Pelliot tibétain 999
A ninth-century imperial administrative document from the Dunhuang cave library, written in Old Tibetan on a single sheet bearing five round vermilion seals at the bottom. The text records the mass copying of the Amitāyus Sutra (Tshe-dpag-du-myed-pa, "Immeasurable Life") in both Chinese and Tibetan under the patronage of Prince Khri Gtsug-lde-brtsan — most likely Ralpachen (r. 815–838 CE), the last great Buddhist emperor of Tibet and champion of the dharma.
The scale is staggering: 135 Chinese fascicles and 480 Tibetan fascicles — 615 fascicles of a single sutra — produced from the library of the Longxing Temple (龍興寺) at Sha-cu (Dunhuang). A feast was held for 2,700 householders. The document names the examining monks, the copyist monks, and establishes formal accounting procedures for future sutra-copying, authenticated by five vermilion seals. This is Buddhist publishing on an industrial scale, twelve centuries ago.
The monk Hong-ben, whose seal appears twice, is almost certainly Hongbian (洪辯), the leading Buddhist authority at Dunhuang during the Tibetan imperial administration — a Chinese monk serving under Tibetan sovereignty, working in both languages. This is the first English translation of Pelliot tibétain 999.
Previously, for the merit-offering of the Divine Prince Khri Gtsug-lde-brtsan, the dharma of the Chinese-Tibetan Amitāyus — "Immeasurable Life" — was written at Sha-cu.
And so that the great dharma-gift might pervade in all directions for the subjects, from the texts deposited in the library of the Longxing Temple: the Chinese Amitāyus in one hundred and thirty-five fascicles, and the Tibetan in four hundred and eighty fascicles — a combined total of six hundred and fifteen fascicles.
In the Mouse Year, on the eighth day of the last month of summer, at the Palace of Od-srung — for the merit-offering of Queen Btsan-mo 'Phan, mother and son — by the two sangha communities of Sha-cu, dedicated for the householders of the Sha-cu region, one feast was bestowed.
According to the palace's official record and dispatch, and the dispatch of the dharma-holder and the welfare-minister, it is stated that two thousand seven hundred householders received the feast, and at that time the great dharma-gift was offered as a meritorious cause.
The elders — the monk Hong-ben and Dbang-mchog — having examined and authorized, the dharma-copyist monks Yun-hyve'i-he and Li-dam 'Gung were given the dharma-authorization and regulations to hold.
In the future, when the general accounting of the dharma is conducted, this authorization-seal and the authorization-letter shall serve as the superior model. If the accounts match, authorization shall be granted, and the regulations bearing the seal-imprint shall be given to hold.
[Five round vermilion seals: Hong-ben, Hong-ben, Dbang-mchog, (illegible), (illegible)]
Colophon
Translated from the Old Tibetan by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. First English translation.
The source text is Pelliot tibétain 999, a single sheet from the Dunhuang cave library (Cave 17), now held in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. Recto: 13 lines of Old Tibetan with five round vermilion seals at the bottom. Verso: blank. The transliteration was accessed from the Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO), maintained by the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (AA-Ken), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. The OTDO description catalogues this as "Permission to take out copies of sūtra from the library of the Longxing 龍興 temple for offering to the dharma."
This translation was produced independently from the Old Tibetan transliteration. No existing English, French, or Japanese translation was consulted as a reference. OTDO variant readings were used to resolve archaic orthography: "phyogs su" for manuscript "phyogsu," "sbyar te" for "sbyarte," "bsngos te" for "bsngoste," "dus" for "du" (line 9), "tshigs su" for "tshigsu," "stsald te" for "stsaldte."
Historical identification: "Lha-sras Khri Gtsug-lde-brtsan" is identified as the Tibetan emperor Ralpachen (r. c. 815–838 CE) based on the title and the Mouse Year reference (likely 828 CE). "Hong-ben" is tentatively identified as Hongbian (洪辯/弘辯), a prominent Buddhist monk at Dunhuang during the Tibetan administration, known from multiple Dunhuang documents. "Lung-hung-si" is the Longxing Temple (龍興寺), a major Buddhist institution at Dunhuang. "Sha-cu" is the Tibetan name for the Dunhuang region (Chinese: 沙州 Shazhou). These identifications are standard in Dunhuang studies but should be verified against current scholarship.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: ལུང་ཧུང་སིའི་གཙུག་ལག་ཁང་གི་དར་མའི་གོད་ཡིག
Old Tibetan transliteration from the Old Tibetan Documents Online (OTDO), AA-Ken, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Pelliot tibétain 999. Recto, 13 lines with five vermilion seals. Presented for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above. Variant readings from the OTDO editorial apparatus are shown in parentheses. Square brackets indicate damaged or reconstructed readings.
(1) $ /:/ sngun lha sras khri gtsug lde brtsan gyi sku yon du / / sha cur rgya bod gyi dar ma tshe dpag du myed pa
(2) [br]is te / / 'bangs phyogs su (ms. phyogsu) chos gyi sbyin ba ched po khyab par mdzad par sbyar te (ms. sbyarte) / / lung hung si'i gtsug lag
(3) [kha]ng gi dar ma'i bdzod du brubs pa las / / rgya'i tshe dpag du myed pa bam po brgya sum cu rtsa lnga dang
(4) bod gyi bam po bzhi brgya' brgyad cu ste / spyi sdom bam po drug brgya' rtsa bco lnga / / byi ba lo'i
(5) dbyar sla tha cungs tshes brgyad la / / jo mo btsan mo 'phan gyi yum sras gyi pho brang 'od srung gi
(6) sku yon du / / sha cu'i dge 'dun sde gnyis gyis / / sha cu yul phyogs gyi khyim pa / sku yon du
(7) bsngos te (ms. bsngoste) mchod ston gcig stsald par / / pho brang gi mdzad byang dang 'phrin byang / / chos gyi gzhi
(8) 'dzin dang bde blon gyi 'phrin byang las 'byung nas / / khyim pa nyi stong bdun brgya' mchod ston stsal
(9) pa'i dus (ms. du) su / / chos gyi sbyin ba chen po bgyis pa'i rgyur spyad par / / gnas brtan ban de hong ben dang
(10) dbang mchog gis gthad de god nas / / dar ma'i rub ma pa ban de yun hyve'i he dang / li dam 'gung
(11) dar ma'i god dang gtan tshigs su (ms. tshigsu) 'chang du stsald te (ms. stsaldte) / / slad gyis dar ma 'i spyi rtsis nam mdzad pa'i tshe /
(12) god rgya 'di dang / god yig bla dpe' mchis pa dang gtugs nas / / mthun na god stsal bar bgyis
(13) te / gtan tshigs sug rgya can 'chang du stsald pa / / (five round vermilion seals: hong ben, hong ben, dbang mchog, [---], [---])
Source Colophon
Pelliot tibétain 999. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. Sheet, complete text. Recto: 13 lines in Old Tibetan with 5 round vermilion seals at the bottom. Verso: blank. Digital facsimile available via Gallica (BnF). Transliteration from OTDO (https://otdo.aa-ken.jp/archives?p=Pt_0999), © 2006 OTDO Project.
The manuscript was found in Cave 17 (the "Library Cave") at Mogao, near Dunhuang, by Paul Pelliot in 1908 and is part of the Pelliot tibétain collection at the BnF. The text dates to the Tibetan Imperial period, most likely the Mouse Year during Khri Gtsug-lde-brtsan's reign (c. 828 CE).
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