Kagyur (བཀའ་འགྱུར་) is the most important canonical collection in Himalayan Buddhism. It literally means the ‘translation of the pronouncements’ and reference the teachings of the Buddha, both the historical Buddha Shakyamuni as well as other Buddhas.
Many of the world’s major religions have textual canons; for example, the Islamic Koran, the Christian Bible and the Torah of Judaism. Buddhism, however, doesn’t have a single representative volume that constitutes its canonical literature. According to Buddhist historians, after the Buddha’s demise, his words were compiled into the tripitaka (སྡེ་སྣོད་གསུམ་) or Three Baskets: the basket of vinaya (འདུལ་བའི་སྡེ་སྣོད་), or discipline; the basket of sūtras (མདོ་སྡེའི་སྡེ་སྣོད་), or discourses; and finally, the basket of abhidharma (མངོན་པའི་སྡེ་སྣོད་), or analytical doctrines. The Three Baskets deal respectively with discipline, meditation and wisdom as their main topics. These were passed down through his disciples and followers and over time, as different schools were formed, new texts emerged.
The Pali Canon we know today is attributed to the first century BCE, when Theravada Buddhist practitioners sought to compile the Buddha’s teachings. Around that time, the Buddhism was beginning to differentiate into traditions known broadly as the Mahāyāna. Some practitioners developed and codified additional scriptures that were then added to their particular canons. By the middle of the first millennium, a third key phase of the development of Buddhism took place when the Varjayāna Tantric tradition emerged and itself differentiated into subtraditions that took root throughout Asia.
Beginning in the middle of the seventh century CE, Buddhist scriptures were translated into Classical Tibetan through massive translation projects in Tibet, which led to a huge increase in the number of Buddhist scriptures available to Tibetan audiences. Attempts to catalogue the texts were made as early as 812 CE and efforts were also made to form compilations of the Buddha’s words, particularly during the revival of Buddhism that took place in Tibet at the end of the tenth century. However, it was in the beginning of the fourteenth century that the first proper Kagyur collection was created at Tibet’s Narthang monastery under the leadership of the famous scholar Chomdan Rigpai Raldi. The Kagyur canonical collection subsequently spread across the Himalayan world, through the two main transmissions of the Tshalpa and Thempangma recensions.
The Kagyur canons today range between 103 to 108 volumes containing approximately 5,250 texts and 230,000 folios. There are seven known xylographic prints and numerous manuscript editions. In Bhutan, it is common to find the Derge, Narthang and Lhasa xylographic editions from Tibet, though there are numerous manuscript editions created locally. Normally the canon is divided into the following sections: Gyü (རྒྱུད་), Dulwai (འདུལ་བ་), Sherchin (ཤེར་ཕྱིན་), Pelchen (ཕལ་ཆེན་), Köntsek (དཀོན་བརྩེགས་), Dodé (མདོ་སྡེ་), Zungdü (གཟུངས་བསྡུས་) and Dükhor (དུས་འཁོར་).
As the Kagyur represents the Buddha’s speech and the path to enlightenment, creating, buying, owning, hosting, carrying, worshipping and reading the Kagyur is believed to be highly meritorious. Bhutanese people often read or sponsor the reading of the Kagyur on an annual basis. The Kagyur volumes are sometimes carried in processions around the valley to bless the land and its inhabitants. The Kagyur also represents a sacred corpus of high philosophy, ethics and knowledge which inform Bhutanese religious traditions.
Karma Phuntsho is the Director of Shejun Agency for Bhutan’s Cultural Documentation and Research, the President of the Loden Foundation and the author of The History of Bhutan. The piece was initially published in Bhutan’s national newspaper Kuensel in a series called Why We Do What We Do.