Khotse Tsultrim Geshe and his disciples rode on horseback for a few hours before reaching the Chali Monastery in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province at midnight.
Khotse had been gathering material for a book on the Tibetan Ten Sciences for over a decade.
To his disappointment, the venerable master Khennyatsang was not there. He set off again with his entourage and rode on into the darkness. Hours later he found Khennyatsang Rinpoche on the grassland.
Under an old gas lamp he took notes on the master's teachings.
Khotse, also called Rinpoche (great master) by the Tibetan people, can't remember how many of these trips he undertook over 15 years.
The culmination of his hard journeys and research is the "Grand Collection of Quintessence of the Tibetan Ten Sciences" (Xueyu Shiming Jingcui Daquan), which was recently published by the Ethnic Publishing House in Beijing and distributed on the international market.
It contains 10 volumes 714 articles in 18.5 million Tibetan characters.
Important work
"The 'Quintessence' is the first of its kind compiled by Tibetan scholars in their own language," said Jampel Gyatso, a leading Tibetologist, at a recent press briefing at the Inheritance & Research Centre for Tibetan Zen Studies founded by Khotse in Beijing three years ago.
Gyatso presides over a State-funded project compiling the Tibetan epic "King Gesar" Khotse is one of the editors.
While India gave birth to Buddhism, China has preserved the greatest number of Buddhist classics in the Chinese, Tibetan and Pali languages. Tibetan classics take up the biggest percentage, said Gyatso.
Most Tibetan Buddhist scriptures were translated from Sanskrit about 1,000 years ago and many were handwritten or carved on wooden boards and scattered among various monasteries or held in public and private collections.
"I had a hard time finding copies of precious scriptures when I was studying in the monastery," said Khotse, 37, who studied in the Labrang Monastery in Xiahe County of Gannan Prefecture in Gansu Province for 20 years.
Unlike Tibetan Buddhist classics the "Gangyur" and "Dangyur," the "Quintessence" is not purely about Buddhist philosophy.
As its name suggests, it covers all Ten Sciences (Shi Ming) recorded in the Tibetan classics.
Grammar, arts and crafts, logic, medicine and Buddhism are traditionally called the Five Major Studies. Then there are the Five Minor Studies of astrology, poetry, rhetoric, phonology and drama.
The "Quintessence" brings together the most important articles on all these fields, providing a sound reference for those interested in Buddhism and Tibet, said Gyatso.
The hardcopy is priced at 1,080 yuan (US$135), while a refined copy costs more than 3,000 yuan (US$375). Both come in a wooden box that can be used as a mini-bookshelf.
The book can also be found in collections at the National Library in Beijing, the Potala Palace, Jokhang, Ramoche, Drepung, Sera and other monasteries in Tibet, as well as other monasteries in Tibetan populated regions.
International holders include the Library of Congress in Washington DC, libraries at the University of Columbia and the University of Bonn.
A monk's travails
Chief compiler of the Tibetan encyclopaedia Khotse has much to share about his hard journeys gathering the Tibetan classics.
At Labrang Monastery, one of the six most important monasteries of the Gelug Sect in Tibetan Buddhism, Khotse, a disciple of the Sixth Gungthang Tsang Rinpoche, worked hard to sort through its vast collection of Tibetan classics the venerable master and his predecessors had accumulated over the past centuries.
From this starting point Khotse paid numerous visits to renowned monasteries in the Tibet Autonomous Region, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, Yunnan, Inner Mongolia and other regions where Tibetan culture has an influence.
His sincerity touched the masters' hearts and they allowed him to make copies of their prized collections. While each of the 714 articles in the "Quintessence" is invaluable, Khotse said two were especially difficult to find.
The first is an article written in debate form about Tibetan medicine. Khotse found it in Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia.
He eventually persuaded an 88-year-old Buddhist master to allow him to make a copy of the work the first time it's been published since it was written in the 17th century.
Another book by a medical master also in the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama during the 17th century was found at the Sichuan Medical Institute.
Having gathered plenty of material, Khotse found that a lack of funds meant the main difficulty in getting the book published.
But his opportunity came in 2001, when Khotse passed exams to enter the prestigious Peking University to do postgraduate studies in religion.
"I came to Beijing with the aim of publishing the book," he said.
To lower the costs he asked his disciples in Labrang Monastery to help with input and layout work, while friends donated several outdated computers.
The first group of helpers included four nuns and six lamas. The volunteers rotated on a three-month basis; at its peak some 20 people worked together on the project.
Ancient Tibetan articles have no paragraphs and the same subject often has different versions. Khotse carefully compared the articles, added content for each volume and an abstract for each article.
"Many fresh ideas kept appearing and I would stand beside my students to edit the articles on the computer to save time," said Khotse.
A year after he came to Beijing, Khotse succeeded in getting three volumes published.
But it wasn't until late last year that he finally had the chance to print the rest, with a friend donating 700,000 yuan (US$8,750) for the fee.
It was nearly Spring Festival when Khotse signed the contract, but he was told to have all the proofs ready before March.
He had to persuade his students to give up their lunar New Year holidays to finish the work. Thirteen of his students stayed; the proofs made it to the publishing house on March 1.
At a global Tibetology conference in Germany late last month, Khotse said many of the over 400 international experts greeted the work with excitement.
Khoste announced his plan to translate the Tibetan classics into Chinese and English and said many experts had offered their help.
In Shanghai on his way from Frankfurt to Beijing at the Shanghai Big World Jinisi Guinness Headquarters (not connected to the British Guinness Headquarters), he was granted a certificate declaring his work to be the most complete and comprehensive newly compiled Tibetan encyclopaedia.
"My sojourn in Beijing has enabled me to look at the world from a wider perspective," said Khotse, who gained his masters degree in 2004.
"Before, I looked at the world mainly in the religious way, listening, thinking and practising Buddhist doctrines. Now, I think more from the philosophical perspective, which is something that meets the natural principles.
"Still, I found what the Buddha said to be the most apt: Having mercy is the way to conduct oneself, and having wisdom is the way to do things. One who combines the two in perfection will attain enlightenment. I have done but a little I am still very, very far from the ultimate aim."
(China Daily September 18, 2006)
