The Realm of Dharmas, a Treasury of Jewels, Chapter 8: The Nonduality in Bodhicitta

  

The Realm of Dharmas,

a Treasury of Jewels

by Longchen Rabjampa

 CHAPTER EIGHT

THE NONDUALITY IN BODHICITTA

[To show such a pure nature naturally-arrived-at to be of a nondual character, an illustration of how it has dawned from a single Realm, has dawned on its own and so is, in its appropriate substance, nondual.]

Everything is, in the single Realm  (the self-engendered Full Knowledge),

nondual in a substantial way.

Dualistic appearances, unimpeded, have dawned as play from its

special powers.

No duality of so-called ‘appearance’ is what we call Bodhicitta.

[Just as no matter what reflections appear on the surface of a single mirror, they are nondual with respect to the mirror, even so, since all dharmas have dawned in the Awareness continuity, they are nondual with respect to Awareness.  Just as the several dreams which HAVE dawned during a single period of sleep do not exist apart from the period of sleep, even so, sangsara/nirvana does not exist apart from the role-playing of Awareness.  Just as all the waves, big or small, do not exist apart from the water since they have emerged from [and plunge back into] the continuity of a single river, just so all dharmas appear to emerge from the continuity of the not-at-all-existing even while it is clear it doesn’t exist.  Aside from the mere appearance, there is no duality between Awareness (which is the void nature Dharma Proper) and the voidness of dharmas.]

˚

[All the dharmas which have dawned from the self-engendered Full Knowledge are situated in the unpreferential Great Levelness.  But to the yoga practitioner, they do not exist.  They are seen as void forms which appear clearly.  This is a song of praise to Realized ones when (void forms) have dawned as appearance:]

 

discarding/

Appearance/becoming and sangsara/nirvana have dawned without obtaining

on clearly comprehended Awareness beyond     transforming/transporting.

The face of the yoga practitioner beyond     subject/object dichotomies

breaks out in startled laughter   at

these appearances in the nonexistent.

[Those who are conversant with the magic business understand magic to be appearances in the nonexistent. To those with thoughts wanting to believe, the magic appears in the void-like. At those thoughts [the magicians] look on in laughter. In the unarrived-atness of accepting-rejecting good/bad, appearances have dawned unimpededly. Just so, all dharmas of sangsara/nirvana are known as the play of appearances in the nonexistent.]

˚

[There is no Dharmabody from the exact time of the appearances and, when nonexistence has dawned, the appearance of nonexistence is shown to be a mere reflected image of the Void.]

In the nothing-to-appear, the various things

dawn as appearances.

In the nothing-to-be-void, the centre/circumference

spreads out pervasively.

In the subject/object-less, ‘I’ and ‘self’

strive for distinction.

In the rootless & foundationless, rebirths appear

in chains (like mountains).

In the unpreventable & unstrivable, comfortable/uncomfortable

& accepting/rejecting deeds get acted out.

[When you reflect on the meaning of ‘Dharma Proper’, the dharma-having appearances are just a miraculous dawning.]

˚

[Now, what is not produced from inner or external dharmas is sky-like pure.  Of the two distinct manners of understanding, the first:  The appearances in the external objective realm are established as void forms, foundationless illusions.]

When you look outward, you are amazed at appearances of production & animation.

You wanted the untrue to be true, so it seems to be really true.

You wanted the unerred to be error, so it seems to be truly in error.

You took uncertainty for certainty, so it seems to be actually certain.

You took is/isn’t to be, so it seems to really be.

You took the disagreeable for agreeable, so it seems to be truly agreeable.

[In this way, the unsophisticated who are not familiar with Suchness attach their meanings to “appropriate names” in the nature of external appearances which are, substantially, merely illusory appropriate Void forms.]

˚

[So they grasp to external and internal dharmas like this: They grasp the untrue as true, the unerred as error, the uncertain as certain, that which is beyond is/isn’t as being. Because they grasp the disagreeable as agreeable…]

When various trivial objects entice your attention

you join meaningless momentary awarenesses in a chain

and thus days, months, years and lifetimes pass by.

Because the nondual is nondual, animate beings have been tricked.

[Time passes because when momentary knowledges have not recognized their appropriate substance, they form a flow of erroneous graspings.  Error enters in shortly after several momentary (knowledges) and moments into days, days into months, months into years they have error.]

[Habituated to externals, the error of beings is like this: The foundationless Awareness is situated in the sky-like pure Dharmabody.  There are merely temporary accidents so long as this is not recognized.  

The Pearl Strand says,

The sky-like Dharmabody

the temporary clouds of distraction obscure.

Even the errorless Dharma Proper

appears to thoughts as if in error,

Whatever has cause and conditioning is momentary.]

˚

[When there is sky-like Dharma Proper with no graspable objects because the external sphere is understood to be lacking, the internal grasping subject is established to be foundationless and unsupported.]

When you look back in on the pure joined-to-the-real mind,

Awareness foundationless and unsupported

(wordless, yet talked about;

unseen, yet meditated on and philosophized about),

and thoughts break out in an unbroken queue,

you have not experienced the vast spread-out-to-the-limit buoy floating freely.

It needs no retreat place.

It is utterly free-ranging,

utterly u-n-c-o-n-t-a-i-n-a-b-l-e.

[When you look at the mind, its substance is beyond recognition.  Awakening into the foundationless sky nature is the Dharma Proper of self-pure mindfulness, the Dharmabody beyond existence/nonexistence.]

˚

[Awareness where subjective and objective have been realized to be nondual is nonpreferential Great Naturally-arrived-at.  It is like this:]

When the vast sky receptive centre is levelly spread-out-to-the-limit

without being handed over to the physical body or objects or appearances,

the so-called “internal dharmas” are not held to constitute a “self”.

[Even though we have this technical term “Self-engendered Full Knowledge” for the substantiality of this Awareness where the absolute absence of subjective and objective has been realized, we are not asserting, like the Mind Only School, that “Self-awareness is self-illumined.”  There is no external/internal, so it is not arrived-at in the internal mind.  There is no self/other, so it is not arrived-at in self-awareness only.  The existence of subjective/objective is not experienced, so it is not arrived-at in their absence.  Feeling does not exist as an objective sphere of Awareness, so it is not arrived-at even in a nondual “experience”.  There is neither mind nor mental product, so it is not arrived-at “In your own mind”.  It is not illumined or unillumined, so it is not arrived-at in “self-illumination”…]

˚

[Now, so long as the nonexperience of the existence of both subjective and objective is realized, all dharmas, being unstable, dawn as a Great Total Disentanglement to the yoga practitioners.  Therefore, as a sign that the internal grasping subject has been cleared up, the external graspable objects are disentangled into spread-out space.]

When looking off toward the sphere of external appearances,

everything is flawed, irregular, unpenetrable, faulty and falling apart,

without qualities of give and take.

Appearances, sounds, memories, awareness, experiences, feelings…

are not as they were before.

“What is this?

Lunatic hallucinations?

Or am I inside a dream?”

laugh those yogis to themselves.

[When the yoga practitioners understand themselves, they are ready to understand the appearance of anything, just as a slight-of-hand expert knows his own magic shows to be untrue and, so, is in a position to understand the magical illusions of other sleight-of-hand experts as well.]

˚

[The appearances which dawn from within realization are further shown to be unreliable.]

Of friend/enemy, like/dislike, close/distant

there is no conception.

Making no difference between day and night,

a single beam,

they have wakened from the vicious circle

where mental objects are taken as definitive.

They don’t worry themselves over a

“self-engendered Full Knowledge continuity,”

being as they are beyond the encagements of accepting, rejecting,

renouncing things or using them as ethical antidotes.

When such is realized, it is nondual Full Knowledge

and they have come to the underlying meaning of self-engendered Total Good.

There is no place to turn back.                 They have come to the final ground.

[Note:  “Day” = Friends.  Like. Close.

            “Night” = Enemies.  Dislike.  Distant.]

˚

[Getting rid of the four similacra  that seem to be sheer hype.]

While not realizing levelness through the self-engendered continuity,

they are attached to the word “nonduality”.

So they are confident in their intellectual probings

of what is not at all a mental object.

This is the very embodiment of backwards thinking,

receptive centre of unaware darkness.

˚

[Precepts so that the lucky ones will realize their implicit substantiality as a spacious foundation receptive centre, level and complete.]

Therefore, the Thought Completion King learns the nondual

in the untransformed and untransported self-engendered.

The meaning of the nonduality of sangsara/nirvana,

the three realms totally released,

is the CITADEL of Dharmabody self-dawned from

the insides of its nature.

It appears sky-like pure beyond compare.

˚

[Now realizations of the ungrasping and unattached are subsumed in a single essential meaning as the spacious sky receptive centre.]

So long as one is attached to distinctions, “this and that,”

one remains in duality, the encagement of error in oneself and others.

As soon as there is no preferences for the separateness that “this” implies,

as soon as everything is a level beam with no mental objectives,

the Vajra Being pronounces,

“Nonduality is realized.” 

§   §   §

Transport back to the beginning

Initiation Cards with a Lineage

“Slob-dpon ’Bu-ta Kug-ta”

I’ll admit the drawings may not be the finest of fine art. Still, undeniably pleasing overall. Face it, the coloration, plain clumsy, may have been added by a later owner. The black ink drawings themselves display an early style, one without a doubt inspired by a strong Pāla Era aesthetic. The more obviously odd aspects are the royal folds that rise up like stubby wings behind their shoulders, and the Indian pandita hats that look more like military helmets. The catalog, likely judging from the stylistic evidence, places their making in the 13th or 14th centuries. I would be inclined to move that back a century or more, seeing how the writing on the back of each card suggests it.*

(*This evidence includes the post-vowel use of 'a, in cases regarded as unnecessary by later scribes, the position of the "i" vowel above its root letter, and the relatively archaic ways of writing Indic names in Tibetan. On this last matter, more below.)

Since the writing is in cursive letters of the kind we don’t expect every Tibetanist to read with ease, I’ve transcribed the card backs in their entirety in an appendix at the end of this blog. This will also make the names available to internet searches in the future. I have added a series of alternative lineage lists, which ought to provide material for hours of entertainment if you should feel inclined.

These cards, called tsakali,* were created to serve in ritual contexts. Usually the words on the back are the ritual repetitions pronounced while the cards are held up and displayed to the people attending. These particular cards were meant to bring down the blessings of the transmission lineage during an empowerment. Even more than that, the past masters are requested to grant the empowerment that they themselves received at one time. Which empowerment? you might ask. 

(*The word tsa-ka-li is there to be found in a couple of Kanjur and Tanjur texts, and it must be a transcription of some Indic term that would look like *cakali or the like, yet the Indic term hiding behind those Tibetan letters has never been identified as far as I can know at this minute.)

They belonged to some ritual cycle of the Nyingma school, and clearly the one named Nubchen (Card 11) had much to do with it. Some push his birth back into the 8th century, but his period of activity seems to fall between 850 and 950 CE more or less. His work Lamp for Contemplation’s Eye has particularly prominence as a work that likely does date back to the post-dynastic era, or the Period of Fragmented Dominion. It has been much studied by Buddhologists but only recently translated in full by Dylan Esler.

I suppose the original 26 cards are kept in Munich, in the State and City Library there. What is more sure is that their digital scans are up on that library’s website. I recommend having a look at the entire set there, because here in this noncommercial educational blog you will only see the one I’ve chosen as our frontispiece. Go to, or just click on, this stable, permalinked URL:

• https://mdz-nbn-resolving.de/details:bsb00151695

Then use your German, even if it is small, to work your way to the PDF download of the entire set (hint: tick the box next to “Ja” the first chance you get), or if your German just isn’t up to the task, ask any German-speaking child for hilfe.

You will notice as soon as we leave the Indian (+Card 7, the one Newar) part of the lineage, the hats change from pundit hats to flat-brimmed ones (only two such hats, the rest go bareheaded). Many of the Tibetans are styled as Lha-rje, physician, and most of them belong to the So family, an important family transmission for various teachings of the Nyingma, numbered among the six most important lineage families before the time of Longchenpa.*

(But the So family lineage of the Nyingma is to be disambiguated from the So family lineage of the Middle Transmission of Zhijé, another matter altogether. Both can be called "So Tradition," or So lugs.)

Not incidentally, I believe that not even one of the figures is depicted in monastic attire. For most part they are white-robed practitioners, renunciates that may also keep some kind of family life.

As the So lineage of Mahāyoga and Dzogchen teachings was such an important one for several centuries following the 10th century, we shouldn’t complain that most of the later names in our tsakalis are obscure, unknown and undatable. To the contrary, we should be happy that the artworks are adding to our store of information. 

Seeing that there are thirteen members in the succession following the late 10th-century activities we might very roughly calculate the date when the set must have been drawn. If one generation lasts 30 years, it would come out to around 1365 CE, but if only 20 years it would be 1235. So I suppose the dates supplied in the catalog are more likely to be correct than my own guestimation. This is a question worth returning to later.

Still, I’d like to push back at this by pointing out the rather archaic ways of spelling some of the Indic names, in particular the subject of our frontispiece, Buddhagupta (Card 6). His name is given on the verso of his portrait as “Slob-dpon ’Bu-ta Kug-ta.” To put the matter briefly (see Schaik for more), one of the exceedingly precious Dunhuang Dzogchen texts, the Sbas-pa’i Rgum-chung, is a work by Buddhaguhya that plays upon both the k[h]ug-[r]ta* part of his name meaning the cātaka, a bird well known in Sanskrit poetry. It has no other food than the raindrops it catches in its beak as it flies through the sky. The ‘small craw’ (rgum chung) is the same sky-harvested birdfood ready to be transmitted to the chicks in their nest. I think that made sense. Did it?  ’Bu-ta is a form of the word ‘Buddha’ much in use in the Matho fragments and found as well in the Zhijé Collection (ergo pre-Mongol Era). 

(*Spelled khug-sta in a couple of Dunhuang texts [OTDO].) 

Other early Tibetan transcription conventions are betrayed in Card 10, with Gnya'-na in place of the later Dznyā-na; in Card 9, Bhi-ma-la-mu-tra, more often in early times spelled Bye-ma-la-mu-tra (yes, for all appearance it does indeed mean piss in the sand... The mu-tra is Sanskrit mūtra) for the later Bi-ma-la-mi-tra or Vimalamitra (‘Impeccable Friend’); and even the name for Garab Dorjé, often regarded as the human revealer of Dzogchen, appears with the odd-looking spelling Rga-rab-rdo-rje, a spelling nevertheless thoroughly vindicated in the pre-1200 CE Matho fragments (nos. v185 and v433 birchbark fol. 105). Lo and behold, here below you can see his name written on birchbark. Have a long, hard look at the first line, and notice the name of Grags-ldan-ma on the 2nd:

Note “Slob-dpon Rga-rab-rdo-rje” on line 1,
Matho v433, scan no. 105

As you may know, Dga’-rab-rdo-rje has sometimes been with little security and much hope re-Sanskritized as Prahasavajra, Prahevajra or the like, based on the assumption the Tibetan name means Supremely Happy Vajra. Now it looks like it really means Supremely Aged Vajra (*Jarottamavajra?). The two seem like opposite ends of a spectrum, don’t they? One could be a comedian, but the other is more like some wizened one, aged beyond all reckoning. It’s interesting that the tsakali depicts him in a typical Buddha form although we all know the story how he was born of a virgin mother. I’ve even seen him depicted as some manner of royalty, with a royal turban.

In Matho v185 we find not only that same demonstrably old spelling Rga-rab-rdo-rje, a little later on we find a precious mention of So Ye-shes-dbang-phyug (Card 12) in the context of a prayer, where his name is spelled oddly even if its oddness is of little consequence. The passage from the prayer reads, “to the sacred body So Ye-se-dbang-phyug who taught the [Dzogchen] view all wound up in a ball.”

lta ba sgang dril ston mdzad pa / so ye se dbang phyug gi sku la /

Is it too much to hope that some old students of Dzogchen have found out something new today? New, okay, but was it useful? That’s another matter entirely. That depends on who you are and what questions you are ready to ask. For myself, all questions are worth asking.

§   §   §

 

Works to work with (a narrowly selective list)

• For a remarkably comparable set of Nyingma lineage tsakalis for use in empowerments, go to Himalayan Art Resources website, and see nos. HAR 744 through 755. Go here, and when you are finished reading click on “Next item” until you have seen them all. This set of 22 (?11?) cards was painted on paper that has been carbon dated to between 1174 and 1293 CE. The description of these cards was done by Amy Heller. This demonstrates that the set in Munich is not unique. There are others.

Buddhagupta (Sangs-rgyas-sbas-pa), Sbas-pa'i Rgum-chung.  See Namkhai Norbu, Sbas pa'i rgum chung: The Small Collection of Hidden Precepts, A Study of an Ancient Manuscript on Dzogchen fron Tun huang, Shang Shung Edizioni (Arcidosso 1984). For the English see E. dell'Angelo, tr., The Little Hidden Harvest, Shang Shung Edizioni (Arcidosso 1996), or the translation by Karen Liljenberg, a PDF for free download at http://www.zangthal.co.uk, with the title “Small Hidden Grain.”

Jacob P. Dalton, “Lost and Found: A Fourteenth-Century Discussion of Then-Available Sources on gNubs chen Sangs rgyas ye shes,” Bulletin of Tibetology, vol. 49, no. 1 (2013), pp. 39-53. At pp. 43 and 48 you may find the accounts of the spirit youths who granted him special powers. It shouldn’t be dismissed, as it may indeed be the original core of what is and was known about his career.

——, “Preliminary Remarks on a Newly Discovered Biography of Nupchen Sangyé Yeshé,” contained in: Benjamin E. Bogin & Andrew Quintman, eds., Himalayan Passages, Wisdom (Somerville 2014), pp. 145-161.

Dylan Esler, “On the Life of gNubs-chen Sangs-rgyas ye-shes,” Revue d'Etudes Tibétaines, vol. 29 (April 2014), pp. 5-27. 

——, The Lamp for the Eye of Contemplation: The Samten Migdron by Nubchen Sangye Yeshe, a 10th-Century Tibetan Buddhist Text on Meditation, Oxford University Press (Oxford 2022). 

Gnubs-chen Sangs-rgyas-ye-shes, Sgom-gyi Gnad Gsal-bar Phye-ba Bsam-gtan Mig Sgron (also called Rnal-'byor Mig-gi Bsam-gtan), S.W. Tashigangpa (Leh 1974).  For the English, move your eyes up a little.

Herbert V. Guenther, tr., “The Natural Freedom of Mind, Long-chen-pa,” Crystal Mirror, vol. 4 (1975), pp. 112-146. Look here. In his brief introduction, Tarthang Tulku names the six Kama transmission lineages that were in place when Longchenpa synthesized them as So, Zur, Nub, Nyag, Ma and Rong.

Matthew Kapstein, “The Sun of the Heart and the Bai-ro-rgyud-’bum,” contained in: Françoise Pommaret and Jean-Luc Achard, eds., Tibetan Studies in Honor of Samten Karmay, Amnye Machen Institute (Dharamshala 2009), pp. 275-288. It is of particular interest here that the Indic and earliest Tibetan figures in the lineage largely correspond, although this represents a Zur transmission, and the text may date to the mid-12th century (see pp. 279-281, noting the spellings Bud-dha-kug-ta for Buddhagupta, Bye-ma-la-mu-tra for Vimalamitra and Bsnyags Gnya’ for Gnyags Dznyā-na-ku-mā-ra).

Dan Martin, A History of Buddhism in India and Tibet: An Expanded Version of the Dharma’s Origins Made by the Learned Scholar Deyu, The Library of Tibetan Classics series no. 32, Wisdom Publications (Somerville 2022). At pp. 630-631 is the brief story of how So Ye-shes-dbang-phyug encountered Nubchen in the company of Ya-zin Bon-ston [~Ya-zi Bon-ston]. So’s and Ya-zi’s main activities appear to be located in the mid- or late-10th century (and as pointed out before, in a recent blog, Ya-zi was likely taken from Turkish, meaning ‘scribe’). Each of the four chief disciples of Nubchen had his own particularly approach that was distinguished by a particular metaphor. So’s specialty was teaching the Dzogchen views all wound up together in a ball (lta-ba sgang-dril). 

John Myrdhin Reynolds, “The Life of Garab Dorje,” contained in Idem., The Golden Letters, Snow Lion (Ithaca 1996), pp. 179-189. Translated from a history that ought to date to the mid-12th century, if it is truly by Zhang-ston Bkra-shis-rdo-rje, and if his dates are indeed 1097-1167 CE. On p. 183, “Zombie Bliss” (see Card 5) is given as one of Garab Dorjé’s four given names, which gives us some reason for pause.

Sam van Schaik, “Early Dzogchen I: The Cuckoo and the Hidden Grain,” posted at the Early Tibet blogsite on January 8, 2008. I particularly want to point out the discussion about early spellings in Tibetan of the name of Buddhagupta and the meanings of khug-ta and rgum chung.

Francis V. Tiso, Rainbow Body and Resurrection, North Atlantic Books (Berkeley 2016).  This book, enlightening and thought-provoking for myriad reasons, has a lengthy discussion of Garab Dorjé’s life (“The Life of Garab Dorje: A Commentary,” pp. 252-273).

= ± = ± = ± = ± = ± =

APPENDICES

Initiation Cards (inscriptions on versos)

Note: I have given each card an Arabic number for easy reference, although they are numbered by the use of keyletters following Tibetan alphabetic order.

Card 1

{KA} ±// dpal kun tu bzang po ni / bzhugs ni mi mngon dbyings na bzhugs / bdag gi grogs mdzod / gnas 'dir bdag gi 'gon [~mgon] du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol / yon bdag rnams la byin kyis rlab tu gsol lo /

Card 2

{KHA} ±// dpal rdo rje sems dpa' ni / bzhugs ni 'og min chos kyi dbyings na bzhugs / bdag gi grogs mdzod / gnas 'dir bdag gi 'gon du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog bskur du gsol // sems dpa' rtsal la byin kyis rlobs

Card 3

{GA} ±// slob dpon rga rab rdo rje [~dga' rab rdo rje'] ni / gsang mtshan rdo rje bde' byed rtsal [~rdo rje bde byed rtsal] / bzhugs ni 'og min gnas na bhugs / bdag gi drogs [~grogs] mdzod / gnas 'dir 'gon du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol / rdo rje mos pa rtsal la dbang skur tu gsol 

Card 4

{NGA} ±// slob dpon 'jam dpal bshes gnyen ni / gsang mtshan rdo rje gzhon nu rtsal / bzhugs ni 'og min gnas na bzhugs / bdag gi drogs gnas 'dir 'gon du 'dre / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog bskur du gsol / rdo rje drag po rtsal kyi dgongs pa gong nas gong du yar du gsol /

Card 5

{CA} ±// slob dpon ro langs bde ba ni / bzhugs ni 'og min gnas na bzhugs / bdag gi 'dre // gnas 'dir bdag gi 'gon du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol / yon bdag rnams la 'byor pa rgyas par mdzad du gsol 

Card 6

{CHA} ±// slob dpon 'bu ta kug ta ni gsang mtshan rdo rje gsang rdzogs rtsal / bzhugs ni 'og min bdag gi gyi grogs mdzod / gnas 'dir dag gyi 'gon du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol // rdo rje mos pa rtsal kyi dgongs pa gong nas gong du yar du gsol lo 

Card 7

{JA} ±// slob dpon bal po hum ka ra ni / bzhugs ni 'og min gnas na bzhugs / bdag gi grogs mdzod / gnas 'dir bdag gi 'gon du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol / yon bdag tshe dang longs spyod rgyas par mdzad du gsol

Card 8

{NYA} ±// slob dpon pad ma 'byung gnas ni / gsang mtshan rdo rje thod 'phreng rtsal / bzhugs ni 'og min gnas na bzhugs / bdag gyi 'grogs mdzod / gnas 'dir bdag gyi 'gon du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol // dgongs pa spel du gsol 

Card 9

{TA} ±// slob dpon bhi ma la mu tra ni / gsang mtshan rdo rje gro 'o lod / bzhugs ni 'og min gnas na bdag gi grogs mdzod / gnas 'dir bdag gyi 'gon du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol //

Card 10

{THA} ±// slob dpon gnya' na ku ma ra gsang mtshan (g.yu sgras tagso /) rdo rje grub pa'i rter [~gter] / gsang mtshan (bhi ma las tags so) dri med zla shar rtsal / gsang mtshan (mkhar chen dpal gyi dbang phyug gis tagso) thig le rtsal rgod rtsal / gsang mtshan (rgyal mchog g.yangs [~rgyal ba mchog dbyangs]) rdo rje grub pa rtsal / bla med dgongs pas rigs 'dzin gnas na bzhugs / bdag gi 'dre gnas 'dir bdag gyi 'gon du / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la / dbang 

Card 11

{DA} ±// snubs sangs rgyas ye shes rin po ches / g.yung rung rin chen rter gnas su / yid dam gsal bar sgoms pa'i tshe stobs chen rdo rje rdzas mchog 'di / nam mkha'i mthongs nas yas mar babs / bdag gi lag pa g.yas pas zin / ye shes rdo rje'i dbang mchog thob / 'ol mo tshal du sgoms pa'i tshe / mngon sum dri za phru gu byung / sangs rgyas khyod yin mtshan btags ste / dam pa'i don la dam tshig bsres / rdo rje ming gi dbang yang thob / gang bzangs gnas su sgoms pa'i tshe / gnod bzhin phrug gu gngon [~mngon] byung nas / 'dod yon lnga'i mchod yon stabs / yun [~spun?] gyi 'khor du rtan dam bcas / che ba'i yon tan dbang yang thob / kling rgu mtsho' 'dram [~gling dgu mtsho 'gram] sgoms pa'i tshe / klu phrug mngon du byung pa'i tshe / ro brgya ldan pa'i mchod pa drangs / yang dag slob mar dam tshig nos / sdug pa sel ba'i dbang yang thob / dur khrod lhas su sgomgs pa'i tshe / yid dags phrug gu mngon du byung / zhabs la drags te mchi' ma byung / ci sgo nyan par g.yar dam bcas / mthu rtsal mnyems pa'i dbang yang thob / phyi rabs slob ma gang yin rnams / 'dren pa'i las can chen po 'dis / phan pa'i lha'i dbang nos la / bskur thabs dbang skur rgyal po bzhin / dbang bskur 'di rnams thob par shog //

Card 12

{NA} ±// lha rje ye shes dbang phyug kyang gsang mtshan byang chub bde' chen rter [~byang chub bde chen gter] / bla med rgongs pas rigs 'dzin gnas na bzhugs / bdagi grogs mdzod / gnas 'dir bdag gyi 'gon du gshegs // skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol //

So Yeshé Wangchuk depicted in 1973 ed.
of Nyingma Tantras, vol. 19

Card 13

{PA} ±// lha rje so skal po yang / gsang mtshan rdo rje bzhad pa rter / bla med dgongs pas rigs 'dzin gnas na 'dre / bdag gi grogs mdzod gnas 'dir bdag gyi 'gon du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol //

Card 14

{PHA} ±// lha rje dbang gi rtsug tor yang / bla med dgongs pas rigs 'dzin 'dre gnas na bzhugs // bdag gi grogs mdzod / gnas 'dir bdag gyi 'gon du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol //

This figure is surely identifiable with the Dbang-gi-gtsug-tor listed by BDRC as P8LS15578, for even though there is no other information supplied, he *is* associated with the So family transmission of Rta-mgrin.

Card 15

{BA} ±// lha rje so rgyal po yang / bla med dgongs pas rigs 'dzin gnas na bzhugs / bdag gyi 'grogs mdzod / gnas 'dir bdag gyi 'gon du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol / 

Card 16

{MA} ±// lha rje so chung chos se [~chos kyi seng ge? ~chos yes?] yang / gsang mtshan rdo rje bde' grub rtsal / bla med dgongs pas / bdag gi skal ldan /

[Here the concluding lines begin to be shortened, their endings left off.]

Card 17

{TSA} ±// lha rje so ra tsa 'bar [~rgyal po 'bar?] yang gsang mtshan rdo rje gzi ldan rtsal / bla med dgongs pas / bdag gi skal ldan //

*See BDRC Person ID P8LS15579, but there is no particular information supplied.

Card 18

{TSHA} ±// slob dpon lha rje chos ye shes [~chos kyi ye shes] ni / gsang mtshan rdo rje mos pa rtsal / bla med dgongs pas / bdag gi / skal ldan /

Card 19

{DZA} slob dpon lha rje brtan pa yang / gsang mtshan rdo rje drag po rtsal / bla med dgongs pas / bdag gi / skal ldan //

Card 20

{WA} ±// slob dpon lha rje rgyal tsha 'gon po yang / gsang mtshan rdo rje drag po rtsal / bla med dgongs pas / bdag gi / skal ldan /

Card 21

{ZHA} ±// slob dpon lha rje rgyal tshab ni / gsang mtshan rdo rje drag po rtsal / bla med dgongs pas / bdag gi / skal ldan / 

[This seems to largely repeat the previous one.]

Card 22

{ZA} ±// slob dpon rdo rje seng ge ni / gsang mtshan rdo rje drag po rtsal / bla med dgongs pas / bdag gi / skal ldan /

Card 23

{'A} ±// slob dpon bder gshegs rin chen ni / gsang mtshan rdo rje grub pa rtsal / bla med dgongs pas / bdag gi / skal ldan /

Card 24

{YA} ±// slob dpon sku phangs don grub ni / gsang mtshan rdo rje myu gu rtsal / bla med dgongs pas / bdag gi / skal ldan /

Card 25

{RA} ±// slob dpon drin can rdo rje 'gon [~rdo rje mgon] ni / gsang mtshan rdo rje bdud 'du rtsal [~rdo rje bdud 'dul rtsal] / bzhugs ni 'og min gnas na bzhugs / bdag gi drogs mdzod / gnas 'dir 'gon du gshegs / skal ldan rnal 'byor 'di la dbang mchog skur du gsol /

Card 26

• Note: This final folio, inscribed on both sides (the only folio with no miniature drawing), actually belongs to section {DA}, above.  There obviously wasn't room for all the information on the back of that card.

±// snubs sangs rgyas ye shes rin po che ni / g.yung drung rin chen gter gnas su / yi dam gsal bar sgoms pa'i tshe / stobs chen rdo rje rdzas mchog 'di / nam mkha'i mthongs nas yas mar babs / bdag gi lag pa g.yas pas zin / ye shes rdo rje'i dbang mchog gsol [?] / 'ol mo tshal du sgoms pa'i tshe / mngon sum dri za phru gu byung / sangs rgyas khyod kyi dbang yang thob / gangs bzangs gnas su sgoms pa'i tshe / gnod bzhin [~gnod sbyin] phru gu mngon byung nas / 'dod [verso] lnga'i mchod yon bstabs / yun gyi 'khor du rten dam bcas / che ba'i yon tan dbang yang thob / gling rgu mtsho' 'dram sgoms ba'i tshe / klu phrug mngon du byung pa'i tshe / ro brgya' ldan pa'i mchod pa phul / yang dag slob mar dam tshig nos / sdug pa sel ba'i dbang yang nos / dur khrod lhas su sgoms pa'i tshe / yi dags phrug gu mngon du byung / zhabs la tags te mtshe' [?] ma byung / ci sgo nyan par g.yar dam bcas / mthu rtsal mnyams pa'i dbang yang thob / phyi rabs slob ma gang yin pa / dbang skur rgyal po thob par shog*

(*Notice the inverted brief 3- or 4-letter inscription at the top of the page floating there alone. A large blotch of ink obscures most of it, so much I haven't been able to transcribe it.)

———

Lineage lists for comparison  

1. So family lineage

Source:  Record of Teachings Received by the Fifth Dalai Lama, vol. 4, fol. 276:

so lugs kyi brgyud pa ni  /   hûm kâ ra nas  /  rdo rje bzhad pa  /   padma sam bha wa  /  nam mkha'i snying po  /   bee ro tsa na  /  g.yu sgra snying po  /   gnyags dznyâ na ku mâ ra  /   sog po dpal gyi ye shes  /   gnubs sangs rgyas ye shes  /   so ye shes dbang phyug  /   sras kal po  /   sras dbang gi gtsug tor  /   sras rgyal po  /  chos kyi seng ge  /   ye shes rdo rje  /   râ dza 'bar  /   dar ma brtson 'grus  /   dar sri  /   'tsho rdo rje 'od  /   dar ma kun dga'  /   dar ma snying po  /   zhang byang chub sems dpa'  /   'gos dngos grub rgyal mtshan man gong ltar ro  /   /

•

2. A Phurpa transmission lineage of the So family

Source:  Record of Teachings Received by the Fifth Dalai Lama, vol. 4, fol. 290:

phur pa lcags lugs sam so lugs kyi brgyud pa ni  /   slob dpon chen po nas  /   lcam dpal gyi mchod gnas  /   so ye shes dbang phyug  /  sras kalpo  /   dbang phyug gtsug tor  /   so rgyal po  /   so râ dza 'bar  /   so chos seng  /  so dar ma snying po  /   so dar ma seng ge  /  slob dpon â seng  /   darma brtson 'grus  /  sras gzi brjir  /  'gos dngos grub rgyal mtshan  /   sras gcung po  /   'gos dngos grub mgon man 'dra  /   

•

3. A So family Mahāyoga lineage

Source:  Brag-dkar Chos-kyi-dbang-phyug, Zab-rgyas Chos-tshul Rgya-mtsho-las Rang-skal-du Ji-ltar Thob-pa'i Yi-ge Rnam-grol Bdud-rtsi'i Bum-bzang Kha-skong dang bcas-pa, contained in: Gsung-'bum, Khenpo Shedup Tenzin (Kathmandu 2011), vol. 2, at p. 91. BDRC Work ID no. W1KG14557. The context appears to be a general transmission of Mahāyoga, or the Sgyu-'phrul Zhi-khro.

གཉིས་པ་གནས་ལུང་སོགས་མན་ངག་གི་བརྒྱུད་པ་ནི། ཆོས་སྐུ་ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ། ལོངས་སྐུ་རྒྱལ་བ་རིགས་ལྔ། སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་གསང་བདག་ཕྱག་རྡོར།ཡང་སྤྲུལ་དགའ་རབ་རྡོ་རྗེ། སློབ་དཔོན་འཇམ་དཔལ་བཤེས་གཉེན་ལ། རོ་ལངས་བདེ་བའི་དངོས་གྲུབ། སློབ་དཔོན་སངས་རྒྱས་གསང་བ། རྒྱ་གར་ཧཱུཾ་ཆེན་ཀ་ར། ཨོ་རྒྱན་པདྨ་འབྱུང་གནས། པཎ་ཆེན་བི་མ་མི་ཏྲ། ལོ་ཙཱ་རྨ་གཉགས་རྣམ་གཉིས། གནུབས་ཆེན་སངས་རྒྱས་ཡེ་ཤེས། སོ་ཡེ་ཤེས་དབང་ཕྱུག །སོ་ལྷ་རྗེ་ཀལྤོ། སོ་དབང་གི་གཙུག་ཏོར། སོ་ལྷ་རྗེ་རྒྱལ་པོ། སོ་ལྷ་རྗེ་ཆོས་སེང་། སོ་ར་ཙ་འབར་བ། སོ་དྷརྨ་སྙིང་པོ། བླ་མ་གྲུབ་ཐོབ་ཁ་མེ། བླ་མ་འབྲོམ་སྟོན་རྡོ་རྗེ། གར་སྟོན་རྟོགས་ལྡན་ཆེན་པོ། རྒྱལ་བ་མ་བདུན་རས་ཆེན་མན་གོང་ལྟར་རོ། །

•

4. Description of a thangka painting of the So family lineage

Ibid., vol. 7, pp. 297-302:

Note: I’ve corrected the error-filled OCR by consulting with the text behind it. I’ve tried to make all the personal names blue, drawing attention to them for ease of comparison. It is also interesting to read the iconographical instructions, and compare these to what we actually observe in the tsakali. There isn’t a whole lot of overlap.

sgyu 'phrul zhi khro bla ma brgyud pa khro thung gi brgyud rim ltar thang sku bzhengs na bri yig lam tsam brjed thor bkod pa yod/

sgyu 'phrul zhi khro'i bla ma brgyud pa'i bri yig ni / dbus su kun bzang longs sku yum med pa / de'i spyi bor rigs bdag kun bzang yab rkyang / de'i g.yas su rdor sems spyir btang gtso rkyang / g.yon du dga' rab rdo rje rdo rje dril bu thugs kar bsnol thabs su 'dzin pa / dbu la gtsug tor yod pa zhabs rdor skyil sprul sku rab byung chas / yang rdor sems kyi g.yas su 'jam dpal bshes gnyen paN chen gyi cha lugs / phyag g.yas thugs shar chos 'chad / g.yon pus mo'i steng du glegs bam 'dzin pa / dga' rab rdo rje'i g.yon du ro langs de wa grub thob kyi chas can g.yas sdigs mdzub / g.yon kA pa la bdud rtsis gang ba 'dzin pa / de bzhin g.yas g.yon go rim bzhin sangs rgyas gsang ba paN chen gyi chas can phyag g.yas thugs kar chos 'chad / g.yon mnyam bzhag gi glegs bam /  [p. 298] g.yon du hUM ka ra paN chen chas g.yas pus mor sdigs mdzub / g.yon mnyam bzhag pusti/ g.yas su pad+ma 'byung gnas paN chen gyi cha lugs g.yas rdo rje 'dzin cing / g.yon mnyam bzhag gi steng ka pA la bdud rtsis bkang ba / gru mor kha TAM ka / g.yon du bi ma la mi tra g.yas thugs kar chos 'chad / g.yon pus steng glegs bam 'dzin pa paN chen gyi chas ldan / g.yas su lo tsA ba rma rin chen mchog bod btsun stod rjen stod g.yogs sngon po phyed pa zur zhal phyag gnyis mnyam bzhag glegs bam paN zhwa sna ring leb zhwa / g.yon du lo tsA ba gnyags dznyA na ku ma ra zur zhal gong 'dra glegs bam dbu zhwa gong mtshungs / g.yas su gnubs chen sangs rgyas ye shes khro tshul sma ra ag tshom phod ka thun ru / dbu skra li rog / phyag gnyis g.yas phur pa gdengs pa / g.yon bhandha thugs kar 'dzin pa / zhabs rol stabs / g.yon du so ye shes dbang phyug ral pa rgyab snyil thun ru / mdung dmar te phyu pa dkar po'i phyi nang [p. 299] gzan dkar gsol ba / phyag g.yas rdo rje thugs kar / g.yon pus steng glegs bam / g.yas su lha rje gal po gsang gos sngon po/ rngul gzan dmar po / ral thod / g.yas sdigs mdzub / g.yon thugs kar rak+sha'i phreng ba / 'di gnyis zur zhal / g.yas su so dbang gi gtsug tor phod ka / rol stabs ral pa can / g.yas nam mkhar sdigs mdzub / g.yon ka pA la zur zhal / g.yas su lha rje rgyal po lcang lo / phyu pa dkar po / gzan dkar gyi smad dkris / g.yas phreng ba / g.yon pus steng phur pa / g.yon du lha rje chos rje stod sham sku stod na bza' gzan bcas dkar chas ral pa can phyag gnyis pus steng bdud 'dul gyi phyag rgyas phreng ba 'dren pa / g.yas su so ra dza 'bar ba dkar chas sku stod gos yod pa lcang lo / g.yas rdo rje pus steng / g.yon mnyam bzhag ka pA la / g.yon du so dharma snying po phyu pa dkar po / gzan dmar / ral pa can g.yas g.yon phyag gnyis [p. 299] thugs kar rdor dril bsnol thabs su 'dzin pa / yang g.yas su grub thob kha me ral thod sgom thag grub thob chas ras gzan / g.yas ka pA la / g.yon sa non / phyal chen po / g.yon du 'brom ston rdo rje dkar chas phyu pa gzan dmar / ka pA la thugs kar sman mchod sbreng tshul zhal sprod / g.yas su gar ston rtogs ldan ral thod ras pa'i chas sgom thag stod rjen mnyam bzhag ka pA la / g.yas su ma bdun ras chen sgom sham dwags zhwa / glegs bam / chos 'chad / g.yas su gdan sa rin chen rab byung sgom zhwa 'di gnyis zhal sprod / sa non mnyam bzhag glegs bam sems skyil / g.yon du chos rje ston pa paN zhwa sne thung dmar zing / g.yas su sangs rgyas dbon chen rab byung paN zhwa gong 'dra zhal sprod phreng ba sa non gnyis ka 'dra / chos rje dbang phyug mtshan can dang / bsod nams snying po gnyis dbu zlum dge slong chas / chos 'chad glegs bam zur zhal / lhun grub bkra shis dang / mgon po'i mtshan can gnyis [p. 301] rab byung chas / paN zhwa leb zhwa zhal sprod / glegs bam phreng ba / kun dga' gzi brjid paN zhwa sne thung rab byung chas / glegs bam chos 'chad / che mchog rdo rje ral can rgyab snyil sngags chas / stod gos g.yas phur pa gdengs thabs / g.yon thugs kar rdo rje / khro 'dzum can 'di gnyis zhal sprod / dkon mchog rdo rje / nam lhun gnyis ral pa rgyab snyil / dkar chas rdo rje thod pa / nam seng nor bu bde chen gnyis sngags 'chang dkar chas / ral thod can bgres nyams rol stabs zhal sprod / glegs bam chos 'chad / bstan nor rgyal sras seng+ge gnyis dkar chas / lcang lo zhal sprod / 'gyur med rnam rgyal dang / rtsa ba'i bla ma gnyis sngags chas sam yang na me kha li dmar po / lcang lo / dbu zhwa pad+ma kha 'bus / glegs bam / shel rdo / chos 'chad / gong gsal rnams phal cher dkar chas / sngags chas / rab byung spel ma zur zhal / phyag mtshan phyag stabs 'dra gang chags [p. 302] rig pas dpyad la bri / 

'di 'dra zhig a byung ma byung gzigs mdzod / rnam thar gyi bab byas na 'di 'dra zhig ka yin nam bsam 'ol tshod tshod kyis lam tsam bris/ [smaller font size:] zhes pa 'di'ang lan rde dpal lding nas mdo chen pa bag dro'i mtshan can gyi gsung gis bskul ba'i g.yar khral du brag dkar ba dharma shwa ras so // dge'o // //

±  ±  ±

Postscript

I’m still trying to work out the implications, but the name Rdo-rje-mos-pa-rtsal is twice given as the name of the person who is undergoing empowerment (see Cards 3 and 6). The identical name is later given as the secret initiatory name of Physician Chos-ye-shes (Card 18). This suggests that there once existed an earlier version of the set of cards that ended with Card 18 (that set of 18 would have been made specifically for use at Chos-ye-shes’ initiation). If the maker of the full set of cards that we have today copied exactly the writings on the backs of the earlier cards, including their spellings, then we could securely date those early spellings of names like 'Bu-ta-kug-ta and Rga-rab-rdo-rje within the pre-Mongol era, which would suit me just fine, but as I said, I’m still thinking. I do believe that the set as we have it was done by a single artist and a single scribe. Do you see evidence to the contrary?

Postscript (September 19, 2024)

https://sudharmablog.wordpress.com/2024/08/14/dga-rab-rdo-rjes-name-in-sanskrit/

Click on that linked URL for some philological discussions of manuscript evidence for the pre-Mongol-era spelling of Rga-rab-rdo-rje’s name.

Turtle in a Bronze Basin

 

... the thoughts of a turtle are turtles ...

If you never kept a turtle as a pet, I don’t recommend it. First and most seriously they are difficult to care for unless you know what you are doing, and largely for this very reason are prone to die a young and untimely death. Another problem is that they often get sick and tired of that terrarium you’ve locked them up in and start scratching nonstop on the walls trying to get out. You wonder if they are just bored or nervous, or in need of a larger living room. The constant scraping noise can be so irritating you could scream and throw a lamp across the room.

But this blog is more about us humans than it is about the challenges of turtle care. Do you ever even imagine that effort itself could, in some circumstances, prove to be an insurmountable impediment to progress? Counterintuitive insight at its best! 

I’m convinced the metaphoric image of the turtle in the bronze basin will be subject of this blog. At least I will try. Wait for the future, as I suppose we have all been doing, and we’ll get there. My primary aim is to persuade you how crucial it is for us to better know in practical terms what futile efforts entail. If I can convince you of this my struggles will not have been in vain. At long last I will be able to give it a rest.*

(*I suppose my further subterranean aim would be to show that there are connections such as this to be seen in the pre-Mongol era between the Bon, Zhijé and Nyingma schools.)

In a selection from one of the primary texts of the early Zhijé tradition containing words of Padampa we once translated as Padampa’s Animal Kingdom, we find these words:

17.  Unable to go anywhere, the turtle in the bronze basin tires itself out.

འགྲོ་བར་མྱི་ནུས་མཁར་ཞོང་ནང་གི་རུལ་རྦལ་ཚི་ཆད་འགྱུར་།། — ZC vol. 1, p. 219.4.

 

The metaphor of the turtle in the bronze basin occurs at least twice in the Padampa Tanjur texts, but curiously in them the emphasis seems to be on how much the turtle in the bronze basin enjoys basking in the sun, and not on how thoroughly trapped it is.  The commentarial text explains Padampa’s precept and, as it often does, gives it an unexpected spin:

17.  “Unable to go...” — If you place a turtle in a bronze basin, it tries to climb out, but at the very first step it loses its footing. Likewise, no matter how high or low something may appear, the mind never moves from its empty nature.  It falls back on it.

འགྲོ་མྱི་ནུས་ཞེས་པ་ནི་། འཁར་གཞོང་དུ་རུ་རྦལ་བཅུག་ན་ཕྱིར་འཛེགས་ཀྱང་ཡང་དང་པོའི་ཤུལ་དུ་འདྲེད་ནས་འོང་། དེ་བཞིན་དུ་འཐོའ་དམན་ཇི་ལྟར་སྣང་ཡང་སེམས་ངོ་བོ་སྟོང་པ་ལས་འགྱུར་བ་མྱེད་དེ་། དེ་ཐོག་ཏུ་འབབས་གསུང་།  — ZC, vol. 1, p. 426.

 

Our concern at the moment, and the very thing that made me return again to this subject, is the single-folio Khyunglung fragment at pp. 142-145 (marked as fol. 3) in the published volume.*

(*For the bibliographical details, refer to the recent blogs on the Four Caches). 

 

At first glance I had thought it might be a Zhijé text, seeing the words meaning ‘From the mouth of Dampa’ (dam pa’i zhal nas) that seemed to suggest it, although it soon turned out to be an illusion. I tried searching in BDRC, and found no matches to the phrases I was trying to check. However, I tried again and found this parallel to the Khyunglung fragment in vol. 121 of The Much Expanded Version of the Oral Scriptures of the Earlier Translations (Snga-’gyur Bka’-ma Shin-tu Rgyas-pa, W1PD100944). In this instance BDRC e-text provides us with no page correspondences (and this is my good excuse for not providing page numbers), although this volume does seem to be a commentary on the Eighty Precepts (Zhal-gdams Brgyad-cu-pa) of Zurchung: 

le'u bdun pa / gdams pa bcu gsum gyi gdams ngag lag len gdams pa ni / gdams pa bcu gsum la / bsgrub pa'i brtson 'grus kyi lcag tu bdag gzhan gyi 'chi ba la brtag / nam mchi nges pa med pas tshe 'di yi bya bzhag thams cad bor thongs / gus pa khyad par can skye bar 'dod pas bla ma'i phyi nang gi yon tan la brtag / skyon rtog spongs / skyon du snang ba de rang snang ma dag pas lan / spyod pa kun dang mthun par 'dod pas gzhan gyi rtsol ba mi dgag / theg pa thams cad rang sa bden pas chos dang grub mtha'i kha 'dzin che / bla ma'i thugs zin pa mi 'gyur bar bya ba'i phyir nyams su len pa drag tu bya / yon tan ma lus pa rang la 'ong / dngos grub myur du thob par 'dod na sdom pa dam tshig ma nyams par bsrung / bsrung mtshams mtha' dag mi dge bcu dang dug lnga rang mtshan la slong bar 'du / chu bo bzhin bcad par.*

(*Compare this to the Khyunglung fragment starting at its folio 3 recto, line 7, and you will see despite all the variant readings that they are the same text all the same.)

I see, too, that Khyunglung, p. 144, line 5 ff. (or fol. 3 verso, line 5) corresponds to section 13 in the English of Zurchungpa’s Testament (its pp. 94-95). The ordering of sections doesn’t seem to be the same in the Khyunglung when compared to later editions of the “same” text. This indicates that a close textual study would be in order. At the moment I cannot safely argue for dependence of one text on the other. A comparative text edition ought to be made, perhaps you would like to give it a try? 

In any case, as you may have suspected by now the Zurchung Eighty does contain the turtle in the bronze basin metaphor even if it may not look like it in the English:

“Cut the stream of the arising of dualistic thoughts and the following after them, taking the example of a tortoise placed on a silver platter.”  (no. 28 on p. 164, see also pp. 292, 346)

I find the Tibetan of it in my physical print volume of the text entitled

Zur-chung Shes-rab-grags-pa'i Gdams-pa Brgyad-cu-pa, Pema Thinley, Sikkim National Press (Gangtok 1999), a booklet in 64 pages not listed in BDRC, at p. 26:

རུས་སྦལ་མཁར་གཞོང་དུ་བཅུག་པའི་དཔེས་མཚོན་ནས། མཚན་མའི་འབྱུང་འཇུག་རྒྱུན་བཅད། 

I go to the trouble to give the Tibetan to convince Tibetan readers that it really does speak of the turtle stuck in a bronze basin, and that the published English translation, as wonderful as it is, is in my estimation slightly off on this particular point. I myself originally wanted to translate brass basin, liking the sound of it, but really, it’s a superior type of brass alloy, and that means some more expensive kind of bronze or bell metal.

To complicate matters necessarily, we find the turtle in the bronze basin in a Bon Dzogchen text of the pre-Mongol era that would need to be brought into a fuller and more adequate discussion. The Bon text I have in mind is Seeing Awareness in its Nakedness (Rig-pa Gcer Mthong), IsIAO Tucci text no. 528, section DA, folio 2 verso, line 6. I would give a quotation, but I no longer have a access to the Tucci manuscript and would need to search it out in one of the published editions of the massive cycle that contains it.

This section DA, according to the published catalog 

Elena De Rossi Filibeck, Catalogue of the Tucci Tibetan Fund in the Library of the IsIAO, Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (Rome 2003), vol. 2, p. 296.

ought to be a 7-folio manuscript with the title Bsnyan-rgyud Gsal-bar Byed-pa'i Gsal-byed. I had thought I might have made a photo of the page, but no, to find it again I would have to fly back to Rome. That hardly seems likely to happen today. Anyway, I believe it ought to be locatable in a different published version of the cycle, so let me go over to BDRC and see what I can come up with. 

Well, I went there and came up with nothing, because the volume I’ll describe in a flash isn’t listed there:

Snyan-rgyud Gcer-Mthong, “Bonpo oral transmission precepts granted by Srid-pa-rgyal-mo to Bon-zhig Khyung-nag, reproduced from rare manuscript from Bsam-gling Monastery in Dol po,” Tibetan Bonpo Monastic Centre (Dolanji 1972).  

That’s a pity that BDRC didn’t scan it.* You might think I’m lucky to have a IASWR microfiche set that ought to include it, but then I don’t have any fiche reader available to me right now. 

(*Or didn’t scan it yet. Those 1960's-1980's Bon publications from India haven’t mostly been posted online, although they might be in the near future.)

Okay, now I think I can find it. As you may know the catalog of the Bon Katen goes with an index volume, 

Samten G. Karmay and Yasuhiko Nagano, eds., A Catalogue of the New Collection of Bonpo Katen Texts (Bon Studies 4), Senri Ethnological Reports series no. 24, National Museum of Ethnology (Osaka 2001).

and it locates the cycle of Seeing Awareness in Its Nakedness in volume 133 of the 300 (plus) volume set. That set is locatable with the title “Bon-gyi Bka’-brten” in BDRC as no. W30498, and its volume 133 is indeed scanned and made available there. What we find when we view the scans of vol. 133 is what looks very much like a photocopy of the 1972 publication listed above (absent only the added title page, and the Table of Contents that could have come in useful). A telltale sign is the Old Delhi style of the added Arabic numerals.* So we go back to the 1,692-page Osaka catalog and run through the titles it lists for vol. 133. Even if it isn’t exactly Gsal-bar Byed-pa’i Gsal-byed, we do see that part 15 (pp. 265-278, or 7 folios in length) has the title Snyan-rgyud Gsal-byed, which seems promising enough to have a look.

(*How can I tell?  It kind of looks like the numbers were applied with a rubber stamp.)

Could you hear the scratching?  A few hours have passed, and I wish I  could tell you that all those efforts had no result whatsoever. That would have made my point for me. But no, there it is on p. 269, line 4: ru[s] sbal mkhar gzhong du, or, turtle in a bronze basin. Have a look:

Of course, now we have the difficult task of understanding it in its special context, as part of a system of Dzogchen precepts. We’ve barely scratched the surface... Or... Perhaps we’ve scratched enough for one day. It may be time to give it a rest.

Originally from Buzzfeed, I linked it from here:
As you see this is a plastic, and not a bronze basin,
or the outcome would be different.

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A poem by Emily Dickinson

has more of the “well turtle” or turtle-in-a-well in it, even if the turtle is disguised as a mole. The piece as a whole is usually taken to be about 19th-century disenchantment or, to put it in different words, our declining perception of the sacred dimensions of our existence.

1228

So much of Heaven has gone from Earth

That there must be a Heaven

If only to enclose the Saints

To Affidavit given.

The Missionary to the Mole

Must prove there is a Sky

Location doubtless he would plead

But what excuse have I?

Too much of Proof affronts Belief

The Turtle will not try

Unless you leave him - then return

And he has hauled away.

I’m fascinated how in the verse on the mole in a hole we easily perceive the well known Indic metaphor of the well turtle (he finds difficulty believing what he is told about the wider world beyond his ken), while the very next verse seems to have our turtle escaping from an unspecified container. Could she have gotten something from Emerson? But for her, okay, it is quite a different idea, the turtle only tries to get away when you aren’t looking. Then just disappears.

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In John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, a turtle appears to be a symbol of the family’s struggle for freedom, but here the turtle is in a shirt pocket (or is he crossing the highway?) and not in any basin. And that family is trying to get out of the Dust Bowl where they had been trapped, rather than any metallic basin.

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From Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Natural History of Intellect:

What strength belongs to every plant and animal in nature. The tree or the brook has no duplicity, no pretentiousness, no show. It is, with all its might and main, what it is, and makes one and the same impression and effect at all times. All the thoughts of a turtle are turtles, and of a rabbit, rabbits. But a man is broken and dissipated by the giddiness of his will ; he does not throw himself into his judgments ; his genius leads him one way but ’t is likely his trade or politics in quite another. He rows with one hand and with the other backs water, and does not give to any manner of life the strength of his constitution. Hence the perpetual loss of power and waste of human life. [emphasis added]

I like Emerson’s rowing metaphor that has the boat spinning in circles instead of going ahead. This happens to me a lot, although I hope you are kind enough not to notice.

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The turtle in the bronze basin enjoys the light of the sun.  མཁར་གཞོང་ནང་གི་རུལ་སྦལ་ཉི་མའི་འོད་ལ་དགའ།  mkhar gzhong nang gi rul rbal [~rus sbal] nyi ma’i ’od la dga’.

— Zhijé Collection, vol. 1, p. 268, line 7. The same text is in the Derge Tanjur, no. 2445, with the title Phyag-rgya-chen-po Rin-po-che Brda’i Man-ngag.

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There are some interesting narratives about direct encounters of the early Zur family lineage of the Nyingmapa with practitioners of Bön. For references to the main sources, see Matthew Kapstein, “From Metaphor to Commentary and from Commentary to Catechism: The Formation of a Bon po Scriptural Corpus and Its Authentication,” contained in: Jonathan Silk and Leonard van der Kuijp, eds., From Khyung-lung to Lhasa [=Revue d'Etudes Tibétaines, no. 64, July 2022], pp. 290-306, at p. 291, footnote 4.

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Note: Today’s blog was already promised in an earlier one: https://tibeto-logic.blogspot.com/2024/03/recovered-connections-1-four-caches.html.

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If you have the time to spare, and need some Zen, search the internet for "the goose in the bottle." Use the quote marks in your search for better results, or just do nothing and sit there.

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For a response to this blog by Jean-Luc Achard, look here (by clicking on this sentence!).