A cosmological prophecy from the sealed cave library at Dunhuang, this 27-line scroll fragment preserves a Bon explanation for the end of the good age and the origin of natural disasters. Written in Old Tibetan during the Tibetan Empire period (seventh to ninth century CE), manuscript IOL Tib J 735 is held by the British Library (Stein Collection, Ch.77.XII.2, vol. 56, fol. 45). Both the beginning and end of the scroll are damaged.
The text opens with a mythological decree: the good customs of the Wild Yak Calf ascended to heaven, while the Demon Lord Zo-zo-brang released evil from nine copper fortresses beneath the nine layers of earth. What follows is a systematic prophecy of decline — agricultural collapse, famine, social dissolution — and a remarkable cosmological explanation for natural phenomena. Eclipses occur because demons descend on the sun and moon when they are displeased at human wickedness. Earthquakes happen because the burden of human evil weighs heavier on the earth than the high mountains appointed by heaven. Red winds shroud the land because the sky itself is disgusted.
The text belongs to the same eschatological tradition as IOL Tib J 731, "The End of the Good Age," which tells the mythological narrative of the golden age’s dissolution through the tragedy of the horse and the yak. Where that text is narrative epic, this one is cosmological decree — a systematic account of causation, explaining not just what happens when the good age ends, but why the cosmos itself convulses in response.
The Old Tibetan source text is from the critically edited transliteration at the Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO) database, maintained by the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA) at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. This is the first freely available English translation.
The Decree
[opening damaged]
This is the decree of the Boundary and the Phyva. The gods and humans [...] went [...].
From ten thousand years past onward, the Wild Yak Calf [...] came to the human realm. Under the rule of the Demon Lord Zo-zo-brang, [...] countless good things, that not even [...] could sever, rose from earth to sky.
Beneath the nine layers of earth, nine copper fortresses [...] were enclosed and kept. The Demon Lord Zo-zo-brang released them upon the face of the earth, to the human realm [...].
Accordingly, the good customs and good ways of the good Wild Yak Calf went to the sky, and the customs of the Demon Lord Zo-zo-brang spread.
That bad times and bad ways came to the human realm — this too is the decree of the Phyva and the Boundary.
When Bad Times Descend
When bad times and bad ways descend, across all lands, great red winds come.
Snow and hail no longer fall in season. When needed, even seeking them, they are not found. When not needed, snow and hail fall in torrents.
The farmer without a field — at what time to plough? at what time the root-season? — does not know. The year turns badly. Famine comes circling.
Those who stand upright suffer great hunger and cold. The generations become ever more wretched. All humankind pursue evil strife. It shall come to pass.
The Displeasure of Sky and Earth
When bad times descend — how does it come, you ask?
All humankind, unlike in the time of good ways and good times, no longer praise and honor one another. From time to time, portentous red stars appear. From time to time the sky thunders. From time to time the earth trembles.
Now, if one asks why: demons descend upon the sun and the moon, and there come eclipses. When bad times descend and the sun and moon see all humankind committing every evil, they are displeased, and their faces grow dark.
Because the sky is displeased, red winds shroud the land. The sky thunders. This too is because, seeing all humankind committing every evil, it turned thus.
As for the shaking of the earth — the earth is guarded, so how could it shake? The high mountains and the high cliffs appointed by heaven are not heavy upon the earth. But all humankind, when bad times and bad ways descend, committing every evil — this falls as a burden upon the earth. Being heavy, the earth is not pleased, and so it shakes itself. Accordingly, it shakes.
The Final Desolation
Because heaven and earth are both displeased, neither hail nor rain falls in season. It is out of season.
Even when rain falls between-times, it benefits nothing. From the earth, neither food nor sap come forth well.
Within, the life force [...]. From the mouth, even transforming all breath [...]
[The scroll breaks off here.]
Colophon
Good Works Translation from Old Tibetan. Translated from the OTDO critically edited transliteration of IOL Tib J 735 (British Library, Stein Collection, Ch.77.XII.2). The translation is independently derived from the Old Tibetan; no prior English translation is known to exist.
Uncertain readings: The opening lines (1–6) are heavily lacunose — gaps marked with [...] represent physical damage to the scroll. "Brong zi" is rendered as "Wild Yak Calf" (brong = wild yak, zi = young/calf); this figure appears to represent the totemic animal of the good age, paralleling the wild yak’s role in ITJ 731. "Srin rje Zo-zo-brang" is a demon proper name left untranslated beyond "Demon Lord." "Ngan dgu" (literally "nine evils") is rendered as "every evil," treating dgu as an intensifier rather than a literal count. "Tshar pa" (line 10) is rendered as "hail" following Jäschke. The final line (27) is too fragmentary for confident translation.
The text has four sections marked by the Tibetan section marker ($): a cosmological prologue establishing the mythological frame (lines 1–8), a prophecy of agricultural and social decline (lines 9–14), a cosmological account of natural disasters as manifestations of divine displeasure (lines 15–24), and an incomplete section on the final desolation of the earth’s fertility (lines 25–27).
This is the first freely available English translation of this text.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Translated by Tanken (探検), Expeditionary Tulku, Life 38.
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Source Text: tsham dang phyva’i bka’
Old Tibetan source text from the critically edited transliteration at the Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO) database, ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Manuscript IOL Tib J 735 (British Library, Stein Collection, Ch.77.XII.2, vol. 56, fol. 45). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
(1) $ / / tsham dang phyva’i bka’ ste / lha myI [---]
(2) du song nas / / lo khrI lon phan cad / brong zI [---]
(3) myI yul du ’ongs nas / / srIn rje zo zo brang gI srid la [---]
(4) bzang po grangs myed pa zhIg ni / sa las gnam du ding [nge (/de)] [---]
(5) kyis kyang myI chod pa zhIg sa dgu rIm kyi ’og na / / zangs mkhar dgu [---] [-]du [---]
(6) kyIs bcug ste bzhag pa nI / srin rje zo zo brang gis phyung ste sa’I [steng?] myi [yul?] [---]
(7) ’ung ltar / brong zI leg pa’I sr[i]d bzang po dang chos bzang po ni gnam du song nas / / srin rje zo zo [brang?]
(8) bragIbrag gi srid ni dar te / dus ngan pa dang chos ngan pa myI yul du ’ong pa yang / / phyva dang tsham kyI bka’o / /
(9) $ / / dus ngan pa dang chos ngan pa la bab na / yul ka la ka la yang / / rlung mar [ched?] pa ’ong
(10) kha ba dang tshar pa yang dusudus su ni myI ’bab ste / dgos par nI btsal du yang myI rted de / / myI [dkos (/dkes)] par
(11) nI kha ba tshar pa yang skyo skyor ’bab bo / / zhing pa zhing rmed pa yang jI tsam na rmo [btang?] jI tsam na rtsa ba’I
(12) dus kyang myI shes pas / / lo yang khor nyes so / mu ke yang khor mor ’ong ngo / / ’greng myI ’ok’og kyang
(13) bkres grang che ’o / / myI rabs pyI phyir zhing sdug par ’ong ngo / / ’greng myi ’o chog kyang ngan dgri ded par
(14) ’ong ngo / /
(15) $ / / dus ngan pa la bab na / / ji ltar ’ong zhe na / / myi’o chog chos bzang po dang dus bzang po ltar
(16) gcig gis gcig bstod cing bkur bar myi byed par ’ong ngo / / bar bar du [skar?] ma dmar po ngo mtshar
(17) dag ’char ro / / bar bar du gnam yang grum mo / bar bar du ni sa yang g.yosog.yos so / da [ji? ltar? te?]
(18) shes byas na / / nyi ma zla ba la bdud bab ste ’chi ba lta ga la yod na / / dus ngan pa la bab te /
(19) myI’o chog ngan dgu byed pa mthong bas / / nyI ma zla ba yang myI dga’ ste / / bzhIn myi sdug par ’gyur to
(20) gnam myI dga’ bas / / rlung dmar pos yul bka’b bo / / gnam grum mo / / de yang myI’o chog
(21) ngan dgu byed pa mthong pas te ltar kyur to / / sa ’gul ba yang / / sa la b[s?]rung ste bsgul ba lta ga la
(22) yod de / gnam gyis bskos pa’I / / rI mthon po [dang?] / brag mthon po ni / sa la myI lci ’o / / myI ’o chog
(23) dus ngan pa dang / [chos ngan pa] la bab ste / / ngan dgu byed pa sa la khal [du (/ngu)] bab ste / / lci nas / sa myi dga’ / /
(24) ste rang ’gul ba yang / / ’ung ltar ’gul lo / /
(25) $ / / gnam sa gnyis myI dga’ pas / tshar chu gnyis kyang dus su myi ’bab bo / / dus ma yIn / /
(26) bar char chu gnyis bab kyang / / ci la yang myI phan te / / sa las zas rtsi gnyis la kyang bzang du
(27) myi ’byung bar ’ong / / khong na srog yo[ng?] dro chi[r?] / / kha nas dbungsdbugs sgyurgyu ’o chog kyang
Source Colophon
Old Tibetan source text from the critically edited transliteration at the Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO) database, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Accessed April 2026. Manuscript: IOL Tib J 735 (British Library, Stein Collection, Ch.77.XII.2, vol. 56, fol. 45). Recto contains the Tibetan text (27 lines); verso contains a Chinese Buddhist text.
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