[THE FOLLOWING TEXT HAS INCOMPLETE SECTIONS, WHICH ARE ON ORDER]

THE LOGIC AND DEBATE TRADITION
OF INDIA, TIBET, AND MONGOLIA

--HISTORY, READER, RESOURCES--

BY GESHE LOBSANG THARCHIN

WITH MEMBERS OF THE DEBATE STUDY GROUP:

LISA ALBATAEW
STEVE FOSTER
CARMEN KICHIKOV
ROBERT LACEY
NAMSA NELSON
MICHAEL ROACH


THE LOGIC AND DEBATE TRADITION 
OF INDIA, TIBET, AND MONGOLIA

Published by the Mahayana Sutra and Tantra Press
216A West 2nd Street
Freewood Acres
Howell, New Jersey 07731, USA

Research for a large portion
of this sourcebook was conducted
through a grant from the
Youthgrants in the Humanities Program
of the National Endowment for the Humanities
of the Government of the United States.
The content of the sourcebook does not,
however, necessarily represent the view
of the Endowment.

Copyright @1979 by Geshe Lobsan Tharchin
All rights reserved

First printing 1979
Second printing 1982
Third printing 1985
Fourth printing 1989

ISBN 0-918753-00-7
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 70-124172 R862

Printed and bound in the United States of America


This work is dedicated to
His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso--logician,
debater, and Fourteenth Dalai Lama--on the
occasion of His first visit to the
United States of America


Table of Contents

Dedication  ................................................ iii

Foreword  ..................................................  ix

HISTORY  ...................................................   1

The Art of Logic: an Early History  ........................   3

Move with the Kalmuks:  A Later History  ...................  17

READER  ....................................................  41

Logical Reasoning @ ()  ....................................  43

Tibetan text and translation  ..............................  46

I.  Definition of a Reason  ................................  47

II.  Types of Reasons  .....................................  49

A.  Valid Reasons  .........................................  49

1.  Bases  .................................................  49

2.  Definition  ............................................  65

3.  Types  .................................................  77


Table of Contents (cont.):

a.  Reasons for Cause  ......................................  77

b.  Reasons of Identity  ....................................  87

c.  Reasons for Negation  ...................................  91

B.  Invalid Reasons  ........................................ 107

Notes  ...................................................... 113

Outline  .................................................... 119

English-Tibetan Glossary  ................................... 125

Tibetan-English Glossary  ................................... 133

Mind @ ()  .................................................. 143

Tibetan text and translation  ............................... 144

Explanation of Conciousness  ................................ 145

Explanation of Mental Functions  ............................ 163

English-Tibetan Glossary  ................................... 181

Tibetan-English Glossary  ................................... 185

Indirect Proofs @ ()  ....................................... 189

Tibetan text and translation  ............................... 190

Refuting the Other's Position  .............................. 191

Establishing Our Own System  ................................ 193

Dispelling any Remaining Criticism  ......................... 215

Notes  ...................................................... 217

Outline  .................................................... 217


Table of Contents (cont.):

English-Tibetan Glossary  ................................... 221

Tibetan-English Glossary  ................................... 225

RESOURCES  .................................................. 229

Selected Regional Collections of
Native Logic and Debate Material  ........................... 231

Bibliography of Titles in Selected
Regional Collections of Native
Logic and Debate Material  .................................. 237

Catalogue of Logic Selection
to @Tengyur  ................................................ 240

Logic Treatises in Collected
Works of Je Tsongkhapa and
Two Major Students  ......................................... 253

Other Native Works in 
Regional Collections  ....................................... 257

Institutions Offering Instruction
in Central Asian Debate  .................................... 271

Selected Institutions with
Debate Instruction  ......................................... 271

Debate Classes with Young People  ........................... 272

Introduction to Central 
Asian Debating............................................... 273

Three Arguments on 
Cause and Effect  ........................................... 277

Class on Combinations  ...................................... 280


Table of Contents (cont.):

Illustrations:

Traditional rendering of Dignaga
and Dharmakirti, two logicians
from the classical period  ..................................   9

Map presenting move of the logic 
and debate tradition with the
Kalmuk people  ..............................................  29

Photographs showing scenes from
the Kalmuk Buddhist temples of
Freewood Acres, New Jersey  .................................  33

Chart of the sixteen types of valid
indiect proofs which strike up
logical statements outside their
own class  .................................................. 203

Chart of the various classifications
of indirect proofs by presentation  ......................... 213

Photographs of debate instruction  .......................... 275


Foreword

In January of 1977, the Rev. Geshe Lobsang Tharchin began
teaching students at his center in Freewood Acres, New Jersey, a
traditional primer in the formal logic of Central Asia.
Instruction was given in English with the class following the
Tibetan;  the Geshe had completed the basic text by sumer, then
moving on to a study of indirect proofs before a visit that fall
to monastic universities resettled in India.  During the interim
his students met to discuss alternative terms for the formal
translation of the primer.

Geshe Tharchin started instruction in the application of basic
logic to actual debate the next spring, continuing into the
summer of 1978.  While students Steve Foster, Carmen Kichikov,
and Robert Lacey worked on the preliminary translations, Namsa
Nelson and Michael Roach applied in November to the Youthgrants
in the Humanities program of the National Endowment for the
Humanities, to gain assistance for a project entitled "Classical
Asian Debate in America:  History, Resources, and Prospects."

In March of 1979 a youthgrant was made by the Endowment, a
federal agency established by Congress "to promote research,
education, and public activity in the humanities."  Younger
readres should note that youthgrants are one of the few sources
of support for non-professionals interested in carrying out a
project in the humanities;  they are available on a competitive
basis to persons under 30 who with the aid of qualified advisors
submit an application to the youthgrants office of the Endowment
(address Washington, D.C. 20506).  Again, the Endowment's
support for this project should not be construed as necessary
approval of the contents of the present sourcebook by that agency.

The project was carried out in three stages, reflected here in
the organization of the sourcebook.  During a phase on the
history of the Central Asian tradition of logic and dbate,
students began work on both the translation of a classical
history and an essay on the tradition's move to the United
States.  Research included interviews with the people of our
home community of Freewood Acres--those who immigrated from the
Kalmuk land some thirty years ago--and with Tibetan scolars who
havecome more recently.  A photographic study of local temples
completed the historical sketch.  

A second goal of the project, the compilation of information on
resources available to an American student of this tradition of
logic and debate, began with a search for native texts within
private collections and major libraries in the region.  A list
of about 125 relevant titles was complied, along with what we
believe to be the first complete catalogue to the logic section
in the "Cho-ne" edition of the @Tengyur--a traditional
collection of Sanskrit classics in Tibetan translation.

Completed as well during this phase was a bibliography of
Russian-language works on Cenral Asian logic, these done for the
most part during a surge of interest some 60 years ago in St.
Petersburg.  The bibliography and a dictionary of examples in
Tibetan for about 400 common logic and debate terms (along with
page references to native logic primers) were considered too
specialized for inclusion here are available to interested
persons on request from the Freewood Acres, New Jersey, center.

Lastly, on the availability of each regional collection to an
interested scholar, as well as a representative list of
institutions offering debate instruction, were compiled.

The final stage of the project examined the future prospects for
the debating tradition in America.  Her translations for various
sections of the logic primers were completed, and finished
manuscripta prepared.  Michael and Namsa then conducted special
classes in debate and logic for younger people, during July and
August of 1979.

The concept of the sourcebook has been to provide information
useful for readers of varying interests.  General readers who
wish to know more about Central Asian logic, Kalmuk history, and
basic debate may refer to the history section and final
resources articles.  Students of philosophy and Tibetan language
are directed to the translation in the reader, with their facing
Tibetan and glossaries both English-Tibetan and Tibetan-English.

Students with a previous background in Tibetan language and
Central Asian logic will perhaps find the catalogues of logic
works beneficial, as may library bibliographers whose
institutions house collections of either the @Tengyur or Special
Foreign Currency Program (PL 480) materials.  The descriptions
of regional libraries and institutions with debate instruction
should aid those who would like further exposure to the logic
textbooks and actual debate.

Here we would like to express our thanks to the folowing persons
for help not mentioned in the sourcebook itself:

Dr. S.D. Atkins (professor of Sanskrit [retired], Dept. of
Classics, Princeton University):  project evaluator, reviewed
listing of Sanskrit titles in @Tengyur catalogue and provided
evaluation for Endowment

Ms. ary Jo Blain (Office of Youth Programs, NEH):  rendered
helpful advice throughout the project and helped administer grant

Dr. Richard Burgi (professor, Dept. of Slavic languages,
Princeton Univ.):  project evaluator, reviewed transcription for
bibliography of Russian-language works and provided evaluation
for Endowment

Dr. William LaFleur (asst. professor specializing in Asia, Dept.
of Religion, Princeton Univ.):  project advisor and evaluator,
arranged access to library materials, reviewed and suggested
corrections for translation work, submitted evaluation for Endowment

Mr. Glen Marcus (Office of Youth Programs, NEH):  helped
administer youthgrant

Mr. Rishard Thompson (language arts specialist;  principal, Land
O' Pines School, Howell, N.J.):  project advisor and evaluator;
advised on the history phase and with classes for young people,
reviewed materials and submitted evaluation for Endowment

Lastly, we'd like to acknowledge a number of services not
described elsewhere.

Proofreading:  Steve Foster, Sandra Green, Carmen Kichikov, Mrs.
Edith Roach, Michael Roach

Photographs:  Namsa Nelson, Mrs. E. Roach

Editing, typing:  M. Roach

Note finally that, where transcription into Roman letters
appears, the respective systems used for the Sanskrit and
Tibetan are--with minor modification--those of Monier-Williams
and the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives.  Variant
spellings of words to titles in the bibliography section are
generally retained where they are printed thus in the original
works and Library of Congress accessions listings.

August, 1979

The Debate Study Group

c/o Rashi Gempil Ling
The First Kalmuk
Buddhist Temple
in America
Freewood Acres
Howell, New Jersey  U.S.A.


HISTORY


THE ART OF LOGIC

Here begin a pair of essays on the history of the logic and
debate tradition, reprecenting first the Eastern, and then the
Western, approaches.  This first, adapted by Geshe Tharchin*
from native sources, thus displays the Central Asian emphasis on
ultimate applications and the teaching genealogies.  It further
addresses itself principally to the classical period of the tradition.

Geshe Lobsang Tharchin was born in Lhasa, Tibet, in 1921.
Entering the Gyalrong College of the city's Sera Monastic
University at age eight, he first studied reading, writing, and
grammar--then beginning the two-year course in basic logic and
debate:  the field of @pramana.  This was followed by eight
years in a program on @prajnya paramita, which may be called
general Buddhist philosophy for students of a great capacity.

During the next four years the Geshe completed the course in
@madhyamika, a specialized study of the true nature of
existence, and continued on to four more years in the field of
ethics:  @vinaya.  An equal number of years were devoted to
@abhidharma, general philosophy from a viewpoint of lesser
capacities, and were followed by preparations for the rigid
final examinations towards the dgree of Geshe--Doctor of
Philosophy.   

After excelling in a wide variety of tests, including open
debates sponsored by the government and judged by an assembly of
Tibet's leading scholars, Rev. Tharchin in 1954 received the
@geshe degree with highest honors (@hlarampa).  He is one of the
few remaining scholars to have reached this level before the
loss of Tibet.

Prior to his escape from the invasion by the Communist Chinese,
Geshe Tharchin also completed the entire program in @tantric
(esoteric) studies at the Gyumey Tantric University in Lhasa,
then entering the administration there.  During twelve years in
India, the Geshe served as teacher and principal in the Tibetan
primary and elementary schools, contributing too as a member of
the government textbook numerous essays on logic, philosophy,
history, grammar, and other subjects.

The story of how Geshe Tharchin reached America and began his
teaching career here are summarized in the introduction to his
latest work, the translation @Nagarjuna's Letter (Dharamsala:
Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, new ed. in press).  He
serves at present as parish priest of Rashi Gempil Ling, the
First Kalmuk Buddhist Temple of Howell, New Jersey, and offers
instruction there in language and the various subjects mentioned
above.

Assisting Geshe Tharchin in the following translation was his
student, Michael Roach.  Michael, 26, grew up in the Southwest
and was one of the presidential scholars for 1970.  He has been
under the Geshe's tutelage for four years since completing
studies at Princeton University and, under fellowships from
Princeton and the Woodrow Wilson School of International
Affairs, at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives.  Michael
also helped with the reader section and contributed the
resources data.


The Art of Logic

An Early History

A great number of works by non-Buddhist teachers, such as an
exposition on reasoning by the adept Lingkye and the Brahmin
Akshapada's presentation of the eight major points in logic,
predate the Buddhist classics on the art of logic.@(1)  All of
the former works are, however, mere disputation, and fall short
of being meaningful methods of reasoning.  A genuine science of
logic reveals that superior path which leads to definite good
and lasting happiness:  it delineates, in a logical way, the
workings to the four basic facts of existence--suffering, its
cause, its stop, and the way it is stopped.

In regard to this path, our own teacher has--in a scripture
called @The Disclosed Meaning--made mention that

The reasons are four:  for ultimate
nature and
Dependence, process, and proof of
validity.

He moreover ststes the following:

...Therefore, reasons for proving validity are established as
being absolutely correct--endowed with five qualities--through
valid perception:  those direct, deductive, and based on
reliable authority.@(2)

Thus does the Buddha elucidate the basic nature to the four
kinds of reasons, as well as the direct and other types of valid
perceptions.  In short, we may moreover understand--from His
express presentations on reasons--the fact that a valid,
deductive percepation of an abstruse object can be generated by
means of the result, identity, and negating types of reasons.@(3)

Now with regard to our system of teachings, the first of the
classical works on logic was the @Institution of Debate.
Subsequent to this, a large scattering of logic textbooks--@An
Examination of Logic and others--was composed by that great
master and author of logic classics, Dignaga.  Realizing that no
single meber of the existing body of treatises was totally
comprehensive, Dignaga condensed them all into a work
incorporatig six chapters and entitled @An Anthology of the
Logic Scriptures.  An autocommentary was also written to the
text, and explications made by Master Ishvarasena and others.

That veritable Sun among teachers, Dharmakirti, opened the great
reasoning tradition with his collection known as the "Seven
Logic Works," written in commentary to Dignaga's @Anthology.
THree treatises--the extremely extensive textbook @Commentary on
the Logic, the only slightly condensed @Ascertainment of Logic,
and the very condensed @A Drop of Reasoning--serve as a sort of
main body to the collection.  Ancillary to it are the remaining
four:  @An Examination of Relationships, @A Drop of Reasons,
@Reasons in Disputation, and @The Proof of Other Continua.
These works spread their author's fame with the great roar of a
conquering lion.

Dharmakirti's principal student, Devendrabuddhi, composed an
explication to the @Commentary, taking up where his teacher had
left off in an autocommentary.  The explication itself was then
commented upon by Shakyabuddhi.  Master Vinitadeva composed
explanations to all seven works in the collection, while both
"Mentor Jewel" (Prajnyakara Gupta) and "The Brahmin"
(Shankarananda) prepared explications tot the @Commentary.

Beyond these, Master Dharmottara completed numerous classics,
both brief and extensive:  they include such works as the
greater @Correct Commentary to the Ascertainment of Logic and
@Commentary to the Drop of Reasoning, an Aid to Students.  The
two--"Jewel" and Dharmottara--were renowned as being most
extremely skilled in logic.

Still further are the @Compendium on Ultimate Reality by
Shantarakshita, a vast commentary to the same by Kamalashila,
and all the rest:  a cluster of classic works both brief and
extensive.  Moreover, those logic textbooks into Tibetan account
for just about 21 of the great volumes in the Nartang edition of
the textbook portion to the Buddhist canon.

Now during the earlier spread of the Buddha's teachings in
Tibet, a number of works from the end of the collection of seven
were translated by a Kawa Peltsek and Drenpa Namka.  The later
spreading saw translations of @An Anthology of the Logic
Scriptures, as well as other texts, by Shama Seng-gyam--in
addition to a rendering of the root text to Dharmakirti's
@Commentary by one Ma Geway Lodru.  Subsequently there spread,
to some extent, a school of logic based on these texts.

Still later the ggreat translator from Ngok, Londen Sherab,
revised these earlier attempts and completed the translation of
@Ascertainment of Logic, A Drop of Reasoning, and the rest.  The
predominant strain in the teaching tradition was that found in
the works by "Jewel" and Dharmottara.

That great upholder of the tradition, Chokyi Seng-ge of Chapa,
next introduced the @dura genre of logic primer by composing
such works as @Dispelling Mental Darkness, a compendium of the
logic classics.@(4) A long and glorious tradition flourished,
passing down through a number of scholars--eight of the greatest
each named @Seng-ge ("lion").

So too did the illustrious Kashmiri pundit Shakyashri and that
great master of actual meanings, Kunga Gyaltsen (the "Sakya
Pandita," renowned throughout all of India and Tibet), undertake
to translate Dharmakirti's @Commentary, setting the Tibetan down
in its final form.  The latter, moreover, composed a root
text--and companion commentary--imparting the very essence of
Dharmakirti's entire group of seven,along with the original
scripture by Dignaga.  With this teacher and his countless
students in India and Tibet began and flourished a teaching
lineage such that--though the Master Translators were many--the
Ngok and Sakya traditions grew most celebrated.

As holders of the tradition of the Sakya Pandita came his
disciples, true lions all among scholars, in the following
order:  Rikpe Seng-ge of Uyuk, Kunga Pel of Nyawon, Mipam of Yak
and the Rong teacher Sheja Kunsik, along with the gorampa Sonam
Seng-ge and Shakya Chokden.

Beyond these were Venerable Rendawa (Shonny Lodru) and the great
Lord Tsongkhapa.  This latter, the highest of saviors, applied
the three tests of accuracy@(5) to each of the Indian and
Tibetan classics on logic--thereby eliminating any undue
assignments of value.  Having gained a total knowledge ofthe
ideas held by the two absolute lords of logic, he expounded upon
Dignaga's original scripture and the collection of seven
treatises by Dharmakirti, embracing the affiliate works as well.

This Lord Tsongkapa did in no trifling presentation ofthe mere
literal meanings of terms;  rather, he set forth a surpassing
instruction utilizing the methods of logic for a lucid
presentation of the entire series of steps to be taken towards 
ultimate ends by those of both greater and lesser capacities.
Therein he has created a logical method far excelling the
others--a sweeping lion's roar.

in succession then came a great number of absolute lords of
reasoning--master scholars such as Darma Rinchen and Kedrup
Gelekpel, leading princes to the  Lord Tsongkhapa.  A mass of
cogent textbooks was produced, and individuals who had become
versed in logic through learning ad reflection crowded the lands
of India and Tibet like the atoms of this great earth.

We may finally menrion Buton Rinpoche's @Illumination of the
Meanings to Logic, as well as the @Ocean Logic Classic--which
the Karmapa Chodrak Gyatso imparted spontaneously by way of
recalling that past time whenhe had deigned totake birth as
Dharmakirti.  And here lastly we list the Bhutanese pundit Padma
Karpo, who composed the logic textbook @Ornament of Manjugosha's
Concepts--with an accompanying general commentary.  The worksof
these and certain other authors exhibit for the most part a
consistency with the Ngok system of explication.

Works in greater consonance with the Sakya method are those
treatises such as @The Great Elucidation of Commentary on the
Logic--composed subsequent to the flowering of the Ngok
tradition by the conquering Mipam Gelek:  that greatest of higher
beings, actual embodiment of the Buddhas' wisdom, and true Sun
among teachers.  This Sakya system eventually spread to the
Nyingma group as well.

The doors of reasoning were opened ever wider, by various
individuals, with their logic textbooks and deep powers of
understanding.  Their followers too have flourished, in unbroken
line.


The Art of Logic

Notes

1. Precise transcriptions for names of persons, works, and
places are found in an appended list.  Ripresentative dates,
according fot the most part to K. Potter and E. Gene Smith, are
supplied there as well.

2. @"Phags-pa dgongs-pa nges-par 'grel-pa theg-pa chen-po'i mdo
(Arya-sandhinirmocananama-mahayanasutra), pp.1a-87b from Vol.
@Ca of @mDo-mang section to @bKa'-'gyur (Lhasa edition), p. 82a
(discussion pp. 80b-83a).

3. Refer to the essay "Logical Reasoning" in this sourcebook.

4. The translations following here in the sourcebook are adapted
from just such primers.

5. Checks by those valid perceptions which are direct,
deductive, or based on reliable authority.


The Art of Logic

Precise Transcriptions
@@@@[Left out pp. 14-16:  all Sanskrit and Tibetan translit.]@@@@


MOVE WITH THE KALMUKS


This essay describes, in Occidental fashion, the physical move
of the Central Asian tradition to America by tracing its
migrations with the Kalmuk people--founders of the first true
institutions for this type of study in America.  Namsa Melson,
co-director of the NEH project, daughter and granddaughter of
original Kalmuk settlers in Freewood Acres, has contributed this
work.

Namsa, 14, was born in Brooklyn and grew up here in New Jersey.
In school she has achieved honor roll and high honor roll for
six years, serving as well in student government and drama
producctions.  Within the community, she has participated in
Kalmuk language classes and the Kalmuk Mongloian folk-dance
troupe.  Finally, Namsa completed during the summer of 1979 a
study of the traditional primer in formal logic, composing
summaries for use in the classes with younger people held under
the grant provisions.

The map accompanying the essay was prepared by another Kalmuk
youth, Lisa Albatew, whose background is described with her
contribution to the sourcebook's resources section.


The Move with the Kalmuks:

A Later History

To see how the Central Asian tradition of logic and debate
reached America, we have to start about 750 years ago, in Mongolia.

How Mongols became Buddhists

The Genghis Khanites

Genghis Khan is famous for the battle tactics he used to form the
once very powerful Mongolian Empire.  When the Khan attacked the
kingdom of Hsi-Hsia in 1205 and completed his conquest of it in
1209, he brought Mongols to their first taste of Buddhism, for
the people of Hsi-Hsia were Tibetans who followed the Buddhist
religion.  Genghis Khan created a unity among his followers and
saw to it thet the people of Hsi-Hsia were part ofhis union
before going on  to subjugate Northern China.  

At one point in time Genghis Khan's troops were heading toward
Tibet proper.  The Tibetans, knowledgeable of the Khan's
strength, sent messengers to meet the army.  When they did, an
agreement was made to pay a tribute to the Khan annualy, if he
agreed not to attack Tibet.  When Genghis Khan died in 1227 the
Tibetans stopped paying the annual tribute.

In 1240 Prince Godan, who was Genghis Khan's grandson and the
second son of Ogodai, attacked Tibet to recover the tribute.
After a defeat of deaths, destruction, and disorder for Tibet,
Prince Godan in 1244 sent a message to the Sakya Pandita, the
wisest man known in Tibet.  The letter stated:

I, the most poweful and prosperous Prince Godan, wish to inform
the Sakya Pandita, Kunga Gyaltsen, that we need a lama to advise
my ignorant people on how to conduct themselves morally and spiritually.

...I have been  pondering this problem for some time, and after
much consideration, have decided that you are the only person
suitable for the task.  As you are the only lama I have chosen,
I will not accrpt any excuse on account of your age or the
rigors of the journey.

The Lord Buddha gave his life for all beings.  Would you not,
therefore, be denying your faith if you tried to avoid this duty
of yours?  It would, of course, be easy for me to send a large
body of troops to bring you here;  but in so doing, harm and
unhappiness might be brought to many innocent living beings.  In
the interest of the Buddhist faith and the welfare of all living
creatures, I suggest that you come to us immediately.  

As a favor to you, I shall be very kind to those monks who are
now living on the west side of the sun.(1)

The Sakya Pandita graciously accepted Prince Godan's invitation.
He left in 1244 towards the Mongolian camp, but was stopped
quite often in order to preach to the people.  The Pandita was
fearful that Prince Godan would become angry at the time it was
taking him to arrive, so he sent his two nephews, Phagpa and
Drogon, to go ahead and reassure the Prince that he would be coming.

The two nephews had become favorites of the court by the time
the Sakya Pandita arrived in 1247.  The place where Prince Godan
and the Sakya Pandita finally met was Lan-Chou, capital of Kansu
province.

The Pandita, also one of the greatest logicians of Tibet, spent
years teaching Prince Godan and the Mongolian people the ways of
Buddhism.  He taught them what to do, how to think, and how to
be a Buddhist.

The Sakya Pandita died at the age of 76 in 1251, at Lan-chou.
Begore his death, he had passed on his wisdom to his nephew
Phagpa.  He taught Phagpa everything he knew and also gave the
nephew his begging bowl, the symbol of his authority.

Prince Godan died shortly after the Sakya Pandita, in 1252.  He
was succeeded by Genghis Khan's grandson Prince Kublai.  Kublai
wrote a letter to Phagpa in 1254 stating:

As a true believer in the great Lord Buddha, the all-merciful
and invincible ruler of the world, whose presence, like the sun,
lights up every dark place, I have always shown special favor to
the monks and monasteries of your country.
Do not think the Mongols incapable of learning your religion.
We learn it gradually.(2)

Phagpa accepted the Prince's invitation to come and instruct the
leader and his people.  Phagpa taught Kublai for a number of
years, becoming a very close companion to the Prince, who later
became Kublai Khan.  Phagpa then went back into Tibet for three
years, visiting the temples and talking to the people,

When he came back Phagpa "presented to Kublai a script he had
devised for the Mongolian language.  This script was based upon
Tibetan writing."(3) The script was not used much, especially
after the death of Kublai, because of its square form--which
made it difficult to use.

Phagpa had many honors bestowed upon him by the Prince and Khan,
Kublai.  The teacher passed on in 1280.

The Eastern Mongols

As time went on, Buddhism among the Mongols after the death of
Kublai Khan was not strong--until the sixteenth century.  In
1577 Sonam Gyatso, who was found to be the reincarnation of
Phagpa, was invited to visit Mongolia.  The invitation was sent
by Altan Khan, a reincarnation of Kublai Khan.  Sonam Gyatso
arrived at the Mongolian capital of Koko Khotan in 1578, and it
was at this time that the inauguration of the Mongolian Buddhist
Church officially took place.

Then Sonam Gyatso began to teach the Khan and his people
religion, preaching on one occasion out of doors to the whole
population.  Once Altan Khan became a Buddhist, he made this declaration:

We, Mongols, are powerful because our ancestral race originally
descended from the sky, and [Genghis Khan] extended its empire
even to China and Tibet.
The Buddhist religion first came to our country in earlier
times, when we gave our patronage to Sakya Pandita.  Later, we
had an Emperor named @Temur, during whose reign our people had
no religion and our country degenerated;  so thet it seemed as
though an ocean of blood had flooded the land.
Your visit to us has now helped the Buddhist religion to revive.
Our relationship of patron and lama can be likened to that of
the sun and moon.  The ocean of blood has become an ocean of milk.
The Tibetans, Chinese, and Mongols now living in this country
should practise the Ten Priinciples of the Lord Buddha...(4)

Before returning to Tibet, Sonam Gyatso received many presents,
and was also given the title @Dalai Lama.  "'Dalai' is the
Mongolian for 'ocean' and connotes that the Lama's learning was
as deep and as broad as the ocean."(5)

Sonam Gyatso was the first given the title "Dalai Lama," but he
is counted as the third because, after the title was given to
him, two of his previous lives also received it--thus making him
the third Dalai Lama.

This all occurred in 1578, which was about the same time that
the "living Buddha," Dongkur Manjushri Khutukhtu, was
established.  In 1602, a line of reincarnations called "Maitreya
Khutukhtu" began.  Such lines have continued up to modern
times:(6) the Gegen Dilowa Khutukhtu lived for a time here in
Freewood Acres, New Jersey.

The Western Mongols

The Western Mongols called themselves "Oirat," or "Oirad," which
according to Grousset means "Confederates."  The Oirat or Kalmuk
domain climaxed in power during 1439-1455.  It "stretched from
Lake Balkhash to Lake Baikal, and from Baikal to...the Great Wall."(7)

King Esen of the Oirats had defeated the tribes directly
descended from Genghis Khan, and in 1449 beat the Chinese army
and held the Chinese emperor prisoner.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Khalka of
Altyn-Khan had begun to place upon the Oirat tribes certain
pressures.  In 1616, Khu Urluk and his tribes left Dzungaria and
went west.  They finally settled around Astrakhan, near the mouth
of the Volga river, after defeating the tribes north of the
Caspian Sea (see the accompanying map).

Now Gushi Khan, known to the Chinese as "the Khan of the
Tibetans," moved with a group of Oirat tribes to North Tibet, in
1636.  There, in the Lake Kokonor area, he developed himself a
kingdom, spreading at one time evevn to East Tibet.  Around
1640, he made a number of trips into the middle of Tibet to
assist the Dalai Lama, and was helped by the other Oirat
princes--including Khu Urluk, who briefly returned from the
Caspian Sea area.

It was about this time that the Zaya Pandita, also known as
Namkhay Gyamtso, returned to the Oirats to teach them Buddhism.
Zaya Pandita had given up his position in Khoshot nobility at
age seventeen and became a monk, travelling to Tibet for study.
When he came back he perfected, at the age of 49, one of the
original Mongolian writing systems.  He translated some 200
Buddhist works into Mongolian, and passed away in1662.

How the Kalmuks Lived

Meaning of the Name "Kalmuk"

What does the name "Kalmuk" mean?  No one is absolutely sure,
and the etymologies and definitions for the word vary greatly.
Grousset states that the Turks gave the Oirats the name
"Kalmuks."(8)  Bormanshinov offers the following:

N.N. Poppe, in his hitherto unpublished paper, is inclined to
accept Gegen Dilowa Khutukhtu's explanation communicated to him
orally that the name "Kalmyk"...goes back to the Mongolian verb
"xalix"--"to overflow, to run over, to spread (all over the
territory)."  This etymology seems to be convincing because it
may refer to the significant expansion of the Oirat khanate in
the fifteenth and the following centuries.(9)

There are many more definitions and etymologies given for the
name;  I will not go into them, but they deal with the history
and customs of the Kalmuk tribes.

Different Tribes of Kalmuks

During Genghis Khan's time, a fierce tribe of forest Mongols,
the Oirats, was settled on the western shore of Lake Baikal, in
the Central Asian steppes.  This group, forerunner of the modern
Kalmuks, was made up of four distinct subtribes:  the Choros,
the @Dorbod, the Khoshot, and the Torghut.  These distinctions
continue up into recent times.

Traditional Kalmuk Life

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, in about 1620,
religious traditions began to set in among the Kalmuks.  It
started when the Khoshot chief Boibeghus Ba'atur converted to
Buddhism.  It was because of him that three other Kalmuk
princes--Khara Khula of the Choros, Dalai Taiji of the @Dorbot,
and Khu Urluk of the Torghut, each sent a son to Tibet to study
Buddhism according to the tradition according to Je Tsongkhapa.

Connections between the Kalmuks and Tibetans then continued.
The Khoshot khans continued to help Tibetan scholars and
monasteriesfor a hundred years.  The wetern Kalmuks also kept
contact, for they often sent young men from their Caspian Sea
area to Tibet for higher religious studies.

Throughout this time period monastic universities were
established in Kalmuk territory, such as the one founded in 1640
by the Khoshot chief, Ablai-Taiji, just north of Lake Balkash.

Religious practice in Kalmuk land had become very important.
The Kalmuk Khan Donduk Dashi in 1757 made new laws, several of
which signifiedthe important role religion had.  The following
are examples:

Law #3:  Honor and esteem for the highly educated clergymen.

#4:  Obligatory instruction of Kalmyck boys until the age of 15
in Kalmyck (Mongol) grammar (reading and writing).  Otherwise a
fine was imposed and the boys were given to Bakshas (teachers)
for instruction.(10)       

Yet long before they had begun their religious practice, before
the start of the religious traditions, the Kalmuks had possessed
distinctive customs.

Actual Move of Debate and Logic Tradition to America

Political Problems of the Kalmuks

The Kalmuks had always been a nomadic people.  Even in the
Genghis-Khanite period, the Oirats lived in horse-pulled wagons
with tents to make moving easy.















 

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