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MATTHEW WILLIAM KING Ican sketch just a few of the major details about his life as these were memorialized in a relatively recent history of the great masters of Drépung Gomang (Tib. ‘bras spungs sgo mang) monastic college and in a cursory study of some of the major Mongolian authors who wrote in Tibetan by Yéshé Tapkhé (Tib. ye shes thabs mkhas). I will then share an annotated translation of a short text that exemplifies the sort of enduring enchantment of Yeke-yin Küriye to which this Khalkha master devoted so many years of his life; the recasting of its rocks, mortar, copper, felt, and wood with a new ontology, one that by consequence remade the residents and pilgrims of the city into ideal devotees of the Géluk and subjects of the Qing. The Life of Agwangkhaidub The boy who would later have such a profound effect on the mediating, material contexts of Buddhist practice in Khalkha was born on the north side of the Tuyula River near Yeke-yin Kiiriy-e, in the Earth Pig year of the thirteenth rap-jung calendric cycle, or 1779.5 Entering monastic life at that tender age, he took the novice sramanera vows from Agwangperlei (Tib. ngag dbang ‘phrin las) and received the name, Agwangkhaidub. He began a standardized course of study in Géluk scholasticism on topics such as dialectics and logic, before following the great flow of bodies, wealth, and military might that flowed during the Qing between Mongol lands and Eastern and Central Tibet. He eventually found his way to U (Tib. dbus) province in Central Tibet where he could pursue higher scholastic studies at the great “mother monasteries” of his shared Géluk tradition. “Settling into the religious life” at the monastic college of Pelden Trashi Gomang (Tib. dpal Idan bkra shis sgo mang grwa tshang) as was customary for Mongol students, Agwangkhaidub began studying with such eminent masters as the “great spiritual friend with a mastery over an ocean of scripture and realization” Lozang Tendzin (Tib. blo bzang bstan ‘dzin).° He dully studied and contemplated the major texts of the Géluk curriculum “at the feet of many spiritual friends who could rival the Six Ornaments and the Two Supreme Ones.”’ These masters included both the Eighth 5 Bstan pa bstan ‘dzin: kyai rdor mkhan po ngag dbang mkhas grub. In: Chos Sde Chen Po Dpal Ldan ‘Bras Spungs Bkra Shis Sgo Mang Grwa Tshang Gi Chos ‘Byung Dung G.yas Su ‘Khyil Ba ‘i Sgra Dbyangs, vol. 2 (KHA) Dpal Idan ‘bras spungs bkra shis sgo mang dpe mdzod khang, Mundgod, District of North Kanara, Karnataka 2003, p. 452. Lung dang rtogs pa’i yon tan rgya mtshor dbang bsgyur ba bshes gnyen chen po. In: Chos Sde Chen Po. Bstan pa bstan ‘dzin: Chos Sde Chen Po, p. 452. 7 Bstan pa bstan ‘dzin: Chos Sde Chen Po, p. 452. “The Six Ornaments and the Two Supreme Ones” is shorthand for the Indian Buddhist masters whom the Géluk scholastic tradition determined were the most authoritative in their exegesis. While some held lower philosophical views than the “Middle Way Consequentialist” School (Skr. Prasangikamadhyamaka; Tib. Dbu ma thal ‘gyur ba) of the Géluk position, when taken together these six are seen as correctly interpreted the final doctrinal position of the 138
