The Treasury of Lives

Gonbujab (mgon po skyabs, CH: Gongbu Chabu 工布查布) was born in the late seventeenth century into the aristocratic Borjigin Clan of the Üǰümüčin Mongols. The year of his birth is not known. He was raised and educated in Beijing, in close proximity to the Kangxi Emperor (reigned 1661-1722). Having inherited a ducal rank (CH: gong 公) from his father, he married into the Manchu royal family in 1709.¹

Gonbujab later became a prominent scholar and translator. Having mastered all four major languages of the Empire, namely Manchu, Chinese, Tibetan, and Mongolian, he was referred to as "the Upāsaka Gombojab from the Land of Winds, who speaks four languages" (skad bzhi smra ba'i dge bsnyen rlung khams pa).² Other epithets included "Great translator of brilliance and virtue" (mi bzang gong lo chen, CH: xian de gong da yi shi 贤德公大译师).³ During the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor (reigned 1722-1735) he was appointed the director of the Tibetan Language School (CH: Tanggute Xue Dachen 唐古特学大臣 Mon: neyite jaqirun surγaγci sayid-un tusiyal).⁴

In the imperial bureaucratic system of the Qing, only those who had been trained in the Tibetan Language School were permitted to work for the government as translators or interpreters. On the basis of his expertise Gonbujab was given the prestigious responsibility of directing the translation of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon into Chinese and Mongolian. With a remarkable command of the Tibetan, Mongolian and Chinese material, he translated popular texts exclusive to each tradition into the other languages. For example, he translated an aspiration verse devoted to Maitreya from Mongolian to Chinese,⁵ as well as a work composed by the Fifth Dalai Lama (ta la'i bla ma 05 blo bzang rgya mtsho, 1617-1682) on rituals of offerings to the seven medicine buddhas from Tibetan to Chinese.⁶

Another influential translation from Tibetan to Chinese was his rendering of the Buddhist Pratimālaksana with the title of Zaoxiang Liangdu Jing. According to its prologue, the Tibetan text was brought to Beijing by the abbot of Chone Monastery (co ne), Ngawang Trinle Gyatso (ngag dbang 'phrin las rgya mtsho, b. 1688). However, scholars have failed to determine a corresponding text in the Tibetan Buddhist canon. It is more likely to be a compilation of Tibetan works in Buddhist iconometry, along with his annotations.⁷ Prior to the translation, guidance on Buddhist iconometry had been solely transmitted orally among artists. It thus became a fairly influential text. There are many famous monasteries in present-day Inner Mongolia, including Tabun Suburγan Süme and Badγar (Tib: pad dkar chos gling) as well as a few royal monasteries in Beijing, that still boast of statues, murals and carvings executed according to the text.

Gonbujab also translated from Chinese into Tibetan. He translated Journey to the West (Da Tang Xi Yu Ji 大唐西遊記), the famous travelogue by the seventh-century Tang Dynasty monk Xuanzang (玄奘), with a Tibetan title of Thang san lam yig.⁸ The Tibetan version is divided into ten books instead of the twelve of the original Chinese. Although the information on all 138 kingdoms are preserved, Gonbujab omitted the description of India in the beginning of Book Two. In the epilogue he explained that he considered it unnecessary because there already existed rich source materials on India in Tibetan literature.⁹

Apart from his translations, Gonbujab was also an accomplished historian. He wrote two significant monographs on Mongolian and Chinese history. In The Flow of Ganges: The History of Chinggis Khan’s "Golden Family" (Mon: Činggis eǰen-ü altan uruγ-un teüke γangγ-a-yin urusγal neretü bičig), Gonbujab detailed the genealogy of the Mongolian royal family, and mapped out a detailed account of all Mongolian clans under the Qing Empire's banner system. In contrast to earlier works on the subject, which typically traced the origin of Mongolian kingship back to Indian and Tibetan kings, Gonbujab argued that Mongolian rulers are appointed directly by Heaven. This perspective was adopted by other later Mongolian chronicles written in the Qing Empire.¹⁰

At the request of his lama, the Fifth Širegetü Qutuγtu (1713-1751), Gonbujab composed The History of Buddhism in China (rgya nag chos 'byung) in Tibetan.¹¹ The book has three parts: a general description of China proper, featuring a geographical and historical study of Mañjuśrī’s bodhimaṇḍa, Wutai Shan, based on the text Qing Liang Shan Zhi (清凉山志); a history of the spread of Buddhism in China, with an emphasis of Indian high monks who have traveled and taught in China; and a Tibetan translation of the catalogue of the Chinese Buddhist canon, with a comparative study of Chinese and Tibetan Buddhist Canon. In the nineteenth century, the influential scholar Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo ('jam dbyangs mkhyen brtse'i dbang po, 1820–1892) edited and printed it at the prestigious Derge Parkhang (sde dge par khang). Gonbujab's History of Buddhism in China became one of the main sources on the history of the spread of Buddhism in China available to Tibetan readers. In keeping with the standards of the religious history genre (chos 'byung), Gonbujab interpreted the history of China from a Buddhist perspective, weaving in Tantric prophecy as part of the legitimacy of the Manchu Dynasty.¹² In this way it superimposed a Tantric Buddhist symbolism over the traditional Confucian system.¹³

As a master of languages, Gonbujab was also a dedicated lexicographer. He compiled a Tibetan- Mongolian dictionary, which he edited three times. The dictionary was a major source for Russian scholar Isaac Jacob Schmidt's Tibetan-Mongolian dictionary.¹⁴ He also created a Tibetan grammar textbook for the Tibetan Language School in Beijing, as well as a textbook on the Sanskrit alphabet, noting down letters in Tibetan and Mongolian that have the same Sanskrit pronunciation.¹⁵

In addition to his Mongolian lama, Gonbujab was in contact with at least two renowned Tibetan lamas, with whom he exchanged several letters. There are three letters in the Collected Works of the Eighth Situ Chokyi Jungne (situ chos kyi 'byung gnas 1700-1774) addressed to Gonbujab,¹⁶ and the prologue of his History of Buddhism in China states that Gonbujab sent a cpy of the book to Situ. Gonbujab also corresponded with Katok Rigdzin Tsewang Norbu (kaḥ thog rig 'dzin tshe dbang nor bu, 1698–1755), most likely through an introduction from the Eighth Situ. There is a letter written by Katok Rigdzin Tsewang Norbu to Gonbujab preserved in his Collected Works, in which he raised thirteen questions regarding some statements in the latter's History of Buddhism in China. The letter was sent from Lhasa to Beijing. Also, in the biography of Tsewang Norbu, it is written that in the year of 1747, he befriended Gonbujab through letters.¹⁷

Despite his accomplishments, the details of Gonbujab's death are not known.

¹ Gonbujub appeared in Qing History (Qingshigao 清史稿) in the second chapter of "vassal states" (fanbu 藩部 ), the history of the Ujimchin Mongols. The eighteenth-century Mongolian historian Rašipongsog (Tib: bkra shis phun tshogs) introduced him briefly in his book titled Dai yuwan ulus-un bolor erike bičig. See Coyiji, 140.

² Uspensky 2008, 59; Zhang 2016, 569.

³ As in Rgya nag chos 'byung.

⁴ Ma, 125.

⁵ The Chinese title is 佛說彌勒勒菩薩發願王偈. See CBETA text no. 1144, p. 600c21.

⁶ This is Bde gshegs bdun gyi mchod pa'i chog bsgrigs yid bzhin dbang rgyal. See for example BDRC W26437. The Chinese title is 药师七佛供养仪轨如意王经. See CBETA text no. 927, p. 48b25.

⁷ Yao, 349.

⁸ See for example BDRC W1KG8466.

⁹ Gangcuo, 363.

¹⁰ Coyiji, 143.

¹¹ See for example BDRC W21925.

¹² Mala, 169.

¹³ Zhang, 563.

¹⁴ Borjigidal, 119.

¹⁵ See BDRC W1HU1.

¹⁶ Chamba, 43.

¹⁷ Chamba, 44.