Traditional Division
All Tibetan Namtar consist of three parts:
- The outer biography (Tibetan: ཕྱའི་རྣམ་ཐར་, Wylie: phyi'i rnam-thar), containing descriptions of birth, education and consulted texts.
- The inner biography (Tibetan: ནན་གི་རྣམ་ཐར་, Wylie: nan-gi rnam-thar), containing details on meditative cycles and initiations.
- The secret biography (Tibetan: གསན་བའི་རྣམ་ཐར་, Wylie: gsan-ba'i rnam-thar), said to describe the meditative state of the siddha.
Mainly the third of these levels has caused western scholars to criticize this form of literature. Willis however defends their historical value by arguing that the miraculous parts of the secret biography may be interpreted as a metaphor for tantric practice.
Read more about this topic: Namtar (biography)
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