Antiquities of High Tibet
A Comprehensive Ethnoarchaeological and Textual Analysis of Pre-Buddhist Archaeological Monuments and Rock Art in the Tibetan Upland.
John Vincent Bellezza

 Antiquities of High Tibet elucidates the locational, morphological and cultural patterns of 400 archaeological sites situated in the vast plains of northern and western Tibet. These sites primarily date to the Iron Age, proto-historical and early historical periods, and represent a phase of Tibetan civilization little known to science. This work is in fact, the first major study of this formative epoch in Tibet’s ethnohistorical development. In addition to survey findings based on extended fieldwork in the region, Antiquities of High Tibet provides a wealth of background information gleaned from Tibetan literature. These textual sources constitute an indigenous backdrop for the archaeological sites, highlighting their likely religious, social, political, and economic functions. The textual translations are accompanied by extensive annotations and edited transliterations, a valuable cultural historical resource, which should prove useful not only to archaeologists but also to historians, religious specialists, cultural geographers, and mythographers. The textual component of the work breaks new ground by furnishing the first comprehensive analysis of archaic Tibetan funerary traditions, as well as detailed coverage of historical lore concerning the Zhang-zhung kingdom. This integrated study of Upper Tibetan archaeological monuments and native literary sources, which is founded on a veritable treasure trove of previously unknown materials, is designed as a reference work of lasting value.              

The contents of Antiquities of High Tibet are to be ordered as follows:

Part I: The Archaeological Exploration of Upper Tibet  
Section 1.  General Introduction (A comprehensive overview of the contents and what the work intends to demonstrate.)
Section 2.  Criteria used in the determination of archaic archaeological sites (A discussion of the collateral and archaeometric benchmarks used in ascribing sites to the pre-Buddhist cultural milieu.)
Section 3.  The chronology of archaic archaeological sites (The inductive {cross-cultural and historical interpretations} and deductive {AMS and Radiocarbon dating} means used to provisionally assign dates to the sites.)
Section 4.  Generalized paleocultural and environmental traits of Upper Tibetan archaeological sites (A panoramic study of the cultural characteristics, environmental implications and geographic patterns of ancient settlement.)
Section 5.  Survey methodologies (The types of data collected at each archaeological site and how this has oriented the purview of the study.) 
Section 6.  A brief description of the survey expeditions (A narrative account of my expeditions since 2001.)
Section 7.   A description and analysis of archaeological typologies in Upper Tibet (An examination of the structural traits of the various types of monuments and their functional and spatial relationships to one another.)
Section 8.  The conservation of Upper Tibetan archeological assets (A clarion call for conservation in the face of many threats to the sites.)

Part II: Selected Cultural, Religious and Political Traditions of Ancient Tibet and Zhang-zhung
Section 1.  The application of Bon literature to the study of Upper Tibetan archaeology (The ways in which Tibetan literature can be used to gauge the identity and function of archaeological sites.)
Section 2.  The Bon masters and ritual objects of ancient Tibet and Zhang-zhung (Questions concerning the historical validity of ancient Bon personalities and their activities and possessions; the ancient masters of the Bon Mother tantra; the royal priests (sku-gshen) of ancient Tibet; the bon-po of foreign countries; and the costumes and insignia of the ancient bon-po.)
Section 3.  The elite cultural traditions of Zhang-zhung (Questions concerning the legendary existence of the kingdom and culture of Zhang-zhung; the Zhang-zhung religious masters; the Zhang-zhung royal traditions; and the clan structures of Zhang-zhung.)
Section 4.  The elite cultural traditions of Tibet (Tibet as a repository of Bon cultural traditions; the territorial delineation of Zhang-zhung and Tibet; the Bon mythic origins of the Tibetan dynasty; and the Bon religious activities of the Tibetan Kings.)
Section 5.  The architectural traditions of ancient Tibet and Zhang-zhung (The great residential centers of ancient Tibet and Zhang-zhung; the burial monuments of the Tibetan kings; and the design characteristics of the Bon gsas-mkhar habitation.)
Section 6.  The pantheon of Zhang-zhung deities (The circle of Ge-khod gods; the Zhang-zhung goddesses; the khyung, rgyung and wer-ma gods; and an introduction to the Bon cosmogonies.)

Part III: The Great Funerary Tradition of Ancient Tibet

Section 1.  Tibetan funerary traditions in the light of archaeological research (The relevance of Tibetan literary sources to Upper Tibetan mortuary archaeology.)
Section 2.  A bird’s eye view of Tibetan funerary traditions (An overview of Tibetan death rituals.)
Section 3.  General introduction to the Mu-cho’i khrom-’dur (The Mu-cho’i khrom-’dur and its relationship to contemporary funeral rites; and the geographic setting of the Mu-cho’i khrom-’dur.)
Section 4.  The legendary origins of the Mo-cho’i khrom-’dur (The myths of origin and lines of transmission; and biographical accounts of the prime founders.)
Section 5.  The sequence of philosophical and ritual structures in the Mu-cho’i khrom-’dur (A description and analysis of the fundamental features of the Mu-cho’i khrom-’dur; and the salient features of the funerary tradition in the words of the Mu-cho’i khrom-’dur.)
Section 6.  An examination of the archaic eschatological and ritual pillars of the Mu-cho’i khrom-’dur (The soul receptacles; various ritual implements; gifts for the journey beyond; the animal vehicles of the soul; the deities and demons of the postmortem state; and salvation and paradise.)
Section 7.  The archaic funerary traditions in the Klu ’bum nag po (Textual references to the klu and tombs; and the identification of the tho.)
Section 8.  The archaic funerary traditions in the Tun-huang manuscripts (The historical relationship between the Tun-huang manuscripts and later Bon sources; Buddhist contestation
and the sheep guide of the deceased; the apotropaic functions of animal sacrifice; the mythic origin of the bird wing liberator; conceptions pertaining to infelicity and salvation; and the myths and rituals of the funerary horse vehicle.)
Section 9.  Associative archaeological and ethnographic materials (Questions concerning the historical continuity exhibited by the Tibetan funerary tradition; cross-cultural archaeological evidence for the antiquity of the Tibetan funerary tradition; and the geographic and chronological scope of the Tibetan funerary tradition from a cross-cultural ethnographic perspective.)

Part IV: Tibetan Texts

Section 1.  Transliterations of texts from Part II
Section 2.  Transliterations of texts from Part III
Appendix: Tables of names and locations of all archaic archaeological sites documented to date
Bibliography (features several hundred primary and secondary sources referred to in the work)
Indexes (place names, names of deities, names of personages, glossary of Tibetan terms) 
Diagrams (line drawings of architectural plans and artifacts)
Maps (includes around 50 general location, thematic and specific site types)
Photographs (photographs of archaeological sites and artifacts)

Calling Down the Gods
Spirit-mediums, Sacred Mountains and Related Bon Textual Traditions
In Upper Tibet
John Vincent Bellezza

Summary

Length: Approximately 600 pp.
Graphics: 43 photographs.
Contents: 21 translated and fully annotated Tibetan texts as well as numerous excerpts, interviews with 15 spirit-mediums, references from academic literature, conclusion, bibliography, and indexes. 
Publisher: Tibet Studies Library, vol. 8. Brill Academic Publishers: Leiden, 2005.
General Orientation
This book comprehensively examines the hereditary links, ritual practices and pantheon of indigenous deities on which the spirit-mediums of Upper Tibet rely. Known as lha-pa, dpa’ bo and lha-mo, these specialists in channeling the gods operate in the overlapping sTod and Byang-thang regions of northwest Tibet. This work is based on in-depth interviews and the translation of a variety of Tibetan texts. It utilizes a diachronic model to create an exposition with ethnohistorical dimensions, in which the legendary and contemporary aspects of the spirit-mediums are studied through both the oral and literary traditions. This work, drawing upon a wide range of ethnographic and textual materials to investigate the phenomenon of lha-bzhugs (spirit-possession) in Upper Tibet, analyses the way in which its historical and present day characteristics are interrelated. Thus, the continuity of tradition, and the way in which it has been conceived and preserved, is the underlying theme that gives this book its narrative and analytical coherence.  
The spirit-mediums of Upper Tibet, both men and women, serve as incarnate forms of the region's most important lha-ri (mountain gods), as well as a range of other indigenous deities. Traditionally, it is believed that when the thugs (mind) or bla (animating principle) of a divinity enters a spirit-medium, it variously acts to heal sick people and livestock, exorcise bad spirits and harmful influences, bring good fortune, and predict the outcome of future events. The first scholarly accounts of this cultural phenomenon are found in late Victorian works by Das and Waddell, in which they describe the use of a mda’ dar (festooned arrow) to expel pain and demons, the wearing of the rigs-lnga (five-lobed headdress), the reliance of spirit-mediums upon Bon and Buddhist tutelary deities, and the territorial spirits of the indigenous substrate. These remain salient features of spirit-mediumship in Upper Tibet to the present day.
Calling Down the Gods systematically explores the legendary underpinnings of spirit-mediumship in Bon literature, expounding the parallels that exist between the srid-pa’i sgra-bla (a class of primordial deities) of the gshen (ancient Bon priests) and the divinities of today's spirit-mediums. According to Bon tradition, spirit-mediums were active in pre-Imperial times prior to 630 CE. This claim, however, cannot be historically substantiated with the cultural materials at hand. The mythic origin of their practices is related in the 14th century mDo dri med gzi brjid, the longest biography of sTon-pa gshen-rab, the founder of Bon. The text reports that sTon-pa instructed his disciples in the four main methods of conducting divinations, including the Ye-dbang lha yi bka’ babs (Mantic Directives of the Gods of Primordial Power) of which spirit-mediumship is a part. In Bon, it is thought that the ancient practice of divination was dependent upon a pacific god named Phu-wer, whose ritual observances share significant commonalities with the modern trance ceremony of the spirit-mediums. For instance, the use of both domestic and wild animals as offerings (actual and simulated) welds the liturgical structures of Bon divination, the cult of mountain gods and the oral tradition of the spirit-mediums closely together. In a text attributed to Dran-pa nam-mkha’, one of perhaps two or more personalities believed to have lived no later than the Eighth century, the details of an ensemble of ritual offerings for Phu-wer bears much similarity to the one used by today's spirit-mediums:
The offering ingredients are various grain meals put in beer, ’brang-rgyas (a kind of edible cake), the forms of a yak, sheep, goat, various wild ungulates, and birds nicely arranged in a basin. It is decorated with meat from the upper part of an ewe's carcass. Beer, mead and grape wine are put in [the basin]. Place it in the middle of the mandala. Burn incense three times. Do dmu-phod (a system of ablutions). Make ablutions with lustral liquids.    
In a religious environment dominated by Bon and Buddhist clerics, the survival of spirit-mediums over the centuries appears to be primarily due to the persistence of ancient beliefs in Upper Tibet regarding the cause of disease and misfortune. This work details the native etiology and expounds upon why it has continued to favor spirit-mediums over other religious specialists, particularly in the area of everyday concerns. The spirit-mediums observe a respect for the natural environment and the numina they believe are inextricably connected to it, which is derived from both indigenous sanctions and the Buddhist ethic of nonviolence. An excellent résumé of the activities that provoke the autochthonous deities to harm humans and the means to reconcile their anger is found in an untitled gsol-kha (a class of propitiatory texts) attributed to four Eighth century Bon adepts, the mKhas-pa mi-bzhi, and rediscovered by a member of the Kyu-ra clan. An excerpt from this gsol-kha admirably sums up the kinds of activities that the spirit-mediums frequently cite as disease-causing, as well as providing for their resolution:
Listen to my speech, the gshen-bon's, assembly of klu, gnyan, sa-bdag, and yul-lha (common classes of indigenous spirits). We, and the sponsors and benefactors, have not dug at your palace residence. In the event there was digging let us be peacefully reconciled. We reconcile you by offerings of jewels and incense. We did not divert your mighty waters. In the event there was diversion let us be peacefully reconciled. We reconcile you by offerings of jewels and incense.
If we screamed on mountaintops, And irrigated with water channels and reservoirs, And excavated at your mighty springs, And set big fires on mountains, And killed your mighty deer and hunted your wild ungulates, And destroyed your palaces and dwellings, And spread flesh and blood at your mighty places, And inadvertently sullied the hearth with dairy and meat products, And slept in the middle of your palaces, And went naked at your mighty places, And mindlessly made the sound phat, And startled you with drum and conch, And showed the light of fire in the evening, And poured out [hot] liquids with vapor at your mighty places....
Through textual sources and the Tibetan oral tradition, Calling Down the Gods enumerates the endowments that are believed to come from the medium’s communication with the deities. These benefits help to explain the cultural entrenchment of the indigenous pantheon and its expression in the tradition of spirit-mediumship. For example, a text found in the New Collection of the Bon bka’ brten written in the ancient style by sKu-mdun shes-rab dgongs-rgyal (1784-1835), in praise of gsas-mkhar and la-btsas (types of tabernacles), excellently depicts the vital qualities of the pantheon bound to the natural environment. An excerpt from it reads:
....By such offerings the divine protectors are pleased and the circle of gshen practitioners are benefited. Guard us during the night. Wherever we go in the four cardinal directions and eight intermediate points guide us from the front and support us from behind. Conquer the enemies, thieves and bandits. Destroy the ’dre, srin, gdon and bgegs (types of demons and malevolent forces). Ensure our necessities and avert detriments. Grant us the capability to attain wealth and possessions. Grant us the capability to attain progeny. Grant us the capability to attain a good reputation and high standing. Grant us the capability to attain long life and vitality. Grant us the capability to attain [fine] clothing. Grant us the capability to attain foods of good fortune. Grant us the capability to attain livestock. Carry out whatever activities we wish. 

Outline of Contents
Calling Down the Gods is divided into five interrelated parts to create a broad and integrated survey of Upper Tibet's spirit-mediums:

Part One
A general introduction to the spirit-mediums, summarizing their historical background, defining characteristics of the profession, as well as descriptions of their ritual paraphernalia, possessing deities and trance ceremonies. This first part of the book includes a cross-cultural comparative study of the spirit-mediums of Upper Tibet and their counterparts in other regions of Tibet and Inner Asia. Part One concludes with introductions to the following parts of the book. 
Part Two
Interviews with fifteen spirit-mediums (born between 1912 and 1952) of varying scope, with interpretive material drawn from Tibetan texts. Attention is given to parallels found between certain customs of the spirit-mediums (such as the use of feathers on the head and the sprinkling of barley on the altar) and textual accounts of early ritual performances and religious personalities. The findings for each of the spirit-mediums constitute an individual section in the book. Each section is structured to include information on the lha-rgyud (lineage of the spirit-medium), the nature of his or her initiation into the practice, the iconography and properties of the possessing deities, and the proceedings of the trance ceremony. In the longer sections detailed data is provided on family history, the myth of origin of the profession, and the various litanies and rituals conducted while in trance. In several instances, in-depth material is supplied on trances observed by the author.
Part Three
Annotated translations of ritual texts devoted to the major deities of the spirit-mediums, which includes gNyan-chen thang-lha, rKyang-khra, rTa-rgo, Gangs-ri lha-btsan, rTsan-rgod nam-ra, Rol-pa skya-bdun, Dam-can mgar-ba nag-po, and gNam-mtsho phyug-mo. Stress is laid on an exposition of the similarities in the iconography, function and liturgies of the deities of the oral and literary traditions. The texts chosen for inclusion in this work adroitly illustrate the manifold interconnections that exist between spirit-mediumship and the ritual practices of alternative religious specialists such as lamas and sngags-pa. The categories of texts used are those of the gsol-kha (invocatory), bskang-ba (blandishments), bzlog-pa (harm repulsion), mdos (enticements), and gser-skyems (libation offerings) ritual systems. Translations include extensive annotations relating to vocabulary, interpretation, critical editing, and associated cultural materials. Corrupt spellings and readings are emended in the transliterations of the texts. Usually two or more works ranging in length between two and eleven folios, as well as other passages, are translated to represent each divinity. As the Bon religion claims the origin of spirit-mediumship, precedence is given to its literature; however, significant excerpts from the Buddhist literary tradition are included to achieve a comprehensive description of the various divinities. In Part Three, special attention is also paid to the verse scheme and the stress-investing trisyllabic indicators that are characteristic of the ancient bardic tradition, and which have become a hallmark of literature pertaining to the cult of indigenous deities (as well as the Ge-sar epic).
Part Four 
Annotated translation of Bon literature relevant to the origins of spirit-mediumship. This part of the book begins with excerpts from the biographical gZi-brjid about the first of the nine theg-pa (the vehicles or systemized branches of the Bon doctrines) known as Phya-gshen. These references address the mythic origin of spirit-mediumship according to Bon tradition. An unpublished commentary on the relevant section of the Phya-gshen by the eminent Bon scholar Lopon Tenzin Namdak aids in the elucidation of this material. The ritual texts of the Bon divination god Phu-wer, the legendary revelatory figure of ancient times, are then introduced. This is followed by a survey of the srid-pa’i sgra-bla gods from several Bon sources, demonstrating that, although the mountain gods and sgra-bla reside in distinctive doctrinal categories (the latter is considered a far more superior class of deity), they share many iconographic characteristics and ritual functions in common. This affinity extends to the manner in which they are propitiated and offered to. This may indicate the operation of a historical continuum in which the lha-ri and sgra-bla are virtually synonymous, despite contemporary Bon theological conceptions to the contrary. Part Four of the book also makes a foray into Bon cosmogony to determine the degree of propinquity between the sgra-bla and lha-ri as another means of considering a common identity.  
Part Five
The final part of Calling Down the Gods contains Bon literary references to the ritual implements and practices of the spirit-mediums. Sections are devoted to the gshang (flat-bell), drum, conch, me-long (divination mirror), the arrow and spear, incense and lustration, thun (magic missiles), and g.yang ’gugs (fortune-summoning). The aim of this exposition is basically two-fold: 1) to elaborate upon how the oral and literary traditions inform one another in the arena of indigenous religious tradition, and 2) to portray the pre-Imperial pedigree that many of the ceremonial displays of spirit-mediums have in the historico-ritual notions of the Bon religion. As we shall see, the antiquity of such traditions is documented as historical reality in the Bon ritual literature presented in this work.