The Tibetan collection at the Library of Congress contains thousands of books, periodicals, rare materials, and much more. This guide provides an overview of these items, digital collections, electronic resources, and search strategies.

This wiki was established to encourage sharing and developing information around learning classical Tibetan. The goal is to have an online resource for Classical Tibetan grammar that is both updatable and searchable. Most of the content here comes from teachings and books by William Magee, Craig Preston, and Paul Hackett (UMA Tibet, Jeffrey Hopkins).

Known affectionately as the "one who cracked the code". She's helped countless students start from zero to mastering the language. Author of a four-volume colloquial Tibetan language textbook, Franziska truly understands the elegance of the Tibetan language and generously offers everything she knows of the language to her students. Few people can make a difficult subject easy and Franziska through both her great love of the language and of teaching, makes learning Tibetan not only fun but relatively easy. Franziska is the Tibetan language teacher at SINI and has helped countless students go from zero to hero. She has taught at the University of Virginia, the FPMT Translation Program, Emory University, SIT in Nepal, the Rangjung Yeshe Institute, and has been invited to many institutions to share her ideas and views on learning Tibetan. She has opened the door to the Tibetan language for so many students from all over the world. Her commitment to preserving the Tibetan language is deeply inspiring. If you are interested in learning Tibetan, consider taking her class.

Founded in 1994 by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Nitartha International uses modern technologies, pedagogies, and museum practices to preserve the timeless wisdom of Asia. Our specialty is in the teachings of the Nyingma and Kagyu schools of Tibet. Our vision and sincere mission since 1994 has been to preserve these texts, teachings, and cultural works, and make them available to as wide an audience as possible so that countless people may benefit from their wisdom. Nitartha International is the umbrella organization for a variety of activities under the Nitartha name. - Nitartha software development provides Tibetan language software. Our store is available here as well. - Nitartha Dictionary Tools provides an online Tibetan-English translation dictionary. - Nitartha Institute provides advanced Buddhist studies curriculum in English and other languages. -Nitartha Translation Network makes available Tibetan texts in translation into English and other languages. -Nitartha international publications provides both Tibetan-language publications for use in modern-day shedras, and advanced translations for the modern minds in other countries. - Nitartha Digital Library is an extensive collection of Tibetan-language texts and provides digital publications and search of the Nitartha collection.

LopLao (Easy Tibetan) was established to promote and advance Tibetan language and culture worldwide. It was founded in 2019 by Tenzin Choephel and Dr Rachael Griffiths, who were concerned by the lack of resources available to Tibetan language learners; especially members of the Tibetan diaspora, for whom this language provides a crucial link to their cultural heritage. Moving beyond traditional tools like textbooks, LopLao hopes to expand opportunities to learn Tibetan through creating varied, rich, and engaging resources. We aim to offer a variety of learning experiences like bite-size social media content, one-to-one online lessons with native speakers, YouTube videos, and blog posts. These additional formats offer flexibility, help keep learners engaged, and improve conversation, reading, and listening comprehension. Designed to support learners of all levels and backgrounds, including members of the diaspora, we believe our online provision provides the tools required for learning and sustaining engagement with Tibetan.

Learn to decode the so called "dakini script" of Tibetan calligraphy.

Founded by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche as an institution of higher learning for those wishing to deepen their understanding of Buddhist philosophy and practice, Rangjung Yeshe Institute (RYI) has been conducting seminars and study programs in Nepal for more than 25 years. Since 2001, the Institute has worked in close partnership with Kathmandu University to manage the Kathmandu University Centre for Buddhist Studies at Rangjung Yeshe Institute which offers undergraduate and post-graduate degree courses in Buddhist Studies and related topics. RYI may, to a large extent, be regarded as the Buddhist equivalent of a divinity school or seminary where spiritual practice is an integral part of the daily experience and where program graduates are scholar-practitioners. RYI envisions a world in which a wide diversity of people, interested in learning about Buddhism, has easy access to a living Buddhist tradition in order to foster the qualities of wisdom and compassion for the benefit of all sentient beings. Rangjung Yeshe Institute's mission is to be a centre of higher learning, working to the highest standards, to provide both traditional and modern Buddhist education through teaching, translation, publication, research and practice. Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and the RYI community were delighted to welcome Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche. After a short tour of RYI, Rinpoche generously shared his insight on the place of academic studies in the transmission of Dharma teachings. Following his talk, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche also gave brief advice on Buddhist study and practice. Here is a full capture of the event.

Tibetan Language Institute: Learn to read & write Classical Tibetan. Proven, powerful study system with western insights by Lama David Curtis.

Founded by Geshe Michael Roach, Asian Classics Institute makes the foundational, profound, and transformational teachings of Tibetan Buddhism available to the world. ASIAN CLASSICS INSTITUTE MAKES THE FOUNDATIONAL, PROFOUND, AND TRANSFORMATIONAL TEACHINGS OF THE BUDDHA AVAILABLE TO THE WORLD IN AN ACCURATE, ACCESSIBLE AND RELEVANT WAY Stewards of classical Asian traditions in the lineage of Je Tsongkhapa. We train teachers; produce teaching events; archive original works, translations, and recordings of teachings; and distribute this material worldwide

The aim of our project is to create and guide a team of young translators to translate these great classics. We’re beginning by translating into English and from there, the work can be easily translated into modern Chinese, Spanish, German, Russian and many other languages. We have teams around the world already translating our work. On this site, you’ll find a description of the latest round of texts that we’re translating and an introduction to the translators on our team. The translations of these texts are still in progress and are available for your eyes and thoughts as we go. As we value the opinions of our fellow Buddhist philosophy and Tibetan enthusiasts, our work is posted together with the original Tibetan language and is enabled to receive your comments. Asian Classics Institute Asian Classics Input Project

The Tibetan Studies Collection of the C. V. Starr East Asian Library is one of the most extensive in the country, with nearly 15,000 volumes of Tibetan-language print materials (in traditional and modern formats), 13,000 electronic texts, some 100 different serial titles, and important archival materials. The Library also actively acquires Western and Chinese-language Tibetological materials in the humanities and social sciences. HISTORY OF THE COLLECTION THE PL480 PROGRAM The origins of the Tibetan Studies Collection can be traced to the early 1970s when the university first began receiving Tibetan books and serials through the Public Law 480 Program administered by the Library of Congress. Lacking foreign currency to cover its wheat purchase debts, India agreed to repay the United States with multiple copies of newly published books which were distributed to designated university libraries in North America beginning in 1961. This arrangment, which lasted for more than twenty years, was authorized under and dubbed the Public Law 480 Program, or "PL480 Program" for short. In 1968, a young University of Washington-trained Tibetologist E. Gene Smith (1936-2010) was appointed to the New Delhi office of the Library of Congress to oversee the dissemination of these books. He used the opportunity to help reprint thousands of volumes of Tibetan texts, many of which had been carried to India by Tibetan refugees in the preceding years. Columbia University was one of the recipient libaries, and during the 1970s and early 1980s, it accumulated a collection of more than 5,000 volumes, the core resource when the University appointed Dr. Robert Thurman professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in 1989. TIBETAN PUBLISHING TRENDS The bulk of Tibetan materials received gratis through the PL480 Program comprised religious and philosophical texts reprinted or published newly in India, Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan. In the early 1980s, however, Tibetan publishing in China experienced its own renaissance. Hundreds of Tibetan titles began to appear on the market, including modern-format editions of classical works, as well as reprints of influential works first drafted by senior scholars in the 1950s. Similarly, a new wave of newspapers and literary journals provided additional publishing opportunities for aspiring Tibetan writers. The successor to the PL480 Program -- the South Asia Cooperative Acquistitions Program (SACAP) of the Library of Congress -- began to acquire and disseminate Tibetan materials published in China, in addition to the titles issuing from South Asia. Today, Columbia University continues to subscribe to the SACAP Program, but also actively acquires through vendors and on acquisition trips a range of titles not held by other institutions, including locally published monographs and serials, audio-visual materials, and larger sets unavailable through the SACAP program. Even as a growing number of Tibetan authors express themselves in online venues, Tibetan scholarship and the print-publishing industry continue to flourish in both China and South Asia. Electronic texts are also beginning to proliferate, though these are produced primarily in Europe and North America, or in cooperation with institutions in the West. TIBETAN STUDIES RESEARCH AT COLUMBIA In 1998, at the urging of the Chinese Studies Librarian, a new line for Tibetan-language materials was approved for the C.V. Starr East Asian Library, and Columbia University now holds the most extensive academic research library collection outside of China. With nearly 15,000 volumes of Tibetan-language print materials, subscription to 13,000 electronic volumes via the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center (TBRC) Core Text Collections, and important archival collections, the Tibetan Studies Collection actively serves the faculty and students of Columbia University, and elsewhere. In particular, our collection seeks to support the academic offerings of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, the initiatves of the Modern Tibetan Studies Program of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, under the leadership of Dr. Robert Barnett, and the continued development of classical Tibetan religious studies centered in the Religion Department. In 2005, research and coursework in the history of Tibet was expanded with the appointment of Dr. Gray Tuttle, the Leila Hadley Luce Associate Professor of Modern Tibet. Accordingly, the Library has worked to enrich its collections with a vast store of local histories and genealogies, many acquired in the field. Columbia University is arguably the only university in North America with a full-time professional librarian fully dedicated to Tibetan collection, cataloging and reference at an academic institution. Dr. Lauran Hartley has worked in this position since 2007 to continue building the depth and breadth of Columbia's Tibetan Studies Collection, to serve as reference for faculty and students at Columbia and elsewhere, and to contribute records in WorldCat for Tibetan materials acquired outside of the SACAP program. COLLECTION SCOPE AND STRENGTHS The Tibetan Studies Collection at Columbia University has been growing steadily, and now comprises nearly 15,000 volumes of Tibetan-language texts. In addition to titles received in bulk through SACAP (successor to the PL480 program), the Starr Library actively orders titles published in Tibetan regions of China, and from commercial vendors covering India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, and other areas. The Starr Library also actively collect Chinese and Western-language materials on Tibetan-related subjects. A growing strength of the Tibetan Studies Collection at Columbia, aside from its holdings which are the most comprehensive in North America, is our effort to preserve and make accessible rare documents for the study of Tibetan history since the 17th century, as well as several important archival collections. The Library also collects material objects, such as traditional Tibetan writing and accounting implements, for the study of Tibetan cultural history. For more detail, please see Special Collections.

The Center for Research on Tibet at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) was founded in 1987. Our goal is to conceptualize and conduct research on Tibetan history, society, language, ecology/physiology and culture so as to understand traditional Tibet and the manner in which it has changed. The Center is housed in Mather Memorial Building at Case Western Reserve University, and is administratively under the Department of Anthropology in the College of Arts and Sciences. Drs. Melvyn C. Goldstein (the John Reynolds Harkness Professor of Anthropology) and Cynthia M. Beall (the Sarah Idell Pyle Professor of Anthropology) are its co-Directors. From the beginning, the Center has maintained a collaborative relationship with the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences (TASS) in Lhasa, and has undertaken a wide range of research projects on different aspects of present and past Tibet with the cooperation of TASS. Since 1988, the Center has hosted eight scholars from TASS for periods ranging from 6 months to one year. Two young Tibetan researchers from TASS have received Masters of Arts degrees in Anthropology (1988 and 2003), while another Tibetan student earned a Doctorate of Philosophy in 2001. At present, the Center has expanded its "research" goal by adding a commitment to preserve and organize its unique corpus of primary data in a way that will make it readily available to students, scholars and Tibetans globally. With support from The Henry Luce Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, we are in the process of creating a major online archive that will include, initially, 700-1,000 hours of taped interviews and their English translations. These will all be indexed and searchable through keywords. Almost all of the interviewees are Tibetans, a small but important sub-set are Chinese military and civil officials who worked in Tibet. This unique corpus of interviews covers three major areas: modern Tibetan history, the traditional social and economic life in Drepung (Tibet's largest monastery in the traditional period), and the oral history of the lives of common rural and urban Tibetans. The period for the oral history interviews spans from the pre-Chinese period to the end of the Cultural Revolution. Donations to help support the Tibet Oral History Archive are most welcome, and should be sent to Case Western Reserve University, College of Arts and Sciences, The Center for Research on Tibet (Oral History Archive), Cleveland, Ohio 44106. All donations are tax deductible. For more details on the Oral History Project see that section of this website.

The Dharma Farm carries on the training we received at Jeffrey Hopkins' famed Tibetan program at the University of Virginia in Tibetan and Sanskrit translating Tibetan works about the Buddhist philosophy of liberation. We believe accurate translation rests on understanding the underlying grammar and syntax. The Dharma Farm is a free on-line Tibetan language translation school founded in 2020 in Oregon as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization. Our focus is preparing translators with the linguistic skills and philosophical background necessary for translating Tibetan works on Buddhist philosophy. Dharma Farm students are a global community, both monastics and lay people, who wish to develop the skills necessary for translating Tibetan Buddhist philosophical works.