Buddhist Classics AI Translation Series Vol.11: Nyingma Kama - Complete Chinese-English Translation (宁玛噶玛完整中英译本 Version 2.5, Tibetan text excluded 无藏文版)

This is **Volume 11** of the comprehensive *Buddhist Classics AI Translation Series*, featuring the **Nyingma Kama** (*rNying-ma bKa'-ma*, 宁玛噶玛), the foundational scripture collection of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. This volume provides **complete Chinese-English translations** of approximately **190 volumes** (including appendices) from the modern critical compilation.

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## ⚠️ Copyright Notice: Tibetan Text Excluded

**This volume does NOT include Tibetan original texts due to copyright considerations:**

- **Reason**: The 133-volume modern edition involves contemporary editorial work; copyright duration is difficult to definitively determine
- **This release**: Chinese-English translations only
- **Verification resources**:
  - **Tibetan text**: https://nitarthadigitallibrary.org/ (Shentong Writings Foundation)
  - **Index**: https://texts.thdl.org/catalog/km/tg (THDL)
- **Users**: May independently upgrade content by cross-referencing original sources

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## About This Volume

### **What is Nyingma Kama?**

**Nyingma Kama** (宁玛噶玛, "Old School Oral Transmission") represents the **"Distant Lineage"** (*ring brgyud*, 远传) of the Nyingma school, transmitted continuously from the 8th century through:
- **Padmasambhava** (莲花生大士, Guru Rinpoche)
- **Vimalamitra** (无垢友, *Dri med bshes gnyen*)
- **Vairocana** (毗卢遮那, *rNam par snang mdzad*)

**Contrasted with Terma** (伏藏, *gter ma*, "Treasure Teachings"):
- **Kama**: Unbroken master-disciple oral transmission
- **Terma**: Concealed teachings revealed by tertöns

**Historical Development**:
- **8th-9th centuries**: Translation of Indian tantras during Tibetan Empire
- **9th century**: Clandestine preservation during Langdarma persecution (842-846 CE)
- **11th century**: Systematization as Nyingma school emerges
- **17th century**: Early compilation by **Taranatha** (多罗那他, 1575-1634) - ~? volumes
- **18th century**: Expansion by **Gönpo Yönten Gyatso** (贡珠·云丹嘉措, 1699-1765) - ~40-50 volumes
- **Late 20th century**: 133-volume critical edition by **Khenpo Gyurmé Océan** (堪布觉海) and team

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### **Content and Structure**

**Nine Yanas (Vehicle) Framework**:

**Outer Vehicles** (显宗三乘):
1. **Śrāvaka** (声闻乘): Hinayana foundations
2. **Pratyekabuddha** (缘觉乘): Self-enlightenment
3. **Bodhisattva** (菩萨乘): Mahayana altruism

**Outer Tantras** (外密三乘):
4. **Kriyā** (事部): Ritual purification
5. **Caryā** (行部): Balanced practice
6. **Yoga** (瑜伽部): Internal yoga

**Inner Tantras** (内密三乘):
7. **Mahāyoga** (玛哈瑜伽): Generation stage, deity yoga
8. **Anuyoga** (阿努瑜伽): Completion stage, subtle body practices
9. **Atiyoga/Dzogchen** (阿底瑜伽/大圆满): Great Perfection, primordial purity

**Core Contents**:
- **Root tantras**: Original Sanskrit-Tibetan translations (8th-9th century)
- **Commentaries**: Exegeses by Vimalamitra, Longchenpa (龙钦巴), Jigme Lingpa (吉美林巴), Ju Mipham (局麦彭)
- **Ritual manuals**: Sādhanas, empowerments, feast offerings
- **Historical texts**: Biographies of lineage masters
- **Rare treasures**: E.g., *Śabda-pramāṇa-mahā-tantra* commentary by Vimalamitra (卷107-108), previously unavailable

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### **Special Features of This Edition**

**Version 2.3 Enhancements**:

1. **Complete re-translation with Claude 3.7 Sonnet**:
   - Replaced earlier Gemini 2.0/2.5 translations (which had gaps)
   - **Known issue**: Occasional AI artifacts (e.g., "Human:", "ASSISTANT:" labels mixed into text) - left uncorrected to avoid disrupting main content
   - **Duplications**: Some passages repeated 2-3 times due to retranslation - readers should manually clean

2. **Supplementary materials**:
   - **Taishō Tripitaka excerpts**: Contextual Chinese Buddhist sources
   - **Dunhuang manuscripts**: Tang Dynasty-era manuscripts (e.g., Guo Facheng's handwritten lecture notes on *Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra*)
   - **Four additional Tibetan collections**:
     - *Padmasambhava Collected Works* (莲师著作集, source: BDRC.io)
     - *Chöd Lineage Teachings* (希解派前中后三期法教集, source: BDRC.io)
     - *Rongzom Pandita Collected Works* (荣宗班智达文集, 2 vols, source: Shentong Writings)
     - *Jamgön Kongtrul's Treasury of Oral Instructions* (蒋贡康楚窍诀藏, 18 vols, source: Shentong Writings)

3. **Missing volumes recovered**:
   - **Vol.8 & Vol.80**: Previously absent from Shentong Writings digital library
   - Sourced from BDRC.io PDFs, OCR'ed by **Dr. Li Jianing (Rinchen Gonpo)** (李佳宁/仁青贡布)
   - **Critical content**: Nine Vehicles doctrine, *Nāgārjuna's Emerald Nine Plains* (frequently cited by Longchenpa)

4. **Philosophical supplement**:
   - **Zhang Taiyan's** (章太炎) *Commentary on Zhuangzi's "Discourse on Making All Things Equal"* (*Qiwulun Shi*, 齐物论释)
   - Included to provide Chinese philosophical parallels for understanding Yogācāra-Madhyamaka synthesis in Nyingma texts

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### **Technical Specifications**

**Translation Models**:
- **Primary**: Claude 3.7 Sonnet (all main texts in v2.3)
- **Earlier versions**: Gemini 2.0 Flash, Gemini 2.5 Flash (v1.0-2.1, retained for reference)

**File Numbering System**:
- **Volumes 1-40**: THDL index-based numbering (with discrepancies - some volumes have extra entries, others missing)
- **Volumes 41+**: Numbering from 2022 download archive (provided by collaborator)
- **Result**: Two coexisting numbering schemes; consult THDL catalog for precise correspondence

**Total Size**:
- **~190 volumes** (133 main + appendices)
- **Languages**: Chinese-English parallel (no Tibetan)
- **File formats**: Plain text (.txt), Markdown (.md), compressed archives (.7z)

**Known Limitations**:
1. **Translation gaps**: Some texts skipped by AI (readers can retranslate)
2. **AI artifacts**: System labels occasionally appear mid-text
3. **Duplications**: Some passages repeated (manual cleanup needed)
4. **Missing texts**: 2 volumes initially absent (later recovered), scattered omissions possible
5. **No Tibetan**: Cannot serve as academic critical edition without source verification

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### **Academic and Practical Value**

**For Scholars**:
- **Rare commentaries**: Access to texts unavailable for centuries (e.g., Vimalamitra's *Śabda-pramāṇa* exegesis)
- **Comparative study**: Chinese-English parallels facilitate cross-linguistic research
- **Historical insight**: Tang Dynasty manuscripts contextualize early Nyingma transmission

**For Practitioners**:
- **Comprehensive practice guides**: From Ngöndro (preliminary practices) to Dzogchen Trekchö/Tögal
- **Systematic path**: Nine Vehicles framework provides gradual or direct approaches
- **Modern accessibility**: Classical teachings rendered in contemporary language

**For Linguistic Research**:
- **Large-scale parallel corpus**: ~190 volumes of Chinese-English Buddhist terminology
- **AI training data**: Pre-configured dataset for specialized Buddhist language models

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### **Version History**

• **v1.0** (2025-07-08): Initial Gemini 2.0 translation
  - **v2.0** (missing date): Added Claude 3.5 translations, recovered Vols. 8 & 80
  - **v2.1** (2025-08-23): Complete Claude 3.7 retranslation, added 4 supplementary collections
  - **v2.3** (2025-09-06): Final edition with Taishō/Dunhuang supplements, Zhang Taiyan text

In the g2.0 translation editions of volumes such as 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, etc., produced from July to November 2025, there were instances of approximately 1% weak/incomplete translations, including cases of entire segments being omitted.  To address this issue, a specialized program was developed for electronic collation and supplementary translation.  Sparse collation (0.n proportion) has been upgraded. Starting from November 22, 2025, the entire version group will no longer be replaced on the cloud drive; updates will only be uploaded to https://huggingface.co/ospx1u for archiving.  The latest versions may not appear in the long-term link table—please check https://huggingface.co/ospx1u directly. In general, frequent upgrades for the full table of volumes 1–12 can be found at https://huggingface.co/datasets/ospx1u/buddhist-classics-vol1-12/tree/main.  Additionally, as usual, the version of Volume 11 that includes the complete Tibetan text will not be publicly released, but it has been uploaded in encrypted form for archiving.