With a history of over two thousand years, traditional Tibetan astrology was created and developed by Tibetan people during their long production practice and social life through assimilating the achievements in relevant disciplines from other ethnic groups at home and abroad. As an independent system with a long history, it has produced a large number of documents and played an important role in production and daily life of Tibetan people for several thousands years. There were many scholars on traditional Tibetan astrology in history, and they have made great contributions to the development of traditional Tibetan astrology. Gradually, a number of calendar astrology schools, such as Phug-lugs and Mtshur-lugs etc. have been formed.

With remarkable characteristics, Tibetan calendar system is unique compared with the other calendar systems and takes an important position in the world. A number of calendar systems were successively issued in history, such as Sakia Calendar, Culan Calendar, Minlin Calendar, Palpung Calendar, Mantsikhang Calendar etc., and their compilation was gradually improved. Mantsikhang Calendar based on the Minlin Calendar was published after Lhasa Mantsikhang ( Lhasa Institute of Tibetan medicine and Astrology ) was established in 1916. Calculation and compilation method of astronomical figures were mainly based on the book of General Theory of Calendar Astrology White Glaze, which was a classical calendar of Phug-lugs school. It assimilated the essences of various calendar schools, with flowery verses as the foreword and beautiful illustrations on middle pages. The woodcut version of this book was Published in Tibet and other Tibetan inhabited areas as well as some neighboring countries. Since its form also catered to the traditions and customs of Tibetan nationality it is well received by farmers and herdsmen and other people from all walks of life and well Known at home and abroad. Tibetan weather calendar based on the principle of Tibetan calendar astrology still plays an important role in Tibet plateau today although modern astronomy astrophysics and meteorological science etc. are highly developed. Over l00,000 volumes of this calendar are published and distributed annually in various Tibetan inhabited areas in Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan, etc. as well as from the neighboring countries, such as Bhutan, Nepal etc. It is very popular among farmers and herdsman and plays an important role in people's daily life. It can be used as valuable reference in instructing bong and animal husbandry production and weather forecasting etc.

Great importance is attached to study of Tibetan cultures both at home and abroad nowadays. Many scholars are devoted to study of Tibetan cultures in such aspects as language, history religion, society economy art, medicine etc., and fruitful achievements have been made in resent years, showing a promising prospect. However, few scholars deeply probe into traditional Tibetan astrology and this is mainly attributed to the following causes firstly most scholars in humanities regard tr8ditional Tibetan astrology as an extremely specialized field of knowledge requiring profound mathematics and astronomy background, so they are not bold enough to get involved in this field. Secondly, scholars in natural sciences are confined by their language level and do not Know Where to start their study Even though they can find some Tibetan translations, such translations mostly fail to correctly and faithfully convey the original meanings as translators may lack professional knowledge, thus is it difficult for them further their study deeply Thirdly the works on calendar astrology in Tibetan language were traditionally written in the form of a pithy formula for easy recitation and memory Condensation is unavoidable as the syllable number in every sentence should be identical, and many substitutive words and different names were used, so these works are difficult to understand. If not imparted orally by teachers in combination with personal practice, it is very difficult to start study of traditional Tibetan astrology even though you have well mastered Tibetan language. Fourthly some people hold that Tibetan calendar astrology is out of date and no longer worthy of studying as we now have modem science and technology and precise astronomy. These people don't understand the importance and value of research on ethnical traditional culture. It is for these causes that Tibetan calendar has not been introduced systematically and comprehensively for a long period, thus leading to some misunderstandings. Some people hold that it is essentially a Chinese calendar without much difference; some people do not Know why sometimes the new year date of Tibetan calendar and the Spring Festival of Chinese lunar calendar falls on the same date and sometimes they are not on the same date; some people find some features of Tibetan calendar especially the repeated day and missing day, but they do not understand their significance in calendar astrology In addition, as these characteristics of Traditional Tibetan astrology are often used in fortune-telling and horoscope, it is even though to be superstitious and unworthy of studying.

In 1979, Mi Huang Mingxin participated in compilation of Tibet-Chinese Dictionary At that time, a member of the compilation team named Samdrob Gyatso was proficient in Tibetan calendar so Mr. Huang learned from him the widely adopted fundamental textbook, Essence of the two Books of White Glaze and Sunlight Theory (also referred to as Essence of hoe Wheel Calendar) written by Xiangzuo of Jiala Monastery and Sangro Lhunzub Tangyal. Mr. Huang did a calculation for one solar eclipse and one lunar eclipse based on the formula and data given by the book and the result proved that he had a correct understanding of this book. He translated the book into Chinese and invited Mr. Chen Jiujin from the Institute for the History of Natural Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, to give an explanation by means of modem astronomy. After that, Mr. Huang Mingxin studied Tibetan Buddhist Shixian Calendar and finally got basic information about Tibetan calendar system. He Published several papers on the results in Tibetan Studier in Chinese and Tibetan languages, a periodical of Tibetan Academy of Social Sciences. The papers were well recognized by scholars of Han and Tibetan ethnic Groups. Later, these papers were compiled in a book entitled The Principles and Practices of Tibetan Calendar, which was published by Nationalities Publishing House in 1987. This book fills the blank in this research field in our country Its 1300 volumes at initial print sold out quickly and another 4000 volume were additionally printed later. It was unpredicted that so many readers were interested in such a little-known branch of learning. Focusing on calculation of solar and lunar eclipses, for common readers, it is hard to understand. Mr. Huang Mingxin wrote a popular scientific booklet entitled Discussion on Tibetan Calendar, and later, at invitation of Qinghai People's Publishing House, he wrote another book entitled Tibetan Astronomy and Calendar Astrology, with a length between the above two books. Its contents almost the same as those of the former except the pat of A Catalogue of Classical Texts on Tibetan Calendar”.

Mr. Huang did not continued his research on Tibetan calendar after 1987, but several years ago he found man serious fallacies in some dictionaries, including the world's well-Known Encyclopedia Britannica, and so far these fallacies are still spreading. In such case, he wrote another article and it was published on the second issue of China Tibetology in 2006. This article introduces the basic characteristics of Tibetan traditional astronomical astrology through refuting these erroneous fallacies. The above parts are introduction of Tibetan calendar study by some domestic scholars. In general, almost no scholars in China got involved in the Principle study on Traditional Tibetan astrology (in Chinese) except Mr. Huang Mingxin and Mi Chen Jiujin.

The research field of traditional Tibetan astrology should generally fall into Pure astronomy and calendar astrology but due to Tibet's special historical and cultural backgrounds and geographical environment, study of traditional Tibetan astrology covers a broad field, including calculation of the orbit values of the five planets, setup of leap month and repeated and missing days, forecast of solar and lunar eclipses etc. It also involves calculation of suitable occasions for farming and grazing, phenologies, climate and other natural Phenomena of a season, and change cycle of body Pulse manifestation based on the principle on traditional Tibetan astrology especially short-, medium and long-term weather forecast etc. The annual Tibetan calendar compiled by the Institute of Traditional Tibetan Astrology Traditional Tibetan Medicine Hospital of TAR almost covers all the abovementioned contents, so the Tibetan Astronomical and Meteorological Calendar can be deemed as a special expression form of the achievement of traditional Tibet astrology.

Scholars in traditional Tibetan astrology from various regions were ever gathered in 1921, 1938, 1947 and 1957 respectively to carry out profound discussion and definition of the relevant contents and styles of Tibetan calendar which were personally presided over by master Xinrab Norbu.

Study of traditional Tibetan astrology proceeded continually for several years after Tibet implemented democratic reform in 1960. After 1966, due to the impact of the Cultural Revolution, study of traditional Tibetan astrology suspended for seven years. At the end of 1972, various activates on traditional Tibetan astrology were resumed and at request of the people's government of the TAR, the work of complication and publication of Tibetan calendar was Put on track once again.

In April 1987, the Editorial Office of Tibetan Calendar organized to compile the book entitled Basic Knowledge on Traditional Tibetan Astrology and Astronomical Phenomena. 10000 volumes of this book were published and distributed by Tibet People Publishing House. In April 1983, Tsultrim Chuchok, then director of the Institute of Traditional Tibetan astrology complied the book Brief History of Traditional Tibetan Astrology, which was published by Tibet People Publishing House. This book plays an important role in popularization of knowledge on Tibetan calendar.

In order to more accurately compile Tibetan calendar, the Institute of Traditional Tibetan Astrology and Tibet Society for Traditional Tibetan Astrology arrange professionals every two to three years to go to the farming and grazing areas in Tibet to collect information on use of Tibetan calendar, to investigate the accuracy of Tibetan calendar on weather forecast, time of farming and grazing, solar term and season and natural disaster forecast, and to make necessary correction and adjustment for some contents, so as to enable Tibetan calendar to better and more accurately serve the people in their daily life and farming and grazing production.

Mantsikhang (Lhasa Institute of Tibetan Medicine and Astrology ) has a convention to carry out a large-scale calculation every 12 years. In August 1987, over 20 experts on astronomical astrology from Tibetan medicine hospitals in Xigaze, Shannan, Naqu, Ngari and Qamdo were gathered by the Institute of Traditional Tibetan Astrology of Traditional Tibetan Medicine Hospital of TAR to perform a uniformed calculation of the basic data on astrology during 1989 - 2000. This provides scientific data for compiling Tibetan calendar of 1989 - 2000.

As of 1998, the last data operation had been accomplished and the next once-every-12-year data operation will soon be performed. This is a critical task concerning compilation of Tibetan calendar for the coming 12 years. Compilation of Tibetan calendar should first be set out from scientific data operation. Only by using scientific and accurate data as the basis can we ensure the scientific natures and accuracy of Tibetan calendar. To ensure the accuracy of the data calculation, comparison of manual calculation and computer programming calculation will be adopted for the next calculation. Especially in computer programming calculation, starting from 1993, the basic data for Tibetan calendar, such as the five elements of system school, five elements of functional school and orbit values of the five plants of the solar system etc. were acquired by use of the basic data calculation program for Tibetan calendar developed by Mr. Yin Ba using Quick Basic Programming Language. This helped to realize the comparison between manual and computer calculation results. The use of microcomputer in this task is also a pioneer practice in this field, having a profound significance.

In 1985, the Tibetan Astronomical Calendar Institute accomplished the collation and compilation of the book Supplement to the Essence of the 17th Round of Time Wheel Calendar, which was published by Tibet People Publishing House in June of the same year. This book won the second prize of Scientific Advancement Award of The TAR in August 1985.

In 1988, Mr. Samdrob Gyatso, the honorary chairman of Tibet Society for Astrology and a well-known astrologist in Tibet, complied the book A Complete Collection of Tibetan Calendar Calculation, which was published by China Tibetology Publishing House in 1990, and various training courses on calendar astrology were carried out in Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, and Beijing etc. to popularize the knowledge on Traditional Tibetan astrology and cultivate many professionals in this field.

Mr. Yin Ba from the Institute of Traditional Tibetan astrology compiled the book Tibetan Calendar of 30 Years, including the date ordinal number of Tibetan calendar, repeated and missing days of Tibetan calendar, date ordinal number of the Gregorian calendar, date ordinal number of lunar calendar, and week ordinal number and the 24 Solar Terms etc. during 1991 - 2020. 10,000 copies of the book were published by Sichuan Nationalities Publishing House in September 1993.

In 1993, the 21-member compilation committee for A Complete Collection of Tibetan Calendar Astrology was established to formally start the compilation of this book under the organization of the Institute of Traditional Tibetan astrology of Traditional Tibetan Medicine Hospital of TAR. Mr. Qamba Chilai and Mr. Tslultrim Gyaltsen assumed editor-in-chief and vice editor-in-chief respectively. The compilation of this book with about 6 million words was completed by the end of 1995. It was officially published by Sichuan Nationalities Publishing House in August 1999, and was granted the first prize of the National Excellent Tibetan Books shortly after it was published and the Fourth National Book Award - China's top book award by State Press and Publication Administration of the People's Republic of China in September 1999. It won the First Prize of Science and Technology Advancement of The TAR in June 2000.

With constant change and development of society and age, demand of readers at various levels for calendar is also changing. To adapt to this development trend and satisfy the demand of some readers, the Institute of Traditional Tibetan Astrology of Traditional Tibetan Medicine Hospital of TAR started to compile Concise Tibetan Calendar Handbook in 2000. Featuring easy lookup, concise contents and portability, this book is well received by readers.

In march 2001, at request of the government of the autonomous region, Yin Ba and Ngawang Sangpo from the Institute of Traditional Tibetan Astrology worked together to compile Tibetan Perpetual Calendar and accomplished it in August 2002. This book includes ordinal day number of system school and function school of Tibetan calendar, repeated and missing days of Tibetan calendar, ordinal day number of Gregorian calendar, ordinal day number and ordinal week number of lunar calendar etc. for more than 2000 years (from 1 A.D. 2050 A.D.) . If it is done with the traditional calendaring tool - sand table, coupled with operation sheet, it will take one year to calculate the basic data for 226 years, so by this means, it will take 17.7 years to calculate the basic data of Drubtse school (the school stressing system) and Gyaitse school (the school stressing functions) for 2000 years. This requires enormous time, cost and manpower input, but it is difficult to ensure its accuracy. The calculation method they adopted was the computer processing software compiled by Mr. Yin Ba, the data of Tibetan calendar was deduced back to 1 A.D., and then 1 A.D was used as the epoch for data calculation and output, greatly increasing the calculation speed and accuracy. With regard to study of Traditional Tibetan Astrology abroad, we only found Dieter Schuhe from Germany who produced in 1973 the Conversion Table between Gregorian and 7ibetan Calendars of 1027-1971, but this is hardly available in China. As of 1971, we had not done any research on its contents and accuracy. It is said that some Tibetologists in other countries have also made achievements in studying of Tibetan calendar, but as we have had no opportunity to exchange idea with them, the specific contents of these research results remain unknown to us.

Huang Mingxin, Senior Researcher of National Library of China

Yumpa, Director of Institute of Traditional Tibetan Astrology of Tibetan Hospital of Tibet Autonomous Region

Oct. 11, 2006