Buddhist Art of the Western Himalayan Region 27th 31st August 2012 At: Leh, Ladakh Organized by:

: The Department of History of Art, National Museum Institute of History of Art, Conservation and Museology

Abstract

The Philosophy of Practice of Path depicted in Lam Tso Nam Sum

V. K. Singh* Tsonkhapa or Lobsang Drakpa as his ordinate name was, the founder of Gelug Sect of Buddhism in Tibet. Before him there were so many sects and subsects in Tibetan Buddhism and were fully blossomed in the land of the snow. Tsongkhapa could add only the pious message of Buddha i.e. Removal of suffering by removal of ignorance, and he did so. Does it mean that previous practices of Buddhism in Tibet were not after the removal of suffering? Well, it cannot be said so. But the dust of time and space and human intermingling from different places hid the actual message and the cover, i.e rites and ritual were visible. Among many Tsongkhapa has written an extensive lengthy book on the practices leading to salvation as per the teachings of Buddha. Although simplified in nature, the length of this book named Lam Rim Chen Mo was a great hindrance for its popularity and handy practices. So Tsonkhapa started rewriting this book in an abridged manner. Spread over merely 14 verses, this new book namely Lam Tso Nam Sum became very famous and handy for Buddhist following in Tibetan folks. Till date this book occupy the place of one of the representative books in Tibetan Buddhism and clearly exhibit not only the scholarship of Tsonkhapa but also the most simple way to achieve the most covetous stage in Buddhism, the salvation or emancipation. Surprisingly, these 14 verses needed a much explanation than the translation because of veracity of technical terms used in it. No doubt some basic presumptions are there but we must understand that this book is actually a prcis of full length writing Lam Rim Chen Mo and not an independent book at its own. Additionally the basic idea behind this book is to attract those who were already following Buddhism, towards the study of full length book. My present paper will be an attempt to clarify the Technical terms used in this book and to exhibit their Buddhist contexts and produce the joy and fruit of the bigger book Lam Rim Chen Mo. There are several translations and explanations available in the form of writings on web and also in book, but to me they are presented as if this book will remove all the suffering to the devotees of Buddha. A researcher attempt was much needed and I have tried to justify this job.

Prof. V. K. Singh, Chairperson, Department of Chinese and Tibetan Languages, Panjab University, Chandigarh-160014. INDIA. Mail: singhvijaykumar@gmail.com