Historical-Cultural Background
One of the most significant milestones in the history of Tibetan civilization is the introduction of the Tibetan writing system and script in the seventh century. One might claim that the initial impulse of Tibetan Buddhist civilization that was set through the introduction of the Tibetan alphabet and script from India served as the basis of its “language and script,” pertaining to the two foremost activities concerning education and communication, namely, writing and reading. Tibetans have recognized, as one Tibetan source puts it, that the “Writing (i.e., encoding) and reading (i.e., decoding) are the bedrocks of education/edification.” Texts as a medium of communication, instruction, and administration came to be increasingly used in both secular-temporal (rgyal khrims) and sacral-religious (chos khrims) domains.
Another significant milestone in the history of Tibet has certainly been the enormous translation projects. These were initiated in a big scale in the eighth century and were at first state enterprises, financed and regulated in one way or another by the state and its rulers. With some interruption (or considerable slowdown) after the fall of the Tibetan empire in the ninth century, they continued well into the thirteenth century, and to some degree, even beyond. These enterprises of translation of mainly Indic Buddhist scriptures and treatises eventually resulted in the formation of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon consisting of the “[Buddha’s] Word in Translation” (bKa’ ’gyur) and “Treatises in Translation” (bsTan ’gyur), which includes some old autochthonous Tibetan works. The Beijing collated printed edition of the Tibetan Canon, for example, makes up a total of 228 (108 + 120, respectively) huge volumes. In addition to these enormous text corpora, there are several paracanonical collections, collections of what is called “revealed textual treasures” (gter ma), and numerous autochthonous collected writings. These texts are of varying length, scope, subject matter, and genre, and are written in various types and subtypes of Tibetans script and transmitted via various types of media, including mainly manuscripts and xylographs.
From an emic perspective, among all objects pertaining to Buddhist material or tangible culture, what are called the “Three Receptacles” (rten gsum)—namely, “Receptacle of [Buddha’s] Body” (sku’i rten), which refers to images of Awakened Beings, “Receptacle of [Buddha’s] Speech” (gsung gi rten), comprising of scriptures and other sacred texts, and “Receptacle of [Buddha’s] Mind” (thugs kyi rten), which refers to sacred structures called stūpas (or caityas)—have clearly been attributed with a greater value of sanctity. Of the three, the Receptacle of Buddha’s Speech—which stands for the Teaching, or the Doctrine (dharma) taught by the Buddha—has been accorded with the highest standing.
Also from an etic perspective, and especially for those interested in the intellectual culture and intellectual history of Tibetan Buddhist civilization, “Receptacle of [Buddha’s] Speech” (gsung gi rten) is of untold scholarly value.