XV.
A Brief Notice of Subháshita Ratna Nidhi of Saskya Pandita.
This paper was ready in 1833, but owing to the difficulties in the way of bringing out the Tibetan text with the translation, it was not published till eleven years after Csoma’s death, and then it was accomplished through the kind assistance of Dr. A. Campbell.
This work was composed by the celebrated Sa-skya Pandita, who flourished in the thirteenth century of our era, in the time of Gengiz Khan and his successors. The author resided in the Sa-skya Monastery in Middle Tibet, in the province of Ts’ang, and was the uncle of a Great Lama. Many important Sanskrit books, brought thither from India, are still to be found in the monastery. The work begins thus:—
To the ten commandments[2] are to be added the following rules, which were enacted by a religious king of Tibet named Srong-b,tsán (apostolic king, defender of faith, Dharma Raja). These rules are:—
- 1. Reverence God; this is the first.
- 2. Exercise true religion; this is the second.
- 3. Respect the learned.
- 4. Pay honour to your parents.
- 5. Show respect unto superiors and to the aged.
- 6. Show good-heartedness to a friend.
- 7. Be useful to your fellow-countrymen.
- 8. Be equitable and impartial.
- 9. Imitate excellent men.
- 10. Know how to enjoy rightly your worldly goods and wealth.
- 11. Return kindness for kindness. [[206]]
- 12. Avoid fraud in measures and weights.
- 13. Be always impartial and without envy.
- 14. Do not listen to the advice of woman.
- 15. Be affable in speaking, and be prudent in discourse.
- 16. Be of high principles and of a generous mind.
These are the sixteen rules. Subáshíta Ratna Nidhinama Shastra is the title of the work in Sanskrit.
Salutation to Manju Sri.
To the question: What is a “precious treasure of elegant sayings?” the following answer is given:—