The

Tibetan Buddhist canon The Tibetan Buddhist canon is a compilation of the Buddhist sacred texts recognized by various schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Canon includes the Kangyur, which is the Buddha's recorded teachings, and the Tengyur, which is commentaries by gr ...

is a defined collection of sacred texts recognized by various schools of

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, D ...

, comprising the Kangyur and the Tengyur. The ''Kangyur'' or ''Kanjur'' is Buddha's recorded teachings (or the 'Translation of the Word'), and the ''

Tengyur The Tengyur or ''Tanjur'' or ''Bstan-’gyur'' (Tibetan: "Translation of Teachings") is the collected commentaries by great buddhist masters on Buddha Shakyamuni's teachings. The Tengyur is included in the Tibetan Buddhist Canon, which consi ...

'' or ''Tanjur'' is the commentaries by great masters on Buddha's teachings (or the 'Translation of Treatises'). Tibetan Dragon Buddhist Canon

Tibetan Buddhist canon

In addition to earlier foundational Buddhist texts from early Buddhist schools, mostly the

Sarvastivada The ''Sarvāstivāda'' (; ;) was one of the early Buddhist schools established around the reign of Ashoka (third century BCE).Westerhoff, The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy in the First Millennium CE, 2018, p. 60. It was particular ...

and

Mahayana Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main ex ...

texts, the Tibetan canon includes Tantric texts. The last category is not always sharply distinguished from the others: the Tantra division sometimes includes material usually not thought of as Tantric in other traditions, such as the

Heart Sutra The ''Heart Sūtra'', ) is a popular sutra in Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhism. In Sanskrit, the title ' translates as "The Heart of the Prajnaparamita, Perfection of Wisdom". The Sutra famously states, "Form is emptiness (''śūnyatā''), em ...

and even versions of material found in the

Pali Canon The Pāḷi Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhism, Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant Early Buddhist texts, early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from t ...

. The Tibetans did not have a formally arranged

canon, and so devised their own scheme with two broad categories: the "Words of the Buddha" and later the commentaries; the Kangyur and

respectively. The Tengyur underwent a final compilation in the 14th century by

Bu-ston Butön Rinchen Drup (), (1290–1364), 11th Abbot of Shalu Monastery, was a 14th-century Sakya (Tibetan Buddhist school), Sakya master and Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhist leader. Shalu was the first of the major monasteries to be built by nob ...

(1290–1364). There is no proof that Bu-ston also took part in the collection and edition of the Tsal pa Kangyur, although he consecrated a copy of this Kangyur 1351 when he visited (Eimer 1992:178). According to '' sakya mchog ldan'' (1428-1507), Bu-soon edited a Kanjur; however, it is not known which one. "The Kangyur usually takes up a hundred or a hundred and eight volumes, the Tengyur two hundred and twenty-five, and the two together contain 4,569 works." *Kangyur or "Translated Words" consists of works in about 108 volumes supposed to have been spoken by the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

himself. All texts presumably once had a

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

original, although in many cases the Tibetan text was translated from

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

or some other language. *Tengyur or "Translated Treatises" contains commentaries, treatises and

abhidharma The Abhidharma are a collection of Buddhist texts dating from the 3rd century BCE onwards, which contain detailed scholastic presentations of doctrinal material appearing in the canonical Buddhist scriptures and commentaries. It also refers t ...

works (both Mahayana and non-Mahayana), in all, around 3,626 texts in 224 volumes. The Kangyur is divided into sections on

Vinaya The Vinaya (Pali and Sanskrit: विनय) refers to numerous monastic rules and ethical precepts for fully ordained monks and nuns of Buddhist Sanghas (community of like-minded ''sramanas''). These sets of ethical rules and guidelines devel ...

Perfection of Wisdom A Tibetan painting with a Prajñāpāramitā sūtra at the center of the mandala Prajñāpāramitā means "the Perfection of Wisdom" or "Transcendental Knowledge" in Mahāyāna. Prajñāpāramitā refers to a perfected way of seeing the natu ...

sutras, other

sutra ''Sutra'' ()Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aphorism or a collection of aphorisms in the form of a manual or, more broadly, a ...

s (75% Mahayana, 25%

Hinayana Hīnayāna is a Sanskrit term that was at one time applied collectively to the '' Śrāvakayāna'' and '' Pratyekabuddhayāna'' paths of Buddhism. This term appeared around the first or second century. The Hīnayāna is considered as the prelim ...

), and

tantra Tantra (; ) is an esoteric yogic tradition that developed on the India, Indian subcontinent beginning in the middle of the 1st millennium CE, first within Shaivism and later in Buddhism. The term ''tantra'', in the Greater India, Indian tr ...

s. It includes texts on the

, monastic discipline, metaphysics, and the

s. Some describe the

prajñāpāramitā A Tibetan painting with a Prajñāpāramitā sūtra at the center of the mandala Prajñāpāramitā means "the Perfection of Wisdom" or "Transcendental Knowledge" in Mahāyāna. Prajñāpāramitā refers to a perfected way of seeing the natu ...

philosophy, others extol the virtues of the various

bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in ...

s, while others expound the

Trikāya The Trikāya (, lit. "three bodies"; , ) is a fundamental Buddhist doctrine that explains the multidimensional nature of Buddhahood. As such, the Trikāya is the basic theory of Mahayana Buddhist theology of Buddhahood. This concept posits that a ...

and the Ālaya-Vijñāna doctrines. When the term Kangyur was first used is unknown. Collections of canonical Buddhist texts existed already in the time of

Trisong Detsen Trisong Detsen () was the son of Me Agtsom, the 37th king of Tibet. As the 38th king, he ruled from AD 755 until 797. Trisong Detsen was the second of the Three Dharma Kings of Tibet — Songsten Gampo, Trisong Detsen, Rapalchen — honored f ...

, the sixth king of

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

, who ruled from 755 until 797 CE, in

Spiti Spiti (pronounced as piti in Bhoti language) is a high-altitude region of the Himalayas, located in the north-eastern part of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The name "Spiti" means "The middle land", i.e. the land between Tib ...

. The exact number of texts in the Kangyur is not fixed. Each editor takes responsibility for removing texts they consider spurious, and adding new translations. Currently there are about 12 available versions of the Kangyur. These include the

Derge Derge (), officially Gengqing Town (; ), is a town in Dêgê County in Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan, China. It was once the center of the Kingdom of Derge in Kham. History Historically, Derge, which means "land of mercy", was ...

Lhasa Lhasa, officially the Chengguan District of Lhasa City, is the inner urban district of Lhasa (city), Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, Southwestern China. Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining ...

, Narthang,

Cone In geometry, a cone is a three-dimensional figure that tapers smoothly from a flat base (typically a circle) to a point not contained in the base, called the '' apex'' or '' vertex''. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines ...

Peking Beijing, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's most populous national capital city as well as China's second largest city by urban area after Shanghai. It is l ...

, Urga, Phudrak, and Stog Palace versions, each named for the physical location where it was printed. In addition, some canonical texts have been found in

Tabo Monastery Tabo Monastery (or Tabo Chos-Khor Monastery) is located in the Tabo village of Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh, northern India. It was founded in 996 CE in the Tibetan year of the Fire Ape by the Tibetan Buddhist ''lotsawa'' (translator) Rinc ...

and

Dunhuang Dunhuang () is a county-level city in northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Sachu (Dunhuang) was ...

which provide earlier exemplars of texts found in the Kangyur. All extant Kangyur appear to stem from the Old

Narthang Monastery 290px, Racks of printing blocks, Narthang Monastery Narthang Monastery is a monastery located west of Shigatse in Tibet. Founded in 1153 by Tumtön Lodrö Drakpa, a student of Sharawa Yonten Drak. Narthang was an influential Kadam monastery ...

Kangyur. The stemma of the Kangyur have been well researched, by Helmut Eimer in particular.

Bön Kangyur

The Tibetan

Bön Bon or Bön (), also known as Yungdrung Bon (, ), is the indigenous Tibetan religion which shares many similarities and influences with Tibetan Buddhism.Samuel 2012, pp. 220–221. It initially developed in the tenth and eleventh centuries but ...

religion also has its canon literature divided into two sections called the Kangyur and Tengyur, said to have been translated from foreign languages, but the number and contents of the collection are not yet fully known. Apparently, Bön began to take on a literary form about the time Buddhism entered Tibet. The Bön Kangyur contains the revelations of

Tonpa Shenrab Tonpa Shenrab (, ), also known as Shenrab Miwo (), Buddhahood, Buddha Shenrab, Guru Shenrab and a number of other titles, is the legendary founder of the Bon religious tradition of Tibet. The story of Tonpa Shenrab was revealed in a fourteent ...

(Wylie: ''gShen rab''), the traditional founder of Bön. A version was published in 1993-1997. The Bon traditions of the Tibetan part of the Chinese tripitaka Zhonghua da zang jing (中華大藏經) has also been published in 2022.《中华大藏经·本教甘珠尔》（1—108卷）震撼面世
/ref>

Footnotes

External links

Resources for Kanjur & Tanjur Studies
~ Universität Wien
The Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center

Kangyur
@Rigpawiki

84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
* Csoma, ''Analysis of the Dulva'', part of the Kangyur, Asiatic Researches, Calcutta, 1836, vol. 20-1, pp. 41–93
en ligne
). {{Buddhism topics Tripiṭaka Tibetan Buddhist texts

Tibetan Buddhist canon

Bön Kangyur

Footnotes

Further reading

External links