The Great Living Tree Tibetan Grammars

This book contains two grammar texts by Yangchen Drubpay Dorje, an important Tibetan grammarian of the eighteenth century. They are beginners’ texts which explain the first of Thumi Sambhota’s treatises that define Tibetan grammar—The Thirty Verses and Application of Gender Signs (rtags kyi ’jug pa). Yangchen Drubpay Dorje’s texts were so well written that they rapidly became the standard texts used within Tibet for teaching and learning Tibetan grammar. The two grammar texts, called The Great Living Tree and Explanation of the Great Living Tree are, even now, used in all Tibetan schools both inside and outside Tibet as the textbooks for teaching grammar. These textbooks are the ideal starting place for anyone wanting to learn Tibetan grammar.

The author of the book, Lama Tony Duff, has had a long association with Tibetan grammar as taught by Tibetans. He first learned Tibetan grammar using the books available in English but later learned it in Tibetan from Tibetans in Tibetan contexts. He found a distinct difference between how Westerners and Tibetans present Tibetan grammar and, with that, found that the presentations given by Westerners have been lacking and even mistaken. For this reason, he undertook the major task of translating the most important Tibetan grammar texts and publishing them together with extensive notes and explanations so that Westerners, and especially those translating the Buddha-Word, could finally gain a correct understanding of Tibetan grammar. As a result, there are four books in this series in which key Tibetan grammar texts are individually presented. In a second series, there are two grand treatises which collectively explore all of the minutest details of Tibetan grammar, called the Standard Reference to Tibetan Grammar volumes I and II.

Lama Tony’s deep knowledge of Tibetan grammar as understood by Tibetans themselves has been a key factor in his production of many authentic translations of Tibetan Buddhist texts. Because of his extensive and highly regarded translation work, he has been invited to prestigious institutions to teach Tibetan grammar according to the Tibetan system and is constantly endeavouring to pass on his knowledge of translation to other translators.