An apocalyptic prophecy from the sealed cave library at Dunhuang, this 51-line scroll fragment preserves a Bon eschatological text of extraordinary range — moving from cosmic diagnosis through practical instruction to specific political prophecy. Written in Old Tibetan during the Tibetan Empire period (seventh to ninth century CE), manuscript IOL Tib J 733 is held by the British Library (Stein Collection, Ch.73.xv.4, vol. 56, fol. 35). Both the beginning and end of the scroll are damaged.
The text opens with the familiar Bon theme of moral inversion: spirits and demons afflict the world, the deceitful become wealthy and powerful, the honest become poor and humiliated, kingdoms fragment at the distance of an arrow-shot. Then it shifts into something unexpected — a direct address to the reader with practical survival instructions for the end times: comb your hair every three days, wash your body every five, give beer and food to your brothers, play music, laugh, and pray. The prescriptive middle section reads like a survival guide for the apocalypse, beginning with personal hygiene and ending with offerings to ancestors.
The final movement is a political prophecy of remarkable specificity: the Middle King Bar-shan-she falls, kings fight among themselves, commoners rise to the throne, and then — from beyond the great sea, from beneath the land of Rgya (China) — a black-faced king on a black chariot rules for sixty years. After him, from a “frog’s swampy muddy hole,” the Six Great Ones (Drug Chen Po) emerge and overthrow both the Chinese ruler and the frog-king, reigning for seventy-two years. The scroll breaks off as the Dru-gu (Turks) appear from the east.
The text belongs to the same eschatological tradition as IOL Tib J 731 (“The End of the Good Age”) and IOL Tib J 735 (“The Decree of the Boundary”). Where ITJ 731 tells the myth and ITJ 735 gives the cosmic mechanics, this text gives the social diagnosis and the political timeline. Together, the three texts form a complete picture of Bon eschatology: narrative, cosmological, and prophetic.
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 Inversion
[opening damaged]
…having fled to the sky, the lands and mountains became empty. If from time to time one recalls the land and customs without error, […] to remember what is empty benefits nothing.
All humankind say: “If these gods do not lead powerfully as before, what fault is there?” Saying “we know,” it shall come to pass.
Accordingly, in bad customs and bad times, spirits and demons afflict with every harm. The deceitful ones commit every evil against people. Those who do not protect others shall become wealthy, powerful, and fierce-tongued. […] People who do no evil to others — those people shall become low in status, poor, and afflicted.
Accordingly, worse than before, bad times and bad life — approaching the descent of the kalpa: kingdoms shall be divided at the distance of a single arrow-shot. Where there was one king, […] many kings in number shall arise.
Each king, by his own will, following the good customs and good institutions of old, […] each shall establish his own realm, his own customs, his own institutions. […]
All humankind — their hearts changed, and whatever they do shall be improper. Ministers, too: of ten, […] many where one should be. The good customs and institutions of earlier generations — all humankind, mocking them, shall corrupt them and discard them. The new customs, however, shall not benefit humankind or the land, but shall harm and cause affliction. […]
Those who counsel people and act honestly shall, generation by generation, cease to exist. Accordingly, worse than before, […] generation by generation, even if a child is born, before maturity is reached […]
At the edge of the kalpa’s descent, the child comes from the mother’s belly, and from three months […] thirty years […] a hundred years […]
The name of this period henceforth is: Bad Life and Bad Times, approaching the Descent of the Kalpa. […]
The Verse of the Wise
Among all humankind, a thousand shall perish. In bad times and bad life, those who crave institutions — to people, whatever evil […] This verse: let one teach another. The wise shall listen, but the foolish — with one ear […] with one ear — they shall not listen.
But those few wise ones who hold this verse, in both custom and manner, following the good institutions and customs of old — even if they die, in the realm of the dead […] they shall go to the land of the […], not afflicted, happy.
After the descent of the kalpa, in the gods’ good times, all humankind shall live a hundred years more than they live now. Those who hear this verse and do not hold it and do not listen shall live a hundred years less than they live now. Those who hear this verse but are as if they did not hear, who see but are as if they did not see — they shall live amid neither good nor evil.
The Prescription for Bad Times
Accordingly, the blessing of the sky’s ladder: the beautiful hair — comb it every three days. The body — wash it every five days. Brothers, relatives, and dear ones — give them beer, give them food. Make music. Play games.
In the heart also, think: “Bad times have descended. Bad life has descended.” Rather than seeking a hundred-fold wealth for the living, in the realm of the dead, seek wealth of ten thousand and a hundred thousand. So think, and wish that these bad times and bad life be swiftly exhausted. Wish that the kalpa swiftly descend.
Brothers and relatives — the beer offering also: “We offer beer and give food, grieving over our displeasure with this bad life.” So saying, with laughter and games, give beer, give food.
The Prayer
Accordingly, whatever great gods are in our land, and the door-gods — whoever remembers them without error, every third day of the month, let one wash the body in holy water and prostrate at the god-place, and recite this verse:
“Bad times have descended. Bad life has descended. Over all humankind there is no sovereignty. To the gods we prostrate.”
The body outwardly worshiping and prostrating to the gods — beneath heaven and earth, for the benefit of the customs of all who stand upright, offering and prostrating:
“May bad times be swiftly exhausted. May the good times of the gods swiftly descend, and may the people who died earlier be swiftly revived in good times.”
For this reason, offer to the gods and prostrate. To ancestors who died earlier, recite this verse and make offerings. So then, for what benefit? One’s own living lifespan shall not be cut short untimely. In bad times, one’s children and grandchildren shall be wise and excellent. If one dies, in the realm of the dead one shall not go on the wrong road. One shall go to the happy land. After the descent of the kalpa, a hundred years more one shall live.
Even the poor — whatever conditions they have, do likewise. This verse, teach one to another. All humankind also, if they listen —
The Political Prophecy
Accordingly, worse than before, in bad times and bad life, approaching the descent of the kalpa, the first events:
How does it come, you ask? Between heaven and earth, the Middle King — none is greater than Bar-shan-she. First, his realm shall be destroyed.
After that, one king shall make war against another. Kings shall fight among themselves. The demons rejoice, […] watching the spectacle. The gods are displeased, and turning their faces from humankind, they turn their backs.
Accordingly, from time to time, a king who came from outside — his realm shall be destroyed. From time to time, a commoner or a slave shall rise to become king […] and shall sit in power. Accordingly, one makes war against another — sometimes one conquers, sometimes another […] it shall come to pass.
At this middle time, the kalpa is descending. When the kalpa descends: of the three hundred and sixty lands, from beneath the land of Rgya, from beyond the great sea, a black-faced king riding a black chariot — for sixty years he shall come and rule. They shall prostrate to the black-faced one of Rgya and be commanded by him.
After that king’s sixty years have passed, from the frog’s swampy muddy hole shall emerge the one called Drug Chen Po — the Six Great Ones. The black-faced king and the frog-king — he shall destroy them both. Both Rgya and the frog-land — the subjects shall be commanded by that king and shall pay tribute.
The king of the Six Great Ones shall rule for seventy-two years. After the seventy-two years are done, from the east the Dru-gu, and from the west, two […] the rebels from the west […]
[The scroll breaks off here.]
Colophon
Good Works Translation from Old Tibetan. Translated from the OTDO critically edited transliteration of IOL Tib J 733 (British Library, Stein Collection, Ch.73.xv.4). The translation is independently derived from the Old Tibetan; no prior English translation is known to exist.
Uncertain readings: Lines 1–16 contain numerous lacunae from scroll damage. “Skyin” is rendered as “kalpa” (cosmic age/era), following the Bon eschatological concept of cyclical decline. “Bar-shan-she” (line 40) is left as a proper name — possibly a historical ruler, identity uncertain. “Rgya” is China, the standard Old Tibetan designation. “Drug Chen Po” (“the Six Great Ones,” line 48) appears to be a dynastic or coalition title; identity uncertain but possibly referencing the six great clans or a specific Tibetan political formation. “Dru-gu” (line 51) is the standard Old Tibetan term for Turkic peoples. “Bug chor” (line 48, the “frog-land”) — “bug” means “frog” and “chor” means “waste, marshy ground”; the identity of this kingdom is uncertain. Lines 14–16 on lifespan decline are heavily damaged and the numbers (thirty, hundred) may be misread.
The text has five natural sections corresponding to shifts in genre: moral-social inversion (lines 1–16), a wisdom verse on the power of remembering (lines 17–23), a practical survival prescription (lines 24–28), a prayer and its benefits (lines 29–38), and a detailed political prophecy with specific rulers and timelines (lines 39–51). This genre-mixing — apocalyptic prophecy, practical instruction, liturgical prayer, and political vision in a single text — is unusual and may reflect a composite authorship or a ritual context where all four modes were performed together.
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: tshe ngan pa dang dus ngan pa
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 733 (British Library, Stein Collection, Ch.73.xv.4, vol. 56, fol. 35). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
(1) / [g]nam du bro[s] nas / yul dang r[i] st[o]ng par gyur to / bar bar du yul sa dang chos ma nor par rjed na / [---]
(2) stong pa [la] rjed nI / jI la yang myi phan te’ / ’greng myI ’o cog gtham zer na’ lha ’dI sngun lta[r] ’go’ la myi drag na ji nyes
(3) shes zer bar ’ong ngo’ / / ’ung nas chos dang tshe ngan pa la / ’dre’ dang srin gyis gnod dgur brgal pas myi g.yon chan myi la
(4) dngan dgur byed / myI srun pa rnams nI / / phyug po dang mthon po dang kha drag por ’ong ngo / [---] myi myi la ngan myi /
(5) b[y]ed pa’I myi rnams nI / ngo dma’ zhIng dbul la nyon mongs par ’ong ngo’ / / ’ung nas snga [ma bas dus nga]n pa dang tshe ngan pa’ /
(6) la / skyin ’dang ’bab du nye ba dang / / mda’ rgyang stong tsam gyis chod jIng rkyal po [g]cIg [---] [rgya]l po’i grangs m[ang]
(7) bar ’ong ngo’ / / rgyal po so so nas thugs thub gna’I chos bzang po dang gtsug lag [bzang?] po na / [---]
(8) so so nas thugs thub du yul re chos re gtsug lag re re byas par ’ong ngo’ / / [---]
(9) ’greng myi’o chog snying gyur te jI byed dgu myi rung bar ’ong ngo’ / / blon po yang bcu’i [---]
(10) [mang?] blon po gcIg / bcug [sar?] ’ong ngo’ / / myI rabs snga ma’I chos gtsug lag bzang po [---]
(11) dang / ’greng myi’o chog / ’phyas te ngan du byas nas dor bar ’ong ngo’ / / chos sar pa jI lta[-] [---]
(12) ’greng myi’o chog dang / yul sa gnyIs la phan bar myI’ ’ong gyi gnod jIng nyon mongs par ’ong [ngo’] [---]
(13) myi la nyen myi byed jing drang mkhrang byed rabs phyi phyIr zhing myed par ’ong ngo’ / ’ung nas snga ma bas [---]
(14) la myi rabs phyi phyir zhing / bu zhig byung na yang shed rdzogs ma ran par / shed [r]dzo[g]s [s]mra’ b[-] [---]
(15) skyin ’dang ’bab khar ni / / bu’ ma’I lto nas byung nas sla ba gsuM nas / rda phrad de lo suM cu [lo brgya] tshe [---]
(16) tshigs ’dI man chad kyi mying ni / tshe ngan pa dang dus ngan pa skyin da’dang ’bab du nye ba’I [---] ma [---]
(17) myi’o chog la stong jIg / / dus ngan pa dang tshe ngan pa la yang gtsug lag la sred pa myi la ngan [ci? bye?]d [-]s myi [---]
(18) srid do’ / tshigs ’dI’ yiger gcIg gis gcIg ston jig / / ’dzangs pas ni mnyan mod ngan pas nI rna ba ya cig [du?]
(19) ya chIg du / myi nyan mod ’dzangs pa ’ga’ tsam gyis tshigs ’dI bzungs te chos tshul gnyis kyang /
(20) gna’I gtsug chos bzang po ltar / ’chI na yang gshin yul [na’ (/nal)] [---] y[u]l [d]u phyin te / nyon myi [mongs?] [ba?]
(21) skyid do’ / / skyin dang ’bab pa’i ’og du lha’i dus bzang po [la] / myi’o chog [s]byir ’tsho’ ba’i tshe lo brgyas sngar ’tsho’ ’o /
(22) chigs ’dI thos te myi ’dzin jing myi nyan pa nI phyis ’tsho’ ba’i dus las lo [b]rgyas [’]tsho [’o] chigs ’di thos
(23) kyang ma thos mthong yang ma mthong ba ni myi legs nyes gyi bar du ’tsho ’o / / ’ung gyi [phy]i[r na] gnam gyi skas bar byin ba
(24) skra’ bzang po nI zhag suM zhing re shig byo shig / lus ni zhag lnga zhing lan chig kru shi[g] / phu nu gnyen bla nyi du sdug pa rnams
(25) chang lud [jig?] zan byin chig / rol mo rtsed mo [byo?] shig / snying la yang / dus [ngan pa la] bab bo’ / tshe [ngan pa] la [bab bo] /
(26) gson po la brgya’I brgyags tshol ba bas / gshin yul na / lo khri ’bum gyi brgyags tsho[l] du rung [ng]o’ / snyam du soms te’ /
(27) dus ngan pa dang tshe ngan pa ’di myur du zad par smon to’ / skyin dang myur du ’bab par smon [no?] / phu [nu? nye?] du chang lud pa yang /
(28) bdag chag tshe ngan pa la myi dga’ ba’i mya ngan bsangs pa’i chang glud do zan byin no zhes [lhad (/ltad)] gad mo dang rtsed
(29) mo byas te chang lud jig zan byIn chig / / ’ung nas bdag chag yul na lha chen po ji yod pa dang /sgo lha’i rnams sus ma nor
(30) bar rjed jig / rjed ma yang sla ba tshes zhag gsuM la / sku’ shong la lus khrus te lha [sa?] phyag ’tshol la tshigs ’di /
(31) byo shig / dus ngan pa la ’bab bo / tshe ngan pa la bab bo’ / myI ’o cog la dbang ma mchIs so / / lha la phyag ’tshal ba yang / [l?]us /
(32) phyir lha mchod jing phyag ’tshal ba ma / gnaM sa gnyis kyi ’og na ’gre[ng] myi ’o chog srid la phan bar yon
(33) dbul zhing phyag ’tshal lo’ / / dus ngan pa ni myur du zad par smon to’ / lha’i dus bzang po la myur du bab jing myi
(34) snga ma shI ba’i rnams kyang / dus bzang po la myur du sos par smon to’ / / ’ung gyi [ph]yir lha la yon ’jal zhing phyag ’tshal
(35) lo zhes gyi shig / / pha myes sngar shI ba’i yang / tshigs ’dI skad smos la gto[r?] ma gyi shig / de ltar jI la
(36) phan zhe na / / bdag gson po’I tshe dus ma ran bar ye ’drog du myi ’ji’ / dus ngan pa’I nang na / bu tsha ’dzangs shing rags par ’ong
(37) [ngo’] / / shi na yang gshin yul na lam log par myi ’gro’ / skyid yul du ’gro’ / skyin dang ’bab pa’i ’og / [l]o brgya’s sngar /
(38) ’tso’ ’o’ / / dbul po yang nyams jI yod pa las / ’dI’ bzhin gyi shig / / chigs ’dI’ gcig [s]t[o]n jIg / / ’greng
(39) myi ’o chog kyang nyan na / / ’ung nas snga ma bas kyang tshe dus ngan pa la / sky[i]n ’bab du nye ba’i thog ma’ / /
(40) [ji] ltar ’ong zhe na / gnaM sa gnyis gyi bar na’ / / bar gyi rgyal po bar shan she las [che?] ba myed de thog ma de’i [srid? brlag?] par
(41) [’ong] ngo / / ’ung gyi ’og du rgyal po gcig la gcIg dmag / rgyal po nang ’thab par ’ong ngo’ / srin no chog nI dga’
(42) [---] [ltad?] mo lta’o / lha ’o chog nI myi dgeste / myI la myig ma chags nas bzhIn rgyab du [phy]ogs / / ’ung gyi tshe res ’ga’
(43) [---] las ’ongs pa’I rgyal po yang srid brlag par ’ong ngo’ / / res ’da’ myi tha mal pa dang / bran las rgyal por phyin te /
(44) [---] jIng ’dug par ’ong ngo’ / / / ’ung nas gcIg la gcig dmag drang s[t]e res [’ga’? sus?] rgyal res ’ga’ sus
(45) [---] bar ’ong ngo’ / / ’ung nas bar ’dI’i tshe ni skyin dang ’bab pa’I tshe yIn no / / ’ung nas skyin dang ’bab pa’i
(46) sum brgya’ drug cu las sa dang / rgya’ yul gyi ’og / mtsho’ chen po pha [rol] nas rgyal po g[d]o[ng] nag po shing [r]ta
(47) nag po zhon ba zhig lo drug cu’i bar du dang te / rgya mgo nag po de la phyag ’tshal zhing des bkol bar ’ong ngo’ / rgyal po de’i
(48) tshe lo drug cu ’da’s nas / / bug chor gyi rgya sa ’dam ba’I khung bu nas byung ste / myI[ng nI] drug chen po zhes bya ba’s / /
(49) rgyal po gdong nag po dang / bug chor gyi rgyal po gnyis / myed par byas te rgya dang bug chor gnyis / ’bangs rgyal po
(50) des bkol zhing dphya’ ’jal bar ’ong ngo / / drug chen po’i rgyal pos lo bdun cu rtsa gnyis dar to’ / lo bdun cu rtsa gnyis
(51) dar pa dang / nyi ma shar logs kyi dru gu dang / nyi ma nub pa logs gyi gnyIs / [l]og ma nI nub phyogs gyi / [---]
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 733 (British Library, Stein Collection, Ch.73.xv.4, vol. 56, fol. 35). Recto contains the Tibetan text (51 lines); verso contains a Chinese Buddhist text.
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