Yidzhin Norbu Kangyur 2023
AS PALAVRAS DO BUDDHA

Over time, several Kangyur lineages developed, each with slightly different compilations of texts, different ordering of the works within, or occasionally, different classifications and categories. The ‘Tshalpa’ tradition is named for a manuscript Kangyur based on revisions of the Old Narthang that was prepared at the monastery of Tshal Gungthang between 1347 and 1351. The first blockprint Kangyur, the Yongle edition, is an expression of the Tshalpa line, produced in 1410 on the authorization of the Ming Emperor of China. The Tshalpa line would see numerous blockprint Kangyurs influenced by its structure appear in the ensuing centuries. The ‘Thempangma’ (Them spangs ma) line stems from a manuscript produced in Gyantse dated to 1431. Several manuscript Kangyurs are known in this line, which contains works that are found in the Tshalpa Tengyurs. As Kangyurs from the Tshalpa and Thempangma lines began to proliferate, Kangyurs bearing the influence of both manuscript traditions began to appear. At the same time, Kangyurs showing relatively little influence from these traditions continued to be produced. The Tshalpa and Thempangma manuscript traditions themselves displayed some variation in the number and kinds of texts included in the categories of texts collected, an open quality that would influence the development of the Canon over the course of its entire existence. The eighteenth century saw a flourishing of Kangyur production. The Thempangma manuscript had been copied frequently by this time; in 1729, a new edition in its tradition was produced that has become known as the Ladakh Tog (La dwags sTog) Kangyur. Based on a Bhutanese manuscript, this edition of the Kangyur was later stored in the Tog Palace, the 19th-century residence of the ruling family of Ladakh. The Tshalpa line also continued; the Choné Kangyur of 1721 is largely based on the 1609 Lithang Kangyur, a block print from the Tshalpa line. Shortly afterward, between 1730 and 1732, a new edition of the Kangyur was developed at Narthang Monastery. Based on an eighteenth-century copy of the Thempangma manuscript of 1431, it also had characteristics found in the Tshalpa line. In the mid-18th century, the sublime master Situ Panchen (Si tu Paṇ chen, 1700–1774) oversaw the creation of a comprehensive new woodblock edition of the Kangyur, published in 1733 by Eastern Tibet’s legendary monastic printing house, Derge Parkhang. The Derge Edition united the great streams of the Tshalpa and Thempangma manuscript traditions; it is regarded by Tibetan and Western scholars alike as one of the most influential, comprehensive, and carefully-edited editions of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon ever produced. The Derge Kangyur was widely disseminated, especially in Eastern Tibet; it is recorded that in the period after its initial release, at least 1,500 sets were printed and distributed to local monasteries. New editions of the Kangyur based on the Derge Edition appeared in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including the Ragya (Ra rgya) Kangyur of 1814, the Urga Kangyur of 1908, and the Wa-ra Kangyur of 1930. During this period, expressions of the Kangyur continued to emerge that carried on elements of the two manuscript traditions, including the Lhasa Kangyur, authorized by H.H. the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. This Kangyur, produced in 1934, was the last edition of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon to be produced within Tibet before the deadly invasion of 1959. The printing of Kangyur and Tengyur within Tibet came to an abrupt end under the Communist regime. As the Tibetan libraries were systematically destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, the vast majority of its books were lost, with only a handful of monasteries and masters maintaining their holdings intact. Some of these personal collections, smuggled out of the country, were carried on foot over the Himalayas in lieu of food. These precious remaining books formed the basis of desperate efforts of cultural preservation among Tibetan refugees, including a precious handful of high lamas, tulkus, and superbly realized scholars and practitioners, almost all of whom have since passed away. This remarkable generation of Tibetan masters gave their all for the survival of their heritage. As Tibetans in exile re-established monasteries, nunneries, and Dharma centers in India, Nepal, and elsewhere, the fate of Tibet’s textual heritage remained uncertain. Small presses in India continued to reproduce limited numbers of books, and Western universities held some important collections, thanks in large part to the American scholar E. Gene Smith, who obtained and preserved copies of thousands of Tibetan texts through the Library of Congress. Yet despite the heroic efforts of the great masters, by the late 1960s, most monasteries in exile still had only rudimentary access to the texts of their own spiritual traditions. It is for this reason that I began preserving Tibetan texts as a refugee in Varanasi, India, in the 1960s. During my tenure at Sanskrit University as the representative of the Nyingma tradition, I founded Dharma Mudranalaya to help preserve our endangered textual heritage. By 1968, I became convinced that a systematic approach to this work was needed, and I journeyed to the United States. The freedoms and resources I found in my adopted home have enabled me to act on a larger scale, founding the Yeshe De Project and undertaking the preservation not only of the Kangyur and Tengyur, but of the profoundly endangered texts of the Nyingma. For sixty years, living and working thousands of miles away from the land where I was born, I have done all I could to help keep the sacred texts and symbols of Tibetan Dharma from disappearing. Thanks to the blessings of the Lotus-Born One and the Vidyādhara lineage, our work has borne fruit. With the help of a small group of dedicated Western students and supporters, we have produced some seven million books. Five and a quarter million of these books, along with four million precious art reproductions and more than 215,000 hand-turned prayer wheels have been delivered, free of charge, into the hands of the Tibetan Sangha in exile at thousands of Dharma centers in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Ladakh, Sikkim and the border regions of Tibet, including several editions of Kangyur and Tengyur. Still, I regard our work as far from finished. Today, although conditions have improved significantly for Dharma centers in exile, the vicissitudes of modern life threaten to destabilize the continued transmission of the teachings. Meanwhile, Buddhist study and practice within Tibet have continued to deteriorate as Tibetan children are methodically educated away from their own heritage, sometimes even losing their native language in the process. Both inside and outside Tibet, lamas and scholars from all the schools of Tibetan Dharma nevertheless continue to strive to preserve the sacred texts of Tibet and ensure that they remain available as vital documents for study and practice. Vasubandhu presents the Dharma as embracing two key elements: the oral teachings and written explanations that guide our understanding, or lung (Skt. āgama), must unite with the deep understanding known as togpa (Tib. rtogs pa, Skt. abhisamaya). To transform the Buddha’s words into new ways of being depends on the practitioner’s inner conviction, willingness, and determination. But without lung—without the pathways carefully marked out in the sacred texts—even the most dedicated of students may become lost. Today, the texts that shaped Tibetan Dharma are in danger of becoming curiosities, lifeless relics of an earlier time. Within their homeland, Tibetans are strongly discouraged from study and practice. Outside Tibet, modern life presents new preoccupations, eroding traditional ways. While monasteries and nunneries continue to support a life of contemplation, it requires enormous discipline not to simply give in to the overwhelming currents of our present time, with its deep attachment to the self and its concerns. Yet the limits of this way of being are becoming increasingly clear. Our modern era endures tragic attestations to the First Noble Truth; everywhere, human beings experience escalating interpersonal strife and political instability, worsening levels of disease and addiction, and unprecedented natural disasters. The Himalayas are turning black as the snow disappears from their heights and the clear glacial water evaporates; it seems our actions have unforeseen consequences whose complexity has affected not just our human welfare, but the continued survival of every living being on our planet. A traditional Buddhist understanding might regard these profound transformations of our world as evidence of the power of karma and the impact of kleśa—the manifestation of intricate and painful patterns that limit the field of human potential. In countries that are called ‘advanced’, where resources are abundant and technological knowledge seems almost without limit, human beings nevertheless have not found the way to peace. There may be important insights in these traditional teachings, whose exploration in study and practice can conduct us to realms of sublime wisdom, offering a knowledge of freedom our world urgently needs. For this reason, the Yeshe De Project is committed to the support of Tibet’s matchless inheritance of texts—for the way forward for all of us may depend on the union of lung and togpa, of thoughtful study and deep, experiential realization. The Present Edition In 2013, the Yidzhin Norbu Kangyur was first offered to the Tibetan sangha in Asia. Based on the Derge Edition and carefully checked against the Chengdu Pedurma (dPe bsdur ma) comparative edition of the Kangyur, the Yidzhin Norbu Kangyur fills 133 Western-style fully typeset volumes. It incorporates texts not found in the Derge Edition, including a Chinese translation of the Mahāvibhasa from the Taisho Edition of the Canon; a translation of the Dhammapada by the great twentieth-century polymath Gedun Chöphel; and sixteen different karchags spanning the ninth to the twentieth centuries in order to facilitate research into the history of the Kangyur. Now, we are honored to offer this new pothi edition of the Yidhzin Norbu Kangyur. Containing 108 loose-leaf volumes typeset on long-lasting acid-free paper and embellished with authentic reproductions of traditional thangkas, this beautiful new edition has been created to help expand the reach of the Dharma’s teachings to a new generation of scholars and students. Among the innovations in this pothi edition is a new, expanded reu mik (re’u mig) or collection of analytical charts. Introduced in the Western-format edition of the Yidzhin Norbu Kangyur, the reu mik provides location information for each text in sixteen different references to both wood block and manuscript Kangyurs and several historic karchags, including the catalogues of Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen, Chomden Pakpa, Chomden Rigdrel and Butön Rinchen Drub. The pothi edition includes all the information in the original reu miks and adds the relevant volume number for each edition, enabling the texts to be located more quickly and easily by scholars, researchers, and students. The Kangyur is the treasured presence of the Buddha; the heart and soul of the Dharma; the wellspring of the Sangha. Since it is essential that we study, contemplate, and practice the texts it holds, this edition was created to encourage students, scholars, and teachers world-wide to take further steps in their research and to introduce future generations to these precious teachings. May the Yidzhin Norbu Kangyur carry the precious Buddhavacana far into the future, and may the teachings remain available for sentient beings while we draw breath on this planet. Created in honor of my parents, my beloved teachers, and my lost homeland, the Pothi Edition of the Yeshe De Yidzhin Norbu Kangyur is dedicated to their memory and to the extraordinary efforts of past masters and lineage-holders to preserve and protect the Buddhavacana for the benefit of all sentient beings. May the merit generated by the creation of this wish-fulfilling gem be dedicated to the longevity of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, and the perfect liberation of the beings of the Three Times.