A WOMAN’S VOICE (II): THE ALLEGEDLY ‘CRUEL TIBETAN QUEEN’, MARGYELMA AND ‘UNRELIABLE’ BIOGRAPHIES: A white, male biographer’s treatment and ‘shaky sources on the ‘villainess Tibetan queen’, Margyel Dongkar, the denigration/silencing of a female scholar-translator’s comments on it, and another unreliable biography about the 16th Karmapa

"Margyelma's legacy as a quasi-historical, literary, and folk figure, remains strong in the contemporary Tibetan imagination. For example, it is not uncommon to hear male practitioners refer to women they are unhappy with as incarnations of Margyel Dongkar."--Joe McLellan (2023) “It actually doesn't take much to be considered a difficult woman, that's why there are… Continue reading A WOMAN’S VOICE (II): THE ALLEGEDLY ‘CRUEL TIBETAN QUEEN’, MARGYELMA AND ‘UNRELIABLE’ BIOGRAPHIES: A white, male biographer’s treatment and ‘shaky sources on the ‘villainess Tibetan queen’, Margyel Dongkar, the denigration/silencing of a female scholar-translator’s comments on it, and another unreliable biography about the 16th Karmapa

GURUS OF THE EIGHTH KARMAPA (PART II): FIRST SANGYE NYENPA. ‘Gnarled blue Uncle’, vegetarian yogi Siddha from Denma – First Sangye Nyenpa, Tashi Peljor

Having utterly fled the corpse of the ‘eight attachments’, honour and gain, Like deer fleeing in fear of a hunter. Unable to be misled by the trivialities of this life, Sangye Nyenpa, I supplicate at your feet! Having swiftly discarded karma and afflictions, the causes of samsara, Like discarding a large, poisonous snake. Unconfused by… Continue reading GURUS OF THE EIGHTH KARMAPA (PART II): FIRST SANGYE NYENPA. ‘Gnarled blue Uncle’, vegetarian yogi Siddha from Denma – First Sangye Nyenpa, Tashi Peljor