The Prince and the Zombie
Page 1
ABOUT THE BOOK
In this series of tales, a prince must capture and bring back to his country a zombie who is endowed with magical powers—but in order to succeed he must keep himself from speaking even one word to the zombie. The zombie is wily, and during the long journey he recounts fascinating tales to the prince, who is carrying him in a sack on his back. Spellbound by the stories, the prince is drawn into making some comment on them. But the very moment he opens his mouth, the zombie escapes, and the prince has to go back to India to catch the zombie all over again. This same scenario occurs over and over, tale after tale, journey after journey—until the prince truly learns his lesson.
These zombie stories, known as the Vetalapancavimsati in Sanskrit, are engrossing teaching tales that originated in ancient India but have become popular in the Buddhist culture of Tibet, as well as in other Asian cultures. This Tibetan version of the stories conveys the values of Buddhism, particularly those related to karma (the laws of cause and effect), happiness, and suffering. Through these tales, the reader learns that Buddhism is a path of knowledge that leads to liberation from suffering.
TENZIN WANGMO was born in India in 1962 and was educated in Tibetan Buddhism. She grew up in Germany and has lived in Switzerland since 1974, first as a secondary school teacher and now as an advanced-level coach specializing in social integration, adult tutoring, and consultation to organizations in the process of undergoing major changes. She is also a lecturer and a Tibetan storyteller.
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The Prince and the Zombie
TIBETAN TALES OF KARMA
Tenzin Wangmo
With a foreword by Matthieu Ricard
Translated by Sherab Chödzin Kohn
SHAMBHALA
Boston & London
2015
Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Horticultural Hall
300 Massachusetts Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
www.shambhala.com
Previously published as Les contes tibétains du Karma,
© 2012 by Infolio Editions
English translation © 2015 by Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Cover art: Tibetan banner used courtesy of The Wellcome Library, London.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tenzin Wangmo, 1962–.
[Contes tibétains du Karma. English]
The prince and the zombie: Tibetan tales of karma / by Tenzin Wangmo;
with a foreword by Matthieu Ricard; translated by
Sherab Chödzin Kohn.—First edition.
pages cm
eISBN 978-0-8348-0078-6
ISBN 978-1-61180-206-1 (paperback: alk. paper)
1. Buddhist literature, Tibetan—Translations into English.
I. Vetalapañcavimsati. II. Title.
PK3798.V2E5 2015
895′.43—dc23
2014029311
For my dear mother, Sonam Dolkar; for my dear father, Losang Namdol; and for my venerable teacher Lama Tönzang
You belong to the generation of Tibetans who have grown up in exile. You should take an interest in spirituality, culture, and also Tibetan history. You should seek the knowledge of your elders.
—HIS HOLINESS THE FOURTEENTH DALAI LAMA
Lausanne, Switzerland
2009
Contents
Foreword by Matthieu Ricard
Introduction
1. The Prince’s Obsessive Desire
2. An Unexpected Encounter
3. Hunting Down the Zombie
4. The Traveling Guitar Player
5. Hunting Down the Zombie Again
6. The Guitar Player and the Quality of Vigilance
7. Hunting Down the Zombie Again
8. The Traveling Guitar Player and the Power of Friendship
9. Hunting Down the Zombie Again
10. The Crafty Beggar
11. Hunting Down the Zombie Again
12. The Beggar and His Friends
13. Hunting Down the Zombie Again
14. The Beggar Gets Married
15. Hunting Down the Zombie Again
16. Justice Is Served
17. Hunting Down the Zombie Again
18. The Beggar Is Reunited with His Friends
19. Hunting Down the Zombie Again
20. The Darpo Brothers
21. Hunting Down the Zombie Again
22. The Darpo Brothers and the Sick King
23. Hunting Down the Zombie Again
24. Nana the Tiger
25. Hunting Down the Zombie Again
26. The Horse Handler Who Never Lied
27. Hunting Down the Zombie Again
28. The Three Sisters
29. Hunting Down the Zombie Again
30. The King of Pearls
Epilogue
Afterword
The Buddhist Path
Glossary
Acknowledgments
About the Author
E-mail Sign-Up
Foreword
From time immemorial and in all cultures, didactic tales have transmitted basic values. The story form is one that is inspiring for simple people and at the same time conveys profound ideas. Through the medium of a captivating narrative, such tales provide lessons that can help us to improve the way we lead our lives and to relate more harmoniously with others.
So it is with the “zombie” stories (Vetalapancavimsati in Sanskrit). While the tradition of these tales goes back to ancient India, they have become popular in the Buddhist culture of Tibet as well as in other Asian cultures.
Many variants exist. Usually they are twenty-five in number. The basic story is that the hero has to bring back to his country a zombie endowed with magical powers, and to succeed in doing this he must keep himself from speaking to the zombie so much as a single word. But the zombie is very cunning. During the long journey it recounts fascinating tales to the hero, who is carrying it on his back. Spellbound by the stories, the hero is drawn into making some comment on them. Alas, the very moment he opens his mouth, the zombie escapes. The hero is obliged to go back to India to catch the zombie again. The hero continuously fails to learn the lesson of his failures, which occur again and again, tale after tale, journey after journey.
But as it should be, all’s well that ends well.
There are several Sanskrit versions of the Vetalapancavimsati. One of them was compiled in written form in the eleventh century by Somadeva on the basis of older oral versions. Introduction of the tales into Tibet, also in the eleventh century, is attributed to the great Indian pandit Atisha. The tales went on to be translated into Mongol, Kalmuk, and other Asiatic languages. In the twentieth century, various versions of them, either written or derived from oral tradition, were translated into Western languages.
The Tibetan versions convey the values of Buddhism, particularly those related to karma—the laws of cause and effect linked with the mechanisms of happiness and suffering. Buddhism can be looked at as a path of knowledge that leads to liberation from suffering. The enlightenment in which this path culminates is at once a state of wisdom based on an accurate understanding of reality and an emancipation from the disruptive emotions and veils arising from ignorance.
Buddhism emphasizes that human life is extremely precious, that the disenchantm
ent that sometimes comes upon us does not signify that life is not worth living, but rather that we have not yet identified what it is that could give life meaning. “The question is not knowing whether or not life has meaning but how each one of us can give it one,” says the Dalai Lama. Extremely precious though it already is, our life would be even more precious if we could actualize the potential for transformation that exists within us.
As with attaining any goal, you can’t go about putting an end to suffering and arriving at enlightenment just any old way. If we throw a stone up into the air, we should not be surprised if it falls on our head. In the same way, when we commit any act, whatever it may be, we can only expect that sooner or later it will produce an effect. Thus it is logical that if we want to free ourselves from suffering, we have to perform certain actions and refrain from certain others. The law of the causality of actions is the very foundation of the teaching of the Buddha, who proclaimed:
Avoid the least harmful act,
Perfectly accomplish the good,
And master your mind.
That is the teaching of the Buddha.
Phenomena condition each other mutually in a vast and creative process in which, however, nothing occurs arbitrarily and the law of causality operates ineluctably. Karma, which describes at one and the same time actions and their effects, is a particular aspect of this law of causality. It is karma that determines our lot, whether it be happiness or suffering. In other words, we are subject to the consequences of our past behavior and at the same time we are the architects of our future lives.
The term “action” refers not only to physical behavior but also to speech and thoughts, which can also be beneficial, neutral, or harmful. Good and evil are not absolute values. A mode of conduct is considered either good or evil on the basis of the intention behind it, on whether it is altruistic or malevolent, as well as on its consequences—its benefit or harm for oneself and others. At every moment of our lives, we reap the consequences of our past life and fashion our future through our thoughts, words, and further actions. These are like seeds, which once sown produce the fruit, either beneficial or harmful, that corresponds to them.
In this fine version of the zombie tales, Tenzin Wangmo has been able to capture in a lively and engaging manner the oral version she heard from her parents. In this way she has made a contribution to the preservation of the precious cultural heritage of Tibet, which these days is so threatened by the Sinicization that hangs over the Land of Snows.
Is the Tibetan culture in danger of perishing? Let us keep our hopes alive through the inspiration provided by the words of the great Gandhian democrat Jayaprakash Narayan: “Tibet will not die, because the human spirit does not die.”
—MATTHIEU RICARD
Introduction
In Tibet, generation after generation, tales and legends of all kinds have been passed down orally within families or through traveling storytellers. Having been obliged to flee Tibet and find a home in Europe, my parents carried on this tradition by telling stories to us, their own children, as well as to the twelve other children who were placed under their care by the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile.
As these tales were being told, I let myself be carried away by the inner images that arose in me of the distant country that was my country but that nevertheless I did not know. These moments were filled with wonder and magic. I remember the joy I felt in listening to the tales and how each time I heard them I would ask for more and more details. The ro dung (literally “zombie tales” in the Tibetan) were the ones I enjoyed the most, so much so that I now want to set them down in writing.
Much as in The Thousand and One Nights, these ro dung have an overall story that frames them. The framing tale here tells of the life of a Tibetan prince and his encounter with a very cunning zombie who tells the prince many entrancing stories in order to get him to lose his vigilance. Many variants of the ro dung exist, because every teller of the tales embellishes them in accordance with his or her own imagination and creative powers—but without changing the underlying story, which contains a message essentially connected with the Buddhist tradition.
The country in which the ro dung originated is India. From there, the tales made their way to Tibet at a time when Buddhism was spreading there on the Roof of the World. The beautiful stories told by the zombie convey the profound values of the teaching of the Buddha. They quickly garnered appreciation throughout Tibet, which prior to 1959 had about six million inhabitants. In the course of time, the Indian background of the stories was replaced by the local realities of Tibet. Nevertheless, the place called Silwaytsal (Skt. Sitavana), where the zombie in question was to be found, stayed in India. We also encounter the great Indian spiritual master Nagarjuna under the Tibetan name Gömpo Ludrup.
From the time of the Chinese invasion of 1949, followed by the occupation of Tibet by its powerful neighbor in 1959, a Tibetan government in exile was formed in India, which increasingly included democratic principles in its constitution. Tibetan communities were formed and organized all over the world. Second and third generations of Tibetans, which includes my brothers, my sisters, and myself, grew up entirely in exile, with the result that each passing day far away from our country distances us further from our cultural identity. Here I am thinking in particular of Tibetan language and writing, which are a part of the richness of the cultural heritage of this world. I am thinking also of our unique tales and legends. The present—very personal—compilation represents my modest contribution toward preventing these stories from sinking forever into oblivion.
I hope that the children, young people, and adults who read these tales will enjoy discovering them as much as I did myself—as did all the previous generations who came before me.
Tashi delek—with all my best wishes.
TENZIN WANGMO
Bottens, Switzerland
2012
1
The Prince’s Obsessive Desire
ONCE UPON A TIME, there was a Tibetan prince named Dechö Zangpo, “He Who Enjoys Well-Being.” The king and the queen, his parents, adored their only son and were very proud of him. All who met the prince were charmed by him. Some said, “Oh, he is so kind to the poor!” Others exclaimed, “How respectful he is toward older people!” Still others declared, “How intelligent he is. Wouldn’t he make a wonderful king!”
Word of the prince spread through the kingdom with the speed of lightning, and very soon there was not a single person who had not heard of Prince Dechö Zangpo. Even the Tibetan nomads in the most remote regions were to be heard exclaiming, “What a joy, this prince!” and “Long may he live!”—all the while repeating over and over OM MANI PADME HUM, the mantra of Avalokiteshvara, the buddha of compassion.
One fine day, Prince Dechö Zangpo learned of the existence of seven brother magicians who lived in the most inaccessible mountain region in the kingdom. His curiosity was immediately aroused, and he felt an intense desire to learn the secrets of these magicians. His numerous attempts to find out more about them, however, were unsuccessful. This had the effect of increasing his curiosity still further—to the point where his desire to find out about the brothers’ highly secretive discipline turned into an obsession. So one night, without telling his parents, the king and queen, who certainly would have prevented his departure, he set out to look for the seven brothers. In order to avoid being betrayed by his rich princely garb, he disguised himself as a simple pilgrim. Traveling incognito in this way, in the course of many long months he traveled through the entire kingdom on foot, his ears always open for anything he might hear that might lead him to discovering the dwelling place of the seven brother magicians.
At the end of the seventh month, the prince arrived in the most mountainous part of his kingdom. There, very soon, he lost his way. With the high rock mountains for his only traveling companions and above him only the vast sky, he became tired and discouraged and was on the verge of abandoning his quest. But then suddenly, as
he came to the top of one of the many mountain passes he’d had to climb, a small hidden valley appeared before his eyes. To his great joy, at the very end of this valley he saw a house. The closer he got to it, the more the surroundings and the house itself seemed to resemble the descriptions he had received from some Tibetan nomads who had discovered the dwelling place of the seven brothers one day when they were out looking for stray yaks.
Prince Dechö Zangpo approached the cabin and began calling out loudly, “Hello! Hello! Is there anyone at home? Hello! Hello!” But no one answered him. Even the stable was empty. There was nothing he could do but wait, so the prince disguised as a pilgrim lay down on the hard ground in front of the cabin. When the sun set behind the high peaks of the mountains surrounding the little valley, he fell into a deep sleep.
Late at night, he was awakened by the owners of the house, who were very surprised to find a pilgrim asleep on their doorstep. Finally Prince Dechö Zangpo was getting to meet the seven brother magicians! And in order to be able to stay with them for a period of time, he pretended he was ill and not able at the moment to continue with his pilgrimage to Mount Kailash. After conferring with each other the seven brother magicians informed him that he could stay for seven days and sleep in the stable. Exhausted by his long journey on foot but very happy that he had finally found what he had been looking for after months of searching, he fell asleep on a heap of straw in a sheltered corner.
The following morning he woke up late, and leaving the stable, he found the place as deserted as it had been on his arrival the previous day. Again he cried out, “Halloo, halloo, is there anyone at home? Halloo, halloo!” He listened attentively but there was no one in the place to be heard. Intrigued by the absence of his hosts during the entire day, Prince Dechö Zangpo thought hard about what means he might employ to learn the magic with which he was so obsessed. He could not come up with a solution. In the evening, tired out by all of his fruitless thinking, he lay down again in a corner of the stable. That night, he tried not to fall asleep. His idea was to wait for the return of his hosts and somehow secretly get their knowledge from them.