ལས་ཀྱ་རྣམ་པར་འགྱར་བ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་ཆས་ཀྱ་གཞང intro.34

intro.34

It is generally assumed that the Tibetan translation activity of the first dissemination of the Dharma began around the middle of the eighth century ce ³² and continued until the demise of the Tibetan empire, that is, by 840 ce. Since the identity of Transformation of Karma with the las kyi rnam par ’gyur ba bstan pa’i gzhung (no. [282]) in the Denkarma (Tib. lhan kar ma) catalog seems unambiguous, these two dates (i.e., 763 ce and 840 ce) are likely the earliest and latest dates, respectively, of the translation of Transformation of Karma into Tibetan.³³ If we additionally consider the fact that Toh 339 contains pre-reform terms and expressions, we may be able to push the date for the latest date closer to the beginning of the ninth century. In the absence of a colophon or other pertinent information about the text, however, it is impossible to be more precise.³⁴