Orna Almogi Authenticity and Authentication Glimpses behind the Scenes of the Formation of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon Hamburg nd I Tib INDIAN AND TIBETAN STUDIES 9 Hamburg • 2020 Department of Indian and Tibetan Studies, Universität Hamburg Authenticity and Authentication Glimpses behind the Scenes of the Formation of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon Hamburg nd I INDIAN ANDT TibIBETAN STUDIES Edited by Harunaga Isaacson and Dorji Wangchuk __________________________________________________ Volume 9 Hamburg • 2020 Department of Indian and Tibetan Studies, Universität Hamburg Authenticity and Authentication Glimpses behind the Scenes of the Formation of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon Orna Almogi Hamburg nd I Tib INDIAN AND TIBETAN STUDIES 9 Hamburg • 2020 Department of Indian and Tibetan Studies, Universität Hamburg Published by the Department of Indian and Tibetan Studies, Asien-Afrika- Institut, Universität Hamburg, Alsterterrasse 1, D-20354 Hamburg, Germany Email: [email protected] © Department of Indian and Tibetan Studies, Universität Hamburg, 2020 ISBN: 978-3-945151-08-2 Almogi, Orna: Authenticity and Authentication: Glimpses behind the Scenes of the Formation of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon First published 2020 All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, no part of the book may be reproduced or translated in any form, by print, photoprint, microform or any other means without written permission. Enquiry should be made to the publishers. Printing and distribution: Aditya Prakashan, 2/18 Ansari Road, New Delhi, 110 002, India. Email: [email protected] Website: www.bibliaimpex.com Printed and bound in India by Replika Press Pvt. Ltd. This publication has been supported by the Khyentse Center for Tibetan Buddhist Textual Scholarship (KC-TBTS), Universität Hamburg. All that is well-expounded, O Maitreya, is Buddha-expounded. yat kiṃcin maitreya subhāṣitaṃ sarvaṃ tad buddhabhāṣitam | ~ Adhyāśayasaṃcodanasūtra (as cited in the Śikṣāsamuccaya; Bendall 1897–1902: 15.19) Table of Contents Preface 5 Technical Note 7 Part One 9 On Strategies for Authenticating Scriptures and Treatises: The Tibetan Buddhist Case 1 Introductory Remarks 11 2 Criteria of Authentication and Canonization within 16 the Tibetic Cultural Sphere 2.1 Provenance 19 2.1.1 The Existence of a Sanskrit Manuscript 19 2.1.2 The Existence of a Sanskrit Title 21 2.1.3 The Existence of an Author/Authorship 28 Colophon 2.1.4 The Existence of a Translator/Translation 29 Colophon 2.1.5 Reliance on Written Authority 33 2.1.6 Reliance on Oral Authority 43 2.1.7 Syntax and Vocabulary 48 2.2 Verifiably Valid Traditions 59 2.3 Authentication Based on Content 61 2.3.1 Authentication Based on Soteriological 61 Benefit 2.3.2 Authentication Based on the Quality of 68 Translation 2.4 Authentication Based on the Scripture’s 70 Structure 3 Polemical and Apologetic Strategies 73 3.1 The Argumentum ad Hominem 75 3.2 The Ridicule Argumentative Device 77 3.3 The Historical–Philological Approach 80 3.4 The “Other-Religions” Argument 89 3.5 Self-Critique 91 Authenticity and Authentication 3.6 The Development of Complex, Multifaceted 92 Narratives regarding the Appearance of Scriptures 4 When Polemics End 93 4.1 Beyond Discourse: Banning, Censorship, and 94 Destruction 4.2 The Non-Sectarian Approach: Inclusivism or 95 Harmonization/Reconciliation 5 Concluding Remarks 96 Appendix 97 Part Two 99 What’s in a Name? Once Again on the Authenticity of Tibetan Canonical Colophons 1 Introductory Remarks 101 2 Canonical and Paracanonical Colophons: Some 102 General Observations 3 Author/Authorship Colophons 103 4 Translator/Translation Colophons 106 5 Case Studies 111 5.1 An Overview of the Traditional Catalogues 112 Consulted 5.2 The Colophons of the Prajñāpāramitāstotra aka 121 Nirvikalpastava in Tibetan Translation 5.2.1 Extant Versions and Their Colophons 121 5.2.2 Further Bibliographical Evidence 130 5.2.3 Examination of Selected Verses 134 5.2.4 Assessment of the Evidence 153 5.3 The Colophons of the Prasādapratibhodbhava aka 158 Śatapañcāśatkastotra in Tibetan Translation 5.3.1 Extant Versions and Their Colophons 159 5.3.2 Further Bibliographical Evidence 165 5.3.3 Examination of Selected Verses 169 5.3.4 Assessment of the Evidence 174 5.4 The Colophons of the Buddhākṣepaṇasūtra in 178 Tibetan Translation 2 Table of Contents 5.4.1 Extant Versions and Their Colophons 178 5.4.2 Further Bibliographical Evidence 180 5.4.3 Assessment of the Evidence 181 5.5 The Colophons of the Guhyasamājatantra in 182 Tibetan Translation 5.5.1 Extant Versions and Their Colophons 182 5.5.2 Further Bibliographical Evidence 205 5.5.3 Assessment of the Evidence 210 6 Concluding Remarks 219 Abbreviations & Bibliography 223 1 Sigla: Tibetan Canonical and Paracanonical 223 Collections & Their Catalogues 2 Tibetic Sources 226 3 Indic Sources 234 4 Sources in Western Languages 237 5 Digital Sources 252 Index 253 3 Preface In the past decade, I have devoted most of my research to the study of the formation of Buddhist textual corpora, both canonical and paracanonical, within the Tibetan cultural sphere. One of the aspects I have focused upon is the combined issue of authenticity and authentication in connection with the formation of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon, and the present publication presents some of these findings. Part One, titled “On Strategies for Authenticating Scriptures and Treatises: The Tibetan Buddhist Case,” is devoted to a general discussion of the issue of authenticity and authentication as viewed and dealt with by various Tibetan masters, some of whom were responsible for the formation of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon as we know it today. Part Two, titled “What’s in a Name? Once Again on the Authenticity of Tibetan Canonical Colophons,” discusses the question of the authenticity of canonical colophons— a topic that I have touched upon on an earlier occasion—by first deliberating on the issue in broader terms and then presenting and examining a few case studies. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to several of my friends and colleagues from Universität Hamburg for their support in various ways. First and foremost I would like to express my thanks and appreciation to Prof. Dorji Wangchuk, for helping clarify textual problems of various kinds, and Prof. Harunaga Isaacson, for his unfailing readiness to assist me in matters concerning doubtful Sanskrit names and terms. I also thank both of them for accepting the book for publication in the Indian and Tibetan Studies Series and for their comments on the final version. Thanks are also due to Nicola Bajetta, who read (portions of) the manuscript on two occasions, for his comments and feedback, and likewise to Tashi Wangdi, Sonam Choden, and Sonam Jamtsho, for their assistance over the years in digitizing various Tibetan materials, some of which facilitated the present study. I am also grateful to Sebastian Nehrdich for the collaborative work on the BuddhaNexus project, which aided the research that went into two Authenticity and Authentication of the case studies presented in Part Two (which in turn enabled me to do repeated testing of the database before its publication). I was also fortunate to have had the opportunity to present the findings of the present study, shortly before it went to the press, to the members of the Academic Research Program Initiative (ARPI) project, which enabled me to improve it in several respects despite the time constraint, for which I am likewise very grateful. Last but not least, I would like to take this opportunity to also thank Mr. Philip Pierce, Kathmandu, for proofreading my English and for his, as always, very helpful and useful comments, which made me improve the study in various ways. Needless to say, whatever errors might be found in the present study are solely mine. The findings exhibited in the present study are the result of research conducted within the framework of the project “A Canon in the Making: The History of the Formation, Production, and Transmission of the bsTan ’gyur, the Corpus of Treatises in Tibetan Translation,” generously funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), for which I am highly grateful. Orna Almogi Hamburg, September, 2020 6 Technical Note Attempts have been made to offer critical editions for all Tibetan texts cited in the present monograph. For this purpose, at least two versions, whenever possible, have been taken into consideration. In the case of Tibetan works for which modern (critical) editions exist, preference was given to these editions, while occasionally other witnesses were considered as well. When citing works found in the Tibetan Buddhist Canon, the Peking and sDe dge editions have generally been used. For the recording of the colophons of the case studies found in Part Two (§5), numerous canonical, para-, and extracanonical versions have been used as deemed necessary. Apart from a few exceptions, no attempt has been made to emend the Tibetan text in cases of transliteration of Sanskrit names or terms. When several variant readings have been recorded, the one closest to the correct Sanskrit word was opted for. The correct or reconstructed Sanskrit names or terms are offered in the respective English translation or summary. Moreover, apart from a few exceptions, the Sanskrit titles of Indic works in Tibetan translation are given in accordance with the modern catalogues of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon. Only in some obviously doubtful cases they have been marked as reconstructions by way of an asterisk. Sanskrit and Tibetan short titles are employed without an asterisk. Glosses found in the cited manuscripts and block prints, including those found in dBus pa blo gsal’s catalogue of the Old sNar thang edition of the bsTan ’gyur—which, as a rule, offer reconstructions of the Indic authors’ Sanskrit names or the Tibetan rendering of these Sanskrit names (in both cases often wrong ones)—were recorded only when found relevant.