Which “ Two Laws”? 41

© École française d’Extrême-Orient, Paris, 2011 Do not circulate without permission of the editor / Ne pas diffuser sans autorisation de l’éditeur Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie 26 (2017) : 41-60 Which “ Two Laws”? The Concept of trimnyi (khrims gnyis) in Medieval Tibet

Fernanda Pirie* 1

Within the Tibetan corpus of historical writing, a common narrative describes how the Yarlung kings of the seventh and eighth centuries established a system of “ two laws,” trimnyi (khrims gnyis). These were the religious laws and royal laws,

chötrim (chos khrims) and gyeltrim (rgyal khrims). But what did they consist of? The texts are rarely explicit, although most emphasize congruence between them. A fourteenth-century treatise entitled The Mirror of the Two Laws (Khrims gnyis lta ba’i me long) explains that the royal laws have the same ends as the religious laws, namely observance of the ten Buddhist virtues. But when it turns to “ the application of the kings’ laws” the text describes rules and customs for the resolution of disputes. In practice, although the Vinaya provided detailed rules for the conduct of monks and nuns, Tibetans never developed a structured set of laws for the laity. It is not even clear what the expression “ religious laws” referred to: sometimes the texts indicate the Vinaya, sometimes moral rules, sometimes laws supporting