Collections Links

Welcome to the Collections section of Resources in Tibetan and Himalayan Studies. This section is not fully operative, but we have opened it with reference to a few major resources.

Asian Classics Input Project (www.asianclassics.org)

Asian Classics Input Project is the largest Tibetan typed text input project in the world disseminated over the Web. With input based at Sera Monastery in southern India, the project has been focused on the Tibetan Buddhist canon (bka' 'gyur and bstan 'gyur) and Geluk (dge lugs) sectarian literature. It thus provides outstanding resources for canonical and Geluk literature which can be easily downloaded and searched.

Resource type: collections
Content classification: Collections:Resources:Texts,Collections:Thematic:Religion
Interface language: English
Other language(s): Tibetan
Region: Tibet
Rating: Essential
Reviewed by: David Germano on May 25, 2003

Collections section of The Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library (http://orion.lib.virginia.edu/thdl/collections/index.html)

The Collections section of the Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library is perhaps the largest Web collection in the world of images, audio and video materials relating to Tibet and the Himalayas. It is building perhaps the largest geographical-based guide to Tibetan culture including a broad regional coverage, within which many specific projects are situated. Finally, it also is building major thematic collections, including at present Tibetan literature, Tibetan medicine, and Tibetan music. The thematic collections for literature and music are quite extensive already, but the multimedia and place collections are still somewhat inaccessible in many parts.

Resource type: commerical, collections
Content classification: Collections:Resources:Audio, Collections:Resources:Video, Collections:Resources:Images, Collections:Resources:Texts,Collections:Thematic:Religion, Collections: Environmental and Cultural Geography
Interface language: English
Other language(s): Tibetan
Region: Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan
Rating: Essential
Reviewed by: David Germano on May 25, 2003

Himalayan Art Project (www.tibetart.com/)

Himalayan Art Project is the largest Web resource in the world for Tibetan art work with a huge archive of high quality digital reproductions of Tibetan, Nepalese, Bhutanese and other forms of Himalayan art. It is functioning as a conduit for the digital presentation of major Tibetan and Himalayan collections from museums and private collectors across North America especially. Each art piece is cataloged with excellent detail, and made available through a sophisticated search mechanism allowing users to focus on gegraphical regions, content, and other criteria. The presentation allows for selective zooming in on images for detailed close-ups. It also has an interesting section designed for children. It is the first Web site to consult for any issues pertaining to Tibetan art, whether to view the actual pieces or read analysis.

Resource type: commerical, collections
Content classification: Collections:Resources:Images,Collections:Thematic:Art
Interface language: English
Other language(s): Tibetan
Region: Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan
Web site rating: Essential
Reviewed by: David Germano on June 13, 2003

Padma Karpo Translation Committee (www.tibet.dk/pktc/mainindex.htm)

Padma Karpo Translation Committee sells electronic editions of typed in Tibetan religious texts with a focus on the Kagyu (bka' brgyud) tradition of Tibetan Buddhism (link: electronic publications). It is beginning to offer free English translations of Tibetan texts, currently including Andreas Kretschmar's translation of the first two chapters of the root text of Śāntideva's Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra along with the Tibetan commentary by Khenpo Kunpal (mkhan po kun dpal, 1862-1943) (link: online publications and downloads). It offers instructions for purchase of audio tapes of Tibetan Buddhist teachings in the Nyingma (rnying ma) tradition by the Tsoknyi Rinpoche (tshogs gnyis rin po che) and Mingyur Rinpoche (mi 'gyur rin po che) (link: recordings and archives division. Its primary function is currently commercial, but if the free section of downloads evolves further it should become a very useful Web site for translations as well.

Resource type: commerical, collections
Content classification: Collections:Resources:Audio, Collections:Resources:Texts,Collections:Thematic:Religion
Interface language: English
Other language(s): Tibetan
Region: Tibet
Web site rating: Useful
Reviewed by: David Germano on June 14, 2003

Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center (www.tbrc.org)

Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center is the largest project in the world aimed at scanning Tibetan Buddhist literature in massive amounts. Some bodies of literature are available over the Web, but most are sold over the Web at a modest cost. One of the jewels of the collection is the 103 volumes of the Dege (sde dge) edition of the Kangyur (bka' 'gyur), the main scriptural canon of Tibetan Buddhism. It also provides a free on-line bibliography for classical Tibetan literature, and an outstanding biographical database on Tibetan religious figures. It is an excellent resource to do quick searches on Tibetan titles and personages. There is a modest selection of other types of resources, such as images and bibliographies of secondary literature.

Resource type: commerical, collections
Content classification: Collections:Resources:Texts,Collections:Thematic:Religion, Collections:Thematic:Literature
Interface language: English
Other language(s): Tibetan
Region: Tibet, Bhutan
Web site rating: Essential
Reviewed by: David Germano on June 12, 2003