Oldal 405 [405]
MA GCIG LAB SGRON MA’S Many LIVEs:
SOME REMARKS ABOUT THE TRANSMISSION
OF THE GCOD TEACHINGS IN MONGOLIA
Karénina Kollmar-Paulenz
Bern University, Bern
The Collection of Tibetan and Mongolian blockprints and manuscripts of the Swiss
Nobel Laureate Richard Ernst! contains a copy of a rare biography of the famous
founder of the gcod (Tib. gcod, Khal. jod) tradition, Ma gcig lab kyi sgron ma
(1055-1149). The copy of the Ernst Collection originates, as the majority of the
texts of this collection, from Mongolia. It bears witness to the popularity ofthe gcod
teachings in pre-revolutionary Mongolia. However, we have only scarce information
about the early history of the gcod tradition in Mongolia before the 17% and 18%
centuries. Taking the biography of the Ernst Collection as a starting point, in this
paper I will try to trace possible early ways of the gcod tradition into Mongolia.
Introduction
In the year 1332, the Third Karmapa Rang byung rdo rje (1284-1339) arrived in
the capital of the Mongolian Yuan-Dynasty, Dayidu, today’s Beijing. He had been
summoned by the Yuan emperor Toq Temiir (r. 1328-1332) to consider “the spiritual
welfare of all beings” (Tib. sems can thams cad kyi don la), as the emperor in his
commanding letter (Tib. Jung) had urged him.?
Rang byung rdo rje stayed two years in Dayidu and, apart from his more political
activities like getting a tax exemption for the seat of the Karmapa, Tshurphu
Monastery (Tib. mTshur phu), he gave religious instructions to the new emperor
Toyon Temür (reigned 1333-1370). However, his biographies do not tell us which
Once again, my sincere thanks go to Professor Richard Ernst for his continuous generous support of
Tibetan and Mongolian Studies in Switzerland.
The commanding letter is preserved in two collections of biographies of high lamas of the Karma
kam tshang-tradition, the bsGrub rgyud karma kam tshang brgyud pa rin po che’i rnam par thar pa
rab ‘byams nor bu zla ba chu shel gyi phreng ba ("Garland of Profound ‘Moonwaterglass’-gems, the
Biographies of the Precious Lineage Holders from the Tradition of the Siddhas, of the Karma kam
tshang”) composed by Si tu pan chen chos kyi ‘byung gnas (1699-1774) and finished by ‘Be lo tshe
dbang kun khyab in 1775 (fol. 107v), and the Chos rje karma pa sku ‘phreng rim byon gyi rnam thar
mdor bsdus dpal bsam ‘khri shing (“Glorious Wishing Tree, the Short Biographies of the Successively
Arrived Garland of the [Emanation]-bodies of the lords of the Dharma, the Karma[pa]”), composed by
the Fifteenth Karma pa mKha’ khyab rdo rje (1871—1922) in the year 1891. The latter is dependent on
Si tu pan chen’s report. The letter is text-critically discussed and translated in Schuh, Dieter: Erlasse
und Sendschreiben mongolischer Herrscher fiir tibetische Geistliche. Ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis der
Urkunden des tibetischen Mittelalters und ihrer Diplomatik. VGH Wissenschaftsverlag, St. Augustin
1977, pp. 128-138.
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