“The Kangyur is the principal collection of the Buddhist scriptures in Tibetan. It contains some 900 works in over 100 volumes, all translations into Tibetan of the Indian texts considered to record the words of the Buddha (while its sister collection, the Tengyur, contains translations of the treatises composed by the great Indian Buddhist masters and scholars).

Most Kangyurs (see below) are divided into sections or divisions containing scriptures of different kinds. Their order may differ, but broadly comprise Vinaya (Discipline), Sūtra (Discourses), and Tantra, sometimes with an additional collection of Dhāraṇī (Incantations). The Sūtra section often comprises several separate divisions, which have here been grouped together for clarity under one heading, Discourses, but can be seen as subdivisions within it.

The order of the sections and texts here follows that of the Degé Kangyur, and the individual texts have been numbered according to the widely used Tōhoku catalogue, which also follows the order of the Degé Kangyur and Tengyur (Ui, H. et al. eds. A Complete Catalogue of the Tibetan Buddhist Canons. 1934: Sendai, Japan. Tōhoku Imperial University.)” — 84000, The Kangyur

Kangyur Genres and Catalog (Degé Edition)

Discipline

འདུལ་བ་་ – ‘dul ba – vinaya (about)
Catalog: 840000 (Toh 1-7a)

  • Vinayavibhaṅga – Prātimokṣa sūtras outlining the rules for monks and nuns (Toh 2, 3, 4, 5)
  • Vinayavastu – aspects of monastic life  (Toh 1, 17 chapters)
  • Vinayakṣudrakavastu – miscellaneous topics (Toh 6)
  • Vinayottaragrantha – explanations of the monastic code and its history (Toh 7, 7a)

Discourses

མདོ།mdo – sūtra (about)
Catalog: 84000 (Toh 8-359)

  • Prajñāpāramitā – Perfection of Wisdom – ཤེར་ཕྱིན། – sher phyin (Toh 8-30)  about – Catalog (read.84000.co)
  • Buddhāvataṃsaka – Ornaments of the Buddhas – ཕལ་ཆེན། – phal chen (Toh 44) aboutCatalog (read.84000.co)
  • Ratnakūṭa – Heap of Jewels – དཀོན་བརྩེགས། – dkon brtsegs (Toh 45-93) about – Catalog (read.84000.co)
  • General Sūtra Section – མདོ་སྡེ། – mdo sde (Toh 94-359) aboutCatalog (read.84000.co)
  • Thirteen Late-translated Sutras – གསར་འགྱུར། – gsar ‘gyur (Toh 31-43) aboutCatalog (read.84000.co)

Tantra

རྒྱུད།rgyud – tantra (about)
Catalog: 84000 (Toh 360-845)

  • Tantra – Tantra Collection – རྒྱུད་འབུམ། – rgyud ‘bum (Toh 360-827)  about – Catalog (read.84000.co)
  • Pratantra – Old Tantras – རྙིང་རྒྱུད།rnying rgyud (Toh 828-844) aboutCatalog (read.84000.co)
  • Kālacakra­ṭīkā (Vimala­prabhā) – Wheel of Time Commentary – དུས་འཁོར་འགྲེལ་བཤད།dus ‘khor ‘grel bshad (Toh 1347) about – Catalog (read.84000.co)

Dharani

གཟུངས། – gzungs – dhāraṇī (about)
Catalog: 84000 (Toh 846-1108)

  • Dhāraṇīsaṃgraha – Compendium of Dharanis – གཟུངས་འདུས།  gzungs ‘dus (Toh 846-1093) aboutCatalog (read.84000.co)
  • Praṇidhāna – Aspiration – བསྔོ་སྨོན།bsngo smon (Toh 1094-1108) aboutCatalog (read.84000.co)

Kangyur Catalog

བཀའ་འགྱུར་དཀར་ཆག་ – bka’ ‘gyur dkar chag (about)
Catalog: 84000 (Toh 4568)

  • Chapter 1: How the Wheel of Dharma was Turned, and History of the Compilation of the Teachings (Toh 4568-1)
  • Chapter 2: Overview of How Those Teachings Were Preserved in This World (Toh 4568-2)
  • The Third Well-Spoken Branch: An Exact Account of How All the Victorious One’s Teachings Extant Today in the Land of Snow Mountains Were Put into Print (Toh 4568-2)
  • Chapter 4: Main Catalogue and Index (Toh 4568-4)
  • Chapter 5: Purpose and Benefits of This Publication, Together with Dedication Prayers (Toh 4568-5)