Renunciation and Longing: The Life of a Twentieth-Century Himalayan Buddhist Saint

By Annabella Pitkin

Through the eventful life of a Himalayan Buddhist teacher, Khunu Lama, this study reimagines cultural continuity beyond the binary of traditional and modern.
 
In the early twentieth century, Khunu Lama journeyed across Tibet and India, meeting Buddhist masters while sometimes living, so his students say, on cold porridge and water. Yet this elusive wandering renunciant became a revered teacher of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. At Khunu Lama’s death in 1977, he was mourned by Himalayan nuns, Tibetan lamas, and American meditators alike. The many surviving stories about him reveal significant dimensions of Tibetan Buddhism, shedding new light on questions of religious affect and memory that reimagines cultural continuity beyond the binary of traditional and modern.
 
In Renunciation and Longing, Annabella Pitkin explores devotion, renunciation, and the teacher-student lineage relationship as resources for understanding Tibetan Buddhist approaches to modernity. By examining narrative accounts of the life of a remarkable twentieth-century Himalayan Buddhist and focusing on his remembered identity as a renunciant bodhisattva, Pitkin illuminates Tibetan and Himalayan practices of memory, affective connection, and mourning. Refuting long-standing caricatures of Tibetan Buddhist communities as unable to be modern because of their religious commitments, Pitkin shows instead how twentieth- and twenty-first-century Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhist narrators have used themes of renunciation, devotion, and lineage as touchstones for negotiating loss and vitalizing continuity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Release date: May 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9780226816913

Book preview

Cover Page for Renunciation and Longing

Renunciation and Longing

Figure 1. Khunu Lama and Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, c. 1976. Photo courtesy of Namdol / Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche

Renunciation and Longing

The Life of a Twentieth-Century Himalayan Buddhist Saint

Annabella Pitkin

The University of Chicago Press

CHICAGO & LONDON

Buddhism and Modernity

A series edited by Donald S. Lopez Jr.

Recent Books in the Series

The Buddha’s Tooth (2021), by John S. Strong

Seeking Śākyamuni (2019), by Richard M. Jaffe

The Passion Book (2018), by Gendun Chopel

A Storied Sage (2016), by Micah L. Auerback

Strange Tales of an Oriental Idol (2016), by Donald S. Lopez Jr.

The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637

The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London

© 2022 by The University of Chicago

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews. For more information, contactthe University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60thSt., Chicago,IL 60637.

Published 2022

Printed in the United States of America

31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22     1 2 3 4 5

ISBN-13: 978-0-226-79637-6 (cloth)

ISBN-13: 978-0-226-81692-0 (paper)

ISBN-13: 978-0-226-81691-3 (e-book)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226816913.001.0001

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Pitkin, Annabella, author.

Title: Renunciation and longing : the life of a twentieth-century Himalayan Buddhist saint / Annabella Pitkin.

Other titles: Buddhism and modernity.

Description: Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2022. | Series: Buddhism and modernity | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021042965 | ISBN 9780226796376 (cloth) | ISBN 9780226816920 (paperback) | ISBN 9780226816913 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Khunu Lama, Rinpoche, 1895–1977. | Buddhism—China—Tibet Autonomous Region—Biography. | Buddhist saints—Biography.

Classification: LCC BQ968.H87 P58 2022 | DDC 294.3/923092 [B]—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021042965

This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).

You aimed your mind at the Dharma, and your Dharma practice at a beggar’s life.

You aimed to practice a beggar’s life till death, and aimed your death at a dry ravine.

O you who sincerely practiced the Four Aims of the Kadampas,

At your feet I bow down.

With no desire for sweet fame or worldly honor,

Or a ruler’s flattery or ordinary people’s expectations,

You transcended the eight worldly concerns.

O Great Lord of Yogins, at your feet I bow down.

K. Angrup, Rnam thar gsol ‘debs dad pa’i ‘jug ngogs (Angrup 2005, 96–97)

Contents

Acknowledgments

Technical Note on Phonetic Transcription, Transliteration, and Naming Practices

Maps of Khunu Lama’s Travels

Chronology

INTRODUCTION  Themes in the Life of a Twentieth-Century Himalayan Buddhist Renunciant

CHAPTER 1  Like Water into Water: Transmission Lineages in Tibetan Buddhism

CHAPTER 2  He abandoned his homeland for the sake of the Dharma: Tibetan Buddhist Imaginaries of Home-Leaving and Renunciation

CHAPTER 3  Aim Your Dharma Practice at a Beggar’s Life

CHAPTER 4  Dislocation and Continuity

CHAPTER 5  With such devotion that tears cascade from your eyes: Renunciation, Separation, and Guru Devotion

CHAPTER 6  Death and Other Disruptions: Dying Like a Dog in the Wilderness

Epilogue

Glossary

Notes

Bibliography

Index

To my parents and teachers, whose kindness is unrepayable.

Acknowledgments

One of this book’s underlying themes is the importance of Buddhist teacher-student lineages and how they connect people across time and space, in imagination and in the intimacy of face-to-face encounter. Acknowledging people and institutions that have contributed to this book is a way of recognizing the webs of lineage and relationship in which I myself am embedded. A great gift of this book has been the opportunity to meet many remarkable people connected with Khunu Lama who have shared their recollections with me. I thank them all unreservedly for their generosity, both to me personally during our time together, and toward the research that has become this book, which would not exist without them. Khunu Lama’s name opened many doors. People who knew him made time to talk with me because of their admiration for him. Many of these same people also welcomed me when I was a traveler far from home, gave advice, shared unpublished texts and materials with me, and guided my interpretations of events and ideas described here. This book is the product of years of conversations in big city restaurants, mountain hermitages, hotel rooms, and monastery kitchens, over meals and cups of tea, during car rides, long walks, and pilgrimage circumambulations, and via phone and internet connections. It is shaped by the insights, knowledge, and creativity of many people, though I take full responsibility for the final form of all interpretations, and for all errors.

Many people who contributed to this book are acknowledged by name in the chapters and notes that follow. Some remain anonymous at their own request and because of political sensitivities. Nevertheless, I have many people to thank by name here. Tashi Tsering Josayma and the late Gene Smith both played key roles in helping this book take shape. They drew on the vast resources of their seemingly limitless personal knowledge of Tibetan and Himalayan history, literature, and contemporary events to repeatedly nudge me in the right direction, helping me figure out what to read, introducing me to people I needed to meet, sending me vital materials, and asking me questions that took my understanding to the next level. My gratitude to both of them is immense. I especially wish that I could have shared the finished book with Gene.

This book is also a record of journeys, most obviously the many journeys that marked the long life of Khunu Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen. Writing it has been another kind of journey, both in the sense of my own travels to visit places and people important in stories about Khunu Lama’s life, and also in the sense that my understanding and perspectives on the themes of his life have developed over time. I’m grateful to the institutions and funders who have generously supported my work over the years of research and writing. Initial research in Tibet, Nepal, and India was made possible by a Fulbright-Hays Dissertation Fellowship and a Blakemore-Freeman Fellowship. A follow-up research trip was made possible by a Daniel and Marianne Spiegel Fund Grant through Columbia University. Initial writing was supported by a Whiting Dissertation Fellowship and by a de Bary Postdoctoral Research Scholarship at Columbia. Later phases of research and writing were supported by a Social Science Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship for Transregional Research on Inter-Asian Contexts and Connections, and by multiple forms of generous institutional support at Lehigh University, including support from the Department of Religion Studies and the Asian Studies Program, two Paul Franz, Jr. Pre-Tenure Research Awards, and a Faculty Research Grant from Lehigh’s Office of Research and Graduate Studies.

I am tremendously fortunate in my wonderful colleagues at Lehigh University, both in the Religion Studies department and in the Asian Studies program. Their outstanding collegiality, friendship, and encouragement have been inspiring throughout, and their insightful comments on drafts of key sections have made this a much stronger book. I am especially grateful to Hartley Lachter and Michael Raposa, each of whom has been unfailingly supportive as Chair. At an earlier phase of the writing, I benefited from the warm atmosphere and intellectual camaraderie of the Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures department at Barnard College. I thank all my terrific colleagues there and across the street at the Columbia department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, and the Modern Tibetan Studies Program.

In writing about Khunu Lama’s life, I build on the previous work of many remarkable scholars who have approached this topic before me. The late K. Angrup (Ngodrup Gashawa), Khunu Lama’s main Tibetan language biographer, graciously welcomed me to Lahaul in 2004, and spent hours talking with me and sharing research materials, notes, personal memories, and published and unpublished work, as well as accompanying me to visit the Khunu Lama memorial stupa above Shashur Monastery. The late Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche likewise talked with me during multiple visits at his residence in Boudhanath, Nepal, sharing his biographical essay about Khunu Lama and his personal recollections. I met with the late Lamchen Gyalpo Rinpoche in New Jersey, where he shared many moving memories and stories from his time with Khunu Lama, and much valuable history. I am deeply grateful to these three consummate experts and grieve that I did not complete this book in time to present it to them. Likewise, I express my deepest thanks to the late Linda LaMacchia, who recorded the extraordinary interviews with Khunu Lama’s nun disciples that I discuss in chapter 6, and who conducted important research on the song traditions of Kinnauri jomos (nuns) that helps to shine a light on a key aspect of Khunu Lama’s legacy. She was unfailingly generous in sharing her work with me, and I wish I could have shared this book with her.

I have also been the beneficiary of the outstanding kindness and knowledge of other colleagues whose research addresses Khunu Lama’s life and related topics. Many thanks to Gareth Sparham, whose wonderful book Vast as the Heavens, Deep as the Sea: Verses in Praise of Bodhicitta combines a biographical essay on Khunu Lama with translations of Khunu Lama’s most beloved poetic work. Gareth warmly encouraged me in this research at an early stage and answered many questions. Thierry Dodin, author of a seminal 1997 article on Khunu Lama’s life and renunciatory practice, was likewise extremely supportive of this project, and his article is a tremendous resource. Jürgen Manshardt, Khunu Lama’s German biographer and translator, who is additionally the author of groundbreaking works on Khunu Lama’s female disciple, the Drikung Khandroma Sherab Tharchin, has been unfailingly encouraging and generous in sharing his important publications and unpublished writings, which have been vital to this book. David Jackson has been a phenomenally helpful source of information over the years, kindly sharing his many research discoveries related to this book. His towering biographies of Dezhung Rinpoche and Chogye Trichen Rinpoche have been invaluable to my understanding of the historical context of Khunu Lama’s life, as have the narratives about Khunu Lama that he recorded with disciples of Chogye Trichen Rinpoche (discussed in chapter 3). Many thanks to Heather Stoddard, whose marvelous biography of Gendun Chopel taught me so much. Our conversations about the timelines of Gendun Chopel’s and Khunu Lama’s activities were a crucial help in mapping important points of chronology. I am especially grateful to Heather for pointing out references to Khunu Lama’s connection to S. K. Jinorasa and to Gendun Chophel’s translation of Śāntideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. I also thank John Dunne for early encouragement in this project and for a xerox of precious research materials.

Throughout the research and writing of this book, my spirits have been sustained and my ideas sharpened by the good cheer and wise comments of amazing friends and colleagues in many places. Dominique Townsend, Nancy Lin, Sonam Tsering Ngulphu, and Alex Gardner heroically read many chapter drafts and discussed important points, for which I’m hugely grateful. I thank Carla Bellamy, Suzanne Bessenger, Kristina Dy-Liacco, Karl Debreczeny, Holly Gayley, Tina Harris, Sarah Jacoby, Ariana Maki, Arjun Mahey and his whole family, Leigh Miller, Michael Monhart, Liz Monson, Karma Namgyal, Tenzin Gelek and Tenzin Norbu Nangsal for all our many hours of discussion and for crucial help finding materials, Alyson Prude, Jann Ronis, Joshua Schapiro, Michael Sheehy, Antonio Terrone, Roy Tzohar, Ulan (Lan Wu), Carl Yamamoto, Kalsang Wangdu, Eveline Washul, Benno Weiner, Nicole Willock, and Marlies Morsink, my intrepid Kham travel companion. Many thanks to Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa and Kalsang Dorjee Bhutia for enjoyable and important conversations, and to Anna Balikci Denjongpa and Saul Mullard for their help, especially at the start of my research.

All my thanks to Harvey Aronson, Robbie Barnett, Ben Bogin, Jake Dalton, Douglas Duckworth, Frances Garrett, David Germano, Janet Gyatso, Isabelle Henrion-Dourcy, Lama Jabb, Roger Jackson, Sonam Kachru, Anne Klein, Donald Lopez Jr., Charlene Makley, Carole McGranahan, Francoise Pommaret, Andrew Quintman, Francoise Robin, Kurtis Schaeffer, Tsering Shakya, David Templeman, Karma Lekshe Tsomo, and Emily Yeh, who have encouraged and inspired me through their work and helped make this a better book through generous comments on portions of the research presented at conferences and in conversation. Many thanks to Alex Gardner, Katie Tsuji, and Tenzin Dickie for making Treasury of Lives the wonderful resource that it is, and huge thanks to Katie Tsuji for the beautiful maps. I am very grateful to Lauran Hartley, who was an unfailing source of support and encouragement and spent hours helping me find precious archival materials, and to Pema Bhum for sage advice. Many thanks to Jann Ronis and everyone at TBRC/BDRC, especially to Karma Gongde for all the texts he has helped me access and for sharing important historical information about educational institutions in Sarnath and Varanasi. The members of my wonderful writing group, Elsa Davidson, Maura Finkelstein, Danilyn Rutherford, and Andrea Voyer, encouraged me through multiple drafts of many of these chapters and helped me uncover the possibilities in this project. My heartfelt appreciation to dear friends in Tibet, whom I wish I could name individually. To Nyima Dolma, whose friendship, care, and support are an essential part of this project, and with whom I discussed so many of these ideas, my deepest gratitude.

Many of the arguments in this book were refined through presentation and discussion at conferences and workshops, including at meetings of the American Academy of Religion; the Association of Asian Studies; the International Association of Tibetan Studies; the International Association for Buddhist Studies; the Columbia University Seminar on South Asia; the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies / Himalayan Studies Conference series; the French Society for Tibetan Studies; the Tung Lin Kok Yuen Perspectives on Buddhist Thought and Culture Series at the University of Toronto-Scarborough; the Columbia University Modern China Seminar and Weatherhead East Asian Institute; and the workshop on New Directions in Tibetan Literary Studies at Princeton University. I thank all those who invited me to share my work, and the audience members for their questions and comments.

---

...

My discussions of Khunu Lama’s life and of the themes of renunciation, absence, modernity, and secularism in this book build on arguments and translations I first explored in earlier research articles and in my dissertation. I previously published preliminary findings from my research into Khunu Lama’s travels and connections in Cosmopolitanism in the Himalayas: The Intellectual and Spiritual Journeys of Khu nu bla ma bsTan ‘dzin rgyal mtshan and His Sikkimese Teacher, Khang gsar ba bla ma O rgyan bstan ‘dzin rin po che, Namgyal Institute of Tibetology Bulletin 40, no. 2 (2004), and in Lineage, Authority and Innovation: The Biography of Khunu Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen, in Mapping the Modern in Tibet, ed. Gray Tuttle (Andiast, Switzerland: International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies GmbH, 2011). Portions of section 3 of the introduction previously appeared in slightly different form in Knowledge and Power: Centering Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhist Epistemic Authority, in Waxing Moon: Journal of Tibetan and Himalayan Studies 1 (2021). Parts of the introduction also expand on ideas I develop in The ‘Age of Faith’ and the ‘Age of Knowledge’: Secularism and Modern Tibetan Accounts of Yogic Power, in Himalaya 36 no.1, (2016); and in Dazzling Displays and Mysterious Departures: Bodhisattva Pedagogy as Performance in the Biographies of Two Twentieth-Century Tibetan Buddhist Masters, Religions 2017 8, no. 9. In the latter article, I also recount and discuss the story that appears in this book at the beginning of chapter 2.

This book has especially benefited from the wise suggestions and thoughtful questions of Donald Lopez Jr., whose belief in this project has been a tremendous boon, and whose own works on Gendun Chopel, modernity, and the many facets of Buddhism are an ongoing inspiration. The book has been much improved by the thoughtful comments of Ben Bogin, Roger Jackson, and an anonymous reader for the University of Chicago Press. Many thanks to the wonderful team at Chicago for their enthusiasm, patience, and talented work. Kyle Wagner, Dylan Montanari, and Michael Koplow guided this project smoothly through the process with calm and kindness. I am especially grateful to Nick Murray for his meticulous copyediting and exceptional forbearance.

At Columbia University, Bob Thurman’s love for Tibetan literature inspired this project. He was the first person to mention Khunu Lama to me by name, in a flash of inspiration when I mentioned I wanted to write something about bodhicitta. I am deeply grateful to him for his mentorship, steadfast encouragement, and the privilege of reading Tibetan with him. I am also grateful to the many other mentors and teachers at Columbia who encouraged me and guided this project in its early stages. Gary Tubb opened up the vast worlds of Sanskrit intellectual and religious culture to my eyes, a precious treasure, while modeling compassion and intellectual excitement in the classroom and beyond. Gray Tuttle’s groundbreaking research has been foundational to my own questions and projects, and his wise interventions and generosity to students offer a model of teaching and scholarship I aspire to emulate. Courtney Bender’s penetrating insights into discourses of modernity, charisma, and religious authority have vastly improved the research that became this book. Her kindness, collegiality, and encouragement have been a beacon. I owe a debt of gratitude to Chun-fang Yü, for her gracious contributions to my dissertation committee, mentorship in teaching, and her own wonderful scholarship, which introduced me to exciting new possibilities for analyzing Buddhist narrative literature. Gen Lobsang Jamspal honed my understanding of classical Tibetan language by sharing his own great love for Tibetan literature. He also shared precious memories and materials from his own experiences with Khunu Lama, helping me to connect with key people for my research. Jack Hawley cheered me on from the very beginning and always made time to support and encourage my work, even in the earliest stages—a precious gift. Other crucial mentors during my graduate studies who shaped my research trajectory were Elliot Wolfson and Susan Shapiro, who introduced me to the work of Franz Rosenzweig and Emmanuel Levinas respectively, and who first opened my eyes to thinking about the literary imaginaries that animate religious and philosophical texts. Their brilliant insights and inspired pedagogy helped me develop the conceptual roots of this project.

I could not have completed the long journey of this book without the love and support of my family. From the depths of my heart I thank my sister Rosie Pitkin for all her love, patience, and humor, not to mention coffee and long walks with the dogs. I couldn’t have made it through without you. You are the good sister. I received my first copy of Gareth Sparham’s book on Khunu Lama, Vast as the Heavens, Deep as the Sea: Verses in Praise of Bodhicitta, from my mother Sally McLendon, who pulled it seemingly at random off the shelves of a Washington, DC, bookstore and handed it to me, saying This looks interesting. Her support and love has carried me through many ups and downs of graduate school, research, and writing. She and my father Harvey Pitkin and my stepfather Bill Sturtevant shared their passion for research, books, and writing with me in a way that has shaped my life. Although my father did not live to see this in print, I have thought of him often in the writing of this book. Likewise, I know Bill would celebrate this book’s arrival, though he is not here to receive a copy. To Ashley Bryan, my role model in the writing life and life in general, suffice it to say that I would not know how to approach poetry, philosophy, religious ethics, art, or toasted cheese sandwiches if you had not shared them with me first. Much love and appreciation to my extended family and stepsiblings, especially my stepsister Kinthi Sturtevant. I am grateful to my Maine extended family and friends, who kept me sane throughout the years, especially during pandemic times.

Most of all, my gratitude and love to John, who endured years of writing, research trips, and late night typing, who made beautiful meals and kept our lives running and traveled across the world to meet me, who raised my spirits and believed in my work and without whom I could not have completed this book. And to Eleanor, light of my life, research associate extraordinaire, who has patiently waited for so many years to see this book emerge, this book is for you.

Technical Note on Phonetic Transcription, Transliteration, and Naming Practices

Throughout this book, I phoneticize Tibetan words and names to make the book accessible to general readers interested in Buddhism and the Himalayan region, and to scholars in adjacent fields who do not use Tibetan as a research language. I am guided in phoneticizing by the principles outlined in the Treasury of Lives Phonetic Romanization of the Tibetan Language Principles of Practice (online at: https://treasuryoflives.org/uploads/standards_documents/e9ad2-ToL-Phonetic-Principles.pdf)

Where quoted materials use alternative transliteration systems, I have generally regularized the transliterations to match the rest of this book. However, for people, places, or concepts where a particular phonetic rendering has become standard, I use the best-known rendering, and I follow individuals’ preferences for phoneticizing their own names. Included at the end of the book for reference is a glossary that includes persons, places, and terms in both Wylie and phonetic transcription.

For texts and concepts where I give Sanskrit or Pāli as well as Tibetan terms in parenthesis, I give the Sanskrit or Pāli first, followed by Tibetan. I use diacritical marks in transliterating Sanskrit and Pāli terms, except for a handful of words and names that have entered regular English usage. For place names in India that appear in my sources under both Tibetan and Indian names, I follow the naming practices of my sources, based on context, and give variant orthography or language in parentheses. Because of political sensitivities in China, certain interviews are cited as anonymous.

Maps of Khunu Lama’s Travels

Figure 2. This map indicates the documented scope of Khunu Lama’s travels 1914–1977. During this period, national borders changed, and some remain contested. Maps in this book use place names based on their appearance in Khunu Lama’s life story, and indicate approximate national borders for reader convenience only. International borders indicated on this map are not authenticated. Arrows indicate directions of Khunu Lama’s departures; he traveled some routes repeatedly. Some portions of his travels are undocumented. Map by Catherine Tsuji/Treasury of Lives 2021.

Figure 3. Map of Khunu Lama’s western Himalayan travels. Map by Catherine Tsuji/Treasury of Lives 2021. International borders indicated on this map are not authenticated.

Figure 4. Map of Khunu Lama’s eastern Tibetan travels. Map by Catherine Tsuji/Treasury of Lives 2021. International borders indicated on this map are not authenticated.

Chronology

[ INTRODUCTION ]

Themes in the Life of a Twentieth-Century Himalayan Buddhist Renunciant

According to canonical Buddhist sources, when the Buddha Śākyamuni was about to pass away into the state called parinirvāṇa, he had a conversation with his cousin Ānanda. Ānanda is a central figure in Buddhist literature of many kinds, particularly in Theravādin societies of Southeast Asia. At the time of this conversation, the sources tell us, Ānanda had been the Buddha’s attendant and near-constant companion for some two and a half decades of the Buddha’s teaching career. It is Ānanda’s recollection of the Buddha’s discourses that audiences of Buddhist sutras (Pāli sutta) hear repeated each time a sutra opens, his voice heard or implied in the recurring lines Thus I have heard: the Buddha was staying at one time in [such and such a place] . . . In this textual and imaginal sense, Ānanda continually revisits Buddhist audiences, just as he is the Buddha’s constant companion. At the same time, Ānanda offers a kind of foil for Buddhists through the limitations he seems to have: he often asks the questions, requires the explanations, and makes the mistakes that allow the narration of key Buddhist ideas, creating a space for the audience’s ignorance, a kind of Buddhist everyman.¹

In the case of the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa, the mistake that Ānanda apparently makes is a big one. Ānanda sees that the Buddha is close to dying and becomes distraught. He begs the Buddha to live a little bit longer. But the Buddha tells Ānanda that his request comes too late. In fact, the Buddha explains, he could indeed have lived much longer. As a Buddha, he can control the processes of his own death, and he could have lived even many hundreds of years. But, harrowingly, the Buddha explains to Ānanda that disciples have to ask a Buddha to remain in the world, and Ānanda has failed to do so.

The Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta recounts these events with great emotional suspense. First, in a preliminary episode, the Buddha becomes ill. He nearly dies. But reflecting that he has not yet given his final teachings, the Buddha uses his powers to suppress his illness. He remains alive, but he takes this occasion to give instructions to the Buddhist community explaining how they should conduct themselves after he is gone. Ānanda, who has witnessed this false alarm, is overcome with relief. He tells the Buddha how terrifying it was to see him sick, and how in fact his own body became ill just from seeing the Buddha’s illness.

At this point, the Buddha prompts Ānanda to request him to live longer. Over a series of episodes, the Buddha offers both subtle hints and direct encouragement for Ānanda to make this request. But Ānanda remains oblivious. The Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta, perhaps kindly, recounts that Māra, the Buddhist tempter, personification of delusion, ignorance, and addiction (all the forces that in Buddhist terms lead to death), distracts Ānanda each time, preventing him from asking the Buddha to stay.

So Ānanda does not ask until it is too late, and the Buddha soon passes into parinirvāṇa despite Ānanda’s grief. In the aftermath, the monastic community commends Ānanda for his recollection of the Buddha’s teachings, but censures him for (among other things) his failure to ask the Buddha to extend his life.

This story of Ānanda’s failure to ask the Buddha to live longer offers several lessons that have impressed Buddhist audiences over the centuries. In the first place, in its tight narrative focus on the relationship between the Buddha and his cousin, and on their obligations to each other (the Buddha to teach and guide, and Ānanda to listen, to learn, and to request the Buddha to remain alive), this deathbed episode offers clues to the central importance of the guru-disciple or teacher-student relationship for Buddhist practices and knowledge systems. This deathbed scene takes place within a larger teacher-disciple framework in which the student must begin the teaching relationship by making a request for teachings. The Buddha himself does not begin to teach after his