5 Reasons to Study Tibetan

Yogic Studies is proud to offer continued access to many of the great classical languages and traditions of Asia that have produced some of the most profound human wisdom in the world. Classical Tibetan is one of those languages—it is the literary language of the Himalayan Buddhist world—the vehicle for an enormous corpus of Vajrayāna literature: doctrinal treatises, tantric sādhanas, treatises on yoga, translations of Sanskrit texts, medical works, and the biographies of great masters.

Here are our top 5 reasons why you should study Tibetan today:

• This body of works, divided into Kangyur (Words of the Buddha) and Tengyur (Commentaries) contains, in some cases, the sole surviving translation of lost Buddhist scriptures which belonged to the Sanskrit source texts of Mahāyāna Buddhism.

• Studying Classical Tibetan language gives you the linguistic and conceptual tools to better understand the dharma. 
• Increase your vocabulary with with key terms, e.g. stong pa nyid (emptiness), byang chub sems (bodhicitta), rig pa (awareness). 

• Ever since the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1959, both Classical and Modern Tibetan language has been slowly forced out of the Tibetan educational systems.
• Despite great efforts by the Tibetan Government in Exile and other organizations, the Tibetan languages are facing great resistance.
• Studying Classical Tibetan is essential for preserving the wisdom of a civilization.

• The classical Tibetan literary tradition includes the massive canon of Indian Buddhism (Kangyur, Tengyur) with indigenous genres—scholastic treatises, ritual manuals, astronomy, medicine, royal and monastic histories, pilgrimage texts, and sacred biographies.

• Studying a classical language gives you more direct access to its culture—the arts, sciences, religion, as well as literary history.
• The study of Classical Tibetan will also give you a linguistic foundation if you’d like to further study spoken or Modern Tibetan. 

• TIBETAN 101 | Elementary Tibetan I, our beginner class taught by our highly respected teacher, Kunsang, begins the week of September 15, 2026. Attend live on Zoom, or watch the recordings and study at your own pace. 

We only open our 101 courses once a year, so don’t miss out!