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Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies, Vol . 52, No. 2, March 2004
On a Birch-bark
Sanskrit
Manuscript
Preserved
in
the Tibet Museum
Kazuhiro
KAWASAKI
‡T
. Introduction The Tibet Museum adjoins the Norbulingka, known as the Dalai Lama's Summer Palace in Lhasa. It was established in October 1999, as the first comprehensive museum, in the Tibet Autonomous Region and is endowed with modern facilities. It preserves and exhibits a precious cultural property of about 1000 items, from prehistoric to modem age, collected from various parts of Tibet. The Sanskrit manuscript on birch-bark reported in this paper is displayed in the art and civilization department of the Museum, as "Sutra written on birch-bark".
Although some photographs of this birch-bark manuscript had been shown in some books published in China1), its contents were still unknown. However, when I visited the Tibet Museum in 2002, I had an opportunity to analyze several un-published photos. As a result, I discovered that the manuscript has an index which reveals the outline of its contents. ‡U
. Structure and Date of Composition The manuscript is bound in Western style and covered with tanned leather. The sizes of the manuscript are 15.6cm long and 15.3cm wide. Birch-bark, the material out of which the manuscript is made, was called bhoj a-patra or bhurj a-patra in India. It was used as a writing support for a long time, together with palm-leaf, before the introduction of paper. The style of handwriting is the so-called Sarada script and page numbers are found in the lower left of each double page.
As regards the age of the manuscript, at the end of the text Samadyottaragatha-vyakarana, contained in the manuscript, there is the following colophon:
om samvatsare ekonatrimsat • 7 karttikabahulacatuhyam • kasmiramandale srimad anantadev-arajye // // namo ratnatrayaya //
Accordingly, the manuscript was copied during the reign of King Anantadeva in Kashmir. In the Jaratarangini, which gives an account of the imperial line and the
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On a Birch-bark Sanskrit Manuscript Preserved in the Tibet Museum (K. KAWASAKI)
history of Kashmir, King Ananta's reign is dated 1028-1063 A. D. 2) . If the King Anantadeva mentioned in the colophon and the King Ananta mentioned in the Jara-tararigini are regarded as the same person, the manuscript must have been copied in the 11th century.
‡V
. The Contents of the Index A Roman alphabet transliteration is shown below. The index is written on a sheet stuck on the reverse-side of the front-cover. It was probably added when the manuscript was bound and its style of writing is about the same as the one used in the main text.
mayajalakrame
tarabhattarikasa.dhanam
// 1 // dakinivajrapanjaramandalakramah
// 2 //
jnana-padanusarenabhisamayah
// 3 // abhisekavidhih
// 4 // aksobhyanathasya
sadhanam
// 5 //
catur-thasadbhavopadegah
griratnavajrakrtah
// 6 // mahapratisaramantracatustayam
// 7 // pratisara // 8
// sattvaradhanastavah
// 9 // atmasadhanavatarah
// 10 // grivajrasattvasadhanam
kusumanjali
//
11 // jnanapadanam
grisamantabhadrasya
pindartham
// 12 // vajragiti // 13 // sekakramah
kecaran-andinah // 14 // homavidhih
// 15 // pratisthavidhih
// 16 // ragavajrasadhanam
krti dombipadah
// 17 // jnanapadiyavivaranam
gripadmavajrakrtam
// 18 // tantranidhanam
// 19 //
gricakrasam-varasadhanam
// 20 // nayanatrayahrdayam
(mistake for nayatrayahrdayam?)
// 21 //
gricakrasam-varasya homavidhih.
// 22 // ghantalaksanam
// 23 // pratisthavidhih
// 24 //
grisamajatantrokta-bhadrapadiya griratnakaragantiviracitatika
// 25 // samadyottaragathavya-karanam
// 26 //
gritara-bhattarika mayajalakramastotram
// 27 // evam grantha 27 // om //
This index shows that it is a collection of 27 items concerning esoteric manuals
of rituals, as well as commentaries. Especially worth of note is that it contains
many texts of the Jnanapada school, which is considered one of the two major
schools (the other is the Arya) for the interpretation of the Guhyasamaja-tantra3)
.
In item Nos. 3, 12, 18, of the index the name Jnanapada appears explicitly. No.
12 can be identified as a commentary to the Samantabhadrasadhana (Toh. No.
1855),
known as Jnanapada's own work. Moreover Padmavajra, the author of item No. 18
is considered one of the "four major disciples of Jnanapada, who were enlightenment
during their lifetime". He is also famous as the author of the Jnanasiddhi.
Next, I will examine these items which specify the correspondent author's name.
No. 6 is identified as the Caturthasadbhavopadesa (Toh. No.
2475) and deals with
the fourth initiation (abhiseka). Its author, Ratnavajra, was the one of the "six
sages of the Vikramasila monastery" and followed the Jnanapada school. The
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On a Birch-bark Sanskrit Manuscript Preserved in the Tibet Museum (K. KAWASAKI)
mediately preceding No. 5 is possibly the Aksobhyavajrasadhana (Toh. No. 1884) , written by the same author. No. 25 can be considered a commentary, to a text by Bhadrapada about "Srisamajatantra" (i. e. the Guhyasamaja-tantra) , written by Rat-nakarasanti. Bhadrapada is considered another name for Dipamkarabhadra, one of Jnanapada's direct disciples. Ratnakarasanti is known as a great scholar who, as one of the "six sages of the Vikramasila", lived in the East gate of this monastery. Dipamkarabhadra wrote the Guhyasamajamandalavidhi (Toh. No. 1865)4), while Rat-nakarasanti wrote a commentary to it, the Guhyasamajamandalavidhi-trka (Toh. No. 1871). No. 25 corresponds, most probably, to this commentary.
Now, I will point out those items which can be identified as text contained in the Tibetan Tripitaka. No. 10 is the Atmasadhanavatara (Toh. No. 1860), written by Jnanapada. Although it is possible to think that No. 11 is the Kusumanjali (Toh. No. 1851), a voluminous commentary to the Guhyasamaja-tantra written by Ratna-karasanti, the amount of the text renders this identification problematic. ‡W
. Conclusion As a result of the investigation reported above, it can be es-tablished that the birch-bark Sanskrit manuscript preserved in the Tibet Museum is a collection of 27 Tantric Buddhist texts which bear a close connection to the Jnan-apada school. In many cases, the original Sanskrit version of the text of Jnanapada school is missing. Therefore this birch-bark manuscript is very precious for the fur-ther research into this school. However, at present, scholars are not allowed to peruse it. Hopefully, in the near future, the whole manuscript will be made accessible to researchers.
1) See Pao-tsang 宝蔵 (Chao-hua Publishing) pp. 113-116 and Tibet Museum (Encyclopedia
of China Publishing House) pp. 54-55. 2)
See M. A. Stein, Kalhana s Chronicle of the Kings
of Kasmtr, Vol. 1, pp. 278-288. 3)
As regards the text which belong to the Jnanapada school,
I relied on the Catalogue of the Tanjur by Bu-ston Rin-chen-grub (L. Chandra, The Collected
Works of Bu-ston, Vol. 26, pp. 469-474).
4)
Recently, it was proved that this text is among
the Sanskrit manuscripts photographed by R. Sarnkrtyayana in Tibet.
•q Key Words•r Birch-bark manuscript, Tibet Museum, Jnanapada school
(Assistant, Koyasan University)