Per K. Sorensen-Divinity Secularized_ An Inquiry into the Nature and Form of the Songs Ascribed to the Sixth Dalai Lama

Abstract

Since the first appearance to a Western public of the songs (mgul glu, mgur glu, gsun mgur) ascribed to the Sixth Dalai Lama Blo-bzan Rin-chen Tkhansdbyans rgya-mtsho (A.D. 1683-1706), published by Sarat Chandra Das in 1915 in an Appendix to his Introduction to the Grammar of the Tibetan Language, this remarkable corpus of poems has not only attracted the interest of scholars of Tibetan history and literature but has also wielded a titillating influence on the imagination of any reader who happened to embark upon a study of this ghostlike figure and the crucial period in the history of Tibet in which he lived. The reason for this sustained attention and never-dying fascination is not difficult to find. His story holds all the elements of a tale. Hardly any other figure in the entire Tibetan history is more shrouded in mystery than the Sixth Dalai Lama. His short, but eventful life was utterly entangled in conceit and constraint and his unprecedented rebellion and embarrassing conduct, which eventually cut his human life dramatically short, would in the end all conduce to mould him into a legendary figure. The main source for our sympathetic romanticization about his figure rests with the famous poems of his, and if proved genuine, they remain well-nigh the only testimony we possess to draw a picture, however faint, of the inner conflicts and sentiments which dictated his actions and decisions. But genuine or not, these celebrated and intriguing poems are for several reasons of compelling importance. Despite the numerous attempts to study and to translate the poems that so far have seen the light of the day,1 no satisfactory and conclusive result 1. Occasionally the translators have edited the text and provided us with a translation. Complete translations (chronologically): Yu Daoquan (with Zhao Yuanren), 1930, Love Songs of the Sixth Dalai Lama Tshangs-dbyangs rgya-mtsho; Academia Sinica, The National Research Institute of History and Philology Monograph Series, No. 5, Peiping; Al. David-Neel, 1952, Textes Tibétains Inédits, Paris, pp. 83-96 (reprint, Les Grands Classiques, Pygmalion, Paris 1977); M.H. Duncan, 1961, Love Songs and Proverbs of Tibet, Mitre Press, London, pp. 119-135; N. Simonsson, 1970, "Den Sjätte Dalai Lama", Litteraturens Klassiker, 16; Orientalisk Diktning, Stockholm, pp. 175-84; K. Dhondrup, 1981, Songs of the Sixth Dalai Lama, LTWA, Dharamsala; M. Tatz, 1981, "Songs of the Sixth Dalai Lama", The Tibet Journal VI, (4), pp. 13-31; G.W. Houston, 1982, Wings of the White Crane. Poems of the 10 has yet been yielded. No doubt, the inborn intricacy of the poems remained all along a serious impediment to a proper understanding and assessment of them. A fully fledged inquiry into the songs' popular origin, into their unfeigned poetical style and into the idiomatic language in which this corpus is couched has therefore become imperative. The present study shall be seen as an attempt to meet this long-felt desideratum. My point of departure will be a careful and detailed study of this corpus and an attempt to assess the literary and poetical qualities of the songs' lyrics (gzas tshig). In particular, I have deemed it important to produce as much textual documentation as possible in order to provide a broader basis for our understanding of these essential folksongs. I have searched through the tremendously rich storehouse of proverbs and folksongs which the Tibetans fortunately possess, with the single aim to trace songs either identical with or parallel to the songs under consideration here. Further, I have attempted to find pertinent textual passages and other cognate song traditions in both the canonical and the autochthonous Tibetan literature which—it is my hope—might shed renewed light not only upon the songs' popular idiom, its vernacular or upon semantic peculiarities, but also cast new light upon the cultural and historical setting behind the songs. It goes without saying that such a thorough philological and historical investigation is hinged upon a solid and reliable critical edition. In the light of new material in my possession, I have likewise deemed it necessary in the present study to expand a previously published edition2 into a new critical edition, based upon all available editions. My new critical edition will this time hopefully prove exhaustive, as I have availed myself of eleven editions published in recent years. Tshangs dbyangs rgya mtsho (1683-1706), Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi; L.S. Savitsky, 1983, Can'jan Dzamco: Pesni, Prijatnye dlja slucha; (Idz. teksta, perevod s tibetskogo, issled. i komm.), Moskva; Ph. van Heurck, 1984, Chants attribués à Tsangyang Gyatso, Contribution à la littérature tibétaine, Opuscula Tibetana 16, Rikon/ZH; B. Vilgrain, 1986, La Raison de l'oiseau; Poèmes de Tshanyang Gyatso, Sixième Dalaï Lama; Les Immémoriaux, Fata Morgana, Paris; D. M. Back, 1986, Liebeslieder des VI. Dalai Lama; Aus dem Tibetischen übersetzt, mit Anmerkungen und einem Nachwort versehen; Verlag Wolf Mersch, Freiburg; P. K. S0rensen, 1986, Pâ Kserlighedens Vmger i Himmelhavet. Den Sjette Dalai Lamas hemmelige kaerlighedsdigte; Janus, K0benhavn. In addition to the above translations in Western languages we can avail ourselves with up to ten translations into Chinese. Among the most prominent we should mention (complete): Yu Daoquan, 1930 (cf. supra); Liu Xinu, *Kângdao Yuèkân', 1939, Vol. 1, no. 6; Wang Yinuan, Xïzàng Duanshïjt, 1958; Wang Yinuan, Cängyäng Jiäcud qinggè, Qinghai Nat. PubL House, 1980 (cf. ed. E); Zhuang Jing, Cängyäng Jiäcud qinggè ji mîzhuàn, Nat. Publ. House, Beijing, 1981 (cf. ed. H). The above translations may be found reproduced in Huang Hao & Wu Biyun (ed.), 1982, Cängyäng Jiäcuö ji qi qmggë yanjiü, Tibet Nat. Publ. House, Lhasa; pp. 274-285, 286-300, 310-329, 348-380. In addition, the latter book is also provided with partial or supplementary translations of songs ascribed to Tshansdbyans rgya-mtsho by Chinese scholars, such as by Li Jiaju, Zeng Jian and Sulang Jiacuo & Zhou Liangpei. Consensus prevails among the Chinese scholars that the translation by Wang Yinuan is the best made into Chinese; cf. Li Ming, 1988, p. 54. 2. Cf. Indo-Iranian Journal, 31 (4), 1988, pp. 253-298. 11 Another important component in the present study is an edition of a remarkable document (cf. the Appendix) with the title Rig-'dzin Tshans-dhyans rgya-mtsho'i gsun-mgur, a manuscript which contains no less than well over 450 songs and adages ascribed or rather dedicated to the Sixth Dalai Lama. A small number of the songs hailing from this document has previously been published by Zhuang Jing in Beijing, PRC.3 On account of their thematic cognation to the original core of songs critically edited in this book, a number of the songs from this source will occasionally prove to be of no small importance for the literary and semantic evaluation of the core songs. A major restriction on my side will be to deal exclusively with the songs' lyrics and literary aspects, while I shall reserve the important study of their prosodical, metrical and purely musical aspects, however tempting an inclusion may seem, to the ethnomusicologists. Some good drudgeries have already been done in this field,4 but a penetrating investigation still awaits the intrepid scholar. Before embarking upon our discussion of the nature and form of the songs igias) ascribed to the Sixth Dalai Lama, it will be worth-while to sketch out, in a brief and somewhat piecemeal fashion, the major forms found within the Tibetan song tradition in order to assess the possible origin of the gzas type.