Rnying-
ma, or syncretic approaches to A valokitdvara worship, we can see why perse-
cution of these groups at the hands of the Mongols, with or without the
connivance of the newly dominant Dge-lug-pa hierarchs in Lhasa, may have
been a cause of the 'das-log's call for a return to basic Buddhist morality.
The teachings of the A valokitesvara cult, along with other related Tibetan
religious traditions, were instrumental in the missionizing and revitalizing
efforts. The worship of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara is of some antiquity,
appearing first in India and Nepal in the early centuries of the Christian era, but
he is held in special regard in Tibet (see Snellgrove 1957). A popular myth