The Jataka Inscriptions at Zha lu Monastery (Panels 9-35)

On several visits to Zha lu Monastery (Central Tibet) between 1996 and 1998 the project leader was able to take large-scale photographs of an extensive cycle of inscriptions found on the outer walls of the monasterys great circumambulatory corridor (skor lam chen mo) which encloses the assembly hall and its adjacent chapels. Of the original 103 inscriptional panels, 95 are still extant. Combined with mural paintings, they consist of excerpts from a work generally known by its short title Skyes rabs brgya pa (lit.: [The text] containing hundred [tales of] previous lives [of the Buddha]). This text is made up of two parts: 1) The same Tibetan translation of Aryashuras Jatakamala (Sanskrit; lit. Garland of tales of previous lives [of the Buddha]) that has also come down to us in the five presently available Tanjur (lit. Translated treatises) collections (i.e, the Tanjur collections of Cone [C], Derge [D], Ganden [G], Narthang [N] and Peking [P]); 2) A (Tibetan) composition by the third Karma pa Rang byung rdo rje (12841339) comprising another 66 Jatakas and a concluding description of the main events in the life of Buddha Shakyamuni. Historical sources and the style of the paintings suggest that the whole cycle of inscriptions and illustrating paintings was completed shortly before 1334, the year Bu ston compiled what has frequently been called the editio princeps of the Tanjur. The first eight panels, rendering the prologue and excerpts from the first seven tales of Aryashuras Jatakamala, were edited, translated into German and subjected to a detailed text-critical analysis in a monograph that was published in 2005 (K. Tropper: Die Jataka-Inschriften im skor lam chen mo des Klosters Zha lu). This analysis also took account of a xylograph (Z) of the Skyes rabs brgya pa, whose blocks were carved in 1542/43 and are now kept in the Sman rtsis khang (Institute of Medicine and Astronomy) in Lhasa. As could be shown, the inscriptions in Zha lu and Z both preserve correct original readings in places that have become corrupt in all five Tanjur versions. They are thus valuable witnesses for getting closer to the original wording of the Jatakamalas Tibetan translation. The results of the text-critical study also show that the evidence of these inscriptions and Z is crucial in those places where the two branches of the Tanjur tradition (i.e., CD and GNP) attest different readings and the Sanskrit text does not allow a decision to be made. The present project aims to prepare an edition, an English translation and a text-critical analysis of panels 935, thus completing the study of the panels that render excerpts from Aryashuras Jatakamala.

This project examined a combined cycle of wall inscriptions and paintings at Zha lu Monastery (Central Tibet). The 95 extant inscriptional panels (out of an original 103) were photographically documented by the project leader during several visits to the monastery between 1996 and 1998 and contain excerpts from a work commonly known as Skyes rabs brgya pa. This text consists of two parts: 1) the same Tibetan translation of Aryashura's Jatakamala (Sanskrit; lit.: Garland of stories about previous lives [of the Buddha]) which is included in the currently available Tanjur collections of Cone, Derge, Ganden, Narthang, and Peking under the title Skyes pa'i rabs kyi rgyud, and 2) a (Tibetan) composition by the third Karma pa Rang byung rdo rje (1284-1339), which comprises an additional 66 Jatakas and a concluding description of the main events in the life of Buddha Shakyamuni. In a pilot study published as a monograph in 2023, the stemmatic position and text-critical value of 16 textual witnesses (including the inscriptions in Zha lu) of the Skyes pa'i rabs kyi rgyud were examined, based on the text passages rendered in the first eight inscriptional panels ("The Jataka Inscriptions in the Skor lam chen mo of Zha lu Monastery. Edition and English Translation of Panels 1-8. With a Text-Critical Appraisal and a Stemmatic Study of the Sixteen Collated Witnesses"). In a follow-up study, the stemmatic position and text-critical value of a further textual witness were determined ("A Second Manuscript Witness for the Skyes pa'i rabs kyi rgyud from Lang [Dolpo]" [in press]). Regarding the stemmatic relationships, four subgroups could be identified in these two studies, namely: 1) the Tanjur versions of Ganden (G), Peking (P), Narthang (N), and a block print from the Mongolian National Library (Mo); 2) the Tanjur versions of Derge (D) and Cone (C); 3) a block print from Derge (De), a manuscript from Spa gro Rdzong brag kha (Sp), a block print completed in Gongkar in 1542-1543 (Z), and a modern edition from Zi ling / Xining (Zi); 4) four manuscripts from Nesar (Ns), Namgyal (Ng), and Lang (Lg1 and Lg2). The inscriptions in Zha lu, a manuscript from Cha rang (Ch), and an early block print from Dalongshan (Da) could not be assigned to any of the four groups. Regarding the text-critical value of the witnesses, it was found that it is sufficient to collate the readings of G, N, Q, D, Z, Lg1, Ch for the treatment of the remaining inscriptions rendering passages of the Skyes pa'i rabs kyi rgyud. Accordingly, an edition and an English translation of the respective panels were prepared on the basis of these witnesses.