Embarking on an adventure | Happy New Year
Mid-19th century, Rubin Museum Collection
Detail: Yellow ducks in the lake symbolizing the transmission of purity
"Sixteen Arhats Group Portrait: Layman Dharma Dorje"
Late 16th century, in the Rubin Museum
Detail: The antelope symbolizes the supreme spiritual practice.
ཉི་ཟླའི་འོད་ལྟར་གསལ་ལ་མུན་སེལ་ཞིང་།
ཚིགས་པའི་དྲི་དང་དུ་བས་བསྣོགས་པ་མེད།
གཙང་ཞིང་ཡིད་འོང་གློག་གི་སྒྲོན་མེ་འདི།
རྒྱལ་བ་སྲས་དང་བཅས་ལ་གུས་པས་འབུལ།
The bright light shines like the sun and moon,
Free from any taste of burning or smoke.
Clean and pleasing, the electric lamp illuminates,
I bow in reverence to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
Excerpt from "Prayer of the Electric Offering Lamp"（གློག་སྒྲོན་སྨོན་ཚིག་བཞུགས།）
Written by the Sixth Gongtang Danbe Wangdu(འཇིགས་མེད་བསྟན་པའི་དབང་ཕྱུག་；1926-2000)
"Statues in the Main Temple and Local Worshipers"
Painted by Ernest Ramsden, 1922
Located in the Western Himalayas, in the collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Encountering the new triggers nostalgia, and after reminiscing, there is a growing desire for one's voice to be preserved in the new world. This psychology stems from people's unique joy and inexplicable fear of the transition between the old and the new. We are powerless against the passing of time, but time always gives us unexpected surprises. Even the wise residing in temples cannot ignore the perfect harmony between the past traditions and the present era, where the changes seen by the senses and the constant liberation of the spirit achieve a subtle balance. Before composing the "Prayer for Electric Offerings," the 6th Gongtang seemed to have heard of the debate within Labrang Monastery about traditional offerings and electric offerings. Supporters of traditional offerings trace this tradition back to the light-offering festival after Tsongkhapa's parinirvana, and even further back to Atisha and Buddha. For them, only butter lamps filled with smoke can resonate with specific time and emotions. For the monks and laity who support electric offerings, the manifestation of light is not limited to traditional paradigms, and electricity as a symbol of progress is capable of carrying the light of wisdom. Scholars often use the somewhat simplistic classification of "traditionalists" and "reformists" to define these two groups. For the 6th Gongtang, however, the relationship between the old and the new is not one of opposition. This rejection of dualism can be traced back to classical periods with numerous monumental works and every debate that influences our thinking. "Riding the boat of tradition through the changing times, the pursuit of wisdom and liberation is the unchanging theme of this adventure." We must face the era we are in.
"Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha: Paradise Realm"
From the mid-19th century, in the collection of the Rubin Museum
Detail: Offering Goddess in the empty space of the Pure Land
In the age of information, understanding oneself has become increasingly difficult, and with it, the "great traditions" have also become precarious. When asked what has caused all this, the answer usually points to the elusive external forces. The aversion to structured wholeness and the fascination with individual expression lead people to approach discussions of past memories and regional heritage with a half-hearted attitude. "What knowledge and experience will I retain when I leave this world?" or "Will my emotions and experiences remain intact?"; in this way, we only learn to consume our limited energy through repeated questioning. Ultimately, the understanding of the ultimate issue is diluted, and what continues to be reflected in daily life are our memories of "smoky buttery smells" and the endless delusion of "such change is progress".
"Eight Transformations of Lotus Born: Master Aihui Lian"
19th century, Ruben Museum collection
Details: Sangye Qingpu Grottoes and the vulture symbolizing extinction.
སྟོང་གསལ་ཆོས་དབྱིངས་མཁའ་ལས་བྱུང་པ་ཡི།
དྭངས་གསལ་མ་འདྲེས་ཡེ་ཤེས་འོད་འབར་བ།
ཏིང་འཛིན་འཕྲུལ་གྱིས་བཀུག་པའི་གློག་འོད་འདིས།
མ་རིག་འཁོར་བའི་རྩ་བ་གཞོམ་གྱུར་ཅིག།
Born in the realm of empty clarity
Bright wisdom light not shared
Drawing the mysterious power of lightning
Ending samsara by dispelling ignorance
Excerpt from "Prayer of the Electric Offering Lamp"（གློག་སྒྲོན་སྨོན་ཚིག་བཞུགས།）
Written by the Sixth Gongtang Danbe Wangdu(འཇིགས་མེད་བསྟན་པའི་དབང་ཕྱུག་；1926-2000)
"Pagoda Group at the Foot of the Snow Mountain"
Painted by Ernest Ramstead, 1922
Collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Located in western Tibet
There is ample evidence to suggest that after composing the "Prayer for the Electric Lamp Offering," the 6th Gongtang Rinpoche did not try to conceal his love for traditional lamp offerings. In fact, he did not waver in his devotion to wisdom itself due to the material differences between old and new lamp offerings, stating that "changes will not alter our beliefs; external factors are just different ways of asking questions, whether new or old." This attitude seems to have many precedents in history. The 11th abbot of Natang Monastery（སྣར་ཐང་）, Zewa Zhabarxiarao (ཟེའུ་གྲགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་；1259-1325), passed away seven hundred years ago. In some biographical texts on the Natang lineage, there are debates amongst Zhabarxiarao's disciples about who had sat on a certain stone throne near the monastery. In response to this debate, Zhabarxiarao did not speak much during the day but chose to knock down the stone throne at night and rebuild it as a small stupa. The next day, he gathered the monks of Natang Monastery in front of the stupa and explained that the ownership of the throne by a certain sage no longer mattered, as it was now a new beginning. If the debate was out of respect, then the stupa before them could be dedicated to both sages or to the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. In other words, what changes due to change, and what remains constant.
The concept of "old and new," or more specifically, the present and the future, is the surprise that destiny gives us. No system is sacred, even if it is related to past memories or filled with the illusion of progress. Only the perfect nature remains constant. This nature allows us to no longer easily succumb to the authority of history, the gaze of the masses, or even time itself. Our knowledge and experiences may not survive the world, and our emotions and experiences may go unnoticed, but guided by wisdom, we continue to live for ourselves. This inherently good but aggressively transformative attitude towards life may not be accepted by all, but it does not lead us to confusion over the "good or bad" of lamps or the ownership of a Dharma seat. In the never-ending adventure, our nature is undisturbed by external forces and yet does not swell due to internal obstacles.
"Longevity Vase Base Jewelry Silver Butter Lamp"
Mid-19th century, private collection
2025, Happy New Year!
This article is translated from Sorang Wangqing's blog.