With great pride and pleasure we would like to announce that in October 2013 some extremely valuable collections of Tibetan texts arrived from Nepal to the Centre in Grabnik. Firstly the Kangyur and the Tengyur should be mentioned: They are the basic canon of Tibetan Buddhism.
The Kangyur is a collection of teachings given by Shakyamuni Buddha himself, translated from Sanscrit into Tibetan. The Tengyur is a collection of commentaries by great Buddhist masters from ancient India. A more detailed description of both collections is to be found at the end of the article.
Buddha Shakyamuni taught that a place where his teachings (Kangyur) are kept should be treated as if Buddha himself was there. Since 2003 we have had both of these collections in a digital form thanks to a few friends who offered money. Now, we have it also in the printed version in the traditional Tibetan book form (called pecha).
225 volumes of the Tengyur were given by His Eminence Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche and Benchen Monastery. 103 volumes of the Kangyur were a gift from the family of Sherab Wangchuk.
Together with both of these valuable collections, we received all the texts used during retreats in the Karma Kamtsang tradition – both the practice texts and the commentaries. We also received new editions of the texts from the Shangpa Kagyu tradition which were a gift from His Eminence Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche in Pullahari and Ringu Tulku Rinpoche.
It should be mentioned now that few years ago Her Eminence Khandro Rinpoche put into the hands of Lama Rinchen 16 volumes of the Minling Kabum – a collection of root texts of Mindrol Ling monastery.
Also in our collection there are 10 volumes of the collected teachings of the 15th Karmapa which were given to our Centre by Ven. Thrangu Rinpoche.
The previous edition of the Tibetan Shangpa Kagyu texts and the English translation of 10 volumes of "The Treasury of Knowledge", we received from Maciej Szczurowski.
Recently, thanks to the generosity of some friends, we purchased 75 volumes of The Treasury of Precious Termas ( tib. Rinchen Terdzö) which includes the most important termas.
Together with the many valuable texts brought from Nepal and India by Lama Rinchen over many years, we now have quite an impressive collection. Included in it is: "The Treasury of Kagyu Mantras" (tib. Kagyu Ngag Dzö) which is a collection of teachings brought from India to Tibet by Marpa; "The Treasury of Key Instructions" (tib. Dam Ngag Dzö) which includes teachings of all eight early schools of Tibetan Buddhism; "The Treasury of Knowledge" (tib Sheja Dzö) volumes written by Lodro Thaye which describe almost all aspects of buddhism; "The Treasury of Vast Teaching" (tyb. Gya Chen Ka Dzö) and many other important works.
KANGYUR (tyb.) {bka' 'gyur}, literally translated: 'translated speech'.
The collection of all teachings given by Shakyamuni Buddha and translated into Tibetan. The teachings comprise three main groups of texts:
1) sutranta (collection of sutras) – discourses between Buddha and his disciples, it presents many philosophical and practical subjects,
2) abhidharma – largely deals with processes of perception and includes teachings on cosmology
3) vinaya – a detailed analysis of ethical issues, mainly discipline for monastics.
Because of the division into three groups, the original Sanskrit canon is called tripitaka, which means 'three baskets'
Some give tantras as a separate fourth group, others include them with the first one (sutranta). Generally, it is said that the teachings from the sutras provide the antidote against anger, abidharma teachings against stupidity and vinaya against desire. Teachings included in the tantras overcome all 3 poisons together.
The Kangyur together with the Tengyur are the basic canon of Tibetan Buddhism.
TENGYUR (tIb.) {bstan 'gyur}, in most dialects read as tengyur; literally translated: 'translated commentaries'.
A collection of commentaries by great Buddhist masters from ancient India, translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan. It includes works of such Mahayana masters as: Nagarjuna, Shantideva, Asanga, Dharmakirti, etc. In the Tengyur there are also theoretical Vajrayana texts and sadhanas from such mahasiddhas as: Saraha, Tilopa, Virupa and Naropa.
