What is the subject of the writing on this Tibetan stone shard?

May 31, 2022 1:57 PM

I was given this stone shard years ago by a friend who said he picked it up on the ground in Tibet. Can you tell me anything about what the the writing is about? Not a full translation. Just some sense of what the subject matter is would be great. Photo
posted by Jackson to Grab Bag (4 answers total)

Best answer: My friend who has done some translation of Tibetan Buddhist scripture says:

It’s definitely a Tibetan Buddhist inscription but it’s hard to make out. Would be easier if I had it in front of me, but even then it would be difficult because first, it’s incomplete, and second, it seems to have no separation markings between syllables.

posted by Winnie the Proust at 4:09 PM on May 31, 2022

Response by poster: Thanks very much to both of you. I got this helpful response from a person on /r/tibetanlanguage: I can see "sems can rnams" (sentient beings), and bsod nams ("merit"). So it is clearly religious subject matter.
posted by Jackson at 9:41 AM on June 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

Glad you got that info. I have one other person I can ask, the next time I run into him. I'll let you know if he has anything to add, or suggestions on where you could get a full translation.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 1:23 PM on June 1, 2022

I showed the photo to my neighbor, who was quite interested. He also saw "merit" in the lower right corner, but the rest he couldn't make out very well because the cuttings weren't visible in the photo. If you're able to get a higher contrast photo that shows more details, I think he'd be happy to take another look. (He's professor of religion and used to teach Tibetan at university, so this is right in his wheelhouse.)
posted by Winnie the Proust at 5:56 PM on June 1, 2022