Tibetan Texts > Bka’ ’gyur > Bka’ ’gyur Master Doxographical Categories > Table of Contents

(5) Table of Contents

by Chris Hatchell

Appended to the Degé edition of the Kangyur is one final text, composed by Situ Panchen (སི་ཏུ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་འབྱུང་གནས་, si tu chos kyi ’byung gnas, 1699/1700-1774 CE), which discusses the Kangyur in general and contains a detailed topical outline (དཀར་ཆག, dkar chag) of its contents. Titled New Vine of Moonlight (ཟླ་འོད་གཞོན་ནུའི་འཁྲི་ཤིང་།, zla 'od gzhon nu'i 'khri shing /), the text contains a brief summation and history of the Buddha's teaching (chapter 1), a short history of how the Buddha's teachings of sutra and tantra came to flourish in India (chapter 2), a discussion of how the Doctrine spread to Tibet, including historical materials on Degé and the Degé edition of the Kangyur (chapter 3), a topical outline of the Degé Kangyur itself (chapter 4), and a description of the benefits and purpose of the construction of the Degé Kangyur, along with some concluding prayers (chapter 5).

The topical outline from chapter 4 (see Kangyur vol. lak+Sh+mI, p. 113a) has been used as the basis of the THL catalog, where each of Situ’s topic headings are reproduced in our Catalog Index.

Literature on Situ Panchen:

• Jackson, David Paul, and Karl Debreczeny. Patron and Painter: Situ Panchen and the Revival of the Encampment Style. New York: Rubin Museum of Art, 2009.
• Kolmas, Josef. The Iconography of the Derge Kanjur and Tanjur. New Delhi: Vedams, 2002, reprint of 1978. (See pp. 19ff.)
• Ronis, Jann Michael. "Celibacy, Revelations, and Reincarnated Lamas: Contestation and Synthesis in the Growth of Monasticism at Katok Monastery from the 17th through 19th Centuries." Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Virginia, 2009.
• Schaeffer, Kurtis R. The Culture of the Book in Tibet. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009.
• Smith, E. Gene. “The Diaries of Si tu Paṇ chen.” In Among Tibetan Texts: History and Literature of the Himalayan Plateau. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2001.
• See also issue 13 of the journal Lungta: “Situ Paṇchen: His Contribution and Legacy.” Dharamsala: Amnye Machen Institute, 2000.