Terjék József: Collection of Tibetan MSS and Xylographs of Alexander Csoma de Kőrös.

Catalogue

33 12. The compendium of Sans-rgyas phun-chogs of medicine and astrology This is a so called .Alexander-book prepared during Csoma's stay in Zangla (from June, 1823 to October, 1824). Consisting of two booklets, it comprises two separate works, one and half booklets devoted to medicine, followed by a short chronological summary. Both were written by "the Lama", i.e. by Csoma's teacher, Sans-rgyas phun-chogs, as is indicated by the common colophon relating to both works. "This short and concise treatise on medicine and chrology, the length of which complies with the request which gave birth to it, was compiled in a very short time by a monk of the monastery of Zangla, Sans-rgyas phun-chogs on the request of the European, Skandher bheg." Who, then, was this monk of Zangla, "the Lama", with whome Csoma spent about seven years, with a number of shorter and longer breaks, in different monasteries of Western-Tibet (Zangla, from June, 1823 to October, 1824; Phuktal, from June, 1825 to January, 1827; Kanam, from the autumn of 1827 to the autumn of 1830). The most authentic sources relating to his life are the letters of Csoma (to Captain Kennedy, 5th May, 1825, published by T. Duka, Life and Works, pp. 41-65 and E. Gerard, 21st January, 1829, published by Duka, Life and Works, pp. 8098). Putting together the scattered data relating to him, we form the following picture. He was born in Zanskar around 1773, in a small village called Padam, in a comparatively well-to-do family. As a Lama of the Dgelugs-pa school, he made a protracted study-trip between 1805 and 1812 in Central-Tibet, that is, to Bkra-sis lhun-po and Lha-sa, the seats of the Pan-chen Lamas and the Dalai Lamas and to Bhutan (Tibetan 'Brug-yul) and even to Nepal. While in Central-Tibet he was able to broaden his knowledge in the scholastics of the Dge-lugs-pa order, in Bhutan he was deeply influenced by the 'Brug-pa order. The special interest "the Lama" showed toward the Kälacakra and the astrological teachings of the 'Brug-pa