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Tibet has a great deal of references to creatures that can be considered
vampyres. Below are descriptions of two.
The first myth includes a demoness who falls in love with a monkey. The monkey
was gifted with magickal powers and vows to become an upasaka. The Bodhisattva
Avalokitesvara sends him to meditate in Tibet. While there the demoness passes
by, sees him, takes the form of a woman and attempts to seduce him. When he
refuses, she threatens to die right then and there. The monkey allows her to
sleep beside him in order to appease her. She begs him to marry her and if he
refuses she threatens to mate with a demon, kill large numbers of living
creatures, and give birth to a race of demons which will devour all creatures
who live in Tibet. The monkey finds himself in conflict with his compassion for
the demoness and his vow of chastity. He transports himself at lightening speed
magickally to Avalokitesvara. He orders the monkey to marry the demoness. The
goddesses Bhrkuti and Tara give their consent and Avalokitesvara fortells that
the doctrine of Buddha will be preached in Tibet in the future.
Six monkeys were born to the demoness and the monkey, each reborn from the six
states of transmigration (gods, titans, men, animals, tormented spirits, and
beings who live in the hells). The monkey leads his children to the forest and
leaves them. He returns 3 years later to discover that they now number 500. The
forest can no longer provide them enough food so they beg their father for food.
He travels at lightening speed to Avalokitesvara concerned that he will be
reborn in hell for marrying a demoness. Avalokitesvara climbs to the center of
the earth to extract 5 grains which he scatters over the earth. When the
offspring consume the grains, their fur and tails become shorter. They learn to
speak, make clothing, build homes, etc and it is from these offspring that the
Tibetan people are descended.
Another version of this myth (found in the Mani bka-'bum) states that the six
children "because they had a monkey for a father, their bodies were covered with
fur, and their faces were red. Because they had an ogress (demoness) of the
cliffs for a mother, they were without tails and craved raw meat and blood."
In the "Book of the Words of the Ministers" yet another version appears. In this
version only one child was born - a son. He stood upright and had "a red, flat
face, and no tail. He ate red meat and drank warm blood" (Snellbrove 1957:
124-26).
Another Tibetan text, "Scroll of the Words of the King" from the 14th century
tells a tale of a time before the first king when demons ruled Tibet. "First a
black demon held sway, and the land was known as the land of devils....As a
result sprites called nyen-po and tsen-po appeared. Next a devil and an ogress
held sway, and the country was called the land of the two divine ogres. As a
result, red-faced flesh eating creatures appeared."
