Comments on: Buddhism and Empire II: Portrait of a monk http://earlytibet.com/2007/08/30/buddhism-and-empire-ii-portrait-of-a-monk/ Notes, thoughts and fragments of research on the history of Tibet Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:53:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Bhante S Dhammika http://earlytibet.com/2007/08/30/buddhism-and-empire-ii-portrait-of-a-monk/#comment-725 Wed, 07 May 2008 00:01:50 +0000 http://earlytibet.com/2007/08/30/buddhism-and-empire-ii-portrait-of-a-monk/#comment-725 For more on the khakkhara or sometimes khakkharaka see I-tsing (Yijing)’s Recourd of the Inner Law Sent Home From the Southern Seas. He has a whole section on the staff.
S Dhammika

]]> By: Dr. Ajaypratap http://earlytibet.com/2007/08/30/buddhism-and-empire-ii-portrait-of-a-monk/#comment-58 Thu, 20 Sep 2007 10:54:12 +0000 http://earlytibet.com/2007/08/30/buddhism-and-empire-ii-portrait-of-a-monk/#comment-58 you may like to contact The Director, Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies, Nalanda, Bihar, India for means of access to the collection.

Best wishes and thanks.

ajay

]]> By: Dr. Ajaypratap http://earlytibet.com/2007/08/30/buddhism-and-empire-ii-portrait-of-a-monk/#comment-57 Thu, 20 Sep 2007 10:50:55 +0000 http://earlytibet.com/2007/08/30/buddhism-and-empire-ii-portrait-of-a-monk/#comment-57 Dear Sam,

I have looked at this pieces and your weblog. I teach Buddhism at The Banaras Hindu University.

Last summer, I had visited the library of the Institute for Pali and Buddhist Studies, Nalanda, sponsored by the Govt. of Bihar, India. They have a fantastic collection of early Tibetan Buddhist Manuscripts…Prajnaparimita…being one of them.

]]> By: earlytibet http://earlytibet.com/2007/08/30/buddhism-and-empire-ii-portrait-of-a-monk/#comment-42 Wed, 12 Sep 2007 12:22:09 +0000 http://earlytibet.com/2007/08/30/buddhism-and-empire-ii-portrait-of-a-monk/#comment-42 Thanks! I’m sure you are right. I’ve had a look at the image in The World of Buddhism (for those who don’t have access to this book, it’s a reproduction of a Tibetan painting of the requisites of a Buddhist monk), and the staff in our portait is clearly a crude rendition of a ‘rattle staff’.

]]> By: Dab http://earlytibet.com/2007/08/30/buddhism-and-empire-ii-portrait-of-a-monk/#comment-24 Sat, 01 Sep 2007 10:48:40 +0000 http://earlytibet.com/2007/08/30/buddhism-and-empire-ii-portrait-of-a-monk/#comment-24 Dear Early Tibet,

No, that’s not a fan in his left hand. That’s a “rattle staff.”

In Sanskrit: khakkhara (Mahâvyutpatti, no. 8955). In Tibetan: ‘khar-bsil; ‘khar-gsil (also spelled mkhar-gsil).

I don’t know very much about it, but you can find an illustration in Heinz Bechert & Richard Gombrich, eds.
The World of Buddhism: Buddhist Monks and Nuns in Society and Culture, Thames & Hudson (London 1984), p. 40.

Or, if that publication isn’t at hand, try the journal Chöyang, vol. 6 (1994), p. 66, with an illustration labelled with this: “Khasil – was carried by monks in ancient India when on their alms round. They would discreetly shake it outside houses to indicate their presence.”

I’m quite sure of this, although I also don’t recognize the object in the monk’s right hand (perhaps a flat bell? Just a suggestion… Could it be a begging bowl?).

The rattle staff is in the short lists of possessions that monks are not only allowed to keep but are supposed to have. It serves some important functions, since it announces the presence of the monk outside courtyard-centered dwellings, allowing the monk to keep silence but at the same time intimidating the guard dogs. (Very important.)

There’s a discussion about the symbolism of the different parts of the rattle staff in the Kadam Legbam (Bka’-gdams Glegs-bam) somewhere, and some brief texts particularly about the subject that could be found with some effort.

Yours,

Dab

]]>