Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies

Journal of the
International Association
of Tibetan Studies
Issue 6 — December 2011
ISSN 1550-6363
An online journal published by the Tibetan and Himalayan Library (THL)
www.jiats.org

Articles
Editor-in-Chief: David Germano
Guest Editors: Gray Tuttle, Johan Elverskog
Book Review Editor: Bryan J. Cuevas
Managing Editor: Steven Weinberger
Assistant Editor: William McGrath
Technical Director: Nathaniel Grove
Contents
• Wutai Shan: Pilgrimage to Five-Peak Mountain (pp. 1-133)
– Karl Debreczeny
• Tales of Conjured Temples (huasi) in Qing Period Mountain
Gazetteers (pp. 134-162)
– Susan Andrews
• Tibetan Buddhism at Wutai Shan in the Qing: The Chinese-language
Register (pp. 163-214)
– Gray Tuttle
• Tibetan Poetry on Wutai Shan (pp. 215-242)
– Kurtis R. Schaeffer
• Wutai Shan, Qing Cosmopolitanism, and the Mongols (pp. 243-274)
– Johan Elverskog
• Mongol Pilgrimages to Wutai Shan in the Late Qing Dynasty (pp. 275-326)
– Isabelle Charleux
• Bla brang Monastery and Wutai Shan (pp. 327-348)
– Paul K. Nietupski
• The Jiaqing Emperor’s Magnificent Record of the Western Tour (pp. 349-371)
– Patricia Berger
• Maps of Wutai Shan: Individuating the Sacred Landscape through
Color (pp. 372-388)
– Wen-shing Chou
• The Thirteenth Dalai Lama at Wutai Shan: Exile and Diplomacy (pp. 389-410)
– Elliot Sperling
• Gifts at Wutai Shan: Rockhill and the Thirteenth Dalai Lama (pp. 411-428)
– Susan Meinheit
ii

Article Related to JIATS Issue 4
• Of Horses and Motorbikes: Negotiating Modernities in Pastoral A mdo, Sichuan
Province (pp. 429-450)
– Lilian Iselin
Book Reviews
• Review of Jokhang: Tibet’s Most Sacred Buddhist Temple, by Gyurme Dorje, Tashi
Tsering, Heather Stoddard, and André Alexander (pp. 451-466)
– Cameron David Warner
• Review of Buddhism and Empire: The Political and Religious Culture of Early
Tibet, by Michael Walter (pp. 467-471)
– Sam van Schaik
Abstracts (pp. 472-476)
Contributors to this Issue (pp. 477-480)
iii

Tibetan Poetry on Wutai Shan
Kurtis R. Schaeffer
University of Virginia
Abstract: This article surveys Tibetan poetry about Five-Peaked Mountain (Wutai
shan) and then focuses on a short period of intense literary activity from the 1760s
to 1830 and the figures from A mdo responsible for it – Lcang skya rol pa’i rdo
rje, the third Thu’u bkwan blo bzang chos kyi nyi ma, Sum pa mkhan po ye shes
dpal ’byor, A kya yongs ’dzin dbyangs can dga’ ba’i blo gros, and others – as well
as the relationships between them. Particular attention is given to Lcang skya’s
Song to Five-Peaked Mountain (Gnas mchog ri bo rtse lngar mjal skabs kyi gnas
bstod dang ’brel ba’i mgur ’jam dpal dgyes pa’i mchod sprin) and the symbolism
of the natural landscape that it employs.
Introduction
Throughout the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries authors from the
Tibetan tradition of Buddhism composed numerous poems on Five-Peaked
Mountain (Wutai shan). 1 It is likely that little of the imagery, myth, and narrative
elements employed in this poetry will be new to those familiar with the rich lore
of Five-Peaked Mountain currently extant in several languages. Nevertheless,
poetry is the preeminent form of Tibetan literary expression regarding Five-Peaked
Mountain, so it seems a good idea to survey this literature, both as a contribution
to our increasingly vivid picture of Tibetan Buddhist activity around the site, as
well as toward an eventual comparative literary history of Five-Peaked Mountain.
Let me refer briefly to the list of poets I have compiled to date, and then offer
more detailed comments on several examples from this corpus. What follows is
simply a preliminary list amounting only to twenty-two poets. All of this work is
currently extant, save two poems. I have no doubt that a thorough and systematic
search will yield many more Tibetan poems on Five-Peaked Mountain. In
chronological order the poets are:
1 I would like to express my warm thanks to Paul Nietupski and Gray Tuttle for generously sharing
their research with me as I wrote this essay.
Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, no. 6 (December 2011): 215-242.
http://www.thlib.org?tid=T5719.
1550-6363/2011/6/T5719.
© 2011 by Kurtis R. Schaeffer, Tibetan and Himalayan Library, and International Association of Tibetan Studies.
Distributed under the THL Digital Text License.

Schaeffer: Tibetan Poetry on Wutai Shan
Early Works
1257. Chos rgyal ’phags pa blo gros rgyal mtshan (1235-1280). Composed
Garland of Jewels: Praise to Mañjuśrī at Five-Peaked Mountain (’Jam dbyangs
la ri bo rtse lngar bstod pa nor bu’i phreng ba), in approximately one hundred
verses. 2
1352. O rgyan gling pa (b. 1323). Verses on the origins of astrology at
Five-Peaked Mountain in Chapter thirty-five of the Chronicle of Padmasambhava
(Padma bka’ thang). 3
Mid-15th century. Rong ston shes bya kun rig (1367-1449). Composed Praise
of Five-Peaked Mountain (ri bo rtse lnga la bstod pa phul byung sgra dbyangs)
at Nalendra Monastery. 4
Central Period of Poetic Activity (circa 1760-1830):
1767 or before. Bla ma rtse lnga pa dpal ldan grags pa (eighteenth c.?). A
guidebook (dkar chag) in verse composed before 1767, extracts cited in Ye shes
dpal ldan’s guidebook. 5
1767. Lcang skya rol pa’i rdo rje (1717-1786). Mgur/gnas bstod composed in
1767 at Five-Peaked Mountain, included in his biography (composed in
1792-1794). 6 Born in A mdo.
1772. Sum pa mkhan po ye shes dpal ’byor (1704-1788). Born in A mdo. Mgur
in his autobiography (composed in 1776), composed in 1772 at Five-Peaked
Mountain. 7 Born in A mdo.
2 ’Phags pa blo gros rgyal mtshan, ’Jam dbyangs la ri bo rtse lngar bstod pa nor bu’i phreng ba, in
Sa skya bka’ ’bum, vol. 15 (Sde dge: Sde dge par khang), 226.3-237. At Five-Peaked Mountain he also
composed the ’Jam dpal la mtshan don gyi sgo nas bstod pa (see Sa skya bka’ ’bum, vol. 15, 219-22)
and the ’Jam dpal la nye bar bsngags pa me tog gi phreng ba (see Sa skya bka’ ’bum, vol. 15, 222-26).
3 O rgya gling pa, Padma bka’ thang (Chengdu: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1988), 222-24.
4 Rong ston shes bya kun rig, Ri bo rtse lnga la bstod pa phul byung sgra dbyangs [Praise of
Five-Peaked Mountain], in Gsung ’bum vol. 1 (Skye dgu mdo: Gangs ljongs rig rgyan gsung rab par
khang, 2004), 119. Colophon: 119.6: ces rgya nag ri bo rtse lnga la bstod pa rong ston chen pos dpal
nā lendra’i dgon par sbyar ba’o //.
5 In Dznyā na shrī man (Ye shes dpal ldan, mid-nineteenth c.), Ri bo rtse lnga’i dkar chag rab gsal
me long (Xining: Mtsho sngon mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1994), 17 (six lines), 23 (four lines), 100 (four
lines), 139 (115 lines), 160 (sixty-one lines), 193 (twenty-eight lines), 208 (thirteen lines). The Ornament
for the Peaks was still extant when Brag dkar pa dkon mchog bstan pa rab rgyas wrote his massive
history of A mdo in the 1850s and early 60s, in which it is referred to as Rtse lnga’i bkod pa gsal bar
byed pa lhun po’i rgyan byang gzhon bya bas mdzad pa.
6 Thu’u bkwan chos kyi nyi ma (1737-1802), Khyab bdag rdo rje sems dpa’i ngo bo dpal ldan bla
ma dam pa ye shes bstan pa’i sgron me dpal bzang po’i rnam par thar pa mdo tsam brjod pa dge ldan
bstan pa’i mdzes rgyan, Cover title: Lcang skya rol pa’i rdo rje’i rnam thar (Lanzhou: Kan su’u mi
rigs dpe skrun khang, 1989), 504.16-510.10. In addition to the translation of select verses offered below,
this poem has been translated in full in Marina Illich, Selections from the Life of a Tibetan Buddhist
Polymath: Chankya Rolpe Dorje (lcang skya rol pa’i rdo rje), 1717-1786 (New York, NY: Columbia
University, Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, 2006), 520-30.
7 Sum pa mkhan po ye shes dpal ’byor, Paṇḍita sum pa ye shes dpal ’byor mchog gi spyod tshul
brjod pa sgra ’dzin bcud len (Beijing: Krung go’i bod kyi shes rig dpe skrun khang, 2001) 442.12-443.9.
216

Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, no. 6 (December 2011)
1784. Thu’u bkwan III Blo bzang chos kyi nyi ma (1737-1802; Tuken III Lozang
Chökyi Nyima in Standard Tibetan pronunciation). Mgur in biography (composed
in 1803), composed in 1784 at Mkhar sngon. Born in A mdo. 8
1785. Rgyal dbang mkhan grags pa rgyal mtshan (1762-1835/1837). Gnas bstod
composed in 1785 at Labrang Monastery (bla brang). Born in A mdo, Twenty-third
Abbot of Labrang Monastery. 9
1799. A kya yongs ’dzin dbyangs can dga’ ba’i blo gros (1740-1847; Akya
Yongdzin Yangchen Gawé Lodrö in Standard Tibetan pronunciation). Mgur/gnas
bstod composed in 1799 at Five-Peaked Mountain. 10 Born in A mdo.
18th century. A lag sha mthu stobs nyi ma (eighteenth c.). This poem (gnas
bstod gsol ’debs) is not available. 11
1813. Ye shes don grub (nineteenth c.) and A lag sha ngag dbang bstan dar
(1759-1831). Sixteen verses on a temple history and survey (lo rgyus, bskor tshad).
Composed in 1813. 12
1831 or before. Dznyā na shrī man (Ye shes dpal ldan, also known as Ye dpal).
Twenty-three “transitional” verses (bar skabs tshigs bcad) concluding the seven
chapters of his guidebook, composed no later than 1831. 13
1831 or before. Gsang bdag rdo rje (nineteenth c.). Verses of homage and
offering (phyag mchod) appended to Ye shes dpal ldan’s guidebook, composed
before 1831. 14
8
In Gung thang bstan pa’i sgron me, Thu’u bkwan chos kyi nyi ma’i rtogs brjod padma dkar po,
vol. 1 (Lanzhou: Kan su’u mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1992), 410.11-413.5.
9
Rgyal dbang mkhan grags pa rgyal mtshan, Ri bo rtse lnga’i gnas bstod tshangs pa’i sgra dbyangs
[Brahma’s Melody: A Place-Praise of Five-Peaked Mountain], in Gsung ’bum, vol. 4 (Labrang
Monastery: Bla brang par khang, 2000).
10
A kya yongs ’dzin dbyangs can dga’ ba’i blo gros, Gnas mchog ri bo rtse lngar mjal skabs kyi
gnas bstod dang ’brel ba’i mgur ’jam dpal dgyes pa’i mchod sprin zhes bya ba dang dus chen khyad
par can gyi rnam bshad, in Gsung ’bum, vol. 2 (Sku ’bum: Sku ’bum par khang, 199?), 4 folios.
11
A lag sha mthu stobs nyi ma, Sprul pa’i gnas mchog ri bo dwangs bsil gyi gnas bstod gsol ’debs
smon tshigs bcas (Publication information not available), 3 folios.
12
Ye shes don grub and A lag sha ngag dbang bstan dar, Ri bo dwangs bsil gyi ’jam dpal mtshan
ldan gling gi mtshar sdug sku brnyan gyi lo rgyus bskor tshad dang bcas pa dad ldan skye bo’i spro
bskyod me tog ’phreng mdzes [A Beautiful Garland to Rouse the Faithful: A History and
Circumambulation Survey of the Fine Statue in the Sandalwood Mañjuśrī Temple of Mount Clear and
Cool]. See Tuttle in this issue for further information on this work: Gray Tuttle, “Tibetan Buddhism
at Wutai Shan in the Qing: The Chinese-language Register,” Journal of the International Association
of Tibetan Studies, no. 6 (December 2011), http://www.thlib.org?tid=T5721.
13
Dznyā na shrī man, Ri bo rtse lnga’i dkar chag rab gsal me long (Xining: Mtsho sngon mi rigs
dpe skrun khang, 1994), 1-212.
14
True to his name, Gsang bdag rdo rje, which might be translated as “Secret Vajra,” is the most
illusive of the poets. Several of his works are appended to Ye shes dpal ldan’s guidebook, and thus we
can presume that he was active around 1830. His praise poem entitled Ri bo rtse lnga’i phyag mchod
’jam dbyangs mnyes byed kun bzang mchod sprin [Veneration of Five-Peaked Mountain:
Samantabhadra’s Cloud of Offerings for Adoration of Mañjuśrī] (in Dznyā na shrī man, Ri bo rtse
lnga’i dkar chag rab gsal me long, 212.13-219.5) consists of forty-five verses. This figure also wrote
Rje btsun ’jam dpal gyi lha tshogs rnams la bsang mchod ’bul tshul ’dod kun ’grub (in Dznyā na shrī
man, Ri bo rtse lnga’i dkar chag rab gsal me long, 220.13-221.18) and Rje btsun ’jam pa’i dbyangs
217

Schaeffer: Tibetan Poetry on Wutai Shan
Mid-18th century. Bka’ ’gyur ba blo bzang tshul khrims (fl. seventeenth/
eighteenth c.). A Praise to Five-Peaked Mountain (ri bo rtse lnga’i gnas bstod). 15
Renewed Period of Activity
1898. ’Jam dbyangs bzhad pa IV Skal bzang thub bstan dbang phyug
(1856-1916). Two aspirational prayers (smon lam) in biography composed in 1916
by his student ’Jigs med ’phrin las rgya mtsho (1866-1948). 16
1908. The Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Thub bstan rgya mtsho (1876-1933). Poem
in fifty-eight verses composed in 1908 at Five-Peaked Mountain. 17
1925. The Ninth Panchen Lama, Thub bstan chos kyi nyi ma (1883-1937). A
prayer to Mañjuśrī. 18
Late Nineteenth-Early Twentieth c. Blo bzang rta mgrin (1867-1937). Composed
Praise to the Supreme Pure Land Five-Peaked Mountain (dag pa’i zhing mchog
ri bo rtse lnga’i gnas bstod ’jam dbyangs mchod pa’i me tog) while visiting the
site. 19
1950s. Rdo sbis dge bshes shes rab rgya mtsho (1884-1968). Poem on the shrines
of Five-Peaked Mountain in sixteen verses. 20
kyi ’dod gsol smon lam dang bcas pa shes rab myur stsol, (in Dznyā na shrī man, Ri bo rtse lnga’i dkar
chag rab gsal me long, 221.19-223.10).
15 Bka’ ’gyur ba blo bzang tshul khrims, Ri bo rtse lnga’i gnas bstod, Unpublished.
16 ’Jigs med phrin las rgya mtsho, Zhwa ser ring lugs pa skal bzang thub bstan dbang phyug gi rtogs
pa brjod pa rin chen phreng ba stod cha (Labrang Monastery: Bla brang bkra shis ’khyil dgon pa,
1999?), 217a.3-218a.5, and 219b.5-221a.1.
17 Thub bstan rgya mtsho, Rje btsun ’jam pa’i dbyangs kyi gnas la bstod pa dwangs gsal mdzes pa’i
me long [Beautiful Clear Mirror: A Praise to Lord Mañjughoṣa’s Abode], in The Collected Works of
Dalai Lama XIII (New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1981), volume 3, 395.1-404.2.
The Dalai Lama also composed Rgyal ba kun gyi yab gyur rje btsun ’jam dbyangs rigs lnga’i bstod pa
kun tu bzang po’i mchod sprin, in The Collected Works of Dalai Lama XIII (New Delhi: International
Academy of Indian Culture, 1981), 392.1-394.7.
18 Upon reaching the mountain complex in the summer of 1925, the Paṇ chen bla ma IX composed
the Rje btsun ’jam dpal dbyangs la gsol ba ’debs pa’i bden tshig thugs rje bskul ba’i pho nya (see the
biography: ’Jam dbyangs bzhad pa V, Blo bzang ’jam dbyangs ye shes bstan pa’i rgyal mtshan
[1916-1947], Skyabs mgon thams cad mkhyen pa blo bzang thub bstan chos kyi nyi ma dge legs rnam
rgyal dpal bzang po’i zhal snga nas kyi thun mong ba’i rnam par thar pa rin chen dbang gi rgyal po’i
’phreng ba zhes bya ba’i smad cha, in Gsung ’bum [of Paṇ chen bla ma IX, Thub bstan chos kyi nyi
ma] [Bkra shis lhun po: Bkra shis lhun po’i gzhung, 199?], vol. 2, 77a.2-77a.3). See also his Ri bo
dwangs bsil du smon lam skabs bsnyen bkur mang ’gyed stsal ba’i dpyad khra, in Gsung ’bum (Bkra
shis lhun po: Bkra shis lhun po’i gzhung, 199?), vol. 4, 204a-206b.
19 Blo bzang rta mgrin, Dag pa’i zhing mchog ri bo rtse lnga’i gnas bstod ’jam dbyangs mchod pa’i
me tog, in Gsung ’bum (Delhi: Mongolian Guru Deva), vol. 1, 623-25. Colophon on page 625: gnas
bstod ’jam dbyangs mchod pa’i me to ’di // shākya’i btsun gzugs blo bzang rta dbyangs kyis // gnas
mchog ri bo rtse lngar mjal ba’i skabs // dga’ dang gus pa’i shugs kyi smras pa dge //.
20 Rdo bis dge bshes shes rab rgya mtsho, Rang gi gam na mo lnga la rtse lnga’i gnas tshul bshad
pa dad gsum gso ba’i bdud rtsi, in Rje btsun shes rab rgya mtsho ’jam dpal dgyes pa’i blo gros kyi
gsung rtsom (Xining: Mtsho sngon mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1984), vol. 3, 442-48.
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Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, no. 6 (December 2011)
1985. Khro ru tshe rnam (1928-2005). Composed the Story of the Supreme
Place Five-Peaked Mountain (gnas mchog ri bo rtse lnga’i rtogs pa brjod pa)
while visiting the site. 21
2007. Ngag dbang bstan dar (1971-). Verses following sections of his guide to
Five-Peaked Mountain. 22
Remarks
A few remarks about the writers in this list can be made at the outset. First of all,
it is apparent that there is a relatively short florescence of intense literary activity,
stretching from perhaps the 1760s to 1830 – about a seventy-year period – in which
most of the Tibetan poetry on Five-Peaked Mountain was composed. This
corresponds well to the latter part of the period of major activity sketched out by
Gray Tuttle in his present essay. To be sure, the thirteenth-century priest of the
Mongol court, Chos rgyal ’phags pa, looms large over all Qing-period Tibetan
Buddhist poets on Five-Peaked Mountain, for he wrote the single longest Tibetan
poem to the site in one hundred verses. ’Phags pa remained in the memory of
Qing-period writers, who in some cases even make explicit mention of his poetry
on Five-Peaked Mountain. The limited period in which the majority of these works
were composed is naturally related to the second point, namely that almost all the
writers in this central period were born in A mdo, and almost all knew each other
personally. Thu’u bkwan III Blo bzang chos kyi nyi ma was a student of both
Lcang skya rol pa’i rdo rje and Sum pa mkhan po. A kya yongs ’dzin was a student
of Thu’u bkwan. Grags pa rgyal mtshan was a disciple of Thu’u bkwan’s biographer
Gung thang bstan pa’i sgron me. And A lag sha mthu stobs nyi ma was a teacher
of A lag sha ngag dbang bstan dar. This was, in short, a close-knit intellectual
community in which writers were likely quite aware of each other’s work.
There are no fewer than six types of Tibetan poetry represented here, namely
eight-syllable songs (mgur), place-praises (gnas stod), petitions (gsol ’debs),
aspirational prayers (smon lam), “transitional” verses (bar skabs tshigs bcad), and
finally guidebooks (dkar chag) composed in verse rather than prose or mixed prose
and verse. In some instances it might be considered needlessly artificial to extract
the poetry as an object of inquiry from the text in which it is embedded. The two
nineteenth-century place guides are cases in point, for within the overall structure
of these works the poetry serves to recapitulate the preceding prose chapters. Yet
there is something intriguing about the presence of poetry in these two works in
particular that gives good cause to make the distinction. The authors of both (Ye
shes dpal ldan and Ye shes don grub) claim that their proficiency in
21 Khro ru tshe rnam, Gnas mchog ri bo rtse lnga’i rtogs pa brjod pa, in Mkhan chen khro ru tshe
rnam gyi gsung ’bum (Ḷhasa, 2004), vol. 8, 293b-298a.6. Colophon on folio 298a.5: zhes de ltar gnas
chen ri bo rtse lnga’i rten dang brten pa’i yon tan cha tsam brjod pa’i sgo nas ’dod yon la smon cing
gsol ba gdab pa ’di ni/ rab byung 16 pa’i shing glang zla 3 par ri bo rtse lngar mjal skor ’gro skabs
da lta bo ljongs sman rtsis khang gi sman pa khro ru tshe rnam gyis bris pa’o //.
22 Ngag dbang bstan dar, Dwangs bsil ri bo rtse lnga’i gnas bshad (Beijing: Krung go’i bod rigs dpe
skrun khang, 2007).
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Schaeffer: Tibetan Poetry on Wutai Shan
Tibetan-language writing is poor. The principle author of the 1813 guide to the
Mañjuśrī Temple, the Tumed Mongol Ye shes don grub, even goes so far as to
enlist the help of a well-known Tibetan Buddhist grammarian, A lag sha ngag
dbang bstan dar, to help edit and polish the work. In both cases the poetry closing
each chapter exhibits a knowledge of Indo-Tibetan poetics (Ye shes don grub’s
work contains sixteen verses, three introductory, seven concluding, and two each
for the first four of its five chapters). This begs the question of language proficiency
– how well did Tibetan Buddhist authors whose native tongue was not Tibetan
know classical Tibetan? – and calls for a systematic study of language use among
multi-lingual Tibetan Buddhists of the period. It also leads one to wonder if the
well-crafted poetry included in Ye shes don grub’s guide may be the work of his
editor, Ngag dbang bstan dar. Even if poetry is included within prose guidebooks,
could it have been occasionally left to writers deemed more qualified to compose
such verse?
At any rate, let me skip over the first two Qing figures on the list for the moment
– Dpal ldan grags pa and Lcang skya – and briefly introduce the other authors from
the central period. Sum pa mkhan po ye shes dpal ’byor was an Oirad born in A
mdo, educated at ’Bras spungs Monastery in Lha sa, and active in and around A
mdo for the better part of his life – especially during his two terms as abbot of the
imperially sponsored Dgon lung Monastery. A consummate scholar and beautiful
(if occasionally caustic) writer, he composed a massive autobiography in 1776,
throughout which he interspersed many poems. In recounting the second of three
trips to Five-Peaked Mountain in 1772, he described his impressions of the site in
a brief seven-verse poem. The final verse fairly well sums up his enthusiasm for
the site:
Who has fortune enough to come to this place,
No different than wisdom’s body itself,
Has searched for aeons with eyes, ears, and mind:
Is this not the heart of seizing hold of life? 23
I will return to this verse and its emphasis on the senses via a similar line from
the Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s poetry toward the end of the essay.
Thu’u bkwan blo bzang chos kyi nyi ma, our next author, visited Five-Peaked
Mountain several times during the latter half of the eighteenth century, traveling
there first in his thirties to visit his master, Lcang skya rol pa’i rdo rje. In the rich
biography of Thu’u bkwan composed in 1803 at Labrang Monastery by his student
Gung thang dkon mchog bstan pa’i sgron me (1762-1823), we find Thu’u bkwan
working in the year 1784 at the Inner Mongolian Buddhist center of Mkhar sngon,
or in Mongolian Khöke-Khota (Tibetan transliteration: hu’u ho ha’o the), yet all
the while longing to be with his master, Lcang skya, back among Mañjuśrī’s
23 Sum pa mkhan po ye shes dpal ’byor, Paṇḍita sum pa ye shes dpal ’byor mchog gi spyod tshul
brjod pa sgra ’dzin bcud len (Beijing: Krung go’i bod kyi shes rig dpe skrun khang, 2001), 443.5-443.8:
zhing ’dir slebs gang shes rab sku dngos dang // mjal dang khyad med skal bzang thob ’di ko // bskal
brgyar ’bad pas btsal rnyed mthong thos bsam // dal rten thob pa’i snying po smin mi ci //.
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Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, no. 6 (December 2011)
mountains. Thu’u bkwan is driven by this longing to compose a poem, a short
piece that journeys line by line from his own location to Five-Peaked Mountain to
his master’s hermitage in a few verses. Here are the first lines of a poem that goes
on to recount the glories of his master, and lament that Thu’u bkwan cannot be at
his feet at this very moment:
Right now, from Mkhar sngon
To the southeast of here,
Is the place where Celestial Mañjuśrī appeared,
Cool and Clear Five-Peaked Mountain,
Foretold by the King of the Śākyas,
An exalted and wondrous place.
In a shrine on slopes of its central peak,
By the name of bodhisattva House,
Some two-hundred miles southeast of here,
Where once Master Buddhapalita
Revealed the Spell of the Victory Crown,
In a place known as Diamond Cave,
This beggar’s all-knowing teacher,
Called Rol pa’i rdo rje resides. 24
Two years later Thu’u bkwan’s master would die. Lcang skya was entombed
at the Five-Peaked Mountain, the place that had, for Thu’u bkwan, become
intimately bound up with his identity as a Buddhist master even before his remains
became a permanent fixture in the cultural landscape. After this time Lcang skya
was to figure in most poetry about the site.
In the autumn of 1799, more than a decade after Lcang skya had passed away,
the well-known linguist and grammarian A kya yongs ’dzin dbyangs can dga’ ba’i
blo gros visited Five-Peaked Mountain. To mark the occasion he composed a poem
in twenty-nine verses. Like Lcang skya some thirty-two years before him, A kya
yongs ’dzin styled his piece as a song that integrates a place-praise. In fact, he even
gave his own poem the same title as Lcang skya’s earlier work, the Cloud of
Offerings to Delight Mañjuśrī (’Jam dpal dgyes pa’i mchod sprin). Many of the
motifs found in Lcang skya’s work are present in A kya’s poem, and the meter is
the same Tibetan song form, the eight-syllable mgur. What distinguishes the latter
work is that, after creating a rich vision of Mañjuśrī teaching amidst many spectacles
in the first third of the work, it goes on to address Mañjuśrī personally, pleading
to him for blessings. Lcang skya does not ask for such blessings, though his song
certainly counsels others to do so, and it appears that A kya heard him.
24 Gung thang bstan pa’i sgron me, Thu’u bkwan chos kyi nyi ma’i rtogs brjod padma dkar po
(Lanzhou: Kan su’u mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1992), vol. 1, 411.5-411.14: dus da lta mkhar sngon zhes
grags pa’i // gnas ’di yi shar lho’i mtshams kyi ngos // lha ’jam pa’i dbyangs kyi sprul pa’i gnas // ri
dwangs bsil lhun po rtse lnga zhes // dpal shākya’i rgyal pos lung bstan pa’i // gnas ngo mtshar khyad
du ’phags pa yod // de’i dbus ri’i ’dab kyi gtsug lag khang // mtshan byang chub sems dpa’i sde? zhes
pa’i // phyogs shar ngos rgyang grags tsam gyi sar // sngon slob dpon buddha pā li tas // gzungs gtsug
tor rnam rgyal spyan drangs pa’i // gnas rdo rje’i phugs pa zhes bya bar // sprang bdag gi ’dren mchog
thams cad mkhyen // mtshan rol pa’i rdo rjer grags pa bzhugs //.
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Perhaps the most famous poem to Five-Peaked Mountain is that composed by
Lcang skya himself in 1767, a work entitled Cloud of Offerings to Please Mañjuśrī:
A Song Coupled to a Place-Praise for Five-Peaked Mountain (Gnas mchog ri bo
rtse lngar mjal skabs kyi gnas bstod dang ’brel ba’i mgur ’jam dpal dgyes pa’i
mchod sprin). Of Monguor descent and raised in Beijing from the age of eight,
Rol pa’i rdo rje grew up in the multi-cultural world of the Qing empire to become
a well-known hierarch within the Dge lugs pa School of Tibetan Buddhism and
state preceptor to the Qianlong emperor. The biography of Lcang skya rol pa’i rdo
rje composed by his student Thu’u bkwan chos kyi nyi ma between 1792 and 1794
has attracted significant attention among scholars of Qing imperial culture in recent
decades thanks to its rich portrayal of Tibetan Buddhism’s place in court life, and
it also stands among the principle achievements of Tibetan-language biographical
writing. Between 1767 and his death in 1786, Rol pa’i rdo rje routinely spent the
summer months in retreat at Five-Peaked Mountain.
Lcang skya’s Song was included by Thu’u bkwan chos kyi nyi ma in his lavish
biography of Lcang skya composed between 1792 and 1794, and it was also printed
as a companion to Lcang skya’s own unfinished guide to Five-Peaked Mountain.
According to its colophon, Lcang skya composed this poem at the request of his
assistant during a six-month-long retreat, so it appears that the occasion for writing
was rather intimate. The Song to Five-Peaked Mountain was a literary gift from
master to disciple. Yet we might also suspect that Lcang skya had a broader ideal
audience in mind, for he makes a general exhortation to potential patrons and
pilgrims at large in the closing verses. The poem is composed of fifty quatrains of
eight-syllable verse in a meter peculiar to the mgur form (a four-foot form in which
catalexis occurs in the first foot, followed by two trochees and a dactyl). There is
no indigenous criticism of this song that I know of, but we can fairly easily break
down the fifty verses into an outline of topics, and note briefly some of its features.
Lcang skya begins the song with a prayer to Mañjuśrī (verse 1), and a brief
statement that Five-Peaked Mountain has been claimed by Mañjuśrī as his abode
(verses 2-3). This is followed by the longest section of the poem, a sequence of
fourteen verses dedicated to the natural features of Five-Peaked Mountain (verses
4-17) and their soteriological significance. Next Lcang skya recounts in quick
succession the tales of old masters associated with the site (verses 18-22), and
moves on to construct a Buddhist lineage stretching from the Buddha through
Nagarjuna to Tsong kha pa, all of whom have given teachings at Five-Peaked
Mountain – at least in a visionary setting (verses 26-34)! He then moves from this
list of enlightened persons associated with the site to emphasize that the site itself
is in fact always populated by such figures who, like Mañjuśrī himself, may appear
in any guise (verses 35-38). Lcang skya thereby collapses the historical narrative
of the preceding verses into an eternal present in which visitors may always
encounter past masters in the landscape of Five-Peaked Mountain. These verses
read:
To faithful disciples who keep the holy vow,
These may appear at times just like a sage,
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Or boys, or men, or women in different times,
Or Chinese monks wearing robes of brown, [35]
As a destitute beggar wandering about,
As birds or as deer or whatever one thinks,
As medicine, flowers, plants or a forest,
As living or inanimate things they pretend. [36]
There may be those, however, who harbor doubts about the veracity of these,
but Lcang skya has no patience for them in this song:
With backward views clogged up with karmic stink,
Sophist logicians possessing but fickle minds,
Intoxicated with conceited hubris,
Do not recognize them, but it’s obvious. [37] 25
The song is the perfect form with which to critique philosophers who may wish
to explain the visions of the faithful away, for the song has long been a vehicle to
condemn scholasticism and institutionalism in favor of yogins, hermits, and
pilgrims. One can easily imagine Tibet’s most famous bard, Mi la ras pa, uttering
these verses himself, some six hundred years before Lcang skya took up retreat at
Five-Peaked Mountain. Lcang skya employs the song to uphold the legitimacy of
visions against over-analysis, despite the fact that he is elsewhere also the author
of doxographic literature as technical as any Tibetan logician’s work.
The latter sections of the poem include autobiographical remarks and personal
petition (verses 39-43), an exhortation to others to visit Five-Peaked Mountain
(verses 44-47), an endorsement of the site’s efficacy (verses 48-49), and finally a
dedication of merit (verse 50). Yet the heart of Lcang skya’s song of praise is
certainly the passage of fourteen verses extolling the natural and supernatural
wonders of Five-Peaked Mountain. In these verses Lcang skya deems particular
features of the landscape – conceived in natural, cultural, and supernatural terms
– to be “signs” (brda), indicating certain soteriological benefits sure to be accrued
by those who visit the site:
Rising high a hundred-fold above,
The maṇḍala of lands around its base,
A sign leading on to untainted freedom,
Those who wander throughout their lives. [4]
A mountain of five lovely jeweled peaks,
Blazing with splendor that chases the midnight sky
25 Thu’u bkwan chos kyi nyi ma, Khyab bdag rdo rje sems dpa’i ngo bo dpal ldan bla ma dam pa
ye shes bstan pa’i sgron me dpal bzang po’i rnam par thar pa mdo tsam brjod pa dge ldan bstan pa’i
mdzes rgyan [Cover title: Lcang skya rol pa’i rdo rje’i rnam thar] (Lanzhou: Kan su’u mi rigs dpe
skrun khang, 1989), 508.15-508.21: dad dam tshig ldan pa’i gdul bya la // de kun kyang la lar drang
srong tshul // skabs gzhan du byis pa pho mo dang // rgya’i btsun pa smug chas ’dzi pa dang // nyam
thag pa’i slong mo’i tshhul gyis rgyu // bya ri dwags la sogs sems yod dang // sman me tog rtsi shing
nags tshul sogs // brtan g.yo b’ai dngos po cir yang brdzu // las sgrib pa mthug pa’i log rta can // blo
yid gnyis can gyi rtog ge pa // rang mthon po’i dregs pas myos rnams kyis // mngon sum du gyur kyang
ngo mi shes //.
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A sign that the work of five wisdoms
Is protecting beings without end. [5]
On turquoise meadows and on glittering fields,
Are wild flowers, one hundred different hues,
A sign that virtue, goodness deep and certain,
Will give birth to joy in each thinking person. [6]
A host of six-legged bumblebees perform
A song, a dance. They sound and soar right here.
Unanalyzed, they offer a chance for joy,
Displaying a wondrous vision of causation. [7]
Of rivers with eight-fold virtues there are many,
Flowing and cascading, sounding sweet,
A sign that love and mercy, joy and calm,
Protect all living beings, mothers every one. [8]
The forests that are roused by cooling winds,
With rustling, shaking, blue and green hued leaves,
A sign that calls out to the great way,
The fortunate who awake to their nature. [9]
Clusters of sweet hundred-flavored fruits,
Ripened well and heavy bow the trees
A sign that the glorious fruit of liberation,
Is filled with blissful joy of contemplation. [10]
Flocks of sweet-voiced, finely feathered birds,
Fly everywhere, melodies like sitars playing:
A sign that those observing the Four Truths,
Are given assurance with momentous advice. [11]
Oblong eyed and handsome deer in herds,
Traverse the peaks and valleys so relaxed,
A sign the joyous path to full nirvana,
Is rich with every kind of joyous thought. [12]
Jeweled cliffs a many-storied mansion high,
Possess the splendor of many a sparkling light,
A sign that the Buddha bodies’ higher plain,
Is flourishing with virtuous qualities without end. [13]
Herbs that cure a hundred wicked ills,
Letting off a satisfying scent:
A sign of that billows of skill and wisdom
Solve the plight of life and liberty. [14]
Above the sky is filled with massive clouds,
At once displaying infinite designs,
A sign that Defender Lion-Speech,
Displays, plays out his three-fold mystery magic. [15]
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In this place the holy things of Buddha and his sons,
Measure beyond number in a marvelous array,
Chapels and stūpas, ten thousand and more,
Arranged for the faithful, merit-filled field. [16]
These all possess a feast of wondrous lights,
That sparkle amongst each other back and forth,
For many a fortunate being whose karma is pure,
They bring one hundred splendid visions to mind. [17] 26
Taken as a whole, these fourteen verses present a vivid collection of flora, fauna,
terrestrial, and celestial imagery of the sort even nature poets such as Wordsworth
(writing at the same time) might find engaging. The mountain foot is liberation;
its peak is wisdom. Flowers are virtue, bees embody the doctrine of causation.
Rivers flow with love, breezes call, and birds teach. Fruit is contemplative, deer
trot along the Buddhist path, and the clouds are a celestial magic show:
Natural Features and Their Symbolic Counterparts in Lcang
skya’s Song
Natural feature: Symbol
1. The Mountain
Mountain foot: Liberation
Mountain peak: Wisdom
26 Thu’u bkwan chos kyi nyi ma, Khyab bdag rdo rje sems dpa’i ngo bo dpal ldan bla ma dam pa
ye shes bstan pa’i sgron me dpal bzang po’i rnam par thar pa mdo tsam brjod pa dge ldan bstan pa’i
mdzes rgyan, 505.5-506.18: phyi gnas kyi ’og gzhi dkyil ’khor kun // phyogs gzhan las rgyar phrag du
mas mtho // de srid par ’khyams pa’i skye bo’i tshogs // zag med kyi thar par ’dren pa’i brda // ri rin
chen mtshar sdug lhun po lnga // dgung mkha’ la bsnyegs ’dra gzi byin ’bar // de ye shes lnga yi ’phrin
las kyis // mtha’ yas pa’i ’gro ba skyob pa’i brda // g.yu’i spang ljongs ne’u gsing bkra ba la // tshon
sna brgyas phye ba’i me tog rgod // mngon mtho dang nges legs yon tan gyis // yid can kun spro ba
bskyed pa’i brda // rkang drug ldan tshogs rnams ’jo sgeg gis // glu dar ’dir sgrogs shing ’phur lding
rol // ma brtags na nyams dga’i rten ’brel la // rgyu ’bras kyi ’char sgo ngo mtshar ston // chu yan lag
brgyad ldan du ma zhig/ dal ’bab cing lhung lhung sgra snyan sgrogs // byams snying rje tshad med
rnam bzhi yis // ma ’gro kun skyob par byed pa’i brda // rlung bser bus bskul ba’i ljon pa’i tshogs //
mdangs sngo ljang lo ’dab bskyod cing g.yob // rigs sad pa’i skal ldan skye bo rnams // lam theg pa
chen por ’bod pa’i brda // ro brgya phrag mngar ba’i ’bras bu’i tshogs // smin legs pa’i lcid kyis dud
cing spa // rnam grol gyi ’bras bu rmad byung ba // ting ’dzin gyi bde [506] dgas gang ba’i brda // lus
spu sdug skad snyan ’dab chags tshogs // dbyangs rgyud mangs ’khrol bzhin phyogs bcur lding // chos
bden pa bzhi yi blang dor rnams // don lhug par ’doms pas dbugs ’byin brda // mig dkyus ring mdzes
sdug ri dwags tshogs // bag phebs bzhin ri klung kun tu rgyu // lam bde bas rdzogs byang bgrod pa la
// blo dga’ bde ci yang rgyas pa’i brda // brag rin chen ba gam mtho brtsegs pa // ’od sna tshogs ’khyug
pa’i mdzes sdug ’dzin // sku bzhi yi go ’phang mthon po de // mtha’ yas pa’i yon tan ngom pa’i brda
// nad nyes brgya sel ba’i sman gyi tshogs // yid tshim byed dri bsung kun tu ’thul // thabs shes rab
rlabs chen mdzad pa yis // srid zhi yi rgud pa sel ba’i brda // steng mkha’ la lhun sdug chu ’dzin tshogs
// dbyibs bkod pa mtha’ yas cig ’char ston // mgon smra ba’i sengge’i gsang gsum gyi // ’phrul sgyu
ma’i rol rtsed mtshon pa’i brda // gnas ’di na rgyal ba sras bcas kyi // rten ngo mtshar bkod pa bgrang
yas pa’i // dri gtsang khang mchod rten khri phrag tshogs // dad ldan gyi bsod nams zhing du dngar //
de kun kyang ya mtshan ’od zer tshogs // phan tshun du ’khyug pa’i rtse dga’ ’dzin // las dag pa’i skal
ldan du ma la // nyams snang ba rmad byung brgya phrag rtsol //.
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2. On the Mountain
Meadow flowers: Virtue
Bumblebee dance: Causation
River flowing: Love
Forest breeze: Call to the path
Ripe fruit: Joy of contemplation
Birdsongs: Religious advice
Deer wandering: Joys of religious path
Cliffs: Spiritual plain
Scented herbs: Skill and wisdom
3. Above the Mountain
Cloud formations: Mañjuśrī’s magic
Objects: Merit
Light: Visions
Interpretation
Reeling in this interplay between the site’s natural features and a litany of ubiquitous
Buddhist buzzwords, the poem would have the reader’s imaginative gaze move
from low to high initially – from the basin of the mountain complex up to the
clouds – but then it returns to the human scale, to the mountain paths and temple
precincts, back to the human artifacts that imbue the landscape with cultural
significance. As it moves the reader up and down the mountains, it elicits each of
the five senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste. We hear the bees, the birds,
the breeze and the rivers. We smell the wild flowers and herbs. Cooling winds and
forest breezes touch us, as we reach out to rocky cliffs, high meadows, and
waterfalls. We taste sweet fruit, and savor aromatic restorative herbs.
Yet it is sight that holds sway over the other senses in this and other Tibetan
poems on Five-Peaked Mountain. To gain some sense of the overwhelming priority
of visual themes in this literature, we can look to a time perhaps just prior to Lcang
skya’s years at Five-Peaked Mountain, to when the elusive Bla ma rtse lnga pa
dpal ldan grags pa composed a guidebook in verse. Dpal ldan grags pa’s Ornament
for the Peaks (Dkar chag lhun po’i rgyan) does not seem to be currently available,
but it appears to have been known to Lcang skya and – more importantly – was
cited extensively by Ye shes dpal ldan in his guidebook. 27 From the 231 lines
(something like fifty-seven four-line verses), quoted by Ye shes dpal ldan, we can
27 In Dznyā na shrī man, Ri bo rtse lnga’i dkar chag rab gsal me long (Xining: Mtsho sngon mi rigs
dpe skrun khang, 1994), 17 (6 lines), 23 (4 lines), 100 (4 lines), 139 (115 lines), 160 (61 lines), 193
(28 lines), 208 (13 lines).
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see that Dpal ldan grags pa’s work developed the topics commonly treated in the
Tibetan poetry of Five-Peaked Mountain in far greater detail than any other extant
work. One theme he elaborates upon is the many light formations for which the
site is famous. Dpal ldan grags pa lists ten lights by name: the “deep light,” the
“very wide light,” the “hair tuft light,” the “stone pillar light,” the “light wheel,”
and others. But light number ten is simply called “the light that shines in any way,”
and in thirty-nine relentless lines of verse, Grags pa rgyal mtshan all but blinds the
reader with this multiform radiance:
Ten is the light that shines any way,
Appearing as one, appearing as many,
Appearing the same, or different, or paired,
Appearing for an instant, appearing for a minute,
Appearing long or over many moments,
Appearing clustered, appearing scattered,
Scattered light appearing clustered,
Mixed or unmixed with its own hue
Looking to be mixed, then not,
Very clear and not so clear,
Clear just as you see it,
Appearing to one, then appearing to all,
Appearing to one and all alike,
Appearing just this once, appearing all the time,
Shining in the morning, shining in the night,
Expanding and contracting, and then not,
Simple white or only green,
Green and red or as a set,
One, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand,
Hundred thousand, hundred million, and on beyond,
Appearing as a single lamp or filling up the sky,
Appearing as a square, appearing as a circle,
Appearing as a crescent or other sorts of shapes,
Formed as a god or a human or a ghost,
A flower, a lamp, a censor and the like,
Shining as a young man, shining as an old man
Shining as the King’s lion throne,
Shining as five forms shining as a shrine,
Shining as a stūpa and much else besides,
Ribbons, canopies, and banners of light,
Appearing as a shining flag and much else besides,
Appearing as magician or dancer or bard,
Shining as the many riches of gods and men,
Golden lamps, celestial fire pure and white,
One, one hundred, thousands appear without end,
A giant damaru drum in sky and so much else,
Celestial instruments of all sorts, even sounding out,
Wondrous and fantastic emanations such as this,
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How can we describe them here when they cannot be fathomed? 28
When in 1824 Grags pa rgyal mtshan composed his eighty-verse devotional
poem entitled Brahma’s Melody: A Place-Praise of Five-Peaked Mountain, 29 he
was certainly dazzled by Dpal ldan grags pa’s unremitting litany of lights, and he
praises each and every one of them, one through ten (he does not take up each
variation of light number ten, however). Grags pa rgyal mtshan was born in A mdo
(in Mdo smad lho rgyud ’bo ra), studied at ’Bras spungs Monastery near Lha sa
from 1783 to 1788, and served as the twenty-third abbot of Labrang Monastery. 30
In contrast to most other poets listed here whose travels we know something about,
Grags pa rgyal mtshan appears never to have visited Five-Peaked Mountain. His
poem was composed at his home institution of Labrang. Many abbots of Labrang
Monastery before and after Grags pa rgyal mtshan visited the site, and it is easy
to imagine that he would have had ample literary and oral sources from which to
write his own work. It is clear that Grags pa rgyal mtshan new of Bla ma rtse lnga
pa dpal ldan grags pa’s early verse guidebook, for he draws extensively from it
(or a common source). In his praise of the ten lights (verses 53-64), for instance,
Grags pa rgyal mtshan integrates verse lines wholesale from the earlier work,
occasionally making minor changes in vocabulary, or picking select lines to fit
neatly into his own more formally structured devotional work.
The Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Thub bstan rgya mtsho, was the last of the great
Tibetan Buddhist leaders to write on Five-Peaked Mountain during the Qing period,
28 In Dznyā na shrī man, Ri bo rtse lnga’i dkar chag rab gsal me long (Xining: Mtsho sngon mi rigs
dpe skrun khang, 1994), 142.4-143.12: bcu pa cir yang ’char ba’i ’od ces pa // gcig tu snang dang du
mar snang ba dang // gcig dang tha dad ji ltar zung ltar snang // skad cig tsam dang yud tsam snang
ba dang // yun dang skad cig du mar snang ba dang // spungs pa dang ni bkram par snang ba dang //
bkram pa’i ’od kyang spungs pa ltar snang dang // ’dres pa dang ni ma ’dres rang mdog dang // ’dres
pa’ang brtags nas ma ’dres snang ba dang // shin tu gsal dang cung zad mi gsal dang // ’ji ltar brtag
bzhin gsal bar mkhyen pa dang // gcig la snang dang kun la snang ba dang // gcig dang kun la thun
mong du’ang snang // gcig tu snang dang dus rnam du yang snang // nyin mor ’char dang mtshan mor
’char ba dang // ’phro ’du’i tshul dang ’khro ’du med pa dang // dkar po sha stag sngon po ’ba’ zhig
dang // sngon dmar gnyis dang tsho la yongs rdzogs dang // gcig dang brgya dang stong dang khri la
sogs // ’bum dang dung phyur bgrang yas dpag tu med // mar me tsam dang bar snang gang bar snang
// gru bzhir snang dang zlum por snang ba dang // zla gam la sogs sna tshogs dbyibs su snang lha yi
gzugs dang mi [143] dang mi ma yin // glang chen seng ge la sogs gzugs su snang // me tog dang ni
mar me lta bu dang // spos khang la sogs rnam pa sna tshogs dang // gzhon nu ’char dang rgad por
’char ba dang // sog rgyal seng ge khri par ’char ba dang // rigs lngar ’char dang lha khang ’char ba
dang // mchod rten la sogs du mar ’char ba dang // ’od kyi ’phan dang gdugs dang rgyal mtshan dang
// ba dan la sogs du mar ’char ba snang // sgyu ma mkhan dang gar byed glu len dang // lha mi’i longs
spyod sna tshogs ’char bar snang // gser gyi mar me dkar gsal lha me ba // gcig dang brgya stong
grangs med snang yang yod // mkha’ la cang te’u rnga bo che la sogs // lha yi rol mo sna tshogs grags
pa’ang yod // de lta’i rnam ’phrul ngo mtshar phul byung ba // dpag tu med mod ’dir brjod ga la nus
//.
29 Grags pa rgyal mtshan, Ri bo rtse lnga’i gnas bstod tshangs pa’i sgra dbyangs, in Gsung ’bum
(Labrang Monastery: Bla brang par khang, 2000), 6 volumes, 6 folios. Also in Gangs ljongs mkhas
dbang rim byon gyi rtsom yig gser gyi sbram bu, edited by Blo bzang chos grags and Bsod nams rtse
mo (Xining: Mtsho sngon mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1988-1989), vol. 3, 1445.
30 See his biography: Dkon mchog dgyes pa’i blo gros, Yongs kyi dge ba’i bshes gnyen chen po rgyal
mkhan chen grags pa rgyal mtshan pa’i zhal snga nas kyi rnam par thar pa nor bu’i ’phreng ba
(Unpublished), 62 folios. Composed in 1835. See “Grags pa rgyal mtshan,” Tibetan Buddhist Resource
Center, http://www.tbrc.org/#library_person_Object-P297.
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and it is with him that we conclude. Composed at Five-Peaked Mountain in 1908,
his Beautiful Clear Mirror: A Praise to Lord Mañjughoṣa’s Abode, consists of
five chapters, detailing: 1. Mañjuśrī’s Body (twenty verses); 2. Mind (nine verses);
3. Good Qualities (eight verses); 4. Speech (seven verses); 5. Enlightened Activity
(eleven verses). 31 The Dalai Lama informs us that he wrote it while trying to come
to terms with the plethora of Mañjuśrī images in the temples of Five-Peaked
Mountain. But we can read the Dalai Lama at the moment for the insight he
succinctly provides into the relationship between poetry, place, and the senses with
the following lines:
Through sight, sound, memory, and feeling,
This best of places bestows a soothing coolness. 32
Here the Dalai Lama appeals to the senses as key to understanding what is
powerful about Five-Peaked Mountain. It is “cool” precisely to the extent that one
can see, hear, feel, and recall the place. In a broad sense Five-Peaked Mountain is
portrayed in the poetry (as well as the biographies and histories) of Tibetan Buddhist
visitors and residents of the site as a Buddhist “retreat,” isolated from the frenetic
social life of the Beijing and other cosmopolitan centers and yet intimately
connected with a Buddhist institutional network stretching throughout China, Tibet,
Mongolia, Nepal, and India. This network was largely held together by the memory
to which the Dalai Lama draws our attention. Poetry was among the principle
forms of communication – along with maps, prose guidebooks, rituals, oral legends,
and the like – by which Five-Peaked Mountain was remembered – was evoked,
envisioned, and embodied – throughout the Tibetan Buddhist world. Through the
literary work of poetry Five-Peaked Mountain’s place within this institutional
network was constantly maintained. For is poetry not, by virtue of its vivid
language, intricate phrasing, rhythm, and repetition, one of the principle forms of
expression by which place is brought before the senses, including and especially
if one is not presently in place, but rather the place is in oneself, in one’s mind, in
one’s imagination?
It will have come as no surprise that the Tibetan poetry on Five-Peaked Mountain
is chiefly about visions, and that within the vast range of visionary topics it is
largely about light. Yet we can pause to reflect on the tremendous effort undertaken
by poets to evoke sight with sound, to appeal to the sense of seeing through the
medium of the written or spoken word, to transpose vision into rhythm and
wordplay. This is what Rdo sbis dge bshes refers to in his own poem on Five-Peaked
Mountain, written in the 1950s, as “pictures made of words.” And when he goes
on to pray that the “sound of Mañjuśrī’s three mysteries” reaches the ears of many
people through his poetry, he suggests that the body, speech and mind of Mañjuśrī
31 Thub bstan rgya mtsho, Rje btsun ’jam pa’i dbyangs kyi gnas la bstod pa dwangs gsal mdzes pa’i
me long, in The Collected Works of Dalai Lama XIII (New Delhi: International Academy of Indian
Culture, 1981), vol. 3, 395.1-404.2.
32 Thub bstan rgya mtsho, Rje btsun ’jam pa’i dbyangs kyi gnas la bstod pa dwangs gsal mdzes pa’i
me long, 396.1: mthong mthos dran dang reg pa yis // phan bde’i bsil sbyin gnas kyi mchog /.
229

Schaeffer: Tibetan Poetry on Wutai Shan
– in this case the mountain (body), its holy shrines, temples and monasteries (mind),
and the teachings given in those places (speech) – are all in some sense accessible
through words, through sound, through poetry. 33 And if it is conceded that poetry
can be culturally productive – if we grant that literature can create experience and
is not epiphenomenal to it – then the poets of Five-Peaked Mountain are not merely
– or perhaps not at all – describing the wonders of the place, but are among the
creators of these wonders. If we grant a formative power to poetry, the Tibetan
poetry on Five-Peaked Mountain is not simply about the place, it is the place. And
so it is that Sum pa mkhan po uses poetry to express what may well be the definitive
epitome of Five-Peaked Mountain:
Who has fortune enough to come to this place,
No different than wisdom’s body itself,
Has searched for eons with eyes, ears, and mind:
Is this not the heart of seizing hold of life? 34
33 Rdo bis dge bshes shes rab rgya mtsho, Rang gi gam na mo lnga la rtse lnga’i gnas tshul bshad
pa dad gsum gso ba’i bdud rtsi, in Rje btsun shes rab rgya mtsho ’jam dpal dgyes pa’i blo gros kyi
gsung rtsom (Xining: Mtsho sngon mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1984), vol. 3, 448: ’di la brten nas gzhan
dang gzhan gyi yang // rna bar ’jam dpal gsang gsum gsang ba’i sgra // snyan rgur khrol bas nor ’dzin
dge ba dang // byis blo rmongs pa’i rgya las grol bar smon //.
34 Sum pa mkhan po ye shes dpal ’byor, Paṇḍita sum pa ye shes dpal ’byor mchog gi spyod tshul
brjod pa sgra ’dzin bcud len (Beijing: Krung go’i bod kyi shes rig dpe skrun khang, 2001), 443.5-443.8.
230

Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, no. 6 (December 2011)
Glossary
Note: The glossary is organized into sections according to the main language of
each entry. The first section contains Tibetan words organized in Tibetan
alphabetical order. Columns of information for all entries are listed in this order:
THL Extended Wylie transliteration of the term, THL Phonetic rendering of the
term, the English translation, the Sanskrit equivalent, the Chinese equivalent, other
equivalents such as Mongolian or Latin, associated dates, and the type of term.
Ka
Wylie
kan su’u mi rigs dpe
skrun
khang
kan su’u mi rigs dpe
skrun
khang
krung go’i bod kyi
shes rig
dpe skrun khang
krung go’i bod rigs
dpe skrun
khang
dkar chag
dkar chag lhun po’i
rgyan
dkon mchog dgyes
pa’i blo gros
Phonetics
Kensu Mirik
Petrünkhang
Kensu Mirik
Petrünkhang
Trunggö Bökyi Sherik
Petrünkhang
Trunggö Börik
Petrünkhang
karchak
Karchak Lhünpö
Gyen
Könchok Gyepé
Lodrö
English
guidebook
Ornament for the
Peaks
Other
Dates
Type
Publisher
Publisher
Publisher
Publisher
Term
Text
Person
bka’ ’gyur ba blo Kangyurwa Lozang
fl. Person
bzang tshul Tsültrim
seventeenth/
khrims eighteenth
c.
bkra shis lhun po
bkra shis lhun po’i
gzhung
Trashi Lhünpo
Trashi Lhünpö Zhung
skal bzang thub bstan Kelsang Tupten
dbang
phyug
Wangchuk
sku ’bum
sku ’bum par khang
skyabs mgon thams
cad mkhyen pa blo
bzang thub bstan chos
kyi nyi ma dge legs
rnam rgyal dpal
bzang po’i zhal snga
nas kyi thun mong
ba’i rnam par thar pa
rin chen dbang
gi rgyal po’i ’phreng
ba zhes bya ba’i smad
cha
Kumbum
Kumbum Parkhang
Kyapgön Tamché
Khyenpa Lozang
Tupten Chökyi Nyima
Gelek Namgyel
Pelzangpö
Zhelnganekyi
Tünmongwé Nampar
Tarpa Rinchen
Wanggi Gyelpö
Trengwa Zhejawé
Mecha
Biography of
Lozang Tupten
Chökyi Nyima
Gelek Namgyel
Pelzangpo, Part
Two
Monastery
Publisher
1856-1916 Person
Place
Publisher
Text
231

Schaeffer: Tibetan Poetry on Wutai Shan
skye dgu mdo
bskor tshad
Kha
Wylie
khyab bdag rdo rje
sems dpa’i ngo bo
dpal ldan bla ma dam
pa ye shes bstan pa’i
sgron me dpal bzang
po’i rnam par thar pa
mdo tsam brjod pa
dge ldan bstan pa’i
mdzes
rgyan
khro ru tshe rnam
mkhan chen khro ru
tshe rnam
gyi gsung ’bum
mkhar sngon
Ga
Wylie
gangs ljongs
mkhas dbang rim
byon gyi rtsom yig
gser gyi sbram bu
Jyegundo
Kortsé
Phonetics
Khyapdak Dorjé
Sempé Ngowo Penden
Lama Dampa Yeshé
Tenpé Drönmé
Pelzangpö Nampar
Tarpa Dotsam Jöpa
Geden Tenpé Dzegyen
Troru Tsenam
Khenchen Troru
Tsenamgyi Sungbum
Kharngön
Phonetics
Gangjong Khewang
Rimjöngyi Tsomyik
Sergyi Drambu
gangs ljongs rig rgyan Gangjong Rikgyen
gsung
rab par khang
Sungrap Parkhang
gung thang dkon
mchog bstan pa’i
sgron me
Gungtang Könchok
Tenpé Drönmé
gung thang bstan pa’i Gungtang Tenpé
sgron me
Drönmé
grags pa rgyal mtshan Drakpa Gyeltsen
dge lugs pa
dgon lung
mgur
rgyal ba kun gyi gyur
rje btsun ’jam
dbyangs rigs lnga’i
bstod pa kun tu bzang
po’i mchod sprin
rgyal ba kun gyi yab
gyur rje btsun ’jam
dbyangs rigs lnga’i
bstod pa kun tu
bzang po’i mchod
sprin
Gelukpa
Gönlung
gur
Gyelwa Küngyi
Gyurjé Tsünjam Yang
Rikngé Töpa
Küntuzangpö Chötrin
Gyelwa Küngyi
Yapgyur Jetsün
Jamyang Rikngé Töpa
Küntu Zangpö
Chötrin
survey
English
Biography of Yeshé
Tenpé Drönmé
Pelzangpo
Collected Works of
Khenchen Troru
Tsenam
English
Writings of a Series
of Tibetan
Intellectuals
poem or
eight-syllable song
Praise of the Five
Forms of Manjusri,
the Father of all
Victors: Cloud of
Totally Good
Offerings
Praise of the Five
Forms of Mañjuśrī,
the Father of all
Victors: Cloud of
Totally Good
Offerings
Other
Other
Dates
Place
Text
Type
Text
1928-2005 Person
Dates
Text
Place
Type
Text
Publisher
1762-1823 Person
Person
Person
Organization
Monastery
Term
Text
Text
232

Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, no. 6 (December 2011)
rgyal dbang mkhan
grags pa rgyal
mtshan
Nga
Wylie
Gyelwang Khen
Drakpa Gyeltsen
Phonetics
ngag dbang bstan dar Ngawang Tendar
Ca
Wylie
lcang skya
lcang skya rol pa’i
rdo rje
lcang skya rol pa’i
rdo rje’i rnam
thar
Cha
Wylie
chos rgyal ’phags pa
chos rgyal ’phags pa
blo gros
rgyal mtshan
Ja
Wylie
’jam dpal dgyes pa’i
mchod sprin
’jam dpal la nye bar
bsngags pa me tog gi
phreng ba
’jam dpal la mtshan
don gyi sgo
nas bstod pa
’jam dbyangs bzhad
pa
’jam dbyangs la ri
bo rtse lngar bstod pa
nor bu’i phreng ba
’jigs med phrin las
rgya mtsho
’jigs med ’phrin las
rgya mtsho
rje
btsun ’jam pa’i
dbyangs kyi ’dod gsol
smon lam dang bcas
pa shes rab myur stsol
rje btsun
’jam pa’i dbyangs kyi
gnas la bstod pa
dwangs gsal mdzes
pa’i me long
Phonetics
Changja
Changja Rolpé Dorjé
Changja Rölpé Dorjé
Namtar
Phonetics
Chögyel Pakpa
Chögyel Pakpa Lodrö
Gyeltsen
Phonetics
English
English
Biography of
Changja Rölpé
Dorjé
English
English
Jampel Gyepé Chötrin Cloud of Offerings
to Delight Mañjuśrī
Jampella Nyewar
Ngakpa Metokgi
Trengwa
Jampella Tsendöngyi
Goné Töpa
Jamyang Zhepa
Jamyangla Riwo
Tsengar Töpa Norbü
Trengwa
Jikmé Trinlé Gyatso
Jikmé Trinlé Gyatso
Jetsün Jampeyangkyi
Dösöl Mönlam
Dangchepa Sherap
Nyurtsöl
Jetsün Jampé Yangkyi
Nela Töpadang
Seldzepé Mélong
Praise to Mañjuśrī
Praise to Mañjuśrī
Garland of Jewels:
Praise to Mañjuśrī
at Wutai Shan
Petition Prayer to
Mañjuśrī
Beautiful Clear
Mirror: A Praise to
Lord Mañjughoṣa’s
Abode
Other
Other
Other
Other
1762-
1835/1837
Dates
1971-
Dates
Person
Type
Person
Type
Person
1717-1786 Person
Dates
Text
Type
Person
1235-1280 Person
Dates
Type
Text
Text
Text
Person
Text
Person
1866-1948 Person
Text
Text
233

Schaeffer: Tibetan Poetry on Wutai Shan
rje
btsun ’jam dpal gyi
lha tshogs rnams la
bsang mchod ’bul
tshul ’dod kun ’grub
rje
btsun ’jam dpal
dbyangs la gsol ba
’debs pa’i bden tshig
thugs rje bskul ba’i
pho
nya
rje btsun
shes rab rgya mtsho
’jam dpal dgyes pa’i
blo gros kyi gsung
rtsom
Tha
Wylie
Jetsün Jampelgyi
Lhatsoknamla
Sangchö Bül Tsül Dö
Kündrup
Jetsün Jampelyangla
Sölwadeppé Dentsik
Tukjé Külwé Ponya
Jetsün Sherap Gyatso
Jampel Gyepé
Lodrökyi Sungtsom
Phonetics
thub bstan rgya mtsho Tupten Gyatso
thub bstan chos kyi
nyi ma
thu’u bkwan
thu’u bkwan chos kyi
nyi ma
thu’u bkwan chos kyi
nyi
ma’i rtogs brjod
padma dkar po
thu’u bkwan blo
bzang chos kyi nyi
ma
thu’u bkwan īīī blo
bzang chos
kyi nyi ma
Da
Wylie
dag pa’i
zhing mchog ri bo rtse
lnga’i gnas bstod ’jam
dbyangs mchod pa’i
me tog
Tupten Chökyi Nyima
Tukwan
Tukwan Chökyi
Nyima
Smoke Offering to
Mañjuśrī
Petition Prayer to
Mañjuśrī
Writings of Jetsün
Sherap Gyatso
Jampel Gyepé
Lodrö
English
Tukwan Chökyi Nyimé Biography of
Tokjö Pema Karpo Tukwan Chökyi
Nyima
Tukwan Lozang
Chökyi Nyima
Tukwan III Lozang
Chökyi Nyima
Phonetics
Dakpé Zhingchok
Riwotsengé Netö
Jamyang Chöpé
Metok
dwangs bsil ri bo rtse Dangsil Riwo Tsengé
lnga’i gnas
bshad
Neshé
mdo smad lho rgyud
’bo ra
rdo sbis dge bshes
rdo sbis dge bshes
shes rab rgya
mtsho
sde dge
Domé Lhogyü Bora
Dobi Geshé
Dobi Geshé Sherap
Gyatso
Degé
English
Praise to the
Supreme Pure Land
Wutai Shan
Guide to Mount
Clear and Cool
Other
Other
Dates
Text
Text
Text
Type
1876-1933 Person
1883-1937 Person
Person
1737-1802 Person
Text
Person
1737-1802 Person
Dates
Type
Text
Text
Place
Person
1884-1968 Person
Place
234

Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, no. 6 (December 2011)
sde dge par khang
brda
Na
Wylie
Degé Parkhang
da
Phonetics
gnas mchog ri bo rtse Nechok Riwo Tsengé
lnga’i
rtogs pa brjod pa
Tokpa Jöpa
gnas mchog ri bo rtse
lngar mjal skabs kyi
gnas bstod dang ’brel
ba’i mgur ’jam dpal
dgyes pa’i mchod
sprin
gnas mchog ri bo rtse
lngar mjal skabs kyi
gnas bstod dang ’brel
ba’i mgur ’jam
dpal dgyes pa’i mchod
sprin zhes bya ba
dang dus chen khyad
par can gyi rnam
bshad
gnas stod
gnas bstod
gnas bstod gsol
Nechok Riwo Tsengar
Jelkapkyi Netö dang
Drelwé Gur Jampel
Gyepé Chötrin
Nechok Riwo Tsengar
Jelkapkyi Netö dang
Drelwé Gur Jampel
Gyepé Chötrin
Zhejawa dang Düchen
Khyeparchengyi
Namshé
netö
netö
netösöl
gnas bstod gsol ’debs netö söldep
Pa
Wylie
padma bka’ thang
paṇ chen bla ma
paṇḍita sum pa ye
shes dpal ’byor mchog
gi spyod tshul brjod
pa sgra ’dzin bcud
len
dpal ldan grags pa
sprul
pa’i gnas mchog ri bo
dwangs bsil gyi gnas
bstod gsol ’debs smon
tshigs bcas
Pha
Wylie
phyag mchod
’phags pa
’phags pa blo gros
rgyal mtshan
Phonetics
Pema Katang
Penchen Lama
Pendita Sumpa Yeshé
Penjor Chokgi
Chötsül Jöpa Dradzin
Chülen
Penden Drakpa
Trülpé Nechok Riwo
Dang Silgyi Netö
Söldep Möntsikché
Phonetics
chakchö
Pakpa
Pakpa Lodrö Gyeltsen
sign
English
Story of the
Supreme Place
Wutai Shan
Cloud of Offerings
to Please Mañjuśrī:
A Song Coupled to
a Place-Praise for
Wutai Shan
Praise to
Five-Peaked
Mountain while
Visiting
place-praise
poem
poem
poem
English
Chronicle of
Padmasambhava
Biography of
Sumpa Yeshé
Penjor
Guide and Praise to
Mount Clear and
Cool
English
offering
Other
Other
Other
Dates
Dates
Dates
Publisher
Term
Type
Text
Text
Text
Term
Term
Term
Term
Type
Text
Person
Text
Person
Text
Type
Term
Person
Person
235

Schaeffer: Tibetan Poetry on Wutai Shan
Ba
Wylie
Phonetics
bar skabs tshigs bcad barkap tsikché
bla brang
bla brang bkra shis
’khyil dgon
pa
bla brang par khang
bla ma rtse lnga pa
dpal ldan
grags pa
blo bzang chos grags
blo bzang ’jam
dbyangs ye
shes bstan pa’i rgyal
mtshan
blo bzang rta mgrin
’bras spungs
Ma
Wylie
mi la ras pa
smon lam
Tsa
Wylie
tsong kha pa
rtse
lnga’i bkod pa gsal
bar byed pa lhun po’i
rgyan byang gzhon
bya bas mdzad pa
mtsho sngon mi rigs
dpe skrun
khang
Dza
Wylie
dznyā na shrī man
Zha
Wylie
zhwa ser ring lugs pa
skal bzang thub bstan
dbang phyug gi rtogs
pa brjod pa rin chen
phreng ba stod cha
Labrang
Labrang Trashikyil
Gönpa
Labrang Parkhang
Lama Tsengapa
Penden Drakpa
Lozang Chödrak
Lozang Jamyang
Yeshé Tenpé Gyeltsen
Lobsang Tamdrin
Drepung
Phonetics
Milarepa
mönlam
Phonetics
Tsongkhapa
Tsengé Köpa Selwar
Jepa Lhünpö Gyen
Jangzhönjawé Dzepa
Tsongön Mirik
Petrünkhang
Phonetics
Dznyana Shrimen
Phonetics
Zhaser Ringlukpa
Kelzang Tupten
Wangchukgi Tokpa
Jöpa Rinchen
Trengwa Töcha
English
“transitional” verse
Labrang Monastery
English
aspirational prayer
English
Ornament for the
Peaks by
Jangzhönpa
English
English
Biography of
Kelzang Tupten
Wangchuk, Part
One
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Dates
eighteenth
c.?
Type
Term
Monastery
Publisher
Publisher
Person
Editor
1916-1947 Person
1867-1937 Person
Dates
Dates
Dates
mid-nineteenth
c.
Dates
Monastery
Type
Person
Term
Type
Person
Text
Publisher
Type
Person
Type
Text
236

Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, no. 6 (December 2011)
Za
Wylie
Phonetics
gzungs gtsug tor rnam Zung Tsuktor
rgyal
Namgyel
Ya
Wylie
ye dpal
ye shes don grub
ye shes dpal ldan
yongs kyi dge ba’i
bshes gnyen chen po
rgyal mkhan chen
grags pa rgyal mtshan
pa’i zhal snga nas kyi
rnam par thar pa nor
bu’i ’phreng ba
Ra
Wylie
rang gi gam na mo
lnga la rtse lnga’i
gnas tshul bshad pa
dad gsum gso ba’i
bdud
rtsi
ri bo dwangs bsil gyi
’jam dpal mtshan ldan
gling gi mtshar sdug
sku brnyan gyi
lo rgyus bskor tshad
dang bcas pa dad
ldan skye bo’i spro
bskyod me tog
’phreng
mdzes
ri bo
dwangs bsil du smon
lam skabs bsnyen bkur
mang ’gyed stsal ba’i
dpyad khra
ri bo rtse lnga
ri bo rtse lnga la
bstod pa
phul byung sgra
dbyangs
ri bo rtse lnga’i dkar
chag
rab gsal me long
ri bo rtse lnga’i gnas
bstod
Phonetics
Yepen
Yeshé Döndrup
Yeshé Penden
Yongkyi Gewé
Shenyen Chenpo Gyel
Khenchen Drakpa
Gyeltsenpé Zhelnga
Nekyi Nampartarpa
Norbü Trengwa
Phonetics
Ranggi Gam Namo
Ngala Tsengé Netsül
Shepa Desum Sobé
Dütsi
Riwodang Silgyi
Jampel Tsendenlinggi
Tsarduk Kunyengyi
Logyü Kortsé
Dangchepa Deden
Kyewö Trokyö Metok
Trengdzé
Riwo Dangsildu
Mönlam Kap Nyenkur
Mang Gyetselwé
Chetra
Riwo Tsenga
Riwotse Ngala Töpa
Püljung Drayang
Riwotsengé Karchak
Rapsel Melong
Riwo Tsengé Netö
English
Spell of the Victory
Crown
English
Biography of Gyel
Khenchen Drakpa
Gyeltsen
English
Explanation of
Five-Peaked
Mountain
A Beautiful
Garland to Rouse
the Faithful: A
History and
Circumambulation
Survey of the Fine
Statue in the
Sandalwood
Mañjuśrī Temple of
Mount Clear and
Cool
Prayer to Mount
Clear and Cool
Five-Peaked
mountain
Praise of Wutai
Shan
Clear Mirror:
Account of
Five-Peaked
Mountain
A Praise to
Wutaishan
Other
Other
Other
Dates
Dates
nineteenth
c.
Dates
Type
Text
Type
Person
Person
Person
Text
Type
Text
Text
Text
Mountain
Text
Text
Text
237

Schaeffer: Tibetan Poetry on Wutai Shan
ri bo rtse lnga’i gnas
bstod
tshangs pa’i sgra
dbyangs
ri bo rtse
lnga’i phyag mchod
’jam dbyangs mnyes
byed kun bzang
mchod sprin
rong ston shes bya
kun rig
rol pa’i rdo rje
La
Wylie
lo rgyus
Sa
Wylie
sa skya bka’ ’bum
si khron mi rigs dpe
skrun
khang
sum pa mkhan po
sum pa mkhan po ye
shes dpal
’byor
gsang bdag rdo rje
gsung ’bum
gsol ’debs
bsod nams rtse mo
Ha
Wylie
hu’u ho ha’o the
lha sa
A
Wylie
a kya
a kya yongs ’dzin
a kya yongs ’dzin
dbyangs can
dga’ ba’i blo gros
a mdo
Riwo Tsengé Netö
Tsangpé Drayang
Riwo Tsengé Chakchö
Jamyang Nyejé
Künzang Chötrin
Rongtön Sheja Künrik
Rolpé Dorjé
Phonetics
Logyü
Phonetics
Sakya Kambum
Sitrön Mirik
Petrünkhang
Sumpa Khenpo
Sumpa Khenpo Yeshé
Peljor
Sangda Dorjé
Sungbum
söldep
Sönam Tsemo
Phonetics
Huho Haoté
Lhasa
Phonetics
Aja
Aja Yongdzin
Aja Yongdzin
Yangchen Gawé
Lodrö
Amdo
a lag sha ngag dbang Alaksha Ngawang
bstan dar
Tendar
a lag sha mthu stobs
nyi ma
o rgyan gling pa
Alaksha Tutop Nyima
Orgyen Lingpa
Brahma’s Melody:
A Place-Praise of
Wutai Shan
Veneration of Wutai
Shan:
Samantabhadra’s
Cloud of Offerings
for Adoration of
Mañjuśrī
English
history
English
Collected Works of
the Sakya
petition
English
English
Other
Other
Other
Mon. Khöke-Khota
Other
Text
Text
1367-1449 Person
Dates
Dates
Person
Type
Text
Type
Text
Publisher
Person
1704-1788 Person
nineteenth
c.
Dates
Dates
Person
Text
Term
Editor
Type
Place
Place
Type
Person
Person
1740-1847 Person
Place
1759-1831 Person
eighteenth
c.
b. 1323
Person
Person
238

Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, no. 6 (December 2011)
Chinese
Wylie
Sanskrit
Wylie
Other
Wylie
Phonetics
Phonetics
Phonetics
English
Qing Dynasty
Five-Peaked
Mountain
English
Nalendra
English
Chinese
Qianlong
Qing
Wutai shan
Sanskrit
Buddhapalita
bodhisattva
damaru
maṇḍala
Mañjuśrī
Nagarjuna
Padmasambhava
Śākya
stūpa
yogin
Other
Mon. Monguor
Mon. Oirad
Mon. Tumed
Dates
Type
Person
1644-1911 Dynasty
Dates
Dates
Mountain
Type
Buddhist deity
Term
Term
Term
Buddhist deity
Person
Monastery
Person
Organization
Monument
Term
Type
Term
Term
Term
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