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Four Syllables for Slaying and Repelling: A Tibetan Vajrabhairava Practice from Recently Recovered Manuscripts of the “Lost” Book of Rwa (Rwa pod)

In 2001, the late Elliot Sperling published a brief but incisive article entitled “‘Orientalism’ and Aspects of Violence in the Tibetan Tradition,” marking one of the first steps in the dismantling of a persistent romance, a fanciful stereotype of Tibetan Buddhism as the quintessential religion of peace and nonviolence and the Dalai Lamas, past and present, as paragons of Gandhian pacifism. In Sperling’s effort in that essay to bring much-needed context and critical sensitivity to a challenging topic – and, in turn, to humanize Tibetans, their history, and their culture – he did well to remind us of the messy realities of the human condition, of worldly existence, of those “aspects of life that breed strife and discord.” And in that messiness, he argued, Tibetan Buddhism was made “a vehicle for power in the arena of world history, first for Tangut emperors, then for Mongol, Chinese, and Manchu rulers.” Indeed, Tibetan Buddhism is rich with an abundance of methods and techniques for the attainment of power, both for religious and political ends. Inasmuch as there are Tibetan rituals, too numerous to count, for acquiring the wisdom and benevolence of the buddhas and bodhisattvas, for achieving goodwill, peace, and healing, there are also nearly an equal number (if not more) designed for coercion, suppression, and violent harm. They include the usual tantric initiations, ritual offerings, ceremonies employing wrathful deities, and so forth; but also rituals to repel and suppress aggressive forces, intoning hostile mantra and dhāraṇī spells, casting ritual “cake bombs” (gtor