Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2007. IX, 607 p. (Verzeichnis der Orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland. Supplementband 38)*

Danish scholar Jan-Ulrich Sobisch has received a three-year grant from the German Research Council to work on the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project in Kathmandu. In 1995-1996, the project participants prepared a microfilm and its printed copy of the works of Ameshab Ngagwang Kung Sonam (1597-1659), the original manuscripts of which are kept in the Chinese National Library of the Palace of Culture and Nationalities in Beijing.

Ames zhabs (lit.: Great Ancestor of the World) is the respectful middle name of Ngagwang Kung Sonam , one of the greatest religious figures of medieval Tibet, the 28th head (Throne Holder) of the Sakya Buddhist school. His special contribution to Tibetan culture is that he carefully collected, copied and preserved the colossal oral and manuscript heritage, the treasures of the spirit of the Buddhist civilization of India and Central Asia. The Ameshab collection consists of 30 volumes containing more than 700 works (12 thousand pages in the ume script (dbu med) - a cursive script in Tibetan used in manuscripts; woodcuts were written in the font

* Jan-Ulrich Sobisch. The life, lines of spiritual succession and works of the great bibliophile of the XVII century from the Sakya Ameshaba school Ngagwang Kung Sonam. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Publishing House, 2007. IX. 607 p. (Inventory of Oriental manuscripts in Germany. Appendix 38).

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learned (dbu can)). Some of the texts are repeated, from which the researcher concludes that the complete collection was compiled from at least two others after the death of the head of the school. Almost every volume has its own list of titles, although several titles have been lost. Of all this vast heritage, only 28 minor works were printed in woodcut. Sobish sees the reason for this in the political primacy of the Geluk school, which began to affect from 1642. Funds for the expensive process of printing texts of thinkers of other Tibetan schools were no longer enough.

In the XXI century. no one is surprised by the scale of written creativity of most Tibetan religious leaders of the 2nd millennium AD. Nevertheless, the literary and spiritual treasury of Ameshab is striking in its stunning encyclopedic scope, with the intention of embracing the entire history (country, monasteries, Buddhist schools, genealogy of dynasties, clans, etc.) and culture (artistic and literary traditions, poetics, spelling, music). He describes in detail the content, origin and development of religious teachings and rituals, not only indigenous to the Sakya school, but also to the Kadam and Nyingma schools, in particular the most complex cult-yogic system of the latter - Dzogchen. Hundreds of works, including commentaries, are dedicated to special tantric cycles such as Yoga Tantra, Hevajra, Chakrasamvara, Guhyasamaja, Kalachakra, Yamantaka, Mahakala, Nairatmyadevi, Vajrabhairava, Vajrakila, Vajrayogini, Dharmapala, etc.

Of course, the central sakya doctrine - "The Path and its Fruit" (skt. marga phala, tib. lam 'bras). But this particular doctrine, as well as everything he wrote about the Hevajra cycle, is not included in the book under review, as it will be the material of a prepared Ya-U. Let's write the following work for publication:"Hevajra and Lam 'bras Literature of India and Tibet as Seen Through the Eyes of A-mes-zhabs".

In addition to the Introduction, the book consists of three parts: 1) the life and lines of spiritual succession of Ameshab (ch. I-III, p. 9-74); 2) review of various lists of works (ch.IV-VIII, p. 75-137); 3) catalog (p. 141 - 528), which consistently presents the contents of each of the 30 volumes. The works of individual volumes have a complete bibliographic description (the title is abbreviated in English and completely in Tibetan also with an English translation, the number of pages, format, dates - day, month, year of completion in a particular monastery), a colophon in Tibetan, and its short retelling in English. At the end of the book is a small appendix about the tank depicting Ameshab (p. 529-534), four indexes (p.535 - 601) and a bibliography.

I will focus only on the first part of the work, which deals with the Sakya school, its lines of succession, its doctrinal structure, and, of course, the role of Ameshab. The events of his life are described by Y.-U. We'll collect it from three sources: 1) "Supplement" to the famous book of Ameshab himself "Genealogy of the great masters of Sakya" (Sa skya gdung rab chen to). The "Supplement" (122 pages of the modern edition) was written by Kunga Lodro (Kip dga' blo gros) in the second half of the 18th century and chronologically covers the years 1597-1659; 2) This "Supplement" is based on the book "Great Deeds", created in 1651 by the monk Shakyabhadanta Maitridhyanasagara, whose Tibetan name is Champa Samten Gyatso (Byams pa bsam gtan rgya mtsho); 3) "Abridged Biography" written by contemporary author Minyag Gonpo and published in Beijing in 1996.

Ameshab witnessed the beginning of radical changes in Tibet in the first half of the 17th century. However, as Y.-U. writes: Sobish, it is surprising that so little research has been done on this topic. In his opinion, in order to open up this period for further study, the biographies of Ameshab can serve as excellent sources. While engaged in his works, Y.-U. Sobish realized that Ameshab saw the main task of his life as the spiritual transmission of the many knowledge that he had received from his teachers and the documentary recording in the traditional form of these teachings (gsan yig). Sobish focused on the most important lines of spiritual succession as perceived by Ameshab, namely the cycles of teachings (chos skor) with their various themes "useful for future research of Tibetan religious literature" (p. 9).

Sakya (Tib. sa skya - "light gray land") is the name of the school of Tibetan Buddhism, derived from the name of the town and monastery of Sakya in Western Tibet, founded in 1073.The founder of the school is considered to be the recognized incarnation of Avalokiteshvara Sachen Kung Nyingpo (1092-1158), whose father built the first monastery. Sakya owes its specificity to the famous Tibetan thinker and translator Drogmi (993-1077), who spent 8 years studying at the best Buddhist universities in India. Of all the schools of Tibetan Buddhism, only sakya was allowed to marry (neither Nyingma nor kagyu were allowed to have an official wife; the most strict vow was to take a formal wife).

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celibacy was observed by the Kadam school and its successor Geluk). The main distinguishing feature of the Sakya school was the preaching of the doctrine of "The Way and its Fruit". Its creator is called the Indian yoga master Virupa (approximately VIII-IX centuries), a connoisseur of "Hevajra Tantra" - the cult and theoretical basis of this doctrine. It says that the goal of the Path (the cycle of birth from suffering to liberation) is inherent in the very process of the Path and is realized in every spiritual step of the marcher. The philosophical foundation of the school was the teaching of Yogachara and some provisions of the Indian Madhyamika.

In the 13th and 14th centuries, the Sakya represented the most significant political force in Tibet and had a great influence both in the headquarters of the Mongol khans and at the court of the Chinese emperors. Sakyapandita (1182-1251) and the Pagba Lama (1235-1280) were both prominent scholars of the school, its hierarchs, and politicians who managed to create the most favorable conditions for the functioning and development of Tibetan Buddhism in the vast new state formations of Central and East Asia. From the Sakya school came a branch of the jonang, to which the great scholar-historian Taranatha (1575-1634) belonged, but it was banned by the Geluk hierarchs, and in the XVII century. his activities have come to naught. By the seventeenth century, the political and religious influence of the Sakya school had declined after three centuries of prosperity. Today, Sakya has several branches and monasteries in Tibet, India, Nepal, as well as in Western countries. Ameshab's main contribution to the history of Tibetan literature was to preserve, restore, and collect as many of the spiritual treasures of his predecessors as possible. In this case, he focused almost entirely on Tantric teachings and practices, as well as on history. Most of his works were written before the first half of the 1640s, during the great troubles, the war and the Mongol invasion of Tibet, but a number of his significant manuscripts have been preserved from later times.

Since the 17th century, unrest began in the country. As early as 1638, when there were riots in southern Tibet, Ameshab acted several times as a peacemaker; in 1620-1640. He had close relations with the Tsang Dynasty of Central Tibet, where he lived for several years in the 1630s.Ameshab visited the Fifth Dalai Lama twice (1654, 1658). Apparently, the authority of Ameshab was quite high, and the Sakya monastic possessions were not directly threatened by Mongol troops. The head of the Sakya school was called the "Holder of the Throne" and this title was and still is transmitted by one line of the family dynasty. Ameshab belonged to this lineage: his father was the 26th, his older brother the 27th, and he was the 28th head of the school. Even in his early childhood, Ameshab's father gave him the first tantric initiations (including the secret cycles of Samvara, the nine deities of Amitayus, Vajrakila, etc.), taught him to read and write. The boy was distinguished by an inquisitive mind, peaceful character, restraint and even in his youth surprised the old sages with his reading and knowledge of the Vajrayana practices, the Diamond Chariot. "People said that he was like the great ancestor of the world, and they began to call him Ameshab" (p.13).

I note that the literal translation into Russian of the word "Ameshab" as "The Great ancestor of the world" (Ya-U Sobish prefers "grandfather") it doesn't accurately convey its content. The point is that the boy was compared to the oldest sage in the world, who already knew everything 1. The main name (Ngagwang Kunga Sonam) is also very significant and grandiose. Translated into Sanskrit, it is pronounced Vagindra Ananda Punya - " Having virtue as Ananda (one of the main disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha) and as the god Indra who knows how to speak."

In 1602, Ameshab and his two older brothers, dressed in Dharma robes and special hats, were solemnly seated by their father and uncle on the golden sakya throne. In the presence of thousands of monks, the initiations and rituals of the future "throne holders" were performed over them, and they were given the right to receive essential spiritual instructions from the various lines of succession of the school. From the age of ten, Ameshab's second mentor was his uncle Sodnam Wangpo, who taught him the knowledge of his predecessors, as well as the first teachings of the Path and Its Fruit doctrine, including the complete oral transmission (snyan brgyud) of the spiritual treasury and a series of written transmissions along with 13 biographies of the great Sakya teachers.

For six months in 1609, Ameshab and his brothers performed the main ritual services for reciting the Hevajra mantra (rtsa ba'i gzhi bsnyen), and the following year he composed a 12-page New Year's praise for Sakya Pandita, after which he swore to observe the vows of both a lay Buddhist (upasaka) and a monk (sramanera) simultaneously. Ameshab learned many uche from his uncle.-

1 I would like to thank the Tibetan scholar Jampa Samten for his advice on this and other matters.

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the sutras and tantras, as well as the Vajrakila (Diamond-dagger - rdo rje phur pa) ritual service performed in the heavenly palace of Chakrasamvara, which is a secret transmission of the traditions of the highest mother tantra of Great Bliss (mahasukha). After that, Ameshab meditated on the Buddha with his closest disciples and Yogi Virupa. In connection with this spiritual experience, he composed a hymn of praise in honor of the Indian founder of the school.

At the age of 18, Ameshab became a disciple of the most important lineage bearer Muchen Sangye Gyaltsen (1542-1618), who gave him the rank of abbot of the monastery. Here they continued to teach the Chakrasamvara cycles, including the main texts of such experts in this tantra as the Indians Luipa, Krishnacharya, Vajraghanta, Pradnyarakshita, as well as their Tibetan followers, for example, Sachen Kunga-nyingpo. Ameshab also received many other initiations, private instructions, and transmissions here, most of which were included in his collected works. Only then did Muchen transmit to him in full detail the defining Sakya teaching "The Way and its Fruit", according to the traditional succession going from Muchen Semra and Konchog Gyaltsen (1388-1469), the second abbot of Ngor Monastery.

In connection with the process of teaching Ameshab, it should be noted that two systems of education have been formed in India: one is traditionally Brahmin-Hindu, when knowledge and practical skills are transferred from the teacher to the student at home or in the temple; the other is Buddhist, when the transfer was carried out in lectures at the faculties of large universities-monasteries (Nalanda, Vikramashila, Odantapuri, etc. 2). With the development of the Diamond Chariot, with its obligatory secret teachings and secret practices, methods of spiritual transmission from teacher to student are widely used and complicated in Buddhism. Both systems of education were in demand in Tibet: Shantarakshita, Kamalashila, Atisha, and other university scholars established the monastic-lectionary method of transmitting knowledge, and tantric yogis Padmasambhava, Virupa, Tilopa, and others were the initiators of separate lines of spiritual succession in which the deep meanings of teachings and practical meanings of texts are transmitted to one or more students. In large monasteries and leading schools, the first method of education prevailed, which was acceptable to most novices and monks, while the second method was suitable for individuals. It was he who was used for the future" holders of the throne " of Sakya.

In 1618, Ameshab passed the rite of full monastic initiation, after which Muchen gave him instructions on the five stages (pancha-krama) of the Guhyasamaja system, outlined the essential instructions for oral transmission from Dakinis, and others. In the same year, the teacher died. In his memory, Ameshab performed many ceremonies and rituals. He goes to travel around the country, visiting other teachers and monasteries, including the oldest Tibetan university-Samye Monastery, built in the 780s by Shantarakshita, Padmasambhava and the Tibetan King Trisong Detsen.

Ameshab intended to remain a monk all his life, but after the death of his father and middle brother in 1621, he renounces his vows in order to be able to take the throne of the head of Sakya after his older brother. Ameshab gets a kind of title "a perfect tantric lay adept "(yongs rdzogs rdo rje dge bsnyen 'dzin pa). Starting next year, he begins to actively share his knowledge, both orally, having conducted a three-month course of instructions in the doctrine of "The Path and its Fruit" for many students of the southern and northern Sakya communities, and in writing, recording the most important teachings, recitations, initiations received before. In the written works of this period (1622-1624), he focuses on the categorical apparatus of the four classes of tantra, on the unification of the system of the three Hevajra tantras, on writing a commentary on the root Hevajra tantra, on completing two major texts on the history of the tantric cycles of Guhyasamaja and Chakrasamvara, finishes his commentary on the work of Sakya Pandita, and states that as in Sakya they relate to ritual music, creates a work about poetics - a detailed presentation of 35 different meanings of words and sentences(artha-alankara), according to the Indian treatise Kavya-darshana.

Each subsequent year of Ameshab's life is marked by the creation of several works, sometimes dozens of compositions, mainly dealing with tantric rituals, ritual objects, initiations, practices, etc. From time to time, he meets with other prominent thinkers in Tibet and, sharing knowledge with them, writes down new programs (for example, on the Yamantaka cycle), corresponding to other lines of spiritual succession. In 1629, Ameshab directs sooru-

2 See: Androsov V. P. Buddha Shakyamuni and Indian Buddhism, Moscow, 2001, pp. 326-328, 342-347.

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It also completes the purely philosophical work " Outline of the teachings (Siddhanta) of the schools of the Chariot of Perfection (paramita)". In 1633-1635. He writes the history of the Samye Monastery and the Yamari cycle, provides detailed explanations of the Vajabhairava and Chakrasamvara rituals, and systematizes instructions on Kalachakra Tantra and the stages of Hevajra practice. In 1636, he created the fundamental history of Kalachakra. After the smallpox epidemic hit Tibet, Ameshab's eyes began to weaken.

In 1641, the Mongol leader Gushrikhan conquered the Tsang and Wu kingdoms and installed the Fifth Dalai Lama as the ruler of the country. Ameshab established settlements for the refugees, and for the next three years, when famine reigned in Tibet, he faced even greater trials. But Ameshab continued to work and in 1644 completed two huge works - a collection of essays on Buddhist teachings and a biography of his teacher Muchen. In 1646, after the death of his elder brother, Ameshab performs all the necessary rituals and becomes the sole head of the Sakyas, having been enthroned as a child. He succeeded his fourteen-year-old son to the throne in 1651.

In conclusion of the biography and according to the" Supplement " of Y.-U. Sobish gives a list of works created by Ameshab. It contains 120 hymns (bstod pa), prayers (gsol 'debs) and prayer addresses (smon lam), about 100 spiritual chants (nyams dbyangs) and instructions (zhal gdams), a volume of teaching essays, 22 biographies, 23 texts to the section "Sutras", 14 stories of the Law (chos 'byung), one commentary on each word of the root text of the Hevajra Tantra and the same on the Sarva-durgati-parishodhana Tantra, 7 detailed descriptions of mandalas, 17 explanations of the stages of cultivation, 83 sgrub thabs, initiations, manuals on ritual dances, music, the use of cymbals, etc., 28 works on the cycles of defenders of the Doctrine and 17 works of the other list.

It is obvious that with such a huge amount of material, errors and typos have crept into the text of the book. So, retelling the colophon on p. 275, Ya. - U. Sobish cites the meaningless Tibetan combination rtsim khyer instead of the correct rtsom khyad, which translates as "style of composition". Apparently, it is also an error that the author of the monograph writes the syllables of all historical names with a hyphen, and other Tibetan names and terms with or without a hyphen. This can probably be attributed to the search for a more adequate transliteration of complex Tibetan names. I will not dwell on other typos, even in English words, because such trifles simply cannot spoil this magnificent work. We will be waiting for the release of the next already announced monograph" Hevajra and Lam 'bras Literature" (Hevajra and Lam ' bras Literature), which promises to be extremely valuable from the point of view of Buddhist dogma.

The author of the book can be congratulated for finding such a rare, completely unknown and at the same time fertile subject of study, and with a documented deep knowledge of the realities and various aspects of medieval Tibetan culture, and with the fact that his work is a real contribution to the world science - Oriental studies and Tibetology. Of course, this work is intended exclusively for specialists, but it also provides an opportunity to inform the wider scientific community about some significant features of Tibetan religious history.

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