About Us

What We Do

84000’s mission is to translate all of the Buddha’s words into modern languages, and provide open and free access to over 230,000 pages. In so doing, we are creating an essential new resource for primary-source scholarship, independent study, and personal practice.

But 84000’s vision does not stop there. We continually work to innovate the ways in which we present this collection, providing interactive tools and intertextual linkages to deepen the understanding of its wisdom for everyone, so that people of all ages and backgrounds, from all walks of life—academics, practitioners and the simply curious—can find a way to directly connect with the wisdom of the Buddha’s teachings.

Translate for Preservation

With a strong editorial research team, we award text-specific grants to translation teams around the world, working collaboratively to ensure accurate and credible translations of classical Tibetan Buddhist texts that will form a cohesive canon upon completion.

Engage through Open Access

We offer the world free access to this entire collection presented online and made intuitively navigable through the use of new publication technologies such as interactive glossaries, embedded bilingual source text views, advanced filters, and intertextual linkages.

In short, we are changing the landscape of Buddhist studies for academics and practitioners alike.

Who We Are

Our team is made up of academics, Dharma teachers, technology experts, translators, practitioners, and administrative staff working remotely from twenty-two cities around the world, and bound together by our core values.

Together we render the timeless texts of the Tibetan Buddhist canon into modern languages, and leverage technology to make them freely and globally available through scholarly research, specialized translation, technological innovation, and necessary administrative support.

We are proud to be a nonprofit, self-governed organization supported by honorary patrons that include His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and HRH Princess Kesang Wangmo Wangchuck of Bhutan. We are guided by our executive committee and our board of directors.

Our History

In March 2009, more than fifty of the world’s leading Tibetan Buddhist teachers, translators, academics and patrons gathered to discuss the Tibetan Buddhist canon and realized that 95% of it still only existed in classical Tibetan, impeding direct access for millions of people to over 230,000 pages of source texts, and inhibiting the global study and exploration of the words of the Buddha.

Recognizing that future engagement with this collection—the root from which all Himalayan Buddhist traditions originate—was in danger, the seed for 84000 was planted, with the mandate to make one of the world’s largest archives of wisdom freely and easily accessible for this generation and the next. And so began a project of all Buddhists, for all Buddhists and beyond.

This historic conference was organized by Khyentse Foundation, and held at Deer Park Institute, India. Khyentse Foundation continued to nurture 84000 into a full-fledged project, and in 2013, 84000 matured to independence as its own nonprofit (US 501c3) entity.

84000 owes a debt of gratitude to all our Founding Sponsors who generously provided the seed funding for this project. We acknowledge them and their contributions here, with a message from our Founding Chair, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche.