A Canon in the MakingThe History of the Formation, Production, and Transmission of the bsTan 'gyur, the Corpus of Treatises in Tibetan Translation

15 January 2016

Photo: Canon in The Making

A project led by Dr. Orna Almogi, funded by the DFG

The main subject matter of this project is the study of the history of the formation, production, and transmission of the bsTan 'gyur from the early stages, which took place in sNar thang monastery at the beginning of the 14th century, to the later stages, which are reflected in the five available bsTan 'gyur editions. The project also aims at contributing to the better understanding of the role of editors in the three levels of formation, production, and transmission concerning Buddhist corpora within the Tibetan cultural sphere, and it is intended to be carried out on two levels: bibliographical and historical. While the study of the catalogue of the Old sNar thang edition, which was compiled by dBus pa blo gsal (b. 13th c.), one of the main editors of this first edition, stands at the centre of the bibliographical investigation, the assessment of numerous Tibetan sources among a wide range of literary genres stands in the centre of the historical investigation, particularly findings concerning the history of the production and transmission of various bsTan 'gyur editions.

See DFG project desription