Sources of Tibetan Tradition

Kurtis R. Schaeffer, Matthew T. Kapstein, Gray Tuttle, Kurtis Schaeffer, Matthew T. Kapstein, Gray Tuttle

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9780231509787
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Central Asian History
• Index: History

The most comprehensive collection of Tibetan works in a Western language, this volume illuminates the complex historical, intellectual, and social development of Tibetan civilization from its earliest beginnings to the modern period. Including more than 180 representative writings, Sources of Tibetan Tradition spans Tibet's vast geography and long history, presenting for the first time a diversity of works by religious and political leaders; scholastic philosophers and contemplative hermits; monks and nuns; poets and artists; and aristocrats and commoners. The selected readings reflect the profound role of Buddhist sources in shaping Tibetan culture while illustrating other major areas of knowledge. Thematically varied, they address history and historiography; political and social theory; law; medicine; divination; rhetoric; aesthetic theory; narrative; travel and geography; folksong; and philosophical and religious learning, all in relation to the unique trajectories of Tibetan civil and scholarly discourse. The editors begin each chapter with a survey of broader social and cultural contexts and introduce each translated text with a concise explanation. Concluding with writings that extend into the early twentieth century, this volume offers an expansive encounter with Tibet's exceptional intellectual heritage.

PART I

Political Expansion and the Beginnings of Tibetan Buddhist Culture

(SEVENTH TO TENTH CENTURIES)

Chapter 1

TIBET IN MEDIEVAL CHINESE, ISLAMIC, AND WESTERN SOURCES

Tibet’s entry into world history begins with the unification of the Tibetan kingdom during the early seventh century and its subsequent expansion throughout large parts of Central Asia.¹ The earliest Tibetan writings, selections from which will be presented in the chapters that follow, and the histories of Tibet’s neighbors concur in placing Tibet’s rise in this period. The major powers established in East, West, and Central Asia at the time were set upon a collision course, for Tibet’s growth corresponded to that of China’s Tang dynasty (618–907), to the spread of Islam and the Arab conquests in the Iranian world that followed (633–751), and to the emergence of a powerful Uighur Turkish empire (742–848) embracing large parts of the Mongolian steppe north of the territories controlled by Tibet.

Key elements of this history form the focal points for the following three chapters, which treat the rise of the Tibetan empire from a variety of perspectives gleaned from non-Tibetan sources and from the surviving Tibetan annals, inscriptions, and edicts of imperial times. A brief review of some of the important names and events discussed here will aid the reader in comprehending this material.

The rulers of the Tibetan empire, who were known by the title Tsenpo, hailed from the royal line of the region of Yarlung, in southern Tibet. Under Namri Löntsen, toward the beginning of the seventh century, Yarlung consolidated its hold over much of Central Tibet after the defeat of a rival, the Zingpojé, or “Warlord,” who held sway in the area of what is today Lhasa (see chapter 2). Namri Löntsen’s son and successor, Songtsen Gampo (reigned ca. 617–649/650), began a far-ranging series of campaigns, conquering the kingdom of Zhangzhung in western Tibet, dominating Nepal, vanquishing the Azha (or, in Chinese, Tuyuhun) kingdom in the pastoral lands of Qinghai, and threatening Chinese domination in strategically important areas of the so-called Silk Road. One result was the formation of the first sustained diplomatic contacts between Tang China and Tibet, and the dispatch of a Chinese princess, Wencheng (d. 680), to marry the crown prince, though she became the bride of Songtsen Gampo instead. Songtsen is widely celebrated as the father of Tibetan civilization and is credited with the adoption of a writing system, the establishment of a legal code, and the introduction of Buddhism (though historical evidence suggests that Buddhism had at best only a minor role in Tibet during his reign).

Although Songtsen Gampo’s successors continued to be enthroned as Tsenpo, for some decades following his death the real power was in the hands of the family of his preeminent minister, Gar Tongtsen, under whom the empire continued to expand, particularly northward in Central Asia (modern Xinjiang). The Gar were at last overthrown by Songtsen’s great-grandson, Düsong (676–704), who extended Tibetan power in the southeast, pressing upon the Nanzhao kingdom of Yunnan. In the aftermath of Düsong’s reign, his mother, Tri Malö, ruled as empress dowager, until the deceased Tsenpo’s younger son was granted the regnal title Tri Detsuktsen in 712. He had been married to a second Chinese princess, Jincheng, in 710, and she, until her death in 739, appears to have played an influential role in promoting Chinese and Buddhist culture among the Tibetan aristocracy.

Tri Detsuktsen’s rule ended in 755 (coincidentally near the time of the An Lushan rebellion in China) with his assassination during a ministerial coup d’état. His thirteen-year-old son, Tri Songdetsen (742–c. 797), was placed on the throne, but only came to rule in his own right in about 761. Close to this time, he appears to have discovered and adopted the Buddhist religion, but he maintained as well the martial traditions of the Tibetan empire: the Chinese capital, Chang’an (modern Xi’an), fell to his troops in 763, and although the occupation of the city was short-lived, the Tibetans continued to exercise power in regions to the north and west for nearly a century. In particular, the economically and culturally vital Gansu corridor was contested, with the Tibetans controlling the important Dunhuang oasis from the 780s until the mid-ninth century. Tibet’s dominance of Dunhuang, a major Buddhist center, had significant repercussions for later cultural history; the documents and artwork discovered there are among our primary sources for knowledge of this period in both Tibetan and Chinese history.

Tri Songdetsen’s strongly pro-Buddhist policies were continued under his son Tri Desongtsen (r. 804–815) and grandson Tri Tsukdetsen (also known as Relpachen, r. 815–838). The latter succeeded, after decades of intermittent war and failed peace treaties with Tang China, in negotiating a more durable peace in 821, but the stabilization of the Tibetan empire seems also to have marked the beginning of its decline. Tri Tsukdetsen was assassinated and replaced by his younger brother Üdumtsen, who died, perhaps also assassinated, in 842. Although the dynasty of the Tsenpo continued to occupy the Tibetan throne, the empire was now collapsing and soon lost control of the territories it had won from China in Gansu and its possessions in northern Central Asia. Üdumtsen, known to later history by the sobriquet Lang Darma, was recalled, whether rightly or wrongly is unknown, as a persecutor of Buddhism, and his assassin thought to have been a prominent Buddhist monk named Lhalung Pelgi Dorjé. Whatever the facts, the legend contained an important kernel of truth, for with the decline of the Tibetan empire, imperial patronage of religion was lost, and Buddhism in Tibet subsequently declined as well.

While documents relating to this history, primarily in its political aspects, are presented in the first three chapters, the two final chapters of part 1 detail cultural and religious developments associated with the Tibetan empire and its immediate aftermath.

Works in the Tibetan language are privileged throughout this volume, but early views of Tibet as seen through the eyes of neighboring, sometimes rival civilizations, particularly China and the Islamic world, are nevertheless pertinent. Historical records from these lands not only provide us with some idea of how Tibet was preceived, whether accurately or fancifully, by other medieval peoples, but also later became in some cases sources for Tibetans themselves. Starting from the Yuan dynasty in China (1279–1358), for instance, we find Tibetan historians referring on occasion to the annals of the Tang dynasty for their discussions of that period, as in the fourteenth-century Red Book (Debter marpo) of Tshelpa Kunga Dorjé (1309–64). And in modern Tibetan historical writing from the mid-twentieth century on, as seen in the work of figures such as Gendün Chöpel (1903–51) and Tsepön W. D. Shakabpa (1908–89), there has been an awareness of and interest in the Islamic sources as well, though relying on Western-language translations of these works.

The chapter concludes with a brief presentation of medieval Western European sources on Tibet. These belong to a somewhat later period, and chronologically correspond with the contents of parts 2 and 3. Because the present chapter contains all the other non-Tibetan sources given in the volume, however, this small selection of twelfth- and thirteenth-century texts is included here as well. MTK

THE TANG ANNALS ON TIBET

The important early notices about Tibet that follow are based on Chinese records compiled over the course of the Tang dynasty’s (618–907) relations with the Tibetan empire, which flourished for some two centuries beginning with the reign of Songtsen Gampo (ca. 617–650). Even though the final assembly of these records postdates the Tibetan imperial period, Chinese historical writing relied closely on the detailed official accounts of events at the imperial court, so these writings were based on the reports about Tibet prepared by the Tang-dynasty record keepers themselves. As can be seen in the brief references to religious beliefs they contain, changes over time within Tibetan society, such as the adoption of Buddhism, were duly recorded by the Chinese. However, one must take a critical view of these documents, which are limited by the information available to their authors and the biases of the authors themselves, who represented official Chinese views. Their effort to situate Tibetan affairs within the framework of China’s historical relations with its neighbors, for instance, is not widely accepted as valid historiography today, especially for the early periods discussed in the first selection, when Tibetan peoples seem not yet to have had direct relations with the Chinese cultural sphere.

Much attention will be given below to the Tibetan invasion of the Chinese heartland—the first, and shortest lived, such successful invasion by an Inner Asia people of the Chinese capital, Chang’an, where the Tibetans briefly placed a ruler of their own choice on the throne. This was made possible by the disorder that followed China’s An Lushan rebellion of 755. Peace was restored between the two empires by the treaty of 783, described below, which established their borders near the current frontiers of Qinghai and Gansu provinces (where Tibetans and Chinese have lived in close proximity since imperial times). Many of the places described in this account (including Anxi, Ganzhou, Suzhou, and Lanzhou) were located in the Gansu corridor, an extension of Chinese territory into Central Asia that protected the path of the Silk Road as it stretched west. Since trade along the Silk Road was so vital to the economy of the times, much of the fighting during this period was over control of this critical terrain. (The Chinese term for the region is Hexi, describing the area “west of the [Yellow] River,” that is, west of the city of Lanzhou, in Gansu province.) The peace established in 783 did not last very long, however, necessitating a more durable treaty that came into effect in 821/2 (see chapter 3).

The selections given here are taken from the pioneering translation of S. W. Bushell, first published in 1880. It has been edited and modernized here, with reference to the posthumous French translation of the explorer and sinologist Paul Pelliot (1878–1945). Notes and bracketed comments have been supplied by the editors (GT/MTK). The parts of the text in roman type are drawn from the Old Tang Annals (Jiu Tang Shu), compiled in 945, while the italic font indicates the commentary and additions of the New Tang Annals (Xin Tang Shu), compiled in 1061. Where Tibetan names and terms are recognizable, we have given them in brackets following the Chinese. GT

ORIGINS AND CUSTOMS OF THE TIBETANS

Tibet² is situated eight thousand li west of Chang’an [present-day Xi’an]. It was formerly, during the Han dynasty, the territory of the western Qiang.³ The original source from which the natives sprang is unknown.

Formerly the Western Qiang comprised a hundred and fifty tribes, scattered over the lands of the He, Yellow, Yangzi, and Min [rivers]. Included among them were the Fa Qiang and Tangmao, who, however, had then no intercourse with China. They were settled to the west of the Xizhi River. Their ancestor (founder of the dynasty), named Huti Puxiye, was a powerful warrior, and most politic, and by degrees united the different Qiang tribes, and ruled over their territory. Fan resembles fa in sound, hence his descendants acquired the name of Tufan [Tibetan], their surname being Pusuye.

Some say that they are descended from Tufa Liluku of the Southern Liang dynasty.⁴ Liluku had a son named Fanni. When Liluku died, Fanni was still a boy, and his younger brother Noutan succeeded to the throne. He appointed Fanni governor of Anxi. During the Later Wei dynasty, in the first year of the period Shenjui (414 C.E.), Noutan was overthrown by Qifochipan, of the Western Qin dynasty. Fanni collected the remnant of the people and submitted to Zuqu Mengsun, by whom he was appointed Governor of Linsong (Ganzhou). When Mengsun in turn was slain, Fanni at the head of his people fled westward across the Yellow River, and beyond Jishi founded a state in the midst of the Qiang, with territory extending over a thousand li. Fanni was celebrated for his power and wisdom, and all the Qiang tribes placed themselves under his rule, and, being governed mildly and justly, ran to his standard as they would have to market. Then he changed his surname to Supuye and adopted Tufa as the name of his state, which became afterward corrupted into Tufan [Tibet]. His descendants increased in number and power, and continued to acquire land and fame till their territory became of vast extent. During the Zhou (557–581) and Sui dynasties (581–618), the Qiang tribes still blocked the way, and they did not communicate with China.

The natives style their sovereign Zanpu [Tib. Tsenpo, which term will be used hereafter]; the ministers of state, called “great lun” [Tib. lön] and “small lun,” are appointed to control state affairs.

They call a famous hero zan, and man pu, hence the title of the sovereign, Zanpu [Tsenpo]. The consort of the Tsenpo is styled momeng. The officials include one chief minister, called lunche (Tib. lönchen), with one a...

Table of contents

• Cover 
• Half title
• Series Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents 
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Transcription and Transliteration Conventions
• List of Contributors
• Dates in Tibetan History and Key Events in Neighboring Lands
• Maps
• Part I. Political Expansion and the Beginnings of Tibetan Buddhist Culture (Seventh to Tenth Centuries)
• Part II. Tibet in Fragments: From Empire to Monastic Principalities (Eleventh to Twelfth Centuries)
• Part III. The Age of Monastic and Aristocratic Hegemonies: The Florescence of Tibetan Culture (Thirteenth to Sixteenth Centuries)
• Part IV. The Age of Centralization: The Rise of the Ganden Government and Its Bid for Cultural Hegemony (Seventeenth to Twentieth Centuries)
• Part V. Expanding Horizons in the Early Twentieth Century
• Credits
• For Further Reading
• Index