I am merely taking down a note. The epithet “Crown Ornament of Five-Hundred [Paṇḍitas]” (lnga brgya’i gtsug rgyan) is used for Vimalamitra and *Adhīśa. It will be nice to know the earliest attestation of this expression. In this regard, there is a small work called the ’Phreng ba’i lung (IOL Tib J 688) ascribed to Vimalamitra. For some details, see Dalton & van Schaik 2006: 294–296; Norbu-Dondrup-Phuntshok-Choekyi 2022: 241, n. iv. The work seems to be interesting for several reasons. It clearly refers to what one might call rtsis ’go (yan lag) bdun although only the expression rtsis ’go (yan lag) lnga is well known in Tibetan sources. This would be relevant as a kind of exegetical scheme. There are a couple of important details that need to be clarified. But for now, I am interested in how Vimalamitra is described there. He is described as “[the Crown Ornament] amongst 1500 Indian Upādhyāyas [and] Paṇḍitas” (rgya gar gyi mkhan po pan pyi ta [= paṇ ḍi ta] stong lnga brgya’i nang na). See La Vallée Poussin 1962: 222. I take the expression mkhan po paṇ ḍi ta to be a dvaṃdva compound but of course it may also be interpreted as a karmadhāraya compound (e.g., one who is an upādhyāya as well as a paṇḍita). The term gtsug rgyan does not occur here. It may mean that Vimalamitra is “one amongst 1500 Indian upādhyāyas and paṇḍitas,” or he is “the best amongst 1500 Indian upādhyāyas and paṇḍitas.”
Louis de La Vallée Poussin, Catalogue of the Tibetan Manuscripts from Tun-huang in the India Office Library: With an Appendix on the Chinese manuscripts by Kazuo Enoki. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1962.
Jacob Dalton & Sam van Schaik, Tibetan Tantric Manuscripts from Dunhuang: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Stein Collection at the British Library. Brill’s Tibetan Studies Library 12. Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2006.
mKhan-po Chos-’phel-nor-bu, mKhan-po sKal-bzang-don-grub, Slob-dpon O-rgyan-phun-tshogs & Slob-dpon-ma Padma-chos-skyid (Choephel Norbu, Kalsang Dondrup, Ugyen Phuntshok & Pema Choekyi), Bi ma la mi tra’i mdzad rjes nyul ba: Paṇ chen bi ma la mi tra’i mdzad pa dang | sher snying rgya cher bshad pa’i brjod bya rjod byed la dpyad pa. Ngagyur Nyingma Research Centre Publication Series 5. Bylakuppe, Mysore: Ngagyur Nyingma Institute, Ngagyur Nyingma Research Centre, 2022.
Pratisaṃvid 