| Kangyur | |||||
 Young monks printing scriptures inSera Monastery,Tibet | |||||
| Tibetan name | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tibetan | བཀའ་འགྱུར | ||||
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TheTibetan Buddhist canon is a defined collection of sacred texts recognized by various schools ofTibetan Buddhism, comprising theKangyur and theTengyur. TheKangyur orKanjur is Buddha's recorded teachings (or the 'Translation of the Word'), and theTengyur orTanjur is the commentaries by great masters on Buddha's teachings (or the 'Translation of Treatises').
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History and overview |
In addition to earlier foundational Buddhist texts from early Buddhist schools, mostly theSarvastivada andMahayana texts, the Tibetan canon includesTantric 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 theHeart Sutra[1] and even versions of material found in thePali Canon.[2]
The Tibetans did not have a formally arrangedMahayana canon, and so devised their own scheme with two broad categories: the "Words of the Buddha" and later the commentaries; the Kangyur andTengyur respectively. The Tengyur underwent a final compilation in the 14th century byBu-ston (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 visitedTshal Gung-thang [de] (Eimer 1992:178).[3]
According tosakya 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."[4]
The Kangyur is divided into sections onVinaya,Perfection of Wisdom sutras, othersutras (75% Mahayana, 25%Hinayana), andtantras. It includes texts on theVinaya, monastic discipline, metaphysics, and thetantras.[5] Some describe theprajñāpāramitā philosophy, others extol the virtues of the variousbodhisattvas, while others expound theTrikāya and theĀlaya-Vijñāna doctrines.[6]
When the term Kangyur was first used is unknown. Collections of canonical Buddhist texts existed already in the time ofTrisong Detsen, the sixth king ofTibet, who ruled from 755 until 797 CE, inSpiti.
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 theDerge,Lhasa,Narthang,Cone,Peking,Urga, Phudrak, and Stog Palace versions, each named for the physical location where it was printed. In addition, some canonical texts have been found inTabo Monastery andDunhuang which provide earlier exemplars of texts found in the Kangyur. All extant Kangyur appear to stem from the OldNarthang Monastery Kangyur. The stemma of the Kangyur have been well researched, by Helmut Eimer in particular.
The TibetanBön 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.[by whom?][clarification needed] Apparently, Bön began to take on a literary form about the time Buddhism entered Tibet. The Bön Kangyur contains the revelations ofTonpa Shenrab (Wylie:gShen rab), the traditional founder of Bön.[7][8] A version was published in 1993-1997.[9] 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.[10]
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