The importance of suffering for the initiation of oracles in areas influenced by Tibetan Buddhism

Bachelor thesis

Autor: Johanna Prien

Anschrift: Spandauer Straße 2, 10178 Berlin

Telefon: 030 80921900

E-Mail: jp@h-t-r.de

Matrikel Nr. 532327

Abgabedatum: 04.09.2012

Institut für Asien- und Afrikawissenschaften

Erster Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Antoni Huber

Zweiter Gutachter: Dr. Diana Lange

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

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Table of Contents

Comment on the Transliteration.......................................................................................

1. Introduction..................................................................................................................

2. Defining and Situating the Topic..................................................................................

2.1 Definitions............................................................................................................

2.1.1 Oracles and Possession.............................................................................

2.1.2 Suffering.....................................................................................................

2.1.3 Vocation and Initiation................................................................................

2.2 Geography, History and Culture..........................................................................

2.3 Thesis..................................................................................................................

3. Description...................................................................................................................

3.1 Suffering during Vocation....................................................................................

3.2 Suffering during Initiation and Everyday Life.......................................................

4. Analysis.......................................................................................................................

5. Interpretation...............................................................................................................

6. Conclusion...................................................................................................................

Appendix..........................................................................................................................

Glossary..........................................................................................................................

References......................................................................................................................

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Comment on the Transliteration

Since I found many different forms of Tibetan and Ladakhi terms in literature, I used a

simplified form of these terms in this text and wrote them in italics so they can be read

and recognised more easily. In the glossary, I put the phonetic form used in the text in

the first column. The second column includes the terms transliterated with the system

of Wylie (1959). As not every author explicitly marked if the system of Wylie was

applied, it cannot be guaranteed that every term is transliterated correctly. A short

explanation of the terms in English is provided in the third column.

2

1. Introduction

In this paper I will examine the role and the degree of importance of suffering

concerning the election and training of new oracles in the regions of Tibet, Nepal and

Ladakh.

Oracles are individuals who are able to contact local spirits through trance and

possession in order to help people consulting them about problems.

This phenomenon of having a medium that is able to communicate with spirits can be

found all over the world in current or past cultures. People who can communicate with

spirits or through whom spirits act and speak are often called medicine men, shamans

or oracles.1

The purpose of all of these practitioners is more or less the same, the different terms

describe variations in location, making, methods and appearance of the practitioners to

name the most important.

While researching for my paper on shamanism in Mongolia in 2010, one of the things I

learnt was that Northern Asian shamans travel to the upper or under world in trance2 –

depending on them being 'white' or 'black' shamans3 – whereas oracles in Tibet are not

conscious4 while being possessed by one or more local gods5 acting and speaking

through them. There are also differences in how a person feels the calling to become

an oracle: While the vocation for Tibetan oracles will be described in this paper as a

protracted period of an apparently incurable illness which only gets better when the

person becomes an oracle, Northern Asian shamans also become ill but will

additionally have a special dream. In this dream they die, their body is being

fragmented and fed to the spirits and the more spirits are fed, the more illnesses the

shaman will be able to cure. After waking up they feel 'reborn' and know that they will

become a shaman.6

1 Rösing 2003, p. 862 Kressing 2003, p. 53 Hoffmann 1967, p. 1014 I use the term 'not conscious' instead of 'unconscious' for this state. 'Not conscious' means

that the oracle is not aware of what he or she is doing because his or her consciousness is said to 'fall asleep' (Schenk 1994, p. 162) in order to let the god enter, whereas the body of the oracle is still functioning and controlled by the god. 'Unconscious' means that a person does not only have no consciousness but is at the same time usually motionless.

5 Kuhn 1988, p. 776 Hoffmann 1967, pp. 116-117

Nebesky-Wojkowitz (1975) describes this dream for Tibetan oracles as well. This shows that it is not possible to define oracles and shamans only by location. In this thesis, I will not

3

Spirit possession is deeply embedded in Tibetan culture as being a central part

of pre-Buddhist religion.7 Next to monks and amchi (local doctors), oracles are

consulted by the people in order to get help with mostly medical or social problems or

for divination.8 In arranged ceremonies the oracle enters a trance and calls one or more

special benevolent gods to possess him or her. During possession the god is able to

cure people or give advice acting through the oracle's body.

Tibetan culture spread to Nepal and Northern India, especially Ladakh, which is

a part of the northernmost Indian state Jammu and Kashmir, in the 7th century CE when

King Songtsen Gampo increased his power and ruled over Tibet. The empire included

parts of China and Nepal was tributary to Tibet. Songtsen Gampo was already

favouring Buddhism and founded the first temples but the religion was not widely

spread at that time.9

In the 8th century CE, Trisong Detsen ruled the big Tibetan empire. He was a big

supporter of Buddhism but had some problems in establishing it in Tibetan culture

because Bon and other traditional beliefs were still very present. Important Indian

Buddhist scholars came to Tibet. One of them was Padmasambhava, called Guru

Rinpoche in Tibet. It is disputed whether he actually existed but he is said to have

subdued the spirits to Buddhism and built the Samye monastery which was the first

monastery in Tibet.10

In Tibet, Nepal and Ladakh oracles exist within Buddhism which integrates them

into a religious and legal setting: Oracles have to follow Buddhist doctrines, especially

during initiation, and are only allowed to perform as an oracle after passing tests and

having achieved the permit of a rinpoche.11

At the same time, Buddhism was integrated into an existing religious world in Tibet in

the 7th and 8th century CE. Buddhism, originally without gods, was confronted with

traditional believes including a huge amount of different spirits. The relation of those

spirits to each other, humans and the environment, as well as their origins and

intentions are too diverse to explain here in detail. However, in order to point out that

examine this type of shamans who travel but only the oracles who get possessed during trance.

7 Schenk 1994, p. 718 Kressing 2003, p. 59 Kollmar Paulenz 2006, pp. 30-3510 Kollmar-Paulenz 2006, pp. 40-4511 Day 1989, p. 269; Schenk 1994, p. 52, p. 109

4

Tibetan oracles, whose task it is to help people, are possessed by benevolent spirits I

will differentiate to some degree by contrasting those benign spirits called lha, which

can be translated as 'gods'12, to malevolent demons which are called de13. De can also

possess people but they are not wanted because they are malevolent.14 In the phase of

vocation, which will be described in detail below, it is often not clear if the possessed

person is visited by a lha or de because the symptoms of vocation are very similar to

the symptoms of affliction by de. Therefore I will additionally use the term 'spirit' to

visualise the difficulty of seeing directly what kind of spirit possesses a person.

It is necessary to simplify the categories of the spirits dramatically because one

category can only be understood in the context of the whole pantheon15 which is much

too complex to explain adequately in this extent.

For more detailed information on the different kinds of spirits I recommend Nebesky-

Wojkowitz' monography 'Oracles and Demons of Tibet'.16

When I wrote my paper on shamanism in Mongolia, I came across the term

'shamanic illness' and accounts of future shamans who got very ill before becoming a

shaman.17 Focusing on Tibet and Tibetan culture and Buddhism later, I realised that

this phenomenon also occurred with future oracles. It seemed interesting to me that an

illness should be the sign for a person to become an oracle so I decided to examine

this phenomenon further.

Another thing that struck me was the fact that in literature spirit possession is nearly

always described as a fact. I had expected statements in a form of presenting a

religious faith such as 'the oracle is believed to be possessed by a god' but instead I

read 'the oracle is possessed by a god' in the majority of cases.

With my mother being a dentist and my father having studied mathematics and

physics, I was raised with a rather 'Western scientific' view on my environment. The

belief in divine beings has always fascinated me because it is so unfamiliar to me.

On the other hand, especially during the course of my studies I realised that it is often

not possible and also not reasonable to always try to analyse and explain cultural and

religious phenomena in detail in order to find out the 'truth' behind them. As long as

12 Day 1989, p. 5813 Kressing 2003, p. 714 Kressing 2003, p. 715 Originally greek term for a “temple for all gods”, in this case the definition is “the gods of a

people” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pantheon. July 23rd, 2012)16 Nebesky-Wojkowitz, 1975, 'Oracles and Demons of Tibet'17 Nebesky-Wojkowitz 1975, p. 550; Schenk 1994, p. 22

5

people believe in lha and de and in possession by them, they do exist for them and as

long as the oracle fulfils its task satisfactorily, his possession is real18 and of advantage

for the people since ultimately 'the one who heals is right.'19

The Western scientific approach exists as well, of course, and I am very interested in

the neurological and psychological process happening when an oracle enters trance

and gets possessed by a god. An interesting book about the neurological and

psychiatric aspects of monastic oracles was written by Günter Schüttler.20

In my opinion it is best to accept both approaches as justified but since I am examining

the cultural and social background of the phenomenon and am more interested in the

viewpoint of the oracles themselves, I will focus on the prevailing believes and also

most often describe the possession of an oracle as a fact.

For my research I used primarily the dissertation by Sophie Day (1989), Ina

Rösing's book 'Trance, Besessenheit und Amnesie' (2003) and 'Schamanen auf dem

Dach der Welt' by Amélie Schenk (1999) for descriptions. A classical work was written

by Nebesky-Wojkowitz: 'Oracles and Demons in Tibet' (1975). Apart from that, the texts

by Martin Brauen (1980), Hildegard Diemberger (2005) and Frank Kressing (2003)

were essential for me.

In the following parts I will explain the topic of this paper further followed by a

description of the different aspects of suffering. Then I will analyse and interpret my

observations.

2. Defining and Situating the Topic

The first part is designated to define some of the headwords in the way I will

use them in the paper to display the topic discussed. Then, the topic will be situated

geographically, historically and culturally. In the end of the first part I will formulate a

thesis which will be further examined and proved in the following text.

18 Translation of a quotation by an onpo (divinator): 'Why do the lha come at all? - They come to us, because we believe in it.' Schenk 1994, p. 22

19 Quotation which might have been formulated by Paracelsus, physician of the 16th century. (http://www.erfahrungsheilkunde.ch/geschichte6.html August 14th, 2012)

20 Schüttler, 1971, 'Die letzten tibetischen Orakelpriester'

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2.1 Definitions

In my opinion, definitions are very difficult to formulate because it is impossible

to define cultural and/or religious phenomena correctly. The definition must be able to

handle the topic even though it cannot be applicable to every individual person or case

that is part of the author's field of work. Still, I will make an attempt to describe the

headwords 'oracle', 'possession', 'suffering', 'vocation' and 'initiation' further, to give at

least an impression of these important subjects to the reader.

2.1.1 Oracles and Possession

The term 'oracle' describes 'a person, through whom a deity is believed to

speak'.21 Not only this definition seems to be very simple, also it is probably the most

fitting one because it is almost impossible to give a more detailed description meeting

the requirements of defining the many different types of oracles which are spread all

over the world.

Nonetheless, I will try to define the oracles discussed in this paper a little further to give

a more detailed view of my topic.

It is not possible to know which religion was prevalent before Buddhism came to

Tibet.22 What did survive until today in Tibetan culture is the belief in many gods, spirits

and demons which are connected to nature and the environment. They play an

important role in the everyday life of the people, in Ladakh for example, every

household or a group of households has a household god.23 When Buddhism came to

Tibet, Padmasambhava subdued many powerful spirits and converted them to the new

religion.24 Thus, Tibetans could continue their traditional religious practice within the

new state religion. Alongside the monasteries with their monks and monastic oracles,

the traditional oracles still existed in the villages. Those oracles were and nowadays

still are the contact persons for the village population whenever a village member is ill,

is believed to be possessed by a malevolent demon or needs social or even political or

21 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oracle. July 30th, 2012)22 Kollmar-Paulenz 2006, pp. 43-4423 Day 1989, pp. 75-7724 Kollmar-Paulenz 2006, pp. 44-45

7

legal advice.25 When consulted, the oracle enters a trance to let the god, which had

elected him or her as luyar ('vessel'), his or her body to be able to communicate with

the people. The election of an oracle through a god is usually a very long process

which causes a lot of suffering to the elected person.26 This phenomenon will be the

main topic of this paper. To enter trance, prayer, singing and dancing are performed

and juniper or incense is burnt.27 Entering trance means letting the consciousness of

the luyar 'fall asleep' in order to let the god take its place.28 The oracle puts on special

clothing and a crown and uses objects like a drum and a bell during trance.29 Now, the

present patients30 can step forward one after the other to receive a treatment (e.g.

sucking out illnesses), diagnose or advice.

For further description of clothes and equipment I recommend the descriptions by

Nebesky-Wojkowitz or Schenk.31

The Tibetan and Ladakhi term usually is lhapa for a male oracle and lhamo for a

female oracle.32

As there are oracles in many different ethnic groups, there are also a lot of terms for

them which will not be explained here in detail, though. Tibetan oracles are also often

called 'shamans' because they show similarities to shamans in Northern Asian regions

like Siberia.33 The main difference I see here is that the shamans in Northern Asian

regions perform the 'Flug-Trance' to travel to other spheres, whereas Tibetan oracles

enter a 'Besessenheits-Trance' where they are possessed by a gods.34

Since in the area of Ladakh, where a lot of scientists did research on Tibetan oracles,

the term 'oracle' is preferred in English35, I will use it in this paper as well.

A person who becomes an oracle passes different stages. When the oracle has

already started the training, he or she will be called 'novice'36 in this paper because

25 Diemberger 2005, p. 13926 Schenk 1994, p. 2227 Kuhn 1988, p. 84; Schenk 1994, p. 14728 Schenk 1994, p. 16229 Schenk 1994, p. 16930 Kuhn reports that according to family members of one oracle there were around 10-12

patients present daily and even more than hundred on sundays or 'auspicious' days. Kuhn herself counted 30-40 patients on sundays. (Kuhn 1988, p. 94)

31 Nebesky-Wojkowitz 1975, pp. 543-546; Schenk 1994, pp. 169-17032 Day 1989, p. 933 Day 1989, p. 9, p. 25734 Rösing 2003, p. 8635 Day 1989, p. 1036 Novice: a person admitted to probationary membership in a religious community.

(http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/novice, July 30th, 2012)

8

becoming an oracle is intended but the novice has not completed his or her training

and can thus not yet be called 'oracle'.

During vocation or the calling, which happens before the training starts, the person

does not yet know that he or she will become an oracle and can therefore not be called

'novice' yet. I will call this person 'possessed' or 'afflicted person', 'future oracle' or

'patient' depending on the context.

As previously mentioned, oracles get possessed by lha and this leads us to the next

important expression. 'Possession' generally means, that something is the property of

someone. In German, there is a difference between 'Besitz' and 'Besessenheit', but the

English word 'possession' means both. The German verb, though, is the same for both

terms, 'besitzen' which derives from the noun 'Besitz' whereas the passive form 'von

jemandem/etwas besessen werden' points in its meaning and sound more to the term

'Besessenheit'.

The possession of an oracle means that there are one or more gods which can enter

the oracle's body. The oracle is possessed by the god, the god possesses the oracle.

In Tibetan, the term luyar is also used to describe an oracle. This means, that the

consciousness of the oracle 'falls asleep' in trance so that the god can enter the 'empty'

body, and fill this 'vessel' with its own consciousness.37 The god acts through the luyar,

which becomes clear by the luyar behaving differently, e.g. by changing its character or

talking in different languages or dialects, sometimes with a very high or low pitched

voice depending on the god's character and origin.38 Since the consciousness of the

oracle was 'asleep' during trance, the oracle is afterwards not able to remember what

has happened.

It is important to note, that oracles are seen as people with a very low spiritual

power (parka). It is believed, that a god can only enter the body of a (spiritually) weak

person to insert its own consciousness in this person's body.39

In the literature the state of being in trance is often called 'altered state of

consciousness' (ASC).40 The evoked possession is a sort of possession which can only

be controlled by the oracle after he or she passed initiation, it follows trance and can be

called 'lha-possession'.41 It is not the same as, for instance, possession during vocation

37 Schenk, 1994, p. 16238 Diemberger 2005, p. 115; pp. 136-13739 Rösing 2003, p. 14040 Rösing 2003, p. 86; Schenk 1994, pp. 59-7041 Rösing 2003, p. 110, Schenk 1994, p. 59

9

since this type of possession happens uncontrollably and is not wanted.42 The spirit (it

is normally not clear at that point if the person is possessed by lha or de) enters the

body by force which is also one reason why the possessed person feels pain.43

I found it very interesting to see that, instead of saying 'the god possesses the

oracle', mostly the passive form 'the oracle is possessed by the god' is used when

talking about the possession of oracles. The reason for this might be that in regular,

planned ceremonies it is still the oracle who actively enters trance to call a god in order

to be possessed. In contrast, especially during the period of vocation, it is not the

novice who wants to be possessed but the god who can enter the novice' body against

his or her will.

Thus, possession is a lifelong relationship between an oracle and one or more gods.

This relationship is imposed on the oracle through the election of the god and

sometimes due to social pressure like the need for an oracle in the village.

Possession is also the word for a special state of consciousness evoked during trance

where the god takes over the body of the not-conscious oracle.

2.1.2 Suffering

In general, suffering means that a person is in pain or has to passively

experience actions that make them physically or mentally upset. Most of the times,

suffering is caused by another person, sometimes without the intention to do so or by

difficult circumstances like illnesses and diseases, injuries and threat.

Suffering is very subjective. While one person suffers a lot from a certain condition,

another person might experience the same but does not get affected at all.

In order to erase suffering, the conditions causing it need to be resolved. The person

suffering will then experience relief and can usually continue his or her life as before.

Suffering is a very special aspect in an oracle's life. Amongst other things it

includes physical pain, feeling weak and having the feeling of being out of control of the

42 Schenk 1994, p. 13343 Schenk 1994, p. 77

10

own body. This suffering is the main element of the so called 'shamanic illness'. It is

often described as being a sign for vocation.44

In my opinion, the suffering of an oracle goes far beyond the initial illness, it is part of

the whole life of an oracle. Many oracles seem to have had a difficult life or difficult

personal situation45, especially girls reported bad treatment.46 After this first step of

suffering in early life, happening to only some oracles, the shamanic illness or

disease47 starts. It is caused by a lha who has elected the person to be his luyar. The

illness' many different symptoms can range from feeling a little uncomfortable up to

severe self-inflicted injuries.48 Also, the duration of the illness may vary extremely from

a few weeks to even decades.49 Of course this illness is the main suffering in an

oracle's life. To cure the future oracle's suffering, the god must be allowed to possess

the body.50 The future oracle will experience relief after having been in trance for the

first times and learning how to control the possession.51 But since a lot of people are

possessed by demons in Tibetan culture,52 it often takes very long until the afflicted

person is diagnosed to be possessed by a lha and not a demon. This means that the

curing of the novice' suffering might take a long time and that the future oracle's

suffering is extended.

Another reason for suffering is the experience the oracle makes: By sensing pain and

illnesses himself he is said to learn what to do against the suffering of the people.53

After the first rituals of initiation and especially after having finished initiation, the novice

feels much better. Still, a lot of practising oracles feel suffering until they are old.54

44 Day 1989, p. 27345 Diemberger 2005, p. 12946 Schenk 1994, p. 11947 It cannot clearly be said whether it is an illness or disease. An illness is the state of a person

feeling very uncomfortable in his or her body without knowing the reason. A disease is the disfunction of (parts of) the body of a person which manifest through characteristic symptoms and have a 'known or unknown pathology' (http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/disease). I do think that there is a reason for suffering but since I am not able to define it, I will use the term 'illness'.The shamanic illness has characteristic symptoms which are said to be caused by spirit possession which is not an acknowledged pathological reason for a disease in biomedicine. On the other hand, there might be pathological reasons unknown yet which would make it a disease.

48 Rösing 2003, p. 9849 Day 1989, p. 27350 Schenk 1994, p. 7751 Schenk 1994, p. 2852 Day 1989, p. 27853 Schenk 1994, p. 5754 Schenk 1994, pp. 203-204

11

2.1.3 Vocation and Initiation

A vocation is like a call somebody receives making him choose a special

profession or religion. The vocation of an oracle is a very unpleasant time, the future

oracles suffer from pain and distress. The 'calling' from the god causes unrest, pain

and cramps, insolent behaviour and often so called 'madness'.55

Many novices suffer for a long time from vocation, up to 10 or more years, because the

lha is often detected very late.

When a person got the diagnosis of being possessed by a lha and decides to become

a village oracle, the novice has to pass an initiation. The teacher is almost always an

experienced oracle who teaches the novice how to perform the different rituals and

methods of healing and how to enter trance and prepare offerings.56 Sometimes, a

novice has different teachers who can teach him or her their main area.57 For some

novices it is not possible to receive this widely varied sort of training because it is too

expensive.58 The phase of initiation may consist of only few training sessions59 up to

many years.60

Without a diagnosis, the oracle can naturally not start initiation. As mentioned above,

the future oracle feels upset or is in pain for a long period. In order to heal the suffering,

the parents of the usually adolescent future oracle take their child to consult different

kinds of healers.61 This can be an amchi (local doctor), an oracle or a monk or rinpoche

from the next monastery. All three of them have their own methods of diagnosing and

healing. The amchi is a local doctor who uses primarily Tibetan medicine to treat his

patients.62 The Buddhist monks have great knowledge of Buddhist texts and are able to

perform different rituals, such as banning de.63 When a person is afflicted by a

malevolent spirit, rituals are performed to ban the demon. When a lha is detected, the

possessed person has to decide whether he or she agrees to become an oracle for the

benefit of the village. The person often decides against the lha because being an

oracle is considered a very demanding occupation which has to be performed

55 Schenk 1994, p. 7456 Rösing 2003, p. 112; Day 1989, p. 27157 Schenk 1994, p. 11058 Schenk 1994, p. 11559 Day 1989, p. 51360 Day 1989, p. 27461 Day 1989, p. 27362 Strässle 2005, p. 3363 Schenk 1994, p. 77

12

additionally to his or her normal household duties.64 If the person decides against it, the

rinpoche can try to ban the god. However, this does not always work and also the

rinpoche will most likely try to convince the afflicted person to accept their fate and

become an oracle which is also beneficial for the whole village.65 Sometimes the

rinpoche even asks the people from the village if they want to have an oracle.66 When

the person decided for becoming an oracle, he or she receives a letter by the rinpoche

to be given to his or her future teacher. This letter is also the permission to separate

lha and de and receive teachings because only a novice whose lha has been approved

by a rinpoche can become an oracle.67 At the end of the initiation the novice is tested

by the rinpoche again to receive the final approbation.68

The 'first and most essential stage of an oracle's training' is the separation rite to isolate

lha from de.69 As mentioned above, the symptoms of a person which is possessed by a

lha at first are often taken as an affliction by de because this is very common.70 De and

lha are said to be fighting over the body of the luyar which causes even more pain to

the possessed person.71 Thus it is important to separate lha and de in order to prevent

the person from the dangerous affliction by de.

The separation rite does not have a standardised form but many elements can be

found in different areas.72 The novice has to find small objects which are hidden in the

room (e.g. rice or barley grains under the carpet). He or she has to sort black and white

stones with bandaged eyes which are hidden in a pot etc.73

The initiation is the time between vocation and occupation as oracle. During this

time, the novice learns how to enter trance and to control the possession by the lha.74

In Day's words 'probable demonic affliction' is turned 'into a divine power'.75 The novice

is introduced to the secret methods of sucking out illnesses or objects of a patient's or

animal's body and learns how to prepare offerings and rituals.

64 Schenk 1994, p. 22; p. 102; p. 5765 Kressing 2003, p. 6-766 Schenk 1994, p. 2767 Rösing 2003, p. 10868 Day 1989, p. 26969 Day 1989, p. 23270 Schenk 1994, p. 7671 Rösing 2003, p. 96; Schenk 1994, p. 3372 Schenk 1994, p. 9973 Schenk 1994, p. 10074 Schenk 1994, p. 9875 Day 1989, p. 2

13

2.2 Geography, History and Culture

Tibetan culture and especially Tibetan Buddhism have a long history of

proliferation to Nepal and Ladakh, Northern India.

When they want to explore Tibetan culture and religion, many scientists go to Ladakh.

It is an area in Northern India situated in the district Jammu and Kashmir whose capital

is Leh, that has a border to Tibet.76

Even though it politically belongs to India, it is ethnically, culturally and religiously

Tibetan.77 Besides Urdu, Ladakhi, which can be seen as a dialect of Tibetan, is spoken.

During and after the Chinese invasion in Tibet, a lot of Tibetans fled to Ladakh.78

Tibetan Buddhism forms a great part of Tibetan culture. One can find Buddhism

in every part of Tibetan culture, it cannot be treated separately.79 It was brought to Tibet

by Padmasambhava and the current king Trisong Detsen supported it.80

In order to turn Buddhism into the state religion, the people had to be convinced as

well. At that time, a lot of gods, which probably either were part of Bon, a pre-Buddhist

religion, or traditional animistic beliefs, were worshipped by Tibetans. Since Tibetans

would not give up their spirit worship so easily, the gods were finally integrated into the

new form of Tibetan Buddhism. The pantheon of Tibetan Buddhism is extremely big

and the gods have different ranks and status.81

Tibetan culture and Buddhism can roughly be divided into two main societal structures:

Monastery and village.82

The monks in the monasteries study Buddhist texts and primarily handle the higher

ranking gods which have achieved enlightenment in their former lives.83 Those gods

can be called by monastic oracles during special ceremonies. Monastic oracles also

enter trance to be possessed by a god84 but they have different tasks from village

76 Day 1989, pp. 34-3577 Map 'Tibetischer Kulturraum' in the appendix78 Schenk 1994, p. 979 Day 1989, pp. 22-2380 Kollmar-Paulenz 2006, p. 40-4581 Ekvall cited in: Rösing 2003, p. 7282 Day 1989, p. 6083 Day 1989, pp. 59-6084 Day, 1989 p. 9

14

oracles.85 They only enter trance on special occasions like annual rituals86. They

perform divination and give advice for the whole community but do not heal ill people.87

The lower ranking gods and spirits are seen to belong to the mundane world because

they are not enlightened beings and are connected to mountains, lakes or other objects

in nature.88 They are very important in the everyday life of the people. Every family has

a room in there house or a place on the roof where a shrine is built. In this place they

can pray and make offerings.89

To communicate with these gods, oracles are needed. As mentioned above, Buddhism

met traditional religious believes in Tibet, so the consultation of oracles had already

existed long before monasteries were built.

Village oracles can only be possessed by low ranking gods who, according to Tibetan

Buddhist doctrines, belong to the mundane world.90 Those gods are not enlightened

and will never be.91 Enlightened beings are not interested in communicating with village

people but only with monks.92 Oracles claiming to be possessed by a high ranking god

are often not believed.93

Furthermore, many monks think of village oracles as being 'primitive and backward'.

The connecting of Buddhism with 'shamanic Buddhism' is not taken seriously or is even

despised and, compared to enlightenment, lha-possession is seen as immature.94

Since there are so many lower ranking gods and spirits, it is often not easy to

tell if they are benevolent or malevolent to the people.95 Only senior oracles and

especially high ranking monks, rinpoche, are able to find out about the spirit's

intentions.96 A spirit can also be subdued to Buddhism and has to promise to protect

the people and to act beneficially but as long as this has not happened, the spirit is not

worshipped.97 An oracle can only practise with the authorisation of a rinpoche which

means that the rinpoche also has the power to reject an oracle or its god. As said

85 Day, 1989, p. 38986 Rösing 2003, p. 9487 Kressing 2003, p. 488 Day 1989, p. 5689 Day 1989, p. 7590 Nebesky-Wojkowitz 1975, p. 40991 Yamada 1999, p. 692 Nebesky-Wojkowitz 1975, p. 40993 Diemberger 2005, pp. 130-131; Nebesky-Wojkowitz 1975, p. 40994 Schenk 1994, p. 7195 Day 1989, p. 22, Diemberger 2005, p. 13296Rösing 2003, p. 10897 Day 1989, p. 24

15

before, only monks are able to handle high ranking gods. Thus when a future oracle

claims to be possessed by a high ranking god, he or she will not get permission to

perform because it is said to be impossible that a god this high-ranked chooses a

village oracle as luyar.98

2.3 Thesis

After having defined the fundamental circumstances, I will formulate a thesis:

The research on this topic showed me, that oracles in areas which are influenced by

Tibetan Buddhism always suffer before and during their initiation as an oracle. On the

one hand, one could say that since I could not find a single account of an oracle who

did not experience suffering especially during the vocation and since suffering is often

not thematised anymore after the diagnosis has been made, it is a normal side effect

that every future oracle experiences. This would mean that suffering happens

'accidentally' just because a lha is trying to enter the person's body, so the suffering

itself would not have a meaning.

On the other hand, it seems to me that every oracle needs the suffering (again

especially during vocation phase) to be able to 'give' his or her body to the god as a

vessel. This means that suffering is the main reason for becoming an oracle because

for many afflicted people the initiation is the only possibility to free themselves from the

painful suffering they experience.99 Without suffering, there would be no need to submit

oneself to the arduous occupation of being an oracle.

Another reason can be found in the texts directly: It is often said that an oracle has to

suffer every illness in order to understand and to be able to heal it.100

Judging from this I regard suffering as a – or even the most important – precondition for

becoming an oracle.

98 Diemberger 2005, pp. 130-13199 Schenk 1994, p. 27100Schenk 1994, p. 57

16

3. Description

In order to be able to analyse and interpret the aspect of suffering, I will at first

summarise some of the accounts of different oracles given in the literature by authors

like Sophie Day, Amélie Schenk and Martin Brauen.

3.1 Suffering during Vocation

The phase of vocation is the one where the afflicted person has to suffer the

most. Since the process of vocation is not uniform and varies from person to person, I

will resume some of the accounts given in the literature.

Apart from very few exceptions, a person can only be elected by a god if there has

already been an oracle in the family before or if there is another kind of lineage

existing.101 The lha can be directly inherited, which means that after the death of an

oracle the same lha chooses the brother, daughter, nephew or any other descendant of

the former oracle to carry on the tradition.102 It might also happen, that the lha spares

one or more generations, that a lha which has not been in the family before elects a

person or that a person from the same village is chosen.103 Still, it seems important that

there is a history of spirit possession in the family.

It is also important to mention that when a lhamo or lhapa talks about possession by

the lha at a very early age, e.g. in childhood, the term 'possession' is used in

retrospect. During the first occasions of possession the possessed person and

especially the parents usually believe in affliction by de.

Sophie Day summarises, that madness and 'a violent loss of control' are

symptoms of the election by a lha. The elected person has to go through a period of fits

and cannot rest.104

On the pages 273-274 of her dissertation105 she quotes Tukchikpa lhamo, a then 28-

year-old woman who recalls her vocation which lasted about a month. Tukchikpa

101Day 1989, p. 270, Schenk 1994, pp. 83-85102Schenk 1994, p. 85103Schenk 1994, p. 85104Day 1989, p. 273105Day 1989, Embodying spirits: Village Oracles and Possession Ritual in Ladakh, North India

17

lhamo had many attacks and often almost fainted. She had to stay at home during that

period because her 'body was so heavy that [she] could barely move'. After her attacks

she suffered from headaches and felt weak, she was even 'ready to die'. Since she did

not want to stay at home, she spent a lot of money to travel to monasteries to consult

monks and rinpoche and to receive sungwa, special amulets against her illness. She

also went to see Taklangsha lhapa (the Thikse oracle) but none of the persons

Tukchikpa lhamo went to see told her that she was possessed by a lha.

After she experienced her first possession while visiting her sister, she realised that it

was possibly a lha and consulted oracles again. Finally, Taklangsha lhapa agreed to

teach her.106

Apart from the initial consultation, no monks or rinpoche are mentioned in this account.

Since a novice needs permission by a rinpoche to receive training, I suppose that the

approval of the rinpoche was just left out in Day's account.

The next account in Day's text is the vocation story of the famous Ayu lhamo.

She mentions, that she first met her lha at the age of four. Until her mother's death, she

was not possessed by her lha often, but afterwards she was 'unsettled for many years'.

She consulted many rinpoche and received blessings. Her lha was recognised and she

started the training which took about 12 years.107

The last account of a vocation in Day's text is about Skarra nun whom also

Brauen writes about. Even though she acted as a village oracle in her house, she

became a nun during her vocation. She had experienced daslog, which can be

translated as 'journey to the dead', twice.108

She had wanted to become a nun since childhood but was married to a man chosen by

her family, who did not treat her well. After her second child was born, she realised that

for her it was probably not possible anymore to become a nun. This also happened

during the period in which she was visited by her lha for the first time. She felt

'someone pushing into [her] body, into [her] back and hands' and then fainted. Skarra

nun got possessed often and the people in the village thought that she had gone mad

or was a gongmo (witch). She could not work properly which is the reason why her

husband beat her. Skarra nun visited Bakula rinpoche with her father who immediately

recognised her lha and identified it as being a Tibetan goddess. The rinpoche gave

106Day 1989, pp. 273-274107Day 1989, p. 274108Day 1989, p. 260

18

Skarra nun trus (a ritual wash), 'invited the gods' and asked her lha questions about its

intentions. The lha answered that she wanted to help and cure the people. The

rinpoche prepared the dresses and 'gave her lots of advice and books'. He even made

a room for her in the monastery where she could enter trance 'just on auspicious days'.

Day adds that some of the nun's relatives told her that Bakula rinpoche later was

'disillusioned with her powers'. 109

After this, she experienced her first daslog: She tells that at the first time she was

'unconscious for five days' and met 'three of [her] goddesses'.110 After waking up again,

she felt that the goddesses wanted her to become a nun and therefore she studied for

three years at Rizong monastery. During this time, she spent one year on pilgrimage

where she meditated a lot. She also got possessed by her goddesses from time to

time. This year was a heavy duty for her because it was very exhausting.

After her official initiation as a nun, she travelled to some villages with another nun to

preach Buddhist instructions.

Back in Leh, her second daslog happened. She was unconscious for an entire week

and the people of her village thought she was dead. She narrates that her soul

travelled and met several high ranking spiritual representatives.

After waking up again, some people thought of her as being saintly, others thought she

was an impostor.111 This shows that even after years of being a nun and an oracle she

still suffered from having a bad reputation.

The combination of nun and village oracle makes Skarra nun very special. She acts as

a nun and as an oracle without having had the common initiation an oracle needs to be

able to practise at all. Apparently, she wants to maintain the differences for she e.g.

does not exercise the sucking out poison or objects from the patients' bodies but sends

the patients to other oracles to perform jib.112

More accounts can be found in Schenk's book. Schenk also describes a

protracted period of suffering and 'social abnormality'. 113

She first tells the story of Thondup lhapa's vocation. He was already 30 years old when

his lha appeared for the first time. It is the lha that had possessed his great-grandfather

before, which implies that the lha skipped two generations. During his vocation,

Thondup had a lot of social problems. He argued with his wife and parents a lot and

109Day 1989, pp. 275-276110She claims to be possessed by the 21 sGrol ma (Brauen 1980, p. 146)111Brauen 1980, p. 151112Day 1989, p. 277113Schenk 1994, p. 22

19

even had disputed with monks from the Thikse monastery. He roamed around night

and day and wherever he met people, he began to argue with them. He was chased

around by the people because they thought he was possessed by de and he had

visions of yaks and 'round things'. Most people were convinced that he drank to much

chang (beer). He received sungwa from Stakna rinpoche which improved his condition

but could not heal him. A very big problem for Thondup was the lack of money. He was

told to travel a lot to monasteries and became very unhappy because his family was

poor and actually could not afford these journeys. His father finally convinced him to go

because he (the father) would rather die than seeing his son not doing anything to

improve his condition.114

According to Schenk, the novice senses commotion and feels chased by de, wherefore

he is not able to rest and is running around a lot.115

Being very rude and aggressive is not only uncomfortable for the novice himself, but

also it got him and of course his parents into a lot of trouble. The 'suffering is not an

issue of a single person, it affects everybody who is in contact with him'. The climax of

the illness is the anticlimax in the life of the suffering human.116

A lot of pressure is imposed on the future oracle. The novice does not feel well and

needs improvement of his or her condition. The parents might feel sorry for their child

because they see how it suffers. Additionally, they want to erase the social problems

caused by their child which affect them at least as much as the novice. The rinpoche

explains Thondup lhapa that it is important to change his condition as soon as possible.

First of all, one has to find out about the intentions of the spirit to know if it is a lha or

de. De have to be banned immediately because they can cause pain and suffering. If

the novice is possessed by a lha, there is also the need for acting quickly and initiating

the first rituals and the training in order to bring relief to the novice. Other than that, the

people living in the novice' home village want to change the situation, especially when

there is no oracle in the village so far: Not only do they want to stop the rude behaviour

of the novice, but, more importantly, they mostly wish a new oracle in their own village

so that they do not have to travel far anymore.117

In Thondup's case, the rinpoche asked the people in the village if they wanted to have

an oracle and after they approved, he appealed to them that they should support

Thondup's family since they were poor.118

114Schenk 1994, pp. 22-25115Schenk 1994, p. 26116Schenk 1994, p. 26117Schenk 1994, p. 27118Schenk 1994, p. 27

20

Dorje lhapa, the next account in Schenk's book, got possessed when he was

eight years old. He fainted a lot and suddenly found himself in unfamiliar places not

knowing how he had gotten there. He was brought to Sonam lhapa, his uncle, who

immediately discovered the lha. Kushok bakula from Spituk monastery told him as well

that a lha was possessing him. He wanted Dorje to become an oracle for the benefit of

the village, but the boy did not want to at first. Since the illness did not stop and the

village said they wanted him to be their oracle, he finally agreed to go through the

initiation.119

Schenk cites the recently initiated Tsering lhamo who claims that her aunt's lha

has possessed her since four days after her aunt's death because she had a dream of

herself and her aunt travelling in the sky. Already years before this incident, she often

felt sick and fainted so it cannot be sure if she actually inherited her aunt's lha or if she

has been possessed by another one for a much longer period. She had these problems

for almost ten years, starting when she was 18 or 19 years old, and always got the

diagnosis of lhapa and monks that she was possessed by de.

Once she took part in a dance show with her dance group. Suddenly, her personality

changed and the others called the Nawang lhapa. He entered a trance and said that

she was possessed by de. Still, he claimed she would become a lhamo. Recalling the

evening, Tsering lhamo tells of the vision she had had: She saw people and an altar

which was prepared for a ceremony, the setting was like in a monastery. Dorje lhapa,

who has been there as well, tells, that by walking over a pass to reach another village,

Tsering suddenly ran in front of the others as soon as she had seen the lhatho (shrine)

they were approaching. Tsering continues that she had been tired and wanted to rest

at the lhatho but she could not remember what happened afterwards. She had no

memories of the village where they arrived later, she only knew that she felt very

uncomfortable and dizzy all the time. At night, she got possessed and Dorje lhapa

asked the spirit about his intentions. The lha did not want to tell his name but claimed

that he wanted to protect Tsering from de and gave the advice to visit Tashi tanphel,

the Stakna rinpoche. A few days after having returned home, she visited Togdan

rinpoche who gave her trus and asked her to come back later. The next time she

received trus, she got possessed immediately. The rinpoche detected the lha and told

her to prepare her lha-che (ritual clothes). Stakna and Bakula rinpoche and the

experienced lhapa Sonam Murup recognised the lha as well. Sonam Murup is told by

119Schenk 1994, p. 28

21

Stakna rinpoche to test the intentions of the lha. Besides the training with Sonam

Murup, she has to go on a pilgrimage to different monasteries to see the rinpoche there

and execute Buddhist religious practice such as prostration and praying mantras.

The director of her dancing group told Schenk that she had behaved badly during a

press conference in New Delhi being either 'insolent and audacious or absent-minded

and mute'.

Her mother narrates that her daughter had felt sick, fainted and threw up often for

almost ten years before the actual vocation. Since it there was no other result they

expected the girl to be afflicted by de.120

Yangchang lhamo also did not feel well at the beginning of her vocation, she felt

uncomfortable and oppressed. Her parents thought she was afflicted by de. They finally

visited Stakna rinpoche who said she would become a lhamo.

At night she dreamed of a white figure climbing down the hill behind her house. She

and her family immediately thought of a lha.

Dreams can often be a sign of vocation. Many novices dream of white people and

white animals or of themselves being an oracle.121

Yangchang lhamo also narrates that she was not only possessed by lha, but also by

de. The lha did not cause any pain or discomfort, but when possessed by de, she felt

unbearable pain, especially near her heart, and cramps in her hands. As mentioned

before, Yangchang lhamo could not distinguish between lha and de by then, her

interpretation is in retrospect.

Yangchang lhamo consulted Ayu lhamo who, according to the people living nearby, did

not want a rival in her area and told Yangchang lhamo, her lha had not answered her

questions correctly and she could not become a lhamo because she did not inherit it.

The rinpoche of Takthok monastery though, confirmed her lha so she started the

training with Sonam lhapa. After the first sessions she changed her teacher, maybe

because of an argument, and continued her training with Yeshe lhapa.122

Another famous lhapa, who was mentioned as teacher often in the accounts

and whom Schenk calls the 'probably most popular oracle of Upper Ladakh'123, is

Sonam Murup, lhapa of Thikse. Actually his brother was supposed to inherit the oracle

120Schenk 1994, pp. 28-30121Schenk 1994, p. 27122Schenk 1994, pp. 33-35123Schenk 1994, p. 38

22

of their lineage, but in the end Sonam Murup was the one being possessed. When he

was 25 years old, he was hit by a whirlwind when he approached a lhatho next to his

house. He fell unconscious and was later told that he took his clothes off and came

back to his father's house some days later. Sonam himself does not remember any of

this. He reports that after talking to his father when he had got back, he took some of

the embers and 'washed' his hands, feet and face with it without getting hurt.

After this event, he got possessed by lha and de regularly. He went to the monastery of

Thikse and was told that he and not his brother was to be the new lhapa.

It took three years of being possessed frequently until he actually received advice by a

lama on what he should do and how he could achieve and maintain purity, e.g. with

prostrations and prayers. Apart from that he received trus by the monk, passed a few

tests and went on pilgrimage. During pilgrimage he fell into trance once and afterwards

could not remember what had happened. The people who were there told him, that he

sucked a needle or piece of bone from an ill yak. He claims that since this happened he

is able to cure people using this method.124

In Aglin lives another lhapa. When he was 23, he had a lot of dreams about

gods who told him among other things the epic of Gesar125 which he can recite in

trance but does not remember when being in his normal state of consciousness. During

this period, he was often in a bad mood in the evenings, trembled and ran around, and

did not recognise the people around him.

He got his initiation by a lhapa without having ever received teachings of monks or

other lhapa. Like Skarra nun, his god can get very angry and possess him when he

hears other people talking badly about him.126

An interesting account of a novice can be found in Rösing's book. She reports

of a young man called Deldan. He is the assistant of two lhamo and during Rösing's

visit at a ritual he got possessed. He convulsed and seemed to be in pain. One lhamo

assisted him in leaving trance. Afterwards, Rösing was told that Deldan had received

the diagnosis of being possessed by a lha but has not had separation rite yet and was

thus not able to control possession and got often possessed by de during rituals.127

124Brauen 1980, pp. 151-153125Day 1989, p. 261; p. 291: 'Kesar [sic] was a god invited down to earth to rule as the King of

Ling.'126Brauen 1980, pp. 155-156127Rösing 2003, pp. 96-99

23

As we can see, the symptoms differ a lot and only show few similarities. There

is the 'unsettled mind', the general feeling of being uncomfortable, the inability of

moving or working, the feeling of deep pain, especially in the region of the heart,

cramps in the hands, and the feeling that someone or something is pushing and

pressing the body from the outside. Some of them have forecasting dreams at night,

seeing themselves as oracle or seeing lha. Many experience a change of character,

are aggressive or depressive, and behave rudely towards their family and other people

sometimes even towards high ranking lama. Many are roaming around, suddenly

realising that they have walked to another place which they sometimes do not even

know, or that they have climbed a mountain or visited a monastery without noticing.

There are novices who really get into danger because they go into the water, want to

jump from the roof of a house or hurt themselves. Their families are desperate; they

are pitiful because they see their family member suffer or they are angry because the

possessed person does not do its duties in the household anymore and brings shame

on the family because of its insolent behaviour towards the community.

3.2 Suffering during Initiation and Everyday Life

The first diagnosis of a lha being the possessing spirit can be made by the

possessed person itself, the family, another oracle or a monk. Among other information

I will use some of the preceding accounts of vocation to describe the suffering which

takes place during the time of recognising the lha and the initiation of the novice. The

initiation is not only the period where the novice learns the different methods and how

to perform the rituals but its first purposes are to make the lha obedient and to tie

novice and lha together.128

The first and most important ritual after the diagnosis is the separation of lha

and de.129 Lha and de both want to possess the body of the luyar, but of course de are

not wanted to possess people because they are malevolent. The possessed person is

said to have low parka, which means low spiritual power and thus both lha and de are

able to possess the person.130 With the help of monks and oracles, de can be banned.

128Schenk 1994, p. 98129Schenk 1994, p. 99130Schenk 1994, p. 83

24

The ritual to separate lha and de is called lha-de-phe-che and is a test for the novice

which reveals if the novice is able to use the divine power of lha, and if the lha is really

benevolent.131 The rituals may differ a lot depending on the teacher but they always

involve finding hidden objects, separating white (good) and black (bad) objects with

bandaged eyes and destroying the black ones. Unfortunately, one can only examine

the accounts of observers and not the experiential reports of the novices because they

do not remember anything afterwards since they have been in trance during the ritual.

Sometimes, the novices state that they felt 'tired and lethargic' after the ritual.132

For the family the initiation can be an exhausting period as well because they also have

to follow strictly Buddhist doctrines and pay the training.133

Tukchikpa lhamo is a good example for a person who recognised the lha herself

or with the help of her sister. Even though she had travelled to many monasteries

because she felt ill for a month and consulted lama as well as oracles, nobody told her

she was possessed by a lha. She got first possessed when she visited her sister, and

together they had the idea that this event might have been caused by a lha. She

consulted Taklangsha lhapa afterwards who finally agreed to teach her.134

Skarra nun was supported by Bakula rinpoche a lot who recognised her lha very

early. Since she did not have a regular training, she only had to keep herself pure

following Buddhist principles and pray and meditate a lot. Of course she did not suffer

from praying and meditating in general, but this preparation included e.g. pilgrimage

and probably practices like prostration, which can be very exhausting for the body.135

Dorje lhapa rejected his fate at first because he was only eight years old when

his lha was detected. This is why his suffering was prolonged even though the

diagnosis of a lha possessing him had been made. The initiation must have been a

hard time for him because he was still a child when it happened.136

131Schenk 1994, p. 99132Schenk 1994, p. 100133In the Appendix 3 Day summarises the development of the oracles in short including the

amount of money for their training. The sums differ a lot, from 15 Rs to 3.000 Rs. (Day 1989, pp. 512 – 523)Alice Kuhn reports of an initiation which cost about 2000Rs and 'a few hundred Rupees' for the making of the clothes and objects used in trance. (Kuhn 1988, p. 75)

134Day 1989, pp. 273-274135Day 1989, p. 302136Schenk 1994, p. 28

25

Sonam Murup's case is another one where the diagnosis of being possessed by

a lha did not improve his situation immediately. It took three years before he started the

training. Now he states that he always tries not to let the novices suffer for such a long

time as he experienced, but takes them to a rinpoche as soon as he knows he or she is

possessed by a lha.137

The suffering during diagnosis and initiation is not as bad as during vocation.

More likely the new restrictions and duties imposed on the novice like having to keep

oneself spiritually pure and having to follow Buddhist principles strictly can be stressful.

This includes preparation such as having to do 10 000 prostrations or having to go on

pilgrimage.138 Another point is the financial strain: travelling, the making of the clothes

and the teacher's fee are very expensive.

Calling the lha in trance and letting it enter into the oracles body and mind can

especially in the beginning be very painful for the luyar.139 Some of the elder oracles

still tell that it is painful to let the lha enter.140 Apart from that, an oracle is exhausted

after trance and has often pain in the back or in the region of the heart141 or even feels

'severely beaten up'.142 Sonam Murup states he sees 'no advantage' in being a lhapa

and also Tsering lhamo says she can only accept her task and endure the pain

because it is beneficial for other people.143 Another problem is the dual burden of

leading a normal life with work on the fields and in the household, and performing the

oracular duty, which is financially not very rewarding. Besides, oracles are often

automatically excluded from the community because of the many restrictions like going

on pilgrimage and maintaining purity.144

137Schenk 1994, p. 50138Schenk 1994, p. 108139Schenk 1994, p. 159140Schenk 1994, p. 204141Schenk 1994, p. 162, p. 176142Kressing 2003, p. 6143Schenk 1994, pp. 203-204144Schenk 1994, p. 203

26

4. Analysis

The suffering always comes first. It is the sign, that something is wrong in the

suffering person's life and a change needs to happen. The first idea is always that the

person might be afflicted by de. De are seen to be the cause of illness and pain, and an

afflicted person consults an oracle, lama or amchi to get help. It often happens that the

patient is sent to get a second opinion; e.g. an oracle recognises that there is or might

be a pathological problem and tells the patient that he or she has a disease and has to

consult an amchi.145 The amchi seeks cooperation with oracles when treating patients

with sometimes more psychological than physiological problems.146 Monks can perform

rites to ban de or prepare sungwa for the afflicted person. If one treatment did not work,

the patient might as well individually choose to consult another healer to get a second

opinion.

Thus, it can take a very long time until the lha is recognised. The novice sometimes

gets better temporarily after having consulted a healer. The suffering eventually comes

back and the patient has to look for another way of healing. This process can take

years. The patient gets desperate more and more and the illness damages the

patient's well-being and his or her life in general.

Nobody is happy under these circumstances. The novice suffers from pain and social

problems and the family has to endure high costs for the treatments and feels stressed

and burdened with the novice's behaviour and the problems connected to it. The father

of Thondup lhapa even said he would die if the condition of his son did not improve.147

If the treatment does not work, the problem still exists. The oracle suffers more and

more and doubts itself. Many novices get depressed and feel ready to give themselves

up or even want to die.148 They believe that nobody can help or understand them, they

do not even understand themselves. In Schenk's words: When the illness has reached

its climax, the novice is at his or her lowest point in life.149

The diagnosis of possession by lha does not automatically mean a big relief. Of course

the oracle might be alleviated to finally know what is causing all this suffering, but at the

same time the diagnosis leads to the next burden: the decision for or against becoming

an oracle and having to deal with the consequences. The first reaction is often the wish

145Day 1989, p. 269146Strässle 2005, p. 110147Schenk 1994, p. 27148Schenk 1994, p. 53, p. 74149Schenk 1994, p. 26

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to ban the lha and not having to carry the burden of becoming an oracle. Banning lha is

very difficult and can be dangerous to the person.150 Normally one ritual, performed by

a monk, is not enough and the lha keeps coming back. In some cases the monk or

rinpoche urges the person to change his or her mind and become an oracle because it

is the only way to escape the suffering.151

After having decided in favour of the initiation to become an oracle, lha and de have to

be separated as soon as possible. Since de are often more powerful than lha, they can

cause a lot of problems. The separation is the precondition to start the training.

However, there are accounts of novices who have to handle the threat of de during

their whole initiation.152

After the first initial rituals, the novice normally feels a lot better, usually directly after

the de have been banned. This is when the relief finally arises.

Still, as mentioned before, even the initiation does not come without suffering.

All oracles feel the urge to improve their situation because they suffer. They

suffer physically because they are in pain or feel week, and they suffer psychologically

because they do not understand what is happening to them. A lot of people think they

are mad and do not trust them anymore. Hoping to be cured, all novices consult lhapa,

lhamo or lama, who are all religious and spiritual people. But for almost all of them

there is no other solution than becoming an oracle.

There are two main periods of suffering: The first period is the vocation which

takes place before the diagnosis. It is a very troublesome and often painful time for the

novice.

The diagnosis generates the turning point. Afterwards, the initiation and life as an

oracle, which form the second period of suffering, take place. In this period, suffering is

reduced and shifted but not erased.

150Rösing 2003, p. 103151Schenk 1994, p. 27152Schenk 1994, p. 137

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5. Interpretation

Why does the oracle have to suffer? In my opinion, it is barely possible to find

out about the origin of suffering novices experience. It seems to me that the suffering

does not just occur without a reason. Many of the novices had a hard childhood and

adulthood which could contain the reasons for the illness. There are accounts of

oracles claiming they were first possessed when herding animals as a child which

means that they had to work in order to help their parents, or of young girls who were

treated badly by their husband and parents.153 There seem to be no oracles from richer,

e.g. aristocrat families.154

This does not necessarily mean that all oracles had a difficult childhood or were treated

badly or that all the people who experienced the preceding conditions are predestined

to become an oracle or to be possessed altogether. Especially the 'difficult childhood'-

argument does not seem to be much relevant regarding the circumstance that when

the oracles described in the literature lived and were children, most of the children

probably had to help their parents. But what was striking me was the fact that every

oracle is said to have low parka.155 I would interpret low parka not only as a spiritual

weakness but as a general sensitivity of a person's character. The lhapa Sonam Murup

said, 'a person who is pondering a lot […], who is unconfident and sensitive' can be

possessed by a lha easily.156 It is also said that the level of parka varies due to worries

or illness157 or that women generally have a lower parka than men.158

Physical and mental suffering is perceived very subjectively, the experience of pain

differs dramatically from person to person.159 People who can endure a lot of pain and

suffering without getting seriously damaged are said to have a 'strong character'

whereas people, who suffer quickly, who consider an injury of body or mind as more

painful than others are often said to be 'weak' or very sensitive. I can and do not want

to evaluate the level of pain and suffering future oracles have to endure, but I can

imagine that the suffering they experience is more or less the same as other people's

suffering. As mentioned above, possession by lha is always interpreted as affliction by

de in the first place because this happens to a lot of people and the symptoms are very

153Schenk 1994, p. 119154Day1989, p. 271155Rösing 2003, p. 140156Schenk 1994, p. 83157Rösing 2003, p. 140158Yamada 1999, p. 9 159http://www.wissen-gesundheit.de/content.asp?wdid=1764&sid=0 August 14th, 2012

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common. Against this 'normal' affliction, one or two rituals performed by a local healer

(oracle, amchi or monk) are sufficient, whereas the future oracle needs much more

treatment. Actually, the future oracle suffers until a lha is recognised, it is in a manner

of speaking the last solution which can be found for the patient.

I am still convinced that the suffering itself derives from social factors and is thus more

mental than physical suffering. I can imagine that especially teenagers – but also older

persons – feeling possession by a spirit are sensitive individuals who might have the

feeling that they do not belong in this world or do not fit into the community.

Furthermore, sensitive people are often able to empathise with fellow humans and care

more about living beings (humans as well as animals) than other people. This fits the

oracle's main purpose to help when somebody has a problem.

In my opinion all aspects of suffering mentioned in this paper can be connected or

produce an overlap which would characterise an oracle as a sensitive and fragile

person that maybe has the feeling to not belong to the community. He or she needs the

initiation as an oracle as a kind of therapy in order to feel better and is content to be the

person responsible for curing and helping others.

Nonetheless, I do not think that becoming an oracle solves all problems of the

suffering person. Most oracles perceive their duty as very demanding and are still

suffering. Reading the accounts I often got the feeling that the oracles were not happy

with their occupation but had rather resigned like Tsering lhamo, who said she

accepted her task because she can help others.160

The relation to the people in the village community does not change much, either.

Before his or her initiation, the novice was thought to be mad. Afterwards, the people

obtained a new oracle but the oracle itself has to work hard for a good reputation

through helping the patients by giving advice or healing. Even if an oracle acquired a

good reputation, this does not mean that he or she is more appreciated as a person or

integrated into society. A lot of people are afraid of the oracles, and since many

patients are not rich and pay with goods like home-made liquor, some oracles are said

to be addicted to alcohol.161 Sometimes, they are disliked for belonging to a lower

caste.162

160Schenk 1994, p. 203161Strässle 2005, p. 37162Day 1989, pp. 271-272

30

It seems to me that people who are not able or who do not want to integrate into

society, often seek refuge in spirituality. Through Buddhist practice like prayer and

meditation, the oracles have the possibility to immerse into their own world. Entering

trance from time to time and letting a god enter mind and body might be the solution for

both oracle and village community to integrate the exceptional behaviour of the oracle

into the community: the oracle has the possibility to live a hard but very individual life

and earns a little money by helping people,163 and the people of the community have an

oracle which can help them when they have problems of any kind.

I think that, even if it might not be the perfect solution, it is a much better one than

treating a person with such problems as an outcast or as an ill person.

I would even go so far as to say that suffering is not only a precondition for becoming

an oracle, but turn it around and state that becoming an oracle is a therapy to cure

suffering.

6. Conclusion

It was the aim of this research to find out how important suffering actually is in

the process of an oracle's development. Being concerned with this topic showed to me

that the suffering, which village oracles have to endure, is the central element of their

development. Oracles have their own purpose within the community alongside all the

other entities like the institution of the monastery with its monks or any family in the

village with its tasks and purposes. It all is a unified society which functions because

over centuries and even millennia all the single parts of society established their own

purpose and have become indispensable.

Oracles are needed by the society because they can help the people when they or their

animals have health problems or whenever advice is required.

Once again it became clear that there may be various explanations or approaches for

the same matter which can be considered in their respective context without

contradicting each other. In my opinion it never makes sense to analyse a cultural

phenomenon by looking at it only from a isolated point of view, be it Western science or

religious belief. I am convinced that it is important to mind all the factors connected to a

163Kuhn 1988, p. 102-103

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topic, or at least to try to do so because it will never be possible to be aware of all the

single factors which influence cultural phenomena.

Regarding Tibetan village oracles, one has to observe the historical background,

religious beliefs, social pressure, neurological conditions and economical interests, just

to name a few.

The Tibetan culture offers several options to the people: When having a

problem they can either consult an oracle or an amchi or any other practitioner. This

means that the patient can decide how he or she wants to be treated. I consider this a

very healthy and wholesome system in which every patient can get advice and every

healer has its focus that is as important as any other healer's one. The same kind of

completion can be found in religion: At first it was a compromise to accept oracles and

the big Tibetan pantheon into Buddhism. Until today, Buddhist monks are not

enthusiastic about village oracle practice. But village oracles form an essential part of

Tibetan Buddhism and culture and as long as they only perform in their houses for the

benefit of the people, without interfering or working against the monks in the

monasteries and agree with the regulations, they are accepted.

As mentioned above, there are at least two approaches to the phenomenon of

oracular possession. The local belief is that next to the humans different kinds of spirits

live in the world. As we have seen, spirit possession is believed to be the cause of

many illnesses, but also initial affliction can be turned into a positive and beneficial lha-

possession.

In Western sciences, trance and possession are accredited to the brain. In this paper,

the Western scientific view has been left out because it would go beyond the scope of

my research. I am very interested in knowing more about the neurological aspects,

though, and since the topic of Tibetan oracles is very broad and covers many more

aspects than have been treated here, I plan to extend my research in the future.

Tibetan village oracles heal illnesses and wounds and tell the people what to do

and how to behave towards others. Even though some people might be afraid of them,

they are important members of society and usually the people in the villages want to

have an oracle nearby.

The oracle has to bear a lot of suffering in the course of his or her entire life. A lot of

pain and mental problems have to be endured during vocation and from then on the

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oracle is bound to live an arduous life as oracle. Nobody wants to become an oracle.

But by learning how to turn the initial illness into control of a divine power, the oracle is

capable to lead a more individual and spiritual life and can escape suffering at least to

a certain extent.

33

Appendix

Map 'Tibetischer Kulturraum'

34

Glossaryamchi am chi doctor, physicianchang chang Tibetan beer brewed from barley daslog 'das log journey to the deadde 'dre demonGesar ge sar King Gesar of Linggongmo 'gong mo witchguru gu ru Teacher, lamajib 'jib sucking out illnesses or objectslama bla ma monk, religious teacherlha lha deitylhaba, lhamo lha pa, lha mo male and female oraclelha-de-phe-che lha 'der phye byed rite to separate lha and de

lhatho lha tho shrineluyar lus gyar vesselonpo dbon po astrologerparka spar kha spiritual powerrinpoche rin po che reincarnate lamasungwa srung ba healing amulettrus khrus ritual washing

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Day, Sophie. 1989. Embodying spirits: Village Oracles and Possession Ritual in Ladakh, North India. Dissertation, London School of Economics and Political Science. London: London University.

Diemberger, Hildegard. 2005. 'Female Oracles in Modern Tibet', in: Gyatso, Janet and Hanna Havnevik. Women in Tibet. London: Hurst & Company, pp. 113-168.

Hoffmann, Helmut. 1967. Symbolik der Tibetischen Religionen und des Schamanismus. Symbolik der Religionen, Vol. XII, Ferdinand Herrman (ed.). Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann.

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Nebesky-Wojkowitz, René. 1975. Oracles and Demons of Tibet. The Cult and Iconography of the Tibetan Protective Deities. Edition with introduction, Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt.

Rösing, Ina. 2003. Trance, Besessenheit und Amnesie. Bei den Schamanen der Changpa-Nomaden im ladakhischen Changthang. Gnas, Austria: Herbert Weishaupt Verlag.

Schenk, Amélie. 1994. Schamanen auf dem Dach der Welt. Trance, Heilung und Initiation in Kleintibet. Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt.

Schüttler, Günter. 1971. Die letzten tibetischen Orakelpriester: psychiatrisch-neurologische Aspekte. Wiesbaden: Steiner.

Strässle, Susanne. 2005. Biomedizin im Kontext. Medizin, Glauben und praktizierte Moderne in den Darjeeling Hills. Lizenziatsarbeit, Philosophische Fakultät der Universität Zürich. Zürich: Universität Zürich.

Yamada, Takako. 1999. An Anthropology of Animism and Shamanism. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó.

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InternetDefinition 'Disease'.

(http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/disease. July 18th, 2012)

'Eine kurze Geschichte der Medizin'. Quote by Paracelsus. (http://www.erfahrungsheilkunde.ch/geschichte6.html. August 14th, 2012)

Merriam Webster Dictionary. 'Pantheon' (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pantheon. July 23rd

2012)'Oracle' (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oracle. July 30th, 2012)'Novice' (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/novice. July 30th, 2012)

'Wissen-Gesundheit.de'. Individual pain experience.(http://www.wissen-gesundheit.de/content.asp?wdid=1764&sid=0. August 14th, 2012)

PlatesMap 'Tibetischer Kulturraum'

(http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:Tibetischer_Kulturraum_Karte|_2.png&filetimestamp=20081220085544. August 16th, 2012)

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