92 Kano
(4) Dromtön inherited Atiśa’s manuscripts after his death and stored
them in Retreng, where he went on to revise the Tibetan translation of the
Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā. The colophon refers to names of translators
and revisers; the fifth and sixth revisers are:23
Later, the translator Dromtön Gyalwe jungne twice systematised [the
revision of the translation] by collating three Indic sūtras (Tib. rgya gar
gyi mdo gsum) at Retreng monastery, and, finally, the translator himself
wrote a commentary and also ironed out subtle difficulties.24
If ‘three Indic sūtras’ is a reference to three Sanskrit manuscripts of the
Aṣṭasāhasrikā,25 one of them was probably Atiśa’s manuscript brought from
Bodhgaya.26
nu dpal, Deb ther sngon po, 136: kha che paṇ chen gyis bsam yas su byon pa’i tshe gsang ba
snying po’i rgya dpe rnyed / phyis de rta ston gzi brjid kyi lag tu byung nas / khong gis sha
gang lo tsā ba la phul / des bcom ldan ral gri la bskur nas / bcom ldan ral gris thugs ches te
gsang snying sgrub pa rgyan gyi me tog mdzad / ma mo gnas su sngags pa ’dus pa la rgya
dpe bstan nas che ba brjod / slad kyis thar pa lo tsā bas sngon ma byung ba’i gsang snying
rgyud phyi ma dang bcas pa la ’gyur mdzad de / dpe da’i steng nas mang rab cig zags pa’i
lhag ma’i rgya dpe ni kho bo’i lag na mchis so /
23 The Aṣṭasāhasrikā was translated by Śākyasena, Jñānasiddhi, and Dharmatāśīla, and
revised by Subhūtiśrī and Rinchen Zangpo (Tib. Rin chen bzang po, 958–1055, the first
revision in the early 11th century in Western Tibet), by Atiśa and Rinchen Zangpo (the
second revision in ca. 1042–1045 in Western Tibet), by Atiśa and Dromtön (the third revi-
sion in ca. 1047–1054 at Nyethang), and again by Dromtön (the fourth and fifth revisions in
ca. 1056–1064 at Retreng), and finally by Loden sherab (Tib. Blo ldan shes rab, 1059–1109).
Cf. Las chen Kun dga’ rgyal mtshan, bKa’ gdams chos ’byung, 117: khyad par du dge bshes
ston pas zhu ba phul nas / snye thang du brgyad stong pa dang mngon par rtogs pa’i rgyan
sbyar ba’i bshad pa zhib cing rgyas pa cig gsungs / de la phyag dar ston pas zin bris mdzad
pas phar phyin khams lugs mar grags shing gtsugs che ba cig byung ba yin gsungs.
24 Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā, Derge Tōhoku no. 12, 286a4–5: phyis ra sgreng gtsug lag
khang du lo tstsha ba ’brom rgyal ba’i ’byung gnas kyis rgya gar gyi mdo gsum dang gtugs
nas lan gnyis gtan la phab / slad kyis yang lo tstsha ba de nyid kyis bshad pa mdzad cing
phran tshegs kyang gtan la phab /
25 Chattopadhyaya, Atīśa and Tibet: Life and Works of Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna in Relation to the
History and Religion of Tibet with Tibetan Sources (Delhi: Motilal, 1996), 500 surmises as
much. Another possibility is that the Tibetan term rgya gar gyi mdo gsum may be referring
to three different Prajñāpāramitā texts, such as the Śatasāhasrikā, Dvāviṃśatisāhasrikā,
and Aṣṭādaśasāhasrikā.
26 See further down in the main text: lHun grub chos ’phel, Rwa sgreng dgon pa’i dkar chag
mthong ba don ldan dge legs nor bu’i bang mdzod [Treasury of Auspicious Jewels that is
Meaningful Merely at a glance: Catalogue of Retreng Monastery] (Chengdu: Si khron mi