Great Perfection.pdf

the legend of vairocana 35
the end of a text in the bsTan-’gyur where the only difference is that
Vairocana’s name is preceded by the official title Zhu chen gyi lo-tsà-ba
and that the name is extended by the syllables rakßita. These colophons no
doubt refer to Ba-gor Vairocana as a translator. 53 Granted that Vairocana
was a great translator as the tradition maintains, one would expect to find
his name in the ancient catalogues of the bKa’-’gyur, such as TD, but it is
mentioned only once. 54 It is reported that his name occurs in the ’Phang
thang ma which however at present cannot be verified. 55 Nevertheless, a
large number of tantras are said to have been translated by him and these
are collected together known as Vairo rgyud ’bum 56 which is largely an overlapping
of certain parts of the collection of NyG.
Vairocana in the Bonpo tradition
The character with which Vairocana is presented in the Bonpo historical
tradition is somewhat different from the Buddhist. The Tibetan historical
tradition maintains that in the eighth century, Bon as a native faith saw
Buddhism as a new and foreign religion implanted into the country and
soon adopted as the state religion with the foundation of bSam-yas. The
ensuing clash between the Bonpo and Buddhists obliged the then Bonpo
leading master Dran-pa nam-mkha’ to consent to adopt the Buddhist
faith. During his abjuration he co-operated with the Buddhists to establish
the new religion. This presentation of Dran-pa nam-mkha’ therefore
exemplifies an approach to different religions in a spirit of impartiality.
Hence an idea of eclectic practice is born with him at least from the twelfth
century in Bonpo historical works. However, the real motive of his acceptance
of the Buddhist doctrine is, it is said, to save the Bonpo religious
works from destruction at the hands of the persecutors. Vairocana originally
was, according to this tradition, a Bonpo and called Ba-gor g.Yung-drunggsas.
Later he became a Buddhist and was also a disciple of Dran-pa
nam-mkha’ from whom he inherited the eclectic spirit in his religious practices.
He joined his Bonpo master and other priests in concealing
Bonpo texts. 57 In certain Bonpo works, it is stated that Dran-pa nam-
53 Other Tun-huang documents also show Vairocana as a translator: PT 1582, 1583.
According to Bu-ston six different translations of the longest version of the Prajñàpàramità
existed, and one of them was made by Vairocana (DS p. 923) and Bu-ston also gives several
works which are attributed to Vairocana (DS pp. 924, 1045, 1046, 1054).
54 Lalou 1953, p. 335 (671).
55 GLZ p. 781.
56 See Bibliography.
57 Cf. Sources for a history of Bon, text No. 1, p. 44; Legs bshad mdzod (Karmay 1972, pp.
151–52, 160, 181).