88 Kano
is Atiśa’s] tomb and to send the Jobo’s manuscripts (Tib. jo bo’i phyag dpe
rnams) to India. And then he proceeded to Nepal [.. .].10
On the other hand, the Blue Annals (Tib. Deb ther sngon po) states that
Chagtrichog thrice sent items that belonged to Atiśa (Tib. phyag rdzas rnams)
to teachers and the Saṅgha in India (i.e. Vikramaśīla?) before Atiśa’s passing.11
These statements of Chim’s and in the Blue Annals are not, of course, necessar-
ily contradictory.
2.2 Succession to the Ownership of Atiśa’s Manuscripts
Were the manuscripts of Atiśa all sent back to India with nothing left in Tibet?
We may attempt to track them down further in historical records.
According to Lechen’s History of the Kadam Tradition, after Atiśa’s death in
Nyethang (Tib. sNye thang) in 1054, Dromtön wanted nothing for himself other
than the bodily relics of Atiśa, Indic manuscripts (Tib. rgya dpe), and a few
sacred objects for worship, but one day he became distressed when someone
laid claim to all of Atiśa’s mementos. That night the female deity Tārā appeared
to Dromtön in a dream and told him that his wish would be fulfilled. The next
day Kaba Śākya wangchug (Tib. sKa ba Śākya dbang phyug) arrived and dis-
tributed items to Atiśa’s disciples. As predicted by Tārā, Dromtön received the
items he wished for.
And then [Kaba] said to Geshe tönpa [(Tib. dGe bshes ston pa, i.e.
Dromtön)]: ‘Since a son needs relics of his father, you should keep these
relics of the Jobo! Since a translator needs Indic manuscripts (Tib. rgya
10 mChims Nam mkha’ grags, Jo bo rje dpal ldan a ti sha’i rnam thar rgyas pa yongs grags,
rNam thar rgyas pa: Materialien zu einer Biographie des Atiśa (Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna), 1.
Teil: Einführung, Inhaltsverzeichnis, Namensglossar. 2. Teil: Textmaterialien, ed. and trans.
Helmut Eimer (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1979), §422: de’i dus su rnal ’byor pa phyag
khri mchog gis jo bo’i gdung khang gi dngul ’don (va r. ldon) [= mdon] pa dang / jo bo’i phyag
dpe rnams rgya gar du bskur ba’i phyir (var. phyir dang dge bshes lo tsā ba la) ’phrin yig
dang bcas pa’i mi mang du brdzangs / phyag khri mchog gis bal yul du byon nas [.. .] ≈ Las
chen, bKa’ gdams chos ’byung, 141: de nas jo bo’i gdung gang gi dngul gdon [= ’don?] pa dang
/ jo bo’i phyag dpe kha cig rgya gar du rdzong ba’i slad du bal yul du byon / rgya gar du rgya
dpe ’phrin yig dang bcas pa’i mi mang du brdzongs / (I am grateful to Dr. Maho Iuchi for
this reference.)
11 ’Gos lo tsā ba gZhon nu dpal, Deb ther sngon po, 317: de ltar gzhan don mdzad pa’i skabs
rnams su phyag tu byung ba’i phyag rdzas rnams / chag khri mchog la sogs pa’i slob ma
rnams kyis rgya gar du bla ma dang dge ’dun la ’bul ba lan gsum bskyal; 390: jo bo la ’bul ba
byung ba’i rdzas rnams rgya gar du skyel ba’i bang chen yang lan gsum mdzad /