The Life of the Last Rin Spungs pa Ruler and his Guide to Śambhala

Acknowledgments 7 Abbreviations 9 Introduction 10 PART 1. Description of the texts Rig pa ’dzin pa’i pho nya 14 Ngag dbang ’jig grags, the author of the text 16 Kingdom of Rin spungs and Rin spungs pa rulers 18 Political and religious activities of Rin spungs pa rulers 26 Analysis of dates of the Rin spungs rulers based on A ’bum’s Rin spungs gdung rabs 32 Was Ngag dbang ’jig grags a sectarian? 34 Marital relations between Phag gru and Rin spungs pa Sger clan 38 PART 2. The Life of Ngag dbang ’jig grags, based on the second part of the text Rig pa ’dzin pa’i pho nya 43 Chronological presentation of the second part of the text 46 The power struggle following the death of Ngag dbang ’jig grags’ father 49 Ascent to the Bsam don grub pa palace (Bsam grub rtse) 50 First fall of Ngag dbang ’jig grags’ power 51 Restoration of Ngag dbang ’jig grags’ power 53 His focus on religious practice 55 Final fall of the Rin spungs power 58 The cause of the declining power 60 Complaints about Tibetan Buddhist practitioners 62 The end of the text and the colophon 62 Conclusion 64 PART 3. Guide to Śambhala based on the 􀏐irst part of the text Rig pa ’dzin pa’i pho nya 66 General description of Śambhala 66 Guide to Śambhala by Ngag dbang ’jig grags 70 Chronological presentation of itinerary to Śambhala 73 Śambhala palace 82 Sources of Ngag dbang ’jig grags on Śambhala 83 Conclusion 84 Location of Śambhala 85 Location of Śambhala in Rig pa ’dzin pa’i pho nya 85 Location of Śambhala discussed in other sources 90 PART 4. English translation of the text Rig pa ’dzin pa’i pho nya 93 Technical notes on the English translation 93 Translation of the text Rig pa ’dzin pa’i pho nya by Ngag dbang ’jig grags 94 The text Rig pa ’dzin pa’i pho nya in Dbu chen transcription 131 Notes on comparative text analysis of manuscript MS199, MSLT and print BP1 131 Notes on specific differences between manuscript MS199, MSLT and print BP1 132 The text of Rig pa ’dzin pa’i pho nya in MS199 kept at the Jagiellonian Library 133 Transliteration of the manuscript MS199 235 Appendix 1. Literary aspects of the text Rig pa ’dzin pa’i pho nya 278 Introduction 278 Poems of different ornaments (rgyan) included in MS199 284 Conclusion 289 Tibetan Old terms (brda rnying) found in the text MS199 290 APPENDIX 2. Sanskrit words found in the text MS199 with English equivalents 293 Synonyms found in the text MS199 294 Names of precious stones used in the text MS199 with English equivalents 296 Names of plants used in the text MS199 with English equivalents 297 A few examples of Tibetan analogy (dpe dang dpe can) from the text MS199 298 APPENDIX 3. Index of personal names, places and monasteries, etc. 300 Bibliography 318 Tibetan Language Sources 318 English Language Sources 320 Dictionaries 321 Electronic sources 322