འཕགས་པ་ད་བཞན་གཤགས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱ་གཙག་ཏར་ནས་བྱང་བའ་གདགས་དཀར་པ་ཅན་ཞས་བྱ་བ་གཞན་གྱས་མ་ཐབ་མ་ཕྱར་ཟླག་པའ་རག་སྔགས་ཀྱ་རྒྱལ་མ་ཆན་མའ intro.12

intro.12

Since the Tibetan translation of Toh 590 lacks a translator’s colophon, it is impossible to determine its date, but its length and its similarity to the later Sanskrit manuscripts suggests that it is the most recent of the versions in the Kangyur. A unique, alternative translation of the text corresponding to Toh 590 is preserved in the Phukdrak (phug brag) Kangyur. This translation, which was made by the eleventh-century Indian paṇḍita Vibhūticandra and the Tibetan translator Sherap Rinchen (shes rab rin chen), is a revision of Toh 590 based on additional Sanskrit manuscripts not available to the anonymous translator of Toh 590.¹³ Toh 590 was also revised or retranslated in the fifteenth century by Sönam Nampar Gyalwa (bsod nams rnam par rgyal ba, 1401–75) of Jampa Ling monastery (byams pa gling) in Central Tibet. His translation, which is available only in his collected writings, was based on his own study of Indic manuscripts and consultation with the Burmese Buddhist paṇḍita Alaṅkāraśrī of Haṃsāvati (Pegu).