Tibet Protects Ancient Buddhist Scriptures 

The Tibet Autonomous Region has worked out a plan to beef up the protection of rare Buddhist scriptures written on pattra leaves. 

A special group will also conduct a thorough survey of the collection of Sanskrit scriptures on pattra leaves in various Tibetan temples and train a team of experts specializing in Sanskrit research.

The region keeps approximately 1,000 hand-written copies of pattra-leaf scriptures introduced from India dating back to the seventh century.

In ancient India, Buddhists wrote scriptures in Sanskrit with stencil pens on pattra leaves because of the light and wear-resistant qualities of the leaves. Characters written on the leaves can be seen distinctly 1,000 years later.

Tibet has one of the world's largest and most complete collection of Buddhist scriptures written in Sanskrit on pattra leaves. 

(CRI April 19, 2004)