Papers by Dakini Publications
Dakini Publications, 2026
Introduction- seeking, finding and translating the outline of 8th Tai Situpa’s Collected Works at... more Introduction- seeking, finding and translating the outline of 8th Tai Situpa’s Collected Works at Sherab Ling Monastery, India (March 2026)
Here is the first compiled, translated and annotated outline (kar-chag in Tibetan) of Eighth Khenting Tai Situpa, Chokyi Jungne (1770-1774)’s Collected Works in the English language (with the original Tibetan), together with a brief introduction and overview of the texts .
The work was completed while staying alone as a foreign woman at Sherab Ling Monastery for one month (between 14th February to 15th March 2026) and first published online on Dakini Day (13th March 2026) . There were some obstacles to doing this work, while there (see summary article here about the research I did while there), but fortunately I was able to overcome them, with devotion to 8th Tai Situpa, White Tārā and the presence and blessings of 12th Tai Situpa and 9th Gyalton Rinpoche’s presence.
I have translated outlines of Collected Works before, including those of Je Gampopa, some of the different Karmapas (see new website here) and created a new website for a Jonang group in the USA, on Je Tāranātha’s Collected Works.
The 8th Kenting Tai Situpa was one of the most famous and accomplished masters in Tibetan history. He was acknowledged as a supreme scholar and master, without equal .
It is hard to fathom how or why it took so long (almost forty years) to make such a “one document” contents list (even in Tibetan) of 8th Tai Situpa’s works since the establishment of Palpung Sherab Ling Monastery in exile. But better late than never, as we say in English! Even though it was a challenge to see all the volumes (as detailed in this introduction below), I persistently returned to the Sherab Ling library and thankfully the persistence paid off. The BDRC (Buddhist Digital Resource Centre) contain some scans of the Collected Works but not all of them (see more on the different online editions available in the article).
After having a profound red-hat White Tārā experience and vision at the 8th Tai Situpa’s Golden Relic Stupa, I felt compelled to go and find his Collected Works. However, I had no idea that finding a copy of his Collected Works there would prove so difficult. It was nothing personal against me, but just a general issue regarding the texts and their location, accessibility and library opening times.
I returned to the library every day during opening hours for six days, but it was locked every time and no-one around. However, on 9th March almost one week after I had read some of the volumes, after waiting for half an hour from 8.30 am, I saw the same lama library worker who graciously allowed me to read the remaining volumes and take photos of the titles of the texts in the Collected Works. I told him that I wanted to make a contents outline (kar-chag) of them as there was not one readily available, and translate it into English not only for intellectual research and scholarly purposes, but for the Dharma and sentient beings.
After I took the photos of each volume’s outline, I returned to my room and hand-typed the Tibetan names of the texts, in both Tibetan script and Wylie, and then translated them into English. While doing this, in front of me was a glorious window view of the golden relic stupa of 8th Tai Situpa and the snow-peaked surrounding mountains. It seemed a cycle of time (Kalacakra) had indeed passed since I was last there and wrote about in 2019, just as the COVID lockdown started, and I personally began one of the most challenging periods of my life (more on that in an autobiographical note perhaps!).
The following day, after an emotional offering of a framed image of the red-hatted White Tara (with permission by the lama looking after it) to the golden stupa and finding out about the 98 year-old lama who guards the stupa there above, I walked back again over the bare, dry land in front of the golden stupa building. Even though there were no planted, colourful flower beds or beautiful shrub areas (as there were at the main monastery), the spring sun was shining, and I noticed there were some stunning small blue wildflowers growing from the dry land. It was a fitting natural and spontaneously arising symbol for the completion of the compilation and translation of the 8th Tai Situpa’s Collected Works Outline and finding their storage location in the library. Showing that despite cold winters, “icy neglect”, lack of care and suitable conditions, etc. wild flowers can (and do) still grow in such places, showing the power of warmth, and the water of passion, persistence and the raw, wild, giving heart of mother nature. Beauty is all around us, if we only care to look.
Attending the Dakini Day ritual, that same day at Sherab Ling Monastery, as the gya-ling horns, huge drums, damaru drums and bells created a cacophony of blissful sound, the central channel opened wide up and the loud, bellowing laughter of the dakini spontaneously and naturally cackled several times. In this context, no-one batted an eyelid (as we say in English) and some monks even spontaneously smiled and laughed too. The spontaneous joy of the bliss-emptiness expanse of the dakinis came to life.
Although it is by no means perfect, and apologies for any errors, I hope this first compilation/translation is useful and of benefit to the Dharma and beings. And that it inspires people to do new translations and read the remarkable 8th Tai Situpa’s Collected Works.
Adele Tomlin, 28th March 2026.
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Papers by Dakini Publications
Here is the first compiled, translated and annotated outline (kar-chag in Tibetan) of Eighth Khenting Tai Situpa, Chokyi Jungne (1770-1774)’s Collected Works in the English language (with the original Tibetan), together with a brief introduction and overview of the texts .
The work was completed while staying alone as a foreign woman at Sherab Ling Monastery for one month (between 14th February to 15th March 2026) and first published online on Dakini Day (13th March 2026) . There were some obstacles to doing this work, while there (see summary article here about the research I did while there), but fortunately I was able to overcome them, with devotion to 8th Tai Situpa, White Tārā and the presence and blessings of 12th Tai Situpa and 9th Gyalton Rinpoche’s presence.
I have translated outlines of Collected Works before, including those of Je Gampopa, some of the different Karmapas (see new website here) and created a new website for a Jonang group in the USA, on Je Tāranātha’s Collected Works.
The 8th Kenting Tai Situpa was one of the most famous and accomplished masters in Tibetan history. He was acknowledged as a supreme scholar and master, without equal .
It is hard to fathom how or why it took so long (almost forty years) to make such a “one document” contents list (even in Tibetan) of 8th Tai Situpa’s works since the establishment of Palpung Sherab Ling Monastery in exile. But better late than never, as we say in English! Even though it was a challenge to see all the volumes (as detailed in this introduction below), I persistently returned to the Sherab Ling library and thankfully the persistence paid off. The BDRC (Buddhist Digital Resource Centre) contain some scans of the Collected Works but not all of them (see more on the different online editions available in the article).
After having a profound red-hat White Tārā experience and vision at the 8th Tai Situpa’s Golden Relic Stupa, I felt compelled to go and find his Collected Works. However, I had no idea that finding a copy of his Collected Works there would prove so difficult. It was nothing personal against me, but just a general issue regarding the texts and their location, accessibility and library opening times.
I returned to the library every day during opening hours for six days, but it was locked every time and no-one around. However, on 9th March almost one week after I had read some of the volumes, after waiting for half an hour from 8.30 am, I saw the same lama library worker who graciously allowed me to read the remaining volumes and take photos of the titles of the texts in the Collected Works. I told him that I wanted to make a contents outline (kar-chag) of them as there was not one readily available, and translate it into English not only for intellectual research and scholarly purposes, but for the Dharma and sentient beings.
After I took the photos of each volume’s outline, I returned to my room and hand-typed the Tibetan names of the texts, in both Tibetan script and Wylie, and then translated them into English. While doing this, in front of me was a glorious window view of the golden relic stupa of 8th Tai Situpa and the snow-peaked surrounding mountains. It seemed a cycle of time (Kalacakra) had indeed passed since I was last there and wrote about in 2019, just as the COVID lockdown started, and I personally began one of the most challenging periods of my life (more on that in an autobiographical note perhaps!).
The following day, after an emotional offering of a framed image of the red-hatted White Tara (with permission by the lama looking after it) to the golden stupa and finding out about the 98 year-old lama who guards the stupa there above, I walked back again over the bare, dry land in front of the golden stupa building. Even though there were no planted, colourful flower beds or beautiful shrub areas (as there were at the main monastery), the spring sun was shining, and I noticed there were some stunning small blue wildflowers growing from the dry land. It was a fitting natural and spontaneously arising symbol for the completion of the compilation and translation of the 8th Tai Situpa’s Collected Works Outline and finding their storage location in the library. Showing that despite cold winters, “icy neglect”, lack of care and suitable conditions, etc. wild flowers can (and do) still grow in such places, showing the power of warmth, and the water of passion, persistence and the raw, wild, giving heart of mother nature. Beauty is all around us, if we only care to look.
Attending the Dakini Day ritual, that same day at Sherab Ling Monastery, as the gya-ling horns, huge drums, damaru drums and bells created a cacophony of blissful sound, the central channel opened wide up and the loud, bellowing laughter of the dakini spontaneously and naturally cackled several times. In this context, no-one batted an eyelid (as we say in English) and some monks even spontaneously smiled and laughed too. The spontaneous joy of the bliss-emptiness expanse of the dakinis came to life.
Although it is by no means perfect, and apologies for any errors, I hope this first compilation/translation is useful and of benefit to the Dharma and beings. And that it inspires people to do new translations and read the remarkable 8th Tai Situpa’s Collected Works.
Adele Tomlin, 28th March 2026.