Measures, Miracles, and Representations

Abstract

Chapter 5 takes up critical issues that both reflected and shaped the larger Bön community of which Tenpé Gyaltsen is a part, and for whom he primarily writes. The author considers how the biographies treat key elements of Shardza’s enduring legacy. These are depicted via traditional measures, such as Shardza’s material contributions to religious institutions, including the texts he authored; his successful training of disciples; and the holy relics and palpable faith engendered by his miraculous passing. Shardza’s legacy also includes his biographical image, constructed through particular categories and with an awareness of potentially contesting voices. This chapter reviews some of the most significant conceptual distinctions to set the parameters for understanding a Bön religious life in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Kham, and it concludes by reflecting on how these designations were used to situate Shardza within a particular religious landscape traced by his biographer.