05-15-2010, 03:26 PM
Tantric collectanea in Tibetan will expand our knowledge of Indo-Tibetan religious culture for a long time to come. As an example, volume of the Rin chen gter mdzod and volume of the Sgrub thabs kun btus contain groups of texts centering around one Dza-bir or Dza-ha-bir. This is certainly the Tibetan rendering of the Arabic name Jabir, referring in particular, as will be discussed below, to Jabir ibn Hayyam, the Islamic alchemist extraordinaire who lived from ca. 721 to 815 A.D.
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According to Sle-lung Rje-drung Bzhad-pa'i-rdo-rje (b. 1697), Jabir was born in Nagarkot in western India as the son of its king and was given the name Manikanatha, but is (in the seventeenth century) "famed as an immortal yogi under the name Mahasiddha Jabir.'' This is apparently the only narative of his life found in Tibetan sources. Evidence from the Tibetan materials studied here shows Jabir to have been primarily a Natha Siddha. This is clear from his name, ending in -nitha, from mentions of Goraksanatha and others(Vajranatha chief among them) in the transmission lineages given in II. below, and from the list of his eight principal disciples. I have otherwise not found Jabir mentioned in Nathist materials.
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According to A-khu-ching Shes-rab-rgya-mtsho (1803--1875), Jabir stands between Padmasambhava and Vajranatha in the transmission of rlung gi bcud len teachings, which Shes-rab-rgya-mtsho describes there as 'famed as the teachings on rlung (the vital wind) according to Jabir" (Dza-bir rlung khrid du grags pa'i rlung bcud len). Rlung gi bcud len (*pranarasayana?), "extracting the essence of the wind", is one of a group of yogic/alchemical techniques aimed at allowing the yogin to live on the essence of the elements (air, fire, water, ether and earth) or of rocks, flowers, etc. These are practiced within the highest (anuttarayoga) tantra cycles in Tibet, the purpose being to lengthen life, enabling practitioners to continue and expand their bodhisattva careers. Jabir's "extraordinary instruction", translated in Part II of this article, is the basic teaching on this sort of rasayana practice in Tibet, and would seem to be the earliest extant work on rlung gi bcud len.
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The very idea of a Buddhist named Jabir is indicative here, but also typical of what is already known about the openness of the Natha system to students of all suasions. As exampled by Matsyendranatha, the tradition's founder, the emphasis was on a complete yogic practice rather than a distinct set of doctrines. His disciple, Goraksanatha, so prominent in the materials here, had at least two "Buddhist" names: Anangavajra and Ramanavajra; according to Purohit Swami, he also had a Muslim name. Goraksanatha also had a disciple, a Siddha, by the name of Ismail.
More speculative and interesting, but approaching a probability, would be a disposition Jabir, as a Muslim, could have had to practice Buddhism. Jabir ibn Hayyam was a Shi'ite and supporter of the Barmakids at the Abbasid court. Khalid ibn Barmak, whose father had been educated in medicine and other sciences in Kashmir, and was a chief advisor to the caliph al-Mansur in the construction of his capital, Madinat al-Salam, has now been described as "a converted Inner Asian Iranian Buddhist Priest". Indeed, the very name of the Barmakids, the court advisors to the Abbasids, comes from the Sanskrit pramukha, "chief", a rifle used, among other things, for hereditary superiors of Buddhist monasteries in Balkh, from whence came this Khalid. His son, Yahya, is listed directly after Jabir ibn Hayyam by Ibn al-Nadim in his list of those "who knew the Art", i.e., alchemy. This information would seem sufficient to demonstrate a tradition combining elements of Islamic and Buddhist practice with esoteric science in Iran. A later result of this would seem to be a certain Manikanatha, born in Nagarkot, practicing alchemy as a Sufi who came to be known to the Tibetans as a Vajrayanist named Jabir.
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According to Sle-lung Rje-drung Bzhad-pa'i-rdo-rje (b. 1697), Jabir was born in Nagarkot in western India as the son of its king and was given the name Manikanatha, but is (in the seventeenth century) "famed as an immortal yogi under the name Mahasiddha Jabir.'' This is apparently the only narative of his life found in Tibetan sources. Evidence from the Tibetan materials studied here shows Jabir to have been primarily a Natha Siddha. This is clear from his name, ending in -nitha, from mentions of Goraksanatha and others(Vajranatha chief among them) in the transmission lineages given in II. below, and from the list of his eight principal disciples. I have otherwise not found Jabir mentioned in Nathist materials.
...
According to A-khu-ching Shes-rab-rgya-mtsho (1803--1875), Jabir stands between Padmasambhava and Vajranatha in the transmission of rlung gi bcud len teachings, which Shes-rab-rgya-mtsho describes there as 'famed as the teachings on rlung (the vital wind) according to Jabir" (Dza-bir rlung khrid du grags pa'i rlung bcud len). Rlung gi bcud len (*pranarasayana?), "extracting the essence of the wind", is one of a group of yogic/alchemical techniques aimed at allowing the yogin to live on the essence of the elements (air, fire, water, ether and earth) or of rocks, flowers, etc. These are practiced within the highest (anuttarayoga) tantra cycles in Tibet, the purpose being to lengthen life, enabling practitioners to continue and expand their bodhisattva careers. Jabir's "extraordinary instruction", translated in Part II of this article, is the basic teaching on this sort of rasayana practice in Tibet, and would seem to be the earliest extant work on rlung gi bcud len.
...
The very idea of a Buddhist named Jabir is indicative here, but also typical of what is already known about the openness of the Natha system to students of all suasions. As exampled by Matsyendranatha, the tradition's founder, the emphasis was on a complete yogic practice rather than a distinct set of doctrines. His disciple, Goraksanatha, so prominent in the materials here, had at least two "Buddhist" names: Anangavajra and Ramanavajra; according to Purohit Swami, he also had a Muslim name. Goraksanatha also had a disciple, a Siddha, by the name of Ismail.
More speculative and interesting, but approaching a probability, would be a disposition Jabir, as a Muslim, could have had to practice Buddhism. Jabir ibn Hayyam was a Shi'ite and supporter of the Barmakids at the Abbasid court. Khalid ibn Barmak, whose father had been educated in medicine and other sciences in Kashmir, and was a chief advisor to the caliph al-Mansur in the construction of his capital, Madinat al-Salam, has now been described as "a converted Inner Asian Iranian Buddhist Priest". Indeed, the very name of the Barmakids, the court advisors to the Abbasids, comes from the Sanskrit pramukha, "chief", a rifle used, among other things, for hereditary superiors of Buddhist monasteries in Balkh, from whence came this Khalid. His son, Yahya, is listed directly after Jabir ibn Hayyam by Ibn al-Nadim in his list of those "who knew the Art", i.e., alchemy. This information would seem sufficient to demonstrate a tradition combining elements of Islamic and Buddhist practice with esoteric science in Iran. A later result of this would seem to be a certain Manikanatha, born in Nagarkot, practicing alchemy as a Sufi who came to be known to the Tibetans as a Vajrayanist named Jabir.