The Trowo-Phurpa Ritual

[The gyer-yang (slow chant) part of a ritual from the Tibetan traditon of Yungdrung Bön. Examplified on 12 selected chapters.]

For detailed information on how to read the below paradigms please read the introduction to this work.
There you will also find notes on the aim of this presentation and the background of its genesis.

The work presented here is the result of an ongoing collaboration with Géshe Dawa Namgyal Kharnatsang, one of the main umdzes (ritual master and chant leader) from the Bön mother monastery “Menri”. However, the findings and principles presented here trace back to the amazing field research of Ricardo Canzio and his decades-long collaboration with the greatest lamas and scholars of Bön, the 33rd Menri Trizin Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche and the former Menri Lopön Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche as well as his successor Trinley Nyima Rinpoche.

The TroPhur ritual is a ritual related to the Deities Trowo and Phurpa. It is performend annually shortly before Losar (Tibetan New Year). The aim of the ritual is generally explained by the Bönpos as to purify the Bönpo community, laymen as well as monastics, from the outer and inner struggles and imbalances connected to the passing year.

In its long form the TroPhur ritual consists of 38 chapters which can be found in different dang-yig (chant score) versions.
The ritual includes extended parts of gyer-yang (slow chant), parts for instruments only, as well as sections of what in the West would be called rhythmic recitation.
Furthermore it contains “dance” elements to be performed by the whole assembly of monks, and one dance for two solo performers.  These performtive elements are carried out in parallel and accordance to the instrumental music and/or vocal parts.

The ritual is performed by monks as well as by nuns, each in their respective temple. In this work we are refering to the male voice version of the ritual. For easier reading we often only mention the word “monks”, meaning monastics in general. This is due to the fact that we could not manage to observe the ritual performance of the nuns, too, because logically they perform the ritual on the same day as the monks,  so it would require taking annual turns in visiting the monks and the nuns alternatingly. However, a comparance of the male and female voice version of the ritual should be done in the future.

As with most performances the overall duration of the Trophur ritual may vary in time. At the 2019 performance of the ritual at Menri Monastery the ritual was started at 5 am in the morning and ended at 2 am of the following day. Thus it had a total duration of 21 hours. This is the literal number, meant without any breaks in between.

Chapters 1-8: Setting external boundaries

As with many Tibetan rituals in the Trophur ritual, too, one section is concerned with establishing certain boundaries. These  boundaries are supposed to define and secure the space in which the ritual takes place. Boundaries can be of three different types: external, inner, and secret. In the Trophur ritual all three types are adressed. However, regarding to the boundaries in the TroPhur ritual the peformative stress (in terms of performance duration) lays on the external and inner boundaries.

During the course of the ritual each cardinal direction is adressed seperately and for both Deities individually. Hence, the section for the definition of the external boundaries makes a total of 8 chapters. At Menri Monastery, Losar 2019, the  performance of all eight chapters lasted about 3 hours.

The following two gyer-yang paradigms are taken from the first two chapters of the ritual. Both are concerned with the definition of the external boundary in the East, the first chapter for the Deity Trowo, the second for Phurpa.

Central part of this section is the dealing with external disturbances like harmful spirits. These are either to be subdued or to be excluded from the ritual space. The process of this subdueing or exclusion can also be regarded as the “setting of external boundaries”.

Note:
– scroll right and left.
– click on the camera item to watch video demonstration of selected phrase.
– when moving the cursor over the smaller font units explanatory text pops up regarding video demonstration.

Note:
– scroll right and left.
– click on the camera item to watch video demonstration of selected phrase.
– when moving the cursor over the smaller font units explanatory text pops up regarding video demonstration.

Chapters 9-10: Setting middle boundaries

While in the first section external disturbances, mostly in the shape of specific harmful spirits, are to be subdued or send away from the ritual space defined by the boundaries, the section on the middle boundaries deals with imbalances and/or disturbances that might occur within the energetic level of a human.

The section on the setting of the inner boundaries is characterized by movemental elements performed by the assembly of monastics. For the complete section the monks get up from their seats. During the instrumental and recitation parts they counterclockwise circumambulate the inside of the temple in slow and rhythmic dance steps. The big drums of the two umdzes are replaced by hand drums so the beat can be given by the respective umdze while moving.

For both Trowo and Phurpa the section on the middle boundary comprises one chapter each. However, for both deities this chapter is subdivided in three parts. In respect to structure and extend each of these subchapters equals any other chapter of the ritual.

For presentation here Geshé Dawa Namgyal chose one subpart of the Phurpa chapter and two subparts of the Trowo chapter.

Note:
– scroll right and left.
– click on the camera item to watch video demonstration of selected phrase.
– when moving the cursor over the smaller font units explanatory text pops up regarding video demonstration.

Note:
– scroll right and left.
– click on the camera item to watch video demonstration of selected phrase.
– when moving the cursor over the smaller font units explanatory text pops up regarding video demonstration.

Note:
– scroll right and left.
– click on the camera item to watch video demonstration of selected phrase.
– when moving the cursor over the smaller font units explanatory text pops up regarding video demonstration.

Chapter 11: The “Zhiba” chapter

This chapter of the TroPhur ritual is related to the peacful deity “Zhiba”, meaning “peace” . Accodingly the text of the chapter is not taken from the Trowo or the Phurpa zhung but from that of “Zhiba”. Thus here we are dealing with a deity who’s character stands in full contrary to the wrathful characters of both Trowo and Phurpa.

Note:
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– when moving the cursor over the smaller font units explanatory text pops up regarding video demonstration.

Chapter 12 -17: Inviting the Deities

After the middle boundaries are set, i.e. a secure space has been created on the level of energy, the main deities of the ritual are invited into it. One is easily tempted to compare this section of the ritual with the invocation of entities in shamanic possessment rituals. However, we are certainly dealing with a fundamentally different concept here, which however, has to be discussed elsewhere. In any case, no possession is taking place nor intended by any means during the complete course of the ritual. Instead, this part of the ritual is concerned with the cleansing/healing of the level of “speech”, one of the three aspects of reality which as a concept are also found in Buddhist philosphy. The thress aspects are traditionally translated into English as “body”, “speech”, and “mind”. However, compared to English or German Tibetan philosophy and language has a much broader concept of “speech” and “sound”.
Thus, due to the lack of corresponding concepts in Western languages those processes within a ritual that refer to this “middle” area of “speech” are often hard to understand on the first view.

As for the invocation of the energetic forms of the deities the TroPhur ritual gives more detail on the process for Phurpa.
It suggests four main steps, unraveled in four separate chapters:

1. Generating the (Phurpa-) mandala
2. Vocally calling the (Phurpa-) deity into the field of energy
3. Requesting the (Phurpa-) deity to “settle down”
4. The manifesting of the (Phurpa-) deity

With the last (fourth) step we are approaching a performative climax in the ritual. Over the course of the whole chapter two monastic dancers perform the so called “Phurpa dance”. The dance alternates between periods of rather slow and calm movements and such of fast movements and virtuos turns.

For presentation here Geshé Dawa Namgyal Kharnatsang selected the first and last of the four steps.

Note:
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– click on the camera item to watch video demonstration of selected phrase.
– when moving the cursor over the smaller font units explanatory text pops up regarding video demonstration.

Note:
– scroll right and left.
– click on the camera item to watch video demonstration of selected phrase.
– when moving the cursor over the smaller font units explanatory text pops up regarding video demonstration.

Chapter 18: Setting the “hidden” (innermost, secret) boundaries

With the setting of the “hidden” boundaries we approach that area within a human that is concerned with the mind and its disturbances. Mind itself is not seen, so the boundaries of the space it inhabits can be called “hidden” or even “secret”.

Chapters 19 – 36: Offerings

The second half of the Trowo-Phurpa ritual is mainly concerned with different kinds of offerings.

Offerings can be understood as a ritualized form of letting go, the opposite (“antidote”) of attachment, which according to Tibetan Bön and Buddhist philosophy is regarded as one of the basic disturbances of the mind.

Furthermore, within the offering section of the Trowo-Phurpa ritual one will find elements of atonment practices, such as in chapter 32 “Confession of the breaches of conduct”.

For presentation here Dawa Namgyal Kharnatsang chose two chapters, one related to Phurpa and one to Trowo.

The one for Phurpa is concerned with the offering of medicinal herbs and substances. The chapter on the offerings related to Trowo deals with the offering of eight ritual objects.

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Chapter 37: Reconciliation with Offerings to the Assembly of Deities

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Chapter 38: Phurpa: Atonement ceremony

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