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The Prayer of Good Conduct is among the most popular and widely recited aspiration prayers (Skt. praṇidhāna, Tib. smon lam) in all Mahāyāna Buddhist traditions. It evokes, in the first person, the aspiration to worship all buddhas who pervade every atom of the multiverse, and to pursue enlightenment and the benefit of all beings. The prayer‍—and particularly its first twelve verses that cover the seven aspects of homage, offering, confession, rejoicing, entreaty, supplication, and dedication‍—is regularly recited as part of many practices in Tibetan Buddhism. There are numerous translations of the prayer in many modern languages made from Tibetan, Sanskrit, and Chinese.

This short text contains a set of verses spoken by the Buddha as he put an end to the epidemic of Vaiśālī, extracted from one of the two main accounts of that episode. The verses call for well-being, especially by invoking the qualities of the Three Jewels and a range of realized beings and eminent gods. The text comprises two passages from the parent work, and of these the first and longest corresponds closely to a well-known Pali text, the Ratana-sutta, widely recited for protection and blessings.

The Jewel Garland of Yoga is a commentary on the Hevajra Tantra, one of the most important texts of the Yoginī Tantra class of esoteric Buddhist literature. Written by the master and scholar Kāṇha, who himself was a holder of a Hevajra transmission lineage within the first two hundred years of the appearance of the root text, it is now one of the most highly regarded commentaries of the Hevajra system. It is written in the pañjikā style, in which the root text is analyzed word by word lexically and grammatically, and is treated with an exhaustive exegetical analysis. The commentary not only analyzes the text itself, but also explains the most important tenets of the Yoginī Tantras broadly.

A String of Pearls is a commentary on the Hevajra Tantra, one of the most important texts of the Yoginī tantra class of esoteric Buddhist literature. Written by the famous master and scholar Ratnākaraśānti, who himself was a holder of a Hevajra transmission lineage, this commentary is highly regarded by scholars and practitioners both past and present. Written in the pañjikā style, Ratnākaraśānti analyzes the root text word by word lexically and grammatically, and provides an exhaustive exegetical analysis on both the text itself and the key tenets of Yoginī tantra broadly. Taking a Yogācāra perspective, Ratnākaraśānti demonstrates that the tantra is in perfect agreement with the Buddhist sūtra tradition.

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Praising the Lady Who Rules Disease, or, as it is alternatively titled, Eight Verses Praising Śrīdevī Mahākālī, is a short praise to the Dharma protector Śrīdevī Mahākālī. The text is included in the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs section of the Degé Kangyur as well as in the Tantra section of the Degé Tengyur.

This short ritual work belonging to the tantric cycle of the deity Vajrabhairava presents a vidyāmantra and series of rites that use ingredients derived from a musk shrew.

The Myth Chapter concisely relates the story of Vajrabhairava’s subjugation of Yama and his entourage. The text describes how Vajrabhairava crushes the city of Yama and forces its inhabitants to surrender. He then binds them under oath and empowers them to serve as protectors of his teachings. The text also presents the root mantra of Vajrabhairava, which encapsulates the essential life force of Yama and his followers.

The Dhāraṇī of Siṃhanāda is a short work that teaches an Avalokiteśvara Siṃhanāda dhāraṇī and gives a short instruction for using it to cure illness.

The Long Explanation of the Noble Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand, Twenty-Five Thousand, and Eighteen Thousand Lines is a detailed explanation of the Long Perfection of Wisdom sūtras, presenting a structural framework for them that is relatively easy to understand in comparison to most other commentaries based on Maitreya-Asaṅga’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations. After a detailed, word-by-word explanation of the introductory chapter common to all three sūtras, it explains the structure they also all share in terms of the three approaches or “gateways”‍—brief, intermediate, and detailed‍—ending with an explanation of the passage known as the “Maitreya chapter” found only in the Eighteen Thousand Line and Twenty-Five Thousand Line sūtras. It goes by many different titles, and its authorship has never been conclusively determined, some Tibetans believing it to be by Vasubandhu, and others that it is by Daṃṣṭrāsena.

This short commentary, ascribed to Vasubandhu, explains The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Four Factors (Ārya­catur­dharmaka­nāma­mahāyāna­sūtra, Toh 251), a discourse on a set of four factors of the path of a bodhisattva: the thought of awakening, the spiritual friend, the twin qualities of tolerance and lenience, and dwelling in the forest. The commentary proposes various reasons for the sūtra’s composition and explains why it refers to bodhisattvas as followers of the Great Vehicle. It also specifies the four factors, which obstructive elements these factors overcome, which beneficial elements they support, and why śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas are not called bodhisattvas.

The Prayer of Good Conduct is among the most popular and widely recited aspiration prayers (Skt. praṇidhāna, Tib. smon lam) in all Mahāyāna Buddhist traditions. It evokes, in the first person, the aspiration to worship all buddhas who pervade every atom of the multiverse, and to pursue enlightenment and the benefit of all beings. The prayer‍—and particularly its first twelve verses that cover the seven aspects of homage, offering, confession, rejoicing, entreaty, supplication, and dedication‍—is regularly recited as part of many practices in Tibetan Buddhism. There are numerous translations of the prayer in many modern languages made from Tibetan, Sanskrit, and Chinese.

This is the third chapter of the Degé Kangyur Catalog, which describes the publication history of the Degé Kangyur. Authored by the Degé Kangyur’s main editor, Situ Paṇchen Chökyi Jungné, at the conclusion of the five-year project in 1733, it is a document rich in historical detail. First it covers the history of the Degé region and the royal family of Degé. Then it offers extensive praise for the qualities of Tenpa Tsering, the king of Degé and throne holder of Lhundrup Teng Monastery, who was the project’s main sponsor. After that is an erudite history of previous collections of translated Buddhist scriptures in Tibet since the time of the earliest translations during the Tibetan imperial period, and finally it describes the editorial process and practical challenges involved in producing a xylograph Kangyur of such quality.