Yenching Institute Gets Sacred Books from Thibet

Three hundred and twenty-five sacred books from Thibet have arrived at the Yenching Institute which form the Kanjur-Tanjur, an important part of the Buddhist code; the Tanjur is composed partly of commentaries and later texts about Buddha's instructions, while the elder Kanjur sets forth his commands.

The books form a part of the Northang edition, one of the best printed, but none the less somewhat illegible because done form wooden blocks on poor paper.

It is difficult to determine the age of the books, since printing of this kind began in 1200, but 1750 may safely be assumed the latest possible date, since there was a change in the canon made at that time, attributed to a Chinese Emperor, which these volumes do not contain.

It is no longer possible to have books like these reprinted, because a Mohammedan uprising in 1928 destroyed the wooden blocks of a Buddhist monastery on the Gansu-Thibetan border, where similar printing had been carried on.

This aditin to Yen Ching Institute give Harvard the world's largest library on Buddhism.