The rNying ma rGyud 'bum canon contains 46 volumes of rNying ma tantras and 1 volume of catalogue and the account of the rNying ma rGyud 'bum canon by 'Jigs med Gling pa. The canon contains tantric texts some of which are translations of known Indian tantras in Sanskrit and some of which are alleged to have Indic origins. These texts mostly came to the scene in Tibet around the beginning of the second diffusion in the second millennium. They appeared profusely especially during the revival of Buddhism although a lot of it may have existed already in the first millennium. When the codifiers of the Tibetan Buddhist canon codified the kanjur and tanjur canons in the 15th century, some of these tantras were left out, because they were alleged to be local Tibetan compositions without authorative Indian origins. Their advocates, who were mainly the followers of the rNying ma school which descended from the first diffusion, however held them to be authentic words of the Buddha and thus compiled them into a separate canon called the rNying ma rGyud 'bum. The rNying ma rGyud 'bum mainly contains esoteric tantric materials on the higher tantric doxographical traditions of Mahayoga, Anuyoga and Atiyoga, all of which belong to the Annuttara category of tantras. The catalogue and account, which forms the last volume is a work by 'Jigs med Gling pa on the origins, content and structure of the rNying ma rGyud 'bum written in the eighteenth century. 47 volumes of manuscripts on paper in loose leaf poti format.
Dates of original material: 1740-1741.
Script(s) of material: Tibetan dBu can script.
