• 1 My warmest thanks go to my Tibetan hosts, assistants, interlocutors and friends (too numerous and, (...)
• 2 For instance, in a text on Padmasambhava we find the wording: rab byung ngur smrig gi sde dang gos (...)
• 3 In order to make the reading of Tibetan terms easier for non-Tibetanists, I provide phonetic transc (...)
• 4 See Stein, [1962] 1987: 65; Karmay, 1998: 9 and passim; Ramble, 1984: 30; Sihlé, 2013a: 15-16. The (...)

1As a common, albeit rather literary expression has it, in Tibet the Buddhist clergy is twofold, made up of “the category of the saffron-robed monks, and the category of the long-haired [ones] clothed in white”.2 The former hardly need an introduction. The latter are most commonly known as ngakpa [sngags pa],3 “mantra/tantra practitioners”, or tantrists, as the term is often rendered in Western languages.4 These non-monastic religious specialists are typically married and very often form family lineages, from father to son. Although to a large extent their religious activities overlap with those of their monastic counterparts, throughout Tibetan areas they are the primary specialists of the tantric practices situated at the powerful, violent end of the ritual spectrum, such as strong exorcisms.

• 5 This style is similar to the “turban of matted hair” worn by many Hindu ascetics (Hausner, 2007: 27 (...)

2Despite the popularity of the above-mentioned literary expression, the available empirical evidence suggests that most tantrists have never worn white clothes (nor, for that matter, do Tibetan monks generally wear saffron robes). However, the long hair, which also appears in this expression as a defining characteristic of tantrists (in implicit but very clear contrast to the short or shaven hair of the monks), is indeed a key element of ngakpa subculture. This is particularly true in Repkong [Reb kong] county in northeastern Tibet, an area known for its particularly large numbers of Buddhist and Bönpo [Bon po] tantrists, for the awe-inspiring ritual power that, collectively and sometimes individually, they are perceived to wield, and—not unrelatedly, as we shall see—for the equally impressive signature hairstyle that many Repkong ngakpa sport: a massive coil of twisted dreadlocks wound around their head.5

• 6 See Bromberger’s introduction to this special issue, as well as a fuller exposition of his work in (...)

3The aim of the present article is to analyze and interpret, from an ethnographic perspective, the cultural grammar of this particular religious and capillary subculture, focusing on the Repkong case. What makes the study of Tibetan tantrists’ hairstyle(s) of particular interest is that we find in these capillary entanglements—at the intersection between the bodily, the social and the political—an overdetermined religious identity marker. This paper will also argue that Bromberger’s powerful comparative analysis of “hair logics” (or trichologiques), with its four key dimensions of analysis (gender, social identities, norm and order vs. margin, and finally aesthetic norms),6 intriguingly leaves us somewhat ill-equipped to appreciate certain key associations of tantrists’ long hair, such as embodied divinity and ritual power. A somewhat wider range of analytical/theoretical concerns is needed.

• 7 The Nyingma order is literally that of the “Ancient [translation of the tantras]”. Most tantrists b (...)
• 8 In Amdo, “Alak” is a respectful term of reference and address for masters (particularly reincarnate (...)
• 9 The Minling tradition originated in the Mindröling monastery, a major Nyingma monastic institution (...)

5In religious terms, the Repkong tantrists are not a very homogenous group. They live in dozens of villages scattered across the county, some of them boasting several dozen tantrists, while others have more modest contingents. I use the phrase “tantrist village communities” to reflect the important place of the tantrists in many of these villages’ socioreligious life. Most of them follow Nyingma [rNying ma] traditions of tantric practice, though a very substantial minority belong to the Bön [Bon] tradition.7 The latter form a somewhat more unified group, as for decades they have all been followers of the same revered Bönpo master, known as Alak Böngya [A lags Bon brgya], the head of the Böngya monastery in Repkong (whose demise in the summer of 2018 coincided with the final touch-ups to this article).8 In contrast, the Nyingma tantrists are more divided. They are all followers of one or several masters among a handful of local religious figures (some very active, others less so). The primary structuring feature is the practitioners’ (whether lama or rank-and-file tantrist) association with a common ritual tradition. To simplify somewhat, there are two locally dominant ritual traditions: tantric cycles of the Minling [sMin (grol) gling] tradition on the eastern side of the main valley, or of the Longchen Nyingtik [Klong chen snying thig] on the western side.9 The structuring of the Repkong tantrists’ collective religious activity around a few major temples seems to have begun in the early eighteenth century (Dhondup, 2011: 47).

• 10 On the various factors at play in tantrists’ decisions about whether or not to take part in these s (...)

6Unlike monks, who generally lead cenobitic lives with daily collective religious activities, tantrists are primarily householders who only occasionally get to meet other tantrists in religious contexts. They congregate for a few monthly or annual collective rituals within their respective villages, as well as for a limited number of larger annual supra-local ritual gatherings (just one or two in many cases), which may last three or four days, rarely more.10 During their initial training, they may spend substantial time—the equivalent of several months over a period of a few years—learning from one or two teachers (typically knowledgeable tantrists from their own villages), but aside from that, they only rarely and sporadically gather to receive teachings or tantric initiations. In Repkong, these are given by Alak Böngya in the case of the Bönpos, but in the case of the Nyingma tantrists, in recent decades, many of their teachers and masters have come from other parts of eastern Tibet. There is thus a certain variety and irregularity in the flow patterns of religious content (ideas, practices) among tantrists, and as we shall see, this is particularly true with regard to their somewhat inconsistently codified “hair culture”.

• 11 In Repkong, the first term, amchö [a mchod], commonly designates a monk who enjoys special patronag (...)

8However, the situation is slightly more complex than a simple monk-layman-tantrist triad (roughly in increasing order of hair length). In a few Repkong villages an additional socioreligious category of more modest non-monastic practitioners is recognized. Depending on the village, these practitioners are called either amchö or amchö gyawo11. They are described as not being held to the same standards of religious/ethical discipline as ngakpa (for example they can kill livestock, as tantrists sometimes point out) and they are not obliged to wear their hair long: thus the association between (real) tantrists and long hair is indirectly reaffirmed.

• 12 Similar hairstyles are to be found among monastic virtuoso yogis of the Drukpa-Kagyü [’Brug pa bka’ (...)

9There are also some exceptional figures that somewhat transcend the duality between (short-haired) monk and (long-haired) tantrist. Without a doubt, the most famous example in Repkong is the great yogi and saint Zhapkar Tsokdruk Rangdröl [Zhabs dkar tshogs drug rang grol] (1781-1851), himself a native of Repkong. Although born into a community that included numerous Nyingma tantrists, he became a monk, but let his hair grow long again during his extended meditation retreats.12 Since he was still wearing the lower dress characteristic of the fully-ordained monk, his mixed appearance left many of the people he encountered during his travels unsure of how to classify him. A number of the spontaneously composed songs that Zhapkar recorded in his autobiography answer these people’s questions by extolling the concrete benefits or symbolic associations of his long hair—and of his categorial in-betweenness itself (Ricard, 1994: 107-108, 129, 359; Zhabs dkar, 1985: 207-209, 255-256, 707-708).

• 13 See, however, some examples mentioned in Schrempf and Schneider (eds.), 2015.

12Last but not least, let us now bring gender explicitly into the picture. Laywomen keep their hair very long, and nuns keep theirs shaven or very short. As for tantrists, throughout Tibetan areas they belong to a very masculine part of the religious field: according to most Tibetan understandings, tantrists are always men, and non-monastic female members of the Buddhist clergy are virtually unheard of in many areas.13 In Repkong, however, and to a lesser degree in some neighboring areas, a new phenomenon has powerfully emerged over the past generation (with modest roots going back at least to the early twentieth century): female non-monastic tantric practitioners, trained in the same ritual traditions as the local tantrists. These are now increasingly called ngakma [sngags ma], a term that until a decade ago was still very uncommon in Repkong, and remains unknown in most areas beyond the neighboring counties. Nyingma masters who have been providing support to the Repkong ngakma have advised them to wear their hair in a single braid, as many (male) tantrists do, instead of the common female hairstyle with two braids, one on each side of the head. However, not all ngakma have followed this recommendation: most women have a large amount of long hair, so some ngakma have chosen to keep two braids, arguing that a single, thick braid is too stiff and unwieldy for domestic work.

• 14 Another list of Tibetan terms appears on a website maintained by a group of Western tantric practit (...)

13Beyond these broader sociological distinctions, tantrists’ hairstyles vary in complex ways. There are recognized regional variations. Repkong tantrists are renowned far beyond the county boundaries for their taste for very large coils of dreadlocks wound on top of their heads. In neighboring Labrang [Bla brang] to the east and Tsekhok [rTse khog] to the south, these bulky coils of dreadlocks are far less common. Within a county or even a single village community, hairstyles vary quite widely according to age (as we will see), but also in more personal ways. At the outset, it is essential to establish a working typology and pay close attention to local terminological usage.14

• 15 The term also refers to a “mane”, such as that of a lion.
• 16 Dreadlocks are also occasionally subject to some form of care and styling; however, as Bogin points (...)

14In Repkong and probably far beyond, the single most important category in tantrists’ discourse is relpa [ral pa] (pronounced rawa in Amdo). According to its primary meaning, this term refers to hair that has been left unkempt and allowed to grow long and matted (such as while the person is engaged in a prolonged meditation retreat)—in other words, hair that has formed into dreadlocks (see Nyi zla he ru ka, 2003: 88).15 Having relpa hair is the primary criterion for being recognized as a “real” tantrist in Repkong discourse (a point to which we will return shortly). However I hasten to add that, strictly speaking, the above description of relpa hardly fits anybody. The dreadlocks worn by a number of tantrists (primarily elderly or middle-aged ones) have been actively produced through precise technical manipulation of the hair (as discussed below)—they are by no means the ideologically postulated “uncontrived” or “unfabricated” (machöpa [ma bcos pa]) results of a prolonged lack of attention to one’s hair.16

• 17 Local informants were generally unable to provide a spelling for the term gyələ, which may have no (...)

16The key term relpa, or rawa in Amdo, thus has a strict meaning (hair in the form of dreadlocks—the quintessential relpa, so to speak) and a very common, much broader meaning (long hair—that is, in the case of a tantrist). The context is not always unequivocal enough to distinguish clearly between the two, and two other Amdo terms are sometimes used: the noun gyələ, literally “twisted locks”, and the related verb gyi, “to twist”.17 Dreadlocks are generally made by twisting two strands of hair into one thin, cord-like “twisted lock” (just a few millimeters in diameter), which becomes matted over time. One says gyələ gyi or rawa gyi, “to twist dreadlocks”. (For an example of recent dreadlocks, with the cord-like structure still clearly visible, see ill. 14 below.)

• 18 Nyida Heruka gives the term reltak [ral thag], literally “relpa cord” (Nyi zla he ru ka, 2003: 88).

17Other terms for hairstyles are far less commonly used by tantrists. Tantrists who do not have dreadlocks generally keep their hair braided (in a single braid, as mentioned above) or in a ponytail. A short ponytail is left hanging at the back, but if the hair is long enough, whether braided or not, it is most often tied, wound and fastened around the head using a long, thin band of fabric (red, orange, or in rare cases black) which in Amdo is called ramtel [ral mthud, lit. “(that which) joins the hairs (or locks)”].18 The same device is also used to attach dreadlocks in a coil around the head.

• 19 Nyida Heruka also expresses a critical opinion on this matter (Nyi zla he ru ka, 2003: 90).

18There are terms to describe these hairstyles—for instance, braiding one’s hair is called tra lé [skra sle] (Amdo: kya la) or go lé [mgo sle] (Amdo: go la), “braiding the hair (or head)”—but they are rarely used, and distinguishing between the braid and ponytail styles is not an issue. What is much more of an issue is the tendency among some tantrists to wear a Chinese-style braid or queue, gathering the hair from a disc-shaped area at the crown of the head, keeping the rest of the hair short or even shaven. The “Chineseness” of this style is downplayed by those who adopt it, but key for those who criticize it. As we have seen, this hairstyle was quite prevalent among Repkong men in the 1950s; today, some of the critics argue that this choice of hairstyle stems from a certain confusion between the tantrist’s relpa (which must comprise absolutely all the hair, as they insist) and the Chinese queue19. Furthermore, in the tense current political context, some also point out that it is a misguided choice from an ideological perspective.

• 20 On this important local figure, see Dhondup, 2013: 118-120.

20In literary sources and iconography, the topknot (zurpü [zur phud] or torchok [thor cog]) is associated with tantrists (but also with the upper ranks of the Central Tibetan nobility—see Cassinelli and Ekvall, 1969: 122), and this association also appears to some extent in Repkong. One of the founding figures of the Repkong Nyingma tantrists’ tradition, Palchen Namkha Jikmé [dPal chen nam mkha’ ’jigs med] (1757-1821),20 is depicted with a topknot—and freely falling hair (see ill. 5).

• 21 Nyida Heruka defines the term changlo as “dreadlocks coiled on the crown of the head and attached w (...)

21Finally, the term changlo [lcang lo], which seems to refer to braided or matted hair, is rarely heard. It is used mainly in a classic, rather literary expression characterizing the tantrist (a less common version of which has already been mentioned above), gö-kar changlo-chen [gos dkar lcang lo can], “those with long hair and white clothes”.21

• 22 In his study of Bönpo tantrists (of Repkong in particular), Tsering Thar uses the term relshup [ral (...)

24Another object that should be mentioned here is a black cloth that is sometimes wrapped around the hair to protect it from dust. In Amdo this is called ratəm [ral thum], literally “hair wrapping”.22 It is often used by tantrists with dreadlocks, but not exclusively or constantly; tantrists wearing a wig may also use one.

• 24 The tenth-day worship of Padmasambhava is a key element of Nyingma tantrists’ ritual culture, but i (...)

28In contrast to entering the monastic orders, becoming a tantrist is rarely marked by a formal ritual procedure and a clear change of socioreligious status. One starts by learning to read and by memorizing basic texts with one’s father or grandfather, or with a knowledgeable tantrist from the same village. At a certain point (nowadays usually around the beginning of adulthood), one starts to take part in the tsechu [tshes bcu] (lit. “[ritual of] the tenth day”), the monthly ritual gatherings held in each tantrist village community on the tenth day of the lunar month. These are devoted to the worship of Orgyen Rinpoché [O rgyan rin po che], literally the “Precious one from Uddiyana”—one of the Tibetan names for Padmasambhava, an Indian master who, in Tibetan historiography, is considered the main introducer of tantric teachings into Tibet, and was subsequently given a central position in the pantheon of the Nyingma order. In many tantrist communities, starting to participate in the tsechu marks the beginning of one’s commitment to the tantrist path.24 In the Gurong [dGu rong] community north of Repkong, the procedure is a little more formal: the young candidate asks the local master for his permission, and then some red thread is attached to his hair to mark his new status.

• 25 Politically, in the decades preceding the Communist takeover in 1949, Repkong and most of eastern Q (...)

31Embarking on the path of the tantrist and getting married often follow each other in fairly quick succession, and this period is one of increased economic responsibilities for a young man. Some young adult tantrists are able to find work outside the village doing jobs in which long hair might sometimes seem odd (taxi driver for example), so they keep their hair relatively short for a number of years. They might have a relatively modest level of religious activity during these first years, though they try to participate in the monthly tsechu rituals as often as possible. Their elders or their lama [bla ma] might put some pressure on them to adopt a more conformant tantrist hairstyle, and they will ultimately need to make a choice: either remain on the periphery of the “tantrist” category, or more fully embrace their tantrist identity and the embodied mode of being this entails. Switching back and forth between their religious moral communities and their partially secularized world of capitalist economic opportunity means navigating conflicting demands. However, we should not assume that this kind of situation is entirely new. As we have seen with the case of the widespread Chinese-style queue, prior to the 1950s, Repkong tantrists already lived in a world partially exposed to Chinese powers, norms and influences.25

• 26 All personal names given here, aside from those of masters, are pseudonyms.
• 27 This is the Tibetan age, and corresponds roughly to the Western age of 23.

34Dorjé Gyal [rDo rje rgyal]26 (1920-2010), a tantrist I met several times in 2003-04, recalled that at the age of twenty-four,27 he was summoned by the previous Alak Khyunggön [Khyung dgon] and told to undo his hair. The lama then proceeded to make a “twisted lock” (gyələ) with one strand of his hair, and the rest of his hair was subsequently turned into twisted locks by other tantrists. (The lama always only begins the process, with just one or a few locks.) The young man’s father was reportedly unhappy about this early start to his son’s dreadlocks, but since they had already been made, he insisted that his son perform the preliminary tantric practices (ngöndro) that same year, and the young man did. Two years later, the young tantrist had the opportunity to receive a “dreadlock consecration” from the eminent Nyingma master Dilgo Khyentsé [Dil mgo mkhyen brtse] Rinpoché, who was traveling through that part of Amdo.

• 28 Local understandings diverge on this point. Some tantrists heard that Alak Khyunggön had conferred (...)
• 29 One also hears “Ma Za Dor, the three” [Ma gZa’ rDor gsum]. Both expressions refer to Mamo Ekajaṭī [ (...)

35A similar order of events is seen in the case of a middle-aged tantrist from another village, who is currently in his forties. In 2011, he told me he was planning to have twisted locks made sometime in the near future, and hoped thereafter to obtain a dreadlock consecration. However, in contrast to this statement, the most common motive in the narratives I have heard (as in the previous case) is that the decision to initiate the process of growing dreadlocks was made by someone else, such as one’s master or teacher. In 2013, on the occasion of a large ritual gathering, the current Alak Khyunggön (born in 1986) summoned eight ngakpa and made three twisted locks for each of them, and then the rest of the hair was turned into twisted locks by various acquaintances of each of the tantrists. (These helpers need not be tantrists themselves: for instance, they can be pastoral herders, drokpa [’brog pa], who are reputed to be skilled in rope-making.) The young Alak Khyunggön apparently did not give the eight ngakpa a “dreadlock consecration”28. While making the twisted locks, he only recited a text, through which each of them was entrusted (te [gtad]) to the most important Nyingma triad of fearsome protectors, “Ma Za Dam, the three” [Ma gZa’ Dam gsum].29

• 30 Dudjom Rinpoche, 2012: 482-483. These eight “Awareness-Holders” are Indian masters. However, the sa (...)

36My interlocutors noted that the event constituted a tendrel [rten ’brel]—an event organized auspiciously so that it will lead to positive future developments—the eight tantrists being symbolic of the “Eight Rikdzin” [Rig ’dzin, Skt. Vidyādhara, lit. Awareness-Holders], eight great tantric practitioners entrusted with the initial transmission of the important set of teachings called the Kagyé [bKa’ brgyad, “Eight Transmissions”].30 (Interestingly, this event echoed an earlier, similar one: in the early 1990s, Lama Tsering [Bla ma tshe ring], a senior, highly learned tantrist from Linggya [Gling rgya] village whose stature was close to that of a master, assembled eight tantrists on the occasion of a large collective Kagyé ritual, and conferred a dreadlock consecration upon each of them, making each tantrist’s first twisted locks. The symbolic connection to the Eight Rikdzin was clearly present at that moment as well.)

• 31 Whereas in many other Tibetan areas the emphasis is on a ngakpa’s “bone-lineage” (dunggyü [gdung rg (...)

37Nowadays at least, Repkong tantrists typically only start to wear dreadlocks when they are middle-aged. The youngest case that I heard of was a tantrist I interviewed in 2011. His first “twisted locks” were made in the late 1940s, when he was 14 by the Tibetan count, and he received a “dreadlock consecration” at the same time. His religious training only began in earnest that same year. It is unclear why the local master, Alak Yeshé [Ye shes], decided to make the twisted locks and perform the consecration at such an early stage. It should be noted that Alak Yeshé is remembered for having also conferred hair consecrations upon male lay villagers—a very uncommon practice. However, it may also have been that the master took into account the fact that the boy belonged to a highly-regarded “ngakpa house”, ngak-khyim [sngags khyim].31 Alak Yeshé also told the boy that he would become a “fine tantrist”.

• 32 See also Jest (1975: 306) for the Dolpo case.

38As we have seen, although tantrists’ dreadlocks are sometimes mentioned in reference to the “uncontrived hair” ideal, they are actually all but uncontrived. The initial twisted locks are produced using a technique very similar to two-ply cord-making. Furthermore, some tantrists make their locks thicker and longer by adding yak’s hair, as Thar (2008: 545) has already pointed out in the case of Bönpo tantrists in Repkong.32 Tantrists sometimes discuss this very question among themselves. In 2011, during a major collective ritual, a group of young tantrists taking a break outside the temple approached Shawo Gyal [Sha bo rgyal], the chant master, umdzé [dbu mdzad]—a tall, large, imposing figure with a powerful voice—and asked about his hair, wanting to know if his particularly impressive mass of thin, cord-like locks was only made up of his own hair. He insisted that it was. They were somewhat surprised, and one of them briefly fingered a lock or two, still unsure whether or not to believe him. In 2015, I asked him the same question. In the meantime, the locks had partly lost their finely woven cord-like aspect and become more matted and indistinct. He explained to me that when he had first fashioned the “twisted locks”, he had added some of his own fallen hair, which he had collected over time when combing. But he firmly insisted that he had not added anything like yak’s hair. Most of these added hairs had probably fallen out again later on, he assumed. Basically, he really just had a lot of hair.

• 33 The closest that comes to mind is perhaps (albeit with a very different, sacramental logic) the dis (...)
• 34 See Huber’s discussion of the place of materiality, substance and the body in Tibetan pilgrimage pr (...)

40In the Tibetan context, this is probably a very uncommon, if not unique, case of religious transmission being made more auspicious through the master’s gift of a body part (one with powerful, divine associations, as we will see below).33 Although it is a rarity owing to the particular form of bodily gift involved, this case also needs to be understood in a cultural context characterized by a whole economy of religiously charged body parts or substances (e.g. relics), and ritual procedures involving physical contact with dead or living embodiments of religious virtuosity, either directly or through substances (leftover food, clothes, religious or nonreligious objects, and even excreta) that have been in contact with these sources of blessings and religious power.34

• 35 The term relwang is also found in textual sources: Ehrhard (2008: 106) mentions one title based on (...)

41In the temporal sequence most commonly described by my Repkong interlocutors, the creation of the first “twisted locks” is immediately followed by a “dreadlock consecration”, relwang. However, in some cases a relwang can be performed for a tantrist with no dreadlocks, or even with no first “twisted locks”, and in these cases it might be regarded more simply as a “hair consecration”—which happens to be the literal translation of an equivalent term that is quite common in literary sources: trawang [skra dbang].35

• 36 In matters of terminology, here I primarily follow Snellgrove (1959: 131-133; 1987: 165 n. 86, 213) (...)
• 37 In the iconography, Vajrasattva is represented with long hair, with one part attached to the top of (...)
• 38 Similarly, Boord (1993: 152) mentions a consecration of all the hair on the adept’s body (within a (...)
• 39 This text was kindly brought to my attention by my former assistant in the field, Kunchog Tseten, a (...)
• 40 A similar fourfold structure is mentioned for Bönpo relwang by Thar (2008: 545).

42Technically speaking, just what is a “dreadlock (or hair) consecration”?36 My Repkong interlocutors were sometimes rather at a loss when asked to define what a relwang “did”. A Bönpo tantrist told me that the relwang came “after all the [other] wang”—referring to the fact that a relwang is typically obtained at an advanced stage of one’s career as a tantrist, but leaving unclear whether or not a relwang was seen to be similar to initiations received at earlier stages. However, other tantrists clearly distinguished between the two, in the sense that a relwang is not a procedure that authorizes and empowers the recipient to engage in a set of ritual practices associated with a given central deity, as initiations do. Judging from the comments of more erudite interlocutors, a relwang seems to consecrate the tantrist’s hair and establish it as a place where tantric deities reside (on this theme, see the final section below). Finally, is it structurally similar to a full tantric initiation, or more similar to one of the various forms of consecration that constitute an initiation? My data is not fully conclusive on this point. In a number of occurrences that were mentioned to me, a relwang was actually conferred on the occasion (and as an optional extension) of a Vajrasattva initiation, which comprises a number of consecrations associated with the various attributes of Vajrasattva, including the deity’s consort, and the deity’s own hair37—this last consecration being the basis for the relwang.38 However, one short trawang text—written by the great Nyingma master Düjom Lingpa [bDud ’joms gling pa] (1835-1904) and associated in its colophon with one of the masters of the Khyunggön temple in Repkong, in guise of the instigator39—appears to include four consecrations that constitute a classic sequence for initiations of the “higher” classes of tantras (Tribe, 2000: 233).40 Thus the relwang may sometimes reflect the structure of a tantric initiation, but considering the dominant direction of my data, “dreadlock (or hair) consecration” seems a more accurate translation for relwang (or trawang).

• 41 Outside of Repkong, he is also widely known as Orgyen Kusum Lingpa [O rgyan sku gsum gling pa]. See (...)

43Let us now close this technical digression and examine from a more ethnographic perspective what the relwang means in the present context. The aforementioned case of Shawo Gyal clearly illustrates that a relwang is not always linked to the creation of “twisted locks”, and can be conferred years before a tantrist transitions towards dreadlocks. The “dreadlock consecration” that Shawo Gyal received from his old master was actually his third relwang. (Receiving several such consecrations is not exceptional.) He obtained the first in his early twenties (i.e. in the mid-1980s) from Alak Sherap [Shes rab], a local master particularly active in the northern part of Repkong, who on that same day bestowed a Vajrasattva initiation. He remembers that he did not understand what the master said while conferring the relwang. Some years later, he received a second hair consecration from Alak Pema Tumbo [Padma gtum po] (1933-2009), a famous master from Golok [mGo log],41 with long-standing links with the Nyingma tantrists of Repkong, who had gone there to give a long series of tantric initiations over a period of twenty days—an occasion on which hundreds, perhaps a thousand tantrists assembled. Alak Tumbo told Shawo Gyal and the other recipients of the hair consecration that they could continue to wash and comb their hair. Clearly this was not specifically a dreadlock consecration for the Golok master.

• 42 This also includes a few monastic contexts, such as the (fully ordained) tokden [rtogs ldan] yogic (...)

47One of the most frequently mentioned rules is that tantrists should not cut their hair. This is generally understood to become an absolute proscription once a relwang has been received. One also encounters a similarly strong sense of prohibition among practitioners who have let their hair grow long during a prolonged tantric retreat.42 The integrity of the hair needs to be protected in every way possible: from being touched by inappropriate people or by their clothes, from someone stepping over it, etc. Prior to the 1950s, if a young tantrist was involved in a fight and his opponent inadvertently pulled out even just one of his hairs, elders representing the Repkong Ngakmang [sNgags mang] (the “Collectivity of tantrists of Repkong”) would go to the culprit’s house. The perpetrator of the offense would have to present substantial apologies, and a heavy fine would be exacted. The Repkong Ngakmang was famous and feared; a matter such as this would not be treated lightly. However, even the main prohibition against cutting one’s hair apparently allowed some exceptions. The aforementioned Dorjé Gyal (1920-2010) recounted that, because his dreadlocks were very large and heavy, he asked Lama Tsering whether it would be permissible to cut them. The prominent, learned tantrist answered that the protector deities would not tolerate it, and that the external signs of the tantrist have to be maintained. However, he agreed to a compromise solution, namely trimming the bulky coil of dreadlocks. Several of my other interlocutors considered this option entirely unacceptable, though a tantrist from neighboring Labrang did independently mention the same possible solution.

• 43 On this form of death, see Guidoni, 2006: 180-186.

49The theme of death was brought up spontaneously by very few interlocutors in the course of my explorations of the Repkong tantrists’ capillary biographies. Within this limited material, a recurrent theme was the notion that some virtuoso adepts (particularly those practicing “Great Perfection” or Dzokchen [rDzogs chen]) die in a so-called “rainbow body”, jalü [’ja’ lus]. When they die, their physical body dissolves into a form of light, leaving only the nails and hair.43 This display of extreme virtuosity is an apt symbol of the adept’s perfect liberation, and the hair left behind attains the status of precious relic.

• 44 On various understandings of the “Twelve (Inner) Divisions” (Shokha Chunyi [Shog kha bcu gnyis] or (...)

52A first observation is that the longer the hair—particularly if it is over two or three feet long—the more likely it is to be kept attached around the head most of the time, for obvious practical reasons. However, when considering the winding of the hair around the head, first an eminently cultural choice must be made: should it be wound clockwise or counterclockwise, or, as Tibetans would put it, towards the right or the left? As is immediately sensed by any traveler (or, as their armchair counterpart, any reader) in possession of some minimal familiarity with Tibetan ways, this question is far from religiously irrelevant, given the prominence of clockwise vs. counterclockwise circumambulation of religious sites, as a public marker of Buddhist vs. Bönpo religious affiliations. When asked, many Repkong tantrists state that Buddhist tantrists wind their hair around their heads clockwise, and Bönpo tantrists counterclockwise. This answer accords with the deep-seated cultural model just mentioned, but interestingly it fails to account for an empirical reality: as far as I know (and as many other local tantrists confirm), almost all Repkong tantrists wind their hair counterclockwise, whether they be Bönpo or Buddhist. The main counter-example that I was told of is the (Buddhist) Hor Tertön Chögar [Hor gter ston chos sgar] community, located just south of Repkong county (but within the somewhat broader area historically known as Repkong44), in the north of neighboring Tsekhok county. There, the tantrists are said to wind their hair clockwise.

• 45 As Françoise Robin (personal communication) also notes, Tibetans are mostly right-handed, and it is (...)

53Whether their comments are spontaneous or elicited, Repkong tantrists often initially address the question of how the hair is attached around the head by quoting a standard literary expression that is well-known among them, and applies more specifically to dreadlocks: “twist [the dreadlocks] towards the left, wind [the whole lot around the head] towards the right” (yön-du chü-ne ye-su tri [g.yon du gcus nas g.yas su dkri]). However, textual authority notwithstanding, we have seen that the common Repkong practice is to wind the hair around the head towards the left. We can observe this in the following demonstration, kindly provided by one of my tantrist friends.45

• 46 Note the variability of cultural codes: here it would be disrespectful not to untie the hair, but i (...)

55When prostrating oneself or handling offerings, the end of one’s long hair can be tucked into one’s belt, to keep it in place and be able to move freely. When welcoming a master, the hair is commonly hung down the front of the body (see ill. 15).46

• 47 Nyida Heruka’s discussion of the tantrist’s garments mentions primarily the “white shawl” (Nyi zla (...)
• 48 A photograph like the one in ill. 6, taken in 2012, could not therefore have been taken in Repkong (...)

61Although there is, as already noted, a clear structural opposition between the tantrist’s long hair and the monk’s shaven head, the Repkong tantrists often point to a functional equivalence between their long hair (relpa) and the monk’s monastic robes (chögö [chos gos]). They both truly constitute their outer trademark features or, as some of my interlocutors put it, their chaluk [cha lugs] (traditional attire, accoutrement, appearance). This asymmetry (hairstyle vs. clothing) must be understood in the context of the lack of any widely shared type of distinctive religious garment among tantrists. As already noted, literary expressions describe tantrists as “those with long hair and white clothes”. In actual practice, some tantrists are found wearing a white skirt—the non-celibate hierarchs of the Sakya [Sa skya] order spring to mind here. Among the Repkong tantrists, a white skirt is very rarely seen. Somewhat more often (but, until recently, primarily among virtuoso practitioners), tantrists are seen wearing the “white [and red] shawl”, zenkar [gzan dkar].47 Over the past decade or two, Nyingma masters have been increasingly advocating tantrists systematically wearing “white shawls” in ritual contexts in accordance with expressions like the one mentioned above, and actual usage patterns in Repkong and other areas are changing significantly.48 This will most probably have implications in terms of how people understand tantrists’ religious identity markers, but for the time being, the “white shawl” has been appropriated only very partially, and the relpa or long hair retains pride of place in these matters.

• 49 Amdo: dompa yöno, xwecha yöno, go-na rawa yöno [Tib.: sdom pa yod pa/ dpe cha yod pa/ mgo la ral pa (...)

62When asked about the importance or meanings attached to their long hair, tantrists very often answer with statements about how the relpa constitutes a key religious identity marker, and how keeping one’s hair long is an obligation for them. Or along similar lines, they say that this hairstyle marks them as followers or successors (jenjuk [rjes ’jug]) within a historical lineage that goes back to prestigious figures of the beginnings of the ngakpa tradition (on these connections, see more below). Keeping one’s hair long is also mentioned spontaneously (and almost systematically) in discussions about what constitutes or defines a tantrist, or a “real tantrist”, ngakpa ngoma [ngo ma]. Other criteria are sometimes included, as in the following definition offered by Alak Böngya, the Bönpo master: “those with [tantric] vows, with texts, with long hair on their heads”.49

• 50 Similarly, it could perhaps be argued that long hair was a key identity and status marker for the p (...)

72What we have seen regarding the chörel wig may seem to point towards a “focus on external appearances”, but as I have just argued, it is an incomplete substitute, and there is more to real hair. The tantrist’s long hair (relpa)—whether his own or a wig—is a key religious identity marker.50 Perhaps its characterization as “superficial”, as opposed to the presumably more common “immaterial interior” features, fails to recognize the recurrence of “external”—or, more precisely, visually distinctive—markers of religious identity across religious traditions, starting with the monk’s robe and shaved hair—in Buddhism but also in Catholicism and other religious traditions. In a sense, these material, visually distinctive elements are greater than themselves, in that they are part of, and make implicit reference to, complex webs of meanings and symbolic orders. Beyond being situated on a “superficial” vs. “interior” axis, these are markers that convey key messages in fields of social convention. They also sometimes need to be examined (as we will now do for the tantrist’s long hair) in light of their complex ontologies and their endowment with power that can be mobilized in efficacious procedures that, depending on the case, aim at either blessing or healing (as with monks’ robes), or for instance forcefully compelling or even destroying. Here we are dealing with something much richer and much more complex than “external appearances” and “superficiality”.

• 51 In his discussion of the Bönpo context, Thar mentions a fourth “natural condition” (machöpa): the u (...)

74As we have seen, a primary layer of meaning associated with the tantrist’s long hair is the notion that it reflects an unfabricated, natural state. Along with the white clothes (at least in this ideal vision) and the mind dwelling in the natural state, it is part of the tantric commitment to the “three uncontrived” (machöpa sum) (Nyi zla he ru ka, 2003: 84).51 This layer can be described as primary in the sense that the historical emergence of relpa capillary styles (marked by not cutting the hair and in some cases neither combing nor washing) is probably to be found in Indic and then Tibetan environments where ascetics and meditators professed ideals of virtuoso, prolonged, intensive religious practice and a lack of attention to “external” worldly activities like hair care.

• 52 See these figures’ biographies on The Treasury of Lives website (Gardner, 2009; Mandelbaum, 2007) a (...)

75These origins are reflected in some of my interlocutors’ statements on the symbolism of the tantrist’s hair, statements that emphasize not the underlying concepts, but rather a notion of faithfulness to a tradition dating back to the originators of the Tibetan ngakpa path. These include the “Great Master” or Loppön Chenpo [Slob dpon chen po] (a name of Padmasambhava), or Nupchen Sanggyé Yeshé [gNubs chen Sangs rgyas ye shes] and Nanam Dorjé Düjom [sNa nam rDo rje bdud ’joms], identified by Tibetan historians as two of Padmasambhava’s main Tibetan disciples.52 My interlocutors presented these illustrious figures as having acquired their long hair as a result of prolonged retreats dedicated to tantric practice. In a Buddhist religious environment marked by a strong ideology of faithful adherence to the tradition as passed down since its perfect origins, these figures are seen as archetypes of the ngakpa and as models to be emulated. (Similarly, as we saw above, symbolic associations are made between a hair consecration or the fashioning of twisted locks and the Eight Rikdzin or Awareness-Holders, eight great adepts entrusted with the initial transmission of the important Kagyé tantric practices.)

• 53 For an example from Baragaon, a Tibetan society in the Nepalese Himalayas, see Sihlé, 2013a: 224 n. (...)

76Beyond this primary layer of meanings, another key cluster of ideas focuses on the relationship between hair and tantric divine agents. These ideas most commonly revolve around the notion that individual strands or locks of hair are places where particular kinds of deities reside (zhukné [bzhugs gnas], “place(s) of residence”, in some textual formulations). However, tantrists who have received more modest training may not be familiar with these ideas, and many of them might hesitate to claim the presence of deities in their hair. One also sometimes hears expressions that suggest a higher degree of bodily fusion with the divine, for instance with deities said to have been absorbed or to have dissolved (tim) into the hair. In this context of the hybrid ontological status of the tantrist’s hair, one can all the better understand why there is so much emphasis on the prohibition against cutting it. Finally, one also encounters cases (or anecdotes) in which the hair is physically used as an instrument (it is typically untied, and sometimes hurled over the head,53 or used to beat the ground) to act upon divine or other invisible beings (not necessarily residing in the hair): to summon or coerce them for example, or even to destroy them in the case of harmful forces.

• 54 A closely related notion is that each of the myriad hairs on the practitioner’s entire body is the (...)

77To return to the most common theme, with deities residing in the tantrist’s hair, one finds a further range of views on the identity and location of these deities. Perhaps the most widespread idea is that individual hairs are the abode of khandroma [mkha’ ’gro ma] (Skt. ḍākinī: female deities that assist tantric practitioners).54 According to a slightly more elaborate scheme, as quoted to me by a quite learned Repkong tantrist,

• 56 Maksar Pandita’s personal name was Künzang Topden Wangpo [Kun bzang stobs ldan dbang po] (1781-1828 (...)
• 57 We find a similar theme in a number of accounts; see for instance Bogin (2008: 104-105) or Schneide (...)

78The same scheme—but with 58 heruka and 10,100,000 ḍākinī—is found in a spiritual song about the religious symbols that characterize the ngakpa, composed by the first Alak Maksar, known as Maksar Pandita (the “Scholar from Maksar”) [Mag sar paṇḍi ta], an early-nineteenth-century Nyingma master from Repkong.56 An echo of these ideas can also be found in an anecdote mentioned by Thar. A great Bönpo tantric adept wishing to take monastic vows went to see a master, who refused to cut his hair, recognizing that there were a couple of wrathful deities on each “braid” (Thar, 2008: 546).57

• 58 The account mistakenly situates these tantrists in Golok, which lies much further to the southwest, (...)

82Though the notions of embodied divinities (including powerful protector deities) described above are relatively widespread, explicit associations with actual power practices are much more sporadic in the oral and written data that I have gathered. One quite colorful mention can be found in one of the earliest Western-language sources to make reference to the Repkong tantrists: a passage of around two pages in the autobiographical account of a Tibetan, published by Combe (1926: 151-153).58 There we read that these tantrists (for Combe, “monks”, albeit monks whose long hair and married status were strangely unorthodox) “are known as Agba [= ngakpa], and have a great name as sorcerers and exorcisers of devils” (ibid.: 151). They engaged in prolonged tantric retreats, sometimes for up to 7 or 9 years [figures that would be absolutely exceptional today], at the end of which a sign of achievement could be a vision of “the Za, one of the most powerful and most dreaded chöjong [= dharma protectors (chos skyong)] in Tibet” (ibid.).

• 61 Incidentally, note that this story echoes the connection between awe-inspiring dreadlocks and snake (...)

84The awesome power of tantrists’ dreadlocks also appears as the key theme in a variant that I heard in Repkong of the well-known Tibetan story of how one of the originators of the ngakpa tradition, Nup Sanggyé Yeshé, succeeded in protecting the Buddhist dharma. In the ninth century, at a time when institutionalized monastic Buddhism was being eradicated (according to Tibetan historiography), he made his dreadlocks turn into snakes in front of the “evil king” Langdarma [Glang dar ma], and this made such a powerful impression on the king that he promised not to harm tantrists.61

• 62 Erudite discussions of the ngakpa’s hair (such as Nyida Heruka’s essay) suggest even more layers of (...)

87Finally, a third important component of symbolism in matters of the tantrist’s long hair, after the primary theme of uncontrivedness, and the key complex of notions centered on embodied divine presence and ritual power, concerns the relationship with the master.62 According to Nyida Heruka, here we find the “central meaning” of the coils of long hair gathered on the top of the practitioner’s head (Nyi zla he ru ka, 2003: 89). However, the author gives comparatively very little attention to this branch of associations, and similarly it appeared much less in my interlocutors’ discourse.

• 63 The term used here for the lama, rikdak [rigs bdag], literally “lord of the [buddha] family”, is ac (...)

88One of the links between the master and one’s hair is specific to practitioners who have received a hair consecration. In those cases, the master’s blessing or empowerment (jinlap) is perceived to have physically entered one’s hair. The more general link stated by Nyida Heruka is that, as such, the long hair gathered on the top of one’s head signifies the inseparability from one’s lama (ibid.).63 This seemingly abstract connection echoes a fairly widespread notion that one tantrist from Labrang expressed by quoting a textual formulation:

• 64 Sources such as the autobiographies of Zhapkar (Ricard, 1994) and Yolmowa Tendzin Norbu—as well as (...)

93Actually, Tibetan tantric traditions have a lot in common more specifically with Śaiva ascetic environments where, as we have seen, after initiation, the common practice is to grow long, matted hair. Irrespective of this, it should be noted that the Tibetan situation only partially echoes Olivelle’s assessment. Although it is true that the exegesis of ngakpa hair is not a common, frequent social practice, it is not absent in religious literature64. As we saw in the introduction, what one of my Repkong interlocutors found in his exploration of the written sources was more of a fairly heterogeneous multiplicity of exegeses.

• 65 For more about the symbolism involved here, see Lang, 1995: 35 ff.

95It is clear that the last part of this pattern finds echoes in Tibetan Buddhist monastic contexts,65 and to some extent in lay contexts as well. However, things are much more problematic with regard to tantrists. The roots of their tradition, that is to say the early period in which Indic tantric traditions developed, were marked (at least for certain adepts—for instance in ritual gatherings/feasts called Skt. gaṇacakra) by ritual modes of sexuality that were socially transgressive, transgressing caste boundaries for instance (Davidson, 2002: 318-320). These practices were later largely “domesticated” or “sanitized” (ibid.: 318). Some strong sexual symbolism remains in the Tibetan tantric tradition, and a tiny elite of advanced virtuoso adepts are still said to engage in ritual practices involving intercourse with an actual partner, but basically the sexuality of the Repkong tantrists is very much like that of ordinary laypeople. In our discussions, some of them actually stressed that their vow to avoid sexual misconduct is something they take very seriously. Leach’s own attempt to explain the case of ascetics with matted hair is not entirely coherent, as pointed out by Hallpike (1969: 260). Finally, it is clear that the empirical data produced in the present discussion simply does not warrant an interpretation in terms of sexuality.

• 66 For a book-length exploration of these issues, see Sihlé, 2013a: introduction, chapters 4-5, and pa (...)

97Parts of Bromberger’s general analytical grid are relevant for our purposes. As we have seen, the tantrists’ hairstyles quite clearly function as markers of group identity and distinctiveness—consider the key defining and authenticating requirement that the tantrist’s long hair represents in Repkong discourse, as well as its structural contrast with the monk’s shaven head. This clearly echoes Bromberger’s second axis of analysis. However, if we consider Bromberger’s more specific comments on the Tibetan case, the elements of “transgression” found in the tantrists’ religious profiles and practices are moderate at best. They are generally householders, not itinerant specialists. In some local traditions they drink alcohol quite liberally in ritual contexts (Sihlé, 2013a: 55, 236, 237, 245); but the Repkong tantrists do not. Finally, they are the prototypical specialists of rituals involving violence, such as powerful exorcisms aimed at slaying demons (if not sorcery, at least in the popular imagination)—a ritual orientation that is often perceived as ethically transgressive (or at the least very sensitive).66