Formation and Development of Tibetan Buddhist Canon

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Buddhist Canon and Bible Canon, the Main Differences
Tibetan Buddhist Canon
Buddhist Canon Nowadays
Bibliography
Footnotes

Introduction

The canon is a set of norms and rules that are not subject to revision. When it comes to art, the canon is a system of standards that prevailed within a particular historical period. Religious canon focuses on moral and behavioral norms and includes a strictly defined set of sacred texts. This paper aims to provide a meaning of the canon, summarize the main differences between Buddhist and Christian canons and give a brief description of how the Tibetan Buddhist canon evolved, formed, and developed through the ages.

Buddhist Canon and Bible Canon, the Main Differences

Bible canon is a collection of Bible books used in worship practices and recognized as God-inspired. The Bible canon was closed in the 3rd – 4th centuries, while the Buddhist canon is open and inclusive. In closed canon, texts cannot be appended or moved away from it; in contrast, an open canon allows further manipulations with its content. According to the doctrine of Christianity, only God could achieve a state of enlightenment and inspire the creation of canonical texts – that is why the Bible canon is a closed one. In Buddhist teachings, “all beings, not just humans, can achieve the highest state of realization, whether in terms of Arhatship or Buddhahood.” ¹ Therefore, the Buddhist canon creates “canonicity extending from the works of Buddhas to the works of Buddhist masters and even below them.” ²

Tibetan Buddhist Canon

Tibetan Buddhist canon mostly consists of Kangyur and Tengyur texts. Kangyur means “translations of the word” of the Buddhas and consists of sutras, tantras, and the root texts attributed to the Buddhas – Buddha Shakyamuni and later enlightened beings, like Guru Padmasambhava. Tengyur means “translations of the treatises” on the word of the Buddhas and consists of commentaries and treatises by Indian masters. Both collections appeared after being translated into Tibetan during two periods of translation.

In the Early Period, from 779 to 842 AD, 44% of Kangyur and Tengyur texts or 103,000 pages were translated. Also, during the Early Period, translators created three catalogs, of which two are extant: the Lhan dkar ma and the ‘Phang thang ma catalogs. In 779, Emperor Songdetsen Gampo established an imperial academy for translators, a “Translation Department” at the Tibetan Monastery Samye. He invited the “renowned Indian scholars Śāntarakṣita and Padmasambhava as the leading teachers, while Vairocana, Kawa Paltseg, and Chogro Lui Gyaltsen served among the assistant mentors.” ³ Also, 108 talented and diligent young boys and men were invited to work on translations.

Less capable young people were involved in the script translation, more capable were engaged in proofreading and editing. Adult scholars performed the role of chief editors, examining the translated texts for compliance with the Sanskrit original. The translation team’s work was characterized by attentiveness to the accuracy of interpretations and formulations. Translators also compiled translation manuals, dictionaries, and catalogs of translated and original Buddhist texts.

During the Later Period that lasted 300 years, 56% of Kangyur and Tengyur texts or 125,000 pages were converted. The most prominent stage of the Late Period is the end of the 13th – the beginning of the 14th century. Then, after the Muslims’ attack on India and the persecutions of Buddhists, many Indian pundits sought refuge in Tibet. They settled in Tibetan monasteries and began joint work with Tibetan scholars, revising earlier translations and writing comments and treatises.

The Later Period canon includes collections from Rnying mas and Bon traditions, which originated in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. Bon treasure texts are called “termas” and include esoteric scriptures and exoteric sutras and treatises, revealed by the Buddhas when the decent time has come. Most “termas” were unveiled by “Five Kings the Treasure Revealers” who are all considered emanations of King Khri’s strong lde bits in the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 19th centuries.

At the end of the 10th century, the first texts of the Rnying ma collection appeared. They were “presented as translations from Indian sources carried out in the Early Translation Period.” ⁴ Dying mas rediscovered cycles of treasure texts and gathered them into collections – one famous example is “The Collected Tantras of Vairocana.” There are also later collections of the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. The Tibetan and Himalayan Library online catalog lists 1,017 texts, 45,432 pages, and 50 volumes of Rnying ma collections, which are based on the nine vehicle system of the Rnying ma tradition. Esoteric and exoteric texts follow in the descending order from Atiyoga or the Highest Yoga, to Anuyoga or the Subsequent Yoga, and Mahayoga or the Great Yoga.

Buddhist Canon Nowadays

The Buddhist canon continues to expand by incorporating ancient translations found recently. Texts found in Dunhuang caves in Central Asia by Western explorers and included in the Chinese Taisho canon in 1924-1934 is one remarkable example. Nowadays, an opportunity to expand the Buddhist canon has emerged since Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan, and Mongolian canons became public. Therefore, within the framework of the programs of the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center, Resources for Kanjur and Tanjur Studies, and the Asian Classics Input Project, a single Union Catalog of Buddhist Texts can be created. If so, it will produce the prerequisites for the most inclusive canon. Moreover, such a unique electronic library can provide the opportunity for cross-language comparisons of similar texts.

Besides, there is a large-scale project to translate the entire collection into English and other languages called “84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha”. It has a website that provides access to translated texts. At the moment, translations of all three canons – Tibetan, Chinese, and Pali into English are finished. Thus, it became possible to create a full virtual Buddhist canon in English, and subsequently translate English texts into other languages.

Some attention should also be paid to another exciting project, indirectly related to the previous ones. It was initiated by Dalai Lama, who “invited Emory University to develop and teach a curriculum in Western science to Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns.” ⁵ Through this project, Tibetan monastic scholars, in collaboration with scholars from Emory University and Tibetan translators, discovered vital differences between conceptualization in Western and Tibetan civilization. The difference in the creation of the concepts of water, fire, quarks, life, life form, sentience, cell body, a body of a cell, amygdala, organism, mass, weight, energy, the proton was analyzed. Hence, they launched an interesting scientific discourse, in which translators, scientists, and linguists from around the world took part.

Thus, the meaning of the canon was provided, and the main differences between Buddhist and Christian canons were summarized. Development of Tibetan Buddhist canon included two peaks – 779-842 AD for the Early Period and the end of 13th – the beginning of the 14th century for the Later Period. During both periods, Tibetan translators in cooperation with Indian pundits created 228,000 pages of Kangyur and Tengyur collections. Also, Bon and Rnying mas constitute the Later Period collection.

Bibliography

Gray, Kelsey, Dadul Namgyal, Jeremy Purcell, Tsondue Samphel, Tenzin Sonam, Karma Tenzin, Dawa Tsering, Carol Worthman, and Arri Eisen. “Found in Translation: Collaborative Contemplations of Tibetan Buddhism and Western Science.” Frontiers in Communication 4: 76.

Halkias, Georgios. “Translating the Foreign into the Local: The Cultural Production and Canonization of Buddhist Texts in Imperial Tibet.” In Translation and Global Asia: Relocating Networks of Cultural Production, edited by Kwan Uganda Sze-Pui and Wong Lawrence Wang-Chi, 143-166. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2014.

Stanley, Phillip. 2014. “The Tibetan Buddhist Canon.” In The Wiley Blackwell Companion to East and Inner Asian Buddhism, edited by Mario Poceski, 383-408. 1st ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Footnotes

Philip Stanley, The Tibetan Buddhist Canon. (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2014), 402.
Stanley, The Tibetan Buddhist, 402.
Georgios Halkias, Translating the Foreign into the Local: The Cultural Production and Canonization of Buddhist Texts in Imperial Tibet, (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2014), 148.
Stanley, The Tibetan Buddhist, 395.
Kelsey Gray et al. Found in Translation: Collaborative Contemplations of Tibetan Buddhism and Western Science, (Frontiers in Communication, 2020), 3.

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