An Early Tibetan Survey of Buddhist Literature

Book

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.

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