View source for lo chen nyi zla skar gsum

''lo chen nyi zla skar gsum'', 'The Three Great Translators: The Sun, the Moon and the Star'. Namely, the Sun is Lotsāwa Kawa Peltsek ([[lo tshaa ba ka ba dpal brtsegs]]), the Moon is Chokro Lotsāwa, Lui Gyeltsen ([[lcog ro lo tshaa ba klu'i rgyal mtshan]]), and the Star is Lotsāwa Rinchen Zangpo ([[lo tshaa ba rin chen bzang po]]). Meanwhile, Lotsāwa Bérotsana ([[lo tshaa ba bai ro tsa na]]) is considered to be the 'Sky', probably signaling his prime importance in the earlier Sanskrit-Tibetan translations. Kawa Pelstek and Chokro Lotsāwas were, like Bérotsana, disciples of Padmasambhava, and hence contemporaneous with them both from roughly the mid-700s to early 800s; while Rinchen Zangpo was later and lived from 958 to 1055. The astronomical simile expressing their collective importance is recounted in the famous quotation by Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sheyrab ([[rngogs lo tshaa ba blo ldan shes rab]], 1059-1109) as follows: 

Bérotsana, equal to the limits of the sky,
The duo of Kawa and Chok, the pair of sun and moon, 
And Rinchen Zangpo, like unto the great star of dawn;
Compared to them, we are mere fireflies.
 
''bai ro tsa na gnam mkha'i mtha' dang mnyam/'' 
''ka lcog gnyis ni nyi zla zung gcig ste/''
''rin chen bzang po tho rangs skar chen 'dra/''
''kho ba yang ni srin 'bus me khyer bzhin/''

[Erick Tsiknopoulos]