The Mysterious Tale of King Gesar: Buddhism and the Legacy of “Divine Teaching” Rap
Keywords: biography of King Gesar, Tibetan Buddhism, divinely ordained rap, intangible cultural heritage, oral tradition
The Tale of King Gesar is not only a treasure of Tibetan history and culture, but also one of the longest heroic epics in the world. The uniqueness of this epic lies not only in the richness and length of its content, but also in the way it has been passed down orally and the mysterious phenomenon of “divine teaching”. The beliefs of Tibetan Buddhism and the mysterious dreams and revelations that bind the Tale of King Gesar to the divinely ordained rappers have sustained the work in its cultural and religious inheritance.
This paper will explore the Buddhist background of King Gesar's biography, the mysterious phenomenon of divinely ordained raconteurs, how the oral tradition has been passed on, and its future development under modern cultural preservation.
The Intersection of King Gesar and Buddhism
The biography of King Gesar is not only an epic poem reflecting heroic conquest and national unification, but its profound spiritual connotation is closely connected with Tibetan Buddhism. According to the legend, King Gesar is a god from the heavenly realm who was ordered to descend to the world with the mission of conquering demons and saving the people. This narrative embodies the Buddhist teachings on the struggle between good and evil and karma.
From the 11th century onwards, the Nyingma School (the red religion of Tibetan Buddhism) began to write and pass on the Gesar epic, giving it more religious significance. In Tibetan Buddhist belief, King Gesar is not only a hero on earth, but he is also one of the Dharma Protectors, blessing the faithful and protecting the Dharma. In many temples in Tibet, one can often see portraits or sculptures of King Gesar, who is regarded as a sacred being alongside the Buddhist gods.
The story of King Gesar is widely spread in the grasslands and valleys of Tibet through the interpretation of folk rappers. The performances of the Gesar are often accompanied by religious ceremonies to express their admiration for King Gesar and their belief in Buddhism. For example, in some performances, the artistes would first make offerings to the statue of Buddha or King Gesar and chant or pray before rapping.
Divinely ordained artistes: the miracle of acquiring the ability to rap in a dream
The transmission of the Tale of King Gesar does not depend only on ordinary oral tradition, but also on a group of mysterious “divinely inspired” artists. These artists claimed to have gained the ability to rap through dreams, as if they had been inspired by the gods in their sleep, and when they woke up, they were able to rap the epic poem, which is millions of words long, without any teacher.
The story of Sta Dorje's divine inspiration is a classic example. This young boy, born in Chamdo, Tibet, had a dream at the age of nine that he was in a vast grassland with a rainbow hanging over it. Two warriors on steeds told him that he was the chosen inheritor. Upon awakening from the dream, he suddenly mastered the ability to rap the Legend of King Gesar and has since become a famous rapper. Sta Dorje's story is not an isolated one; many Tibetan rappers claim to have acquired this magical ability in a dream.
The experiences of other artists are equally mysterious. For example, both Tserjan Wangdui of Qinghai and Zaba of Nagchu suddenly mastered the ability to rap Gesar through dreams or revelations during their childhood. These artists grew up in remote pastoral or mountain villages, had no formal education, and were even illiterate, yet they were able to start rapping the epic through a single dream and even recite millions of words. This phenomenon compels one to be in awe of the mysterious nature of oral transmission in Tibetan areas.
The Enigma of the Huge Content and Memorization of the Legend of King Gesar
The biography of King Gesar contains more than 120 volumes, more than one million lines of poetry, and a cumulative word count of more than 20 million words. Such a huge content is extremely difficult for any ordinary person to memorize. How the divinely ordained artists, who were usually illiterate and had never been exposed to the written word, were able to memorize and fluently rap such a large amount of content became the focus of discussion.
Scientists have conducted many studies on this phenomenon. Some researchers believe that the oral transmission culture in Tibet provides the artists with extremely developed memory training. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, many of the teachings themselves are passed down through oral transmission, and monks master a large number of scriptures through repeated chanting and memorization. And it is possible that the divinely ordained artists were inspired to memorize their potential in this cultural context.
In addition, the religious context of the divine teaching phenomenon adds a mystical dimension to the memory capacity of these artists. It is a common belief among the artistes that their ability to memorize and rap is bestowed by King Gesar or other deities. When they begin to perform, it is as if they enter a state of “half-consciousness, half-comatose”, transmitting the content of the epic through some mysterious power.
The collision of science and religion: unexplained divinely inspired phenomena
Although modern science is trying to solve the riddle of these divinely ordained phenomena, there is no clear explanation so far. The French Tibetologist Davinier, who has studied these phenomena in depth, believes that the divinely ordained artists did not imagine the contents of these epics out of thin air, but memorized and transmitted them through some kind of supernatural power. Other scholars believe that the phenomenon of divine teaching may be closely related to the religious rituals and beliefs of Tibetan Buddhism. Through their reverence and prayers to King Gesar, the artists gained special abilities in some kind of mystical religious experience.
These divine empowerment phenomena not only demonstrate the depth of Tibetan culture, but also reveal the human exploration of the relationship between memory and religion. For many divinely ordained artists, they believe that they met King Gesar in a dream, and it is this dream that gives them the ability to rap.
The future of oral transmission and cultural preservation
In the context of modernization, with the development of science and technology and education, traditional oral transmission is facing great challenges. Many young people have begun to pay more attention to modern technology and entertainment and stay away from these ancient rapping arts. However, the value of the Legend of King Gesar as a world cultural heritage cannot be ignored.
In 2009, the Tale of King Gesar was successfully inscribed on UNESCO's World Intangible Cultural Heritage List, marking the international community's attention to this cultural treasure. Since then, cultural reserves have been set up in several regions of Tibet and Qinghai, specializing in training younger generations of rappers to ensure the continuation of this cultural heritage.
Nevertheless, there are still many difficulties in passing on the culture. Some young artists find it difficult to devote themselves to the Gesar rap due to the pressures of life and schooling. As time passes, the preservation and development of this cultural form will become an even more urgent task!
The Legend of King Gesar is not only an epic of Tibetan culture, but also a religious and cultural legacy full of mystery. Through divinely ordained artists, the epic has spanned millennia and continues to be passed down from generation to generation across the grasslands and mountains of the Tibetan region. Although science has yet to fully unravel the mysteries behind these phenomena, the story of the Divine Teachers has become an indispensable part of the treasury of human culture.
In the future, with modernization, we need to work together to preserve and pass on this unique cultural heritage and to ensure that the Tale of King Gesar continues to shine in the years to come.
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