Library of Tibetan Classics
“I am very happy to welcome the initiatives of the Institute of Tibetan Classics, especially its ambitious Library of Tibetan Classics. This collection will help make Tibet’s classical thought truly a world heritage, an intellectual and spiritual resource open to all.”—His Holiness the Dalai Lama
The Library of Tibetan Classics is a major, exciting effort to support Tibetan culture. Edited by Thupten Jinpa— renowned scholar, author, translator, and interpreter for His Holiness the Dalai Lama—the Library is making key Tibetan texts part of the global literary and intellectual heritage.The thirty-two-volume series, when complete, will span nearly a millennium and a half and will cover the entire expanse of Tibet’s classical literary heritage, from religion and folklore to art and poetry, from philosophy and psychology to medicine, and much more.
When Thupten Jinpa first approached Wisdom Publications to collaborate with him and his Institute of Tibetan Classics in Montreal, Canada on the monumental Library of Tibetan Classics, we were honored to accept. The texts in this series have been selected in close consultation with preeminent lineage holders and with senior Tibetan scholars, especially His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
In every way, the series has been designed with a broad audience in mind—while being “…of great value to scholars, the translations are accessible to nonspecialists as well, and thus should allow a wide audience to gain access to the treasures of the Tibetan tradition” (Georges Dreyfus, Williams College). The series includes the works of many great Tibetan teachers, philosophers, scholars, and practitioners, representing all major Tibetan schools and traditions. It is our privilege to play a part in the preservation and sharing of their invaluable writings, with their ability to teach, enrich, and inspire. With more than a dozen volumes published and the rest underway, we are in the midst of an extraordinary journey, and we would like to invite you to join us. Click here to learn more about becoming a supporter of the series.
The Complete Series
Following is a list of the thirty-two proposed volumes in The Library of Tibetan Classics. Some volumes are translations of single texts, while others are compilations of multiple texts, and each volume will be roughly the same length. Except for those volumes already published, the renderings of titles below are tentative and liable to change. The Institute of Tibetan Classics has contracted numerous established translators in its efforts, and work is progressing on all volumes concurrently.
1. Mind Training: The Great Collection
2. The Book of Kadam: The Core Texts
3. The Great Chariot: A Treatise on the Great Perfection, forthcoming
4. Taking the Result As the Path: Core Teachings of the Sakya Lamdré Tradition
5. Mahāmudrā and Related Instructions: Core Teachings of the Kagyü Schools
6. Stages of the Path and the Oral Transmission: Selected Teachings of the Geluk School
7. Mountain Dharma: Ocean of Definitive Meaning
8. Four Tibetan Lineages: Core Teachings of Pacification, Severance, Shangpa Kagyü, and Bodong
9. The Tradition of Everlasting Bön: Five Key Texts on Scripture, Tantra, and the Great Perfection
10. Stages of the Buddha’s Teachings: Three Key Texts
11. The Bodhisattva Ideal: Selected Key Texts, forthcoming April 2026
12. The Ethics of the Three Codes, forthcoming
13. Sādhanas: Vajrayana Buddhist Meditation Manuals, forthcoming
14. Ornament of Stainless Light: An Exposition of the Kālacakra Tantra
15. A Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages: Teachings on the Guhyasamāja Tantra
16. The Perfection of Wisdom Tradition: Three Essential Works, forthcoming December 2025
17. Treatises on Buddha Nature, forthcoming
18. Differentiations of the Profound View: Interpretations of Emptiness in Tibet, forthcoming
19. Illuminating the Intent: An Exposition of Candrakīrti’s Entering the Middle Way
20. Tibetan Buddhist Epistemology I: The Sakya School, forthcoming
21.Buddhist Epistemology in the Geluk School: Three Key Texts
22. Tibetan Buddhist Psychology and Phenomenology: Selected Works in the Tradition of Asaṅga’s Compendium of Abhidharma, forthcoming August 2026
23. Ornament of Abhidharma: A Commentary on Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośa (The print edition of this book is out of stock)
24. Beautiful Adornment of Mount Meru: A Presentation of Classical Indian Philosophy
25. The Crystal Mirror of Philosophical Systems: A Tibetan Study of Asian Religious Thought
26. Gateway for Being Learned and Realized: Selected Texts, forthcoming
27. The Tibetan Book of Everyday Wisdom: A Thousand Years of Sage Advice
28. Mirror of Beryl: A Historical Introduction to Tibetan Medicine
29. Selected Texts on Tibetan Astronomy and Astrology, forthcoming
30. Art and Literature: An Anthology, forthcoming
31. Tales from the Tibetan Operas
32. A History of Buddhism in India and Tibet: An Expanded Version of the Dharma’s Origins Made by the Learned Scholar Deyu