So hello, everybody. Thank you for coming.
I'm very excited for today's talk because it does overlap with some of my own research.
So that was a little bit selfish to invite hangout and talent who are working on UN dynasty edicts that sort of came to Tibet through various mediums.
And what they are going to talk about today is how these edicts were perceived by Tibetans.
So they went super granular, dug through tons and tons of biographical notes and sort of patch together,
quite interesting sort of recordings of these methods.
And now just just a brief word. So Taiwan is zooming in from Lhasa.
He's a lecturer at Temple University and is joined by Peng House son,
who is a graduate student at the Inner Asian and Take Studies Department of the University of Harvard,
who is in midst finishing his Ph.D. on a similar issue.
And without further ado you to take over.
And so touchscreens have. Thank you.
Thank you, Daniel, for having us today. And I need to get started very quickly.
And before I got too nervous by reading these familiar names and fake faces on the screen.
So I will share my screen and I think you will see to it.
Right. All right. We would like to start the talk with a story in the autobiography of these two giant
chickens that the famous political leader of central Tibet in the 14th century.
But before that, I would like to briefly show what an edict looks like.
On the left is a document in Mongolian.
And in pub script. Issued by TEMA in 1345.
The one on your right is in Tibetan. Issued by this Ganga logic in Zen in 1321.
In terms of language. These are the two primary types of edicts in Tibet doing the period.
You can see they're beautifully written and relatively well preserved.
However, we will not read these real idiots.
Instead, we would read some some texts in which the government documents are used for rhetorical purposes.
And the following story is exactly of this kind.
In his famous memoir, Ties to a Chicken Incident, recorded a conversation with a teacher named Naomi about.
This was in 1318, and the text reads, The master number told me many instructions and parables with underlying meanings between.
I also asked for good parables and lessons about faults and mistakes.
The message said The parables should be memorised and they will benefit you and you will stop bad behaviours and be free of mistakes.
These good parables are not those things that the edicts of Jubilee or the decrees of Papa could pass without.
See, this last sentence is kind of important. This good parables are not those.
Things that the index could give you.
This story is a rare case of people using the concept of edicts to discuss something else that is using edicts for rhetorical purposes in this case.
This. Government documents are used to make a comparison and a caveat.
The teacher highlights the usefulness of his own lesson by saying that those edicts cannot give you everything.
This caveat indicates the importance of Jubilee's decrees.
At least for these young men. Teenager who came from a noble family.
Then what is a just. An edict or a gospel?
These are two technical terms during the period.
Just correspond to the index of emperor and consort corresponds to the ethics of a tissue into a preceptor.
Normally, only the emperor can issue a juror or an edict by the U.N. government had a special document system.
That differs from previous dynasties in this system below the imperial edicts.
There are several other types of Jew, including founder of the issue, e.g. of Queens or soldiers and lynch of princes.
I just use an English term it for all these.
According to the EXTENT documents, an edict usually grants tax exemption, personnel, appointment and verdict disputes.
Since the U.S. government did not have a systematic codified law.
So it served as an important administrative tool.
So much so that the publication of collections such as the famous event de Jong could
provide a handy legal reference and became a a commercial success in the case of Tibet.
Although there were no such collections of the documents, we still know the contents of many text thanks to the works of Tuti two journalists.
Everything. We now have the contents of about 30 index.
Then what can we learn from these documents? The first is simply a specific historical information that they provide.
And also, if we read this index together, probably we'll get an institutional history.
Second, we can learn about ideologies and ways of thinking through the content and assumptions found in these documents.
For examples of that was paper on political theology and Professor Dershowitz
paper on why Jubilee issued a ban on the Muslim way of slaughtering sheep.
But the actual content you usually tell us tells us more about the issuer.
Then about the receivers. It doesn't say much about how Tibetans perceived or used these documents.
In other words, they are not the best materials for us to study the Tibetan side of the story.
We have to look elsewhere. The case of Jan 2010, we just read, is one example that can show us something different.
It shows us both the popularity of the edicts and the misgivings people have had about them.
Now we turn to another type of material that we can use to study the Tibetan reactions to these documents.
These are very special literary works, and the best way to illustrate them is the concrete examples.
We choose to present to you a work by biohacking and based on Boyle, who wrote a meditation instruction.
But in a very strict edict style.
The picture on the right shows a manuscript version of the work found in TB RC by Makoto Shogo.
Actually prefer the venue. Cobb has already mentioned these type of works.
I have included the reference here. About two years ago,
he also organised a reading seminar on some of the works by the Baba and Bala
and we have read this text together with other fellow students here at Harvard.
Now let's read the text itself.
It begins with a statement invoking the source of power chain to any belonging.
So by the power of the words of prematurely pure data, then it clarifies whose utterance it is.
Another read The Tibetan. The words of the non-clinical, whatever arises, the unconstructive, the code, please, and then our vision.
So these are all these are a bunch of synonyms for Jini.
The nature of reality. Or dumber to.
What I want to point out is the format of this beginning.
You may wonder why I put the the moment the Mongol.
In the in brackets here John Leek er for long and will give for.
Because this type of work is actually imitating a U.N. edict, especially an edict issued by the imperial preceptor.
So it's. Imitating a fashion. It has ever elements that any impure preceptors edict should have.
So if we. Putting them in.
A blue colour and give them a terms that we use to study the medieval European documents.
Following data shows a seminal study in in the eighties.
Then we have. The protocol or the introduction part of a document invocation.
You and the individual as you. When we come to the public housing project, it becomes even more obvious.
If we look at the expressions in blue, we would think we're reading a really ticked.
We can easily find many of these terms or expressions using the convenient index provided by everything's 2006 study.
But what distinguishes it from a authentic government document is the part added to the receivers by a genitive particles.
You can see Dee Dee or arguably a lot.
Before these blue expressions. For example, number three, number king.
Sorry about this. Golden badge holders.
Messengers of rest of these desert disturbances.
In this way. Barrow Associates mental phenomena with actual social groups creating a lot of metaphors.
I'm not going to go through every item because otherwise we cannot finish it today.
If you're interested in any specific terms, we may come back later.
This comparison or metaphor continues in the petition park.
I only give one sentence to show how it works. I put the typical language in blue and the mental activities in red.
If there is earlier you klerk's version of mental disturbances.
I mean relying on the force of arrogant platitude placed the texts of disturbances on the back of the people of meditation.
Some media. And the people of meditation could not bear.
This term for cannot bear manure is also found in authentic Tibetan in its.
Similarly here, government officials are paired with mental distractions and the peasants or the people are paired with meditation.
In this way, it's no longer just a metaphor of individual things, but a metaphor of a relationship.
On one side of this this metaphor, it is the peasants accusation against against housing, overtaxation.
On the other side, it's it's the meditate.
It's the peaceful mind, the peaceful statist against distractions.
Then we come to this issue. This is the most central part of the document because in this section the actual legislative act takes place.
There is no new class of mental distractions when collecting the four large taxes of the four daily activities.
That is walking, standing,
sitting and lying down shall not ask for more than the needed amount of water and food of offerings during meditation session.
Session break. You people of meditation some give me that.
So also that the original text is very long here and I left out a big chunk of it.
It continues to ask the peasants to work hard on the field and.
And other duties, and also as the metaphor works.
At the same time, he's talking about the meditators should work hard on cultivating their minds.
And here we also have some very good examples of what we may call that edict, diction or edict language.
For example, here we have Tibetan China.
This time. That doesn't mean if it is now or where it's for now.
It's not a conditional but simply now, because this conditional comes directly from the Mongol.
The Mongol burqa suit is a conditional, so more or less a something like a calc.
A very word for word translation. I will not linger more on explaining the format since the rest also follows strictly the edict format,
including a here proximus you assunto and that it has you.
This work features is this weird term Hajar.
We frequently met it in in 14th century Tibet texts.
It is also attested in both Tibetan and Mongolian texts.
These, for example, these 1320 each by Empress Dowager, I think Darkie.
Then we have the Mongol version and in in perverse script there the Mongolian is simply a transcription of the
Tibetan sound of Georgia suggesting that these these is a group of people and of unique to to Tibetan society.
This term has caused some confusion to people, to scholars such as Professor Luciano Paddock.
Other scholars have already briefly discussed and given their own translations of the term, such as everything Zoya and Krupa's.
There is now more or less an agreement that Georgia are were a group of people that were low level officials.
By all the text that we're reading today, although not a real edict, actually serves as an important source to understand this term.
A major take away from Dallas tax is that Georgia will be responsible for collecting tax and dues videos,
video directly with the peasants, the people. So they are the, I think, the lowest level of the government employees.
This case shows us how we can say using the omnibus words that we just read.
These parables of diarrhoea are not those things that it really takes could give you.
Now some reflections on both texts. First, the format to predict is very vigorously imitated followed.
Second, with this format, it has a a strong and authoritative tone.
Third. This is not a real edict, nor is it a fake edict.
It uses the format of an impure preceptors edict to talk about meditation.
Ayahuasca is a systematic metaphor, and many submit for us.
The structural metaphor is about the relationship between clerks and peasants.
And the relationship between mental distractions and meditation.
So sometimes. The more I read it, the more I'm not sure what.
What is the major point I was making? Is it you leave the peasants alone or you distractions?
Leave the peace mind alone? I'm not sure it could work both ways.
And probably that's. That's exactly what I was it was intended to do.
And this. I was not alone.
And there are other works by other a variety of authors using similar formats.
This table is 11 of them. We believe that in the future more will be identified.
Once we have an eye for it. Here comes the question.
How do these type of work come about? And John will introduce some earlier works of this kind such are.
Okay. Thank you. Pool hall. The earn example.
Oh. Then slides. Okay. The earliest example I'll find the wrongdoing that just collected the works
published in 16 volumes in singing available in Debussy in them while in five.
And the volume 11 contain five works that appeared that apply to the format of effect.
Here I will present one short work.
Said to belong to the team Tom and Georgie Dollar in the blue area.
The format of the edict has been applied and I will read that English translation by the power of the index of sucking money.
The word of outlook TasWater announced by random logic.
At the general age, which is a time when various demons, rampant flesh eating demons,
are harming the lives of sending beings and the bringing misfortune.
Everyone should pray to the gurus.
Cute Larry deities and taking. Be faithful if you do that the obstacle.
We'll certainly be eliminated. You should know this.
These assassins ordinary. But when we focus on the format, we see that unique long term dollar formula that is actually a feature of the U.N. edict.
If you are familiar with the style of the U.N. Tibetan edict, including the format and the expressions,
you will immediately tell that random dodges using the style of the U.N. Tibetan edict to start his speech.
But the format of opening section here it is slightly different from an authentic U.N. Tibetan edict.
For instance, in a real edict, you will read Garbage Monkey Gunga Latrines in Tse Tung, Midnight Matola the loon dum dum.
A formula is used by Indian body, but in real edict you will not find the agent of the work of DOA,
which it is supposed to be the desu imperial tutor.
The two level hierarchy in a real edict becomes the three level hierarchy in this case in terms of.
This speech focussed on the idea that the essence of a mass murderer lies in finding the origin of mind.
However, if we look at it context, we will find that random logic is trying to prove a point that is not only about a Buddhist doctrine.
In what context did Rangel make this speech?
First, we need to keep terming it date and the space and the place of a composition.
The full works that incorporates the 18 format come from two collection of a very early works.
The two collections are very similar in nature.
They both consist of miscellaneous utterances compiled in a chronological order, respectively, from 1282 to 12 88 to 13 SA 302 and 1903 to 1310.
Internal evidence shows that that year of composition was in 12, said 1293.
Actually, the all four works have the index style from 1293 to 1294.
For that is when he was only nine or ten years old.
It is possible that he started to compose.
Series of works as this young age. Bruce Campbell.
He commented on this question, suggesting that these early words are not written in the same style and his later works,
and it is more than likely that they represent other people's literary rendering of his or.
Four announcement. Indeed, none of the forwards.
Involve complicated topical problems.
Unless proved otherwise. We assume that.
The phone works. In question or written by entomology when he was about ten years old.
Okay. Furthermore. At this time.
He had just left his father like a grill wagon by the Indian bar.
And arrived at a super monastery. To make things worse.
Because he's reincarnation status was being disputed at the super monastery.
Ruth Gamble has investigated the circumstance of religion.
Today's life at the monastery during a period.
Uses a biography and a spiritual songs in the fifth volume of his collected works.
She argues that random logic was not welcomed at the super monastery and that his reincarnation status was questioned by the local monks.
The two collections in question can confirm Campbell's conclusion and provide further evidence.
So this speech and the teaching of Muhammad was written at a time when he was trying to justify his reincarnation identity.
Then the question is. How does that prove?
How does he prove his reincarnation? Identity through the rhetorical device of using the style of idiot.
This style offer him a subtle way to establish connections.
Firstly, he mentions the Soraya twice in the text.
And according to Ruth Gamble's research, Sarovar here symbolised the second Karmapa campus.
While drinking, Blodgett regards himself as he disciple.
Secondly, he used the term Indian torture several times in the text, such as wrongdoing done and the dodgy dollar and the wrongdoing.
But it is not only the name of the third camera, but also the sacred tantric name of the second Karmapa.
So the term to here is a double.
Tendril. Which seems to imply that the two are the same person.
In other words, that the third come about is equivalent to the second the commander.
Thirdly, he does not forget to mention his own identity when he talking about the Buddha's teaching, for example,
the work before it symbolism due to the same gentle giant cupola group achieved some yet to seem gentle danger
to be achieved charitably at a young montanan walking it to Nuku Temple Madina convention Cullerton in here.
He trying to emphasise that if there is a lack of difference and the face.
How will you see my true faith?
He also point out that as a practitioner, you have to explore the Dharma body, not the physical body.
This was his response to those monks who doubted his identity in Sun.
These short texts from 12 1923 and the 1294 part of Brendan Burgess endeavour to establish his identity.
Also reference is a biography to proving.
Of Divine powers, among other things.
All these initiatives seems to have had the common purpose of suggesting or
proving that he was the reincarnation of the second camp at camp books and.
And then the edict format. It is just one of many subtle way for him to prove the point.
Now there's a question. The next question is, where did he learn these eight languages?
Okay. My party is finished. Thank you.
Thank you, gentlemen. We have the we believe the.
The answer to where do he learn this language is he learned from again by teaching that.
First of all, gay marriage in there was reported to have received multiple invitation letters and edicts from the court.
In these, as you can see on the screen, these are less well known biography.
We found a very interesting passage. It tells us an anecdote which relates that around the time is around 1290.
After the big battle in Burma, battle between tough time Mongols and their own government.
So Ujamaa was accused. After the war by a Takahashi, a very high official sent by the court to oversee local issues.
After a long argument, Obama said this to the Tallahatchie.
If you are referring to the delegate, you are appointed above the prince.
Please present me the imperial edict dresser.
Or if you are appointed by the Prince to be higher than me, bring me the ling tea.
So this lady is obviously from Chinese literature, a princely edict.
This is this is very direct evidence for us.
What's the word? Familiarity with the government documents and their legal meaning, their legal significance?
As John just said, who played an important role in John George's early education before he was sent to triple.
So we can't help but think beyond gender is.
You heard a lot about it when he was staying with again back.
If this indeed can account for George's early exposure to to the edict language.
Then something interesting can be imagined.
That is, Ujamaa probably talked about it with his disciples or talked a lot about edicts or government documents.
Among within his is his with his entourage.
But of course, these conversations Tibetan author is probably won't include these conversations into their guru's biographies.
And that is why ties to which begins as autobiography is so valuable.
To conclude our talk. First we have been trying to locate.
Some sources for the Tibetan side of the story.
Since there are not many materials that may help us trace the history of Tibetan reactions to edicts, the literary compositions using edict or style.
A style of ethics and a speech by Naomi Ba and William Barr, who will talk about the ethics,
are so far the best sources to think about the reception of the U.N. official documents in Tibet.
Second, these phenomena is is not unique in a certain sense because we're reminded of the the quid pro quo method summarised by by Ernst to control,
which I quote the quid pro quo method,
the taking over of theological notions for defining the state had been going on for many centuries, just as vice versa.
In the early centuries of the Christian era,
the imperial political terminology and the imperial ceremonial had been adapted to the needs of the church.
But at the same time, this phenomenon is also very unique.
Because this has this genius event and all of this.
Use this this format to talk about both religious issues and social issues.
We can read it the other way.
So it's not just using social terms on an abstract religious on doctrines, but also I think borrow is also talking about social issues.
It's in a sense, his own social thoughts. And this is the first the first time I read about social thoughts in Tibetan literature.
And some questions for the future. First, the chain of influence is still not very clear.
We kind of. No other people guessed that a tapas bar might have been a student of Gamba and the borrower have studied with Baba.
But how exactly they study with. Each other is.
We haven't found any studies on that. And we have a.
A very hard time to find a proper name for this kind of literature.
Is it allegory? Is it parody? Maybe people in the audience can can give us an idea of.
And the third. The thing we haven't done is the philosophical background of this works, especially for the robber and borrower.
And this this is something that can help us understand both the philosophy and the social issues around these edicts.
The better we understand the philosophical background, the better we understand.
Things like Georgia. Yeah.
That's. That's how I [INAUDIBLE]. And we'll end here and back to you then.
You.