Reviews Of Diffeent Books

Author(s): J W De Jong
Publisher: J W De Jong

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REVIEWS
in Lhasa or bSam-yas Snellgrove points out that the Chinese teacher Mahāyāna taught doctrines derived from the teachings of the Mind Only school and similar to those found in Yoga Tantras promulgated in Tibet from the eighth century onward. He describes very well the complicated religious situation in Tibet during the eighth and ninth centuries. It is only in recent years that due to the study of the Bon religion, of the teachings of the rNin-ma-pa school and of the Tun-huang manuscripts that it hast . become clear that later Tibetan historians have misrepresented the history of Buddhism during the first diffusion. For the later period as from 1000 much useful material is to be found in the Tibetan religious histories and Snellgrove quotes abundantly from the Blue Annals written by 'Gos Lo-tsaba gzon-nu-dpal (1392–1481).
In this chapter Snellgrove has given us a masterful exposé based on original sources and the work done by scholars in this century. Especially for the period of the seventh to the tenth century Snellgrove's work is without doubt the best available at present. He is in full command of his sources and his long experience with Tibetan sources and with living Tibetan Buddhism in Nepal and Ladakh inspires his writing.
On pp. 446-449 Snellgrove quotes extensively from a letter written by the Indian scholar Buddhaguhya to king Khri Sron-lde-brtsan. He considers the letter to be genuine but doubts as to the authenticity remain. In an article published in 1968 Hadano maintained that the letter is a late forgery. Snellgrove's translation is based upon the Peking and Narthang Tanjurs. He does not mention Siglinde Dietz's dissertation Die buddhistische Briefliteratur Indiens (Bonn, 1980) in which she studies the same letter. Dietz's dissertation has been published in a revised version as volume 84 of the Asiatische Forschungen (Wiesbaden, 1984) to which we refer. Dietz's edition of the text of the letter is based upon the Peking, Narthang, Derge and Chone Tanjurs. On p. 448 Snellgrove translates: "One's later knowledge is commingled with existing) knowledge. The essential property of mind is. wealth of knowledge, I say." In Dietz's edition the text reads: rdzas kyi ses pa ses pa'i nan na dbul / sems kyi mtshan nid ses pa phyug ces mchi'o "The knowledge of material things is poverty among knowledges. Knowledge of - the essential nature of the mind is richness. So it is said.” Siglinde Dietz translates: "Man biete sein Wissen über materielle Dinge unter Weisen dar, (dann wird man reich (an Wissen [hinsichtlich des Charakters des Geists genannt (werden)” (p. 371). Dietz is correct in reading rdzas and not rjes as found in the Narthang and Peking texts but her translation is wrong. Snellgrove remarks that the Tibetan translation of this letter is filled with strange obscurities. Further study of this important document is certainly required.