Tengyur

Tengyur (T. bstan 'gyur བསྟན་འགྱུར་), literally "translated treatises", is one of the two branches of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon.

The Tengyur contains Tibetan translations of works written by Indian Buddhist masters that explain and elaborate on the words of the Buddha. The Tengyur also contains texts on the Abhidharma, stories of the Buddha's previous lives, and other types of texts.

The other branch of the Tibetan canon is the Kangyur, which contains works that are regarded as "the word of the Buddha" within the Tibetan tradition, namely sutras and tantras.

Divisions

Degé edition

The divisions of the Tengyur according to the Degé edition are shown below.

• Eulogy (བསྟོད་ཚོགས། · bstod tshogs)

Eulogy

• Tantra (རྒྱུད། · rgyud)

Tantra

• Sūtra commentary and philosophy

Sūtra commentary and philosophy

• Abhidharma (མངོན་པ། · mngon pa)

Abhidharma

• Disciple (འདུལ་བ། · 'dul ba)

Discipline

• Jataka (སྐྱེས་རབས། · skyes rabs)

The Buddha's previous lives

• Epistles (སྤྲིང་ཡིག་ · spring yig)

Epistles

• Epistemology and logic (ཚད་མ། · tshad ma)

Epistemology and logic

• Traditional sciences and arts

Traditional sciences and arts

• Works of Atiśa (ཇོ་བོའི་ཆོས་ཆུང། · jo bo'i chos chung)

Works of Atiśa

• Tengyur catalogue (བསྟན་འགྱུར་དཀར་ཆག། · bstan 'gyur dkar chag)

Tengyur catalogue

Beijing edition

As example, the content of the Beijing Tengyur:

• Stotras ("Hymns of Praise"): 1 Volume; 64 texts.
• Commentaries on the Tantras: 86 Volumes; 3055 texts.
• Commentaries on Sutras; 137 Volumes; 567 texts.

1. Prajnaparamita Commentaries, 16 Volumes.
2. Madhyamika Treatises, 29 Volumes.
3. Yogacara Treatises, 29 Volumes.
4. Abhidharma, 8 Volumes.
5. Miscellaneous Texts, 4 Volumes.
6. Vinaya Commentaries, 16 Volumes.
7. Tales and Dramas, 4 Volumes.
8. Technical Treatises, 43 Volumes.

Major Editions

Young monks printing scriptures in Sera Monastery, Tibet

In total there are currently five known Tengyur editions, all of which are printed xylograph collections. Stanley David claims that there is much greater uniformity among Tengyur editions than those of the Kangyur and thus he divides them into two groups:

Group A:

• Peking Tengyur (pe cin)
• Golden Tengyur (gser bris ma)
• Narthang Tengyur (snar thang)

Group B:

• Choné Tengyur (co ne)
• Dergé Tengyur (sde dge)

In addition, there is the Pedurma (dpe bsdur ma) edition, which is a comparative edition, recently created, based the Derge collection.

Tengyur collections (Tibetan language)

• bstan 'gyur (Tengyur - Tibetan language texts)
• American Institute of Buddhist Studies - Tengyur Collection
• Asian Classics Input Project - Derge Tengyur etext

Translations into English

Most of the texts of the Tengyur have not been translated into English. A large-scale effort is currently underway by the 84000 Translation Group to systematically translate all of the works from the Tibetan Canon. Their website contains a list of all the sections and titles from the canon, their current translation status, and the translated texts where available. For the Tengyur collection, see:

• The Tengyur

Authors represented in the Tengyur

Asaṅga and Maitreya

The Tenjur contains a number of commentaries composed by Indian authors. Below are the authors the tradition holds to be of paramount importance.

Two Supremes

• Asanga, founder of the Yogacara philosophical school
• Nagarjuna, founder of the Madhyamaka philosophical school

Six Scholarly Ornaments

• Aryadeva, foremost disciple of Nagarjuna who continued his Madhyamaka philosophical school
• Dharmakirti, famed logician, author of the Seven Treatises; student of Dignāga's student Iśvarasena; said to have debated famed Hindu scholar Adi Shankara
• Dignāga, famed logician
• Vasubandhu, Asanga's brother
• Gunaprabha, foremost student of Vasubandhu, known for his work the Vinayasutra
• Sakyaprabha, prominent exponent of the Vinaya

Seventeen Great Panditas

References are sometimes made to the Seventeen Great Panditas. This formulation groups the eight listed above with the following nine scholars.

• Atiśa, holder of the lojong teachings
• Bhāviveka, early expositor of the Svātantrika interpretation of Madhyamaka
• Buddhapālita, early expositor of the Prasaṅgika interpretation of Madhyamaka
• Candrakīrti, considered the greatest exponent of the Prasaṅgika interpretation
• Haribhadra, commentator on Asanga's Ornament of Clear Realization
• Kamalaśīla, 8th-century author of important texts on meditation
• Śāntarakṣita, abbot of Nalanda, founder of the Yogācāra-Svatantrika-Mādhyamaka interpretation who reputedly helped Padmasambhava establish Buddhism in Tibet
• Shantideva, 8th century Indian author of the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra
• Vimuktisena, commentator on Asanga's Ornament of Clear Realization

Further reading

• Facts and Figures about Kangyur and Tengyur
• Tibetan Buddhist Canon - The Tengyur, by D. Phillip Stanley
• Tibetan Buddhist Canon - Editions of the Tengyur by D. Phillip Stanley