Tibetan Tianwenlisuan
01 · Historical Records
In the traditional Tibetan disciplines, this branch of learning falls under calculation, one of the "Ten Sciences," standing alongside medicine and the arts among others, and its origins can be traced back more than two thousand years. The key to bringing scattered records of celestial observations into a systematic body of knowledge was the Mentsekhang, the specialized academy of the former Tibetan local government. Gongga Renzeng entered the Mentsekhang in 1952 to study calendrical calculation, and over the following decades became a mainstay of the compilation of the Tibetan calendar; when the Astronomy and Calendrical Calculation Society was founded in Lhasa in 1981, he served as deputy secretary-general and, as one of the chief compilers, took part in compiling the Comprehensive Collection of Tibetan Astronomy and Calendrical Calculation. During that period he wrote the essay "A Preliminary Discussion of the Relationship Between Tibetan Medicine and Astronomy-Calendrical Calculation, Its Development, and the Scientific Nature of Astronomy-Calendrical Calculation," which brought the relationship between the paths of medicine and calendrical science plainly into view.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Tibetan astronomy and calendrical calculation is an important component of the "Ten Sciences" culture of the Tibetan people; it is widely practiced in Tibetan areas and has a history of more than two thousand years to date. Tibetan astronomy and calendrical calculation is a distinctive discipline composed of many branches, including primitive astronomy and calendrical calculation, five-element divination, Kalachakra calendrical calculation, the Han calendar as embodied in the Shixian calendar, divination by sound, and geomancy. Its related knowledge and practice include not only the calculation of the motions of the five major planets, the setting of intercalary months and duplicated or deficient days, and the prediction of solar and lunar eclipses, but also short-, medium-, and long-range weather forecasting, and—on the principles of astronomy and calendrical calculation—the calculation of the appropriate timing for farming and herding in different places, as well as phenological signs, solar terms, and the cycles of change in the human pulse. Tibetan astronomy and calendrical calculation is a precious treasure created by the Tibetan people through long practice; for thousands of years it has played a guiding role in the production and daily life of the Tibetan people. The Tibetan calendar has distinctive characteristics; it stands apart among all the calendars of the world and occupies a very important position. Tibetan weather and calendar almanacs compiled on the principles of Tibetan astronomy and calendrical calculation still play an important role today in guiding agricultural and pastoral production and forecasting the weather; they circulate in the Tibetan areas of Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, and Yunnan provinces and in neighboring countries such as Bhutan, India, and Nepal, and are warmly welcomed by the broad masses of farmers and herders.
Computing the new moons and intercalary months
The most laborious foundation: the new moons are back-computed from planetary and solar-lunar motions to settle leap months and duplicated or missing days, fixing the length of the year.
Forecasting eclipses of sun and moon
Conjunctions and oppositions are computed so that the presence, timing and magnitude of eclipses can be forecast, the most valued service of the almanac.
Choosing auspicious days for farming and herding
Phenological and pulse cycles decide which days suit ploughing, herding, building or travel, with matching taboos, making the almanac a year-round working guide.
Five-phase divination and the Kalachakra system
Primeval calendar reckoning, five-phase divination, the Kalachakra system, the Chinese calendrical rules, omen interpretation and geomancy coexist as distinct branches of one discipline.
Compiling and issuing the meteorological almanac
The institute computes and publishes an annual meteorological almanac, the most widely circulating form in which the results reach users.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
What supports this discipline today is a chain extending from institutions to the general populace: the Astronomy and Calendrical Calculation Research Institute of the Hospital of Tibetan Medicine of the Tibet Autonomous Region calculates and compiles the Tibetan calendar each year, holding the authoritative version of the calendar. The same body of computational methods is also spread downward through two channels—schools for farmers and herders and institutions of higher learning. In addition to training more than five hundred farmer and herder students, Gongga Renzeng taught successively at the Tibetan Medical College of Tibet and Tibet University, passing on the hands-on skills of fixing new moons, setting intercalary months, and computing eclipse limits to learners at different levels. The circulation of finished calendars and weather almanacs extends beyond the autonomous region; Tibetans in the Tibetan areas of Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, and Yunnan, as well as in Bhutan, India, and Nepal, still rely on them to arrange farming and herding activities and matters of auspiciousness and avoidance.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Tibetan calendar, calculated and compiled each year by the Astronomy and Calendrical Calculation Research Institute of the Hospital of Tibetan Medicine, is a special form of expression of the research results in astronomy and calendrical calculation. Gongga Renzeng (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, of the Tibetan ethnic group, born in February 1942, a native of Doilungdeqen County, Tibet Autonomous Region (now Doilungdeqen District, Lhasa City). His family has worked in astronomy and calendrical calculation for generations; he is a renowned calendrical scientist and calendar-compilation expert at the Tibetan Medicine, Astronomy and Calendrical Calculation Research Institute of the Hospital of Tibetan Medicine of the Tibet Autonomous Region. In 1952 he went to the Mentsekhang to study astronomy and calendrical calculation, and when the Astronomy and Calendrical Calculation Society was founded in Lhasa in 1981, he served as deputy secretary-general. He was one of the chief compilers of the Comprehensive Collection of Tibetan Astronomy and Calendrical Calculation and the author of papers such as "A Preliminary Discussion of the Relationship Between Tibetan Medicine and Astronomy-Calendrical Calculation, Its Development, and the Scientific Nature of Astronomy-Calendrical Calculation." He is a representative inheritor of Tibetan Astronomy and Calendrical Calculation, a third-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage item. He has received more than ten awards at the autonomous-region level and was named an outstanding teacher for 2006-2007 by the Hospital of Tibetan Medicine of the autonomous region. He has trained more than five hundred farmer and herder students while teaching at the Tibetan Medical College of Tibet and Tibet University.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Gonggarenzeng 03-1488
- Yinba
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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