Blue Annals

Go Lotsawa (1392 - 1481), the author of The Blue Annals

The Blue Annals (T. deb ther sngon po དེབ་ཐེར་སྔོན་པོ་) is a Tibetan historical survey written by Gö Lotsawa Zhönnu-pel in 1487.

David Germano and Kurtis Schaeffer (2007) state:

The Blue Annals (deb ther sngon po) is among the most comprehensive and famous of histories of Buddhism in Tibet. Completed in 1478 by the great scholar, The Translator of Gö Zhönnupel (‘gos lo tsa’a ba gzhon nu dpal, 1392-1481) and block-printed shortly thereafter, it has maintained an important place in the development of Tibetan historical writing due to both its comprehensive scope and its ecumenical orientation. Gö Lotsawa’s history has been well-known to readers outside Tibet since the early 1950s, when the Russian scholar/explorer George Roerich translated the entire work with the aid of Gendun Chöpel (Calcutta: Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1948-1953. 2 volumes, xxi, 1275 pages).

The Blue Annals is comprised of fifteen major sections (dum bu), and one-hundred and two chapters within those sections. While each chapter is at least nominally dedicated to a particular topic, there is so much in the way of incidental information on every page that the work becomes a veritable encyclopedia of Tibetan Buddhist culture in the centuries leading up to Gö Lotsawa’s time.

Outline

Germano and Schaeffer (2007) present the following outline of the major sections of the text:

1. Early Indian history, Indian and Tibetan Imperial Lines, and the Early Spread of the Buddhist Teachings in Tibet: 9 chapters.
2. The Later Spread (spyi dar) of the Buddhist Teachings in Tibet: 9 chapters.
3. The Early Translations of the Secret Mantra: 6 chapters.
4. The New Secret Mantra Traditions including the Path and its Results (lam ‘bras) Tradition: 3 chapters.
5. Atiśa and the Kadampa Traditions Descending from Him: 11 chapters.
6. The Translator Ngok Loden Sherap and the Philosophical Traditions Descending from Him: 5 chapters.
7. Exegetical Traditions of Various Tantric Systems: 6 chapters.
8. The Dakpo Kagyüpa Traditions Descending from Marpa: 23 chapters.
9. The Contemplative Traditions of Kodrakpa and Niguma: 2 chapters.
10. The Wheel of Time Tantra (Skt. Kālacakra): no separate chapters.
11. The Great Seal (Skt. Mahāmudrā) Traditions: 6 chapters.
12. The Peace-Making Lineages: 8 chapters.
13. The Cutting (gcod) Traditions and the Tradition of Kharakpa: 3 chapters.
14. The Great Compassion cycle, Adamantine Garland Tradition, and Other Minor Traditions: 12 chapters.
15. Various Monastic Traditions, Questions Concerning the Blue Annals, and the Printing of the Blue Annals: 5 chapters.

Chapter summaries

• The Blue Annals chapter summaries, Tibetan & Himalaya Library

Translation

• George Roerich, translator,
  • The Blue Annals, New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1979
  • The Blue Annals Part i and ii, free download at archive.org

Further reading

• deb ther sngon po, Buddha Nature: A Tsadra Foundation Initiative
• Blue Annals, Wikipedia
• Dan Martin (1997), Tibetan Histories: A Bibliography of Tibetan-Language Historical Works, London: Serindia, p.78
• Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp, 'On the Composition and Printings of the Deb gter sngon po by ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal' in JIATS, volume 2.
• Thuken Losang Chökyi Nyima (2009). The Crystal Mirror of Philosophical Systems: A Tibetan Study of Asian Religious Thought. Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 978-0861714643. 
• T. V. Wylie (1957), A Place Name Index to George N. Roerich's Translation of the Blue Annals, Serie Orientale Roma, no. 15, Rome: Instituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente