For the Japanese translation of the Biography of Zaya Pandita

Junko Miyawaki-Okada (Toyo Bunko)

For the Japanese translation of the Biography of Zaya Pandita

(66th Annual Meeting of the PIAC Göttingen, 2024)

The Biography of Zaya Pandita, titled Tale called Moonlight, was composed in the 1690’s or somewhat later in present-day Dzungaria. Its author, Gelong gsol-dpon Radnabhadra, was a disciple of the first Zaya Pandita Nam-mkha-rgya-mtsho. Its story starts with the birth of the first Zaya Pandita in 1599, and in 1615 he was received commandments of a bande when the Oyirad tribal chiefs became first Tibetan Buddhists. He studied twenty-two years in Tibet and became a highest monk ever produced by the Oyirads. It was he himself who created in 1648 the Oyirad alphabet, or todorkhoi uzuq (clear alphabet), by improving the traditional Mongolian alphabet. His biography itself, except sutras translated from Tibetan, was the earliest source written in the Oyirad script.

The presenter read her papers on this historical source at the 28th PIAC meeting in 1985, which she attended for the first time, and at the 46th PIAC meeting in 2003. However, it remained impossible to publish a full translation in Japanese or English. Since then, many editions on the Oyirad alphabet have been published, and research by Mongolians, Russians, Chinese and other scholars has also progressed. Starting in the fall of 2022, nine members have been holding online meetings once a month in Japan. Together with old friends and disciples, she and H. Futaki, professor emeritus at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, are working on the Japanese translation and annotations, comparing the differences between the editions and noting previous research. New discoveries have been made about place names and people’s names by referring to Tibetan and other historical materials. They are currently working hard to publish the world’s best translated and annotated book in the near future.