Program

Research Programs: Fellowships for University Teachers

Period of Performance

1/1/2013 - 12/31/2013

Funding Totals

$50,400.00 (approved)
$50,400.00 (awarded)


Translation and Analysis of "The Life of Ra Lotsawa," a 13th-Century Biography of a Tibetan Buddhist Saint

FAIN: FA-57071-13

Bryan J. Cuevas
Florida State University (Tallahassee, FL 32306-0001)

I am completing the first full translation and study of a 13th-century Tibetan-language biography of one of Tibet's most notorious Buddhist saints, the "lord of sorcerers" Ra Lotsawa (b. 1016). Ra Lotsawa is the paradigmatic sinister yogin, who deployed his supernatural abilities to best his competitors and to gain worldly power and spiritual influence. His classic biography is one of the longest surviving Buddhist life narratives in Tibetan literature and is widely popular. Buddhist sorcery has been a legitimate expression of religious and political action throughout Tibetan history. Yet scholarship has tended to separate the religious from the magical, the political from the religious, and to dismiss the role of magic in Buddhist history and institution building. My book will advance discourse in the humanities about significant links between religion and violence, magic and politics, and the role of religious biography in the construction of sociopolitical identities.





Associated Products

The All-Pervading Melodious Drumbeat: The Life of Ra Lotsawa (Penguin Classics) (Book)
Title: The All-Pervading Melodious Drumbeat: The Life of Ra Lotsawa (Penguin Classics)
Author: Ra Yeshé Sengé
Abstract: An essential sacred text of Tibetan Buddhism, The All-Pervading Melodious Drumbeat tells the wondrous story of Ra Lotsawa Dorjé Drak. Though he was can­onized as a saint and a fully enlightened buddha, the eleventh-century Ra Lotsawa’s life story presents a darker path than those taken by Siddhartha Gautama and Milarepa. Viewed by some as a mur­derous villain and by others as a liberator of human suffering, Ra Lotsawa used his formidable power and magical abilities to defeat his rivals, accumulate wealth, and amass a devoted following. His life offers a rare view into the often overlooked roles of magic and sorcery in the Buddhist tradition. Despite this sinister legacy, his fame also rests on an illustrious career as a translator of Buddhist scriptures, through which he helped spark a renaissance of Buddhism in Tibet. This spirited new translation gives readers in English their first opportunity to encounter one of the most colorful and memorable figures in Tibetan Buddhist history.
Year: 2015
Primary URL: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/311487/
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Type: Translation
ISBN: 9780142422618
Translator: Bryan J. Cuevas
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes