The Tshangs-lha language is spoken in the areas of Pemako, East Butan and Mon Tawang. It belongs to the Tibeto-Burmese language group within the larger Sino-Tibetan language family. It being an entirely oral language, there are no works written in Tshangs-lha, and this is indeed the first dictionary of the Tshangs-lha language to be published worldwide.

Aside from its inherent value, the study of the Tshangs-lha language will be of great interest to those working in the field of Tibetan Studies, as it preserves many words of archaic Tibetan and reflects a closer relationship to Tibetan orthography than does modern Tibetan.

This is a landmark contribution to the documentation of the Tibeto-Burmese languages.

Note: This book is in Tibetan/Tsanglha.

Tshanglha Dictionary, Lopon P. Ogyan Tanzin, Ogyan Chokhor-Ling Foundation, Paperback plus MP-3 CD, 714 pages, $30.00

Lopon P. Ogyan Tanzin Rinpoche is a senior lama and scholar of the Nyingma Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. A disciple of the late Dudjom Rinpoche, he is based principally in Sarnath, where he was lecturer at the CIHTS for fifteen years. He was also a visiting lecturer at Kelaniya University (Colombo) and has been an academic consultant for the University of Cardiff and for Oxford University.

His academic qualifications include: Sastri Pariksa (B.A.) from Sampurnananda Sanskrit University, Varanasi (1975); M.A. First Class in Tibetan Nyingma Philosophy (Special M.A.) from the International Indo-Tibetan Nyingmapa Buddhist Cultural Preservation Society, Kalimpong (1979).

Rinpoche is the spiritual inspiration behind Ogyan Chokhor Lina, a foundation for the preservation and dissemination of the Dudjom Tersar Lineage, and the Founder and Chief Editor of Khye'u-chung Lotsapa Translations, which seeks to make available high quality editions and translations of Tibetan texts of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. Under Rinpoche's direction, Khye'u-chung Lotsapa Translations has produced The Gladdening Laughter of the Dakini, a translation of rituals related to the deity Simhamukha. Their present book (with Dylan Esler as translator), The Bountiful Cow of Accomplishments by Dudjom Rinpoche, is related the the completion phase tantric practices and is currently in press.