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Bodea Brochure
Introduction .............................................................1
1. On the Origin of the People of Tibet, and the
Ancestor of the First King: Nyatri Tsenpo ..............3
2. Spiritual and Cultural Relationships During the
Reign of the Great Dharma-Rajas of Tibet. .............6
3. Kagyur and Tengyur ................................................11
4. Origin of Present Tibetan Script ..............................14
5. Outline of Linguistic Relationship ..........................16
6. Indian Loan-Words in the Tibetan Language ..........20
7. Tibetan Sowa Rigpa and Indian Ayurveda ..............40
8. Astrology also binds India and Tibet ......................46
9. Guru-Chela Relationship between India and Tibet .50
10. The Global Significance of the Tibetan Plateau .......54
11. Tibet: The Water Tower of Asia ..............................57
12. Current Environmental Situation on the Tibetan
Plateau and its implications for India ......................60
13. Chinese occupation of Tibet and threat to India ......65
14. Cultural Relations Today .........................................69
Introduction
The story, perhaps,started a million years ago: when the Indian
island collided with the Asian plate. Life could have, without this
collision, continued for eternity undisturbed on the Indian Island,
yet it was neither the destiny of Tibet to remain a sea forever, nor
was it of India to be perpetually an island.
The relations between India & Tibet took a new turn during the
period known as the First Propagation of the Buddha Dharma
in Tibet (7th - 8th century). Many great Indian masters such as
Padmasambhava and Shantarakshita visited Tibet; Buddhism
became the state religion. In order to translate Buddhist scriptures,
the present Tibetan Script and grammar were brought from India
by Thonmi Sambhota, a minister of King Songtsen Gampo.
1
The Indian source of inspiration withered after the Muslim
invasion of North India (12th-13th century); Buddhism too had
disappeared from the Indian subcontinent. Tibet thus sought
Mongolia and then China for protection. The Tibetan Lamas
became eventually the Gurus of the Mongol Khans, and later the
Ming and Manchu Emperors.
2
1. On the Origin of the People of Tibet, and the
Ancestor of the First King: Nyatri Tsenpo
Let us discard any possible misconstruction of the question
regarding the origin of the Tibetans. More than ninety percent of
Tibetan historians have believed that Tibetans originated between
the union of a compassionate monkey: the reincarnation of
Lord of Compassion - Avalokiteshvara - and a rock ogress: the
reincarnation of Goddess Tara.
In Tibet, the idea that the first Tibetan descended from Indian
origin was initially given by an Indian scholar: Sherab Gocha. In
his work: “Devatishyastotra” - translated into Tibetan in the 11th-
century AD - he stated that an Indian King: Rupati, having suffered
defeat in a battle had garbed himself into female attires and fled
to Tibet. Later on, his descendants formed the earliest ancestors
of the present day Tibetans. According to some Indian scholars,
the incident of Rupati’s escape to Tibet was a part of the battle of
Mahabharata. Historians like Buton Rinchen Dhondup - after the
11th century - started to maintain Sherab Gocha’s statement as the
true account on the origin of Tibetans.
The Great 5th Dalai Lama - in the 17th century - said in his “Melody
of Queen of Spring” that although the Tibetans originated between
the union of a monkey and rock ogress, there also might have
existed Rupati’s descendants and his retinues amongst Tibetans.
It is reasonable now to conclude with the view of the 5th Dalai
Lama.
Some claim that Nyatri Tsenpo was son of Indian king Prasanajeet
of Kosala; others that he was son of king Bindusara’s son. All
those claims were spurned by the Tibetan historian Pawo Tsulak
Trinwa as anachronistic. He said that Rupati was born before the
Buddha and the first king of Tibet appeared long time after the
Buddha’s Parinirvana. Chronologically speaking, he said these
two could not be the same man.
If one ponders upon the present day reality of the people, who
reside in the Himalayan region, it is observably clear from every
aspect of their religion, culture and language that majority of them
were descended from Tibetan racial stock.
5
2. Spiritual and Cultural Relationships During the
Reign of the Great Dharma Rajas of Tibet.
The year 233 AD was recognised as the inaugural year of Buddhism
in Tibet. It is said in that year a few number of Buddhist scriptures
and objects of worship were received by the then 27th King of
Tibet, Lha Tho Tho-ri Nyentsen. In recognition of this, according
to Shakabpa in his “An Advanced Political History of Tibet”, the
Government in Tibet imprinted on its paper money the year 233
AD marking the inaugural year of Tibet’s Political System. But
this inaugural year should not be interpreted as the year which
commenced the translation of Buddhist texts and learning of
Buddhism in Tibet. Tibetans believed this as an augury for the
development of Buddhism in later times.
6
time of Lha Tho Tho-ri Nyentsen. These texts, therefore, formed
the first Indian Buddhist text rendered into Tibetan under the
patronage of Dharma Raja Songtsen Gampo. From then on, the
translation of Indian Buddhist texts and other literature continued
for over a thousand years.
7
tallied symmetrically with that of Jokhang’s if one replaced a
pillar of one of either temples with the other it seems, he said, no
irregularities would be detected.
8
the first Sanskrit learning centre in Tibet. Under the gratitude of
Indian guru Shantarakshita, Tibet also saw its first Tibetan Sangha
Community during the reign of the Second Dharma Raja. During
the time a huge number of Buddhist scriptures were translated
by Tibetan translators, also in collaboration with Indian scholars
like Abbot Bhimalamitra, Sangya Sangwa, Shanti Garba. Tibetan
translators had catalogued all titles of every Buddhist scripture
translated into Tibetan, beginning from the first translator Thonmi
Sambhota.
9
King Tride Songtsen - trained by Buddhist masters in reading,
writing and Buddhism from his childhood. An implicit faith in the
Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha) developed in him at
a precocious age, and after he ascended the throne he bestowed
exceeding honour and privileges to the Buddhist community.
During his time King Ralpachen invited Indian scholars such as
Abbot Zinamitra, Surendra Bodhi, Shailendra Bodhi, Bodhimitra,
among others, to Tibet and with them Tibetans translated a huge
number of Buddhist texts that had not been available before.
10
3. Kagyur and Tengyur
Aryabhumi or Bharat is one of the most ancient civilisations of
Earth. It is a land of mythology, great Rishis and Munis. It is
also the origin of many religions and philosophies as preached
by Maharishis like Kapila, Kammad, Vyas, Mahavir etc. Gautama
Buddha, born in 625 B.C. was also one of the great teachers of
the time. Of all the religions that have originated in India only
Buddhism reached and flourished in Tibet for over 1465 years.
11
largest volume of translation work of Buddhist literature for over
six centuries. The munificence of titles speaks for itself.
12
Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Buddhapalita, Bhav-vivekar, Chandra
Kirti, Shantideva, Shantarakshita, Kamalashila, Asanga,
Vasubandhu, Dignaga, Dharmakirti, Haribhadra, Atisha and so
on so forth.
Tangyur has 220 volumes and more than 3300 titles, which are
categorized as Stotragan, Tantra, Prajnaparamita, Madhyamaka,
Abhidharma, Vinaya, Jataka, Shabdavidya, Chikitsa Vidya, Niti
Shastra etc. Since these all are in the Tibetan Language, only a
very small percentage of the world’s population can read them.
13
4. Origin of Present Tibetan Script
A majority of Tibetan historians have acknowledged that the
present Tibetan script was invented by Thonmi Sambhota in
the 7th century AD. Besides the promotion of political and
social welfare of the people as a cause for the invention of the
Tibetan script; the immediate cause, as recorded in many of the
Tibetan historical documents, that in King Songtsen Gampo’s
enthronement ceremony at the age of thirteen, all Royal Houses
of Tibet’s neighbouring countries had sent their representatives
with greetings and letters, and also inventories of their gifts in
their own written languages.
14
thirty four Indian consonants into twenty three in Tibetan suitable to a
Tibetan tongue. Then out of necessity he invented six more consonants
and in Tibetan the letter did not function in the capacity of a vowel - as
it does in Indian language - Thonmi instead placed the letter into the
consonant category.
15
5. Outline of Linguistic Relationship
In the seventh century on Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo’s
visionary insistence on the need to have Tibet’s own written
language, Thonmi Sambhota was sent to India to learn Indian
languages under the tutelage of Indian Guru Brahman Lipikar
and Dev Vidyasingha. Seven years of diligent hard work had paid
him handsomely with expertise in Indian languages and Buddhist
philosophy. Equipped with this knowledge he returned back to
Tibet and started to shape the present day Tibetan alphabets on the
model of Indian alphabets.
Thonmi had not just shaped the Tibetan alphabets on the model
of the Indian script, he also composed eight Tibetan grammatical
treatises based on the-then available Indian grammatical systems,
but unfortunately it is said that out of these eight Tibetan
grammatical treatises only two survived, and except their titles,
the other six were lost. Tibetan historians are unanimous in
regarding Thonmi’s scholastic activities as the beginning of Indo-
Tibetan linguistic relationship.
16
eighth century during the reign of Trisong Detsen, at the request of
Tibetan translator Yeshe Wangpo and Indian Guru Shantarakshita,
the king established Tibet’s first translation centre in the-then
newly constructed Samye Monastery. It had done a great service
in strengthening and promoting the Indo-Tibetan linguistic
relationship. Moreover for a meticulous and accurate translation
of Buddhist scriptures, the need to have a high level of proficiency
in Sanskrit was necessary. Sanskrit language was also taught in
the above mentioned translation centre. This centre was the first
Sanskrit learning centre in Tibet.
17
monarchy in Tibet did not diminish the vigour in translation of
Buddhist texts. The Second Diffusion of Buddhism in Tibet saw
especially the translation of a large number of Indian grammatical
and poetic literature in Tibetan, along compositions of commentary
on these literatures by Tibetan scholars.
18
literary giants; such is also stood for Tibet. In the 14th century
AD, Tibetans saw the celebrated Meghadootam for the first time
in the Tibetan version and from then on critical reviews and
commentaries were composed by different Tibetan scholars; nor
was there a shortage of poems which had followed the beautiful
poetical writing that Kalidasa had exhibited in the Meghadootam.
19
6. Indian Loan-Words in the Tibetan Language
Tibetans - surrounded by snowy mountains - are natives of the
high plateau of Tibet. Mount Everest and Kailash are the most
well known to Indians. Mt. Kailash and Mansarovar Lake are
pilgrimage destinations for Hindus, Buddhists and Bonpos. Lord
Shiva with Goddess Uma and many Devatas resided in sacred
places in Tibet.
20
true disciples of India. Under the patronage of Tibetan kings the
gargantuan task of translating Buddha’s teachings (Kagyur) and
works of Indian Maha Pundits (Tengyur) was made. The Shastras
were done under the guidance of Indian Acharyas. Kagyur has
more than 100 big volumes and Tengyur about 220 volumes which
are the most authentic reservoir of Buddhist literature preserved
in Tibetan language, although India itself has lost most of the
originals.
21
kar ma and Phang thang ma. However, during the later spread of
Buddhism in Tibet, many common subject texts were translated.
In the 13th century, Shongton Dorjee Gyaltsen (1235-1280)
translated Dandini’s Kavyadarsha, and Amar Singh’s Amarkosh,
into Tibetan and started the tradition of its study, which is very
much alive till today. Similarly, Meghaduta was also translated
and studied largely.
Sanskrit grammar has taken a high place in the heart of the Tibetan
scholars. It is indispensable to learn Sanskrit grammar to properly
translate the source materials into the intended language. Kalapa
Vyakarana, Chandra Vyakarana and Panini Vyakaranam have
also been translated into Tibetan. Indian Pandita Smriti-jnana
composed a grammar book during his sojourn in Tibet, which later
became one of the most referred books by Tibetan grammarians
to explain Tibetan grammar. Similarly, Sarasvati-vyakarana is
studied till date by the Tibetans. Among the Niti-Shastra, the
translation of Chanakya-Neeti is one of the foremost Niti-Shastra
translated into Tibetan. Apart from that Prajnanananda a Niti-
Shastra was also translated and studied by the Tibetans. Many
Tibetan scholars wrote Niti-Shastras to guide the common man
in moral thinking and in his worldly endeavours for better and
22
harmonised societies.
Ayurveda
1. Yoga sataka
2. Jivatura
3. Acaryanagarjunabhasita avabhesajakalpa
4. Vaidyastangahrdayavrtti
5. Astangahrdayasamhita nama
6. Astangahrdayanama vaiduryakabhasya
7.Padarthacandrikaprabhasa nama astangahrdayavivrti
8. Aryadesamagadhamathuraksatriyabhisakkunathamnya
9. Aryadesaphahabdhisagdandasabhesajasamskara
10. Arya mulakosamahausadhavali
11. Ayurvedasarvasvasarasamgraha
12. Vaidyasiddhasara
13. Salihotriyasvayurvedasamhita nama
23
Grammar
1. Vyakaranasubanta nama
2. Tripratyayabhasya
3. Subantaratnakara nama
4. Dhatukaya
5. Candronadivrtiti nama
6. Unadi
7. Tyadyantakriyapadarohana nama
8. Unadivrtti
9. Kalaponadisutra
10. Dhatusutra
11. Sarasvativyakaranasutra
12. Vyakaranamahasastrasarasvativyakaranavrttiprakriyacaturanama
13. Kalapadhatusutra
14. Paninivyakaranasutra
15. Sabdhasastra
16. Astamahapadamula
18. Syadyantaprakriy
24
Poetry works
1. Meghaduta
2. Ramayana
3. Kavyadarsa
1. Chodoratnakara
2. Adhidhanansastravisvalocana-nama
3. Ekasabdhabahavarthapravartanabhidhanamanimala
4. Devasvaradistaniyamasahitaganapatisamudraphalaprayoga
5. Amarkosa
6. Amarakosatikakamadhenu-nama
Shilpa Vidya
1. Rasasiddhisastra nama
2. Rasayanasastroddhrti
Nitishastra
1. Nitisastraprajnadanda nama
2. Nitisastrajantuposanabindu nama
3. Canakyanitisastra
4. Nitisastra
On Other Subjects
1. Tanuvicaranasastrasamksepa
25
b) Emergence of Poetic Composition in Tibet:
It was in the 18th century, when the most authentic and extensive
commentary, entitled Yangchen Ngagi Roltso, written by Khamtrul
Choskyi Nima, the foremost disciple of Situ Panchen, was brought
forward. This was followed by later commentaries like Yangchen
26
Gyespi Roltso of Ju Mipham, Losal Bungwa Rolpa of Ogyen
Tenzin. In the late 20th century, many new commentaries were
written by Tibetan scholars in and outside Tibet among which
worth mentioning is Tsangses Shedpe Dayang written by Satsang
Lobsang Palden. This brief account shows how Tibetan scholars
have embraced the art of Indian poetic compositions.
It was in the 12th century that Sakya Panchen felt the necessity
of introducing works on Synonymic Phrase of Sanskrit into
Tibetan and, hence, he translated the first chapter of Amarkosh
into Tibetan for the first time. The text was entitled Tsigter, which
paved the way for resurgence of this particular field of study. The
Amarkosh, written by the famous Indian scholar Amar Singh in the
4th century, received highest critical acclaim. This was followed
by many texts on the Synonymic Phrase by Indian scholars who
mainly drew inspiration from this text. This commentary of the
text was first translated into Tibetan by Yarlo Dakpa Gyaltsen.
27
d) Buddhist Texts Restored into Sanskrit or Translated into
Hindi
1. སློབ་དཔོན་སེངྒེ་བཟང་པོས་མཛད་པའི་མངོན་པར་རྟོགས་པའི་རྒྱན་གྱི་འགྲེལ་པ་
དོན་གསལ།
अभिसमयालङ्कारवृत्तिः स्फू टार्था
2. དྲི་མ་མེད་པར་གྲགས་པའི་མདོ།
विमलकीर्तिनिर्देशसूत्र
3. རྡོ་རྗེ་གཅོད་པའི་མདོ་དང་། འཕགས་པ་ཐོགས་མེད་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་རྡོ་རྗེ་གཅོད་པའི་
འགྲེལ་པ།
वज्रच्छे दिका प्रज्ञापारिमतासूत्र तथा आचार्य असङ्गकृ त
त्रिंशतिकाकारिकासप्ततिः
4. དཔལ་དཱིཔངྐརཤྲིཛྙཱནས་མཛད་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་ལམ་གྱི་སྒྲོན་མ།
आचार्य दीपंकरश्रीज्ञानविरचितःबोधिपथप्रदीपः
5. འཕགས་པ་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་སྟོང་ཉིད་བདུན་ཅུ་པ་དང་དེའི་རང་འགྲེལ།
शून्यतासप्ततिः आचार्यनागार्जुनप्रणीता स्वोपज्ञवृत्त्या समन्विता।
6. སློབ་དཔོན་ཀམལཤཱི་ལས་མཛད་པའི་སྒོམ་རིམ་ཐོག་མཐའ་བར་གསུམ།
आचार्यकमलशीलप्रणीतःभावनाक्रमः
28
7. རིན་ཆེན་འབྱུང་གནས་ཞི་བའི་ཞབས་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་སྡེབ་སྦྱོར་རིན་ཆེན་འབྱུང་
གནས་དང་བཅས།
कलिकालसर्वज्ञरत्नाकरशान्तिपादप्रणीतः छन्दोरत्नाकरः स्वोपज्ञवृत्त्या
समन्वितः
9. ཨ་ཏི་ཤས་མཛད་པའི་ཆོས་ཚན་བཅུ་གཅིག
अतीशिवरिचता एकादशग्रन्थाः
10. སློབ་དཔོན་ཀཱམལཤཱིལས་མཛད་པའི་འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་རྡོ་
རྗེ་གཅོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་རྒྱ་ཆེར་འགྲེལ།
आर्यप्रज्ञापारमितावज्रच्छे दिकासूत्रम् एवं आचार्य-कमलशीलविरचिता आर्यप्रज्
ञापारमितावज्रच्छे दिकाटीका।
14. དཔལ་དཱིཔངྐརཤྲིཛྙཱནས་མཛད་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་ལམ་གྱི་སྒྲོན་མ།་
बोधिपथप्रदीपःआचार्य दीपङ्कर श्रीज्ञानविरचितः
15. ཇོ་བོ་རྗེས་མཛད་པའི་གཞུང་ཚན་ལྔ།
आचार्य दीपङ्करश्रीज्ञान प्रणीत पञ्च ग्रन्थ संग्रह।
29
16. कृ ष्णपाद तेल्लोपाद दोहाकोशगीति
17. ཇོ་བོ་རྗེ་དཔའ་ལྡན་ཨ་ཏི་ཤས་མཛད་པའི་བདེན་པ་གཉིས་ལ་འཇུག་པ་ལ་སོགས་
པའི་གཞུང་ཚན་བཞི
अतिशदीपङ्कर श्रीज्ञानप्रणीतम् सत्यद्वयावतारादिग्रन्थचतुष्टयम्
18. སློབ་དཔོན་ཀམལཤཱིལས་མཛད་པའི་དབུ་མ་སྣང་བ།
आचार्यकमलशीलप्रणीतःमध्यमकालोकः
19. འཕགས་པ་ཕུང་པོ་གསུམ་པའི་མདོ་དང་དེའི་རྒྱ་འགྲེལ་གསུམ
आर्यत्रिस्कन्धसूत्रं टीकात्रयसंवलितम्
20. སློབ་དཔོན་མཆོག་སྲེད་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་ཚིགས་སུ་བཅད་པ་བརྒྱ་པ།
आचार्यवररुचिकृतशतगाथा
21. མགོན་པོ་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་འཕགས་པ་སཱ་ལུ་ལྗང་པའི་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པ་
དང་དེའི་རྒྱ་ཆེར་འགྲེལ།
आचार्यनागार्जुनप्रणीतासटीका आर्यशालिस्तम्बककारिका।
22. སློབ་དཔོན་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་བཤེས་པའི་སྤྲིང་ཡིག་དང་སློབ་དཔོན་བློ་གྲོས་
ཆེན་པོས་མཛད་པའི་དེའི་རྒྱ་ཆེར་བཤད་པ་ཚིག་གསལ།
आचार्यनागार्जुनविरचितः सुहृल्लेखः आचार्यमहामतिविरचिता
व्यक्तपदाटीका च।
23. སློབ་དཔོན་ཆེན་པོ་བྱང་ཆུབ་བཟང་པོ་དང་ནག་པོ་ཞབས་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་
འཛིན་གྱི་ཚོགས་ཀྱི་ལེའུ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་གཞུང་ཚན་གཉིས།
आचार्यबोधिभद्र-कृ ष्णपाद-विरचितौ समाधिसम्भारपरिवर्तौ।
25. སློབ་དཔོན་ཟླ་བ་གྲགས་པས་མཛད་པའི་དབུ་མ་ལ་འཇུག་པའི་སེམས་བསྐྱེད་དང་པོ་
ལྔའི་བཤད་པ།
30
आचार्यचन्द्रकीर्तिविरचितः स्ववृत्तिसहितः मध्यमकावतारः (परिच्छे दाः 1-5)
26. སློབ་དཔོན་འཕགས་པ་ལྷས་མཛད་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྙིང་པོ་ཀུན་ལས་བཏུས་པ་དང་།
སློབ་དཔོན་བྱང་ཆུབ་བཟང་པོས་མཛད་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྙིང་པོ་ཀུན་ལས་བཏུས་པའི་
བཤད་སྦྱར
ज्ञानसारसमुच्चयः एवं ज्ञानसारसमुच्चयनिबन्धनम् (आर्यदेवकृतम्)
27. སློབ་དཔོན་འཕགས་པ་ཐོགས་མེད་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་བསྡུས་པ།
आचार्यअसङ्गकृ त महायान संग्रह।
28. སློབ་དཔོན་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་མདོ་ཀུན་ལས་བཏུས་པ།
आचार्यनागार्जुनविरचितः सूत्रसमुच्चयः
2. དྲི་མ་མེད་པར་གྲགས་པས་བསྟན་པའི་མདོ།
विमलकीर्तिनिर्देशसूत्र
3. རྡོ་རྗེ་གཅོད་པའི་མདོ་དང་། འཕགས་པ་ཐོགས་མེད་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་རྡོ་རྗེ་གཅོད་པའི་
འགྲེལ་པ།
वज्रच्छे दिका प्रज्ञापारमितासूत्र तथा आचार्य असङ्गकृ त
त्रिंशतिकाकारिकासप्ततिः
4. སློབ་དཔོན་མི་འཇིགས་སྦྱིན་གྱིས་མཛད་པའི་གྲུབ་ཐོབ་བརྒྱད་ཅུ་རྩ་བཞིའི་ལོ་རྒྱུས།
चौरासी सिद्धों का वत्ता
ृ न्त
5. རིགས་པ་ལ་འཇུག་པའི་མདོ། ཧ་རི་བྷདྲསུརིས་མཛད་པའི་རིགས་པ་ལ་འཇུག་པའི་
འགྲེལ་པ།
31
न्यायप्रवेशसूत्रम्, हरिभद्रसूरिकृ त न्यायप्रवेशवृत्ति सहितम्
6. འཕགས་པ་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་སྟོང་ཉིད་བདུན་ཅུ་པ་དང་དེའི་རང་འགྲེལ།
शूनयतासप्ततिःआचार्यनागार्जुनप्रणीता स्वोपज्ञवृत्त्या समन्विता
7. སློབ་དཔོན་ཀམལཤཱི་ལས་མཛད་པའི་སྒོམ་རིམ་ཐོག་མཐའ་བར་གསུམ།
आचार्य कमलशीलप्रणीतः भावनाक्रमः
8. འཕགས་པ་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་ཆོས་ཡང་དག་པར་བསྡུས་པ།
आचार्य नागार्जुन प्रणीतःधर्मसंग्रहः
9. དགེ་བའི་དབང་པོས་མཛད་པའི་མུ་ཏིག་འཁྲི་ཤིང་གི་རྟོགས་བརྗོད།
क्षेमेन्द्रप्रणीतम् मुक्तालतावदानम्
10. རིན་ཆེན་འབྱུང་གནས་ཞི་བའི་ཞབས་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་སྡེབ་སྦྱོར་རིན་ཆེན་འབྱུང་
གནས་རང་འགྲེལ་དང་བཅས།
कलिकालसर्वज्ञरत्नाकरशान्तिपादप्रणीतः छन्दोरत्नाकरः स्वोपज्ञवृत्त्या
समन्वितः
13. ཨ་ཏི་ཤས་མཛད་པའི་ཆོས་ཚན་བཅུ་གཅིག
अतीशविरचिता एकादशग्रन्थाः
14. འཕགས་པ་ཀླུ་སྒྲུ་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་ཆོས་ཡང་དག་པར་བསྡུས་པ།
आचार्य नागार्जुनप्रणीतः धर्मसंग्रहः
32
15. སློབ་དཔོན་རིག་པའི་འབྱུང་གནས་ཞི་བས་མཛད་པའི་རྟོག་གེའེ་ཐེམ་སྐས།
आचार्य विद्याकरशान्तिविरचितम् तर्क सोपानम्
17. སློབ་དཔོན་རྟ་དབྱངས་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་སྤྱོད་པ།
Avaghoùa’s Buddhacarita (The Life of the Buddha)
अश्वघोष विरचित बुद्धचरितम्
18. སློབ་དཔོན་བྷརྟིཧརིས་མཛད་པའི་ལུགས་བརྒྱ་པ།
आचार्य भर्तृहरिप्रणीत नीतिशतकम्
19. བོད་ཀྱི་་བརྡ་སྤྲོད་སློབ་དེབ།
संभोटव्याकरण
20. སློབ་དཔོན་བགྲོད་དཀའ་སེངྒེས་མཛད་པའི་ཀལཱཔའི་ཨུཎ་སོགས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་པ།
कातन्त्रोणादिसूत्रवृत्तिः (तिब्बती)
22. ཇོ་བོ་རྗེས་མཛད་པའི་གཞུང་ཚན་ལྔ།
आचार्य दीपङ्करश्रीज्ञान प्रणीत पञ्च ग्रन्थ संग्रह।
25. དགེ་སློང་སྙན་ངག་མཁན་ཆེན་པོ་བཙུན་པ་སློབ་དཔོན་རྟ་དབྱངས་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་
མཛེས་དགའ་བོའི་སྙན་ངག་ཆེན་པོ།
आचार्य अश्वघोष विरचित सौन्दरनन्द महाकाव्य
33
26. སྙན་ངག་མཁན་པོ་ཇོ་བོ་ཉི་དབང་མགོན་པོས་མཛད་པའི་གླུ་ཐལ་སྦྱར་མ།
गीतञ्जली
27. ཇོ་བོ་རྗེ་དཔལ་ལྡན་ཨ་ཏི་ཤས་མཛད་པའི་བདེན་པ་གཉིས་ལ་འཇུག་པ་ལ་སོགས་
པའི་གཞུང་ཚན་བཞི།
अतिशदीपङ्कर श्रीज्ञानप्रणीतम् सत्यद्वयावतारादिग्रन्थचतुष्टयम्
28. འཕགས་པ་ཕུང་པོ་གསུམ་པའི་མདོ་དང་དེའི་རྒྱ་འགྲེལ་གསུམ།
आर्यत्रिस्कन्धसूत्रं टीकात्रयसंवलितम्
29. བདག་ཉིད་ཆེན་པོ་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་བསྟོད་པ་རྣམ་པ་བཞི།
आचार्यनागार्जुनविरचितः चतुःस्तवः
30. སློབ་དཔོན་མཆོག་སྲེད་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་ཚིགས་སུ་བཅད་པ་བརྒྱ་པ།
आचार्य वररुचिकृ त शतगाथा
31. མགོན་པོ་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་འཕགས་པ་སཱ་ལུ་ལྗང་པའི་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པ་
དང་དེའི་རྒྱ་ཆེར་འགྲེལ།
आचार्यनागार्जुनप्रणीता सटीका आर्यशालिस्तम्बककारिका
32. ཐར་འབྱུང་སྦས་པས་མཛད་པའི་རྟོག་གེའི་སྐད།
आचार्यमोक्षाकरगुप्तविरचित तर्कभाषा
33. སློབ་དཔོན་ཆེན་པོ་བྱང་ཆུབ་བཟང་པོ་དང་ནག་པོ་ཞབས་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་
འཛིན་གྱི་ཚོགས་ཀྱི་ལེའུ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་གཞུང་ཚན་གཉིས།
आचार्यबोधिभद्र-कृ ष्णपाद-विरचितौ समाधिसम्भारपरिवर्तौ
34. ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྡོམ་བཞི་བསྟན་པའི་མདོ།འཕགས་པ་ཀླུའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་རྒྱ་མཚོས་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ་
བསྡུས་པ།
चतुर्धर्मोद्दानसूत्र (संक्षिप्त आर्यसागरनागराजपरिपृच्छासूत्रम्)
35. སློབ་དཔོན་ཟླ་བ་གྲགས་པས་མཛད་པའི་དབུ་མ་འཇུག་པ་སེམས་བསྐྱེད་དང་པོ་ལྔའི་
བཤད་པ།
आचार्यचन्द्रकीर्तिविरचितः स्ववृत्तिसहितः मध्यमकावतारः (परिच्छे दाः 1-5)
34
36. དྲང་སྲོང་ཆེན་པོ་མེ་བཞིན་འཇུག་གིས་མཛད་པའི་ཙ་ར་ཀའི་བསྡུ་བ། པོད་དང་པོ།
महर्षिणा अग्निवेशेन प्रणीता चरकसंहिता (प्रथमो भागः)
37. སློབ་དཔོན་དཔའ་བོས་མཛད་པའི་ཡན་ལག་བརྒྱད་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་བསྡུས་པའི་འགྲེལ་པ་
ཚིག་ཉུང་དོན་གསལ། པོད་དང་པོ།
आचार्यवाग्भट्टविरचितस्य अष्टाङ्गहृदयस्य अल्पपदस्फुटार्थः वृत्तिः (प्रथमो
भागः)
38. མཆོད་རྟེན་དང་ཚ་ཚ་གདབ་པའི་ཆོ་གའི་གཞུང་གསུམ་ཕྱོགས་བཏུས།
चैत्य-संचकयोर्निर्माणविधिसंग्रहः
39. སློབ་དཔོན་རྟ་དབྱངས་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་རྡོ་རྗེའི་ཁབ།
आचार्य अश्वघोषकृ त वज्रसूची
40. སློབ་དཔོན་འཕགས་པ་ལྷས་མཛད་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྙིང་པོ་ཀུན་ལས་བཏུས་པ་དང་།
སློབ་དཔོན་བྱང་ཆུབ་བཟང་པོས་མཛད་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྙིང་པོ་ཀུན་ལས་བཏུས་པའི་
བཤད་སྦྱར།
ज्ञानसारसमुच्चयः एवं ज्ञानसारसमुच्चयनिबन्धनम् (आर्यदेवकृतम्)
42. སློབ་དཔོན་ཀམལ་ཤཱིལས་མཛད་པའི་འཕགས་པ་སཱ་ལུ་ལྗང་པ་རྒྱ་ཆེར་འགྲེལ་པ།
आर्यशालिस्तम्बसूत्र एवं आचार्य कमलशील विरचित बृहट्टीका
43. སློབ་དཔོན་ཆོས་གྲགས་ཀྱི་ཚད་མ་རིགས་ཐིགས་དང་།དེའི་འགྲེལ་པ་སློབ་དཔོན་
ཆོས་མཆོག་གིས་མཛད་པ།
आचार्य धर्मकीर्ति विरचित न्यायबिन्दु एवं धर्मोत्तर टीका
44. སློབ་དཔོན་འཕགས་པ་ཐོགས་མེད་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་བསྡུས་པ།
आचार्यअसङ्गविरचित महायान संग्रह
45. སློབ་དཔོན་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་མདོ་ཀུན་ལས་བཏུས་པ།
35
आचार्यनागार्जुनविरचितः सूत्रसमुच्चयः
46. ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཚིགས་སུ་བཅད་པ།
धम्मपद
47. चर्यासंग्रहः
48. མགོན་པོ་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་ཆེན་པོའི་རྒྱུད་དཔལ་གསང་བ་འདུས་
པའི་བསྐྱེད་པའི་རིམ་པ་བསྒོམ་པའི་ཐབས་མདོ་དང་བསྲེས་པ།
आचार्यनागार्जुनविरचितम् गुह्यसमाजसाधनसूत्रमेलापकम्
49. རྗེ་ཙོང་ཁ་པ་ཆེན་པོས་མཛད་པའི་རྟེན་འབྲེལ་བསྟོད་པ་ལེགས་བཤད་སྙིང་པོ།
आचार्यचोंखापाविरचितम् प्रतीत्यसमुपादस्तुतिसुभाषितहृदयम्
50. གར་ཞ་བ་དངོས་གྲུབ་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པའི་ཉེ་སྒྱུར་ཉི་ཤུ་པ།
विंशति (संभोट उपसर्ग प्रक्रिया)
52. སློབ་དཔོན་མ་འགགས་པས་མཛད་པའི་ཆོས་མངོན་བསྡུས་པ།ཆོས་མངོན་བསྡུས་པ་
བསྡུས་ཏེ་བཤད་པའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ཆོས་མངོན་ཀུནྡ་འཛུམ་པའི་ཟླ་ཟེར།
आचार्य अनुरुद्ध प्रणीतः अभिधम्मत्थसंगहो (द्वितीय भाग)
53. བསྟན་བཅོས་ཆེན་པོ་མངོན་རྟོགས་རྒྱན་གྱི་ལུས་རྣམ་གཞག་གི་འགྲེལ་པ་འཇིགས་
མེད་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབང་པོའི་ཞལ་ལུང་།
अभिसमयालङ्कारमहाशास्त्रकायव्यवस्थाटीका अभयधर्मेन्द्र-मुखागम-नामः
54. རྗེ་གུང་ཐང་གིས་མཛད་པའི་ལེགས་པར་བཤད་པ་ཆུའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ལུགས་གཉིས་
རླབས་འཕྲེང་བརྒྱ་ལྡན།
Hundred Waves of Elegant Sayings
55. ཀུན་མཁྱེན་པདྨ་དཀར་པོས་མཛད་པའི་སྔོན་འགྲོའི་ཟིན་བྲིས།
पद्मकरपो-विरचिता पूर्वयोग-टिप्पणी
36
56. རྗེ་ཙོང་ཁ་པ་བློ་བཟང་གྲགས་པའི་རྣམ་ཐར།
महात्मा चोङ्खापा (सुमतिकीर्ति ) जी का व्यक्तित्व एवं कृ तित्व
57. རྗེ་ཙོང་ཁ་པས་མཛད་པའི་ལམ་རིམ་བསྡུས་དོན།
बोधिपथपिण्डार्थ
58. རྗེ་བཙུན་རེད་མདའ་བས་མཛད་པའི་བ་ཤེས་པའི་སྤྲིངས་ཡིག་གི་འགྲེལ་པ་དོན་
སལ།
आचार्यनागार्जुन प्रणीत सुहृल्लेख एवं भट्टारक रेनदावा कृ त सुहृल्लेख
स्फुटार्था टीका
59. དཔལ་སྤྲུལ་ཨོ་རྒྱན་འཇིགས་མེད་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབང་པོས་མཛད་པའི་ཐེག་ཆེན་ལྟ་ཁྲིད་
བདེན་གཉིས་རབ་ཏུ་གསལ་བ།
श्रीनिर्माण ओडियानअभयधर्मेन्द्रप्रणीतो महायानदर्शनपाठः सत्यद्वयप्रकाशो
नाम
60. ཤར་ཙོང་ཁ་པ་བློ་བཟང་གྲགས་པས་མཛད་པའི་དྲང་བ་དང་ངེས་པའི་དོན་རྣམ་པར་
འབྱེད་པའི་ལེགས་བཤད་སྙིང་པོ།
आचार्य सुमतिकीर्ति चोङ्खापा प्रणीत नेयार्थ -नीतार्थविभङ्गशास्त्र सुभाषित
सार
61. ཆོས་རྗེ་སྒམ་པོ་པ་བསོད་ནམས་རིན་ཆེན་གྱིས་མཛད་པའི་དམ་ཆོས་ཡིད་བཞིན་གྱི་
ནོར་བུ་ཐར་པ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་རྒྱན།
आचार्य गम्पोपा विरचित सद्धर्मचिन्तामणिमोक्षरत्नालङ्कार
62. རྣལ་འབྱོར་གྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག་དམ་པ་རྗེ་བཙུན་མི་ལ་རས་པའི་རྣམ་པར་ཐར་པ་ཐར་པ་
དང་ཐམས་ཅད་མཁྱེན་པའི་ལམ་སྟོན།གཙང་སྨྱོན་ཧེ་རུ་ཀ
मोक्ष-सर्वज्ञ मार्ग-प्रदर्शक सद्-योगीश्वर भट्टारक मि-ला-रस्-पा का जीवन
वृत्तान्त (चङ् ञोन् हे -रु-क)
63. རྗེ་རིན་པོ་ཆེས་མཛད་པའི་བླ་ན་མེད་པ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་གསུམ་གྱི་གཏམ་གྱི་སྦྱོར་བ།
अनुत्तरत्रिरत्नकथायोगः (चोंखापासुमतिकीर्ति प्रणीतः)
64. ཀུན་བཟང་བླ་མའི་ཞལ་ལུང་།
37
गुरुसमन्तभद्रमुखागम् कुनसङ्लामाईशयललुङ्
65. གུང་ཐང་བསྟན་པའི་སྒྲོན་མེ་མཛད་པའི་ཆུ་ཤིང་གི་བསནྟ་བཅོས།
भट्टारक गुङ्थङ् तेनपइ- ड्रोनमे विरचित जल एवं वृक्ष सुभाषितशास्त्रः
66. ལེགས་བཤད་བློ་གསར་མིག་འབྱེད།
बौद्ध सिद्धान्तसारः (बालमतिनयनोन्मीलक सुभाषित)
67. རྗེ་ཙོང་ཁ་པ་བློ་བཟང་གྲགས་པས་མཛད་པའི་ལམ་རིམ་ཆེན་པོ་ལས་ལྷག་མཐོང་ཆེན་
པོ།
आचार्य चोङ्खापा-विरचित महाविपश्यना (बृहद् बोधिपथक्रम का अंतिम भाग)
69. ནང་ཆོས་ངོ་སྤྲོད།
बौद्धधर्म का परिचय
72. बोधिचर्यावतार:
སྤྱོད་འཇུག
73. आनन्द की ओर
74. ཐོན་མི་ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོའི་རྣམ་ཐར།
75. आचार्य थोन-मी संभोट का जीवन-चरित्र
76. མདོ་སྡེ་པའི་ལྟ་བ།
सौत्रान्तिक दर्शन
38
77. ནུབ་ཕྱོགས་པའི་སེམས་གཙོའི་གྲུབ་མཐའ་དང་དེར་རྒོལ་བ་རྣམས་ཀྱི་ལུགས།
39
7. Tibetan Sowa Rigpa and Indian Ayurveda
a) The Purpose
Sowa-Rigpa, the Tibetan Art of Healing is not only one of the five
major academic subjects of Tibetan culture but also one of the
oldest known traditional practises of the world that provides for
a holistic approach to the treatment of both physical and mental
conditions of mankind
b) Brief history
During the reign of the 28th King, Lha tho tho Ri, the first Indian
physicians arrived. They were two siblings: Biji Gajed and Bil-
ha Lhaze. Both travelled extensively and practiced their arts of
healing in various places, and due to their dedication they became
so famous that the King invited them to his royal palace of Yum-
40
bu Lhakhang. The King felicitated and showered his blessings to
them and in order to incorporate and extend Indian arts of healing
in Tibetan Sowa Rigpa, the King bestowed his own princess Yid
kyi Rolcha as a bride to Biji Gajed. The Princess soon gave birth to
a boy named Dhung gi Thorchok, who studied the healing knowl-
edge effectively under the tutorship of his renowned father and
then was recognised to have become the first physician of Tibet
and also became the personal physician to the King (his grandfa-
ther) in his late years.
Like his predecessor, the 38th King, Trisong Detsen, too contrib-
uted his whole in the development and upliftment of the standards
of Tibetan culture in general — promoted Buddha Dharma and
Sowa Rigpa in particular — to a greater extent by requesting
various scholars from the neighbouring countries to visit Tibet.
Particularly, celebrated scholars from India such as Dharmaraja
and Shanti Garbha resided in Tibet, and composed many treatises
41
based on their own medical knowledge and tradition which were
later translated into Tibetan language. In the year 728, under his
patronage, many scholars specifically from India and other neigh-
bouring countries of Tibet were invited for the First International
Conference on Tibetan medicine at Samye Mahavihara in Tibet.
In the 10th century, King Osung, and his prince jointly invited the
Indian scholar Dharma Shri Verma to Ngari Region in the West-
ern Tibet. Other Tibetan scholars namely Yig gi Rinchen, Marlo
Rigpai Shun nu, Ven. Shakya Lodoe of Yug collectively translated
the renowned and classical text of Ancient India. The King also
counselled to send 27 young, enthusiastic and intelligent Tibet-
ans to India, for their studies, so to revive Buddhism in Tibet,
but because of unaccustomed climatic condition, all but two of
the members could not complete their respective studies. After
completion of their studies, the two returned back to Tibet and be-
came eminent scholars who are known as the two great translators
Rinchen Zangpo and Lekpai Sherab. Eminent Rinchen Zangpo had
extensively travelled to the Ladakh region in the state of Jammu
and Kashmir, and Lahaul and Spiti region of Himachal Pradesh
and even today, his enormous contribution in the construction of
Monasteries and Temples in these regions is remembered. Em-
inent Rinchen Zangpo had chaired many projects of translation
and had actively participated in the translation of Astangahridaya
42
authored by Lopon Pawo and its commentary Daser, written by
the Muslim scholar Dawa Ngonga in Tibetan language.
44
legally acknowledged and registered the Sowa Rigpa as one of the
traditional medical systems in the umbrella of Ayush under the
Ministry of Health.
45
8. Astrology also binds India and Tibet
In general, all the astrological systems that have developed over
the years have resulted only from the experiences accumulated
after a series of understandings by exploration of their natural en-
vironments. To cite the origin and development of Tibetan As-
tro-Science, it has experiences accumulated from human explora-
tion of the interdependence between sky and earth as its base, and
it is magnificently coupled with the essence of the astrological and
astronomical traditions of countries like India and China.
The most common belief is that some time before the pari-nirva-
na, the Buddha at Shri Dhanyakataka stupa, in Amravati in South
India, gave a sermon to the 1st Dharma King of Shambhala Dawa
Sangpo (Lord Vajrapani’s manifestation) and 96 other kings by
manifesting himself as a Shri Kalachakra deity. In the very next
year, on his return to Shambala he passed on to his son Lhawang
(Sureśvara), the Second Dharma King of Shambhala. The teach-
ings were then passed on to the successive Dharma Kings of
Shambala and reached the first Kalkī King of Shambhala, Rigden
Jampel Dakpa.
On the Full-moon Day of the Third Lunar Month of the Year 177
BC (Wood-Mouse), Rigden Jampel Dakpa gave their teachings
and initiations as mentioned in the prophecy and brought different
races under one race and named it Kalkī (Rigden). He composed
the most extensive Kalachakra Laghu Tantra (Condensed Tantra)
containing 1030 stanzas in total. Year 1027 is the coronation year
of the 12th King Rigden Nyima, and in that particular year, the
46
first translation of the Kalachakra Tantra into Tibetan was carried
by Lotsawa Gijo Dawae Woser. This year also marked the start of
the 60 years of Rabjung Cycle. Kalachakra Astro-Science is not
just a part of Tibetan Astro-Science but it is one of the most reli-
able foundations of in the entire of Astro-Science.
47
It is called Yangchar (Arising Vowels) because the 16 vowels (of
Sanskrit), which is the essence of all letters, are thus found con-
densed into four elements and reflects on dates.
48
The birth chart called Tatkal or moment time, identification of
Rahu and Ketu as planets and their effect on individual’s life,
power of planets, power of day and night, power of directions
and so forth are all similar. In making of the almanac, five compo-
nents, five planet’s calculation, and twenty-seven lunar mansions
also have similarities. Thus from the perspective of historical as-
pects and the present day’s practice, there is not only great relation
between the two but are also much similar in all aspects.
49
9. Guru-Chela Relationship between India and Tibet
The Guru-Chela (teacher-student) relationship between India and
Tibet mainly prevails in the nature of religion, and Buddhism is
the religion, which bonded this relationship. In Tibet it is widely
remembered that the commencement of Buddhism in Tibet first
begun during the reign of 27th King of Tibet Lha-Tho Tho-ri
Nyantsan. But this commencement of Buddhism in Tibet should
not be seen in the light of Indian Guru’s success in preaching Bud-
dhism and proselytising Tibetans. It is said that during that time,
King Lha-tho Tho-ri Nyantsan received a few number of Buddhist
scriptural texts and objects of worship and the next day Tibetans
believed that these objects served as an augury for development of
Buddhism in future. So this commencement of Buddhism in Tibet
had not gone beyond a nature of symbolism.
50
came to Tibet mainly to preach Buddhism at the request of Tibet-
ans and also taught Indian grammar and literature to Tibetans and
raised several hundreds of Tibetan disciples.
It also said that up to that century, Tibet had produced about 215
renowned translators and majority of them, as precedent set by
Tibet’s first translator Thonmi Sambhota, went to India and learnt
and perfected the Indian language and Buddhist philosophy by
studying at the feet of Indian Gurus. During the reign of the 37th
King, Trisong Detsen, the Indian Gurus, Shantarakshita and Pad-
masambhava visited Tibet on the invitation of the King and they
propagated the Buddha’s Sutra and Tantra throughout Tibet. Also
under the guidance of these two gurus the first Buddhist learning
centre, known today as the Samye Monastery, was built by the-
then King. As the robust development of Buddhism and its surviv-
al were solely dependent on the community of monkhood, Trisong
Detsen, selected seven Tibetans for the monkhood ordination.
The King was doubtful whether Tibetans could abide by the laws
of a monk’s ordination and embrace a life of celibacy, so as a tri-
al he selected seven candidates. Presided over by Shantarakshita
in the capacity of Abbot, the ordination was initiated by inviting
twelve bhikkhus of Sarvastivadin School (the code of a monk’s or-
dination discipline demands twelve fully ordained monks as wit-
ness during the ordination) from India. All Tibetans unanimously
bestow the credit for the success of this event upon Shantarakshi-
ta as he is considered as the first Abbot of Tibet.
51
nine well-known scholars from neighbouring countries like In-
dia, China, Persia, and Nepal. The King let his personal physician
Yuthok Yonten Gonpo - known by Tibetans as Lord of Medicine
- to interact and exchange medical knowledge with them. Chrono-
logically speaking, we can compare this meeting as to what in
this modern day is called the International Conference on Medi-
cine. Introduced to the Ayurvedic tradition for the first time at the
conference, Yuthok Yonten Gonpo in order to indulge more into
Ayurvedic tradition ventured three times to India. During these
three visits he stayed in India for nine years and eight months to
learn Indian Ayurvedic tradition from a hundred and eleven differ-
ent Gurus from India and Nepal.
52
He studied this grammatical text thoroughly from two Indian pun-
dits and later translated the text in Tibetan.
His nephew Jangchup Oey in order to pay the ransom sought gold
throughout Tibet and was able to collect gold that equalled the
weight of his body, except the head. When the nephew informed
him about this, he told him not to waste the gold on him for he was
old and could not benefit Tibetans any longer. Instead of using the
gold for paying the ransom for his release, he advised his neph-
ew to use the gold and invite Atisha and other Indian scholars to
Tibet. He died in prison and his nephew carried out his advice by
inviting Atisha in the year 1040.
53
10. The Global Significance of the Tibetan Plateau
The ecological role and global significance of the Tibetan Pla-
teau is becoming more and more evident with findings from new
studies, as well as the various names being used by scientists to
describe the Tibetan Plateau as the Roof of the World, the Third
Pole, the Water Tower of Asia and the Rainmaker.
The relationship between the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and the Indian
Subcontinent began about 55 million years ago when the Indian
Subcontinent collided with Eurasia. In the long geological pro-
cess of the collision emerged the vast Tibetan Plateau with the
mighty Himalayan mountain range stretching to the south-western
edge of the Plateau. The formation and gradual uplift of the Tibet-
an Plateau changed both the landscape and climatic condition of
the two places: the Tibetan Plateau and the Indian Subcontinent.
While the plateau got drier with the Himalayas blocking monsoon
from entering Tibet, the Indian subcontinent enjoyed the full force
of the Monsoon. Ever since, the Tibetan Plateau has played vari-
ous roles in the timing and intensity of Indian Monsoon and East
Asian Monsoon patterns1.
1 An Zhisheng et al., “Evolution of Asian Monsoons and phased uplift of the Hi-
malaya- Tibetan plateau since Late Miocene times”, 2001 Macmillan Magazines
Ltd (30 May 2001): Nature. VOL 411.
2Shichang Kang et al., “Review of climate and cryospheric change in the
Tibetan Plateau”, IOP PUBLISHING (January 22, 2010): Environ. Res. Lett. 5
(2010) 015101 (8pp)
54
the North-Eastern edge of India. Tibet also shares boundaries with
states like Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim.
2. Karakoram Range
3. Altyn Range
5. Serthen Range
7. Nganglon Range
8. Thangla Range
The highest peaks and greatest mountain ranges of India are lo-
cated on the southern edges of the TP. The mighty snow-clad Hi-
malaya stretches elegantly on the south-western corners of the TP,
facing India on its southern slopes, providing cool air and water to
the vast Indian Subcontinent.
56
11. Tibet: The Water Tower of Asia
The Tibetan Plateau is rightly known as the Water Tower of Asia,
as it is the source of Asia’s six largest and most important rivers,
such as (English/Tibetan), Yangtze/Drichu, Yellow/Machu, Me-
kong/Zachu, Salween/Gyalmo Ngulchu, Indus/Senge Khabab and
Brahmaputra/Yarlung Tsangpo.
The water from the 12,000 km3 of glaciers of the Third Pole en-
sures permanent flow of Asia’s major rivers. This greatly influenc-
es the social and economic development of a fifth of the world’s
population with more than 1.5 billion people living downstream6.
Any major damage to the Tibetan rivers could affect 40% of the
world’s population some way or the other.
57
Major rivers of North India flowing from the Tibetan Plateau
Watershed regions
S. N Rivers
States
Indian Name Tibetan Name
1 Brahmaputra Yarlung Tsangpo Arunachal Pradesh,
Assam
2 Indus Senge Khabab Jammu and Kashmir
3 Sutlej Langchen Khabab Himachal Pradesh,
Punjab
4 Karnali/Ghagra Macha Khabab Uttar Pradesh
5 Arun/Sun-Kosi Bhumchu Bihar
6 Manas Lhodrak Kharchu Assam
58
side the polar region and is the source region of all the large rivers
in Asia, it is widely recognised to be the driving force for both re-
gional environmental change and amplification of environmental
changes on a global scale.
Thus the timing and intensity of the Indian monsoon and the East
Asian monsoons are greatly influenced by climate change on the
Tibetan Plateau. Even the worsening heat waves in Europe and
north-east Asia are linked to thinning snow cover on the Tibetan
Plateau.
59
12. Current Environmental Situation on the Tibetan
Plateau and its implications for India
a) Climate Change on the Tibetan Plateau
Ever since the occupation of Tibet by China, there has been rap-
id environmental degradation due to increase in human activities.
The large influx of Chinese undermines the existing land use pat-
tern of the Tibetan people. Excessive damming and mining are
causing immense damage to the fragile ecosystem and its land-
scape. The Indian summer monsoon is intensified and the East
China summer monsoon is weakened due to human-induced land
cover change on the Tibetan Plateau.
The glacial lake outburst flood is another threat due to rapid gla-
cial retreat. The water flowing out from the rapidly melting gla-
ciers form unstable lakes or glacial lakes on the foot of a peak or in
a small mountain valley, is ready to burst out anytime. The sudden
discharge of a large volume of water with debris would lead to
massive floods known as glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF). Ac-
cording to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain De-
velopment (ICMOD), there are more than 8000 glacial lakes on
the Himalayan regions, of which 200 are potentially dangerous.
For example, the Pareechu, a tributary of the Sutlej River was
blocked by a massive landslide in Tibet, forming an unstable Rock
fall dam. In the years 2000 and 2005, the Pareechu Lake burst in
Tibet, causing heavy destructions in the Kinnaur and Shimla dis-
tricts of Himachal Pradesh.
61
systems originate from Himalayas, which will have a wider impli-
cation and threatens food production system of the country”, said
Dr. Ashwani Kumar, Director General, Indian Council of Forestry
Research and Education (February 24, 2016)
There are Chinese experts who claim that the 2008 Wenchuan
earthquake (which killed 80,000 people) could have been induced
by the nearby Zipingpu Dam and the 2014 Ludian earthquake by
the Xiluodu dam. The 510 megawatt Zammu hydropower dam
on the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) and more planned on the
same river could cause immense damage to the ecology of the
Plateau and wellbeing of downstream countries like India and
Bangladesh. Millions in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam whose life
and culture thrive on the shores of this ancient river are greatly
threatened.
China has dam-med every major river and their tributaries in Ti-
bet. When identifying the threats to Himalayan ecosystem, China
stands out. By annexing Tibet, China thus has changed Asia’s wa-
ter-map. It is aiming to change it further, as it builds dams that re-
direct trans-boundary riparian flows, thereby acquiring significant
leverage over downriver countries.
Conclusion
62
fertile regions in India are either fed by rivers or receives abun-
dant rainfall. The fertile Ganges plains and the plains of Assam are
fed by rivers originating from the melting glaciers.
Efforts like:
63
2. The Government of India should:
64
13. Chinese occupation of Tibet and threat to India
As geopolitical rivals, India and China face each other over a
highly disputed border. Virtually the entire 2,521 mile (4,057)
border, one of the longest in the world, is in dispute without a
mutually agreed line of control in the Himalayas separating the two
countries. The amount of land under dispute tops 52,125 square
miles (135,000 km2), or approximately the size of Costa Rica or
the U.S. state of Alabama. It is apparent that in comparison with
China’s territorial disputes with other neighbours now or in the
past, the PRC’s land disputes with India stand out both for their
sheer size and for their importance to the region. Even though
neither country is in a position to dominate the other, yet each
views the other as a potential geopolitical rival.
As China and India gain economic heft, they are drawing ever
more international attention at a time of an on-going global shift of
power to Asia. Their underlying strategic dissonance and rivalry,
however, usually attracts less notice. The two giants represent
competing political and social models of development. In fact,
China and India are more than just nation-states; they are large
ancient civilizations that together represent nearly two-fifths of
humanity.
How the intricate and fluid relationship between these two great
countries of markedly different histories, identities, and cultures
evolves will have an important bearing on Asian geopolitics,
international security, and globalization.
Their 32-day war in 1962 did not settle matters; because China’s
dramatic triumph only sowed the seeds of greater rivalry and
65
India’s own political rise. Today, China and India represent two
separate cultural and political blocks, each with its own distinct
set of values. Paradoxically, after the Communists came to power
in China in 1949, India was one of the first countries to embrace
the Mao Zedong-led regime. Yet in one of his first actions after
seizing power, Mao confided to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin
that Chinese forces were “preparing for an attack on Tibet,” and
he inquired whether the Soviet Air Force could help transport
supplies to them.
66
border with India, Bhutan, and Nepal.
67
home to Turkic-speaking Muslim ethnic groups. In the years after
the Panchsheel Agreement, Sino-Indian relation became tense,
with Chinese cross border encroachments culminating in a full-
fledged Chinese military attack in 1962. Just as Mao began his
invasion of Tibet while the world was occupied with the Korean
War, he chose a perfect time for invading India.
Mao’s premier Zhou Enlai, publicly admitted that the war was
intended “to teach India a lesson.” As for Nehru, after having
reposed his implicit faith in China, he cried foul when Beijing
deceived him. The day the Chinese invaded, a shattered Nehru
confessed to the nation in the following words: “Perhaps there are
not many instances in history where one country has gone out of
her way to be friendly and cooperative with the government and
people of another country and to plead their cause in the councils
of the world, and then that country returns evil for good.”
68
14. Cultural Relations Today
The Dalai Lama crossed into India on March 31, 1959. During the
next years, he was followed by more than one hundred thousand
of his countrymen. After being given asylum by the Government
of India, he first lived in Mussoorie for a couple of years and later
established his headquarters in Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh).
From here he strove to preserve the culture of Tibet that was
endangered in Tibet. Amongst others, he re-established several
institutions:
69
- The Karmapa Headquarters in Rumtek (Sikkim)
Though the cultural relations between India and Tibet have gone
through difficult times, they have survived many onslaughts over
the centuries. The presence of the Dalai Lama in India and the
interest of the Government of India are the best guarantee to their
survival.
70