Work

Commanding the Defilement Master: Materiality and Blended Agency in a Tibetan Buddhist Mdos Ritual

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Tibetan Buddhist ritualists devote immense energy to constructing specialized material items employed during practical rites. These material objects, such as gtor ma (ritual offering cakes), glud (dough effigies), and so forth, serve as conduits between the human and non-human, immaterial realm. This article examines the material, human, and immaterial non-human agencies in a particular grib mdos (defilement substitute-offering ritual) that invokes the deity Yamāri and summons an entity called the Grib bdag (Defilement Master) to clear away defilements (grib). This ritual demonstrates fluid dynamics between the material and immaterial, as human and non-human agencies seemingly blend. I will argue that although the material and non-human elements constitute key aspects of this rite, ultimately an emphasis on how human agency shapes and constructs the material and non-human dimensions captures the salient dynamics of both the ritual and its related textual production. This approach aims to center human cognition, the historical development of ritual, and hence practice and textual creativity.

Source: Religions

DOI: 10.3390/rel16081067

Author: Amanda N. Brown

Institution: Florida State University

Language: English

Topic: Indian and Buddhist Studies

Subfield: Religious studies

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,172

Funder: Florida State University