1889.] Babu S. C. Das— Notice of two rdre Tibetan MSS. 



" It gives me gi'eat pleasure to be the medium, of procuring for the 

 Oriental Library of our Society two rare valuable Tibetan MSS. which 

 Puran Giri Gossain in the last century brought with him from the Court 

 of the Tishu Lama, to which he was deputed as an Embassy, and which 

 his present successor, Mohunt Omrao Giri Gossain, has entrusted me for 

 presentation to the Society... Tb« only condition he desires to attach to 

 his gift is, that should the bpoiety 'publish the MSS., as he ardently hopes 

 it will, two copies of the work may be given him for his and his brother 

 Mohunt Belasgir Gossain's use and benefit. 



"As soon as the MSS. were handed to me by the esteemed Gossain 

 I placed them in the hands of my friend, Babu Sarat Chandra Das for 

 examination. His notice of the works, together with the MSS., will be 

 laid before the next General meeting, when I pi'opose, with the permis- 

 sion of the Council, to read my note on the Buddhist Monastery at 

 Bhotebagan opposite Calcutta, and on the celebrated Puran Giri 

 Gossain." 



The following is the notice of the two works by Babu Sarat 

 Chandra Das, referred to in the letter. 



The bundle contains two block print volumes, one is the great 

 work called Lam Rim Chhen-po, i. e., " the large work on the gradual 

 way to perfection ", and the other is called iMorje Hchhah Chhenpo7ii 

 Lam gti Rim-pa, (see page 197, Csoma's Tibetan Grammar). Both 

 the works are much damaged by damp and insects. 



As regards the work called Lam Rim Chhe-wa, composed by the 

 great reformer Tsoiikhapa,, I do not hesitate to say that it is the most 

 important religious and philosophical work of Tibet. What the Dhamma- 

 pada is to the Southern Buddhists, or the Yeda to the Brahmans, the Lam 

 Rim Chhe-wa is to the paramount church of Tibet. In it are condensed 

 the pith of the Tripitaka of the Mahayana school, and the substance of 

 the philosophical teachings of Nagarjuna, Arya Saugha, Chandra Kirti, 

 Dharmottara and other ancient Indian Buddhist sages. The recovery 

 of a copy of this great work from the hitherto obscure math of Bhot 

 Bagan will, I may venture to add, be welcomed by the Tibetan students 

 of Europe and America, inasmuch as no copy of the Lam Rim Chhe-wa 

 exists in any of the great librai-ies of London, Paris, or St. Petersburgh. 

 This work, when published, will enable the students of Tibetan to as- 

 certain the Mahayana philosophy as it is understood in Tibet, and also 

 the cult of the northern Buddhists. The Prajiiaparaniita, or its Tibetan 

 version the Sher-chin, may be of some use to those who care to know 

 what the Buddhism of Nepal was in the early centuries after Christ, but 

 as occidental scholars are now beginning to take greater interest in the 

 sacred literature of Tibet than in that of Nepal, I believe they may 



