དཔང་སྐང་ཕྱག་བརྒྱ་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ intro.5

intro.5

Although the introduction of the text itself does not state from which language it was translated, and the colophon does not state who initially translated it, both Butön and Mangthö Ludrup Gyatso (mang thos klu sgrub rgya mtsho)⁵ state that this text was first translated by Thönmi Sambhoṭa (thon mi sambhoṭa), the famous Tibetan scholar who is said to have developed the Tibetan alphabet and writing system circa 650 ce and who also translated several texts from Sanskrit. Thus it could well have been one of the first texts to be written in the newly developed Tibetan writing system.