To pp. 35–37. The expression ཀུན་ occurring in the little prayer-book བཟང་ can hardly mean ‘a field (= heaven, world) which Kuntuzangpo has adorned’ (beautified, decorated, embellished), in the sense in which one may decorate a house or room, with beautiful pictures, furniture, etc. It must surely be understood as ‘the heaven blazing with the glory of Kuntuzangpo’s presence in it,’ a heaven resplendent with his glory. In other words, he adorns it by his mere being there, but not as the result of some activity expressed by a transitive verb. The world is adorned, but has not been decorated or beautified. I wonder if the agentive case པོས་ may be understood as in English expressions like: ‘happy through him,’ ‘blazing with diamonds,’ ‘laughing for joy,’ and the like.
To p. 40. See the unusual explanation of ཅེས་ in S. Ch. D., s.v. ག་ III, where he translates ཅེས་ as ‘it may be said.’ The dge rgan, however, paraphrases the expression here as ལབ་ or ལབ་, or ཅེས་, which gives [[83]]it another meaning, namely: ‘so it has been said,’ ‘so is the teaching,’ ‘that is what has been taught.’ In this sense the previous words are a direct quotation and the ཅེས་ cannot be translated as ‘it may be said that.’
To p. 40. In the note to ཆགས་, for འདོད་, non-attachment and indifference only in connection with a negative.
To p. 44. ལྟ་. See Graham Sandberg, Tibet and the Tibetans, p. 268, who renders this word, as a technical term denoting the first of the four stages of meditation, according to Milaraspa, as ‘contemplation’ or ‘concentration.’ The second word, denoting a mental action unconnected with visual experience, does not seem appropriate. As in English ‘view’ has both a physical and a mental meaning, so in Tibetan ལྟ་, as a verb, has mental connotations. J. has the word as sbst. ‘mystical contemplation.’ The Sk. equivalent, दर्शन, is likewise both physical and mental in meaning. Whereas J. and S. Ch. D. have a sbst. ལྟ་ ‘the act of looking,’ and ‘a look,’ Desg. has it as ‘sight’ (visus, vue, “etc.”).
To p. 58. See Jäschke’s note on maṇḍa and maṇḍala, s.v. དཀྱིལ་, p. 11 b. His remark may have a bearing on the question of ḍāka and ḍākinī, discussed above. See next note.
To pp. 59 and 60. My informants, though ignorant about the detail of five and nine cushions, do know of a custom requiring the man of higher social position, greater age, more prestige, to be seated on a higher seat as a sign of respect. The difference of height, however, is in the seat itself, not effected by the placing of a number of cushions on seats of equal height.
To གདན་ still the two following words: རྟ་, saddle cloth, and ཁ་, second sheet, upper sheet, covering sheet over the འབོལ་. The འབོལ་ is usually thick and rough but the ཁ་ thin and of finer texture, like in European [[84]]beds the bed sheet over the mattress. The འབོལ་ is for softness and the ཁ་ for cleanliness, like the loose covers of armchairs and sofas in Western countries.
To p. 62. Huth, Hor chos byuṅ, trs. 117, note 4, reconstitutes the name Blo bzaṅ grags pai dpal into Sk. Matibhadrakīrtiçrī. In Tibetan mantrams, however, where Tsoṅ kʽa pa’s name is given in its Sk. form, Sumati is used and not Matibhadra. See also p. 5 of the Introduction, supra.
To p. 64. The word དམིགས་ (p. 3 and additional note to p. 4) should have been discussed there. Desg. alone has the meaning of the word as in our text: unthinkable, unimaginable. According to oral information, synonymous with བསམ་, l. 12, see p. 74, supra.
The elaborate entries in J. and S. Ch. D. under this word and under དམིགས་ need investigation.