The Tibetan letters above spell 'zung,' the Tibetan term that
translated 'Sanghāta.'
The above was handwritten by Lama Zopa Rinpoche on a
cover to a copy of the Tibetan Sanghāta.
About the Tibetan Translation
The Sanghāta
was translated into Tibetan in the ninth century CE. A
colophon
at the end of that translation suggests that there had been an earlier
translation, now lost, whose 'language was updated' by the only
translation that survives. In general, the Tibetan translators pursued
a strategy of producing extremely literal translations from
Sanskrit, to the point of using Sanskrit grammatical patterns and
one-to-one word correspondence. This makes the Tibetan a valuable
resource for study of Sanskrit texts—but at the same time,
often
difficult to understand, even for well-trained Tibetans.
For those with "The Buddha's Word" CD collection from the Tibetan
Buddhist
Resource Collection, the Sanghātasūtra
can be found on CD5/10 in file
22084048
on pp. 453-546 (scan numbers 455-548). Those interested can purchase
the entire
Kangyur on CD by contacting TBRC directly at info@tbrc.org.