Hapax legomenon: A Tibetan Case

In his introduction to the critical edition of the Sūtrasamuccaya in Tibetan translation, Bhikkhu Pāsādika pointed out that despite the availability of “excellent study-aids,” we still encounter “baffling words” (in Tibetan). As an example, he mentioned gshes kyi dmigs.¹ He also speaks of (baffling) “syntactical constructions,” which, he states, will be referred to in his forthcoming (English) translation of the Sūtrasamuccaya. I have not seen the translation and I cannot tell if he discusses gshes kyi dmigs there. The bibliographical details, however, suggest that the translation was published (1978–1982) prior to the publication of his critical edition (1989). Since Pāsādika’s statement about gshes kyi dmigs, the amount of accessible Tibetan texts has skyrocketed. Nonetheless, a quick search in the BDRC and the like reveals that the only occurence is in our text, namely, the Tibetan translation of the Sūtrasamuccaya. So it seems that we are dealing here with a case of Hapax legomenon. It is possible that Pāsādika has already satisfactorily explained the word elsewhere, for example, by cross-checking with the Sūtrasamuccaya in Chinese translation, which is appended to the critical edition of the Tibetan translation of the Sūtrasamuccaya. The expression gshes kyi dmigs occurs in the following manner (pp. 58.24–59.1): chu rgyus nas chu rgyus dang |  gshes kyi dmigs nas gshes kyi dmigs dang | rus pa’i tshigs nas tshigs dang | yan lan dang nying lag thams cad …. From the context, gshes kyi dmigs must refer to a part or element of the physical body. But what could it be? Without a parallel source and without being able to consult the Chinese translation, I remain clueless except that it must be an anatomical term. If to propose a wild speculation, could gshes kyi dmigs be a rare and archaic Tibetan word for mig rtsa, which, according to Jäschke, be either “(prob. Vena facialis externa)” or “blood vessels”? At least contextually, this would not be an impossibility.³

¹ Bhikkhu Pāsādika, Nāgārjuna’s Sūtrasamuccayaḥ: A Critical Edition of the mDo kun las btus pa. Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag, 1989, p. xviii.

² Bhikkhu Pāsādika (tr.), The Sūtrasamuccaya: An English Translation from the Tibetan Version of the Sanskrit Original. Joinville-le-Pont. Paris: Linh-So’n publication d’études bouddhologiques, 1978–1982, vols. 2–20 [not seen].

³ Heinrich August Jäschke, A Tibetan English Dictionary with Special Reference to the Prevailing Dialects. To which is Added an English-Tibetan Vocabulary. London: [Berlin, Unger Brothers (T. Grimm)], 1881, p. 414 (s.v. mig rtsa).