ACIP Release IV

The Tengyur Collection

The Tengyur Collection is a large group of over 3,500 books written mostly in Sanskrit during the period from about 200 AD to 1000 AD, and later translated into Tibetan. These texts are often meant to explain the books of the Kangyur Collection, but also cover a very wide range of other subjects such as poetry, grammar, science, architecture, painting, and medicine. We have focused much effort on this section over the past five years, and have finished exactly one quarter, including material from the following important sections:

  • The entire section on Middle-Way philosophy (Madhyamika), over 150 separate treatises in 10,000 pages that explain the nature of the world around us, and especially the important Buddhist idea of emptiness, which gives us the potential of changing the world for better.
  • Some 2,700 pages from the "Mind-Only" school (Chitta Matra) of ancient Indian philosophy, which helps to explain how much of our world comes from the way we think.
  • Over 4,000 pages from the section on the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajna Paramita), emphasizing how a deeper understanding of where things really come from can help us to better lead our lives.
  • Over 9,000 pages on the subject of Pramana, or how it is that we see the world; how to use reasoning to help us think clearly, and all about the common mistakes that we make in the logic of our day-to-day lives.
  • Over 3,500 pages on the subject of how to lead an ethical life (Vinaya).
  • The text of the Treasure House of Higher Knowledge (the Abhidharmakosha), along with a comprehensive explanation of it by its author, Master Vasubandhu (350 AD); the ideas contained in these books have molded the religious and cultural life of many of the countries of Southeast Asia for centuries.

ACIP has also completed input of 65 titles from the rGyud section of the Tengyur Collection, books about spiritual life that are normally passed down only through personal oral tradition. The Project has made a commitment to respect this tradition, and so these particular texts are made available only to users who have completed the traditional requirements for studying them.



The Kangyur Collection | The Tengyur Collection | The Sungbum Collection
Reference Materials| The ACIP Graphics Collection| Sanskrit Study Tools
The AsiaView Program| Shareware Programs




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