Item Details

Analysis of the Ratnakuta in the Mongolian Manuscript Kanjur

Issue: Vol 38 No. 2 (2021)

Journal: Buddhist Studies Review

Subject Areas: Religious Studies Buddhist Studies

DOI: 10.1558/bsrv.21193

Abstract:

The Maharatnakuta is a collection of Buddhist texts, the bulk of which belong to the early Mahayana tradition. Its extant versions are included in the Chinese Tripitaka as well as the Tibetan and Mongolian Kanjurs. The collection has been studied to a certain extent with the use of the Chinese and Tibetan sources but almost nothing is known of its Mongolian-language versions. The article aims to provide a preliminary study of the Ratnakuta in the Mongolian manuscript Kanjur compiled in 1628–1629. It examines the structural traits of the collection, the data of the colophons and some textual elements preserved from the Tibetan original/s. The analysis reveals that, possibly, the major part of the Ratnakuta or the whole collection was translated into Mongolian en bloc in 1628–1629. The collection lacks eight sutras and places the final forty-ninth work between texts thirty-five and thirty-six. A number of textual elements preserved from the Tibetan source/s point to the proximity and possible relation of the Mongolian Ratnakuta to the Them spangs ma and Western Tibetan Kanjurs.

Author: Kirill Alekseev

View Original Web Page

References :

Alekseev, Kirill. 2015. “Mongol’skii Gandzhur: genezis i struktura.” Strany i narody Vostoka 36: 190–228.

———. 2017a. “O fragmentakh ‘zolotogo’ mongol’skogo Gandzhura, khraniashchikhsia v Britanskoi biblioteke.” In Kul’turnoe nasledie mongolov: rukopisnye i arkhivnye sobraniia Sankt-Peterburga i Ulan-Batora. Programma i tezisy, 24. Sankt-Peterburg.

———. 2017b. “On the Correlations between the Copies of the Mongolian Manuscript Kanjur.” In Mongol Ganzhuur: olan ulsyn sudalgaa, edited by S. Chuluun, 37–50. Ulaanbaatar: Shinzhlekh ukhaany akademi, Tuukh, arkheologiin khureelen.

———. 2021a. “A Note on the So-Called Codex Renatus Lincopensis.” In press. Monograficzna Seria PTO “Miscellanea Orientalia”. Warszawa: Polskie Towarzystwo Orientalistyczne.

———. 2021b. “Al’ternativnye sochineniia v sostave mongol’skogo rukopisnogo Gandzhura.” In Cultural Heritage of the Mongols: Manuscript and Archival Collections. Fifth International Conference under the Patronage of the President of Mongolia, April 19–21, 2021; St. Petersburg, Russia. Abstracts, 15–16. St. Petersburg.

———. 2021c. “Ob Odnom Nekanonicheskom Tekste v Sostave Mongol’skogo Rukopisnogo Gandzhura.” In Russia and the East. Commemorating Centennial of Political of Political and Cultural Ties in Modern Times. Proceedings of the 31 International Congress on Historiography and Source Studies of Asia and Africa, June 23–25, St. Petersburg, Russia. Vol. 1, 388–389. St. Petersburg: Saint Petersburg University, The Faculty of Asian and African Studies.

Alekseev, Kirill, and Anna Turanskaya. 2013. “An Overview of the Altan Kanjur Kept at the Library of the Academy of Social Sciences of Inner Mongolia.” Asiatische Studien 67(3): 755–782. 

———. 2015. “A Folio from the Berlin State Library—Additional Remarks on the History of the Mongolian Kanjur.” Rocznik Orientalistyczny 68(2): 9–23. 

Alekseev, Kirill, Anna Turanskaya, and Natalia Yampolskaya. 2015. “The First Mongolian Manuscript in Germany Reconsidered.” Written Monuments of the Orient 1: 67–77. https://doi.org/10.17816/wmo25768-

———. 2016. “Mongolian Golden Kanjur Fragments in the Collection of the IOM, RAS.” Written Monuments of the Orient 1: 85–105. https://doi.org/10.17816/wmo25783-

Alekseev, Kirill, and Natalia Yampolskaya. 2019. “On the Fragment of the Naran-u Gerel Catalogue Preserved in IOM RAS.” Written Monuments of the Orient 2019(1): 37–49. https://doi.org/10.17816/wmo25865-

Altanorgil, ed. 2007–2014. Mongyol “Ganjuur Danjuur”-un foto keblel. 400 vols. Kökeqota–Beijing.

Bischoff, Frederick A. 1968. Der Kanjur und seine Kolophone. Bd. I (vol. 1–25: Tantra), Bd. II (vol. 26–47: Prajñaparamita), vol. 48–53: Ratnakuta, vol. 54–59: Avatamsaka, vol. 60–92: Sutra. vol. 93–108: Vinaya). 2 vols. Bloomington: The Selbstverlag Press.

Eimer, Helmut. 2007. “The Tibetan Kanjur Printed in China”. Zentralasiatische Studien 36: 35–60.

———, ed. 2012. A Catalogue of the Kanjur Fragment from Bathang Kept in the Newark Museum. Wiener Studien Zur Tibetologie Und Buddhismuskunde, Heft 75. Wien: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien, Universität Wien.

Elverskog, Johan. 2003. The Jewel Translucent Sutra: Altan Khan and the Mongols in the Sixteenth Century. Brill’s Inner Asian Library, vol. 8. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004420342

Erdenicilayu, Š., and A. Šongqor, eds. 2013. Ganjur. Orosil-un boti. Kökeqota: Öbör mongyol-un suryan kümüjil-ün keblel-ün qoriy-a.

Hackett, Paul G. 2012. A Catalogue of the Comparative Kangyur (Bka’-’gyur dpe bsdur ma). Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences Series. New York: American Institute of Buddhist Studies.

Heissig, Walther. 1954. Die Pekinger lamaistischen Blockdrucke in mongolischer Sprache: Materialien zur mongolischen Literaturgeschichte. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.

———. 1962. “Beiträge zur Übersetzungsgeschichte des mongolischen buddhistischen Kanons.” In Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen. Philologisch-historische Klasse, Dritte Folge, Nr. 50, 5–42. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht.

———. 1979. “Die erste mongolische Handschrift in Deutschland.” Zentralasiatische Studien 13: 191–214.

Herrmann-Pfandt, Adelheid, ed. 2008. Die Lhan kar ma: Ein früher Katalog der ins Tibetische übersetzten buddhistischen Texte. Beiträge zur Kultur- und Geistesgeschichte Asiens, Nr. 59. Wien: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Iampol’skaia, Natalia V. 2015. “‘Svodnyi perechen’ fragmentov rukopisei ‘chërnykh’ mongol’skikh Gandzhurov v kollektsii IVR RAN.” Mongolica XV: 48–58.

Imaeda, Yoshiro. 2007. “The History of the Cycle of Birth and Death: A Tibetan Narrative from Dunhuang”. In Contributions to the Cultural History of Early Tibet, edited by M. T. Kapstein and B. Dotson, 105–181. Brill’s Tibetan Studies Library 14. Leiden: Brill.

Kas'ianenko, Zoia K. 1987. “Oglavlenie mongol’skogo ‘Gandzhura’ pod nazvaniem ‘Solnechnyi svet’’. In Pismennye pamiatniki Vostoka: Istoriko-filologicheskiie issledovaniia. Ezhegodnik 1978–1979, 158–175. Moskva: Nauka.

———. 1993. Katalog peterburgskogo rukopisnogo “Gandzhura.” Pamiatniki pis’mennosti Vostoka CII. Bibliotheca Buddhica 39. Moskva: Nauka, Izdatel'skaia firma Vostochnaiia literatura.

Knüppel, Michael. 2014. Vom Irtysch nach Kassel: zum Problem der ersten mongolischen und tibetischen Handschriften in Deutschland. Schriften der Universitätsbibliothek Kassel 12. Kassel: Kassel Univ. Press.

Kollmar-Paulenz, Karénina. 2001. Erdeni tunumal neretü sudur: die Biographie des Altan qaghan der Tümed-Mongolen: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der religionspolitischen Beziehungen zwischen der Mongolei und Tibet im ausgehenden 16. Jahrhundert. Asiatische Forschungen, Bd. 142. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.

———. 2002. “The Transmission of the Mongolian Kanjur: A Preliminary Report.” In The Many Canons of Tibetan Buddhism. PIATS 2000: Tibetan Studies. Proceedings of the Ninth Seminar of the International Association for the Tibetan Studies, Leiden 2000., ed. Helmut Eimer and David Germano, 151–176. Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill.

———. 2017. “The Mongolian Kanjur—Some Remarks about the Current State of Research.” In Mongol Ganzhuur: olan ulsyn sudalgaa, ed. S. Chuluun, 17–36. Ulaanbaatar: Shinzhlekh ukhaany akademi tuukh, Arkheologiin khureelen.

KPDM. 2006–2008. Bka’ ‘gyur: krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ‘jug lte gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang gis bsdur zhus [Comparative edition of the Tibetan canon, based on the Derge edition, with references to variants in the Chone, Lhasa, Lithang, Narthang, Peking and Urga editions]. 108 vols. Pe-cin: Krung go‘i bod rig pa dpe sdur khang.

Lainé, Bruno. 2009. “Canonical Literature in Western Tibet and the Structural Analysis of Canonical Collections.” Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 5: 1–29.

Lalou, Marcelle. 1927. “La version tibétaine du Ratnakuta: Contribution à la bibliographie du Kanjur.” Journal Asiatique 211: 233–259.

Ligeti, Louis. 1942–1944. Catalogue du Kanjur Mongol imprimé: Catalogue. Vol. I. Bibliotheca Orientalis Hungarica, 3. Budapest: Société Körösi Csoma.

Lokesh Chandra, ed. 1973–1979. Mongolian Kanjur. 108 vols. Satapitaka Series, Vols. 101–208. New Delhi: Sharada Rani.

Mejor, Marek, Agnieszka Helman-Wazny, and Thupten Kunga Chashab. 2010. A Preliminary Report on the Wanli Kanjur Kept in the Jagiellonian Library, Kraków. Studia Buddhica 1. Warsaw: Research Centre of Buddhist Studies. Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw.

Nanjio, Bunyiu, ed. 1883. A Catalogue of the Chinese Translation of the Buddhist Tripitaka: The Sacred Canon of the Buddhists in China and Japan. Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press.

Nattier, Jan. 2003. A Few Good Men: The Bodhisattva Path According to the Inquiry of Ugra (Ugrapariprccha). Studies in the Buddhist Traditions. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.

NO. bDe bar gshegs pa’i gsung rab rin po che’i dkar chags bstan pa rgyas pa’i nyi ‘od ces bya ba [The Wanli Kanjur Catalogue]. Xyl., Jagellonian Library, Kraków, Pander Pantheon 60, Ff. 1–98.

Orofino, Giacomella. 2007. “From Archeological Discovery to Text Analysis: The Khor chags Monastery Findings and the Mañjusrinamasamgiti Fragment.” In Discoveries in Western Tibet and the Western Himalayas: Essays on History, Literature, Archaeology and Art. PIATS 2003, Tibetan Studies, Proceedings of the Tenth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Oxford, 2003, edited by Amy Heller and Giacomella Orofino, 85–128. Leiden: Brill.

Pagel, Ulrich. 1995. The Bodhisattvapitaka: Its Doctrines, Practices and Their Position in Mahayana Literature. Buddhica Britannica 5. Tring, U.K: Institute of Buddhist Studies.

———. 1999. “Three Bodhisattvapitaka Fragments from Tabo: Observations on a West Tibetan Manuscript Tradition.” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 22(1): 165–210.

Pedersen, Priscilla K. 1980. “Notes on the Ratnakuta Collection.” The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 3(2): 60–66.

RKTS. Resources for Kanjur and Tanjur Studies: www.istb.univie.ac.at/kanjur/rktsneu/sub/index.php.

Schaeffer, Kurtis R. and Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp. 2009. An Early Tibetan Survey of Buddhist Literature: The Bstan pa rgyas pa rgyan gyi nyi ‘od of Bcom ldan ral gri. Harvard Oriental Series 64. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

Scherrer-Schaub, Cristina A., and Paul M. Harrison. 2009. Tabo Studies III: A Catalogue of the Manuscript Collection of Tabo Monastery. Vol. 1. Serie Orientale Roma 103. Roma: Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente.

Secenbilig, S. 2017. “Mongyol ‘Tanjuur’-un orciyuly-a ba bar keblel-ün teüken toyimu”. In Mongol Ganzhuur: olan ulsyn sudalgaa, edited by S. Chuluun, 116–134. Ulaanbaatar: Shinzhlekh Ukhaany Akademi Tuukh, Arkheologiin Khureelen.

Silk, Jonathan A. 1994. “The Origins and Early History of the Maharatnakuta Tradition of Mahayana Buddhism, with a Study of the Ratnarasisutra and Related Materials.” Ph.D. dissertation. The University of Michigan.

———. 1996. “Notes on the History of the Yongle Kanjur.” In Suhrllekhah: Festgabe Für Helmut Eimer, edited by Michael Hahn, Jens-Uwe Hartmann, and Roland Steiner, 153–200. Indica et Tibetica 28. Swisttal-Odendorf: Indica et Tibetica Verlag.

———. 2019. “Chinese Sutras in Tibetan Translation: A Preliminary Survey.” Annual Report of The International Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University 22: 227–246.

Skilling, Peter. 1997. “From bKa’ bstan bcos to bKa’ ‘gyur and bsTan ‘gyur.” In Transmission of the Tibetan Canon: Papers Presented at a Panel of the 7th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Graz 1995, edited by Helmut Eimer, 87–111. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Smith, E. Gene. 2001. Among Tibetan Texts: History and Literature of the Himalayan Plateau. Edited by Kurtis R. Schaeffer. Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. Boston: Wisdom Publications.

Suzuki, Daisetz T. 1962. The Tibetan Tripitaka. Peking edition, Kept in the Library of the Otani University, Kyoto: catalogue and index. Tokyo: Suzuki Research Foundation.

Tauscher, Helmut. 2008. Catalogue of the Gondhla Proto-Kanjur. Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde, Heft 72. Universität Wien, Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien.

Tauscher, Helmut, and Bruno Lainé. 2008. “Western Tibetan Kanjur Tradition.” In The Cultural History of Western Tibet: Recent Research from the China Tibetology Research Center and the University of Vienna, 339–362. Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde 71. Wien: China Tibetology Research Center, Universität Wien.

Uspensky, Vladimir L. 1997. “The Tibetan Equivalents to the Titles of the Texts in the St. Petersburg Manuscript of Mongolian Kanjur: A Reconstructed Catalogue.” In Transmission of the Tibetan Canon. Papers Presented at a Panel of the 7th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Graz 1995, edited by Helmut Eimer, 113–176. Proceedings of the 7th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, III. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Vladimirtsov, B. IA. 2003. “Mongol’skii sbornik rasskazov iz Pañcatantra.” In Raboty po literature mongol’skikh narodov, by B. IA. Vladimirtsov, 77–202. Moskva: Vostochnaia literatura RAN.

von Staël-Holstein, Alexander. 1999. “On a Peking Edition of the Tibetan Kanjur which Seems to Be Unknown in the West,” edited by J. A. Silk. Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 22(1): 215–249.

Yampolskaya, Natalia. 2015. “A Note on Foliation in Mongolian Pothi Manuscripts.” Rocznik Orientalistyczny 68(2): 258–265.

———. 2018a. “An Unorthodox Tibetan Version of the Astasahasrika Prajñaparamita Sutra.” In The 7th International Conference of Oriental Studies: Collections of Texts and Artefacts. Abstracts, 24. Cracow.

———. 2018b. Jadamba: Eight Mongolian Translations of the Astasahasrika Prajñaparamita Sutra. Asiatische Forschungen, Band 158. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004420342