tibetan boks from a 'peak secretary
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Yale University
Yale University Library
TIBETAN BOOKS FROM A "PEAK SECRETARY"Author(s): Wesley E. NeedhamSource: The Yale University Library Gazette, Vol. 35, No. 3 (January 1961), pp. 126-133Published by: Yale University, acting through the Yale University Library
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126 THE YALE UNIVERSITY
TIBETAN BOOKS FROM A "PEAK SECRETARY"day nSeptember,950, receivedwocharmingetters
inthe ame nvelope,ostmarkedarjeeling,WestBengal,India. One letter,omposednTibetan,waswrittenya
Tibetan eacher ithwhom hadcorrespondedreviouslyhilehewas living n England ndworking s a linguisticnformantndresearchssistantt the School of Oriental ndAfrican tudiesntheUniversityfLondon.He waswritingn this ccasion rinci-
pallyto introducen official f theTibetanGovernment,hose
letter,nclosed, as the irstetternEnglishhat hadever eceivedfrom Tibetan. n it he expressedhe desire to correspondsfriends"ecause eknewofmy nterestnthereligiousiteraturefhiscountry.
Thusbegan cordial ndfruitfulorrespondence,suallynEng-lishbutoccasionallynTibetan,with Tse-drungr "Peak Secre-
tary." Later learned hat Peak" referso thePotala, hewinter
palaceoftheDalai Lama,anddesignatesn officialn constantt-
tendance n His Holiness.)My new correspondentad beenap-pointedn1941 o the ecretarialtafffHisHoliness,hefourteenthDalai Lama, nd had servedsa "PeakSecretary"ntil 947,whentheTibetanGovernmententhimto Indiato teach n Darjeelingat Saint oseph's ollege, branch f CalcuttaUniversity.erehisnewteachingutiesweretwofold: s an instructornTibetan an-
guage ndwriting,nd as a tutor othechildrenf Tibetannobles
duringheir esidencennorthernndia.
During hefollowingmonthss ourcorrespondencendfriend-
shipdeveloped, hadmany pportunitieso earn owaneducatedTibetan hinksndexpressesimselfnEnglish. is occasional iffi-cultieswith yntaxwere remindersfmyown effortso grapplewith he iteraryefinementsfhis anguage.nmost f our etterswe discussed isreligionnditsvoluminous acred iterature.l-
though e was nota member f the TibetanBuddhist lergy, ewasexceptionallyellgroundednthedoctrinesnd thepracticesofhisreligion. here ouldbe little oubt hat "Peak Secretary"must cquire superiorducation oearn his xalted itle.
Within yearwe beganexchangingooks.His enthusiasticn-terestnmyTibetan tudies asa constantource fencouragement
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LIBRARYGAZETTE 127
to me. Tomygreatpleasure,
esuggestedending
mereligioustexts ormyown ibrary.incewehadscarcely entionedny ub-
jectasidefrom he acrediteraturefTibet, was ata disadvantageeven oguesswhatbooks o send nreturn. o myrequestor listof those hatwould interestim,he mentioneduchsubjects s
English rammarndcomposition,eography,conomics,ndtheUnitedNations'Charter. lateristncluded few ecent ooksonTibet norder hathemightearnwhatAmericansndEuropeanshad writtenbouthiscountry.When senthimthese ooks in-
cluded few others n miscellaneousubjects:American istory,OxfordUniversity,uddhism,nd an atlas.At various imeshesentme handsome lock-printedditions fTibetanBuddhist extsthat never xpectedopossess,nda finemanuscriptditionwhichhehadorderedromnaccomplishedalligrapher.urcorrespond-encewas nterruptedormonthst a timewhenhewasassignedoother utiesnnear-by alimpong, townnotfar rom heborderof Tibet.
About woyearsater,when heTse-drungxpresseddesire or
textbooksn science, articularlynphysics,hetime eemed ro-pitious or uilding p,throughxchange,hecollectionf TibetanliteraturentheYale Universityibrary.Withthe pproval f theLibrarian,nd thecooperationf theGiftsndExchangeDepart-mentof theLibrary,omeduplicate extbooks n sciencewereboxedandsent o theKalimpongddress.
Communistgentswere tthis ime lowlynfiltratingibet ndtheborder reas; ndmailto andfrom hasa was often amperedwith.Caravanoadsfrom ibet o ndiaviathe rade oute hrough
Kalimpongwere also subject o embarrassingnspection. ut, inspite fthese ifficulties,he PeakSecretary"asableto send ightimportantlock-printedexts o Yale.The romanizeditlesre istedbelowandtranslated,ith brief escriptionfeachtext, nda
biographicaloteconcerningts uthor.
1. Bshes-pa'i prings-yighes-hya-hazhugs-so" 'A friendly pis-tle,' hus ntitled,shereinontained").According o the titlepage andcolophon, he text s a translationf a letter
composedn Sanskrity Nãgãrjuna nd addressed o hispatron nddisciple,KingUdayana. n his etter o theKing, Nãgãrjuna xpounds he basicprin-ciples f Buddhismn 123stanzas,achcontaining ourUnes f ninesyllables.
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128 THE YALE UNIVERSITY
Althoughwe knowvery ittle boutKingUdayana,referredointhetextbya Tibetan quivalent ame,Bde-spyod, henameofNãgãrjuna swellknown,through isprofounditerary orks, s an IndianBuddhist cholarwho lived
during he second entury .D.According o tradition,e was the celebratedfounderftheMãdhyamika r"MiddleWay" systemfBuddhist hilosophywhichhad a far-reachingnfluencen thedevelopmentf BuddhismnTibet.The text of Nägärjuna's etterwas translatedntoTibetanduring he ninth
century .D.bytwoeminent uddhistcholars:Sarvajnãdeva,n Indianpun-dit,who explained hemeaning o a Tibetanmonk,Dpal-brtsegs, ho pro-videdtheliteraryquivalents.
Thepresentditionsprintednboth ides f15 oose eaves, achmeasuring
3/^ by I2¿4 inches,nd includes woodcutminiatureortraitfNãgãrjuna.The textwasprintedn Lhasafrom ew blocks arved yorder fYongs-'dzinStag-brag andita, heRegentLama ofTibetfrom 940-52,who also servedas the chief utor Yongs-'dzin) o His Holiness, hepresent alai Lama. Anearlierdition f thetextwas translatedntoEnglish nder hetitle, Friendlyepistle"byDr. HeinrichWenzel andpublishedn theJournalfthe ali Text
Society London, 1886),Volume 13, pages 1-32. The edition used by Dr.Wenzel canbe found n theTanjur,he division fexpositoryreatisesn theTibetanBuddhist anon,of which hemorefamiliarKanjur seethe GazetteforJuly, 952) sthedivision fscriptures,ndpreceptsn monasticdiscipline.
2. Bshes-pa'i prings-yig-giikãbzhugs-so"A commentary n [thetext]A friendlypistle'shereinontained").This commentaryn theTibetantranslationfNagarjuna's etter ppears obe anoriginal ompositionyan unknown ibetan uthor.n itthenumerousterms fBuddhism sedbyNãgãrjuna nhis nstructiveFriendlypistle" re
carefullyefined. inceno author's ame smentioned,ndsince he ommen-
tary s so extensive,tmaywell be the ointworkof several ompilers. hetext ontains 18 oose leavesprintedn both ides, heformat ndsizebeinguniformwiththe above editionofNagarjuna's etter. he wood blocksforthis
ditionwerealso carvedbyorder ftheabovementioned egentLamaofTibet. n hisEnglish ranslationfthe"Friendly pistle"Dr. Wenzelmadeuse of anotherTibetancommentary hichgivesthe name of the author,Blo-gros. t is a canonicalcommentary,ranslatedrom anskrit,nd is there-forepartoftheTanjur.
3. Legs-par bshad-parin-po-ch'e'i ter zhes-bya-ba'ibstan-bchos
bzhugs-so"A sacred reatisentitledThe precious reasuryfele-gant ayings'shereinontained").Thispopular ollection f moralmaxims or heworldlyndreligiousminded
wascompiled yLamaKun-dga gyal-mtshan1182-1252). venbetter nown
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LIBRARY GAZETTE 129
as theSa-skya andita,he was the fourth ierarch f the celebrated a-skyaMonasteryoundedn 1073, nd wasrenowned orhisextraordinaryearning.The text onsistsf39loose eaves,3^ by 12^5 inches, rintedn both idesfromnew blocks arved n 1927.There are454 stanzas,achcontaining ourlinesof seven yllables. lexander soma Körösi (1784-1842), n Hungarianscholar ndpioneern thefield fTibetan tudies,ranslatedntoEnglish 34of the454stanzas nder hetitle The Precious reasuryfElegant ayings,"publishedn Tibetantudies,ditedby Sir E. Denison Ross (Calcutta, 9 2),pages93-117,as Extra Number One of theJournalndProceedings,siatic
SocietyfBengal,New Series,Volume7 (191 ).
4. Legs-par bshad-pa in-po-ctie'i ter-gyigrel-bahzhugs-so"Acommentaryn [the ext]Thepreciousreasuryfelegantayings'ishereinontained").Thiscommentaryn the454moralmaxims n thetext isted bovewascom-
piledbytheTibetanmonk,Dmar-stonh'os-rgyalf Dbus Province.He wasa disciple f theSa-skya anditawhosupervisedhe ditingnd final evisions.The text f thecommentaryonsistsf97 loose leavesprintedn both sides.The size and format reuniform iththe above edition f Sa-skya andita'work.
5. Mkhas-grub nyam-medpal-ldanNaropa'i mam-par har-pa ri-med egs-bshadde-ch'en'hrug-sgrahes-bya-ba zhugs-so"The im-maculatepiritualareer biography]f the llustriousãropa,un-
equaled n perfectionmongthe earned,ndmoralpreceptsn-titledthe hunder oice offelicity'shereinontained").Thisbiographicalext sanimportantistoricalecord fthereligious eritagewhich nspiredhefounding f theBka-rgyud-paMonasticOrderofTibet,whose adherentsre sometimes alled the"Followersof theApostolicSuc-cession."Nãropa (956-1040A.D.),thesubject f thisbiography, as the chief
disciplefTelopa,
atenth-century
uddhistage
ofBengal,
fromwhom hereceived rally heesoteric eachings f theMahãmudrã r "GreatSymbol"philosophy.ubsequently ãropabecamea professort the ancient uddhist
UniversityfNãlanda, ometimes eferredo as theOxfordof ndia.NãropatransmittedheMahãmudrã nd other eachings rally o Mar-pa (1012-97),a Tibetan amawho had made the ong ourney o Indiato becomehisdisciple.After isreturn o Tibet,the fameofMar-paattracted number f devout
disciplesnd thus heBka-rgyud-pa rder was founded bout themiddleofthe leventhentury.he author fNaropa's biography,bang-phyug gyal-mtshan,was a Tibetan monk of Bsam-gling, Bka-rgyud-paMonasterytYamdrokLake, CentralTibet. This edition, onsistingf 63 loose leaves,
l$/i by 18^ inches, rinted n bothsides, ncludes woodcutportrait f
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130 THE YALE UNIVERSITY
Nãropa and ten otherminiatureigures. he lastminiatures a conventional
likeness f Panchen ama IV, Bstan-pa'inyi-ma 1781-1854),whichmay n-dicate hat heblocksfor his ditionwerecarvedduring he nineteenthen-
tury.
6. Bla-ma mch'od-pa'i hrid-yigsang-ba}i nad-rnam-parhye-hasnyan-rgyudan-ngag-giter-mdzodhes-bya-bazhugs-so"Lamas'guidebook orperformingeligiouservices,ntitleda treasuryfinstructionyoraltransmissionhich ompletelyeveals he eso-teric ignificance,'shereinontained").
This long treatise n liturgicalnd ritualisticeremonies erformedn theDge-lugs-paor "Yellow Hat" monasteries f Tibet and Mongolia,consistsof 232 loose leaves,3^ by 20^ inches, rinted n bothsides fromwoodblocks.The author fthisbulkymanual,Yongs-'dzinYe-shesrgyal-mtshan,was the ncarnateama ofTshe-mch'og-gling onastery,hasa,who servedas the chief utor f Dalai Lama VIII, 'Jam-dpal gya-mtsho1758-1804),dutywhichhewaswellqualifiedoperformincehe had been disciple f theerudite anchenLama III, Blo-bzangdpal-ldan e-shes 1737-80). Accordingto the colophon,the oral instruction hichthe authorreceivedfrom thePanchenLama was used as a basis for the textof the "Lamas' guidebook."
Ye-shesrgyal-tshaninishedomposing hismanual n 1767whileresidingttheMonasteryf Bkra-shissam-gtan-glingnTibetnear heborder fNepal.He was a prolificwriter nd his scholarlyextswerepublishedn 19 largevolumes, 8 of which re ncludedntheYale Library ibetan ollection.
7. Drin-chan la-madam-pa Ngag-dbang yams-pa'i hal-snga-naslam-rimjam-dpal hal-lung-gi hrid-gnangkabs-gsungin-bris-sutab-
pabzhugs-so"A compendiumforal eachingsn the text]Graded
path ccordingo thepreceptsfMañjüsri', ictatedythegraciousandholy amaNgag-dbang yams-pa,sherein ontained").
This mportantexts a modern ommentaryn thebasicdoctrinesftheDge-lugs-pa r "Yellow Hat" MonasticOrderofTibet.The firstndsecondpagesincludeminiature oodcuts f theBuddha ndfour minent uddhist relateswho transmittedhese octrines ownto thepresentime.The firstminiature
representshe Buddha Sãkyamuni 563-483b.c.), whose teachings n the"Noble Eightfold ath" leadingto moral perfectionnd final iberation,recordedntheKanjur,weresynthesizedyAtisa 982-1054A.D.).This ndian
pundit, epresentedythe econd onventionalortrait,asa Buddhistcholarfamousforhis profoundearning nd spiritualnsight.He arrivedn Tibetabout1042A.D. tthe nvitationf Tibetan cholars ho werealarmed ythe
laxityof disciplinen monasteriesue to the deliberatemisinterpretationf
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LIBRARY GAZETTE 131
Buddhist thics.Atïs'a'reformmovement ainednimpetusfter ehad com-
poseda short reatisen Sanskrit ntitledLamp on thePath to saintly er-fection," hichwas translatednto Tibetan. n this ext, ll humanbeings re
regardeds pilgrimsn thePath, nd classifiedn three ategoriesr stages fthe Path. This threefoldlassificationf humanitynto elementary,nter-
mediate,ndadvancedevels s determinedya person'swnmoral spirationsand mental apacity.AtisVs Lamp" illuminates ach stage by definingtscharacteristicsndoutlininghenecessaryelf-disciplineoattain henexthighergrade.
Three nda half enturiesater,Atisa's reatisenspired song-kha-pa1357-1419)tocompose nexpanded ersion f the hreeuccessivetages fspiritual
endeavor,ntitled The GreatGradedPath."Thisthoroughlyystematicndpracticalextbook esemblesn immense utlinewithmajor ndminorhead-
ings nd numerousubdivisions,owhichhasbeen addeddocumentationromthecanonical ources tudiedn detailby the author.This great ama,repre-sented erebythethirdminiature oodcut,wasthefounderf theDge-lugs-pa MonasticOrder ofTibet,whosemembers evere heDalai Lama as theirincarnatehief.
Duringthefollowingenturiesumerousommentariesn Tsong-kha-pa's"GreatGradedPath" werecomposed y amasof hisOrder, ndcompiled ydisciplesrom ectures ytheirearned eachers. ne commentary,eld nthe
higheststeem or ts
claritynd
simplicitys an introductiono the
subject,wascomposed ythe"GreatFifth" alai Lama (seeGazette,January,960),Ngag-dbang lo-bzang gya-mtsho1617-82),who srepresentedythefourthminiatureortraitn the series. he title fthe ntroductoryommentaryyDalai LamaV means A guidebook o thestages n thepathto saintly er-fection,ntitledthe acred receptsfMañjüsrí'" Inthetitle fthis Guide-
book," the authorpays specialhomageto Tsong-kha-pa y identifyingimwithMañjüsrí, Buddhist ivinityndpatronaint fscholars;ndby alludingtothe eachingsfthe Graded ath" as the acred receptsfMañjüsri imself.
This"Guidebook"now eadsus backtoNgag-dbang yams-pa, hosename
appearsnthetitle f theTibetan ext isted boveas number even.Thisemi-
nent ama, also renownedn modernTibetanhistory s the chieftutor oDalai Lama XIII, Thub-bstan gya-mtsho1876-1933),usedthetextof the"Guidebook"as a basis forhis oral teachingsnd occasional ectures n the"GradedPath."The text f these eachingsrrangedn a compendiumonsistsof 71 loose leaves, }4 by 21^ inches, rinted n both sides.Ngag-dbangbyams-pawas the ncarnateama ofPhur-lchogMonastery earLhasaand is
representederebythefifthnd astminiature oodcut nthe ext.Accordingto thecolophon, heprintinglocksofthismodern dition rekept nBkra-shis h'os-glingMonastery,hasa.The Tibetan ollection f theYale Univer-
sityLibraryncludes ll of the Tibetantexts oncerninghe "GradedPath"
referredo above,and several thers otyetexamined t thiswriting.
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132 THE YALE UNIVERSITY
8.Rnam-grolag-bchangs-sutod-pa'i dams-ngag
ab-motshang-lama-nor-bamtshungs-medh'os-kyi gyal-po'i hugs-hchudyang-ch'ub
lam-gyi im-pa'inyams-khrid-kyiin-brisgsung-rab un-gyibchud-bsdusgdams-ngag dud-rtsi'isnying-pohes-bya-ba zhugs-so "Theheart ssence fthe ncomparable ingofreligion,nfalliblen all
profoundralprecepts,estowedhat omplete eliveranceeheldin thehand,entitledtheessence f nectar f oral teachingsnd
abridgedssentialsfall sacredwritings,compendiumf nstruc-tion forunderstandingheGradedPath to saintly erfection'sherein
ontained").This text s another ompendiumf instructioniven orally oncerninghe"GradedPath" teachingsfTsong-kha-pa, ho is referredo in the title sthe"Kingofreligion." hisvolumeconsists f ioo loose eaves, ^ by21 iinches, rinted n both sides.The firstnd secondpagesare decoratedwithelaborate oliatedesignswhichframe he Tibetan ext.The perfectionf theTibetan haracters,speciallynthetitle, nd ofthe21 miniature oodcuts fBuddhist ignitariesndicates hat n accomplishedandsupplied hemodelsfor the carver f theprinting locks.This fineedition s markedwiththeletterKa, thefirstn the Tibetanalphabet, o denotethe first olume of a
series, nd the text s incomplete. uch collections f oral teachingswhennamed fter lamaareusually ompleted yhim, ditedbyhissuccessorra
personal isciple fter isdeath, nd thenprinted rom arvedblocks. fweexamine he astof the21woodcuts n thefirstixpages,we find n inscrip-tionbelow,whichmeans"At the feetof Pha-bong-kha-pa,larifierf this
path," husdentifyinghe amabythenameofhismonastery.ha-bong-khais a smallbut ancientmonastery,ctually secluded ermitageuilton a hugerock n a mountain ange everalmilesnorth f Lhasa.The presidingamaorabbot, r theresidentncarnateama hasthehonorofbearinghenameof the
monastery.nthe nscription,Atthefeet" ften enotes disciple aking ownnotesof theoral instructionictated
yhis lama teacher.
Many"Collected
Works" whichhavegrownout of the iteraryctivityr oral nstructionfthe residentamas of a particularmonasteryre issued under tsname. The
practiceontinueshroughouthe xistencefthe nstitutionnd forms recordof the ntellectualnd spiritualifeof itssuccessive eachers.After hetextshave beenedited,uniform locksare carvedforprintinghevolumes, achwith theserial etters f the Tibetanalphabet:Ka, Kha, Ga, Nga, etc. Thelatest olumeof theseries,fnotcompleted,s left penfortheaddition ffuturematerial. he volume underdiscussions apparentlyhefirst f a newseries fessentialnstructionsoncerninghe"GradedPath"published y the
Pha-bong-khamonastery.he labor nvolved n tryingo establish ccurate
datesof Tibetan texts nd authors,whenthese re not readily ccessible,s
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LIBRARY GAZETTE 133
discouraginglyut ofproportiono theresult,nd oftennvain.Amongthe
21 miniatureortraits,owever,s one of Dalai Lama XIII (1876-193 ), andthe ncompleteext stherefore modern dition.
Tibetanauthors, ompilers,nd editors onsistentlynd con-
spicuouslymbellishhe itles fBuddhistextswith xpressionsfreverenceor hedoctrinesxpoundedrclarifiedherein,nd ike-wiseforthesanctitynderuditionfeminent ersonagesn bio-
graphicalnd historical orks.Although uch audatorypithetsmay appear xtravagantn their nglish ersion,hey eemquite
naturalndunaffectedn their riginal orm ecause hey xpressthe nborn ibetan haracteristicsfpoetic ptitudendexuberant
piety.Wesley E. Needham.
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