Institute of Tibetan Classics

Under the direction of Thupten Jinpa, the Institute of Tibetan Classics aims to preserve and promote Tibet’s rich intellectual, spiritual, and artistic heritage through the creation of The Library of Tibetan Classics, a definitive reference library of key classical Tibetan works in contemporary languages. Tsadra Foundation grantee since 2004.

Current Projects as a Tsadra Foundation Grantee
  • 8. Miscellaneous Tibetan Buddhist Lineages: The Core Teachings (trans. Sarah Harding)
  • 11. The Bodhisattva’s Altruistic Ideal: Selected Key Texts (trans. Thupten Jinpa)
  • 16. Studies in the Perfection of Wisdom (trans. Gareth Spartham)
  • 17. Treatises on Buddha Nature (trans. John Whitney Pettit)
  • 18. Differentiations of the Profound View: Interpretations of Emptiness in Tibet (trans. Guy Newland)
  • 19. Elucidation of the Thought: A Thorough Exposition of “Entering the Middle Way,” Tsongkhapa (trans. Thupten Jinpa)
  • 20. Tibetan Buddhist Epistemology I: The Sakya School (trans. Matthew Kapstein)
Completed Projects as a Tsadra Foundation Grantee
  • 5. Mahamudra and Related Instructions: Core Teachings of the Kagyü School
    (trans. Peter Roberts)
  • 10. The Stages of the Doctrine: Selected Key Texts, featuring the root verses of Geshe Dolpa’s Blue Udder (trans. Ulrike Oesler), Gampopa’s Jewel Ornament of Liberation (trans. Ken Holmes), Sakya Pandita’s Elucidating the Intention of the Sage (trans. David Jackson)

Translators

Institutions

Thupten Jinpa, the President and General Editor of The Library of Tibetan Classics (LOTC) takes “real joy” in traveling with His Holiness the Dalai Lama as a translator, when not translating and editing texts for the LOTC. His vision for LOTC is to provide clear, accessible translations of important Buddhist scriptures “for the benefit of Western readers whose interest is more than just curiosity,” who want to really “delve into these books.” In addition, he is strongly motivated to bring the works of great Tibetan masters like Tsongkhapa and Longchenpa into the global heritage to join such established classics as the works of the great Greek philosophers: “If you look at the history of the world’s intellectual thought, the greatest amount of stimulation has really come when there were massive translations done.” Accordingly, he views the most important development for the future of Tibetan Buddhism in the West to be “the kind of work that Tsadra Foundation is doing … to really start paying attention to making the key texts of the Tibetan tradition, including the Indian classics, available in high-standard, reliable, accurate translations.”