The Full-Fledged Klzyung-clzen Bird

Abstract

Klong-chen rab-'byams-pa's The Full-fledged khyung-chen Bird is an unusual composition unusual in the sense that its very title is both an allusion and a symbol. It alludes to SrIsil11ha, an early figure in the history of ibetan-Buddhist thought when it still based itself on an individual's lived experience (ErIe ben in Dilthey's diction) prior to its shaping by any theorizing about it. Very little is known about Srisil11ha except for the statement by longchen rab-'byams-pa that he was the "abbot from China" (rgya-nag-gi mkhan-po),l the much maligned opponent of the Indian Kamalasi:la, a logician and theoretician, at the so-called bSam-yas "debate" which we now know to have been a historico-political hoax with devastating consequences for what once was a richly orchestrated quest for life's meaning. For Srisil11ha the khyung-chen bird, hovering in the sky, was a favorite, if not to say, the most favorite image for an individual's spirituality.