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Document Details : Title: The Demon Seer Subtitle: Rāhula and the Inverted Mythology of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism Author(s): BAILEY, Cameron Journal: Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Volume: 38 Date: 2015 Pages: 33-72 DOI: 10.2143/JIABS.38.0.3134537 Abstract : This article will examine how Tibetan Buddhists adapted, and structurally inverted, classical Indian mythological and cosmological paradigms, using the iconography and mythology of the protector deity (Skt. Dharmapāla, Tib. Chos skyong) Rāhula as a case study. I will argue Rāhula is an amalgam figure based mainly on the Indian eclipse asura Rāhu, but also subsumes other Indian deities, in particular Viṣṇu. Rāhula is one of the main protector deities of the Rnying ma school of Tibetan Buddhism, and most of my primary sources are drawn from Rnying ma scriptures, either treasure (gter ma) cycles or tantras from the Rnying ma canon (Rnying ma rgyud ‘bum). I will argue that Rāhula’s mythos is related to, but in key respects distinct from, that of the Rnying ma anti-Buddha Rudra, and that Rāhula’s iconography and origin story collapses the dualistic structures of classical Indian myths, as well as the symbolically polarized myths of the Buddha and Rudra. |
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