F.Additional Notes.

[Contents]F.Additional Notes.In l. 10 theལ་might also be understood as ‘with a view to, for the purpose of, explaining, expounding.’ The translation should in that case rather run: With a view to expounding the profound (Buddhist) doctrine, they preached, explained, most fully, minutely, in full detail, Yoga and the other teachings (or the various kinds of Yoga) of the two stages of the road.…ལ་has then the force of: with regard, reference to; as far as … is concerned.In l. 17 the ‘till’ ought to be more emphatically rendered: until the very moment that,i.e.I shall not cease a moment before. Or else: till I reach the very heart of saintship. See J.s.v.བར་.In l. 49 ‘May all those’ is more correct than ‘May all of you,’for, unlike in the three preceding verses which are addressed to his pupils, the author now utters a universal prayer addressed to mankind in general.Note to p.2. Waddell, Lāmaist Graces before Meat, J.R.A.S., 1894, p. 265, says that the libation is sprinkled with the tips of the fore and middle fingers. This is denied by my informants who maintain their statement as given on p. 2, above.To p. 4. After the Introduction was in print I have seen a copy of theདགའ་, ‘The Galdan Century of Gods,’ and had it copied for me. It is a small prayer-book to Tsoṅ kʽa pa, who manifests in a hundred different forms, and it contains 18 four-lined stanzas of 9 syllables each, with the single exception of the stanza quoted in the Introduction, which contains five lines.This little book is the one mentioned in the Hor chos byuṅ (Huth’s translation, p. 387—see note 5—, and text p. 246). Huth gives as Sk. equivalent for the title: Tushitadevaçatikā. Galdan (Tushita) is here the heaven of that name, not the famous monastery. The stanza we are discussing is also mentioned in the same passage. Its name isདམིགས་(The unfathomable love verse). This Dmigs brtse ma is of considerable theological importance. I possess a commentary on it[76]written byབློ་, the seventh Dalai Lama. Grünwedel, in the list of Dalai Lamas on p. 206 of his ‘Mythologie,’ etc., writesསྐལ་and Rockhill, in ‘Tibet, a … sketch derived from Chinese sources,’ J.R.A.S., Vol. XXIII, new series, 1891, p. 287,སྐལ་.Since, I have also found that this same stanza, with a modification, occurs on the title page of Sarat Chandra Das’ edition of theདཔག་(Bibl. Ind.). The stanza as there given consists of six lines, by the addition of an initial line toདངོས་,i.e.the Thunderbolt-bearer, Vajradhara.In another little work, theསྤྱན་, ‘The illuminator of body, speech and mind concerning the order of inviting, lustrating, making obeisance to and worshipping (Tsoṅ kʽa pa),’ the stanza occurs once more, again in a different form.There, p. 9b, the prayer is as in our Introduction, but lacks the third line (བདུད་, etc.) and ends withདཔལ་. Also, instead ofའཇམ་in the second line, this text writesའཇམ་.I am informed that the prayer occurs also in many other books with modifications, and that when it is used in connection withཁྲུས་or ‘lustration’ rites the closing words afterགྲགས་are changed intoསྐུ་, ‘we baptise thee.’To p. 17. S. Ch. D., p. 490b, s.v.གཉན་mentions a medicinal root used against the plague, calledལྕགས་(without zhabs-kyu), but transcribed lcags kyu.To p. 23. Huth, Hor chos byuṅ, trs., p.117, renders[77]མཁའ་as ḍāka, also on p. 118 (see note 4). On p. 231 (see note 1) he suggests thatམཁའ་should be understood as ḍākinī =མཁའ་, not as Sk. ḍāka. Thedge rganunderstands all these three passages as referring to (female) ḍākinīs. Though according to Grünwedel (‘Mythologie,’ p. 153) in Sk. mythology a male ḍāka exists (a Tantra deity), in Tibet theམཁའ་is always feminine, and a male species or individual does not exist according to my informants. This statement needs testing of course. Grünwedel (loc. cit.) thinks that these female ḍākinīs are original Tibetan spirits or goddesses. The femaleཡེ་’s are mentioned indifferently with or without the finalམ་.Macdonell in his Sk. Dict. only mentions the feminine form of the word. In the ritual bookགཅོད་“The six cut off pieces” (i.e. chapters, divisions, into which the description of the torma offering is divided) we find the apostrophe:ཀྱེ་, “O, wisdom fairy, supernatural (= not-human) mother,” so defining the sex. In Tibetan the formམཁའ་must accordingly not be understood as a masculine form ofམཁའ་, but as its abbreviated form only. This without prejudice to the question whether in specialTantrictexts a male god Ḍāka,མཁའ་, does occur.S. Ch. D. has forམཁའ་an entry giving the meanings ‘god, bird, arrow.’ Here the word has a poetical or metaphorical meaning based on its etymology, ‘sky-goer’, but no mythological value. He adds underམཁའ་‘a class,mainlyof female spirits.’ But the form inམ་cannot be masculine. In Tibet there is a class of people calledཆོས་, both male and female, whose name may be translated as oracles,[78]shamans or mediums. They are deemed to be obsessed byཆོས་’s who speak through them whilst they themselves are in a state of trance or obsession. Their name isཆོས་inLhasaand other greater towns, and amongst the more educated; but the country-people and the lower orders have a special name for these mediums if they are women and call themརྣལ་orམཁའ་. In Sikkhim the wordམཁའ་is general in this sense. In Sikkhim the designation for a male medium of this sort isདཔའ་and notཆོས་as in Tibet.Whilst investigating the question of Khandomas from the standpoint of colloquial Tibetan I stumbled unexpectedly on the following interesting piece of information, throwing a vivid sidelight on some current beliefs and practices of modern Tibet.The abbot of the Saskya monastery is held to be the reincarnation of Padmasambhava. As the latter was the great ‘binder,’ that is subduer, of all spirits, witches, goblins and other creatures of that ilk, the Saskya abbot has in some way become the official head and master of all Tibetan witches. Belief in witches is rife all over Tibet, and any woman is liable to be declared one. The process is very simple. If a great Lama receives obeisance from the multitude he presents the devotees in return with a ‘protection-knot’ (སྲུང་), a narrow strip of cloth which he puts round their necks. He ties a knot in it muttering some mantram over it, hence the name. Ordinary laymen receive a white strip, tapas or those who have their hair cut short (probably because they look like tapas) get a yellow or red strip, but if a woman approaches whom the Lama by his magic knowledge recognizes as a witch, she receives a black strip. From that moment she is irrevocably a witch and no protestation can help her out of the situation. In the Saskya monastery an annual feast or ceremony is celebrated in which all witches must appear personally, and the magic then displayed is so tremendously powerful that all women who are secretly endowed with the powers of witchcraft without the people knowing it, are irresistibly compelled to attend the meeting. They simply cannot help it, and so stories are told of witches working in the fields, milking cows, or otherwise engaged, being drawn away from their work and appearing in the assembly with their milk-pail, or spindle, or[79]whatever utensil they were using at the time at any work, when they were forced to quit it and to come to Saskya. In the meeting they are then officially proclaimed witches and forced to pledge allegiance and obedience to the Saskya monastery and its head. Then the profitable and practical side of the transaction becomes manifest, for henceforth they have to pay an annual, heavy witch-tax, and in cases known to Karma himself, who came across them when living in Tibet, this tax amounted to oneརྡོ་(see Bell, p. 104) or about Rs. 120 a year. On the other hand they are now protected by the authority of the monastery as long as they pay the tax, though they have to pledge themselves not to use their powers for evil. Then they receive the official title ofས་, though they are known to the people asའབའ་, witch. But this latter word is a term of abuse or contempt. The meaning of the two terms, however, is the same. The entries in the dicts. s.v.འབའ་andཔོ་(and other spellings) need proper testing in the light of the above. These witches are supposed not to live up to a great age but to die young, because the monastery calls them out of life to become protecting spirits of the monastery in the invisible spheres. When a bamo dies, her daughter, if she has any, inherits the office or quality of the mother. These bamos, during life, follow the ordinary occupations of women: buying, selling, working or marrying, and their bamo-hood seems to be no drawback, in itself, to their matrimonial prospects. I heard of the case of a bamo who was the wife of a very wealthy man. But the tax, far in excess of any levied on ordinary people, must be regularly paid. If the bamo does not pay her tax, the monastery calls her soul and she dies. In the gompa for every accreditedའབའ་there is aསོབ་or stuffed effigy, puppet, of which I have not been able to get a full description. Probably a stuffed doll or body, with a mask and garment, perhaps only a stick to hold the mask and garment up, like in a puppet-show. Each such puppet becomes the dwelling-place of the soul of a dead bamo when she dies, and in order to see to it that after death she may not do harm whilst roaming about, the puppet is bound in chains. Horrible to say, however, sometimes these chains are found broken by the guardians, and this is a sure sign that the imprisoned soul has escaped from the puppet[80]which was itsdwelling-place andthat it may have started on a pilgrimage of evil works. As soon as it is found that such an imprisoned witch-soul has escaped, solemn notice is at once sent out to all Tibet to the effect that a bamo-soul has broken loose from Saskya, and the various local Lamas all through the country warn their flocks that a bamo is at large and enjoin them to be careful not to fall a victim to the wandering witch. So, for instance, they are told not to go about alone after dark, not to entertain strangers, and the like, for the bamo may assume any disguise, and any man may fall a prey to the snares of a beautiful strange woman, as any woman might be allured by an unknown man. The late Lama Sherabgyamtsho in Ghoom, whose name is so well known to all students of Tibetan, used very often to make solemn announcements of this nature and warn the Ghoom people that a bamo had escaped from Saskya.A most fitting ending to this story is perhaps to be made by quoting the old Buddhist formula “Thus I have heard,” but there is no doubt that the wordམཁའ་acquires an interesting new meaning through this curious tale.There is a belief prevalent in Tibet that in every woman a touch of bamo-hood is latent (some philosophers, also outside Tibet, seem to think the same!), but in the night of the 29th day of the twelfth Tibetan month, this seed of evil will manifest most fully. The male Tibetans, however, seem not to take any precautions or perform any rites to counteract the sinister influence of this date. Evidently it is a male Tibetan who first set up this theory, and it might be the same fellow who is the author of the following proverb which bears on our subject and on the words we are dealing with. It runs:སྐྱེས་ཁྱོ་འབའ་གཅིག་Amongst a hundred women (at most) one khando!Amongst a hundred men (at most) one sorcerer!That is—khando being here used in the good sense of fairy—: Amongst many women there is scarcely one extremely good, but amongst many men there is scarcely one extremely bad. In fact, in Tibet, all women are suspected of having just a little seed of evil (of the witch) in them. And so the term of reproach is not as in Europe ‘Old Adam’ but rather ‘Old Eve.’As far as the above story is concerned, it should not be forgotten that it is only a popular version of an interesting phase of religious practice, but Tibetan casuistry and theology are as a rule so subtle and well-systematised that a more[81]theoretical exposition of the doctrines and practices alluded to might throw considerably more, if not other and new, light on the subject.To p. 25. The quotation, s.v.ཁྲེལ་༌, l. 16:ཆོས་, etc., is from a little tract, a prayer to Padmasambhava, entitledབསམ་, ‘the quick mind-fulfiller.’To p. 25.Cf.Lewin, pp. 133–134, no. 97–10,གཞད་(རྒྱུ་), ridiculous;zhed-ked, laughter, ridicule.To p. 26.ངོ་Bell, voc., to blush; Lewin, p. 77 (64–5), ridiculous. See his example.To p. 30. S. Ch. D., Dict., hasཀོ་(hidden on p. 34, out of alphabetical order) as ‘a Tibetan of mixed breed,i.e.born of a Chinese father and a Tibetan mother.’ Waddell, Lhasa and its Mysteries, p. 214, the same explanation. A special enquiry into this point, however, yielded a different result. One of my informants was a Tibetan woman from Lhasa who had herself married a Chinaman there, and so ought to know. The half-breeds referred to by S. Ch. D. and Waddell are called ‘baizhin,’ spelling uncertain, given asབལ་andབའི་, said to be a Chinese word. However, another explanation of that same word was given, as a man not in the pay of, not taking wages from, another. Not necessarily rich or of high position, but independent. Perhaps something like crofter. This latter explanation is, however, contradicted by Karma who has relations amongst the baizhins in Tibet.In a Tibetan mixed marriage such as we are here considering the custom is to call the elder sonཀོ་after the Chinese manner, instead of using the Tibetan word. This isཨ་in Tsang andཇོ་in Lhasa. The latter is pronounced, and sometimes written,ཅོ་and even sometimes pronounced chö-cho, as if writtenཅོས་. But in the above caseཀོ་means really ‘elder brother.’ A girl, born in such a marriage, is similarly calledམི་, Chinese, instead ofཨ་, Tibetan.[82]These terms do not mean half-blood. Whetherམི་is used for the eldest daughter alone or for all the daughters of the marriage I could not ascertain.It is said that every Chinaman, however humble, becomes at once a personage of importance when in Tibet, and demands to be addressed at least asདཔོན་, Mister, Sir (as every European becomes automatically a Sahib in India), and feels quite insulted if addressed by the more familiarཀོ་as a liberty taken with his dignity. A Chinaman from Tibet, however, denied this. I remember once travelling in the Sunda country with my Javanese writer who met several people on the road whom he knew and whom he saluted as ‘little brother’ or ‘elder brother.’ I was puzzled at his belonging to so big a family, but found the solution of the riddle when I understood that this fraternity was not one of consanguinity at all. So ‘elder sister’ amongst Tibetans means only Madam, Lady, or a polite word of address to any woman of more than low status in life. In GermanMütterchenfor any old woman of simple status.To pp. 35–37. The expressionཀུན་occurring in the little prayer-bookབཟང་can hardly mean ‘a field (= heaven, world) which Kuntuzangpo has adorned’ (beautified, decorated, embellished), in the sense in which one may decorate a house or room, with beautiful pictures, furniture, etc. It must surely be understood as ‘the heaven blazing with the glory of Kuntuzangpo’s presence in it,’ a heaven resplendent with his glory. In other words, he adorns it by his mere being there, but not as the result of some activity expressed by a transitive verb. The worldisadorned, buthas not beendecorated or beautified. I wonder if the agentive caseཔོས་may be understood as in English expressions like: ‘happythroughhim,’ ‘blazingwithdiamonds,’ ‘laughingforjoy,’ and the like.To p. 40. See the unusual explanation ofཅེས་in S. Ch. D., s.v.ག་III, where he translatesཅེས་as ‘it may be said.’ The dge rgan, however, paraphrases the expression here asལབ་orལབ་, orཅེས་, which gives[83]it another meaning, namely: ‘so it has been said,’ ‘so is the teaching,’ ‘that is what has been taught.’ In this sense the previous words are a direct quotation and theཅེས་cannot be translated as ‘it may be said that.’To p. 40. In the note toཆགས་, forའདོད་,non-attachment andindifference only in connection with a negative.To p. 44.ལྟ་. See Graham Sandberg, Tibet and the Tibetans, p. 268, who renders this word, as a technical term denoting the first of the four stages of meditation, according to Milaraspa, as ‘contemplation’ or ‘concentration.’ The second word, denoting a mental action unconnected with visual experience, does not seem appropriate. As in English ‘view’ has both a physical and a mental meaning, so in Tibetanལྟ་, as a verb, has mental connotations. J. has the word as sbst. ‘mystical contemplation.’ The Sk. equivalent,दर्शन, is likewise both physical and mental in meaning. Whereas J. and S. Ch. D. have a sbst.ལྟ་‘the act of looking,’ and ‘a look,’ Desg. has it as ‘sight’ (visus, vue, “etc.”).To p. 58. See Jäschke’s note on maṇḍa and maṇḍala, s.v.དཀྱིལ་, p. 11b. His remark may have a bearing on the question of ḍāka and ḍākinī, discussed above. See next note.To pp. 59 and 60. My informants, though ignorant about the detail of five and nine cushions, do know of a custom requiring the man of higher social position, greater age, more prestige, to be seated on ahigherseat as a sign of respect. The difference of height, however, is in the seat itself, not effected by the placing of a number of cushions on seats of equal height.Toགདན་still the two following words:རྟ་, saddle cloth, andཁ་, second sheet, upper sheet, covering sheet over theའབོལ་. Theའབོལ་is usually thick and rough but theཁ་thin and of finer texture, like in European[84]beds the bed sheet over the mattress. Theའབོལ་is for softness and theཁ་for cleanliness, like the loose covers of armchairs and sofas in Western countries.To p. 62. Huth, Hor chos byuṅ, trs. 117, note 4, reconstitutes the name Blo bzaṅ grags pai dpal into Sk. Matibhadrakīrtiçrī. In Tibetan mantrams, however, where Tsoṅ kʽa pa’s name is given in its Sk. form, Sumati is used and not Matibhadra. See also p. 5 of the Introduction,supra.To p. 64. The wordདམིགས་(p. 3 and additional note to p. 4) should have been discussed there. Desg. alone has the meaning of the word as in our text: unthinkable, unimaginable. According to oral information, synonymous withབསམ་, l. 12, see p. 74,supra.The elaborate entries in J. and S. Ch. D. under this word and underདམིགས་need investigation.The wordདམིགས་has also a special meaning, not in the dictionaries, in connection with any action done ‘in thought,’དམིགས་(as in English ‘I am with you in thought’). But Tibetans can not only be present in thought but they can give presents ‘in thought,’ and do all sorts of things ‘in thought,’ when there is no physical possibility of doing so in the flesh. So the good story is told of a lazy Lama who, to get rid of the crowd, said: “And now I give my hand-blessing to you all ‘in thought,’ ” whereupon a disappointed and angry pilgrim answered: “Well, then I give you my butter-offerings, which I have brought with me, also ‘in thought.’ ”To p. 65. The dictionaries speltཔོ་but thedge rgansays thatཔོ་also occurs. Desg. has an alternative spellingཔོ་, but this seems a misprint forཔོ་.In Tibetan books I have only seenཏ་but the dge rgan is sure that the two spellings,ཊ་andཏཱ་(but notཊཱ་), occur as well.[85]To the text. When the larger part of this booklet was in print I acquired an additional copy of the text, which proved to be different from the two editions used by me. It is of the same size and style as edition A, but printed from other blocks. We call it C. The copy is a poor one, badly printed from worn-out blocks. A collation brought no news of importance. The readingངེས་in l. 16, however, is confirmed by this edition. Its only new reading isའཆིང་forའཆང་in l. 46. This reading does not seem so satisfactory as the one we have followed. The full result of the collation is given below. Indistinct readings are marked with a note of interrogation.C.l. 13.འཛིན་?forཔའི་l. 18.གཏོགས་”པར་l. 24.བརྩོན་”པར་l. 29.ཀུན་”སློང་l. 30.མཆན་?”མཚན་l. 41.བཤེས་?”པ་l. 44.འདུག་”པའི་l. 46.འཆིང་”འཆང་l. 50.རྔེས་”རྗེས་l. 51.རྟོགས་”པའི་Colophon.གདུངས་”གདུང་”བཀྲ་”desunt.The variants of ll. 30, 41, 50 and 51 are evidently due to deterioration of the blocks. There is no༈in this edition.[86]

F.Additional Notes.

In l. 10 theལ་might also be understood as ‘with a view to, for the purpose of, explaining, expounding.’ The translation should in that case rather run: With a view to expounding the profound (Buddhist) doctrine, they preached, explained, most fully, minutely, in full detail, Yoga and the other teachings (or the various kinds of Yoga) of the two stages of the road.…ལ་has then the force of: with regard, reference to; as far as … is concerned.In l. 17 the ‘till’ ought to be more emphatically rendered: until the very moment that,i.e.I shall not cease a moment before. Or else: till I reach the very heart of saintship. See J.s.v.བར་.In l. 49 ‘May all those’ is more correct than ‘May all of you,’for, unlike in the three preceding verses which are addressed to his pupils, the author now utters a universal prayer addressed to mankind in general.Note to p.2. Waddell, Lāmaist Graces before Meat, J.R.A.S., 1894, p. 265, says that the libation is sprinkled with the tips of the fore and middle fingers. This is denied by my informants who maintain their statement as given on p. 2, above.To p. 4. After the Introduction was in print I have seen a copy of theདགའ་, ‘The Galdan Century of Gods,’ and had it copied for me. It is a small prayer-book to Tsoṅ kʽa pa, who manifests in a hundred different forms, and it contains 18 four-lined stanzas of 9 syllables each, with the single exception of the stanza quoted in the Introduction, which contains five lines.This little book is the one mentioned in the Hor chos byuṅ (Huth’s translation, p. 387—see note 5—, and text p. 246). Huth gives as Sk. equivalent for the title: Tushitadevaçatikā. Galdan (Tushita) is here the heaven of that name, not the famous monastery. The stanza we are discussing is also mentioned in the same passage. Its name isདམིགས་(The unfathomable love verse). This Dmigs brtse ma is of considerable theological importance. I possess a commentary on it[76]written byབློ་, the seventh Dalai Lama. Grünwedel, in the list of Dalai Lamas on p. 206 of his ‘Mythologie,’ etc., writesསྐལ་and Rockhill, in ‘Tibet, a … sketch derived from Chinese sources,’ J.R.A.S., Vol. XXIII, new series, 1891, p. 287,སྐལ་.Since, I have also found that this same stanza, with a modification, occurs on the title page of Sarat Chandra Das’ edition of theདཔག་(Bibl. Ind.). The stanza as there given consists of six lines, by the addition of an initial line toདངོས་,i.e.the Thunderbolt-bearer, Vajradhara.In another little work, theསྤྱན་, ‘The illuminator of body, speech and mind concerning the order of inviting, lustrating, making obeisance to and worshipping (Tsoṅ kʽa pa),’ the stanza occurs once more, again in a different form.There, p. 9b, the prayer is as in our Introduction, but lacks the third line (བདུད་, etc.) and ends withདཔལ་. Also, instead ofའཇམ་in the second line, this text writesའཇམ་.I am informed that the prayer occurs also in many other books with modifications, and that when it is used in connection withཁྲུས་or ‘lustration’ rites the closing words afterགྲགས་are changed intoསྐུ་, ‘we baptise thee.’To p. 17. S. Ch. D., p. 490b, s.v.གཉན་mentions a medicinal root used against the plague, calledལྕགས་(without zhabs-kyu), but transcribed lcags kyu.To p. 23. Huth, Hor chos byuṅ, trs., p.117, renders[77]མཁའ་as ḍāka, also on p. 118 (see note 4). On p. 231 (see note 1) he suggests thatམཁའ་should be understood as ḍākinī =མཁའ་, not as Sk. ḍāka. Thedge rganunderstands all these three passages as referring to (female) ḍākinīs. Though according to Grünwedel (‘Mythologie,’ p. 153) in Sk. mythology a male ḍāka exists (a Tantra deity), in Tibet theམཁའ་is always feminine, and a male species or individual does not exist according to my informants. This statement needs testing of course. Grünwedel (loc. cit.) thinks that these female ḍākinīs are original Tibetan spirits or goddesses. The femaleཡེ་’s are mentioned indifferently with or without the finalམ་.Macdonell in his Sk. Dict. only mentions the feminine form of the word. In the ritual bookགཅོད་“The six cut off pieces” (i.e. chapters, divisions, into which the description of the torma offering is divided) we find the apostrophe:ཀྱེ་, “O, wisdom fairy, supernatural (= not-human) mother,” so defining the sex. In Tibetan the formམཁའ་must accordingly not be understood as a masculine form ofམཁའ་, but as its abbreviated form only. This without prejudice to the question whether in specialTantrictexts a male god Ḍāka,མཁའ་, does occur.S. Ch. D. has forམཁའ་an entry giving the meanings ‘god, bird, arrow.’ Here the word has a poetical or metaphorical meaning based on its etymology, ‘sky-goer’, but no mythological value. He adds underམཁའ་‘a class,mainlyof female spirits.’ But the form inམ་cannot be masculine. In Tibet there is a class of people calledཆོས་, both male and female, whose name may be translated as oracles,[78]shamans or mediums. They are deemed to be obsessed byཆོས་’s who speak through them whilst they themselves are in a state of trance or obsession. Their name isཆོས་inLhasaand other greater towns, and amongst the more educated; but the country-people and the lower orders have a special name for these mediums if they are women and call themརྣལ་orམཁའ་. In Sikkhim the wordམཁའ་is general in this sense. In Sikkhim the designation for a male medium of this sort isདཔའ་and notཆོས་as in Tibet.Whilst investigating the question of Khandomas from the standpoint of colloquial Tibetan I stumbled unexpectedly on the following interesting piece of information, throwing a vivid sidelight on some current beliefs and practices of modern Tibet.The abbot of the Saskya monastery is held to be the reincarnation of Padmasambhava. As the latter was the great ‘binder,’ that is subduer, of all spirits, witches, goblins and other creatures of that ilk, the Saskya abbot has in some way become the official head and master of all Tibetan witches. Belief in witches is rife all over Tibet, and any woman is liable to be declared one. The process is very simple. If a great Lama receives obeisance from the multitude he presents the devotees in return with a ‘protection-knot’ (སྲུང་), a narrow strip of cloth which he puts round their necks. He ties a knot in it muttering some mantram over it, hence the name. Ordinary laymen receive a white strip, tapas or those who have their hair cut short (probably because they look like tapas) get a yellow or red strip, but if a woman approaches whom the Lama by his magic knowledge recognizes as a witch, she receives a black strip. From that moment she is irrevocably a witch and no protestation can help her out of the situation. In the Saskya monastery an annual feast or ceremony is celebrated in which all witches must appear personally, and the magic then displayed is so tremendously powerful that all women who are secretly endowed with the powers of witchcraft without the people knowing it, are irresistibly compelled to attend the meeting. They simply cannot help it, and so stories are told of witches working in the fields, milking cows, or otherwise engaged, being drawn away from their work and appearing in the assembly with their milk-pail, or spindle, or[79]whatever utensil they were using at the time at any work, when they were forced to quit it and to come to Saskya. In the meeting they are then officially proclaimed witches and forced to pledge allegiance and obedience to the Saskya monastery and its head. Then the profitable and practical side of the transaction becomes manifest, for henceforth they have to pay an annual, heavy witch-tax, and in cases known to Karma himself, who came across them when living in Tibet, this tax amounted to oneརྡོ་(see Bell, p. 104) or about Rs. 120 a year. On the other hand they are now protected by the authority of the monastery as long as they pay the tax, though they have to pledge themselves not to use their powers for evil. Then they receive the official title ofས་, though they are known to the people asའབའ་, witch. But this latter word is a term of abuse or contempt. The meaning of the two terms, however, is the same. The entries in the dicts. s.v.འབའ་andཔོ་(and other spellings) need proper testing in the light of the above. These witches are supposed not to live up to a great age but to die young, because the monastery calls them out of life to become protecting spirits of the monastery in the invisible spheres. When a bamo dies, her daughter, if she has any, inherits the office or quality of the mother. These bamos, during life, follow the ordinary occupations of women: buying, selling, working or marrying, and their bamo-hood seems to be no drawback, in itself, to their matrimonial prospects. I heard of the case of a bamo who was the wife of a very wealthy man. But the tax, far in excess of any levied on ordinary people, must be regularly paid. If the bamo does not pay her tax, the monastery calls her soul and she dies. In the gompa for every accreditedའབའ་there is aསོབ་or stuffed effigy, puppet, of which I have not been able to get a full description. Probably a stuffed doll or body, with a mask and garment, perhaps only a stick to hold the mask and garment up, like in a puppet-show. Each such puppet becomes the dwelling-place of the soul of a dead bamo when she dies, and in order to see to it that after death she may not do harm whilst roaming about, the puppet is bound in chains. Horrible to say, however, sometimes these chains are found broken by the guardians, and this is a sure sign that the imprisoned soul has escaped from the puppet[80]which was itsdwelling-place andthat it may have started on a pilgrimage of evil works. As soon as it is found that such an imprisoned witch-soul has escaped, solemn notice is at once sent out to all Tibet to the effect that a bamo-soul has broken loose from Saskya, and the various local Lamas all through the country warn their flocks that a bamo is at large and enjoin them to be careful not to fall a victim to the wandering witch. So, for instance, they are told not to go about alone after dark, not to entertain strangers, and the like, for the bamo may assume any disguise, and any man may fall a prey to the snares of a beautiful strange woman, as any woman might be allured by an unknown man. The late Lama Sherabgyamtsho in Ghoom, whose name is so well known to all students of Tibetan, used very often to make solemn announcements of this nature and warn the Ghoom people that a bamo had escaped from Saskya.A most fitting ending to this story is perhaps to be made by quoting the old Buddhist formula “Thus I have heard,” but there is no doubt that the wordམཁའ་acquires an interesting new meaning through this curious tale.There is a belief prevalent in Tibet that in every woman a touch of bamo-hood is latent (some philosophers, also outside Tibet, seem to think the same!), but in the night of the 29th day of the twelfth Tibetan month, this seed of evil will manifest most fully. The male Tibetans, however, seem not to take any precautions or perform any rites to counteract the sinister influence of this date. Evidently it is a male Tibetan who first set up this theory, and it might be the same fellow who is the author of the following proverb which bears on our subject and on the words we are dealing with. It runs:སྐྱེས་ཁྱོ་འབའ་གཅིག་Amongst a hundred women (at most) one khando!Amongst a hundred men (at most) one sorcerer!That is—khando being here used in the good sense of fairy—: Amongst many women there is scarcely one extremely good, but amongst many men there is scarcely one extremely bad. In fact, in Tibet, all women are suspected of having just a little seed of evil (of the witch) in them. And so the term of reproach is not as in Europe ‘Old Adam’ but rather ‘Old Eve.’As far as the above story is concerned, it should not be forgotten that it is only a popular version of an interesting phase of religious practice, but Tibetan casuistry and theology are as a rule so subtle and well-systematised that a more[81]theoretical exposition of the doctrines and practices alluded to might throw considerably more, if not other and new, light on the subject.To p. 25. The quotation, s.v.ཁྲེལ་༌, l. 16:ཆོས་, etc., is from a little tract, a prayer to Padmasambhava, entitledབསམ་, ‘the quick mind-fulfiller.’To p. 25.Cf.Lewin, pp. 133–134, no. 97–10,གཞད་(རྒྱུ་), ridiculous;zhed-ked, laughter, ridicule.To p. 26.ངོ་Bell, voc., to blush; Lewin, p. 77 (64–5), ridiculous. See his example.To p. 30. S. Ch. D., Dict., hasཀོ་(hidden on p. 34, out of alphabetical order) as ‘a Tibetan of mixed breed,i.e.born of a Chinese father and a Tibetan mother.’ Waddell, Lhasa and its Mysteries, p. 214, the same explanation. A special enquiry into this point, however, yielded a different result. One of my informants was a Tibetan woman from Lhasa who had herself married a Chinaman there, and so ought to know. The half-breeds referred to by S. Ch. D. and Waddell are called ‘baizhin,’ spelling uncertain, given asབལ་andབའི་, said to be a Chinese word. However, another explanation of that same word was given, as a man not in the pay of, not taking wages from, another. Not necessarily rich or of high position, but independent. Perhaps something like crofter. This latter explanation is, however, contradicted by Karma who has relations amongst the baizhins in Tibet.In a Tibetan mixed marriage such as we are here considering the custom is to call the elder sonཀོ་after the Chinese manner, instead of using the Tibetan word. This isཨ་in Tsang andཇོ་in Lhasa. The latter is pronounced, and sometimes written,ཅོ་and even sometimes pronounced chö-cho, as if writtenཅོས་. But in the above caseཀོ་means really ‘elder brother.’ A girl, born in such a marriage, is similarly calledམི་, Chinese, instead ofཨ་, Tibetan.[82]These terms do not mean half-blood. Whetherམི་is used for the eldest daughter alone or for all the daughters of the marriage I could not ascertain.It is said that every Chinaman, however humble, becomes at once a personage of importance when in Tibet, and demands to be addressed at least asདཔོན་, Mister, Sir (as every European becomes automatically a Sahib in India), and feels quite insulted if addressed by the more familiarཀོ་as a liberty taken with his dignity. A Chinaman from Tibet, however, denied this. I remember once travelling in the Sunda country with my Javanese writer who met several people on the road whom he knew and whom he saluted as ‘little brother’ or ‘elder brother.’ I was puzzled at his belonging to so big a family, but found the solution of the riddle when I understood that this fraternity was not one of consanguinity at all. So ‘elder sister’ amongst Tibetans means only Madam, Lady, or a polite word of address to any woman of more than low status in life. In GermanMütterchenfor any old woman of simple status.To pp. 35–37. The expressionཀུན་occurring in the little prayer-bookབཟང་can hardly mean ‘a field (= heaven, world) which Kuntuzangpo has adorned’ (beautified, decorated, embellished), in the sense in which one may decorate a house or room, with beautiful pictures, furniture, etc. It must surely be understood as ‘the heaven blazing with the glory of Kuntuzangpo’s presence in it,’ a heaven resplendent with his glory. In other words, he adorns it by his mere being there, but not as the result of some activity expressed by a transitive verb. The worldisadorned, buthas not beendecorated or beautified. I wonder if the agentive caseཔོས་may be understood as in English expressions like: ‘happythroughhim,’ ‘blazingwithdiamonds,’ ‘laughingforjoy,’ and the like.To p. 40. See the unusual explanation ofཅེས་in S. Ch. D., s.v.ག་III, where he translatesཅེས་as ‘it may be said.’ The dge rgan, however, paraphrases the expression here asལབ་orལབ་, orཅེས་, which gives[83]it another meaning, namely: ‘so it has been said,’ ‘so is the teaching,’ ‘that is what has been taught.’ In this sense the previous words are a direct quotation and theཅེས་cannot be translated as ‘it may be said that.’To p. 40. In the note toཆགས་, forའདོད་,non-attachment andindifference only in connection with a negative.To p. 44.ལྟ་. See Graham Sandberg, Tibet and the Tibetans, p. 268, who renders this word, as a technical term denoting the first of the four stages of meditation, according to Milaraspa, as ‘contemplation’ or ‘concentration.’ The second word, denoting a mental action unconnected with visual experience, does not seem appropriate. As in English ‘view’ has both a physical and a mental meaning, so in Tibetanལྟ་, as a verb, has mental connotations. J. has the word as sbst. ‘mystical contemplation.’ The Sk. equivalent,दर्शन, is likewise both physical and mental in meaning. Whereas J. and S. Ch. D. have a sbst.ལྟ་‘the act of looking,’ and ‘a look,’ Desg. has it as ‘sight’ (visus, vue, “etc.”).To p. 58. See Jäschke’s note on maṇḍa and maṇḍala, s.v.དཀྱིལ་, p. 11b. His remark may have a bearing on the question of ḍāka and ḍākinī, discussed above. See next note.To pp. 59 and 60. My informants, though ignorant about the detail of five and nine cushions, do know of a custom requiring the man of higher social position, greater age, more prestige, to be seated on ahigherseat as a sign of respect. The difference of height, however, is in the seat itself, not effected by the placing of a number of cushions on seats of equal height.Toགདན་still the two following words:རྟ་, saddle cloth, andཁ་, second sheet, upper sheet, covering sheet over theའབོལ་. Theའབོལ་is usually thick and rough but theཁ་thin and of finer texture, like in European[84]beds the bed sheet over the mattress. Theའབོལ་is for softness and theཁ་for cleanliness, like the loose covers of armchairs and sofas in Western countries.To p. 62. Huth, Hor chos byuṅ, trs. 117, note 4, reconstitutes the name Blo bzaṅ grags pai dpal into Sk. Matibhadrakīrtiçrī. In Tibetan mantrams, however, where Tsoṅ kʽa pa’s name is given in its Sk. form, Sumati is used and not Matibhadra. See also p. 5 of the Introduction,supra.To p. 64. The wordདམིགས་(p. 3 and additional note to p. 4) should have been discussed there. Desg. alone has the meaning of the word as in our text: unthinkable, unimaginable. According to oral information, synonymous withབསམ་, l. 12, see p. 74,supra.The elaborate entries in J. and S. Ch. D. under this word and underདམིགས་need investigation.The wordདམིགས་has also a special meaning, not in the dictionaries, in connection with any action done ‘in thought,’དམིགས་(as in English ‘I am with you in thought’). But Tibetans can not only be present in thought but they can give presents ‘in thought,’ and do all sorts of things ‘in thought,’ when there is no physical possibility of doing so in the flesh. So the good story is told of a lazy Lama who, to get rid of the crowd, said: “And now I give my hand-blessing to you all ‘in thought,’ ” whereupon a disappointed and angry pilgrim answered: “Well, then I give you my butter-offerings, which I have brought with me, also ‘in thought.’ ”To p. 65. The dictionaries speltཔོ་but thedge rgansays thatཔོ་also occurs. Desg. has an alternative spellingཔོ་, but this seems a misprint forཔོ་.In Tibetan books I have only seenཏ་but the dge rgan is sure that the two spellings,ཊ་andཏཱ་(but notཊཱ་), occur as well.[85]To the text. When the larger part of this booklet was in print I acquired an additional copy of the text, which proved to be different from the two editions used by me. It is of the same size and style as edition A, but printed from other blocks. We call it C. The copy is a poor one, badly printed from worn-out blocks. A collation brought no news of importance. The readingངེས་in l. 16, however, is confirmed by this edition. Its only new reading isའཆིང་forའཆང་in l. 46. This reading does not seem so satisfactory as the one we have followed. The full result of the collation is given below. Indistinct readings are marked with a note of interrogation.C.l. 13.འཛིན་?forཔའི་l. 18.གཏོགས་”པར་l. 24.བརྩོན་”པར་l. 29.ཀུན་”སློང་l. 30.མཆན་?”མཚན་l. 41.བཤེས་?”པ་l. 44.འདུག་”པའི་l. 46.འཆིང་”འཆང་l. 50.རྔེས་”རྗེས་l. 51.རྟོགས་”པའི་Colophon.གདུངས་”གདུང་”བཀྲ་”desunt.The variants of ll. 30, 41, 50 and 51 are evidently due to deterioration of the blocks. There is no༈in this edition.[86]

In l. 17 the ‘till’ ought to be more emphatically rendered: until the very moment that,i.e.I shall not cease a moment before. Or else: till I reach the very heart of saintship. See J.s.v.བར་.

In l. 49 ‘May all those’ is more correct than ‘May all of you,’for, unlike in the three preceding verses which are addressed to his pupils, the author now utters a universal prayer addressed to mankind in general.

Note to p.2. Waddell, Lāmaist Graces before Meat, J.R.A.S., 1894, p. 265, says that the libation is sprinkled with the tips of the fore and middle fingers. This is denied by my informants who maintain their statement as given on p. 2, above.

To p. 4. After the Introduction was in print I have seen a copy of theདགའ་, ‘The Galdan Century of Gods,’ and had it copied for me. It is a small prayer-book to Tsoṅ kʽa pa, who manifests in a hundred different forms, and it contains 18 four-lined stanzas of 9 syllables each, with the single exception of the stanza quoted in the Introduction, which contains five lines.

This little book is the one mentioned in the Hor chos byuṅ (Huth’s translation, p. 387—see note 5—, and text p. 246). Huth gives as Sk. equivalent for the title: Tushitadevaçatikā. Galdan (Tushita) is here the heaven of that name, not the famous monastery. The stanza we are discussing is also mentioned in the same passage. Its name isདམིགས་(The unfathomable love verse). This Dmigs brtse ma is of considerable theological importance. I possess a commentary on it[76]written byབློ་, the seventh Dalai Lama. Grünwedel, in the list of Dalai Lamas on p. 206 of his ‘Mythologie,’ etc., writesསྐལ་and Rockhill, in ‘Tibet, a … sketch derived from Chinese sources,’ J.R.A.S., Vol. XXIII, new series, 1891, p. 287,སྐལ་.

Since, I have also found that this same stanza, with a modification, occurs on the title page of Sarat Chandra Das’ edition of theདཔག་(Bibl. Ind.). The stanza as there given consists of six lines, by the addition of an initial line to

དངོས་,

i.e.the Thunderbolt-bearer, Vajradhara.

In another little work, theསྤྱན་, ‘The illuminator of body, speech and mind concerning the order of inviting, lustrating, making obeisance to and worshipping (Tsoṅ kʽa pa),’ the stanza occurs once more, again in a different form.

There, p. 9b, the prayer is as in our Introduction, but lacks the third line (བདུད་, etc.) and ends withདཔལ་. Also, instead ofའཇམ་in the second line, this text writesའཇམ་.

I am informed that the prayer occurs also in many other books with modifications, and that when it is used in connection withཁྲུས་or ‘lustration’ rites the closing words afterགྲགས་are changed intoསྐུ་, ‘we baptise thee.’

To p. 17. S. Ch. D., p. 490b, s.v.གཉན་mentions a medicinal root used against the plague, calledལྕགས་(without zhabs-kyu), but transcribed lcags kyu.

To p. 23. Huth, Hor chos byuṅ, trs., p.117, renders[77]མཁའ་as ḍāka, also on p. 118 (see note 4). On p. 231 (see note 1) he suggests thatམཁའ་should be understood as ḍākinī =མཁའ་, not as Sk. ḍāka. Thedge rganunderstands all these three passages as referring to (female) ḍākinīs. Though according to Grünwedel (‘Mythologie,’ p. 153) in Sk. mythology a male ḍāka exists (a Tantra deity), in Tibet theམཁའ་is always feminine, and a male species or individual does not exist according to my informants. This statement needs testing of course. Grünwedel (loc. cit.) thinks that these female ḍākinīs are original Tibetan spirits or goddesses. The femaleཡེ་’s are mentioned indifferently with or without the finalམ་.Macdonell in his Sk. Dict. only mentions the feminine form of the word. In the ritual bookགཅོད་“The six cut off pieces” (i.e. chapters, divisions, into which the description of the torma offering is divided) we find the apostrophe:ཀྱེ་, “O, wisdom fairy, supernatural (= not-human) mother,” so defining the sex. In Tibetan the formམཁའ་must accordingly not be understood as a masculine form ofམཁའ་, but as its abbreviated form only. This without prejudice to the question whether in specialTantrictexts a male god Ḍāka,མཁའ་, does occur.

S. Ch. D. has forམཁའ་an entry giving the meanings ‘god, bird, arrow.’ Here the word has a poetical or metaphorical meaning based on its etymology, ‘sky-goer’, but no mythological value. He adds underམཁའ་‘a class,mainlyof female spirits.’ But the form inམ་cannot be masculine. In Tibet there is a class of people calledཆོས་, both male and female, whose name may be translated as oracles,[78]shamans or mediums. They are deemed to be obsessed byཆོས་’s who speak through them whilst they themselves are in a state of trance or obsession. Their name isཆོས་inLhasaand other greater towns, and amongst the more educated; but the country-people and the lower orders have a special name for these mediums if they are women and call themརྣལ་orམཁའ་. In Sikkhim the wordམཁའ་is general in this sense. In Sikkhim the designation for a male medium of this sort isདཔའ་and notཆོས་as in Tibet.

Whilst investigating the question of Khandomas from the standpoint of colloquial Tibetan I stumbled unexpectedly on the following interesting piece of information, throwing a vivid sidelight on some current beliefs and practices of modern Tibet.

The abbot of the Saskya monastery is held to be the reincarnation of Padmasambhava. As the latter was the great ‘binder,’ that is subduer, of all spirits, witches, goblins and other creatures of that ilk, the Saskya abbot has in some way become the official head and master of all Tibetan witches. Belief in witches is rife all over Tibet, and any woman is liable to be declared one. The process is very simple. If a great Lama receives obeisance from the multitude he presents the devotees in return with a ‘protection-knot’ (སྲུང་), a narrow strip of cloth which he puts round their necks. He ties a knot in it muttering some mantram over it, hence the name. Ordinary laymen receive a white strip, tapas or those who have their hair cut short (probably because they look like tapas) get a yellow or red strip, but if a woman approaches whom the Lama by his magic knowledge recognizes as a witch, she receives a black strip. From that moment she is irrevocably a witch and no protestation can help her out of the situation. In the Saskya monastery an annual feast or ceremony is celebrated in which all witches must appear personally, and the magic then displayed is so tremendously powerful that all women who are secretly endowed with the powers of witchcraft without the people knowing it, are irresistibly compelled to attend the meeting. They simply cannot help it, and so stories are told of witches working in the fields, milking cows, or otherwise engaged, being drawn away from their work and appearing in the assembly with their milk-pail, or spindle, or[79]whatever utensil they were using at the time at any work, when they were forced to quit it and to come to Saskya. In the meeting they are then officially proclaimed witches and forced to pledge allegiance and obedience to the Saskya monastery and its head. Then the profitable and practical side of the transaction becomes manifest, for henceforth they have to pay an annual, heavy witch-tax, and in cases known to Karma himself, who came across them when living in Tibet, this tax amounted to oneརྡོ་(see Bell, p. 104) or about Rs. 120 a year. On the other hand they are now protected by the authority of the monastery as long as they pay the tax, though they have to pledge themselves not to use their powers for evil. Then they receive the official title ofས་, though they are known to the people asའབའ་, witch. But this latter word is a term of abuse or contempt. The meaning of the two terms, however, is the same. The entries in the dicts. s.v.འབའ་andཔོ་(and other spellings) need proper testing in the light of the above. These witches are supposed not to live up to a great age but to die young, because the monastery calls them out of life to become protecting spirits of the monastery in the invisible spheres. When a bamo dies, her daughter, if she has any, inherits the office or quality of the mother. These bamos, during life, follow the ordinary occupations of women: buying, selling, working or marrying, and their bamo-hood seems to be no drawback, in itself, to their matrimonial prospects. I heard of the case of a bamo who was the wife of a very wealthy man. But the tax, far in excess of any levied on ordinary people, must be regularly paid. If the bamo does not pay her tax, the monastery calls her soul and she dies. In the gompa for every accreditedའབའ་there is aསོབ་or stuffed effigy, puppet, of which I have not been able to get a full description. Probably a stuffed doll or body, with a mask and garment, perhaps only a stick to hold the mask and garment up, like in a puppet-show. Each such puppet becomes the dwelling-place of the soul of a dead bamo when she dies, and in order to see to it that after death she may not do harm whilst roaming about, the puppet is bound in chains. Horrible to say, however, sometimes these chains are found broken by the guardians, and this is a sure sign that the imprisoned soul has escaped from the puppet[80]which was itsdwelling-place andthat it may have started on a pilgrimage of evil works. As soon as it is found that such an imprisoned witch-soul has escaped, solemn notice is at once sent out to all Tibet to the effect that a bamo-soul has broken loose from Saskya, and the various local Lamas all through the country warn their flocks that a bamo is at large and enjoin them to be careful not to fall a victim to the wandering witch. So, for instance, they are told not to go about alone after dark, not to entertain strangers, and the like, for the bamo may assume any disguise, and any man may fall a prey to the snares of a beautiful strange woman, as any woman might be allured by an unknown man. The late Lama Sherabgyamtsho in Ghoom, whose name is so well known to all students of Tibetan, used very often to make solemn announcements of this nature and warn the Ghoom people that a bamo had escaped from Saskya.

A most fitting ending to this story is perhaps to be made by quoting the old Buddhist formula “Thus I have heard,” but there is no doubt that the wordམཁའ་acquires an interesting new meaning through this curious tale.

There is a belief prevalent in Tibet that in every woman a touch of bamo-hood is latent (some philosophers, also outside Tibet, seem to think the same!), but in the night of the 29th day of the twelfth Tibetan month, this seed of evil will manifest most fully. The male Tibetans, however, seem not to take any precautions or perform any rites to counteract the sinister influence of this date. Evidently it is a male Tibetan who first set up this theory, and it might be the same fellow who is the author of the following proverb which bears on our subject and on the words we are dealing with. It runs:

སྐྱེས་ཁྱོ་འབའ་གཅིག་

སྐྱེས་

ཁྱོ་འབའ་གཅིག་

Amongst a hundred women (at most) one khando!Amongst a hundred men (at most) one sorcerer!

Amongst a hundred women (at most) one khando!

Amongst a hundred men (at most) one sorcerer!

That is—khando being here used in the good sense of fairy—: Amongst many women there is scarcely one extremely good, but amongst many men there is scarcely one extremely bad. In fact, in Tibet, all women are suspected of having just a little seed of evil (of the witch) in them. And so the term of reproach is not as in Europe ‘Old Adam’ but rather ‘Old Eve.’

As far as the above story is concerned, it should not be forgotten that it is only a popular version of an interesting phase of religious practice, but Tibetan casuistry and theology are as a rule so subtle and well-systematised that a more[81]theoretical exposition of the doctrines and practices alluded to might throw considerably more, if not other and new, light on the subject.

To p. 25. The quotation, s.v.ཁྲེལ་༌, l. 16:ཆོས་, etc., is from a little tract, a prayer to Padmasambhava, entitledབསམ་, ‘the quick mind-fulfiller.’

To p. 25.Cf.Lewin, pp. 133–134, no. 97–10,གཞད་(རྒྱུ་), ridiculous;zhed-ked, laughter, ridicule.

To p. 26.ངོ་Bell, voc., to blush; Lewin, p. 77 (64–5), ridiculous. See his example.

To p. 30. S. Ch. D., Dict., hasཀོ་(hidden on p. 34, out of alphabetical order) as ‘a Tibetan of mixed breed,i.e.born of a Chinese father and a Tibetan mother.’ Waddell, Lhasa and its Mysteries, p. 214, the same explanation. A special enquiry into this point, however, yielded a different result. One of my informants was a Tibetan woman from Lhasa who had herself married a Chinaman there, and so ought to know. The half-breeds referred to by S. Ch. D. and Waddell are called ‘baizhin,’ spelling uncertain, given asབལ་andབའི་, said to be a Chinese word. However, another explanation of that same word was given, as a man not in the pay of, not taking wages from, another. Not necessarily rich or of high position, but independent. Perhaps something like crofter. This latter explanation is, however, contradicted by Karma who has relations amongst the baizhins in Tibet.

In a Tibetan mixed marriage such as we are here considering the custom is to call the elder sonཀོ་after the Chinese manner, instead of using the Tibetan word. This isཨ་in Tsang andཇོ་in Lhasa. The latter is pronounced, and sometimes written,ཅོ་and even sometimes pronounced chö-cho, as if writtenཅོས་. But in the above caseཀོ་means really ‘elder brother.’ A girl, born in such a marriage, is similarly calledམི་, Chinese, instead ofཨ་, Tibetan.[82]These terms do not mean half-blood. Whetherམི་is used for the eldest daughter alone or for all the daughters of the marriage I could not ascertain.

It is said that every Chinaman, however humble, becomes at once a personage of importance when in Tibet, and demands to be addressed at least asདཔོན་, Mister, Sir (as every European becomes automatically a Sahib in India), and feels quite insulted if addressed by the more familiarཀོ་as a liberty taken with his dignity. A Chinaman from Tibet, however, denied this. I remember once travelling in the Sunda country with my Javanese writer who met several people on the road whom he knew and whom he saluted as ‘little brother’ or ‘elder brother.’ I was puzzled at his belonging to so big a family, but found the solution of the riddle when I understood that this fraternity was not one of consanguinity at all. So ‘elder sister’ amongst Tibetans means only Madam, Lady, or a polite word of address to any woman of more than low status in life. In GermanMütterchenfor any old woman of simple status.

To pp. 35–37. The expressionཀུན་occurring in the little prayer-bookབཟང་can hardly mean ‘a field (= heaven, world) which Kuntuzangpo has adorned’ (beautified, decorated, embellished), in the sense in which one may decorate a house or room, with beautiful pictures, furniture, etc. It must surely be understood as ‘the heaven blazing with the glory of Kuntuzangpo’s presence in it,’ a heaven resplendent with his glory. In other words, he adorns it by his mere being there, but not as the result of some activity expressed by a transitive verb. The worldisadorned, buthas not beendecorated or beautified. I wonder if the agentive caseཔོས་may be understood as in English expressions like: ‘happythroughhim,’ ‘blazingwithdiamonds,’ ‘laughingforjoy,’ and the like.

To p. 40. See the unusual explanation ofཅེས་in S. Ch. D., s.v.ག་III, where he translatesཅེས་as ‘it may be said.’ The dge rgan, however, paraphrases the expression here asལབ་orལབ་, orཅེས་, which gives[83]it another meaning, namely: ‘so it has been said,’ ‘so is the teaching,’ ‘that is what has been taught.’ In this sense the previous words are a direct quotation and theཅེས་cannot be translated as ‘it may be said that.’

To p. 40. In the note toཆགས་, forའདོད་,non-attachment andindifference only in connection with a negative.

To p. 44.ལྟ་. See Graham Sandberg, Tibet and the Tibetans, p. 268, who renders this word, as a technical term denoting the first of the four stages of meditation, according to Milaraspa, as ‘contemplation’ or ‘concentration.’ The second word, denoting a mental action unconnected with visual experience, does not seem appropriate. As in English ‘view’ has both a physical and a mental meaning, so in Tibetanལྟ་, as a verb, has mental connotations. J. has the word as sbst. ‘mystical contemplation.’ The Sk. equivalent,दर्शन, is likewise both physical and mental in meaning. Whereas J. and S. Ch. D. have a sbst.ལྟ་‘the act of looking,’ and ‘a look,’ Desg. has it as ‘sight’ (visus, vue, “etc.”).

To p. 58. See Jäschke’s note on maṇḍa and maṇḍala, s.v.དཀྱིལ་, p. 11b. His remark may have a bearing on the question of ḍāka and ḍākinī, discussed above. See next note.

To pp. 59 and 60. My informants, though ignorant about the detail of five and nine cushions, do know of a custom requiring the man of higher social position, greater age, more prestige, to be seated on ahigherseat as a sign of respect. The difference of height, however, is in the seat itself, not effected by the placing of a number of cushions on seats of equal height.

Toགདན་still the two following words:རྟ་, saddle cloth, andཁ་, second sheet, upper sheet, covering sheet over theའབོལ་. Theའབོལ་is usually thick and rough but theཁ་thin and of finer texture, like in European[84]beds the bed sheet over the mattress. Theའབོལ་is for softness and theཁ་for cleanliness, like the loose covers of armchairs and sofas in Western countries.

To p. 62. Huth, Hor chos byuṅ, trs. 117, note 4, reconstitutes the name Blo bzaṅ grags pai dpal into Sk. Matibhadrakīrtiçrī. In Tibetan mantrams, however, where Tsoṅ kʽa pa’s name is given in its Sk. form, Sumati is used and not Matibhadra. See also p. 5 of the Introduction,supra.

To p. 64. The wordདམིགས་(p. 3 and additional note to p. 4) should have been discussed there. Desg. alone has the meaning of the word as in our text: unthinkable, unimaginable. According to oral information, synonymous withབསམ་, l. 12, see p. 74,supra.

The elaborate entries in J. and S. Ch. D. under this word and underདམིགས་need investigation.

The wordདམིགས་has also a special meaning, not in the dictionaries, in connection with any action done ‘in thought,’དམིགས་(as in English ‘I am with you in thought’). But Tibetans can not only be present in thought but they can give presents ‘in thought,’ and do all sorts of things ‘in thought,’ when there is no physical possibility of doing so in the flesh. So the good story is told of a lazy Lama who, to get rid of the crowd, said: “And now I give my hand-blessing to you all ‘in thought,’ ” whereupon a disappointed and angry pilgrim answered: “Well, then I give you my butter-offerings, which I have brought with me, also ‘in thought.’ ”

To p. 65. The dictionaries speltཔོ་but thedge rgansays thatཔོ་also occurs. Desg. has an alternative spellingཔོ་, but this seems a misprint forཔོ་.In Tibetan books I have only seenཏ་but the dge rgan is sure that the two spellings,ཊ་andཏཱ་(but notཊཱ་), occur as well.[85]

To the text. When the larger part of this booklet was in print I acquired an additional copy of the text, which proved to be different from the two editions used by me. It is of the same size and style as edition A, but printed from other blocks. We call it C. The copy is a poor one, badly printed from worn-out blocks. A collation brought no news of importance. The readingངེས་in l. 16, however, is confirmed by this edition. Its only new reading isའཆིང་forའཆང་in l. 46. This reading does not seem so satisfactory as the one we have followed. The full result of the collation is given below. Indistinct readings are marked with a note of interrogation.

C.l. 13.འཛིན་?forཔའི་l. 18.གཏོགས་”པར་l. 24.བརྩོན་”པར་l. 29.ཀུན་”སློང་l. 30.མཆན་?”མཚན་l. 41.བཤེས་?”པ་l. 44.འདུག་”པའི་l. 46.འཆིང་”འཆང་l. 50.རྔེས་”རྗེས་l. 51.རྟོགས་”པའི་Colophon.གདུངས་”གདུང་”བཀྲ་”desunt.

The variants of ll. 30, 41, 50 and 51 are evidently due to deterioration of the blocks. There is no༈in this edition.[86]

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