empty.guru

The Buddhism shelf

Pick a Buddhist text off the shelf.

Every text on the shelf, standing in the century it was written. Pull one out to read it.

Each text stands in the century it was written, dated as its sources word it.

ChineseSanskritPaliTibetanOther languagesComingA thicker spine is a longer book.
Second century
Fifth century
Eleventh century
Seventeenth century
Nineteenth century
Every book as a list

A text whose English is published is on the shelf and opens where it stands; one still to come stands as a book to come, dated from its sources, until its translation is published.

Second century

  • The Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣā. The five hundred arhats of Kashmir, translated into Chinese by Xuanzang. Chinese. Coming; not published yet. Written: 150–250 CE. Edition: Takakusu Junjirō and Watanabe Kaigyoku, 1924–1934. Length: about 200 fascicles, about 1,480,000 characters of Chinese.

Fifth century

Eleventh century

  • The Life of Tilopa. Marpa Chökyi Lodrö. Tibetan. On the shelf. Written: 1012–1097 CE. Edition: Apho Rinpoche's manuscript, compiled by Byang chub bzang po, 1973. Length: 6,106 syllables of Tibetan.

Seventeenth century

  • Tāranātha's Seven Lineages. Tāranātha, translated through Albert Grünwedel's German of 1914. Tibetan. Coming; not published yet. Written: 1600 CE. Edition: Albert Grünwedel, 1914. Length not measured yet.

Nineteenth century

  • The Treasury of Precious Instructions. Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thayé, compiler. Tibetan. Coming; not published yet. Written: 1870–1899 CE. Edition not chosen yet. Length not measured yet.

© 2026 Konchok Gyurme Tenzin. Licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0: share and adapt it with credit, never for sale.