8. rLangs kyi po ti se ru rgyas pa

It is a tenth century Buddhist work and is an authoritative text shedding some light on the Tibetan myth of origin along the ancient Bonpo line. The text^[1] talks of how the light and wind elements appeared and formed frost, which melted into dew, and from the dew came water and rivers. The light in the water turned into a cloud and it became dust and expanded to become a land mass. Bubbles came from the water, swirled in circles and mixed with the essence of land mass. With the kind blessing of the gods, six realms of existence came through four modes of births^[2]. From the essence of five natural elements appeared a big egg and from the middle of the egg came an being, Mi bo lum lum. It does not have the five sense organs, but it has feeling and thinking power. Through its power to wish, all sense powers were generated. He was named Ye nas smon pa'i rgyal po [The king who wished in the beginning], he was also known as Sangs po 'bum khri. He with Chu lcag rgyal mo, had a son sPyi gtsug rgyal ba. He with Dung za dngul mo, had a son La bko sras skyas. He had three sons. The youngest was Phyva rje sTag tsa 'al 'ol. He was the last of the gods and the beginning of the humans^[3].

Phyva rje sTag tsa 'al 'ol with 'Tsam sa khyad khyud ma had four sons, who were known as four brothers of the universe [Tib: Srid pa lha rab mched bzhi]. They are: 'O de gung rgyal, Yab lhag brda drug, Khri de gsum po and Tsa drang shing dkar po; from them came the human race. Yab lha brda drug married with Lha sras mo and nine Lha tsa were born; with sNyan mo, nine sNyan tsa were born; and with rMu thang, nine rMu tsa were born. In all, he had thirty five sons.

The youngest sNe khrom lag khra with Lha lcam dkar mo had a son Ni pha rgyal po, who with Lung kha hril mo had three sons: mThing ge, 'Thing po and mThing gnyis. Thing ge with Lha lcam dkar mo had a son Bod 'byong la brangs; with rMu za mThing sgril had a son rGyal khri la zham. His son had three princes and eight lineages. With Thing mo, he had mThing phrug hor sid. 'Byong la bram had sons: Bor rje, Khri rje, Khri rje thang po, rJe khri rje thang snyan, and Bor rje khri rje gtso 'dus.

Khri rje thang snyan's son A-nye mu ze khri to chen po lived with sNyan za sha mig and three sons were born: Elder sPos chu ldong, middle Se khyung dbra and youngest A lcags 'gru. With dMu za Lha mo, dMu tsa dga' was born; with red-faced Brag srin, dBal and zLa were born. This was how the first six tribes of Tibet: lDong, dBra, 'Gru, dGa', dBal and zLa were born according to the text. Except for the spelling in the six tribes, the vocables are same as in dBu nag mi'u 'dra chags.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

rLangs kyi po ti se ru rgyas pa, p-4 ff

[2]:

The four mode of births are: "rdZus skyes drod skyes sgong skyes mngal skyes", i.e. through miracles, through warmth, through egg and through womb

[3]:

"mched gsum gyi chung ba phyar rje sTag tsa 'al 'ol yin, lHa rabs srid pa'i tha chung de, mi rabs srid pa'i mgo bo yin" ibid, p-5