Gdams ngag mdzod Research Department Report

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Overview of the གདམས་ངག་མཛོད་ Shechen Edition, 1999


Table Showing Relative Size of Volumes

Volume # Pages Folios Relative Size
Vol 1 478 239 14th
Vol 2 497 249 12th
Vol 3 544 272 6th
Vol 4 646 323 3rd
Vol 5 506 253 11th
Vol 6 424 212 18th-smallest
Vol 7 542 271 7th
Vol 8 486 243 13th
Vol 9 526 263 9th
Vol 10 552 276 5th
Vol 11 530 265 8th
Vol 12 774 387 1st-largest
Vol 13 454 227 16th
Vol 14 446 223 17th
Vol 15 626 313 4th
Vol 16 510 255 10th
Vol 17 470 235 15th
Vol 18 630 315 2nd


The 18 volumes in nine sections:

  • gsang sngags rnying ma
  • bka' gdams
  • sa skya lam 'bras
  • mar pa bka' brgyud
  • shangs pa bka' brgyud
  • zhi byed dang gcod
  • dus 'khor dang o rgyan bsnyen sgrub
  • khri skor sna tshogs
  • jo nang khrid brgya dang dkar chag brgyud yig

Introduction

The gdams ngag mdzod is available in three printings:[1]

  • Gdams ngag mdzod Kundeling Printing - W21811 in 12 volumes in Delhi by Ngawang Gyaltsen and Ngawang Lungtok, 1971-1972. There were a few texts and pages missing from this edition.
  • Gdams ngag mdzod Dilgo Khyentse Printing - W20877. 18 volume pothi format edition published in Paro, Bhutan, 1979-1981. This contained several of the rare texts missing from the Kundeling printing.
  • Gdams ngag mdzod Shechen Printing - W23605 in 18 pothi volumes was produced in 1999 under Tsadra patronage. This is the most complete and contained the few missing pages and texts that had been found since the 1979-1981 version. Produced in manuscript.

As a survey of the gdams ngag mdzod has been compiled by Person:Brunnhölzl, K. already, this report will summarize those findings and supplement them with statistics from a complete catalog of the gdams ngag mdzod, created by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department durring the months of May, June, July and August of 2010. This report will also review some of the problems with cataloging the gdams ngag mdzod and describe Tsadra's catalog in some detail by referring to the Gdams ngag mdzod DPL, a set of sortable tables of information pertaining to the catalog.

The 18 volumes (ཀ་ through ཚ་) of the gdams ngag mdzod are divided into nine sections corresponding to the "eight great conveyances that are lineages of attainment" (sgrub brgyud shing rta chen po brgyad)[2] plus a volume of Jo nang pa texts and two volumes of assorted khrid yig. Thus we are presented with (in order) two volumes of gsang sngags rnying ma, two volumes of bka' gdams, two volumes of sa skya lam 'bras, four volumes of mar pa bka' brgyud, two volumes of shangs pa bka' brgyud, two volumes of zhi byed and gcod yul, and one volume for both dus 'khor and o rgyan bsnyen sgrub, rounding out the eight lineages. At the end (volumes 16-18) we have two more volumes of khri skor sna tshogs and then one final volume shared by the jo nang khrid brgya and the dkar chag (catalogue for the whole mdzod) and brgyud yig (lineage of transmission).

All of the previous catalogs of the Shechen and Paro editions of the gdams ngag mdzod record 392 or 393 text titles with page numbers for each particular volume (i.e., not sequential throughout the 18 volumes). However, upon further inspection, many of these are simply section headings. Previous outlines and catalogs are sometimes simply giving page numbers for sections of volumes that contain many texts. At times this is obvious, as when the "title" is simply an indicator of several topics. However, other sections give only the title of the first text, leading one to assume that the text listed is perhaps fifty folios long, when in fact there are ten other texts found in that page range. We continue to find more texts, and at the time of this writing, we have identified 91 more texts than those listed in the TBRC outline. Texts range from 1 page to 157 pages and vary greatly in content, less so in terms of formatting. Most pages contain 7 lines each uniformly across all volumes. There is an average of 267.83 folios per volume, with the largest volume being number 12 (ན་ of the shangs pa bka' brgyud) with 387 folios and the smallest being number 6 (ཆ་ of the sa skya lam 'bras) with 212 folios.

Person:Brunnhölzl, K.'s Survey of the gdams ngag mdzod clearly identifies the contents of the gdams ngag mdzod and classifies them into eleven sections:[3]

:1) Sadhanas, abhisheka manuals, ritual instructions, and instruction manuals related to deities (including zhi byed and gcod)

1765 folios
2) Sampannakrama practice manuals (Six Dharmas of Naropa/Niguma/6 branch-yoga Kalacakra)
463 folios (131/160/162)
3) Mahamudra instructions
462 folios
4) Dzogchen instructions
379 folios
5) Sakya instructions (lam ‘bras/zhen pa bzhi bral)
326 folios (300/26)
6) Jonang instructions
191 folios
7) Shangpa instructions
156 folios
8) Blo sbyong
156 folios
9) Instructions related to Bodhipathapradipa
137 folios
10) rdo rje gsum gyi bsnyen sgrub
60 folios
11) Miscellaneous
691 folios

These can be further summarized into four categories:

1) Sadhanas, abhisheka manuals, ritual instructions, and instruction manuals related to utpattikrama and sampannakrama practices (Six Dharmas of Naropa/Niguma/6 branch-yoga Kalacakra)
2228 folios
2) Kadampa, Sakya, Jonang, Shangpa, and bsnyen sgrub instructions
1026 folios
2) Mahamudra and Dzogchen instructions
841 folios
4) Miscellaneous
691 folios

Given that the above category (2) also contains a certain number of instructions related to category (1) and that category (4) contains some liturgical materials too, the vast majority of the texts in the gdams ngag mdzod are of liturgical and ritualistic nature."[4]

Dr. Brunnhölzl's evaluation is clear and correct. The vast majority, more than 46% of the folios of the entire mdzod are devoted to liturgical and ritual texts. Taking into consideration his note above, something closer to 65% of the entire mdzod consists of texts of a "liturgical and ritualistic nature." More precise numbers for the Shechen edition will be available when the catalog of the entire edition is completed.

Discussion of Content

The first thing to note about the content of the gdams ngag mdzod as a whole is that each section begins with some core root texts of a lineage and then often proceeds with commentaries upon those, and then continues with various types of khrid yig, sadhanas, abhisheka manuals, ritual instructions, and instruction manuals related to deities. The overwhelming majority of texts in the entire gdams ngag mdzod are khrid yig, "guidebooks" describing specific practices. However, this term is somewhat ambiguous as there are many types of khrid yig. The large part of these in the gdams ngag mdzod apear to be focused on practice instructions, manuals for giving empowerments and initiations, and detailed descriptions of highly esoteric rituals. Instead of being an encyclopedia that provides its reader with an overview of key texts from each tradition included in the mdzod, we find a grouping of rarefied texts and technical esoteric contents that Kongtrul and other collators decided to include, probably because their lineages were in danger of dying out. In his article "Tibetan Technologies of the Self, Part II" Matthew Kapstein writes: "In an earlier article, I surveyed in brief the structure of ’Jam-mgon Kong-sprul’s encyclopædic treatment of these, the Treasury of Instructions (Gdams ngag mdzod)."[5] Unfortunately, when you actually read this article, you find that the word "brief" overpowers any readings of the term "surveyed". Kapstein spend more time on the concept of "gdams ngag" itself, but we may note this statement: " 'The Store of Instructions' provides encyclopedic and balanced treatment of all of the major Tibetan Buddhist gdams ngag traditions and several of the more important minor ones, and preserves scores of instructional texts by some of the most famous Tibetan authors as well as by many who are less well-known."[6] This statement is of course 'true'; however, it might lead one to think that this "nonpartisan" collection is something any reasonable person would create if tasked with the project of providing a survey of the main traditions of Buddhist practice in Tibet. That is, we might be tempted to see the gdams ngag mdzod in a similar way to a modern encyclopedia or collection of key writings from any period of history or culture. Such a collection would attempt a balanced overview of each tradition including the most famous texts, the most influential and some of the lesser known but important for the tradition's history or practice. However, in fact, the gdams ngag mdzod is more like a collection of eclectic and rare technical manuals. The beginning of each section corresponding to one of the eight great lineages does actually provide some of the main texts actually used by a lineage as their "source" texts, but then often the bulk of the remaining texts are not texts suitable to serve as representatives of the tradition. This is not because they are not excellent examples of the tradition, but because of their unique specialized content and the restrictions placed on them by the tradition. Only very well-practiced adepts from said tradition could put these texts to use, let alone read or translate them. The gdams ngag mdzod is an amazing collection; however, it is not really a collection of texts representing the eight great lineages in a general way or even in an accessible way. If one looks at each pair of volumes associated with a lineage, one sees a collection of technical manuals relevant only to specialized populations, some of which may not even exist anymore. This leads to a host of problems for anyone interested in a detailed study or translation of the gdams ngag mdzod. Not only would it be extremely difficult to find living authorities on some of the texts, it would be an affront to the traditions themselves to translate many of the texts, and many others could only be translated by those who had undergone special initiations to do so, initiations which, one might find it difficult to find truly qualified masters to perform.

Cataloging Process

The Tsadra Foundation Research Department chose to catalog the Shechen edition of the gdams ngag mdzod, using MediaWiki software. This allowed for unique web pages to be created for each text in the mdzod and collection of metadata about each text to be streamlined and standardized. The catalog is based on the earlier efforts of those who outlined the Paro edition of the gdams ngag mdzod: TBRC's outline, Person:Barron, R.'s catalog of the mdzod, Person:Brunnhölzl, K.'s survey of the mdzod. An outline of the Shechen edition published electronically on rywiki.tsadra.org was also consulted. The metadata collection process was loosely based on the work done on THLIB.org's Tibetan Canons Project, which catalogs several versions of the Kangyur and Tengyur. Following their lead, we endeavored to produce "deep cataloging" of each text, which includes typing the colophons, describing the pechas, and so on. Each volume of the gdams ngag mdzod was analyzed and each text title found was recorded in both Tibetan script and Wylie transliteration. Along with other titles found in the dkar chag's at the start of each volume, colophons and information pertaining to the classification of each text, pagination, and line frequency was recorded in both Wylie and Tibetan script. Citations for each text were created, along with a host of other bibliographic data, which can be searched easily on the gdams ngag mdzod DPL page. Where possible, persons associated with the text were recorded, also in both Wylie and Tibetan script. There is a unique webpage outlining the whole of the Shechen edition, a page outlining each volume, and two pages for each text, one for the Tibetan Script of the text and one for the cataloging information, which includes both Tibetan script and Wylie transliteration. Along with each of these, comes a host of browse-able categories of information, including author lists, translators, and scribes that allow you to see all the texts associated with a particular person in one place.

Three catalogers with graduate level knowledge of Tibetan worked for three months on the project, although not all catalogers were full time and several weeks of vacation time were taken during the period. They made use of the Shechen edition of the gdams ngag mdzod downloaded from TBRC.org. Marcus Perman designed and directed the project and Tim Walton and Adam Krug poured over each text and entered colophons and other pertinent data into the templates created in MediaWiki. Research was done primarily online, with some reference made to texts such as Person:Stearns, C.' Luminous Lives, Person:Harding, S.'s work on Ma cig and Kongtrul, as well as Thupten Jinpa's The Book of Kadam. Colophons and titles were recorded in Extended Wylie Transliteration System and in Unicode Tibetan script. Persons identified in the text as creators, translators, editors, etc. were recorded according to the spellings given in the texts, with their more commonly known names given (when known) in parentheses. The system set in place required the creation of unique web pages in both Tibetan script and Extended Wylie for all people and texts. Where authorship was unclear or contested, reference to the above mentioned texts, surveys and outlines was pursued. Questions and issues for further research were collected and organized by area of specialty in the hopes that Tsadra Fellows and other scholars could be consulted.

One of the most difficult issues facing a catalog of this kind is classification of texts in terms of topics or subject headings. Each lineage of texts has its own indigenous classification system such that even if one where to classify a particular text as "khrid yig" (guidebook or instruction manual) the meaning would not necessarily transfer across volumes within the gdams ngag mdzod. Each of the lineages represented has its own system of subclassifications and genres and so one can only repeat Kapstein's note: "Because all of the traditions mentioned above have generated abundant literature devoted to their own distinctive gdams ngag, including both texts immediately concerned with the details of practical instruction and systematic treatises that attempt to formulate the distinctive perspective of a particular gdams ngag tradition in its relation to Buddhist doctrine broadly speaking, it will not be possible to attempt to survey here the extraordinary volume of materials that are illustrative of these many differing traditions."[7] In order to introduce some order, the classification scheme used in the texts themselves, as recorded on the left and right edges of the pechas of texts in each volume, was used to provide scholars with some sense of the content of texts. One can easily browse these here: A sortable table of the contents of the gdams ngag mdzod. Richard Barron also attempted to introduce order by classifying all the texts in terms of three categories: instruction manual, empowerment manual, and liturgy. Of course, many texts actually include some of all three. The difficulty in classifying Tibetan texts in general was attested to at the recent IATS Seminar (2010) in which a whole day's panel was devoted to the discussion of genre and the fact that many Tibetan texts fit in several genres at once. In any case, all texts were also cataloged using Barron's system, again simply to give at least a hint of organization to an otherwise vast and unwieldy assortment of texts.

In a best case scenario, one would need a specialist from each tradition to catalog each section of the mdzod, because only those scholars would be able to untie the knots of complexity that are the provenance of each text. Although at first glance it appears that most texts in the mdzod have clear title pages, the fact is that many texts lack both title pages and clear colophons ending the text. It is possible that some texts escaped the notice of Tsadra catalogers because they may have had little or no heading at all to signify their start or end. However, the main issue encountered by catalogers of the mdzod was the lack of clarity in the dkar chags and colophons and difficulties arising from attempts to detail the authors and contributors to the texts. While the first text in a volume might be obvious, the next might simply provide a list of lineage holders at the end without comment as to who actually composed the text. Many texts have no colophons at all and in those instances, other specialists have to be consulted as to the author's traditionally attributed. Furthermore, some texts are well known to scholars and there is debate as to who actually composed the text (which was noted in the catalog when found). Our small group of three graduate level Tibetologists were simply not up to the task of divining the information for some of the texts in the mdzod. However, the overall benefit of the current catalog is that it far surpasses any other catalog in detail, and also provides a space for each text and each section to be examined by anyone who wishes to study the content of the mdzod. We have also managed to pull together a partial list of translations of texts in the mdzod. Furthermore, the catalog is an editable document, one that specialists from the field can modify as needed. Publishing the catalog as a wiki allows for collaboration that should overcome any mistakes and problems in the catalog over time. There is even space in the wiki for discussion of each text and it is hoped that people might use the catalog itself as a place to start research, discussion, and translation of texts in the gdams ngag mdzod. Furthermore, this model, should it prove fruitful, is one that could be easily modified for use in future projects.

Person:Perman, M.
Director of Research
Tsadra Foundation
August 24, 2010

Notes

  1. ↑ E. Gene Smith. Personal communication, January 25, 2010.
  2. ↑ Kapstein's translation.
  3. ↑ Note that Brunnhölzl's survey was based on the Paro edition. The Shechen edition is basically a reprint of the Paro edition and so his survey applies almost exactly to the Shechen edition as well.
  4. ↑ See Person:Brunnhölzl, K.'s Survey of the gdams ngag mdzod. Unpublished report for Tsadra Foundation, July 2010.
  5. ↑ This would be “gDams-ngag: Tibetan Technologies of the Self,” pages 275-289 in Roger Jackson and José Cabezón, eds., Tibetan Literature: Studies in Genre. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 1995.
  6. ↑ Ibid 280.
  7. ↑ Ibid. 280.


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