Julian of Norwich and Other Tibetan Lamas

In introducing the mystical elements of Tsongkhapa’s spiritual practice and experience, Thupten Jinpa writes:

One of the most intriguing aspects of Tsongkhapa’s life and, for some, perhaps the most controversial was the enduring ‘presence’ of a mysterious teacher whom he referred to as Guru Mañjuśrī … All traditional sources, including the earliest biographical works composed by his contemporaries, assume this to be an experience of Tsongkhapa’s mystical life wherein he was somehow able to communicate with Mañjuśrī, the buddha of wisdom. ₁

Geshe Jinpa is empathetically attentive to the way in which such experiences might be interpreted by early 21^st century audiences:

In attempting to understand Tsongkhapa’s relationship with Guru Mañjuśrī, we are confronted with a dimension of reality that challenges the limits of what one might call our contemporary sensibility, wherein our notion of truth is shaped by scientific concern for verifiable facts. My aim is not to challenge this demand to ‘prove’ this aspect of Tsongkhapa’s life to be factually true, which would clearly be impossible. My interest is to tell the story as it has been handed down and leave it up to the reader to decide how to relate to it …. And so, although I do not attempt to establish whether Tsongkhapa’s contact with Mañjuśrī was “real” in any scientific or objective sense, there is no denying that it was experientially and socially real for him, for his closest teachers and students, and for the broader milieu in which he lived and practiced the Buddhist path. ₂

Initially, Tsongkhapa’s visionary encounters with Mañjuśrī were mediated by other practitioners, and later became direct. In a 2019 talk on the 14^th century Tibetan Buddhist figure, Thupten Jinpa provides a very helpful overview Tsongkhapa’s mystical experiences and the struggle to do justice to them in the writing process. The warm, relaxed, yet scholarly delivery of Geshe Jinpa’s presentation invites extended quotation:

One of the very intriguing aspects of Tsongkhapa’s life, and especially from the modern reader’s point of view – and that was one thing that I had to struggle [with] in writing this biography – is this very unusual, intriguing relationship that he had with Mañjuśrī – almost in the form of a human guru. He refers to him as a … “lama,” Guru Mañjuśrī.

And that relationship initially doesn’t seem to have been direct. It was always mediated through another person initially, Umapa Pawo Dorje, Lama Umapa, who actually had a visionary experience himself and then sought out Tsongkhapa, and then later through one of his senior students … who had visionary experiences of Mañjuśrī … Later then finally, Tsongkhapa, himself had direct encounter. And since I was writing this biography from a kind of a modern perspective, I had to try to put on the skeptic’s head and try to see: How can someone, who’s not bought into this kind of culture, really make sense of something like this?  Now the basic idea of visionary encounter isn’t alien outside Buddhism … In the Christian tradition, they have visionary experiences. It’s not an alien concept. But what is intriguing is that it’s not just fleeting visionary encounters but … [a] sustained relationship, where actually Tsongkhpa was receiving teachings through that medium. So that is a harder thing to kind of get … So, I was trying to sort of get a sense of this. And one thing that became quite clear is, regardless of whatever may have been happening, clearly there was a phenomenon going on. That cannot be denied. Now how you explain that phenomenon, of course, is another matter. But clearly there was a phenomenon. And Tsongkhapa is a very clear-thinking person, who has absolute integrity. Why would he make up something like that? On top of that, there is a reference to this quite extensively in Rendawa’s [a teacher of Tsongkhapa] writing about Tsongkhapa’s visionary experiences. And then there is a communication between Tsongkhapa and Lama Umapa, who returns to eastern Tibet, about Tsongkhapa himself having experiences … [Also, in the] writings of … great important masters of that period, they were all taking for granted that Tsongkhapa was having constant visionary experiences. Now, you can call it ‘collective delusion,’ but clearly all of these great minds around his time took it for granted that this is real. So, there is a phenomenon going on … I try to sort of capture this. Of course, I’m a Tibetan Buddhist. I believe fervently in this … I’ve been exposed to science a lot, but I never bought into this reductionist idea that everything can be reduced to movements of the chemicals in your brain. It just doesn’t make any sense. But I wanted to somehow capture that in the writing. And the way in which I try to do [that] was to do it through the power of the narrative, power of the story. ₃

Endnotes

1. Thupten Jinpa, Tsongkhapa: A Buddha in the Land of Snows. Boulder: Shambhala Publications, 2019, page 103. Geshe Jinpa also writes: “In Tibetan Buddhism, the status of Mañjuśrī – as well as similar figures such as Avalokiteśvara (the buddha of compassion), Tārā (the buddha of enlightened action), and Vajrapāṇi (the buddha of enlightened energy) – is multidimensional.” From one perspective, the scholar explains, Mañjuśrī is understood to be an “advanced bodhisattva,” from another, an “’celestial bodhisattva,’ an almost primordial being who predates the Buddha and yet is his disciple,” and from yet another, Mañjuśrī is “recognized as a fully enlightened buddha.” Regarding this last perspective, Geshe Jinpa writes, Mañjuśrī is “no longer an individual being, rather, he is the embodiment of the wisdom of all the buddhas – a kind of archetype, an aspect of the enlightened mind of all the buddhas.” (Ibid., pages 103-104).   
2. Thupten Jinpa, Tsongkhapa: A Buddha in the Land of Snows. Boulder: Shambhala Publications, 2019, pages 104-105. In his endnote for a portion of this quotation from his biography, Geshe Jinpa offers this quotation from fellow-scholar, David S. Ruegg: “The topos of visionary encounter and teaching may perhaps be understood as implicitly alluding, in India as well as in Tibet, to a felt need for both conservative traditionalism and restorative or renovative interpretation.” (Ibid., note 177, page 414). An intriguing perspective to carry forth in these reflections on the experiences and the writings of Julian of Norwich.   
3. Geshe Jinpa’s presentation was entitled “Tsongkhapa: Philosopher, Teacher and Yogi,” and it took place at Tse Chen Ling Center for Tibetan Buddhist Studies in San Francisco on May 4, 2019. The quotation is taken from minutes 31.00 through 36:18 of that presentation. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DfAd9g1Rj4 For more information about Lama Umapa (Umapa Tsondru Sengge), see the short biography at The Treasury of Lives: https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Umapa-Tsondru-Sengge/5693 Rendawa or Rendawa Zhonnu Lodro (1348/1349 – 1412), whose life also quite closely matched that of Julian of Norwich, was a primary teacher of Tsongkhapa, and later became a peer practitioner and scholar as their relationship evolved. Tsongkhapa’s relationship with Rendawa was formative and transformative. Something of the quality of this relationship is captured in a conversation that occurred between Tsongkhapa and another senior colleague, whose name was Lochen: “One day, in the course of a chat, Lochen brought up the subject of how Tsongkhapa and Rendawa had once spent a few months in retreat … and had engaged in a series of deep discussions about Dharma. ‘What special attributes does Rendawa have?’ asked Lochen. ‘Obviously,’ Tsongkhapa replied, ‘all the qualities of a teacher – being learned, diligent in practice, and kind, as well as never divorced from meditative practice – are present in the master.’ Persisting, Lochen said, ‘This time, tell me something about Rendawa that is personal.’ ‘Let me give you a simple example,’ Tsongkhapa replied. He then told Lochen that ever since he had met Rendawa, he had not experienced even a single moment of anger. That had been the impact of Rendawa on him, he said. Relating this, Tsongkhapa was moved to tears. Seeing this, Lochen too had tears in his eyes.” (Thupten Jinpa, Tsongkhapa: A Buddha in the Land of Snows. Boulder: Shambhala Publications, 2019, page 197.)