4. Justification of the Monkey Myth

This Bodhisattva monkey and rock-ogress theory gained strong legitimacy after Kunkhyen Padma Karpo [Tib:'Brug pa Kun mkhyen Pad ma dkar po's ] (1527-1592) work, "Chos 'byung bstan pa'i pad ma rgyas pa'i nyin byed", where the author quoted three stanzas from Jampal Tsagyud [Tib: 'Jam dpal rtsa rgyud], a ninth century Indian Sanskrit text Manjushrimulakalpa, on Buddha Shakyamuni's address to Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of wisdom.

He quoted Buddha as prophesying:

"Hundred years after I have left,
In the land of snows, sea water shall recede,
And forest of sal-trees will emerge."^[1]

He explained that this stanza refers to Tibet and that one hundred years after Buddha, the sea water in Tibet receded and that the forest of sal-trees was to mean the juniper trees of the land. With the emergence of the land, inhabitants gradually evolved as offspring of a monkey and rock-ogress who were the emanation of Avalokiteshvara and Goddess Tara. The author articulated that the stanzas refer to Tibet as the land and Tibetans as the inhabitants under the protection of Avalokiteshvara and it was prophesied by Buddha before his parinirvarna. See the appendix-1 for more detail.

This statement further gained momentum when another great scholar, Desrid Sangay Gyatso [Tib: sDe srid Sang srgyas rgya mtso] (1696 AD), who in his book "mChod sdong 'zamg ling rgyan cig gi dkar chag" made a little change and quoted:

"Hundred years from my time,
In the land of snow, sea water shall recede,
And forest of sal-trees will emerge."^[2]

It is said that Desrid Sangay Gyatso might have thought the emergence of Tibetans one hundred year after Buddha little odd in terms of time. But the only option left was to edit the first stanza to "Hundred years from my time…" instead of "Hundred years after I have left..". The later scholars took this stanza and the interpretations from the works of Kunkhyen Padma Karpo and Desrid Sangay Gyatso as true without verifying the original text Manjushrimulkalpa and the Tibetan translation of 'Jam dpal rtsa rgyud.

What was written in Manikabum and Kachem Kakholma, and the further interpretation and elaboration along these two texts by Kunkhyen Padma Karpo and Desrid Sangay Gyatso had the Tibetan scholars and the general public venerating and accepting the Boddhisattva monkey and rock-ogress myth or theory as the origin of Tibet and Tibetan people.

Tibetan history school text books were also written and taught in alignment with these texts:

Once most of the Tibetan land was under water, gradually the water receded, the land, mountains and forest came up, flora and fauna flourished. Regarding the origin of human beings in Tibet, there are some different theories, but the main one is that father Boddhisattava monkey blessed by Avalokiteshvara and mother rock-ogress copulated in Yarlung Tsethang, many monkeys were born. From these monkeys came the six major tribes of Tibet, se, rmu, ldong, dbra and 'bru^[3].

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

'Brug-pa kun-mkhyen pad-ma dkar-po, p-238 "Nga ni'das nas lo gya na, kha-wa can du tso bri nas, sa-la'i nags ni yang dag 'byung".

[2]:

Byams pa bsam gtan, p-119, Bod kyi lo rgyus bdro gleng, "Nga yi 'dus nas lo gya na, kha ba can du tso bri nas, sa la'i nags ni yang dag 'byung".

[3]:

rGyal rabs chos 'byung dang rigs lam nang chos, Tibetan Reader VI part II, p-3