Some of us might like to
ask: “What on earth is a Sa-phud-bla-ma (“Sa-omitting-bla-ma”) or
Sa-gcod-bla-ma (“Sa-excluding-bla-ma”)? Well, these are nicknames given by
Tibetan grammarians to sDe-dge-bla-ma Nor-bu-bstan-’dzin, who
has maintained that secondary postscripts (yang ’jug), are not
attested in Thon-mi’s treatise but were created later at around the time of
gTsang-nag-pa Rig-pa’i-seng-ge. Sa-phud-bla-ma was a contemporary of Mi-pham
(1846–1912). For a discussion, see Tshe-tan-zhabs-drung, Thon mi’i
zhal lung (pp. 95–104, 198–199).
Dear D,
ReplyDeleteDo you think your SA-subtracting Lama is the same as this author?
Tshogs shul Bla ma Nor bu bstan 'dzin (b. 1835)
— Yi ge'i dag sdeb skor, Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang (Chengdu 1987).
Actually, I'm sure it is. There is a reference to Tshogs-shul Bla-ma Nor-bu-bstan-'dzin's work Yi ge'i dag sdeb in Acarya Sangye T. Naga, On the Function of Tibetan Letters, The Tibet Journal, vol. 24, no. 3 (Autumn 1999), pp. 57-76, at p. 66.
It says there he actually spelled like 'Jam-dpal-dbyang, and leg-bshad!
Another misguided attempt at language reform, you think?
Yours,
D
Dear Dan,
ReplyDeleteApologies for the delay. And as always, thank you for the reference. I think, too, he must be the same Nor-bu-bstan-’dzin mentioned by Tshe-tan-zhabs-drung. Yes, I do think that people like Mi-pham saw it as a misguided attempt to reform the orthography. His Sa mtha’ rnam ’byed clearly shows the necessity of sa mtha’.
gzigs shig gzigs shig lugs ’di gnyis la gzigs ||
gzig gcig gzig gcig lug ’di gnyis la gzig ||
Greetings from Korea!
Dorji
One leopard! One leopard! This sheep is a leopard for two.
ReplyDeleteOr
Leopard is one! Leopard is one! A leopard for these two sheep!
Sorry, I couldn't resist risking a translation or two (two translations for the price of one, what a deal!)