Tankuang and His Work in Tibetan Translation: Revisiting IOL Tib J 26 and the Mahādeva Narrative

Abstract The Tibetan manuscript IOL Tib J 26 claims to contain a version of the Mahādeva narrative based on a Chinese source. In this paper, I identify this Chinese source as the Dasheng baifa mingmen lun kaizong yijue 大乘百法明門論開宗義決 (“Resolution [on How to] Clarify the Tenets of the Mahāyānaśatadharmaprakāśamukhaśāstra ,” T. 2812), an exegetical work on the * Mahāyānaśatadharmaprakāśamukhaśāstra , composed by the famous Dunhuang-based Chinese monk Tankuang 曇曠. The Resolution borrows a full version of the Mahādeva narrative from the Mahāvibhāṣā 阿毘達磨大毘婆沙論, casting it as the trigger of the first schism. I offer close readings and English translations of the relevant content of IOL Tib J 26 and the Resolution , not only to substantiate my identification, but also to offer an example of how native Chinese Buddhist texts were conveyed in Tibetan compositions.