Abstract
The article provides an overview of the Buddhist texts collection known according to the Tibetan-language xylographic edition (published in China) as gZungs 'dus. The edition was presented by E. B. Ubushiev (1905–1981), an ex-monk, to the Kalmyk Research Institute of Language, Literature and History. Besides, the collection of old written sources of the Kalmyk Scientific Center of the RAS contains a number of other Oirat-, Mongolian-, and Tibetan-language texts contributed to the Archive since the 1960s, thus forming the bulk of the Rare Manuscripts Fund (Ф–8). Sources in Mongolic languages can also be found in K.V. Orlova’s catalogue. There are only brief unpublished descriptions of separate contributions in the form of lists describing corresponding collections and texts compiled by V. O. Chumatov (Polyaev). The available descriptions and the catalogue ― also unpublished ― contain no mention of the examined collection, which is, to a certain degree, due to the fact the xylograph has no ID title: when received, it was designated as ‘Deed Nomin Toktl’ (Tarnis (Precepts) of the High Teaching). The canonical and apocriphal works included in the collection basically aimed to constitute somewhat brief corpus of religious texts supposed to represent the Buddhist teaching in its entirety and be applicable in everyday spiritual practices. According to A. M. Pozdneev, since the 17th–18th centuries, minor Buddhist temples of the Mongols, Oirats and Kalmyks would turn to such texts collections in their daily liturgies, being unable to afford complete canonical editions. And their contents were not limited to ceremonial and ritualistic literature only, inter alia comprising Prajñāpāramitā texts, sutras connected with dharanis, jatakas, hymns, etc. The gZungs 'dus also includes a corpus of texts for daily practices and essentially proves an anthology of Buddha’s Teaching. In the context of the current Buddhism’s revival among the Kalmyks and the growth of interest towards Buddhism, such collections do regain topicality. The texts collection has always been an object of special interest on behalf of Tibetologists and Mongolists (R. Meisezahl, W. Heissig, M. Taube, A. Sazykin, V. Uspensky, K. Kollmar-Paulenz, A. Zorin, A. Sizova, etc.), including nowadays. To date the topical problem is still to identify all lists and variants of the collection from different language editions published in various printing centers of China, Mongolia and Russia (basically in Buryatia). The paper fills a gap in the history of Kalmyk bookish culture, the history of existence of written sources among the clergy and laity in the 20th century. The study shall facilitate further systematization of knowledge about Tibetan Buddhist texts among the Oirats and Kalmyks, etc. The Tibetan collection gZungs 'dus from E. B. Ubushiev’s files together with other Buddhist compositions preserved in manuscript collections of Kalmyk monks indicates that there has existed an integral and uninterrupted bookish tradition of Kalmyk Buddhism throughout the 20th and 21st centuries respectively.
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