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The Tibetan Buddhist canon is a loosely defined list of sacred texts recognized by various sects of Tibetan Buddhism, consisting of more than 300 volumes and many thousands of individual texts. In addition to earlier foundational Buddhist texts from early Buddhist schools, mostly the Sarvastivada, and mahayana texts, the Tibetan canon includes Tantric texts.
The Tibetan Canon underwent a final compilation in 14th Century by Bu-ston (1290-1364). The Tibetans did not have a formally arranged Mahayana canon and so devised their own scheme which divided texts into two broad categories:
- Kanjyur (bKa? ?gyur) or ?translated word?, considered by the Tibetans to be the word of the Buddha: divided into sections on vinaya, Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, other sutras (75% Mahayana, 25% Early Wisdom Schools [aka Hinayana]), and tantras. The Kanjyur is made up of 98 volumes containing some 600 texts.
- Tenjyur (bsTan ?gyur) or ?translated treatise? to which were assigned commentaries, treatises and abhidharma works (both Mahayana and non-Mahayana). The Tenjyur contains 3626 texts in 224 Volumes.
Organisation of Tantric texts
Tibetan Buddhism typically divides the Tantras into four hierarchical categories, namely,
- Kriyayoga
- Charyayoga
- Yogatantra
- Anuttarayogatantra
- further divided into "mother", "father" and "non-dual" tantras.
Another division is used by the Nyingma school:
- Three Outer Tantras:
- Kriyayoga
- Charyayoga
- Yogatantra
- Three Inner Tantras, which correspond to the Anuttarayogatantra:
- Mahayoga
- Anuyoga
- Atiyoga - Dzogchen
- The practice of Atiyoga is further divided into three classes: Mental SemDe, Spatial LongDe, and Esoteric Instructional MenNgagDe.
See also
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