Some Remarks on the Textual Transmission and Text of Bu ston

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Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines
Gtang pa Sde srid in Shigatse with the Karma Bka' brgyud hierarchs
as their main allies had just come to an end in favor of 'Bras spungs
and the bla brang-corporation of Dalai Lama V in particular, no love
was lost between him and the Karma Bka' brgyud establishment.
Another favorite target of the Dalai Lama was Paṇ chen Bsod
nams grags pa (1478-1554), who was in much greater proximity to
his own sphere of influence and spiritual home at 'Bras spungs monastery
than Dpa' bo II. Indeed, the Dalai Lama's bla brang of 'Bras
spungs' Gzims khang 'og ma residence that was managed by the extremely
savy, influential, and sectarian Bsod nams chos 'phel (1595-
1657), alias Bsod nams rab brtan, was at logger-heads with the Gzims
khang gong ma incarnation series of 'Bras spungs monastery that
had originated with the Paṇ chen. Sprul sku Grags pa rgyal mtshan
(1619-56) was the contemporary, third representative of this series
that, in the perception of especially Bsod nams chos 'phel, and perhaps
Dalai Lama V privately shared this view, was their spiritual
rival and perhaps even competed with the Gzims khang 'og ma for
economic resources. 50 Never mind that Grags pa rgyal mtshan had
apparently also been put forward as a viable candidate for the subsequent
re-embodiment of Dalai Lama IV Yon tan rgya mtsho (1589-
1616), a candidacy that had gone nowhere for reasons that still remain
to be fully examined. In an entry for roughly the middle of the
year 1639 in his autobiography, 51 Dalai Lama V notes how the Zhal
ngo, that is Bsod nams chos 'phel, had commented rather caustically
on an account embedded in a series of reverential petitions to the
previous re-embodiments ('khrungs rabs 'gsol 'debs) of the Gzims
khang gong ma series that Bkra shis rgya mtsho, the chant master of
'Bras spungs' huge Tshogs chen assembly hall, had recently composed.
The latter had begun his work with the Kashmirian master
Śākyaśrībhadra (1127-1225) and his re-embodiment Bu ston. The
50
51
See, quite briefly, S.G. Karmay, "The Fifth Dalai Lama and his Reunification of
Tibet," The Arrow and the Spindle. Studies in History, Myths, Rituals and Beliefs in
Tibet (Kathmandu: Mandala Book Point, 1998), 514, where the year of Grags pa
rgyal mtshan's passing is mistakenly given as 1654. Dalai Lama V quite clearly
states in his autobiography that after a severe and acute illness with high fever
(gnyan tshad), he passed away on July 5, 1656; see Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya
mtsho'i rnam thar, Stod cha [vol. 1] (Lhasa: Bod ljongs mi dmangs dpe skrun
khang, 1989), 493. To be noted is that he simply calls him sprul pa'i sku and, quite
tellingly, is silent on his re-embodiment. The very same date is also found in Jaya
Paṇḍita Blo bzang 'phrin las' (1642-1708) biographical sketch of Grags pa rgyal
mtshan in his Thob yig of [the very end of] 1702, for which see his Collected Works,
repr. L. Chandra (New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1981),
58. Pp. 41-58 of the latter deal with his life and the lives of his earlier reembodiments.
What follows is taken from Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho'i rnam thar, Stod cha
[vol. 1], 183.