Tsewang Norbu NGB
<p>*Introduction to the Collection</p> <p>The Rig 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu edition of the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum is a beautifully illustrated set of manuscripts, originally in thirty-three volumes, thirty volumes of which survive. It represents an important collectio...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Dataset |
| Language: | English |
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University of Oxford
2025
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| _version_ | 1824459029400780800 |
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| author | Cantwell, C Mayer, R |
| author_facet | Cantwell, C Mayer, R |
| author_sort | Cantwell, C |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>*Introduction to the Collection</p>
<p>The Rig 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu edition of the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum is a beautifully illustrated set of manuscripts, originally in thirty-three volumes, thirty volumes of which survive. It represents an important collection of Tibetan Buddhist tantric scriptures, once with many witnesses, but now with only a handful of extant editions. Of all the surviving editions, the Rig 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu edition is the most lavishly produced, manufactured from good materials, finely decorated, and illustrated with many high quality hand-painted miniatures. The collection was procured in Tibet during the Younghusband expedition in 1904 by L.A. Waddell, who identified it as the most splendid and significant of all the great number of literary artifacts he procured during that expedition. Twenty-nine of the volumes are now located at the British Library, London, while one volume is to be found at Oxford University's Bodleian Library, and two illuminated title folios at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.1 We have very little information about the collection's history, and there does not even appear to be a clear record of its fate on leaving Tibet, so we are not certain whether it was complete in 1904 and thus whether any of the presently missing volumes might come to light elsewhere.2</p>
<p>The rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum - the "Ancient Tantra Collection" - had canonical status for the rNying ma schools, who were followers of the tantras traditionally associated with the earliest transmission of Buddhism into Tibet, during the Tibetan Imperial period (between the seventh to ninth centuries CE). The scriptures of the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum served as the canonical basis for the entire rNying ma tantric tradition, not only as a direct source for tantric materials of all kinds, but also as a point of departure and parameter of orthodoxy for the famous rNying ma gter ma or 'Treasure' traditions of ongoing revelation. But these tantras are not only of significance to the rNying ma school as such: some continued to be propagated by the lamas of the "New Tantra Transmissions" (gsar 'gyur), and the interpenetration of the various lineages of tantric teachings throughout the organisationally distinct monastic orders meant that they continued to exert a widespread influence on Tibetan Buddhism as a whole. However, it should be understood that with the exception of a very few key texts from within it, the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum was not very widely read even among rNying ma pas: neither monks nor laymen read at all widely or frequently within its many hundreds of texts. In practice, its vast bulk of volumes more commonly served an important ritual function, as a receptacle of the Holy Dharma essential to the fabric of any sizeable rNying ma pa establishment, while most actual scholarship and practice, even rNying ma pa tantric scholarship and practice, was conducted within the parallel and far more accessible commentarial and gter ma traditions.</p><p>
</p><p>Before the Chinese invasion of the mid-twentieth century, numerous hand-written manuscript editions were preserved with reverence in monasteries throughout Tibet, as living embodiments of the rNying ma pa tantric dharma; sadly, it may be that none have survived the destructions following the invasion and the subsequent Cultural Revolution.3 Amazingly, however, the wood-blocks for the single xylograph printed edition of the collection (originally made in sDe dge in the late eighteenth century) did survive, and this edition is now being widely reprinted in Tibet.4</p>
<p>With the exception of the sDe dge xylograph from East Tibet, all other currently available editions of the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum, including the Rig 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu edition, seem to derive from the Himalayan and Southern Tibetan border areas. However, the significance of such regional factors is not yet clear. While probably insignificant to the doxographical arrangements of texts within the editions (which of course reflects doctrinal thinking), regionality might however be of much greater significance in terms of the actual exemplars used for copying, and hence to transmissional and text-critical concerns of all kinds.</p>
<p>Since so little of the contents of the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum has ever been closely studied even by Tibetans in recent centuries, we as yet have only the vaguest notions about levels of textual integrity. Amongst Tibetans, the sDe dge xylograph is widely admired for its excellent texts largely free of scribal errors, the product of a major editorial revision by famous scholars of the late eighteenth century. Our own limited readings in sDe dge so far fully confirm the widespread Tibetan appreciation of it as a comparatively readable text. We do know, however, that much of the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum materials in many editions are not easily readable even by the most learned rNying ma pa scholars, often because the levels of scribal error can be very high indeed, but also because the contents were often not part of any regular curriculum. Often enough, not even the comparatively clear sDe dge can be fully understood; moreover, its frequent editorial interventions that render it comparatively more readable, by definition might also serve to conceal alternative patterns of interpretation that could be of considerable interest to scholars. Of the other surviving editions, our impression is that the Kathmandu manuscript is probably the most corrupt, sometimes a veritable jungle of scribal errors to the point of unusability; in addition, its pages are frequently broken and torn. However, the Nubri manuscript is said to be very similar to the wretchedly preserved Kathmandu manuscript, but in far better condition both physically and with regard to scribal accuracy. Nubri can thus be read more easily to show the clearly defined doxographical structure and transmissional peculiarities of this tradition. It also shares with the sDe dge xylograph the feature of a separate section at the end with additional rDzogs chen tantras. The mTshams brag manuscript from Bhutan (available in a modern photo-offset litho reproduction of the original mTshams brag monastery manuscript) is often textually quite good, and also has the most texts within it of any rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum collection, but doxographically seems to be only partially organised, as though its redactors produced it without a fully finalised doxographical program in mind. The gTing skyes edition (also available in a modern photo-offset litho reproduction of the original manuscript from gTing skyes dgon pa byang monastery), is very similar doxographically, (and very often also transmissionally) to the Rig 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu edition presented here. These two share the same consistent doxographical ordering of texts, as well as a reasonably low level of scribal errors.</p>
<p>In the current context however, all editions are equally valuable potential witnesses to this ancient religious tradition. Given the recent near destruction of the entire rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum corpus, coupled with the fact that we often find numerous and substantial variants in rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum texts both transmissional (unwitting changes by copyists) and recensional (deliberate changes by editors), all editions are now invaluable sources for any research on this religious tradition, or, indeed, to any efforts to render these texts fully readable once more through careful textual editing. The well-written and attractively presented Rig 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu edition manuscripts are thus of great significance to the preservation of the whole rNying ma Tantric tradition, and it is our hope that our work in cataloguing them, among other things made with future text-critical concerns in mind, will enable future scholarship in this field to progress.</p>
<p>We have taken the liberty of re-naming our collection: until now, it has been commonly known as the Waddell Manuscript, or else as the Waddell Edition of the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum, after the British officer who brought it to the U.K. However, as we move further into the twenty-first century, and now know more of the collection's background, it seems far more appropriate to name it after the famous 18th century Tibetan lama and polymath in whose honour the manuscripts appear to have been made and whose memory is pictorially celebrated with so much beauty at the outset of almost every one of its thirty surviving volumes.</p>
<p>Thus, we now refer to the set as the Rig 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu Edition of the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum, or the Rig 'dzin rje Edition for short (see "Distinctive Features of the Edition").</p>
<p>*Navigating the Chapters and Catalogue</p>
<p>Our work was always intended as a Web publication. While it can be read like a conventional book, in a sequence of consecutive chapters, we envisage that most readers will prefer either to browse the catalogue as a reference book, or in reading the other chapters, to focus more closely on one section or another, and not necessarily to follow the order in which we have laid them out. Thus, each "chapter" or section is in some senses independent, with hyperlinks to other sections. Non-specialist readers might wish to start with "The Legacy of Rig 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu", which discusses the significance of the artwork, to peruse the "Gallery of Photographs", and to read the opening paragraph of "Distinctive Features of the Edition". Tibetanists might wish to focus on their own areas of specialism. We would like to draw the attention of textual specialists to the "Note on Transliteration", which outlines the system used in the inventory, to "The catalogue as a partial diplomatic transcription", which explains our rationale for a fully detailed diplomatic transcription, and to the comparisons between this and other editions of the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum in, "Distinctive Features of the Edition" and "Doxographical structures in the Rig ’dzin Tshe dbang nor bu Edition of the rNying ma’i rgyud ’bum". Codicological specialists are in particular directed to the chapter on, "General information on the volumes", as well as to the specific codicological notes accompanying each volume of the catalogue. Art historians are directed to "The Legacy of Rig 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu", along with the, "Tables of Miniatures", the, "Detailed descriptions of miniatures", and the, "Gallery of Photographs".</p>
<p>An advantage of a Web publication is that it provides the opportunity to update the material more regularly than is possible with conventional book publication. With this in mind, we especially welcome colleagues to send us comments which we can take into consideration when making revisions.</p>
<p>The structure of the catalogue deserves some comment. On opening the catalogue, the list of volumes is visible in the upper left-hand frame. They can be imagined to be stacked as in a Tibetan library, with the end of each volume visible, and they are ordered alphabetically. To take a volume out of the “shelf”, its title is clicked on, and its contents are revealed in a list in the upper right-hand frame. To look further at any item in the list, such as an individual text, it should be clicked on, and its entry will open in the lower frame.</p>
<p>Our entries for each volume begin with a *"Codicological Information" section which supplies largely codicological details relating to each volume on the decorated front folia, the size, number and condition of the folia, and any noteworthy features of the volume. The "Codicological Information" section continues with specific codicological notes which are attached to the appropriate folio/chapter locations in the catalogue. The front section of each volume entry also includes a transliteration of the title list - extant in sixteen of our volumes - of the text contents of the volume. We find these lists on cloth index leaves attached to the front folio of the volumes. Generally, they give abbreviated or short versions of the titles of each text, and occasionally, they may group together more than one text under a single summary.</p>
<p>The catalogue gives individual entries for the texts within the volume concerned. Each volume is divided into a number of texts, generally in a self-evident manner. Occasionally, the boundaries of a text may not be entirely clear, and we have made case by case editorial decisions based on a number of considerations, including previous scholarship on the text(s) in question, but most importantly, making some attempt to represent what appears to be the understanding of our edition's compilers. In some cases, for instance, where we have a root text followed by a phyi ma (a "subsequent" or "further" tantric text), we have given the root text and phyi ma as separate texts, while in others, we have treated them as a single text with divisions. Generally, if our collection appears to treat them as a single text with sequential chapter numbering, the same running text title in the chapter titles, with little attention drawn to the end of the root text or the beginning of the phyi ma, and with an overall colophon at the end, we have classified them as a single text. Where they are more definitely distinguished, without running text titles or sequential chapter numbering, and with their own distinct titles and colophons, we have classified them as separate texts. There are some cases where an appropriate classification is not obvious and clearly, we may seem to impose a rather arbitrary classification on textual material which eludes it. Our definitions of "texts", however, are not intended to be definitive, let alone to impose any new structure on loosely structured or unstructured text. Above all, it should be possible to find any particular text title whether it is classified here as an independent text or a division of a text, and our catalogue has been designed with this consideration in mind.</p>
<p>The probable doxographical category of each text is noted, even where this is not explicit in our edition. The catalogue of each text begins with our allocated number for the text, together with the number of chapters and/or of divisions it contains. Since our collection is incomplete and it is to be hoped that at some stage the missing volumes might be recovered, we have numbered the texts in each volume separately. We then give a “locations list” with the equivalent versions of the text within other textual collections, and numbering for the entries within the available catalogues of those collections.5 In due course, we intend to expand the list, to include the full references for the equivalent texts in the sDe dge and the Nubri editions. In some cases, this locations list is followed by a note on significant features of the text, such as notable points concerning its structure, major recensional differences between our and other editions, or discrepancies in chapter numbering etc.</p>
<p>We then give the preliminary material found in each text, usually consisting of text title(s), and in many cases, a homage and an opening formula. The first text in each volume generally begins with a Tibetan transliteration of the text's Sanskrit title,6 which is followed by the Tibetan title. Most other texts in each volume begin with a cover title. This is usually a shortened version of the full Tibetan title, although it may be exactly the same as the Tibetan title, or longer than it. It is the title which would be displayed on the front cover if the text were to have its own title page. In a few cases, we do find internal title pages for a number of texts within a volume, but mostly, attention is drawn to the cover title of a text simply by presenting it in small writing.7</p>
<p>The cover title is generally followed by the Sanskrit and the full Tibetan title. The "Sanskrit" title, indicated by the words, "rgya gar skad du..." ("in the Indian language"), is strictly speaking a Tibetan transcription of what the textual tradition understands the
equivalent Sanskrit title for the text to be. It may or may not represent an accurate or consistent transliteration of Sanskrit into Tibetan. The Tibetan title, indicated by the words, "bod skad du..." ("in the Tibetan language"), normally follows the Sanskrit title. Rarely, there may be further titles, representing what are understood to be transcriptions of titles in other non-Tibetan languages. There are a few instances of texts which lack any obviously marked opening title, where we find the text title given in the chapter titles and perhaps in a colophon. In such cases, we have noted the opening of the text, usually containing some description of its content.</p>
<p>The title list for each volume generally gives the Tibetan title, and in its absence, the cover title of the text. In the case of texts which do not give an explicit Tibetan or cover title, the title list gives a constructed title, for instance, following the title given in a terminating colophon.</p>
<p>Typically, our texts follow the title(s) with a homage and often with a version of the classic opening formula used in Buddhist sūtra and tantra scriptures: "Thus have I heard, at one time..." ("'di skad bdag gis thos pa'i dus gcig na"). We give these where they occur: in due course, we intend to expand the entries for the opening formula to give the opening lines, even when a version of the classic formula does not occur. The opening formula is particularly significant since one of the polemical arguments used against rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum texts was that many of them failed to give the opening formula, thus failing to qualify them as authoritative, "Buddha word". The understanding of what constitutes "Buddha word" was less rigid in the rNying ma tradition but it is interesting to note which of their scriptures did contain the opening formula.</p>
<p>In most of our texts, the preliminary materials are followed by a number of chapters, and our catalogue lists the extent of each chapter and any chapter title as given, usually at its close. In some cases, we find a more complex structure, for instance, of a number of sections each enclosing a number of chapters. Again, our catalogue attempts to faithfully render the schema through which our edition seems to structure the text. Occasionally, there may be uncertainty: sections are often marked at their ends but not at their beginnings. We have often resolved such problems but where uncertainty remains, we have noted that this is the case. Each chapter is given a number, usually corresponding to the chapter number supplied in the chapter title. In cases where chapter numbering is not given explicitly, or where there appears to be a scribal error in the chapter numbering (eg. if we find, "gnyis" where "bcu gnyis" would be expected), we give the expected number together with a question mark to draw attention to the lack of clarity in the text. However, where, for instance, a text begins at Chapter thirty-three and continues its sequential numbering from that point, or where all editions of a text share an unusual numbering sequence, which may not be a result of scribal error, we preserve that feature in our numbering.</p>
<p>There are instances of texts which end abruptly at the end of the final chapter, but we more typically find one or more colophons at the end of a text. Sometimes, after the end of the last chapter and before the colophon(s), there will be some further text which completes the narrative but which is not classified as belonging to a chapter. Where such text is of a relatively short length (no more than about a folio), we have included it in full under the label of, "postscript".<sup>8</sup> Thus, our catalogue generally includes in full all the information given before the first chapter and after the final chapter title.</p>
<p>There are frequently two types of colophon to be found after the chapters and postscript(s). There is usually a terminating colophon which marks the end of the text. While it may minimally simply end with, "The End" ("rdzogs so"), frequently it also repeats the text title which has finished, and very occasionally, it may also contain an eulogy of the text. Then we often find a colophon which states the circumstances of the text's translation from Sanskrit and/or its transmission through a lineage of Tibetan teachers. In some cases, these two types of colophons are melded into one, and occasionally, we may find a colophon which contains other types of information. We therefore give two types of colophons: terminating colophons, and bibliographic and informative colophons, which generally give transmissional details but which may contain further information beyond that within the straightforward terminating colophons.</p>
<p>Along with the colophon(s), there may also be formulae for sealing the text, or various kinds of good wishes and aspirations expressed at the end. We have included these under a category of, "Seals and Good Wishes".</p>
<p>Texts, colophons and seals which contain a identification that the text is a gter ma (a revealed text) are marked.</p>
<p>In some volumes, after the texts are completed, there may be further colophons and/or seals concluding the volume as a whole: these are noted in a volume conclusion section.</p>
<p>Throughout the catalogue, there are several kinds of notes, including notes on amendments, additions and corrections to the text, on marginal notes, on probable spelling and other scribal errors. We have also supplied codicological notes, for instance, on handwriting, ink colour and smudging, and any writing such as apparent doodles, which do not appear to fit with the content of our texts. While notes which have significance for the textual content are always visible, one can choose whether or not to view the more specialist or minor notes while browsing the catalogue. Such “non-visible” notes are marked by a Tibetan style of asterisk, and will become visible with a “mouse-over”.9 The specifically codicological notes can be clicked on within the catalogue at the appropriate place, and, apart from notes which might affect a few syllables of text (eg. if there is a single hole in the sheet where some syllables from a chapter title occur), they are also gathered together with descriptions of the first few folia in the Codicological Information section at the front of each volume entry (see above). Abbreviations are marked, and can be checked against the "List of abbreviations used in the edition".</p>
<p>1 At the British Library, the collection is classified as, "RNYING MA'I RGYUD 'BUM MSS", with the pressmark, OR15217. The volume at the Bodleian Library (Volume Ka) is at the shelfmark, MS. Tib.a.24(R). The title folios (to Volume Ga and Volume A) held at the Victoria and Albert Museum have the Accession no.s: IM 318-1920 and IM 317-1920. Thanks to Sam van Schaik and Burkhard Quessel of the British Library for bringing to our attention the location of these two title folios. Waddell (1912: 87, 99 [Item 5]) makes reference to the twenty-nine volumes now held at the British Library (formerly at the India Office Library) and includes them in a list of textual items brought back in the expedition, although he makes no mention of Volume Ka, which was acquired by the Bodleian Library in 1909. The Victoria and Albert Museum acquired the two title folios in 1920, at an auction of items from Waddell's private collection.</p>
<p>2 We would be very grateful for any information or even clues which might give us any indication of the possible whereabouts of our missing volumes, or which might at least more clearly illuminate the historical facts. We have already searched for and examined promising items from within the substantial Waddell materials held at the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, but sadly they turned out to have no relation to this rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum collection.</p>
<p>3 If any such manuscript editions have survived, they have not, as yet, been made publicly available.</p>
<p>4 An earlier copy of the sDe dge printed version from the collection of Giuseppe Tucci is held in Rome. Tucci was given it as a gift by the then very young Dalai Lama, when visiting Lhasa before the Chinese invasion. It remains for scholars to ascertain definitively whether there are any significant differences between the pre-Chinese Rome copy and the new printings from contemporary Tibet, but our impression so far is that there are not any significant differences.</p>
<p>5 See Bibliography for the key to the abbreviations used in these locations lists.</p>
<p>6 There are exceptions: Volume Pha begins with the gsang ba'i snying po, which famously has the Tibetan title alone, without giving any Sanskrit. Volume Cha begins with a phyi ma to the final text in the previous volume, so again, we lack a full Sanskrit title.</p>
<p>7 We also find instances of ornamental bracketing of the cover title. See, "General Information on the Volumes".</p>
<p>8 Where we find extended text without chapter titles, we note that the text has one or more unnumbered, untitled section(s) or chapter(s).</p>
<p>9 Note that if the security settings on your Web browser’s Internet options are set to “high”, it may be necessary to re-set them to “medium” in order to view these “non-visible” notes with a “mouse-over”.</p> |
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| format | Dataset |
| id | oxford-uuid:bbe4a35a-59e8-46fa-900d-1da788c482d0 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-02-19T04:35:17Z |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publisher | University of Oxford |
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| spelling | oxford-uuid:bbe4a35a-59e8-46fa-900d-1da788c482d02025-01-28T16:46:13ZTsewang Norbu NGBDatasethttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_ddb1uuid:bbe4a35a-59e8-46fa-900d-1da788c482d0EnglishSymplectic ElementsUniversity of Oxford2025Cantwell, CMayer, R<p>*Introduction to the Collection</p> <p>The Rig 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu edition of the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum is a beautifully illustrated set of manuscripts, originally in thirty-three volumes, thirty volumes of which survive. It represents an important collection of Tibetan Buddhist tantric scriptures, once with many witnesses, but now with only a handful of extant editions. Of all the surviving editions, the Rig 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu edition is the most lavishly produced, manufactured from good materials, finely decorated, and illustrated with many high quality hand-painted miniatures. The collection was procured in Tibet during the Younghusband expedition in 1904 by L.A. Waddell, who identified it as the most splendid and significant of all the great number of literary artifacts he procured during that expedition. Twenty-nine of the volumes are now located at the British Library, London, while one volume is to be found at Oxford University's Bodleian Library, and two illuminated title folios at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.1 We have very little information about the collection's history, and there does not even appear to be a clear record of its fate on leaving Tibet, so we are not certain whether it was complete in 1904 and thus whether any of the presently missing volumes might come to light elsewhere.2</p> <p>The rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum - the "Ancient Tantra Collection" - had canonical status for the rNying ma schools, who were followers of the tantras traditionally associated with the earliest transmission of Buddhism into Tibet, during the Tibetan Imperial period (between the seventh to ninth centuries CE). The scriptures of the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum served as the canonical basis for the entire rNying ma tantric tradition, not only as a direct source for tantric materials of all kinds, but also as a point of departure and parameter of orthodoxy for the famous rNying ma gter ma or 'Treasure' traditions of ongoing revelation. But these tantras are not only of significance to the rNying ma school as such: some continued to be propagated by the lamas of the "New Tantra Transmissions" (gsar 'gyur), and the interpenetration of the various lineages of tantric teachings throughout the organisationally distinct monastic orders meant that they continued to exert a widespread influence on Tibetan Buddhism as a whole. However, it should be understood that with the exception of a very few key texts from within it, the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum was not very widely read even among rNying ma pas: neither monks nor laymen read at all widely or frequently within its many hundreds of texts. In practice, its vast bulk of volumes more commonly served an important ritual function, as a receptacle of the Holy Dharma essential to the fabric of any sizeable rNying ma pa establishment, while most actual scholarship and practice, even rNying ma pa tantric scholarship and practice, was conducted within the parallel and far more accessible commentarial and gter ma traditions.</p><p> </p><p>Before the Chinese invasion of the mid-twentieth century, numerous hand-written manuscript editions were preserved with reverence in monasteries throughout Tibet, as living embodiments of the rNying ma pa tantric dharma; sadly, it may be that none have survived the destructions following the invasion and the subsequent Cultural Revolution.3 Amazingly, however, the wood-blocks for the single xylograph printed edition of the collection (originally made in sDe dge in the late eighteenth century) did survive, and this edition is now being widely reprinted in Tibet.4</p> <p>With the exception of the sDe dge xylograph from East Tibet, all other currently available editions of the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum, including the Rig 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu edition, seem to derive from the Himalayan and Southern Tibetan border areas. However, the significance of such regional factors is not yet clear. While probably insignificant to the doxographical arrangements of texts within the editions (which of course reflects doctrinal thinking), regionality might however be of much greater significance in terms of the actual exemplars used for copying, and hence to transmissional and text-critical concerns of all kinds.</p> <p>Since so little of the contents of the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum has ever been closely studied even by Tibetans in recent centuries, we as yet have only the vaguest notions about levels of textual integrity. Amongst Tibetans, the sDe dge xylograph is widely admired for its excellent texts largely free of scribal errors, the product of a major editorial revision by famous scholars of the late eighteenth century. Our own limited readings in sDe dge so far fully confirm the widespread Tibetan appreciation of it as a comparatively readable text. We do know, however, that much of the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum materials in many editions are not easily readable even by the most learned rNying ma pa scholars, often because the levels of scribal error can be very high indeed, but also because the contents were often not part of any regular curriculum. Often enough, not even the comparatively clear sDe dge can be fully understood; moreover, its frequent editorial interventions that render it comparatively more readable, by definition might also serve to conceal alternative patterns of interpretation that could be of considerable interest to scholars. Of the other surviving editions, our impression is that the Kathmandu manuscript is probably the most corrupt, sometimes a veritable jungle of scribal errors to the point of unusability; in addition, its pages are frequently broken and torn. However, the Nubri manuscript is said to be very similar to the wretchedly preserved Kathmandu manuscript, but in far better condition both physically and with regard to scribal accuracy. Nubri can thus be read more easily to show the clearly defined doxographical structure and transmissional peculiarities of this tradition. It also shares with the sDe dge xylograph the feature of a separate section at the end with additional rDzogs chen tantras. The mTshams brag manuscript from Bhutan (available in a modern photo-offset litho reproduction of the original mTshams brag monastery manuscript) is often textually quite good, and also has the most texts within it of any rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum collection, but doxographically seems to be only partially organised, as though its redactors produced it without a fully finalised doxographical program in mind. The gTing skyes edition (also available in a modern photo-offset litho reproduction of the original manuscript from gTing skyes dgon pa byang monastery), is very similar doxographically, (and very often also transmissionally) to the Rig 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu edition presented here. These two share the same consistent doxographical ordering of texts, as well as a reasonably low level of scribal errors.</p> <p>In the current context however, all editions are equally valuable potential witnesses to this ancient religious tradition. Given the recent near destruction of the entire rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum corpus, coupled with the fact that we often find numerous and substantial variants in rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum texts both transmissional (unwitting changes by copyists) and recensional (deliberate changes by editors), all editions are now invaluable sources for any research on this religious tradition, or, indeed, to any efforts to render these texts fully readable once more through careful textual editing. The well-written and attractively presented Rig 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu edition manuscripts are thus of great significance to the preservation of the whole rNying ma Tantric tradition, and it is our hope that our work in cataloguing them, among other things made with future text-critical concerns in mind, will enable future scholarship in this field to progress.</p> <p>We have taken the liberty of re-naming our collection: until now, it has been commonly known as the Waddell Manuscript, or else as the Waddell Edition of the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum, after the British officer who brought it to the U.K. However, as we move further into the twenty-first century, and now know more of the collection's background, it seems far more appropriate to name it after the famous 18th century Tibetan lama and polymath in whose honour the manuscripts appear to have been made and whose memory is pictorially celebrated with so much beauty at the outset of almost every one of its thirty surviving volumes.</p> <p>Thus, we now refer to the set as the Rig 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu Edition of the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum, or the Rig 'dzin rje Edition for short (see "Distinctive Features of the Edition").</p> <p>*Navigating the Chapters and Catalogue</p> <p>Our work was always intended as a Web publication. While it can be read like a conventional book, in a sequence of consecutive chapters, we envisage that most readers will prefer either to browse the catalogue as a reference book, or in reading the other chapters, to focus more closely on one section or another, and not necessarily to follow the order in which we have laid them out. Thus, each "chapter" or section is in some senses independent, with hyperlinks to other sections. Non-specialist readers might wish to start with "The Legacy of Rig 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu", which discusses the significance of the artwork, to peruse the "Gallery of Photographs", and to read the opening paragraph of "Distinctive Features of the Edition". Tibetanists might wish to focus on their own areas of specialism. We would like to draw the attention of textual specialists to the "Note on Transliteration", which outlines the system used in the inventory, to "The catalogue as a partial diplomatic transcription", which explains our rationale for a fully detailed diplomatic transcription, and to the comparisons between this and other editions of the rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum in, "Distinctive Features of the Edition" and "Doxographical structures in the Rig ’dzin Tshe dbang nor bu Edition of the rNying ma’i rgyud ’bum". Codicological specialists are in particular directed to the chapter on, "General information on the volumes", as well as to the specific codicological notes accompanying each volume of the catalogue. Art historians are directed to "The Legacy of Rig 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu", along with the, "Tables of Miniatures", the, "Detailed descriptions of miniatures", and the, "Gallery of Photographs".</p> <p>An advantage of a Web publication is that it provides the opportunity to update the material more regularly than is possible with conventional book publication. With this in mind, we especially welcome colleagues to send us comments which we can take into consideration when making revisions.</p> <p>The structure of the catalogue deserves some comment. On opening the catalogue, the list of volumes is visible in the upper left-hand frame. They can be imagined to be stacked as in a Tibetan library, with the end of each volume visible, and they are ordered alphabetically. To take a volume out of the “shelf”, its title is clicked on, and its contents are revealed in a list in the upper right-hand frame. To look further at any item in the list, such as an individual text, it should be clicked on, and its entry will open in the lower frame.</p> <p>Our entries for each volume begin with a *"Codicological Information" section which supplies largely codicological details relating to each volume on the decorated front folia, the size, number and condition of the folia, and any noteworthy features of the volume. The "Codicological Information" section continues with specific codicological notes which are attached to the appropriate folio/chapter locations in the catalogue. The front section of each volume entry also includes a transliteration of the title list - extant in sixteen of our volumes - of the text contents of the volume. We find these lists on cloth index leaves attached to the front folio of the volumes. Generally, they give abbreviated or short versions of the titles of each text, and occasionally, they may group together more than one text under a single summary.</p> <p>The catalogue gives individual entries for the texts within the volume concerned. Each volume is divided into a number of texts, generally in a self-evident manner. Occasionally, the boundaries of a text may not be entirely clear, and we have made case by case editorial decisions based on a number of considerations, including previous scholarship on the text(s) in question, but most importantly, making some attempt to represent what appears to be the understanding of our edition's compilers. In some cases, for instance, where we have a root text followed by a phyi ma (a "subsequent" or "further" tantric text), we have given the root text and phyi ma as separate texts, while in others, we have treated them as a single text with divisions. Generally, if our collection appears to treat them as a single text with sequential chapter numbering, the same running text title in the chapter titles, with little attention drawn to the end of the root text or the beginning of the phyi ma, and with an overall colophon at the end, we have classified them as a single text. Where they are more definitely distinguished, without running text titles or sequential chapter numbering, and with their own distinct titles and colophons, we have classified them as separate texts. There are some cases where an appropriate classification is not obvious and clearly, we may seem to impose a rather arbitrary classification on textual material which eludes it. Our definitions of "texts", however, are not intended to be definitive, let alone to impose any new structure on loosely structured or unstructured text. Above all, it should be possible to find any particular text title whether it is classified here as an independent text or a division of a text, and our catalogue has been designed with this consideration in mind.</p> <p>The probable doxographical category of each text is noted, even where this is not explicit in our edition. The catalogue of each text begins with our allocated number for the text, together with the number of chapters and/or of divisions it contains. Since our collection is incomplete and it is to be hoped that at some stage the missing volumes might be recovered, we have numbered the texts in each volume separately. We then give a “locations list” with the equivalent versions of the text within other textual collections, and numbering for the entries within the available catalogues of those collections.5 In due course, we intend to expand the list, to include the full references for the equivalent texts in the sDe dge and the Nubri editions. In some cases, this locations list is followed by a note on significant features of the text, such as notable points concerning its structure, major recensional differences between our and other editions, or discrepancies in chapter numbering etc.</p> <p>We then give the preliminary material found in each text, usually consisting of text title(s), and in many cases, a homage and an opening formula. The first text in each volume generally begins with a Tibetan transliteration of the text's Sanskrit title,6 which is followed by the Tibetan title. Most other texts in each volume begin with a cover title. This is usually a shortened version of the full Tibetan title, although it may be exactly the same as the Tibetan title, or longer than it. It is the title which would be displayed on the front cover if the text were to have its own title page. In a few cases, we do find internal title pages for a number of texts within a volume, but mostly, attention is drawn to the cover title of a text simply by presenting it in small writing.7</p> <p>The cover title is generally followed by the Sanskrit and the full Tibetan title. The "Sanskrit" title, indicated by the words, "rgya gar skad du..." ("in the Indian language"), is strictly speaking a Tibetan transcription of what the textual tradition understands the equivalent Sanskrit title for the text to be. It may or may not represent an accurate or consistent transliteration of Sanskrit into Tibetan. The Tibetan title, indicated by the words, "bod skad du..." ("in the Tibetan language"), normally follows the Sanskrit title. Rarely, there may be further titles, representing what are understood to be transcriptions of titles in other non-Tibetan languages. There are a few instances of texts which lack any obviously marked opening title, where we find the text title given in the chapter titles and perhaps in a colophon. In such cases, we have noted the opening of the text, usually containing some description of its content.</p> <p>The title list for each volume generally gives the Tibetan title, and in its absence, the cover title of the text. In the case of texts which do not give an explicit Tibetan or cover title, the title list gives a constructed title, for instance, following the title given in a terminating colophon.</p> <p>Typically, our texts follow the title(s) with a homage and often with a version of the classic opening formula used in Buddhist sūtra and tantra scriptures: "Thus have I heard, at one time..." ("'di skad bdag gis thos pa'i dus gcig na"). We give these where they occur: in due course, we intend to expand the entries for the opening formula to give the opening lines, even when a version of the classic formula does not occur. The opening formula is particularly significant since one of the polemical arguments used against rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum texts was that many of them failed to give the opening formula, thus failing to qualify them as authoritative, "Buddha word". The understanding of what constitutes "Buddha word" was less rigid in the rNying ma tradition but it is interesting to note which of their scriptures did contain the opening formula.</p> <p>In most of our texts, the preliminary materials are followed by a number of chapters, and our catalogue lists the extent of each chapter and any chapter title as given, usually at its close. In some cases, we find a more complex structure, for instance, of a number of sections each enclosing a number of chapters. Again, our catalogue attempts to faithfully render the schema through which our edition seems to structure the text. Occasionally, there may be uncertainty: sections are often marked at their ends but not at their beginnings. We have often resolved such problems but where uncertainty remains, we have noted that this is the case. Each chapter is given a number, usually corresponding to the chapter number supplied in the chapter title. In cases where chapter numbering is not given explicitly, or where there appears to be a scribal error in the chapter numbering (eg. if we find, "gnyis" where "bcu gnyis" would be expected), we give the expected number together with a question mark to draw attention to the lack of clarity in the text. However, where, for instance, a text begins at Chapter thirty-three and continues its sequential numbering from that point, or where all editions of a text share an unusual numbering sequence, which may not be a result of scribal error, we preserve that feature in our numbering.</p> <p>There are instances of texts which end abruptly at the end of the final chapter, but we more typically find one or more colophons at the end of a text. Sometimes, after the end of the last chapter and before the colophon(s), there will be some further text which completes the narrative but which is not classified as belonging to a chapter. Where such text is of a relatively short length (no more than about a folio), we have included it in full under the label of, "postscript".<sup>8</sup> Thus, our catalogue generally includes in full all the information given before the first chapter and after the final chapter title.</p> <p>There are frequently two types of colophon to be found after the chapters and postscript(s). There is usually a terminating colophon which marks the end of the text. While it may minimally simply end with, "The End" ("rdzogs so"), frequently it also repeats the text title which has finished, and very occasionally, it may also contain an eulogy of the text. Then we often find a colophon which states the circumstances of the text's translation from Sanskrit and/or its transmission through a lineage of Tibetan teachers. In some cases, these two types of colophons are melded into one, and occasionally, we may find a colophon which contains other types of information. We therefore give two types of colophons: terminating colophons, and bibliographic and informative colophons, which generally give transmissional details but which may contain further information beyond that within the straightforward terminating colophons.</p> <p>Along with the colophon(s), there may also be formulae for sealing the text, or various kinds of good wishes and aspirations expressed at the end. We have included these under a category of, "Seals and Good Wishes".</p> <p>Texts, colophons and seals which contain a identification that the text is a gter ma (a revealed text) are marked.</p> <p>In some volumes, after the texts are completed, there may be further colophons and/or seals concluding the volume as a whole: these are noted in a volume conclusion section.</p> <p>Throughout the catalogue, there are several kinds of notes, including notes on amendments, additions and corrections to the text, on marginal notes, on probable spelling and other scribal errors. We have also supplied codicological notes, for instance, on handwriting, ink colour and smudging, and any writing such as apparent doodles, which do not appear to fit with the content of our texts. While notes which have significance for the textual content are always visible, one can choose whether or not to view the more specialist or minor notes while browsing the catalogue. Such “non-visible” notes are marked by a Tibetan style of asterisk, and will become visible with a “mouse-over”.9 The specifically codicological notes can be clicked on within the catalogue at the appropriate place, and, apart from notes which might affect a few syllables of text (eg. if there is a single hole in the sheet where some syllables from a chapter title occur), they are also gathered together with descriptions of the first few folia in the Codicological Information section at the front of each volume entry (see above). Abbreviations are marked, and can be checked against the "List of abbreviations used in the edition".</p> <p>1 At the British Library, the collection is classified as, "RNYING MA'I RGYUD 'BUM MSS", with the pressmark, OR15217. The volume at the Bodleian Library (Volume Ka) is at the shelfmark, MS. Tib.a.24(R). The title folios (to Volume Ga and Volume A) held at the Victoria and Albert Museum have the Accession no.s: IM 318-1920 and IM 317-1920. Thanks to Sam van Schaik and Burkhard Quessel of the British Library for bringing to our attention the location of these two title folios. Waddell (1912: 87, 99 [Item 5]) makes reference to the twenty-nine volumes now held at the British Library (formerly at the India Office Library) and includes them in a list of textual items brought back in the expedition, although he makes no mention of Volume Ka, which was acquired by the Bodleian Library in 1909. The Victoria and Albert Museum acquired the two title folios in 1920, at an auction of items from Waddell's private collection.</p> <p>2 We would be very grateful for any information or even clues which might give us any indication of the possible whereabouts of our missing volumes, or which might at least more clearly illuminate the historical facts. We have already searched for and examined promising items from within the substantial Waddell materials held at the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, but sadly they turned out to have no relation to this rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum collection.</p> <p>3 If any such manuscript editions have survived, they have not, as yet, been made publicly available.</p> <p>4 An earlier copy of the sDe dge printed version from the collection of Giuseppe Tucci is held in Rome. Tucci was given it as a gift by the then very young Dalai Lama, when visiting Lhasa before the Chinese invasion. It remains for scholars to ascertain definitively whether there are any significant differences between the pre-Chinese Rome copy and the new printings from contemporary Tibet, but our impression so far is that there are not any significant differences.</p> <p>5 See Bibliography for the key to the abbreviations used in these locations lists.</p> <p>6 There are exceptions: Volume Pha begins with the gsang ba'i snying po, which famously has the Tibetan title alone, without giving any Sanskrit. Volume Cha begins with a phyi ma to the final text in the previous volume, so again, we lack a full Sanskrit title.</p> <p>7 We also find instances of ornamental bracketing of the cover title. See, "General Information on the Volumes".</p> <p>8 Where we find extended text without chapter titles, we note that the text has one or more unnumbered, untitled section(s) or chapter(s).</p> <p>9 Note that if the security settings on your Web browser’s Internet options are set to “high”, it may be necessary to re-set them to “medium” in order to view these “non-visible” notes with a “mouse-over”.</p> |
| spellingShingle | Cantwell, C Mayer, R Tsewang Norbu NGB |
| title | Tsewang Norbu NGB |
| title_full | Tsewang Norbu NGB |
| title_fullStr | Tsewang Norbu NGB |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tsewang Norbu NGB |
| title_short | Tsewang Norbu NGB |
| title_sort | tsewang norbu ngb |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT cantwellc tsewangnorbungb AT mayerr tsewangnorbungb |