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Document Details : Title: A Manual for Making Levees Impregnable Subtitle: Procedures for Controlling and Diverting Water Author(s): POWERS, John , DRONGPA, Rinzin Dorjee , RINGAPONTSANG, Tenzin C. Journal: Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Volume: 47 Date: 2024 Pages: 331-357 DOI: 10.2143/JIABS.47.0.3294226 Abstract : The text translated here, Adamantine Levees: Secret Instructions for Diverting Water According to the Method of the Ḍākinī Guhyajñāna, describes a ritual for protecting levees (chu lon or rags) that appears in the Collected Works of Lelung Shebé Dorjé (Sle lung Rje drung Blo bzang ’phrin las bzhad pa’i rdo rje, 1697-1740), the fifth Lelung Jedrung tulku (sprul sku). It is part of a collection of teachings attributed to the ḍākinī (mkha’ ’gro ma) Guhyajñāna (Tib. Gsang ba ye shes). The procedure it describes is an exacting and detailed magical technology that employs various substances and ritual objects and requires deep familiarity with and competence in tantric visualization practices, as well as the mystical physiology that undergirds them. The source attribution to Guhyajñāna provides it with a semidivine imprimatur and positions it as lore surpassing that of human thaumaturges. In several places the text guarantees success if the ritual is enacted correctly, but we have not been able to find any sources reporting that it was actually performed, and so there do not appear to be any evaluations of its effectiveness. |
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