Lamp of Assurance, a Very Nearly Lost Bon History

 

“Bon-byung Yid-ches Sgron-ma [b]zhugs.” 
Endangered Archives Project EAP687/1/19

I see no need to overplay that old scenario of the precious object lost and unknown suddenly revealed to the world. It isn’t exactly cognitive science, or is it? Is it a question of ‘Who is paying attention to what?’ or ‘What’s out there that could be seen?’ Surely there must be a handful of learned people in the hills of Himachal, not to mention the high Himalayas who are aware of this historical work in some degree, some may even have read it for all we know. However, Tibetan Histories bibliography, in both its editions (1987 & 2020), has no listing for it, and a search of the worldwide web (including TBRC/BDRC/BUDA) came up with no knowledge of its existence. Search engines are not the solution to every problem, and neither is AI. I hope we know that.

The one exceptional bit of knowledge on this particular subject is in a book published earlier this year, a history of Bon dubbed Drenpa’s Proclamation. In it you can see that, in a brief passage about the ancient Tibetan Emperor Drigum, the title Bon History: Lamp of Assurance (བོན་བྱུང་ཡིད་ཆེས་སྒྲོན་མ།) is cited twice (once with variant spelling). However, this passage exists in only one of its several manuscript versions, the one called Manuscript C, from Nakchu. As the Nakchu Manuscript appears to expand on pericopes found in the other versions, we tend to think it a later recension. So even if the history translated in Drenpa’s Proclamation dates to the late 12th century as we think it does, the title of the lost history may have been written into it in a later century. Knowing this doesn’t help us very much in trying to decide questions of authorship and definitive dating. These mysteries remain.

What was not known when the book was released was that the title mentioned there does indeed belong to an identifiable and physically present text, even if that text is only made available in the form of a title page with the title on its front side (our frontispiece) along with the introduction on its back side. Given no alternative we will have to be satisfied with this fragment, so I’ve simply typed its content at the end of this file, hoping that this may bear information that will eventually allow us to find the missing pages.

But before doing that, let’s invent a brand new entry for Tibetan Histories that ought to look something like this:

 - 1195a - 

— [no dating possible]

Bon-byung Yid-ches Sgron-ma. The title is once given with this spelling, and once immediately afterward with the probably less acceptable spelling Bon-chung Yid-ches Sgron-ma. It seems it would have contained an account of the assassination of Emperor Gri-gum by Lo-ngam. This we may know from only one of the manuscripts of the Grags-pa Rin-chen Gling-bsgrags. See Per Kværne and Dan Martin, Drenpa’s Proclamation: The Rise and Decline of the Bön Religion in Tibet, Vajra Books (Kathmandu 2023), at p. 212. Although unknown to the authors at the time, a title page for this work, its original kept by TBMC, has been digitally preserved at the British Library's online Endangered Archives Programme, no. EAP687/1/19, at scan nos. 489-490, where the title reads Bon-byung Yid-ches Sgron-ma, and on fol. 1v likewise, only with the word lo-rgyus inserted thus: Bon-byung-gi [Lo-rgyus] Yid-ches Sgron-ma. A three-fold general outline is at least supplied here: Firstly, how it [the Bon religion] was promulgated with compassion; in the meantime, how it was made to decline due to happenstances; and finally, how it was spread once more through aspiration prayers.

+  +  +

Transcription of the title page

Note: I have tacitly resolved abbreviations and accepted all inserted corrections. I ignore the penmanship practice in the bottom margin. Quotes from scriptures are in red, their titles in italics. I've created the paragraph formatting to suit my whims. The scripture cited by its short title as mdo would be the Gzer-mig, the medium-lengthed biography of Lord Shenrab.

[1r] bon byung yid ches sgron ma [b]zhugs /

[1v] sna tshogs thabs kyi[s] 'gro ba 'dren mdzad pa'i ston mchog sprul pa'i sku la phyag 'tshal lo //

'dir bon byung gi lo rgyus yid ches sgron ma la / don gsum ste / dpa'o [~dang po?] thugs rjes dar tshul / bar du rkyen gyis bsnubs tshul / tha ma smon lam gyis rgyas tshul /

dang po dar tshul la gnyis / spyir sangs rgyas kyi; gos [~dgos?] ston pa'i / [b]stan pa'i dar tshul dang po ni / sems can gyi ji ltar khyab pa bzhin / sangs rgyas kyi bstan pas dang khyab ste / 

mdo las / snod bcud ting nge 'dzin mtha' yas la /

nam mkha' ji bzhin thugs rjes khyab / ces dang /

klu 'bum las / sems can gyi las ni / bsam gyis mi khyab / gsam ba'i [~bsam pa'i] tshad las 'das / de [b]stan cing drang ba'i phyir / ston pa'i bka' yang bsam gyi[s] mi khyab / gsam ba'i [~bsam pa'i] tshad las 'das / ces so /

de yang bsdus na / phyogs bcu dus gsum gyi sangs rgyas so // 

phyogs bcu'i sangs rgyas ni / bon nyid snying... [the remainder of the text is lacking].

•

བོན་བྱུང་ཡིད་ཆེས་སྒྲོན་མ་[བ]ཞུགས།

[1v] སྣ་ཚོགས་ཐབས་ཀྱི[ས]་འགྲོ་བ་འདྲེན་མཛད་པའི་སྟོན་མཆོག་སྤྲུལ་པའི་སྐུ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ༎

འདིར་བོན་བྱུང་གི་ལོ་རྒྱུས་ཡིད་ཆེས་སྒྲོན་མ་ལ། དོན་གསུམ་སྟེ། དཔའོ་[~དང་པོ་?]ཐུགས་རྗེས་དར་ཚུལ་། བར་དུ་རྐྱེན་གྱིས་བསྣུབས་ཚུལ། ཐ་མ་སྨོན་ལམ་གྱིས་རྒྱས་ཚུལ།

དང་པོ་དར་ཚུལ་ལ་གཉིས། སྤྱིར་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི༏ གོས་[~དགོས་?]སྟོན་པའི། [བ]སྟན་པའི་དར་ཚུལ་དང་པོ་ནི། སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་ཇི་ལྟར་ཁྱབ་པ་བཞིན། སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་བསྟན་པས་དང་ཁྱབ་སྟེ།

མདོ་ལས། སྣོད་བཅུད་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་མཐའ་ཡས་ལ།

ནམ་མཁའ་ཇི་བཞིན་ཐུགས་རྗེས་ཁྱབ། ཅེས་དང་།

ཀླུ་འབུམ་ལས། སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་ལས་ནི། བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་།་གསམ་བའི་[~བསམ་པའི་]ཚད་ལས་འདས། དེ་[བ]སྟན་ཅིང་དྲང་བའི་ཕྱིར་།་སྟོན་པའི་བཀའ་ཡང་བསམ་གྱི[ས]མི་ཁྱབ། གསམ་བའི[~བསམ་པའི་]་ཚད་ལས་འདས། ཅེས་སོ།

དེ་ཡང་བསྡུས་ན། ཕྱོགས་བཅུ་དུས་གསུམ་གྱི་སངས་རྒྱས་སོ༎་

ཕྱོགས་བཅུའི་སངས་རྒྱས་ནི། བོན་ཉིད་སྙིང་ ...

§   §   §

Books mentioned

Per Kværne and Dan Martin, Drenpa’s Proclamation: The Rise and Decline of the Bön Religion in Tibet, Vajra Books (Kathmandu 2023). This is only made available in hardbound book format from the publisher. The internet monopolists have not yet listed it, so you may need to pick up a copy on your next trip to Kathmandu.

Dan Martin, Tibetan Histories: A Bibliography of Tibetan-Language Historical Works, Serindia Publications (London 1997). In collaboration with Yael Bentor. Foreword by Michael Aris. The original book is now out of print. A revised and expanded version was posted on the internet on December 21, 2020, in both Word and PDF formats that may be downloaded for free at the following URL: https://www.bdrc.io/blog/2020/12/21/dan-martins-tibetan-histories/.

_____________

Postscript

A local search of BDRC revealed more than one occurrence of that quote from the Gzer-mig. Here is a good example:

Khri Bsod-bstan, Bon-dpyad Spyi Rgya Rlabs Gcod, Kan-su'u Mi-rigs Dpe-skrun-khag (Lanzhou 2015), TBRC no. W8LS20516. As the page no. is not supplied I can’t tell you what it is. (I find that Shardza has the same quote near the beginning of his own history.)

མདོ་གཟེར་མིག་ལས། 

སྣོད་བཅུད་འཇིག་རྟེན་མཐའ་ཡས་ལ།། 

ནམ་མཁའ་ཇི་བཞིན་ཐུགས་རྗེས་ཁྱབ།།

Notice that here ting-nge-'dzin, meaning contemplative absorption or samâdhi, is replaced by 'jig-rten, the world with its inhabitants (like Sanskrit loka). I have to say, the reading meaning “world” suits the context a lot better. It’s a beautiful way of saying that the compassion of the Enlightened Ones extends to distant-most extremes of the environmental-biological universe just like space does.

_____________

Another Postscript (May 13, 2024):

I can't begin to explain why, but the very same title page (to see its verso, you need to scroll back to the preceding scan no. 489) is photographed once again at the very end of EAP687/1/55.  Here you can see it:

Scan no. 490 of EAP687/1/55.

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.

 

Five Seals of Bon, but with Symbolic Figures This Time

 

click to enlarge

I never expected to see this. Last year I blogged about the several Afroeurasian versions of the Seven Seals. Among other things I concluded that the several sets of seven are interrelated only here and there and with difficulty, but also that Tibetan sources never seem to correlate them with symbolic figures as the Arabic and Hebrew versions do.

Have a quick look at that earlier blog, entitled “Seven Seals, Times Several,” and then come back here before getting lost in it. The frontispiece you can see there is a fine example of an Arabic set of the symbolic figures.

Let me quote a passage from it:

“Observe that much of both the content and the context of the Islamo-Judaic seals is not findable in the Tibetan. You find no symbolic figures or ‘signs’ in the set of Seven Seals in Tibet. You find none of the symbolic correspondences with the seven then-recognized planets, or the seven days of the week. Perhaps most significantly of all, you never see the talismanic theme of personal protection in those same Tibetan accounts.”

We could add that the seven seals in Tibet are never representing a series of disastrous world-ending events like you find in the book of Revelations. To the contrary, they usually represent exclusivity, secrecy, occultation, and hidden knowledge.

So, Lo and behold! Here we have a set of five at the end of the next-to-last line. Let me clip it out for you to make it clearer, I hope.  

First you see what look like three wavy lines one on top of each other. That’s a stack of Tibetan na-ros, or ‘o’ vowels. Then you see a three-fold stack of what I suppose could be number ‘4’s, although I read them as being three ‘l’ letters in their subscript forms (la-btags).* Next is, ‘obviously,’ a version of the well-known swastika (in case you are curious, it is oriented in the normal Bon direction; the banned-in-Germany National Socialist swastika is not only oriented in the opposite direction, it is also standing precariously on one of its four corners... Please pay attention to the distinction, people).  The fourth item you see is a stack of three triangles arranged to create one larger triangle.  Finally we see something that could represent flames, I suppose, although in truth I am not at all sure how to read it.  Just before the set of five symbolic figures is a list of three types of seals: the secret seal (gsang rgya), the hidden seal (gab rgya), and the treasure seal (tyer rgya, i.e. gter rgya). Then, at the beginning of the next line is the label “Five Seals” (rgya lnga).

(*I’m thinking they could be meant to represent three eyes, stacked one on top of the other... but in that case I see no clear sign of a dot for the pupil, which seems essential.)

 

Let me try clipping them out again, perhaps clearer this time:

So, there you have my conclusion for today: It turns out I was mistaken in saying that the sets of seals in Tibet never are found keyed to symbolic figures. This one example just proved me wrong.

I think it is just as well that I find myself unable to give a more cogent interpretation of these five symbolic figures. They really ought to remain secret after all. In a general way I’m reflecting that they (whether in this Bon example, or the sets in Arabic and Hebrew sources) may have something to do with traditional marking systems such as those humans have been using for many millennia by now, as ways to talley up numbers or mark ownership (mason marks and livestock brandings, are good examples). Well, before you call me out on my silliness, I would ask you to admit that when we are presented with basic letter-like figures that make no immediate sense, our minds are likely to place them in some such category. Other speculations I’ve seen associate them with the 7 chakras, but this idea is entirely invisible in pre-20th-century sources that I know of.

Well, I didn’t open up my blogsite today just to confess the errors of my ways or announce to the world my failed attempts at understanding (there are even more important examples I could show off to you another day), but on a more positive note to alert the researchers in our field of Tibeto-sophy to an amazing new resource for Tibetan texts belonging to the Bon religion. Without more ado before saying adieu, I abruptly send you there to explore for yourself.  Just go here:

https://eap.bl.uk/project/EAP687

To find the particular volume and our passage, go here:

https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP687-1-16

Then navigate to the scanned page no. 33 for the title page of the text that continues until scanned page no. 55, where you will see the Five Seals (or Five Seals + 3 = 8?).

•

PS: I don’t know much about the cycle of teachings our colophon page belongs to, apart from it being a long-life ritual practice involving both medicines and prayers associated with Tsewang Rinzin (ཚེ་དབང་རིག་འཛིན་), one of the ancient Bon sages. If we restrict ourselves to what is there on that single final page, I’ll quickly and lackadaisically paraphrase some of it for you, like so:

The sum of all the knowledge-bearing sages of India, Persia, Burusho, Orgyan, Zhangzhung, Tangut Land, Tibet and so on is found combined in this practice.  It is the heart-of-hearts of the twenty-five aural transmissions. If you were to practice it without distractions in a secluded setting you would be bound to swiftly attain the superpowers. This particularly aural transmission was passed along by Dranpa Namkha to the triad of the Lord Monarch, Pakor Bairotsana, and the woman sky-goer Coza Bönmo. These three regarded it as especially profound and precious, so they hid it in a hardened leather chest, so that one day when due to karmic forces Bon would decline, it would transform lack of faith into faith [?unclear to me]. When they were at the treasure sites in order to conceal these texts, they hid them as first-fruits treasures and as profound treasures, and accompanied this by aspiration prayers that they would in the future be revealed.

An Arabic Seven Seals example,
after Dawkins (read from right to left of course).
Notice the ‘ladder’ in the middle
(it sometimes looks like a hashtag - #)

Suggested readings

Joám Evans Pim, Sergey A. Yatsenko, Oliver Timken Perrin, eds., Traditional Marking Systems: A Preliminary Survey, Dunkling Books (London 2010), in 518 pages, with plentiful black-and-white illustrations.

Donatella Rossi, “The Lo rgyus chen mo in the Collection of the Ye khri mtha’ sel Attributed to Dran-pa nam-mkha’,” contained in: Samten G, Karmay and Yasuhiko Nagano, eds., New Horizons in Bon Studies, National Museum of Ethnography (Osaka 2000), pp. 181-191. I think it is suggestive that the rare Ye-khri cycle of Dzogchen shares the same “teaching scene” with our colophon in which Drenpa Namkha passes his teachings on to three prominent disciples: Emperor Trisongdetsen, Pagor Bairotsana and Coza Bönmo. These teachings were then received as an aural transmission from Tsewang Rinzin to Lungbön Lhanyen in 1088 CE, although that date isn’t very secure (1088 according to some is his birth date, in which case the aural transmission would have taken place in 1118, his 31st year).

Richard Smoley, “The Mystery of the Seven Seals,” originally published in the Spring 2017 issue of Quest magazine, but also placed online. Not everyone will appreciate the Theosophical approach taken here, but there is something to be said about connecting the Seven Seals with a liberating ascent through the planetary spheres (in Judaeo-Christian-Islamic sources, not in Indo-Tibetan sources, even if there, too, you can find liberating ascents aplenty). This author takes a further step by mysteriously connecting them with the chakras of the human body.

You may also want to go back to still another recent Tibeto-logic blog entitled “One Secret of the Seals.” It demonstrates the presence of an Aramaic (as well as Hebrew and Arabic) word for “seal” in a Tibetan manuscript scribed in  the mid-13th century. Yes, it does.

•

Comments by Lloyd Graham

Hi Dan, and congratulations on spotting that seal series! I have never come across anything like that sequence of glyphs, so I’m afraid that - beyond guesswork - I don’t have any insights into what might lie behind the symbols. If, as you suggested previously, the Tibetans were aware of the Solomonic Seven Seals as a series of symbols, this may have motivated one or two Tibetan writers to give graphic form to the local set of seven seals, even if they were primarily textual in nature.

At a stretch, one could see the strange 5- or 6-spike symbol at the far right of the Tibetan series as reflecting the vertices of the pentagram/hexagram at the far right of the Islamicate series, the three-triangles glyph as a refraction of the Islamicate “three strokes” symbol, and the centrally-positioned rectilinear swastika as a local reworking of the centrally-positioned rectilinear “ladder” glyph, but the two left-most Tibetan symbols lack any correspondence with the canonical Islamicate series.

The only other thing that I noticed is that the subset of five Tibetan seals that have been illustrated graphically in EAP687/1/16 seems to correspond well with the subset that you mentioned previously in connection with O-rgyan-gling-pa's 14th-century treasure finder, Bka’-thang Sde Lnga, Mi-rigs Dpe-skrun-khang (Beijing 1990). Your paraphrase of the page on which the symbols appear reveal that it is focused on supreme knowledge being hidden as a treasure for later seekers to (re)discover, so there is a strong thematic overlap.

Similarly, one of the uses claimed for the Islamicate Seven Seals was in finding hidden treasure: 

“... these seven signs were written on the gate of the Ka'ba, and they can be applied in seventy-two ways to lift buried and concealed property and treasures. If you want to undertake such a work with them, write with saffron and hang them around the neck of a white much-crowing cock and allow it to run at the place where the treasure or the concealed property should lie. At every place where he stops and looks with his foot or beak in the earth or where he crows, there is the treasure or the concealed property.” 

—    Hans Winkler, Siegel und Charaktere in der Mohammedanischen Zauberei.

The Realm of Dharmas, a Treasury of Jewels, Chapter 7: Everything is Totally Naturally-Arrived-at in Bodhicitta

 

The Realm of Dharmas,

a Treasury of Jewels,

by Longchen Rabjampa

 CHAPTER SEVEN

EVERYTHING IS TOTALLY NATURALLY-ARRIVED-AT IN BODHICITTA

[Not only are all dharmas included in Bodhicitta, they are naturally-arrived-at.]

The scriptural authority of Bodhicitta is of a nature 

naturally-arrived-at:

The summit of the King of Mountains, arriving-at the meaning

of the Unmade,

is exalted over all, the great king Supreme Vehicle.

[Just as the King of Mountains is exalted in the middle of the four world-continents, the Ati Vajra Heart Vehicle is explained as the peak of peaks, exalted over all.]

˚

[A simile showing Ati to be the summit of all.]

When one has arrived at the summit of the King of Mountains,

all the lower valleys are seen at once.

The valleys do not see the nature of the peak.

Just so, the Vajra Heart Ati

is the peak of peaks of Vehicles

which clearly sees the meanings of all the others.

The lower Vehicles do not see the meaning of this Ati.

That is left for the time when they have arrived-at the naturally-arrived-at

peak.

[While from the summit of the mountain all the valleys are seen all at once, from the valleys the top of the mountain cannot be clearly seen.  Just so, the significances of each of the lower Vehicles are seen simultaneously from the Ati perspective.  The significance of Ati the lower Vehicles do not see since they confuse the high with the low.]

˚

[The relative greatness and specialities of the higher and lower vehicles are further explained.]

When you make a request to the great Wish Granting Jewel,

everything wished for naturally comes.

Most people, if asked, will say it isn’t so.

Because the Vajra Heart Three Bodies are naturally-arrived-at

out of the Realm as it is, Buddhahood arrives-at itself.

The greatness of Ati is just this—no pushing, no striving.

While the lower Vehicles exert themselves in accepting some things

and rejecting others,

they don’t get there for aeons.  They have some thick phlegm congestion

disease.

[When someone gets everything desired just by asking the Wish Granting Jewel, that is something only for lucky people.  When the qualities in self-engendered Full Knowledge are realized in a naturally-arrived-at way, and stay at rest without pushing, it is something for only the best practitioners.  When they make wishes to the all-purpose Jewel, some people make their requests to a piece of wood in the shape of a jewel and so, do not reach their aim.  It is the same with those who want to be buddhaized through the pushing and striving of the lower Vehicles.  They teach that there is nothing more because they are worn-out and congested with thick, sticky phlegm.]

˚

[Awareness beyond working/pushing is taught to be the Three Bodies.  The underlying meaning of “Dharmabody as it lays” is…]

Totally level by nature, Awareness-Bodhicitta

(spread-out Dharma Proper-as-it-lays)

is receptive centre of primordially level Nature Dharmabody;

is, while all have it, objective sphere of the fortunate few;

is, according to how it is placed, arrived-at by leaving it lay 

in that continuity.

[The meaning of Dharmabody is the undiffusive void-clarity substance of Awareness.  Realization of the Mind Proper as-it-lays is, aside from a few, not something for all.  Its style is Great Levelness beyond extremes since it is the substance of the Realm of Vajra.

Awareness Self-dawned says,

The void-clarity mandala of Vajra is

the Dharmabody itself, undistracted and

passing-right-through.

It is beyond the extreme views that postulate

a subjective ‘grasper’.

In the Dharma beyond extreme views is no desire.]

˚

[The underlying meaning of “Assets Body as-it-lays”:]

Embracing.   Spreading.   Self-luminous.   Naturally-arrived-at.

The Perfect Assets are in all, while seeing is a thing for the few.

When whatever appears is left ‘as is’ without working or pushing,

it is revealed.

[Awareness self-luminous is the nature of this Assets Body.  It shines to perfection when, after it dawns without impediment on the apparent objects, it is left to be bright without entering into grasping.]

˚

[The underlying meaning of “Emanation Body”:]

A spreading receptive centre, the Emanation Body with

unlimited roles to play

is in everything, luminous from the time when it dawns.

The miracles of wish granting qualities and activities

are nowhere else to be found.

                                          The receptive centre of pure self-Awareness

like muddied water will,   if allowed to clean itself,

                     come out clear.

[When Awareness dawns from the continuity of its appropriate abode, the part which seems to dawn, naked and passing-through, is the Emanation Body.  It has totally dawned as qualities and activities.  So its dawning, a mirror of clairvoyance and Buddha-eye, into this continuity beyond accepting/rejecting and working-pushing is like the appearance of a clear reflection on water pure of muddiness.]

˚

[Now the underlying meaning of “Three Bodies” is shown as a single Realm beyond working-pushing.]

Pushing doesn’t get it.  The dharmas primordially pure

shine in the receptive centre of self-produced, clearly

comprehended Buddhahood.

What you’ve already arrived-at doesn’t need to be striven for

starting now.

This is the underlying meaning of “Greatness situated in itself”:

Dharma Proper receptive centre.

Don’t push to arrive-at the untransformable Naturally-arrived-at.

[The Mind Proper-Suchness, the substance of Dharmabody, is arrived-at on its own part.  So pushings-strivings are unnecessary.]

˚

[Such an Awareness is taught to be single & self-situated.]

It is the total basis,   the laid-down basis,  the clearly comprehended

heart basis.

From the Continuity of its nature it has not the least bit moved.

So don’t compromise on the meaning of the luminous receptive centre

Awareness.

[The appropriate substance of Awareness is no where arrived-at and not to be fused or diffused.  If you want to realize and have revealed to you its meaning, the meditative absorption where knowing is settled in its own place, and no compromising from the continuity of the naked passing-right-through, are two most important things.  Dharma Proper lacks a mover because it is contradicted by the movement of thoughts distracted toward objects.]

˚

The reason it is arrived-at when everything is placed?

The five Full Knowledges, untransformable lords embracing all beings.

The five Bodies.   The five Speeches.   The five Minds.

The five Qualities.   the five Activities.

Even the Adi-Buddha is naturally-arrived-at in

this receptive centre beyond beginning and ending.

So don’t look elsewhere.   Its nature is totally arrived-at.

[The substance of Awareness, being beyond transforming and transporting, is the five—Vajra Body, etc.  The substance of  Awareness, being incommunicable, is the five—Dharma Proper clearly comprehended Speech, etc.  The substance of Awareness, being undiffusive, is the five—self-engendered Full Knowledge Mind, etc.  The substance of Awareness, being all Qualities—the basis of all completion, etc.  Since everything is, in the substance of Awareness, arrived-at as pure & level Full Knowledge and the four Activities, it is the five—immaculate Dharma Proper Activity, etc.  The completion of these twenty-five is the Adi-Buddha Total Good clearly comprehended.  Being totally arrived-at in the substance of Awareness, it is not to be looked for elsewhere.]

˚

[While sangsara/nirvana is arrived-at in Awareness, there is no Dharmabody apart from Mind Proper.]

Though the Dharmabody of all Buddhas be clearly comprehended,

there is nothing other than the meaning of untransformable levelness.

Because the former is self-engendered and naturally-arrived-at in the

latter,

it is unsearched for, unstriven for.  Hopes and fears are naturally

put to rest.

[Even that attainment of Buddhas’ Dharmabody is nothing other than the substance of Awareness revealed without outside contaminants or contrivance.  And Awareness is, because everything has it without transforming or transporting, alighted in naturally-arrived-atness, implicit Awareness uncontrived.

The Pearl Strand says,

Complete Buddhahood is implicit Awareness alone.

The All Making King says,

I, the All Making Bodhicitta,

am unproduced.  When there is no longer subject and object,

“Unborn Dharmabody” are just words that have occurred.]

˚

[The Mind Proper of sangsara is arrived-at as Buddhabody.  So renunciation is unnecessary.]

The self-engendered Full Knowledge of all sentient beings

is also unmade and unsearched for, naturally-arrived-at as Buddhabody.

So do not cling to accepting/rejecting.     Settle down

in this Realm of Dharmas continuity.

[This word for sentient beings, “Citta possessors,” means nothing apart from the continuity of Awareness.  Since the same Awareness is not to be divided up between sangsara and nirvana, there is no need for pushing and striving.]

˚

[Awareness is passed beyond moving and pushing.]

In the unmoving, unthinkable naturally level substance,

the meaning of Unmade is arrived-at.  It is a spacious receptive centre

foundation.

[Because Dharmabody is naturally-arrived-at in the Awareness substantiality, abiding in the substance behind “the meaning of Unmade arrived-at” is the strange and marvelous Full Knowledge.  This is shown to be the foundation of the Realm of Dharmas beyond all horizons.]

˚

[The stream of naturally-arrived-at empowerment is shown to be totally completed in the Awareness substantiality.]

The MASTER Body and Total Wisdom of All Animate Beings Untransformable

and the EMPOWERMENT Royal Method Head Anointing Great Self-engendered

have naturally-arrived-at the total disentanglement of

appearances/becoming     and     material/vital

Working/seeking is unnecessary.   The     nature naturally-arrived-at

arrives-at absolutely everything,

expands into Great Naturally-arrived-at.

[Total Awareness is completed in the naturally-arrived-at substance of the Three Bodies.  So when the complete empowerment arrived-at in self-engendered Full Knowledge takes hold, there is no depending on present exertion and pushing or on empowerments employing consecrated articles.]