Pelliot tibétain 37, folios 21r1–22v7
This prayer from Dunhuang manuscript Pelliot tibétain 37 is a merit-dedication (bsngo ba) for the dead — a rite in which the possessions of the deceased are symbolically dedicated to accumulate Buddhist merit on their behalf. Written in Old Tibetan in the ninth century, it was preserved in the sealed cave library at Mogao, Gansu Province, and is now held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
The text moves through three registers: cosmic prostration to the Three Jewels across the three times; a karmic meditation on how the deceased, despite being born in the Buddha's world and hearing the Sugata's teachings, was overtaken by unripened karma; and finally an intimate, kinship-centered appeal that dissolves into vivid sensory description of the funerary ceremony itself — drinks poured and dripping, horns thrust at the sky, brocade garments swaying and fluttering.
This merit-dedication is one of several texts preserved in PT 37, alongside the funerary guide "The Way to the Country of the Gods" and the Buddhist instruction "Overcoming the Three Poisons." Compared with the elaborate animal-dedication rites of Pelliot tibétain 239 — which preserve pre-Buddhist customs of dedicating sheep, horse, and yak — this text represents a more condensed, philosophically unified liturgical tradition. It bypasses the older pastoral animal dedications entirely and frames the funerary rite within the language of the five aggregates, the Sahā world, and the bodhisattvas of the ten directions.
This is the first English translation. 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.
For the sake of the deceased named thus-and-so — their tents, horses, mules, yaks, food, wealth, and all such possessions — the merit-dedication is as follows:
To those who have passed before, to those present now and those who will come hereafter — to all the Three Jewels of the three times, with body, speech, and mind, I prostrate.
Before the Victorious Ones of old, supreme among beings — by the power of cultivating virtue in their presence, in this excellent Sahā world-realm, the deceased was born within the assembly of the Three Jewels.
Although they heard the sublime teachings of the noble and excellent Sugata, by the exhaustion of their past ripened merit, the fruit did not ripen — they were overtaken by unripened karma.
Having left behind these five aggregates in this life, going now to another world — may all the noble ones compassionately protect them! May all the hosts of gods, with their thousandfold powers, grant whatever is beneficial!
Through this deed, and for my kinfolk, friends, and those who come after — by accord of past karma, we were born in one place. Through shared conduct over many lifetimes, flesh and bone were bound together.
From having been born in one place, the adventitious suffering of impermanent things arose. Now the living, in their fullness, are carried along by the river. Summer and winter, cold and warm — thus they are divided.
Now the compassionate-eyed noble ones of the ten directions gaze from afar. Before the eyes of the sangha, gods, and many people gathered like clouds —
We, the living and the dead, gathered by karma — nine kinfolk contending with the river — by grief, theft, and shame, set at enmity —
These, and food offered in ninefold joy — various drinks poured in abundance, drip, drip — seeking companions and attendants, emerging freely — sharp horns thrust at the sky, whirling and spiraling — fine garments of brocade and colored cloth, swaying and fluttering.
Colophon
This merit-dedication (bsngo ba) occupies folios 21r1–22v7 of Pelliot tibétain 37, a ninth-century manuscript from the Dunhuang caves, Mogao, Gansu Province, now held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France. It is the fourth of six texts in the PT 37 booklet.
First English translation from Old Tibetan, by the New Tianmu Anglican Church (Tànsuǒ, Expeditionary Tulku), 2026.
Translated independently from the Old Tibetan. No prior English translation exists for this text. The OTDO critical edition's variant readings were consulted for damaged or unclear passages. Some readings in the onomatopoeic section (folios 22v3–22v7) are interpretive — the Old Tibetan sound-words (cil cil, yag yag, kyil gyil, lhub lhub) have been rendered as the sensory impressions they evoke rather than as literal glosses.
Uncertain readings: bdag mchei yis (21v5) — interpreted contextually as "going to another world" but the syntax is ambiguous. sduks rku khrel ltas gis (22v2) — read as "by grief, theft, and shame" but the phrase may carry additional nuance. The "nine kinfolk" (gnyen dgu, 22v1) is a Tibetan social structure term referring to degrees of kinship relation.
The closing section (22v2–22v7) is remarkable for embedding vivid onomatopoeic description of the funerary ceremony within the prayer itself — a feature absent from the more formulaic merit-dedications of PT 239. This suggests a liturgical tradition that understood the rite not only as a spiritual act but as a sensory, communal event.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: བསྔོ་བ། (Bsngo ba)
Old Tibetan source text from the Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO) critical edition of Pelliot tibétain 37, folios 21r1–22v7. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above. Variant readings from the OTDO apparatus are noted in curly brackets {variant}. Damaged or uncertain characters are noted in square brackets.
(21r1) $ / / tshe 'das pa mying 'di bzhis bgyi ba'i don du / / ring grar{gur}
(21r2) dang / / rta do ma g.yag dang / / zhal zas dang / / dkor nor dang /
(21r3) thams shad las bstsogs pa bsngo ba ni / / snga 'das dang da ldar phyir
(21r4) byon ba dang / / dus gsum dkon mchog gsum thams shad la /
(21r5) lus ngag yid dang / bas phyag bgyi 'o / / sngun gyi rgyal ba rkang
(21r6) gnyis tshogs / / de la dge ba bsgrub pa'i mthus / / myi
(21r7) mzed{mze & d} 'dzigs rten 'kham sa mchog 'dir / / dkon mchog{mcho & g}
(21v1) gsum gyi 'khor du skyes / / 'phags pa ngam po 'dus pa sa
(21v2) bstan sheg kyi 'i gsung rab thos 'gyur yang / / sngun gyis
(21v3) rnams smyin zad pa'i mthus / / 'bras bur ma smyin ba mos
(21v4) non / / tshe phos lnga phung 'di jes ste / / 'dzigs rten gzhan du
(21v5) bdag mchei yis // 'phags pa kun gyis mthugs dzes
(21v6) skyobs / / lha'i rnams kun gyis mthu stong la / / bdag la gang bs[-]o
(21v7) pan 'gyur cigs / / 'di zhis bgyis ba dang / / [b]dag gnyen bshes
(22r1) slad ma rnams dang / / sngun gyis las mthun bas ni / / gnas gcig
(22r2) du skyes / / che rabs gyis spyod pa gcig pas ni / / sha dang rus 'bril
(22r3) de gnas gcig skyes pa las / / 'du byed myi rtags pa'i glo pur gyi sa[r]
(22r4) ba bskyes / / da gson shin gyas chu gang gyis bstangs / / dbyar dgun
(22r5) grang dros dbye ste / / deng phyogs bcu'i 'phags pa thugs rdze spyan
(22r6) can rnams ni rgyang nas gzigs / / dge 'dun dang lha myi mang po ni /
(22r7) sprin ltar 'dus pa'i spyan sngar / / bdag cag gson gshin las
(22v1) gyis 'dus nas / / gnyen dgu chu gang gyis ni 'gran / /
(22v2) sduks rku khrel ltas gIs ni sdangs sde / / de dang
(22v3) zhal zas dga' dgur spyar bas nI / / skyems sna
(22v4) ka tshogs bcus pas nI dku cil cIl / / gyogs
(22v5) dkyus tshol bas nI thar yag yag / / ru rnon gnam
(22v6) la snyogs pas nI 'gying dang kyIl gyil / / na bza
(22v7) dar mtshon ras bzang ba nI byin dang lhub lhub / /
Source Colophon
Old Tibetan source text from Pelliot tibétain 37, folios 21r1–22v7. Critically edited transliteration from the Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO) database, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. URL: https://otdo.aa-ken.jp/archives?p=Pt_0037. The physical manuscript is held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France. OTDO editorial conventions preserved: variant readings in curly brackets, damaged characters in square brackets, $ marks section boundaries in the manuscript, / / represents Tibetan punctuation (tsheg bar).
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