Monlam Pavillion,
8 February 2025
Kyabje Mingyur Rinpoche was convener of the debate. The moderator was Khenpo Karma Tenpa Namdag of Bokar Shedra who introduced the debate, saying:
…since the topic of this debate is closely connected with history, what we first need to know is the importance of the place, time, and circumstances of how things occurred in history…Furthermore, it would be very beneficial if, during the debate, our understanding could be transformed towards the correct view.It was a highly controversial topic. Whereas in the first debate, the monks had drawn on the Buddha’s words in sutra and tantra, augmented by logic, to defend their positions, this time they were required to use historical sources, archival material and archaeological evidence.
The proponents cited well-known ancient and modern scholars in support of the assertion that Thönmi Sambhota was the person who invented the Tibetan script from scratch. They tried to demonstrate how, using the Sanskrit of that time, he had created a new script that conformed to the phonetics of the Tibetan language, which facilitated the translation of Buddhist teachings into Tibetan for the great benefit of all Tibetans.
The opponents put forward the view that Thönmi Sambhota [c.619-7th C CE] did not invent the Tibetan script but rather only improved a script which already existed. They cited texts which had been excavated at Dunhuang and the existence of a script which was in use in the Kingdom of Zhang-Zhung, and so forth. [ ed. Zhang-zhung was an ancient kingdom in western and northwestern Tibet, existing from about 500 BCE to 625 CE, pre-dating Tibetan Buddhism. It seems that several different scripts were used there. The ones referred to in the debate were the Marchen and Marchung script.]
In conclusion, during this debate, both sides cited many examples from historical documents, Indian scripts, and old Tibetan scripts, engaging in a vast and wide-ranging debate. This led to the acquisition of much new understanding regarding the origin and evolution of the Tibetan script, and whether or not Thönmi invented it.
