[Buddha-l] Three Buddhist "Magicians"

[Terence Hays]

In her rather sensational account of her exploits in Tibet and surrounding
areas (_Magic and Mystery in Tibet_), Alexandra David-Neel discusses the
activities of three types of practitioners, the gomchen (goms chen?),
naljorpa (rnal 'byor pa), and the ngagspa. For the most part, the activities
of all three are described in similar terms and all receive the title
"magician". She does make a distinction between the gomchen and ngagspa but
does not, at least from what I recall, clearly articulate the difference (if
I am not mistaken ngags pas are hereditary lamas). At times it appears that
she uses the terms "gomchen" and "naljorpa" interchangeably. Would someone
be kind enough to shed some light on this issue.

Thanks,
TH