Tengyur
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Tengyur or Tanjur (Wylie: Bstan-'gyur) ('Translation of Treatises') is the Tibetan collection of commentaries to the Buddhist teachings, or "Translated Treatises". The Beijing version covers 3,626 texts in 224 volumes, but numbers vary depending on the version.
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[edit] The Buddhist Canon
To the Tengyur were assigned commentaries to both Sutras and Tantras, treatises and abhidharma works (both Mahayana and non-Mahayana).[1]
Together with the 108-volume Kangyur (the Collection of the Words of the Buddha), these form the basis of the Tibetan Buddhist canon. "The Kangyur usually takes up a hundred or a hundred and eight volumes, the Tengyur two hundred and twenty-five, and the two together contain 4,569 works."[2][3]
As example, the content of the Beijing Tengyur:[4]
- Sutras ("Hymns of Praise"): 1 Volume; 64 texts.
- Commentaries on the Tantras: 86 Volumes; 3055 texts.
- Commentaries on Sutras; 137 Volumes; 567 texts.
- Prajnaparamita Commentaries, 16 Volumes.
- Madhyamika Treatises, 29 Volumes.
- Yogacara Treatises, 29 Volumes.
- Abhidharma, 8 Volumes.
- Miscellaneous Texts, 4 Volumes.
- Vinaya Commentaries, 16 Volumes.
- Tales and Dramas, 4 Volumes.
- Technical Treatises, 43 Volumes.
[edit] The Bon Tengyur
The Tibetan Bon religion, obviously under the influence of Buddhism, also has its canon literature divided into two sections called the Kangyur and Tengyur but the number and contents of the collection are not yet fully known. Apparently, Bon began to take on a literary form about the time Buddhism began to enter Tibet.[5][6]
[edit] References
- Schlagintweit, Emil (2006) Buddhism in Tibet: Illustrated by Literary Documents and Objects Of Religious Worship With An Account Of The Buddhist Systems Preceding It In India ISBN 1-428-64999-9
- Stein, R. A. (1962) Tibetan Civilization. First English edition - translated by J. E. Stapleton Driver (1972). Reprint (1972): Stanford University Press, Stanford, California ISBN 0-8047-0806-1 (cloth); ISBN 0-8047-0901-7
- Tucci, Giuseppe. The Religions of Tibet. (1970). First English edition, translated by Geoffrey Samuel (1980). Reprint: (1988), University of California Press ISBN 0-520-03856-8 (cloth); ISBN 0-520-064348-1 (pbk)
