Thang-stong-rgyal-po: A Commissioner of the bKa’ ’gyur and bsTan ’gyur

Thang-stong-rgyal-po brTson-’grus-bzang-po (1385–1464 or 1361–1485) is well known as the Iron-Bridge Man (lCags-zam-pa) of Tibet. He apparently did not build only iron bridges. He reportedly built several other things including the three supports (rten gsum), namely, statues as the support of the Body (sku’i rten), scriptures as the support of the Speech (gsung gi rten), and stūpas as the support of the Mind (thugs kyi rten). But I do not wish to discuss his building activities in general. I wish to make a brief reference to his making of scriptures, most importantly the bKa’ ’gyur (“Word [of the Buddha] in [Tibetan] Translation”) and bsTan ’gyur [“Treatises in [Tibetan] Translation”). This will be done, not by assessing various kinds of primary and secondary sources but by mere looking into his biography composed by ’Gyur-med-bde-chen (b. 1540),¹ who was a disciple’s disciple (yang slob) of Thang-stong-rgyal-po himself. This biography has been translated by Cyrus Stearns, to which I also refer.²

It seems already as a child, Thang-stong-rgyal-po had contacts with people such as scribes (yig mkhan) employed by bKa’-lnga-pa dPal-’byor-shes-rab—one of his main teachers later on—for writing or copying the bKa’ ’gyur.³ His interest in building iron bridges and making the three supports (rten gsum) seems to have reflected already as a child while playing games.⁴ After his mother passed away, he made a set of three supports with his own hands, probably in her memory, and the scripture in question is said to be a deluxe manuscript edition of the Ratnaguṇasaṃcayagāthā in gold.⁵ In the year 1433, he is said to have laid the foundation for a temple of housing the bKa’ ’gyur and bsTan ’gyur in Chu-bo-ri, on the southern bank of the gTsang-po river in Central Tibet.⁶ Within a span of twelve years, in addition to a number of construction works, the making of the bKa’ ’gyur and bsTan ’gyur was completed and consecrated.⁷ The biography, of course, does not document all the projects concerning the making of scriptures but towards the end of the biography, there is a résumé of all what Thang-stong-rgyal-po built. According to this résumé,⁸ he is said to have made eighteen sets of the bKa’ ’gyur, the first one being a golden deluxe edition, and fifteen sets of the bsTan ’gyur.

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¹ ’Gyur-med-bde-chen, Thang gyal rnam thar (= dPal grub pa’i dbang phyug brtson ’grus bzang po’i rnam par thar pa kun gsal nor bu’i me long. Chengdu: Si-khron-mi-rigs-dpe-skrun-khang, 1982. According to the publisher’s note (sGrig mkhan gyi gsal bshad, pp. 1–2), the Vorlage of this modern print was a xylograph edition made in sDe-sde printery, which was edited by Zhe-chen Drung-yig, a scholar from sDe-dge. The sDe-dge xylograph edition is said to be based on an earlier xylograph edition made in Ri-bo-che in upper gTsang, the seat of Thang-stong-rgyal-po himself. Cyrus Stearns has used reprints of the sDe-dge edition and this modern edition.

² Cyrus Stearns, (tr.) King of the Empty Plain – The Tibetan Iron-Bridge Builder – Tangtong Gyalpo. Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion Publications, 2007.

³ ’Gyur-med-bde-chen, Thang gyal rnam thar (p. 23.7–11); Stearns 2007: 107, 495–496, n. 334.

⁴ ’Gyur-med-bde-chen, Thang gyal rnam thar (p. 22.15–17); Stearns 2007: 107.

⁵ ’Gyur-med-bde-chen, Thang gyal rnam thar (p. 65.2–7); Stearns 2007: 152.

⁶ ’Gyur-med-bde-chen, Thang gyal rnam thar (p. 162.11–15); Stearns 2007: 250.

⁷ ’Gyur-med-bde-chen, Thang gyal rnam thar (p. 210.6–11); Stearns 2007: 300.

⁸ ’Gyur-med-bde-chen, Thang gyal rnam thar (p. 328.13–14); Stearns 2007: 425.