Gyantse and its Monasteries. Part 2. Inscriptions: text and translations [Part 2] 8185179190

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Citation preview

GYANTSE AND ITS MONASTERIES PART 2 Inscriptions TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS

bu

GIUSEPPE TUCCI English uersion of

INDO-TIBETICA IV. 2

edited by

LOKESH CHANDRA from a first drafl translation by

UMA MARINA VESCI

ADITYA PRAKASHAN NEW DELHI

First published in Italian : Roma, Reale Accademia d'I talia, 194 1 . English translation : New Delhi, 1989. QAccademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Roma, Italy.

ISBN :81-85179-19-0 (SET) ISBN :81-85179-25-5 Rs. 450

Published by Pradeep Goel for Aditya Prakashan, 482911, Prahlad Lane, 24, Ansari Road, New Delhi Phototypesetting by Navchetan Photoset (P) Ltd., ,and Printed at D.K. Fine Art Press, Delhi-110052.

CONTENTS Preface, by Lokesh Chandra

vii

TEXTS OF INSCRIPTIONS Samada Iwang T h e great temple of Gyantse Sku-hburn/Kumbum TRANSLATIONS Samada Iwang T h e great temple of Gyantse Sku-hbumlKumbum APPENDIX I Some observations on the inscriptions Military charges Ecclesiastical charges or offices performed in convents Craftsmen

275 276 277 277

APPENDIX I1 279 Corrections and additions to Indo-Tibeticu, volumes 1-111 T h e chronological system of the Deb-ther-snon-po and the chronology adopted in Indo-Tibetica (note by Dr. Luciano Petech) 28 1

INDEX

287

PREFACE

This second part of the fourth volume of Ind+Tibetica.comprises the most important inscriptions found in the monuments studied in the first part. These inscriptions are unique in naming the donors, painters, sculptors who contributed to the adornment of the walls of the chapels and temples with frescoes that mirror the vast pantheon of the Tantric visions in their bewildering variety. These inscriptions enable us to identify each and every divinity in all the richness of its pantheonic mandala. This would not have been possible, were there no inscriptions. Prof. Tucci has copied the inscriptions with fidelity, reproducing the orthographic errors and anomalies due to the frequent indifference of the Tibetan copyists. T h e errors have been pointed out and corrected in the translation of the inscriptions. The several chapels of the Kumbum which have been described in the first part can be understood with greater precision and in specific details through the translation of the inscriptions. In the translation we have added references to the chapels on the top of every page: thus 111.16 means the 16th chapel on the I11 floor of the Kumbum. This helps to locate the context of every inscription. The present volume deserves further study as the Tibetan texts are becoming more and more accessible, in translations, and studies, or even in Sanskrit originals, like the Sarva-tathagatatattva-sangraha which is the most fundamental text of the yogatantras that are crucial to the several systems of Tantras illustrated in the Kumbum murals.

T h e Kumbum is a unique monument of Buddhist art, vying in importance with the Ajanta caves, Kizil, Tun-huang, Yun-kang o r Lung-men grottoes, or the Barabudur. It is the last fragrance of the creative grandeur of Buddhism, the glory and silence of time supremely alive. Here is a gallery of frescoes that mirror the diversification of Buddhism. Sakyamuni is transformed from Master into Lord, into an idealised figure. T h e Enlightened One became the Enlightening One, The Radiator of Light. From Buddha the interest shifted to the abstraction ef Buddhahood. From an individual he became a symbol, the science of Buddhahood. Nirvana was transformed into paradise, and karma became modifiable by prayer. Elabe rate patterns emerged. Buddhism was face to face with the Absolute, the Ultimate, the First, the Eternal, the Everlasting and the All-pervading which now was the adamantine purity of the Adi-Buddha. With metaphysical daring this Eternal par cxcelh c e , definable by negatives alone, became the bejewelled sambhoga-kaya passionately embracing his transcendant consort or prajfia. Extreme serenity was identified with extreme passion, the crystal light with the fire of love, the intangible with all the intoxication d the senses. Sensuality and symbolism, metaphysical filigree of jewels, caresses and cerebrality, earth and sky were celebrated in proportion and serenity, in portraiture and cryptograms. The murals and sculptures of Kumbum carry these eternal depths to the eyes of the faithful.

Lokesh Chandra

I

TEXT OF T H E INSCRIPTIONS

MINOR TEMPLES Samada.

Iwang. Central chapel (see p. 135)

chapel of Tshe-dpag- medIAmiayus (see p. 136)

GRAND TEMPLE OF GYANTSE (see p.136)

( 1 ) Reading doubtful. (2) sic, perhaps for hja-sa? (Mongol jasak), compare Laufer,

Loan-wordr in Tibetan, no. 174.

:

SKU ABUM Kumbum FIRST FLOOR

Third chapel (see p. 137)

( 1 ) Cotnpai-e Bu-ston, Description o f the temple o f Zhalu, TSA fol. 12b.

Fourth chapel (see p. 14 1) 4 - * 4 - 5 - Q - -I

( I ) Probably:

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Fifth chapel (see p. 143)

Sixth chapel (see p. 145)

(11-1n text

Wbl

Seventh chapel (see p. 147)

Eighth chapel (see p.148)

Ninth chapel (see p. 150)

Tenth chapel (see p. 152)

(1) Corr.:

@.

Twelfth chapel (see p. 153)

-

-

-

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