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







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.








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







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








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







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.








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







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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tibetan boks from a 'peak secretary

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