Terton Onomastics

Title page of a text included in BDRC no. W4PD975 (click to enlarge)

If you’ve been with us in recent years you would know this: Surprising new pieces of older Tibetan literature are popping up all the time. You would also know that the main place where this is happening is BDRC (formerly TBRC) and its BUDA website. The title page you see just above with the unusual archway of entry is a great example. Maybe the best part of its story is that, for Tibetan readers of the world, it presents a number of puzzles, puzzles that I haven’t, or haven’t yet, solved to my own satisfaction. One of the mysteries is who wrote it, but before going into that, let’s try and say what it’s about. Come, let’s walk through that door.

First, the title: 

Gsang-sngags-kyi Rig-pa-'dzin-pa-rnams-kyi Rnam-thar Sa-bon tsam dang Mtshan dang Mtshan-gyi Rnam-grangs.  

“Knowledge Holders of Secret Mantra: Seed Biographies along with Their Names and Variant Names.”

The title already tells you it’s an onomasticon, a study of personal names of a limited group of persons. It tells you who those persons are, ‘Knowledge Holders of Secret Mantra.’  When you look into the book’s content, it is clear this means above all those known to us as Tertons. A Terton (གཏེར་སྟོན་) is someone who reveals or extracts (སྟོན་ or བཏོན་) treasures (གཏེར་མ་). By treasures we think first of their scriptural discoveries, although relics, images, medical works and even luxury objects and precious metals could also be found by them, often in one and the same excavation site.

I tried transcribing the first couple of pages, not being all that certain I could manage the odd style of cursive* with its special abbreviation practices.** I soon ran into puzzling problems. Particularly when I got to the misplaced passages marked off with special symbols such as the ‘three jewels’ mark, it wasn’t clear to me where these were meant to be inserted. These first pages do not yet concern the Tertons, the Treasure Revealers, but rather the Treasure Concealers, in particular “Guru Rinpoche” Padmasambhava followed by his 25 disciples. Mostly it is filled by brief sections about the Tertons and their individual names. I thought I ought to make a list of their names at least (see the Appendix).

(*I do appreciate the calligraphy, but at times its style could be described as sloppy, just notice how the letter “zha” [ཞ་] appears. **For the word mtshan, as you can see already in the title, its root consonant "tsh" can be reduced to the tiny flag that normally serves to differentiate it from the "ch." The resulting abbreviation looks something like "m'n.")

You get the impression this includes more mention of Bon than is usual in works on this subject. Already in the Guru Rinpoche section we are told what names he received in Bon sources.

I will go ahead and quote from our earlier blog (linked below) knowing that adherents of the Nyingma school may be discomfited:

“And of course, it needs saying that the Bon school must be brought into our future conclusion-making processes, as they have a rich literature of Tertön histories, prayers and prophecies of their own. It’s even possible that followers of Bon got their terma traditions underway before the Nyingma did.”

To flesh that out a bit, it seems likely as we suggested in that same blog that the first Nyingma Tertön was active in around 1080 CE. If so that makes the Nyingma phenomenon significantly later than the Bön Terma tradition that begins in a big way with the discoveries of Shenchen Luga in 1017 CE, although with the revealers of the Nāga Hundred Thousand (ཀླུ་འབུམ་) and a few other Bon scriptures, we would need to push Bon Terma revelations back a century or so before Shenchen’s.  So their Termas may be not just a half, but as much as two centuries older than Nyingma Termas.

There is a lot more to know about the Tertons as a group of prophetic revelatory figures in Tibetan history simply because Tibetan Studies experts as a whole haven’t studied them in sufficient depth and detail, not yet. Not just the onomastic and biographical works, but other genres, in particular Terton prayers and prophecies need to be taken into account. The sheer weight of the volumes of rediscovered teachings would disable more than one elephant. There is so much to take in. 

At the head of my own list is a better understanding of the surely different, but often similar and occasionally overlapping, traditions of Bon and Nyingma schools. The good investigative work that has been done here and there hasn’t really been put together to form a fuller circumspectual portrayal of the phenomenon of Treasure revelation — what it was and is, what it has meant to Tibetans, and what it ought to mean to everyone. Let’s get to work. 

I’ve heard there may be a new book coming out that will answer our questions about how Treasure traditions may be inspired by or simply continue earlier robust traditions both Indian and Tibetan.  No, I didn’t write it, and I won’t say more until it is more than a rumor echoing in empty space.

Some refs.

We’ve already blogged at some length about Tertons a few years back, just look here: Locating a Terton Prayer in Terma History. Once there, you’ll find references to further resources that I won’t list all over again. Your dyed-in-the-wool Tibetosophers can have a look at this webpage we made, supplying a particular set of sources of Tertön names that may be compared and contrasted to this newly noticed onomasticon.

An onomasticon, really? That means a collection of nouns limited to a particular specialized field. Most often it means a collection of proper nouns. Perhaps the best known work by that name, the Onomasticon by Eusebius of Caesarea (d. 339 CE), was limited to place names within the area of what we call the Middle East. It’s particularly important for understanding the place names on the Madaba Mosaic Map that can still be seen in situ on the floor of a church in a town in Jordan located high in the hills just east of Jericho. Although it hardly compares, I’ve also composed a kind of onomasticon limited to Tibetan proper names, both person and place names. It took over 40 years to make it, with a length of about 1,700 pages if it were ever printed on paper. Just a few days ago I posted it at a free website, free in its making and free to use, called “Tibetosophy.”  If you feel you are ready to make use of it, feel free to go here:

https://sites.google.com/view/tibetosophy

You can even make use of it to find out more about the Tertons named in this Onomasticon.  The bibliographical details are as follows:

“Rig pa ʼdzin pa rnams kyi rnam thar sa bon tsam dang mtshan gyi rnam grangs ci rigs.” Bla ma don rgyal gyis nyar tshags mdzad paʼi dpe rnying dpe dkon, vol. 32, pp. 93–136. Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC), purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW4PD975_317ABE. Accessed 18 Nov. 2023. [BDRC bdr:MW4PD975_317ABE]

If you want to get to it easily, just type the entire Resource ID number W4PD975 into the search box at BUDA. Click on the scanned title page. Then go to volume 32 and scroll down about a hundred pages. 

 

Appendix

I will list the names of the Tertons here, not promising a thorough, in-depth job of it. My reason for doing this is just so they will be findable by people out there searching the worldwide web. As things stand, it isn’t likely OCR will be effective enough with cursive manuscript for a long time into the future, so the effort can be justified. I assign page numbers to the text, as the folios are unnumbered and in a booklet format (44 scanned pages in all): 

1)  Names and forms of Guru Rinpoche according to various sources.  Scan pp. 1-5.

• The name is Padma-mthong-grol in Bon sources, specifically citing the testimony of a Terma revealed by the Terton Guru Rnon-rtse aka A-ya Bon-po Lha-'bum.  Scan p. 6.

2) Emperor Khri-srong-lde'u-btsan.  Scan p. 7.

3) The sons of the same and the subsequent royal line.  7-8.

Others among the 25 disciples of Guru Rinpoche apart from the Emperor, starting with Gnubs chen Sangs rgyas ye shes as no. 2, each subsequent one should have received his or her own numbers 3-25.  No. 8 is Vairocana (on p. 10) who deserves special attention.  Dran-pa-nam-mkha' is noticed on p. 16, with the information that he was given the name Phung-bon Mgo-dmar because he was presented with a red hat at his ordination. Ends (p. 18) with an interesting comment that there can be different ways of listing and identifying the 25 disciples and that some say there were 27.  Scan pp. 9-18.

At scan p. 19 begins the listing of the “Hundred Tertons” (གཏེར་སྟོན་བརྒྱ་རྩ་).  We'll just list their names with page and line numbers (interlinear mchan-notes do not count as lines) so you can locate information about them with ease. At least to begin with each Terton is awarded a number (superinscribed above the name), so we will attempt to follow the same system. Even if the numeration gives out after no. 14, I just keep numbering them anyway. In my experience the number “100” was never meant to be exact:

1. Sangs-rgyas-bla-ma, the 1st of the Tertons.  19.1.

2. Rgya Lo-tsā.  19.2.

3. Sna-nam-pa ('Brog-pa Sna-nam Thub-pa-rgyal-po).  19.4.

4. Rgya Zhang-khrom.  19.6.

5. Nyi-ma-seng-ge.  19.7.

6. Dbu-ru Ston-pa Shākya-'od.  19.8.

7. Bon-po Brag-tshal.  20.1.

8. Snye-mo Zhu-yas.  20.3.  He is quite rightly identified as a Bonpo by birth, but not noticed is that he was a chief disciple of Gshen-chen Klu-dga'.

9. Grub-thob Dngos-grub.  20.4.

10. Gtsug-lag-dpal-dge.  20.7.

11. Ku-sa Sman-pa.  20.8.

12. Bon-po Lha-'bum.  21.4.

13. Khyung-po Dpal-dge.  21.5.

14. Gra-pa Mngon-shes.  23.1.

15. Ra-shag Chen-po.  23.6.

16. Nyang-ral.  23.8.

17. Dbon-sras Khyung-thog (=Khyung-thog-rtsal).  24.6.

18. Ra-mo Shel-sman.  25.1.

19. Gu-ru Chos-dbang.  25.3.

20. Gu-ru Jo-tshe.  25.7.

21. Padma-dbang-phyug.  26.2.

22. Do-ban Rgya-mtsho (~Dor-ban?).  26.4.

23. Rakshi Ston-pa.  26.6.

24. Byar-rong E-yi Sman-pa (=Nyi-'od-gsal).  26.8.

25. Gra-sgom Chos-rdor.  27.1.

26. G.yag-phyar Sngon-mo.  27.4.

27-28. Grum, and his patron of Paro, Bhutan named Nag-po-mkhar.  27.6.

29. Lha-btsun Sngon-mo.  27.9.  Notice the mention here of Mchog-'gyur-gling-pa (1829-1870), which helps us date the work.

30. Nyi-ma-grags-pa.  28.4.

31. Rin-chen-tshul-rdor.  28.7.

32. Tshe-brtan-rgyal-mtshan.  29.4.

33. Me-ban Rin-chen-gling-pa.  29.6.

34.  O-rgyan-gling-pa.  29.10.

35. Dri-med-'od-zer.  30.4.

36. Rog-rje-gling-pa.  31.3.

37. Gter-bdag-gling-pa.  31.8.

38. Padma-kun-skyong-gling-pa.  32.2.

39. Mdo-sngags-gling-pa Mchog-ldan-mgon-po.  32.4.

40. Bstan-gnyis-gling-pa Padma-tshe-dbang-rgyal-po.  33.1.

41. Rdo-rje-gling-pa. 33.4.

42. Rin-chen-gling-pa, "The Second" (=Sangs-rgyas-gling-pa).  34.2.

43. O-rgyan-padma-gling-pa.  34.7.

44. O-rgyan-las-'phro-gling-pa.  35.1.

45. Bsam-gtan-bde-chen-gling-pa.  35.6.

46. Zhig-po-gling-pa.  35.8.

47. Bde-chen-gling-pa (the one born in Gro-shul Tshwa-lung).  36.1. Here on scan no. 36 is a statement about how the Thang-yig that was found at Shel-brag actually has 47 Tertons ranging from Sangs-rgyas-bla-ma up until Bde-chen-gling-pa. I'll transcribe it:

de ltar gter chen sangs rgyas bla ma nas bde chen gling pa'i bar thang yig shel brag ma'i dngos bstan bzhi bcu zhe bdun gyi rnam thar sa bon tsam du btus pa de'ang snga phyi rim par byon pa'i go rim du mi gnas thang yig gi dngos bstan ma bcos pa yin no ||

• This does create some perplexing problems as the Biography of Guru Rinpoche from Shel-brag was revealed in 1352. Just identifying let alone dating the particular Bde-chen-gling-pa who was born in Gro-shul is a problem, but nobody seems to date him or any other figure by this name to any time before the 17th century. Well, let’s go on to list the rest.

48. Rgya-ban Rdo-rje-'od.  37.1

49. Gu-ru Hūṃ-'bar.  37.2.

50. Lha-btsun Byang-chub-'od.  37.3.

51. Jo-bo Rje Dī-paṃ-ka-ra.  37.5.  This is Atiśa, from Bengal.

52. Zhang-btsun Dar-ma-rin-chen.  37.7.

53. Rong-zom Chos-kyi-bzang-po.  37.8.

54. Rdor-'bum-chos-kyi-grags-pa.  37.9.

55. Sangs-rgyas-'bar.  37.10.

56. Se-ston Ring-mo.  37.11.

57. Rgya Phur-bu (=Phur-bu-mgon).  37.11.

58. Dge-bshes Dra-nga Rdo-rje-kun-grags. 37.12.

59. Lha-rje Gnubs-chung.  38.1.  He is likely to be the magic teacher of Milarepa before Milarepa met Marpa.

60. Rgya-ston Brtson-'grus-seng-ge-dar. 38.4.

61. Lce-btsun Seng-ge-dbang-phyug. 38.5.

62. Sar-ban Phyogs-med.  38.8.

63. Gnyan Lo-tsā-ba Dar-ma-grags.  38.9.

64. Shākya-'od, or Shākya-bzang-po.  38.11.

65. Zangs-ri-ras-pa.  38.11.

66. Gnyal-pa Jo-sras Seng-ge Gnyag-ston Nag-po.  39.1.

67. Snye-mo Rgya Gong-ri-pa Sangs-rgyas-dbang-chen.  39.1.

68-69. Chu-pho Rtogs-ldan, aka Dge-bsnyen-rgyal-mtshan and Dge-'dun-rgyal-mtshan.  39.4.

70. Sprul-sku Ba-mkhal Smug-po.  39.6.

71. Mol-mi-'khyil.  39.7.

72. Gru-gu Yang-dbang.  39.8.

73. Sum-pa Byang-chub-blo-gros. 39.9.

74. Stag-lung-pa Sangs-rgyas-dbon-po.  39.10.

75. Gnyal-pa Nyi-ma-shes-rab.  39.12.

76. Khro-phu Lo-tsâ-ba Gnubs Byams-pa'i-dpal.  40.1.

77. G.yas-ban Ya-bon.  40.2.

78. Bal-po A-hūṃ-'bar.  40.2.

79. A-ro Dpal-po (?).  40.3.

80-82. Sum-tshogs.  Name of a group of three Tertons: Rkyang-po Grags-pa-dbang-phyug, Sum-pa Byang-chub-tshul-khrims, and 'Bre Shes-rab-bla-ma.  40.4.

83. Du-gu Rin-chen-seng-ge.  40.5.

84. Gtsang-pa La-ba-ring-mo, or Gtsang-ring Shes-rab.  40.6.

85. Jo-mo Sman-mo.  40.8.  A woman Terton.

86. Me-long-rdo-rje.  41.1.

87. Skal-ldan Byis-pa.  41.2.

88. Brang-ti Rgyal-nyi Mkhar-bu.  41.3. Revealer of medical Termas.  (Brang-ti Rgyal-mnyes Mkhar-bu is a more common spelling of his name.  Mkhar-'bum also occurs.)

89-92. Four Terma assistants of Gu-ru Chos-dbang by the names of Sgom-chen 'Brug-pa, Gnyan-ston Dzambha-la, Don-grub-seng-ge, and Padma-grags-pa. 41.4.

93. Dung-mtsho-ras-pa, The Earlier.  41.5.

94. Mkha'-'gro-ma Kun-dga'-'bum.  41.6.  Another woman Terton.

95. Dung-mtsho-ras-pa, The Later.  41.7.

96.  Badzra-ma-ti, the Indian.  41.9.

97. Rgyal-sras Legs-pa.  41.10.

—. Scan no. 43 has only two lines saying there were five King Tertons and Three Supreme Emanation Tertons, with the King Tertons being Nyang-ral, Gu-ru Chos-dbang, Rdor-gling, and Padma-gling-pa (the fifth one is not listed).

—. Scan no. 44, the final scanned page, lists alternative names of three prominent women, in fact queens, of 8th-century Tibet.  

So no, I now feel sure there is no telltale statement, let alone an informative colophon, identifying the author. About all I can say for sure is that the author or note-taker (or combination of the two) must have lived sometime in the 20th century because he mentions, in an authored statement of his, the name of the 19th-century Terton Mchog-'gyur-gling-pa.

But let’s consider some possibilities. Now that I've taken the book* down from the shelf and can compare, I see that our author follows more or less the same listing as Kongtrul does in his famous set of Terton biographies (written in 1886), not just for the first 47,** but for the following ones as well. One difference is that while our Onomasticon stops with Rgyal-sras Legs-pa, Kongtrul’s continues with about 60 more names.

(*Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Taye, The Hundred Tertöns: A Garland of Beryl, Brief accounts of Profound Terma and the Siddhas Who Have Revealed It, tr. by Yeshe Gyamtso, KTD Publications [Woodstock 2011].  **These first 47 adhere to the order of prophecies in the Thang-yig, just as Kongtrul did, so from this we draw no diagnostic clues. We have to go on to look at the order and content that comes after no. 47 in the list.)

That leads me to wonder if our Terton Onomasticon isn’t in fact one of two things:  1. A set of notes made by a reader of Kongtrul’s work, severely abbreviating it and stopping abruptly.  2. An earlier sketch that would only later be expanded into Kongtrul’s work, which could mean it may be a writing of Kongtrul himself. I rather doubt that last possibility, but I suppose it could be considered.  We just have to look into it some more.  I’ve noticed that there are places where our text supplies information not found in Kongtrul’s work,* so it isn’t simply a student notebook.

(*For example it supplies more details about the three subsequent reincarnations of Bde-chen-gling-pa, no. 47 in the list, than you find in Kongtrul.)

 

— — —

 

Postscript (Nov. 27, 2023):

About that question of who the first Nyingma Terton may have been. Some might take exception to the ideas put forward, so let me go into it once more. In the Onomasticon and likewise in Kongtrul, it is Sangs-rgyas-bla-ma who was first. Whether or not his history had been told prior to the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama I haven’t been able to discover yet. His dating is quite shadowy, cast somewhere around the last half of the 10th century, active in Ngari. The main problem with him being declared first is just that no texts he excavated, no lineage he initiated, is available in later history, well, not until a visionary rediscovery in the 19th century. 

Sprul-pa'i Gter-ston Rdor-'bum-grags
miniature from a medical text.
TBRC W4CZ355782

The Zab-bu-lung history and a whole group of related Terma histories give the first Terton as Rdo-rje-'bum or Rdor-'bum Chos-kyi-grags-pa. His is somewhat less shadowy, yet shadowy he is, and his discoveries were all related to medicine rather than Dharma.  Obscure as he may be to most of us, BDRC has a Person ID for him dating him to the 11th century.  Let me quote here what was said in the earlier blog, as I’m not sure you will locate it in that rambling discussion:

Looking at the Tertön Prayer itself, what strikes us right away is that the first verse is devoted to a relatively unknown Tertön named Dorjebum (Rdo-rje-'bum) known for his medical terma. He is, in the Zab-bu-lung history explicitly stated to be the first of the Tertöns. The same history does slip Sangyé Lama (Sangs-rgyas-bla-ma) into the discussion, but I fail to find him in the prayer itself.  The Fifth Dalai Lama also mentions Sangyé Lama here, but says only that his lineages were not received. It may be due to Kongtrul that it is now common knowledge that Sangyé Lama must be called the first. As a rediscoverer, he may have himself been rediscovered, or at least revalidated, in the 19th century.

The Guru Tashi history has an argument that Dorjebum lived four generations before Yuthokpa, so dating Yuthokpa’s activities to around 1200, that would put him in about 1080 CE, so that’s about the best I can do at dating him.

Immediately after the doctor’s verse, verse 3 is about two women Tertöns, yet another somehow surprising feature. Why, we wonder, would physicians and women Tertöns take priority?  It is only in verses 4 and 5 that we get the names of the Tertöns of greatest renown (to us at least), Nyangral Nyima-özer and Guru Chöwang. 

I haven’t located any of Rdor-'bum’s medical Terma now existing in the form of actual texts. However, there is a record of teachings received by Brag-dkar Rta-so Chos-kyi-dbang-phyug (1775-1839), with a lineage of the same. I haven’t looked into all of this yet, but perhaps it would be worthwhile to go to BDRC and have a look at it as contained in RID no. W1KG14557. It is quite brief. There are 17th-century sources on him we could look into. There are also biographical sketches of him in the recently compiled collective biographies of physicians, where we learn he lived in the time of Marpa, was ordained as a monk, was active in western Tibet or Ngari, and drew his medical Termas from the heart of an image of Tandrin at Traduntse, and still other such Termas from still other images. It’s even said that lineages descending from him are still alive today. All very interesting and worthy of closer study, I do declare. And it is all made possible by searching in the databases of BDRC. Finally, if you require something about him in English, there is no better place to look than Gavin Kilty's translation of the 17th-century medical history by Desi Sangyé Gyatso, Mirror of Beryl, The Library of Tibetan Classics series 28, Wisdom (Somerville 2010), pp. 177-185. 

Whose Praise of Tsari?

Pemakarpo, HAR 65368

Over the years I’ve developed my own way of seeing holy places. I’ve spent decades living in one of the most celebrated pilgrimage destinations the world has ever known. I see today’s Places as rooted in the primordial human past, when divine presences began to be enshrined in natural features such as standing stones, cairns and groves* that eventually evolved into the towering cathedrals and temples of our time. Simplistic? Well, of course, simple ideas are the most difficult to arrive at sometimes, and to keep things simpler still, we have to ignore the ways holiness and divinity might demand definition and explanation. Religious studies experts are still at work on that. We don’t expect consensus anytime soon.

(*And, I should add, mountains...)

I no longer remember when I first became aware of the traditional-style nature reserve in southeastern Tibet known as Tsari. I suppose it must have happened in the late-’70’s to mid-’80’s. In my younger days I read a lot of travel literature, and although traveling botanists were not my usual thing, I do remember books by Fletcher and Kingdon-Ward that may have touched me off, or at least peaked my interest at a new level. At some point I uncovered something I should have known already, that a particularly difficult song by the Sixth Dalai Lama (b. 1682 CE) is devoted to this place even without specifically naming Tsari. Without knowing about Tsari, there can be no way to begin to understand the poem itself, it would seem like nothing but senseless word salad.

The same might be said for the verse work I’ll translate for you in a minute, one that we’ll call by the short name Praise. It assumes even much more knowledge about the sacred geography of Tsari than was expected by the Sixth Dalai Lama. When I noticed it in a brand new collection of the works of Tāranātha (ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་, 1575-1634) it intrigued me, as I had no idea this famous Tibetan (not Indian!) scholar ever wrote about Tsari, so I had a closer look, only getting more and more frustrated by each new quatrain. But thanks to the internet, and specifically to BDRC, these problems have a way of working themselves out and that is how I came to realize that it is, with hardly any reason for doubt, a work by the 4th Drugchen Pemakarpo (འབྲུག་ཆེན་པདྨ་དཀར་པོ་, 1527-1596). It was placed in the collection by mistake.

If there is one point about pilgrimage that can be taken away from this Praise with confidence, it is that the same landscape can be loaded with multiple layers of meaning. Still, only one level is likely to be available to a particular pilgrim at any one time. As far as the overall picture is concerned, people do see what they come prepared to see. On the deeper levels, Tibetan pilgrims could possibly experience states corresponding to those in the intermediate state of the afterlife at Kawa Karpo (see Buffetrille’s essay) or, at Tsari, undergo the four empowerments of Vajrayāna.  Take any two or three pilgrims traveling over the same landscape, and you may well find two or three highly disparate worlds. Pemakarpo is exceptionally explicit about this. Let this be a warning, we talk in generalities at our own peril, pilgrimage is not necessarily a ‘simple’ popular religious practice for gaining merit and purifying sins however much it might look that way to people like ourselves.

Without more ado, I’ll place before you my translation of the Praise, although I will repeat the whole set of verses at the end of this blog entry in parallel with the text edition, such as it is, so Tibetan readers can compare for themselves and criticize the English as they must. I tried to translate poetry as poetry, but I can’t claim success. The combination of esoteric initiatory imagery and classical kāvya poetics makes the going particularly hard, kind of like a perilous pilgrimage in the Himālayas. I beg of you to read with patience and care. Assistance in interpretation will be offered later on, just in case you could use some.

White Lotus Belles Lettres: 

A Praise of the Holy Place Known as Caritra

Praise the name of glorious Caritra!

The learned are the swans who find delight in their findings,

‘here in this wide and glorious lotus pond of utmost perfection,’

they’ve unfurled the broad white wings of their poetic arts,

and with slow drumbeats on their throat drums praised its wonders.

All-pervasive and subsuming all, as it was in the beginning,

never ever changing, the ultimate extinguishing of change,

this very same high peak as the Victors see it

paints its own painting, ‘The Field of Pure Dharmakāya.’

It all displays atop a single base as one great mandala,

the entire supreme array of peaceful, lustful and wrathful ones,

its each and every atomic particle displaying likewise,

here in this Sambhogakāya Field of visionary experience.

For personages defined as ordinary, medial and supreme

this watery moon dances its appropriate marvels as needed,

and the eye of divination descries in this crystalline Place

‘rulings’ of a country of miraculous Emanations.

To the south of the place where the Teacher taught those emanations,

this Great Cemetery is one of a group of twenty-four

that the multitude of unsurpassed tantra texts made out to be supreme Places,

one that has chopped off the tongues of philologers, Caritra.

The blood-thirsty Heruka, hero whose soles are soaked

in waves of red blood from the slaying of the frightful ones, is

there in union with the Ḍākinīs who purify the two obscurations

as the delusion-vanquishing Crystal Mountain, a caitya of Dharmakāya.

The twelve island lakes are the field of their deployment

together with the Vidyās and Messenger Women, the Place

where Pagsam Wangpo went to take the powerful siddhi substance,

a vowed substance subsuming them all, an icon of the Ḍākinīs.

It is a place the Karma Ḍākinīs, experiences of heat, do espionage

under varied guises of environments—mountains and lakes, trees and ravines—

a divination mirror for gauging the quality of prior cultivation,

it is a Place for Nirmāṇakāyas, so the less well endowed risk their lives.

Emaho! 

Opening up the two folded hands of faith

these articles of offering scatter in its direction.

The doorlocks blocking the turnoffs of eternalism & nihilism

were cleared by the riverbank of swift causation.

When we inspect the tracks of those with robes of nonattachment

gotten by renouncing household life, this place with its great contemplative absorption in 

circumambulation with one-pointedness and insight

brings down all those arrogant about their desire-free path.

Fully soaked by love in compassion’s wet meadow they are

expert in taking paces with wisdom and means paired together,

‘This is the heart of the Wisdom Gone Beyond,’

with this thought the favorably endowed advance very far.

For recipients of the commitments of this Place’s awesome guardians,

ushered through the door of the great Dharma-origin of Pölung,

the blessing descent, dawning of instantaneous spiritual experience

and realization, reveals all mandalas in that glorious forest.

Humans much darkened in sin, this vessel of cloud,

blocked at the time of waking the mists curl round its neck,

this descent of compassion streams bathe their bodies

making it pure, this being the empowerment of no turning back.

Descending within the Four Ravines and settling upon the Four Passes,

the solar and lunar transversals leave no chance for dreams;

it is solely the enjoyment of the secret assembly substance

that is known to the fortunately endowed ones as The Second.

Then imbibing the melt from the twelve island-lakes,

when climbing to the peaks of four mountains,

the darkness of thick sleep is vanquished and 

consecration in the drop of space is what was named The Third.

Then journeying to the Four Caves, upon a lion throne

they first settle the mind in high manifest Awakening,

dissolve into the four absorptions, then aroused by the song of Turquoise Lake's goddess, 

arise as teacher of the Goal in the pass named Gayo.

Those who with care proceed living true to their commitments,

move into Bumdé, then cross the valley of Lachen pass,

are the ones who will protect the great treasure of renown

that forms the basis of benefit and comfort for all living ones.

Some beginners in the pilgrimage bear the mere signs,

while intermediate pilgrims are just borrowers of blessings,

while the advanced ones see everything in its full state of divinity

and so it is explained to travelers, “This is circled three times.”

In these words Vajradhāra revealed the secrets,

so when this grandchild of the Kagyü Lamas speaks them

may the lotus teeth in all the smiles of the Ḍākinīs

be tied as tightly around him as a turban.

The circumambulation of Caritra is symbolic of the gradual traversal of the Path of Great Secrets, and seeing it as such I thought to expand on it as a teaching made in offering to others, and this is why I composed this work called White Lotus Belles Lettres in the palace where the great Vajra Wielders stage their visible performances, the glorious forest of Chigchar.

§   §   §

Text edition (here my English translations and comments are rubrics in red font, while the Tibetan texts of Pemakarpo are in black).

A. Tāranātha [ascribed to], Tsa-ri-tra zhes-pa’i Gnas-la Bstod-pa Pad-dkar Legs-bshad, contained in: Rje-btsun Tā-ra-nā-tha’i Gsung-’bum Bris-ma, Dpal-brtsegs Bod-yig Dpe-rnying Zhib-’jug-khang (Lhasa 2008), in 10 vols, vol. 9, pp. 403-406, in cursive script. It has been very carefully proofread, but do note that abbreviated forms have been tacitly expanded. I cannot explain how this brief work ended up in this collection of Tāranātha manuscripts that were mostly drawn from the library of Arhat Temple in Drepung (we are told this in a preface). This particular title has no sign of a shelving number, so it is difficult to be sure if it was from the Arhat Temple.  The texts before and after it all have colophons informing us that Tāranātha was their author, and some also have those telltale shelving numbers.

B. Variants are drawn from the “headed” block-letter text with identical title in the works of ’Brug-chen Padma-dkar-po, vol. 9, images 537-542, of BDRC no. W10736 (while most of the 24 volumes are made available on OCR, unfortunately the volume we require, vol. 9, doesn’t appear in that form). I give complete lines as variants to avoid impeding computer-based searches, although I have sometimes bracketed the syllable-final “s.” Pemakarpo wrote a much longer Guide entitled: Gnas-chen Tsa-ri-tra’i Ngo-mtshar Snang-ba Pad-dkar Legs-bshad, contained in the same edition of his collected works, in vol. 4, pp. 207-274. As part of this Guide is written as a commentary on the Praise (this same part is summarized in Huber’s book), I have quoted relevant sections of its OCR following the appropriate verse (but not for every verse; I give no page numbers on the assumption that you, too, can locate it in the OCR version).

 

tsa ri tra zhes pa'i gnas la bstod pa pad dkar legs bshad ces bya ba bzhugs so //

White Lotus Belles Lettres: A Praise of the Holy Place Known as Caritra.

na maḥ shrī tsa ri trā ya / 

Praise the name of glorious Caritra!

phun tshogs padma can yongs dpal 'di zhes //

mkhas pa'i ngang pa dpyad pas yid mgu nas //

snyan dngags gshog yangs dkar po rab brkyang[s] te //

ya mtshan bstod pa'i mgrin rnga dal gyis brdungs //

mkhas pa'i dad pa dpyad pas yid mgu nas/_snyan ngag gshog yangs dkar po rab brkyang ste/_ya mtshan bstod pa'i mgrin rnga dal gyis brdung/

The learned are the swans who find delight in their findings,

‘here in this wide and glorious lotus pond* of utmost perfection,’

they’ve unfurled the broad white wings of their poetic arts,

and with slow drumbeats on their throat drums praised its wonders.

(*The word pond isn’t physically present, and the poetic term padma-can can have a variety of referents, all sharing the same characteristic of having or holding [a] lotus. Taking the verse as a whole, however, there can be no doubt that the meaning of lotus pond is intended here.)

°

kun khyab kun tu bsdus yang dang po'i tshul //

B: kun khyab kun tu brdzus kyang dang po'i tshul //

nam yang 'gyur med 'gyur ba zad pa'i mtha' //

rgyal rnams gzigs pa'i rtser 'thon nyid 'dis nyid //

dag pa chos sku'i zhing zhes ri mor byed //

kun khyab kun tu brdzus kyang dang po'i tshul/_/nam yang 'gyur med gyur ba zad pa mtha'/_/rgyal rnams gzigs pa'i rtser 'thon nyid 'dis nyid/_dag pa chos sku'i zhing zhes ri mor byas/_dpal bde mchog 'khor lo nyid dang gnyis su byar med pa/_/gsang ba mchog gi dgyes pa na/_/thams cad bdag nyid rtag tu bzhugs/_/zhes pa'i pho brang chen po ni 'di ste/_chos thams cad la khyab pas/_chos can gyi ngo nas dmar sbyar yang/_chos nyid kyi tshul nam yang 'gyur ba med pa sangs rgyas rnams kyi gzigs pas grub pa'i phyir ro/_/rgyu mtshan 'di nyid kyis nyid la gsang ba chos sku'i zhing khams zhes ri mor byas kyi/_gzhan gyi bsam pa dang brjod pa thams cad kyi ra ba 'gongs pas so/_/

All-pervasive and subsuming all, as it was in the beginning,

never ever changing, the ultimate extinguishing of change,

this very same high peak as the Victors see it

paints its own painting, ‘The Field of Pure Dharmakāya.’*

(*The word Pure [Dag-pa] here stoutly alludes to the name of Pure Crystal Mountain [Dag-pa Shel-ri], the central mountain of Tsari. The Crystal Mountain part of its name appears likewise embedded in a later verse where again it is associated with Dharmakāya. Victors is a commonly used epithet of the Enlightened Ones.)

°

gzhi gcig steng du ma lus dkyil 'khor che //

zhi chags khro ba rnam pa'i mchog thams cad //

ston la rdul rer rdul snyed de 'dra'i tshul //

'char ba'i snang ba longs sku'i zhing yang 'di //

B: 'char bas snang ba longs sku'i zhing yang 'di //

ngo bo de ltar yin pas/_gzhi gcig steng du ma lus dkyil 'khor che/_/zhi chags khro ba rnam pa'i mchog thams cad/_/ston la rdul rer rdul snyed de 'dra'i tshul/_/'char bas snang ba longs sku'i zhing yang 'di/_/ji ltar du mar snang zhe na/_gzhi gcig gi steng du rgyud sde rin po che rnams nas bshad pa'i dkyil 'khor gyi lha zhi ba dang/_chags tshul dang/_khro bo khrag 'thung chen po'i rnam pa thams cad ston pa'i zhing la khams gsum gyi yul ma yin pa'i 'og min stug po bkod pa zhes rnam par bzhag mod/_tshul de nyid kyis 'di'i rdul rer 'jig rten khams thams cad kyi rdul dang grangs mnyam pa'i gsang ba sngags kyi lha dang/_snying po dang/_phyag rgya thams cad 'char ba'i phyir na/_nang snang ba longs sku'i zhing khams su grub bo/_/

It all displays atop a single base as one great mandala,

the entire supreme array of peaceful, lustful and wrathful ones,*

its each and every atomic particle displaying likewise,

here in this Sambhogakāya Field of visionary experience.

(*We are used to mandala groupings of peaceful and wrathful deities, particularly in The Tibetan Books of the Dead, but the lustful group is less often mentioned. These are aspects in which these divine forms of Buddhas display to us, since we are the ones who are dominated by the Three Poisons that require transformation. We’ll leave the subject on this perplexing note. It is fascinating to see how the mandala stands for the holy Place as a whole, but also in fractal fashion it manifests in each atomic particle (the Tibetan rdul means both dust particle and atom, depending on context.)

°

tha ma 'bring dang mchog gi gang zag la //

ngo mtshar gang gi[s] 'dul de chu zla'i gar //

pra babs mig la shel mtshungs 'dir snang ba //

sgyu 'phrul sprul pa'i yul gyi gtan tshigs mthong //

des byed pa'i las/_mtha' ma 'bring dang mchog gi gang zag la/_ngo mtshar gang gis 'dul de'i chu zla'i gar/_pra babs mig la shel mtshungs 'dir snang bas/_sgyu 'phrul sprul pa'i yul gyi gtan tshigs mthong/_skal ba dman 'bring mchog gi gang zag rang rang ngo mtshar du 'dzin pa/_ri/_mtsho/_lung pa/_ljon shing/_srog chags/_lha'i gzugs brnyan/_lha tshogs sogs gang gis 'dul ba de dang der grub kyis/_gcig tu chad pa yin pa/_dper na pra babs pa la dpod mkhan gyi dbye bas/_mdun ngor shel gcig la mthong ba sna tshogs su 'gyur ba bzhin gyi phyi yul snang sprul pa sku'i zhing khams 'di shar ro/_/

For personages defined as ordinary, medial and supreme

this watery moon dances its appropriate marvels as needed,

and the eye of divination descries in this crystalline Place

‘rulings’ of a country of miraculous Emanations.

(This verse continues with the third Body of the Trikāya doctrine, making use of divination terminology, more particularly crystal scrying, seeing as the words pra-babs [scrying, although I translate it as divination] and gtan-tshigs [edict, logical proposition, although I translate it as rulings] are terms used in that art.

Oh, and notice where the Dharmakāya verse displayed high mountain imagery, this Nirmāṇakāya verse alludes to lakes.  The mountain/lake dyad is a very strong feature of Tibetan folk religious symbolism since early times.)

°

ston pas sprul bshad mdzad de'i lho phyogs kyi //

dur khrod che 'di nyi shu rtsa bzhi'i gya //

bla med rgyud gzhung rgya mtshos gnas mchog tu //

bsgrubs pas rtog ge'i lce chad tsa ri tra //

To the south of the place where the Teacher taught those emanations,

this Great Cemetery is one of a group of twenty-four*

that the multitude of unsurpassed tantra texts made out to be supreme Places,

one known to chop off the tongues of philologers, Caritra.

(*The group of 24 Places of the Vajra Body appears in variant forms in both Buddhist and non-Buddhist tantras, a topic for another time. If you need a bibliography just tell me. I’ll quickly admit that the name of Tsari is a real puzzle, but I think it is best explained as a ’Tibetanizing’ transcription of the first two syllables of Caritra. If this holds true, then the Tibetan name only seems to contain the notion of “mountain’ in it, even if there is a common understanding that the name means Herb Mountain. But I value my tongue, so I won’t say more.)

°

'jigs byed bsad pa'i khrag dmar rba glong gis //

zhabs mthil bsgos pa'i dpa' bo he ru ka //

B: zhabs mthil bgos pa'i dpa' bo he ru ka //

sgrib gnyis dag pa'i ḍā ki dang lhan du //

bdud 'joms shel ri chos sku'i mchod sdong yin //

The blood-thirsty Heruka, hero whose soles are soaked

in waves of red blood from the slaying of the frightful ones, is

there in union with the Ḍākinīs who purify the two obscurations

as the delusion vanquishing Crystal Mountain, a caitya of Dharmakāya.

°

rigs ldan ma dang pho nya mor bcas dang //

kun tu spyod pa'i 'khor sa bcu gnyis gling //

dngos grub len la dpag bsam dbang po ni //

yongs 'du lta bu dam tshig mkha' 'gro'i [b]rten //

The twelve island lakes are the field of their deployment

together with the Vidyās and Messenger Women, the Place

where Pagsam Wangpo went to take the powerful siddhi substance,

a vowed substance subsuming them all, an icon of the Ḍākinīs.*

(*It demonstrates amazing prescience, if the verse is by Pema Karpo, that he would name by name his immediate reincarnation Drugchen V Pagsam Wangpo [འབྲུག་ཆེན་དཔག་བསམ་དབང་པོ་, 1593-1653]. For the story of his involvement with the ‘vowed substance’ or sacramental medicine, the Rainbow Light Pellet, see Martin’s essay. One of its main ingredients grew in the neighborhood of Chigchar, an herb named in the verse by the Sixth Dalai Lama mentioned earlier. Not only the fifth, but the fourth and sixth incarnates were all involved in its making.)

°

sna tshogs ljongs dang ri dang mtsho klung shing //

las kyi mkha' 'gro nyams drol nyul ba'i sa //

B: las kyi mkha' 'gro nyams drod myul ba'i sa //

las 'phro bzang ngan brtag pa'i me long 'di //

sprul sku'i gnas yin skal med srog la [~ma?] gtum //

In this place the Karma Ḍākinīs, experiences of heat, do espionage

under varied guises of environments, mountains and lakes, trees and ravines;

a divination mirror for gauging the quality of prior cultivation,

it is a Place for Nirmāṇakāyas — the less well endowed risk their lives.*

(*The words “experiences of heat” and the final word gtum both consciously allude to psychic heat or tummo testing, something Tsari was known for. See discussion in Huber's book, pp. 86-90.  The phrase “risk their lives” isn’t literal, but ‘harsh on life-force’ is one way it may be understood.)

°

e ma ho /

dad pa'i snyim pa kha phye nas //

mchod pa'i yo byad 'di yi phyogs 'thor ba //

rtag chad lam gol [405] dgag pa'i sgo glegs zhes //

rgyu 'bras myur bu'i 'gram gyis gsal bar byas //

Emaho! 

Opening up the two folded hands of faith

these articles of offering scatter in its direction.

The doorlocks blocking the turnoffs of eternalism & nihilism

were cleared by the riverbank of swift causation.*

(*This verse refers to the laypersons’ typical experience of pilgrimage, alluding to challenges to ordinary views and dangers (physical hardship in itself may purify negative karma; read Huber’s book, p. 151), just as the next verse refers to the monastics’. The author shows a lack of enthusiasm for the pilgrimage experiences of householders and monastics.)

°

khyim nas rab byung zhen med chas gos kyi //

sgrub pa'i [b]shul rjes blta ba'i shes rab dang //

rtse gcig bskor ba'i ting 'dzin chen po 'dis //

chags bral lam gyi khengs pa thams cad bsnyil //

When we inspect the tracks of those with robes of nonattachment

gotten by renouncing household life, this place with its great contemplative absorption in 

circumambulation with one-pointedness and insight

brings down all those arrogant about their desire-free path.

°

byams pas rab brlan snying rje'i ne'u rdzab tu //

thabs shes zung 'jug gom[s] pa 'dor mkhas pa //

pha rol phyin pa'i snying po 'di yin zhes //

dgongs nas skal bzang yun ring de la bkris //

Fully soaked by love in compassion’s wet meadow they are

expert in taking paces with wisdom and means paired together,

‘This is the heart of the Wisdom Gone Beyond,’

with this thought the favorably endowed advance a long distance.

(Remember that Tsari is famously moist compared to other nearby valleys, which helps to explain its unique plant life. This particular verse emphasizes the Path according to the Great Vehicle, Mahāyāna. With the next verse we enter the more exclusive and esoteric realm of Vajrayāna, where we remain until the final verse.)

°

bod klung[s] chos 'byung chen po'i sgor bcug nas //

gnas srungs gnyan po'i dam tshig nod rnams la //

dpal gyi nags [~gnas?] su nyams rtogs cig 'char ba'i //

byin phab de la dkyil 'khor ma lus bstan //

For recipients of the commitments of this Place’s awesome guardians,

ushered through the door of the great Dharma-origin of Pölung,

the blessing descent, dawning of instantaneous spiritual experience

and realization, reveals all mandalas in that glorious forest.*

(*For an incident that occurred at Bod-klung [“phölung”], see Huber’s book, p. 64. I believe it is the centrally located valley where “Tibet Rock” [བོད་རྡོ་] is located. The ‘blessing descent’ indicates a phase in the sādhana practice.  ‘Glorious forest’ looks like a name for Chigchar, and the name of Chigchar is concealed later in this same line. For proof of the identity of the glorious forest with Chigchar, see the colophon, below.)

°

yid can sdig la cher gnag sprin gyi bum //

sad pa'i skabs dgag na bun mgul dkris nas //

thugs rje'i chu rgyun phab 'dis lus bkrus pa //

dag byed phyir mi ldog pa'i dbang bskur yin //

phyogs thams cad sprin sngon po rab tu 'khrigs shing/_na bun 'thul ba/_char gyi rgyun mi zad par 'bab pa ni lus can rnams kyi sdig pa la cher gnag pa'i bum pa bzang po ras dkar gyi zur phud tsan nas bdud rtsi lnga'i rang bzhin gyi chab 'ongs te/_lus kyi thig le sad pa'i gnas skabs spro ba/_rags pa'i sdig sgrib 'khrud/_sku rdo rje'i nus pa 'jog pa bum dbang ngam phyir mi ldog pa'i dbang bskur ba ste/_bskur mkhan ni mkha' la spyod pa'i dbang mo rnams so/_/zhes pa'i brda'o/_/

Humans much darkened in sin, this vessel of cloud,

blocked at the time of waking the mists curl round its neck,

this descent of compassion streams bathe their bodies

making it pure, this being the empowerment of no turning back.*

(*I see a mountain here, for most part dark in color, but with a white turban on its top.  The word 'vessel' points to the Flask Initiation. Starting with this one, each verse that follows is about one of the four empowerments.)

°

rong bzhi'i nang 'bab la bzhir 'dzeg pa yis //

nyi zla'i bgrod pas rmi lam skabs phral [~bral] nas //

gsang ba'i tshogs rdzas longs spyod 'di kho na //

snod ldan rnams la gnyis pa zhes bsgrags so //

rong bzhi'i nang 'bab la bzhir 'dzeg pa yis/_nyi zla'i bgrod pa la rmi lam skabs phral nas/_gsang ba'i tshogs rdzas longs spyod 'di kho na/_snod ldan rnams la gnyis pa zhes bsgrags so/_/rong chen po bzhir babs nas/_la chen po bzhi la 'dzeg la/_de dag tu tshogs kyi 'khor la du ma bskor ba 'di yang bla ma dang gnyis su med pa'i bcom ldan 'das kyi khu ba dang/_bcom ldan 'das ma'i rdul rtsa stong phrag bdun cu rtsa gnyis nas 'khor lo bzhi'i rong du 'bab pa dang/_de nyid slob ma rang rang gi 'khor lo bzhi'i lar 'dzeg pa/_gsang ba'i rdzas bdud rtsi lnga khar myong bas te/_ngag gi thig le rmi lam gyi gnas skabs skyed pa phra ba'i sdig sgrib 'khrud/_gsung rdo rje'i (20_na_39)nus pa 'jog pa'i dbang gnyis pa gsang pa'o zhes bsgrags so/_/

Descending within the Four Ravines and climbing the Four Passes,

the solar and lunar transversals leave no chance for dreams;

it is solely the enjoyment of the secret assembly substance

that is known to the fortunately endowed ones as The Second.*

(*On the Four Great Ravines and the Four Great Passes as well as the Twelve Lakes that follow, geographical features of Tsari, see  Huber’s book, p. 101, for a passage in the long guidebook by Pemakarpo where all take part in an initiatory process.)

°

de nas bcu gnyis gling pa'i pad can gyis //

B: de nas bcu gnyis gling sa'i pad can gyis //

zhu ba 'thungs pa ri bzhi'i rtser son tshe //

gnyid 'thug mun pa 'joms pa nam mkha' yi //

thig ler rab gnas gsum pa zhes par btags //

de nas bcu gnyis gling gi pad can gyi/_khu ba 'thungs pa ri bzhi'i rtser son te/_gnyid 'thug mun pa 'joms pa nam mkha' yis/_thig ler rab gnas gsum pa zhes par btags/_de yang pho brang bcu gnyis la sogs pa'i mtsho'i chu 'thung zhing*/_ri bzhi'i rtser son pas nam mkha'i thig le nyi ma lta bur gsal ba nyid du gyur pa ni/_phyag rgya pad+ma can gyis bzhu ba'i byang chub kyi sems dkar dmar 'dres pa gsang ba'i sna rtses 'thung ba/_dus der sku gsung thugs ye shes kyi thig le 'dzag med du bsdam nus pas yid kyi thig le gnyid 'thug gam snyoms 'jug gi gnas skabs skyed pa shin tu phra ba'i sdig sgrib 'khrud cing*/_thugs rdo rje'i sa bon 'jog pa gsum pa shes rab ye shes/_'jig rten pa'i dbang bzhi pa'i mthar thug gi bar ro/_/

The twelve island lakes are the field of their deployment

when climbing to the peaks of four mountains,

the darkness of thick sleep is vanquished and 

consecration in the drop of space is what was named The Third.

°

de nas phug bzhir gshegs nas seng ge'i khrir //

mngon par byang chub che la mnyam bzhag pas //

B: mngon par byang chub che la mnyam gzhag pas //

bsam gtan bzhir zhu g.yu mtsho'i lha mo'i glus //

B: bsam gtan bzhir zhu g.yu mtsho lha mo'i glus //

dga' yo la der 'bras bu'i ston par bzhengs //

de nas phug bzhir gshegs nas seng ge'i khrid/_mngon par byang chub che la mnyam gzhag pas/_bsam gtan bzhir bzhugs g.yu mtsho lha mo'i glus/_dga' yo la der 'bras bu'i ston par bzhengs/_de yang/_phug bzhi'i nang du ngal bso ba dang/_khri bzhi la 'dug pa dang/_pho brang g.yu mtsho 'khor ba'i glus dga' yo lar skal bzang su byed pa ni/_so so rang rig pas mngon par byang chub par dbugs phyung ba dang/_zhu ba de'i mtshan nyid can rgyu'i he ru ka sgra bo bral gyi bsam gtan bzhir zhu dngas ma ye shes kyi mkha' 'gro ma bzhi'i glus bskul ba/_'bras bu'i he ru ka kha sbyor gyi sku bzhi pa'i thig le/_spang bya 'pho ba'i skabs skyed pa thun mong rnam shes kyi chos 'khrud cing ye shes kyi rdo rje'i nus pa bzhag pa 'jig rten las 'das pa'i dbang bzhi pa'o/_/

Then journeying to the Four Caves, upon a lion throne

after settling the mind in high manifest Awakening,

dissolves into the four absorptions, and with the song of the goddess of Turquoise Lake,

arises as teacher of the Goal in the pass named Gayo.

°

gang du bag yod dam tshig spyod pa'i 'gongs //

lum sder bskyod pas ma chen lung brgal nas //

B: 'bum sder bskyod pas ma chen lung brgal nas //

mtha' yas skye dgu'i phan bde'i gzhi yin pa'i //

grags pa'i gter chen skyong bar bya ba yin //

Those who with care proceed living true to their commitments

move into Bumdé, then crossing the valley of Lachen [pass],

they are the ones who will protect the great treasure of renown

that forms the basis of benefit and comfort for all living beings.

°

'ga' la dang po de de btags pa [406] tsam //

B: 'ga' la dang por de der btags pa tsam //

bar mar byin rlob brnyan po tsam zhig ste //

tha mar thams cad lha ru mngon rdzogs pas //

lan gsum gyis 'di 'khor zhes 'gro la bsnyad //

Some beginners in the pilgrimage bear the mere signs,

while intermediate pilgrims are just borrowers of blessings,

while the advanced ones see everything in its full state of divinity.

Hence it is explained to travelers, “This is circled three times.”*

(*This verse emphasizes the different levels at which the pilgrimage may be experienced. It is as if the Place reveals itself after first discriminating the spiritual capabilities of the pilgrim. Surely nobody actually circumambulates the mountain more than once in a once-in-every-12-year season, so the words recommending it are not intended literally.)

°

de skad rdo rje 'chang gis gsang ba byin //

bka' [b]rgyud bla ma'i tsha bo des smras tshe //

ḍā ki'i zhal gyi padmo'i legs so'i 'dzum //  [~padmo lo lo'i 'dzum]

ma lus bdag la thod bzhin 'ching bar mdzad //

In these words Vajradhāra revealed the secrets,

so when a grandchild of the Kagyü Lamas speaks them

may the lotus teeth in all the smiles of the Ḍākinīs

be tied as tightly around me as a turban.

°

ces tsa ri tra bskor ba gsang chen gyi lam rim par bgrod pa'i brdar mthong ba ltar / gzhan la sbyin pa'i chos su rgyas par bsnyad pa / pad dkar legs bshad ces bya ba / cig car dpal gyi nags ljongs / rdo rje 'dzin pa chen po rnams mngon par rol pa'i gzhal med khang du sbyar ba bde legs su gyur cig //  //

The circumambulation of Caritra is symbolic of the gradual traversal of the path of Great Secrets, and seeing it as such I thought to expand on it as a teaching made in offering to others, and this is why I composed this work called White Lotus Belles Lettres in the palace where the great Vajra Wielders stage their visible performances, the glorious forest of Chigchar.

                                    §   §   §

This detail from a thangka painting, one featuring Drugchen Pemakarpo as its central figure (HAR 821), surely depicts his visit to Tsari. It may not be clear in my cutout, but the name Chigchar appears at the beginning of an inscription, one that starts in the lake and continues under Pemakarpo’s feet. The lake itself is marked with the seed syllable taṃ,* and towering directly above the lake I can think of no better candidate for what mountain it might be than Pure Crystal Mountain. After all, it even looks crystalline.

(*This is seed syllable of Tārā, so it is likely to be the lake of Tārā, one of Tsari’s more famous lakes, located in the valley that leads up to Tārā Pass (སྒྲོལ་མ་ལ་). An inscription reading “dpon slob” (དཔོན་སློབ་) is behind Pemakarpo’s head, but I believe this is not the name of the mountain, it’s just telling us that what we see here is the teacher [སློབ་དཔོན་] with his disciples [སློབ་མ་].)

 

Pure Crystal Mountain,
from Claude Arpi’s Blog listed below

§   §   §

A couple of other things you might read (no pressure)

There is a serviceable Wiki entry for “Dakpa Sheri” worth a visit.

Claude Arpi, “The Chinese Village in India and the Pure Crystal Mountain Pilgrimage,” Claude Arpi’s Blog (January 19, 2021). Not to leave the impression it is a pristine wilderness, Tsari today may seem more like a string of army bases and a basis for border disputes.

Elaine Dobson, “From Mount Tsari to the Tsechu: Bhutan’s Sacred Song and Lute Dance,” Journal of Bhutan Studies, vol. 25 (Winter 2011), pp. 59-81.  Available online.

Mark S.G. Dyczkowski, “The Inner Pilgrimage of the Tantras: The Sacred Geography of the Kubjikā Tantras with Reference to the Bhairava and Kaula Tantras,” contained in:  A Journey in the World of Tantras, Indica (Varanasi 2004), pp. 93-174. I list this work here as unfortunately Tibetanists are unlikely to know of it. It does demonstrate that Caritrā is a well known Place (pīṭha) in a wide array of Hindu tantras, and not just in Buddhist tantras and in Tibetan compositions. His maps show it located in the coastal areas of Orissa.

Elena de Rossi Filibeck, Catalogue of the Tucci Tibetan Fund in the Library of IsIAO, Volume 2, Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (Rome 2003).  If you happen to have this work on hand, you can see that among the works of Drugchen Pemakarpo listed on pp. 5-34, are found both the Praise and the longer Guidebook (see p. 7). The author of this catalog in a separate publication made a transcription of a more recent and lengthy Guidebook to Tsari.  I recommend her brief resumé of the same:  “A Guide-Book to Tsa-ri,” contained in: L. Epstein and R.F. Sherburne, eds., Reflections on Tibetan Culture: Essays in Memory of Turrell V. Wylie, Edwin Mellen Press (Lewiston 1990), pp. 1-10.

Harold R. Fletcher, A Quest of Flowers: The Plant Explorations of Frank Ludlow and George Sheriff Told from their Diaries and Other Occasional Writings, Edinburgh University Press (Edinburgh 1975), particularly Chapter Three, “To Tsari, a Tibetan Sanctuary,” pp. 77-126. Ludlow visited Tsari in 1936 and again in 1938. Worth obtaining for the photographs alone, for our purposes the black-&-white photo of Pure Crystal Mountain, or “Takpa Siri”  on p. 85, is the one to see. Many of the seeds of unique flowers he collected are propagated still today in Kew Gardens, London, in Edinburgh Botanical Gardens, and in many other gardens around the world. Francis Kingdon-Ward worked in about the same time and in a much broader area throughout the eastern Himalayas as far as Burma and Yunnan. His books and publications are far too numerous to list here, but the one you most ought to know about is linked just above. If you are keenly into botany, you may appreciate this online essay.

Toni Huber, The Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain: Popular Pilgrimage and Visionary Landscape in Southeast Tibet, Oxford University Press (Oxford 1999). This is the number one English-language publication for anyone with an interest in the subject. What more would I have to say to convince you to read it?

Dan Martin, “For Love or Religion?  Another Look at a ‘Love Song’ by the Sixth Dalai Lama,” Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, vol. 138, part 2 (1988), pp. 349-363.

Matthieu Ricard et al., trs., “The Ravines of Tsari,” Chapter Ten, contained in: The Life of Shabkar: The Autobiography of a Tibetan Yogin, Snow Lion (Ithaca 2001), pp. 243-273. Told in first person by Zhabkar Tsogdrug Rangdrol (ཞབས་དཀར་ཚོགས་དྲུག་རང་གྲོལ་, 1781-1851), this is the most impressive account of a Tibetan pilgrimage to Tsari ever, and the translators’ footnote explanations are top notch.

Gnyos Lha-nang-pa

By the way —

One of the most exciting new developments in Tsari studies since Toni Huber’s book appeared has been the publication (in Dehra Dun in 2006) of a previously unavailable 12th-century guidebook, the one by Nyö Lhanangpa (གཉོས་ལྷ་ནང་པ་, 1164-1224).  He is not only among the first to open the pilgrimage route, he was the central figure in what was not so long ago the most highly priced Tibetan painting ever sold at auction (no doubt it has since been surpassed), and he is important to the history of the Drigung Kagyü school and its rare branch lineage called the Lhapa, known in bygone centuries in Bhutan. He is a major figure in the early history of Bhutan and Bhutanese Buddhism, just that he is less known elsewhere. His work on preliminary practices will be found useful to anyone interested in the history of the genre, and it, too, has surfaced. Even without doing divinations, I sense that more blogs are in our future. Is that a look of dread I see?

• Did you notice the ritual action of water getting poured over hands in the lower right-hand corner of the painting shown above? That’s part of traditional land donation practice in ancient India (as I learned from the late and lamented Hubert Decleer; I am not sure if the article with his observations on this painting was published or not).

Internal Conversation, Discursive Thinking, Troubling Thoughts

Star Trek: The Next Generation
Season 7, Episode 6 — Phantasms

Internal conversation, discursive thinking and troubling thoughts. All three are practical synonyms for something that keeps going on when you sit down to try, with all the goodwill in the world, to meditate. Trying to turn them off unleashes the inevitable flood. Seeing the flood inspires frustration, and frustration can give way to surrender. 

Understanding what namtok (རྣམ་རྟོག) is is something you can only come to when you try to practice meditative concentration. And meditative concentration, I think needless to say, isn’t something you can approach by constructive logical steps, logical steps being another of the many things we label with the word thinking without giving the matter much thought. Well, without giving enough thought to what thinking is or can be. And logical thinking, as good as it surely is for us a lot of the time, is just too often too much like rationalizing what is anything but rational to begin with. We seem to have an endless supply of excuses for ourselves.

Allowing namtok to fuel your anguish, any efforts to force your thoughts to slow down or stop will be kind of like thrusting your hand in the water in an attempt to make the fish stop swimming. A better approach might be to sit still and let the fish flow by at their own speed. Instead of being troubled by them, it may be possible to settle into a mood of mutual relaxation. Then the superior kind of tokpa* might have a chance. Let's translate tokpa as deeper or fuller understanding, in a word, realization. We may suppose it’s why you wanted to meditate to begin with.

(*རྟོགས་པ་ rather than the cognitive-conceptual generalities called རྟོག་པ་. That silent ‘s’ [ས] makes a world of difference.)

As it is for most people nervously approaching medical or dental treatments as they sit in the waiting room, this kind of practice can be quite effective. Imagine the thoughts that seem to get in your way are fish in the aquarium.* Those fish tend to settle down after you stop tapping the glass and instead settle down in your seat. And the more you gaze at their movements the less disturbed you are by them, you might even be able to look past them. You don’t push them, they don’t push you to do all those things you’d regret doing. There’s nothing to get hung about, but you’re not hanging up on your heart, either. It’s rude to hang up in the middle of a conversation.

(*Waiting rooms often have fish tanks, and for a reason.)

° ° °

As I started out learning Tibetan in the early ’70’s, I used to somewhat jokingly translate namtog (རྣམ་རྟོག or རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་པ་) as psychic whirligigs.* Not sure that translation has quite the right spin even if I thought it had the right ring. Trains of thought tend to circle back along the same old tracks, so repetitive, even up to the point of becoming obsessive-compulsive (all the more so the more we are blind to it). Ruts are good for what? Still think my amusing translation was in the right spirit: Lots of spinning motion, no significant progress. We’ll talk about bagged cats (བག་ཆགས་) another time.

(*It’s a challenge to come up with a translation for namtok that covers every instance of its usage. It can range from superstition to vain imagining to doubt and hesitation, not to mention anxiety... As normal as it is for us to engage in it moment after moment for as long as we shall live, this mental activity is regarded by Tibetan Buddhists as one that engages in its objects with varying doses of attachment, attachment premised on conventional subject-object dualism... It gets in the way of truly seeing until it doesn’t.)

 

•

At the time the initial sense of abiding occurs,

interfering thoughts come up one after the other

as if they were rolling down a steep mountainside.

The thought occurs that perhaps this is no meditative experience at all,

but this sensing of the amount of interfering thoughts that occur

means that the perceptions have somewhat settled down.

Before, when there was no settling down at all,

the interfering thoughts erupted as they pleased

and even the fact that they run on was not recognized.

Then, like a slowly descending stream,

the perceptions slow down and the troubled thoughts become few.

Finally, like the depths of the ocean,

the perception stabilizes and remains immobile.

Then the meditative experiences occur.

One experiences a bliss, untroubled by thoughts and clear

like the center of unbroken space.

Like a butterlamp that does not flicker in the wind,

one’s own clarity, one’s own awareness, is undistracted.

Like a beautiful flower in a rainfall

it stands out with a shining clear presence against the ground.

Like the sun shining in a cloudless sky,

nothing comes in the way of its smooth transparency.

It is, like a bronze bowl full of water,

transparent within and without.

There will never be a word for such an experience.

It dawns without reason like dreams do.

 

•

གནས་པ་དང་པོ་བྱུང་དུས་སུ།།

རི་གཟར་ལོགས་ལ་རྦབ་འདྲིལ་བཞིན།།

རྣམ་རྟོག་ཟམ་མ་ཆད་པར་ལྡང་།།

བསྒོམ་ཉམས་མེད་དམ་སྙམ་པ་འོང་།།

རྣམ་རྟོག་བྱུང་ཚད་ཚོར་བ་དེ།།

ཤེས་པ་ཅུང་ཟད་གནས་པ་ཡིན།།

གནས་པ་མེད་པའི་གོང་རོལ་དུ།།

རྣམ་རྟོག་རང་དགར་ཤོར་བ་ཡིས།།

རྟོག་པ་འགྱུས་ཀྱང་ངོ་མ་ཤེས།།

དེ་ནས་དལ་འབབ་ཆུ་བོ་བཞིན།།

ཤེས་པ་དལ་ཞིང་རྣམ་རྟོག་ཉུང་།།

ཐ་མས་རྒྱ་མཚོའི་གཏིང་བཞིན་དུ།།

ཤེས་པ་མི་གཡོ་བརྟན་པར་གནས།།

དེ་ནས་ཉམས་སུ་མྱོང་བ་འཆར།།

བར་སྣང་དག་པའི་དཀྱིལ་ལྟ་བུར།།

གསལ་ལ་མི་རྟོག་བདེ་བར་མྱོང་།།

མར་མེ་རླུང་གིས་མི་སྐྱོད་བཞིན།།

རང་རིག་རང་གསལ་ཡེངས་པ་མེད།།

མེ་ཏོག་མཛེས་ལ་ཆར་བབ་བཞིན།།

ས་ལ་ཧྲིག་གེ་ཡལ་ལེ་བ།།

སྤྲིན་མེད་མཁའ་ལ་ཉི་ཤར་བཞིན།།

སིང་ངེ་ཆ་ལེ་དངོས་པོ་མེད།།

འཁར་ཕོར་ཆུ་ཡིས་བཀང་བ་བཞིན།།

ཕྱི་ནང་མེད་པར་སེང་ངེ་བ།།

དེ་འདྲའི་མིང་ལ་ཐུག་པ་མེད།།

གཞི་མེད་རྨི་ལམ་ལྟ་བུར་འཆར།།

• “A Twelfth-Century Tibetan Classic of Mahāmudrā, The Path of Ultimate Profundity: The Great Seal Instructions of Zhang.”  Chapter Six.