Chapter 4: The Man ifold Sayings of Dags po - B ackground and Transmis sjon 77 ex is ts in a single fragment (L l 617) This fragment can be proven to be part of xylograph DK.B given the similarity in the design of its frontispiece decoration that it has with the frontispiece found on the cover of text DK.B Ka in prints L 1 8/3 and L45 6/ Generally sp e aking, frontispiece designs of early xylographs reflect particular styles of craftsmanship th at typically were unique to specific printing houses in pre-modern Tibet They can consequently often be used in provenance studies to identify related prints (or parts of prints) and their geographic origin Xylograph DK.B is such a precise copy of its prototype DK.A that it reproduce s each text of the corpus with the exact same pagination of each and every folio Only the line breaks (but not the folio breaks) differ slightly in comparison to DK.A Moreover, text critical analysis 77 confirms that DK.B is a direct descendant of DK.A, because DK.B reproduces nearly all the corrupt readings of DK.A and introduces a small number of new corruptions of its own The fe w cases where DK.B has a correct reading in lieu of a corrupt reading in DK.A c an all be j ustifiably explained as simple emendations of minor, obvious spelling errors Aside from reproducing the works from DK.A, xylograph DK.B has added two new eulogies to the corpus and has in the process thereof given a new alphabetical label to the eulogy entitled Rje khu dbon rnam gsum la bstod pa utpala gzhon nu 'i chun po (DK A * Nyi) composed by S gam po Bkra shis rnam rgyal in 9, which in DK.A was left without an alphabetical label In DK B , the said eulogy has been given the label OJ'n and the two extra eulogies have been furnished with the l abels A(i and Hurn It is uncertain whether the eulogy Shes bya ma ascribed to Phag mo gru pa (DK.A * Ji) was reproduced in DK B , since it is missing in all the extant prints The first of the added eulogies (DK B A�, folios) is a short poem entitled Prayer to the Stages of the Path of the Two Cha rioteers whose Teachings were transmitted to the Master Candraprabha Kumara [i e , B sod nams rin chen] (Rje zla 'ad gzhonu la bka ' bahs pa 'i shing rta gnyis kyi lm?1 rim gsol 'debs) 47 The colo phon states that it was composed by the seventh Karma pa Chos grags rgya mtsho ( 454- 506) The second added eulogy (DK B Hum, folios) bears the title " A Praise to M ount Peace" (Ri bo shan ti 'i gnas bstod) , being a poem that describes the religious marvels of Mount D ags Iha s gam po, also known as Ri bo Santi The author is not named in the text, but a line in the poem identifies the narrator as B sod nams rin chen himself 479 He is said to have song the poem at the ridge of Copper Valley (zangs lung gsal sgang) on Mt D ags po to the three realized men from Khams (rtogs ldan khams pa mi gsum) , i e , Karma p a Dus gsum mkhyen pa, Phag mo gru pa Rdo rje rgyal po, and Gsal stong Sho sgom in the male 477 My text critical editions and annotated translations of the five Tshogs chos texts from the corpus will be forthcoming in a future publication 478 See fn 44 47 DK B Hum l b : " [This ] is the practice place of mine, Dags po Iha rj e" (nga dags po lha rje 'i sgrub gnas yin) 178 Chapter : The Man ifold Sayings of Dags p o B ackground and Transmission - water dragon year (chu 'brug gi lo) 80 The authorship is though very questionable; because the poem is unknown in the earlier tradition Also, the cited water dragon year is impossible if the story were taken to be true, because the only water dragon year in B sod nams rin chen's life time was 1 2, which is nine years before he reached D ags Iha sgam po and long before the arrival of the mentioned students All the short scribal colophons mentioning the names of scribes and wood carvers found in DK.A have been removed in DK.B Instead, DK.B includes three scribal colophons of its own The first scribal colophon is found at the end of text DK.B Ta It names the scribe who copied the letters of text Ta, s aying: " From the top of part Ta, [the text] was designed by Nam mkha' mgon po " The identity of Nam mkha' mgon po is not known The second scribal colophon is found at the end of text DK B Hiim, which reads: " May it be auspicious ! The letters of this print were written by the fingertips of Ga ba Bkra shis [from] lower Lan bde By this good action, may all beings quickly attain buddhahood ! " The toponym " lower Lan bde " (Ian bde smad kyi cha) seems to be an orthographic variant of the Lan de valley near Mang yul gung thang, where the famous sixteenth-century printer Lha btsun Rin chen mam rgyal ( 47 - 57) ran a printery at Glang phug cave (EHRHARD, 2000 : 7) I t may b e the case that the scribe in question had received h i s training a t or was otherwise associated with that facility The third colophon is a carver's colophon found in the middle of the large treatise Dags po thar rgyan at the end of the text's chapter fifteen It gives the name of the person who c arved (brkos) the wood blocks for the first half of the text, s aying: "The twelve [chapters?] till here were carved by Dpal ldan rdo rje " The name Dpal ldan rdo rje i s not identified with a known person DK.B generally omits all printing colophons found in DK.A except for two cases, where DK.A contains longer printing colophons The first case is text D K B Ga, which is the large S gam po pa hagiography composed by the publisher of the 20 xylograph, S gam po B sod nams lhun grub In the 520 xylograph (DK A Ga), the publisher includes an extensive colophon describing the making of the hagiography and its printing at Dags Iha sgam po in 520 84 In DK.B Ga, the full colophon from DK.A is included up to the point of mentio ning the printing in 520 To this, DK.B adds a phrase stating that the present print was redacted directly from the 520 xylograph produced at Mount S anti, i e , Dags Iha sgam po monastery The remainder of DK.A Ga's colophon stating the name of the scribe is not 48 ° Cf here the Bka ' brgyud mgur mtsho story concerning the three men from Khams mentioned in fn 28 and the problem of its historic al veracity 481 DK.B Ta 0a7 : I/ta pa 'i le rtse namkha ' mgon po 'i bkod// Here, the expression ta pa is interpreted as referring to text Ta ( i e , DK.B Ta) The phrase le rtse seems to mean " [from] the top (rtse) of the section (le) " The spelling rta pa, meaning 'a rider', might also be a possible reading of the blurred text, but that has been rejected in the above interpretation of the sentence 482 DK.B Hum l b : l/maliga lmJ1 bha wantul /spar yig 'di ni Lan bde smad kyi cha/ ga ba bkra shis sor mo 'i rtse la dkrunl /dge bas 'gro kun sangs rgyas myur thob shag!/ 483 DK.B E 86b : //'di yan bcu gnyis dpa ldan rdo rje 'i brkoso// 484 For the Tibetan text and translation from DK.A.Ga, see below p 208 Chapter 4: The Manifold Sayings of Dags po - B ackground and Transmission 79 inclu ded in DK B Thus , the last part of the colophon in DK.B reads (with the part altered an d added in DK.B underlined) : This text, The Best of Jewel Ornaments of Liberation Adorning the Banner of Pervasive Renown: A Precious Wish}ulfilling Jewel in the Form of a Hagiography of the Dhanna Master, the Eminent and Great Sgam po pa, was redacted from the xylograph made (par du sgrubs pa la zhal zhus pa 'o) by Spyan snga chos kyi rje B sod nams lhun grub zla 'od rgyal mtshan dpal bzang po, a descendant of the venerable master, in the male iron dragon year [ 520 CE] , 2398 years after the teacher [ S akyamuni's] nin'ii!za, 442 years after the great protector [ Sgam po pa's] birth, 67 years after his nirvii!za, on Mount S anti with the aim of promoting the Bka ' brgyud teachings May it be auspicious ! 485 The second printing colophon in DK.B is a reproduction of part of the long printing colophon found in DK.A at the end of text DK.A.E, The Jewel Ornament of Liberation Here, DK B E includes the first part of DK.A's printing colophon and then adds a sentence of its own : The Complete Man ifold Sayings along with the Ornament of Libera tion were made into a print , 8 years after the nirviina of our teacher Munlndra, 442 years after the birth of our protector [Bsod nams rin chen] , 367 years after he passed into the realm of reality (dharmadhiitu), on the fifteenth lunar day in the Month of the Rod of the male Iron Dragon year [ 520 CE] It was redacted from the print produced in Dags Iha sgam po for the s ake of spreading a countless number [of copies] of the Complete Manifold Sayings (bka ' 'bum yangs rdzogs) 86 The colophon's first sentence is taken verbatim from the beginning of the long printing colophon of DK.A.E Hence, the stated year and date of the male Iron Dragon year ( 520 CE) only pertains to the printing of the Dags Iha sgam po xylograph (DK.A) The final sentence, however, is a significant addendum, because it again explicitly states that DK.B 485 DK.B Ga.2.62a5 : chos kyi rje dpal ldan sgam po pa 'i rnam par thar pa yid bzhin gyi nor bu rin po che kun khyab snyan pa 'i ba dan/ thar pa rin po che 'i brgyan gyi mchog ces bya ba 'di n il rje nyid kyi dbon po spyan snga chos kyi rje bsod nams lhun grub zla 'od rgyal mtshan dpal bzang pos/ ston pa mya ngan las 'das na da lta 'i bar la/ lo nyis stong gsum brgya go brgyad song zhing/ mgon po 'di nyid bltams nas bzhi brgya zhe gnyis song la/ mya ngan las 'das pa na gsum brgya re bdun song ba 'i lcags 'brug gi lo la/ bka ' brgyud kyi bstan pa spel ba 'i slad du! ri bo shantir par du sgrubs pa la zhal zhus pa 'o// m miga lam// For interpretation of the v arious dates mentioned in the colophon reproduced from the printing colophons shared between DK.A.Ga and DK.A.E, see KRAGH (20 c : 374-375 ) 486 DK.B E �.1 : bka ' 'bum yangs rdzags thar rgyan dang bcas pa 'di n il ston pa thub pa 'i dbang po mya ngan las 'das nas/ nyis stong gsum brgya go brgyad dang/ mgon po 'di nyid bltams nas/ bzhi brgya zhe gnyis Ion/ chos kyi dbyings su zhugs nas/ gsum rgya re bdun rdzags pa yi! lcags 'brug gi lo/ dbyug pa zla ba 'i tshes bcwo lnga la/ bka ' 'bum yangs rdzags grangs med pa spel ba 'i phyir du/ dags Iha sgam por bsgrubs pa 'i par las zhal zhus pa 'o// 48 For a detailed analysis of DK.A's colophon and its dates, see KRAGH (20 c : 374-376) For a translation, see the summary of text DK.A.E in chapter five below 1 80 Chapter 4: The Man (fold Sayings of Dags po - B ackground and Transmission was copied from DK.A, i.e , from the Dags Iha sgam po print In DK.A.E, the printing colophon continues with stating the details of the production of the Dags Iha sgam po xylograph That part of DK.A.E's colophon has not been reproduced in DK.B E Instead, DK B E carries on with a later part of the colophon found in DK.A.E, wherein the problem of finding a reliable version of the Jewel Ornament text is discussed 88 The subsequent passage in DK.A.E' s colophon concerning the names of the editor and scribes of the Dags Iha sgam po xylograph is omitted in DK B E Finally, DK.B E ends with a prayer that is only partially found in the extant copy of DK.A.E, which seems to indicate that an additional final folio is lacking in the NGMPP microfilm of DK.A.E In conclusion, the printing colophons of DK.B confirm that the xylograph is a direct copy of DK.A, but not provide any further details regarding the location or date of the print Regarding the lay-out and xylographic design of DK.B , the cover pages of two texts have ornamented frontispiece decorations The first is the cover page of the bka ' 'bum's first text (DK.B Ka a) , where the frontispiece design depicts the title of the text inside a square box resting on a lotus flower and surrounded by ornaments, a flaming j ewel, and other decorations A similar design is found o n the cover page o f text DK.B E l l a, The Jewel Ornament of Liberation: 88 For a translation and analysis, see KRAGH (20 c : 90-39 ) and the summary of text DK.A.E in chapter five below Chapter : The Man ifold Sayings of Dags po - B ackground and Transmi ssion 181 The style of these frontispiece designs i s partly reminiscent of the two frontispieces that app ear in DK.A (likewise in texts Ka and E), particularly with regard to the flower element beneath the titles However, aside from the lotus, the decorative parts of the frontispieces of DK.A and DK.B differ Rather, the various elements of DK B ' s frontispieces are very similar to other such designs seen on sixteenth-century xylographs produced in the Mang yul gung thang region in southern Tibet Those xylographs were produced at several different local printeries by publishers and craftsmen who had been educated in the production of the large xylographic printing projects undertaken in the southern region by the Bka ' brgyud teacher Gtsang smyon He ru ka Rus pa'i rgyan can ( 452- 07 ) Three such cases can be listed here, where similarities can be observed i n the decorative designs between DK.B and other sixteenth-century manuscripts from the region around Mang yul gung thang in the south The first is the frontispiece of the 53 xylograph of the Rnying ma treatise Theg pa 'i mchog rin po che 'i mdzod originally composed by Klong chen rab 'byams pa and printed by Chos dbang rgyal mtshan at Kun gsal sgang po che hermitage located southwest of Mang yul gung thang In this example, the lotus element and the flaming jewel on top are similar to those of DK.B but the remaining ornaments differ in design The second c ase is the frontispiece of a hagiography of Gtsang smyon He ru ka composed and printed by Rgod tshang ras pa Sna tshogs rang grol ( 494- 570) in 54 at the printery of Ras chung phug hermitage (S MITH , 200 l : 62) 49 The hermitage is located east of Mang yul gung thang at the intersection of Yar klungs and 'Phyong rgyas valleys The third case i s the frontispiece of a separate xylograph publication of an individual work from the Dags po 'i bka ' 'bum, namely text DK.A.Varµ entitled Bstan bcos lung gi nyi 'od This text was printed as an individual xylograph in 55 (lcags khyi lo) by the Bka ' brgyud printer Lha btsun rin chen rnam rgyal ( 47 - 557) at B rag dkar rta so hermitage in the countryside of Skyid grong, the maj or town center of Mang yul gung thang In this I wish to thank Franz-Karl EHRHARD for his kind suggestions during an early stage of my analysis of these xylograph design s 49° For a study of the xylograph and a facsimile reproduction, s ee EHRHARD (2000b :xvi-xix and folio l a) 49 The original manuscript has been published in facsimile by Lokesh CHANDRA ( The Life of the Saint of Gtsali by Rgod-tshm1- ras-pa Sna - tshogs-rali-grol, with a preface by E Gene SMITH, S ata Pi!aka Series vol 79, New Delhi : Sharada Ran i, 969) (TBRC W l KG9090) 492 Three prints of the xylograph have been microfilmed by the NGMPP The first is reel no L I 3/ (running no L l 479) filmed in the private collection of Tulku Tshewang at Namga Kunden Monastery on October 1 , 98 This is an incomplete print (23 out of 25 folios) mis sing the first and the final folios The first folio with the frontispiece has here been replaced by a later handwritten copy of the foli o and the original frontispiece is consequently lacking The second is reel no L l 94/ (running no L2279) of an incomplete print filmed in the private collection of Chas rdo rje in Thini on October , 98 That print is missing folio 2, which has been replaced with an incorrect folio (section Ka) from a non-pertinent xylograph decorated with two line drawings of Dags po lha rje (left) and Gtsang smyon He ru ka (right) The original frontispiece on folio is though preserved The third microfilm is reel no L4 l 8/4 (running no L4555) of a complete print filmed in the private ... Renown: A Precious Wish}ulfilling Jewel in the Form of a Hagiography of the Dhanna Master, the Eminent and Great Sgam po pa, was redacted from the xylograph made (par du sgrubs pa la zhal zhus pa 'o)... For a translation and analysis, see KRAGH (2 0 c : 90-39 ) and the summary of text DK .A. E in chapter five below Chapter : The Man ifold Sayings of Dags po - B ackground and Transmi ssion 181 The. .. ' 'bum yangs rdzags grangs med pa spel ba 'i phyir du/ dags Iha sgam por bsgrubs pa 'i par las zhal zhus pa 'o// 48 For a detailed analysis of DK .A' s colophon and its dates, see KRAGH (2 0 c :