Abstract
This contribution explores the development of the highest teachings of the “Old School” (rnying ma) of Tibetan Buddhism, known as the Great Perfection (rdzogs chen). Between the tenth and the twelfth centuries, when the “New Schools” (gsar ma) rose to prominence and challenged the legitimacy of the established ones, Dzogchen underwent radical transformations and grew into a complex of contradictory voices. Unlike existing scholarship, which relies exclusively on textual–philological analysis to elucidate the conflictual relationships between sub-traditions like the Mind Series (sems sde), the Seminal Heart (snying thig), and the Crown Pith (spyi ti), this article proffers a transdisciplinary perspective, which complements history with psychological investigations into myth and cognition. Introducing research from cognitive science, trauma studies, attachment theory, and dissociation, it scrutinizes fascinating Dzogchen myths of luminous bodies, playful children, and abusive grandmothers. Ultimately, this transdisciplinary approach results in a new interpretation of the early history of the Great Perfection, as marked by an internal division in the tradition that was the direct result of a historical trauma, which was first processed, then internalized, and finally perpetuated.
Highlights
(rnying ma) of Tibetan Buddhism, known as the Great Perfection
New Schools that stood in radical opposition to the tradition’s earlier orientation. This led to a rupture within the totality, which we could define as “dissociation.” While the little-known space series was quickly eclipsed, the Seminal Heart, which corresponds to the Instruction Series and rose to prominence between the eleventh and twelfth centuries, incorporates central elements drawn from the scriptures written in the previous centuries as part of the Mind Series Great Perfection, and diverges dramatically in other ways
During the age of the Renaissance of Tibetan culture, the Great Perfection manifested as a religious movement that is almost schizophrenic in nature: on the one hand, it abhors any form of religious activity, celebrating simplicity and naturalness as its highest accomplishments; on the other hand, it is an unmistakably tantric tradition, whose emphasis rests on the manipulation of a complex subtle anatomy and elaborate visionary meditations
Summary
The study of early Buddhism in Tibet is not a simple endeavor. Besides the scarcity of historical data, premodern religious traditions rarely made clear distinctions between mythical imagination and historical fact. I focus on the second socio-political crisis and draw on a different set of theories developed within psychology and cognitive science in order to offer a comprehensive account of how the Seminal Heart Great Perfection first processed, internalized, and perpetuated trauma through its mythical narratives. If I read the Seminal Heart’s mythical narrative in order to show certain parallels between the Mind Series and the mythical ground, the latter’s non-temporality points to a specific aspect of the relationship between the early and the later form of the Great Perfection. Mary Main and Erik Hesse, early attachment researchers, have called this unresolvable dilemma—which cannot help but give rise to disorganized attachment—the “fright without solution” (Hesse and Main 2000)
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