Vibhūticandra’s Autograph-draft of His Verses

Abstract

Vibhūticandra, according to Tibetan historical accounts, fled from Jagaddala monastery in East-Bengal to Central Tibet accompanying his master Śākyaśrībhadra and leading his junior colleagues in ca. 1204, but his sojourn in Tibet was not always peaceful. His verses in question were most probably composed during those unpleasant days in Tibet, as hinted at by his laments expressed there. Irregular arrangements of akṣaras and a number of corrections on the manuscript suggest that this is his autograph-draft. We can date the composition of the verses to around his sojourn at Sakya in 1209, since the manuscript is written on Tibetan paper (instead of on a palm leaf) and since it was probably once preserved at Sakya monastery (before being transported to Zha lu ri phug). The verses were first edited by Rāhula Sāṅkṛtyāyana in 1937. Since then, however, they have not been sufficiently studied. In this paper, I re-edit the verses on the basis of a relatively clear photo-image of the manuscript (provided by Prof. Ye Shaoyong). It is notable that Vibhūticandra composed a verse modifying a seemingly well-known verse of Dharmakīrti (also cited in Vidyākara’s Subhāṣitaratnakośa) taking it as a basis and reflected his own feelings into his modified verse by making use of expressions of the original verse. The addressee of this verse must have been someone who was familiar with the verse of Dharmakīrti, and thus, was probably his master Śākyaśrībhadra, who is mentioned as kāśmīrapaiṇḍapātikasatpaṇḍita in this very draft.