Sacred Texts, Modern Access: Tibetan Scholars Complete Groundbreaking Buddhist Canon Catalog
On February 5th, the editorial board of the Kangyur Karchag gathered under the Bodhi Tree in Bodhgaya, India to offer copies of a 10-volume encyclopedia of the Buddha’s teachings and a single stand-alone volume (summarizing all ten volumes) to the presiding lamas of the Nyingma Monlam Chenmo, World Peace Ceremony. Working tirelessly over the past 6-years, a team of Khenpos, Geshes, and scholars from the Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu, and Gelug traditions summarized the entire contents of the Kangyur. This project was generously supported by a grant from the Khyentse Foundation, private donors, and volunteers from around the world.
The creation of the Kangyur Karchag emerges from Tarthang Rinpoche’s sincere and deep aspiration to make the vast collection of the Buddha’s teachings more appreciated and accessible, especially to the lay reader. It is the result of generations of kindness and care.
For over 55 years, Tarthang Rinpoche has supported the production and distribution of millions of sacred Dharma texts, including over 14,000 sets of historically important versions of the Kangyur. Distributed over the years at the annual Nyingma Monlam Chenmo at Bodhgaya, these sacred texts have been carried away by devoted Buddhist pilgrims. Returning home by bus, train, horse, and yak, book-by-book, more than 3000 altars and libraries have been created throughout the Himalayas and Tibet, heralding the largest Buddhist text preservation and distribution in history. (Please watch Guna Foundation’s film The Great Transmission for more information on the efforts that have been made to preserve and transmit the Dharma.)
Tarthang Rinpoche arrived in India in 1958, following his revered master Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro into exile. In 1962, His Holiness Dujdom Rinpoche asked Tarthang Rinpoche to teach at Sanskrit University in Varanasi. Rinpoche quickly established one of Tibet’s first printing houses in exile, Dharma Mudranalaya, which later would be re-established in the USA as Dharma Publishing and Yeshe De.
In 2018, some 60 years later, Rinpoche requested the khenpos and students at the Sarnath International Nyingma Institute (SINI), which he had founded in 2006, to start a close reading of the Kangyur in preparation for a major research and publication project became known as the Kangyur Yidzhin Norbu Karchag. In early 2019, SINI editors traveled throughout India’s exile communities to meet masters of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism (Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya, and Gelug) and seek their blessings, guidance, and support.
This grand, non-sectarian project aims to provide a more systematic presentation of the scriptural treasures contained within the Kangyur. By summarizing, clarifying, and connecting the streams of knowledge passed down from the Buddha in the form of a reader-friendly encyclopedia, our mission has been to offer accessibility and further interest in the general study and contemplation of the Buddha’s words.
In general, for the Dharma to survive, its roots must be nourished through a vast approach to understanding its source: the words of the Buddha. The formation of this encyclopedia will provide a gateway into the study of the Kangyur. The Kangyur encyclopedia project has already proven in its research process to be an excellent opportunity for wide-scale collaboration. We hope the formation of this encyclopedia will provide a gateway into the study of the Kangyur for the public as well.
Each summary includes a detailed table of contents and an explanatory key covering various aspects such as the Tibetan, Chinese, Sanskrit, English, and alternate title information. It provides the classification of the sutra according to the vehicles, the designation of teachings as provisional or definitive, and the identification of which turning of the wheel of Dharma a text belongs to. It also defines structural elements such as chapters, bampos, and pages and discusses methods for determining if the text belongs to the earlier or later translation period. It outlines the process of searching for commentaries, exploring the purpose of the text, and provides a concise meaning.
The summary further examines the five perfect conditions for teaching (place, teacher, retinue, time, and teaching itself), known in Tibetan as the pun sum tshog pa nga, explains key terms and the concept of impetus in text, and includes a section on addressing potential objections and refutations. This comprehensive approach ensures a thorough understanding and analysis of the sutras, their context, and their significance within the tradition. Each sutra summary also includes an area on “special notes” with additional information about the sutra available in other versions of the Kangyur, commentaries, or even the editors’ notes.
In the ecumenical spirit of this project, several key considerations have been at the center of our hearts: how to help encourage the study of the Buddha’s teachings, how to make them more accessible, and how to help prepare Kangyur study materials that will lead to the creation of Buddhist textbooks for schools in the Himalayas, India, and beyond. We hope that this Karchag serves as one more bridge connecting the reader to the precious words of the Buddha.
Like seeds of wisdom waiting to sprout in any field, the Buddha’s teachings offer a holistic perspective that transcends time and space. They invite us to see beyond surface divisions to the interconnectedness of all experiences and phenomena.
In the words of Tarthang Rinpoche, the summaries of the Kangyur reveal “an exceptional array of circumstances and a long line of extraordinary masters dedicated to ensuring the longevity of the light of knowledge these texts radiate.”
For more information on how you or your institution can be involved in supporting the initiative to read and study the Kangyur, please contact us at info@sinibridge.org.