Translation of The Pleasure Garden

Abstract

Chapter 6 consists of a full translation of the condensed edition of Shardza’s life-story. The translation offers the reader an extended look into the rich body of material constituting one of the most popular and widely circulated Bönpo examples of this important Tibetan genre. It combines evocative poetry with prose accounts of key thematic features that constitute a saintly life in the Bön religion in the early twentieth century. In the process, the text covers a breadth of territory, exploring careful accountings of religious qualifications, voicing aspirational prayers, offering authorial asides on the attributes of a saint, and conveying intimate moments in the life of this Bönpo luminary. It is preceded by a brief history of its author.