474 ruth dunnell
Baoyuan also authored a popular Buddhist morality book, A Com-
pendium of Wisdom and Virtue (Xian zhi ji ) or Xibi State
Preceptor’s Compendium of Admonitions to the World (Xibi guoshi
quanshi ji ), published in Tangut in 1188. The book
was evidently reprinted at least once, with blockprint illustrations of
State Preceptor Xibi. Baoyuan evidently did not align himself with the
new tantric teachings, and perhaps even adopted a critical attitude
towards them, unlike his Tibetan colleague at the Dadumin Monas-
tery, Fashizi.
Fashizi held the title of Enlightened State Preceptor Juezhao guoshi
and was the translator of two texts compiled by (or attrib-
uted to) Zhang Rinpoche (Zhang G.yu-brag-pa Brtson-‘grus-grags-pa,
Lama Zhang), as well as many other yoga tantras (Kychanov 1999;
Dunnell 2009ab). He also composed a tract in Tangut, Quintessen-
tial Instructions for Eliminating Demons (Moduan yaolun ).
The puzzling moniker often found accompanying his name or title,
“A-lion-si-pa,” could refer to his Tibetan origins in the Yarlung Val-
ley (Yar-klungs-pa). Fazhizi transmitted tantric texts on various yogic
practices associated with the bardo (intermediate state between life
and death) as expounded in the “six doctrines” of Nāropā.
One such work, Zhongyou shen yaomen (Quintessential
Instructions on the Body of the Intermediate State), exists in a Chinese
translation as well (Shen 2005a). Fashizi thus may have studied under
sGam-po-pa (1079–1153), founder of the bKa’ brgyud school, who
established his monastery (Dwags-la sGam-po) just east of Yarlung.
His name occurs in association with prominent Xia monks Demiao
and Huiming, mentioned above. No texts associated with Fashizi are
dated, although he had arrived in Xia by the 1180s and worked actively
in temples in the capital area to promote the new Tibetan teachings.
He was fluent in Tangut, and may have traveled to Xia in the com-
pany of the lama reported in Tibetan sources as an imperial preceptor,
Gtsang-po-pa Dkon-mchog seng-ge. Fashizi’s association with Lama
Zhang is shared by Ti-shri Ras-pa, the lama whom Tibetan sources
name as Dkon-mchog’s successor (see below).
Imperial Preceptors
Imperial preceptors served as tantric masters and teachers for the
Tangut court, conveying their knowledge of Tibetan texts and prac-