The Role and Significance of Zhi gnas dpe ris

Abstract

Most meditative systems of Buddhism are represented as ‘calm abiding’ (zhi gnas, śamatha, zhǐ 止) and ‘insight’ (lhag mthong, vipaśyanā, guān 觀). In Tibetan Buddhism, śamatha meditation practices are, in particular, illustrated by a painting known as Zhi gnas dpe ris, which introduces meditators to the theory and practice of meditation. Zhi gnas dpe ris symbolizes the progression of śamatha meditation stages, and does so in a series of pictures showing a monk taming an elephant and a monkey. The Tibetan Zhi gnas dpe ris is somewhat similar to the well-known ten Ox-Herding Pictures (Shíniú tú 十牛圖) of East Asian Buddhism. The Ten Ox-Herding Pictures that originated from China may have been an influence for the Tibetan Zhi gnas dpe ris. However, the Zhi gnas dpe ris differs from the Ten Ox-Herding pictures, because the latter illustrate not only the stages of śamatha meditation practice but also the stages of enlightenment, including both śamatha and vipaśyanā. Concerning the doctrinal background of Zhi gnas dpe ris, the motif is connected with ‘the nine stages of mental abiding’ (sems gnas dgu, navākārā cittasthitiḥ, jiǔzhǒng xīnzhù 九種心住), i.e., consecutive methods for settling the mind in meditation. In Indian Buddhist literature, the earliest textual source for the explanation of the nine stages of mental abiding is the Śrāvakabhūmi (Nyan thos kyi sa, Shēngwén dì 聲聞地) from within theYogācārabhūmi (Rnal 'byor spyod pa'i sa, Yúqié shī dì lùn 瑜伽師地論). The Śrāvakabhūmi was instrumental for the implementation of the Indian meditative tradition, and became very influential for the Yogācāra literature, such as the explanations on śamatha found in the Madhyāntavibhāgabhāṣya (Zhōngbiān fēnbié lùn 中邊分別論) and Kamalaśīla’s Bhāvanākrama (Sgom pa'i rim pa, Xiūxí cìdì 修習次第). In Tibetan literature, these Indian sources and their doctrines were adopted in many indigenous works on meditation, such as Tsong kha pa’s Lam rim chen mo. In spite of the fact that the meditation explanations of the nine stages of mental abiding that lie behind the Zhi gnas dpe ri painting as well as the fact that the Zhi gnas dpe ris is a quite well-known motif, the current situation is that extremely little is known about the history of this painting. Modern Japanese scholars have written some articles about the motif, all written in Japanese. In 1958, Yuichi Kajiyama (梶山雄一) wrote a brief article about a Tibetan version of the Zhi gnas dpe ris. Other Japanese publications on this topic include short articles by Tsultrim Kelsang (1991), Katsumi Mimaki (御牧克己)(1996, 2000), and Masaaki Nonin (能仁正顯)(2005). Using a comparative approach, the French scholar Catherine Despeux has published a monograph (1981) on the Ten Ox-Herding Pictures of Zen Buddhism, the Horse-Taming Pictures of Chinese Daoism, and the elephant-taming Zhi gnas dpe ris of Tibetan Buddhism. However, a full assessment of the significance of the Zhi gnas dpe ris for Tibetan Buddhism has hitherto not been attempted. I shall in this paper present some examples of Zhi gnas dpe ris paintings, contextualize them, present their connection with the teachings on the nine stages of mental abiding, and discuss the significance of the symbolism of the elephant, the monkey, and the rabbit, showing how these animals are related to the history and meaning of the paintings.