སྐར་ཅུང། Skar Cung pillar inscription

[1] A declaration solemnising the permanent stability of the excellent dharma in the reign of the divine sovereign of supernal insight, Khri lde srong brtsan (བཙན་པོ་ཁྲི་ལྡེ་སྲོང་བརྩན་): 

[4] In the reign of Khri srong brtsan (བཙན་པོ། མྱེས། ཁྲི་སྲོང་བརྩན་), the ancestor, divine sovereign of supernal insight, the Buddha dharma was embraced and the temple of Ra sa and others were built, establishing seats for the triple gem. And,

[7] in the reign of Khri ‘dus srong (ཁྲི་འདུ་སྲོང་), the ancestor, temples were built at Khri rtse in Gling and other places, establishing seats for the triple gem. And,

[10] in the reign of the Khri lde gtsug brtan (ཁྲི་ལྡེ་གཙུག་བརྟན་), the ancestor, temples at Mching phu and Kwa Cu in Brag mar were built, establishing seats for the triple gem. And,

[12] in the reign of Khri srong lde brtsan (།ཡབ། ཁྲི་སྲོང་ལྡེ་བརྩན་), the father, temples were built at Bsam yas in Brag mar and other places in the centre and outlying (regions), establishing seats for the triple gem.

[15] And further in the reign of the divine sovereign, Khri lde srong brtsan (ལྷ་བཙན་པོ། ཁྲི། ལྡེ་སྲོང་བརྩན་), the temple of Skar cung and others were built, establishing seats and other good things for the triple gem.

[18] If this Buddha dharma – embraced thus by successive generations of the dynasty – is never abandoned and never destroyed, then merit beyond measure will accrue, (but) if abandoned or destroyed, evil beyond measure will come.

Hence, [22] forevermore and always, seats of the Triple Gem were established in the reign of my father, Khri srong lde brtsan (ཡབ། ཁྲི་སྲོང་ལྡེ་བརྩན་), sovereign of supernal insight, and successive generations of the dynasty made a promise – namely to embrace the Buddha dharma without giving it up or allowing it to decline and so forth – and all of them – sovereign father, sons, noble ministers – swore solemn oaths appropriate to their station and, writing the text of the proclamation on a stone pillar (རྡོ་རྀངས་), acted accordingly.

[28] As a result, the seats for the Triple Gem which were established and the Buddha dharma which was embraced by successive generations of the dynasty – by my father and the ancestors – were lovingly protected in all circumstances; [and if] on account of omens in dreams, divination etc., or some other means [it was said]: ‘They are evil’ or ‘They are inauspicious’, that was not acted on and these words were said by great and small men alike: ‘They shall not be destroyed’, ‘They shall not be renounced.’

[33] Up to the successor of the sovereign, (his) nephews and young worthies in their minority, down to those who wield and exercise political power – having appointed a kalyāṇamitra from among the monks – let the dharma be imbibed in their minds as much as possible and for the whole of Tibet let not the door be locked to dharma study and practice.

[37] The door leading to mokṣa never being obstructed for the Tibetan people – up to and including the Tibetan nobles – the kalyāṇamitra will be selected from the devout guided toward mokṣa and from among those the most able, always selecting one whose doctrine is that of the Lord and one who is heeded also in (his) commands regarding the activities of the religious community of those who follow the doctrine of the Lord, and one who will exercise authority and attend to the affairs of the religious community.

[43] Those taking ordination shall be objects of worship and be neither excluded nor neglected, just as they were served as objects of worship by us – father and son – who established seats for the Triple Gem in the king’s palace and performed worship also.

[47] In brief: in the sovereign’s palace and in the land of Tibet, no measure whatever shall be pursued to eschew or make naught of the Triple Gem; (and) in the reign of whomsoever is the successor to the ancestors and (my) father, the administration shall be run as set out in the Chartered Register of Households of the Holy Community in actual accord with which everything set aside for upholding the Triple Gem shall not be reduced or divided. From this time forward, the sovereign father and (his) sons – and every later generation of the dynasty – shall make a promise in accord with this.

[52] As result of the foregoing, so that there should be neither a retracting nor a breaking of pledges uttered, the sovereign, noble ministers and all others too, invoking as witnesses those who are above this world, the gods of this world and also all the non-human spirits, (thereby) swore solemn oaths appropriate to their station.

[55] With regard to the detailed text of this solemn declaration, it is preserved alongside the written text of the declaration made in the reign of (my) father.

 

In the time of the divine manifestation, the king, Khri lDe-srong-brtsan: an edict made to confirm that the holy religion shall be maintained for ever.

In the time of the divine manifestation, the ancestor, Khri Srong-brtsan, in practicing the religion of the Buddha, receptacles of the three jewels were established by building the temple of Ra-sa and so on; and in the time of the ancestor, Khri 'Dus-srong, receptacles of the three jewels were established by building the temple of Khri-rtse in gLing and so on; and in the time of the ancestor, Khri lDe-gtsug-brtsan, receptacles of the three jewels were established by building the temples at Kva-cu and mChing-phu in Brag-mar and so on; and in the time of the father, Khri Srong-lde brtsan, receptacles of the three jewels were established by building temples at the centre and on the borders, bSam-yas in Brag-mar and so on; and in the time of the divine king, Khri lDe-srong-brtsan also, receptacles of the three jewels were established by such acts as building the temple at Skar-cung and so on. As for the practice of the religion of the Buddha in this way by successive generations if it is never destroyed or abandoned, good beyond measure results· but if it is abandoned or destroyed, there come sins without number. Therefore, from now onwards, for ever and ever, following the pronouncement in the time of the divine manifestation, the king the father Khri Srong­lde-brtsan, that each generation should take a vow not to abandon and not to destroy the receptacles of the three jewels and the practice of the religion of the Buddha, the king the father and sons, ruler and ministers, all together, shall swear an oath and shall act in accordance with the words of the edict and the inscription on the pillar. If someone should say: “This practice of the religion of the Buddha by establishing in this way receptacles of the three jewels by the father and ancestors in successive generations, to hold it in esteem, for whatever purpose, is a sin” or “it is not good,” whether that be said because of divination or omens in dreams or for any reason whatsoever, it shall not be destroyed; it shall not be abandoned. And whoever utters such words be he great or small let nothing of that sort be done. But from the time when the king, his sons, and grandsons are young until the time when they become rulers of the kingdom and thereafter, too, teachers of virtue from among the monks shall be appointed and by teaching religion, as much as can be absorbed into the mind, the gate of deliverance for all Tibet through the learning and practice of religion shall not be closed. And when for all Tibetan subjects, from the nobles downwards, the gate for entering deliverance is never obstructed and when the believers have entered upon deliverance, from those among them who are able there shall always be appointed followers of the tradition of the Buddha. And those who carry on the tradition of the Buddha shall be appointed to act as teachers of virtue, adhering to all such conduct as is commanded in the Wheel of the Law and exercising the duties and authority of the Wheel of the Law. As for those who enter the priesthood we, father and sons, shall appoint them as chaplains and shall cause them to act as chaplains, establishing receptacles of the three jewels in the king's palace and not neglecting or restricting the offerings of worship.

In short, in the palace of the king and in the land of Tibet, by no means so ever shall anything be done to destroy or abandon the three jewels. And in the time of the father, grandfather, grandsons, and sons, whoever it may be, because of the religious obligation that property assigned to the support of the three jewels should never be reduced or destroyed, due attention shall be given to the effect of the strict provisions in the register of house­ holds of the monastic estates. And from now onwards also, in each generation the kings, father and son, shall take an oath accordingly. And so that there may be no detraction from that sworn pledge and no change in it, the king, the ruler with his ministers, all together, calling as witnesses the saints, the gods that have left the world, the gods who are of the world, and all spirits, have sworn a solemn oath; and as for the detailed text of the confirmatory edict, it has been deposited alongside the text of the edict written in the time of the father.