Superhuman Life of Gesar of Ling (eBook)

Alexandra David-Neel (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2001 | 1. Auflage
272 Seiten
Shambhala (Verlag)
978-0-8348-2924-4 (ISBN)

Infos

KingGesar, renowned throughout Tibet and Central Asia, represents the idealwarrior—the principle of all-victorious confidence. As the central force ofsanity, he conquers all his enemies, the evil forces of the four directions,who turn people's minds away from the true teachings of Buddhism. These enemiesgraphically represent the different manifestations of cowardly mind.

AsChgyam Trungpa explains in the Foreword:

'Whenwe talk here about conquering our enemy, it is important to understand that weare not talking about aggression. The genuine warrior does not become resentfulor arrogant . . . It is absolutely necessary for the warrior to subjugate hisown ambition to conquer at the same time that he is subjugating his other moreobvious enemies. Thus the idea of warriorship altogether is that by facing allour enemies fearlessly, with gentleness and intelligence, we can developourselves thereby attaining self-realization.'

Thelegends of Gesar usually take weeks for a bard to recount. Filled with magic,adventure, and the triumphs of this great warrior-king, the stories willdelight all—young and old alike.

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King Gesar, renowned throughout Tibet and Central Asia, represents the ideal warrior—the principle of all-victorious confidence. As the central force of sanity, he conquers all his enemies, the evil forces of the four directions, who turn people's minds away from the true teachings of Buddhism. These enemies graphically represent the different manifestations of cowardly mind. As Chögyam Trungpa explains in the Foreword: "e;When we talk here about conquering our enemy, it is important to understand that we are not talking about aggression. The genuine warrior does not become resentful or arrogant . . . It is absolutely necessary for the warrior to subjugate his own ambition to conquer at the same time that he is subjugating his other more obvious enemies. Thus the idea of warriorship altogether is that by facing all our enemies fearlessly, with gentleness and intelligence, we can develop ourselves thereby attaining self-realization."e; The legends of Gesar usually take weeks for a bard to recount. Filled with magic, adventure, and the triumphs of this great warrior-king, the stories will delight all—young and old alike.

Textauszug

Fromthe Introduction

Amongthe small number of works that have been translated from the Tibetan, very fewbelong to profane literature proper. Unquestionably, in Tibet, the importanceof this type is not to be compared to that of the philosophic and religiousliterature, which, in addition to canonical writings translated from theSanskrit, embraces thousands of original productions that have been written inTibetan by authors known or anonymous.

However,in the country of the Lamas, as everywhere else, there exist popular worksthat, although impregnated with religious sentiments—,for religious thoughtdominates everything in Tibet—,constitute what may be termed the 'profaneliterature' of the Tibetans.

Thisliterature includes productions of different kinds: history, legends, poetry,geography, travels, as well as technical books dealing with medicine,astronomical and astrological calculations, etc.

Itis to be noticed that works of the purely imaginative kind, namely novels, donot exist in Tibet, or, at least, do not come under that denomination. Fictionas we understand it is repugnant to Tibetans. It is not that their authors donot use their imaginations. On the contrary, they allow this faculty thefullest possible scope, and the fantastic element flourishes in so exuberantand candid a fashion in their writings, that its equal is only to be found inour fairy tales. Nevertheless, all the extravagant wonders that abound in theirnarratives are held to have happened, the heroes of the tales to have reallylived, and the stories themselves to be authentic from beginning to end. 'Whatis the good of writing about that which is not true,' remarked a Tibetan towhom I was explaining the nature of our novels and the pleasure that many, athome, find in reading them.

Tibetanprofane literature includes some very famous works, and the most celebrated ofall is the Gesar of Ling Epic, the Tibetan national poem.

Thereexist several versions of the fabulous history of Gesar. Although very unlikein detail, they nevertheless present sufficient points of resemblance for J.Hackin, who based his opinion upon the only three versions known at the time,to declare that the legends concerning this hero 'have common origins'. Theversion that I collected in Eastern Tibet (the Kham country), which is muchfuller than the three previous ones, confirms this opinion.

Takinginto consideration the fact that this last version is the best known in Tibet,that it is looked upon in the light of an authority not only in the Khamcountry, which is held to be the Hero's native land, but also in Lhasa and inall Tibet proper, it has a certain right to the title of official version.Still, we must be careful not to see in it an absolutely faithful echo of theprimitive legend.

Tenor twelve centuries ago the Gesar Saga consisted of, perhaps, two or threesongs only. They were chanted by unknown bards who had been inspired by thescattered traditions concerning the exploits of a great warrior king. Carriedto many regions, these songs probably served in their turn as a foundation forthe developments that constitute the present versions.

TheMongolian version was the first to be brought to the notice of Europeans. In1839, I. J. Schmidt wrote a summary of it in German. This Mongolian Sagaappears to have been worked out in more primitive surroundings than that inwhich the Kham version was evolved. In fact, the latter version containsnumerous and very lengthy digressions on Buddhist philosophic theories. I havehad to omit them in order to avoid making the present book a work of severalvolumes. These theories can be found in many...

Produkt-Details

• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Buddhismus
• ISBN-10: 0-8348-2924-X / 083482924X
• ISBN-13: 978-0-8348-2924-4 / 9780834829244