Abstract

Lamyn Gegeen Blo Bzang bstan ’dzin rgyal mtshan (1639–1703) played a pivotal role in disseminating the Tibetan Gelugpa school’s views on astrology and the art of prognostication among the Khalkha Mongols. As a descendant of Chinggis Khan, he commanded immense authority. He gained renown as a physician and astrologer and established his own lineage of reincarnations.

Between 1655 and 1661, Lamyn Gegeen studied in Tibet under numerous eminent masters, including the Fourth Panchen Lama and the Fifth Dalai Lama. He studied the Kalachakra system at the Tantric College of Tashilhunpo Monastery. Of the volumes comprising Lamyn Gegeen’s Collected Works, four are dedicated to astrology and prognostication. One of these is ’Bras rtsis legs bshad kun ’dus—or Collection of Writings on Prognostication—a work thematically akin to the Vaiḍūrya dkar po ("White Beryl") by Desi Sangs rgyas rgya mtsho (1653–1705). The talk will outline the content of Lamyn Gegeen’s work and address topics covered in the "White Beryl."

Biography

Agata Bareja-Starzyńska, Assoc. Professor of the University of Warsaw, Dr. Habil. Mongolist and Tibetologist, she serves as a Dean of the Faculty of Asian and African Cultures (former Faculty of Oriental Studies) at the University of Warsaw (from Sept. 2024). Her research interests focus on Buddhism in Mongolia and Tibet, Mongolian-Tibetan relations and Mongolian and Tibetan literature. Her publications include editions and translations of Mongolian and Tibetan source materials, such as The Biography of the First Khalkha Jetsundampa Zanabazar by Zaya Pandita Luvsanprinlei. Studies, Annotated Translation, Transliteration and Facsimile (Elipsa, Warsaw 2015), co-edited In the Heart of Mongolia: 100th Anniversary of W. Kotwicz’s Expedition to Mongolia in 1912 (Selected Source Materials and Study), PAU, Cracow 2012, co-edited Materials on Census in Mongolia (1915-1916) Held in the Archive of Professor Władysław Kotwicz, Archive of Science of PAS and PAAS, Cracow (call nos. K III - 19, 192-238),(Ulan-Bator 2025), translation of Siregetü Güüsi čorji’s Treatise that Contains the Complete Meanings of the Most Important [Buddhist Concepts] To Be Used, (in: Sources of Mongolian Buddhism, V. Wallace ed., Oxford University Press 2020), etc., as well as a description of Classical Tibetan grammar (in Polish, together with M. Mejor, Klasyczny język tybetański, Dialog, Warsaw 2002, 2011). She investigated the transmission of Buddhist knowledge from Tibet to Mongolia, especially in the seventeenth century. Her publications include “The Role of Lamyn Gegeen Blo Bzang Bstan ’Dzin Rgyal Mtshan in the Dissemination of Tibetan Astrology, Divination and Prognostication in Mongolia” (in: Glimpses of Tibetan Divination. Past and Present, P. Maurer, D. Rossi and R. Scheuermann eds., Brill 2019), “Jebtsundamba Khutugtus of Mongolia,” (The Oxford Encyclopedia of Buddhism), as well as “The Reincarnation Lineage of Zaya Gegeen” (in: History, Architecture and Restoration of Zaya Gegeenii Khüree Monastery in Mongolia, I. Charleux ed., Bulletin du Musée d’Anthropologie Préhistorique de Monaco, 2016). She also studied the situation of Buddhism in contemporary Mongolia bridging past and present. Her publications include over 70 other works.