The Bka’ chems ka khol ma and the Maṇi bka’ ’bum are both known as testaments of King Srong bstan sgam po （d. 650）. Based on several points which they have in common, I argue that they stand in the earliest phases of the Meditation Tradition （as opposed to the Logic Tradition） within the Ratnagotravibhāga interpretation schools. Both ‘revealed scriptures’ （gter ma） aspire for rebirth in the Buddha Amitābha’s Pure Land. The Bka’ chems ka khol ma taps textual sources that make the case that it itself champions, namely the supremacy of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. They include some of the twenty-one sūtras and tantras centred on Avalokiteśvara that are referred to in the Maṇi bka’ ’bum, such as the Kāraṇḍavyūhasūtra and the Thousand-handed and Thousand-eyed Avalokiteśvara. I argue that the doctrinal position of both the Maṇi bka’ ’bum and the Bka’ brgyud pas that, based on the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra, the Last Turning of the Wheel of the Doctrine is of definitive meaning, was inherited from the Bka’ chems ka khol ma’s classification of doctrine into the three periods of time. The Bka’ chems ka khol ma prophesies five sūtras, including the Ratnameghasūtra and the Nirvāṇasūtra of the Last Turning of the Wheel of the Doctrine, which teach the existence of the Buddha-nature in all sentient beings, on which doctrine the Meditation Tradition relied. Both the Bka’ chems ka khol ma and the Maṇi bka’ ’bum are texts that teach self-emptiness, but the latter would not contradict the doctrinal position of extrinsic emptiness, since the Bka’ chems ka khol ma rejects identifying emptiness with non-existence or nothingness, the definition of emptiness as it relates to the discourses on epistemological negation constituting the fundamental difference between the Meditation and the Logic Traditions. The Bka’ chems ka khol ma aims to attain the unsurpassable enlightenment within the inseparability of the Two Truths. The two texts narrate the activities of the Buddha Amitābha and the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, who work for the benefit of all sentient beings’ attainment of Buddhahood, thus demonstrating the inseparability of emptiness and compassion as inscribed in the heart of Mahāyāna Buddhism.
