Tibetan Buddhist canon

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The Tibetan Canon underwent a final compilation in 14th Century by Bu-ston (1290-1364). The Tibetans did not have a formally arranged Mahayana canon and so devised their own scheme which divided texts into two broad categories: the Kangyur and the Tengyur.[1]

Kangyur

The Kangyur or Kanjur (bka-gyur, "Translated Words") consists of works supposed to have been said by the Buddha himself. All texts presumably have a sanskrit original, although in many cases the Tibetan text was translated from Chinese or other language. This collection is divided into two categories: the sutras and the tantras

Sutras

The collection of sutras or "Sets of Discourses" is known as mDo-sde in Tibetan.

Tantras

The tantra section (rGyud-sde in Tibetan) corresponds with what Helena Petrovna Blavatsky called Books of Kiu-te, which includes public and secret volumes. The Book of Dzyan is said to belong to the secret volumes.

Tengyur

The Tengyur or Tanjur (bstan-gyur, "Translated Treatises") is the section to which were assigned commentaries, treatises and abhidharma works (both Mahayana and non-Mahayana). The Tanjur contains 3626 texts in 224 Volumes.

See also

Notes

  1. Tibetan Buddhist Canonat The Dharma Dictionary