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Tibetan Canon & Kangyur

The Tibetan Canon — the largest collection of Buddhist texts in any language. The Kangyur (translated words of the Buddha) and the Tengyur (commentaries).

The Tibetan Buddhist Canon is the largest collection of Buddhist texts in any single language. It contains translations of nearly the complete Indian Buddhist tradition — texts from every major school, on philosophy, meditation, ritual, and tantra — plus a vast indigenous Tibetan literature of commentaries and terma (hidden treasures).

The canon is divided into two main collections: the Kangyur and the Tengyur. The Kangyur contains the texts that Tibetan tradition considers to be the actual words of the Buddha; the Tengyur contains the commentaries and treatises by Indian Buddhist masters. Together, they preserve thousands of texts that are lost in their original Sanskrit.

This guide introduces the canon in its structure, contents, and historical importance. For a more detailed treatment of the two collections, see The Kangyur and Tengyur. For the most famous text in the canon, see The Tibetan Book of the Dead.

Why the Tibetan canon matters #

Three reasons make the Tibetan canon uniquely important:

  1. Preservation of lost Indian literature. Many of the texts in the Kangyur and Tengyur have been lost in their original Sanskrit. The Tibetan translations are sometimes the only complete record. The great Indian university of Nalanda, the center of Buddhist learning for over a thousand years, is preserved, in textual form, in the Tengyur.
  2. Comprehensive scope. The canon preserves texts from every major school of Indian Buddhism — from the early suttas to the tantric literature of late Indian Buddhism. The range is unmatched.
  3. Vitality of the living tradition. The canon is not a museum piece. It is actively studied, recited, and memorized in Tibetan monasteries today. Whole texts are recited from memory by senior monks.

The destruction of Buddhism in India between the 12th and 16th centuries was one of the great cultural losses in history. Without the Tibetan canon, much of Indian Buddhist literature would be known only from fragments. With it, we have the most complete record of the Indian Buddhist tradition.

The Kangyur — the “Translated Words” #

The Kangyur (bKa’-‘gyur, “Translated Teachings”) contains the texts that Tibetan tradition considers to be the direct words of the Buddha, translated from Sanskrit (and some Chinese) into Tibetan. It contains:

  • The Sutras (the discourses) — the sermons of the historical Buddha and the Mahayana teachings
  • The Tantras — the tantric texts that form the basis of Vajrayana practice
  • The Vinaya — the monastic code

In the modern (Derge) edition, the Kangyur contains over 1,000 texts in about 100 volumes.

The Kangyur is the most important collection in Tibetan Buddhist literature. Every Tibetan Buddhist monastery has copies, and the text is recited, memorized, and studied throughout the tradition. The most common form is the printed pecha, in Tibetan paper, with the text in the traditional Tibetan script.

The Tengyur — the “Translated Commentaries” #

The Tengyur (bStan-‘gyur, “Translated Treatises”) contains the commentaries and treatises by Indian Buddhist masters, translated into Tibetan. It includes:

  • Commentaries on the sutras and tantras
  • Treatises on philosophy, logic, and epistemology
  • Works on monastic discipline, ritual, and medicine
  • Hymns and poetry

The Tengyur is roughly 200 volumes in the Derge edition.

The Tengyur preserves the work of the great Indian Buddhist philosophers — Nagarjuna, Asanga, Vasubandhu, Dignaga, Dharmakirti, Shantarakshita, and many others. The Tibetan translations are often the only complete record of their work. The Madhyamaka philosophy of Nagarjuna, for example, is preserved in its most elaborate form in the Tengyur.

The relationship between the two #

The Kangyur is treated as scripture; the Tengyur is treated as commentary and is studied alongside it. In a typical Tibetan monastery, the curriculum proceeds through both — first the Kangyur, then the Tengyur, then the indigenous Tibetan commentaries (the Sermdo, the Rimé movement’s contributions, and so on).

The relationship is similar to the difference between a medical textbook and a research literature: the Kangyur is the source, the Tengyur is the cumulative scholarship of the tradition. A serious student of Tibetan Buddhism studies both.

The historical importance #

The Tibetan Canon is the most complete record of Indian Buddhist literature. Many of the texts it contains have been lost in their original Sanskrit. The Indian university of Nalanda — the great center of Buddhist learning — is preserved, in textual form, in the Tengyur.

The destruction of Buddhism in India between the 12th and 16th centuries makes the Tibetan canon a unique resource. It is, in a sense, the closest we can come to reading the Indian Buddhist tradition as it existed at its peak.

This historical importance is one reason the modern transmission of the Tibetan canon to digital form is such a significant project. The 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha project, the Asian Classics Input Project, and other initiatives are making the canon accessible to a global audience for the first time.

Editions #

Several editions of the Tibetan Canon have been produced:

  • Narthang edition (14th century) — the earliest major printed edition
  • Derge edition (18th century) — the most widely used scholarly edition today. The Derge edition is the standard reference for Tibetan Buddhist studies.
  • Cone edition (Beijing) — a critical edition produced in the 20th century
  • Golden Tengyur — a modern critical edition

The Derge edition is the basis for most modern translations, and the textual apparatus is well-developed. The Derge blocks, which are the wooden printing blocks from which the edition was produced, are themselves a UNESCO-recognized cultural heritage.

Modern accessibility #

The Tibetan Canon has been extensively digitized and translated. Major translation projects include:

  • 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha — a global initiative to translate the Kangyur into English (largely complete). The project is based at the end of 2023, with the translation effort continuing.
  • Asian Classics Input Project — a digital Tibetan text archive, based in New York, with thousands of Tibetan texts in digital form.
  • Lotsawa House — translations of key Tibetan texts
  • The Library of Tibetan Classics — translated works from the Tengyur, published by the Tsadra Foundation and Wisdom Publications
  • The University of Virginia’s Tibetan and Himalayan Library — a major digital resource for Tibetan Buddhist studies

The modern reader is in a remarkable position: more Tibetan Buddhist texts are available in translation than at any time in history. The challenge is not access but navigation.

The Tibetan Book of the Dead #

The most famous text in the Tibetan Canon (or at least the most famous in the West) is the Bardo Thodol, often called the Tibetan Book of the Dead. It is technically not in the Kangyur but in the Nyingma Gyubum — the collected tantras of the Nyingma school.

The text is a termas — a “hidden treasure” — discovered by the 14th-century master Karma Lingpa. It belongs to a class of Tibetan literature that was concealed by Padmasambhava (8th century) and later rediscovered by realized teachers. The text is a guide for the dying and the recently dead, traditionally read aloud to a person during the dying process, and again for up to 49 days after death, to help them recognize the true nature of reality and avoid being drawn into a less favorable rebirth.

A full treatment is in The Tibetan Book of the Dead.

The tantras in the canon #

A distinctive feature of the Tibetan canon is its extensive collection of tantras — the texts that form the basis of Vajrayana practice. The Kangyur contains the major tantras, including the Guhyasamaja Tantra, the Cakrasamvara Tantra, the Vajrabhairava Tantra, the Kalachakra Tantra, and many others.

The tantras are not literature in the usual sense. They are ritual texts, meant to be used in practice, often with elaborate visualizations, mantras, and ritual gestures. A tantric practitioner would study the tantra with a teacher for many years before being authorized to use it in practice.

The presence of the tantras in the Kangyur reflects the centrality of tantra in Tibetan Buddhism. The other major Buddhist traditions — Theravada and the non-tantric Mahayana schools — do not have the tantric literature in the same form.

The Mongolian and other canons #

Tibetan Buddhism spread from Tibet to Mongolia, Bhutan, the Russian republics of Tuva and Buryatia, and parts of Nepal and northern India. In each region, the Tibetan canon was the scripture of the tradition, though sometimes with local additions.

The Mongolian canon is the most important variation. The Mongolian translation of the Kangyur was produced in the early 18th century, during the Qing dynasty. The Mongolian canon preserves many of the same texts as the Tibetan Kangyur but with some additional works, and it remains an important resource for the study of Mongolian Buddhism.

The Bhutanese and Himalayan traditions also have their own local variations on the canon, with additional termas and commentaries that are not in the standard Tibetan editions.

The use of the canon in modern practice #

The Tibetan canon is actively used in modern practice. A few examples:

  • Monks study the canon throughout their training. The Gelug monastic curriculum, for example, is organized around the Lamrim (stages of the path) texts, which draw on the canon. The geshe degree, awarded after 15-25 years of study, is based on a thorough study of the canon and the major commentaries.
  • Lay practitioners recite texts from the canon as devotional practice. The Seven-Line Prayer to Padmasambhava, the Sutra of the Heart, and the Mani Mantra (Om Mani Padme Hum) are widely recited.
  • Tantric practitioners use the tantras in formal practice. The Guhyasamaja and Cakrasamvara tantras, among others, are used in daily tantric rituals.
  • Western practitioners study the canon in translation. Many Western Tibetan Buddhist centers have study groups that work through the canon, often in translation.

The relationship to other Buddhist canons #

The Tibetan canon is the most complete record of Indian Buddhist literature, but it is not the only Buddhist canon. The Chinese Buddhist canon, the Korean Buddhist canon, the Japanese Buddhist canon, and the Tibetan canon together make up the surviving Buddhist canonical literature.

The Chinese canon is particularly important. It includes translations of many Mahayana sutras that are not in the Tibetan canon, and it preserves the East Asian commentarial tradition. The Taisho Shinshu Daizokyo, the modern critical edition of the Chinese canon, runs to 100 volumes.

The Japanese canon is organized as the Taisho and the Dai Nihon Zokuzokyo, a modern compilation. The Korean canon, the Tripitaka Koreana, is a 13th-century woodblock edition that is one of the most complete and accurate editions of the Chinese canon in existence.

The various canons are not in conflict; they are different collections of the same general literature, with different regional emphases. A complete Buddhist studies library would include all of them.

A note on scholarship #

The modern scholarly study of the Tibetan canon is a major international undertaking. The Vienna Sanskrit-Tibetan project, the University of Tokyo’s Tibetan studies program, the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala, and many other institutions are working to produce critical editions, translations, and studies of the canon.

The work is far from complete. Many of the texts in the Kangyur and Tengyur have never been translated into a Western language. The 84000 project to translate the entire Kangyur is a major step forward, but the Tengyur is much larger and remains largely untranslated.

For the serious student, the resources include:

  • The Dictionary of Tibetan Buddhist Terms (a major project)
  • The 84000 online translation database
  • The Lotsawa House translations
  • The Library of Tibetan Classics
  • The Asian Classics Input Project’s digital text archive

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