An Overview of Kangyur & Tengyur Genres

Aug 20, 2024
Kangyur and Tengyur
bkaʼ ʼgyur (brag dmar bris ma), vol. 1, 6. Buddhist Digital Resource Center [W1BL10]. Accessed August 28, 2024.
Written by:
84000 Translation Team

Kangyur & Tengyur Genres: Number of Texts, Pages and Text Size

A report by Dr. D. Phillip Stanley, Naropa University

Note: The Combined Kangyur & Tangyur (CKT) consists of all texts find in the Peking, Cone, Derge, Urga, Narthang, and Lhasa Kangyurs, as well as the Peking, Cone, Derge, and Narthang Tangyurs. The CKT page data is stated in equivalent number of Peking pages.

Kangyur Genres: Number of Texts

Collection Peking Cone Derge Urga Narthang Lhasa Combined
Sutra              
’Dul ba 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
Sher phyin 17 17 23 23 23 23 23
Paritta 13 13 13 13 13 13 13
Phal chen 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
dKon brtsegs 49 49 49 49 49 49 49
mDo sde 267 263 266 268 272 273 279
Myang ’das 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Total Sutra 356 352 361 363 367 368 374
Tantra              
rGyud 454 456 472 466 394 425 482
rNying rgyud 18 18 19 19 18 18 19
Dus ’khor ’grel bshad N/A N/A 1 1 N/A N/A 1
gZungs ’dus 266 266 245 254 8 1 267
sMon lam 18 18 20 20 N/A N/A 26
Total Tantra 756 758 757 751 420 444 795
Total Kangyur 1112 1110 1118 1114 787 812 1169

Kangyur Genres: Number of Pages*

* Note: The average page size and amount of text on a page varies by collection so the data is not comparable across columns, except that the data for the Combined Bka’ ’gyur and Bstan ’gyur is stated in equivalent number of Peking pages, thus it can be compared with the data for the Peking Bka’ ’gyur and Bstan ’gyur.* 1 page = 1 side of a 2-sided folio

Collection Peking Cone Derge Urga Narthang Lhasa Combined
Sutra
(Non-Standardised Pages)
             
’Dul ba 7510 9092 7859 7859 12163 11402 7510
Sher phyin 15168 16613 15053 15057 21339 21181 15198
Paritta 237 246 208 208 340 350 237
Phal chen 3179 3383 3087 3085 4529 4434 3179
dKon brtsegs 3957 4003 3500 3550 5520 5506 3957
mDo sde 19421 21365 18286 18629 29019 29520 20064
Myang ’das 1431 1586 1360 1360 2239 2109 1431
Total Sutra 50903 56287 49353 49747 75148 74502 51576
Tantra              
rGyud 11837 12629 12199 12191 16482 17791 13064
rNying rgyud 1886 2041 1906 1906 2647 2870 1887
Dus ’khor ’grel bshad N/A N/A 936 936 N/A N/A 1043
gZungs ’dus 1781 1821 1070 1070 25 17 2349
sMon lam 42 60 47 47 N/A N/A 59
Total Tantra 15546 16550 16158 16149 19153 20678 18402
Total Kangyur 66449 72837 65511 65897 94301 95181 69978

Kangyur Genres: Average Number of Pages per Text

Collection Peking Cone Derge Urga Narthang Lhasa Combined
Sutra              
’Dul ba 939 1136 982 982 1520 1425 939
Sher phyin 892 977 654 655 928 921 661
Paritta 18 19 16 16 26 27 18
Phal chen 3179 3383 3087 3085 4529 4434 3179
dKon brtsegs 81 82 71 72 113 112 81
mDo sde 73 81 69 70 107 108 72
Myang ’das 1431 1586 1360 1360 2239 2109 1431
Total Sutra 143 160 137 137 205 202 138
Tantra              
rGyud 26 28 26 26 42 42 27
rNying rgyud 105 113 100 100 147 159 99
Dus ’khor ’grel bshad N/A N/A 936 936 N/A N/A 1043
gZungs ’dus 6.7 6.8 4.4 4.4 3.1 16.9 8.8
sMon lam 2.3 3.3 2.4 2.4 N/A N/A 2.3
Total Tantra 21 22 21 22 46 47 23
Total Kangyur 60 66 59 59 120 117 60

Tengyur Genres: Number of Texts

Collection Peking Narthang Cone Derge Combined
Sutra          
bsTod tshogs 63 64 64 71 73
Sher phyin 40 40 38 38 41
dBu ma 257 257 158 158 264
mDo sde 40 40 40 40 40
Sems tsam 66 66 66 66 66
mNgon pa 18 18 18 18 18
’Dul ba 45 45 46 46 47
sKyes rab 8 8 8 8 8
sPring yig 42 42 45 45 45
Tshad ma 69 69 66 66 69
sGra mdo 28 28 36 36 37
gSo ba rig pa 7 7 7 7 7
bZo rig pa 17 17 15 15 21
Lugs kyi bstan bcos 12 21 18 18 24
sNa tshogs 132 131 77 122 142
Total Sutra 844 853 702 754 902
Tantra          
rGyud 3136 3129 2623 2623 3191
Total Tengyur 3980 3982 3325 3377 4093
Total Kangyur & Tengyur 5092 4769 4435 4495 5262

Tengyur Genres: Number of Pages

Collection Peking Narthang Cone Derge Combined
Sutra          
bsTod tshogs 590 556 590 514 613
Sher phyin 10603 10342 9508 9118 10664
dBu ma 12640 12356 10725 10850 13506
mDo sde 6658 6444 5679 5561 6658
Sems tsam 10433 10055 8984 8894 10433
mNgon pa 7464 7246 6399 6334 7464
’Dul ba 12350 11732 10446 10227 12354
sKyes rab 2367 2238 2850 2776 2367
sPring yig 678 640 551 551 694
Tshad ma 15761 15303 13016 12785 15761
sGra mdo 1394 1247 2621 2565 2882
gSo ba rig pa 4026 3852 3583 3531 4026
bZo rig pa 278 319 191 196 307
Lugs kyi bstan bcos 128 466 339 355 653
sNa tshogs 10106 9652 3617 6564 10173
Total Sutra 95476 92448 79100 80823 98555
Tantra          
rGyud 62317 59937 46933 46513 63270
Total Tengyur 157792 152384 126033 127335 161825
Total Kangyur & Tengyur 224241 246685 198869 192846 231802

Tengyur Genres: Average Number of Pages per Text

Collection Peking Narthang Cone Derge Combined
Sutra          
bsTod tshogs 9.4 9 9 7 8
Sher phyin 265 259 250 240 260
dBu ma 49 48 68 69 51
mDo sde 166 161 142 139 166
Sems tsam 158 152 136 135 158
mNgon pa 415 403 356 347 296
’Dul ba 274 261 227 222 263
sKyes rab 296 280 356 347 296
sPring yig 16 15 12 12 15
Tshad ma 228 222 197 194 228
sGra mdo 50 45 73 71 78
gSo ba rig pa 575 550 512 504 575
bZo rig pa 16.4 19 13 13 15
Lugs kyi bstan bcos 11 22 19 20 27
sNa tshogs 77 74 47 54 72
Total Sutra 113 108 113 107 109
Tantra          
rGyud 20 19 18 18 20
Total Tengyur 40 38 38 38 40
Total Kangyur & Tengyur 44 52 45 43 44