The Catalogue of the Rig 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum
Modern library pagination and markings
In this volume, the western numbering is in black ink stamped numbers. The first index leaf (see below) bears a rectangular IOL paper sticker, white with red borders (as in other volumes, with a heart-shaped decoration in each corner), with the red handwriting: "308 pages"; and in blue writing, "MISC. COL GYUT 6"; and in large Tibetan writing, "rgyud cha".
Paper composition
Most sheets are quite thick but some sheets are comparatively thin, eg. 305.
Size of folios
The size of the plain sheets is 578 x 125mm. There is some size variation, and some sheets are not cut very straight (eg. the upper edge of 42 and 270 are uneven, the left edge of 178, 233, 307 and others).
Sheet numberings
As in other volumes, many of the sheets have tiny Tibetan numerals written sideways, some of which are missing or partially cut off, and where they do occur, they do not seem to correspond to the page numbering in words.
Pagination
Page details are given in words written sideways in black ink, to the left of the writing on each recto side.
Page settings
Most sheets, as in other volumes, have 7 lines of black ink writing, with double red vertical lines to the sides of the writing. The lines are ruled with faint (diluted?) reddish ink. The writing is not always exactly square on the page (eg. the final line of 16a goes up and down across the page; the writing on 102b goes up slightly to the right.
Ornaments, openings and punctuation
Double yig mgo are found in the upper left corner of all recto sides, apart from 1-3. gNyis and gsum each have a triple yig mgo, and the verso side of gcig also has a triple yig mgo. Furthermore, 184b has a triple yig mgo, following a title page, 184a, and 295b also has a double yig mgo, following a title page, 295a. The regular double yig mgo usually start on or to the right of the red vertical margin delineators. There are some slight differences in style, with some larger or more elongated than others. One distinctive feature of this volume is that we find much less use of yig mgo to introduce new texts than in other volumes.
Handwriting
The writing in this volume seems to be of a fairly consistent style throughout, with the letters mostly clear and distinct and the ink often quite thick. The writing varies only very slightly in size.
Marks and blemishes
There are some ink smudges, eg. 37b has a smudge in the top centre of the page; 144b, 146a and 302 have brown ink splotches, but the writing remains legible. 149a and 166a also respectively have some brown and black blotching.
State of preservation
The writing in this volume is rarely obscured by tears and rips. Most sheets are in a reasonable state with few holes or tears. There are a few folios with small holes outside the writing area: eg. 12-13, 17, 73, 77-79, 143-4, 149, 188-9, 195, 219-222, 251, 253, 255. In the case of 14-16, 57, 69, 82, 121, 124, 128, 209, 213-5, 219, 225, 259, 263, there are holes within the writing area, or 196, a tear within the writing area, but the writing is still mostly clearly legible. The holes in 209 and 259 appear to have predated the writing, since spaces are allowed for them. Some folios have edge tears, eg. 14, 23, 49, 66, 107, 130, 139, 149, 168, 193, 215, 226, 262, 273; or corner tears, eg. 88, 112, 137, 148, 259, 283; some have edge indentations, eg. 22, 24-5, 39, 87, 105-116, 124-5, 127, 135, 138, 141-3, 147-8, 161, 168, 173, 186, 203-7, 216, 225, 233, 240, 241, 249, 285-291, 305. 273 has a crease in the paper at the bottom right corner. The final folio, 308, has edge pieces missing in several places but the writing area is unaffected.
Cover folios
The blue lacquered front folio, measuring approximately 535 x 110 mm, has tears in the edges and some edge parts are torn away completely. The lacquer has come away in parts. It is plain blue in colour, with margins ruled in red on the recto side, making a box 455mm x 35mm (left)/ 40mm (right). The index leaves are sewn to the right-hand side of the folio, with large twisted red and yellow thread stitches visible both sides.
Index leaf 4: 100mm visible x 85mm, plain beige canvas type cloth, stained with dirt, badly fraying and thin in places, two horizontal neatly ruled red lines at top, below which there is writing: [yig mgo x 1]/ /gled. bam. cha [cha in red, slightly larger] pa 'di la/
Cha1, snang srid kha sbyor bdud rtsi'i bcud thigs 'khor ba thog mtha' gcod pa'i rgyud phyi ma/
Cha2, phyi ma'i phyi ma/
Cha3, rin po che bcud kyi yang snying thog ma'i gras thag gcod pa spros gcod rtsa ba'i rgyud/
Cha4, spros gcod sde lnga'i rgyud/
Cha5, rin po che bdud rtsi bcud thigi rgyud/
Cha6, rin po che snang gsal spu gri 'bar ba'i rgyud/
Cha7, rin po che spyi gnad skyon sel thig le kun gsal gyi rgyud/
Cha8, gter rnying rin po che spungs pa'i rgyud/
Cha9, thig le yees bcud spungs sgron ma [unreadable-2 sylls; perhaps ’od ’bar, which would fit with the text in this position] gyi rgyud/
Cha10, bdud rtsi bcud thig sgron ma brtsed. [end line] [unreadable syll] rgyud/
Cha11, snying po bcud spungs namkha' klong yangs
Index leaf 5: 100mm visible x 82mm, plain beige canvas type cloth, stained with dirt, badly fraying and thin in places, two horizontal neatly ruled red lines at top, below which there is writing:
Cha11, /[elaborate shad with curved line above, similar to sbrul shad (U0F08) but with 3 short horizontal lines instead of the four "snake" heads above the shad] kyi rgyud/
Cha12, thugs kyi yang snying gdongs pa'i bcud 'dus nyi zla 'bar ba'i rgyud/
Cha13, sangyas kun gyi dgongs pa'i bcud bsdus ri bo brtsegs pa'i rgyud/
Cha14, dri med ka dag gi rgyud/
Cha15, rgyud tham.d kyi rgyal po nyi zla'i snying po 'od 'bar ba bdud rtsi rgya mtsho 'khyil ba'i rgyud/
Cha16, skye med ka dag zang ka'i rgyud/
Cha17, yang ti ma rgyud spros bral don gsal chen mo/
Cha18, rgyud thams cad kyi rtse rgyal namkha' 'bar ba'i rgyud
rnams bzhugs so// //
Decorated first folios: construction
The first folio, gcig, is a laminate of about 17 sheets, 570 x 124 mm.
The recto side is plain azure blue lacquer, but with gold margins ruled and the collection, volume, and folio identifications given at the left border, in gold writing. The box made by the ruled lines measures 416 x 69mm (left)/ 72mm (right), with the vertical lines not at exact right angles to the horizontal lines, but coming down slightly to the left. The blue sheet is torn slightly at the edges and there are a few holes in the top layers of the sheets. The blue lacquer is rubbed off in parts. Thick crossed stitches attach the folio together, two along the top, five along the bottom, and one to the left and the right of the folio.
Decorated first folios: frames [ TITLE PAGE]
The verso side of gcig (1b) is blue lacquer, with elaborate intertwining straight gold lines around the outside of the page, outlining exactly the same interlocking key design as we find in other volumes. The upper sheet has a rectangular window cut out for the text, 450 x 74mm, outlined (around the frame) with a red paint line. There are some tears in the blue lacquer area outside the window, including two tears through the upper window frame, and small sections of the blue lacquer are missing to the bottom right. However, none of the frame is entirely cut away; nor is any of the writing affected.
Decorated first folios: window curtain
There is a silk cover fitted over the window, with three layers sewn together. The yellow layer is at the top, with gold thread around the outside, and it measures 422 x 62mm visible (the upper part tucks under the blue frame above). A blue layer is the middle layer, with white thread around the outside, measuring 434 x 66 mm visible. The third and final layer beneath is orange, with green thread around the outside, measuring 445 x 75 mm visible. They are not exact rectangles of material, the lower edge of the orange layer forms a slightly wavy line. To the left it bulges out and goes in at the bottom, and it does not quite cover the entire window frame.
Decorated first folios: window layout
Beneath the cover is a double lined gold rectangle drawn on black lacquer, with 3 lines of gold writing, split across two sides of the page. There are miniatures to the left and right, besides which the areas for writing are bounded by vertical strips with a regular pattern of gold lines, in this case, the wavy line and spiral design (see "General Information on Volumes"). The larger miniature in the centre, which breaks up the page, is bounded to the left and right by a thin double vertical gold line, outlining a rectangle, 83 x 70mm. The lefthand miniature is within a rectangle 51 x 68mm, the righthand miniature's rectangle is 50 x 70mm. The legends for the miniatures are written below each, within the border of gold lines outside the window. Each legend is within double ornamenal brackets:
[first, to the left:] {{[yig mgo x 1]//rig 'dzin tshe dbang nor bu la na mo//}} [ second, to the left of centre. Some of this is smudged out and barely readable but the remnants of the syllables appear to suggest a reconstruction in line with other volumes:] {{//lha lcam man da' ra ba/ [yig mgo x 1]//sangs rgyas gnyis pa oyan rje / [Then continued to the right of centre, on the other side of the gold vertical strip transversing text:] mkha'gro yees mtsho rgyal/}} [third, to the right:] {{ [yig mgo x 1]// 'brog mi dpal la na mo//}}Size of folios
The second folio, gnyis, measures 577 x 126 mm.
Decorated second folios
The recto side of gnyis is blue lacquer, with 4 lines of gold writing, within a double gold rectangular box, the outer measuring 480 x 80 mm, the inner, 463 x 68 mm. The margins are ruled as usual, with the collection, volume and folio identification to the left.. The boxes are not exact rectangles; the vertical lines are not at exact right angles to the horizontal lines, coming down slightly to the left. The folio is a laminate of about 10 pages, with thick cross stitches visible on both sides, two to the top and bottom, one to the left and right. Some of the inner sheets are ruled with 7 lines and red margins. The verso side is ordinary paper.
Page settings
As mentioned above, 2a has 4 lines of gold writing. 2b is ordinary paper. 2b - 6a have double red lined rectangular boxes and margins; in the case of 2b and 3a, with an inner double red lined rectangular box. 2b and 3a each have 4 lines of black writing; 3b - 5b, have 5 lines of slightly smaller writing, and 6a, 6 lines of writing. The boxes are not very exact rectangles, and the ink sometimes makes thicker lines, for instance on 4a, where parts of the box have two clear thin red lines but at the bottom right, the thick ink lines almost merge together. The boxes measure as follows. 2b: 493 (top)/ 491 (bottom) x 83 mm; 3a: 500 x 82 mm; 3b: 495 (top)/ 492 (bottom) x 84mm (left)/ 79mm (right); 4a: 490 x 81mm (left)/ 84mm (right); 4b: 487 x 75mm (left)/ 80mm (right); 5a: 486 x 82 mm; 5b: 490 x 86mm (left) 81mm (right); 6a: 491 x 84mm (left)/ 80mm (right). 6b starts the usual style of red margins down each side and 7 lines per side.
Microfilm
Note there are duplicate photos of 32b and 33a in the microfilm.
Handwriting
Unusually, Cha 5 and Cha 12 each have a colophon in small writing.
Missing or misplaced folios and other numbering anomolies
Note that 92 is incorrectly given as 'so gnyis' in Tibetan, incorrectly stamped with the western numerals, 32, to the side of which we have blue pencil writing, 'duplicate'. A note dated 26/4/1961, written by John Driver, has been inserted in the text, pointing out that '32 Duplicate' belongs here. The note comments, "so mistake for go already half-erased by the scribe".
Microfilm
In the microfilm, 91b is photographed twice and 32b/92b once.
Page settings
Note that there are only three lines on 183b, which comes before a title page.
Page settings
184a is a title page, the title centred within a double lined red rectangular box, 494 x 58 mm. 184b has a double lined red rectangular box, 498 x 82 mm., with 6 lines of text and a triple yig mgo at the top left.
Ornaments, openings and punctuation
Note punctuation error, in which the first part of the homage, following immediately, is conflated with the Tibetan title.
Readers' marks
There is the interesting feature of a small piece of paper, coloured red, stuck onto the folio just in front of the beginning of ch. 74, and also of ch. 75, marking the place. Nothing similar is visible in mTshams brag, Vol. Pa, 185-186.
Missing or misplaced folios and other numbering anomolies
Folio 257 is numbered, “nyis brgya bzhe bdun lnga bcu nga bdun”: there is a cross above the first bdun and the following numbering is inserted in small letters, possibly by a later hand; the (original) scribe seems to have written the wrong number here. We have the same problem on the next two folios. Nothing similar is found in mTshams brag, Vol Pa: 130 ff.
Page settings
294b has only four lines of text, and is followed by 295a, which is a title page, the title centred within a double lined red rectangular box, 491 x 61 mm. 295b has a double lined red rectangular box, 497 x 82 mm, with 6 lines of text and a double yig mgo at the top left.
Page settings
308a is the final page. The text is within a red rectangular box, 501 x 80 mm, with 6 ruled lines, of which 5 are used. 308b is blank.
State of preservation
This final folio 308 has some tears in the edges, and the bottom right corner and sections of the top are torn off, but all the writing is clearly legible.