Source: Albion M. Butters: Illuminating the Goal: rDzogs chen and Doxography in 14th-century Tibet. Finnish Oriental Society: 2018, p. 221–23. [Internet archive]
8th Century
པདྨཱ་ཀ་ར། རྙིང་མ། མན་ངག་ལྟ་བའི་ཕྲེང་བ།
[Padmasambhava (Nyingma): Garland of Views: An Instruction]
Core teaching of the great master Padmasambhava. The book provides a guide to the nine spiritual vehicles (Yānas) that culminate in the Dzogpa Chenpo, the great perfection. Both Buddhist and non-Buddhist views are discussed.
English translation:
1988: Karmay, Samten G: The Great Perfection. Leiden: Brill 1988.
རྣམ་པར་སྣང་མཛད། རྙིང་མ། ཐེག་པ་གཅོད་པའི་ཁོར་ལོ།
[Vairocana (Nyingma): Vehicle for Severing Cyclic Existence]
9th Century
དཔལ་བརྩེགས། རྙིང་མ། ལྟ་བའི་རིམ་པ་བཤད་པ།
[Kawa Paltsek and Chok-Ro Lui Gyaltsen: Explanation of the Stages of the View]
[Rongzom Chokyi Zangpo (Nyingma): Miscellaneous Writings [three texts]: "Different Philosophical Systems' Methods of Positing the Two Truths;" "A Collected List and Summary of the Similarities and Differences of the Philosophical Systems of Sutra and Mantra;" and "Major Features of the Vehicles of Cause and Fruition"]
[Rongzom Chokyi Zangpo (Nyingma): Entering the Way of the Great Vehicle]
ཤེས་རབ་འོད། གྲུབ་མཐའ་སོ་སོའི་བཞེད་གཞུང་ཆོས་འབྱུང།
[Sherap Ö: Views and Expositions of Different Philosophical Systems: A Religious History]
12th Century
ཉི་མ་འོད། བཀའ་བརྒྱུད། ལྟ་བའི་རིམ་པ།
[Nyima Ö (Kagyu): Stages of the View]
14th Century
ཀློང་ཆེན་པ། རྙིང་མ། གྲུབ་མཐའ་མཛོད།
[Longchenpa (Nyingma): Treasury of Philosophical Systems]
Longchenpa analyses Tibetan Buddhism according to interpretations of the Sarma and Nyingma schools. Philosophical teachings of Hinayana, Mahayana, Vajrayana and Dzogchen are discussed and numerous perspectives on the multi-faceted nature of the Buddhist tradition in both India and Tibet are presented.
English translation:
2007: Richard Barron: The Precious Treasury of Philosophical Systems: A Treatise Elucidating the Meaning of the Entire Range of Spiritual Approaches. Padma Publishing 2007.
[Tsongkhapa (Geluk): Vividly Clear: An Extensive Explanation of [Chandrakirti's] Entering the Middle Way]
Commentary by Tsongkhapa on Madhyamakavatara, a transcript of oral philosophies on the different manifestations of mind in Tibetan Buddhism.
English translation:
1994: Klein, Anne C. & Jeffrey hopKins (trans.): Path to the Middle: Oral Mādhyamika Philosophy in Tibet: The Spoken Scholarship of Kensur Yeshey Tupden Commenting on Tsong-Kha-Pa’s. 1994.
ཙོང་ཁ་པ། དགེ་ལུགས། ལེགས་ཤད་སྙིང་པོ།
[Tsongkhapa (Geluk): Essence of True Eloquence]
Study of the great schools of Mahayana Buddism and explanation of the dialectical interpretations of the Madhyamaka, the middle way between affirmation and negation.
English translation:
1984: Thurman, Robert A.F.: Tsong Khapa’s Speech of Gold in the Essence of True Eloquence: Reason and Enlightenment in the Central Philosophy of Tibet. (Princeton Library of Asian Translations) Princeton: PUP 1984.
[Serdog Panchen Sakya Chokden (Sakya): The Great Ship of Intellect for Entering the Ocean of Definitive Meaning: A Treatise on the Distinctions of Svatantrika and Prasaṅgika Madyamika]
Explanation and differentiation of the 'Svatantrika' and 'Prasaṅgika' schools. The distinction between Svatantrika and Prasaṅgika is a doctrinal distinction made within Tibetan Buddhism between two viewpoints regarding the use of logic and the meaning of conventional truth within the exposition of the Madhyamaka.
English translation:
2000: Komarovski, Yaroslav (trans.): Three Texts on Madhyamaka by Shakya Chokden. Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives 2000.
[Panchen Sonam Drakpa (Geluk): Delightful Good Fortune: A General Presentation of the Classes of Tantra]
Overview of Buddhist Tantra in Tibet, on the one hand on the general teachings and on the other hand on the secret teachings of Tantra. The teachings of the Buddha and the stages of the tantric path are analysed and explained.
English translation:
1996: Boord, Martin J. & Losang Norbu tsonAwA (Übers.): Panchen bSod nams grags pa. Overview of Buddhist Tantra: General Presentation of the Classes of Tantra, Captivating the Minds of the Fortunate Ones = rGyud sde spyi’i rnam par bzhags pa skal bzang gi yid ’phrog ces bye ba bzhugs so. Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives 1996.
17th Century
ཇམ་ཡངས་བཞད་པ། དགེ་ལུགས། གྲུབ་མཐའ་རྣམ་བཤད་ཆེན་མོ།
[Jamyang Zhepa (Geluk): Great Explanation of Philosophical Systems]
Explanation of the Buddhist Prasangika-Madhyamaka school and the Middle Way. Topics such as the existence or non-existence of the external world in which karma operates are explained.
English translation: Cozort, Daniel 1998. Unique Tenets of the Middle Way Consequence School. Snow Lion.
[Tukwan Chokyi Nyima (Geluk): The Crystal Mirror of Philosophical Systems]
Comprehensive account of religious philosophies of pre-modern Tibet. The main schools of India are covered, as well as the whole range of Tibetan traditions discussed. This includes individual descriptions of the Nyingma, Kadam, Kagyu, Shijé, Sakya, Jonang, Geluk and Bon schools. In addition, individual Chinese traditions such as Confucianism and Daoism are presented.
English translation:
2009: Sopa, Geshé Lhundub (trans.) The Crystal Mirror of Philosophical Systems: A Tibetan Study of Asian Religious Thought. By Thuken Losang Chökyi Nyima (thu'u bkwan blo bzang chos kyi nyi ma). Hrsg. v. Roger R. Jackson. Library of Tibetan Classics 25. Boston: Wisdom Publications 2009.
[Changkya Rölpé Dorjé (Geluk): Beautiful Ornament of the Mountain of the Buddha's Teachings: A Clear Explanation of the Presentation of Philosophical Systems]
Analysis and explanation of the Prasangika-Madhyamaka school as a representation of the true mind of Buddha.
English translation:
1998: Cozort, Daniel: Ngag dbang dpal ldan, ’Jam yangs bzhad pa, and lCang skya rol ba’i rdo rje. Unique Tenets of the Middle Way Consequence School. Ithaca: Snow Lion 1998.
[Lobsang Konchok (Geluk): The Mirror: A Root Text on Philosophical Systems]
Commentary by Lobsang Konchok on Jamyang Shayba's root text on philosophical systems. The commentary represents the importance of many centuries of Indian and Tibetan scholarship in broadening the view of Buddhist thought.
English translation:
2003: Cozort, Daniel & Craig Preston (trans.): Ngag dbang dpal ldan and ’Jam yangs bzhad pa. Buddhist Philosophy: Losang Gönchok’s Short Commentary to Jamyang Shayba’s Root Text on Tenets. Ithaca: Snow Lion 2003.
