Tshad ma sde bdun rgyan gyi me tog.

• Author: Kuijp, Leonard W.J. van der

By Bcom ldan Rigs pa'i ral gri. Edited by Rdo rje rgyal po. Pe cin: Krung go'i bod kyi shes rig dpe skrun khang, 1991. Pp. 521. Rmb 14.

Our knowledge of the early development of Tibetan Buddhist epistemology and logic (tshad ma) is significantly hampered by the fact that many treatises alluded to in the later Tibetan literature still have to be located and published. The publication under review here fills one of these lacunae in a rather exciting way, for not only does it concern two important contributions to tshad ma of the second half of the thirteenth century, but it also brings to light for the very first time a portion of the voluminous oeuvre of one of Tibet's most creative (and therefore controversial) scholars. Both texts were first noticed in Sun Wenjing and Huang Mingxin, "Zangwen yinming shumu," Yinming xintan, ed. Liu Peiyu et al. (Lanzhou: Gansu renmin chubanshe, 1989), 340.

Contrary to what is suggested by the title, this volume actually consists of two fairly polemic treatises by Bcom Idan, where but the first (pp. 3-138) is entitled Tshad ma'i bstan bcos sde bdun rgyan gyi me tog. It is based on a possibly unique manuscript (it is slightly incomplete, fols. 13-18 are missing) in eighty-nine folios that is housed at the Cultural Palace of Nationalities (Minzu Wenhua Gong, Mi rigs rig gnas pho brang) in Beijing under catalogue number 004780(2). In this work Bcom Idan sets forth his own interpretations of Dharmakirti's philosophy in thirteen chapters. Upon a comparison of this manuscript with the edition, we find that its editor, the late Rdo rje rgyal po, has unfortunately chosen to omit the numerous glosses in an unknown hand which identify, rightly or wrongly, the individuals against whom Bcom Idan is arguing. The forthcoming study of this highly interesting text by my student, P. Schwabland, will to a great extent obviate the actual inspection of the manuscript--a cursory comparison of the readings of the main body of the latter with those of Rdo rje rgyal po's edition suggest very few problems indeed--as it will include a concordance of the two and a finding list of the glosses in the manuscript.

The second text included in this volume is a commentary on Dharmakirti's Pramanaviniscaya and bears the title of Rnam par nges pa'i 'grel bshad chen po rgyan gyi me tog or Tshad ma rnam par nges pa'i 'grel bshad rgyan gyi me tog (pp. 141-521). It, too, is based on a manuscript housed in the Cultural Palace of Nationalities...