AUSPICIOUS SPRING SHOWER OF “WILDFLOWERS” AND “KEY THAT OPENS HUNDREDS OF DOORS”: the “wildflower” beauty of persistence in seeking, compiling and translating the outline (kar-chag) of 8th Tai Situpa, Chokyi Jungne’s Collected Works (Part II)

“It was a fitting natural and spontaneously arising symbol to the completion of the compilation and translation of the 8th Tai Situpa’s Collected Works Outline and finding their storage location in the library.  Showing that despite cold winters, “icy neglect”, lack of care and suitable conditions, etc. wild flowers can (and do) still grow in such places, showing the power of warmth, and the water of passion, persistence and the raw, wild, giving heart of mother nature. Beauty is all around us, if we only care to look.” –Adele Tomlin (March 2026)

Introduction- seeking and finding 8^th Tai Situpa’s Collected Works at Sherab Ling Monastery, India (March 2026)

For Dakini Day today, am happy to offer this brand-new original research and translation article on the 8th Tai Situpa, Chokyi Jungne’s Collected Works. Below is  the first compiled, translated and annotated outline (kar-chag in Tibetan) of the Collected Works in the English language (with the original Tibetan), together with a brief introduction and overview of the texts[i]. This work was completed while staying at Sherab Ling Monastery for one month (between 14^th February to 15^th March 2026) and published online on Dakini Day (13^th March 2026). A downloadable pdf copy of the outline is here: Introduction and Translated Outline of 8th Tai Situpa’s Collected Works.

I have translated outlines of Collected Works before, including those of Je Gampopa, some of the different Karmapas (see new website here) and created a new website for a Jonang group in the USA, on Je Tāranātha’s Collected Works.

 It is hard to fathom how or why it took so long (almost forty years) to make such a “one document” contents list (even in Tibetan) of 8th Tai Situpa’s works since the establishment of Palpung Sherab Ling Monastery in exile.  But better late than never, as we say in English! Even though it was a challenge to see all the volumes (as detailed in this introduction below), I persistently returned to the Sherab Ling library and thankfully the persistence paid off.   The BDRC (Buddhist Digital Resource Centre) contain some scans of some of the Collected Works but not all of them (see more on the different online editions available below).

 After having a profound experience at the 8^th Tai Situpa’s Golden Relic Stupa (15th February 2026), I felt compelled to go and find and read his Collected Works. However, I had no idea that finding a copy of 8^th Tai Situ’s collected works there would prove so difficult.  It was nothing personal against me, but just a general issue regarding the texts and their location, accessibility and library opening times.

I returned to the library every day during opening hours for six days, but it was locked every time and no-one around. However, on 9^th March almost one week after I had read some of the volumes, after waiting for half an hour from 8.30 am, I saw the same lama library worker who graciously allowed me to read the remaining volumes and take photos of the titles of the texts in the Collected Works. I told him that I wanted to make a contents outline (kar-chag) of them as there was not one readily available, and translate it into English not only for intellectual research and scholarly purposes, but for the Dharma and sentient beings.

After I took the photos of each volume’s outline, I returned to my room and hand-typed the Tibetan names of the texts, in both Tibetan script and Wylie, and then translated them into English. While doing this, in front of me was a glorious window view of the golden relic stupa of 8^th Tai Situpa and the snow-peaked surrounding mountains. It seemed a cycle of time (Kalacakra) had indeed passed since I was last there and wrote about in 2019, just as the COVID lockdown started, and I personally began one of the most challenging periods of my life (more on that in an autobiographical note perhaps!).

The following day, after an emotional offering of a framed image of the red-hatted White Tara (with permission by the lama looking after it) to the golden stupa and finding out about the 98 year-old lama who guards the stupa there above, I walked back again over the bare, dry land in front of the golden stupa building. Even though there were no planted, colourful flower beds or beautiful shrub areas (as there were at the main monastery), the spring sun was shining, and I noticed there were some stunning small blue wildflowers growing from the dry land.  It was a fitting natural and spontaneously arising symbol for the completion of the compilation and translation of the 8th Tai Situpa’s Collected Works Outline and finding their storage location in the library. Showing that despite cold winters, “icy neglect”, lack of care and suitable conditions, etc. wild flowers can (and do) still grow in such places, showing the power of warmth, and the water of passion, persistence and the raw, wild, giving heart of mother nature. Beauty is all around us, if we only care to look.

Attending the Dakini Day ritual, that same day at Sherab Ling Monastery, as the gya-ling horns, huge drums, damarus and bells created a cacophony of blissful sound, the central channel opened wide up and the loud, bellowing laughter of the dakini spontaneously and naturally cackled several times. In this context, no-one batted an eyelid (as we say in English) and some monks even spontaneously smiled and laughed too. The spontaneous joy of the bliss-emptiness expanse of the dakinis came to life.

In that respect my stay at Sherab Ling was meaningful and beneficial indeed. Thus, I dedicate the merit and benefit to the Dharma and sentient beings, and as an offering to 12th Tai Situpa, to Palpung Labrang, to kind and generous sponsors of my activities and website, to the person who kindly volunteered to help me create and edit the red-hat White Tara images, and to those interested in the Collected Works, intellectually and/or spiritually.

In particular, I offer and dedicate the new research and translation activity to HE 9th Gyalton Rinpoche’s activities and long-life, without whom these activities would not have been done or completed, and I would not have gone back to India or to Sherab Ling Monastery. Due to our inseparable mental union and my strong passion/devotion (whether he was physically present or not), as well as the blessing of his guru, 12th Tai Situpa and the golden relic stupa itself,  these Dharma activities, research and translation arose. How auspicious, meaningful and beautiful indeed! Like a wildflower growing through dry land, may it be a source of inspiration, support and beauty!  Who would have thought I would be pulled all the way back to India for such an auspicious occasion, place and teacher six months ago, that led to the translation of 8th Tai Situpa’s Collected Works outline? Emaho!

Although I have tried to create this new translation carefully, there were several obstacles when doing it, so I apologise if there are any errors. Nonetheless, I hope it is useful and of benefit to the Dharma and beings. And that it inspires people to do new translations, outlines, and research and on the remarkable 8^th Tai Situpa’s Collected Works.

Music? Wildflower, Wildfire by Lana Del Rey, The Rose that Grew from Concrete by Tupac, There is Beauty in the World by Macy Gray.

Written, compiled and translated by Adele Tomlin, at Palpung Sherab Ling Monastery, Dakini Day, 13th March 2026.

Introductory Overview of 8^th Tai Situpa’s Collected Works

Seeking and reading the Palpung Sherab Ling edition of the Collected Works

I discovered there is a library above the main shrine room at Sherab Ling, which for a foreigner or tourist is not easy to find unless one walks around, or asks. All the books/texts in there are Tibetan language. The first time I went there I asked the librarian worker an elder monk from Kham, if I could read a copy of 8^th Tai Situpa’s Collected Works there. He seemed reluctant to let me do so, and told me he would have to ask permission and that they had a new edition of 8^th Tai Situpa’s autobiography in the book shop near the café.

I then also asked the General Secretary, Lama Tsewang Dragpa about reading the Collected Works, and he told me that the main worker in the library was Bhutanese but he was not there but would return after a few days. However, he did not return, so I was unable to speak to him.

I went to the bookshop and could not find that book, nor any contents/outline or book of the Collected Works. When I went back to the library the following day, the same librarian again refused to let me see the Collected Works, and told me to come back at 2 pm. He told me that the main librarian, a man from Bhutan, was not there, so he could not tell me if I could take photos of the contents of the Collected Works or not. I explained to him in my “now quite rusty” spoken Tibetan that even if I could not take photos, I just wanted to see and read the Collected Works, but again this was not possible. When I came back at 2pm the library was locked.

On 3^rd March 2026, Chotrul Duchen and Marpa Lotsawa Day I returned to the library in the morning, intent on seeing the Collected Works. At this point, I was finding it difficult to understand how or why they were not easily available to look at and read for a visiting scholar-translator.  This time I was more persistent and explained to him that I found it “odd” (khyentsar in Tibetan) that reading the Collected Works in the Palpung Sherab Ling Monastery in India was proving to be so difficult.

I then asked to see the Volumes 1 -4 but he told me these were in cupboards in which some tables were in front of. I then persisted again and asked if he could move the tables so we could access the texts. He then did, and I went to have a look at some of the other unobstructed cupboards, and he then told that he had just remembered that the Volumes 1-4 were in those cupboards.

Eventually, I saw that all the volumes of the Collected Works were contained hidden in these cupboards and had to be dusted off a little when taken out. I was surprised they were so hidden and thought they would have more prominence and “pride of place” in the library.  Also, that there was no contents/outline available of all the volumes in Tibetan, and English.

In any case, I returned to the  monastery library every day during opening hours for six days, but it was locked every time and no-one around. However, on 9^th March almost one week after I had read the first few volumes, after waiting for half an hour from 8.30 am, I saw the same lama library worker who graciously allowed me to read the remaining volumes and take photos of the titles of the texts in the Collected Works. I told him that I wanted to make a contents outline (kar-chag) of them as there was not one readily available, and translate it into English not only for intellectual research and scholarly purposes, but for the Dharma and sentient beings.

Editions of 8th Tai Situpa’s Collected Works

The main edition of the works, and the one referred to on the BDRC website, with some scans available, is the 1990 publication by the Sherab Ling Monastery, Palpung Sungrab Nyamso Khang.   Other than the original woodblock print of the Works from Palpung Monastery, Tibet, there do not seem to be any other editions of the Collected Works, which I have seen in person or online. BDRC have scanned some of the first volumes, but not the rest. There is a scanned version of what seems to be the original version from Palpung Monastery, Tibet on an online archive, but no contents outline of it Tibetan.  Also, some of the script in that edition is not easy to read and has faded.

Overview of contents

There are fourteen volumes of the Collected Works in total in the 1990 edition.   Overall, the works demonstrate 8th Tai Situpa’s mastery over Sanskrit grammar and translation, as well as Tibetan grammar. Also, his knowledge of Tibetan medicine and Vajrayana texts, such as those on Chakrasamvara, White Tara and Mahakala.  The first four volumes are Tibetan translations of Sanskrit texts by great Indian masters Such as Chandrapa (I think this is Chandragomin), Subhūticandra (Rabjor Dawa) and others. For example, there are translations and commentaries on Subhūticandra’s text, The Wish-Fulfilling Cow (Subhūticandra’s Kavikamadhenu commentary of Amarkosa 1.4.8cd-2.2.5ab).

Also in the Collected Works are commentaries on Tibetan grammar/signs text by Thonmi Sambhota, called Beautiful Pearl Garland Ornament for the Scholars/experts ( མཁས་པའི་མགུལ་རྒྱན་མུ་ཏིག་ཕྲེང་མཛེས་) which has not been translated or studied in English, as far as am aware.

Other translations and commentaries by 8th Tai Situpa, include the famous Mitra Hundred Deities (Mitra Gyatsa), which originate from the yogi Mitrayogin (12th- early 13th century) also known as Mitra-dzo-ki), an adept from Eastern India (Radha, Orissa) who received these teachings through a vision of Avalokiteśvara after 12 years of meditation. According to the Treasury of Lives biography:

“Instructed by his guru, Mitrayogin meditated upon Avalokiteśvara for twelve years. This is said to have resulted in a mystic vision in which he received teachings directly from the deity. In the Blue Annals Go Lotsāwa (1392-1481) counts this as the first miracle of twenty that the text elaborates. These appear primarily to confirm his supernormal powers and place him as a protector of Buddhism in an era when India was being converted to Islam, but they also provide a general picture of the special traits of a late Indian Buddhist master.”

It is a comprehensive collection of 108 distinct mandalas, which include sādhanas (meditative practices), funeral rites, and various tantric techniques.    This collection is believed to have been a major inspiration for the Treasury of Kagyu Tantra compiled by Jamgon Kongtrul.

Volumes Eight to Ten of the Collected Works contain various texts, sadhanas and also some beautiful woodblock illustrations (see images below). Also, letters to and about 12th Karmapa, Jangchub Dorje (1703-1732), who met 8th Tai Situpa in 1735 in East Tibet, where the 12th Karmapa, before his death, entrusted the lineage to the 8th Tai Situpa, who subsequently discovered the 13th Karmapa and 9th Shamarpa.

Volume Nine contains an outline of the Dege Kangyur edition, and how it came to be compiled and collected in Tibetan in Tibet. The 8th Tai Situpa was crucial in producing this Kangyur edition. For more on his role in compiling the Kangyur while he was in Lijiang, and details of my pilgrimage to Lijiang in 2024, see here.

The first pages of some of the volumes also sometimes had stunning diagrams of Buddhas, deities and masters, I have published some below here.

See full translation of the compiled contents outline (in Tibetan and English) of the Collected Works below.

Dakini Day Offerings at the Golden Stupa: rain of blessings, offering to the stupa and 98 year old resident lama

After completing the translation and compilation of the Collected Works on Dakini Day,  I was pulled to go to the golden stupa building, which is normally closed, as a group of foreign women I had met and shown the stupa building to the day before, had managed to find someone to open the building for them that following morning. The previous day, I had offered small postcard prints of the red-hatted White Tara image to them as a memento of their visit to the monastery and stupa (which they all seemed very happy to get!)

I had been trying to offer a framed version of the Red hat Tārā print with 8th Tai Situ Panchen, Choki Jungne to 12th Tai Situpa in an audience but he was in a closed retreat, and Lama Tenam (his attendant) told me to give it to Lama Tsewang (General Secretary) but he was not available in the office when I went to look for him during my daily circumambulation of the main monastery building. So when I was at the Golden stupa I felt compelled to offer it there instead, and asked the resident lama, if I could offer it to the stupa. He told me it was fine, and I explained to him its origin. He also accepted a copy of the image.

While inside, I did circumambulation and prostration in front of the stupa, and there was no-one else there. The foreign women I had arrived with had all now left in their taxi. It was like dakini assistance! I explained to the monk that this print was originally supposed to offered to 12th Tai Situpa but that I would make another one to offer him with a frame in person.

I asked the monk where to put it, and he told me to put it on the golden stupa itself. I was surprised he suggested that but I did three prostrations and more circumambulation with the framed image, and then stood in front of the stupa and offered it with all my heart and aspirations and longing.  As soon as I placed it on the golden stupa (with the monk watching), a huge rush and gush of emotion descended and opened my heart chakra, similar to when I was spontaneously given the Dorje Phagmo thangka in Bhutan by Dorje Phagmo Rinpoche.

Floods of tears of joy, devotion and blessings arose and I stood there sobbing with my hands over my eyes for several minutes. Even though the monk was there, and my ego-mind felt embarassed, I could not help it. It felt like placing the image in its rightful place, the place where it had originally arisen.

I spoke with the Lama briefly in Tibetan and asked him about the resident lama staying above it, he told me Lama Paya, who was 98 years old! But that he did not give audiences due to his age. I asked the Lama why he had been chosen as the stupa lama, and he said that 12th Tai Situpa had chosen him as he had been very helpful in bringing the relics from Tibet, and make the golden stupa there, and he had the right motivation.  I do not have a photo of this Lama but if I can get one, I will. Or perhaps someone can send it to me.

Translation: 8^th Tai Situpa Collected Works Outline

 by Adele Tomlin (13th March 2026)

 

VOLUME ONE (ka)

• Dhātu Kāya དྷ་ཏུ་ཀ་ཡ། DhA Tu KA Ya. Kālapa Sanskrit Grammar of Verbal Roots, a revised translation by Bu-ston Rinpoche, with a glossary of both languages.
  ཀ་ལཱ་པའི་བྱིངས་ཀྱི་མདོ་བུ་སྟོན་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་འགྱུར་ལ་འགྱུར་བཅོས་མཛད་པ་སྐད་གཉིས་ཤན་སྦྱར། ka lA pa’i byings kyi mdo bu ston rin po che’i ‘gyur la ‘gyur bcos mdzad pa skad gnyis shan sbyar. gSung ʼbum chos kyi ʼbyung gnas, vol. 1, Palpung Sungrab Nyamso Khang, 1990, pp. 8–62.  28 ff. (pp. 2-56) (v. 1, img. 8-62).
• Kālapa grammar commentary on the collection of teachings was composed by leaving the Sanskrit original, resulting in a less clear new translation.  བྱིངས་མདོའི་འགྲེལ་པ་རྒྱ་དཔེའི་བཤམས་ཅུང་ཟད་མ་ཚང་བས་མཛད་བྱང་མི་གསལ་གསར་འགྱུར། བྱིངས་མདོའི་འགྲེལ་པ་རྒ་དཔེའི་བཤམ་གཅུང་ཟད་མ་ཚང་ཞེས་པ་དེ་ ༡༩༨༥ ལོར་གྲུབ་པ་ཡིན། Byings mdoʼi ʼgrel pa rgya dpeʼi bshams cung zad ma tshang bas mdzad byang mi gsal gsar ʼgyur.” 72 ff. (pp. 57-200) (v. 1, img. 63-206)
• Candrapa’s Sutra, revised version of the old translation, bilingual glossary. བརྡ་སྤྲོད་ཙནྡྲ་པའི་མདོ་འགྱུར་རྙིང་ལ་འགྱུར་བཅོས་མཛད་པ་སྐད་གཉིས་ཤན་སྦྱར།
  tsan+dra pa’i mdo ‘gyur rnying la ‘gyur bcos mdzad pa skad gnyis shan sbyar  62 ff. pp. 201-323.
• Candrapa’s Commentary: Ship for Entering the Ocean of Grammar and Bringing Forth Precious Explanations. ཙནྡྲ་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་བརྡ་སྤྲོད་གཞུང་ལུགས་རྒྱ་མཚོར་འཇུག་ཅིང་ལེགས་བཤད་རིན་ཆེན་འདྲེན་པའི་གྲུ་རྫིངས། 215 ff. (v. 1, img. 331-760)

VOLUME TWO (kha)

• Explanation of Chandrapa grammar, from Chapters Two to Four. ཙནྡྲ་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་སྐབས་གཉིས་པ་ནས་སྐབས་བཞི་པ་ཡང་གྱི་འགྲེལ་པ། tsan+dra pa’i rnam bshad skabs gnyis pa nas skabs bzhi pa yang gyi ‘grel pa/.
  • 273 ff. (v. 2, img. 8-752)

VOLUME THREE (ga)

• The commentary on the Chandrapa grammar, from the fifth to the completion of the sixth chapter. ཙནྡྲ་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་སྐབས་ལྔ་པ་ནས་སྐབས་དྲུག་རྫོགས་ཀྱི་བར།  tsan+dra pa’i rnam bshad skabs lnga pa nas skabs drug rdzogs kyi bar/. 341ff. pp. 8–688.

VOLUME FOUR (nga)

• The book ‘A Dictionary of Names and Signs’ composed by the pandit Subhūticandra (Rabjor Dawa)[i] translated into Tibetan, with a corrected version of the text: Treasury of Immortality.” པནྡི་ཏ་རབ་འབྱོར་ཟླ་བས་མཛོད་པའི་མིང་དང་རྟགས་རྗེ་སུས་སྟོན་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་འཆི་བ་མེད་པའི་མཛོད་ཀྱི་གཞུང་འགྱུར་བཅོས་མཛོད་པའི་བི་བརྟ་ལྡེབ། ( pan+di ta rab ‘byor zla bas mdzod pa’i ming dang rtags rje sus ston pa’i bstan bcos ‘chi ba med pa’i mdzod kyi gzhung ‘gyur bcos mdzod pa’i bi brta ldeb ). (1-241)
• The Lord himself newly translated the vast commentary Treasury of Immortality on the Wish-Fulfilling Cow[ii], composed by Subhūticandra (Rabjor Dawa).  རྗེ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་གསར་འགྱུར་རབ་འབྱོར་ཟླ་བས་མཛོད་པའི་མཛོད་འགྲེལ་འདོད་འཇོའི་བ་མོ་ལྡེབ། rje nyid kyis gsar ‘gyur rab ‘byor zla bas mdzod pa’i mdzod ‘grel ‘dod ‘jo’i ba mo ldeb/ 243-738.འཆི་མེད་མཛོད་ཀྱི་རྒྱ་ཆེར་འགྲེལ་པ་འདོད་འཇོའི་བ་མོ།    A Grammar Treatise Called the Treasury of Immortality, Composed by the Master Chimé Sengé, presented in a bilingual format.

VOLUME FIVE (ca)

• Continuation of the extensive commentary Treasury of Immortality, on the Wish-Fulfilling Cow . འཆི་མེད་མཛོད་ཀྱི་རྒྱ་ཆེར་འགྲེལ་པ་འདོད་འཇོའི་བ་མོའི་འཕྲོས།  mdzod ‘grel ‘dod ‘jo’i ‘pros ldeb (211 folios)
• The treatise that clarifies the three types of actions in the context of the deeds of the accomplished ones is known as the Treatise on the Accomplished Ones’ Deeds  སྒྲའི་བྱེད་དངོས་ལས་གསུམ་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པའི་གཞུང་འབྲེལ་པ་ལ་མཁས་པ་ལྡེབ། sgra’i byed dngos las gsum gsal bar byed pa’i gzhung ‘brel pa la mkhas pa ldeb/.  22 folios. v. 5, img. 429-472.
• New translation of root commentary Collection of Signs composed by Vararuci (Chog-Sey )[iii]. མཆོག་སྲེད་ཀྱིས་མཛོད་པའི་རྟགས་བསྡུ་རྩ་འགྲེལ་གསར་འགྱུར་ལྡེབ། mchog sred kyis mdzod pa’i rtags bsdu rtsa ‘grel gsar ‘gyur ldeb/.  20 folios.

VOLUME SIX  (cha)

• The Key that Opens Hundreds of Doors. Having examined the text of the Treasury of Medical Knowledge, the minute details of the title and the classification of the subject are clearly explained in this well-written and informative commentary, which is like a Key that Opens Hundreds of Doors ཆི་མེད་མཛོད་ཀྱི་གཞུང་ལ་བརྟན་ནས་ལེགས་པར་སྦྱར་བའི་སྐད་ཀྱི་མིང་དང་རྟགས་ཀྱི་འཇུག་པ་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པ་བསྟན་བཅོས་ལེགས་བཤད་སྒོ་བརྒྱ་འབྱེད་པའི་ལྡེ་མིག་ལྡེབ། chi med mdzod kyi gzhung la brtan nas legs par sbyar ba’i skad kyi ming dang rtags kyi ‘jug pa gsal bar byed pa bstan bcos legs bshad sgo brgya ‘byed pa’i lde mig ldeb/ 219 folios. 1-437
• Jākaraṇmū “Entering The Thirty Root Rules of Grammar and Signs. Two.[iv]“ བྱཱ་ཀ་ར་ཎ་མཱུ་ལ་སུམ་ཆུ་པ་དང་རྟགས་ཀྱི་འཇུག་པ་གཉིས་ལྡེབ། by JA ka ra Na mU la sum chu pa dang rtags kyi ‘jug pa gnyis ldeb/ 4 folios. 439-446.
• A detailed explanation of the Land of the Snow [Tibetan] grammar ‘Thirty’ and the ‘Rules of Signs’ known as a Beautiful Pearl Necklace Ornament for Scholars/experts. ཡུལ་གངས་ཆན་པའི་བརྡ་ཡང་དག་པར་སྦྱོར་བའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་བྱེ་བྲག་སུམ་ཆུ་པ་དང་རྟགས་ཀྱི་འཇུག་པའི་གཞུང་གི་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ་མཁས་པའི་མགུལ་རྒྱན་མུ་ཏིག་ཕྲེང་མཛེས་ལྡེབ། yul gangs chan pa’i brda yang dag par sbyor ba’i bstan bcos kyi bye brag sum chu pa dang rtags kyi ‘jug pa’i gzhung gi rnam par bshad pa mkhas pa’i mgul rgyan mu tig phreng mdzes ldeb/ 447-617
• Explanation of the Hundred Syllable Mantra. ཡིག་བརྒྱའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ལྡེབ། yig brgya’i ‘grel pa ldeb/. 5 folios. 619-627.
• The Mirror of Poetic Verse[v] by Master Daṇḍin (Lobpon Jugpachen) , presented in a bilingual format, with page numbers. སློབ་དཔོན་དབྱུག་པ་ཅན་གྱིས་མཛོད་པའི་སྙན་ངག་མེ་ལོང་མ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་སྐད་གཉིས་ཤན་སྦྱར་བ་ལྡེབ། slob dpon dbyug pa can gyis mdzod pa’i snyan ngag me long ma zhes bya ba skad gnyis shan sbyar ba ldeb/ 52 folios. 629-731.

VOLUME SEVEN (ja)

• The Treatise on the Quintessence of the Oral Instructions of the Cheating Death Method, composed by Master Vāgīśvarakīrti[vi]. སློབ་དཔོན་ངག་གི་དབང་ཕྱུག་གྲགས་པས་མཛོད་པའི་ཆི་བ་ལསླུ་བའི་མན་ངག་ཀུན་ལས་ བཏུས་པའི་གཞུང་ལྡེབ། slob dpon ngag gi dbang phyug grags pas mdzod pa’i chi ba lslu ba’i man ngag kun las btus pa’i gzhung ldeb/. 31 folios. 1-61.
• Great Glorious Black One, The King of Tantras of the Collected Accomplishments/Siddhis. དཔལ་ནག་པོ་ཆེན་པོའི་རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ་དངོས་གྲུབ་ཀུན་ལས་བཏུས་པ་ལྡེབ། dpal nag po chen po’i rgyud kyi rgyal po dngos grub kun las btus pa ldeb/. 17 folios. 63-95.
• The Glorious Red Yamantaka Tantra. དཔལ་ལྡན་གཤིན་རྗེའི་གཤེད་དམར་པོའི་རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ལྡེབ། dpal ldan gshin rje’i gshed dmar po’i rgyud kyi rgyal po ldeb/. 34 folios. 97-163.
• The Mandala ritual of the Glorious Four-Seat, King of Tantras[vii] Named ‘The Essence of the Four Seats’ gathered in brief. རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ་དཔལ་གདན་བཞི་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་གྱུ་ཆོ་ག་གསྙིང་པོ་མདོར་བསགས་པ་ལྡེབ། rgyud kyi rgyal po dpal gdan bzhi pa zhes bya ba’i dkyil ‘khor gyu cho ga gsnying po mdor bsags pa ldeb/. 32 ff. 165-227.
• The History of the Great Naturally Arisen Stupa in Nepal. བལ་ཡུལ་རང་བྱུང་མཆོད་རྟེན་ཆེན་པོའི་ལོ་རྒྱུས་ལྡེབ། bal yul rang byung mchod rten chen po’i lo rgyus ldeb/. 15 folios. 339-257.
• Precious White Garland of Astrological calculations. དཀར་རྩིས་རིན་ཆེན་ཕྲེང་བ། dkar rtsis rin chen phreng ba/. 30ff. 258-317)
• Quickly Understanding the Calculations of Results. འབྲས་རྩིས་ཀྱི་གཞུང་མྱུར་བར་རྟོགས་པ། ‘bras rtsis kyi gzhung myur bar rtogs pa/. 26ff. 318-369.
• The Swift Clarifier: Luminous Lamp that Swiftly clarifies the Meaning. མྱུར་བར་རྟོགས་པའི་གཞུང་གི་དོན་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པ་མྱུར་གསལ་སྒྲོན་མེ། myur bar rtogs pa’i gzhung gi don gsal bar byed pa myur gsal sgron me/. 23 ff. 369 – 414.
• The Dharani of Manjusri’s Questions and Answers, the Dharani of the One Hundred and Eight Names of Tara, and the Dharani of Buddha Nagadatta. སྲེད་མེད་བུས་ཞུས་པའི་གཟུངས་སྒྲོལ་མའི་མཚན་བརྒྱ་རྩ་བརྒྱད་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀླུ་བྱིན་གྱི་གཟུངས། sred med bus zhus pa’i gzungs sgrol ma’i mtshan brgya rtsa brgyad sangs rgyas klu byin gyi gzungs/. 7ff. 415-428.
• Eight Praises of the Great Black One. ནག་པོ་ཆེན་པོའི་བསྟོད་པ་བརྒྱད་པ། nag po chen po’i bstod pa brgyad pa/. 17 ff. (v. 7, img. 437-470)
• Understanding the characteristics of study by listening. སྡེབ་སྦྱོར་རྣམས་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཐོས་པས་ཆུབ་པ། sdeb sbyor rnams kyi mtshan nyid thos pas chub pa/. 13 ff. (v. 7, img. 471-496).
• The Grammar of Saraswati. Sarasvatīvyākaraṇasūtra མཚོ་ལྡན་མའི་བརྡ་སྤྲོད་པའི་རབ་བྱེད། mtsho ldan ma’i brda sprod pa’i rab byed/. 91 ff.  (v. 7, img. 497-678)

VOLUME EIGHT (nya)

• Explanation of the Ultimate/Definitive (Nge-don) Mahāmudrā/Great Seal Prayer: The Oral Instruction of the Supreme Accomplished One. ངེས་དོན་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོའི་སྨོན་ལམ་གྱི་འགྲེལ་པ་གྲུབ་པ་མཆོག་གི་ཞལ་ལུང་ལྡེབ། nges don phyag rgya chen po’i smon lam gyi ‘grel pa grub pa mchog gi zhal lung ldeb/. 50 ff. 1-99.
• A treatise elucidating the ritual of the Hundred Deities of Mitra (Mitra Gyatsa) empowerments[viii], The Ornament of the Great Compassionate One’s Intention. མི་ཏྲ་བརྒྱ་རྩའི་དབང་གི་ཆོ་ག་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོའི་དགོངས་རྒྱན་ལྡེབ། mi tra brgya rtsa’i dbang gi cho ga gsal bar byed pa’i bstan bcos thugs rje chen po’i dgongs rgyan ldeb/. 37 ff. 101-175.
• The Concise Root Practice Method of Chakrasamvara’s Condensed Tantra and,
• The Offering and Praise Ritual with the Mandala Ceremony of Chakrasamvara: Vase of Great Bliss Vajra Nectar. དཔལ་འཁོར་ལོ་སྡོམ་པ་བསྡུས་རྒྱུད་རྩ་བའི་སྒྲུབ་ཐབས་དང་བདེ་མཆོག་བསྟོད་འབྲེལ་གྱུ་དཀྱིལ་ཆོ་ག་བདེ་ཆེན་རྡོ་རྗེའི་བདུད་རྩིའ་བུམ་བཟང་བཅོས་ལྡེབ། dpal ‘khor lo sdom pa bsdus rgyud rtsa ba’i sgrub thabs dang bde mchog bstod ‘brel gyu dkyil cho ga bde chen rdo rje’i bdud rtsi’ bum bzang bcos ldeb/. 35 ff. 177-245
• The chapter on praise: Melodies of the Lute of the Gandharvas, a song from the string of the lute. བསྟོད་པའི་སྐོར་དྲི་ཟའི་ཕང་འགྲོའི་རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་གླུ་དབྱངས་ལྡེབ། bstod pa’i skor dri za’i phang ‘gro’i rgyud kyi glu dbyangs ldeb/. 17 ff. 247-280.
• The news of the wondrous birth of the new Dharmakaya body of the Worldly Master Karmapa Jangchub Chogi Dorje [12^th Karmapa 1703-1732], an extraordinary and delightful occurrence. འཇིག་རྟེན་དབང་ཕྱུག་ཀརྨ་པ་བྱང་ཆུབ་མཆོག་གི་རྡོ་རྗེའི་ཆོས་སྐུའི་རྟེན་མཆོག་གསར་དུ་འཁྲུངས་པའི་གཏམ་ངོ་མཚར་ཡོངས་འདུའི་ སྙེ་མ་ལྡེབ། chos sku’i rten mchog gsar du ‘khrungs pa’i gtam ngo mtshar yongs ‘du’i snye ma ldeb/. 17 ff. 281-313.
• The poetic advice given to the Gyaltsen Tulku[ix] in response to his queries. རྒྱ་ཚན་སྤྲུལ་སྐུའི་དྲི་ལན་ལུང་བཞིན་འདོམས་པའི་སྙན་ཚིག་ལྡེབ། rgya tshan sprul sku’i dri lan lung bzhin ‘doms pa’i snyan tshig ldeb/. 31 ff. 315-375.
• Mirror of Precious Gems, answering the joyful questions of the supreme tulku’s emanation. རྗེ་བཙུན་མཆོག་གི་སྤྲུལ་པའི་སྐུ་དགྱེས་པར་བྱེད་པའི་དྲི་ལན་ནོར་བུའི་མེ་ལོང་ལྡེབ། rje btsun mchog gi sprul pa’i sku dgyes par byed pa’i dri lan nor bu’i me long ldeb/. 41 ff. 377-457.
• Various Questions and Answers of the Precious Ketāka Garland. དྲིས་ལེན་སྣ་ཚོགས་ནོར་བུ་ཀེ་ཏཱ་ཀའི་ཕྲེང་བ་ལྡེབ། dris len sna tshogs nor bu ke tA ka’i phreng ba ldeb/. 15 ff. 459-487.
• Section on Aspirations. སྨོན་ལམ་གྱི་སྐོར་ལྡེབ། smon lam gyi skor ldeb/. 36 ff. 489-559.
• Oral Instructions Section. ཞལ་གདམས་ཀྱི་སྐོར་ལྡེབ། zhal gdams kyi skor ldeb/. 28 ff. 561-615.
• A collection of various prayers and long-life verses. གསོལ་འདེབས་དང་ཞབས་བརྟན་སྣ་ཚོགས་སྐོར་ལྡེབ། gsol ‘debs dang zhabs brtan sna tshogs skor ldeb/. 42 ff. 617-701.
• Instructions for meditating and reciting yidam mantras, etc. ཡི་དམ་སྐོར་གྱི་བསྒོམ་བཟླས་སོགས་ལྡེབ། yi dam skor gyi bsgom bzlas sogs ldeb/. 18 ff. 703-740.
• Guru Yoga, Meditation and Recitation of Yidam, and other Instructions. བླ་མའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་དང་ཡིད་དམ་བསྒོམ་བཟླས་སོགས་ལྡེབ། bla ma’i rnal ‘byor dang yid dam bsgom bzlas sogs ldeb/. 18 ff. 741-776.
• The protector’s protective circle, and other topics. mgon po’i srung ‘khor skor sogs ldeb/. 23ff. 777-821.
• The Instructions on Carrying the Intermediate State [Bardo] of Existence: A Special Instruction. སྲིད་པ་བར་དོ་ལམ་ཁྱེར་གདམས་ངག་རེ་ག་ཟིག་ལྡེབ། srid pa bar do lam khyer gdams ngag re ga zig ldeb/. 823-835.
• The Ritual of the Black Sisters and Brothers’ Activities: The Melodious Victory over Mara. ནག་པོ་ལྕམ་དྲལ་གྱི་ཕྲིན་ལས་ཀྱི་ཆོ་ག་བདུད་ལས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་གྱི་སྒྲ་དབྱངས་ལྡེབ། nag po lcam dral gyi phrin las kyi cho ga bdud las rnam rgyal gyi sgra dbyangs ldeb/. 8ff. 837-873.
• The prayer to the great mountain spirit Yangshur. གཉན་ཆེན་ཐང་ལྷ་ཡར་ཞུར་གྱི་གསོལ་མཆོད་ལྡེབ། gnyan chen thang lha yar zhur gyi gsol mchod ldeb/. 875-880.
• Concise offering combined to the rock spirits. བྲག་བཙན་གྱི་གསོལ་མཆོད་བསྡུས་པ་ལྡེབ། brag btsan gyi gsol mchod bsdus pa ldeb/ 1 folio. 881-882.

VOLUME NINE (ta)

• Outline of the contents of the Dege Kangyur. An excellent account of the manner in which the sacred words of the Sugatas, drawn in the script of the snowy land [Tibet], were compiled and preserved in print, serving as a source for the erudite and devoted, is an inspiring narrative that fully opens the lotus of hope in the wise, like the young moon’s radiance entwined with the jasmine vine. བདེ་བར་གཤེགས་པའི་བཀའ་གངས་ཅན་གྱི་བརྡས་དྲངས་པའི་ཕྱི་མོའི་ཚོགས་ཇི་སྙེད་པར་དུ་བསྒྲུབས་པའི་ཚུལ་ལས་ཉེ་བར་བརྩམས་པའི་གཏམ་བཟང་པོ་བློ་ལྡན་མོས་པའི་ཀུནྡ་ཡོངས་སུ་ཁ་བྱེ་བའི་ཟླ་ཨོད་གཞོན་ནུའི་འཁྲི་ཤིང། sde dge’i bka’ ‘gyur gyi dkar chag.  bde bar gshegs pa’i bka’ gangs can gyi brdas drangs pa’i phyi mo’i tshogs ji snyed par du bsgrubs pa’i tshul las nye bar brtsams pa’i gtam bzang po blo ldan mos pa’i kun+da yongs su kha bye ba’i zla od gzhon nu’i ‘khri shing/   1v-244v.

VOLUME TEN (tha)

• The Life-Story of Rigdzin Wangchuk Rolpe Dorje[x], a Melodious Necklace Ornament of Saraswati Volume 1. རིག་འཛིན་དབང་ཕྱུག་རོལ་པ་རྡོ་རྗེའི་རྣམ་པར་ཐར་པ་དབྱངས་ཅན་མགུལ་ གྱི་སྒྲ་དབྱངས་ལྡེབ། rig ‘dzin dbang phyug rol ma rdo rje’i rnam par thar pa dbyangs can mgul gyu sgra dbyangs ldeb/. 18 ff. 9-44.
• Table of Contents: The Wish-Fulfilling Tree དཀར་ཆག་སྣ་ཚོགས་དཔག་བསམ་ལྗོན་བཟང་ལྡེབ། dkar chag sna tshogs dpag bsam ljon bzang ldeb/
• The extensive collection of prayers and writings of Chu Tor and Sangs Yig, the Auspicious Spring Shower of Nectar. ཆུ་ཏོར་དང་བསངས་ཡིག་གི་སྐོར་བདུད་རྩིའི་སྤྲིན་ཆར་ལྡེབ། chu tor dang bsangs yig gi skor bdud rtsi’I sprin char ldeb/
• Various histories such as Xiujin. ཤིའུ་གསིན་གྱི་ལོ་རྒྱུས་སོགས་སྣ་ཚོགས། A concise guide to Sanskrit reading.  ལེགས་སྦྱར་ཀློག་ཐབས་ཉུང་དུ་རྣམ་གསལ། A letter to the gods and demons of the world about the origin of the  སྨེ་བརྩེ་གས་སྔགས་དོན་སྣང་སྲིད་ལྷ་འདྲེ་ལ་སྤྲིང་ཡིག
• Various Chinese and Tibetan medical treatments, including smallpox remedies, are available at the source of benefit and well-being. འབྲུམ་བཅོས་སོགས་རྒྱ་བོད་སྨན་བཅོས་སྣ་ཚོགས་ཕན་བདེའི་འབྱུང་གནས་ལྡེབ་
• A discussion about the medicinal plant of Mantra. མནྟྲ་ཞེས་པའི་སྨན་བཙེས་སྐོར་ལྡེབ། man+t+ra zhes pa’i sman btses skor ldeb/. 335-355.
• A Lamp for the Speech of Tibetan Grammar: Distinguishing the Various Aspects of Tibetan Language. བོད་བརྡའི་བྱེ་བྲག་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པ་ངག་གི་སྒྲོན་མ་ལྡེབ། bod brda’i bye brag gsal bar byed pa ngag gi sgron ma ldeb/. 357-401.
• Tibetan Orthography: A Clear Guide to Consonants and Vowels བོད་བརྡའི་དག་ས་མཐའི་རྣམ་དབྱེ་རབ་གསལ་སྒྲོན་མ་ལྡེབ།  bod brda’i dag sa mtha’i rnam dbye rab gsal sgron ma ldeb/. 403-419.
• A letter offered to His Holiness the Karmapa, Lord of the World. འཇིག་རྟེན་དབང་ཕྱུག་དཔལ་ཀརྨ་པའི་དྲུང་དུ་ཕུལ་བའི་ཞུ་ཡིག་ལྡེབ།  ‘jig rten dbang phyug dpal kar+ma pa’i drung du phul ba’i zhu yig ldeb/. 421-502.
• Candravyakarana: Chandragomin’s commentary on Karaṇa Unatika. ཙཱནྡྲ་ བྱཱ་ཀ་ར་ཎའི་ཨུ་ནའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ལྡེབ། tsA n+dra byA ka ra Na’i u na’i ‘grel pa ldeb/. 503-571.
• Supramathā Ratna-udgāma /Origin of Gemstones སུ་པྲ་མཐའ་རིན་ཆེན་འབྱུང་གནས་ལྡེབ། su pra mtha’ rin chen ‘byung gnas ldeb/. 573-707.
• Initiation and consecration assembly, vast in scope. དབང་བསྐུར་མཚམས་སྦྱོར་རབ་འབྱམས་ལྡེབ། dbang bskur mtshams sbyor rab ‘byams ldeb/. 709-744.
• Sadhana of the Mandala of Tara Yogini: Blazing Wisdom. སྒྲོལ་མ་རྣལ་འབྱོར་མའི་ དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་གྱི་སྒྲུབ་ཐབས་ཡེ་ཤེས་འབར་བ་ལྡེབ། sgrol ma rnal ‘byor ma’i dkyil ‘khor gyi sgrub thabs ye shes ‘bar ba ldeb/. 745-805.
• Tārā White Wish-Fulfilling Wheel Practice སྒྲོལ་དཀར་ཡིད་བཞིན་འཁོར་ལོའི་སྒྲུབ་ཐབས་ལྡེབ། sgrol dkar yid bzhin ‘khor lo’i sgrub thabs ldeb/. 807-813.

VOLUME ELEVEN (da)

• Moonstone Crystal Mala: precious Liberation-Stories of the Karma Kamtsang (Part I) ཀརྨ་ཀཾ་ཚང་བརྒྱུད་པ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་རྣམ་ཐར་རབ་འབྱམས་ནོར་བུ་ཟླ་བ་ཞུ་ཤེལ་གྱིས་ཕྲེང་བའི་ཁ་སྐོར་ལྡེབ། Kar+ma kaM tshang brgyud pa rin po che’i rnam thar rab ‘byams nor bu zla ba zhu shel gyis phreng ba’i kha skor ldeb/. 1-776.

VOLUME TWELVE (na)

• Moonstone Crystal Mala: Precious Liberation-Stories of the Karma Kamtsang (Part II) ཀརྨ་ཀཾ་ཚང་བརྒྱུད་པ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་རྣམ་ཐར་རབ་འབྱམས་ནོར་བུ་ཟླ་བ་ཞུ་ཤེལ་གྱིས་ཕྲེང་བའི་ཁ་སྐོར་ལྡེབ། 350 ff. 2-745.

VOLUME THIRTEEN (pa)

• The Explanation of the Words and Meanings of the Treasury of Abhidharma, Illuminating Light of the Jewel of Indra’s Crown. མངོན་པ་མཛོད་ཀྱི་ཚིག་དོན་རྣམ་པར་འགྲེལ་པ་བརྒྱ་བྱིན་ཐོག་པའི་ནོར་བུའི་འོད་སྣང། mngon pa mdzod kyi tshig don rnam par ʼgrel pa brgya byin thog paʼi nor buʼi ʼod snang. 341ff. pp. 1-683.
• Precious Wheel of Auspiciousness: Contents/Outline of the Great Vision-Liberating Stupa of the Dharmakaya of the Sun of the Doctrine of Maitreya [Tai Situpa], the Compassionate Protector. བྱམས་མགོན་བསྟན་པའི་ཉིན་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་སྐུའི་མཆོད་རྟེན་མཐོང་གྲོལ་ཆེན་མོའི་དཀར་ཆག་རྫོགས་ལྡན་གྱི་སྐལ་བཟང་འདྲེན་པའི་འཁོར་ལོ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ། byams mgon bstan pa’i nyin byed kyi chos sku’i mchod rten mthong grol chen mo’i dkar chag rdzogs ldan gyi skal bzang ‘dren pa’i ‘khor lo rin po che/ 20 ff. (685-724)
• Contents/outline (kar-chag) of the supreme untouchable stupa, the Auspiciously Adorned Wish-Fulfilling, Rain-Bringing, Garland of Utpala Flowers. མཆོག་རེག་པ་མེད་པའི་མཆོད་རྟེན་གྱི་སྣང་བརྒྱན་དགེ་ལེགས་འདོད་དགུའི་ཆར་འབེབས་ཀྱི་དཀར་ཆག་ཨུཏྤ་ལའི་ཕྲེང་བ།  mchog reg pa med pa’i mchod rten gyi snang brgyan dge legs ‘dod dgu’i char ‘bebs kyi dkar chag ut+pa la’i phreng ba/. 7 ff. (ff. 20-27) (725-738).

VOLUME FOURTEEN (pha)

• The Autobiographies and diaries of Tai Situ Karma Tenpai Nyinje, Titled ‘The Stainless Crystal Mirror’ a Straightforward Account of My Own Conduct. ཏཱའི་སི་ཏུར་འབོད་པ་ཀརྨ་བསྟན་པའི་ཉིན་བྱེད་ཀྱི་རང་ཚུལ་དྲངས་པོར་བརྗོད་པ་དྲི་བྲལ་ཤེལ་ཀྱི་མེ་ལོང་ལྡེབ། tA’i situr ‘bod pa kar+ma bstan pa’i nyin byed kyi rang tshul drangs por brjod pa dri bral shel kyi me long ldeb/. 1-741. 371 ff.

Endnotes

[i] Subhūticandra (Rabjor Dawa  རབ་འབྱོར་ཟླ་བ། སུབྷུཏིཅནདྲ Subhūticandra was an 11/12th-century Indian Buddhist monk and scholar active in the monastic universities of Nalanda and Vikramashila. His most notable work is the Kavikāmadhenu which is a commentary on the Amarakośa which has been referred to as “one of the great monuments of Indian lexicography.  Tibetan sources indicate that he was a scholar of grammar, poetry and Sanskrit at both the monasteries of Vikramashila and Nalanda. In Nalanda, he worked under the monk Abhayakaragupta; in Vikramasila, his masters were Śākyarakṣita and Aṭitacandra. The terminology and language used by Subhūticandra in his works indicate that he was a native of the region of Magadha in the modern-day state of Bihar in India.

His works and affiliation with other Buddhist scholars also make it clear that he was a devout Buddhist.Flourished between 1060 and 1140. See BDRC http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/P8565

[ii] This is Subhuticandra’s Kavikamadhenu Commentary on The Amarakosa. There is a 2020 book published in Pune, India called Milking The Wish-Fulfilling Cow- An Analysis of Citations From Subhuticandra’s Kavikamadhenu Commentary on The Amarakosa by Latar Mahesh Deokar.

[iii] Skt. वररुचिः, vararuci, Pron.: vararuchi.  Name of a grammarian (also a poet, lexicographer, and writer on medicine, sometimes identified with Kātyāyana, the reputed author of the Vārttikas or supplementary rules of Pāṇini ; he is placed by some among the nine gems of the court of Vikramāditya, and by others among the ornaments of the court of Bhoja ; he was the author of the Prākrit grammar called Prākṛita-prakāśa, and is said to be the first grammarian who reduced the various dialects of Prākṛit to a system).

[iv] The mythical figure of Tönmi Sambhoṭa is credited not only as the creator of the Tibetan alphabet, but also as the author of the two foundational texts of Tibetan grammar: The Thirty (སུམ་ཅུ་པ་ Sumchupa) and The Application of Signs (རྟགས་འཇུག་ Takjuk), together known as the Sumtak (སུམ་རྟགས་). The Thirty discusses Tibetan letters and the functions of Tibetan particles, whereas The Application of Signs discusses Tibetan spelling rules and their effects on the meaning of a word. The texts by 8^th Tai Situpa, Chokyi Jungne, are on the subject of this text.

[v] Kāvyādarśa; Tib. སྙན་ངག་མེ་ལོང་, nyenngak melong, — an important treatise on the theory of Sanskrit poetics (one of the five minor sciences), written by the Indian pandita Dandin (Skt. Daṇḍin) (c. 6-7th century). It was introduced to Tibetan scholars in the 1220s by Sakya Pandita and thus served as the standard guide for the literary composition of poetry, philosophy, biography and letter writing. Mipham Gelek Namgyal and Mipham Rinpoche wrote commentaries to this text.

[vi]  Vāgīśvarakīrti/Vagishvarakirti ( ངག་གི་དབང་ཕྱུག་གྲགས་པ།  10^th-11^th Century) was one of the six gate keeper panditas of the university of Vikramashila. He was the guardian of the southern gate when Shantipa was guarding the eastern gate and Prajñakaramati the northern gate, at the time Drokmi Lotsawa and Taklo Shyönnu Lodrö were sent there.  I also wrote briefly about this Indian Pandita in my article on the 8^th Tai Situpa’s White Tara and his thangka artworks showing “fear from enemy armies”, see here: https://dakinitranslations.com/2025/10/01/protection-from-fear-of-enemy-armies-white-tara-and-8th-kenting-tai-situpa-historical-lineage-and-connection-commentary-by-gyalton-rinpoche/

[vii] The Glorious Four-Seats Tantra (རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ་དཔལ་གདན་བཞི་པ (rgyud kyi rgyal po dpal gdan bzhi pa), known in Sanskrit as the Catuṣpīṭha Tantra or Catuṣpīṭhatantra , is a significant scripture in the Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition, specifically within the Anuttarayoga (Highest Yoga) tantra class. It is classified as an early yoginītantra, originating around the late 9th century in India. It is regarded as a “mother tantra” (yoginītantra) and is influential in the Cakrasaṃvara lineage. The central figure is Jñānaḍākinī (Wisdom Ḍākinī). In later, more prevalent forms, the central deity is Yogāmbara, often in union with Jñānaḍākinī. The text is known for its highly idiosyncratic, almost “barbaric” Sanskrit, which is believed to be a deliberate, esoteric, or “twilight” language (sandhya-bhasa). It was translated into Tibetan in the 11th century by Gayādhara and Khug pa lhas btsas.

[viii] The Lineage of the Initiations known as Mitra Gyatsa originate from the yogi Mitrayogin (also known as Mitra-dzo-ki), an adept from Eastern India (Radha, Orissa) who received these teachings through a vision of Avalokiteśvara after 12 years of meditation. According to the Treasury of Live biography:

“Instructed by his guru, Mitrayogin meditated upon Avalokiteśvara for twelve years. This is said to have resulted in a mystic vision in which he received teachings directly from the deity. In the Blue Annals Go Lotsāwa (mgos lo tsA ba, 1392-1481) counts this as the first miracle of twenty that the text elaborates. These appear primarily to confirm his supernormal powers and place him as a protector of Buddhism in an era when India was being converted to Islam, but they also provide a general picture of the special traits of a late Indian Buddhist master.”

It is a comprehensive collection of 108 distinct mandalas, which include sādhanas (meditative practices), funeral rites, and various tantric techniques. The Hundred Mandalas: The collection is diverse, covering:

• Kriya Tantra Mandalas (e.g., 13-Deity Sarasvati, 29-Deity Sitatapatra).
• Charya Tantra Mandalas (e.g., 5-Deity Vajrapani).
• Yoga Tantra Mandalas.
• Anuttarayoga Tantra Mandalas.

Historical Impact: This collection is believed to have been a major inspiration for the Treasury of Kagyu Tantra compiled by Jamgon Kongtrul.  For life-story of Mitra in English, see: https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/mi-tra-dzo-ki/10280

[ix] The name Gyatsen Tulku here is not clear who this is. It could be referring to Gyaton Tulku, who is currently in his 9^th manifestation, and is generally referred to as Gyalton Rinpoche. His name is however, also spelt Gyaton, and he is referred to at the Sherab Ling monastery as Gyaton Tulku.  I noticed this when I started to translate some long-life aspirations for Gyalton Rinpoche in 2025 and asked him directly about it. He confirmed that his name was indeed Gyaton Tulku Rinpoche, but that out of habit people called him Gyalton Rinpoche.

[x] 4th Karmapa Rolpe Dorje (1340-1383)