The Pig at the Crossroads: A Revivalist's Reflections on Cinema
Official poster for the movie "Pig on the Crossroads" is shown here. This year on May 11, the film's worldwide online premiere took place (by Quentin Nobu). Directed by Quentin Nobis, "The Pig on the Crossroads" features the following Tibetan text: བདག་སོགས་འགྲོ་དྲུག་འཁོར་བའི་སེམས་ཅན་རྣམས། ལས་ངན་སྡིག་སྒྲིབ་ཐམས་ཅད་བྱང་བ་དང། མཐོ་རིས་ཐར་པའི་ལམ་ལ་རབ་གནས་ཤིང། རྫོགས་པའི་སངས་རྒྱས་མྱུར་དུ་འགྲུབ་པར་མཛོད། རྒྱུ་དང་འབྲས་བུའི་ཉེས་དམིགས་ཕན་ཡོན་དང། རང་རང་ལས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་པར་སྨིན་པ་ཡི། སྡུག་བསྔལ་མྱོང་ལུགས་མཐོང་བའི་མེ་ལོང་འདི། འགྲོ་བ་ཀུན་ལ་ཕན་ཕྱིར་བསྟན་པར་བྱ། ཁྱད་པར་དུག་ལྔས་གཟིར་བའི་འགྲོ་བ་ལ། Its English rendering is: "We, the sentient beings of the six realms, Who have committed all kinds of sins and offenses, Still reside in the pure land of liberation, To quickly attain the state of perfect enlightenment.
Wholesome and unwholesome deeds alike will appear as the results of karma, just as a clear mirror reflects, for the benefit of all sentient beings, particularly those harmed by the five poisons. This passage is drawn from “The Liberation Iron Hook” (འདས་ལོག་ཀརྨ་དབང་འཛིན་གྱི་རྣམ་ཐར་ཐར་པའི་ལྕགས་ཀྱུ།), the biography of Karma Wangchang by the Revenant, as told by Karma Wangchang and put together by a Bhutanese scholar during the first half of the 17th century.
Housed in the National Library of Bhutan is a handwritten manuscript from the mid-17th century titled "The Resurrector: Biography of Karma Wangchuk, Liberation from the Iron Hook". Meanwhile, a private collection contains "Rescuing the Six Realms Eleven-faced Guanyin", a mid-19th-century work originating from the Zhubagaju sect, which depicts Guanyin rescuing sentient beings in hell.
Lying quietly on the bed was a pig that reeked from head to foot. Only moments before, I had been the one on that bed, afflicted with a malignant disease, while relatives and neighbors watched me with fearful, uneasy eyes. Now, as I leaned against the wooden door, I appeared to be 'invisible' to them. They had clustered around the pig; some were weeping, and others seemed to be murmuring among themselves.
From the Rubin Museum collection and dating to the late 18th century is the work "Theme of Saving Souls in the Intermediate State: Calling Hell with a Big Voice". For anyone wondering how this story might continue, I suggest looking to the recent critically acclaimed film "Pigs on the Crossroads", a masterpiece that examines Tibetan perspectives on life, death, and the "bardo". Meanwhile, an unseen force instantly swept me away from that room filled with pain.
While watching this film, my thoughts keep returning to a group that held particular sway during Tibet's classical era: the revenants. The film opens with a slightly unsettling self-description spoken by a revenant woman from the 16th century, Lingzaquji (གླིང་བཟའ་ཆོས་སྐྱིད་). In her words, the great hell—known as the "Eight Hot Hells"—involves wailing in torment inside a burning iron chamber.
"The Reviver: Journey Beyond Death" In 2002, the reincarnated soul, Dawa Lhamo （ཟླ་བ་སྒྲོལ་མ་） , orally recounted The reincarnated soul, Dawa Lhamo (1910-1941), was the mother of Chardu Zugu( ལྕགས་མདུད་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་； 1930-2002). Our understanding of Lingza Quji mainly comes from the biography she dictated, which also serves as the initial paradigm of posthumous autobiographies. It is important to note that this does not imply Lingza Quji was the first posthumous figure in Tibetan history.
From the 11th to the 20th century, influential posthumous figures emerged in nearly every century across Tibet. Nangsa Woebum（སྣང་ས་འོད་འབུམ་）, a well-known Tibetan opera performer, is regarded as one such figure, dating to the 11th–12th centuries. Another example is the 12th-century posthumous figure "White-Haired Woman"（འདས་ལོག་སྐྲ་དཀར་མ་）, who gave revelations to Darlong Kagyu lineage master Zaxi Be (1142-1210) concerning the growth of his teachings.
Among all posthumous texts, the dictated biography of Karma Wangzeng is the most remarkable, providing a detailed account of the "bardo stage" and continuously affecting related traditions throughout the broader Himalayan region. The deeds of the 15th-century sibling posthumous figures in western Tibet are preserved in the writings of Sakya scholars.
In a private Ernst family collection dating to the end of the 19th century, White Tara appears as the central deity in the "Restorer Text," where the primary scene depicts the miraculous revival of the collapsed Nansavo. Within this setting, the account of Nangsalwoebum entering the "Intermediate State" stage shows variations in detail between the biographical account and the play script. The work is titled "Manifestation of White Tara: The Biography Thangka of the Restorer Jnanasavara.
In Tibetan, a person who returns from the dead is usually called འདས་ལོག་ ('das log), where 'das denotes death and log signifies return. Zaxi Bei, the founder of Dzogchen Jue, is associated with inherited documents held in a private collection, dating to the end of the 13th century; in those documents, a "white-haired woman" is regarded as one of his earliest disciples. The work titled "The Silent and Wrathful Deities in the Intermediate State" dates to the late 18th century and is part of the Rubin Museum of Art collection.
All resurrected individuals possess three traits, as this term reveals. For example, Nangsa Woebum, falsely accused by her in-laws, was beaten to death; Lingsa Quji and Gawa Wangzeng died from physical and mental ailments, with their biographies extensively describing their daily suffering. The first trait is that such individuals have either experienced a near-death state or actually died.
Of these three traits, the final one is especially significant. That trait involves resurrected individuals being entrusted with a formidable mission: to spread the law of causality throughout the world and to keep recounting the hellish landscapes they personally witnessed. Additionally, after passing through a sequence of multi-layered "bardo experiences," these returned individuals either renounced mundane existence to become practitioners or took on leadership roles within folk religious groups.
The interval between death and return can be known only from the accounts of those who have experienced it. Consider the description by Gawa Wangzeng, a resurrected individual, to grasp the ideology expressed in the "resurrected individual text". In such accounts, the revived person distinctly notices the disappearance of their own body (without being certain of having died), and the relations among different elements become increasingly evident.
It is from this point that the "bardo experience" of Gawa Wangzeng begins. Along with the awareness of all these phenomena, the anxiety and fear generated by evil karma from earlier lives continue to endure. Then an illuminating voice emerges, advising her to avoid attachment to the physical body and explaining that the correct path of practice lies in confronting the mind and recognizing impermanence.
During her travels, Gawa Wangzeng comes across her mortal parents, her ordained uncle, and her deceased brother. Her parents take no notice of her, her uncle imparts teachings, and her brother earnestly articulates the way of life and death (a purely philosophical reflection). At the same time, she is encircled by a host of spirits—both the departed and non-human entities that have roamed the mountains and forests for centuries—and the misery of their plight causes the woman who has been revived to feel overwhelming grief.
In an artwork titled "The King of Hell Yama and the Hell Landscape" (19th century, private collection), and another called "Scroll of Hell Landscapes" (20th century, Nepal, Rubin Museum collection), partial views reveal the entrance to Yanmo Palace and undead beings facing judgment. Meanwhile, blessed by Sky-walker Mother and Tara, Gawa Wangzeng calmly embraces her role as one who has been resurrected, yet she remains deeply unsettled upon seeing that her corpse takes the form of a dog.
In the Tibetan region, "The Revivalists" can be fundamentally classified, on the basis of oral tradition, as a popular religion and folk belief—much like the "Mani Chanting" (see previous articles). This subject remains open to further research today, because it perpetuates the spiritual legacy of the past and suggests several philosophical notions that have long been dismissed from memory: a belief in existence that lies beyond life and death, and a system of values that goes past the duality of good and evil.
To understand the social norms of classical Tibet, one cannot overlook the "Revivalists," a group whose hardships persist in our present lives and whose wisdom remains within our reach. In antiquity, individuals derived their everyday ethical guidance from the enigmatic and profound "Revivalist Texts," a philosophical tradition rooted among the common people rather than the educated elite—most revivalists lacked formal schooling.
A private collection holds 'White Marlin Bafoco System Zaga Li: Hell Road Salvation Lotus Seed,' dated to the end of the 19th century. As a cultural treasury waiting to be discovered, 'The Revivalists' covers comprehension of death, imagined afterlives, Tibetan gender notions (with most revivalists being women), and the appeal of local literature.