In the seventh century C.E. the Tibetan man Thumi Sambhota wrote eight treatises that defined Tibetan grammar and lettering, but only two of them still exist, the others have been lost about two centuries after they were composed. This book presents two of the most popular Tibetan texts that explain the sixth one, called The Application of Gender Signs.
The sixth treatise is very difficult to understand, to the point that even well-educated Tibetans often have not studied and learned it. Yangchen Drubpay Dorje was a great Tibetan grammarian of the 19th century who wrote a short text that summarized the meaning of Thumi Sambhota's Application of Gender Signs treatise. It was intended for easy memorization and needed explanation, so he wrote a second text to explain it. Together, the two texts go through the various topics of Thumi's sixth treatise in depth. The two texts are the most popular ones in use these days for understanding the topic of application of gender signs. Amongst other things, these texts deal with the subject of transitive and intransitive verbs and how they work in the Tibetan language. It is essential for translators to understand the details of transitive and intransitive verbs, so this book is of special importance for translators.
The material in these texts is difficult, so there are many points that need clarification. For that, the author of this book, himself an accomplished Tibetan grammarian, has provided many footnotes and a complete glossary of grammar terms. In addition, the Tibetan texts in Tibetan script have been included in the book for those who would like to study grammar in more depth.
The author of this book, who is well-known as an exceptionally capable translator of Tibetan Buddhism, has been concerned for many years at the mistaken translations of Tibetan Buddhism that arise because of a lack of understanding of the details of Tibetan grammar that exists amongst western translators. Therefore, he has published this and the other books on native Tibetan grammar in this series with a strong desire to make the Tibetan understanding of Tibetan grammar readily available. The end aim of course is that the western students studying Tibetan Buddhism will be able to gain a complete and correct understanding of the system through better translations of Tibetan works.