tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post6207492440024407389..comments2024-03-22T14:47:42.501+02:00Comments on Tibeto-logic: Tibet's Nasreddin? Touching on Uncle Tompa's Elusive HistoricityUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-86631268156161276742014-12-17T03:49:04.242+02:002014-12-17T03:49:04.242+02:00Dear Dan,
I had the pleasure of attending your w...Dear Dan, <br /><br />I had the pleasure of attending your workshop on translating historical documents at the Tsadra "Translation and Transmission" conference. Since then, I've been really enjoying exploring your blog. I am so grateful that you share your musings and research and best of all cite sources and share links. I especially pleased to stumble upon a post linking (tenuously perhaps) the Middle East and Tibet. It is my opinion that the cultural, linguistic, and religious exchanges and overlaps between Tibet and the Middle East have not yet been explored thoroughly, with some exceptions of course, including the Islam and Tibet book you reference. I was wondering if you could share some more resources and opinions on this subject. <br /><br />Fondly, <br />Stella Stellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02629015091694155628noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-80056537739648415272011-10-02T00:18:49.317+03:002011-10-02T00:18:49.317+03:00No news on my side. Perhaps someone else is up to...No news on my side. Perhaps someone else is up to it. Sometimes a man just has to break down and scan his own and OCR it with his own eyeballs if he wants it done right.Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10453904366382251766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-39195989981392397952011-10-01T22:21:47.449+03:002011-10-01T22:21:47.449+03:00BUMP!
ANY
LUCK
RE.
"digitized Akhu"...BUMP!<br /><br />ANY <br /><br />LUCK<br /><br />RE.<br /><br />"digitized Akhu"<br /><br />ANYONE?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-59508981535166927202009-08-08T22:57:29.553+03:002009-08-08T22:57:29.553+03:00To all the Uncle Fans out there,
Like Auntie Drol...To all the Uncle Fans out there,<br /><br />Like Auntie Drolma said, how great would it be to have a huge digitalized collection of the Akhu stories!!! Due to many reasons I did not succeed to collect much Akhu stories up to now. But this is no reason to give up and it surely needs to be done soon! So, why not unite!?! Every time one of us Akhu fans travels in the Himalayan Region, please take your voice recorder with you and start recording these great stories. If we find some poeple engaging in this project we could soon have a small collection of Akhu stories from different parts of the Himalyan Region. Some interested folks out there?<br /><br />Yours,<br />Joerg www.akhustonpa.blogspot.comJoergnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-54517922792091434312009-08-04T13:14:57.256+03:002009-08-04T13:14:57.256+03:00Dear Auntie,
Thank you so much for writing. It&#...Dear Auntie,<br /><br />Thank you so much for writing. It's really nice to get a real Amdo person perspective from the ground. Especially since I'm the kind of person who spends too much time in his upper-storey study so far from the Himalayas. Shame on this prudishness in China! Where does that come from? Hope you will have a splendid day and a wonderful long life if I don't hear from you again soon.<br /><br />Yours,<br />DanDanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10453904366382251766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-80753597498488736892009-08-02T10:17:35.303+03:002009-08-02T10:17:35.303+03:00One reason so many Tibetans know about Afanti is b...One reason so many Tibetans know about Afanti is because of radio. There are not only Chinese language broadcasts but also Tibetan language broadcasts about him in China. Afanti stories all sound very familiar, of course, to Tibetans--just replace the name 'Afranti' with Dunba/ Dunpa and it is a Tibetan story. What would be great would be a massive collection of these stories from across Himalayan areas as they quickly stop being told--especially if they were available on digital recordings for us to listen to and titter about later--and our children and grandchildren. Many of those told have not been published in China owing to their graphic, sexual content. <br /><br />--Auntie DrolmaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-27509720756006475632009-04-16T15:57:00.000+03:002009-04-16T15:57:00.000+03:00PPS:
For those who don't read cyber-Tibetan very ...PPS:<br /><br />For those who don't read cyber-Tibetan very fluently, there is an English page (*at the same TibetExpress link supplied by Anon of C.) with quotes from the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama here:<br /><br />http://www.tibetexpress.net/en/elegeant-excerptsDanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10453904366382251766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-20786204582766368152009-04-16T14:27:00.000+03:002009-04-16T14:27:00.000+03:00Dear Anon of C.,
Sorry, since I don't know you, I...Dear Anon of C.,<br /><br />Sorry, since I don't know you, I assumed you must be in the Canaries in pursuit of the Blue Marlin. Excuse my mistaken assumption (I've made them before, believe me!). How was I to know that the international Dharmakirti conference was convening in the Canaries this time?<br /><br />And thank you for your thoughtful comment. I've sometimes been peeking into Tibetan-language websites myself, even though the letters don't very often stack properly on my slightly old Mac. I'm curious how young Tibetans are developing an international colloquial writing style to suit the needs of email communications. I'll freely admit my contemporary vocabulary isn't up to it, let alone up to the minute. I'm just a poor old antiquarian with a different idea about what constitutes interesting trivia.<br /><br />Yours,<br />DanDanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10453904366382251766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-25116584537131325272009-04-15T18:56:00.000+03:002009-04-15T18:56:00.000+03:00Hi Dan,
I wouldn't know about "baiting hooks" as ...Hi Dan,<br /><br />I wouldn't know about "baiting hooks" as I have no ulterior motives in posting here and I am no A khu sTon pa!<br /><br />(But if you meant this literally, my vegetarianism precludes it!)<br /><br />I was actually going to contact you privately but could not find your address anywhere. In any case, I see from your response that you find the question conducive to the purposes of your blog, and I am glad.<br /><br />Thank you for the explanation and amusing links. You were right in supposing that mine was more of a rhetorical question, and I actually got more information from you than I had hoped for.<br /><br />However, suppose we pursued this problem in earnest?<br /><br />Since we do not live on the same beach, we only have one research ground in common: the Web, and hence Google.<br /><br />What would be the search terms? Apart from the quote-marking words such as ZHES, the most common words corresponding to the English "quote, quotation" are LUNG, 'DREN (PA), (also lung bstan, lung du drangs pa etc.). Correct?<br /><br />Now, using the above as search terms in conjuntion with the most common appelations for the Dalai Lama, such as taa la'i bla ma (tA la'i bla ma), gong sa mchog, rgyal ba..., what does one find?<br /><br />Let me attempt an actual search, using Unicode Tibetan. The individual terms would be:<br /><br />ལུང , འདྲེན , ལུང་བསྟན , ལུང་དུ་དྲངས་པ , ཏཱ་ལའི་བླ་མ , གོང་ས་མཆོག , རྒྱལ་བ , བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ ,<br /><br />however, testing all the possible permutations separately would take an eternity, hence let me try only one, very specific Boolean string:<br /><br />("ཏཱ་ལའི་བླ་མ" OR "གོང་ས་མཆོག" OR "གོང་ས" OR "རྒྱལ་བ" OR "བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ") AND (ལུང AND (བསྟན OR འདྲེན OR དྲངས))<br /><br />This produces about 34 results, and at a glance most of them are useless. The only phrase that seems promising is དེ་རྒྱལ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་ལུང་བསྟན, which seems to appear on about 4 sites. <br /><br />Let me mention but one:<br /><br /><A HREF="http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:fRdPCAAya_UJ:www.tibetexpress.net/bo/blog/viewpost/693+(%22%E0%BD%8F%E0%BD%B1%E0%BC%8B%E0%BD%A3%E0%BD%A0%E0%BD%B2%E0%BC%8B%E0%BD%96%E0%BE%B3%E0%BC%8B%E0%BD%98%22+OR+%22%E0%BD%82%E0%BD%BC%E0%BD%84%E0%BC%8B%E0%BD%A6%E0%BC%8B%E0%BD%98%E0%BD%86%E0%BD%BC%E0%BD%82%22+OR+%22%E0%BD%82%E0%BD%BC%E0%BD%84%E0%BC%8B%E0%BD%A6%22+OR+%22%E0%BD%A2%E0%BE%92%E0%BE%B1%E0%BD%A3%E0%BC%8B%E0%BD%96%22+OR+%22%E0%BD%96%E0%BD%A6%E0%BE%9F%E0%BD%93%E0%BC%8B%E0%BD%A0%E0%BD%9B%E0%BD%B2%E0%BD%93%E0%BC%8B%E0%BD%A2%E0%BE%92%E0%BE%B1%E0%BC%8B%E0%BD%98%E0%BD%9A%E0%BD%BC%22)+AND+(%E0%BD%A3%E0%BD%B4%E0%BD%84+AND+(%E0%BD%96%E0%BD%A6%E0%BE%9F%E0%BD%93+OR+%E0%BD%A0%E0%BD%91%E0%BE%B2%E0%BD%BA%E0%BD%93+OR+%E0%BD%91%E0%BE%B2%E0%BD%84%E0%BD%A6))&cd=19&hl=en&ct=clnk" REL="nofollow">TIBETEXPRESS</A>But what do we find? Though the article discusses a very important topic pertaining to people's habit of quoting the Dalai Lama, it does not actually contain any quotes!<br /><br />(Incidentally, how Google processes Tibetan-language queries and the reliability of the results seem to be anyone's guess. For example, in the cached TIBETEXPRESS page mentioned above, not all the search terms that would have satisfied the query are highlighted, though the engine must have used at least one term signifying the Dalai Lama, otherwise, as per the query, the page could not have been found. Ermm..?)<br /><br />Oh dear, this is exhausting! I am due down in the salt water in a hour so I'll call it a day, but if anyone else unearths something more useful (perhaps using the Wylie search terms), I would be happy to know about it!<br /><br />"An Eye-Ful of Sunshine is Better than a Thought-Ful of Philosophy."<br /><br />(Anon of the Canaries, quoting himself!)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-48181311954484167442009-04-14T12:09:00.000+03:002009-04-14T12:09:00.000+03:00PPS
Snopes also has "The Varlet Letter," which is...PPS<br /><br />Snopes also has "The Varlet Letter," which is worth reading if you are one of the few persons in the universe who actually didn't receive it in your email from a dozen so-called friends. It unwittingly uses the old Tibetan scam of putting a deer head in front of donkey meat (only in this case at the tail...<br /><br />http://www.snopes.com/rumors/dalai.aspDanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10453904366382251766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-80102760458123501622009-04-14T12:05:00.000+03:002009-04-14T12:05:00.000+03:00PS.
That was a funny one, Anon, about where to ch...PS.<br /><br />That was a funny one, Anon, about where to check the original Tibetan of His Holiness' quotable quotes. Can't help you there. Of course, some of these quotes come directly to us in His amazingly touchingly expressive, if basic, English. Sarnath has been publishing some large volumes of his collected speeches. Maybe in them?<br /><br />Funny, too, since some of those quotes are just bogus. Like what you see in the following... I received this email forward several times. Even well-tanned Tibetologists sent it to me.<br /><br />But not only in forwards in our inboxes at the turn of the millennium!! This particular quote was seriously ascribed to His Holiness on the cover of a cookbook of all places —<br /><br />http://www.amazon.co.uk/Loving-Cooking-Reckless-Abandon-Kevin/dp/190384553X<br /><br />Most of these falsely ascribed precepts (which may in some part hold truth, it's true) were actually fished out of "Chicken Soup for the Soul" or some other such warmed-over 'wisdom' book.<br /><br />http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/dalai.asp<br />(Note especially no. 18.)<br /><br />Yours,<br />DanDanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10453904366382251766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-67482749583241925692009-04-14T11:42:00.000+03:002009-04-14T11:42:00.000+03:00Dear Anon of the Canaries,
Hard question. And I ...Dear Anon of the Canaries,<br /><br />Hard question. And I think you know or intuit the answer by the shape of your question. (If I didn't know better, I'd think you were baiting a hook, which is probably what you're doing right now.) Not naming names, some of the most popular ones were written by their very talented Dharma students, often on the basis of transcriptions from taped teachings. <br /><br />Sometimes this production process is made plain (by thanking the transcribers and editors in an acknowledgments section), but more often it's concealed, making it seem like what you described, that the Lama 'took pen to paper' as they used to say back in the 20th century and beyond when writers actually did that. (There is a lot of silliness about overcoming the student's 'pride' when no such concern is expressed when it comes to the Great Teacher, who should take 100% of it... Authorship, authority and authoritarianism all come together nicely in one neat, uncomplicated package...)<br /><br />There's nothing especially new about this transcribing oral teachings. In the 12th century Kagyü students were transcribing spoken teachings (as best they could in absence of aural recording devices apart from their own minds and bamboo quills). Like for instance at Pagmodrupa's circle at Pagmodru (the site where Densatil monastery developed).<br /><br />I do have a 'pet peeve'. Apart from thinking that people should as much as possible be acknowledged for the work they contribute, I think the actual original Tibetan author of translated works ought to be named right up front on the title page of the book. (And of course translations into 3rd languages based on English translations should not masquerade as new translations made directly from the Tibetan...) How often have I searched with much effort, many times in vain, for the name of the original author? This goes for Dharma group publications especially, but also academic translations.<br /><br />Not just truth in advertising, but greater accuracy about the workers and their work, would be a great leap forward for Tibet-publishing imho. Book editors in publishing houses should make sure it happens.<br /><br />I recently noticed one Dharma-type publisher is having a big book sale, with half off a lot of titles, 60%, even. But when I saw what trite and fluffy-minded stuff they've been publishing over the last decades (well, 90%), you can see why nobody found them inspiring, informative or otherwise useful. I doubt they've learned anything from this. My advice? Fire the editors and publish quality stuff from now on. Let people babble forth nonsense where it belongs, in the blogs!<br /><br />Perhaps their books ought to be translated into Tibetan so the good people back home can see just how abased the Buddha Dharma can become when it's made to suit people who are so absolutely unsuited for it.<br /><br />Yours,<br />DanDanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10453904366382251766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-9200786530956786792009-04-14T03:00:00.000+03:002009-04-14T03:00:00.000+03:00Hi again,
I have finally taken your advice to hea...Hi again,<br /><br />I have finally taken your advice to heart and am now enjoying the sun with plenty of sunblock and without Chandrakirti - only not in Malta, but in Canary Islands.<br /><br />Nevertheless, my addiction to the computer screen persists and one thing I have recently been wondering about is: how do the books by famous Lamas that tend to become so popular in the English-speaking world get written? <br /><br />I don't suppose they bother to put the text down in Tibetan separately... And once the English books are out, does anyone ever bother to translate them into Tibetan?<br /><br />Example: The Web is flooded with quotes from the Dalai Lama, but if one wanted to know how a particular quote sounds in Tibetan, where would one look? <br /><br />Anyway, I hope I am posting this in an appropriate thread...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-72040317097726910812008-03-25T15:46:00.000+02:002008-03-25T15:46:00.000+02:00Thanks, J.H.That's magnificent. I've already adde...Thanks, J.H.<BR/><BR/>That's magnificent. I've already added your Uncle blog to my blogroll, as you may see.<BR/><BR/>Yours,<BR/>DanDanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10453904366382251766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-63313393008325868102008-03-25T12:29:00.000+02:002008-03-25T12:29:00.000+02:00Dear Dan,Finally I posted a new blog dedicated to ...Dear Dan,<BR/><BR/>Finally I posted a new blog dedicated to A khu sTon pa where You can find the article of Ra se dKon mchog and the bibliography. Please have a look <BR/>at:<BR/><BR/>http://akhustonpa.blogspot.com/ <BR/><BR/>Greetings,<BR/><BR/>JoergJoerg Heimbelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04611908133501550053noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-16822959792464370822008-03-10T11:09:00.000+02:002008-03-10T11:09:00.000+02:00Dear Joerg,No, I don't have it or know of it. The...Dear Joerg,<BR/><BR/>No, I don't have it or know of it. The journal is a rather obscure one, but perhaps Latse Library in New York would have it. The author, Khro-ru Tshe-rnam (1928-2005) has two different sets of collected works that have been published, so perhaps the article was published in one of them...<BR/><BR/>There is a short collection: <EM>Khro ru tshe rnam gyi gsung rtsom thor bu phyogs bsgrigs</EM>, Bod ljongs mi dmangs dpe skrun khang (Lhasa 2003), in 298 pages. <BR/><BR/>And a long collection: His collected works in 11 volumes have been published (see Tibetan Buddhist Research Center website), under the title <EM>Mkhan chen khro ru tshe rnam gyi gsung 'bum</EM> (Lhasa? 2004?), scanned by TBRC. The first seven volumes are devoted to commentaries on the Rgyud bzhi, the Four Medical Tantras.<BR/><BR/>Looking forward to that blog of yours, I am<BR/><BR/>Yours,<BR/>DanDanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10453904366382251766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-54151865178526800592008-03-10T10:26:00.000+02:002008-03-10T10:26:00.000+02:00Hello Dan,have You heard of or seen this short art...Hello Dan,<BR/><BR/>have You heard of or seen this short article:<BR/><BR/>TSHE RNAM [1994]<BR/>"A khu bstan pa'i gtam rgyud rags tsam dpyad pa", in: Mi rigs dus deb, 1994-3, pp. 28-30. [Khreng tu'u].<BR/><BR/>I'm putting a small bibliography on A khu ston pa together and are doing a rough translation of the Ra se dKon mchog rgya mtsho article. I will post both on my blog in the next week or so.<BR/><BR/>With best wishes,<BR/><BR/>JoergJoerg Heimbelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04611908133501550053noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-84854211359201197472008-03-09T18:13:00.000+02:002008-03-09T18:13:00.000+02:00Sorry, no digitized scraps. But if you are really...Sorry, no digitized scraps. But if you are really interested in Candrakirti, try looking in ACIP. If you haven't seen their new release, it's very impressive:<BR/><BR/>http://www.asianclassics.org/research_site/index.html<BR/><BR/>With the right computer setup, you can see the texts in beautiful Tibetan letters, print them out at the web cafe and read them on the beach. That's what I'd do if I were in Malta, only without the Candrakirti, but with plenty of sunblock.<BR/><BR/>Yours,<BR/>DanDanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10453904366382251766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-15532770943276953362008-03-09T16:59:00.000+02:002008-03-09T16:59:00.000+02:00Indeed, jp is not too far from mt, at least on the...Indeed, jp is not too far from mt, at least on the keyboard, haha!<BR/><BR/>I don't think there are any Tibetans here. As for bowdlerisation, well, there are English versions with explicit sex on the Web, so there must be corresponding Tibetan written material somewhere, too.<BR/><BR/>However, I've neglected to mention that rather than A KHU I am, at the moment, in need of a piece of text on emptiness, something like ZAB MO LTA BA'I SHING RTA (probably by ZLA BA GRAGS PA), or similar.<BR/><BR/>I am on holiday for another 2 weeks and have plenty of time for meditation, but if I order a physical book it will only arrive here when I'll be working and far too busy to meditate.<BR/><BR/>So, do you happen to have any digitised scraps?<BR/><BR/>Thanks,<BR/>MikeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-33425815239704731572008-03-08T16:27:00.000+02:002008-03-08T16:27:00.000+02:00Hello Mike,Malta (isn't that close to Japan? haha)...Hello Mike,<BR/><BR/>Malta (isn't that close to Japan? haha) isn't really a deserted island, so there must be a Tibetan or two there. You're going to need them, since the only authentic 'texts' of Uncle stories are oral, not written. The few things published recently are all bolderized or rewritten for juveniles, at least the ones I've seen. Here are some titles from "Tibskrit" in case you can locate them online or something. I don't have any of them in my library:<BR/><BR/>— He Qunying, Stories of A-khu-bstan-pa: Tibetan Folk Stories, Xinlei Publishing House (Tianjin, May 1992), in 147 pages, containing 51 stories.<BR/>— Ra se Dkon mchog rgya mtsho, A khu ston pa'i 'byung bar thog ma'i bsam gzhigs, Gangs ljongs rig gnas, vol. 30, no. 2 (1996), pp. 92-96.<BR/>— Song Weijia, ed, Whipping a King: Story of Tibetan A-khu-bstan-pa, Gansu Children's Publishing House (Lanzhou 1994), in 157 pages, containing 61 stories.<BR/>— Blo bzang 'jam dpal, A khu ston pa, Bod ljongs mi dmangs dpe skrun khang (Lhasa 2007), in 94 pages.<BR/><BR/>I hope that helps you in your quest. Thanks for writing.<BR/><BR/>Yours,<BR/>D.Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10453904366382251766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-73159197921217224952008-03-08T16:04:00.000+02:002008-03-08T16:04:00.000+02:00HII live in Malta where there is not even 1 Tibeta...HI<BR/><BR/>I live in Malta where there is not even 1 Tibetan person or book. If you have the original A khu ston pa Tibetan text in digitised form, do you think you could send it to me by Email? <BR/><BR/>khowochag AT yahoo DOT co DOT jp<BR/><BR/>I need it for my own amusement..<BR/><BR/>Thx,<BR/>MikeTIBET-SEEKERhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03379410917028501628noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-85693686835663740192007-12-08T19:49:00.000+02:002007-12-08T19:49:00.000+02:00Hi J.H.,I've visited your blog before:http://joerg...Hi J.H.,<BR/><BR/>I've visited your blog before:<BR/><BR/>http://joergheimbel.blogspot.com/<BR/><BR/>Those who haven't been there should have a look.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for writing. And have fun with the Uncle stories.<BR/><BR/>Yours,<BR/>D.Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10453904366382251766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-30427036047073232892007-12-08T15:30:00.000+02:002007-12-08T15:30:00.000+02:00Hi Dan, I have the article from Ra se dKon mchog r...Hi Dan, I have the article from Ra se dKon mchog rgya mtsho. I´m working on some translations of A khu ston pa stories.Joerg Heimbelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04611908133501550053noreply@blogger.com