Tibetan Tripitaka, a massive collection of 232 volumes of classic Buddhist scripture, has been published in Tibetan characters after more than 20 years of collation by experts.

With the aim to protect and promote the ancient culture, the project launched in 1986 with a government investment of 41 million yuan (US$6 million), Zhou Hua, head of the Chinese Tibetology Press, the publisher, said on Thursday.

He said Tibetan Tripitaka was universally recognized as an encyclopedic scripture and composed of two parts -- Gangyur and Dangyur.

Gangyur referred to a collection of teachings of Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, and recorded by his disciples after his death. It was translated into the Tibetan language from Sanskrit language of ancient India, starting from the 7th century.

Dangyur is a collection of annotations and papers on Gangyur by Indian and Tibetan Buddhist masters, scholars and translators. It covers philosophy, logic, literature, linguistics, arts, astronomy, medicine, architecture and the calendar calculation.

Zhou expected the scripture's publishing to help further promote the protection and academic research of Tibetan Buddhism and culture.

A digital version of the Tripitaka is also in preparation, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency October 17, 2008)