The Prophecy of the Li Country (ལི་ཡུལ་ལུང་བསན།) is one of six key Tibetan texts on ancient Khotan found in the Tibetan Buddhist Canon (བཀའ་བསྟན།), highly valued for its contribution to gaps in Khotanese and Chinese records. It has attracted international scholarly attention in the fields of philology, history and religious studies. Modern translations accompanied by critical editions and analyses exist in English, Japanese, and Chinese.
While most scholars agree that the text originated during or shortly after the Tibetan Empire, little attention has been paid to its textual transmission and editorial evolution. This presentation first reviews academic views on its dating and composition. It then examines textual components found in the Gondhla Kanjur and compares them with other canonical versions. This approach reveals that the text is not derived from a single urtext but is a composite work made up of three core elements: The Prophecy of the Arhat of the Li Country and excerpts from Saṃgha Phemaśīla and The Annals of the Li Country.
This talk suggests that it is highly likely that the current form emerged during the Later Diffusion (ཕྱི་དར།) of Tibetan Buddhism, particularly thanks to 14th-century editorial efforts led by scholars at Narthang Monastery. Such endeavours consolidated diverse sources into a single “editorial collection”. This finding challenges the conventional view of the text as a unified, original composition and offers new insights into its textual formation and historical role.
About the Talk
Lutargyal (ཀླུ་ཐར་རྒྱལ།) is a Ph.D. candidate at the School of History and Culture, Sichuan University. His research focuses on the history of Li Yul (Khotan) as represented in Tibetan literature as well as the historical and literary development of the Kadampa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.
