An Early Tibetan Survey of Buddhist Literature

An Early Tibetan Survey of Buddhist Literature

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This volume is a study and edition of Bcom ldan ral gri's (1227–1305) Bstan pa rgyas pa rgyan gyi nyi 'od. Likely composed in the last decades of the thirteenth century, this systematic list of Buddhist Sutras, Tantras, Shastras, and related genres translated primarily from Sanskrit and other Indic languages holds an important place in the history of Buddhist literature in Tibet. It affords a glimpse of one Tibetan scholar's efforts to classify more than two thousand titles of Buddhist literature in the decades before the canonical collections known as the Bka' 'gyur and the Bstan 'gyur achieved a relatively stable form. Tibetan historiography traces the origin of the Bka' 'gyur and Bstan 'gyur to Bcom ldan ral gri's efforts, though the unique structure of the Bstan pa rgyas pa rgyan gyi nyi 'od, which differs greatly from available Bka' 'gyur and Bstan 'gyur catalogs, shows that the situation is more complex.

Known to contemporary scholars of Tibetan literature for some time through mention in other works, Bcom ldan ral gri's survey has recently become available for the first time in two manuscripts. The present work contains a detailed historical introduction, an annotated edition of the two manuscripts, as well as concordances and appendices intended to aid the comparative study of early Tibetan collections of Indic Buddhist literature. (Source: Harvard University Press)

Citation	Schaeffer, Kurtis R., and Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp. An Early Survey of Tibetan Buddhist Literature: The Bstan pa rgyas pa rgyan gyi nyi 'od of Bcom ldan ral gri. Edited by Michael Witzel. Harvard Oriental Series 64. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.

Contents

• Contentsvi
• Acknowledgementsix
• Abbreviationsx

• Part One. Introduction1
  • 1. The Career of Bcom ldan ral gri3
  • 2. The Context of Bcom ldan ral gri's Bstan pa rgyas pa rgyan gyi nyi 'od: A Preliminary Survey of the Production of Tibetan Canonical Collections under Mongol Rule9
    • 2.1 Canonical Collections before "Bka' 'gyur" and "Bstan 'gyur"9
    • 2.2 Early Canonical Production in the Sa skya Tradition14
    • 2.3 Canonical Production at Tshal and Elsewhere32
    • 2.4 Local Variation in the Contents of Early Kangyurs and Tengyurs41
    • 2.5 Bcom ldan ral gri and Debates on the Canonicity of the Guhyagarbha Tantra46
  • 3. The Structure, Contents, and Date of the Bstan pa rgyas pa rgyan gyi nyi 'od51
  • 4. Conventions71

• • Appendicesx
  • 1. Outline of the Bstan bcos kyi dkar chag by Dbus pa Blo gsal Rtsod pa'i
    seng ge (ca. 1270-ca. 1355)75
  • 2. Outline of Chapter Four of Bu ston Rin chen grub's (1290-1364) History77
  • 3. A Comparison of Sections in the Lhan dkar ma, 'Phyang thang ma, and
    Bstan pa rgyas pa rgyan gyi nyi 'od85
  • 4. The 'Phang thang ma Section Titles in Bcom ldan ral gri's 1261 Thub pa'i
    bstan pa rgyan gyi me tog87
  • 5. Section titles of the Zhwa lu/Sne'u gdong 1362 Bstan 'gyur89
  • 6. Titles in the Bstan pa rgyas pa rgyan gyi nyi 'od corresponding to titles of
    missing works in Bu ston Rin chen grub's History91
  • Select Bibliographies93

• Part Two. The Bstan pa rgyas pa rgyan gyi nyi 'od102
  • Title104
  • Opening Verse104

• • 1. How Tibet Developed105
  • 2. How Buddhism Developed in Tibet108
  • 3. Prajñāpāramitā115
  • 4. Avatamsaka118
  • 5. Ratnakūta120
  • 6. Mahāyāna Sūtras124
  • 7. Hīnayāna Sūtras135
  • 8. Dhāranī140
  • 9. *Nāma, Pranidhāna, and Mangala150
  • 10. Sūtra Commentaries154
  • 11. Translations from Chinese and Khotanese159
  • 12. Vinaya163
  • 13. Abhidharma166
  • 14. Cittamātra Śāstra168
  • 15. Madhyamaka Śāstra171
  • 16. Bodhisattvacārya and Bhāvanākrama174
  • 17. Stotra177
  • 18. Guhyamantra180
  • 19. Tarka189
  • 20. Partial Unrevised Translations192
  • 21. How Translators, Scholars, Kings, and Ministers Appeared in Tibet213
  • 22. Translations by Lo tsā ba Rin chen bzang po197
  • 23. Translations by Students of Rin chen bzang po209
  • 24. Translations by Lo tsā ba Nag tsho Tshul khrims rgyal ba213
  • 25. Translations Just After Atiśa (ca. 982-ca.1054) Passed Away220
  • 26. Translations by 'Brog mi Lo tsā ba Blo ldan shes rab and Others228
  • 27. Translations by Rngog Lo tsā ba Blo ldan shes rab and Others237
  • 28. Translations by Pa tshab Lo tsā ba Nyi ma grags and Others245
  • 29. A Classification of Authentic and Inauthentic Sūtras, Tantra, and Śāstras255
  • 30. Works Composed up to the Era of Emperor Khri Ral pa can263
  • 31. Concluding Instruction274

• Concluding Verses277
• Colophon277
• Post-colophonic Gloss277

tantra - Tantra, when juxtaposed with Sūtra, generally refers to the scriptures and texts which discuss esoteric topics. While the term is used to refer to texts on other topics, it is mostly used to refer to the genre of scriptures and texts on themes and topics associated with Vajrayāna Buddhism. Skt. तन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད། Ch. 密宗

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Prajñāpāramitā - A class of Mahāyāna sūtras which represents some of the earliest known literature of this genre of Buddhism. There are around forty texts associated with this category, though the most widespread is the exceedingly brief Prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtra, popularly known as the Heart Sūtra. This class of literature is typically associated with the second turning of the dharma wheel and especially with the teachings on emptiness (śūnyatā). As such, these texts were the primary scriptural source for the philosophy of the Madhyamaka school. Skt. प्रज्ञापारमिता Tib. ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་,ཤེར་ཕྱིན་ Ch. 般若波羅蜜多

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Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt. महायान Tib. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ། Ch. 大乘

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Hīnayāna - The mainstream teachings and the early schools of Buddhism which primarily taught individual liberation through practice-focused renunciation and monasticism, considered lesser than the later movement of the Greater Vehicle (Mahāyāna), which professed enlightenment for all sentient beings and promoted compassion. Skt. हीनयान Tib. ཐེག་དམན། Ch. 小乘

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sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt. सूत्र Tib. མདོ། Ch. 佛经

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vinaya - Vinaya refers to the corpus of Buddhist teachings on moral discipline and precepts and is one of the three canonical sets of teachings alongside Sūtra and Abhidharma. It also refers to the monastic tradition which has been passed down since the Buddha's time until our time. Skt. विनय Tib. འདུལ་བ། Ch. 毘奈耶

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abhidharma - Abhidharma generally refers to the corpus of Buddhist texts which deals with the typological, phenomenological, metaphysical, and epistemological presentation of Buddhist concepts and teachings. The abhidharma teachings present a meta-knowledge of Buddhist sūtras through analytical and systemic schemas and are said to focus on developing wisdom among the three principles of training. The Abhidharma is presented alongside Sūtra and Vinaya as one of the three baskets of the teachings of the Buddha. Skt. अभिधर्म Tib. ཆོས་མངོན་པ། Ch. 阿毗达磨

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Cittamātra - Though it is sometimes used synonymously with Yogācāra, it is in fact one of the more prominent philosophical theories associated with this school. It asserts that the objects in the external world with which we interact are actually mentally created representations appearing as those objects. The character of these perceptions is predetermined by our own karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna. Skt. चित्तमात्र Tib. སེམས་ཙམ་

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Madhyamaka - Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Skt. मध्यमक Tib. དབུ་མ་ Ch. 中觀見

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