Tsybikov Gombojab

Tsybikov Gombojab (1873–1930) – ethnographer, orientalist, specialist in Tibetan and Buddhist studies.

He graduated from the Oriental Faculty of the St. Petersburg University, where he studied at S. F. Oldenburg, A. D. Pozdeev, and V. V. Grigoriev.

In 1899-1902, he traveled to Central Tibet with a group of pilgrims. At the edge of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Tibet was closed for European researchers, and its capital Lhasa was almost unknown. A lucky combination of scholar and Buddhist gave Ts. A chance to get the desired result: he visited Lhasa, surrounding monasteries, met Dalai Lama XIII, acquired many books in Tibetan language, and filled the gap in ethnographical knowledge about that region.

Having returned from his travel, Ts. Published a book which is still actual for researchers: ‘Buddhist Pilgrim at the Sacred Places of Tibet’, where he performed materials on ethnic and cultural, social, and religious peculiarities of the life of Tibetans, including a detailed description of the institute of Dalai Lama, religious rites, monasteries and temples, libraries, Buddhist literature.

Later he studied thoroughly Tibetan-Mongolian Buddhism, Buddhist literature, Tibetan and Mongolian languages, their evolution and grammar and vocabulary, the history of translations into Russian – particularly he translated ‘Lamrim Chenmo’ (Steps on the Way to Bliss) by Tibetan religious reformer Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), whose language was a sample for many Buddhist authors.

Compositions

Buddhist Pilgrim at the Sacred Places of Tibet. Moscow, 2011. (in Rus.)
Selected Works. Novosibirsk, 1981. (in Rus.)
‘Lamrim Chenmo’ (Steps on the Way to Bliss): Text by Tsongkhapa in Mongolian and Russian Translations. Vol. I: The Lowest Step of the Common Way. Iss. I: Mongolian Translation // Izvestiya of the Oriental Institute. Vol. XXX. Vladivostok, 1910. (in Rus.)
‘Lamrim Chenmo’ (Steps on the Way to Bliss): Text by Tsongkhapa in Mongolian and Russian Translations. Vol. I: The Lowest Step of the Common Way. Iss. I: Mongolian Translation // Izvestiya of the Oriental Institute. Vol. XXXVIII. Vladivostok, 1913. (in Rus.)

About him

Simichov B. V. G. Ts. Tsybikov – Discoverer of Tibet. Ulan-Ude, 1959. (in Rus.)
Dorjiev Zh. D., Kondratov А. М. Gombojab Tsybikov. Irkutsk, 1990. (in Rus.)
Okladnikov А. P., Larichev V. Е. Tale on G. Ts. Tsybikov // Tsybikov G. Ts. Selected Works in 2 vol. Novosibirsk, 1991, vol. 2: On Central Tibet, Mongolia, and Buryatia. (in Rus.)
Murzaeva D. N. Tibet-Mongolian Narrative Literature of the Seventeenth – Eighteenth Centuries: Translated Written Monuments in Mongolian and Oirat Languages. Elista, 2013. (in Rus.)
Tsybikov G. Ts. On Mongolian Translation of ‘Lamrim Chenmo’ // Tsybikov G. Ts. Selected Works in 2 vol. Novosibirsk, 1991, vol. 2: On Central Tibet, Mongolia, and Buryatia. (in Rus.)
Kychanov Е. I., Melnichenko B. N. The History of Tibet from the Most Ancient Times till Nowadays. Moscow, 2005. (in Rus.)

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