Oriental Studies (Jul 2022)
Sūtra of Eight Luminous of Heaven and Earth as a Source on Tibetan Pantheon
Abstract
Introduction. A Tibetan version of the apocryphal Sūtra of Eight Luminous of Heaven and Earth to have been included in Gzungs-′dus and Mdo-mangs collections of minor non-canonical texts is a ritual text containing lists of various supernatural beings of Tibetan religious system. Some of these cannot be found in Chinese or Indian traditions and obviously have Tibetan pre-Buddhist roots. This version of the Sūtra serves to neutralize supernatural beings mentioned in the text via reciting their names. It is also represented by an Oirat translation made by Jaya Paṇḍita Nam-mkha′ rgya-mtsho (1599–1662). Goals. The article aims to analyze lists of supernatural beings which supposedly have Tibetan origin and differ in Tibetan and Oirat versions. Two texts — the Tibetan version from Gzungs-′dus collection and the Oirat translation by Jaya Paṇḍita Nam-mkha′ rgya-mtsho — are used as main sources. A gter-ma text of incense (Tib. bsang) offering dedicated to this Sūtra and Chapter 31 of Vaidurya-dkar po containing materials on earth lords (Tib. sa-bdag) serve as complementary sources for comparative analysis. Results. The two abovementioned versions have differences in lists of nāgas, deities and earth lords belonging to pre-Buddhist religious system. It is proposed that Jaya Paṇḍita had used some other Tibetan text of the Sūtra (now extant) which differed from the version included in Gzungs-′dus. Correspondences between some names in the Oirat translation and the gter-ma text by Nyang-ral Nyi-ma ′od-zer (Eastern Tibet) make it possible to conclude that the extant Tibetan version used by Jaya Paṇḍita could have also been composed in the same region. All names from the additional list of earth lords’ names found only in the Tibetan version of the Sūtra and missing in Oirat text can be identified through Chapter 31 of Vaidurya-dkar po, therefore the paper proposes this composition authored by sde-srid Sangs-rgyas rgya-mtsho could have also been used by compilers after the mid-to-late 17th century during long editing processes experienced by the Tibetan text of the Sūtra.
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