CHAPTER XVI.
THE SYSTEMS OF BECKONING TIME.
1. Calendars and Astrological Tables. — 2. The various Modes of
Chronology. The cycle of 12 years. Counting back from the current
year. The cycle of 60 years. The cycle of 252 years.—3. The Year and
its Divisions.
1. Calendars and astrological tables.
The Tibetans received their astronomical science
from their neighbours in India and China; the Chinese
also becoming their teachers in the art of divination.
Their acquaintance with the astronomical and calendrical
systems of these nations coincides with the propagation
of the Buddhist religion by the Chinese and Indian priests,
to whom they are also indebted for the respective systems
of defining the year.1 Both systems are based upon a
1 In the "Description du Tubet," translated from the Chinese by Klaproth
in Nouv. Journ. As., Vol. IV., p. 138, the Chinese consort of King Srongtsan
Gampo and her suite are stated to have brought the Chinese system into
Tibet in the seventh century a.d.
18
THE SYSTEMS OF BECKONING TIME.
1. Calendars and Astrological Tables. — 2. The various Modes of
Chronology. The cycle of 12 years. Counting back from the current
year. The cycle of 60 years. The cycle of 252 years.—3. The Year and
its Divisions.
1. Calendars and astrological tables.
The Tibetans received their astronomical science
from their neighbours in India and China; the Chinese
also becoming their teachers in the art of divination.
Their acquaintance with the astronomical and calendrical
systems of these nations coincides with the propagation
of the Buddhist religion by the Chinese and Indian priests,
to whom they are also indebted for the respective systems
of defining the year.1 Both systems are based upon a
1 In the "Description du Tubet," translated from the Chinese by Klaproth
in Nouv. Journ. As., Vol. IV., p. 138, the Chinese consort of King Srongtsan
Gampo and her suite are stated to have brought the Chinese system into
Tibet in the seventh century a.d.
18