The Annals of Kokonor by Sum pa mkhan po Ye shes dpal ‘byor Revisited

Abstract

Goals. The article provides a historiography of studies dealing with the famous TibetoMongolian scholar Sum pa mkhan po Ye shes dpal ‘byor, introduces one of his important works — The Annals of Kokonor — and presents a translation of its first chapter. Materials. The paper investigates collected works (gsung ‘bum) of Sum pa mkhan po stored at the Center of Oriental Manuscripts and Xylographs affiliated to the Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies (Siberian Branch of the RAS). Results. The Annals of Kokonor (Tib. Mtsho sngon gyi lo rgyus) is a text from Volume Two of Sum pa mkhan po’s gsung ‘bum, it comprises 19 large format folios. The treatise consists of four chapters, each representing a particular literary genre. Chapter One critically examines two old legends about the origin of Kokonor Lake. Chapter Two covers a religious and a secular history of Tibet and Kokonor from 1612 to 1786. Chapter Three contains a highly ornate description of the Kokonor Region, while Chapter Four narrates about the happiness and pleasure of Kokonor inhabitants who used to live according to the basic precepts of Buddhism. The closing part gives historical accounts of Dzungaria and China, as well as describes the geography of the region. Accordingly, the text can be viewed from different perspectives — those of history, religion, folklore, geography and poetry as well. There is one Russian translation by Ven. Bidiya Dandaron. However, that was not a scholarly edition and had just a small circulation, thus remaining unnoticed by most Tibetologists. The paper argues that the mentioned translation — although constituting an important contribution to the studies on Sum pa Mkhan po — is outdated by now, and a new critical edition and scholarly translation of Sum pa Mkhan po’s Annals of Kokonor is required.

Keywords

• sum pa mkhan po ye shes dpal ‘byor
• history of kokonor
• tibet
• buddhism