Section: 1
Ch. 73.viii.5 (705: vol. lxix, foll. 45-6, and vol. liii, fol. 11; 30 x 25 + 30 x 53 + 30 x 25 cm.; discoloured and fragmentary; ll. 15 + 31 + 15 of excellent dbu can script; paragraphs separated by /'s and : : in red).
This document consists of a series of paragraphs having the form –
[note 1: This part in red ink. [note Bam Stag zigs gyi khram tshan la//Dga' ldan 'byung gnas gyi gtsug lag khang gyi yon bdag Bam Stag gi rkya /Dga' ldan gnas gyi gzhal yas pa'i gtsug lag khang gyi yon bdag Leng ho Si'u lang gyi rkya
"Khram account of Bam Stag zigs. Crop of Bam Stag, patron of the Dga' ldan 'byung gnas monastery. Crop of Leng ho Si'u lang, patron of the Dga' ldan gnas kyi gzhal yas monastery."
The document again is therefore simply a systematically arranged list of monasteries receiving as income the crops of certain farms, with the names of the owners or occupants of the farms, who are styled yon bdag (dana-pati"donors" or "patrons"). Though we have only a fragment, the number of establishments, many of which may have been small, is sufficient to remind us of the fact that Sha cu was the place of the "Thousand Buddhas"; and the system, though perhaps the produce only, and not also the ownership, of estates, belonged to the monasteries, is agreeably analogous to the holdings of the Tibetan Buddhist church and of the endowments of religion and learning in mediaeval Europe.
The names of the religious establishments, which are grouped under the several accounts according to their initial syllables, may conveniently be reproduced in the same manner: -
[ll. 1-5] (Title account missing.)
Dri myed… monastery;
Dri myed ya rnam dag monastery;
Dri myed dngos grub monastery;
Dri myed ting nge 'dzin monastery;
Dri myed rgyas pa monastery;
Dri myed don dam monastery;
[ll. 6-12] Account (tshan) of Klu sbe'i bsgye'u rje gye se 'Pyan legs: -
Khram account (khram tshan) of Cang Lha legs: -
[Rnam] dag dga' ldan monastery;
Rnam dga' bo monastery;
Rnam dag yon tan monastery;
Rnam dag pad mo monastery;
Rnam dag don grub monastery;
Rnam dag rin chen monastery;
Rnam dag don mdzad monastery;
Rnam dag snang mdzad monastery;
Rnam dag byams pa monastery;
Rnam dag mtha' yas monastery;
[ll. 13-B l. 6] Khram account of Bam Stag zigs: -
Dga' ldan 'byung gnas monastery;
Dga' ldan gnas kyi gzhal nas monastery;
Dga' ldan pad mo monastery;
Dga' ldan sprul pa monastery;
Dga' ldan myi g.yo' monastery;
Dga' ldan mtha' yas monastery;
Dga' ldan rgyal ba monastery;
Dga' ldan dri myed monastery;
Dga' ldan byams pa monastery;
Dga' ldan rdo rje monastery;
[B ll. 6-12] Khram account of Cang Si ka: -
Rin chen 'od 'phro monastery;
Rin chen 'bar ba monastery;
Rin chen rnal 'byor monastery;
Rin chen bla myed monastery;
Rin chen bsam yas monastery;
Rin chen dus gsum monastery;
Rin chen don dam monastery;
Rin chen dka' thub monastery;
Rin chen 'od khyab monastery;
Rin chen chos grags monastery;
[B ll. 13-20] Khram account of Li Se'u lang: -
Chos grags bsam yas monastery;
Chos grags bkra shis monastery;
Chos grags g.yung 'drung monastery;
Chos grags dga' ldan monastery;
Chos grags gzi brjid monastery;
Chos grags rgyas pa monastery;
Chos grags don mdzad monastery;
Chos grags myi g.yo monastery;
Chos grags legs ldan monastery;
[B ll. 20-27] Khram account of Leng ho Zun zun: -
G.yung 'drung yang dag monastery;
G.yung 'drung dam pa monastery;
G.yung 'drung don dam monastery;
G.yung 'drung rdzu 'phrul monastery;
G.yung 'drung mnyam nyid monastery;
G.yung 'drung byams pa monastery;
G.yung 'drung bla myed monastery;
G.yung 'drung dge rtags monastery;
G.yung 'drung yid bzhin monastery;
[B ll. 27-31]. Khram account of Wang Stagu: -
Don dam rnal 'byor monastery;
Don dam bla myed monastery;
Don dam byams pa monastery;
Don dam rdzu 'phrul monastery;
Don dam mnyam nyid monastery;
Don dam myi g.yo' monastery;
[C ll. 1-2]. (Title of account missing.)
Dbang mchog rnal 'byor monastery;
[C ll. 2-9] Khram account of Cang Ka dzo: -
Bsam yas dus gsum monastery;
Bsam yas myi g.yo monastery;
Bsam yas rnal 'byor monastery;
Bsam yas rin chen monastery;
Bsam yas btang snyoms monastery;
Bsam yas mchog monastery;
Bsam yas yon tan monastery;
[C ll. 9-15] Khram account of Cang 'Phan legs: -
Khams gsum grags pa monastery;
Khams gsum bla myed monastery;
Khams gsum rgyal ba monastery;
Khams gsum mchog monastery;
Khams gsum zhi ba monastery;
Khams gsum 'ph…… monastery;
Khams gsum don mdzad monastery;
Khams gsum g.yung drung monastery;
The names of these monasteries exhibit, as will be seen, a certain sameness. They consist for the most part of combinations of well-known Buddhist or Indian phrases, such as dri med (= amala, nirmala), rnam dag (= viśuddha), dga' ldan (= tuṣita), rin chen (= ratna), chos grags (= dharma-kīrti), g.yung 'drung (= svastika), don dam (= paramārtha), bsam yas (= acintya), khams gsum (= tri loka), bla med (= anuttara), byams pa (= Maitreya), dngos grub (= siddhi). They are all Tibetan, but may represent Sanskrit or Chinese originals.
It remains to justify the translation of tshan, which has occurred already several times (p. 40: Ch.83.vi.5, IOL Tib J 1383, p. 42: Ch.80.v.1, IOL Tib J 844, p. 83: Ch,73.xv.5, IOL Tib J 1359), by "account" and to explain the phrase "khram""account".
Tshan cannot have the common senses of "class", "group", "a number of", or of "mark", "name" (mtshan), or of "office". The sense of "account" (cf. yig tshang) fits the occurrences. For khram (going back to khra ma"register", etc.?) we may cite khram kha"chart used in witchcraft", "cross marks cut into a piece of wood", and khram shing"board on which the body of a culprit is stretched to flog him on the back". Remembering to numerous wooden sticks with combinations of lines and frequently with names amounts, we can hardly hesitate to recognize in the khram tshan these same tallies, such as were frequent in England down to the seventeenth century. [note 2: In the business, for instance, of the East India Company, as may be seen from the specimens exhibited in the India Office Library.] On two of these tallies the words tshan and khram in fact occur (cf. p. 184: M.Tagh.a.iv.0022, IOL Tib N 1643): -
(a) M.I.xxviii.8 (IOL Tib N 918): -
[1]'Phan cung dog tshan gyi bul…
[2]To rtson gis phul ba'…
(b) M.I.xiv.131.a (IOL Tib N 717): -
[1]ra3/dre dgu/ra ma
[2]@/Mon Rtses ra lug khram/
[3]lug ma mo