"The Key to Wisdom”: A collection of teachings from the funds of the National Museum of Tuva

• Main Authors: Evegeny V. Bembeev, Baazr A. Bicheev, Kaadyr-ool A. Bicheldei
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Novye Issledovaniâ Tuvy 2019-09-01
• Series: Novye Issledovaniâ Tuvy
• Subjects: сборник наставлений; ясное письмо; рукопись; ойратский язык; Чингис-хан; старомонгольская письменная литература; буддийская литература; перевод; Национальный музей Республики Тыва
• Online Access: https://nit.tuva.asia/nit/article/view/873

The article introduces the text of the Oirat manuscript “The Key to Wisdom”, preserved among the collections of the Alan-Maadyr National Museum of the Republic of Tuva. “The Key to Wisdom” is an original composition of old Mongolian literature in the genre of teachings or instructions (surgaal). According to the established tradition of ascribing the authorship of works of literature to outstanding people, the manuscript lists Genghis Khan as its author. Structurally the work is divided in either two or three parts. The first part supposedly contains the teachings of Genghis Khan, the second (and third) include Buddhist interpolations - moralizing stories from the “Subhashita” collection of teachings, well-known in the Buddhist world, and Nagarjuna’s “The drop that feeds people”. The copy of “The Key to Wisdom” published here contains only the first part of the work, which ends with the wish that “the shastra by Genghis Khan will contribute to the prosperous existence of the state’. The text is written in Oirat ‘clear writing’, with the elements of the old Mongolian written language. Some phonetic features indicate that the text has been also influenced by colloquial language, but this impact was  insignificant. The article provides a transliteration of the Oirat text with a parallel translation into Russian and commentary.