This volume is a study and edition of Bcom ldan ral gri's (1227–1305)
Bstan pa rgyas pa rgyan gyi nyi 'od. Likely composed in the last decades of the thirteenth century, this systematic list of Buddhist Sutras, Tantras, Shastras, and related genres translated primarily from Sanskrit and other Indic languages holds an important place in the history of Buddhist literature in Tibet. It affords a glimpse of one Tibetan scholar's efforts to classify more than two thousand titles of Buddhist literature in the decades before the canonical collections known as the
Bka' 'gyur and the
Bstan 'gyur achieved a relatively stable form. Tibetan historiography traces the origin of the
Bka' 'gyur and
Bstan 'gyur to Bcom ldan ral gri's efforts, though the unique structure of the
Bstan pa rgyas pa rgyan gyi nyi 'od, which differs greatly from available
Bka' 'gyur and
Bstan 'gyur catalogs, shows that the situation is more complex.
Known to contemporary scholars of Tibetan literature for some time through mention in other works, Bcom ldan ral gri's survey has recently become available for the first time in two manuscripts. The present work contains a detailed historical introduction, an annotated edition of the two manuscripts, as well as concordances and appendices intended to aid the comparative study of early Tibetan collections of Indic Buddhist literature. (Source:
Harvard University Press)
Schaeffer, Kurtis R., and Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp. An Early Survey of Tibetan Buddhist Literature: The Bstan pa rgyas pa rgyan gyi nyi 'od of Bcom ldan ral gri. Edited by Michael Witzel. Harvard Oriental Series 64. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.
Schaeffer, Kurtis R., and Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp. An Early Survey of Tibetan Buddhist Literature: The Bstan pa rgyas pa rgyan gyi nyi 'od of Bcom ldan ral gri. Edited by Michael Witzel. Harvard Oriental Series 64. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.;An Early Tibetan Survey of Buddhist Literature;Bcom ldan rig pa'i ral gri;Textual study;Geluk;Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma rgyan gyi me tog;Rin chen bzang po;Nag 'tsho lo tsA ba tshul khrims rgyal ba;'brog mi lo tsA ba;Rngog blo ldan shes rab;Pa tshab lo tsA ba nyi ma grags pa;Kurtis Schaeffer; Leonard van der Kuijp;An Early Tibetan Survey of Buddhist Literature: The Bstan pa rgyas pa rgyan gyi nyi 'od of Bcom ldan ral gri