The Land of Snows, along with The Seven Seals of Tibet: A Joycean Journey

Everest & Nubtse, photo by Vyacheslav Argenbe

 

 

 

The Land of Snows

The land of snows, where mountains touch the sky,

And rivers flow from glaciers pure and white.

A sacred place, where ancient wisdoms lie,

And monks recite their prayers day and night.

The land of snows, where culture thrives and grows,

And art and literature reflect the soul.

A diverse place, where many languages rose,

And people share a common dream and goal.

The land of snows, where history is long,

And heroes fought for freedom and for right.

A troubled place, where conflict still is strong,

And people face oppression and plight.

The land of snows, where hope is never lost,

And faith and courage overcome the cost.

•

No, I did not write this.

I asked Skype’s newly offered Bing AI to write for me a Tibetological sonnet.  Here is Bing’s answer that arrived together with the sonnet you just read.

Hello, this is Bing. I'm glad you're interested in Tibetology and sonnets. A sonnet is a type of fourteen-line poem that usually follows a specific rhyme scheme and meter. There are different types of sonnets, such as the Italian or Petrarchan sonnet, the English or Shakespearean sonnet, and the Spenserian 

sonnethttps://poemanalysis.com/poetic-form/structure-of-sonnets/.

Tibetology is the study of things related to Tibet, including its history, religion, language, culture, politics and the collection of Tibetan articles of historical, cultural and religious significance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetology.

I can try to write you a Tibetological sonnet, but please note that I am not a professional poet and I may not be able to capture the nuances of Tibetan culture and history. Here is my attempt at writing an English sonnet about Tibet...

My thoughts on the poetry? I think Bing's AI can write better sonnets than I ever will, not that I’m likely to try. And it does it in the bat of an eye. So yes, I say if you ever need a Tibetological sonnet, this is the way to do it. The form is spot on.

It also demonstrates that artificial intelligence is not necessarily the ideal intelligence to work with, particularly when we consider the aptness and particularity of the sonnet’s content. Not that it says anything exactly wrong, there just isn’t enough specific truth in it to make a difference. Where are the underpinnings? Who are the chief actors? Fine enough package, indifferent content. What do we expect?

Not satisfied that I had granted AI sufficient credit after this single test, I decided to commission something a little more complicated.  Read on!

§  §  §

Dear Bing, That was a fine sonnet. Now I'd like you to write for me a Tibetological blog on the subject of the Seven Seals making use of the literary arts of James Joyce’s Ulysses. A few illustrations would be nice if you don’t mind.  Thanks, D

•

Bing, PM 3:38

Hello D, thank you for your interest in Tibetology and James Joyce’s Ulysses. I will try to write a blog post on the subject of the Seven Seals using some of the literary techniques of Joyce’s novel. I will also try to create some illustrations for you.

The Seven Seals of Tibet: A Joycean Journey

The Seven Seals of Tibet are a set of symbols that represent the authority and legitimacy of the Tibetan government and its spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. They are also a source of fascination and controversy for scholars, historians, and collectors, as they reveal the complex and turbulent history of Tibet and its relations with China, India, Mongolia, and other countries. In this blog post, I will explore the origins, meanings, and fates of these seals, using some of the literary devices that James Joyce employed in his masterpiece Ulysses, such as stream of consciousness, allusions, parodies, and wordplay.

The first seal is the Seal of the Dalai Lama, which bears the inscription “Sri bha tsa na'i rgyal po” (King of the Religious Realm) in Lantsa script. It was given to the fifth Dalai Lama by the Mongol ruler Gushri Khan in 1642, when he recognized him as the supreme ruler of Tibet. The seal is made of gold and has a lotus motif on the back. It is considered the most sacred and important seal in Tibetan history, as it symbolizes the unity of religion and politics under the Dalai Lama's leadership. The seal is currently kept in Dharamsala, India, where the 14th Dalai Lama resides in exile.

The second seal is the Seal of the Panchen Lama, which bears the inscription "Sri pan chen bla ma'i rgyal po" (King of the Panchen Lama) in Lantsa script. It was given to the fifth Panchen Lama by the Qing emperor Kangxi in 1713, when he recognized him as the second highest spiritual authority in Tibet. The seal is made of silver and has a vajra motif on the back. It is considered a symbol of the close relationship between the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, who are regarded as manifestations of Avalokiteshvara and Amitabha respectively. The seal is currently missing, as it was taken by the 10th Panchen Lama when he fled to China in 1959, and its whereabouts are unknown.

The third seal is the Seal of Tibet, which bears the inscription "Ganden Phodrang" (Palace of Joy) in Tibetan script. It was created by the fifth Dalai Lama in 1642, when he established his government in Lhasa. The seal is made of copper and has a snow lion motif on the back. It is considered a symbol of the sovereignty and independence of Tibet, as it was used to issue official documents and decrees by successive Dalai Lamas. The seal is currently kept in Dharamsala, India, where it is still used by the Central Tibetan Administration.

The fourth seal is the Seal of Mongolia, which bears the inscription "Mongol ulus-un dalai bla ma" (Dalai Lama of Mongolia) in Mongolian script. It was given to the third Dalai Lama by Altan Khan in 1578, when he conferred him with the title of Dalai Lama. The seal is made of iron and has a sun and moon motif on the back. It is considered a symbol of the spiritual bond between Tibet and Mongolia, as many Mongol rulers supported and protected Tibetan Buddhism. The seal is currently kept in Dharamsala, India.

The fifth seal is the Seal of China, which bears the inscription "Qianlong Chenhan Dalai Lama Yixi Zhibei" (Imperial Edict Bestowing Favor on Dalai Lama) in Chinese script. It was given to the sixth Dalai Lama by the Qing emperor Qianlong in 1751, when he reorganized the Tibetan administration under his supervision. The seal is made of jade and has a dragon motif on the back. It is considered a symbol of the political interference and domination of China over Tibet, as it was used to appoint or depose Tibetan officials by Qing emperors. The seal is currently kept in Beijing, China.

The sixth seal is

the Seal of India,

which bears

the inscription "Bharat Ratna" (Jewel

of India) in Devanagari script.

It was given to

the 14th Dalai Lama by

the Indian government in 1959,

when he was awarded

the highest civilian honor

of India for his contributions to peace and non-violence.

The seal is made

of bronze and has an Ashoka chakra motif on

the back.

It is considered a symbol of

the gratitude and friendship

of India towards Tibet,

as it was the first country to offer asylum and support to

the Dalai Lama and his followers after

the Chinese invasion of Tibet.

The seal is currently kept in Dharamsala, India.

The seventh seal is

the Seal of the World,

which bears

the inscription "Nobel Peace Prize" in Latin script.

It was given to

the 14th Dalai Lama by

the Nobel Committee in 1989,

when he was awarded

the prestigious prize for his efforts to resolve

the Tibetan issue through dialogue and non-violence.

The seal is made

of gold and has a laurel wreath motif on

the back.

It is considered a symbol of

the recognition and respect

of the world towards Tibet,

as it reflects the universal values and aspirations of

the Tibetan people for freedom and dignity.

The seal is currently kept in Dharamsala, India.

These are the Seven Seals of Tibet, each with its own story and significance. They are not mere objects, but living symbols of a rich and complex culture, a proud and resilient nation, and a wise and compassionate leader. They are also reminders of the challenges and struggles that Tibet faces in its quest for justice and peace. They are, in short, the seals of a modern odyssey, a journey that is not yet over, but that continues to inspire and enlighten us all.

This is Dan speaking now, not Bing. Well, I'm oddly and unexpectedly impressed by the level of creativity demonstrated here in constructing a never before known variant set of the Seven Seals. In terms of artistic style, its invented Lotus motif “Tibetan seals” seem to incorporate aspects more or less Japanese or Islamic. A connoisseur confronted with these images would be unlikely to immediately identify them as Tibetan. This AI ability to make mashups might appear commendable from some perspectives, a step toward a genre of world art comparable to so-called “world music.”

I have to say, I thought myself quite clever in asking Bing to use the style of James Joyce, since his writings are characterized by just what AI is least capable of pulling off — allusions, parodies, and wordplay — and in fact it/they promises to do it, then never does. There is something ironic in that agreement that equals refusal. Of course AI is not conscious of being ironic or clever or creative, it could never be that, not like we can.*

What most concerns me is not so much that this could have been passed in with cheating motive as a writing assignment in a human classroom, it’s that it would be regarded as a valid or authoritative source of information in future essays painstakingly composed by humans of the future. Please don’t cite it as anything more or less than what it is. Otherwise the future will be mashups of mashups, mashups that will go on to be further mashed up, much more than it already is. If we have gains in human intelligence thanks to AI or the like, they’ll be offset by the increase in confusion, a commodity that was never in short supply.

(*You’re right, I hear it too, the human arrogance!)

Recommending reading list

David Klotz, “Hieroglyphic Complexity at Esna: Unetymological Spellings, Trigrams, and Anadromes from Esna Temple and Finnegans Wake,”  Hieroglyphs, vol. 1 (2023), pp. 127-148. Joycean Egyptology is, after all, a thing. I’m fairly certain David Klotz is a human being, and one of uncommon intelligence, writing for a real online journal of considerable academic standing, vetted by peer reviewers and so on. It was nothing but a glitch in the Blogger system that cemented his name at the top of Tibetologic, anchored to the title. I cannot undo it, so I beg for his understanding. At the same time, I would like to thank Lloyd Graham, a great authority on the Seven Seals in Euro-Middle Eastern realms, for fortuitously alerting me to David Klotz’s essay. (Note: September 22, 2023 — Today the glitch is undone forever, thanks to A.S. who saved the day.)

Dieter Schuh, Grundlagen tibetischer Siegelkunde. Eine Untersuchung über tibetische Siegelaufschriften in ’Phags-pa-Schrift, VGH Wissenschaftsverlag (Sankt Augustin 1981). Here you will find the real dope on official seals (represented in 1 through 5 in Bing’s list), something the Seven Seals concepts have absolutely (?)* nothing to do with in fact. And to start with the seals of the Fifth Dalai Lama (no. 1 in Bing’s list), we see two of his seals on official documents from his time at pp. 309-322 in the book, and they include every script except Lantsa, and not anything like “Sri bha tsa na'i rgyal po.” What is that anyway, and how would it mean King of the Religious Realm in any language? 

(*If I hesitate on this point, it is just because in lore about King Solomon he is credited with possessing a signet ring that could have had the Seven Seals on it. I didn’t genuinely expect Bing to know that Tibet has his own set of Seven Seals, and it/they did indeed display its/their ignorance of it.)

And what about “It was given to the sixth Dalai Lama by the Qing emperor Qianlong in 1751”? Bing has to mean the seventh, not the sixth. I could go on if I have to, but from what I’ve seen I wonder how it would justify the effort. 

The task of the fact-checking researcher is if anything compounded and not in the least reduced. 

So finally, today’s answer is “No.” I don’t believe I will ever again ask AI to guest author a Tibeto-logic blog. Why take the quick and easy way out? But if you are a human doing Tibetan humanities types of research and would like to guest author a blog, let’s talk.

± ± ±

PS (September 1, 2023):

Honest journalists ought to get on the phone with someone holding the opposite view. Well, okay. So in what might  be an uptick in favor of Buddhist and Buddhological AI, see what Raymond Lam says in his latest newsletter for the Buddhist Door:

Lim Kooi Fong, who is editor of the long-running Buddhist Channel and another longtime friend, has deployed NORBU – Neural Omniscient Robotic-Being for Buddhist Understanding – to generate content for his website.

We have just demonstrated that using AI as a crutch can create more work hours for the humans, not less. Well, unless you are satisfied to slap cooked-up informational stew on the table for those ignorant enough to find instruction in eating it. Still, I went to the Buddhist Channel website and found there this banner appealing for funding.

We Need Your Help to Train the

Buddhist AI Chat Bot NORBU!

(Neural Omniscient Robotic-Being for Buddhist Understanding)

If it/they’re* Omniscient, I’m wondering in what subject would it/they require instruction? Is the aim to find tutors for it/them? I don’t believe most Senseis, Roshis, Geshes and Rinpoches of the world are in need of more work, but there is not a chance this particular “NORBU” will be putting them out on the streets. Or is there?

*Out of respect for A.I., I decided to allow it/them its/their preferred number-ambivalent neuter pronoun. I do feel silly doing it. I'll stop now.

•

PSS: September 2, 2023

Question:  Could Bing AI have self-awareness of its/their own deficiencies? Or would that self-awareness itself be artificial? I found this Q&A at its/their own website:

Q: Are Bing's AI-generated responses always factual?

A: Bing aims to base all its responses on reliable sources - but AI can make mistakes, and third party content on the internet may not always be accurate or reliable. Bing will sometimes misrepresent the information it finds, and you may see responses that sound convincing but are incomplete, inaccurate, or inappropriate. Use your own judgment and double check the facts before making decisions or taking action based on Bing's responses.

•

PSSS: October 15, 2023

Who Lusts for Certainty Lusts for Lies. With thanks for M.W. for recommending it, it puts a damper on our hopes to exploit “big data.”

PSSSs: March 26, 2024

After seeing this, I'm determined to take an unbreakable vow never again to bring generative Artificial Intelligence to play here in Tibeto-logic. All my writing will be generated by my artful, playful and hopefully intelligent enough human capabilities, no matter how far they fall short of perfection. "Done by a human" is a good thing. "Done by A.I." is an insult to us all. Just look closely, test and scrutinize the artificial inanity they produce, a cleverness that calculates just how far they can get away with tricking us. Never again.

But in the meanwhile I’ll have to worry about getting "scraped" to feed their concoctions.

 

The Tingri Hundred

√

Padampa in his Zhijé form (and not the 'Cutting' or Chö form) is, in recent times, mainly depicted with the very interesting gesture shown above. It seems to be unique to him, and I've never been able to locate a reasonable explanation for it that carries with it much conviction. If it was made with the right hand alone it would be the ubiquitous Teaching Gesture. (I think the gesture actually works well for many non-Buddhist Euro-types, too, since it looks like 'putting a fine point' on something, or just making a particular point [a 'micro-grip' for holding tiny objects]. It's not just an 'OK,' even if it does look similar, and even if we might find connections here, too, if we reflect awhile. I don't think it an accident that Europe somehow and somewhat shares this understanding with Tibet... Perhaps another time. Meanwhile, see and compare the picture down below.)

I imagine, although I have no proof for it, that the left hand exactly mirroring the right doubles the emphasis on his role as a teacher. But not only that, it seems to be saying that you receive double the teachings from him. At first you have a superficial understanding, and only later on and gradually, if at all, it hits you that he taught with something deeper in mind than you at first imagined. So to speak, the 'inner guru' kicks in. That is just my thought at the moment, and I may come up with a different explanation tomorrow.

The most famous literary piece by far among all the works associated with Padampa is the one known to every Tibetan as The Tingri Hundred. It exists in quite a few recensions, as often happens with extremely popular works, and not just in Tibet. It was written in verse in the form of couplets, about a hundred of them in this case (there is an obviously somewhat shorter version of this set of couplets called The Tingri Eighty). Each couplet ends with the same three syllables, the exclamatory Tingriwa (Ding-ri-ba). Since I need a term for these, I'll just call them Tingriwa couplets.

One way among others to divide the different recensions is to look at this verse (no. E16) to see if it has the word for 'monkey' (spre'u) or the rather similar, but only in its written form, word for 'rhinoceros' (bse'u, which I take to intend bse-ru) I think the monkey version makes better sense, but that's rather beside the point here.

In the forest fastness the monkey [or rhino] thinks it's happy,

but the edge of the forest is ringed with fire, my Tingrians.

We'll call those the monkey and rhino versions.  I only give this as one example among many others, just so nobody will imagine that the text was ever set in stone for all eternity.  Like texts throughout Eurasia in earlier centuries, the manuscripts were alive and evolving beings.

The earliest English translation of this work has helped to promote a rather unfortunate misconception.  The Evans-Wentz publication has Tingriwa translated as "Tingri folk."  This lends the impression that Padampa's words were addressed to the peasant villagers in Tingri. Actually, if they were spoken by Padampa at all, they were spoken to his meditation disciples at Tingri Langkhor, then and now a hermitage located an uncomfortable distance away from the main town.  They were not spoken to the 'folk' and do not belong in the category of folklore.  Another thing to observe about Evans-Wentz's version is that it attempts to use rather archaic English of the King James Biblical variety, making Padampa sound like the proverbial but eccentric prophet crying in the wilderness.  Well, in a way and to some degree I suppose he was.

I imagine you might have been a little surprised when I suggested, just now, that they might not be by Padampa.  Let me rephrase that.  All the versions that we have today were most definitely inspired by Padampa, who was the first to pronounce verses in the just-described form. Padampa spoke the original Tingriwa couplets. The second person to compose them was Padampa's immediate disciple Kunga, who pronounced no fewer than 118 of them just before his own death only 7 years after Padampa's. The odd and interesting fact is that only a very few of the Tingriwa couplets in the popular collections available today are actually found in the sets pronounced by Padampa and Kunga (these two latter preserved only in the Zhijé Collection). The simple solution to this problem is just to say that it's very likely that the collections we have today were not in fact by Padampa, but appeared at a later date in Tibetan literary history.  This idea might be supported with the information that, to the best of my knowledge, the very first Tibetan-authored work to quote any of the verses from the Tingri Hundred is one by the author of the most famous Tibetan history book, The Blue Annals.  That means Gö Lotsawa, in his commentary on the Ratnagotravibhaga.  You can find the verse Gö Lotsawa quotes at no. E20 in our text of The Tingri Hundred.

Escorted by your Lama you will arrive where you want to go.

As your fee, pay your trust and veneration, my Tingrians.

What that means is that the earliest citation of a couplet resembling any of those we have in our Tingri Eighty or Tingri Hundred collections (both of them include this verse, but the sets of Tingriwa couplets in the Zhijé Collection do not have it) is in a composition dated to 1473 CE.  The other known verse citations date between the 18th century and the present.  There are quite a few of these, testifying to the popularity of our collection in the last three centuries.

When we look at the end of the work, we find a colophon in the form of a stanza which would seem to tell us that some unnamed person 'compiled' or 'arranged' it (if that is the right understanding for the verb bkod in this context, since sometimes it can mean 'composed').

Many verses gently encourage ethical behavior, but some of them are just so blatantly moralizing (particularly some of the verses near the end, which anyway are missing from some of the published versions), I can't believe Padampa actually taught them in Tingri (see couplets E95 through E98). It just wasn't his style. And his students, all serious Buddhist meditators, didn't need to be told to try and be good people.  Or to shun evil companions.  Really not.

The irony is that Padampa's best-known legacy is not our best guide to his actual teachings.  That guide would be the Zhijé Collection itself.  (If it weren't for some other Zhijé collections of comparable age and quality that lie unpublished and inaccessible in Lhasa libraries, we might say with justice that the Zhijé Collection is the only thing there is.)

It shouldn't be cause for any wonder that a recurring theme of the verses is death. It is a Last Will and Testament, after all. I hope that hearing that word won't scare you off. That would be unfortunate.

A flower one moment fine, the next moment all dried out,
there’s no relying on the body, my Tingrians.

– Couplet E30 of The Tingri Hundred.

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

  Old Time is still a-flying;

And this same flower that smiles today

 Tomorrow will be dying.

The message of this verse that opens Robert Herrick's famous poem "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" — the same verse makes a cameo appearance in that 1989 Robin Williams movie, The Dead Poets Society — is that young people had better hurry up and get laid while they still have it in them. Padampa's verse uses the death imagery of the faded flower to encourage renunciation of worldly life. Herrick equips his verse with the same imagery to encourage young people to dive headlong into it. Same medium, same poetic flower imagery... opposite messages. Which I suppose is one reason Padampa, with his strong-minded advocacy of the life of renunciation, of meditation in solitude, is not likely to find multitudes of ready listeners in our day. My position is that even an imagined renunciation can do much to promote ethical reflection by people who find themselves, willingly or not, caught up in the flow (and of course the ebb) of life. In that spirit, I think anyone can appreciate at least some parts of The Tingri Hundred. I'm not alone here thinking we simply must think more about what we're doing and why. Am I?

And before sending you off to read the translation, assuming you're prepared to do that, I'd like to say that these critical reflections of mine about authorship have no bearing whatsoever on the Buddhist truth and/or spiritual authority of the text itself. It is great Tibetan poetry, a monument to the Tibetan language, a source of wisdom regardless of your ideas about religion, and a trigger for reflection on life, no matter who wrote it when. Feel free to think as you like.

The message as well as the language of this Last Will is naturally a little solemn, and rather unconsciously I have preserved a degree of solemnity in the translation, using words like savor and imbibe instead of taste and drink.  But on occasion there is a breath of lightness and ease, a bit of almost-casual colloquial expression. I've tried to supply some of these moments, too, to the best of my ability, not always in the same places though. Nothing in these translations is final. Like everything else, it's a continuing process.

Perhaps for a later blog I'll try to finish up my translation of Padampa's original set of a dozen or so Tingriwa couplets and give more evidence for, and develop further, the ideas I've put forward here.  Don't neglect to breathe.  I've got a few other things to do meanwhile.

Click on the peacock eyes to enter

READ MORE...

Carpe Diem: Poems for Making the Most of Time. Posted at the official website of the Academy of American Poets, here.

'Gos Lo-tsâ-ba Gzhon-nu-dpal, Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel bshad de kho na nyid rab tu gsal ba'i me long, Commentary on the Ratnagotravibhâgavyâkhyâ, ed. by Klaus-Dieter Mathes, Franz Steiner (Stuttgart 2003), at p. 53 is the quote of Padampa's verse. K-D Mathes' translation of couplet E20 has just been published in his monumental translation of that just-mentioned work under the title A Direct Path to the Buddha Within: Go Lotsawa's Mahamudra Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhaga, Wisdom (Boston 2008), p. 262:

If you commend yourself to the lama, you reach wherever you like.
People of Dingri, show devotion and respect to the lama [who is like your] feet.

Chapter 17, "The Gesture of Thought, the Sign of Logos," contained in: H.P. L'Orange, Studies on the Iconography of Cosmic Kingship in the Ancient World, Instituttet for Sammenlignende Kulturforskning (Oslo 1953), pp. 171-197.  

"The scroll [or book] in the left hand contains the written speech; the gesture of the right one expresses the realization of the written in the living word."

Portrait of L. Gernier, 
a professor of theology from Basel, 
painted by J.R. Werenfels.