A Pre-Buddhist Tibetan Diplomatic Narrative from the Dunhuang Caves
This text is one of the oldest surviving narratives of pre-Buddhist Tibetan religion. Written in Old Tibetan on a scroll discovered in the sealed library cave at Dunhuang (Cave 17, Mogao Grottoes), it records a diplomatic encounter between the lords of two primordial clans — the Dmu and the Phyva — from the mythology of Tibet's pre-Buddhist past.
The narrative follows an envoy of Phyva who travels to the remote, glacier-ringed land of Dmu to negotiate kinship bonds and ritual offerings. Lord Dmu tests the envoy three times, each time accusing him of deception and commanding him to leave. Each time the envoy responds with greater detail — describing the mountain passes he crossed, the tigers and bears he encountered, the iron horses and iron hawks of Dmu's hunters — until Lord Dmu is satisfied and grants an audience. The text concludes with an elaborate catalogue of ritual offerings required for the royal guardian spirit (sku bla), and a second briefer dialogue between kinsmen.
The Dmu and Phyva were two of the great primordial clans in Bon cosmology. The Dmu are associated with the celestial realm — the dmu rope (dmu thag) connected heaven and earth before it was severed. The Phyva are associated with fortune and cosmic order. Their interaction here represents the negotiation between cosmic powers that undergirds Tibetan ritual authority.
Pelliot tibétain 126, lines 104–168. Bibliothèque nationale de France. Transcription from the Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO), Osaka University. This is the first English translation.
In ancient times, at the very beginning, when Dmu and Phyva were kinsmen, an envoy of Phyva came to the court of Dmu.
The First Test
Dmu decreed:
"In this land of Dmu — where joy is made for the gods until dawn never breaks, where the warm sun's light does not drive out the darkness — in this land whose slate-grey borders are ringed by glaciers, whose deep-blue borders are ringed by purity, high so that birds cannot soar and low so that mice cannot burrow — in these remote corners, you have come to collect jewels and gems with the following words:
'At the palace gate there was a murmuring and buzzing, a swarm of insects — a person no bigger than a thumb, with a horse no bigger than a gopher.'
Whose person are you? From where have you come? Whose affairs do you pursue? They are insolent! Question them closely."
The envoy replied:
"We are subjects of Phyva. Phyva decreed: 'Since our lord has departed, the black-headed commoners stand without a lord. Appoint a lord, that the tangled-haired vassals may receive their due.' Thus was it decreed. Following that directive we traveled, and arriving, we arrived in the land of Dmu — for joy, to make offerings to the gods; for warmth, to make kinship bonds; upward, to worship the gods; downward, to suppress the sri demons. We humble ones offer gifts to the gods and bring a modest tribute to Lord Dmu. We are envoys who come with humble purpose."
Lord Dmu decreed:
"In your words there is much deceitful trickery and fabrication. It seems you have come by a shortcut. Your gifts of restitution are suspiciously great. Go back the way you came!"
The Second Test
The envoy replied:
"When we came from the lower Tsang valley, we lost our way. The mountain gorges were rough. The river rapids were fierce. We encountered a person — hair matted, eyes yellow, voice trembling, limbs shaking. He asked us, 'Whose people are you?' And we spoke truly: 'We go as Phyva's envoy to the land of Dmu.'
From his words: 'Then you have come astray. This is the land of srin demons. The land of Dmu lies at the border of the southeast. Go thus.' And he showed us the way.
Now, arriving at the borders of Dmu's land, we met a person — greater than any patron of men, whose voice resounded louder and finer than thunder, whose fragrance was as incense. Before your lordship's presence we offer gifts to the royal guardian spirit and bring modest tribute to Lord Dmu. Will you grant us an audience?"
Lord Dmu decreed:
"In this land of ours, at the border passes of the tiger ranges and the ten-thousand crags, there are many wild beasts — tigers and leopards, bears and brown bears. If you did not encounter even one of them — did you come from the sky? You have no wings. Did you burrow through the earth? You are not mice. There is much deception in your words. Go back!"
The Third Test
The envoy replied:
"We humble ones have no guile or deceit. At Lord Dmu's tiger passes and leopard passes, we indeed met wild tigers and leopards, bears and brown bears. To some we offered calves. To some we offered gifts. They showed us the way, and thus we came before Lord Dmu."
Lord Dmu decreed:
"Because there is always deception in your words — our Dmu hunters ride wild iron horses swift as wind, fast as lightning. They set iron hawks upon iron hares and catch them on the wing. If you did not encounter even one of them, then your words are lies and deceit. Go back!"
The envoy replied:
"We humble ones have no lies or deceit. We met the iron horses ridden and the iron hawks released, swift as lightning. We met those roasting iron hares on iron spits. We met a white female yak being slaughtered, her tail not yet cut. To all of them we presented Phyva's royal tokens and gifts, and crossing on horseback we came. Now we come to offer but a small divine gift, unwavering and steadfast, to the royal guardian spirit. Will you grant us merely a glimpse of the divine face and the touch of the divine hand?"
The Catalogue of Offerings
Lord Dmu decreed:
"If Phyva's envoy has come to make offerings to our royal guardian spirit — what offerings have you brought?
Do you have a divine arrow of bamboo, decorated with a white thangka strip, or not?
Do you have the divine arrow bound with a small Chinese silk banner, or not?
Do you have untouched gold, or not?
Do you have a great turquoise, or not?
Do you have nine loads of the seven blue grains, or not?
Do you have nine loads of the liquid of blue fragrant rice, or not?
Do you have even a small joined vessel, or not?
Do you have even a roasted butter offering, or not?
Do you have even a cup-measure of milk, or not?
Do you have a divine sheep, newly born, or not?
Do you have a divine horse with elegant ears, or not?
Do you have a divine female yak, or not?
Do you have a divine male yak, or not?
Are the gifts for Lord Dmu complete? Are the gifts for the Dmu ministers complete?
Though the guests circle the sky's edge like eagles at the rim of heaven, though they circle the horizon until vermillion breaks through the earth, though the men are weary and the horses exhausted — grant them even a wing's breadth of a young goat. Grant them leave to offer gifts to the royal guardian spirit!"
After some of these petitions were pleasingly presented, a solemn decree was granted. Giving thanks by touching the crown of the head in prostration, they departed.
The Kinsmen's Audience
Before the royal kinsman, with the power of the assembled, we humble ones have come for a brief visit.
"If some of our humble sons grow up tall, we thought to offer them to serve at your side — the tall ones as arrow-bearers, the short ones as shield-bearers, and at night as sentinels guarding the sheep's perimeter. When we petitioned a few requests, they were not counted as offenses, nor were we punished by decree. That we were allowed to come fills our lungs with joy.
After that, though we have neither a proper human substitute nor fitting food offerings — like a king who visits a sparrow's nest — before the sun has reached its zenith, we offer a single cool drink, gazing upon your person with devotion. Though it is humble, will you deign to accept?"
"That we humble ones have come today, and that such a solemn decree has been granted on loan — the time for repayment has not yet come. Our fathers and uncles have not yet finished their counsel. When they have consulted together, then we shall give you a decree."
"Before the divine royal kinsman — that today, without regarding the dust of the road on our feet, you allowed us to come before you fills our lungs with joy. If we may merely see the divine face and hear the divine word — will you grant us just that?"
"Indeed — you who have come here: the upper valley has a thousand divisions, the lower valley a vast division. You are subjects of one lord, people of one land, fruit of one soil, stones of one mountain. Since there is no separation between you, attend to the early and late barley. When things are favorable and auspicious, we shall hold counsel and give you a decree."
Colophon
Pelliot tibétain 126, lines 104–168. Old Tibetan manuscript on scroll, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. Discovered in the sealed library cave (Cave 17) at the Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang, Gansu Province, by Paul Pelliot in 1908.
This is the first complete English translation of the Dmu-Phyva dialogue. Translated from Old Tibetan by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. The translation was independently derived from the Old Tibetan transliteration published by the Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO) project, Osaka University. Reference translations consulted: none — no prior English translation of this text exists.
The text represents one of the earliest surviving examples of Tibetan diplomatic narrative, rooted in the mythology of the pre-Buddhist Bon religion. The Dmu and Phyva clans appear throughout Old Tibetan literature as cosmic lineages whose interactions shaped the ritual and political order of the Tibetan Empire. The escalating test structure — Lord Dmu's three refusals and the envoy's three increasingly detailed responses — is a narrative pattern found in other Old Tibetan texts, including ritual texts (smrang) and royal annals.
Companion text: "The Subsequent Teaching of the Magical Letters" (PT 126, lines 1–103), a Buddhist moral instruction text found on the same manuscript scroll.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: གནའ་དང་པོ་གཞེ་ཐོག་མ། དམུ་དང་ཕྱྭ་གཉེན་བའི་འཚེ།
Old Tibetan source text from Pelliot tibétain 126, lines 104–168. Transcription from the Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO), Research Institute for Humanity and Nature / Osaka University. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
(104) $ / / gna' dang po / gzhe thog ma / dmu dang phyva gnyen ba'i 'tshe / phyva 'i pho nya dmu 'i [tha?]d du mchis pa' /
(105) dmu 'is bka' stsal pa / nged kyi dmu yul 'di dag na / dga' lha byed ni nam myi nangs la / dro nyi 'od kyis
(106) ni / mun myi sros pa'i sa yul 'di dag ni / g.ya' mtha' ni gangs kyis bskor / mthing mtha' ni dag gyis bskor te / mtho ste bya myi lding la / dma' ste byi myi zul ba'i gra gru 'di dag na /
(107) / chu chun [nong?]nor bu dag sbron du 'ongs pa'i mchid na re / pho brang khab sgo na / bang nge bung nge se ru long long / ne'u bun bun po / myi cung po ka
(108) tsam la / rta cung lgo ba tsam kha cig gda' 'o skad na / / myi ni su 'i myi / byon ni gang nas byon / don no su
(109) la gnyer / drag du rmed pas / zhib du springs shig / /
(110) / / pho nyas lan btab pa' / bdag cag ni 'phyva 'i 'bangs / phyva 'is bka' stsald / rje ni zhu phud nas / mgo nag 'greng la rje myed
(111) rje skos la / rngog chags dud la khram thob cig ces bka' stsald pa / 'debs shing mchi ba'i
(112) shul ka na / bab dmu yul du bab ste / dga' ni lha byed / dro ni gnyen byed / yar ni lha mchod / mar ni [sri?]
(113) gnon ba'i thad kar bab ste / / bdag cag ngan pa yang lha la ni yon 'bul / dmu rje la ni bkod tsam
(114) 'bul zhing spyang ngar mchis / / pa'i pho nya lags / /
(115) / dmu rjes bka' stsald / pa' / / myi khyod cag kyi bka' mchid la / g.yo sgyus bsnan pa'i sho ge dag rab du che bas / shul ner bar byon ba
(116) 'dra / nor tshabs dag rab du che bas / sngar gi shul gang lags pa de kho zung la slar gshegs shig / /
(117) pho nyas lan btab pa' / / bdag cag rtsang smad mdo nas tshur mchis na / shul yang nor / te / / ri rong ni stsub / chu rdzab
(118) ni che / myi dang mjal pa las / skra ni 'kham pa dmyig ni ser ba / skad ni 'dzer ba / rka lag ni khyor ba
(119) cig dang mjal te / su 'i myi zhes bdag cag la 'dri 'o / bdag cag kyis kyang / drang por smras te / dmu 'i yul du
(120) phyva 'i pho nyar mchi zhes bgyis na / kho 'i mchid nas / 'o na khyod cag nor par 'ongs te / yul 'di ni
(121) srin gi yul gis / / dmu'i yul ni shar lho 'i tshams na yin bas / de ltar / song skad nas shul
(122) bstan / te / da ltar dmu'i yul 'dab du 'phebs na / myi dang mjal na / myi mgon po bas legs
(123) skad mdangs ni 'brug skad pas che la snyan / dri gsung ni spos kyi dri bas gda' 'o / da rje 'i spya ngar sku
(124) bla la yon 'bul / dmu rje la bkod tsam 'bul zhing zhal mthong bar ci gnang / /
(125) / / dmu rjes bka' stsald pa / nged kyi yul 'di dag na / sa 'tshams kyi stag 'phreng khri skugs dag na / gles pa stag dang
(126) gzig / dom dang dred las bstsogs pa mang por mchis na / de kun gcig dang yang ma phrad na / khyed cag gnam nas 'ongs
(127) na ni / phur ba'i 'dab shog myed la / sa las 'dzul te 'ongs na ni byi ba ma yin na / khyed cag gi tshig la zol mang
(128) bas slar gshegs shig / /
(129) / / pho nyas lan btab pa / bdag cag ngan pa la sgyu dang zol ma mch[is] / dmu rje 'i stag phrang gzig phrang na / gles pa stag gzig dang yang mjal / dom dang dred dang yang mjal /
(130) la la ni btsas phul / myi la ni yon phul nas / bdag cag ngan pa la shul bstan nas / dmu rje 'i spya ngar mchis
(131) pa lags / /
(132) / / dmu rjes bka' stsal pa / / khyed cag gi tshig la yong zol yod pas / nged dmu 'i gcan pa gles pa lcags kyi myi rta zhub rlung ltar ni phyo la / glog ltar ni myur ba / lcags kyi ri bong la lcags kyi
(133) khra bkye ste / ste len du len ba dag kyang yod na / de kun gcig dang yang ma phrad na / khyod cag kyi tshig yang brdzun dang zol mchis
(134) pas / slar gshegs shig / /
(135) / / pho nyas lan btab pa / / bdag cag ngan pa la rdzun dang zol ma mchis / lcags kyi myi rta zhub lcags kyi khra bkye ba glog ltar myur ba dang yang mjal te / lcags kyi thur ma la / lcags kyi ri bong gtur nas bsreg
(136) sha bgyid pa dang yang mjal / mdzo mo dkar mo zhig bshas te / mzhug ma ma bcad pa dang yang mjal nas / de kun la yang
(137) phyva'i bka' rtags dang skyes rangs phul te / rta / rgal nas mchis na / da sku bla myi mthur myi g.yo ba'i lha yon tsam 'bul du
(138) mchis na / lha zhal tsam mtho zhing phyag chud pa tsam du ci gnang / /
(139) / / dmu rjes bka' stsal pa' / 'o na phyva 'i pho nya nged kyi sku bla la mchod gsol du 'ongs na / mchod pa'i rkyen ci yod / 'jang smyug mchod
(140) la / thang kar yug gyis bsgron ba lha mda' yod dam myed / lha mda' 'i rkyen rgya dar ris phran yug kyis
(141) btags pa yod dam myed / gser kha ma blangs pa yod dam myed / g.yu 'i slag cen yod dam myed / sngon mo
(142) 'bru bdun la khal dgu yod dam myed / sngon mo 'ding ding 'bras kyi khu khal dgu yod dam myed / mthud gong
(143) gong mo tsam mchis sam ma mchis / mar gi sreg sha sreg pa tsam mchis sam ma mchis / 'o ma'i
(144) gdar bre kha tsam mchis sam mchis / lha lug ngo mar mchis sam mchis / lha rta snyan kar mchis
(145) sam ma mchis / lha 'bri zal mo mchis sam ma mchis / lha g.yag sham po mchis sam ma mchis /
(146) dmu rje la yang skyes rangs rdzogs par mchis sam / dmu blon la yang skyes rangs rdzogs par mchis na /
(147) 'dron po dag kyang dgung mtha' skor skor ni / rgod po mtha' zags la / dog mtha' skor bskor ni mtshal
(148) ba thil rdol / myi ni chad rta ni ngal na yang / ra ma'i 'dab tsam du gdab du gnang / sku bla la yang yon 'bul
(149) du gnang ngo / /
(150) / / zhu ba rnam 'ga' snyan du zhus te / bka' gnyan pos lung du stsal te gnang ba / gtang rag spyi bo gtsug gyis 'tshal zhing mchis so / /
(151) / / $ / / sku gnyen phyogs kyi zha snga nas / mang zham nyid kyis mchod gsol pa / / bdag cag ngan pa lta shig mchis pa / bus ba ngan pa
(152) 'ga['] zhig rkang rings te skyes na / khyed kyi zham 'bring 'dab du / ring ba'i ni srab mda' 'dzin pa 'am / thung ba'i
(153) ba'i ni yob cen gi rten tsam 'am / mtshan mo ni g.yang mo 'i mtha' skyong ba tsam du 'bul bar bsams
(154) te / rko [---] [rnam?] 'ga['] tsam zhus na / yang / rko long du ma brtsis te / bka' chad kyis ma bkum /
(155) gshegs su gnang ba glo ba dga' / /
(156) de 'i rjes la myi dang 'dra ba'i gdan tshab 'am / gsol du rung ba'i bshos [skyems?] ni ci yang ma 'byor lags na yang / bye'u tshang du rgyal gshegs pa dang mtshungs te / gdugs
(157) tshod ma khongs pa'i thog du / grang mo zhal bu re re zhig sku la dmyigs shing mchis na / chungs kyis
(158) bka' myi 'bab / bzhes pa tsam du ci gnang / /
(159) / / bdag cag ngan pa mchis pa yang deng gi gdugs la / 'di 'dra ba'i bka' lung gnyan po g.yar du stsal pa yang / g.yar tshod ma
(160) mchis / / bdag cag kyi yab khu dag kyang ma rdzogs / / yab khu dag dang bka' gros bgyis la
(161) de nas khyed cag la bka' lung dag sbyin gis / /
(162) / / sku gnyen 'phrul gi zha snga nas / deng gi gdugs la gor bu 'i zhabs tshegs la ma gzigs te gdan gshegs su gnang ba glo ba
(163) dga' / bdag cag ngan pa yang lha zhal tsam mthong / lha bka' tsam nyan cing mchis na / bka'
(164) stsal pa tsam du ci gnang / /
(165) / / de lags khyed 'o skol mchis pa yang / phu ni stong sde / mda' ni rgya sde / rje gcig gi 'bangs la yul cig gi ni myi / sa cig gi 'bras / ri cig gi
(166) rdo / khyed 'o skol la dbyar myed pas / khyed kyis nas kyang ce'u yag dang log men dag ltos / rung
(167) zhing shis par gyur na / bdag cag [---] bka' gros dag [b]gyis la / khyed la bka' lung dag sbyin gis /
(168) [end]
Source Colophon
Old Tibetan transliteration from the Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO), a joint project of the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature and Osaka University (otdo.aa-ken.jp). The transliteration is based on the manuscript held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.
Pelliot tibétain 126 is a scroll containing two texts: a Buddhist moral instruction ("The Subsequent Teaching of the Magical Letters," lines 1–103) and this pre-Buddhist diplomatic narrative (lines 104–168). The verso of the scroll contains two Chinese Buddhist texts. The manuscript was part of the sealed library of the Mogao Grottoes (Cave 17), which was walled up around 1002 CE and rediscovered in 1900.
Scholarly references: Choix de documents tibétains (1978–1990), Lalou (1939–1961), Macdonald (1971), Yamaguchi (1983, 1985), Luo (1989), Chu (1990), Ishikawa (2000, 2001).
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