Within the Nyingma tradition, the scriptural basis is understood as a layered mandala of texts, rather than a single book or canon. At the broadest level, Nyingma relies on the same Tibetan Buddhist canon as the other schools: the Kangyur, containing the translated words of the Buddha in sutra and tantra form, and the Tengyur, containing the Indian treatises and commentaries. Within this shared foundation, certain tantras, especially the Guhyagarbha Tantra, are regarded as particularly central for Nyingma’s Mahayoga perspective. These common scriptures provide the doctrinal and philosophical ground upon which the more specifically Nyingma materials are arranged.

What most distinctly marks the tradition is the Nyingma Gyübum, the collected Nyingma tantras. This collection preserves the “old tantras,” arranged in relation to the Nyingma presentation of the vehicles, including Mahayoga, Anuyoga, and Atiyoga or Dzogchen. Within this sphere, cycles such as the Guhyagarbha Tantra and other Mahayoga and Anuyoga tantras, as well as Dzogchen tantras like the Kun-byed rgyal-po, articulate the visionary and ritual universe of the school. These are complemented by the Kama, the long oral transmission lineage, which was later written down but is remembered as a living stream of instruction descending from Padmasambhava and early masters.

Equally characteristic is the vast body of terma, or “treasure” literature, understood as teachings concealed by enlightened masters and revealed later by tertöns. Among these, the Bardo Thödol, often known as the “Tibetan Book of the Dead,” stands out as a widely recognized example, and the Longchen Nyingthig cycle revealed by Jigme Lingpa has become a central Dzogchen corpus for many practitioners. Other great treasure cycles, such as those gathered in collections like the Rinchen Terdzö and the Dudjom Tersar, provide ritual, meditative, and doctrinal frameworks that continually renew the tradition from within. In this way, scripture is not only inherited but also periodically rediscovered.

Finally, Nyingma is shaped in a profound way by the works of its great scholar-yogins, who systematized and interpreted these scriptural currents. Longchen Rabjam’s Seven Treasuries and his other Dzogchen writings, together with the commentarial and philosophical works of Mipham Rinpoche and earlier masters such as Rongzom Chökyi Zangpo, serve as keys to unlock the meaning of the tantras and termas. These compositions do not replace the canonical texts but illuminate them, clarifying view, meditation, and conduct. Taken together—the shared Buddhist canon, the Nyingma Gyübum, the Kama and terma transmissions, and the great scholastic syntheses—form a living scriptural landscape in which revelation, commentary, and practice are inseparably intertwined.