History and Myth: Mahāmudrā Lineage Accounts in the 12 th -Century Xixia Buddhist Literature

: Mahāmudrā—an Indo-Tibetan phenomenon of Buddhist spirituality—constitutes in its systematic presentation a path that maps out the mystical quest for direct experience of ultimate reality. Despite the post-15 th century bKa’-brgyud attempts at a codified Mahāmudrā genealogy, the early Tibetan sources speak little with regards to how the different Indian Mahāmudrā threads made their way over the Himalayas. To fill this gap, the article investigates, via philological and historical approaches, the lineage accounts in the 12 th -century Xixia Mahāmudrā materials against the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist landscape. Three transmission lines are detected. Among them, two lines are attested by later Tibetan historiographical accounts about Mahāmudrā, and thus belong to an Indo-Tibetan continuum of the constructed Buddhist yogic past based upon historical realities—at least as understood by Tibetans of the time. The third one is more of a collage patching together different claims to spiritual legacy and religious authority—be they historically based or introspectively projected. Not only does the Mahāmudrā topography, jointly fueled by these three transmissions, reveal the Xixia recognition and imagination of the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist legacies, it also captures the complexities of the multi-faceted picture of Mahāmudrā on its way over the Himalayas during the 11 th /12 th century.


Introduction
Mahāmudrā (Great Seal) constitutes in its mature and systematic presentation a Buddhist path that maps out the mystical quest for direct experience of ultimate reality. To trace mahāmudrā back through a chronology of Indian Buddhist Tantra, one observes a semantic line towards interiorization and gnostication coupled with an increasingly soteriological and ontological valence. A topic of analysis rhetorically detached from-yet practically indebted to-the tantric matrices, Mahāmudrā came to be received in the Buddhist siddha environment as a gnostic index of ultimacy defined by the luminous nature of the mind. In Roger Jackson's terms, mahāmudrā "had become a crucial Buddhist term that could describe the nature of reality and of the mind, a ritual or meditative procedure for seeing the nature, and the enlightenment ensuing from that realization." (Jackson 2005, p. 5597).
Up to the 11 th century, Indian tantric Buddhists-yogic and monastic-had devised and articulated a variety of approaches to the realization of Mahāmudrā. A number of such threads came to be known and received by Tibetans roughly around the same time, along with the tide of the most cutting-edge yogic techniques and tantric doctrines flooding over the Himalayas. In Tibet, Mahāmudrā is most closely associated with the bKa'-brgyud tradition, whose founding father sGam-po-pa (1079-1153) is shown to have taught Mahāmudrā approaches either rooted respectively in sūtra and tantra, or beyond both (Jackson 1994, pp. 14-28). sGam-po-pa's multi-faceted picture of Mahāmudrā was systematized by later bKa'-brgyud teachers into more coherent presentations. A classic example is Kong-sprul Blo-gros-mtha'-yas's (1813-1899) threefold classification of Mahāmudrā into the sūtra, mantra, and essence modes (mdo sngags snying po'i lugs) (Mathes 2015, pp. IX-X).
As much as we should be cautious against reading too much later taxonomy and interpretations back into earlier doctrinal layers, Kong-sprul's scheme indeed reveals three major strands of inspiration bKa'-brgyud teachers had drawn from the India Buddhist tantric and siddha discourses in crafting their Mahāmudrā edifice. In short, the bKa'-brgyud Mahāmudrā topography is primarily made up of the tantric mode represented by the Six-Teaching (ṣaḍdharma, chos drug) praxis traced to Tilopa (988-1069), the sūtric mode by the Sahajayoga (lhan cig skyes sbyor) praxis of four yogas (rnal 'byor bzhi) traced to Atiśa (982-1054), and the essence mode by the dohā and Amanasikāra (yi la mi byed pa) cycles traced to the Saraha-Maitrīpa circle. Weaved together by the unifying thread of Mahāmudrā, all the three interconnected strands combined to make the core of the bKa'-brgyud curriculum.
Of the three Mahāmudrā strands already present in sGam-po-pa's collected works, 1 only the tantric Mahāmudrā lineage was emphasized at the start of the bKa'-brgyud institution. The orthodox bKa'-brgyud lineage accounts tended to valorize the Six-Teaching transmission in combination with the Mahāmudrā content as its primary experiential referent. The normative succession runs from Vajradhara through Tilopa, Nāropā (1016-1100), Mar-pa (1012-1097), Mi-la-ras-pa (1028/40-1111/23), and sGam-po-pa, and then branches into subsectarian descents. 2 It was only after the 15 th century that the Saraha-Maitrīpa branch of essence Mahāmudrā came to be reinforced along the bKa'-brgyud lines, probably as a response to criticisms leveled against the Mahāmudrā beyond the tantric context initially advocated by early patriarchs such as sGam-po-pa and Bla-ma Zhang (1123Zhang ( -1119 (Jackson 1994, pp. 82-83;Zhang 2016, pp. 598-99). It remains in scholarly debate whether it was a genuine rediscovery of Maitrīpa's importance in sGam-po-pa's non-tantric Mahāmudrā teaching or merely a retroactive projection of the later bKa'-brgyud outlook back onto their predecessors. 3 1 For a synoptical introduction of sGam-po-pa's collected works, see (Kragh 2015, pp. 200-689). 2 For the early accounts about the orthodox bKa'-brgyud succession of the six teachers from Vajradhara through sGam-po-pa, see, for instance, Zhang brTson-'grus-grags-pa's two prayers to the bKa'-brgyud teachers, the bKa' brgyud kyi gsol 'debs dang po (gSol skor, ff. 4b3-5b2) and the bKa' brgyud kyi gsol 'debs gnyis pa (gSol skor, ff. 5b2-6a4); c.f. (Yamamoto 2012, pp. 84-85). Elsewhere in his brGyud pa sna tshogs, Zhang ascribes this line of succession to the Mahāmudrā and Six-Teaching (phyag rgya chen po dang nā ro'i chos drug) transmission he received; see the brGyud sna, ff. 94b4-95a1. Worthy of note is that Zhang lists in his brGyud pa sna tshogs more than one transmission either containing "Mahāmudrā" in the title or related to it, which-besides the Six-Teaching Mahāmudrā transmission-are the Sahaja (lhan cig skyes pa) transmission which includes Cakrasaṃvara's consort *Jñānaḍākiṇī (bcom ldan 'das dpal 'khor lo bde mchog gi yum ye shes kyi mkha' 'gro ma), Maitrīpa (a wa dhū ti pa), Vajrāsana (rdo rje gdan pa), and Abhayākaragupta, the Instantaneous Mahāmudrā (phyag rgya chen po thog babs) transmission which includes Bodhisattva Matiratna, Śavaripa and Vajrapāṇi, and the Dohā Commentary (do hā'i 'grel) transmission which includes Vajradhara (rdo rje 'chang), Saraha, Śavaripa (ri khrod dbang phyug sa ra ha), Maitrīpa (mai tri pa), and Vairocanavajra; see the brGyud sna; c.f. (Yamamoto 2012, pp. 356-360). The Dohā Commentary line-nested within a complex of tangled transmissions not particularly bKa'-brgyud-pa in affiliation-is closest to the Mahāmudrā transmission sketched out in the Blue Annals in that both pass through the Saraha-Maitrīpa circle and contain a "Vairocana" transmitting the teaching to Zhang. Through tracing Zhang's spiritual tree based on his lineage accounts, (Yamamoto 2012, pp. 79-137) describes and discusses the processes within the bKa'-brgyud institution whereby "the impossible complexity of religious influence is streamlined into a more manageable model of inheritance," and the Six-Teaching line which started off as "a solitary lineage" had gained "hegemonic status through appropriation and consolidation at the material and symbolic/ideological levels, and through institutionalization at the social level." 3 Klaus-Dieter Mathes has written a series of articles (e.g., 2006 and 2007) to argue for the Indian origin for the bKa'-brgyud not-specifically-tantric Mahāmudrā by building a doctrinal connection with the Amanasikāra cycle composed by Maitrīpa and his disciples. (Kragh 2015, pp. 73-78)-as much as he acknowledges the doctrinal resemblance-denies the historical connection between sGam-po-pa and Maitrīpa. He points out a missing link to Mathes's line by arguing that sGam-po-pa as an innovator had not so much inherited from Maitrīpa, which is evidenced by the absence of the latter in the former's works.
As such, despite the post-15 th century attempts at a codified Mahāmudrā genealogy, the extant early bKa'-brgyud materials remain vague with regards to their specific transmissions-that is, how each Indian thread made its way over the Himalayas and tangled with each other. To fill this gap, the article investigates the Mahāmudrā lineage accounts preserved in the Xixia Buddhist literature pertaining to the Tibetan subject matter, 4 a corpus of Tangut and Chinese texts which constitutes a window into the 12 th -century Tibetan attempts to assimilate and systematize the latest Indian Buddhist thoughts and praxes through the tantric axis. The Mahāmudrā lineages contained in the Xixia materials sheds new light on the Tibetan recognition of the Saraha-Maitrīpa branch in that it presents a case as early as the 12 th century.

An Overview of the Xixia Mahāmudrā Materials
A geographical nexus in which multiple vectors of cultural influences intersect, the Hexi Corridor has facilitated transfers of Buddhist teachings and praxes in a complex web of historical dynamics and cross-cultural exchanges. 5 As the area came under the Tangut Xixia domination (1038-1227), the Buddhist religion continued to impact and shape the local religio-cultural landscape of both intra-and inter-national levels. By the turn of the 12 th century, Tibetans had begun to institutionalize their own Buddhist systems and initiate international outreach to secure patronage and extend institutional networks. As such, in an effort to build spiritual and political connections with the Tangut royal house, Tibetan masters brought to the Xixia Kingdom the cutting-edge yogic techniques of Buddhist Tantra and advanced Mahāyāna doctrinal developments. 6 Embracing a variety of Buddhist yogic transmissions as well as a range of doctrinal topics imported from Tibet, the Tibetan-inspired Xixia Buddhist corpus of Tangut-and Chinese-language texts span the Vajravārāhī, Cakrasaṃvara, Six-Teaching (chos drug), Mahāmudrā, and Lam 'bras systems and topics. 7 Scholarly knowledge of these yogic transmissions had advanced thanks to the rediscovered Xixia importance evinced by the Dacheng yaodao miji 大乘要道密集 (The Secret Collection of Works on the Essential Path of Mahāyāna, "DYM" hereafter), a collection of Chinese translated texts of Tibetan tantric teaching compiled no earlier than the late-14 th century. 8 4 I would use "Xixia literature" or "Xixia texts" to refer to texts in either Tangut or Chinese scripts which pertain to the Xixia regime or to its immediate aftermath. I follow most Tangutologists' practice of using Chinese graphs to present the Tangut content through a semantic rendering. The reconstruction, if not a confirmed correspondence (e.g., "释迦" as the Chinese equivalent of " "), will be marked with an asterisk (*). Phonetic reconstruction (in Gong Hwang-cherng's system) will be provided for the Tangut term considered to be phonetic transcription from another language, be it Chinese, Sanskrit, or Tibetan (e.g., śjɨ kja as the transcription of śākya or shijia 释迦).

5
The Hexi Corridor, as part of the trade route networks conventionally designated as the Silk Road, runs northwest from the bank of the Yellow River up till the nowadays Xinjiang-Gansu border and is flanked by the Tibetan Plateau and the Gobi Desert to the south and the north, respectively. For a multi-disciplinary and transcultural vision for Buddhism in Central Asia as a driving force for the historical and cultural processes, see (Meinert 2016 (Sperling 1987) compiles the later Tibetan historical sources to identify two bKa'-brgyud masters sent to serve in the Tangut court as "imperial preceptor" (dishi 帝师), namely gTsang-po-pa dKon-mchog-seng-ge (?-1218/1219)-disciple of Karma-pa Dus-gsum-mkhyen-pa's (1110-93)-and his successor Ti-shri Sangs-rgyas-ras-chen (1164/5-1236) from the 'Ba'-rom bKa'-brgyud subsect. Furthering this line of inquiries, (Dunnell 1992, pp. 102-3) comments that it was during about the 1170s that Emperor Renzong 仁宗 (r. 1139-93) had established spiritual relationships with the Tibetan bKa'-brgyud sect. From the Xixia sources in both Tangut and Chinese there could be identified several personas potentially of Tibetan origin active during the period from the mid-12 th to the early-13 th centuries; for details of these figures, see (Dunnell 2009). 7 For discussions on the transmission history of these tantric teachings and praxes which came from India to Xixia through the Tibetan medium, see (Sun 2014b;Solonin 2015a, pp. 429-41). 8 Back in the early half of the 20 th century , Lv Cheng (1896-1989 first applied the modern academic approach of historical-philological analysis to studying the DYM (Lv 1942). It is Chen Qingying who first noted an intimate Tangut Xixia connection in the DYM (Chen 2003). Shen Weirong further builds a textual connection between the DYM and the Chinese translated tantric texts from the Khara Khoto collection and The Xixia Mahāmudrā collection comprises Tangut-language texts and fragments scattered across approximately 15 inventory numbers originally assigned by the Institute of Oriental Studies to the Khara Khoto collection, and Chinese ones-most of which have Tangut equivalents-included in the DYM. 9 Presented below is a collated list of Xixia Mahāmudrā titles provided in sequence and clusters as reflected in the bibliographical organizations shared by both the Khara Khoto collection and the DYM (Tibetan equivalent title will be provided if located): #1 ascribes most of the DYM titles to the Xixia and Yuan translations (Shen 2007). For more detailed examinations of the transmission history of these Tibetan tantric teachings from Tibet to Xixia based on both the Khara Khoto Buddhist texts pertaining to the Tibetan subject matter and the DYM Chinese translated texts, see (Sun 2014b;Solonin 2015b). 9 (Nishida 1999, pp. XXXVIII-XLVI) first noticed a few titles with the term "Mahāmudrā" contained therein, among others, from the Khara Khoto collection of Tangut Buddhist texts pertaining to the Tibetan subject matter and makes preliminary studies about the content and transmission of these texts. (Solonin 2011(Solonin , 2012a gives a more detailed overview of the Tangut Mahāmudrā textual tradition. (Shen 2007, pp. 288-89) identifies for certain DYM Chinese titles Tangut equivalents from the Khara Khoto collection. (Sun 2014a) further makes a comparative study of several Mahāmudrā texts extant in both Tangut and Chinese. For a recent publication containing the transliteration, translation, and DYM Chinese equivalent (if any) of the Tangut Mahāmudrā texts and studies of their transmission history, see (Sun and Nie 2018). 10 Tang. 345 contains the Keypoints in xylography (inv. 2526) and manuscript (inv. 824), and the first (inv. 2858 and inv. 7163) and final (inv. 2851) volumes of the Notes in manuscript; c.f. (Kychanov 1999, pp. 582-83). A separate copy of the Keypoints is found in Inv. 2876 (not included in Kychanov 1999), which, however, misses several folios and is somewhat misarranged. The first two volumes of the Notes is also seen handwritten on the back of the xylographic text (Kychanov 1999, p. 614) identifies as "*次智佛請" (Tang.#inv. 427#3817). (Nishida 1999, pp. XLI-XLV) offers a preliminary study of the Keypoints (#35) and the Notes (#37) with partial structural analyses and Chinese transcriptions. (Solonin 2011, pp. 284-305;2012a, pp. 243-63) examines in specific the lineage, authorship, and content of the Keypoints and compares its philosophy with counterparts in other Xixia Mahāmudrā materials. (Solonin 2012, pp. 248-62) also provides the Tangut original and Chinese transcription and translation of the versified biographies of Śākyamuni plus eight lineage patriarchs of the Keypoints and compares the Keypoints accounts with that in the Chengjiu bashiwushi daozhu 成就八十五师祷祝 (Prayers to the Eighty-five Siddhas) included in the DYM. For a critical edition and Chinese translation of the Keypoints, see (Sun and Nie 2018, pp. 295-335). 11 Tang.#inv. 297#2530, containing complete editions of the Immediate Approach (ff. 1-9) and the Direct Guidance (ff. 9-32), bears the title " " on the frontispiece of the composite; c.f. (Kychanov 1999, p. 611). In Tang.#inv. 346#7216, the Transmission and the Gradual and Immediate Approaches immediately follow the Immediate Approach and the Direct Guidance; c.f. (Kychanov 1999, pp. 561-62). I subsume all the four titles under " " in my listing. For a critical edition and Chinese translation of these four titles as well as comparisons against the DYM counterparts, see ( Kychanov 1999, p. 526) and the DYM. Tang.#inv. 447#4977 preserves an incomplete list of the fourteen-title constellation; c.f. (Kychanov 1999, p. 565). For a critical edition and Chinese translation of these fourteen small texts as well as comparisons against the DYM counterparts, see (Sun and Nie 2018, pp. 211-48). For Xuanmi's introduction to Lazheng's Mahāmudrā teaching which precedes the first title "Eight Methods," Sun & Nie wrongly identified it as the end of the Gradual and Immediate Approaches, probably based on the DYM placement of the passage between the two clusters of the Guided Meditation and the fourteen-title constellation.
13 (Lv 1942, pp. X-XIII) confirms the Nyams kyi man ngag thig le as the Tibetan equivalent of the Jinyingluo yaomen in the canonical collection of translated treatises (bsTan-'gyur) and speculatively identified it as an abridged version of the Phyag rgya chen po gser phreng (D 2454) compiled by Maitrīpa. He also provides critical editions of both the Chinese and Tibetan texts of the Golden Garland and puts them in parallel for comparison; see (Lv 1942), 门, pp. 1-16. (Sun 2012, pp. 186-87) found an alternative version of the Nyams kyi man ngag thig le in the Zhi byed snga bar phyi gsum gyi skor, a collection of Zhi-byed works dating to the 13 th century. Sun further notes that the version in the Zhi byed collection is closer to the DYM Chinese translated work Jinyingluo. While the bsTan-'gyur version of the Nyams thig le gser gyi phreng ba quotes Tilopa/Tailopa (though bsTan-'gyur editions differ from each other in the exact name spelling, the name remains consistent in each edition) twice, both the Zhi byed version and the Jinyingluo attribute the two quotations to two different names, Telopa/嘚呤浪巴 and Trelopa/丁浪巴; see the Thig gser A, ff. 205a6-7; the Thig gser B, ff. 172b7-173a1; the XDJ. For an introduction to the Zhi byed collection, see (Martin 2006, p. 114 A comparative reading reveals that the Chinese edition Nami zhenxin siju yaomen does not completely parallel either of the two Tibetan editions found from the collected works of sGam-po-pa and rJe btsun Grags-pa-rgyal-mtshan (1147-1216), respectively. The DYM edition elaborates on the four aspects of the mind, namely the threefold essence (本体), the fourfold intrinsic nature (自性), the fourfold commitment (记句), and the threefold deviation (迷惑  (Kychanov 1999, pp. 463-64) lists five titles under the "Contemplation of the Mind." I adjust Kychanov's Chinese reconstructions, and English translations are all mine. In the Xixia Buddhist materials in both Tangut and Chinese, the expression "middle kingdom" (中国) makes frequent appearances in notations as an indicator of people's geographical origin. Both (Shi 2002, p. 40) and (Nie 2005, pp. 7-8) confirm that this "middle kingdom" refers to Tibet, not China. (Chen 2003, p. 104) has a different theory, arguing that the zhongguo present in the DYM is the self-designation applied by the Tanguts themselves. However, based on several cases that people with the "middle kingdom" appended to their title have a confirmed Tibetan origin, the term should point to Tibet. (Shen 2007, p. 293) further speculates the "middle kingdom" might literally transcribe the Tibetan dbus yul. 61b-74b) The DYM ordering of Chinese titles preserves in one way or another the manner in which their Tangut equivalents were put together and organized. The DYM listing of titles reproduces the textual order of the two Tangut clusters-the Guided Meditation (#3) and fourteen-title constellation (#4)-the latter immediately succeeding the former through the intermediary passage of Xuanmi's introduction to his master's teaching. Thus, we have a reason to deduce that the DYM four-upadeśa cluster headed by the Jinyingluo (#5) also preserves the original organization of how the Tangut equivalents were wrapped into a textual composite, though they are unfortunately missing from the Khara Khoto collection.
probably sGam-po-pa . 20 Entering the Xixia domain, the line then reaches Imperial Preceptor Xuanmi 玄密, Master Dabao 大宝, and State Preceptor Xuanzhao. 21 Xuanmi could be a Tibetan residing in Xixia. 22 The Chinese translated text Jinyingluo under the DYM four-upadeśa constellation preserves a slightly divergent lineage which bypasses the bKa'-brgyud patriarchs after Maitrīpa, but in its Xixia part reaches Xuanmi and ends with Xuanzhao as well. 23 The Offering the Gaṇacakra within the same constellation of texts records the identical line of figures, except the substitution of Xuanmi for Master Zhan 喇嘛瞻 and the omission of Xuanzhao in the end. 24 Probably having risen from the position of state preceptor (国师), Xuanmi obtained his imperial preceptor (帝师) title no earlier than 1194, 25 which dates this textual group produced through Xuanzhao possibly to the turn of the 13 th century. The fourteen-title constellation (#4), though without any colophonic information, should be considered to belong to the same textual group in terms of transmission since it preserves Xuanmi's introduction to his master's teaching.
From among the texts and textual constellations charted above, the Keypoints-Notes (#1) represents an earlier layer of Xixia Mahāmudrā works produced by Dehui during the mid-12 th century, while the Uncommon (#2), the Guided Meditation (#3), the fourteen-title constellation (#4), and the four-upadeśa constellation (#5) belong to the relatively later textual production by Xuanzhao at the turn of the 13 th century. An interesting connection between these two textual groups lies in the 20 Without knowledge of the DYM's Xixia import, (Lv 1942, p. XII) identifies Lazheng 辢征 in the DYM lineage as Bla-ma Blo-chen, a disciple of 'Phags-pa (1235-80). (Shen 2007, p. 282) speculates that the Chinese name lazheng phonetically transcribes the Tibetan lha rje, the title for sGam-po-pa bSod-nams-rin-chen (1079-1153) who is at the same time Mi-la-ras-pa's disciple. The phonetic reconstruction of lazheng's Tangut equivalent as lhja-dźjij corroborates Shen's assumption. Xuanmi first came to modern scholarly attention in (Lv 1942, p. III) as the transmitter of the DYM Chinese translated work Jieshi daoguo yulu jingangju ji 解释道果语录金刚句记, a partial commentary on the Lam 'bras bu dang bcas pa'i gdams ngag. (Nishida 1977, p. 24, #076) lists its Khara Khoto Tangut equivalent *道果语录金 刚句之解具记 (Tang. 251), with the same notation lines containing Xuanmi as the transmitter. (Kychanov 1999, pp. 487-88) reproduces this entry in the Catalogue. (Chen 2000) investigates the life and Buddhist activities of Xuanmi and identifies him with Master Wusheng, the biographical subject of the Wusheng shangshi chuxian ganying gongdesong 无生上师出现感应功德颂, a long verse composition included in the DYM. Chen's identification based on the existence of the honorary title "xuanmi" appended in front of the "wusheng shangshi" 无生上师 (Master Wusheng), however, is hardly acceptable; c.f. (Shen 2007, p. 275-76;Dunnell 2009, p. 69 recorded collaboration between Dehui and Xuanmi towards the last decades of the 12 th century. As shown in the colophonic information from the Khara Khoto collection, Dehui had translated at least two tantric texts of the Cakrasaṃvara and Six-Teaching praxes taught by Xuanmi. 26 In the notation, Xuanmi holds his imperial preceptor title and Dehui bears the title "State Preceptor Zhizhao from Mountain Lan" (*兰山智昭国师), which he started to hold around the 1180s. 27 This again dates the texts to the turn of the 13 th century. Besides the two textual groups produced through Dehui and Xuanzhao, respectively, the composite Contemplating the Mind (#6)-which contains a few titles either containing "Mahāmudrā" therein or pointing to the Mahāmudrā subject matter-and the Tangut translated work Ultimate (#7) originally authored by Bla-ma Zhang's (1123Zhang's ( -1193, however, lack verifiable information for proper dating. 28 Nonetheless, the date of the Contemplating the Mind might be proximate to that of the Guided Meditation since the former contains a summary of the Direct Guidance (#3.2), while the Ultimate should date to no earlier than 1164, supposedly the time around which its Tibetan original was composed.
Another issue concerns the Tibetan original. Although the Tibetan originals of the Golden Garland, the Ḍombi's Intention, and the Ultimate still exist, it still remains uncertain whether all of the Tangut texts were direct translations from Tibetan, or indigenous composition based on orally received Tibetan teachings, as well as whether each of the DYM Chinese texts directly translated from Tibetan or Tangut. To solve the issue requires closer historical-philological analyses of the relevant texts in the immediate temporal context of their production at both intra-and inter-corpus levels.
The Tangut translated work should be dated after that time.

Master Dabao *Jñānavajra State Preceptor Xuanzhao State Preceptor Xuanzhao
It is obvious that all the three lines-no matter what mythological origins each appears to have-share claims to descent from the Saraha-Matrīpa circle, one arriving at the person of Dehui and the other two at Xuanzhao.

The Mahāmudrā Transmission in Tibetan Accounts
The Blue Annals (comp. 1476-1478) seems to be the earliest extant historiographical source to sketch a Mahāmudrā transmission initiated in India by this Saraha-Maitrīpa circle. The line started off with Saraha, the Great Brahman (bram ze chen po), and then reached consecutively through Śavaripa and Maitrīpa. Maitrīpa had received a multitude of disciples, including the four senior (che ba bzhi), seven medium ('bring bdun), and ten junior (chung ba bcu) ones. The four senior disciples include Sahajavajra (lhan cig skyes pa'i rdo rje), Devākaracandra (alias Śūnyatāsamādhi), Rāmapāla (dga' ba skyong ba), and Vajrapāṇi (phyag na rdo rje). 29 The Blue Annals further notes that the transmission of Mahāmudrā from India to Tibet had undergone three lines of translation activity during the early, the middle, and the late periods (snga phyi bar gsum). The early translation (snga 'gyur) was carried out by Nirūpa who obtained the teaching from Kāropa. The middle translation (bar 'gyur), branching into the upper and lower transmissions (stod smad gnyis), was carried out by Vajrapāṇi and the Neplese Asū, respectively. The late translation (phyi 'gyur) was undertaken by a mNga'-ris-pa Nag-mo-sher-dad, who had obtained the teaching during his encounter with the old Vajrapāṇi in India. In addition, there was Mar-pa's side transmission (zur 'gyur), which entered Tibet slightly earlier than these three transmission lines. This side transmission actually was initiated by Atiśa (jo bo chen po rje lha gcig), who allegedly studied the Uttaratantra treatises and the dohās with Maitrīpa. Temporally mediating between Mar-pa's side transmission and Nirūpa's early transmission was Paṇḍita Vairocanarakṣita, who is said to have translated Saraha's "Three Cyles of Dohā" (do hā skor gsum) and received Bla-ma Zhang as his disciple. 30

The Jinyingluo (#5.1) Lineage
The Jinyingluo lineage represents another line recorded in the Blue Annals. Vajrapāṇi is listed by the Blue Annals as one of the "four senior disciples" of Maitrīpa, and his disciple the Neplese Asū (bal po skye med) had received gYor-po rLung-ston rDo-rje-bla-ma (i.e., Vajraguru in the Jinyingluo lineage) as a disciple when Asū was residing in Tibet. 34 This line is associated with the Zhi-byed tradition attributed to Pha-dam-pa Sangs-rgyas (d. 1117) in that the Zhi-byed edition of the Nyams kyi man ngag thig le reveals a closer proximity to its DYM Chinese equivalent Jinyingluo than the bsTan-'gyur edition. 35 According to the Blue Annals, Pha-dam-pa-one of the "ten junior disciples" of Maitrīpa-and Asū had overlapped in their sojourns in Tibet, during which both were visited by a rMa-sgom Chos-kyi-shes-rab. 36

The Keypoints (#1.1) Lineage
Now, we are left with the last one of the three lineages present in the Xixia Mahāmudrā materials, that which is borne by the Keypoints-Notes cluster (#1). The Keypoints presents a line of eight patriarchs after Śākyamuni which traces a descending arc of spiritual accomplishments, 32 See the XDBP. The Uncommon, explicitly attributed to Maitrīpa, embeds commentarial explications within the verse lines. Though not clearly specified, it should be the verses that Maitrīpa is attributed to, and the commentary should be authored by the later hands. 33 See (Jackson 1994, pp. 24-28). In his reply to Dus-gsum-mkhyen-pa's inquiries, sGam-po-pa laid out three Buddhist paths, namely the lakṣana mode of the pāramitā taking reasoning for its path, the secret mantra mode of the generation and perfection stages taking beneficial blessing for its path, and the sahaja (i.e., Mahāmudrā) mode of the luminosity taking direct perception for its path; see the Dus zhus (f. 62b2-4): lam rnam pa gsum du 'gro gsung ngo | rjes dpag lam du byed pa dang | byin brlabs lam du byed pa dang | mngon sum lam du byed pa gsum yin gsung | mtshan nyid lam pha rol tu phyin pa ni rjes dpag lam du byed pa bya ba yin | theg pa chen po gsang sngags ni bskyed rdzogs gnyis la brten nas byin brlabs lam du byed pa yin | mngon sum lam du byed pa ni lhan cig skyes pa 'od gsal bya ba yin gsung. In the immediately following dialogical thread, sGam-po-pa further comments that by the pāramitā mode (pha rol tu phyin pa'i lugs) the experiential realization (rtogs pa) arises through the trio of bodhicitta (byang chub kyi sems), illusion-like (rgyu ma lta bu), and emptiness (stong pa), while by the mantra mode (sngags kyi lugs) the realization arises through the trio of the body as deity (lus lha), the speech as mantra recitation (ngag bzlas pa), and the mind as lakṣaṇa (yid chos nyid). As for his own mode (i.e., the Mahāmudrā), sGam-po-pa does not specify within the same dialogical thread what philosophy and practice it entails. But he mentions that, unlike the previous two, the third mode guarantees that one never regresses-even those of the low faculty are born as gods. See the Dus zhus (f. 64a2-5): pha rol tu phyin pa'i lugs kyi | byang chub kyi sems dang | sgyu ma lta bu dang | stong pa gsum la brten nas rtogs pa rgyud la 'khrungs | sngags kyi lugs kyi lus lha | ngag bzlas pa | yid chos nyid gsum la brten nas rtogs pa rgyud la 'khrungs | mi rtogs na 'tshang mi rgya | yu bu'i lugs kyis | chos kyi 'khyer lugs 'dis | yar la 'gro ba las mar la mi 'gro ba yin | dbang po rab 'tshang rgya ba yin | 'bring 'phags pa'i gnas lngar skye ba yin | tha ma yang lhar skye gsung |. 34 See the Deb sngon, pp. 1005pp. .6-7, 1007pp. .14 (Roerich 2016. (Sun 2012, p. 186) identifies gYor-po rLung-ston with Vajraguru. 35 (Sun 2012, p. 186) speculates that the Nyams kyi man ngag thig le included in the Zhi byed snga bar phyi gsum gyi skor might be the edition Pha-dam-pa acquired directly from his teacher Maitrīpa. 36 See (Sun 2012, pp. 186-87). Sun Penghao identifies Kṛṣṇa the Junior (nag po chung) listed under Maitrīpa's "ten junior disciples" with Pha-dam-pa Sangs-rgyas and further notes the connection of this transmission with Pha-dam-pa Sangs-rgyas's Zhi-byed tradition. possibly intent on a Buddhist eschatology. Below is a chart presenting the spiritual status assigned by the Keypoints' accounts to Śākyamuni and each of the patriarchs (  The Keypoints lineage departs from the other two Xixia Mahāmudrā transmissions by its generally-thought not entirely-"sūtric" or exoteric tone. Transmissions oriented towards exoteric philosophy or non-tantric praxes tend to locate their origin in Śākyamuni-the historical, or so-called emanation body (sprul sku), Buddha-but this is quite rare in Buddhist yogic lineage accounts. Right after Śākyamuni, the curious placement of the mythological figure Vimalakīrti as the first patriarch further adds to the sūtric tone in the lineage presentation. 38 Moreover, the "Nāgārjuna" inserted between Saraha and Śavaripa might be read as the tantric "Nāgārjuna" who had studied with Saraha and was at the same time a Guhyasamāja expert. 39 However, the versified biography accorded to Nāgārjuna in the Keypoints only presents the master's activities as a Madhyamaka philosopher, while remaining silent in regards to the yogic episodes later accrued in the tantric context. 40 Appearing like a patchwork of discrete personalities nested within a complex of interconnected transmissions, the patriarch line does, however, find itself based in the Tibetan tantric historiographical tradition. The succession from Saraha through Nāgārjuna, Śavaripa to Maitrīpa in the Keypoints is paralleled by Tāranātha's (1575Tāranātha's ( -1634 presentation of the Mahāmudrā lineage as one 37 The spiritual hierarchy goes from the tenth bhūmi of the first patriarch, consecutively through the eighth, sixth, fourth, second, and first bhūmis of the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth patriarchs respectively, up to the prayoga and saṃbhāra stages of the seventh and eighth patriarchs; see the Keypoints (inv. 2526, ff. 1b1-4b8;inv. 824, ff. 1b1-4b3). The Daśabhūmikasūtra constitutes a systematic and methodical presentation of the ten bodhisattva bhūmis, correlating each with seminal doctrines of Buddhism; see the DBh. 38 Vimalakīrti does not gain as wide a popularity in Tibetan Buddhism as in the Sinitic Buddhist milieu. In Xixia, however, the figure seems to gain a certain degree of valence. (Solonin 2012, p. 251) notes another Tangut case of Vimalakīrti's presence: the composite "Instructions on the Dhyāna Meditation" (*禅修要论, *bSam gtan gyi gdams ngag; Tang.#inv. 291#4824), which consists of several short titles, is attributed to the collective composition of Vimalakīrti (wji-mo-khjij 维摩诘) and Avalokiteśvara (*观音). For a detailed study of this "Instructions on the Dhyāna Meditation," see (Yuan 2016) which further confirms that the work was transmitted by Pha-dam-pa Sangs-rgyas. 39 For a tantric account (mixing with the "sūtric" episodes) of the life and Buddhist activities of Nāgārjuna as one of the 84 Indian tantric Siddhas, see the Grub lo, ff. 49-54 (Robinson 2014, pp. 75-80). For a general survey of the Siddha Nāgārjuna, see (Dowman 1986, pp. 112-22). 40 The mixed accounts combining the lives of the 2 nd -century Madhyamaka philosopher Ārya Nāgārjuna and the 9 th -century Guhyasamāja expert Ācārya Nāgārjuna are in line with the phenomena of name appropriation inside the Buddhist tantric circles, which reflects a tendency to project identities of tantric masters back to those of earlier Madhyamaka scholars; see (Seyfort Ruegg 1981, pp. 105-6). For an early biographical account of Nāgārjuna which retains only the "sūtric" episodes, see Kumārajīva's (344-409/413) translation titled "A Biography of Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna" (Longshu pusa zhuan 龙树菩萨传, T no. 2047, vol. 50). For a survey of Nāgārjuna's biographical accounts in Tibetan and Chinese sources, see (Walleser 1922 of the seven yogic transmissions in the bKa' babs bdun ldan. According to Tāranātha, the Mahāmudrā transmission started with Rāhula (i.e., Saraha) and then proceeds through Nāgārjuna to Śavaripa. Śavaripa first received Lūyipa as his disciple and later Maitrīpa. 41 Jñānakīrti, who succeeds Maitrīpa in the Keypoints, is a little-detailed figure in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist yogic lineage accounts. 42 The currently available sources at my disposal show that only Tāranātha's bKa' babs bdun ldan places this figure in a Tantra exposition lineage (rgyud kyi bshad pa'i brgyud pa) ahead of Ratnākaraśānti. 43 If Tāranātha's account is reliable, the only possible connection Jñānakīrti has with Maitrīpa-his predecessor in the Keypoints lineage-is the latter's experience of studying with Ratnākaraśānti before meeting Śavaripa. 44 The last Indian personality Vāgīśvara, attributed by the Keypoints as a Nepalese ( *pja-po 国人, bal po) expert in the sixty-two deities ( *六十二佛) Cakrasaṃvara maṇḍala praxis, could almost certainly be identified with the 11 th -century Nepalese Thang-chung-pa (who later acquired the name "Vāgīśvara" because of his spiritual accomplishment). He was born into the Pham-thing family and, together with his elder brother Abhayakīrti ('jigs med grags pa), played an instrumental role in the Cakrasaṃvara transmission from India to Tibet. 45 Based on the fifth Dalai Bla-ma Ngag-dbang Blo-bzang-rgya-mtsho's (1617-1682) recorded list of teachings (thob yig) Gaṅgā'i chu rgyun, Vāgīśvara, and Abhayakīrti had acted as the nexus where multiple Indian lineages of Cakrasaṃvara teachings converged and further made their ways into Tibet. 46 Among the nine lines of lineage from the Lūipa tradition of the Sixty-two Deities Cakrasaṃvara maṇḍala praxis which purifies the egg-born proclivity (rnal 'byor dbang phyug lu hi pas sbyang gzhi sgong skyed sbyong byed ltar legs par 'gal ba'i he ru ka'i rigs dpal 'khor lo sdom pa lha drug cu rtsa gnyis kyi ris bris kyi dkyil 'khor chen po), the Sa-skya line (sa lugs) and Mar-pa line (mar lugs) overlap in terms of lineage segment from the originator Vajradhara through the Pham-thing brothers (pham thing sku mched) Vāgīśvara and Abhayakīrti. Both lines in their shared part reproduce the Saraha-Nāgārjuna-Śavaripa succession between Bodhisattva Vajrapāṇi and Lūipa. 47 In this way, our Keypoints lineage is echoed by at least one branch of the Cakrasaṃvara transmissions mediated by the Pham-thing family from India through Tibet. 41 See the bKa' bdun, ff. 181b5-189b6 (Templeman 1983, pp. 2-14). 42 Jñānakīrti, also known as Ye-shes-grags-pa in Tibetan, left only two works in the Tibetan bsTan-'gyur: the De kho na nyid la 'jug pa (*Tattvāvatāra, D 3709) and the Pha rol tu phyin pa'i theg pa bsgom pa'i rim pa'i man ngag (*Pāramitāyānabhāvanākramopadeśa, D 3922=4542). (Mathes 2006, pp. 206, 223-24) points out that gZhon-nu-dpal in his Blue Annals (Deb sngon,vol. 2, refers to Jñānakīrti's *Tattvāvātara in arguing that sGam-po-pa's pāramitā Mahāmudrā is in line with Maitrīpa's assertion, and further analyzes the content of the *Tattvāvatāra as an Indian case of the pāramitā mode of approach to Mahāmudrā. 43 See the bKa' bdun, f. 225a5-6 (Templeman 1983, p. 66); c.f. (Lu 2018, p. 151). For further discussions regarding Jñānakīrti's active years, see (Lu 2018, pp. 152-53). 44 (Tatz 1987) draws on a Sanskrit account of Maitrīpa's life in a Nepalese Sham Sher manuscript as an early version of the master's biography, against which he checks later Tibetan accounts. For Maitrīpa's interaction with Ratnākaraśānti, see (Tatz 1987, pp. 698-701). 45 For a detailed survey of Vāgīśvara's religious activities as well as the relevant Tibetan historical records, see (Wei 2013, pp. 69-84). According to the Tibetan historiography about the Cakrasaṃvara teachings, Vāgīśvara had visited Tibet in person and closely connected with Tibetan lo-tsā-bas such as Mar-pa-do-pa and Klog-skya; see, for instance, rJe-btsun Grags-pa-rgyal-mtshan's (1374-1432) historiography of the Lūipa Cakrasaṃvara tradition (bDe lo, ff. 10a3-12a1). The Tibetan bsTan-'gyur preserves five of his translated works in collaboration with Tibetan translators. Vāgīśvara translated Kuśalipada's dPal 'khor lo sdom pa'i snying po'i de kho na nyid bsdus pa (D 1505) and dGe-ba'i-mgon-po's dPal 'khor lo sdom pa'i gnyis su med pa'i bsam gtan gyi man ngag rnal 'byor gyi gtum mo (D 1508) in collaboration with Mar-pa-do-pa, and the rDo rje phag mo'i mdor bsdus pa'i bstod pa (D 1595), the Seng ge sgra'i gzungs (D 704), and the Seng ge sgras dam bcas pa'i gzungs (D 912) with Klog-skya Lotsāba, and his own ritual manual gSang ba 'dus pa'i dbang bskur ba'i cho ga mdor bsdus pa (D1887) was translated by Mar-pa-do-pa (c.f. Wei 2013, p. 71). 46 See the Zab thob, pp. 247-60; c.f. (Wei 2013, pp. 28-31, 70). 47 See the Zab thob, pp. 247-48, 251. For an earlier lineage presentation of the Lūipa Cakrasaṃvara tradition by Grags-pa-rgyal-mtshan, see the bDe lo.

Conclusions
Not only does the Mahāmudrā topography, jointly fueled by these three transmissions, reveal the Xixia recognition and imagination of the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist legacies, it also captures the complexities of the multi-faceted picture of Mahāmudrā on its way over the Himalayas during the 11 th /12 th century. Both the Transmission and the Jinyingluo lineages are attested by later Tibetan historiographical accounts about Mahāmudrā, and thus belong to an Indo-Tibetan continuum of the constructed Buddhist yogic past as based upon historical realities-at least as understood by Tibetans of the time. Unlike these two, the Keypoints lineage represents an ahistorical linking of diverse selected lineal segments into moments of a "structured totality" through a distinctively Xixia recognition and imagination. 48 More of a collage than a homogeneous line of reality, it patched together different Indo-Tibetan claims to spiritual legacy and religious authority-be they historically based or introspectively projected. Primarily based on the classical Saraha-Maitrīpa Mahāmudrā line, the Keynotes lineage appropriated a Cakrasaṃvara succession of the Lūipa tradition. The addition of the personality Jñānakīrti-unseen elsewhere in other Mahāmudrā lineages-is probably due to considerations of both the teacher's expertise in the Mahāmudrā thoughts and his potential overlap with Maitrīpa, which again reinforces the constructed nature of the lineage. Meanwhile, in situating the succession of eight patriarchs into a spiritual hierarchy structured by both the Five Paths (pañca-mārga, lam lnga) and Ten Grounds (daśa-bhūmi, sa bcu) schemes, the lineage accounts do not so much simply paraphrase the pre-existing legends relating the masters' religious activities and spiritual accomplishments as give expressions to a structured path of Buddhist soteriology across both the sūtric and tantric registers.   (Yamamoto 2012, pp. 24-28, 90-96) methodological discussions on Bla-ma Zhang's hegemony-building project through the case of the lineage as a "discursive formation.".