6. The Teachers -Bram ze li byin and lHa rig pa'i seng ge

The texts talk of two teachers; Bram ze Li byin or Li pi ka ra, from whom Thonmi studied scripts, and Pandita lHa Rig pa'i seng ge, from whom he studied phonology [Tib:sGra rig pa]. Manikabum and Bu-ston mentions lHa Rig pa'i seng ge only. Kachem Kakholma has only Li byin ti ka. While lHa Rig pa'i seng ge was known in Sanskrit as Devavidyasimha, nothing has been said about Bram ze Li byin. bShad mzod text says, "Indian Anu Li byin and Tibetan Thonmi Sambhota converted Indian fifty letters to thirty Tibetan letters.^[1] Thonmi Sambhota, in one of his odes [mGur] presented before the King and the ministers, has mentioned mKhas pa Bram ze Li byin [Bhramin scholar Lijin] as his teacher^[2]. Manikabum says lHa rig sengs ge, but Kachem Kakholma says Li byin ti ka. As the author of the two scriptures was said to be one as Srongtsan Gampo, then lHa Rig Sengs ge and Li byin ti ka have to be one and same person only.

Tibetan scholar Tse rtan zhab drung [1910-1985] also subscribe to this fact. In his work, Thon mi'i zhal lung, he writes:

With regard to the teacher of Thonmi Sambhota, mention was made of Li bi ka ra, Li byin, Legs byin, Li byin ha ra etc. and said that Thonmi studied sDra rig pa for seven years from lHa rig pa sen ge who was a disciple of Scholar Ya sha Mi tra. In one of Karma sMon lam's explanation of Sum rtags [Tibetan grammar text], Li bi ka ra has been translated as Yig mkhan [one who writes]. So, Li bi may mean script and ka ra, the writer. Bu-ston chos 'byung, Deb ther sngon po and Ngor ba dkon lhung have said about Pandita lHa'i Rig pa sens ge only. Li byin was synonymous of Yig mkhan [script writer]. He concludes that Li bi Ka ra and lHa'i rig pa sengs ge is one and the same^[3].

George Buhler has mentioned that Sanskrit word Lipi has its origin in Persian word Dipi, meaning "writing" and Lipikara or Libikara was referred to script writers.^[4] So the assertion that Thonmi studied under two teachers is doubtful and these ambiguities are indicative that we are still not very sure about the identity of Thonmi Sambhota's teacher. Let us now discuss what has been said of the Tibetan scripts.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

bShCE-mzod yid-bzhin nor-bu, p-164 "rGya-gar A-nu Li-byin dang, Bod kyi thon-mi bsam-bhotas, rgya-yig lnga-cu bod-yid sum-bcur sgyur"

[2]:

Sa-kya bsod-nams rgyal-mtsan, p-90. "khong mkhas-pa bram-ze li-byin la, yid gus pa'i tshul-gyi mos-gus byas…"

[3]:

Tse tan zhabs drung, Thon mi'i zhal lung, p-7 ff

[4]:

George Buhler, On the Origin of Indian Bhrama Alphabet, p-21/22, Strassburg KJ Trubner, University of Toronto, IInd edition, 1898