ON THE HISTORY AND PSYCHOLOGY OF THE 'DAS-LOGCertainly, the doctrines which the 'das-log preach are standard Mahayana fare.
Cognitively, there is nothing new in what they say, but, as Weber maintains,
they exhibit an equally important noncognitive qualification: a renewed and
special zeal coming from a special personal experience. The questions I wish to
ask here are what are the properties of this experience that cause the 'das-log to
undergo such a radical personal transformation? What are the properties of the
'das-log's message that make it an effective didactic device?^3
The 'das-log biographies are more than simple devices designed to teach
Buddhism to the masses; they are complicated syntheses of various teaching tra-
ditions and historical movements in Tibet. Most of the biographies appear to
date from the early sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth centuries, a period which saw
intense internal missionizing and sectarian popularization in Tibet. During the
previous 150 years, and continuing into the 'das-log period, a number of
prophets (gter-ston) lay claim to the discovery of new tantric ritual cycles, many
of which incorporated local supernaturals and ritual practices, which purportedly
had been concealed by the mythohistorical figure Padmasambhava in the eighth
century for the renewal of Buddhism in degenerate future times. This was also
the heyday of the "mad saints" Thang-stong-rgyal-po (1385-1510), Gtsang-
smyon Heruka (1452-1507), Brug-pa Kun-legs (1455-1529) and Dbus-smyon,
(dates uncertain). These characters forsook the academic life of the monasteries
and travelled the highways and byways of Tibet, spending their time amongst
simple folk to whom they preached in the vernacular, even vulgar, language.^4 It
is to them we are indebted for the finest didactic poetry, songs, witty sayings and
folklore from Tibet. Additionally, Thang-stong-rgyal-po is said to have invented
lha-mo, the spectacular pageants which remain Tibet's most popular art form.
Notably a heroine in one of these operas. Snang-sa 'Od-'bum, is a 'das-log.
It was also during this period, before the establishment of a central authority,
that princely houses, which either constituted sectarian groups themselves or
formed close alliances with a particular sectarian group, contended with one
another for territorial gain, political power and sectarian establishmentarianism.
There seem to have been two effects of this period. First, a great deal of mis-
sionizing activity seems to have occurred especially along the southern and
eastern marches of Tibet among Tibetanoid populations that practiced shamanis-
tic-animistic religions rather than Buddhism. This geographic distribution
corresponds to that of the 'das-log biographies, whose subjects hail mainly from
the east and the south. 'Das-log stories from Central Tibet are scarce; in a recent
collection of 'das-log biographies, the compiler remarks in the colophon:
Nowadays in Central Tibet no true collections of 'das-log biographies
are to be found. To exhort persons of various native abilities to do vir-
tuous deeds for the welfare of all beings, I, Bya-bral-ba Kun-dga' -rten-
'brel-rab-'byor, at the behest of my miilaguru U-pa Rinpoche, have
taken the responsibility of helping to so exhort them. In regard to
the request: many deep teachings have been mercifully granted by