The Kangyur: Written with 9 Precious Stones

Buddhism was founded over two and a half millennia ago in India by Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha (Sanskrit for ‘awakened one’). Like the practitioners of Hinduism, Buddhists believe in the concept of reincarnation, and the only way to escape the perpetual cycle of rebirth is through the attainment of Enlightenment. Having attained the state of Enlightenment whilst meditating under a Bodhi tree, the Buddha went on to spend the next 45 years of his life teaching many others the way to achieve Enlightenment. These teachings of the Buddha were eventually compiled by his followers. One such compilation is the Tibetan  Kangyur. 

Prior to the coming of Buddhism, Tibetans practiced a form of Shamanism called Bon. From the 6th to 8th centuries AD, Buddhism slowly penetrated this mountainous region. The teachings of the Budda were translated into Tibetan, but its final compilation was only achieved in the 14th century. This resulted in the creation of the  Tibetan Buddhist Canon, which consisted of the  Kangyur, the “translated words (of the Buddha)”, and the  Tengyur, the “translated treatises”. Together, these works form one of the three principal canonical collections of Buddhist literature in the world, the other two being the  Chinese Canon and the Pali Canon. 

As copies were made of the original Kangyur, this text was disseminated throughout Tibet. This common text evolved into two slightly different branches – the ‘eastern’ branch, known as the Tshalpa, and the ‘western’ branch, known as the Thempangma. In the 1650s, a collection of the Thempangma Kangyur was brought to Mongolia from Tibet by the Mongolian monk, Zanabazar. Subsequently, copies of this Kangyur would be made, and as of today, over 10 different Kangyurs are being kept by the National Library of Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar. 

One of these copies is the Kangyur written with 9 precious stones, which is the only copy in the world. The ink used in the writing of this Kangyur is literally made from precious stones. 9 types of ‘precious stones’, namely gold, silver, coral, pearl, mother of pearl, turquoise, lapis lazuli, copper and steel, were first made into powder and placed into cups designated for each ‘stone’. 

Some fresh water from a mountain spring or rainwater would then be mixed with special sweet adhesives, goat’s milk, and added to the cups to produce the ink. Then, using a painting brush made of sable fur, the ink would be used to write on processed black paper. In addition to the text, paintings were also added to the Kangyur. These images were painted according to the artistic tradition of Zanabazar, and is said to “immediately give peace of mind and admiration to anybody who looks at it.” 

A Bhutanese calligrapher writing Kangyur (Buddhist canon) with gold ink. Thimphu. (Cristopher John Fynn/CC BY-SA 4.0) 

The images itself are said to correspond to the wall paintings of the Erdenezuu Monastery in Karakorum, Mongolia, in terms of its color, harmonization, and description. For instance, ink produced from copper is said to go well with paper of golden color, while ink produced from silver is said to go well with emerald, green paper. In short, this demonstrates the profound knowledge that the Mongolians had about the harmonization of colors, and perhaps the wealth required to produce such expensive inks as well. As of 2013, the Kangyur written with 9 precious stones was entered into UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register. 

Bell, C., 1992. The Religion of Tibet. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. 

InfoMongolia.com, 2013. Kanjur – The World’s Only Copy Written with 9 Precious Stones is Register in UNESCO’s Memory of the World.  Available at: http://www.infomongolia.com/ct/ci/6212