The Me tog snying po and Mes dbon rnam thar

Tibetan tradition attributes to Nyang ral Nyi ma 'od zer two other historical sources containing material about Khri Srong lde brtsan. These are the Me tog snying po sbrang rtsi’i bcud (MTN), the magnum opus history of the Dharma in India and Tibet, and the Mes dbon gsum gyi rnam par thar pa

(MBNT), which comprises of three biographies of Tibet's imperial Dharma kings. This chapter investigates their claims to contain twelfth-century depictions of Khri Srong lde brtsan. Both MTN and MBNT include episodes with close parallels in the thirteenth or fourteenth-century sBa bzhed S narrative. These episodes constitute part of MTN’s, and the whole of MBNT's, portrayal of Khri Srong lde brtsan. I conclude that I shall exclude these episodes from the future chapters of this thesis, since they are younger than the twelfth century.

Nyang ral probably authored MTN after ZL, borrowing the latter's Tibet section in toto but not verbatim as the basis of his narrative of Khri Srong lde brtsan's reign. Both texts contain the same narrative on Khri Srong lde brtsan, which I summarised at the beginning of Chapter Two. Yet MTN is far longer than ZL. It narrates the history of the Dharma, from the teachings of the historical Buddha right up to the twelfth century and Nyang

ral's own gter ma discoveries. The section on Khri Srong lde brtsan, though roughly following ZL, is not placed within the framework of the life of Padmasambhava, whose childhood and training in India are completely omitted from MTN. What remains is sandwiched, appropriately enough, between the

narratives of two other Buddhist kings (chos rgyal)—Srong btsan sgam po and Khri gTsug lde brtsan (Ral pa can). MTN also contains nine extra episodes from the life of Khri Srong lde brtsan, interpolated into the narrative that it borrows from ZL. Seven of these interpolations appear similar to episodes in the sBa bzhed:

1. Khri Srong lde brtsan's speech aged five (MTNd 273) is not included in the dBa’ bzhed, but is in sBa bzhed S (4), sBa bzhed G (4-5) and sBa bzhed P (MTNd 297-98).

2. The choice that he gives to his ministers regarding what to build in Tibet (MTNd 274) does not feature in the dBa’ bzhed, but is in sBa bzhed S (29-30), sBa bzhed G (36) and sBa bzhed P (334).

3. His support for a heretic rite (MTNd 274-75) is not included in the dBa’ bzhed, but is in sBa bzhed S (33-34), sBa bzhed G (40-42) and sBa bzhed P (338-39).

4. The lavish descriptions of the bSam yas temples in prose and poetry (MTNd 294¬302) do not resemble the dBa' bzhed (16b-17a), sBa bzhed S (35-45), sBa bzhed G (43-53) or sBa bzhed P (340-49).

5. Padmasambhava taking the form of the mythical Garuda bird (MTNd 291-92) is not present in any versions of the sBa bzhed tradition.

6. The king's dream that leads to finding statues of the gods on a hillside (MTNd 293¬ 94) is narrated by the dBa' bzhed (16b), sBa bzhed S (34-35), sBa bzhed G (42-43), sBa bzhed P (339-40)

7. The appearance of a huge lotus at the consecration of bSam yas (MTNd 302-03) does not feature in the dBa’ bzhed, but is in and sBa bzhed S (48), sBa bzhed G (57) and sBa bzhed P (354-55)

8. Padmasambhava's attempt to prolong Khri Srong lde brtsan's life with a vase initiation (MTNd 347.6-351.10) is included in the dBa' bzhed (12b-13a), sBa bzhed S (24-25), sBa bzhed G (30) and sBa bzhed P (326-27).

9. The bSam yas Debate, between Hwa shang Mahayana and Kamalasila, and its consequences (MTNd 395-411) is narrated in the dBa’ bzhed (17b-25a), sBa bzhed S (54-64), sBa bzhed G (62-77) and sBa bzhed P (381-92).

As this list shows, only three of these episodes (nos. 6, 8 and 9) feature in the dBa’ bzhed, which excludes the possibility that MTN borrowed all these nine narratives from the dBa’ bzhed or sBa bzhed 1. Whereas Nyang ral's style is generally fluid and readable, the seven episodes that resemble narratives in the sBa bzhed are convoluted and difficult to follow. This chapter will establish whether he or some later redactor of the history interpolated these episodes into MTN. The two episodes that are unique to MTN, no. 4 on bSam yas and no. 5 on the Garuda bird, do suit Nyang ral's style and so hold a greater claim to be his own creations.

The biographical anthology, MBNT, focuses entirely on the imperial period. It narrates the lifestories of Srong btsan sgam po, Khri Srong lde brtsan and Khri gTsug lde brtsan (Ral pa can). As this chapter demonstrates, its depiction of Khri Srong lde brtsan is based on sBa bzhed recension 3, in other words it most resembles sBa bzhed S. It does not resemble the portrayal of Khri Srong lde brtsan in either ZL or MTN. I believe there is enough evidence to suggest that Nyang ral was not its author. In fact, the extant MBNT colophon only names Sakya rin chen (1347-1426?) as the owner (?) of that ‘copy' (dpe). However, later tradition attributes MBNT to Nyang ral. Most Tibetologists have so far agreed with this assessment.

This chapter instead argues that MBNT greatly differs from MTN in its description of Khri Srong lde brtsan. This divergence problematises S0rensen's claim that the former ‘is nothing but a condensed or abbreviated version of the magnum opus [MTN].' MBNT does not contain any of the episodes on Khri Srong lde brtsan that MTN borrows from ZL. MBNT includes some of those episodes that MTN borrows from the sBa bzhed tradition, but it copies them directly from that tradition. To return to the list of interpolated episodes in MTN (given above):

1. Khri Srong lde brtsan's speech aged five (MTNd 273) is also contained in MBNT

(85a). 2. The choice that he gives to his ministers regarding what to build in Tibet (MTNd 274) features in MBNT (101a-b).

3. His support for a heretic rite (MTNd 274-75) is not included in MBNT.

4. The lavish descriptions of the bSam yas temples in prose and poetry (MTNd 294¬ 302) do not resemble MBNT (104b-14b).

5. Padmasambhava taking the form of the mythical Garuda bird (MTNd 291-92) is not present in MBNT.

6. The king's dream that leads to finding statues of the gods on a hillside (MTNd 293¬ 94) is included in MBNT (104a-b).

7. The appearance of a huge lotus at the consecration of bSam yas (MTNd 302-03) features in MBNT (117a-b).

8. Padmasambhava's attempt to prolong Khri Srong lde brtsan's life with a vase initiation (MTNd 347.6-351.10) is not contained in MBNT.

9. The bSam yas Debate, between Hwa shang Mahayana and Kamalasila, and its consequences (MTNd 395-411) is included in MBNT (120b-28b).

MBNT contains these episodes when they feature in sBa bzhed S, but does not include either of the two unique episodes from MTN. Analysing and comparing these sources uncovers a matrix of witnesses attesting to the relative antiquity of each other history in the matrix. There is only one episode in the life of Khri Srong lde brtsan where such analysis can be wholly effective—the story of Khri Srong lde brtsan's prophetic dream—since it alone is narrated by all the sources under discussion here.

The dream episode is in fact crucial to my argument that MBNT follows sBa bzhed S rather than MTN. The other episodes that I examine merely provide ancillary evidence for the same argument. Finally, I analyse those episodes that are unique to MTN, and may be the most likely of all the interpolations to be written by Nyang ral himself. I shall focus on the dream narrative, with some corroborating evidence from other episodes, but shall not attempt to cover all nine from the list above.