Lecture No. 0275

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Global Lamrim II

Lecture No. 0275

Lamrim Volume 1:  Pg 36 L6 to LL12

Date: 7 Jul 2022

Topic: In the affluent land of Bengal, noble King of the Za-hor lineage 
Introduction to the Four Interwoven Annotations Vol. 1, Pg P98-LL3 ~ P101-L7 whether we address him……so we have to observe.

Very well! Next, let’s read Rinpoche’s explanation [in the Chinese text of the Introduction to the Four Interwoven Annotations]: whether we address him as Dipam-kara-sri-jnana or Master Atisha, either way is acceptable; this guru’s reputation was widely known across the land. The greatness of Master Atisha is explained from three aspects:

“1. How he took rebirth in an excellent lineage
2. How upon that basis he gained good qualities
3. Having gained those good qualities, what Atisha did to further the teachings

As is set forth in the Eighty Verses of Praise, composed by the great translator Nagtso….” As for the transmitting of the biography of Jowo Je, i.e. Master Atisha, Lama Tsong-kha-pa relied mainly on the Eighty Verses of Praise, composed by the great translator Nag-tso. It says (in India), “To the east of the Bodhimanda, there was a vast region known as Bengal; within this region there is an area known to the Indians as Zahor”. This refers to the name of a small area with a city located in the Bengal region; the Indians called it Zahor. However, “It is pronounced as sa-hor in Tibetan”. This ‘Sa’ is as in sprinkling flowers in Chinese; Sa-hor. [01:05]

It is stated differently in Jowo Je’s disciple’s Drom-don-ba’s travel journal, “In the Zahor region located in the East of India, there was a city named Bengal”. The description is different, over here Za-hor and Bengal are reversed (i.e. Za-hor is a country and Bengal is a city). As we currently know, Bengal is a country, while Za-hor is a city in this country. This section [in blue print] is the annotations of Master Jamyang Zhepa, he also mentioned several other explanations, and this is one of them, i.e. there are different accounts of the name of the country and the name of the city. “and ‘about one hundred thousand households’”, Master Jamyang Zhepa’s annotation is different from the earlier annotation that stated that there was a city named Za-hor in the Bengal region, and this sentence Bengal is surrounded by one hundred thousand households is different. “Then, in the ‘History of Buddha Dharma by Luo-Zha-Ba-Wo’ is also as aforesaid said” thus, we should take this as the correct one. And there is also, “Sang-Guo-Ma’s Travel Journal which is also similar.” There should not be any Chinese translation, right? There is no Chinese translation. The same account can be found in Sang-Guo-Ma’s Travel Journal. [02:11]

Rinpoche continued: either way, Master Jamyang Zhepa stated that based on what was described by Master Drom-don-ba, Bengal is the country, and Za-hor is the city, is also acceptable. Why? Because “The Prayers for Jowo Je’s Biography (composed by Drom Don Ba) says, ‘In the affluent land of Bengal;”; this place is Bengal, “noble King of the Za-hor lineage”; the Za-hor King refers to the King of the Za-hor City. [02:41] [Introduction to the Four Interwoven Annotations Vol. 1, Pg 99 L12 to L16]

Next is the question and answer section [in the Introduction to the Four Interwoven Annotations Chinese text], I will do a summary. As you may have noticed, in this small paragraph, Lama Tsong-kha-pa relied mainly on the Eighty Verses of Praise, composed by the great translator Nag-tso. When the Introduction to the Four Interwoven Annotations was printed, we have not translated the Eighty Verses of Praise to Chinese. Recently, the Venerables in our translation academy have already finished translating it into Chinese. The chief editor is Venerable Ru-fa. However, it still hasn’t been published yet. Later, when it is published, we all can read it respectfully. [03:09]

Relying on the Eighty Verses of Praise composed by the great translator Nag-tso as a basis, it quoted from Drom-don-ba‘s Travel Journal, and what else? The History of Buddha Dharma by Luo-Zha-Ba-Wo, Sang-Guo-Ma’s Travel Journal, as well as the Prayers for Jowo Je’s Biography (composed by Drom-don-ba), right? So many sources were cited for the discussion over this place. Evidently, the great masters composing the Four Interwoven Annotations were very punctilious. They would relentlessly search for all sorts of reliable sources, just like us when we are discussing a particular topic. Generally, when exploring a question, sometimes it will take us one or two months, even half a year may not get us anywhere, because there were all kinds of explanations. Are we able to read all the books available in the world? Usually, we would still not know where we could find other different explanations. Thus, what we can do is to search for reliable references from the versions available now. [04:04]

To sum up, on page 100 [L8], Rinpoche stated [the Chinese text of the Introduction to the Four Interwoven Annotations], “Finally, the most reliable explanation is Jowo Je was born in the Bengal region to the royal family of the King Za-hor– Bengal is the country, and Zahor is the royal family. This is the 2nd explanation from Master Drom-don-ba. Besides the explanation from Master Drom-don-ba, Master Jamyang Zhepa and Master Ba, all three of them concorded with the same view. In great translator, Nag-tso’s Eighty Verses of Praise, it also says, “In the excellent land of Za-hor [Bengal] in the east is a great city …” [Lamrim vol. 1, page 36 L9] Thus, this question is probably answered in this way. Which place is the answer? The birthplace of Master Atisha. Right? Where was he born? Bengal, right? The Za-hor royal family in Bengal. [04:57]

In Nag-tso’s praise to Jowo Je, it says, “In the excellent land of Za-hor [Bengal] in the east is a great city;” the largest city among them was Vikramanipura. There is another annotation from Master Ba, it says, “It was as great as Ka-che-tsi-dun”. This Ka-che-tsi-dun was another big city. “Ka-che” means Kashmir. There was a city named “Tsi-dun” in Kashmir, and this Vikramanipura is about the same size as the Tsi-dun city. How many households were there? It says, “with 2.4 million or 2.7 million households.” living there. Next, let’s read the red print: “In this praise, it states that there were 2.7 million households”, which is also documented in his Eighty Verses of Praise – there were 2.7 million households. That was a fairly big city. [05:52]

And then the Praise continues, “In its center is a royal residence, a palace extremely vast” [Lamrim vol. 1, page 36, L11]. Take heed now! First, we entered a big city, then we observed how many million households there were in this city, next we should visit the palace. In the center of the city “A palace known as the royal residence is extremely vast”; that is, we can use the adjective “vast” to describe the palace, a very huge palace; it probably covered quite a large area. There was a name for this palace, “Golden Banner”. Next Master Ba’s annotation states, “This is the one currently known as the golden crown in the legend”; that is, the palace is also known as a golden crown. Then Master Ba quoted from Master Drom-don-ba’s Travel Journal into his annotation, “The Travel Journal recorded: ‘In the Za-hor region located in the east of India, there was a city named Bengal’ so on and so forth; this requires further observations”. Means, Master Ba opined that since it lacked clarity as to the city and the region, we should observe further. [06:56]

Hence, speaking of history, if there are different accounts from various sources, then this matter would become an enigma, and it is for us to explore. Nevertheless, in our study, disciples would abide by their guru’s viewpoint – whichever explanation their gurus decide to follow, disciples will follow suit. Now, based on the historical account of this city, we learn that this royal residence covered a vast area with a very huge palace. What is the name of the palace? It is Golden Banner, right? Some also said it is the Golden Crown of our present time. [07:29]

 [*color scheme of annotations: red: Master Ba, blue: Master Jamyang Zhepa, green: Master Nga-wang Rab-ten/Venerable Yu]

Eng

【全球广论 II 讲次: 0275】

讲次 | 0275 (2020-11-16 ~ 2020-11-18)

标题 | 富饶之地邦伽罗，贵冑撒贺王种姓

《广论》段落 | P2-L13 ~ P3-L4 其殊胜分三……即现至尊师。”

入门段落 | 第1册 P98-LL3 ~ P101-L7 那么无论是称呼为......所以要观察。

(更新日期: 2022年7月7日)

00:00

好！接着我们下面看仁波切的解释：无论是称呼为具德燃灯智，或者称呼为阿底峡都是可以的，这位上师的名称已遍扬于大地。他的殊胜分三个科判：“一、圆满种中受生事理；二、其身获得功德事理；三、得已于教所作事业。今初：如那措大译师所造《八十赞》云”，觉窝杰的传记，宗喀巴大师主要是依着那措大译师所造的赞文来讲述的。说印度“金刚座之东，有广大境域名邦伽罗，其境域之支分中，有诸印度人称为萨贺”，指邦伽罗当中的一个小地区的某座城市的名字，印度人把它叫做萨贺。“藏语中称为撒贺”，撒花的撒，撒贺。01:05

“此说与”觉窝杰的弟子“《种敦巴游记》所云：‘印度东方撒贺境，有城名为邦伽罗’”讲得不太一样，这里边的撒贺和邦伽罗正好是颠倒过来的。因为以现在我们的说法，邦伽罗是一个国家，萨贺是这个国家的城市。这段是妙音笑大师的笺注，也提到了很多说法，这是其中一种，就是这个国家的名字和城的名字说法不一。“及‘周有十万户’不同”，现在的说法在前面笺注里提到邦伽罗的地方，有座撒贺城，和这句邦伽罗被十万住户所围绕的说法不同。“然《洛札巴窝教法史》中亦作前说”，所以应该以这个为是。那么还有“《桑郭玛游记》等似与彼同”，这应该都没有汉译本，是不是？都没有汉译本的。这个《桑郭玛游记》也跟这个一样的。02:11

接着仁波切说：无论如何，妙音笑大师说在种敦巴尊者的说法里面，邦伽罗是国家、撒贺为城市的说法也是可以的。为什么呢？因为“种敦巴所造”觉窝杰“〈传记祈请文〉有：‘富饶之地邦伽罗’”，这个地方是邦伽罗；“贵冑撒贺王种姓”，撒贺王就是指撒贺城的国王。02:41

那么接下来就是请问了，我就收摄一下。大家可以看一看，关于这一小段，主要是宗大师依据那措大译师所造的《八十赞》。《八十赞》在这本《四家合注入门》印出来的时候，还没有翻译。最近译经院的法师已经把它翻完了，是如法法师主译，还没有出来，以后大家可以拜读。03:09

依着那措大译师所造的《八十赞》，这里边引了《种敦巴游记》，还有什么？《洛札巴窝教法史》、《桑郭玛游记》，还有一个〈传记祈请文〉，对吧？依据了这么多来讨论这个地方。所以可见写《四家合注》的祖师们是一个地方都不能马虎的，他非常严格地去找寻各种依据，就像现在我们讨论到一个问题的时候，通常一个问题的探疑，有的时候一两个月、半年都也进行不下去，原因就是有各种说法。能不能阅尽天下的书呢？通常还是不知道哪里还有不同的说法，只能就现在已经出现的这些版本去找它的依据。04:04

综上所述，仁波切在 100 页说：最后认为可靠的说法，觉窝杰出生在邦伽罗境内的撒贺王种姓——邦伽罗是个国，撒贺是个王种姓，这个是种敦巴尊者的第二种说法。除了种敦巴尊者这样说，像妙音笑大师、巴梭法王，这三位的承许都是一样的。那么那措大译师的赞文之中也说：“东撒贺胜境，其间有大城。”这个问题大概就这样交代完了。这是交代什么地方啊？就是阿底峡尊者的出生地。对不对？他出生地是哪里呀？邦伽罗。对吧？邦伽罗境中的撒贺王种姓。04:57

在那措大译师对大觉窝的赞文中说：“东撒贺胜境，其间有大城”，在这当中最大的城市是“比札玛尼布惹”。这里边有巴梭法王的一个笺注，说：“传称其与卡切次顿相当”，这个“卡切次顿”也是一个城市，“卡切”就是喀什米尔的意思。在喀什米尔有一个名叫“次顿”的城市，这个大城与次顿城大小相同，其中有多少户居住在那里？说：“有两百四十或两百七十万户”住在那儿。接下来看红字：“此赞下文即云：廿七十万户”，在那措译师所造的《八十赞》中也有说，有两百七十万户。那个城还是满大的。05:52

然后提到：“其中有王都，宫殿极广博。”现在注意！先进了一个大城，看了一下这个城市有多少万户的居民，接着该去看这个王宫。在这个城市的中间，“称为王都之宫殿极广博”，就是这个宫殿可以用广博形容，是非常大的宫殿，可能占地面积很大。这个宫殿有个名字叫“有金幢”。接着巴梭法王的笺注说：“传说当今名金顶者即此”，就是这个宫殿又称为金顶。然后巴梭法王在此引前面种敦巴尊者的《游记》为注：“游记中有谓：‘印度东方萨贺境，有城名为邦伽罗’云云，故应观择。”说巴梭法王认为这里的城市、地域没有各别说清楚，所以要再再地观察。06:56

所以谈到历史的话，如果记载的各家说法不一样，这个事情就成为了一个谜，请大家探索。但是每一个学法者都遵从上师的看法，上师抉择按照谁的想法，就是按照谁的想法。现在我们从这个城的记载，可以看到它这个王都占地辽阔，有非常大的宫殿。它的王宫叫什么呀？叫有金幢，对吧？还有说当今名金顶者是也。07:29