Mi la ras pa's many lives: Anatomy of a Tibetan biographical corpus.

Abstract

This dissertation traces the literary transformations of a seminal Tibetan life story---that of Mi la ras pa, Tibet's eleventh-century Lord of Yogins---from its fragmentary origins to the standard version published nearly four centuries later. By emphasizing the interplay of these texts and the narrative representations they record, the dissertation aims to bring to light the various forms in which the yogin's life story has been reimagined and re-written. In each iteration, the life story---and the life it described---was understood anew; in this sense, this is a study not of a life but of many lives, the body of literature collectively forming Mi la's biographical corpus. The dissertation principally examines biographical works written in the period up to and including 1488, when Gtsang smyon Heruka's standard version was completed. Many of the texts examined in this study have received little attention; several have come to light only recently and are presented here for the first time. Chapter One introduces the tradition of Mi la ras pa's biographical corpus in the context of both Tibetan literature and western scholarship. Chapter Two discusses the earliest biographical fragments composed by Mi la's close disciples. Chapter Three then explores how these sources influenced a series of proto-works, forming a skeletal frame incorporated into most later versions. Chapter Four turns to the three great biographical compendia, including the renowned <italic>Twelve Great Disciples</italic> (<italic>Bu chen bcu gnyis </italic>), that expanded the biography into a fully fleshed life story. Chapter Five examines the life of Gtsang smyon Heruka and his production of the Life and Collected Songs. Chapter Six discusses Gtsang smyon's transformative relationship with the yogin, the reasons for his work's canonical status, and the means through which it seems to have brought Mi la ras pa to life. Chapter Seven concludes with an annotated translation of selected chapters from early sources. Appendices include outlines and concordances of early texts, a study of Zhi byed ri pa's famed historical study of Mi la's life, <italic>The Illuminating Lamp</italic>, and an analysis of Mi la ras pa's dates.