Leiden University Libraries Digital Collections

Tibetan Texts (Kern Institute)

Block Prints and Manuscripts from Tibet

Rje bka' 'gyur bla ma sogs dam pa lnga'i rnam thar rags bsdus ngo mtshar dad pa'i sa bon zhes bya ba

Tibetan Texts (Kern Institute)

This collection is described in Tibetan Block Prints and Manuscripts (ubl148).

One of the main objectives of the Kern Institute was to collect materials for teaching and research. It was in the first place due to Jean Philippe Vogel’s invaluable efforts and his good network that the scope of collecting and studying material was also extended to Tibetan languages and religious literatures. The collection consists of Tibetan block prints and manuscripts from various sources and acquired in different periods. The collection includes the voluminous works of the Lhasa Kanjur (Kangyur), the Bon canon, the sNga ’gyur rgyud ’bum phyogs bsgrigs (rNying ma rgyud ’bum) en de sNga ’gyur bka ma shin tu rgyas pa gsung ’bum. Privately collected was the Tinne collection. The jewel of the Tibetan collections of the Kern Institute is the impressive and world-famous collection brought together by the orientalist Johan van Manen (1877-1943). The block prints and manuscripts deal primarily with religious and philosophical questions pertaining to Tibetan Buddhist traditions as well as closely related subjects like astrology and medicine. On 27 April 2010 and as a result of the fusion of the Institute Kern library and the University Leiden Libraries (UBL), the Special Collection section of the UBL was entrusted with the Tibetan block prints and manuscript collection.