[page under construction]
This page contains a translation of Thonmi Sambhota's Takkijukpa (rtags kyi ‘jug pa), “The Application of Signs”, along with Ngulchu Choezang’s commentary si tu'i zhal lung, as found in W1KG24776.
Letter genders per Situ Shellung:
Legend:
| ཕོ་ | མ་ནིང་ | མོ་ | ཤིན་ཏུ་མོ་ | མོ་གཤམ་ |
| male | neuter | female | very female | barren female |
Chart of vowels and consonants:
| four vowels | thirty consonants |
Chart of main letters:
| ka | kha | ga | nga |
| ca | cha | ja | nya |
| ta | tha | da | na |
| pa | pha | ba | ma |
| tsa | tsha | dza | wa |
| zha | za | 'a | ya |
| ra | la | sha | sa |
| ha | a1 |
1: a is also classified as featureless
Chart of prefixes, ordered per the text:
| ba | ga | da | 'a | ma |
Chart of prefixes, ordered alphabetically:
| ga | da | ba | ma | 'a |
Chart of suffixes, ordered per the text:
| ga | da | ba | sa | nga | ma | 'a | na | ra | la |
Chart of suffixes, ordered alphabetically:
| ga | nga | da | na | ba | ma | 'a | ra | la | sa |
[to be added when finalized]
Having joined together the neck-ornament of the phrase-links and declensions,
which bears the transformations of the prefixes and suffixes of main letters,
the akṣara which embraces the count of the sky-fire string of ka,
strung on to the thread which reveals the group of a,n
I will place a maṇika necklace as an ornament of impartial people:
an unprecedented explanation of how they are applied
to the three times, self and other, object and subject, and sound and meaning,
through an analysis of the general and particular signs.n
Notes:
n) The translation of this verse is tenative; it uses poetic imagery of jewelry and threads. The gist is that he has now explained The Thirty, which deals with phrase-links and declensions as well as the vowels ("the group of a"), the consonants ("the group of ka"), and the prefix letters and suffix letters of the syllable (akṣara)
n) i.e. he will now explain The Application of Signs.
[རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། བྱཱ་ཀ་ར་ཎ་ལིངྒ་པ་ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་མ།
བོད་སྐད་དུ། ལུང་སྟོན་པ་རྟགས་ཀྱི་འཇུག་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ།
བྱཱ་ཀ་ར་ཎའི་དབང་ཕྱུག་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། །
སྨྲ་བའི་སྐྱེས་མཆོག་སྨྲ་བའི་རྒྱལ། །
ཐམས་ཅད་མཁྱེན་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། །]
[In the Indian language: vyākaraṇa-liṅgāvatāra-nāma
In the Tibetan language: lung ston pa rtags kyi 'jug pa zhes bya ba
[In the English language: The Grammar called “The Application of Signs”]
I bow down to the Lord of Vyākaraṇa.
I bow down to the greatest being who proclaims;
the king of proclaimers, the omniscient one.]
Note: This short section of the root text, which is enclosed in square brackets, includes the title of The Application of Signs along with the translator's prostration and the homage. This passage is not included in The Words of Situ, but is generally considered part of The Application of Signs and is discussed by other commentators, so I have included and translated it here. My source for the Tibetan of this passage is the root text as found in W2PD17428, vol. 1.
Second, in the explanation of The Application of Signs, there are three: the explanation of the analysis of the signs of the main letters in general; the explanation of the application of the signs of the prefixes, and the explanation of the application of the signs of the suffixes. As for the first:
ཕོ་ཡི་ཡི་གེ་འབའ་ཞིག་ལ། །
སྡེ་པ་ཕྱེད་དང་བརྒྱད་གནས་པའང་། །
སྡེ་ཚན་ལྔ་རུ་དྲིལ་བྱས་ནས། །
ཕོ་དང་མ་ནིང་མོ་དང་ནི། །
ཤིན་ཏུ་མོ་དང་བཞི་བཞི་རུ། །
སྡེ་པ་བཞི་པ་ཡན་ཆད་དབྱེ། །
ལྷག་མ་བཅུ་བཞི་གནས་པ་ལ། །
ཙ་སོགས་གསུམ་ནི་ཅ་སོགས་སྦྱར། །
ཝ་ནི་བ་དང་སྦྱར་བར་བྱ། །
ལྷག་མ་དྲུག་ནི་མོ་རུ་སྦྱར། །
ར་ལ་ཧ་ནི་མོ་གཤམ་སྟེ། །
ཨ་ནི་མཚན་མེད་ཅེས་ཀྱང་བྱ། །
As for the male letters only,
they exist as seven and a half rows;
by also grouping them into five sections,
[all rows] up to the fourth row are divided
into four each -- male, neuter, female,
and very female.
As for the remaining fourteen (existing as?),
the three, tsa and so on, are joined with ca and so on;
wa should be joined with ba;
the remaining six should be joined as female;
ra, la, and ha are barren female,
and a is also referred to as featureless.
In general, when Tibetan letters are divided in terms of male and female, the vowel letter markers, i, u, e, and o, are known to be the female nature of wisdom, and the thirty consonants from ka to a are known to be the male nature of method. Thus, only the male letters, i.e. for only the thirty gsal-byed [consonants], they exist as seven and a half rows: the first row, ka kha ga nga; the second, ca cha ja nya; the third, ta tha da na; the fourth, pa pha ba ma; the fifth, tsa tsha dza wa; the sixth, zha za ‘a ya; the seventh, ra la sha sa; and the half, ha a.
The grouping of those into five sections is as follows: the strong male sounds, medium neuter sounds, slightly weak female sounds, even slightly weaker very female sounds, and very weak barren female sounds.
Furthermore, the first four rows too may also be divided into the first, ka ca ta pa, male; the second, kha cha, tha, pha, neuter; the third, ga ja da ba, female; the fourth, nga nya na ma, very female.
As for the remainder not analyzed there, beginning with tsa, existing [as] fourteen letters, tsa and so on, i.e. tsa tsha dza, should be joined with the three, ca, and so on, explained above, with tsa known as male, tsha as neuter, and dza as female. Therefore, by joining wa with ba, it is female, and the remaining six zha, za, 'a, ya, sha sa are also joined as female letters. ra, la, and ha are referred to as barren female letters, and a is not only a barren female letter, but because its articulation (rtsol ba) is much weaker than even ra, la, and ha, it is also referred to as featureless (mtshan med).
Also, in most texts, the neuter is also referred to as featureless. Accordingly, they are broken letters (yi ge nyams pa).
(Odd points in this section: the use of gnas (pa) in two places, and the use of 'ang in the second line.)
In the second, the explanation of the application of the signs of the prefix letters, there are three: the explanation of how the prefixes arise from the main letters, the explanation of the analysis of the signs of the prefixes, and the explanation of how the signs of the prefix letters are applied. As for the first:
མོ་ཡི་ཡི་གེའི་ནང་ནས་ནི། །
འཇུག་པའི་ཡི་གེ་བཅུ་དབྱུང་བྱ། །
འཇུག་པ་བཅུ་ཡི་ནང་ནས་ནི། །
སྔོན་འཇུག་ཡི་གེ་ལྔ་དབྱུང་བྱ། །
From among the female letters
arise the ten [suf]fixed letters.
From among the ten [suf]fixes
arise the five prefix letters.
From among the female letters just explained, which exist (gnas) as 1) the merely female, 2) the very female, and 3) the barren female, without being individually analyzed, arise the ten suffix letters ga, nga, da, na, ba, ma, ‘a, ra, la, and sa, as explained previously in the Sumchupa. From among those too [i.e. in turn] arise the five prefix letters ga, da, ba, ma, and ’a.
Second, the explanation of the analysis of the signs of the prefixes, is as follows:
སྔོན་འཇུག་ཡི་གེ་ལྔ་པོ་ལ། །
ཕོ་དང་མ་ནིང་མོ་དང་ནི། །
ཤིན་ཏུ་མོ་དང་བཞི་རུ་དབྱེ། །
As for the five prefix letters,
they are analyzed as 1) male, 2) neuter, 3) female,
and 4) very female.
As for the five prefix letters just explained, when read while joined with a main letter, the pronunciation is analyzed in terms of being strong or weak into the male bakāra (ba yig), the neuter ga and da, the female 'akāra, and the very female makāra.
In the third, the explanation of how the signs of the prefixes are applied, there are two: the summary and the extensive explanation. As for the first:
དེ་དག་རེ་རེའང་བཞི་བྱེད་དེ། །
གང་ལ་འཇུག་བྱེད་གང་གིས་བྱེད། །
ཇི་ལྟར་འཇུག་བྱེད་ཅི་ཕྱིར་བྱེད། །
Those each have four functions(?):
applied on what, and by what,
applied in what way, and why.
There are four ways in which the prefix letters pho and so on (de dag!!! not dual) are each applied, that is, in terms of four articulations (byed pa) each: main letter basis of application onto which they are applied; the applicator prefix letter by which they are applied, the manner by which they are applied in terms of the application of sound, and the purpose for which they are applied.
The second, the extensive explanation, has three parts: the description of that to which they are applied and that by which they are applied in common(together?), the description of how they are applied, and the description of why they are applied. The first has two parts: connecting with questions, and telling with answers. As for the first:
To what are they applied?, you ask.
The second, telling with answers, has two parts: the main telling with answers, and the description of the non-application of the ancillary. As for the first:
ཕོ་ནི་ཕོ་དང་མོ་ལ་འཇུག། [sic.]
མོ་ནི་མོ་དང་མ་ནིང་ལ། །
མ་ནིང་ཡང་ནི་ཕོ་མོ་ལའོ། །
ཤིན་ཏུ་མོ་ནི་མ་ནིང་དང་། །
མོ་དང་ཤིན་ཏུ་མོ་ཉིད་ལའོ། །
Male applies to male and female,
female to female and neuter,
neuter also to male and female,
and very female to neuter,
female, and the same very female.
Here, as for the appliers, the male letter ba applies to sixteen -- the four male main letters which are not the same row, ka ca ta tsa, and the twelve female letters ga, nga, ja, nya, da, na, dza, zha, za, ra, sha, sa. Therefore(likewise?), the female prefix 'a applies to ten – the five female main letters ga ja da ba dza, and the five neuter [main letters], kha cha tha pha tsha. The neuter prefix ga applies to eleven – the three male main letters ca ta tsa, and the eight female [main] letters, nya da na zha za ya sha sa; and [the neuter prefix] da applies to six – the two male main letters ka pa, and the four female [main letters] ga nga ba ma. The very female prefix ma-letter applies to eleven – the four neuter main letters kha cha tha tsha, the four female [main] letters ga ja da dza, and the three very female [main letters] nga nya na.
(note: would be super rewarding to analyze the syntax of the above, e.g. its sluicing, and also how it relates to identity, e.g. exhaustive vs. non-exhaustive lists)
Also, in general the objects of application ba and da of the ‘phul-rten such as “bskyed” are the three, sa ka ya, but the main object of application is the very letter ka, so in this context as well that to which they are applied must refer to the main object of application; if that were not so, we would have to accept the letter ’a in e.g. 'gyen as applying to the letter ya of its own/same row.
As for the second, the description of the ancillary ____:
ཕོ་ནི་མ་ནིང་ལ་མི་འཇུག །
མོ་ནི་ཕོ་ལ་འཇུག་པ་མིན། །
མ་ནིང་རང་ལ་རང་མི་འཇུག །
རང་གི་སྡེ་དང་ཕྲད་པ་ན། །
ཕོ་ཡང་མོ་ལ་འཇུག་མི་འགྱུར། །
མ་ནིང་མོ་ཡང་དེ་བཞིན་ནོ། །
Male does not apply to neuter,
female does not apply to male,
neuter does not apply itself to itself.
When meeting with its own row,
male also does not apply to female,
and neuter likewise also [to] female.
The male prefix ba is not applied to the neuter main letters kha cha tha pha tsha, and (cing) the female prefix ‘a and its [i.e. the prefixes’?] implicitly taught very female letter ma (dag = dual) are not applied to the male main letters ka ca ta pa tsa, and (pa dang) the neuter prefixes ga and da are also not applied to the neuter main letters kha cha tha pha tsha. Again as before, when the specific prefixes of “male applies to male and female” and so on meet with the main letters analyzed as a fourfold set, the male prefix letter ba does not apply to the female main letters ba and ma (dag = dual), and by the word “also” it is taught to also not apply to the male letter pa, and likewise(de bzhin du) the neuter prefix letters ga da also do not apply to the male and female of their own row, so the letter ga does not apply to the main letters ka ga nga, and the letter da does not apply to the main letters ta da na, and the female prefix letter ‘a does not apply to the female main letters of its own row, zha za ’a ya, and by the word “also” the very female prefix letter ma does not apply to the neuter main letter of its own row pha, and the female [main letter of its own row] ba and the very female [main letter of its own row] ma. (revise)
Secondly, in the description of how they are applied, there are two: connecting with questions, and telling with answers. As for the first?
How are they applied?, you ask.
As for the second, telling with answers:
ཕོ་ནི་དྲག་པའི་ཚུལ་གྱིས་ཏེ། །
མ་ནིང་རན་པར་འཇུག་པར་འཇུག་པ་ཡིན། །
མོ་ནི་ཞན་པའི་ཚུལ་གྱིས་ཏེ། །
ཤིན་ཏུ་མོ་ནི་མཉམ་པས་སོ། །
Male in a strong manner,
neuter is applied in a medium one, [typo in root text here]
female in a weak manner,
and very female, evenly.
The male prefix letter ba is applied to the main letters which are its own object of application in terms of strong sound and articulatory exertion (sgra dang byed rtsol drag pa), and the neuter letters ga da are applied with medium sound and exertion (sgra rtsol), and the female letter 'a is applied in terms of weak sound and exertion (sgra rtsol), and the very female letter ma is applied with even exertion of sound, that is, in a very relaxed/loose and weak manner.
In the third, the description of why they are applied, there are two: connecting with questions, and telling with answers. As for the first:
Why are they applied?, you ask.
As for the second, telling with answers:
ཕོ་ནི་འདས་དང་གཞན་བསྒྲུབ་ཕྱིར། །
མ་ནིང་གཉིས་ཀ་ད་ལྟར་ཆེད། །
མོ་ནི་བདག་ད་[sic.]མ་འོངས་ཕྱིར། །
ཤིན་ཏུ་མོ་ནི་མཉམ་ཕྱིར་རོ། །
Male in order to establish past and other,
neuter for the sake of both in the present (?),
female for self and future,
very female for evenness.
As for the male prefix letter ba:
the purpose is, from the three tenses,
e.g. lha bsgrubs so ("…accomplished the deity."), lcags gser du bsgyurd to ("…turned iron into gold."), in order to establish a completed past action (bya ba byas zin pa ‘das pa) which is explicitly connected to an other (i.e. separate) agent, [note: “connected with agent” = byed 'brel/transitive] and:
(note: slar bsdu are used throughout to clearly mark verbs, as opposed to agents or patients)
from the two entities (? dngos po) of self and other, e.g. gzhan te, btung ba, bdug pa, bsgrub bya, bsgrub par bya ba, bsgrub bya’i lha, bsgyur bya, bsgyur bar bya ba, bsgyur bya'i lcags, [in order to establish] the entity of the verbal object (bya ba'i yul) which is explicitly connected with an other agent, and e.g. bsgrub par bya, bsgrub bo, bsgyur bar bya, bsgyur ro, in order to establish the same/very sound which clarifies(? gsal byed) the action which is connected with the verbal object.
[artificial paragraph break]
The neuter prefixes ga and da are applied in order to establish:
e.g. shing gcod pa po, gcod byed, skyon dgag po, dgag byed – the entity of the agent, and:
e.g. gcod par byed, gcod do, dgag par byed, dgag go – the entity of the self, i.e. the two consonant(? gsal byed) sounds from the agent(? byed - or byed las?) which is connected with the agent, and:
e.g. gdam pa, gzung ba, gcad bya, gcad par bya ba, gcad bya'i shing, dgag bya, dgag par bya ba, dgag bya'i skyon – the entity of the verbal object which is explicitly connected to a separate agent, and:
e.g. gcad par bya, gcod do, dgag par bya, dgag go – the entity of the other, [i.e.] the two sounds which clarify the action which is connected with the verbal object;
(applied in order to establish) both the entity of self and of other, and
from the three tenses not included in that,
e.g. gcod kyin ‘dug, gcod bzhin pa’o, dgag gin ‘dug, dgag bzhin pa’o – is applied in order to establish the present (? da ltar ba) the action being done (?) which is explicitly connected with a separate agent;
The present (da ltar ba) [or, "now ba"] is translated with auxiliary particles (tshig grogs) of the very sound which clarifies the act (byed las).
[artificial paragraph break, on p.52]
The female prefix 'a:
e.g. mdud pa ‘grol pa po, ’grol byed, yos ‘thag pa po, ’thag byed – the entity of an agent which appears as different object and agent (bya byed), and:
e.g. mdud pa ‘grol bar byed, ’grol lo, yos ‘thag par byed, ’thag go – the sound which establishes the act (byed las) which is connected with the agent;
in order to establish that, because those are the entity of self; and:
e.g. ‘grol gyin ’dug, ‘thag bzhin pa’o, ‘gyur gyin ’dug, ‘grub bzhin pa’o – in order to establish the present (da ltar ba) tense which is not included by the analysis of self and other, and
e.g. ‘khor lo ’khor bar ‘gyur, don ’grub par ‘gyur – is applied for the purpose of the establishings of time of the future action-to-be-done (bya ba byed ’gyur) which appears as (lta bur) different object and agent (bya byed) without explicitly having a separate agent.
[artificial paragraph break]
The very female prefix letter ma:
e.g. mkhas par byas, mkhas pa, mkhas par byed, mkhas bya, mkhas par bya, mkhas par gyur, mkhas bzhin pa, mkhas par ’gyur – self and other previously described, and
is applied in order to establish evenness, i.e. similarity (mtshungs pa nyid), in all, without distinctions of the three tenses.
(now at bottom of p.52)
Also, the analysis of the tenses pervades all joinings of speech which is connected with the object of action and agent (?bya byed kyi las), because all bya ba'i las are future and all byed pa'i las are present (da ltar ba).
[artificial paragraph break]
The analysis of self and other does not pervade all byad byed kyi las, because it does not pervade bya byed kyi las which are not explicitly connected with a separate agent. Therefore, doing analysis of self and other is for synthesizing the sgra of the agent and the verbal object, and incidentally the sgra of bya byed which are connected with self and other and which are of similar power to one another are synthesized, and doing analysis of the three times is for synthesizing the remaining sgra of bya byed which are not pervaded by the analysis of self and other.
[artificial paragraph break]
However, if you ask, What is a bya byed tha mi dad pa which lacks an agent? It is a non-appearing other agent in the context of doing an action (bya ba byed pa); it is also called “non-appearing other agent”, for example, in the case of bdag ‘gro’o ("I go"), that “go”ing is a verb (bya tshig), but the one who is gone and goer are both “I”, so there is no goer other than the one who is gone, and therefore the analysis of self and other does not also apply (byed) to this.
[artificial paragraph]
Furthermore, in the context of doing an action, because it is called “a non-appearing other agent”, for example in the case of rdza mkhan gyi ‘khor lo ’khor ro ("the potter's wheel turns"), at first there is an other turner, but in the context of turning (by itself), it turns naturally itself without an other turner, and so in that context, in terms of non-different patient and agent, 'khor is stated, but not bskor.
[artificial paragraph]
Additionally, because it is called “a non-appearing other agent”, for example in the case of some iron naturally becoming gold in front of some person, that person's merit is an other doer, but because it changes due to the action of that not explicitly appearing and of the origination of the iron itself, [lcags gser du] gyur is stated, not lcags gser du bsgyur.
[artificial break]
In addition to that, if you examine carefully, from the individual characteristic of each entity, the doing of a verb (bya ba byed pa) by itself to itself is contradictory, yet there is no contradiction in the mere convention of a coarse general isolate. As illustrated by those points, in this context a fine and subtle mind seems to need to examine many times.
Third, in the description of the application of signs of suffixes, there are two: the description of the analysis of the signs of the suffixes, and the description of how the signs of the suffixes are applied. The first has two: their general analysis into three signs, and their analysis into eight subcategories. As for the first:
རྗེས་འཇུག་ཡི་གེ་བཅུ་པོ་ལ། །
ཕོ་མོ་མ་ནིང་གསུམ་དུ་དབྱེ། །
The ten suffix letters
are analyzed into 1) male, 2), female, and 3) neuter.
The ten suffix letters ga nga da na ba ma ‘a ra la sa are analyzed into three: 1) the four male letters ga da ba sa, 2) the three female letters nga ma ’a, and 3) the three neuter [letters] na ra la.
As for the second, the analysis into eight subcategories:
ཕོ་ལ་སྐྱེས་བུ་རབ་འབྲིང་གསུམ། །
མོ་ལ་མོ་དང་ཤིན་ཏུ་མོ། །
མ་ནིང་འགྱུར་དང་མཚན་གཉིས་དང་། །
མཚན་མེད་དག་དང་གསུམ་དུ་འདོད། །
Male has the three people; 1) excellent, 2) average, etc.
Female has female and very female.
Neuter is declared to be 1) changing, 2) two-featured,
and 3) featureless.
If the suffixes analyzed into three signs are once again analyzed into eight subcategories:
(at)(is this just a case marker?) the male letters, they are declared to be three:
1) the excellent person, which is a final ga with a post-suffix sa;
2) the average person, which is a final ba with a post-suffix sa;
3) the lesser person, which is a final ga, da, ba, sa with no post-suffix.
(at) the three female letters are declared to be two:
4) the merely female, which is nga ma with the post-suffix sa;
5) the very female, which is nga ma 'a with no post-suffix.
As for the three neuters, they are declared to be divided into three:
6) The changing neuter:
a) both having and lacking the post-suffix da at the end of male main letters;
b) only lacking a post-suffix at the end of female [main] letters;
c) only having a post-suffix at the end of neuter [main] letters;
7) The two-featured neuter, which has a post-suffix at the end of female main letters;
8) The featureless neuter, which lacks a post-suffix at the end of neuter main letters.
The second, the description of how the signs of the suffixes are applied, has two: the brief description and the extensive explanation. As for the first:
དེ་ཡང་བྱེད་པ་བཞི་བྱེད་དེ། །
གང་ལ་འཇུག་བྱེད་གང་གིས་བྱེད། །
ཇི་ལྟར་འཇུག་བྱེད་ཅི་ཕྱིར་བྱེད། །
These also have four functions(?):
to what they are applied, by what,
how they are applied, and why.
Furthermore, the manner of application of the male, female, and neuter suffixes in terms of four functions(? byed pa) each should also be known. To which suffix letters they are applied, by which applier they are applied, in what way they are applied, and for what reason they are applied.
Second, the extensive explanation, has four: the description of to what they are applied, the description of by what they are applied, the description of in what way they are applied, and the description of why they are applied. As for the first:
གང་ལ་ཡི་གེ་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ། །
To what: to all letters;
Those ten suffix letters are applied to what letters that are the object of application? you may ask. They are applied to all of the thirty main letters, from ka to a, without distinction. Well, if they are the object of application of the suffixes, then aren't they necessarily the main letters taught here? you may ask. Not necessarily; as Dharmasvami Sapan said in mkhas pa'i kha rgyan (Mouth Ornament of the Wise), “Da and sa are the post-suffixes. Da is of [i.e. is applied after] na, ra, and la. Sa is of ga, nga, ba, and ma.”
Second, as for the description of by what they are applied:
གང་གིས་བཅུ་པོ་དེ་དག་གིས། །
by what: by those ten;
Applied by which particular letters that are suffixed to all letters? Applied by those ten suffix letters explained previously.
Third, the description of how they are applied, has two: the brief description and the extensive explanation. As for the first:
ཇི་ལྟར་རྣ མ་པ་གཉིས་ཡིན་ཏེ། །
སྒྲ་ཡི་འཇུག་ཚུལ་དོན་གྱི་ཚུལ། །
in what way: in two types --
the way of application of sound, and the way of meaning.
They way in which the suffixes are applied should also be known in terms of two types: the way of application of sound, in which strong sounds ending in suffixes become weaker, and way of application of meaning, in which those ending in that way indicate some meaning.
The second, the extensive explanation, has two: the description of the way of application of sound, and the description of the way of application of meaning. The first has two: the description of how they are applied (to?) strong and weak in general, and the description of how they are applied subcategories in detail. As for the first:
ཕོ་གསུམ་མོ་གཉིས་མ་ནིང་གསུམ། །
དྲག་ཞན་བར་མ་གསུམ་དུ་འཇུག །
The three male, two female, and three neuter
are applied as the three: strong, weak, and medium.
Of the ten suffix letters, (the three males are the first subset of the ten– restructure this to clearly show that) no matter which (gang…[verb] kyang) of the main letters ends in the three males, i.e. the excellent, average, and lesser, (the suffix letter) is applied with a strong spoken pronunciation, and
likewise if ending [in] the two, merely female and very female, with a weak (spoken pronunciation), and
if ending in the three neuters – changing, two-featured, and featureless – with a medium, i.e. balanced (spoken pronunciation).
As for the second, the description of how they are applied in subcategorical detail:
དྲག་པ་གསུམ་ཉིད་ནང་ཕྲད་དམ། །
གལ་ཏེ་ཞན་པ་ནང་ཕྲད་ན། །
དེ་ལའང་ནང་གི་ཆ་ཤས་ཀྱིས། །
དེ་ཡང་དྲག་ཞན་གཉིས་སུ་དབྱེ། །
མ་ནིང་གསུམ་དུ་གང་གཏོགས་པ། །
དྲག་དང་ཕྲད་ན་དྲག་པར་འགྱུར། །
ཞན་དང་ཕྲད་ན་ཞན་པར་འགྱུར། །
གཉིས་ཀ་དག་དང་ཕྲད་གྱུར་ན། །
དེ་ནི་གཉིས་ཀ་ཅན་དུ་འགྱུར། །
གཉིས་ཀ་དག་དང་མ་ཕྲད་ན། །
གང་དུ་ཡང་ནི་མི་འགྱུར་རོ། །
དེས་ན་འགྱུར་དང་མཚན་གཉིས་དང་། །
མཚན་མེད་དག་དང་གསུམ་དུ་འདོད། །
དེ་ནི་སྒྲ་ཡི་འཇུག་ཚུལ་ལོ། །
The same three strong ones inner meet and (?)
if they inner-meet weak, (?)
they also due to the inner part (?)
they also are analyzed into 1) strong and 2) weak.
That which is included in the three neuters
becomes strong when it meets with strong,
and becomes weak when it meets with weak.
If it meets both,
it comes to have both.
If it doesn't meet either,
it doesn't become either.
Therefore, it is asserted to be the three:
1) changing and 2) two-featured and 3) featureless.
That is the manner of application of sound.
As for the analysis of the male suffix letters [with a] strong pronunciation into the three people, excellent, average, and lesser, as was explained above: it is by the mutual inner meeting of the suffixes or not (note: __ phan tshun nang phrad seems to be an idiom); “dam” is a particle of synthesis, and so what is synthesized? By the inner aspect, the division into strong and weak is synthesized.
As for the manner of analysis:
It is divided into two: 1) the strong of the strong sound, because the people have inner meeting, and
2) the weak of the strong sound, because because the lesser person has no inner meeting; and
The first also (or: it also becomes three categories by analyzing the first into…) becomes three categories by analyzing it into the excellent person, which has a very strong sound,
and the average person, which has a slightly weaker sound than that;
for example, skyogs, skyabs, skas, skad, bkag, bkab.
Likewise/in that way, if even the weak pronunciation female suffixes analyzed into two, merely female and very female, mutually inner-meet the suffixes, because of whether or not they meet, that too by the inner part is analyzed into two: 1) the strong of the weak, because the merely female has nang 'phrad;
2) the weak of the weak, because the very female does not have nang phrad;
for example: bskangs, bskums, skong, skom, bka'.
The medium pronunciation neuters analyzed to include the changing, two-featured, and featureless, if in terms of their way of applying to the main letter and [in terms of] both whether or not the suffixes mutually inner-meet, both
1) e.g. bstand, bskord, stsald, rkun, bstar, btsal – both having and not having post-suffixes at the end of male main letters; and
2) e.g. phyind, thard, 'phruld – having post-suffixes at the end of neuter (main letters),
through the power of meeting with strong pronunciation, it becomes strong (in both the above cases) and
e.g. ‘gran, ’gor, 'gul – not having post-suffix at the end of female letters, it becomes weak through the power of meeting with weak pronunciation;
therefore those both the changing neuter, and
e.g. ‘dzind, ’byord, bsald – having post-suffix at the end of female letters, it comes to have both strong and weak [pronunciation] through the power of meeting with both strong and weak; therefore the two-featured neuter, and
e.g. mthun, mthor, 'khrul – not having post-suffix at the end of neuter, it does not become either strong or weak through the power of not meeting with both strong and weak pronunciation, the pronunciation abides evenly, therefore the featureless neuter;
the analysis is asserted to be threefold (as above); those are the analyses of the way that the pronunciation is applied as strong, weak, or medium. (alt: that [they] are applied with strong, weak, or medium pronunciation.)
Second, the description of the way of application of meaning has two: the summary and the extensive explanation. As for the first:
དོན་ནི་རྣམ་པ་གཉིས་ཡིན་ཏེ། །
སྔ་མ་གང་ལྟར་འགྱུར་བ་དང་། །
ཕྱི་མ་གང་ལྟར་འགྱུར་བའོ། །
The meaning is of two types:
how the former changes, and
how the latter changes.
The way that the suffixes are joined to such and such a meaning is of two types;
how, i.e. in what particular way, there is a change in the meaning of that word which ends in and in which exists the former same suffixes (does the gang here refer to the suffixes, or to the word?), and
how there is a change in the meaning in according to how the word's end and so on are drawn out ('dren) by that latter suffix or ending.
Second, the extensive explanation, has two: the description of how the former changes, and the description of how the latter changes. As for the first:
སྔ་མ་སྔོན་འཇུག་ལྔ་བཞིན་སྦྱར། །
The former is joined according to the five prefixes.
The very same word which ends in one of the suffixes, depending on the ending of the word and so on, is established as the former, and so by joining its indication of some meaning such as self and other with the power of one of the five prefixes located before that word, you should understand self and other, the three times, and so on. For example, ‘jog byed, brdeg bya, bkag go, ’gag par 'gyur, dgag bzhin pa, bdag, bstod cig.
However, even if there is no prefix, e.g. rdeg byed, sgug bya, phag go, sgug par 'gyur, rdeg bzhin pa, rtag pa, shog cig – it may seem like the suffixes apply to self and other and the three times, but as in e.g. zhugs so, gas so, phyind to, both the sa-affix and post-suffix, as well as the da post-suffix only, establishing the volitional past, and
other than the particular instance of the ending 'a not ever being applied to the past,
except due to the power of being transformed by an auxiliary (tshig grogs),
the suffix is not volitionally applied to self and other and the three times.
(reworded: “…it may seem like the suffixes apply to self and other and the three times, but the suffix is not voluntarily applied to self, other, and the three times except due to the power of being transformed by an auxiliary, other than the particular case(s) of the sa-affix and post-suffix and just the da post-suffix voluntarily establishing the past (or: being established as the voluntary past) as in zhugs so, gas so, and phyind to, as well as the ending 'a not ever being applied to the past.”)
The second, the description of how the latter changes, has two: the summary and the extensive explanation. As for the first:
ཕྱི་མ་དག་གི་འདྲེན་ཚུལ་ནི། །
The latter's way of guiding: (?)
As for the latter, the way that the meaning of the rank (thob thang) of the word-ending and the case and so on are applied,
because of guiding
(in terms of depending on the suffix of the former and
the explanandum of the latter, whatever they may be,)
its manner is [so] called.
The second, the extensive explanation, has two: the description of how it guides the word-endings, and the description of how it guides the cases and so on. As for the first:
ཕོ་ཡིས་ཕོ་ཡི་མིང་མཐའ་དྲང་། །
མོ་ཡིས་མོ་ཡི་མིང་མཐའ་དྲང་། །
མ་ནིང་གིས་ནི་མ་ནིང་ངོ་། །
Male guides a male word-ending,
female guides a female word-ending,
and neuter, a neuter.
[Grammar note: X gyis Y 'dren = X precedes Y]
Furthermore, the male suffix letter of the ending of the former word, because it is part of that same word, should guide the male main letter of another word-ending that must join the ending, e.g. cig car, thad ka, sgrub pa, gnyis ka, mkhyend pa, 'byord pa, bskald pa, thugs ka, bsgrubs pa, dgos pa, goms pa.
Likewise, a female letter guides a word-ending of a female main letter, e.g. gsing ma, tham ga, dga' ba.
And the neuter guides the word-ending of a neuter main letter, e.g. dgun kha, dbyar kha, gsal kha.
Also, said like the guiding of only a sign-concordant (rtags mtshungs) word ending, it is thought for just the main one, and so it is not certain/defined as just that; there are also many females [guided] by males, e.g. stag ma, tshad ma, tshab ma, lhas ma; and males [guided] by females, e.g. rkang pa, dam pa, mda' pa, and females guided by neuters, e.g. ston mo, bstar ba, rgyal ba, and even though those may be sign-discordant (rtags ma mthun), having made ease of expression (brjod bde) the principle, because they are guided concordant sounds (sgra mthun drangs pa), they are possible in the thought of the actual treatise of both the Sumtak.
Furthermore, previously, [the placement of] na ra la with a post-suffix as neuter, and the placement of nga ma with a post-suffix as female,
the occasion of explaining the power/ability of pronunciation of a merged suffix and post-suffix, and here the placement of those [two placements?] as the male sign are non-contradictory, because the guiding of word-endings of the sign of the post-suffix is the current situation.
Furthermore, although sign-concordant guiding is very common in the old language – e.g. dkond cog, rind cen, lhand cig, land cig, thabs cig, chabs cig, stod kor, klad kor, pad kor, yungs kar, rgya gar – they mostly have clearly declined due to the many revisions of the revised language.
The second, the description of how case/declension and so on are guided, has two: the general explanation of how they're guided, and the subcategorical explanation of how they're applied. As for the first:
མིང་མཐའ་དེ་དག་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་ནི། །
དེ་ཉིད་རང་གི་སྒྲ་མཐུན་པའི། །
ཆོས་དངོས་ལས་དང་བྱེད་པ་དང་། །
སྦྱིན་དང་འབྱུང་ཁུངས་འབྲེལ་པ་དང་། །
གནས་དང་བོད་པའི་སྒྲ་ཡང་དྲང། ། (typo in root text here)
གཞན་ཡང་སླར་བསྡུ་ལྷག་བཅས་དང་། །
འབྱེད་སྡུད་བསྣན་དང་བདག་པོ་དང་། །
དགག་སྒྲུབ་རྒྱན་དང་དུས་ལའང་འཇུག །
དེ་དག་སྔ་ཤུགས་འདྲེན་པས་འབྱུང་། །
Those same word-endings
also guide the sounds of the actual dharma, the object, the instrument,
the giving, the origin, the connection,
the place, and the vocative,
of concordant sound of those very same ones.
[They are?] also applied to the conclusion, continuative,
analytic-synthetic, emphatic, owner,
negative, accomplishing, ornaments, and time.
Those arise by guiding the power of the former.
The same former and latter words that were just explained guide the sounds/particles (sgra) of the declensions which are of concordant sound (sgra mthun par gyur pa) because of concordance of sign of the very same word-endings or [because of] ease of expression (brjod pa bde ba); [the declensions being] the first, which expresses the actual dharma, i.e. the very essence (ngo bo tsam brjod pa), and the second, the ___ (las su bya ba), and the third, the agent (byed pa po) or just the instrument (byed pa), and the fourth, __ (ched du bya ba), indicated by the object of giving, and the fifth, the origin ('byung khungs) and the sixth, the connective ('brel pa) and the seventh, the location (gnas gzhi) and the eighth, the vocative (bod pa).
Likewise, also the nipAta which are or are not the branches of the cases, such as the sounds/particles applied to conclusion, the continuative, the analytic-synthetic, the emphasis (bsnan pa), the owner, the negative, the accomplishing (sgrub pa), the phrasal ornaments, and time, i.e. temporal, since those also are guided by the power of the word-ending of the former, they are the correct arising of the way of joining. (In other words,) the way of guiding the sixth from among those (i.e. the owner) is also found ('byung) in the Sumchupa, and furthermore, the nipata of the i-ldan, la-don, conclusion, continuative, analytic-synthetic, owner, phrasal ornaments, and cing and so on, by the power of the suffix of the former word, should be understood according to a condensed summary I wrote (bkod zin pa) at the age of 23 of the way that [that power of the suffix of the former word] guides [those nipata] in accord with any sound-sign.
The second, the subcategorical explanation of how they are applied, has two: the brief description and the extensive explanation. As for the first:
དེ་དག་ནང་གསེས་གང་འཇུག་པ། །
མཐར་སྦྱར་འོག་མའི་མིང་དོན་ལས། །
The application of some subcategories of those
[is?] from the ming-don below, joined at the end.
The application of such and such subcategories of those declensions and nipAta should be known from the below ming-don which will be joined at the end of [i.e. which can be found after] the ming-tshig which are associated mainly with a declension.
The second, the extensive explanation, has two: the explanation of the application of whatever subcategories of declensions, and the explanation of theapplication of whatever subdivisions of phrad. As for the first:
སྤྱི་འཇུག་ཡོད་དམ་བྱེད་པ་ཡོད། །
དེ་བཞིན་ཆེད་བྱེད་རྟེན་བྱེད་དང་། །
ལས་བྱ་བླང་བྱ་བསྒྲུབ་པར་བྱ། །
སྔོན་དུ་འོས་པ་གནས་པའམ། །
If there is a general application, or if there is an instrument,
likewise doing for a purpose, doing support, and
las-bya, blang-bya, to-be-accomplished:
the appropriate one is placed in front, and
As for the application of such and such subcategories of declensions: after a word like bdud rtsi, if there is a sound that applies in general, such as gang zhig, it is an application of the first declension to the previous word; however, in Tibetan, it is predominantly by the absence of a sound which indicates the first declension, e.g. bdud rtsi gang zhig, or else bdud rtsi nyid gang zhig, [it is predominantly by this that what is done?] and
also at the end of that word, e.g. ‘tsho bar byed, if there is a sound etc. of instrument, it is an application [of] the third declension, e.g. bdud rtsis ’tsho bar byed, and it is joined likewise;
if there is a sound of doing for the purpose, e.g. mos pa, by the application of the fourth declension, e.g. bdud rtsi la mos pa, and
also if there is a sound of doing support, e.g. rten, by applying the seventh declensino, e.g. bdud rtsi la rten, and
also if there is a sound of las-su-bya-ba, e.g. bsgyur, by applying the second declension, e.g. bdud rtsir bsgyur, and
also if there is a sound etc. of blang bya, e.g. blang bar bya, by applying the fifth declension, e.g. bdud rtsi las blang bar bya, and
also if there is a sound of to-be-accomplished (bsgrub par bya ba), e.g. rgya mtsho, by applying the sixth declension, e.g. bdud rtsi'i rgya mtsho, and
also if there is a word in front, e.g. ming bdud rtsi ma, and if there is a meaning/referent which is appropriate to refer to that, e.g. bdag la 'chi med stsol, the first declension is applied and
by also needing to join a sound which clarifies the vocative, e.g. bdud rtsi ma kye bdag la ‘chi med stsol, ’gyur ba etc. should be known; 'am ["and"] is a nipata of synthesis.
Furthermore, if there is a sound of emphasis etc., to the former, the first, and
if there is a sound of the to-be-proven (bsgrub bya) etc., to the former, the third, and
if there is a sound of having arisen from that word-ending, or a sound of to-be-isolated, or a sound of to-be-proven (bsgrub bya), etc. to the former, the fifth, and
if there is a verb (bya tshig) which seems like it does support, there is also the application to the former [of] the seventh; (duplicate sluicing upwards)
for example, bdud rtsi de [1], brjid pas nyi ma dang mtshungs [3], sa las rtswa skyes [5a], mi las lha bzang [5b], mi rtag pa las dngos por grub [5c], mtshon khar bsad [7].
The second, the explanation of the application of whatever subcategories of phrad, is as follows:
གཞན་ཡང་ཚིག་དོན་འོག་མ་ལས། །
བསྡུ་རྒྱུ་ཡོད་དམ་མེད་པ་དང་། །
གོང་མ་ལས་ཀྱང་དེ་བཞིན་ཏེ། །
རྣམ་གྲངས་དག་ཀྱང་བཀོད་པ་ལས། །
བསྐྱར་བ་ཡོད་དམ་མེད་པ་དང་། །
ཕོ་སྒྲ་དག་ནི་མོ་སྒྲ་དག །
མིང་གི་མཐའ་ན་ཡོད་མེད་དང་། །
རྒྱན་དུ་གྱུར་པ་རྣ མས་ལ་ཡང་། །
དོན་ལ་བསྙེགས་པ་ཡོད་མེད་དང་། །
བསྟན་བྱ་ལྷག་མ་ཡོད་མེད་དང་། །
ཚིག་དོན་རྫོགས་དང་མ་རྫོགས་ཀྱིས། །
དེ་དག་ནང་གསེས་རྣམ་པར་དབྱེ། །
Furthermore, from the lower tshig don,
having bsdu rgyu or lacking one, and
likewise from the upper too;
from arranging also the count,
having bskyar ba or lacking one, and
having or lacking at the end of a word
the male sound and female sound, and
and also the ornaments having and lacking
following-to-the-meaning, and
having or lacking anything remaining to be described, and
the tshig don being complete or incomplete:
in that way those should be differentiated into subcategories.
Furthermore (gzhan yang), as for those subcategories of nipata which are to be guided by a word-ending, except for those two each which hav ecome about simply by wanting to express, should be known predominantly from the below tshig don which is to be joined(?) to the end of that word:
from a tsikdon-of-similar-upper-[and]-lower,
if there is an upper which is to be synthesized,
[you] should join the nipata which synthesizes the former word at the end of the former [or, which synthesizes at the end of the former-former word, or which synthesizes the word at the end of the former-former]; e.g. ལྷ་དང་། མི་དང་། ལྷ་མ་ཡིན་དང་། དྲི་ཟར་བཅས་པའི་འཇིག་རྟེན་ཡི་རང་སྟེ། and
likewise (de bzhin du) from a tsikdon-of-similar-upper-[and]-lower if there is a lower which is to be synthesized,
[you] should join the nipata which synthesizes the lower, e.g. ལྷས་ཀྱང་བཏུད་ན་མིས་ལྟ་ཅི་སྨོས།, and
also if [you] need to emphasize (bsnan) the latter in the former tsikdon in order to connect together e.g. a verb at the end,
you should join the phrad which emphasizes the variety/particulars of synthesis(?), e.g. གསེར་དངུལ་ཟངས་ལྕགས་གཤའ་ཚེའང་སྦྱར།, and
from arranging one or two or many rnam-grangs of ming-tshig at the latter,
even those, if there is a repeated meaning, you should join the phrad of the analysis of rnam grangs at the former former(??), e.g. འཆི་མེད་དམ། རྣམ་སད་དམ། མིག་མི་འཛུམ་ནི་ལྷའོ།, and
if there is repetition of both tsik-don (or, of both tshig and don?), you should join a phrad of the synthesis of rnam grangs, e.g. གཏུབ་ཅིང་གཏུབ་ཅིང་དྲག་ཏུ་གསོལ་བར་བྱེད།, and
if there is a male sound such as pa newly joined at [as?] the end of a word, that very word-ending becomes ['gyur ba – does this mark a changing subject?] the sound of the owner, e.g. རྟ་པ། སྒྲུབ་པ་པོ།, and
if that which is included as a female sound such as med, min is newly joined at the end of a word, that very same word-ending becomes the sound of negation, e.g. འཆི་མེད། ལྷ་མིན།, and
if present as part of the word from the very beginning without being newly joined, that male or female sound is a sound that establishes that very essence, whatever it is, without becoming either a bdag sgra or a dgag sgra, e.g. དམ་པ། བླ་མ།, and
if there is a latter word which has concordant dharma (chos mthun pa) with the former tshig don, and which is to be included/synthesized as/on a single basis, the nipata which is a concordant ornament (mthun pa'i rgyan) should be joined to the former, e.g. མཛེས་ཀྱང་མཛེས་ལ་འོད་ཀྱང་འཚེར།, and
if former and latter, being of discordant dharma, are to-be-synthesized(?) as/on a single basis, apply the discordant ornament to the former, e.g. ཁྲོ་བ་སྤངས་ཀྱང་དགྲ་འཇོམས་པ།; [ste]
if there are those tshig phrad which are ornaments which also follow to a definite meaning, it is inappropriate to not join them, and if they are merely to beautify the tshig, they are appropriate even if not joined, and
if there is anything remaining to be described immediately after the former tshig don, you should join the phrad of lhag bcas to the former, e.g. རྒྱས་བཏབ་སྟེ་བཞག, and
if it is complete without anything remaining to be described immediately after the former tshig don, you should join the phrad of slar bsdu, e.g. རྫོགས་སོ།
the applications of such subdivisions of such declensions and nipata as those, and the indication of such meanings, should be differentiated (rnam par dbye bar bya).
Also, as for declension, in the Sanskrit language, by joining at the end of a ming, the 21 pratyayas such as si, which make it become a tshig,
also in the Tibetan language, in harmony with Sanskrit, the preceding seven declensions become 21 through the analysis of singular, dual, and plural tshig, and although these subtle distinctions may seem very difficult to make (shin tu 'byed dka ba), they have not been elaborated [before] by those who are afraid of letters.
As for the tshig-phrad/nipata: if not joined to a noun (ming tshig), they do not by themselves indicate a meaning, and if joined to the beginning, end, or in the middle of a noun/word (ming), they are a great help to the ease of expression (brjod bde ba), linking (mtshams sbyor ba), and clarification of meaning (don gsal ba); these are predominantly the nipata of Sanskrit; similar with that which is known as nges tshig or mi zad pa. [note: mi zad pa is the name of a samasa.] Also, although a declension which indicates only the opposite of the meaning is necessarily a tshig phrad, a tshig phrad is not necessarily a declension which indicates only the opposite of the meaning.
Fourth, the description of why they are applied has two: the explicit/main [dngos] description of the purpose of the suffixes, and the ancillary description of the purpose of the general application of letters. As for the first:
ཅི་ཕྱིར་འཇུག་པར་བྱེད་ཅེ་ན། །
ཡི་གེའི་ཁོངས་ནས་མིང་དབྱུང་སྟེ། །
མིང་གི་ཁོངས་ནས་ཚིག་ཕྱུང་ནས། །
ཚིག་གིས་དོན་རྣམས་སྟོན་པར་བྱེད། །
If you ask, why are they applied?
Words are produced out of letters;
phrases are produced out of words, and then
phrases indicate referents.
If you ask, for what purpose are those ten suffix letters applied?
They are applied in order to produce a word out of letters, because whether there is a prefix letter and a vowel or not, and whether there are one, or two, or many main letters, if it doesn't end in one of the suffix letters, it cannot constitute a word that indicates the essence of a referent (don gyi ngo bo).
Also, they are applied in order produce a phrase out of words, because whether the words are grasped as one, two, or many connected together, the declensions and tshig phrad which perform linking or clarify a meaning [note: is byed used in relative clauses to mark an explicit action/function rather than a neutral connection?] mostly arise from the suffix letters, and since they depend on the suffix letters, if [the word] doesn't end in one of those [suffix letters], it cannot constitute a phrase which indicates the distinction of a referent (don gyi khyad par).
Because such phrases express referents in the world (is byed here for marking an explicit verb rather than a mere noun?), all expressions which illustrate a meaning constitute the purpose of applying suffix letters.
Here, the distinction of letters, words, phrases, and expressions is analyzed from the point of view of the Tibetan language.
Second, the ancillary description of the general purpose of the application of letters has two: the explanation of the natural purpose of teaching the application of letters, and the explanation of the purpose of composing this very treatise that teaches/describes the application of letters. The first has two: the description of the purpose from the opposite, and the description of the essential purpose from the opposite. As for the first:
མོ་ཡི་ཡི་གེ་མེད་པ་ན། །
ཕོ་ཡིག་བརྗོད་པ་མེད་པར་འགྱུར། །
ཕོ་ཡིག་དེ་དག་རྣམས་ལ་ཡང་། །
འཇུག་པར་བཅས་པ་མེད་ན་ནི། །
མིང་དང་ཚིག་ཀྱང་གསལ་མི་ནུས། །
མིང་ཚིག་གསལ་བ་མེད་ན་ནི། །
དོན་རྣམས་བརྗོད་པར་མི་འགྱུར་རོ། །
If the female letters are absent, [rephrase, this is a hypothetical]
the expressions of male letters become absent.
If those male letters in turn
together with application(?) are absent,
words and phrases in turn cannot be clear.
If clear words and phrases are absent,
meanings cannot be expressed.
If the female letters, the four āli i and so on, are absent, then expression using only the male letters, the kāli, becomes absent; because all expressions which depend on āli become incomplete, and
also with the application to those male letters, the kāli, in whatever way, whether possessing āli or not; [is this phrase part of the below “because” clause?]
because, as was explained above, if the ten affixed letters become absent, it is impossible to clarify the words which indicate the essence of meaning and the phrases which indicate the distinctions, and
if clear words and phrases are absent, the expressions which illustrate and make understood the forms of meaning, self and other, also become absent.
Therefore, because the āli fully complete the expressions of kāli, and because [their] applications clarify words and phrases, and because words and phrases express meaning, by applying them, the joinings of letters have a great purpose.
As for the second, the description of the essential purpose from the opposite:
དེ་ལྟར་གྱུར་ན་འཇིག་རྟེན་དུ། །
དོན་མཚོན་བརྗོད་པ་ཀུན་ཀྱང་མེད། །
རིག་བྱེད་སྨྲ་བའང་ཡོད་མི་འགྱུར། །
ཉན་ཐོས་རང་རྒྱལ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི། །
བསླབ་པ་རྣམས་ཀྱང་མེད་པར་འགྱུར། །
If it were thus, then in the world
all expressions that illustrate meaning would also not exist,
the proclamations of the Vedas would also not exist,
and the trainings of the śrāvakas, pratyekajinas, and buddhas
would also not exist.
If all words, phrases, and expressions were absent, then because of the non-arising of all the language of grammar (lung du ston pa'i sgra skad), the expressions that illustrate meaning in this world – arts and crafts, math, poetry, and so on, and the proclamations of the Vedas – which are in common with the worldly which depend upon that [language?], would become non-existent, and
the topics not in common with the world, the teachings and proclamations of the trainings of the śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and complete buddhas would become absent;
for that reason, if there are words, phrases, and expressions in the world, the teachings and proclamations of all of the undertakings and rejections of samsara and nirvana would arise, and
if dwelling at the end of undertaking and rejection(??), all meanings of the circumstantial (gnas skabs) and the absolute (mthar thug) would be established.
Second, the description of the purpose of composing this very treatise which describes the application of letters, has two parts: the description of the actual purpose, and the aspiration that that purpose may be fulfilled. As for the first:
ཇི་ལྟར་འཇིག་རྟེན་སེམས་ཅན་རྣ མས། །
ཕུང་པོ་ཁམས་དང་སྐྱེ་མཆེད་དང་། །
གྲུབ་མཐའ་གཞན་ཡང་ཡོད་ན་ཡང་། །
རང་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་ནི་མི་ཤེས་བཞིན། །
དེ་བཞིན་ཡི་གེའི་འཇུག་ཚུལ་རྣ མས། །
སྨྲ་བ་ཀུན་ལ་གནས་གྱུར་ཀྱང་། །
རང་ཚུལ་དེ་ཉིད་མི་ཤེས་པས། །
དོན་ལ་སྦྱོར་བ་ག་ལ་ཤེས། །
དེ་ཕྱིར་སྨྲ་བའི་དབང་ཕྱུག་གི །
རྗེས་སྨྲས་འདི་ཀུན་རྟོགས་གྱུར་ཅིག །
Just as the sentient beings of the world
have aggregates, dhātus, and āyatanas,
and also other siddhāntas,
but do not know this by themselves,
thus the ways to apply letters
may be present in all proclamations,
but if that same way is not known,
how could one know the joining to the meaning?
Therefore, may all this that repeats after
the lord of speech be understood.
As an example, not only do the sentient beings of the world have the aggregates of form and so on, the dhātus of the eye dhātu and so on, and the āyatanas of the eye āyatana and so on, but in the presentation of other siddhāntas they also have the 25 tattvas of Saṁkhyā, and the eight collections of cognition of the Mahāyāna, and although previously these are associated together, if not taught by such other systems, …
therefore also the way that each one's letters are applied is naturally present in all proclamations of speech which individually defines each individual object; it is impossible for it to be absent, and yet without being grammatically explained by others, if even that very way that letters are applied to words, phrases, and so on is not known by oneself, then having analyzed the particulars of those words, phrases, and so on, how could one know the way of joining [them] to the meaning? One could not know.
Therefore, the cause of knowing every point to adopt and reject (blang dor mtha' dag) is this very treatise which is necessary for the Tibetan language, which clarifies the joining of words, phrases, and letters, and which I, Tumi, have lovingly taught (smra ba), following the treatises of grammar of the īśvara scholars which were taught (smra ba) in the Noble Land and so on.
Second, the aspiration that that purpose may be fulfilled:
འདི་ཀུན་རྟོགས་གྱུར་ཅིག །
. . . may all this. . . be understood.
In that way may all people of the Himavān, having understood this tradition of the well-joined (legs par sbyar ba) application of letters, become Great Lords (dbang phyug chen po) who proclaim [it] without confusion in all words, phrases, and expressions. The essential purpose is the making of aspirations of their becoming totally complete.
Dwelling in the teachings of Shākya Sengge,
the forty applications of vowels to the eye of the hand,
by the two peaks of
…
The single eye of the Himavān, Sambhoṭa's text,
the meaning of the Sumtak, the original model of Himavān grammar,
in accord with the proper explanations of all the Himavān scholars,
although it was joined for the purpose of the teachings and beings of the Himavān,
…
i.e., This vyākhyā of The Thirty and The Application of Signs, which are treatises of grammar by the language of the Snowy (Himavān) Land, titled The Words of Situ, the Greatest Scholar,
by the bhikṣu Jñānamitra, a greatly learned yātīḥ (sdom brtson mang du thos pa),
with great insistence,
relying on making an exhortation,
touched with the head the dust of the feet of Ngawag Dorje Pel Zangpo, the consummate (dam pa) scholar-practitioner, and
by tasting just a little nectar of the mouth of the great paṇḍita Pelkhang,
by the Shākya bhikṣu named Dharmabhadra who obtained a little eloquence which is not discouraged in the presence of those who are learned in proclaiming the intented meaning (dgongs don) of most of the treatises of brda dag of Tibet
examined in detail many root texts and commentaries of treatises of Tibetan grammar such as Sumtak, the Door to Speech, and the Mouth-Ornament of the Scholars, and
having collected all of the good parts of those into one place,
at the own age of thirty-five, passed away –
by this too that was joined (composed?)
the day of the first joy, white date of the Śravaṇa month of the fire tiger year
[in] the region of She in Yeru, Tsang
in the prahāṇaśālā (hermitage) of Ganden Tse, the mountain retreat of Ngulchu,
may it be possible to bring about the cause of the conqueror's precious teachings remaining in the snowy country for a long time.
nipata=phrase conjunct? (this is nice because it also relates to conjugation, although not every nipata is involved in conjugation)
phrase joint?
vol 11, p.103 discusses the six samasas.
A brief explanation of the essential meaning of the Application of Signs, called:
"A Mirror that Clarifies the Difficult Points"
I bow to the feet of the guru, who is inseparable
from Bhaṭṭāraka Sthiracakra (i.e. Manjughosha),
who enjoys with a youthful body
the springtime of the conqueror's all-knowing gnosis.
I will clarify with summarized phrases
the essential meaning of the Application of Signs,
the best exemplar of grammar that arose
from the lake of the mind of Tonmi, the greatest scholar.
In general, vowels are female and consonants are male.
Therefore, the thirty kali,
the male letters only,
are analyzed into five subdivisions:
1) ka ca ta pa tsa are male,
2) kha cha tha pha tsha are neuter,
3) ga ja da ba dza wa zha
za 'a ya sha sa are female,
4)nga nya na ma are very female,
5) ra la ha a are barren female;
a is also called "featureless".
Of the five prefixes the letter ba is male,
ga da are neuter, 'a is female,
and ma is very female.
Of those, what is applied to what?
The male letter ba is applied to ka ca ta,
tsa ga nga ja nya da na,
dza zha za ra sha and sa.
The neuter ga is applied to ca ta tsa
nya da na zha za ya sha
and sa; the neuter letter da
is applied to ka pa ga ba nga ma.
The female letter 'a to ga ja da
ba dza kha cha tha pha and tsha.
The very female letter ma
applies to kha cha tha tsha ga ja da
dza nga nya and na.
How are they applied?
Male is applied with a strong sound and effort (sgra rtsol),
neuter is applied mediumly,
female in a weak manner,
and very female, evenly.
Why are they applied?
At the beginning, it should be known like this:
…
Per Situ Shellung, sgra rtsol = sgra dang byed rtsol
Per bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo, byed rtsol = byed las kyi rtsol shugs
nges = define ~ definite
khyad par = distinction (quality ~ difference)
lists, ranges (e.g. [all] up to), exclusions (e.g. [all] but sha),
ji ltar V pa'i lugs = how [verb]
"evenness" in the Takkijukpa should be changed to "equality", because it means similarity