For the New Moon today, am happy to share and announce the creation and launch of another Dharma translations and research website dedicated solely to the Collected Works of the Karmapas.
As I have already done a significant amount of translation, research and transcripts on the 1st-17th Karmapas, I decided it would be beneficial to create a brand new website resource (as I did for Tāranātha’s Collected Works) to “house” that work but also publish new information on the Collected Works of the individual Karmapas.
To launch the new website, the first Collected Works Outline on the new website is that of First Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa.
First Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa’s Collected Works: A Brief Outline
The Collected Works (Sung Bum) of Dusum Khyenpa, the first Karmapa is quite rare. However, there are currently two online editions of the Collected works available now on BDRC[1]. One of them is published in a two volume textual section contained within the Garland of Karmapa Incarnations and I have based my English translation of the contents outline on that edition.
On 4th December 2025, the official online bulletin of the 17th Karmapa, Layjang also recently announced that a new Tibetan language original edition of the First Karmapa’s Collected Works has been published in Tibet, with a more extensive and expanded two volumes. They explain that:
“The general framework for the newly compiled works of Je First Karmapa is based on the catalogue of the collected works of the Omniscient [8th] Karmapa Mikyö Dorje, compiled by the Fifth Shamarpa Konchok Yenlak. The source texts for the collected works have been primarily based on the Palpung edition and various other handwritten and printed versions. This collection comprises [two volums] of 30 sections, covering a wide range of topics including biographies, songs, question-and-answer sessions and letters, a comprehensive commentary on the Damchö Ngöchik, a comprehensive commentary on the Damchö Dülwa, the upper and lower parts of the Treasury of Happiness and Ease, commentaries on the Ornament of Realization and the Introduction to the Middle Way, comprehensive commentaries on the Kriya and Charya Tantras and the Anuttarayoga Tantra, ritual texts, the Hundred Short Sermons, instructions and biographies, the upper and lower parts of the Introduction to the Three Bodies, various instructions on the Madhyamaka and Vajrayana, such as the Inseparable Wind and Mind, and various incomplete instructions, including the Essence of the Six-Limbed Yoga.
Additionally, it includes a comprehensive commentary on the grammar of Kalāpa, the Clear Meaning of the Text. Based on the Lord Karmapa’s writings, one can gain insight into the social conditions of that time, and in particular, the various common and uncommon aspects of Tibetan culture. This is a valuable resource for both avid readers and researchers in the field of cultural studies.”
I will update the website section with the titles from that new outline/edition, in due course.
For now, relying on the briefer published edition on BDRC, in summary, Dusum Khyenpa’s Collected Works comprise the following sections (see website for individual titles):
- Liberation stories,
- Dohas (Songs),
- the five sets of five-deities of Chakrasamvara, Vajravārahi, Hevajra, Hayagriva and Noble Tārā.
These are followed by sections on
- Four-faced Vajrayogini,
- Two-Faced Vajravārāhi,
- Questions and answers of Dusum Khyenpa,
- Nāropa’s Six Dharmas,
- Tummo (Inner Heat),
- Merging/Mixing Practice,
- Dream Yoga and Bardo practices,
- Purifying Obstacles rituals,
- Protector Practices and rituals of the Raven-faced one,
- Remati (Rangjung Lhamo), and
- “Invisibility Wand/Stick” rituals that protect from Demons and Gods.
- Texts on Mahamudra, such as a teaching called “Mahamudra, the Thunderbolt (or Lightning Flash)”.
I have completed translations of a few of these works already, such as those on Vajravarahi and Five-Deity Tārā and Hevajra. I have also recently translated the Introductory section of the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje’s new commentaries and sadhanas on the Five-deity Tārā, see section of website on First Karmapa, here.
For other original articles and resources on the First Karmapa, these are listed on the new website too.
May it be of benefit in preserving the Collected Works of the Karmapas, and the First Karmapa in the English language, as an online resource for the general public, practitioners, scholars and translators.
Endnotes
[1] Garland of Karmapa incarnations. Karma pa sku phreng rim byon gyi gsung ʼbum phyogs bsgrigs. dPal brtsegs bod yig dpe rnying zhib ʼjug khang, 2013. Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC), purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW3PD1288.
Collected Works of 1st Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa. gSung ʼbum dus gsum mkhyen pa. Dzongsar Khyentse Labrang, 1980. Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC), purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW23651.