Renunciation and Longing

In Renunciation and Longing: The Life of a Twentieth-Century Himalayan Buddhist Saint, Annabella Pitkin deftly weaves together biography, oral history, interviews, and critical theory to tell the life story of a Buddhist ascetic called Khunu Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen (1895–1977). Throughout, she unravels some of the tensions between what it means to pursue a spiritual life that rejects the trappings of worldly life (food, fame, etc.) while also living in the world. This book is a major contribution to the fields of Tibetan-Himalayan studies, Buddhist studies, and religious studies for two reasons: (1) it offers innovative analyses and fresh perspectives on the intersections among literary-narrative studies, the concept of renunciation, and the role of religion in modernity; and (2) it brings together a variety of textual and oral sources on the life of Khunu Lama, a highly accomplished yogi and reluctant teacher of Tibetan Buddhism from the Kinnaur region of Himachal Pradesh, India.With its focus on the life of a Himalayan Buddhist ascetic, Renunciation and Longing augments a growing body of academic literature on several eminent Buddhist figures of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that, when read collectively, aid in reimagining the relationship between religion and modernity in the context of Tibetan Buddhism, because their life narratives demonstrate a range of individual, collective, cultural, religious, and/or personal responses to the social-political forces at particular historical and geographical junctures.1 Pitkin's analysis joins previous works in dismantling problematic yet commonplace, bifurcated images of Tibetan Buddhism as either backward/degenerate/traditional or progressive/peaceful/modern.Pitkin conceptualizes the life of Khunu Lama as that of a “beggar modern,” a phrase she coins based on Dipesh Chakrabarty's image of a monk/beggar, a heuristic that, she suggests, “wrestles with the role of religion in the midst of a decolonization politics, a problematic with direct relevance to thinking about a Himalayan Buddhist figure from the twentieth century” (17). Pitkin's analysis of the fragmented nature of Khunu Lama's life stories also draws on philosophical works, particularly those by Emmanuel Levinas and Edith Wyschogrod. This approach reminds readers that in encountering the trace of the other, we have an intersubjective obligation to respond, which requires the remembering and telling of stories, and “also to interrogate the unequal, always precarious processes of memory and narration, with attention to the unsaid, the unremembered, the unheard” (16).After Pitkin lays out her literary and historical methodological approach, she details her source materials. This book benefits from meticulous research, which includes interviews that Pitkin herself conducted with those who knew Khunu Lama (detailed on p. 19). She includes her own translations of previously untranslated Tibetan language biographies on Khunu Lama, including works by Lahuli K. Angrup and Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche. She also draws from an English-language translation of a Tibetan-language biography by Lamachen Gyalpo Rinpoche (21–22). Another source comes in the form of oral histories, which include recorded interviews with Khunu Lama himself and interviews with those who were close to him, such as the Kinnauri nuns Bogti and Tenzin Dolma. Throughout this book, Pitkin weaves together theoretical and biographical threads in a narrative that moves forward both chronologically and thematically.In chapter 1, “‘Like Water into Water’: Transmission Lineages in Tibetan Buddhism,” Pitkin takes up the evocative imagery in the saying “like pouring water into water” (chu la chu bzhag pa ltar) to discuss the backdrop of Khunu Lama's spiritual and biological lineages and the importance of lineage transmission. She details Khunu Lama's relationship with his teacher, the Dzogchen master Zhenpa Chokyi Nangwa, aka Khenpo Zhenga (1871–1927) (36–43), and through literary metaphors she explores the import of relationships centered on lineage transmission to evoke the “possibility of indivisible mutuality between teachers and students” (46–47).Pitkin takes up a quote from Angrup's biography for the title of chapter 2: “He abandoned his homeland for the sake of the Dharma.” This biography provides details on Khunu Lama's departure from home as a youth and helps Pitkin analyze the ideal chatralwa, a particular style of renunciation. By comparing Tibetan ascetic ideals found in the namtar genre, or biographies of eminent Buddhists (e.g., Milarepa), Pitkin reveals the contradictions between being an available compassionate teacher and the necessity of renouncing all ties for liberation (52–55).The next two chapters explore contrasting yet complementary aspects of Khunu Lama's chatralwa life. In chapter 3, “Aim Your Dharma Practice at a Beggar's Life,” Pitkin highlights Khunu Lama as a hidden yogin who avoids fame in this world (97). This begins with the retelling of a dramatic story of when the young Fourteenth Dalai Lama saw Khunu Lama from a distance, got out of his vehicle, and offered a full prostration before Khunu Lama in the middle of a dusty road (76). This is contrasted to the Dalai Lama's statement to Pitkin in a 2005 interview that Khunu Lama didn't leave much of a legacy, explaining, “Among our Tibetan people, he didn't teach very much” (78). Pitkin explores the inherent tension of being a hidden yogin and explains how Khunu Lama often obscured his identity as a Buddhist teacher but was a well-known teacher of Sanskrit and literature (97–108).Emerging from Pitkin's interviews with well-respected Buddhist teachers, such as Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, we see comparisons made between Khunu Lama and one of the greatest of all hidden yogis and literary virtuosos in Buddhist history: Śāntideva. This is further developed in chapter 4, “Dislocation and Continuity,” in which Pitkin frames Khunu Lama as a bridge across geographic, generational, and sectarian boundaries. Here Pitkin discusses Khunu Lama's attitude toward renunciation through an analysis of his verses on bodhicitta, the altruistic mind of enlightenment. This chapter also explores the relationship between him and the Drikung Khandroma, the title for one of the most important female spiritual leaders in Tibet, whose personal name was Sherab Tharchin. She became a close disciple and attendant in his later years.Chapter 5, “‘With Such Devotion That Tears Cascade from Your Eyes’: Renunciation, Separation and Guru Devotion,” centers on the complex consequences of renunciation vis-à-vis lineage continuity through affective imaginaries of guru devotion. Much of the chapter focuses on Angrup's retelling of Khunu Lama's teaching at Tso Pema in 1976. It also looks in more detail at the relationship between Khunu Lama and Drikung Khandroma in terms of the latter’s own identity as a renunciant. In Pitkin's poignant analysis of guru devotion, she stresses how literature such as zhabten prayers and ritual tropes associated with the indivisibility of teachers and students involve both affective and somatic dimensions of devoted faith or longing (mos gus).The final chapter, “Death and Other Disruptions: Dying like a Dog in the Wilderness,” details Khunu Lama's death and the miraculous resolution of the tensions between different communities over his bone relics (192). The beautifully written epilogue dives further into the paradoxes around renunciation—the separation of gurus and disciples and the continuity of lineages.The book also includes technical notes on phonetic transcription, transliteration, and naming practices; maps of Khunu Lama's extensive travels; and a chronology of his life. Pitkin's book will prove useful for upper-division undergraduate and graduate students, as well as for Buddhist practitioners and the general public interested in Buddhism

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