The
Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of
Tibetan Buddhism (the other three being the
Kagyu,
Sakya and
Gelug). "Nyingma" literally means "ancient," and is often referred to as
Ngangyur (, , "school of the ancient translations" or "old school") because it is founded on the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from
Sanskrit into
Old Tibetan in the eighth century. The Tibetan alphabet and grammar was actually created for this endeavour.