Everything you need to know about Śākyaśrībhadra you will find in this biographical sketch by Alexander Gardner. Otherwise I would have to teach you Tibetan, and then your work will be cut out for you. But rest assured you'll lead a full life with hardly ever a dull moment worth mentioning.
During his stay in Tibet, the Kashmiri monk and master, arriving in Tibet after a long stay in Bihar and Bengal, made date calculations three times, the first time at Khro-phu in 1204, the second time in 1207 at Sol-nag Thang-po-che Monastery and yet a third time in 1210. However, it was the second of the three, the one done in 1207, that is remembered in the Tibetan sources. And it is the one that concerns us right now.
The core chronological passage, in verse, could be translated like this:
In the middle of the night on the eighth day
of the white part of the month with moon in the Pleiades,
at the same time the moon was setting on the mountain,
the Munīndra completely passed beyond suffering.
Counting from that time, 1,750 years plus two and one-half
months
and indeed five days have well passed by.
The time left for the Teachings in the future
is 3,249 years,
nine months, and ten days.
It was the svabhava year, or in other words the Fire Female Hare
(1207 CE),
the middle month of summer, the daylight of the fifth date
in the white half of the middle month of summer, known as the
Rooster month,
in the place called “Thang-chen,” that this was calculated by the
Dharma Lord.
If you wouldn't mind reading Tibetan in transcription, you will find the relevant materials typed at the end of this blog. If you are restricted to English, I'd recommend looking at A.I. Vostrikov, Tibetan Historical Literature, tr. by Harish Chandra Gupta, Indian Studies Past & Present, Soviet Indology Series no. 4 (Calcutta 1970), pp. 111-112, but note that the earliest citation of the passage, in the works of 'Bri-gung 'Jig-rten-mgon-po (1143-1217), was not available to Vostrikov in the time he was writing, or even at the time the English translation of his book was published, an event long post-dating his execution.
One point that could be made about all this is that of the dozen or so chronological discussions well known to Tibetans, they almost all give the historical Buddha death dates between 800 and 2100 years BCE. It's this chronology by Śākyaśrībhadra that comes closest to more common ideas current in our times about His dates since he places the Buddha's death at somewhere right about 544 BCE.*
(*I can predict your next question, but no, I can't tell you for sure what the actual date of the Parinirvana was. If you're curious, read this 525-page book: Heinz Bechert, ed., The Dating of the Historical Buddha. Die Datierung des Historischen Buddha, Part 1, Symposien Zur Buddhismus Forschung, IV, Vandenhoek & Ruprecht (Gottingen 1991).)
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https://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/as/original/DP123361.jpg |
Oh, another interesting thing. It looks as if Buddha Dharma is going to last until the year 3792 CE. I suppose that means our world, too, will remain for at least that long. So a solution to global warming is going to be found after all.
§ § §
For a newly released chronology of Tibetan history by Katia Buffetrille, see "Chronology of the History of Tibet: 7th to 21st Centuries."
Here is the entire text containing the words of Śākyaśrī with the commentary surrounding it added by 'Jig-rten-mgon-po. It is found in the following:
The Collected Works (Bka’-’bum) of Khams-gsum Chos-kyi-rgyal-po Thub-dbang Ratna-srī (Skyob-pa ’Jig-rten-gsum-mgon); Tibetan title page: Khams gsum chos kyi rgyal po thub dbang ratna shrī’i phyi yi bka’ ’bum nor bu’i bang mdzod, H. H. Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Konchog Tenzin Kunzang Thinley Lhundup, Drikung Kagyu Institute (Dehradun 2001), in 12 vols., at vol. 3, pp. 548-550. It has a descriptive title added by the modern editors.*
(*In the older publication of his works in 5 volumes, at vol. 3, p. 61.4, is another mention. We also found the Śākyaśrī chronology in the Klong-chen-pa history (1991 ed.) that isn't actually by the famous Klong-chen-pa, p. 456, where it has no textual differences that effect the meaning.)
310. Sangs rgyas kyi 'das lo dang bstan pa'i gnas tshad pan chen shākya shrī'i gsung du nges pa. [p. 548]
om swa sti /
dus gsum bla ma yi dam dang ||
ma lus bla med dkon mchog gsum ||
bstan pa'i mnga' bdag dge ba'i bshes ||
kun kyi zhabs la gus phyag 'tshal ||
'dzam gling rgyan gyur dge ba'i bshes ||
lnga rig mkhas pa shākya shrī ||
rdo rje gdan sogs yul dbus kyi ||
bstan pa'i mnga' bdag gnas brtan mchog ||
rgyal po sing ga la rigs kyis ||
gces par 'dzin pas bstan pa 'di ||
ji tsam gnas pa rtsis pa yi ||
lugs su mkhas pa chen pos gsungs ||
[Note that the following section is repeated, with no significant differences, by Mkhas-pa Lde'u and in the Klong-chen-pa history.]
smin drug zla ba'i dkar phyogs kyi ||
tshes brgyad nam gung mnyam pa la ||
zla ba ri bo la nub tshe ||
thub dbang yongs su mya ngan 'das ||
de rjes lo ni stong phrag cig ||
bdun brgya dang ni lnga bcu dang ||
zla ba gnyis dang zla ba phyed ||
de bzhin nyin mo lnga rab 'das ||
lo ni stong phrag gsum dag dang ||
nyis brgya dang ni bzhi bcu dgu ||
zla dgu dang ni nyin mo bcu ||
ma 'ongs bstan pa'i lhag mar gnas ||
zhes pa me mo yos kyi lo {1207}
dpyid zla 'bring po'i gral tshes lnga'i nyin mo / yar lung sol nag thang (thang po che zhes kyang zer) gyi gtsug lag khang chen por / chos kyi rje pandi ta chen po kha che [550] shākya shrīs rtsis pa lags so //
[Here begins 'Jig-rten-mgon-po's commentary:]
bdag gi rnam par rtog pa la ||
ston pa mya ngan 'das 'og tu ||
slob dpon chen po 'phags pa byung ||
dgung lo drug brgya'i bar du bzhugs ||
'phags pa'i slob ma zla ba grags ||
de sras rig pa'i khu byug gis ||
a ti sha la dbu ma bshad ||
ston pa mya ngan 'das 'og tu ||
lo ni dgu brgya lhag tsam na ||
slob dpon chen po thogs med byung ||
lo ni brgya dang lnga bcur 'tsho ||
thogs med slob ma dbyig gi gnyen ||
de sras 'phags pa rnam grol sde ||
de bzhin so skye rnam grol sde ||
rab mchog sde dang dul ba'i sde ||
bai ro tsa na'i sde yis ni ||
seng ge bzang po nyid la bshad ||
de yis ratna pha la la ||
des kyang ghu na mai tri la ||
de yis gser gling pa la bshad ||
des kyang a ti sha la gsungs ||
brgyud pa mang dang nyung na yang ||
don gyis legs par dpyad pa las ||
chos rje pan chen gsung du nges [551] ||
'di la dga' ba chen po skyes ||
bstan pa yun ring gnas pa dang ||
bdag cag bsgrub pa byed pa rnams ||
'bras bu rgya chen thob pa la ||
mkhas pa dga' ba cis mi skye ||
slob dpon chen po 'bum .tig mkhan pos* / de bzhin gshegs pa mya ngan las 'das pa'i 'og tu / lo lnga stong gi bar du dam pa'i chos gnas par 'gyur te / de la lo lnga brgya phrag bcu yod de lnga brgya phrag dang po la dam pa'i chos spyod pa rnams phal cher dgra bcom pa'i 'bras bu thob par gyur la / gnyis pa la phyir mi 'ong ba'i 'bras bu thob par gyur la / gsum pa la lan cig phyir 'ong ba dang / rgyun tu zhugs pa'i 'bras bu thob par gyur ba mang ba ste / lnga brgya phrag gsum po de dag gi tshe ni chos rtogs shing 'bras bu thob pa mang ba'i tshigs zhes bya'o //
(*This probably means Daṃṣṭrasena / མཆེ་བའི་སྡེ་, often identified as the author of the Hundred Thousand / འབུམ་ commentary.)
lnga brgya bzhi pa la ni lhag mthong gi shas che zhing shes rab rno ba mang ngo // lnga pa la ni zhi gnas shas che [552] ste / ting nge 'dzin bsgom pa mang ngo //
drug pa la ni tshul khrims dang ldan pa mang ste / lnga brgya phrag gsum po de dag gi tshe ni / zhi gnas dang lhag mthong bsgom zhing tshul khrims dang ldan pa mang bas bsgrub pa dang ldan pa'i tshigs zhes bya'o //
lnga brgya phrag bdun pa la mngon par dar bar 'gyur / brgyad pa la mdo sde dar bar 'gyur / dgu pa la 'dul ba dar bar 'gyur te / lnga brgya phrag gsum po de dag la bcom ldan 'das kyi zhal snga nas gsungs pa'i sde snod gsum pa la brten cing lung la spyod pa mang bas lung gi tshigs zhes bya'o //
lnga brgya phrag bcu pa la sde snod gsum la yang brtson par mi byed / chos bshad pa rnams kyang gzhung las bshad pa bzhin du legs par nyams 'og tu mi chud / mtshan ma tsam zhig spyod pa mang bas mtshan ma tsam gyi tshigs zhes bya ste / de ltar lnga brgya phrag bcu'i mtha' ma 'di la phyi ma'i dus lnga brgya mtha' ma zhes bya'o // [553]
de'i dus su yang shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa 'dis sangs rgyas kyi bya ba byed par 'gyur ro zhes gsungs pas / 'bras bu thob par 'gyur ba mang nyung tsam du gsungs pa las / 'bras bu mi thob pa ni ma gsungs te /
ZLA BA SNYING PO'I MDO las /
bstan pa nub pa'i dus su yang dgra bcom pa des pa 'byung ba dang / sangs rgyas mya ngan yong mi 'da' // chos kyang nub par yong mi 'gyur // gsungs pa lags na /
gdul bya smin pa dang grol ba rgyun chad par ga la 'gyur te / tshe lo bcu pa'i dus su yang rgyal po rdo rta can dang / bcom ldan 'das mgon pos tshe lo brgyad khri'i bar du 'khrid ces grags pa dang / 'khor ba ma stong gi bar du 'phags pa rgyun mi 'chad pa las shes par bya'o // //
——————————
For the quotation in Bu-ston's history, see Obermiller's English translation (corrected in Vostrikov's book), vol. 2, p. 107, or this passage in the digital version of the Tibetan text:
kha che shâkya shrîs | shing pho byi lo la khro phur brtsis pa dang | me yos la sol nag thang chen du brtsis par |
smin drug zla ba'i dkar phyogs kyi |
tshes brgyad nam gung mnyam pa la |
zla ba ri bo la nub tshe | |
thub dbang yongs su mya ngan 'das | |
de rjes lo ni stong phrag cig |
bdun brgya dang ni lnga bcu dang | |
zla ba gnyis dang zla ba phyed | |
de bzhin nyi ma lnga rab 'das | |
lo ni stong phrag gsum dang ni | |
nyis brgya dang ni bzhi bcu dgu | |
zla ba dgu dang nyi ma bcu | |
ma 'ongs bstan pa'i lhag mar gnas zhes |
A Note on the *Saindhavas
ReplyDeleteWay back in the last millennium I collected a considerable mass of references to the *Saindhavas. In Tibetan this is transliterated as sen dha pa and many other variations and corruptions thereof. (Tibetologists and Buddhologists have kicked around and mostly misinterpreted the Tibetan forms for more than a hundred years.) I'm "fairly" confident of the Indic underlying this because I've found sen dha pa as the Tibetan transliteration of saindhava in the Vimalaprabhā and a couple of other places [but in different contexts, not as a name for this group], but I still place an asterisk in front of Sanskrit *Saindhava because I assume the Tibetans are actually transliterating some Indic vernacular form(s).
In any case, long (very long) story short, my best guess is that saindhava is a kind of nickname (some) north Indian Buddhists gave to Sinhalese Theravāda and Sindhu Sammitīya monks in northern India who adhered to the śrāvaka ("Hīnayāna") approach and rejected Mahāyāna, especially its Vajrayāna form. Explaining this hypothesis would require that I dredge up my archive and actually write the paper I intended to write decades ago. Maybe I'll do that some day.
What does this have to do with this blog post? Tibetan historians have said that Śākyaśrībhadra's calculation of the Buddha's parinirvana is a *Saindhava calculation. Given that this reckoning of the P.N. is also found in Indic ms. colophons (e.g., an important palmleaf ms. of the Śrī Kālacakra), it is apparent that (some) late Indian masters adopted the Sinhalese reckoning of the P.N. This is rather interesting.
Thanks for that, J.N! Interesting that the dates of Buddha's life believed by the anti-Mahâyâna *Saindhavas and the modern-day Theravâdas end up being a lot closer to modern ideas about those dates than the several other possibilities considered and even preferred by Tibetan writers of the last millennium. I'll invite you to give a guestblog on those *Saindhavas, just send it to me by email and I'll put it up. I'd love to know more about what you've found out. I imagine some other people would appreciate it, too. Yours, D
ReplyDeleteFor the time being comments can be posted without filters. That is, until the first sign of a spam bot appears on the horizon. It usually doesn't take them very long at all if experience is any guide (it usually is).
ReplyDelete