There are several dictionaries and glossaries on this page.  The first five dictionaries are available through purchase.  The remainder are free for download. Each dictionary or glossary needs software called TibetD Reader in order to read it.  We have a TibetD Reader for each of the Windows, Mac OSX, and iOS operating systems,and also offer an internet-based dictionary which can be used with any operating system that gives access to the internet.  Availability is as follows:
  • Windows: all dictionaries and glossaries on this page can be read with the Windows TibetD Reader.  The Windows TibetD Reader is included with all of them.
  • Macintosh OSX: the five main dictionaries on this page are accessible with the Mac OSX TibetD Reader; • read more here.
  • Apple iOS: the first five dictionaries on this page are accessible with the iOS TibetD Reader; • read more here.
  • Internet Online: our premiere Tibetan-English Illuminator Dictionary on this page is also available in an internet online version; • read more here.  Note that this version of the Illuminator Dictionary has the advantage that it will run on any device with an internet browser.
  • Note that all products on this page can be accessed on Mac OSX and also under Linux by using the Windows TibetD Reader.  To do that, a Windows' emulator is installed (for example, for Mac OSX either Parallels or VMWare) and then the Windows TibetD Reader is run in that Windows emulation.  We have done this ourselves and it works very well.
  • The Windows-specific version of TibetD Reader has many features that the other versions do not have.  For example, it has features needed to start and use a digital reference library.  Details of setting up a digital library • can be found here.  The Windows-specific Reader also has the ability to read any of the free texts and reference works on this site, which the other versions cannot do.  We hope to include these extra features in the TibetD Readers for Mac OSX and iOS in the near future.
The dictionaries for purchase are bought using the purchase buttons below and delivered by immediate download.  When you press a purchase button it adds the item to a shopping basket and displays the basket.  If you need more than one item, return to this page or any other page on the site and use another button to add another product to the shopping basket.  To return to the shopping cart to make a purchase use a go to shopping basket button and make the purchase.  Current prices will be shown in the shopping basket and also • on the sales page.  If you need further assistance, please use the contact link on the menu to contact us.

The Illuminator Dictionary running under the Windows TibetD Reader
Windows TibetD Reader with Illuminator Dictionary


Academic and Non-academic Needs Equally Supported
Our products are highly thought of both by both academics and buddhist practitioners and we go out of our way to provide for both worlds.  The person behind all of the products and the author of the Illuminator dictionary is Lama Tony Duff, who has a full post-graduate academic training and has also been a Buddhist monk, translator, scholar, and practitioner during a span of nearly forty years.  Tony specifically tries to work with both worlds without favouring either.  For this reason we keep the needs of academics in mind and do have special programs for them.  If you are an academic with students, please know that we are here to assist you.  For example, Prof. Jose Cabezon at the University of California recently arranged a licence with us where the university library gained full access to the products listed below and where EACH student in his Tibetan studies program for the unlimited future will receive their own, personal copy of the dictionaries to keep.  If you would like to have your students using our products like this or in some other way as an adjunct for your teaching, we would be happy to discuss the matter further with you.  Tony travels and gives lectures and demonstrations on the software and on Tibetan grammar, which is one of his specialties.  He recently gave demonstrations at Bonn, University of Virginia, and other universities.

Dictionaries and Glossaries Available

Full Descriptions of Dictionaries and Glossaries Available

The Illuminator Tibetan-English Dictionary

  • Windows version
  • Macintosh OSX version
  • iOS: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad version
  • Internet, online version










Update options: Update version information is available • here.

The Illuminator Dictionary is a work in progress.  A major update to the dictionary is published at yearly intervals.  For Windows and Mac OSX, after the first purchase of the Illuminator has been made, it is possible to purchase a single update at any time.

The iOS dictionaries are sold via the iTunes store.  Because of that there is no special update program for these products.  Each year a new Illuminator Dictionary is made available in the iTunes store.

The online internet version of the Illuminator is always up to date.

When the Windows, Mac OSX, and iOS dictionaries are purchased, they are delivered as software that is obtained immediately by download.  When the • online version of the Illuminator is purchased, no software has to be downloaded.  Instead we activate your subscription and advise you of that.  As mentioned above, this dictionary will run on any device that can browse the internet and has been specially formatted so that it works well on today's smartphones.

About the Dictionary Itself:
The Illuminator was the first modern Tibetan-English dictionary produced in electronic format.  It is not like the other electronic dictionaries available which are a conglomeration of materials garnered from pre-existing translations and other sources.  Rather, it has been created entry by entry by a scholar of many years experience who lives and works in daily contact with Tibetan scholars and translates for the great teachers of the Tibetan Buddhist world.  Each entry is produced by individually translating and explaining the terms involved.

The above is fully supported in third-party reviews by academics.  These reviews have been scathing in their reports of the problems and mistakes found in dictionaries such as The Rangjung Yeshe Dictionary, a dictionary that seems to maintain its popularity simply on the basis of the author's charisma and the (highly exaggerated) claims of large size.  On the other hand, the reviews have been very complimentary towards the Illuminator Dictionary, citing absence of mistakes, excellence of presentation, and the exceptional and forward-looking quality of the work contained in the Illuminator Dictionary.  One such review is by Prof. Jan Sobisch.  Academics are not the only ones to point out the difference.  Serious translators know the difference and do make the same point.  You can read • a variety of unsolicited reviews here but the following quote by a translator/practitioner in North America says it all,
"Lama Tsondru la describes how the terms should really be and then tells me to look them up in your dictionary and they always correspond.  This just doesn't happen with other dictionaries…" Chris Vicevich.


The dictionary can be searched either by Tibetan text or the transliterated form, whichever is easiest for the user.  Once an entry is found, there will be a clear definition in good English.  Long commentaries are often given.  These commentaries come from the author's wealth of knowledge, given his extensive study and practice with Gelug, Kagyu, and Nyingma traditions over more than thirty years.  Moreover, chunks of relevant Tibetan text are often included, together with their translations.  For example, there is a translation of the history of the Chod lineage translated from a Drigung empowerment text, and a complete translation of the section on interdependent origination from Tsongkhapa's Great Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, many excerpts from grammar texts and their translations, and so on.

The dictionary is more than just an encyclopaedic reference.  Its arrangement is deliberately made to aid people who are trying to learn the language.  For example, many words in the definitions are given in Tibetan immediately followed by the translation of the Tibetan.  On the one hand, the reader does not need to look up the Tibetan because the translation is there.  On the other, the exact Tibetan term is definitively known.  And to make it even more effective as a research and/or learning tool, most of these Tibetan terms are hyper-linked to their definition so that, if more information is needed, it can be immediately looked up.  There are, of course, extensive go to and return capabilities in the software so that a definition of a word can be viewed on the fly then an immediate return to where the reader left off can be made.

The definitions have a well-defined layout that is consistently applied.  Terms are divided into parts of speech, such as nouns, verbs, and so on.  The level to which this has been done is unique and gives a guide to the language not available elsewhere.  Furthermore, the various levels of meaning for any given part of speech are clearly separated.  The meanings are usually given in order of most common usage to least common usage.

The dictionary is the first serious attempt to settle translation terminology.  It does this not by proclaiming that every English translation is correct, though in many cases it does show that previously used translation equivalents are incorrect or at least suspect.  It does this by giving the full range of meaning contained in the Tibetan term and then assessing which English words match that.  In doing so, it often shows various translation equivalents that have been used in the past and shows why some are correct, some incorrect, and some partially correct.  These commentaries are given not to try to support the author's contention that his translation is correct per se but to highlight the meaning of the term under consideration and to show, using careful dissection, which English words match with that meaning, partially match it and how, or do not match with it.  In this way, the dictionary is the first serious attempt to produce a set of translation equivalents that can be reliably used for the future.  In many cases this cannot be done because there is no English term that covers the entire range of meaning of the Tibetan term.  In that case, the dictionary says so and, with some key terms, even suggests new words that could be created using the roots of the language.

Here are some specific features of the dictionary:
The dictionary is very large and encyclopaedic in content.  It is now in its fifth edition and is larger than any other Tibetan-English Dictionary available.  (Some very exaggerated false claims about size are made by other providers of dictionaries.  We do not need to exaggerate; our product speaks for itself as third party reviews show.)
The dictionary is constantly being developed even further.  There is a program of updates to the dictionary, too.  Updates are always significant and have been popular.  Registered users can purchase a one-time update at any time hrough our electronic shop.  We receive continual praise for the updates, the value obtained in them, and the ease of obtaining and installing them.
All entries are listed in both in Tibetan and Tibetan transliterated into English so searches can be done in either style.
It has the added feature of full hyper-linking for much greater access to the content of the dictionary.
All other lexica available from us can be used in tandem with this dictionary, using the features of the TibetD Reader software that drives the dictionary.  For example, if you have the Illuminator and another of our dictionaries, you can click on a Tibetan word anywhere in the Illuminator and look it up immediately in the other dictionary.  You can keep the lookup window open as you read the Illuminator and click on other words for instantaneous lookups.  You can even use this feature to do translations on the fly.
Verbs are not done haphazardly but using the Great Tibetan-Chinese Dictionary.  The entire verb listing from that has been included, so the dictionary is a completely reliable reference for verb tenses.  Not only that, but all of the examples of the Great Tibetan Chinese Dictionary have also been included and translated, making this an unsurpassed resource for verbs.  There is also an essay on verbs in the prefatory section which will help to clarify this very difficult issue.
The entire House of Cloves (Lishi gur khang), edited and translated by Tony Duff has been included giving access to a large listing of old terms and their meanings/new equivalents.  The original text is exceptionally difficult to follow; even well-educated Tibetans find it almost impossible to read.  Tony spent six months digesting and translating the original then made a new arrangement of the original information in the text within the dictionary.  This arrangement contains expanded definitions that explicitly show the implicit information in the original, much of which is almost impossible to get from the original.  Coupled with translations and hypertexting these expanded definitions make the dictionary form of the original accessible for the first time and significantly more useful than the original.
The entire Dharmasamgraha an Indian enumeration of dharmas by the great master Nagarjuna, has been included and cross-referenced.  The new arrangement of the information in the text within the dictionary, coupled with translations and hypertexting makes the dictionary form of it significantly more useful than the original.
The entire A festival for Intelligent Minds: An Enumeration of Dharmas Taken From Many Sutras, Tantras, and Shastras has been included and cross-reference.  This excellent Enumeration of Dharmas style text by the great Gelugpa lama Konchog Jigmey Wangpo contains five hundred sets of multiple definitions of Buddhist related topics.  The various entries have all been provided in Tibetan and English with complete hyper-linking.  The new arrangement of the information in the text within the dictionary, coupled with translations and hypertexting makes the dictionary form of it significantly more useful than the original.
There are many entries on grammar with much information provided.  Many entries have selections from native Tibetan grammar texts with translations.  Many entries are derived from Situ Rinpoche's Great Commentary on grammar.  All of the grammatical information is provided according to the Tibetan way of thinking about their own grammar, not according to the frequently mistaken or skewed understandings of it that have developed in the West.  All of this information is provided using a terminology that was developed by Tony during his creation of a standard reference text on Tibetan grammar based on and including translations of several original Tibetan texts.  (The reference is to be published on paper, shortly and most likely in an electronic edition available through this web-site.)
A wide range of terms concerning secret mantrayana ritual have been incorporated with commentary (where appropriate).  This selection is wide-ranging, incorporating many quotations and even text with translation provided.  There is a wealth of material from both Nyingmapa and Kagyu perspectives.  It includes many terms not previously available in dictionaries and gives clear definitions with subtleties of meaning not found elsewhere.  Many terms from the Mahamudra and Dzogchen traditions are included.
There are many examples given.  The examples include sections of Tibetan text and their translations from a wide variety of Tibetan texts.
Wherever possible the Sanskrit of terms has been included.  The equivalents given are drawn from a range of sources.  This is not intended to be exact in every case but to give a guide, at least to the originals.

As with all of the other dictionaries listed on this page, support for this dictionary has been built into the TibetD Reader and TibetDoc software so that the dictionary can be easily used in conjunction with work done in them.



Sarat Chandra Das's Tibetan-English Dictionary Sarat Chandra Das's Tibetan-English Dictionary; A New, Corrected Edition

  • Windows version
  • Macintosh OSX version
  • iOS: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad version








Our electronic edition of Sarat Chandra Das's Tibetan-English dictionary is a completely new edition of the dictionary.  It is the original but with the English carefully edited to clean it up and make it suitable for use in electronic form.  The editorial work was done according to academic standards.  All changes have been noted and comments made as needed.  For example, there are terms whose spellings are clearly mistaken; the definition given belongs to a different spelling.  These have all been left but a full notation given as to what we think the definition should refer to.

The electronic version gives access to a large body of information that has always been in the dictionary but which frequently could not be accessed because the information was provided in places where the reader might not think to look.  Many people think that the dictionary is out of date or of no value but that is quite incorrect.  There is a wealth of information in the original not usually found merely by looking at the paper edition but which becomes readily available in the electronic edition.

The dictionary is outdated when it comes to buddhist terminology and there are many mistakes in terms of verb spellings and so on.  The Illuminator Dictionary has supplanted Sarat Chandra Das's dictionary in many ways and should be used as a base dictionary.  However, Sarat Chandra Das's dictionary does provide large amounts of information concerning botanics, medicine, ancient Indian history, and so on that do not appear in any other resource.  We find it essential as a second dictionary resource.

As with all of the other dictionaries listed on this page, support for this dictionary has been built into the TibetD Reader and TibetDoc software so that the dictionary can be easily used in conjunction with work done in them.



Geshe Chodrak's Tibetan-Tibetan Dictionary Geshe Chodrak's Tibetan-Tibetan Dictionary

  • Windows version
  • Macintosh OSX version
  • iOS: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad version








There have not been many native Tibetan dictionaries.  The few that were made in earlier times were almost unusable because they were written in a style that did not allow for easy look-up of terms.  In the 20th century, three dictionaries were made that were, for the first time, usable as dictionaries.  The first was made in Lhasa in the 1940's prior to the Communist takeover.  It was the dictionary presented here, made by Geshe Chodrak with the assistance of the remarkably erudite and modern scholar, Gendun Chophel.  The two other major dictionaries were made in the 1970's and 1980's after the Communist takeover; they are the dag yig gsar sgrigs New Style of Compilation Pure Letters and the bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo The Great Chinese-Tibetan Dictionary. All three dictionaries are useful.  However, the two later dictionaries have both been considerably influenced by Chinese thought and needs, often in a way detrimental to the contents of the dictionary.  Geshe Chodrak's dictionary on the other hand has was written in a purely Tibetan situation without another culture overseeing the work and insisting on changes that suited its own needs.

Geshe Chodrak's dictionary is not as useful as the other two dictionaries when it comes to verbs.  The other two dictionaries just mentioned lay out all of the tense forms for each verb and do a much better job of it.  The best reference for Tibetan verbs these days is not a Tibetan-Tibetan dictionary but the Illuminator Tibetan-English Dictionary which makes a special point of presenting all Tibetan verbs in the most complete and correct way possible.

On the other hand, Geshe Chodrak's dictionary does feature short but precise definitions and does include obscure terms not found elsewhere, making it extremely useful to students of the language at all levels.  It will be particularly useful for students who are advanced enough to want to start using a Tibetan-Tibetan dictionary but who cannot penetrate the difficult and terse language of the Tshigdzo Chenmo Dictionary.

As with all of the other dictionaries listed on this page, support for this dictionary has been built into the TibetD Reader and TibetDoc software so that the dictionary can be easily used in conjunction with work done in them.



The Decoding Golden Mirror, Tibetan-Tibetan Dictionary The Decoding Golden Mirror, a Tibetan-Tibetan Dictionary

  • Windows version
  • Macintosh OSX version
  • iOS: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad version








This dictionary containing about 5000 entries specializes in older terms that are often used in dharma texts but hard to find in normal dictionaries.  The dictionary is Tibetan-Tibetan so it is not for novices.  However, for those doing serious work it is a gem.  It gives quotes from various other dictionaries or texts to highlight the meaning of words.  Unlike the Tshigdzod Chenmo which usually has very pithy entries that can be hard to get an exact meaning from, this dictionary has much longer entries with very clear illustrations of the meaning.  Here is an example illustrating those features.  This is the text of the first entry:

ཀ་
1) འདོད་པའི་དོན་ལ་འཇུག་སྟེ། «དག་ཡིག་ལེགས་བཤད་ཚིག་གཏེར་»ལས། ཀ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་འདོད་པ་ཡིན། །ཞེས་བྱུང་། 2) རྩ་བ་དང་གདོད་མའི་དོན་ལ་འཇུག་སྟེ། «དག་ཡིག་ལེགས་བཤད་ཚིག་གཏེར་»ལས། ཀ་ནི་རྩ་བ་ཞེས་པར་གྲགས། །ཞེས་དང་། «ངག་སྒྲོན་གྱི་འགྲེལ་པ་»ལས། ཀ་ཞེས་པ་གདོད་མ་ནས་དང་། ཞེས་གསུངས། དཔེར་ན། «རྒྱལ་པོ་བཀའ་ཡི་ཐང་ཡིག་»ལས། དབྱེར་མེད་ལྷུན་རྫོགས་སྙིང་པོ་ཀ་ནས་དག །ཅེས་པ་ལྟ་བུའོ།།

Here is what it says.  1) Ka is used to mean (don la 'jug pa) "desire"; it says in the Correct Lettering Well Explained Dictionary "'ka' is for desire"…

We strongly recommend this dictionary as a basic tool for any serious translation work.  See the comments in the description of the next dictionary, the Tshigdzo Chenmo, about its usefulness in relation to other Tibetan-Tibetan dictionaries.

As with all of the other dictionaries listed on this page, support for this dictionary has been built into the TibetD Reader and TibetDoc software so that the dictionary can be easily used in conjunction with work done in them.



Tshigdzo Chenmo Tibetan-Tibetan Dictionary Revised Edition of the Tshigdzo Chenmo Dictionary, Tibetan-Tibetan Edition

  • Windows version
  • Macintosh OSX version
  • iOS: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad version








This is a fully revised edition of The Great Tibetan-Chinese Dictionary (bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo).  The basis for the revised edition is the very first edition of the dictionary, published on paper in the 1970's in China.  At the time when we started work on a revised edition that would be more suited to the needs of non-Tibetans, the Asian Classics Input Project had already made a digital version of the original.  We thought it would save time to use their digital version as a basis for our revised edition, but we found that their version had chunks of pages of the original missing from it and innumerable mistakes, ommissions, and additions.  The work was unbelievably shoddy, despite their claims to the contrary.  Having done the necessary research, we would like to issue a clear warning: at the time of writing (2011) the ACIP edition has been used as the basis for several, free digital versions.  These versions all are missing significant portions of the original and are plagued with the same innumerable mistakes and so on just mentioned.  Using them is not a good idea at all.  It happens too often in the Tibetan Buddhist world that being for free, as ACIP's edition is, over-rides all considerations of quality and accuracy, with the result that poor quality materials flourish these days when they should instead disappear!

On seeing the problems with ACIP's version, we decided to start from the beginning and do the work perfectly.  We input the entire text and then corrected it in the Drukpa Kagyu Heritage Project offices where there was an abundance of good typists and scholars.  We then edited the text to make the improved, revised version that we intended to produce.  The input and basic correction work took two full years and the editorial work took another year.  Every single word in the original was checked twice.  We found the original to be very clean, so we changed no definitions.  However, we found that a number of Tibetan words were mis-spelled and, especially, that nearly all of the transliterated Sanskrit was mis-spelled.  We corrected all of that, which resulted in a substantially improved version of the dictionary (a partial list of those changes is included in a record at the beginning of our new version of the dictionary).

Then we made a major change to the dictionary; the original comes with definitions in both Tibetan and Chinese but we wanted a version with Tibetan only.  Therefore, we carefully removed the Chinese text.  This had to be done carefully because the Chinese definitions in the original function both as definitions and as dividers which signal the ends of multiple definitions within one item.  Therefore, we did not simply delete the Chinese text but replaced it with a mark that would distinguish between multiple definitions.  The result was an entirely new version of the dictionary, with substantial improvements to the text and the feature which many Westerners had requested of being Tibetan-Tibetan only.

The dictionary has just over 55,000 definitions in it, making it the most comprehensive Tibetan-Tibetan dictionary available.  (Eric Schmidt's Rangjung Yeshe dictionary is advertised with 80,000 and even 120,000 entries but that is seriously mis-leading; the truth is that there are only 30,000+ non-duplicated, valid entries in it.  The Illuminator Dictionary, which has no invalid or duplicated entries has at writing 29,000 entries.  Sarat Chandra Das has 22,000.  Thus, you can see that the Tshigdzo Chenmo as it is usually called has a very high number of entries.)

The dictionary has the failing that it is not easy to read.  Definitions tend to be very short and terse so, unless you are already well-versed in Tibetan language, it is easy to go astray based on what is said.  There is also the problem for non-Tibetans that it really is written according to Tibetan mind, so again, unless one is very well versed in Tibetan ways of thinking and speaking, it is very easy to use this dictionary and go wrong.  That is not a criticism of the dictionary.  To the contrary, it is an assessment for potential Western users of the dictionary of the value of the dictionary.  In short, this is not a dictionary for beginners; it is a real Tibetan-Tibetan dictionary made for Tibetans which demands a good knowledge of the language to be of use.  Of course, for non-Tibetans who know how to read a Tibetan dictionary and who have a reasonable grasp of the language, our modified version of the dictionary with Tibetan-Tibetan only is a very valuable resource.

As with all of the other dictionaries listed on this page, support for this dictionary has been built into the TibetD Reader and TibetDoc software so that the dictionary can be easily used in conjunction with work done in them.



Mahavyutpatti Sanskrit-Tibetan-English Glossary The Mahavyutpatti Sanskrit-Tibetan-English Glossary

The Mahavyutpatti is a Tibetan text that was prepared in the 9th century C.E. at the command of Tibetan king Tri Ralpachen.  The translations of Buddhist texts that had been made up to that time were inconsistent because Tibetan terminology for the terms in the original Sanskrit texts was not settled.  Thus the king decreed that his principal translators should make a glossary of Sanskrit terms and Tibetan equivalents first then should use it to revise all of the Tibetan translations of buddhist texts done up till that time.  The translators did so, and the new glossary contained an extensive listing of Sanskrit terms followed by Tibetan terms which were set down by royal decree as the official Tibetan equivalents (skad dod) of the Sanskrit ones.  The glossary became a basis for making not only the revised translations of the time but all of the the translations that happened over the next several centuries.  Thus it effectively settled much of Tibetan buddhist terminology for the future.

The name Mahavyutpatti is the short translation back into Sanskrit by its authors, of the Tibetan name given to it: lo paN mang pos mdzad pa&rsquoi bye brag rtogs byed chen mo.  The name translates into The Great Work Made by Many Lotsawas and Pandits that Brings Comprehension of Particulars.

The Mahavyutpatti was first translated into English by the European man Alexander Csoma de Körös and the first part published in Calcutta 1834 by the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal.  The Society published a second portion in 1910 and the third and final portion in 1944.  We have used these as a basis for a fully searchable, electronic edition of the entire work that contains English, Tibetan, and Sanskrit equivalents.  The electronic edition should be of immense value to those studying and translating the Tibetan language.

This edition is made even more useful by the fact that the TibetD Reader software allows it to be used in conjunction with the other dictionaries listed above.  Körös' English translations are often remarkably good, though they are mistaken in some cases.  If you have one of our other dictionaries, and the Illuminator is recommended for the purpose, you can click on a term in the Mahavyutpatti and immediately see an up to date translation of the term with a full commmentary and links to related subjects included.  For this reason, we recommend the Mahavyutpatti not for use alone but for use with our other dictionaries.



Dictionary of Tibetan People Dictionary of Learned and Accomplished People who Appeared in Tibet.
By modern Tibetan authors; a Western style book presented as a searchable database, 2200 pages and 2250 entries
An extensive dictionary of important people of Tibet.  The dictionary contains entries for a little over 2250 people who appeared in Tibet over the last 1400 years.  It includes kings, their ministers, and, of course, a very large number of spiritual practitioners.  The dictionary lists the names in alphabetical order, with each name having a short to medium length biography attached.  The biographies include birth, death, and usually many other important dates for the person, and give quite a lot of information about each person's life.  In the case of spiritual practitioners, information about the teachings received and their teachers and then the disciples who studied with them is given.  In Tibetan culture, there are often multiple names for any given person and this dictionary often contains several names for any one person, making it a particularly valuable resource.  Furthermore, a wealth of names not listed as entries in the dictionary are included in the various biographies and these names can easily be found using the various special lookup features of the TibetD Reader software provided with the dictionary.  Where possible names have been hyperlinked for ease of use.  The dictionary is a Tibetan-Tibetan dictionary with an informative introduction in English by Tony Duff.  The dictionary works in conjunction with all of our electronic dictionaries and texts and can be made part of an electronic reference centre as described elsewhere on this site.  We strongly recommend this dictionary as a standard reference for all serious students of Tibetan culture, and especially people doing translation work.



Chronological Dictionary of Tibetan Luminaries Chronological Dictionary of Tibetan Luminaries

A research list from Ven. Matthieu Ricard which has been edited and compiled as a dictionary by Tony Duff.  The dictionary is available for free download.



Chronological Dictionary of Tibetan Luminaries House of Cloves, A Nice Explanation that Shows the Difference Between New and Old Terms of the Tibetan Language

This is a Tibetan text known to Tibetan scholars.  It consists of a long list of old terms and their new equivalents so will be of interest to those involved with language studies and translation.  Unfortunately, the listing is very terse and not always well arranged, with the result that it is particularly hard to decipher.  Therefore the entire listing of terms and associated information has been incorporated by us into the The Illuminator Tibetan-English Dictionary so that is the best way to see and understand the contents of the text.

Nonetheless, the text is particular rare and is being offered here to scholars who might find it useful.  In fact, the original which is in the possession of Lama Tony Duff is quite possibly the only copy extant.  There is another edition without Sanskrit equivalents included but this seems to be an abbreviated version of the very old edition in Lama Tony's possession.  This makes it even more interesting, of course.  We provide a TibetD file to make the contents as useful as possible but we also provide a PDF so that anyone could access it.  For a little more information on the text, see the entry on the free texts page.