By Kurtis Schaeffer (University of Virginia, 2009)
This is a section of Epistles (སྤྲིང་ཡིག་, spring yig) and narratives. Collected in a single volume (D.4187-D.4231), the section contains thirty-one letters from famous scholars to kings, rulers, and nobles. The most famous of these are certainly Nāgārjuna’s Precious Garland (D.4187), which begins the section (followed by a commentary, D.4188), and his Letter to a Friend (D.4211, also commented upon in D.4212). These works became popular classics in Tibet, cited countless times in ethical teachings throughout all schools.
Another popular work here is Candragomin’s Letter to Disciples (D.4212), two commentaries on which are included (D.4220, D.4221). Buddhaguhya’s Letter to the Tibetan King, Populace, and Monks (D.4223) opens with an interesting praise of King Trisong Detsen (ཁྲི་སྲོང་ལྡེ་བཙན་, khri srong lde btsan), suggesting, if we accept the letter’s authenticity, that Tibetan royalty were well-known and respected in central India in the late eighth century. Also of interest here is a letter (D.4227) inviting Tibetan monks to come to India to revive the tradition; this was translated in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century by Zhalu Lotsawa (ཞྭ་ལུ་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་, zhwa lu lo tsā ba).
The section ends with three narrative works (D.4229-D.4331) that make no pretension to be epistles. Among these is a fragmentary story on the spread of the tradition in the centuries following the death of the Buddha (D.4229), translated in the fifteenth century by Gö Lotsawa (འགོས་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་, ’gos lo tsā ba). Also found here is the Prophecy of Khotan (D.4231), a history of the propagation of Buddhism in Khotan.
Literature: The epistles in this section have been comprehensively studied and translated in Siglinde Dietz, Die Buddhistische Briefliteratur Indiens: Nach Dem Tibetischen Tanjur, Asiatische Forschungen Bd. 84 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1984).