Two Anonymous Texts in the bsTan-’gyur

b y F a b r iz io T o r r ic e l li

In the Tdhoku Catalogue (x) of the sDe-dge edition (D) of the Tibetan Buddhist Canons, after Tilopa’s Saddharmopadesa (Tdh. 2330), two other works concerning with the so called Six Yogas of Naropa (Nd-ro}i chos drug) are listed under the nos. 2331 and 2332. The same two are present in the Co-ne Canon (C), while in the sNar-thang and Beijing editions they are missing. These texts, belonging to the Tantric section (rGyud-’grel) of the bsTan-’gyur, vol. zhi, are

Tdh. 2331 bKa yang-dag-pa’i tshad-ma zhes-bya-ba mkha'-gro-ma'i man-ngag (Ajndsamyak- pramdna-nama-dakinyupadesa (2)), D fols. 27 la-273a, C fols. 271a-273a;

Tdh. 2332 bKa’-dpe phyi-ma, D fols. 273a-276a, C fols. 273a-276b.

According to the contents of the former text, whose title could be read in English as ‘the dakinis instructions which are called the very model of the[ir] perfect pronouncement*, we divide Tdh. 2331 into three sections:I (D fols. 271a.3-272a.l, C fols. 271a.2-272a.l) dealing with those yoga techniques where

the practice of the illusory body {maydkdya) is needed, after some general preliminaries, we read: [D 27la .6] [[C 27la .6]] gtum mo }od gsal sbyangs pa la // sgyu ma Ita bu'i lus bsgom pa // slob pa dang ni mi slob gnyis // slob pa la yang gnyis yin te // mngon par rtogs pa ’i rim pa dang // rang nyid lhag par gnas pa }o // mngon par rtogs pa ’i rim pa la // gsang ba }i dbang gi dus dag tu // me long dri ma med pa [271b] la // rdo rje sems dpa} legs bris [[271b]] te // de yi gzugs bmyan snang dang mtshungs // zhes by a ba nas sgyu m ai dpe bcu gnyis kyi sgo nas rtogs par by a }o // rang nyid lhag par gnas pa la // }pho dang grong du \jug pa dang I I rmi lam bar do mam pa bzhi\

II (D fols. 272a.l-272b.7, C fols. 272a.l-272b.7) about the dream state (svapna), begins: rmi lam la yang mam Inga ste // dran dang sgyu mar shes pa dang // sbyangs dang goms pa khrid pa dang // gong du 'pho bar shes par bya\

III (D fols. 272b.7-273a.3, C fols. 272b.7-273a.3) about the intermediate state (<antarabhava), begins: snang ba thim dang rtog pa thim // rags pa thim dang phra ba thim // thim pa i rjes la goms pa dang // rang bzhin gyis ni }od gsal ybyung.

0) Ui, H., M. Suzuki, Y. Kanakura & T. Tada, A Catalogue-Index o f the Tibetan Buddhist Canons (Bkah-hgyur and Bstan-hgyur), Sendai 1934.

(2) I follow the Töhoku reconstruction of the Sanskrit title, instead of the less correct Ahapramanasamyag° given in the Tibetan text.

[l] 371

As for the ‘further texts' {bka'-dpe (3) phyi-ma) of Tdh. 2332, we can distinguish eight sections in it:I (D fols. 273a.4-273b.7, C fols. 273a.4-273b.7) about the mystic heat (<candali), ends:

bsgoms pas sangs rgya ba gtum m o’i tshig shram // brtson 'grus can tshe ’di la sangs rgya bai gdams pa’o;

II (D fols. 273b.7-274a.5, C fols. 273b.7-274a.5) on maydkaya, begins: sgyu lus lam du by a bar ni; it ends: bag chags dag pas sangs rgya ba sgyu lus kyi tshig sbram;

III (D fols. 274a.5-274b.l, C fols. 274a.5-274b.l) on svapna, begins: rmi lam lam khyer gdams pa ni; it ends: [D 274a.7] [[C 274a.7]] bag changs (chag C) can rmi lam la brten nas sangs [274b] rgya ba i [[274b]] tshig sbram;

IV (D fol. 274b. 1-4, C fol. 274b. 1-4) about the radiant light (prabhasvara), begins: ’od gsal lam du by a ba ni; it ends: gnyid ’thug pos sangs rgya ba ’od gsal gyi tshig sbram;

V (D fols. 274b.4-275a.l, C fols. 274b.4-275a.l) about the transference (samkranti), begins: ’pho ba i bye brag shin tu mang; it ends: ma bsgoms (sgoms C) par sangs rgya ba ’pho ba ’i tshig sbram;

VI (D fols. 275a.l-275b.3, C fols. 275a.l-275b.4) on antarabhava, begins: bar do lam du slong ba ni; it ends: srid pa bar dor sangs rgya ba bar do mam pa gsum gyi lam dang bsre ba bar do7 tshig sbram;

VII (D fols. 275b.3-276a.l, C fol. 275b.4-7) about the entering corpses (parakayapravesa), begins: grong du ’jug pa ’i ’pho ba ni; it ends: [275b.7] [[276a. 1]] grong ’jug gi [276a] tshig sbram bstan pa ithi;

VIII (D fol. 276a. 1-7, C fols. 275b.7-276a.6) about the path of means (upayamarga), begins: thabs lam byang chub sems kyi man ngag ni; it ends: ’di ni thabs lam bka’ dpe kun la ma gnang ba yin no // bka’ rgya lan gsum du yod do.

These two texts have no author recognized by the Tdhoku Catalogue, but we have good reasons for finding them a place within a tradition very close to the mahasiddha Naropa.

In the second part of the first section of volume V of Kong-spruTs gDams-ngag-mdzod (4), regarding the ‘extraordinary six yoga-s’ (thun-min chos drug-gi skor), we find seven works. The last two are by Mi-la-ras-pa, and the first five bear the name of Naropa as author, or as translator (5):K l bKa yang-dag-pa’i tshad-ma zhes-bya-ba mkha’-’gro-ma’i man-ngag, pp. 69-89;K2 sNyan-brgyud rdo-rje'i tshig-rkang zhes-bya-ba, pp. 89-94;K3 Grub-chen nd-ro-pai gdams-ngag chos drug skor-gyi bka-dpe tshigs-su bcad-pa, pp. 95-106;K4 Chos drug-gi man-ngag ces-bya-bay pp. 106-107;K5 mKhas-grub chen-po na-ro-ta-pas mal-J by or-gyi dbang-phyug mar-pa lo-tsa-la gdams-pa }i chos

drug dril-ba rdo-rjeyi mgur, pp. 108-109.

(3) Cit. in L. Chandra, Tibetan-Sanskrit Dictionary, New Delhi 1959, s.v., even if the reading ‘ka-dpe’ is to be preferred; cf. Bod-rgya tshig-mozod chen-mo, Beijing 1986.

(4) Kong-sprul (1813-1899), Gdams nag mdzod. A Treasury of Instructions and Techniques for Spiritual Realization, Compiled by ']am-mgon Kon-sprul Blo-gros-mtha ’-yas, Reproduced from a Xylographie Print from the Dpal-spuns Blocks, V, Delhi 1971.

(5) In this case always coupled with that of Mar-pa Chos-kyi Blo-gros.

372 [2]

A few remarks about the first, the third, and the fourth of them can bring us nearer to the author of Tdh. 2331 and Tdh. 2332.

The colophon of K l, entitled like Tdh. 2331 (6), informs us that ‘Naropa and Mar-pa Chos-kyi Blo-gros translated, revised and finalized_[this text] taken from Akanistha Heaven by guru Tilopa’ (7). Guenther (8), attributing the Ahasamyakpramdna-nama-ddkim-upadesa to Tilopa, observes that this ‘authoritative Tibetan text of the bKa’-brgyud-pas varies in the arrangement of the subject-matter from the one preserved in the bsTan-'gyur . But a closer examination and comparison of Tdh. 2331 and K l shows that the two, apart from few lines, even if they are cognate are not the same.

On the contrary, nearly all Tdh. 2331 and part of Tdh. 2332 can be found in K3. As for the fifteen short texts collected under the title Grub-chen na-ro-pa ’i gdams-ngag chos drug skor-gyi bka-dpe tshigs-su bcad-pa, they can be grouped into eight sections:I (pp. 93.2-96.6) without title is one text dealing with maydkaya\ all of its 77 verses are

among the 93 in the first section of Tdh. 2331;II (pp. 96.6-98.1) entitled gTum-mo'i bka’-dpe is one ‘text about candali(9Y; 30 out of

its 34 verses are among the 79 in the first section of Tdh. 2332;III (pp. 98.1-99.7) entitled rMi-lam bka-dpe is one ‘text about svapna’; all of its 96 verses

are among the 101 in the second section of Tdh. 2331;IV (p. 100.1-7) entitled 'Od-gsal-gyi bka'-dpe comprises two ‘texts about prabhasvara';V (pp. 100.7-102.4) entitled Bar-do’i bka-dpe comprises three ‘texts about antarabhava':

the beginning of the first of them (8 verses on 31) opens the third section of Tdh. 2331;VI (pp. 102.4-103.2) entitled Grong-'jug-gi bka'-dpe is one ‘text about parakayapravesa';VII (pp. 103.2-103.4) entitled ’Pho-ba'i bka-dpe comprises three ‘texts about samkranti\VIII (pp. 103.3-106.3) entitled gDams-ngag-gnad-kyi bka-dpe comprises three ‘texts about

the essential points of the instruction (upadesaY.To sum up, K3 is relevant with the two bsTan-’gyur texts according to the following scheme

K3 Tdh. 2331 Tdh. 2332section subsect, verses section verses section verses

I mn I 77/93II 30/54 I 30/79III 96/96 II 96/101V I 8/31 III 8/28

At the end of it Kong-sprul writes: ‘So the texts of Naropa are completed. Even if there is

(6) Ahapramanasamyag0; cf. the Tohoku reconstruction.

(7) K l, p. 89.3-4: bla ma tilli pas ’og min gyi gnas nas spy an drangs pa jo bo nd ro pa dang / mar pa chos kyi bio gros kyis bsgyur cing zhus te gtan la phab pao .

(8) H.V. Guenther, The Life and Teaching o f Naropa. Translated from the Original Tibetan with a Philosophical Commentary Based on the Oral Transmission. London 1963, p. 34, fn. 1.

(9) We read in a smaller script (p. 97.6-7) that ‘guru Tilopa granted [this instruction] to guru Naropa, who granted [it] to Mar-pa, who granted [it] to Mi-la Thos-pa-dga’ from Gung-thang’ [bla ma te lo pas bla ma nd ro pa la gnang des mar pa la gnang des gung thang gi mi la thos pa dga ’ la gnang).

[3] 373

another one in prose, this one in verse form is to be regarded as the most important (10) \ In the opinion of the English editor of the gDams-ngag-mdzody this remark should come with the fact that, even if the dkar-chag mentions a ‘bigger’ and a ‘smaller’ text (chos drug-gi ka-dpe che chung gnyis), the smaller ka-dpe is not included in the collection (n ).

Nevertheless, after K4, Kong-sprul himself writes that ‘this is the smaller text on the six dharma-s, or the small text on the six dharma-s, by the lord of yoga Tilopa, which is like a wish fulfilling gem: so it is called by the lineage holders who consider it the authentic source of the instructions (12)’.

In conclusion, among many other ‘treasures’ for the oral teachings of the Mar-pa bKa’- brgyud-pa lineage, Kong-sprul’s gDams-ngag-mdzod has a smaller text by Tilopa (K4) considered the ‘authentic source’ Ckhungs), and a bigger one by Naropa (K3) which is ‘superior’ (gtso-bo)y if compared with another which should be in prose. Since some Naropa’s ka-dpe-s of K3 are so relevant to Tdh. 2331 and Tdh. 2332, our anonymous texts in the bsTan-’gyur can be ascribed to Naropa, or at least to the first tradition stemming from him.

(10) K3, p. 106.3: ces na ro pa'i bka dpe mams rdzogs so / / ka dpe tshig Ihug pa gcig kyang yod do / / tshig bead }di gtso bor mdzad do.

(n ) Cf. Kong-sprul, op. cit.y fn. 2.

(12) K4, p. 107.7: 'di ni chos drug gi bka} dpe chung ba}am / mat 'byor dbang phyug tilli p a i chos drug gi gzhung chung yid bzhin nor bu zhes brgyud pa ’dzin pa mams kyis gdams ngag gi khungs su mdzad do.

374 [4]