Om mani

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THE JOURNAL

OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF

BUDDHIST STUDIES

E D I T O R - I N - C H I E F

Roger Jackson

Dept. of Religion

Carleton College

Northfield, MN 55057

USA

E D I T O R S

Peter N. Gregory

University of Illinois

Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA

Alexander W. Macdonald

University de Paris X

Nanterre, France

Steven Collins

Concordia University

Montreal, Canada

Ernst Steinkellner

University of Vienna

Wien, Austria

Jikido Takasaki

University of Tokyo

Tokyo, Japan

Robert Thurman

Columbia University

New York, New York, USA

Volume 13 1990 Number 2

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C O N T E N T S

I. ARTICLES

1. A Lajja Gau rl in a Bud dhist C ontex t at Au ranga bad

by Robert L. Brown 1

2. Sa-skya Pandita the "Polemicist": Ancient Debates

and Modern Interpretations by David Jackson 17

3 . Vajrayana Deities in an Il lustrated Indian

M anu script of the Astasahasrika-prajhaparamita

by John Newman 117

4. T h e Mantra "Om mani-padme hum" in an Early

Tibetan Grammatical Treatise byP.C. Verhagen 133

II . B O O K R E V I E W S

1. Buddhism Transformed: Religious Change in Sri Lanka,

by Richard Gombrich and

Gananath Obeyesekere (Vijitha Rajapakse) 139

2. The Emptiness of Emptiness: An Introduction to Early

Indian Madhyamika, by C. W. Huntington, Jr.,

with G eshe Namgyal W angchen

(Jose Ignacio Cabezon) 152

I I I . N O T E S A N D N E W S

1. Notice of The Buddhist Forum

(Roger Jackson)

E RRAT A

L I ST O F C O N T R I B U T O R S

163

164

165

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T h e Mantra "Ow maqi-padme huvf

in an E arly Tib etan G ram m atical Treatise

byRC. Verhagen

A mong the t r ea t i s e s on Sansk r i t g rammar inco rpo ra ted in to

the T ib e ta n Budd h i s t c anon com m only know n a s Bstan-'gyur, a

few can b e found tha t were w ri t ten o r iginal ly in T ib e ta n , while

the vast m ajor i ty a re t ran sla t ion s of Sa nsk ri t texts .1 O n e o f

these o r ig ina l T ibe tan compos i t ions dea l ing wi th Sanskr i t

g rammar i s a h igh ly in te res t ing t rea t i se en t i t led Sgra'i-rnam-

par-dbye-ba-bstan-pa, "Expose (o f ) the Nomina l Cases ." 2 I t

descr ibes the essent ia ls of the Sanskri t system of nominaldeclension, while a lso re la t ing th is system to the semantics—

and some t im es even the mo rpho logy—o f the T ib e ta n ca se -pa r

t icles.

The author ' s name is not mentioned in the text or i ts col

ophon . Never the less , i t can be a rgued tha t the Sgra'i-rnam-par-

dbye-ba-bstan-pa and the two t i t les immedia te ly p reced ing i t in

the Bstan-'gyur, a l so g ra m m at ica l t r ea t is e s ,3 have been wr i t ten

b y t h e T i b e t a n g r a m m a r i a n a n d t r a n s l a t o r L c e - k h y i - 'b r u g

(a l ias Ci -khyi - 'b rug or Ce-khyi - 'b rug) , who can pos i t ive ly be

assoc ia ted wi th the per iod 798-8 15 A .D . 4 It seems fair to

assume a date of composi t ion for th is t reat ise in the ear ly

per iod of the fo rm at ion of the T i be tan cano nica l l i te ra tu re ,

most l ikely the ninth century A.D. 5 In the t reat ise under con

s idera t ion the San skr i t no m ina l dec lens ion is descr ibed as a

system of e ight case s , with a fur ther subd ivis ion of each case

into s ingular , dual and plural . These e ight cases are deal t with

in the t rad i t iona l o rder : nomina t ive , accusa t ive , ins t rumenta l ,

dat iv e , abla t ive , gen i t ive , locat ive and vocat ive ." For each of

these cases a su m m ar y d escr ip t io n of the sem ant ics and the

133

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EARLY TIBETAN TREA TISE 135

lnga'V°\ hum, (which is to be t ransla ted as) "Be mindful of

( th i s ) ! " (thugs-dgongs-shig)," is placed at the end (mjug-bsdus), so

the ac tua l (dngos) vocat ive (or : invocat ion) (bod-pa) in be tween

(bar-gyi) (Om a n d hum consists of) mani, ( to be t rans la ted as )

" j ew e l" (nor-bu) an d padme (emend to : padma) ( " lo tu s" ) , w h ich

is the same (dngos) (word in T ib et an as in Sa nsk ri t ) an d so

r e m a i n s u n c h a n g e d (sor-bzhag)12

( in t r ans la t ion ) .

So (des-na), to ( th is) " jewel- lo tus" (nor-bu-padma)13

an invo

cat ion (bod-pa) by means of a sa luta t ion (phyag-'tshal-gyi-sgo-

nas) is (addressed) , (which resul ts in) the appl icat ion (sbyar-ba)

of (case-ending)-e

in ( the syllable)me,

which i s ( to be t ransla ted as ) "Oh!" (kye), so that ( the t ransla t ion of) the example

(Ita-bu) i s: "O h , jew e l - lo tu s ! " .

Short Evaluation

The choice of the mantra Om mani-padme hum as an example in

the above passage from the Sgra'i-rnam-par-dbye-ba-bstan-pa—

presumably da t ing f rom the n in th cen tury—seems to be anindicat ion of the re la t ive popular i ty of th is formula a lready in

the ear ly per iod of the spread of Buddhism in Tibet . This is

con t ra ry to the op in ion preva len t in wes te rn T ibe to logy un t i l

ra ther recent ly that , as no mention of Om mani-padme hum h a d

(unt i l then) been discove red in the T ib et an l i tera tu re of tha t

per iod , th is mantra did n ot play a role of an y significanc e in th e

ear l ies t pha ses of T ibe tan Bud dhism .1 4

However, early references to this mantra can be found in then in th - and t en th -cen tu ry T i be tan l i t e ra ry r em a ins from D un

Huang , no tab ly in a tex t en t i t led Dug-gsum-'dul-ba,if>

as well as

in the wel l -known, ra ther c ryp t ic , Sanskr i t -T ibe tan formul

ary.16 I t would seem that the present passage can now provi

s iona l ly be added to the n in th-cen tury tex tua l ev idence of Om

mani-padme hum.

I t should be noted that in th is passage from the Sgra'i-

rnam-par-dbye-ba-bstan-pa, the formula is nowhere explicit ly

assoc ia ted wi th the bodhisattva Avalok i tesvara .

From a gr am m at ic al poin t of v iew it is ra th er in teres t ing

that the term mani-padme is cited as an example of the vocative

case.17 This means that according to the morphology of c lass ical

Sanskri t th is form should be considered e i ther as a vocat ive

dua l o f a neu te r com po un d s tem mani-padma or as a vocative

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136 J I A B S V O L . 13 N O . 2

singular of a feminine compound stem mani-padmd. In theformer interpretation it would most likely be a dvandva-type ofcompound ("Oh, jewel and lotus!"),

18while in the latter, a

bahuvrthi-type of com pound would have to be supposed ("O h,[you w om an] who have the jewel-lotus!").

19

Considering the above it would seem that the formula Ommani-padme hum, which was to become such a prominent feature of later Tibetan Buddhism, was—at least—known in Tibetalready in the period of the first propagation (snga-dar) ofBuddhism.

N O T E S :

1. Cf. P.C. Ve rhag en, "S ansk rit gra m m atic al l i ter atur e in Tib et: a first

survey," to be published in: Panels of the Vllth World Sanskrit Conference, vol.7(?),

Leiden (1991), pp. 47-62.

2. Peking ed. Suzuki (1955-1961) ti t le nr. 5838, Bstan-'gyur Mdo-'grel

NGO fT. 54r6-64r4. The text is not extant in the Sde-dgc, Co-ne or Snar-thang

editions of the Bstan-'gyur.

3. Gnas-brgyad-chen-po'i-rlsa-ba, Peking ed. Suzuki (1955-1961) ti t le nr.5836, Bstan-'gyur Mdo-'grel NGO ff. 40v6-43v7 and Gnas-brgyad-'grel-pa, Peking

ed. Suzuki (1955-1961) title nr. 5837, Bstan- 'gyur Mdo- 'grel NGO If . 43v8-54r6.

4. On Lce-khyi- 'brug in general and his dat ing, cf. S. Inaba, Chibetto-go

Koten Bunpogaku, Kyoto 1954 , pp . 24-29 , N. Simonsson , Indo-tibetische Studien I,

Up psala 1957, pp . 24 3- 24 4 and R.A . Mil ler, "T ho n- m i Sa m bho ta and his

Gr am m at ica l T rea t ises ," J / iO S 83 (1963), pp . 486 -487 ( = repr. in: Studies in the

Grammatical Traditions in Tibet, A ms terdam 1976, pp . 2 - 3) .

There are ample text-internal indications (such as striking similarities in

me thod an d termino logy) that the three te x ts - th e first of which is certainly the

work of Lce-khyi- 'brug—are closely related, a lmost certainly contemporaneous

and qui te possibly by the same hand. Tcxt-external ly the main arguments for

the attribution to Lce-khyi-'brug arc to be found in several canonical catalogue-

indexes (dkar-chag); the earliest Bstan-'gyur catalogue, written by Bu-ston Rin-

chcn-g rub (1290-1364) (ed . L . C ha nd ra , The Collected Works of Bu-ston, vol. 26,

New D elhi 1971, = Sa ta- P ita ka S eries vol. 66, f. 117r3), a slightly later versio n

by Bu-ston 's pupi l Sgra-tshad-pa Rin-chen-rgyal-mtshan (1318-1388) (ed.

L . C h a n d r a , The Collected works of Bu-ston, vol. 28 , New D elhi 1971, = Sa ta-

Pitaka Series vol. 68, f. Il lr6), as well as the catalogue of the Peking Bstan-'gyur

wri t ten by the f i f th Dala i Lama Ngag-dbang-b lo-bzang-rgya-mt?ho (1617-1682) (ed. L. Chandra, Catalogue of the Peking Tanjur, vol. 1, New D elhi 1983, =

Sata-Pitaka Series vol. 325, f. 138r4) have virtually identical entries pertinent

to these texts, that seem to indicate that Lce-khyi-'brug was the author of all

three texts .

5. Besides the characteristic similarities between our text and the

treatise that can be positively attributed to Lce-khyi-'brug (cf. note 4), another

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E A RL Y T I B E T A N T R E A T I S E 137

indication for an early date of composi t ion is the location of the text in the

canon, viz. a m o n g a gr oup of treatises writ ten by ear ly Tibe tan scholars , e.g.,

the Sanskrit-Tibetan lexicon Mahdvyutpatti and its par t i a l commenta ry Sgra-

sbyor-bam-po-gnyis-pa (Peking ed. Suzuki 1955-1961 title nrs. 5832 and 5833) ,

both da table to the la te eighth, early ninth century, and Sum-cu-pa and Rtags-kyi-

'jug-pa (Peking ed. Suzuki 1955-1961 title nrs. 5834 and 5835) , the well-known

treatises on T ibe t a n g r a m m a r .

6. It should be noted that it is not common prac t ice in the Indian indi

genous grammatica l t radi t ions to employ the tota l number of eight for the

cases; usually we find a sevenfold case-system there with the vocative case as a

subtype of the first, nominative case.

7. In classical Sanskrit the case-ending -e as specific for the vocative

case occurs only in vocative singular of nominal s tems (of all genders) endingin i and feminine stems ending in a, cf. VV.D. W hi tne y, Sanskrit Grammar, 1889,

par. 335.h, 339, 363.f, 364. T hi s is by no m e a ns the only—or even the most

frequent—form the vocative case assumes. Moreover, the case-ending -e also

occurs as vocative (here identical to nominat ive and accusative) dual of neuter

s tems ending in a and feminine stems ending in a, cf. Whitney, op. cit., par.

328.b, 330, 363.g, 364.

The ending -e as specific for the vocative case does not seem to have been

particularly more frequent in Buddhis t hybr id Sanskr i t , cf. F. E dge r ton , Bud

dhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary, New Haven 1953, vol. 1, par. 8.27-28, 9.14-15, 10.33-41, 12.15-16, 13.9; note the occasional use of nom inative sin

gular endings (-0, -u, pe r ha ps -e) for vocative of s tems in a (cf. E dge r ton , op.

cit., par. 8.28) and the use of-* as vocative singular for s tems in r (cf. Edger ton ,

op . cit., par. 13.9).

8 . This , in fact, is not the correct classical form. The vocative singular

of the nominal s tem vrksa, " t ree , " is identical to the s tem-form: vrksa; however,

cf. Edger ton , op. cit., par. 8.28.

9. It certainly does not hold for classical Sanskrit that the case-ending

-e is the "gene ra l" or most frequent ending for the vocative case; cf. note 7.10. Cf. e.g. Mahdvyutpatti, ed. R. Sakaki, Kyoto 1916-1925, entry nrs.

110-114.

11. Note that a respectful expression (scil. thugs-dgongs) is employed here.

12. Transla t ion of sor-bzhag is based on the relevant entry in dge-bshes

Chos-kyi-grags-pa ' s Tibe tan dic t ionary ent i t led Brda-dag-ming-tshig-gsal-ba

(n .p . , n.d.; Chinese translation Peking 1975), p. 744: "gzhan-du-ma-sgyur-bar-

rang-ngo-bor-gso-bar-bzhag-pa" "to establish {bzhag-pa) (something) , preserving

{gso-bar) the thing itself {rang) in identical (form) {ngo-bor) without altering

(ma-sgyur-bar) (it) into another (form) {gzhan-du)."13. Apparent ly the author regards mani-padma as a compound. Unfor tu

nately he does not specify the relation between mani and padma, the two members

of the com pou nd; cf. "shor t eva lua t ion" and note 19.

14. Cf., e.g., P. Pelliot, T'oung Pao X X X I (1934), p. 174, M. Lalou , "A

Tun-huang Pre lude to the Karandavyuha" Indian Historical Quarterly vol. 14

(1938), p. 200. However, cf. also C. Regamey, "Motifs vichnouites et sivaites

d a n s le K a r a n d a v y u h a " , in: Etudes tibetaines, dediees a la memoire de Marcelle Lalou,

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138 J I A B S V O L . 13 N O . 2

Paris 1971, p. 419-420, particularly note 13.

15. Cf. the important art icle by Y. Imaeda, "Note preliminaire sur la for-

mule Om mani padme hum da ns les man uscr i ts t ibe ta ins de To uen -hou ang ," in:

M. Soymie (ed. ) , Contributionsaux

etudes surTbuen-houang,

Geneve-Paris 1979, pp.71-76 .

Th e three Dun H ua ng man uscr ipts of this text s tudied by Ima ed a give

variant readings of the mantra, scil.: "om-ma-ni-pad-me-hum-myi-tra-swa-hd" "om-

ma-ma-ni-pad-mel hum-myel /" and (correct Imaeda 's reading of Pell iot t ib. 37

to:) "dmm-ma-ma-n[?] i-pad-mel hum-myil'."

Imaeda suggests an interpretation of the syllables myi-tra in the first ver

sion as equivalent to mitra, either the Sanskrit word meaning "friend" (cf. also

maitri, "compass ion") or perhaps even connected with the I ranian de i ty

M i t h r a .

A different in terp reta tio n seem s possib le: I pro po se that the syllable myi in

the first version and the final syllables mye and myi of the latter two versions,

could be interpreted as a notation of the stressed (and in ritual recitation often

prolonged) nasalization which is the pronunciation of the anusvdra (viz. m) in

the preceding syllable *hum. This could also account for the curious repeti t ion

of syllable ma in the latter two versions; in either version the first syllable ma

could then be regarded as notation of this same pronunciation of anusvdra in the

preceding syllable om.

This interpretation would not allow the reading of myi-tra as mitra; the

syllable tra would have to be read separately or combined with the following

element swa-kd (*trd-svdhd?).

16. In this text the mantra itself is not quoted, but it is referred to with the

te rms *sad-anaksara (cf. sad-aksari) and yi-ge-myi-btub-pa-drug; cf. R.A. Miller,

"Buddhis t Hybrid Sanskr i t ali, kali as Gra mm atica l te rms in Tibe t . " HJAS 26

(1966), pp . 141-143 ( = repr. in: Studies in the Gram matical Tradition in T ibet,

Am sterda m 1976, pp . 49 -51 ) ; edi t ion: J . H ackin, Formulaire sanscrit-tibetain du Xe

siecle, Paris 1924, cf. p. 23, 38, 81.

Note the different interpretation of this passage in A. Rona-Tas, Wiener Vor-

lesungen zur Sprach- und Kulturgeschichte Tibels, W ien 1985 ( = W iener Studien zurTibetologie und B ud dhis mu sku nde 13), p. 350 (viz. *s[vjara anaksara).

17. I t should be noted that the interpretation of {mani-) padme as ending

in a vocative case is already found in the well-known account of the 18th-cen

tury Jesu it Ippo lito D esideri 's m issiona ry activit ies in Tib et betw een 1716 and

1721, commonly called Relazione; cf. R.A. Miller, "Notes on the Relazione of

Ippol i to Desider i , S.J.," Monumenta Serica X X I I : 2 ( 1963) , pp . 467 - 46 9 .

18. The neuter gender is not common for padma, the final member of the

compound, but not unthinkable e i ther .

19. T h e bahuvrihi type of com po un d allows a variety of gra m m atica l relat ions between the members internally; possible translations for a bdhuvrihi mani-

padmd would be inter alia: "(wo m an ) who h as the lotus of the jew el" or

"(w om an) wh o has the lotus with the jew el" or "(w om an) wh o has the lotus in

the jew el" or " (w om an ) wh o has the lotus that is a jewel." Could it be that this

feminine compound noun mani-padmd refers to Prajnd-pdramita, the well-known

Mahayana concept of " t ranscendenta l wisdom," which is grammatica l ly

feminine and, when personified, female?

Om mani

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