Building Place and Shaping Lives: Nartang Monastery from the Twelfth through Fifteenth Centuries

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Building Place and Shaping Lives: Nartang Monastery from the 12th through 15th Centuries

Dissertation

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

This thesis is a study of Nartang monastery in the Tsang region of Central Tibet. Nartang monastery was founded in 1153 and was one of the most influential monastic institutions of the Kadam school until the fifteenth century. In its initial construction, Nartang monastery was a small enclave with limited members. By the mid-thirteenth century the place had significantly grown in physical size, membership, and reputation. This study explores the steady growth and decline of the monastery by examining the lives of the people in charge and their real and symbolic relations within and without the monastic community.

This thesis begins with the Kadam school in the Penyül valley of Central Tibet. Here Nartang’s founder Tumtön Lodrö Drakpa (Gtum ston blo gros grags pa, 1106-1166) was educated and inspired to return to his native land in Tsang to build Nartang monastery. I then turn to the effective campaign strategies of Nartang’s fourth, fifth, and sixth abbot, who traveled throughout Central Tibet to raise funds for the monastery and to acquire new monastic recruits. Nartang monastery was at its best during the tenure of the seventh abbot Chim Namkha Drak (Mchims nam mkha’ grags, 1210-1285). It was during his tenure that the political events on the Eastern Steppe could no longer be ignored in Central Tibet. I show how Chim Namkha Drak and the Nartang community effectively navigated through the Mongolian (re)organization of Central Tibet. I also trace how the Nartang abbots, specifically the eight abbot Kyotön Mönlam Tsültrim (Skyon ston smon lam tshul krims, 1219-1299), projected and guided the increasing importance of their monastery at the center of the Buddhist world. I then study the life of Nartang’s tenth abbot, his time spent at the Mongol court and his eventual return to Nartang. Finally, I look to Nartang when Gendün Drupa (Dge ’dun grub pa, 1391-1474), posthumously the First Dalai Lama, entered the monastery at the age of seven in 1398. By this time Nartang monastery had well established a standardized curriculum and built a reputation for itself as a preeminent Kadam scholastic institution. I also explore the various factors that left Nartang monastery in a precarious state by the fifteenth century, such as the burgeoning reformist movement in Central Tibet lead by Tsongkhapa Lozang Drakpa (Tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa, 1357-1419), the building of Tashi Lhünpo monastery by Gendün Drupa in 1449, and a decline in Sakya power and the rise of the Pakmodrupa. (Source: UVa Online Archive)

Citation

Schuman, Michael D. "Building Place and Shaping Lives: Nartang Monastery from the 12th through 15th Centuries." PhD diss., University of Virginia, 2016.

Publisher Link

https://doi.org/10.18130/V39G5T

Table of contents

• Acknowledgmentsiv
• Introduction1
• Chapter 1. The Makings of Nartang Monastery10
• Chapter 2. Branching Out34
• Chapter 3. Coming of Age: Nartang with Chim Namkha Drak73
• Chapter 4. Securing the Fort: Kyotön Mönlam Tsültrim109
• Chapter 5. The Emperor, the Abbot and the Monastery144
• Chapter 6. A Beginning to an End: Gendün Drupa at Nartang Monastery176
• Conclusion and Epilogue: Changing the Guard204
• Appendix 1. The Register (gsan yig) of Nartang’s Fourth Abbot Dromochewa Dütsi Drak (Gro mo che ba bdud rtsi grags, 1153-1232)213
• Appendix 2. A Partial Register (gsan yig) of Nartang’s Eighth Abbot Kyotön Mönlam Tsültrim (Skyon ston smon lam tshul krims, 1219-1299)222
• Appendix 3. A Translation of the Biography of Nartang’s Tenth Abbot Ze’u Tsünpa Dülzin Drakpa Tsöndrü (Ze’u ’Dul ’dzin grags pa brtson ’grus, 1253-1316)234
• Bibliography258
• Tibetan Language Sources258
• Western Language Sources and Translations263

Interconnections

Works related to this item

Kadam - The Kadam tradition, which traces its origin to the teachings of Atiśa, was the first of the so-called New Schools of Tibetan Buddhism, traditions which arose during or after the Second Propagation of Buddhism (phyi dar) in the tenth century. Tib བཀའ་གདམས་  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Kadam'

Sakya - The Sakya tradition developed in the eleventh century in the Khön family of Tsang, which maintained an imperial-era lineage of Vajrakīla and which adopted a new teaching from India known as Lamdre. Tib ས་སྐྱ་  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Sakya'