Civilization at the Foot of Mount Sham-po: The Royal House of lHa Bug-pa-can and the History of g.Ya'-bzang.

• Author: Kapstein, Matthew T.
• Position: Book review

Civilization at the Foot of Mount Sham-po: The Royal House of lHa Bug-pa-can and the History of g.Ya'-bzang. By GYALBO TSERING, GUNTRAM HAZOD, and PER K. S[empty set]RENSEN. Vienna: VERLAG DER OSTER-REICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN, 2000. Pp. 340. plates.

The present work is described as an "annotated translation, transliteration and facsimile edition" of three "historical texts from the Monastery of g.Ya'-Bzang in Yar-Stod (Central Tibet)." It is certainly that, but also much more. With seven appendices on matters relating to the principal documents studied, a variety of maps and tables, and excellent color plates illustrating sites mentioned in the texts and relevant artwork, Civilization at the Foot of Mount Sham-po succeeds in providing to all intents and purposes a model study in Tibetan local history.

The focus of the volume is a manuscript collection containing three texts dating to the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, all relating to the history of g.Ya'-bzang, a monastic and political center situated beneath the sacred mountain of the upper Yar-lung Valley, Mt. Sham-po. Though g.Ya'-bzang has not received much attention in early Tibetological scholarship, it is of considerable interest owing to the intersection of its history with key moments in Tibetan political and cultural history overall: its geographical situation and ancient traditions relate it to the foundations of the old Tibetan dynasty of Yar-lung; after the twelfth century it became a significant center of the Bka'-brgyud order of Buddhism; and still later it emerged as one of the thirteen myriarchies (khri-skor) that dominated Tibetan politics throughout the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries. The three texts given here, representing three distinct genres of Tibetan historical writing and touching upon all of these matters, provide a genealogy of the royal line of lHa-Bug-pa-can, the religious history of g.Ya'-bzang, and an untitled summary of the life of Chos kyi smon lam (1169-1233), founder of the g.Ya'-bzang monastery.

Carefully annotated translations and transcriptions of these three works constitute the main body of the volume. An introductory essay (pp. 3-22) provides historical and geographical background essential to the appreciation of these works. Part of the interest here derives from regarding g.Ya'-bzang as a paradigm example of the new centers formed by noble...