Tsewang (ཚེ་དབང་) is a longevity ritual commonly conducted throughout Bhutan and the Buddhist Himalayas. Lamas are often requested to give a longevity empowerment by a patron, an ill person or people wishing to receive blessings for good health and a longer lifespan.
A long human life is viewed as a great opportunity to seek enlightenment and produce benefits for the world. Thus, Buddhist practitioners often commission rituals and practices focused on elongating their lifespans. The Buddha of Longevity, Amitāyus, is the most commonly invoked for blessings of longevity, though people can also pray to other enlightened beings such as Drolma (Tara) and Guru Rinpoché (Padmasambhava) to request longer, healthier lives. The tsewang empowerment is based on the visualisation of one of these deities.
To conduct the empowerment, the recipient of the tsewang must first formally request the officiant to bestow it. Following this, the officiant instructs the recipient to enter the maṇḍala of the particular Buddha. In the process, the master bestowing the tsewang often assumes the form of Amitāyus through meditation. It is important that the officiant is a properly trained and experienced master who has undergone serious practice, particularly in visualising the relevant Buddha and chanting the appropriate mantras as required. Having visualised himself as the Buddha, the master then invites the Buddhas from their various realms to be dissolved within the master in non-dual state.
Through a series of visualisations, the master then bestows the longevity empowerment. The recipient is given sacred water from a vase. The vase is often imagined to be a maṇḍala of the Buddhas dissolved into liquid form; when the liquid is poured out, it is as blessings upon the recipient of the empowerment. The master also uses a tsétor (ཚེ་གཏོར་) or longevity torma to bless the recipient. The recipient is offered dütsi (བདུད་རྩི་) or longevity nectar from a skull cup as well as tsheril (ཚེ་རིལ་) or longevity pills. Dütsi is made from alcohol with added sugar, and the pill is made from roasted barley flour mixed with butter, sugar, or honey. The nectar is served using a spoon, with just a few drops administered while the pills are made from small round balls of dough. The master also uses a tsedar (ཚེ་མདའ་) or longevity arrow to attract the powers and essences of life and direct them towards the recipient. The arrow has five coloured scarves attached it, symbolising the five constituent Buddha families and their associated qualities. The officiant holds a mirror as he also waves the arrow in accordance with the liturgy.
The empowerment requires the recipient undergo a rigorous process of visualisation in order to effectively receive the longevity blessings. Each of the abovementioned steps is accompanied by mental visualisations and chanting of mantras. During the process, the essences of all elements of nature and the powers of all the Buddhas and divine beings are imagined to be brought together and immersed into the recipient. Further visualisations are also undertaken with the goal of stabilizing the recipient’s life.
Liturgies for longevity empowerments form an important part of Himalayan Buddhist literature. Every Buddhist tradition in the region has its own longevity liturgies and practices, while others, such as the one by Thangtong Gyelpo are shared by many traditions. As a longer lifespan provides maximum opportunities to carry out Buddhist practices—and therefore also to reach enlightenment—a long life is sought as an important temporary goal for spiritual gain. Thus, most Buddhist masters are said to have a specific longevity deity through whom they extend their life.
Longevity empowerments can be offered as a remedy when people are ill or faced with life threatening calamities. Astrologers and diviners may declare that a particular person has exhausted her/his life span and will soon die, unless s/he undertakse longevity practices, including receiving a longevity empowerment. Thus, longevity empowerments can be conducted as remedial rituals as well as preventative ones. As longevity is something sought by almost everyone, it is very common to find high lamas giving longevity empowerments to huge crowds as part of their public religious services.
Karma Phuntsho is social thinker and worker, the President of the Loden Foundation and the author of numerous books and articles including The History of Bhutan.