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Osiris Luciano - 9th May 2022

Hunsur Preservation Center

Meet the women at the Hunsur, preservation center in South India.

Meet the women at the Hunsur, preservation center in South India.

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Snow on the Mountain melts down to Diamond Cutter

Snow on the Mountain melts down to Diamond Cutter Classics and Diamond Cutter Press.
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The mission of the Asian Legacy Library (ALL) is to preserve texts so others can translate them, adapt them, and share their meaning with the world. ALL’s mission is to be like snow on the mountain that feeds all the individuals and organizations who use our library. Today, ALL celebrates Diamond Cutter Classics (DCC) @diamondcutterclassics and Diamond Cutter Press (DCP) @diamondcutterpress . ALL’s library is the source for the Diamond Cutter Classics Series. Currently five books have been translated by DCC and published by DCP, making these pearls of wisdom available to everyone in English and, eventually, many other languages.
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The Diamond Cutter Classics translators published by Diamond Cutter Press to date:
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Sunlight on Suchness—The Meaning of the Heart Sutra, by Choney Lama, Drakpa Shedrup (1675–1748). Translated by Geshe Michael Roach, with Elizabeth van der Pas.
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Sunlight on the Path to Freedom—A Commentary to The Diamond Cutter Sutra, by Choney Lama, Drakpa Shedrup (1675–1748). Translated by Geshe Michael Roach, with Elizabeth van der Pas.
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The Prayers of the Seven Buddhas, The longer sutra of the Medicine Buddha. Translated by Dr. Eric Wu, Yan Tang, and Geshe Michael Roach.
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Emptiness Meditations—Learning How to See That Nothing Is Itself, a collection of five books by different classical authors. Translated by Bets Greer, with Geshe Michael Roach.
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The Golden Key—Difficult Questions in the Mind Only School of Buddhism, Part One, by Je Tsongkapa, Lobsang Drakpa (1357–1419). Translated by Word Smith, with Geshe Michael Roach.
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Stay tuned as more books produced by this dynamic team are translated and published.
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Here’s a big thank you to DCC and DCP!

Meet Miroj Shakya, a great preservationist, profes

Meet Miroj Shakya, a great preservationist, profesor and respected scholar from Nepal. Now presenting insights and sharing his passion about the Dharanis.

ASIAN LEGACY LIBRARY IS READY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

ASIAN LEGACY LIBRARY IS READY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
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The creation of Asian Legacy Library was inspired by the need to preserve over three decades of ACIP’s data in a modern digital preservation framework.
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In 1987, the idea for the ACIP preservation project was born at the offices of the Department of Classics at Princeton University. The founding team of the project consisted of Director, Michael Roach, Princeton University graduate and liaison; Assistant Director, Robert Taylor, Ph.D., of the U.S. Department of Transportation; John Malpas, developer of Tibetan input software; and Steve Bruzgulis, inventor of the first Tibetan word processor. Robert Chilton provided invaluable technical expertise, especially as Unicode was developed as a universal standard for computer fonts. ACIP was born, and funding from the Hewlett Packard Foundation financed our first data entry center in South India.
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The Birth of Asian Legacy Library
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Throughout the first decade of the 21st century, ACIP continued our search for the original Sanskrit Buddhist manuscripts that might have survived over centuries and still exist. Our search helped establish three new centers: one located in Nepal; one in Varanasi, India; and one in the state of Kerala, in Southeast India. Our discoveries of several private collections, monastic libraries, and institutional archives have expanded our collections of Indic traditional subjects that include Ayurvedic medical palm leaf collections, astrology, traditional Sanskrit Buddhism, and Vedic and Upanishadic collections. Over two million pages have been digitally scanned and cataloged to date.
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Please read the full story of the creation of Asian Legacy Library on the website via the link in bio.

Ngawang Tendar (Ngag dbang bstan dar, 1758-1840?),

Ngawang Tendar (Ngag dbang bstan dar, 1758-1840?), a.k.a. Aǧvangdandar
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“The sun or moon may be eclipsed on the full or new moon day,
Yet, it will be immediately free as soon as the waxing or waning period begins.
The bodhisattvas in their final incarnation may get impeded once,
Yet, they will tear down cyclic existence within this very life.”
A Fest of Human Virtues (Mi chos dga’ ston)
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Ngawang Tendar was born in the Alxa region of Inner Mongolia. At a young age, he joined a local monastery before eventually traveling to Lhasa to study in Drepung Gomang, where he earned the Geshe Lharampa degree. Upon return to Alxa, Ngawang Tendar established a monastery there, yet even in his fifties, he disguised himself as an ordinary monk in order to hide his true identity as a senior scholar while he studied rare subjects in Amdo’s Labrang and Kumbum monasteries. Oral tradition has it that while he composed a significant number of writings, his collected works were published as a single volume in Kumbum Monastery, which did not include many of his works, especially those in the Mongolian language. In addition to his unique contribution to the Geluk scholasticism, he is also believed to have written a commentary to the Nyingma master Jikmé Lingpa’s Treasury of Precious Qualities (Yon tan mdzod).
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A full biography is available on Treasury of Lives and biographical information is available at Lotsawa House
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ALL is actively preserving the National Library of Mongolia where the writings of these fascinating scholars exist.

Introducing Mongolian scholar, Erdene Baatar Ochir

Introducing Mongolian scholar, Erdene Baatar Ochir. Baatar works with ALL as and advisor and scholar to contextualize and highlight important discoveries.

Wood block printing is a traditional method of pri

Wood block printing is a traditional method of printing texts for distribution. The texts are carved into wood, in reverse, and then printed on paper using a variety of natural pigment based inks. Woodblock printing is critical preservation work, as in many cases the original woodblocks are no longer available and the only existing copies of the text are prints found in the National Library of Mongolia.
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The texts in the NLM collection traveled from all parts of Inner Asia. ALL conducted a recent analysis of the current discoveries from more than 3,700 volumes preserved, we identified the texts originated from 55 different printeries.
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The National Library of Mongolia (NLM) is an extraordinary cultural treasure which holds traditional Mongolian knowledge from across generations. Since 2018, ALL has been consolidating, documenting, and restoring the library’s collections – a project of critical importance for both the Mongolian public and the global community. Rituals, epic stories, treatises on government, land use, architecture, music, and indeed all cultural forms are documented in the literature of Mongolia. From the thirteenth century on, this body of work was safeguarded in private libraries, homes, and small institutions, forming a stable cultural foundation throughout the country.

"Hi. This is Michael Roach. And I just thought you

"Hi. This is Michael Roach. And I just thought you might be interested to see how do we actually find those ancient texts in the Asian Legacy Library website? They have a new website. I love to test it out. It's like getting into a new Tesla car and driving it around. So I'll show you on my screen here."
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Scholar Geshe Michael Roach shares with us how he uses ALL website for his research and translation.

Ngawang Khedrup (Ngag dbang mkhas grub, 1779-1838

Ngawang Khedrup (Ngag dbang mkhas grub, 1779-1838), a.k.a. Aǧvangqayidub
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“Isolated from the hustle and bustle of the mind, one is a hermit.
Casting away the conception of self, one is a renunciate.
Correcting the afflictions when they arise, one is a practitioner.
Conquering one’s own mental apprehension, one is a meditator.”
A Story of the Old Man and Woman (Rgan rgon pho mo’i lo rgyus)
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Ngawang Khedrup was a renowned scholar and abbot of Khalkha Mongolian Ih Hüree monastery, the main seat of the Jebtsundampas. He was born in Mandal near Ih Hüree and studied in Tashi Chöpel Dratsang (bkra shis chos ’phel grwa tshang), a Buddhist philosophy college in Ih Hüree, and in Drepung (’Bras spungs) Monastery in Lhasa. During his abbacy, Ih Hüree grew in its size, prosperity, and educational quality to an important Buddhist learning center in Mongolia. His collected works, consisting of five volumes published in Ih Hüree, contain writings in various genres—tantric and philosophical commentaries, prayers, polemics, biographies, rituals, narratives, monastic records, advice, art instructions, among others.
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A full biography is available on Treasury of Lives: https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Ngawang-Khedrub/7162
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ALL is actively preserving the National Library of Mongolia where the writings of these fascinating scholars exist.

The well-respected scholar Dr. V. N. Ramachandran

The well-respected scholar Dr. V. N. Ramachandran of Phalghat, Kerala, India has been preserving endangered texts in Southern India for forty years. His work has led him to photograph manuscripts, rare printed books, and palm leaf manuscripts in inaccessible collections throughout Southern India. For nearly half a century, this extraordinary digital archivist has supported the work of scholars of Indology from around the globe, who have worn a path to his door to benefit from his guidance, expertise, and his prodigious digital collection.
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ALL proudly hosts Dr. Ramachandran’s collection, which encompasses 13,167 volumes.
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The collection is remarkably diverse and includes materials pertaining to Ayurvedic traditional medicine, Vedic studies, linguistics, yogic sciences, cosmology, epistemology, philosophical doctrines, precepts on meditation and practices, the four kinds of yoga, mantras, temple construction, deity worship, and many others – more than 850 subjects in all. The texts represent languages including Arabic, English, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Persian, Tamil and Telugu in various scripts, such as Grantha and Devanagari.
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Dr. Ramachandran is an epic traveler and has scoured obscure and previously undocumented libraries throughout Southern India for decades. In his digital collection, there are manuscripts, rare printed books and palm leaf manuscripts from 390 libraries from across Southern India.
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ALL rejoices in the incredible work of Dr. Ramachandran, and we are proud to partner with Dr. Ramachandran to digitally preserve this exceptional and steadfastly curated collection for all time.

Why do we place such value on preserving timeless

Why do we place such value on preserving timeless wisdom? There are countless reasons, but one of the most significant is that when faced with a crisis that threatens our well-being, we can act wisely, instead of blindly contributing to the ongoing escalation of suffering.

In many of humanity's wisdom traditions, it's well recognized that aggression begets aggression. This has been true for so much of human history. Yet it doesn't have to be this way. By heeding the sage counsel contained within these wisdom traditions, we can harness unshakeable confidence in our intentions, allowing us to meet the blindness of this violence with wisdom, rather than capitulating to it.

A defensive position, when held for the well-being of all, is meant to halt this perpetuation of the cycle of violence.

That's why we do what we do at the Asian Legacy Library. Contained within the wisdom literature we work so hard to preserve, there are countless ways for us to shape our individual thoughts, words, and actions to create a profound collective impact.

Preserving timeless wisdom is important for many r

Preserving timeless wisdom is important for many reasons. People will always translate texts between languages, but new media and forms of expression offer limitless possibilities. So it’s not always clear how this wisdom will be activated and used by future generations.

That’s where design comes in. By treating the transmission of wisdom as an end, the means to that end can be reinvented. Which is fantastic news for our era, when so many people spend a sizeable chunk of time everyday online. There’s no reason we can’t design ways for timeless wisdom to enter this space.

An exciting example is this design by @shivaniparasnis based on Patrul Rinpoche’s teachings. The intersection of design and timeless wisdom embodied here starts to hint at how much is possible (and it’s a lot).

Mongolia, with its rich written tradition, is home

Mongolia, with its rich written tradition, is home to an unfathomable amount of textual material, much of which rests in the National Library of Mongolia (NLM), where the Asian Legacy Library has been hard at work with NLM’s team to preserve, catalog, and digitize these works of timeless wisdom.

But just how much material is there? Since 2018, we’ve scanned, page-by-page, 1,283,698 pages from 4482 volumes, cataloged 7129 volumes which include more than 63,590 titles of works, representing over 436 genres, from commentaries and ritual songs, to sadhanas, sutras, biographies, medical texts, and much, much more.

We still have a significant amount of work to do, as there are 41,000 volumes in the library. If you haven’t yet read about all our exciting preservation work at NLM, be sure to check out the link in bio.

How do we carry on the best parts of humanity’s

How do we carry on the best parts of humanity’s continual efforts to understand life and our place within it, even as conflict threatens to undo so much that’s been done?

Follow us on our website for more information.

https://asianlegacylibrary.org/partners/a-perspective-on-cultural-preservation/

Resting on innumerable shelves within the National

Resting on innumerable shelves within the National Library of Mongolia, there are over 100,000 volumes of manuscripts and woodblock prints written in Tibetan, Manchurian, Chinese, and Mongolian. They include rituals, epic stories, treatises on government, land use, architecture, music, and much, much more. The collection also contains Mongolian perspectives on Buddhism, a culturally pivotal yet understudied topic.

From the thirteenth century on, this body of work was safeguarded in private libraries, homes, and small institutions, forming a stable cultural foundation throughout the country. Stockpiled here during the 20th century in conditions not ideally suited for such delicate texts, it is now of utmost importance to catalog and digitize these texts before they degrade further.

Follow link in bio to learn how the Asian Legacy Library is collaborating with the tremendously capable staff of the National Library of Mongolia to preserve this treasure trove of timeless wisdom.

Today is Losar, which marks the beginning of the T

Today is Losar, which marks the beginning of the Tibetan New Year. One way Losar is celebrated is the changing of prayer flags. New ones are hung, and old ones are taken down and burned with pine and juniper as an offering.

A ubiquitous symbol of timeless wisdom around the world, prayer flags are printed with woodblocks containing dharani texts and five animals: horse, dragon, lion, eagle, and tiger. These dharani have their roots in the Bon tradition, and can be read as prayers for world peace and shared prosperity amongst all people, nations, and beings.

This year is the year of the Water Tiger. As they say in Tibet, Tashi Delek. Happy new year.

Since 2017, Ichinkhorloo Bayarkhuu has been the Di

Since 2017, Ichinkhorloo Bayarkhuu has been the Director of the National Library of Mongolia, where the Asian Legacy Library is supporting the hard work of preserving an almost incalculable treasure trove of timeless wisdom.

In addition to her work as a preservationist, Dir. Bayarkhuu is also a celebrated poet. Twice winner of the Bolor Tsom, Mongolia’s highest national poetry prize, she’s revered as a leading contemporary voice, and we’re thrilled to have such an exceptional mind leading efforts at NLM.

We recently sat down with Dr. Miroj Shakya to hear

We recently sat down with Dr. Miroj Shakya to hear about the work he’s doing with University of the West and Nagarjuna Institute of Buddhist Studies.

In conjunction with ALL, Dr. Miroj and his team are conducting our first combined image-and-input preservation project, centered around the Dharani texts of Kathmandu’s Newari community. These texts are part of a ritual that’s been passed down for centuries, keeping timeless wisdom alive in the world on a daily basis.

For more info, see our News Section (link in bio), and check back often for more updates.

What does it look like to share timeless wisdom in

What does it look like to share timeless wisdom in the internet age? As Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche @khyentse said in a recent interview, “We need to offer light bulbs, not butter lamps.”

Embracing technologies and methods of our time may seem contradictory to underlying mindsets of wisdom practice. But the thing about timeless wisdom is that it’s timeless. It persists across all times. It always applies. So people need it now as much as ever.

And to make it available to them, we figure, why not use the methods available? We’re honored to receive support from @khyentsefoundation as we work together towards this end.

Rigpa Drukchupa Tsindri: lecture notes taken by Gy

Rigpa Drukchupa Tsindri: lecture notes taken by Gyaltsab Je at a lecture given by his teacher, Je Tsongkhapa on Arya Nagarjuna’s “60 Verses on Reasoning.” Gyaltsab Je was one of Je Tsongkhapa’s main disciples, and after the death of the latter in 1419, became Abbot of Ganden Monastery and lineage holder of the Gelugpa school.

This manuscript is part of the Asian Legacy Library's Himalayan & Inner Asian Collection, and is currently in translation with the @diamondcutterclassics organization.

For many contemporary students of timeless wisdom

For many contemporary students of timeless wisdom traditions, the pursuit of knowledge and a deeper experience is something that happens on the side of another, more worldly pursuit.

We’ve seen a lot of news about the Great Resignation lately, and we can’t help but wonder if this is a sign that many are seeking to close the gap between the things we do to make a living and the things that give us meaning.

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