Preface
Kyotön Monlam Tsultrim, the abbot who led Narthang monastery
at the peak of its history, was an illustrious figure of his time
in Central Tibet. A resolute monk, a meditation master, a learned
scholar, author, and public figure, he epitomized the high ideals,
practices, and approaches of the Kadam school and championed
its traditions of scriptural exegesis and meditation instructions. A
Kadam luminary, he also left behind religious writings which hold
great significance for Tibetan Buddhist scholarship and practice today.
It was his short works on buddha-nature which initially drew
the interest of modern scholars and my own attention as I began
my work as writer-in-digital residence for the Tsadra Foundation.
These short tracts, like the rest of his writings, were discovered
about two decades ago in the library of Drepung and published by
Paltsek Bodyig Penying Zhibjugkhang (Dpal brtsegs bod yig dpe
rnying zhib ’jug khang, དཔལ་བགས་ད་ག་ད་ང་བ་འག་ཁང་) under
the aegis of Alak Zengkar Rinpoche. At the invitation of Karma
Delek, who was at that time leading the project on the ground, I
witnessed the work of listing and scanning these books in Drepung
in 2002 during my first trip to Tibet. Without their massive
and sustained initiative to preserve and make accessible the literary
wealth of Tibet, which has suffered colossal damage and destruction
in the twentieth century, we would not have much knowledge
of Kyotön and many other masters of Tibet.
The writings of Kyotön Monlam Tsultrim appear in volume 50 of
the second batch and volume 61 of the third batch of the Collected
Works of Kadam series published in 2007 and 2009 by Paltsek
Bodyig Penying Zhibjugkhang and Sichuan People’s Publishing
House. Volume 50 contains most of his writings, making up a full
book containing 24 titles with 425 pages, and volume 61 in the
third batch contains only five titles ranging from pages 117–166.
The titles in volume 61 were discovered after publishing the first
set in volume 50 and thus were added later. The original books are
stored in Nechu Lhakhang, the temple in which the statues of the
Buddha and the sixteen arhats are located, in Drepung monastery in Tibet. They are books in loose leaf (poti, ་ ་) format and written
in obscure Ume (dbu med, ད ་ ད་) script, which, in numerous
cases, are abbreviated, faded, or poorly inscribed. The texts also
contain many annotations in small cursive letters, most of them
added after the books were written, inserted between the lines or
al་ong the margins. The books are marked “external” (phyi, ་) to
perhaps indicate that they were brought from outside and housed
in Nechu Lhakhang in Drepung monastery. Apart from this, there
is no information available on the provenance of the books before
they reached the library in Drepung where they have remained sequestered
for several centuries. It is quite likely that these books
along with thousands of other titles, including those that are now
lost, were deposited in Drepung as the Ganden Phodrang rose to
political power in Tibet in the middle of the seventeenth century.
For the recensions of these texts in this book, we used the scanned
copies of the texts as exemplars, as we did not have direct access
to the original manuscripts. We had initially used the scans available
on the Buddhist Digital Resource Center, but due to their poor
resolution we subsequently used the higher resolution scans prepared
by Marcus Perman from the printed copies. The biography of
Chim Namkha Drak in prose by Kyotön Monlam Tsultrim and the
biography of Kyotön himself by Nyima Gyeltsen, however, are not
from the Collected Works of Kadam series. They are reproduced
from the manuscript of the Golden Rosary of Narthang available at
the Buddhist Digital Resource Center. The biographies were written
in clear Uchen script and can be found on pages A279–B384
in that version of the Golden Rosary of Narthang. Although the
scans of the original texts of these two biographies are clear and
easy to read, they have been reproduced here to make this book
comprehensive in presenting the life and works of Kyotön Monlam
Tsultrim.
Our main objective for reproducing the books in Uchen (dbu can,
ད ་ཅན་) typeset is to make the writings easily accessible to readers,
including international researchers and Himalayan readers who do
not have knowledge of Ume script. Having a computerized type set also helps us have searchable texts for various purposes. In
the process of the input and compilation of this volume, we have
also been able to ascertain the true works of Kyotön from those
mistakenly attributed to him by the editors of the Collected Works
of Kadam series and before them by the curators of the archives
at Nechu Lhakhang in Drepung. Close reading of the texts helped
us verify most of the cases, but a few still remain to be confirmed.
Although included in volume 50 containing works attributed to
Kyotön, the biographies of Paldenpa (alias Drotön Dutsi Drak),
Chumikpa, Sangay Gompa, and Zhang Chökyi Lama are excluded
from this book. The versions of these biographies in Ume script in
volume 50 do not have colophons, but the near identical versions
in the Golden Rosary of Narthang have colophons showing Chim
Namkha Drak as their author, and the titles are also listed among
the writings of Chim Namkha Drak by Kyotön. However, the hagiography
of Chim Namkha Drak in verse found in volume 50,
like the long prose biography of Chim Namkha Drak in the Golden
Rosary of Narthang, is undoubtedly a composition of Kyotön. In
volume 61, the short longevity ritual text entitled The Heart of
All Buddhas (Bde gshegs kun gyi snying po, བ་གགས་ན་ི་ང་་) included among Kyotön’s writings has a colophon showing Padmasambhava
as the author, and the two sādhana practice manuals
of Parṇaśavarī are clearly works of Chomden Rikpai Raldri, while
one text entitled A Hundred Verses on the Noble Qualities of the
Followers of Kadam Scriptural Tradition (Bka’ gdams gzhung pa’i
rnam thar tshigs su bcad pa brgya pa, བཀའ་གདམས་གང་པ་མ་ཐར་
གས་་བཅད་པ་བ་པ་) appears to be a work of someone after Kyotön.
Thus, these three texts are not included in this book, although
they are classified as writings of Kyotön in the Collected Works of
Kadam series.
Many other writings attributed to Kyotön may also be only recensions
of texts composed by authors before Kyotön, but we cannot
conclusively ascertain this without further evidence. For example,
the colophon of the Instructions on Perfection (Phar phyin gyi man
ngag, ཕར་ན་ི་མན་ངག་) states that Kyotön, “the great master, the
eighth abbot of Narthang wrote this from/based on the text of Nyen and the monk Chökyi Gyeltsen transcribed and edited it (གཉན་ི་
ད་ལ་བ་དན་ན་་ར་ཐང་པ་བད་པར་ན་པས་ས། ་ལ་བན་པ་ས་་ལ་
མཚན་ིས་ས་ང་ས་་དག་པར་ས་པ།།). It is very likely that this text
was composed by one Nyen and Kyotön merely transcribed it, but
it is also possible that he used the text by Nyen as a basis to write
this text. We also find many other titles such as the Instruction
on the Ultimate Continuum of Mahāyāna (Theg pa chen po rgyud
bla ma’i gdams pa, ག་པ་ན་་ད་་མ་གདམས་པ་), the Repository of
Pristine Wisdom (Ye shes kyi bzhag sa, ་ས་་བཞག་ས་), Instructions
on Reality (Chos nyid kyi khrid, ས་ད་་ད་) and Instructions
for Dying (’Chi kha’i man ngag, འ་ཁ་མན་ངག་) attributed Kyotön,
as explained below in the introduction, although these titles appear
in the list of teachings he received from his teachers and among
the writings of earlier masters. Thus, it is difficult to ascertain if
the texts bearing these titles among Kyotön’s writings are original
compositions of Kyotön with similar titles or merely earlier texts
transcribed or redacted by him. However, the fact that they appear
in different lists suggests their importance and use by the scholars
of the time, and their authorship can be confirmed only when further
evidence comes to light.
Among those works which can be clearly attributed to Kyotön, Instructions
on the Middle Way appears twice as Instructions on the
Middle Way of Mahāyāna (Theg chen dbu ma’i man ngag, ག་ན་
ད་མ་མན་ངག་) and Instructions on the Middle Way of the Dīpaṃkara
(Mar me mdzad kyi dbu m’i man ngag, མར་་མཛད་་ད་མ་མན་ངག་),
these being just two different versions of the same work. Similarly,
Procedures for Daily Practice (Nyin zhag re’i bsag sbyang
gi rim pa, ན་ཞག་་བསག་ང་་མ་པ།) also recurs as the final part
of Quintessence of Scriptures and Pith Instructions (Sde snod kun
gyi bcud bsdus man ngag rnams kyi snying po, ་ད་ན་ི་བད་བས་
མན་ངག་མས་་ང་།). The final text in this book, Dispelling Darkness
in Ten Directions (Phyogs bcu mun sel, གས་བ་ན་ལ་), is
not an original writing but Kyotön’s shortened recension of the
Daśadigandhakāravidhvansanasūtra. As is the wont of Tibetan
Buddhist masters in the past to prioritize passing down intact the
transmission or teachings they have received rather than introduce new ideas or write original works, Kyotön’s writings may also be
largely reproductions of earlier works, albeit with some modification
for expedience.
The first item in this book is the biography of Kyotön written by
his student and successor, Nyima Gyeltsen, the ninth abbot of Narthang.
This is followed by the list of teachings Kyotön received
from his teachers, which was either extracted from his biography
or written separately and then incorporated into the biography.
Following these two works on Kyotön’s life and education, we
included the two biographies of his master, Chim Namkha Drak,
both written by him. These are then followed by his commentarial
works, philosophical writings, and instructions for practice. While
some works are synoptic outlines, annotations, and scholastic commentaries,
most of his philosophical writings are pithy meditations
on Buddhist topics such as luminosity, emptiness, ultimate truth,
dependent-arising, etc. In this book, we arranged the titles in order
of traditional sense of depth and sanctity by going from exoteric
life writing, to scholastic works on Buddhist texts and themes, to
deep meditations on profound topics, to esoteric practices, and finally
to the abridged version of the Daśadigandhakāravidhvansan
asūtra as an auspicious conclusion.
The typescript is prepared using Jomolhari font, and original interlinear
annotations within the texts are given in smaller font.
Tibetan folio numbers of the original texts are included in parentheses,
with ན་ indicating recto and བ་ indicating verso. We have
not recorded the page numbers in Roman inserted by publishers of
the Collected Works of Kadam series, but the range of such page
numbers for each title is provided on the first page of the text after
the title. We have included the actual titles found in the main texts
rather than the titles found on the cover page, as many of the titles
on the cover page were not accurate. The writings contain a wide
range of archaic Tibetan words and phrases (e.g., མར་ི་ཤགས། ད་།
་བག བག་པ་ཅན། དག་པ་ག ་་་ནག་ ་ཏས་་ བབ་བམ་་བབ་ས་པས་
་བབ་གངས།) which, interestingly, are in current use in Bhutanese
vernaculars. Like in the case of modern Dzongkha, the connective
particular ི་ is frequently used after a word without a suffix. We have rendered these in the grammatically correct form.
The original texts are often very difficult to read or totally unintelligible.
Where the texts could not be deciphered or a word or
phrase is missing, ellipses are marked by tsheg (་་་) dots. Ellipses
are also used to indicate the words or phrases which are deliberately
left out by the author, particularly in citations, as they are not
relevant, although we know what they are. When we provide a better
alternative reading or orthography which may affect the meaning
or literary and orthographic choice of the scribe, the original
is preserved in the footnote. However, some original orthography
is preserved to show the semantic and orthographic choice of the
author or practice of the time. For example, in the commentary
on Ornament of Clear Realization, or Abhisamayālaṃkāra, Kyotön
or the scribe consistently uses ང་ བ་ མས་པ་, which more accurately
renders the term “bodhisattva,” instead of the common ང་
བ་ མས་དཔའ་, which is used in the annotations, which were clearly
added later, in this text.
This book is being brought out as a supplement to the rich web
resource on buddha-nature (buddhanature.tsadra.org) which was
built to spread the message of wisdom and compassion as the true
nature of all beings. A project of Tsadra Foundation, the website
holds a very diverse collection of literature including sūtras, tantras,
and other writings on the theme of buddha-nature, audio-visual
recordings such as teachings, interviews and conversations,
and many educational tools such as bibliography, glossary, timeline,
and events. The website introduces the beginner to the topic
of buddha-nature, prepares the intermediate student to go deeper
into the historical development, doctrinal exegesis and practical
application of buddha-nature, and offers an unprecedented body of
resources for advanced learners to delve into this profound topic in
Mahāyāna Buddhism using the Ultimate Continuum of Mahāyāna
or Mahāyānottaratantra, (Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma, ག་པ་
་ ན་ ་ ད་་ མ་) as the core text. As a number of Kyotön’s writings
directly discuss buddha-nature and most of other writings are relevant
to the study and practice of buddha-nature, this book will help
enrich this web resource and our knowledge of buddha-nature.
Moreover, by making the writings of Kyotön Monlam Tsultrim
easily accessible, we hope to shed more light on the philosophical
understanding and meditation practices associated with the Kadam
masters who followed the meditative tradition of the works of Maitreya.
While the works of scholars such as Ngok Lotsāwa Loden
Sherab, Chapa Chökyi Senge, and their followers who took up the
exegetical tradition of Maitreya’s works, mainly at the scholastic
center of Sangphu, were quite well known and have been studied
by both traditional Tibetan scholars and Western academics,
information on the meditative tradition still remains scanty and
understudied. This collection of the writings of Kyotön Monlam
Tsultrim, we hope, will help narrow this gap and also broaden our
limited knowledge of this line of rich spiritual tradition.
This publication would not have been possible without the support
of Eric Colombel and the Tsadra Foundation, with their noble and
prodigious vision and programs for disseminating the vast and profound
wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism across the world. Marcus Perman,
the Executive Director of Tsadra, has been the direct channel
of this support and instrumental throughout the process of this
publication. Similarly, Alex Catanese has been very generous with
his time and efforts to improve the English text in this book. My
gratitude also goes to my colleagues Gregory Forgues and Gwen
Witt-Dörring for their help and to Khenpo Tshewang, Alak Zengkar
Rinpoche, Karma Delek, and Lama Dawa for responding to
my queries.
It was my Bhutanese colleagues Tendel Zangpo and Dorji Gyaltshen
who spent weeks plowing through the Tibetan texts and helped
me decipher some of the near unintelligible Ume annotations.
With his skills in textual input, typeset, and layout, Tendel Zangpo
has undertaken the major bulk of the work in preparing this book,
while Dorji Gyaltshen, with his acumen for textual editing, provided
much needed assistance in proofreading and copyediting.
At the height of the digital revolution, when even in remote corners
of the Himalayan world people are enamored by developments
such as ChatGPT and engrossed in digital platforms such as Instagram
and Tiktok, which continue to fuel people’s sense of vanity and self-aggrandizement, the ideals and principles of the Kadam
masters today seem like an otherworldly impossible endeavor.
Yet, faced with enormous challenges of deep-seated egocentricity,
rampant parochialism, widespread negativity, and so forth, humanity
at this point needs more than ever before the values of humility,
selflessness, simplicity, compassion, positivity, and openness,
which Kadam masters like Kyotön so remarkably epitomized. It is
with the deepest hope and prayers to promote and disseminate such
values and cultivate such ethos that we bring out this book on the
life and works of Kyotön Monlam Tsultrim.
Karma Phuntsho
Bodhitse, Thimphu
