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Abstract
Canonicity in Tibetan Buddhism and Buddhism in general differs from the Christian concept commonly presumed in religious studies in consisting of an inclusive canonical continuum not restricted to just the scriptures attributed to the Buddha. Its expansive Mahāyāna form includes treatises by Indian and non-Indian Buddhist masters and even non-Buddhist works beneficial to beings, e.g., medical works. This canonical continuum was embodied in three types of canons: Formal Canons of doctrinally diverse scriptures and treatises, Practical Canons of select texts inside and outside the Formal Canons that formed the basis of specific traditions, and Inclusive Canons of all texts accepted by specific traditions.
A flexible structural paradigm of four integrated schemas emerged within Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism to encompass these texts with an elegant simplicity: (1) the dyad of the Word of the Buddhas and Treatises, (2) the Three Baskets in the Northern Āgama order of Sūtra, Vinaya, and Abhidharma (not the Southern Nikāya order: Vinaya, Sūtra, and Abhidharma), (3) the Two Vehicles of the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna, in that order, and (4) the Three Wheels, often in the order of the Second, Third, and First Wheels. Indian masters integrated elements of these schemas in fourth century works. By the fifth century, the paradigm would have been applied in the libraries of newly independent Mahāyāna monasteries. It was transmitted to China by the late fifth century and to Tibet by the early ninth century.
In Tibet, this inclusive paradigm became the core of well-structured ninth century royal catalogs and fourteenth century bKa' 'gyurs (“Translated Word [of the Buddhas]”) and bsTan 'gyurs (“Translated Treatises”). The Tshal bKa' 'gyur (1347–1351) was created based on Bu ston's Zhwa lu bsTan 'gyur (1334) to produce a “perfectly” matched pair that embodied the Indian paradigm. The Peking bKa' 'gyur sub-line retained the excellent structure of the Tshal pa whereas the 'Phying ba stag rtse sub-line disrupted it, while the separate Them spangs ma line retained structural flaws of the Old sNar thang.
An analytically structured database catalog served as a new methodological tool for analyzing the size, structure, and historical relationships of the Tibetan collections.
