Review of Ehrhard by Decleer PDF

Library of Tibetan Works and Archives
Review
Reviewed Work(s): Die Statue und der Tempel des Ārya Va-ti bzang-po. Ein Beitrag zu
Geschichte und Geographie des tibetischen Buddhismus ["The statue and the temple of the
Ārya Wa-ti bzang-po. A contribution to the history and geography of Tibetan
Buddhism"], (Contributions to Tibetan Studies, vol. 2) by Franz-Karl Ehrhard
Review by: Hubert Decleer
Source: The Tibet Journal, Vol. 31, No. 3 (Autumn 2006), pp. 77-116
Published by: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43300983
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Review Article
Franz-Karl Ehrhard, Die Statue und der Tempel des Ärya Va-ti bzang-po. Ein Beitrag
zu Geschichte und Geographie des tibetischen Buddhismus ["The statue and the
temple of the Ärya Wa-ti bzang-po. A contribution to the history and geography of
Tibetan Buddhism"], Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag (Contributions to Tibetan
Studies, vol. 2) 2004.
The sacred Ärya Wati image and temple in Kyirong - Franz-Karl Ehrhard's
magisterial magnum opus
Hubert Decleer
1 . The "Emerald-green Horse": discovery of the manuscript

We all understand, and accordingly translate, rnam thar as the "sacred biography" of
a Buddhist Master. It is rare, if not unique, to see the genre title applied to the life of a
sacred image, in this case one known as the Ärya Wati Sangpo ( 'Phags pa Wa ti bzang
pó) of Kyirong (Skyid grong), in the Mang yül 'Land of Plenty' region of SW Tibet.
Yet, as we learn from the introduction of Ehrhard's wonderful study (p. 125), all three
texts that deal with this subject carry in their title the term rnam thar. Ehrhard provides
the text of all three, but concentrates on the most recent one that is clearly superior to
the others.1
The discovery of the latter manuscript took place during the rescue operation of the
venerated icon itself. It was, first, taken to various locations in Nepal (Nubri, Tsum,
Jomoson), and then transferred to its present location, the private chapel of His Holiness
the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh.2 While the image was temporarily
housed at a remote Padma Sambhava temple (Ku-tsap Ter-nga, 'Five Treasures,
Substitute for his Actual Presence') near Jomoson, and a sturdy wooden box was being
prepared for the final leg of the journey to India, the caretaker of that temple, Amchi
Tsāmpa Ngawang, noticed some sealing wax that had started to crack and come loose
at the back of the sandalwood image. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to surround
a wooden inset piece that closed off an opening. The upcoming journey could cause
further damage; so he carefully removed this wooden cover. Visible within the hollow
space behind it was a perfectly preserved manuscript of the "Emerald-green Horse" -
the said sacred biography of the icon, an annotated translation of which forms the core
of the work under review. Amchi Tsāmpa Ngawang immediately set to work and in the
following weeks copied out the entire book; after which the original manuscript was
reinserted and resealed.3 A clean dbu can reproduction after that hastily penned copy
was also produced by him.4 Still later, in Spring 1992, Franz-Karl Ehrhard, director of the
Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project between 1988 and 1993, discovered
and microfilmed at Samagaon Gompa in Nubri the first nine volumes of the Complete
Works of its author, the Tragkar Taso/White-Boulder Horse-Tooth incarnation by name
of Chökyi Wangchug (1775-1 837); the concluding tenth volume was later identified in
the National Archives.5 He acknowledges (p. x) the assistance of Lama Chökyi Nyima
from Kuthang and Lobpön Gyurmé from Nubri for the microfilming facilities provided.
78 TIBET JOURNAL
This was a major find, of an importance

that goes beyond the mere documentation
of a single regional shrine. Being part of a
group of "four Brother Ârya
[Avalokitesvara/ Karunmaya]" statues (the
'Phags pa [Spy an ras gzigs/ Thugs rje chen
po] mched bzhi) including the Ârya
Lokešvara housed in the Potala Palace, a
study of Ârya the Excellent Wati inevitably
leads us to the "various stories and legends
that, in Tibet, originated around the
Bodhisattva of Great Compassion (Mahâ-
karuņika)" (p. 57), and hence to the very
introduction of Buddhism in Tibet. Not only
is the available literature vast; both Ârya
Brothers just mentioned and their respective
shrines are still the center of "great
veneration in the world of Tibetan
Buddhism" (p. 57) - a continuity that is
highly exceptional anywhere on earth for
Fig. 1 Ârya the Excellent Wati from Kyirong.
statues that go back to the 7th century.6
Photograph courtesy of Tenzin Geshey
The same, moreover, holds true for the
Tethong, Dharamsala, circa 2003
remaining two Ârya Brothers, the white and
the red Karunâmaya/Machendra-nâth
sandalwood statues of Bungamati near Patan and Jana Bâhâl in Kathmandu.
2. Earlier studies: three or four Ârya Brothers
Through his enormous merit, Songtsen Gampo managed to acquire two of the t
main statues located in the temple in Bodhgaya, the place of the Buddh
enlightenment in India.
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoché 2005: 6.
Ehrhard, in a preliminary overview (p.57), attacks the problem of "one tradit

soon expands into several different ones" with a double-pronged approa
chronological sketch of previous studies of these materials by western resea
leading up to (2) the history of the sacred image that is the real subject matt
research, on the basis of a vast range of newly available materials.
He starts off from Waddell's (1896a) cursory, and GrtinwedePs (1919) com
translation of the Vth Dalai Lama's "Descriptive guide to the Miraculousfly Ap
Vihâra complex of Lhasa" {Lha Idan sprul pa 7 gtsug lag khang gi dkar chag)
crucial passage is about a ray of light that, from between the king's eyebrows,
forth with, at its tip, an emanation manifest as a monk whose duty it will be,
identify a Haricandan tree in the thick of a sandalwood forest somewhere in the
Therai, and later gently to extract from it the four Spontaneously Born sacred
one of which - the Ârya Lokešvara - he then 'ceremoniously invites' to com
dwell on Red Hill ( Dmar po ri ), the site of the future Potala.
REVIEW ARTICLE 79
Contrasting with this 'Lokesvara-centric' tradition is another account, known since

it was quoted by Ariane Macdonald (1963) after the "Archival Documents from India
and Tibet" ( Rgya Bod yig tshang) completed in 1434 by the Gyantse courtier Šrībhūti-
bhadra. The story is roughly the same, but the Ārya Brothers manifest in the sandalwood
tree are now three in number: with the exclusion, precisely, of the Lokešvara. Each of
them decides to settle on a site: on the nearby India-Nepal border; at Kathmandu; and
on the Nepal-Tibet border. In this account, no Ärya (or Jowo) image from among the
Brother images reaches King Srongtseņ Gampo.8 It is the exact reverse, one could say,
of what Dalai Lama V did in an earlier historical work of his, the "Melodious Song of the
Queen of Spring" (Dpyid kyi rgyal mo ï glu dbyangs - different from his Jo khang
guide mentioned before) where the remaining three statues go altogether unmentioned.9
Ehrhard (pp.59-60) supplies the translation of the entire passage after the "Archival
Documents", still well within his discussion of earlier scholarly work, in this case
Ariane Macdonald's; but, in a concluding note (p.61, n.4) with his edition of this text
extract, points out the direction we're moving in:
The entire passage is (in fact) a paraphrase of the 8th chapter of the Rgyal po 7 mdzad pa
nyi shu rtsa gcig pa ["Twenty-one Deeds of the King"] (=MKB, vol. EJ, pp.559.3-561 .3;
cf. the translation, Chapter II, sections [1] & [2]).
"MKB" is the siglum that represents the "Hundred Thousand Precepts on the Mani"
<Ma ņ i bka ' ' bum ), often referred to as the King's "Testament"; the eighth chapter of
which is indeed dedicated to the great Deeds of the same King Srongtsen Gampo. And
the reference to "the translation", i.e. of the Tragkar Taso Tulku opus, means that we
did not have to wait for Waddell, Grünwedel or even Ariane Macdonald for a comparative
study of the - in this case clearly contradictory - information found in at least two of
the standard sources. Since the 18th century scholar-yogin here appears as quoting
the Ma ņ i bka * 'bum at length, he comes across as one unafraid of tackling these
contradictions head-on, by a direct confrontation between the textual witnesses.10 The
reader already feels eager to read on. It is a scholarly page-turner.
3 .Or five?
The problem has been introduced in the course of a few pages, with the appropriate
translations; in full, of the relevant passages, and the original text appended in the
notes. What does Ehrhard (p.6 1 ) do next?
According to this account, three of the sites selected by the statues as their definitive
destination were located along a route ... with which Tibetan travellers were familiar since
at least the 7th century;
this route being the one that led from Kyirong in Mang-yül to Kathmandu, and on to an
undetermined spot somewhere close to the Indo-Nepal border. Returning to his original
scheme, of what western scholarship has stage by stage revealed in the course of 19th
and 20th c. research, the author at this point brings in, first, Wylie's translation of the
Nepal section in the "Universal Geography" ( 'Dzam gling chen po 'i rgyas bzhad) by
the Beijing-based, 19th century Lama Tsenpo Nomun [K]han, who offers the pseudo-
solution of four Ärya Brothers while naming five (with the names of the two Patan-
based ones collated into one non-existing "A-kham-Bu-kham"). We have to understand:
this was an assumption based on hearsay, about sacred imagery thousands of miles
80 TIBET JOURNAL
away, and happily corrected by Wylie who, by that time, had twice made it to Nepal, be
it with little or no time to pursue this in situ follow-up of his earlier dissertation.1 1
At which point Ehrhard introduces us to what became the major breakthrough: A. W.
Macdonald & Tagpo Rinpoché's publication, in 198 1 , of the IVth Khamthrul's masterly
composition, his "Nectar for Snow-crusted Ears" (or for the "Ears of the Snowlanders",
Gangs can rna ba 'i bdud rtsi).n Khamthrul is the first to speak of five Ârya Brothers:
( 1 ) the Excellent Wati of Kyirong, (2) the Lokešvara of the Potala, (3) the White Jamali
of Kathmandu, and the two Jowos of Patan, for whom he still uses the standard Tibetan
names (that come in various spellings) of (4) Akham & (5) Bhukham. For all of the latter
three cases, of the temple in Kathmandu (item # 3) and of those in Patan (items # 4 & 5),
he deplores the fact that,
Generally speaking, Tibetans are not allowed inside the temples of these three Jowos;
hence I was unable to come to a definite conclusion as to the look of their (respective)
face[s], hands and so forth. As for the countenance which one actually sees, it is a sacred
mask which covers it from the outside.13
This creates the wrong impression that Tibetans were singled out and refused access;
something the IVth Khamthrul corrects at the next opportunity when, after the above
discussion centered on Jana Bāhāl in Kathmandu, he comments on the Patan temples
where,
except for the caretaker of the shrine, no one is allowed inside,
followed by, once more, an expression of regret about his inability to establish an
accurate description of the number of faces, hands, the posture, the hand attributes,
and so forth. What he can assure us of is the one fact that both Akham and Bhukham
are upright (standing, not seated) images.14
The really intriguing part in the earlier quotation is his mention of a "sacred mask"
(sku 'bags), since no other source, nor any living tradition is aware of such a thing.
What are we to make of that? I have presumed that no error has crept in during the
conversion of the (up to now unpublished original) manuscript in cursive script, to the
dbu can version first published (below labelled RNA BA 7 1 ). It is however not excluded
that in the text:
a minor discrepancy may lead to its having to be understood as:
Whereas the face is visible, the [rest of the] sacred image is covered [by cloth, jewelry and
flowers]';
with sku ' bags then not in the primary sense of 'sacred mask', but with the more
general - equally well attested - meaning of a 'sacred likeness', 'holy image'. Not only
would this fall in with the current practice; it is also the more obvious solution.15
4. The origin story of the other Brothers in popular pilgrimage guides; and in two
MEDIEVAL PAINTED SCROLLS
REVIEW ARTICLE 81
The first two tertön masters, Nyang-ral and Guru Chöwang, were known as the
Two Tertön Kings, and the other hundred tertöns are described as their attendants.
... But among the 108 tertöns, the main ones are the outstanding Two Tertön Kings:
Nyang-ral Nyima Özer and Guru Chöwang.
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoché 2005: 376, n.34.
Still pursuing his overview of previous studies, Ehrhard then (p.63, § 1.1.5) presents
the pilgrimage guide known as the Bal yul gnasyig , associated with Kimdol Vihāra at
the foot of Swayambhû, "the work of a Newar Bhiksu with the Tibetan name Ngawang
Dorje"; first published in transliteration in Wylie 1970's Appendix A,16 then in an
annotated translation by Dowman 1981. The information regarding its author's birth
and death dates is new:
Ngag dbang rdo rje (1904-1984); ... [his work] was, in the study presented by Dowman,
erroneously assigned to the 1 8th c. The various sacred sites and their legends are in this
work presented in short paragraphs, obviously so as to facilitate access to the individual
sites for Tibetan pilgrims and travellers unfamiliar with the vernacular language.
It is indeed the first among the available documents to name two of the three Ärya
Brothers of the Valley by their 'modern' appellations of Machendra-nāth, and the
remaining one as Mīna-nāth. In an accompanying note (p.64, n. 1 1) we are then invited
to a scrutiny of the colophon, with a Wood Horse year that turns out to be 1954 (16th
cycle) instead of the earlier proposed 1 774 ( 1 3th cycle); an identification based on two
documents dated 1 942, earlier published by Cüppers 1 997. The latter includes this:
In the narration part of this document [issued by Taktra Tulku, the Regent of Tibet], we
come to know that the latter was issued in reaction to a petition by a Newar monk, Ngag
dbang rdo rje by name, who lived in Lhasa,
with the additional note (p.679, n. 10) that "Nothing else is known about him so far". But
if the author of the original petition is indeed identical with the one in the Balyulgnas
yig colophon (Ehrhard, p.64), viz.:
This was printed anew on the auspicious 14th of the Saka Dawa month in the Wood Horse
Year on behalf of [its author,] the Newar fully ordained monk Vāgīndra-vajra alias Ngawang
Dorje of the Vulture Heap Hill Monastery on Kimdol,
then we can safely identify him as the personage referred to in Locke 1985: 402, section
§ [103] Cidhañgu Kinnu Bāhā - TejakTrti Vihāra (Swayambhü-Kindol):
A little over fifty years [ago] a Sakya by the name of Harsadeva from Rudravarna Mahāvihāra
(Uku [perhaps better known as Oku] Bāhā) in Patan went to Kindol to meditate and
practice tantric yoga. This man became quite well known as a tantric adept and developed
a considerable number of followers who refer to him simply as Dharma Gurujū. After some
time a donor from Bhimsen Thān [near Maru Sattal] in Kathmandu, by name of Tej-
narsingh Mahaijan, built a vihāra for Dharma Gurujū. ... the consecration ceremonies were
performed ... in N.S. 1058 (A.D. 1938). ... There was no sañgha except for Dharma Gurujū
who later left the place.
The place he left for was the said Vulture Heap Hill Monastery on Kimdol, almost next
door, (Locke 1985: 401-402, section § [95], the Kinnu Bāhā - Šiī Kirttana Mahāvihāra,
82 TIBET JOURNAL
also at Swayambhü-Kindol), and it is the same occupant whom Locke describes, albeit
without naming him this time:
At the present time there is no sañgha here, and the usual rituals are performed by a Sakya
who lives in a small building nearby.
Also known as "the Blue Lama", after the color of the robes he sometimes wore, he
reappears in the following passage in Le Vine 200 1 : 223 :
Lacking any alternative, the gurumās settled in Kimdol Baha. Living there also was an
eclectic group of Theravāda monks and Tibetan lamas, together with a Vajrayâna tantric
priest and his two shakti consorts.17
But the pleonastically named "Vajrayâna tantric priest" is probably best known from
the late Bill Wassman's photograph published in Höfer et al. 1991 : 232-233, on p. 241
labelled as "Dharma Gurgu, a Newar Tantric Priest, dramatizes the life story of the
Buddha"18 [correct: Gurgu -» Guru-jū or -> Gur-jū].
Kimdol vihāra has its place in the tale for another reason. The sacred biography of the
Tshe mchoggling Yongs 'dzin Yeshe Gyaltsen (1713-1 793), from the hand of his illustrious
disciple the Vlllth Dalai Lama, Jampel Gyatso ( 1 758- 1 804), reports a tradition about the
Aksobhya-vajra image, on its way from Buddhgaya's Vajra Throne to its final destination
at Lhasa (where it was eventually housed in the Ramoché temple), having temporarily
resided at this vihāra site in Nepal:
The monastic complex, located on what is [locally] known as Vulture Heap Hill, is where
this Jo wo image, (now) of the Ramoché, previously resided.
Strange, because no other source provides this piece of information; one wonders
whether the great meditator of Samten-ling Gompa acquired it from the Vajräcärya
priests at nearby Kyirong. This (p.323) is one among hundreds of Ehrhardic finds. It is
especially strange that none of the great Kagyü hierarchs, who usually made this
vihāra their temporary residence during their visits to the Kathmandu Valley, mention it
in their autobiographies or diaries.
Ehrhard (p.64, n. 1 1), in this context, also refers to another popular guide, by (a different)
Ngawang Dorje "from Nelung", also reproduced in Wylie 1970 ("Appendix B"), where
the Kathmandu-based Ärya Brother image is described in the following enigmatic
terms:
Im Yam bu gibt es (1) das aus einem Brunnen geschöpfte Wasser fur den Sandalholz[stamm'
aus dem hervorkamen die 'Vier Ehrwürdige Herren [Ava loki te svara], [welche] Brüder
[sind], sowie (2) [die Gottheit] 'Ja '-ma- Ii dkar-mo, und (3) den Bod-thang mgon-po.
It is important to distinguish: sowie , 'as well as', is about sites and sacred images that
can be visited in Yam òw/Kathmandu (which is why I have added the numbering); it is
not about what came forth from the tree. The confusing part is that we are first told
about (1) the well which is somehow connected with the sandalwood trunk 'that gave
birth to' the Four Jowo Brothers; and next are given two further sites, the first of which
(2) is one of these Brothers: the White Jamali. 19 A solution only becomes possible if this
REVIEW ARTICLE 83
mysterious line is viewed against the background of the Newar origin story - one
among several - about this Avalokitešvara of Jana Bāhāl (Locke 1 980: 158-1 60). It deals
with an earlier location of Jana Bāhāl,
• identical with the site where the Lokešvara statue - claimed to date back to Licchavi
times - was, some time in the 14th century, discovered by potters digging for clay,
under the ruins of a collapsed temple. Locke's informants locate the site as virtually
identical with the spot where the King Mahendra statue is now, halfway down Durbar
Marg. This is very close to the location where the chariot was annually assembled and
also, after the deity was installed in it, where the chariot festival started each year. The
present starting place is in the immediate vicinity; but of the original Jana Bāhāl thereis
no trace.
• Locke and his informants are vehemently opposed to the other view that identif
the original site with a courtyard that houses two isolated shrines (one of them
standing Lokešvara!) and still bears the name of "Jamal vihāra". One can't help no
the close correspondence with "Jamali", the Tibetan name of the deity. The site
roughly in the same neighbourhood and can be reached beneath the signboard "T
Chandra College Association" on Kanti-pat. It contains sculptural remains of
Licchavi period.
Although the sacred icon has since almost seven centuries been located midway
Asan Tole and Indra Chowk, the chariot festival of the 'White Jamali' still start
opposite - let me call it - either its [re]discovery place or its original shrine. It is in
my assumption that both the "discovery" by potter assistants digging for clay sui
to their trade (the Newar origin tale) and the retrieval of the sacred image from a
(the version proclaimed in the Tibetan guide) are variants of an identical 'rescue
recovery effort, after the icon had been hidden away during a stormy episode in
local history.
Accordingly, the translation requires a slight modification, in the sense that khron
chu , rather than signifying "the water [drawn] from a well", is just "the well" tout court
(nor would that well on the outskirts of old Kathmandu ever have had any business to
water a sandalwood tree that originated in the Therai, many miles south of the capital).
I imagine an earlier source that spoke about the White Jamali, one from among (ya gyat)
the Four Brother Jowos born from a sandalwood tree, and which was recovered from a
(dried out) well; with the text then proposing to the user of that printed guide a visit of
three sites, located at a short walk's distance from one another: (a) the old Jana Bahal
site of the recovery, (b) the new Jana Bāhāl temple housing the actual image (illustration
6), and (c) the huge stone Mahākāla statue located in its own termple at the edge of the
open plain called Thundi-khel.
Alternatively, the well referred to could well have been the one from which to draw
water for the bathing ceremony of the Ãrya Jamali, exactly like the water today, at Jana
Bahal, is drawn from a specific well in its courtyard; cf. Locke 1980: 138-139:
In the northeast corner of the courtyard is a well from which the priest on duty draws
water required for the daily rites. Water for these rites, and for his own ablutions, must be
drawn from this well; and originally the water from this well was reserved exclusively for
these ritual purposes.
This is indeed another possibility. If an old bahal's temple and courtyard fall into
ruin, one of the likely things to remain in recognizable condition might well be the well.
84 TIBET JOURNAL
It having been in use for ages for

exclusively ritual purposes, Jamali
related, would be sufficient to add
it to the list of 'sites'.
Accounts of suchyang gter-Mks
hidden-&-later-recovered sacred
imagery are almost a classic topos
in the history of sacred sites in the
Kathmandu Valley. In this case the
account clearly concerns a later
event promoted to the level of 'the'
original foundation story: Newar
Buddhist historiography, previous
to the publication of the English
translations after the Tibetan
sources above-mentioned,
remained long unaware of the
alternative origin of the Brother
images as Spontaneously Arisen
out of a sandalwood tree.20
As for the Karunmaya of Patan
Fig.2 The Ârya Jamali icon of Jana Bâhâl. After
and Bungamati, one slight chance
Rashmila Shakya w/ Scott Berry 2005: Plate 9
of an origin story different from
(photograph by Scott Berry), (see forelast
paragraph of § 4). the current, not very convincing
one (which tells that its statue and
cult were imported from Assam), i.e. previous to his transformation into "Machendra
nâth" as he is called in the Kimdol Vihâra "Guide", probably rests on the hard-to-rea
inscription on two Newar Buddhist paintings, dated 1617 and 1712, each of which dea
with an incident during the chariot festival of their respective year, and also refers to a
mythological precedent. The latter might well represent a lost (or purposely discarde
foundation story which ultimately had to make place for a renaming that could guarant
protection of the cult under the then new Gorkha rule, since the deity became no
homonymous with the new rulers' own Âdi-guru. The precedent story is set in Magadh
during a previous eon, at the time of Buddha Krakucchanda. It involves a Red Lokešvara,
a King Dharmaketu and a Prince Candraketu. The problem is twofold: it has so far bee
impossible to identify this triad in any Buddhist scripture; and the inscriptions below
the various scenes of the painted scrolls are too brief to allow for a full reconstructio
of the plot. Both paintings, moreover, appear related to a third scroll, dated 1619, th
illustrates the revelation of Amogha-pâsa Lokešvara and his meditational rite accordin
to the Kâranda-vyûha.21
5. The Padma Sambhava-connected alternative versions
Near the end of the second month, fifth year of JõkyÔ, I travelled to Ise, the fifth
time I set foot on the hollowed ground in front of the shrine. I had aged yet another
year, so I felt more keenly the divine light and august majesty of the place. With
deep yearning I recalled that Saigyõ in tears wrote of feeling blessed here. Spreading
my fan on the sand, I bowed my head onto it.
REVIEW ARTICLE 85
from what tree's

blossoms I know not:
such fragrance
nani no ki no | hana to wa shirazu ' nioi kana
(Second month, 1688)
Barnhiíl 2005: 107.
One of the least known traditions (p.69) is the one recorded in the Buddhist
Transmission History authored by Treasure Revealer Nyang-rel Nyima Höser (1 124-
1 192) - co-rediscoverer of "The Hundred Thousand Precepts on the Mani" - where
the episode of the monk emanated by Srongtsen Gampo is preceded by an altogether
different tale, not encountered elsewhere. It introduces a new chapter in that work,
"How spontaneously arisen sacred images of Avalokitešvara came into being and how
they achieved the aims of transmigrators" (Spyan ras gzigs kyi sku rang byung du
byon nas 'grò don ji Itar mdzad pa). Nyang-rel presents it as essential presupposed
knowledge (SBRANG RTSI'1, 194-195):
West of Magadha, in India, there was a trader by name of *Carumati22 who was devoted to
Mahākaruņika the Great Compassionate one, had conviction in the Dharma, and endured
hardships in his practice of the Perfection of enthusiastic perseverance (vlrya-pàramitã).
At a mountain hermitage in the Himalayan foothills of India ( Rgya Mon) he used to
circumambulate one sandalwood tree while addressing his supplications to All-
Encompassing Glance: OM MANI PADME HUM - in this way he recited the heart
(mantra) of the Six Syllables. When his life's duration was about to end, he made this
supplication: "May this sandalwood tree transform into an embodiment of the Great
Compassionate one, and may I thereby achieve the aims of sentient beings!" When his life
came to an end and he passed away, his physical remains were cremated at the foot of the
tree, and the following year, exactly where his body had been cremated, a big wooden knurl
grew. This tree knot split open and23 light rays of five different colors radiated out that
transformed into the spontaneously arisen icon(s) of Powerful Lord the Great
Compassionate All-Encompassing Glance, Mahākaruņika Avalokitešvara:
• in the center appeared the one by name of Buddha-Lokešvara, of white complexion, with
eleven faces and fourteen hands; he is said to have moved into space.
• in the east arose Vajra-Lokesvara, of the blue Vajra family.
• from the south came Ratna-Lokešvara, of the yellow Jewel family.
• from the west came Padma-Lokešvara, of the red Lotus family.
• from the north came Karma-Lokešvara, of the green Activities family.
At which point King Srongtsen Gampo addresses his supplications to his personal
Avalokitešvara sandalwood image, from which a ray of light emanates that, like the
beacon of a lighthouse, makes visible to the king whatever it touches; and where it
ends up is of course the sandalwood tree with the four remaining, naturally formed
Lokesvara-s. Here too, the tip of the light ray produces the emanated monk Ākara-šila.
As Ehrhard remarks, what happens next is most informative. Not only do we hear
about the destinations of these five Buddha families-related sandalwood statues; but
each of them is also assigned the aspect of a youth at a specific age;24 and rather than
remaining cast in the near-anonymous role of the Buddha families, they also suddenly
acquire the 'realistic names' by which they have been known ever since:
The emanated monk thereupon made supplications to ceremoniously invite them (to
various locations). From these sacred icons an immeasurable aroma came forth that pervaded
86 TIBET JOURNAL
all, over a distance of ten yojanas. One could not get enough of gazing at them and the light
rays that emanated from their respective marks and signs shone forth like the sun.
•The one by name of Ārva Lokešvara radiated rays of blue light and spoke, "Set me up in
Magadha!", and refused to go (anywhere else). He transformed into a child of white
complexion, seven years of age, and took up residence at the Vajra Throne.
•Next the one by name of Ārva Wati. of red complexion and radiating rays of red light,
transformed into a boy eight years of age and established himself in the Valley of 'Land of
Plenty' (Mang-yül) at the border of Nepal and Tibet.25 "I'll put an end to the epidemics of
leprosy", he said, "so establish me here" and he refused to move (anywhere else).
•Then the one by name of Ārva Jwamali (sic), of yellow complexion and radiating rays of
yellow light, transformed into a child the size of a five year old, went to reside in the east
of Yambu (= Kathmandu) in Nepal, intent on the aims of transmigrators by clearing away
the great epidemics (that occur during monsoon).
•Finally the one by name of Ukhang. of reddish green complexion and radiating rays of
green light, went to reside south of Yerang (= Patan), the city in Nepal.
Unable to invite them to come elsewhere,26 in these regions they eliminated all 'death by
bloated stomachs'. Through the blessings of these sacred icons, those particular forms of
misery and pain in these countries were brought to an end, and fully pacified. The emanated
monk then gave an account thereof for the king to hear. ...
Author Ehrhard (pp.69-70, n.24) here adds an annotation that refers back to "The Great
Historical Account" {Lo rgyus chen mo , § 18) section of "The Hundred Thousand
Precepts of the Mani", for a closely similar account, with the one major difference that
all five statues here reach a fixed destination on earth:
• the white one at the Vajra Throne,
• the yellow one inUddhyäna,
• the red one in Kashmir,
• the green one in the land of Sahor, and
• the blue one in the Nepal Valley;
but it requires a lot of undocumented history to bring this in accorda
subsequent localisations. Tsuk-lag Threngwa, the Second Nehnang Paw
in his "Scholarly Banquet" attempted something of the sort, by having
declare itself the king's personal deity - after which the emanated monk
it to Lhasa.
Moving now to what earlier authors of local pilgrimage guides for SW

these materials, we start off with author Palden-dar (a student of Dalai
drub). In his own Ärya Wati Guide he concludes the account of Srong
'nightvision' and the discovery of the Self-Originated, Great Compassi
with the note that
One should understand [this emanated monk Akara-slla-mati] as being the on

is referred to as "the Arhat" ( 'og gi dgra bcom pa zhes pa de 'di la go bar
- as we will have the opportunity to see for ourselves, a most ing

interconnecting two reports, one widely known, one largely unheard of
this (p.468 ff.; with Ehrhard's translation after Tragkar Taso Tulku's c
pp.235-236):
According to (the account) known as having been composed by Padma (Sam

Uddhyäna, (the sacred sandalwood statues) came into being ás follows.
REVIEW ARTICLE 87
Again the Great Compassionate one, from the summit of Mount Potala, directed [5a] his
gaze and saw that in the region of India known as the land of Mön's isolated hermitages
(Mön-yul ling-thrö), people had little faith in the Dharma. He saw that many engaged in
various negative actions so that, when their life came to an end, like an arrow that has been
released they went straight to hell. In order to achieve their aims, he caused an emanation
to arise, and manifested himself as one of Indian descent among the various ethnic groups
of that country, a local headman of (the region of) Bhuhud, known as the Elder Prahangpa
which in Tibetan translates as Gyawang-ngé (Rgya dbang nge, 'the Indian leader') - thus
it has been stated.28 Now this man engaged in meditation on Mahā-karuņika the Great
Compassionate one and recited the latter 's heart (mantra), OM MANI PADME HUM.
Pondering on achieving on a vast scale the aims of beings, Avalokitešvara brought it about
that Gyawang-ngé encountered him in a powerful direct vision, and in this way fully
empowered him towards realizing the four (activities) of Magnetizing, Increase, Wrathful
Intervention and Pacification. As a result Gyawang-ngé experienced the direct vision of a
constellation of four Yidam deities. Later, after he had attained realization, he came to
know about the existence of a great sandalwood tree, higher up in that country, and
journeyed to that spot. He engaged in meditation, viewing the sandalwood tree as the Great
Compassionate one, offering supplications and reciting the Mani heart (mantra) as he
circumambulated it. The local people soon became perfectly acquainted with the ten
wholesome acts. All of them, in turn, now engaged in meditation on [5b] Mahā-karuņika
and recited his Six-Syllable heart (mantra) - in this way he established them on the path of
liberation. When their lifespan was measured out, they took birth in the Pure Land of the
Great Compassionate one - so it is stated. As for Gyawang-ngé himself, he met Mahā-
karuņika face to face on many occasions. After he had reached an old age and his life's end
was approaching, he made this supplication:
"After I have passed from this life, may I achieve the welfare of limitless sentient beings.
May those who are 'hard to tame' be brought to the training by me. May my Yidam deity
transform this sandalwood tree into the Great Compassionate one, so that any sentient
being who hears about or sees or touches him develops faith and devotion. And may he
thus achieve the innumerable aims of these and other sentient beings!"
With these words he passed away. At that time, dense clouds of Heroes and Sky-going
Dākinīs arrived, presented the corpse with extensive acts of homage and offerings, and then
became invisible.
After the passing of a long long time, one Arhat arrived in that country. As the people of
the region started to invite him regularly for meals, he noticed by his supernatural perception
that this sandalwood tree had transformed into the Four Mahā-karuņika Brothers,
materialized for the sake of sentient beings. With this thought he directed [6a] his
supplications towards the tree, and so it came about that the Secret Wisdom Dākinī
Guhya-jftäna miraculously appeared as a reddish (buffalo) cow who mixed with a herd of
some hundred buffaloes. One local boy had taken on the job of buffalo-herd and as he led
them to graze on the high pastures, this native reddish cow buffalo circumambulated that
sandalwood tree, all the while yielding milk. Late in the evening as the buffalo owner was
milking this cow, no milk would come. So he told the cow-boy: "Hey, Go-pāla, have you
by any chance been milking my cow?". The herdsboy replied: "Me? I haven't done any
milking", but he wondered ... So the next morning he kept an eye on where the cow was
going. The cow quietly29 wandered off into the forest, with the cowherd slowly and
stealthily following in her tracks. And he observed the cow as she circumambulated the
sandalwood tree while releasing her milk (as an offering). He went on to tell the local
herdsmen about the cow's behavior. They wondered what this was all about, and consulted
the Arhat to whom they had been directing their offerings. The Arhat told them: "Inside
this tree the Four Jowo Mahā-karuņika Brothers have made their appearance. It means that
good fortune is on its way for the entire region."
88 TIBET JOURNAL
Thereupon, the local people humbly invited the Arhat and under his guidance prepared
lavish offerings to the sandalwood tree. As they approached (the tree, [6b] carrying these
offerings), they saw that a great number of deer (and other wild animals) had gathered at the
foot of this tree. Some were circumambulating it, some were anointing it with the perfumed
oil (of their skin),30 some were licking it and others were sprinkling milk.31 They further
noticed that innumerable flocks of birds had massed themselves at the top of the tree from
where they burst into all kinds of melodious song. At the mere sight of this tree, the
villagers become joyful to the point of feeling dizzy, with the hairs on their body (standing
on end and) quivering. Thereupon the Arhat addressed them: "Now while presenting many
offerings, cut it down!" Many acts of homage were performed, and supplications; then
they felled the tree at the root. From the hole that gaped, variegated rays of light emanated;
light rays pervaded all the spheres of the universe, then dissolved back again from where
they had come. From within the trunk, a voice resounded: "Please cut gently."
From the tree trunk which they now split open, the Four Brothers of Great Compassion
came forth and one could not get enough of gazing at them. As they became visible, the
faces glowed like zi-stones.
Then the Arhat, together with the local people, for a seven day period, with full devotion,
continued circumambulations and prostrations, while making offerings on a vast scale.
Right then, the deer, birds and humans residing there generated a stainless samādhi. When
their life came to an end, they miraculously took birth from lotus [7a] flowers in Padmāvatī,
the Pure Land in the west. There they were born in the presence of Amitābha Buddha the
Boundless Light and attended Amitābha' s Dharma discourse.
As for that region (of before), since all its people, cattle, birds and other sentient beings
attained Buddhahood, the country for a while became totally empty - thus it has been
stated.
This concludes the account about the origin (of the Spontaneously Arisen images].
This version of the events is ingenious because it forges a connection between different
accounts that are difficult to bring into agreement:
• there is an origin story that directly involves Avalokitešvara's decision regarding the
appearance of these miraculous statues; then,
• either Srongtsen Gampo's prayer causes the discovery, with the emanated monk
doing the actual work,
• or a heavenly Dākinī, in the form of a buffalo cow, contributes to the discovery; and
the emanated monk makes a second appearance, as an Arhat who extracts the sacred
images.
By making the Arhat (in this untitled source, reputedly authored by Padma Sambhava)
identical with the emanated monk of the Royal Testament, the two accounts can be
combined into a single, nearly seamless narrative flow; without the redactor having to
resort to what he dreads: the rejection of an authoritative text, easily viewed as an
instance of the itiajor downfall known as "rejection of the Dharma". Whereas the milk-
spilling cow who thus honors a sacred image is a familiar figure in Hindu lore (often
depicted above a lingam, e.g. in painted ornamentation on trucks!), the unusual trait
consists in identifying her with Dākinī Guhya-jüäna, who has a short chapter dedicated
to her in "The Hundred Thousand Precepts on the Maņi".32
In all of the above we have merely covered a fraction of the introductory materials and
already there is the overwhelming impression of an Ehrhard holding the reins of a
miraculous horse, and able to steer the chariot of scholarly investigation in a hundred
REVIEW ARTICLE 89
different directions. It would hardly be an exaggeration to state that the introduction

alone offers material for a dozen readymade, highly fascinating PhDs.
6. The eight chapters treatise on the Ârya Wati

Next to an opening hymn that is nothing less than a minor masterpiece in the genre,
each chapter is followed by a three stanza set of concluding verses that consists of a
short overview of the points discussed and that extends an invitation towards a
meditational pondering on the deeper meanings involved. Ehrhard does not really
insist upon this point, but much of the appeal of the "Emerald Horse" study is to be
attributed to the fact that Chökyi Wangchug, the incarnate of White-Boulder Horse-
Tooth hermitage, besides being an astute, widely read, and well-travelled historian, is
also a fine author, stylistically perhaps akin to none other than Tāranātha from Jo-
nang.33
Much as I would like to give an overview of the subject matter discussed in each of
Tragkar Taso Tulku's eight chapters, and of what Ehrhard does with that in his
annotations - several of them full-fledged essays in their own right - the material is
just too extensive (and this review article already far too lengthy) to attempt anything
of the sort. Let us therefore restrict the exercise to just a few examples; indeed, much of
what is contained in Chapters I to IV has already been touched upon in Ehrhard's own
introduction and in the glimpses of an aperçu supra.
In Chapter I, "General exposé: a few aspects of the sacred biography of Supreme
Ärya the Compassionate Lokešvara in person" ( 'Phags mchog ' Jig rten dbangphyug
thugs rje can 'di nyid kyi rnam par thar pa 'i cha shas tsam phyir bstan pa ), the most
important problem dealt with concerns the dilemma that was already alluded to in verse
b of the opening hymn:
From beginningless time, he was a perfect Buddha. But [struck by the sight of] those
beings who, driven by the delusion of karma and defilements, (helplessly) churn in the
ocean of samsāra,
he guides them onto paths that lead to full enlightenment.34
The verse alludes to the two different delineations regarding the origin of All-
Encompassing Glance: (1) The one where he is miraculously born from a lotus in
Sukhāvatī as Amitābha's heir, and makes the vow not to reach Buddhahood before all
beings have been led there by him. This is the better known account which, in western
sources, has practically become the defining character of a Bodhisattva tout court.
And no wonder: it is also the more intelligible explanation. (2) The less known version
explains that he already attained Buddhahood innumerable kalpas ago; that 91 kalpas
ago, he, under a previous Buddha, had generated a mind of Bodhicitta - only so as to
set an example of an apprenticeship under a spiritual master - and then became the
fully enlightened Buddha Samanta-rasmi Abhyudgata-siïkûta-râja ( 'Od zer kun 'phags
dpal brtsegs rgyal pó)?5 Ehrhard's investigations here led him to trace a rare work of
Desi Sangyé Gyatso where it clearly states that account # (1) is to be seen as the
provisional meaning {drang don , neyärtha) such as requires interpretation; whereas
account # (2) tells the story (and the facts) "as it is", with the definitive meaning (nges
don , nītārtha).36 A most important point that, moreover, renders obsolete a long-standing
debate about 'the evolution' of Mahā-karuņika from his portrayal in early Mahâyâna
Sūtras, as opposed to his representation in later ones.37
90 TIBET JOURNAL
Tragkar Taso Tulku, in this context, quotes a chapter or subchapter called "Universal
Access" ( Kurt nas sgo = Samanta-mukha) in the [Buddha-]Avatamsaka Sütra (Sangs
rgyas phal po che). Since almost in the same breath he mentions a youth Sudhana
( Gzhon nu Nor bzang ), the reference is obviously to the Gaņda-vyūha, "the last book
of the Avatamsaka". Although the Avalokitešvara episode in that book [Cleary (transi.)
1989: 15 1-156] does contain a few expressions that might pass for variations of such
sgo/mukha/' access' (ibid.: 15 1 : "the door of omniscience, ... the way to enter the great
ocean of knowledge"), and although the Bodhisattva therein (p. 153) starts his discourse
with: "I know a gate of Liberation ...", the episode is all too short to even attempt
cutting it up in 48 'sections' (Abschnitten, > don mtshan) of a presumed sacred biography
contained therein.38 At this point, Ehrhard reminds us of the existence of a chapter by
exactly that name, viz. Chapter XXIV (in the extant Sanskrit version; = Chapter XXV in
the Chinese translation by Kumāra-jīva), in the "Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the
Fine Dharma" (Saddharma-puņdarika Sutra /Dam chos padma dkar po). Author Chökyi
Wangchug, in other words, has the chapter title right, but mis-'placed' it, in the wrong
Sūtra.39 Ehrhard manages to divert the blame for this misquote to the author and the
work from which Tragkar Taso Tulku adopted it. Indeed, he appears not to have
consulted the Sūtra itself, but to have borrowed the quoted section from a then recent
classic: Changkya Rôlpé Doije's introduction to the sacred biography of Kelsang
Gyatso, the Vllth Dalai Lama.
Misquotation becomes more serious when the goal is to establish the direct
connection between Ārya Avalokitešvara and the Land of Snows. The author relates a
dialogue, said to have taken place at Kušinagara40 shortly before the Buddha's
parinirvāņa, and in the course of which the "King among Šākyas" predicts that in the
future, when his teaching will have nearly disappeared, Ärya All-Encompassing Glance
will become endowed, as his personal sphere of activity, with these very Snowlands
(where "everyone at death, unable to rise up again, like snow falling on a lake
transmigrates into the realms of evil existences", f.7a.l). No source is given for this
statement; when Ehrhard counterchecks in parallel accounts for a canonical reference,
it is again the prolific Desi Sangyé Gyatso who provides an (if not necessarily the)
answer. It occurs in his monumental Descriptive Guide ("A Treasury of Blessings",
Byin rlabs bang mdzod) to the monumental Relic Stūpa of the Vth Dalai Lama in the
Potala, and where, as the source of this specific Snowlands prophecy,
quotations follow from the S addharma-puņdarīka- s ūtra and the Karaņda-vyūha-sūtra, but
which a thorough countercheck in these works fails to trace.
(p.317: Es folgen Zitate aus Saddharmapuņdarīka-sūtra und Karandavyöha-sötra, die sich
bei genauerer Überprüfung aber in diesen Werken nicht identifizieren lassen.)
Ehrhard did trace such an account in the Mam bka ' ' bum instead, where (pp.87-90) it
figures as Chapter XIII of "The Great Chronicle" (Lo rgyus chen mo) section, in a
closely similar wording (even including "like snow falling on a lake"). While it is true
that the Karaņda-vyūha Sūtra is itself included in most editions of "The Hundred
Thousand Precepts on the Mai it, by now, becomes slightly more difficult to lend
credence to yet further accidental misquotes. All the more so after we learn that a
closely similar prophecy concerning Avalokitešvara's future activity in Tibet is elsewhere
said to have been delivered, not at Kušinagara shortly before the Buddha's parinirvāņa,
but at the Veņuvana Bamboo Grove. In this version a ray of light emanates from in-
between the Buddha's eyebrows and moves in the direction of the High North; when
REVIEW ARTICLE 91
Bodhisattva Sarva-nïvarana-viskambhin observes this, he requests an explanation and

the answer consists of the prophecy of Avalokitesvara's fixture activities there, in
accordance with a prayer wish made by him, eons before. We find it again in Lama
Dampa Sonam Gyaltsen's (1312-1375) "Mirror Illuminating the Royal Genealogies"
( Rgyal rabs gsal ba'i me long) where Serensen 1994: 97 found the introductory
paragraph accompanied by a gloss that gives the same Saddharma-pundarïka as the
source, and about which he was likewise forced to admit (ibid., n.249): "In fact, I failed
to locate this passage in the sutra!"41
The same passage is as eagerly quoted by the Desi, but at least with the added
provision wherein he calls it "a variant translation of the Puņdarīka Sūtra " [Ahmad
(transi.) 1999: 127; the extract is then immediately followed by an abbreviated quote
after the Kušinagara located account42].
One way or another, these are probably elaborations on the prophecy made by the
Buddha in the 100,000-stanza and 25 ,000-stanza Perfection of Wisdom (Prajnāpāramitā),
that "in the future, the excellent doctrine will spread to the countries in the North"
[Hopkins (transi.) 1980: 48]; but as to the precise canonical sources, we are still somewhat
left in the dark. As is well known from the early and later dated Chinese translations of
Mahāyāna Sūtras, different versions were in circulation during different periods; either
reflecting different stages in revelation, or adaptations to a specific local cultural situation
through elaboration or abbreviation. Perhaps this is the lesson to be retained: that
these so-called "variant translations" (for those instances where they are marked as
such) are to be understood as being based on redactions which were at one point taken
out of circulation or, more simply, were no longer used as models to be copied, once
authoritative versions had become established that bore the Imprimatur of the great
monastic centers; exactly along the lines so marvelously demonstrated by Lancaster
1992. They would then represent witnesses, in translation, of an earlier ongoing
revelation; but such as were no longer retained.43
I am aware that the above presentation is, of course, a best case scenario. When it
comes to the earlier mentioned dilemma between a tradition of three Ārya Brothers, as
given in "The Hundred Thousand Precepts of the Maņi", instead of (a minimum of)
four presented in other sources, Tragkar Taso Tulku goes on to draw a distinction
between "pure", i.e. genuine {dag), and "impure", i.e. corrupt {ma dag) editions.
Although Erhard keeps a straight face and merely takes note of the fact, it is a statement
hard to accept as it stands. The Maņi bka ' 'bum is not only one of the most widely
known of all ancient texts; it is also one of which the printing history is now relatively
well documented.44 And the fact is that no such "pure" edition, with "The Deeds of the
King in twentv-four chapters" {Rgyal po 'i mdzad pa le ' ur nyer bzhi) instead of the
standard twenty-one, has been found. Ehrhard, having seen countless texts re-surface,
does not a priori eliminate the existence - and the potential future discovery - of such
a version. Any question concerning its 'superior authenticity' and primacy, and also all
questions about how it came to be superceded by the standard version here deemed
"impure", will of course have to await the discovery of such a copy, if any survives.
7 . How TO READ THIS BOOK
There was, however, one point on which É. Lamotte allowed himself to criticize
the Master [Louis de la Vallée Poussin] whom he otherwise venerated - that outside
his major publications that "will remain" he had not felt more of a concern to
92 TIBET JOURNAL
organize his scholarly work. Treasures of thought and information are dispersed
among a multitude of articles and notes which one has to reassemble like a jigsaw
puzzle from among collective publications and journals from all over the world. ...
[By contrast,] É. Lamotte left us a scholarly life's contribution which is constructed
like a cathedral, in which all elements contribute to the whole.
Hubert Durt 1985: 3.
In his previous studies on the renovations of Swayambhü, Ehrhard has drawn attention
to the fact that a new Descriptive Guide ( dkar chag' meant to be a guide to the specific
sacred spot and to others in the region, was often composed on the occasion of a
renovation. The author would consult the existing pilgrimage guides, make the necessary
alterations based on his own scholarly insights, update the history of the earlier
renovations so as to include those not recorded in the previous edition, and end with
a note of praise about the latest sponsor. Whereas such an update has often been the
raison d'être of new literary compositions, with the contribution of the last donor set
'in bold', author Tragkar Taso Tulku's Ārya Avalokitešvara/ Ärya Excellent Wati treatise
is in the first place the work of a scholar-yogin. Chapter VI, "How, over the course of
time, offerings and expressions of homage were presented to [both] the Precious Ärya
and to his palatial vihāra complex; also including renovations and liturgical cycles"
( 'Phags pa rin po che nyid dang pho brang gtsug lag khang la mchod dang bkur sti
nyams gsos zhabs tog gi rim pa ji Itar sgrub tshul ), largely dedicated to a history of the
renovations, will strike most of us as the least interesting section in the book, even
though, thanks to the many references to famous donors and visitors, it, as a side
effect, provides us with a mini-overview of Tibetan history. This is where Tragkar Taso
Tulku slips in his own material contribution to the Ärya Wati shrine (f.39a = transi.,
p.277, § [23]); but in such an unobtrusive ('low profile') manner that it is easily
overlooked. The function of this chapter, in the traditional setting of Kyirong, was
crucial: it established a pedigree of previous donors; and any new sponsor inscribed
his name or that of his family in that same Honors' List. Whereas other renovation-
related dkar chags thus dedicate most space to a clear enumeration of the specific
works carried out and the funds spent on materials, artisans' wages and reconsecration
rituals, these obviously did not interest Chökyi Wangchug greatly.
What appears to have fired his enthusiasm most, besides his discussion of the early
historical sources and his attempts at solving the knotty questions involved, and
where his account becomes fully alive again, is when in Chapter VII, "Location of
noteworthy sacred spots and sacred representations in this region of Mang-yiil" ( Mang
yul gyi Ijongs ' dir gnas ríen khyad par can ji Itar bzhugs tshul), he tackles the other
sacred places and imagery. These sacred sites are within a radius of one day's travel
from the ' Phags pa lha khang , the Ärya's temple. His interest in them is not surprising
since all the great names of the Dharma transmissions in Tibet left their traces here, as
did many of the lesser luminaries. As the pilgrim becomes aware of all those great
Masters (of as nonsectarian a descent as one could wish) who once stayed at these
very sacred spots- a dense concentration of them, within a geographically narrow
area - it would indeed be hard not to feel inspired towards similar spiritual goals.
Ehrhard makes clear in his illuminating biographical sketch of Tragkar Taso Tulku: as
had been the case for his teacher Katok Rigdzin Tsewang Norbu before him, his dual
aim was to identify and possibly revive the ancient sites of his beloved Mang-yül, and
keep intact the various Revealed Treasure lineages associated with them.
REVIEW ARTICLE 93
If gnasyig literature for a good deal consists in the rewriting of earlier accounts and
in establishing, through various research strategies, the authenticity of their claims,
the incarnate of White-Boulder Horse-Tooth displays the greatest range of original
research in this Chapter VIL It is also where Erhard, in his annotations, is at his most
brilliant and exhaustive. He traces just about every conceivable source, locates the
relevant passage(s) and gives additional annotations concerning every Master (and
every work authored by him) related to these sites; he consulted sacred biographies,
lineage histories, polemical literature, travel diaries, eulogy anthologies, pilgrimage
guides, Treasure collections, including the great Mahäyäna Sūtras and Vajrayäna
classics - the list is endless.
So how should one read this book? The danger of losing the Ariadne thread altogether,
despite the carefully orchestrated introduction (from which I have drawn just a few
samples in the early sections of this review) is not an imaginary one. It is all too
tempting to allow oneself to be taken in, pick up one of the ancient classics referred to,
trace Ehrhard's quote therein and, before one realizes it, get caught by the magic of the
tale and read on and on; whereas all one set out to do was to glance through the
previous and next chapter(s), in order to get a feel for the setting of that quote. This
may happen again and again in the course of working one's way through 600-odd
pages of Die Statue und der Tempel. It makes for extremely slow progress.
I therefore strongly recommend that the reader head directly to the translation (pp.223-
308) and read it in one go, altogether ignoring endnotes, bibliography and introduction.
But do take the time to gaze at the vivid photography of the Wati statue and the Mang
yül sites that close off the volume. Tragkar Taso Tulku's main argument will then stand
out.
After which one can take up the Tome from the start, and let the real feast begin.45
Notes
1 . For the full title of "The Emerald-green Horse", see the Bibliography sub Tragkar Taso
Tulku, Chökyi Wangchug (Brag dkar rta so sprul sku, Chos kyi dbang phyug ), RTA
LJANG 1 & 2. The other two Ärya Wati guides are the JO BO by Palden-dar and the
'PHA GS MCHOG by Jampa Gyaltsen, for which see the Bibliography under these authors'
names.
Further appendices to Ehrhard's Wati include various stotras ( stodpa

(gsol ' debs ) by authors such as Dalai Lama V, MI ZAD, Dalai Lama VI
and the extraordinary sādhana by Zhigpo-lingpa, MCHED LNGA , mea
translation (HD 2004), though the illustration originally foreseen was
editorial oversight. I take this opportunity to include it here (illu
representation of the visualization scheme (ibid., p.54), replace "Khasarp
by "Sadaksarī Lokešvara".
2. A detailed account of that journey in 1959 has been published by
Jamyang, RDZONG DKAR , sections 25 to 27. A draft translation was
student Sanjay Bhartia (S.I.T., Studies Abroad/ Himalayan Studies, Sprin
account is to be found in the unpublished diaries of former guerilla
BSTAN SRUNG.
For the first part of the image's journey beyond the Tibetan border, see also Childs
2005, the account of "Rigzen" Dorje from Nubri who acted upon a dream in which "the
J o wo Rinpoché" exhorted him to undertake his rescue. This was followed by a (so far
undocumented) letter of the Dalai Lama in which was formulated the order to bring the
statue to Nubri "in the 3rd month". They travelled through Tsum and on to the 'Phags pa
94 TIBET JOURNAL
Fig.3 The visualization scheme for Zhigpo-lingpa's sâdhana (see endnote 1) that projects the
Four Brother Images onto the body of Lokesvara in his manifestation as Sadaksan ( 4 He of the
Six Syllables'). This layout has a darkblue Ârya Jamali on the crown of the head, a red Ârya the
Excellent Wati at the throat, a golden Ârya Ukham at the heart and a green Lokesvara at the
navel, "all of them in the half vajra-posture of royal ease".
The four small Lokesvara figures are derived from the two Bodhisattva figures flanking the
central Amogha-siddhi in the upper register of the Green Târâ scroll painting in the Ford
Collection (Kossak & Singer 1998: cat. no. 3). The sketch of Sadaksarî Lokesvara is by my
former student Sarah Strauss, then (Fall 1996) Master Kenji Babasaki's disciple in Dharamsala;
it is shown here after erasure of the grid lines. Corrections by her teacher have been incorporated.
REVIEW ARTICLE 95
lha khang in Kyirong, where "the statue sat in a carved wooden box that was open in
front".
After this the account becomes confusing as a cursory glance at the map confirms
(illustration 3). It is hardly possible that the party "then went to Dzongka", which is
way up north, since they, "after a few days ... crossed the pass back into Nepal", where
Rigzen Dorje suggested: "take it to a place below Bi called Durdzong ( Dur [ khrod kyi]
rdzong , 'Sky burial Fort')", where the statue was to remain "until the fifteenth of the third
month". They then "took Jowo Rinpoché on a tour through all the villages of Nubri".
A further error concerning the subsequent itinerary appears to have crept in:
After we performed our ceremonies on the tenth of the month, we knew it was time
to take the statue down to Kathmandu. We had heard that His Holiness had reached
India safely, so we wanted to get the statue to him.
But the route to India did not include a detour via Kathmandu.
In fact, an earlier account of this rescue operation, as told by the same Rigdzin Dorje, has
been available in print for some time (Aris 1975: 68); Mnga ' bdag Rig 'dzin rdo rje here
demonstrates a clearer recall (ibid.):
Rigdzin Dorje, in the company of a number of others, carried the image on his back to
safety in Tsum. From there he brought it to Nubri, where each village had insisted on
keeping it in its temple for a few days. Finally, it was taken to the little temple of
Pung-gyen ( Spungs rgyan ) below the sacred peak of Manaslu where, he said, a flock
of vultures swooped down to revere the image. Eventually it had been escorted by
soldiers of the Khampa resistance [via Ku-tsap ter-nga] to the principality of Lo and
thence to India, where it is now in the safekeeping of the Dalai Lama.
Rigdzin Dorje belongs to the same clan, descended from the early Tibetan kings - hence his
title of 'Powerful Lord' ( Mnga ' bdag) - to whom Tulku Urgyen Rinpoché was directed by
one of his teachers in Kham, long before he shaped his own plans about an escape into
exile; as mentioned in his autobiography (Tulku Urgyen Rinpoché 2005: 178 & 339).
With the permission of Master Photographer Manuel Bauer, I here include the only
known picture of Arya the Excellent Wati in its present location (illustration 4); a
photograph that did not make it into Bauer's extraordinary album.
3. In his Preface ( Vorwort , p.x), Ehrhard relates the same story somewhat more matter-of-
factly: "... and he (=Tsāmpa Ngawang) took advantage of the opportunity to copy out a
text that accompanied the statue during its flight" (... und er hatte die Gelegenheit benutzt,
einen Text zu kopieren, der die Statue auf ihrer Flucht begleitete). I refer to this copy below
as "Manuscript C".
For a sample of Dr. Tsāmpa Ngawang's scholarly contributions, see Snellgrove (transi.)
1 979; for further sources on the sacred site of Sku tshab gter Inga, see Ehrhard 1 993 & "in
print".
4. The illustration on p.81 of HD 1998 is borrowed after this 'clean' ms. copy's folio 5b.
5. Available in a microfilm copy at the National Archives, Kathmandu: the first 9 volumes
( KA to TA) under Reel numbers L376/1 to L381/8, and vol. 10 under Reel numbers AT 90/
18 to AT 91/1 respectively.
Lama Chökyi Nyima from Kyimolung (Skyid mo lung in Kuthang where Ehrhard also
photographed the unique slate relief portraying the author of the "Emerald-green Horse",
color plate 7), just previous to his tragic demise, was in the process of publishing the above
mentioned 10 vols. Bka ' 'bum of this Tragkar Taso Tulku.
The fine facsimile of the 'Phags pa Wa ti bzangpo "biography" which closes the Ehrhard
2004 volume, is drawn from this set ("Manuscript A"). Another, near-identical manuscript
of the text was later located at Dzongkar Chôdé monastic complex ("Manuscript B") in
South-India. The text edition in transliteration (pp. 153-2 18) is based on these two mss.
and in the footnotes provides the original readings and variants. No use was made of the
96 TIBET JOURNAL
Fig.4 Map of Mang yul (South), Gungthang (North) and the adjoining regions of Nepal, by
Tseten Tashi, from the appendix in Ehrhard's 'Phags pa Wa ti (see endnote 2). The chief places
of Gungthang (west of the river) are, from north to south, Ri wo Pelbar, Tragkar Taso and
Ragma, each associated with an episode in the life of Milarepa (hence the picture of Majestic
Lord Mila in a cave). The main sites in Mang vtil deemed worthy of a pictorial representation
are the capital Dzongkar, Kyirong's Ârya Wati temple ( ' Phags pa lha khang ) and, just north of
it, the Chamthrin temple ( Byams sprin lha khang). Deemed noteworthy in Nepal ( Bal yul) are
the two shrines of Swayambhû ( 'Phags pa shing kun) and Bauddha (Bya rung kha shor% the
three capital cities of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur ( Yam bu, Ye rang and Kho khom
respectively) and, in the hilly regions, Nuwakot ( Bal po rdzong ), Gorkha ( Gor sha), the once
'Hidden Valleys' of Langthang ( Glang phrang) and Helambu ( Yol mo gangs ra); and, in the
NW, Nubri ( Nub ris) and Kuthang (Sku thang).
REVIEW ARTICLE 97
Fig.5 The 'Phags pa Wati bzang po in situ , Pho brang, Dharamsala. Unpublished photograph by
Manuel Bauer (see endnote 2).
98 TIBET JOURNAL
earlier mentioned "Manuscript C" copy, since the circumstances (the short time available
for hand-copying, the tension of the moment and the danger of theft) were likely to
produce their share of errors and unlikely to provide a leçon not already available.
I noticed one possible exception. In stanza 3 of the initial stotra of homage, verses a-b
read:
Self-originated from a hollow in a Hařicandan sandalwood tree,

resplendently radiant with the Signs and Marks (of a Buddha), in order to liberate
transmigrators, you ...
and then, in ring bzhengs pa, we have a problem. Ehrhard suggests:
have arisen [so as to be visible from] afar:
Aus der Höhlung des [Paradies] baumes Haricandana von selbst erstanden,
damit er im strahlenden Glanz der Merkmale [eines Buddha ] die Wesen befreie . weithin
'sichtbar 1 errichtet:
This approach views ring bzhengs as an abbreviation of something like: ring [po nas
mthong ba 'i tshul dang mthuri] bzhengs , which I feel to be a little forcé. "Manuscript C"
proposes rings bzhengs pa , which may well echo the rang byung ba ('Self-originated') of
verse a, by suggesting the meaning of "suddenly (> 'in a hurry') formed".
The likelihood of this alternative reading is reinforced by the probability that the Tragkar
Taso Tulku borrowed idea and wording from his predecessor Palden-dar, JO BO where it
occurs in the 5th stanza (folio 15a = Appendix I, p.478) as:
Lus can kun gyi phan bde bsgrub pa la //

shin tu rings par bzhengs pa 7 bka ' drin can //
In order to achieve the well-being of all the embodied,

in your great kindness you became manifest at great speed (= instantaneously). ...
The same expression also occurs in the verse synopsis to Chapter III, stanza 1 , verse d; for
my translation that takes this variant into account, see HD ( forthcoming 2).
One single preferable reading - not even a definitive one, at that - besides numerous
(understandable) copying errors of course does not warrant the burdening of the text
edition with all the additional, worse-than-useless variants of ms. 'C'.
6. For art historian Ulrich von Schroeder 2001 : 820-821, the early dating in the case of the
Lokešvara leaves little room for doubt, however cautious he may appear in his wording:
Protected inside a glass case, the body covered by cloth, the face painted with cold
gold, the original crown hidden underneath the later crown, almost nothing of the
actual ' Phags pa [Lokešvara] statue is visible to the visitor. Photographs taken by Ian
Al sop during the process of renewing the gold paint (grang ser) for the first time
enabled a closer look at the sandalwood statue. Although hidden under several layers
of gold paint, the impression gained is that this image certainly is older than any of the
known replicas. The overall impression is that the image could well be identical with
the one associated with Srong btsan sgam po in the 7th century.
As an art historian, he feels obliged to dismiss the Self-originated aspect; and adds,
accordingly:
REVIEW ARTICLE 99
There is also sufficient evidence that the 'Phags pa [Lokešvara] statue represents the
work of a Newär artist.
This stands in direct contrast with Huntington 1990: 306, n.15, for whom
It is doubtful that the vicissitudes of Asian history could have left any of these images
intact.
His argument is not directly relevant, since (on the basis that "the record is confused") he,
with Snellgrove, is confident that the
early Jo bo mche (- > mched ) bzhi must have been Buddha images rather than figures
of the bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokitešvara.
7. I have seen neither the Waddell, nor the Grünwedel translation, nor even the Vth Dalai
Lama's "Descriptive Guide" (in the title, p.58, correct hang -» khang). As for the Grünwedel
1919, its title in the bibliography (p. xxxv) is given as "The temple of Lhasa: poem by the
1st Dalai Lama, for the use of pilgrims" (Die Tempel von Lhasa : Gedicht des ersten
Dalailama, für Pilger bestimmt). Contrary to this claim, the composition bears no relation
with Gedün-drup (1391-1474), but was definitely authored by Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso
(1617-1682), 'the Great Fifth' [F-KE, personal communication]. The latter "Guide" I only
know from the occasional quotation in Shakabpa, RWA SA.
8. The paņdita at the court of Gyantse does not use the honorific ' Phags pa , but replaces it
by (what is normally viewed as) the superior honorific Jo bo , the 'Highly Venerated Lord'.
As Hopkins et al. (forthcoming ; preliminary printout 1992) usefully remind us, both
honorifics, ' Phags pa and Jo bo , can be used as the equivalent of "Ârya". The two appear
side by side m the shorter one among the two titles of Palden-dar's early Ârya Wati
opusculum, Rang by on Jobo 'Phags pa Wa ti bzang po 7 mam thar Nyi ma 7 dkyil ' khor ;
although this conjunction is more or less 'accidental' in that the honorifics belong to two
separate units, each commonly used to refer to the deity: "The Spontaneously Born Jowo"
(Rang byon Jo bo) and "Ârya the Excellent Wati" ( 'Phags pa Wa ti bzang po). As if to
further emphasize the semantic equivalence of the two terms, the longer title even comes
up with an artificially contrived neo-honorific for the deity, a Rang byon 'phags pa , not
attested elsewhere.
Still, in the minds of many people, Jo bo remains in the first place associated with a
Buddha image, whereas 'Phags pa invariably indicates that of a Bodhisattva [either epithet
can of course be associated with living Masters]. I would not be surprised if some such
associations have, in the past, led people to make up random series of sacred imagery that
for instance includes a Skyid grong Jo bo. It may well be solely on that basis that others
(Snellgrove, Huntington & predecessors) reached the conclusion that the individual icons
in these series necessarily referred to Buddha images; they therefore condemned the inclusion
of a Lokešvara as erroneous.
The more immediate precedent for this error is probably to be found in one of Gedün
Chöpel's footnotes in his translation (with Roerich) of The Blue Annals. As Ehrhard points
out (p.74, n.31), it comes in an annotation to the 1st Zhamar's visit to the Ârya Wati and
the latter is next defined:
sKyi-roñ Jo-bo, one of the three sacred images of Tibet: lHasa'i Jo-bo, sKyi-ron-gi
Jo-bo, Kho-char Jo-bo.
It is a most unfortunate pronouncement, since it concerns a mix-up between a seated

Buddha image (the Jowo of Lhasa's Jo khang) with a standing Padma-pāņi Lokešvara and
with another "Jowo" Bodhisattva icon that is itself part of a local Puhrang/Khojarnāth
Triad. The set in the Pritzker collection appears to be a copy of it; but where this copy
hails from remains a mystery.
100 TIBET JOURNAL
Meanwhile, the plot thickens: von Schroeder obtained information (Fall 2005) that this
part-silver portrayal of the Lords of the Three Classes of beings was shown once, in Lhasa,
on public TV in a Chinese documentary about remote temples in Tibet. It is shown as still
occupying its supposedly original location in a temple, before it 'surfaced/ reappeared' on
the international antique market. A copy of this documentary has so far proved elusive.
9. On the other hand, this account is also more complete, as compared with other redactions
of the same story, in that it is preceded by a short prelude. Previous to the emanated monk,
a ray of light is emanated from the heart of Sronģtsen Gampo's personal Avaloki tešvara
statue. Like a beam in the dark, it clearly shows the king the location of a miraculous
sandalwood tree which contains the naturally formed statues of the same All-Encompassing
Glance.
1 0. See my translation of this passage after the B version in the Mani bka ' 'bum, in HD 1 998:
8 1 -82. The account in the "Descriptive Guide of Lhasa's Miraculously Appeared] Vihāra"
composed by the Vth Dalai Lama has four naturally formed icons in the tree, the original/
B version in chapter VIII of the Ma ņi bka ' 'bum's "Twenty-one Deeds of the King" only
knows of three (the A version, like the Ka khol ma , ignores the episode altogether). The
relevant section of the Mani bka ' 'bum's chapter VIII is quoted in Palden-dar's Ärya Wati
"Guide" (§ [1]), reproduced in Ehrhard's Appendix I, p.467.
1 1 . Regarding the circumstances in which Wylie produced "A Religious Geography of Nepal",
see Jackson 2003: 273:
With the support of a grant from the Ford foundation, he went to study for twenty
months under Giuseppe Tucci (1 894- 1984) in Rome, his main purpose being to write
his doctoral dissertation on a nineteenth century Tibetan geographical work. Before
that he had read three papers on Tibetan subjects before the Inner Asia Colloquium in
1953 and 1954, two in connection with the subject of his dissertation, "The Geography
of Tibet according to the 'Dzam gling rgyas bshaď ' (University of Washington, May
1958).
The follow up for the Nepal section was only published in 1970; and he appears to have
relied solely on correspondence with the Nepalese informant Bhuwanlal Joshi, then with
the University of California, Santa Cruz. Which is surprising, since elsewhere (pp.262-
263), Jackson informs us that
Originally the sixty-one-year-old Ekvall had been slated to go to India in early 1960,
accompanied by Wylie, to select and invite the lamas for the Rockefeller-funded
research. ... So the much junior Turrell V. (Terry) Wylie, assistant professor of Tibetan
since 1959, became principal investigator for the grant and went to India and Nepal
alone.
In fact, in his Preface (p. x) to A Tibetan Religious Geography of Nepal , Wylie himself
mentions that, in 1960, he had the opportunity to "revisit Kathmandu". Perhaps the task
at hand and the limited time did not allow him to carry out basic investigations, except for
an attempt at locating other "guide-books" related to the Valley. He failed to elucidate
several cases of confusion in Lama Tsenpo; for instance when he mistakingly places
Changu Narayan at Nuwakot (p.30) which he further connects with what appears to be
Hsüan Tsang's description of Muktinãth (by the latter mislocated SE of Patan).
Lama Tsenpo, author of the 'Dzam gling rgyas bshad , astonishingly, was familiar with
the Newari 'affectionate honorific' Karujuju for the chief Brother Arya images of Kathmandu
and Patan. Ehrhard (p.62, n.7) accepts the interpretation of Ka ru dzu dzu , which occurs in
this passage of the "Universal Geography", as Karunä-räja/iCö«/g des Mitgefühls ('King of
Compassion'). I know only of one other passage where a similar term occurs: in the Blue
Annals' closing section [Roerich (transi. (1949) 1976: 804] of the life of Mahä-pandita
Vanaratna where the latter "offered a feast to all the 'ju 'jus of Nepal, and to a crowd of
beggars". From the context and also from the inscription on the now famous painting that
REVIEW ARTICLE 101
illustrates this scene, it is clear that the "feast" was in fact a privately sponsored Samekh,
a festive banquet held for all the Gubhājū, i.e. the Vajrâcârya families, followed by a lavish
alms distribution for the ascetics of various religious orders [it is out of the question that
the Great Yogin Paņdita threw a party 'for all the kings of Nepal', as Roerich has it].
Hence, the suffix in Karu-juju is bound to be the equivalent of a reduplicated jī in Hindi;
leading to the meaning of 'Most Revered Compassionate One* or even 'Most Compassionate
Guru'.
1 2. See Macdonald [Alexander W.] & Tagpo Rinpoché (eds.) 1 975 [Khamthrul IV, RNA BA'IÌ ]
& ibid, (transi.) 1981 & 1987. About the relationship of this text to the preliminary
research carried out by the IVth Khamthrul 's teacher, Situ Paņchen, see HD 2000.
13. (RNA BA 'I 1, fol. 17a = RNA BA' I 2, fol. 2 la/p. 197) Weil im allgemeinen kein Tibeter
[jemals] ins Innere der Tempel dieser drei Herren gelangt ist, konnte [ bisher ] auch nicht
bestimmt werden, [welche Zahl an] Gesichtern, Armen, usw. sie haben. Auch was das
Antlitz [der Standbilder] betrifft, was man in Wirklichkeit sieht, von außen betrachtet ist es
offenbar nur die Umhüllung einer Maske (p.63).
Alexander W. Macdonald 1987: 113 erroneously had it that "Tibetans did not allow me
(i.e. author Khams sprul) to enter the temples of these three Lords". In the original version
of 1 98 1 : 256, this line, Généralement les gens du Tibet ne m 'ont pas laissé entrer dans les
temples des trois Seigneurs , is accompanied by a note (n.59): Dans notre texte on se serait
attendu à "on n ' a pas laissé entrer les gens du Tibet ... ", mais on ne peut traduire autrement.
The entire sentence is actually in the 3rd person: Tibetans are not allowed inside and hence
it has been impossible [for them, i.e. any previous Tibetan visitors such as Situ Paņchen]
to ascertain ...
14. It may seem odd that Khamthrul is so insistent about [the number of] faces, hands, and so
forth, when anyone in Kathmandu and Patan who ever witnessed the chariot festival - the
great majority of the people - would have been able to inform him that each of the Karujuju-
s has one face and two hands. His persistent doubts, accordingly, must have been based on
the information to be found in Šrībhūti-bhadra who (as quoted by Ehrhard, p.60) ascribed
to
• Jowo Jamali 3 faces, 6 arms,

• Jowo Ukhang 1 face, 4 arms,
• Jowo Wati 1 face, 2 arms.
This does not fit with either the form of the actual statues, nor with any known iconograp
description of them. The sites associated with the two first mentioned (on the Indo-N
border and in Kathmandu respectively, instead of, respectively, in Kathmandu and Pa
are equally off. Moreover, for Jowo Jamali's location, Šrībhūti-bhadra uses the 'imposs
expression, Rgya gar dang Bal po 7 ' tshams [- » mtshams] su instead of the expecte
vul gyn mtshams ; Bal po being the name usually reserved for the Kathmandu Valley
information which Šrībhūti-bhadra provides on these three icons is also highly unsystema
After, for each icon, we do get
( 1 ) the the number of faces and arms, as well as
(2) the individual locations, and
(3) the evil which they will eliminate at that place,
supplementary information is provided for one of them:
(4) only for the Wati do we get an indication - equally wrong! - of the hand emb
"right hand holding a five-pronged vajra at the heart, left hand holding a white lotus
(5) The Jamali is then further described as looking like "a five year old child" ( byisp
Inga pa tsam' which connects it with a group of other images, each showing the Budd
a Bodhisattva youth at different ages. Indeed, this brings the group of the Ãrya Broth
relation with the earliest Buddha images ever created (Dagyab 1977:22):
In all, [the artist of the gods] Višvakarma made three statues of the Buddha, representi
the Buddha at different ages. Following descriptions given by the Buddha's nursemai
102 TIBET JOURNAL
the first and second statues represented the Buddha at the ages of eight and twelve:
and the third one portrayed him at the mature age of twenty-five.
Eventually,
during the reign of king Devapāla, the statue of the twelve year old Buddha was taken
to China and the statue of the eight year old was taken to Nepal.
This, then, is how both sacred icons eventually reach Tibet, as part of the dowry of,
respectively, the Chinese and Nepalese brides of Srongtsen Gampo. Since according to this
tradition these statues - originally installed in the Mahābodhi temple of Buddhgaya -
converged in Lhasa, and became the central sacred icons at, respectively, the Ramoche and
Jo-khang temples, they were obviously understood as Buddha portrayals in seated form.
It is inconceivable that they refer to the Mahā-karuņika Brother images of Ehrhard's
inquiry.
This is exactly the kind of information which the IVth Khamthrul intended to
countercheck.
The account (here quoted after Dagyab) of the early sacred images, depicting the Buddha
at the ages of eight, twelve and twenty-five, miraculously created by Visvakarma, is
reported by Nyang ral nyi ma 'od zeť s Transmission history, SBRANG RTSI'1, 38-40, but
equally occurs (Ehrhard, p. 323) in both the Mani bka' 'bum (the Lo rgyus chen mo
chapter) and the Bka ' chems ka khol ma.
As we will see below, the same text also knows of Lokešvara statues associated with
different ages (including an Ärya Jamali aged five, as in Šrībhūti-bhadra) - a tradition that,
contrary to the one of the early Buddha icons, does not appear to have gained currency.
15. I follow Ehrhard in not proposing any other solution for the presumed "mask". One tends
to think of the Kathmandu Valley's DTpamkara Buddhas which most often have a gilt
copper face and a pair of gilt copper hands, mounted on a hollow supporting frame that
allows a person to carry the structure in processional fashion (as depicted in the excellent
Plate 500 of Slusser 1982, "DTpamkara Buddha, accompanied by acolytes, is borne by one
of them as he makes the rounds of Bhaktapur on Pañca-dána"). Although one meets such
images set up in their own chapel for the rest of the year, no tradition exists of one taking
the place of an Ärya Brother image during the latter 's absence from his main temple.
1 6. Contrary to the guide by the late 1 7th c. Ngawang Dorje from Nelung. the Bal yul mchod
rten 'Phags pa Shing kun dang de 'i gnas gzhan gyi dkar chag ["Descriptive guide of the
caitya Ärya All Trees in Nepal and related sacred places"], which was still being sold by
itinerant vendors at Bauddha as recently as the early 1980s, the Bal yul gnasyig ["Guide
to the Sacred Places in Nepal"; on p.63, correct: Bal po '/-> Bal yul ] has always been a rare
booklet; even though the colophon, as published by Wylie, calls it a "reprint" (gsar
bskrung). Most scholars who consulted it have relied on Wylie 's transliteration; the text
itself was never published in facsimilé. The accompanying picture, as mentioned by Wylie
1970:37:
(Folio 1 -a shows a drawing of a monastery with the following identification remarks

Bal yul bya rgod phung po ri 7 dgon pa 'i dpe' in Tibetan and: kindo yihãra ' Nepāla in
Devanagãri script.),
was later reproduced in Kaschewsky 1979: 439 (illustration 5). The Tibetan caption
this picture, "Book of the Vulture Heap Hill Monastery in Nepal", is to be viewed as
alternative title.
17. "Prajftā consorts" would have been preferable in Buddhist context. Moreover, if the three
performed the daily rites in the Protector room ( Mgon khang ), they, as per Locke's earlier
quotation, had their quarters in "a small building nearby" (the house next door).
REVIEW ARTICLE 103
Fig.6 Kimdol vihâra. Blockprint engraving, illustration in the blockprint of [Kimdol] Ngawang
Dorje's Bal yul gnas yig' Bal yul bya rgod phung po ri'i dgon pa'i dpe' (see endnote 17).
Courtesy of the late Turrell Wylie.
18. In the course of the same photo session, the Newar tantric priest donned an improvised
mask of an elephant and enacted the Buddha's birth according to the Lalita-vistara, as he
had staged it in his youth (these photographs from the archive of the late Wassman remain
unpublished). A reference to this Lalita-vistara inspired play is found in Min B. Shakya
(transi.) 2004: 336 (§ 148, slightly modified):
A magnificent drama about the life of the Buddha, entitled Sarvârthasiddha , was
staged at Oku Bahâ for a full eight days. ... Among the performances, the role of
Devadatta was particularly dynamic and well realized. ... Devadatta's role was
performed by Mr. Haršadeva Sâkya. After the play was over, Mr. Šákya felt deep
remorse, as though he had actually inflicted trouble on the innocent Yasodharâ, and
attempted to satisfy his selfish ambitions by deceitfully bringing suffering upon
Prince Siddhârtha. To purify these negative acts, he developed a mind aspiring to
enlightenment, and became a full-time monk, renouncing the household life. ... He
became a disciple of the 'Brug pa Lama (Shes rab rdo rje) [whom he followed when
the latter] visited Tsung Monastery near the Hundred and Eight Springs [of Muktinâth].
He was ordained and took the name Dkon mchog rdo rje (Triratna-vajra). ... Then
merely twenty-six years old, he decided to visit the Šrl Swayambhû Mahâ-caitya by
prostrating all the way from Tsung monastery. ... He passed his final days at Kimdol
Vihâra near Swayambhû and was known among the locals as Dharma-guruju.
Under the misnomer "Dharmajee", finally, a further photograph of him "in trance" appears
as Plate 3 in Tachikawa 2000, as does a photograph of his widowed consort acting as a
healer (Plate 2), also in trance [This is the article with the astounding revelation (p.237)
that "Judging from my observation and interviews in Kathmandu, it would be safe to guess
that there are some Tibetan monks practicing visualization ( sgrub thabs) even nowadays."
Who would' ve thought].
104 TIBET JOURNAL
As for Ehrhard's having drawn the publication date of Ngawang Dorje from Kimdol's BAL
YUL guide closer to the present by more than two centuries and a quarter, when he
identifies its Horse Wood year as 1954 rather than 1774, the sole dissenting voice to this
drastic move is Dowman's. He claims that it was quoted as early as 1 820, which would be
84 years before the author's birth. Dowman's (1981:187) reasoning is as follows:
we infer that the text was written after the Gorkhali invasion of 1768; this terminus a
quo of the Guide's origin is affirmed by the inclusion of [the] Basantapur Kumārī
Bāhāl which was built by the last of the Malla kings, Jaya Prakaš Malla. Since Bla ma
btsan po used the Guide {Bal yul gnasyig ) to compile his World Geography in 1 820,
the wood-horse year in which the text was printed must be 1774.
If the earlier reasoning for the terminus post quem is valid, the second one is not. It is Wylie
(1970: xvii) who quotes "extensively from the two guidebooks on the Kathmandu Valley"
(the said BAL YUL and the SHING KUN) in his own footnotes. Whenever Lama Tsenpo
refers to "the dkar cha¿' it is invariably to the one authored by an unidentified Mnga ' ris
grub chen , a guide which has not resurfaced so far.
19. Already Wylie 1970: 15, n.20 (continuation from p. 14) had difficulties with this line, for
which he proposed a highly unlikely "the well [made] of sandalwood".
20. The expression "in the Therai, many miles south of the capital" in the previous paragraph,
as applied to the location of the the miraculous Haricandan tree amidst a sandalwood
forest, is countered by two weak alternative traditions, one of which places it on Mt.
Nāgārjuna/Jamacho (under its classic misnomer Ri bo 'bigs byed/Mt. Vindhya), and the
other in a forest near Bhaktapur {Kho khom kyi nags). Tragkar Taso Tulku has little
trouble dismissing both as unsubstantiated (cf. Wati, pp.279-280; 396-397, n.149 & 329,
n.25).
21. Ehrhard (p.64, n.12) refers to these studies, be it succinctly: Vergati 1985 & 1987 [to
which should now be added yet a third version of the same, Vergati 1995, part of her
collected essays, Vergati 1995a]. The case is not facilitated by the fact that, after three
publications dedicated to the same material, we are still deprived of any "museum quality"
color reproduction for 95% of the painted surfaces, and of either a facsimile or edited
transliteration of the captions; a state of affairs made worse since the 1712 painting is
inaccessible to most of us, being part of an unnamed "private collection". Pas très sérieux.
22. Ehrhard's translation of this section occurs in the Annotations ( Anmerkungen ), # 29,
pp.330-33 1 . He reconstructs the name of the trader, Mdzes pa'i bio gros , as "Šubhamati".
My "*Carumati", besides being based on Lokesh Chandra's Tibetan-Sanskrit Dictionary
(which presents either option and many more besides), is further informed by the analogy
with the Sanskrit name of Emperor Ašoka's daughter Carumatī who, after her father's
presumed pilgrimage to the tīrtha-sthānas of the Valley, became the founder of Ca-bahil,
near Bauddha.
23. Ehrhard, from here on, provides the full translation, p.69.
In his study of a recently resurfaced "Guide to the Vajra Throne", authored by Chomden
Rigpé Reldri (Bcom Idan rig pa 7 ral gri ), Kurtis Schaeffer (forthcoming) discovered Nyang-
rel Nyima Hözer as the source for practically 95% of the starting-off materials. Chomden
re-ordered them in a newly redacted form, after a thorough countercheck (and corrections
of the text based on it) in situ by an unnamed pilgrim/'research assistant'. On the same
topic, see also HD (forthcoming 1).
A great part of Nyang-rel's history is taken up by the origins of early sacred imagery. It
therefore comes as a surprise that his name is utterly missing from Dagyab's (1977)
otherwise quite impressive bibliography. All the more surprising in view of the comment
(expressed in rather exquisite wording) in Dudjom Rinpoché's (1991: 758) encyclopedic
Nyingma history:
REVIEW ARTICLE 105
Moreover, even biased partisans of the new translation schools are free from the taint
of having harbored perverse notions [about Nyang-rel].
24. Different from what had been the case for the information provided in Šrībhūti-bhadra (cf.
supra, n. 14), where this was only provided for one, out of a group of three.
25. "In the Valley of the 'Land of Plenty' Mangyul gyi rong. A similar formulation is given
in the Second Nehnang Pawo's "Festive Scholarly Banquet" ( MKHAS , pp. 199-200, as
quoted in Ehrhard, p.71, n.25), offering a possible etymology for the name of its capital:
Sky id grong , 'Happy Town', > [Mangyul] gyi rong , "The Valley of'. Hence this gyi rong
is not necessarily to be seen as a double misspelling of what the place name was eventually
to become.
26. Meaning: such as to Central Tibet, from where the action started.
27. Seemingly because he could not find any other place to introduce this theme, author
Palden-dar (folio 4b.4 = Ehrhard, p.468) inserts a short note alluding to the view of some
unnamed "realized individuals" {grub pa 7 skyes bu la la) about an auxiliary sub-plot
connected with the discovery of the tree. A buffalo cow secretly circumambulates the tree
while offering her milk to it - discreet observation of which guides the emanated monk to
its identification in the middle of the sandalwood forest.
The fascinating part herein is twofold:
• First of all a statement that the site where the sandalwood tree grew is Gaudāvari, one of
the Twenty-four Great Lands, as defined in the Cakra Samvara Tantra. He connects the
name Gaudāvari with the said sub-plot by an exercise in nirukta etymology which clearly
points to this supplementary anecdote, unknown to the redactor of the Ma ņi bka ' 'bum
version just quoted by him.
• He thereby no longer connects this site with a non-place in the Therai, close to the
Nepal-India border, but squarely identifies it with a forest near Bhaktapur [after the rather
obvious emendation of Kho bom - » Kho khom , i.e. present day Bhadgaon, for centuries the
capital of one of the three kingdoms in the "Nepal Valley". The emendation is all the more
evident because this is how Tragkar Taso himself will quote this passage in § 1 of his
chapter VII (with the alternative misspelling as Kho khoms ; cf. Ehrhard, pp.197 & 279)]:
mcq
Moreover, according to some realized individuals, it is one among the Twenty-four

[Great] Lands, the one by name of Gaudavari which is (located) in Nepal, and which
carries the meaning "Cow's Supreme Gift". It is explained as connected with a story
about an orange colored [buffalo] cow who let flow her milk to (the foot of) a tree in
a forest of Bhaktapur. Indeed, [this becomes clear] if one adds the Sanskrit
(components), "gau" = cow, "da [na]" = to give and "wari" = supreme.
Still, (the location, defined as) "a forest of Bhaktapur" appears to be in slight
disaccord with the previously quoted account.
Although later authors will fault Palden-dar on other points, they ignore the most immedi-
ately obvious one: if Gaudavari is indeed to be located in "Nepal" ( Bal yul , where, by the
reference to Kho khom , we would have expected Bal po, the Kathmandu Valley), it should be
in the vicinity of Patan {Ye rang) which has a sacred Gaudavari spot in the SE, not in a forest
near Bhaktapur {Kho khom).
In regard to this, Ehrhard (p.68, n.22), by dent of another bibliographical stunt, sends us
off to a passage in Ratna-lingpa, about a specific category of concealed treasure that is
revealed by a buffalo cow; from the first text in the latter 's Collected Works (Bylakuppe
edition), the "Lamp Illuminating the Great Source of Hidden Treasures" {Gter 'byung chen
mo gsal ba 7 sgron me , p.66.2-67.5): treasures that are "Spontaneously Born" {rang byung
106 TIBET JOURNAL
gi gter). Ehrhard (p.33 1 , Annotation # 30) points out further parallels, most of them redupli-
cations of a "Self-Milking Cow" story.
We will hear more about this, as Tragkar Taso integrated a fuller account into his own
narration (Chapter II, [4]).
28. The meaning of the supposed Tibetan translation of the name "the Elder Prahangpa" as 4 the
Indian leader' ( Rgya dbang nge) is conjectural; fortunately its meaning is not essential to the
tale. Ehrhard reads the name as Pra had pa: in the blockprint, throughout, the letters da and
nga are barely distinguishable from one another.
29. I am unfamiliar with the expression zu lu lu which I could not trace in any dictionary either.
Ehrhard (p. 1 64) has in alle Ruhe , from which I borrowed "quietly".
30. To be understood by analogy to 'oiling' a stūpa as a preliminary part of a caitya pūjā - still
a common sight in the Kathmandu Valley, as performed by Vajrâcârya priests.
3 1 . With one further emendation (not in Palden-dar's text in Ehrhard, p.469; solely in Tragkar
Taso Tulku's copy thereof, on p. 164): la la ni nu zhu 'thor shing -» la la ni nu zho 'thor
shing.
32. Mam bka ' ' bum , vol. I, pp.678-680, under the title "Sādhana of Guhya-jnâna Dākinī"
(Gsang baye shes mkha ' 'grò ma 'i sgrub thabs). The Avalokitesvara connection resides in
the fact that the four-armed Sky-soaring Lady, in her function of samaya-sattva, has a two-
armed Lokešvara residing at her heart as the jnāna-sattva.
33. To the point that I felt myself compelled to devote a separate review to these hymnic
evocations and to Ehrhard's translations thereof (the earlier mentioned HD, forthcoming
2). This comparison equally extends to Tragkar Taso Tulku's range of competence, as will
be clear from a perusal of the individual titles contained in his 10 vols, completed works
(Appendix V, pp.535-564).
34. Obgleich von Anbeginn an ein vollendeter Buddha: all diese Wesen, welche im
Ozean des Samsãra
umherziehen, im Getriebe ihrer Handlungen und Befleckungen,
auf die Pfade für die Ursache der völligen Läuterung fuhrt er sie, ...
35 . Correct, p.3 1 1 : rgyal ba -> rgyal po , at least according to the identical quotation in Nom
Khan Lhundrup Dargyé, TSHANGS DBYANGS, p.5 1 ; corresponding with the °-rāja endin
of the Sanskrit.
36. The abbreviated title of this Desi Sangye Gyatso opus on p.3 1 0 should, in accordance wi
the way it is mentioned in the bibliography (p.xxvi), be corrected from Rna ba 7 bcud l
yid kyi kun dga ' to: - » ... yid kyi mun sel.
37. In the course of a visit by the Dalai Lama, several years ago, to the University of Michig
HH asked about the research work being undertaken there. Prof. Luis Gómez explained t
theme of the semester: on the basis of different interpretations of essential points in t
different Mahāyāna Sūtras, the students were to try and establish a chronology of respective
datings [the texts studied included the, for the provisional meaning-style origin account
relevant Sukhāvatī-vyūha Sūtras - see the subsequent publication: Gómez (transi.) 199
HH nodded negatively: no, not so. According to canonical understanding, all the Mahäyän
Sūtras originated simultaneously during the same period; there can be no question of
'evolution' in Mahäyäna views.
What on that occasion he left unsaid and what the Desi's text clarifies is a difference
perspective. The Mahäyäna Sūtras were revealed with more, or less, openness, i.e.: som
became widespread; others were maintained at a level of comparatively restrict
distribution, all in accordance with the various needs and capacities of diverse audienc
Accordingly, when Ehrhard at a later point quotes Sinha 1992 who - like Warder an
others before him - tries out such tentative 'evolution', I suspect that this gesture of h
represents a temporary 'giving in' to academic orthodoxy, by means of a neyärt
interpretation in vorläufigen Sinn.
The same also applies to stanza I, 1 , verse c, which depicts Padma-pāņi as identical
[Vairocana] the Great Glacier Lake. It can be viewed as part of a cosmic vision of
REVIEW ARTICLE 107
universal flux wherein X who emanates Y is him/herself part of a much larger, so far
unexpected whole, about which one should not be oversurprised if it turns out to be
another form of Y. Either this, or one resolutely opts for the path of historical evolution,
whereby the poetic statement will be viewed as merely a matter of Avalokitesvara mythology
(or the Avalokitesvara cult) having been influenced by cosmic Vairocana ditto, as in Sorensen's
1994: 494-495 comments.
38. Tragkar Taso Tulku's RTA LJANGS 1, f.6a [= Ehrhard text ed. pp. 156- 157; transi, p.228;
with important annotations on p.3 14] quotes it as such: Sangs rgyas phal po che 7 kun nas
sgo 7 le 'u. The Bodhisattva Veshthila (p. 1 50) sends off Sudhana to Ãrya Avalokitesvara 's
Mt. Potalaka.
If one stays aware of the fact that don tshan , rather than 'sections' or 'subchapters',
often refers to the different 'points' or 'clauses' in a given declaration, the verse synthesis
at the close of the Avalokitesvara section in the Avatamsaka's Ganda-vyüha Book does
'deliver' something of the kind. Although it is difficult in such a long enumeration to discern
what is to be counted as either one unit or as three in what verbatim appear as three near-
synonyms, it would not be forcing the issue too much to come up with a series of "48 don
tshan", i.e. 48 different pledges made by the Great Compassionate one. True, Tragkar Taso
Tulku talks about the don tshan of a sacred biography (mam thar) while the subject is still
very much alive (it is Avalokitesvara himself who announces these points!), but we can
safely take mam thar here in the sense of a life's program, in terms of pledges made by him.
39. Note that in the Saddharma-puņdarīka, "Kumāra-jīva's [Sanskrit] original undoubtedly
had Avalokita-svara " (Hurvitz 1982: 311, footnote), possibly by analogy to the name of
Bodhisattva Gadgada-svara. 'Fine Sound', protagonist of the previous chapter; and which
leads Hurvitz to translate his name accordingly, after the corresponding Chinese Kuan shih
yin , as 'He Who Observes the Sounds of the World'. It is in tune with this understanding
that, in the subsequent text, the emphasis is on calling out his name: in the Chinese version,
the 'All-Hearing' takes precedence over the 'All-Seeing' aspect.
With regard to the Saddharma-puņdarīka, it would perhaps have been preferable for
Ehrhard to refer to this more recent translation by Hurvitz (1976) 1982. But I do harbor
some doubts about Hurvitz 's translation of (the equivalent of) Samanta-mukha (the kun
nas sgo ) as 'The Gateway to Every where '..Das (p.26), who knows of a Kun nas sgo 7 le 'u
shes pa 7 mdo, understands it according to what the Tibetan imposes: 'Sütra on the door or
entrance from all quarters, i.e. free entrance' .
The fact that Das knows about this text which, like Tragkar Taso Tulku, he refers to as
"The Chapter of', but with the addition of Mdo , 'Sūtra', to it, strongly suggests that this
text - by some reckoned to be the earliest 'independent Avalokitesvara manifesto' -
circulated as an independent Sūtra.
Notwithstanding my previous note, I do not for a moment doubt Ehrhard's identification
of the source as indeed being the Dam chos Padma dkar po 7 mdo 's Chapter XXIV, entitled
Spy an ras gzigs dbang phyuggi mam par 'phrul bstan pa Kun nas sgo (Ehrhard, Anmerkung
5, p.315).
Sinha 1992: 172, when referring to the epithet Samanta-mukha in the same Sūtra, translates
it as "All-sided one".
40. For Kušinagara, the author uses the variant /to[w]a can for /to[w]a mchog grong.
Although Šākyamuni is at first mentioned as Šāky arāja, he is not addressed as such; hence,
in the translation (p.228, § [2], line 6), "Oh König!" should be emended to "Oh JTna!"
(corresponding with the rgyal ba of the edited text, p. 157).
41. Of the two full translations of the Rgyal rabs available, reviewed in one go by Huber 1 996,
Ehrhard only mentions the one with the "massive critical apparatus" & "an occasional
ponderous syntax" (= Sorensen 1994), ignoring the one with the "appealing (spelling error
for "appalling"?) sketches" (= McComas Taylor 1996). It is of course true that the former
is the scholarly version, to the point of "overkill". In a work such as the 'Phags pa Wati , the
reach of which will definitely extend to a para-academic readership, it is a bit unfair to
108 TIBET JOURNAL
withhold a reference to the "readable" translation, even if "when they [= the two versions]
do differ markedly, Sorensen is always to be relied upon for accuracy" (Huber 1996: 61).
42. 1 lack the time to trace the reference in the Desi's Tibetan original, but it appears to be a
quotation of the same passage ( RTA LJANG , f.7a. 1-2) in abbreviated form, something along
the lines of:
shi ba thams cad kyang ... mtsho la kha ba bab pa bzhin ngan 'gro 'i 'jig rten du 'grò
ba yin pas ma ' ongs pa ' i dus phyi mala ... byang chub sems dpa ' ... khyod nyid kho
nas 'dul bar 'gyur gyis'
with a fair share of sloppy copying; either that, or Ahmad's translation added some
idiosyncracies of its own, in tone akin to the diction of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Ahmad, ibid.,
p. 128):
Everything is dead. But as snow falls on the lakes of the world of evil ones, there will
be a (living) world there. (At that time), in the future, O Bodhisattva, it will be
converted by you.
43. Kurt Tropper (2005: 76 & note 21), in his discussion of the occasional discrepency
between the scenes depicted in the paintings of the vast inner circumambulation path (skor
lam chen mo) at Zhalu and the captions that accompany them, has drawn attention to the
likelihood of these inscriptions being based on a Chinese Jātaka-mālā that - as earlier
demonstrated by Brough - barely deserves the name of "translation from the Sanskrit",
yet that nonetheless had made it to inclusion into the Chinese Tripitaka. It tellingly
demonstrates at least the possibility that a less known version, floating in isolated copies,
can be superior (dag) to a corrupt (ma dag) version that achieved canonical status.
44. Martin 1997: 30, # 16) writes: "We understand that a complete English translation of this
work [the Mani bka ' 'bum] is currently in progress in India". If this is carried out with any
degree of seriousness, one presumes that the team (?) is likely to consult any version
available in the whole wide world; which is likely to enhance the chance of such discovery.
45. I can't conclude without expressing my praises for the publishing house: the Dr. Ludwig
Reichert Verlag has produced a pearl of a volume, treating the material with great care to a
near perfect layout; overseeing the facsimile reproduction of the manuscript so as to
ensure top readability and, last but not least, having not held back on a serious investment
for the color reproductions which can vie with the best of art albums. These include rare
photographs of Ärya the Excellent Wati, in Tibet and in exile, two of Ambrose Oldfield
watercolors (1885) with early views of Kyirong, photographs taken by Ehrhard during his
own 1997 journey to Kyirong and items from Ehrhard's personal photo archive, including
what is probably the only existing contemporary portrait of Tragkar Taso Tulku (Plate 7,
after a slate relief from Kyimolung in Kuthang). With its clothbound cover in deep lazuli
blue with golden relief lettering, reminiscent of Prajftā Pāramitā manuscripts, Die Statue
und der Tempel des Ärya Va-ti bzang-po is a true Prunkstück in any library.
Bibliography
Ahmad, Zahiruddin (transi.) 1999, Saňs-rGyas rGya-mTSHo, Life of the Fifth Dalai Lama, vol
IV, Part /, [i.e.] «The Fourth Volume, continuing the Third Volume, of the oràinary, outer
Life, entitled "The Fine Silken Dress," of my own gracious Lama, Ñag-dBañ Blo-bzañ
rGya-mTSHo, pp.la-203a>>, New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture &
Aditya Prakashan (Šata-pitaka Series, Indo-Asian Literatures, vol.392).
Aris, Michael 1975, "Report on the University of California Expedition to Kuthang and Nubri
in Northern Nepal 1973", Contributions to Nepalese Studies , vol. II, no.2, pp.45-87.
Barnhill, David Landis (transi.) 2005, Bashõ s Journey. The literary prose of Matsuo Bashõ ,
New York: State University of New York Press.
REVIEW ARTICLE 109
Ba-pa Yeshé ( 'Ba ' pa Ye shes), BSTAN SRUNG = Bstan srung dang Blang dmag dang Glo 7 rigs
'dzugs kyi lo igyus {«History of the "Protection of the Teaching" (Resistance Army),
the ( blangl ) War, and the Organisation in Lo (Mantang)», unpublished ms., 479 pp.
Bauer, Manuel 2005, Journey for Peace: His Holiness the 1 4th Dalai Lama , Zürich, Berlin &
New York: Scalo editions /Kontrast Books.
Cabezón, José 1. & Roger R. Jackson (eds.) 1996, Tibetan Literature: Studies in Genre. Essays
in Honor of Geshé Lhundup Sopa , Ithica, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications.
Childs, Geoff H. 2005, "Pagpawati Jowo's Rescue Story" [stated to be an "Excerpt from
Chapter 6 of Geoff Childs' The Rising Mist. Tibetan Diaries"], (6 pp.), <http://
www.asianart.com/articles/phagpa/ rescue.html>
Chökhar Khenchen Jamyang Tashi Gyatso ( Chos mkhar mkhan chen 'Jam dbyangs bkra shis
rgya mtsho , 1641-1718) et al., GSOL = 'Phags mchog Wa ti bzangpo'i gsol 'debs Chos
sku skye med ma sogs gsol 'debs tshan Inga dang smon lam cig bcas [«A set of five
Supplications, including the [one starting with the verse] "Unborn Dharmakäya ...", and
one Wishing Prayer to Supreme Ärya the Excellent Wati, »], in Ehrhard 2004: Appendix
IV, pp.530-534.
(1) The "Unborn Dharmakäya" composition is by Chökhar Khenchen himself. It is
followed by
(2) a Supplication from the hand of Dalai Lama VII, Bde bar gshegs pa 7 thugs rje ma
s mad spung ["Far-from-insignificant mass of the Sugatas' compassion"],
(3) Mdzes pa 7 sku mchog tsan dan yum las 'khrungs ["Beautiful supreme embodiment,
born from a sandalwood mother"] by the Samten-ling monk bKa' chen Ye shes dpal
'by or,
(4) Rgyal kun thugs rje 7 rnam rol Snang mtha 'yas ["Playful display of the compassion
of all the Conquerors, Amitābha"] by one dPal 'byor rgya mtsho from Om phug, and
(5) an anonymous composition [slightly akin to # (3)], Byang chub thugs ni tsan dan
yum las 'khrungs ["Heart of Enlightenment, born from a sandalwood mother"].
Cleary, Thomas (transi.) 1989, Entry into the Realm of Reality. The Text [of the] Ganda vyûha, the
final book of the Avatamsaka Sūtra, Boston & Shaftesbury: Shambhala.
Clippers, Christoph 1997, "A ban on animal slaughter at Buddhist shrines in Nepal", in:
Karmay & Sagant (eds.) 1997: 677-678.
Dagyab, Loden Sherap 1977, Tibetan Religious Art (2 Vols.), Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz
(Asiatische Forschungen, Band 52).
Dalai Lama V, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso ( Ngag dbang bio bzang rgya mtsho, 1617-1 682) MI
ZAD = Rang byung ' Phags pa Wa ti la gsol 'debs thugs rje bskul ba 7 smon lam dang bcas
pa Rdzogs Idan dga ' ston ["A Banquet (in the Age) of Perfection - Supplication and
Wishing Prayer Exhorting (the mind) to Compassion, (addressed) to the Spontaneously-
Born Ärya the Excellent Wati"], in: Ehrhard 2004: Appendix IV, pp.525-528.
As Ehrhard tells us in the introductory .note (p.525), this Supplication & Wishing
Prayer, composed in 1660, is simultaneously addressed to two Brother images, the
Ärya Excellent Wati and the Ärya Lokešvara, as both resided in the Potala at the time.
["Descriptive Guide of the Miraculously M

'With-the-Gods-Endowed')], the text partly
by Grünwedel.
Not seen; only as quoted in FKE.
Dalai Lama VII, Lobsang Jampel Gyatso (Bio b

BCU = (no title; the opening verse goes:) Ph
["All the Conquerors and their Bodhisattva o
2004: Appendix IV, p.529.
1 10 TI BET JOURNAL
See the other Supplication to the Ârya Wati by Dalai Lama VII as item 2 in the hymn
collection GSOL , brought out by Chos mkhar mkan chen; supra, sub Chökhar
Khenchen.
Decleer, Hubert 1998, Review article of Cabezón & R. Jackson (eds.) 1996, The Tibet Journal,
vol. XXIII, No. 1 (Spring 1998), pp. 67-106.
the development of the Kathmandu Valley pilgrimag

vol. 13 (Thematic issue: "Si tu Paņ chen: His contr
I take this opportunity to correct a serious gaffe, c

(woe on me!) I suspected the Great Paņdita of
Khagānanā-mukha. As Iain Sinclair has pointed ou
Spring 2005), Lady Bird Face is a standard epithet
meanwhile been broached by Gautam Vajrâcârya 20
Bangdel 2003.
Zhigpo-lingpa's meditation scenario on the

Compassion. International Buddhist Review, v
The actual sādhana comes on pp.55-57, under

centered on the Five Naturally-Arisen Ârya
how to combine the generation and completion
Direct Visions by the Great Perfection incarna
tsel".
rediscovery of one source to his "Guide": Bcom l

Lungta , Special Gedün Chöpel issue (forthcomin
Biography of 'Phags pa Wa ti bzangpo ": the hymns

translation», in: Prof. Ernst Steinkellner Festschr
Dowman, Keith 1981, "A Buddhist Guide to the P
Kailash. A Journal of Himalayan Studies , vol. VII
Drubthob Ngödrup ( Grub thob dngos grub, recovered
Dharamsala: Bod gzhung Shes rig par khang/Tibet
664 pp.
Dudjom Rinpoché, HH Jigdral Yeshé (ed.) (Bdud 'joms rin po che 'Jigs bral ye shes) n.d. (circa
1982), RN AM GSUM = Bal yul mchod rten rnam gsum gyi lo rgyus dang gnas bshad
Gangs can rna ba 'i bdud rtsi ["Nectar for Snow-crusted Ears - a History of the set of
three stūpas in Nepal, with comments on the sacred places"], dbu can mechanical print,
dpe cha format, 336 pages.
Dudjom Rinpoché, HH Jigdral Yeshé {Bdud 'joms rin po che 'Jigs bral ye shes) 1991, The
Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism. Its Fundamentals and History (2 vols.; Gyurme
Dorje w/ Matthew Kapstein, transi.), Boston: Wisdom Publications.
Durt, Hubert 1985, "Étienne Lamotte, 1903-1983", Bulletin de l'École Française d'Extrême-
Orient, Tome LXXIV, pp. 1-28.
Ehrhard, Franz-Karl 1993, "Tibetan Sources on Muktināth: Individual Reports and Normative
Guides", Ancient Nepal. Journal of the Department of Archeology, vol. 134 (July- August
1993), pp. 23-29.
of the Monastery Sku-tshab gter-lnga", in: Poh
Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens, vol.46 (20
REVIEW ARTICLE 1 1 1
Foundation of the Monastery Sku-tshab gt

Village s History and Geography , Giessen: p
Schriften, vol.77).
As mentioned in Ehrhard 2004: xxxiv, Bibli
Gómez, Luis (transi.) 1996, The Land of Blis

Light - Sanskrit & Chinese versions of the S
of Hawai'i Press & Kyoto: Higashi Honganji
Grünwedel, A. (1919), Die Tempel von Lhasa: Ge
(= Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaft
As quoted in FKE 2004.
Gurugé, Ananda W.P. (ed.) 1992, Summary R

International Association of Buddhist Studies
Sri Lanka Delegation to the Unesco ("not an
Gutschow, Niels & Axel Michaels (eds.) 1 987,
of the International Conference in Lüb
Wissenschafsverlag.
Gyurme Dorje (transi.), see -> Dudjom Rinpo
HD See -» Decleer
Höfer, Hans et al. 1991 (reprint), Insight Guides, Kathmandu , Hong Kong: APA Publications
Hopkins, Jeffrey (transi.) 1980, Compassion in Tibetan Buddhism , London: Rider & Co.
Hopkins, Jeffrey et al. (Joe Wilson, Craig Preston, John Powers, Nathaniel Garson & Paul
Hackett), forthcoming (preliminary printout 1992), Tibetan-Sanskrit-English Dictionary.
A project of the Tibetan Studies Institute, Dyke, Virginia, and the University of Virginia
Tibetan Studies Program.
Huber, Toni 1996, "Literal or Literary? Reflections on New Translations of History 's Mirror ",
The Tibet Journal, vol.XXI, no.4 (Winter 1996), pp.58-67.
Huntington, Susan & John Huntington 1990, Leaves from the Bodhi Tree: The Art of Pāla India
(8th- 12th centuries) and its International Legacy , Seattle & London: Dayton Art Institute
w / University of Washington Press.
Huntington, John & Dina Bangdel 2003, The Circle of Bliss. Buddhist Meditational Art , Ohio:
Colombus Museum of Art & Chicago: Serindia Publications.
Hurvitz, Leon (transi.) (1976) 1982, Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma (The
Lotus Sūtra, Saddharma-puņdarlka), after the Chinese of Kumãra-fíva, New York: Columbia
University Press (Translations from Asian Classics/ Records of Civilization: Sources &
Studies, vol. XCIV).
Jackson, David P. 2003, A Saint in Seattle. The Life of the Tibetan Mystic Dezhung Rinpoche ,
Boston: Wisdom Publications.
Jampa Gyaltsen ( 'Byams pa rgyal mtshan, 15th- 16th c.), 'PHAGS MCHOG = 'Phags mchog
Spyan ras gzigs dbang phyug Wa ti bzang po 7 rnam thar Nam mkha 7 nor bu ma rig mun
sel ["Sky Jewel that Chases the Darkness of Unknowing - a sacred biography of Supreme
Ārya Avalokitešvara the Excellent Wati"], blockprint, 25 folios, MGMPP, reel no. L686/
16; reproduced in transliterated ed. in Ehrhard 2004: Appendix II, pp.484-521.
Karmay, Samten & Philippe Sagant (eds.) 1 997, Les habitants du Toit du Monde. Études recueillies
en hommage à Alexander W. Macdonald , Nanterre: Société d'ethnologie.
Karmay, Samten & Yasuhiko Nagano (eds.) 2000, New Horizons in Bon Studies (Bon Studies 2),
Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology (Senri Ethnological Reports, vol.15).
Kaschewsky, Rudolf 1979, "Zu einigen Tibetischen Pilgerplätzen in Nepal", Wiener Studien
zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde , Heft 3, pp.427-442.
Khamthrul IV, Chökyi Nyima ( Khams sprul Chos kyi nyi ma, 1734-1779), RNA BA'Il, see ->
Macdonald & Tagpo Rinpoché (eds.) 1975.
1 12 TIBET JOURNAL
RNA BA 7 2, see -> Dudjom Rinpoché (ed.) n.d. RNAM GSUM , pp. 157-237.
[Kimdol] Ngawang Dorje (Ngag dbang rdo rje , 20th c.), &4Z, }T/Z, = Balyul gnasyig' Balyul
bya rgod phung po ri 7 ¿/go« pa 7 df/?e ["Guide to the Sacred places of Nepal/ Book of the
Vulture Heap Hill Monastery in Nepal"], in: Wylie 1970: Appendix A. See also: Dowman
(transi.) 1981.
Kossak, Steve M. & Jane Casey Singer 1998, Sacred Visions. Early Paintings from Central
Tibet , New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Lancaster, Lewis 1992, "Dunhuang: the Buddhist side of the story", in: Gurugé (ed.) 1992: 105-
111.
LeVine, Sarah 2001, "The Finances of a Twentieth Century Buddhist Mission: Building Support
for the Theravāda Nuns' Order in Nepal", Journal of the International Association of
Buddhist Studies , vol.24, no.2: 217-240.
Locke, John K., SJ 1980, Karunamaya : The Cult of Avalokitešvara-Matsyendranath in the
Valley of Nepal, Kathmandu: Sahayogi Press & CNAS.
the Kathmandu Valley , Kathmandu: Sahayogi Pre

Macdonald, Alexander W. & Tagpo (Dwags pó) Rin
the Holy Places of Nepal", Part I, Kailash. A Jou
(1975), pp.89- 144. (= Khamthrul IV, RNA BA '1 1;
dbu can copy after the dbu med ms. that rem
transliteration of the same text).
Strickmann (ed.) 1981:237-273.
in: Macdonald 1987:100-134.

Macdonald, Alexander W. 1987, Essays on the Ethnology of Nepal and South Asia , vol. II,
Kathmandu: Ratna Pustak Bhandar.
Macdonald, Ariane 1963, "Préambule à la lecture d'un rGya Bodyig chañ' Journal Asiatique,
vol. 251, pp.53-159.
Martin, Dan w/ Yael Bentor 1997, Tibetan Histories. A bibliography of Tibetan-language historical
works , London: Serindia Publications.
Myang ral nyi ma 'od zer: see -> Nyang-rel Nyima Höser.
Nattier, Jan 1991, Once Upon a Future Time. Studies in a Buddhist Prophecy of Decline ,
Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press.
Nehnang Pawo Tsuglak Threngwa ( Gnas nangDpa 'bo Gtsug lag phreng ba), MKHAS = Mkas
pa 7 dga ' ston ["A Festive Scholarly Banquet"] (2 vols.), Beijing: Mi rigs dpe skrun khang
1985.
Nelung Ngawang Dorje (Nas lung Ngag dbang rdo rje , late 1 7th century) SHING KUN 1 = Bal
yul Shwing [sic, Shwing -> shing ] kun sogs dang rje Rang rig gdung rten gyi dkar chag
["Descriptive Guide of All Trees and other (sacred places) in Nepal, as well as of the
funeral monument of Lord Rang-rig"], xerox of blockprint, 6 ff. , 9 x 57 cm. (original w /
Amnye Machen Institute, courtesy Tashi Tsering).
gzhan mams kyis [sic, kyis - > kyi] dkar chag

to Ärya All Trees in Nepal and to its other
blocks, without the help of the parallel versio
approx. 9 x 55 cm, NGMPP, Reel no. E 816/
negative of the microfilm).
gzhan rnams kyi dkar chag ["Des

sacred places"], blockprint, 10 ff
in the early 1980s.
REVIEW ARTICLE 113
Only the recently surfaced BAL YUL 1 allows us to understand what BAL YUL 2 is an
"abbreviated" version of. BAL YUL 3 no longer needs this qualification, since the
work has by now become a 'classic' guide. Cf. Ehrhard 2002 for a discussion of the
different editions.
Nomun Khan, Ngawang Lhundrup Dargyé (No mun han Ngag dbang Ihun grub dar rgyas)
TSHANGS DB YANGS = Ts hangs dbyangs rgya mtsho 7 gsang ba 7 mam thar , in: Tshangs
dbyangs rgya mtsho & Ngag dbang lhun grub dar rgyas, "Rig 'dzin Tshangs dbyangs rgya
mtsho 7 gsung mgur dang gsang ba 7 mam thar ['Spiritual Songs and Secret Biography of
Rigdzin Tsang-yang Gyatso (Dalai Lama VI)'], Beijing: Mi rigs dpe skrun khang 198 1 .
Nyang-rel Nyima Höser (Nyang ral nyi ma 'od z er), SBRANG RTSI'I ~ Chos 'byung me tog
snying po sbrang risi 7 bcud ['Buddhist Transmission history, Essence of the Honey that
is the Flower's Heart'], Lhasa: Bod ljongs mi dmangs dpe skrun khang 1988 (Gangs can rig
mdzod, vol.5).
In Ehrhard 2004 referred to under the siglum NMCB = Rnying ma chos 'byung, which
we should view as a private abbreviation & reference title, not corresponding to an
existing title or colophon.
Palden-dar (Dpal Idan dar , 1 424- 1510), JO BO = Rang by on Jo bo 'Phags pa Wa ti bzang po 7

mam thar Nyi ma 7 dkyil 'khor ['Sun Mandala. A sacred biography of Ãrya Excellent Wati,
the self-originated Jowo'], blockprint (dated 1525), 17 folios, NGMPP, reel no. L.546/4;
reproduced in transliterated ed. in Ehrhard 2004: Appendix I, pp.465-481. "The oldest
pilgrimage guide to the 'Phags pa Wa ti bzang po".
Note that folio lb contains a title which is slightly more elaborate than the one which
appears on the title page: Bcom Idan 'das 'jig rten dbang phyug Rang byon 'phags
pa 7 mam par thar pa Dad pa 7 gsal 'debs nyi ma 7 dkyil 'khor ['Sacred biography of
Supramundane Victor & Mighty Lord of the World, Bhagavān Lokešvara, the
Spontaneously Born Ãrya - The Sun Orb that provides guidance for (and acts as a
timely reminder of) one's faith'].
Pohle, Perdita & Willibard Haffner (eds.) 2001 , Kagbeni - Contributions to the Village 's History
and Geography , Giessen: Selbstverlag des Instituts für Geographie des Justus-Liebig-
Universität (=Giessener Geographische Schriften, Heft.77)
Ratna-lingpa (Ra tna gling pa, 1403-1478), Gter 'byung chen mo gsal ba'i sgron me ['An
Illuminating Lamp, the [extensive treatise on the] origins of the Hidden Treaures'], in:
Selected Works of Ratna-gliň-pa. Comprising his Gter 'byuñ chen mo, biographical
materials , devotional verses, and the major part of his visionary (dag-snañ and sñan-
řgyud) teachings. Reproduced from a manuscript from the library of the Ri-bo-che Rje-
druii of Padma-bkod by Tseten Dorji, Tezu, Arunachal: Tibetan Nyingmapa Monastery
1973, vol. II, pp.1-215.
Note that all reference to these Collected Works in Ehrhard is to the alternative
Bylakuppe edition.
Roerich, George N. (transi.) (1949) 1976, The Blue Annals [by 'Gos Lo tsā ba], Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass.
Schaeffer, Kurtis (forthcoming), "Tibetan Narratives of the Buddha's Acts at Vaj rāšana: Putting
Hagiography in Place".
Schroeder, Ulrich von 2001, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet (2 vols.), Hong Kong: Visual Dharma
Publications.
Shakabpa, Tsepön Wangchug Deden ( Zhwa sgab pa Dbang phyug bde Idan) RWA SA- Lha Idan
Rwa sa 'phrul snang gtsug lag khang gi dkar chag' gser dang ' ra gan mam dbye gsal por
byed pa Nor bu ni ka sah ["The Nikashah Gem that Draws a Clear Distinction between
114 TIBET JOURNAL
Gold and Brass - a descriptive guide to the Miraculously Appeared vihara on the Rasa
grounds of With-Gods-Endowed (= city of Lhasa)], Kalimpong: Shakabpa House 1882.
Shakya, Min Bahadur (transi.) 2004, Hem Raj Shakya 's "Svayambhö Mahâcaitya", The Self-
Arisen Great Caitya of Nepal, Kathmandu: Svayambhu Vikash Mandai.
Shakya, Rasmilla w / Scott Berry 2005, From Goddess to Mortal. The true life story of a former
Royal Kumar i , Kathmandu: Vajra Publications.
Sinha, Braj N. 1992, "Metamorphosis of Avalokitešvara: From the Saddharmapundarlka to the
Kârandavyuha", in: Gurugé (ed.) 1992, pp. 168-180.
Slusser, Mary Shepherd 1982, Nepal Mandala . A Cultural Study of the Kathmandu Valley (2
vols.), Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Snellgrove, David (in collaboration with Amchi Tsāmpa Ngawang) 1979, "Places of Pilgrimage
in Thag (Thakkhola)", Kailash. A Journal of Himalayan Studies , vol. VII, no.2, pp.75- 170.
Sorensen, PerK. (transi.) 1994, Tibetan Buddhist Historiography. The Mirror Illuminating the
Royal Genealogies. An annotated translation of the XVIth century Tibetan chronicle: rGyal-
rabs gsal-ba 7 me-long, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
Šrībhūti-bhadra, Bod Rgyayiggtsang, see -» Macdonald, Ariane 1963 (quotations in translation).
Strickmann, Michel (ed.) 1981, Tantric & Taoist Studies in Honour of R.A. Stein (3 vols.),
Bruxelles: Institut Belge des Hautes Études Chinoises (Mélanges Chinois et Bouddhiques,
vol. XX-XXII).
Tachikawa, M. 2000, "Mandala visualization and possession", in: Karmay & Nagano (eds.)
2000: 227-248.
Taylor, McComas & Lama Choedak Yuthok (transi.) 1996, The Clear Mirror. A traditional
account of Tibet s Golden Age. Sakyapa Sonam Gyaltsen 's "Clear Mirror of the Royal
Genealogy", Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications.
Thubten Jamyang [Thub bstan 'jam dbyangs, Dzong chos slob dpon Las zur dge s long],
RDZONG DKAR - Mang yul Gung thang Rdzong dkar chos sde dang/ Rdzong dkaryul
lung bcas kyi chos 'byung Bdud rtsi'i zil mngar {"The Sweet-tasting Dew of Nectar - A
Buddhist transmission history of the monastic complex (Chôdé) of White Fortress
(Dzongkar) and of the Mang yül Gungthang region"]. Additional English title: "History of
Zongkar Choede Monastery", Gurupura, Mysore, Karnataka: Zongkar Choede Monastery
1999.
Tibetan-Chinese Encyclopedia {Bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo ), Krang dbyi sun et al. (3 vols.),
Beijing: Mi rigs dpe skrun khang (1985) 1986.
Tragkar Taso Tulku, Chökyi Wangchug ( Brag dkar rta so sprul sku, Chos kyi dbang phyug),
RTA LJANG 1 = 'Phags mchog Thugs rje chen po rang byung Wa ti bzang po Ngo mtshar
smad du byung ba 'i gtam Dad pa ' i nyin by ed phyogs brgyar 'dren pai rta Ijang [«'The
Emerald Horse that Pulls the Day-maker (sun) of faith (-and-conviction) in a hundred
directions" - Sacred biography of the Supreme Ārya Mahā-karuņika, the Great
Compassionate one (in the form of) the Spontaneously Born, Excellent "Wati", a wonderful,
most amazing tale»] (item # 7 in vol. NYA of his Collected Works, 56 folios), reproduced
in facsimile in the end pages of Ehrhard 2004.
RTA LJANG 2 - ibid., ms.copy by Amchi Tsāmpa Ngawang (A mchi Mtshams pa Ngag
dbang), personal collection [supra referred to as "Ms. C"].
Tropper, Kurt 2005, Die Jätaka-Inschriften im Skór lam chen mo des Klosters Zha lu. Einfuhrung,
textkritische Studie, Edition der Paneele 1-8 mit Sanskritparallelen und deutscher
Übersetzung , Wien: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien Universität
Wien (Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde, Heft 63).
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoché 2005 (posthumous), Blazing Splendor. The Memoirs of Tulku Urgyen
Rinpoché, as told to Eric Pema Kunsang & Marcia Binder Schmidt , Kathmandu: Rangjung
Yeshe Publications.
Vajräcärya, Gautama V. 2005, "Elements of Newar Buddhist Art: Circle of Bliss- a Review
Article , <asianart.com|| articles>.
REVIEW ARTICLE 115
Vergati, Anne 1 985, "The King as Rainmaker: A New Version of the Legend of Red Avalokitešvara",
Bulletin de l "Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient, vol. LXXIV (1985), pp.267-303.
Avalokitešvara", in: Gutschow & Michael
Avalokitešvara in Nepal", in: Vergati 1995
Valley , New Delhi: Manohar Publishers.

Wylie, Turrell (transi.) 1970, A Tibetan Religious
per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente (Serie Orient
Zhigpo-lingpa ( Zhig po gling pa Gar gyi dban
'Phags pa rang byon mched Inga 'i bsgrub tha
["Means of Realization (centered) on the Sp
[Lokešvara] - Instructions that combine in union
Ehrhard 2004: Appendix III, pp.523-524.
Appendix
The "Emerald-green Horse" ms.: captions in verse of the opening pages
The opening pages of manuscript A, photographically reproduced at the end of Ehrhard's 2004
Wati opus, carry illustrations with the following (minuscule) captions:
folio lb. left:

Rgyal kun y ab gyur bde stan mgon'
'Od dpag med mgon Snang mtha ' yas'
Protector of the teaching [leading to] bliss [and] who became the father of all the Conquerors,
Protector Light-Beyond-Measure, Amitābha Boundless-Bright.
By naming the primordial Buddha in Dharmakäya aspect Amitābha (in both Tibetan translations
of his name, 'Od dpag med and Snang [ ba ] mtha ' y as), the author announces the upcoming main
topic, Buddha Boundless Light's emanation of Avalokitešvara. (One would expect bde bstan
mgon , in verse a).
folio lb. right:

Bs kal bzang mam 'dren stong gi gtso' Inga brgya 7 'dren mchog Shā kya 'i rgyal'
Foremost among one thousand perfect guides of the Auspicious

Eon,
King among Šākyas, supreme guide during the [ten periods of]
five hundred [years].
In the context of cosmic time, Šākyamuni is mentioned as the foremost among the thousand
Buddhas of the Auspicious Kalpa, viewed from the perspective that his teaching on both
scriptural and realizational level will last for [a minimum of] five thousand years. This Vajrayäna
perspective is quite different from the pessimistic "end-of-Dharma age" predictions studied in
Nattier 1991.
folio 2a. left:

Gangs can 'grò la bka ' 'drin gter' mi rje chos rgyal Srong btsan sgam'
Treasure of kindness for transmigrators of the Snowlands,
1 1 6 TIBET JOURNAL
Lord of men, Dharma-rāja Srong-tsen Gam[-po].
folio 2a. right:

Mang yul Ijongs 'di 7 lha skal mchog' Wa ti bzang po snying rje 7 lha'
This 'Land of Plenty' region's supreme share in matters divine:

excellent Wati, god of compassion.
The fourth and last illustration represents Padmapāņi Lokešvara, the actual Bodhisattva who,
in the sandalwood image of Arya the Excellent Wati, started á "Life" of his own, worthy of the
sacred biography contained in this volume.

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Library of Tibetan Works and Archives

1 . The "Emerald-green Horse": discovery of the manuscript

This was a major find, of an importance

2. Earlier studies: three or four Ârya Brothers

Ehrhard, in a preliminary overview (p.57), attacks the problem of "one tradit

Contrasting with this 'Lokesvara-centric' tradition is another account, known since

except for the caretaker of the shrine, no one is allowed inside,

a minor discrepancy may lead to its having to be understood as:

It having been in use for ages for

5. The Padma Sambhava-connected alternative versions

from what tree's

Moving now to what earlier authors of local pilgrimage guides for SW

One should understand [this emanated monk Akara-slla-mati] as being the on

- as we will have the opportunity to see for ourselves, a most ing

According to (the account) known as having been composed by Padma (Sam

different directions. It would hardly be an exaggeration to state that the introduction

6. The eight chapters treatise on the Ârya Wati

Bodhisattva Sarva-nïvarana-viskambhin observes this, he requests an explanation and

7 . How TO READ THIS BOOK

Further appendices to Ehrhard's Wati include various stotras ( stodpa

Self-originated from a hollow in a Hařicandan sandalwood tree,

and then, in ring bzhengs pa, we have a problem. Ehrhard suggests:

have arisen [so as to be visible from] afar:

Lus can kun gyi phan bde bsgrub pa la //

In order to achieve the well-being of all the embodied,

It is a most unfortunate pronouncement, since it concerns a mix-up between a seated

• Jowo Jamali 3 faces, 6 arms,

(Folio 1 -a shows a drawing of a monastery with the following identification remarks

Moreover, according to some realized individuals, it is one among the Twenty-four

["Descriptive Guide of the Miraculously M

Not seen; only as quoted in FKE.

Dalai Lama VII, Lobsang Jampel Gyatso (Bio b

the development of the Kathmandu Valley pilgrimag

I take this opportunity to correct a serious gaffe, c

Zhigpo-lingpa's meditation scenario on the

The actual sādhana comes on pp.55-57, under

rediscovery of one source to his "Guide": Bcom l

Biography of 'Phags pa Wa ti bzangpo ": the hymns

of the Monastery Sku-tshab gter-lnga", in: Poh

Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens, vol.46 (20

Foundation of the Monastery Sku-tshab gt

As mentioned in Ehrhard 2004: xxxiv, Bibli

Gómez, Luis (transi.) 1996, The Land of Blis

As quoted in FKE 2004.

Gurugé, Ananda W.P. (ed.) 1992, Summary R

the Kathmandu Valley , Kathmandu: Sahayogi Pre

Strickmann (ed.) 1981:237-273.

in: Macdonald 1987:100-134.

gzhan mams kyis [sic, kyis - > kyi] dkar chag

gzhan rnams kyi dkar chag ["Des

Palden-dar (Dpal Idan dar , 1 424- 1510), JO BO = Rang by on Jo bo 'Phags pa Wa ti bzang po 7

Avalokitešvara", in: Gutschow & Michael

Avalokitešvara in Nepal", in: Vergati 1995

Valley , New Delhi: Manohar Publishers.

folio lb. left:

folio lb. right:

Foremost among one thousand perfect guides of the Auspicious

folio 2a. left:

Treasure of kindness for transmigrators of the Snowlands,

Lord of men, Dharma-rāja Srong-tsen Gam[-po].

folio 2a. right:

This 'Land of Plenty' region's supreme share in matters divine: