chos kyi blo gros bka' 'bum
The Collected Works of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö Rime Tenpa'i Gyaltsen Palzangpo, in twelve volumes, was published in 2012 by the Khyentse Labrang in Bir. Like Khyentse Wangpo before him, Chökyi Lodrö's compositions illustrate a remarkable breadth of scholarship befitting the epithet of the "Majestic Victory Banner of the Nonsectarian Teachings". The collection affirms much of what we know about the master and his personality. His compositions are remarkably consistent and are characteristic of a cultivated and disciplined writer, well-versed in a variety of literary styles and genres. He clearly emulated his predecessor in his service to the ris med ideal and his commentarial works, which span all of the major Tibetan traditions, attest to this. Though it is also interesting to note that some of the largest sections of the collection are made up of devotional works, such as praises and supplications, as well as an extensive collection of vajra songs. Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö was known as a master of all traditions. He was highly adept in the theory and performance of tantric ritual and was a prolific liturgist, and thus the largest section of the collection is made up of a collection of sādhanas, rituals and other practice materials that fill three volumes. In addition to these, there is an entire volume devoted to guru yoga, an equally lengthy section on the completion stage, and most of another volume devoted to protector propitiations and activity practices, suggesting that he was as concerned with mitigating the challenges of mundane existence as he was with the most profound aspects of advanced spiritual practice. Furthermore, the collection includes biographies, historical works, royal genealogies, and pilgrimage guidebooks to the sacred sites of Tibet and India, as well as materials related to his role as the functionary of two major monastic institutions. The latter includes his official correspondences, various proclamations and monastic regulations he instituted during his tenures at Dzongsar and Katok, as well as meticulous records of events, such as an accounting of offerings received, and even a personal diary of his daily activities. The Chökyi Lodrö Kabum with its many facets is, therefore, sure to delight scholars and practitioners alike and is truly an astonishing document of the life and work of this master of masters- one of the last great luminaries of old Tibet and a crucial linchpin of the Tibetan tradition that we see today.
In terms of the overall structure of the collection, within the volumes the individual text entries are numbered and termed chos tshan, which are organized according to related groupings of texts presented sequentially in sections termed sde tshan. There are twenty such sde tshan in the Chökyi Lodrö Kabum, which in this context function as an outline for the entire collection. For more on the specifics of this structure, along with a full listing of the twenty sde tshan sections, go to the Structure and Outline of the Chökyi Lodrö Kabum.
