An Overview of the Historical Development ofCollections of Ancient Tibetan Buddhist Books

Wang Li　 Liu Citao

DOI：10.3969/j.issn.1674-9391.2020.04.009Abstract：The collections of ancient Tibetan Buddhist books took root with the introduction of Buddhism and the development of sutra translations. It was a long process from collecting the books to the founding of the Buddhist collection system in monasteries. It is a system based upon a unique Buddhist collecting system which took the Tibetan Tripitaka as the core， and was finally formalized. In this paper， through a review of the collections of Buddhist books in ancient Tibet during the Tubo period， the separatist period， and the Yuan， Ming and Qing Dynasties， the rules for the historical development of collecting are discussed.

Monasteries are the main collectors of Tibetan Buddhist books， and their collections of Buddhist books were carried out along with the activities of Tibetan Buddhist scripture translation and the construction of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries. And then， the collections gradually developed and grew under the incentive of making merit by the monks， laymen and other believers. During the Srongbtsansgampo period， Buddhism was introduced into the Tubo region from India and the Central Plains. The sutras carried by Princess Bhrikuti Devi（Khribtsun） and Princess Wencheng （rGyabzangkongjo） and by the foreign monks， who arrived in the same period， constituted the earliest collection of Buddhist sutras in ancient Tibet. Minister Thunmisambhota  s creation of the Tibetan writing system and his translation of the Tibetan Buddhist texts laid the foundation for the collections of Buddhist scriptures. The construction of the Samye Monastery， the rise of Tibetan Buddhism， the organization of largescale Sutra translations， and the setting up of special places for the storage of the Tibetan Buddhist classics by monasteries in the era of Khrisrongldebtsan was the beginning of the collections of Tibetan Buddhist books.  During the era of Khrigtsugldebtsan， the collections of Tibetan Buddhist books in monasteries began to take shape.

In 841，Khrigtsugldebtsan was killed in the fight between Buddhism and Bon. gLangdarma came to power and began persecuting Buddhists. After two hundred years of the Tubo Dynasty， Tibet entered the period of Secession. From the end of the 9th century to the beginning of the 12th century， due to various forces   advocating Buddhism， Tibetan Buddhism absorbed elements from Bon， and many Tibetan Buddhist sects were formulated during the process of its dissemination.  This phenomenon reveals the fact that even though the different forces were politically mutually isolated politically， they nonetheless shared unbreakable linkages  on the level of culture and religion. During this period， a large group of translation masters successively emerged within the various sects. They translated a large number of Buddhist classics， and produced “hidden scriptures”， which numbered more than 2，700 kinds. In the 13th century， the Yuan Dynasty unified Tibet. The Era of Separation was over and Tibet entered a period of unification and stability. Tibetan Buddhist literature， monographs and annotated works developed rapidly. The increasing amount of Buddhist literature promoted the development of the ancient Tibetan Buddhist collections. As the large number of Buddhist scriptures， with different versions and varying texts， emerged， for the convenience of retrieval and reading， monks in monasteries， represented by Master Butn， began to classify， sort， compile and proofread the Buddhist sutras. They formed a literary collections directory for the Tibetan Tripitaka： an ancient version of Narthang kangyur catalogue， Butn Tibetan Tripitaka catalogue， Tsalyang kangyur catalogue， Shalu Tanjur catalogue， and the Nyidong Tanjur catalogue. The finalization of the contents of the Tibetan Tripitaka confirmed the collection system of the ancient Tibetan monasteries which took the Tibetan Tripitaka as the core. After the Yuan Dynasty， the system of making book collections and cataloguing basically followed the Tripitaka system formed during the Yuan period until it gradually improved in the middle of the Qing Dynasty.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties，ancient Tibet constantly developed the Buddhist collection system with the Tibetan Tripitaka as the core. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties， Tibet implemented a theocratic system， and the Central Government hoped to consolidate its rule over ancient Tibet through the influence of Tibetan Buddhism. The local government of Tibet also actively communicated with the Central Government in order to consolidate its ruling position through the support of the Central Government. During this period， the Central Government and the local government of Tibet attached great importance to printing and transcribing the Tripitaka. The prosperity of the blockprinted editions of Tibetan Tripitaka brought the collections of ancient Tibetan Buddhist books into its heyday.  During this period， 15 representative versions of the Kangyur and Danjur were produced.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties， the collections of Buddhist texts also involved collections other than the Tripitaka， such as The Catalogue of the Potala Palace Collection compiled by the Fifth Dalai Lama Ngagdbangblobrangrgyamtsho， The Catalogue of the Potala Palace and Drepung Monastery dgavldanphobrang Collection， and The Catalogue of the Collections of the Dalai and Panchen Lamas compiled by the seventh Dalai Lama bsKalbzangrgyamtsho and the second vJamdbyangs bzhad pa of Labrang Monastery，   vjigsmeddbangbo， The Catalogue of the Collected Essays of the Eminent Monks of the Garang and Gelug Schools （over 40） compiled by Klongrdolblama Ngagdbangblobzang based on the collection of the scholars of the bkavgdamspa and dGelugspa sects. The Catalogue of Rare Books， compiled by ShesrabrGyamtsho， the secretary of the third vJamdbyangs bzhad pa of Labrang Monastery in the mid19th century， is a set of collected works from more than 90 eminent monks from various sects （Bao，1990）.

The collections of Buddhist books in ancient Tibet experienced a history of more than one thousand years， and they preserved an extremely rich collection of documents and books for later generations. Its numbers and size are rarely found  in other ethnic minority areas of China. These Buddhist collections have become an important part of our librarianship. Stimulated by the translation of Buddhist scriptures and Buddhist activities， these collections of Buddhist books in ancient Tibet gradually formed a collection system with Tibetan Buddhist characteristics， and occupied a position in the history of ancient Chinese libraries by sorting， classifying and cataloguing Buddhist classics. The study of ancient Tibetan Buddhist collections is of great practical and theoretical significance to the improvement of the Buddhist collections in China.

Key Words：ancient Tibet; Tibetan Buddhist books;historical development

References：

Bao Shounan. zangwen muluxue de lishi fazhan he mianling de jige keti renwu（The Historical Development and Several Tasks of Tibetan Bibliography）. In Journal of Northwest University for Nationalities （Philosophy and Social Science），1999（1）.