A Canon in the Making: The History of the Formation, Production, and Transmission of the bsTan 'gyur, the Corpus of Treatises in Tibetan Translation
Final Report Abstract
The research project concerned the early stages of the formation of the bsTan ’gyur, the part of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon that contains the “Treatises in [Tibetan] Translation.” The investigation mainly focused on the editorial processes concerning the issues of authenticity and authentication, aiming at enabling one to have a glimpse behind the scenes of the formation of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon in general and the bsTan ’gyur in particular. The investigation was conducted in two main parts with respectively two questions in mind: (a) What were the strategies for authenticating scriptures and treatises that would allow their inclusion in the Tibetan Buddhist Canon? (b) How authentic are the colophons in the Tibetan Buddhist Canon? The first part of the investigation attempted to determine the authentication strategies employed by the Canon’s editors, cataloguers, and other Tibetan scholars, and was mainly conducted on the basis of bibliographical and historical sources. Its findings present, for the first time, a systematic overview and an in-depth discussion of the criteria of authentication employed within the Tibetic cultural spheres, along with the strategies used to enforce them. Both of these criteria and strategies had a great impact on the formation and transmission of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon, mainly in terms of policies of inclusion and/or exclusion. Moreover, they had also an immense influence on the formation of paracanonical collections. The second part of the investigation sought to discuss the authenticity of canonical and paracanonical colophons as reflecting, on the one hand, editorial processes and editors’ decisions and, on the other hand, the state of affairs concerning the issue of plagiarism on the part of translators active during the Later Period of Dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet and its impact of the formation of the Canon. This latter issue has been nearly impossible to investigate thus far mainly due to the fact that later editors generally followed the policy of exclusion of duplicates, which has nearly always resulted in all other versions getting lost for ever. Four case studies stood at the focus of this part of the investigation, which were selected so as to cover instances that offer different views into the complex issue of authenticity of author/authorship and translator/translation colophons. The locating of corresponding versions for two of the case studies in the thus-far inaccessible Tshal pa bsTan ’gyur considerably contributed to the success of the study. Likewise, the BuddhaNexus database, which has been initiated and developed in order to facilitate studies focusing on the topics “evolution of scriptures,” “formation of canons,” and “intellectual networks,” proved invaluable in locating textual matches, which enhanced the quality of the findings. Together, the findings of both parts of the investigation shed light on the decisions and choices made by the editors—such that were the result of various factors coming together, including school affiliation, doctrinal inclinations, intellectual milieu, sociopolitical factors, and various realities on the ground, such as location, availability, and economical capabilities—and thus also on their role in shaping the Canon. They also shed light on the translation scene of the Later Period of Dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet and put the authenticity of many of the canonical colophons into question. Some of the findings also enable gaining insight into the interplay between the Indic and Tibetic traditions and the impact of developments in both traditions on authorship identifications, and thus on the canonical colophons and their corresponding bibliographical records.
Publications
- 2019. “The Human behind the Divine: An Investigation into the Evolution of Scriptures with Special Reference to the Ancient Tantras of Tibetan Buddhism.” In Volker Caumanns, Marta Sernesi, Nikolai Solmsdorf (eds.), Unearthing Himalayan Treasures: Festschrift for Franz-Karl Ehrhard. Indica et Tibetica 59. Marburg: Indica et Tibetica Verlag, 1–26.
Orna Almogi
- Authenticity and Authentication: Glimpses behind the Scenes of the Formation of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon. Indian and Tibetan Studies 9. Hamburg: Department of Indian and Tibetan Studies, Universität Hamburg
Orna Almogi
