The Manuscript of the Vajracchedikā Found at Gilgit

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

No abstract given. Here are the first relevant paragraphs:

Since the Gilgit manuscript of the Vajracchedikā has already been edited twice, the reasons for another edition may not be altogether apparent. There are, however, several good reasons for a reedition. First of all, the manuscript of the Vajracchedikā—which contains in addition three other texts—is one of the most carefully written of the Gilgit finds. In the introduction to his edition Chakravarti, for example, notes with regard specifically to the text of the Vajracchedikā that the manuscript "is remarkably free from errors. . . . The few mistakes which occur are mainly orthographical or are due to oversight."[1] The Gilgit text of the Vajracchedikā is, in fact, a fine example of what a Prajñāpāramitā text in Sanskrit prose actually looked like in the sixth or seventh century, as opposed to how we—under the watchful eye of Pāṇini and the influence of the expectations derived from much later, mostly Nepalese, manuscript traditions—might think it should have looked. In consequence the manuscript has considerable significance for the history of the "style" of this literature, as well as for the history of the language as it was actually written. This is especially so in regard to syntax and the use of sadhi and sandhi forms.
But, if all of this is true, then it is of some importance to have as accurate an edition of the manuscript as is possible, and this brings us to a second good reason for making another edition of the text: both of the previous editions are full of mistakes and distortions. Since all of these will be signaled in my notes, there is no reason to cite them here and we might simply note the broad types of errors that occur in the editions. (Schopen, introductory note, 95)

Citation

Schopen, Gregory, ed. and trans. "The Manuscript of the Vajracchedikā Found at Gilgit: An Annotated Transcription and Translation." In Studies in the Literature of the Great Vehicle: Three Mahāyāna Buddhist Texts, edited by Luis O. Gómez and Jonathan A. Silk, 89–139. Ann Arbor, MI: Collegiate Institute for the Study of Buddhist Literature and Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, The University of Michigan, 1989.

Texts Translated

Schopen, Gregory. "The Manuscript of the Vajracchedikā Found at Gilgit: An Annotated Transcription and Translation." In Studies in the Literature of the Great Vehicle: Three Mahāyāna Buddhist Texts, edited by Luis O. Gómez and Jonathan A. Silk, 89–139. Ann Arbor, MI: Collegiate Institute for the Study of Buddhist Literature and Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, The University of Michigan, 1989.

Recension of

Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra

One of the most revered and recited scriptures of the perfection of wisdom genre (prajñāpāramitāsūtras), perhaps second only to the Heart Sūtra, both of which became especially popular in the East Asian Buddhist traditions. It is a crucial source for Mahāyāna tenets of selflessness and the emptiness of phenomena, and its discourse is framed as an explanation of how to enter into the vehicle of the bodhisattvas by developing and sustaining their enlightened perspective.

Text

Translation of

Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra

One of the most revered and recited scriptures of the perfection of wisdom genre (prajñāpāramitāsūtras), perhaps second only to the Heart Sūtra, both of which became especially popular in the East Asian Buddhist traditions. It is a crucial source for Mahāyāna tenets of selflessness and the emptiness of phenomena, and its discourse is framed as an explanation of how to enter into the vehicle of the bodhisattvas by developing and sustaining their enlightened perspective.

Text

Chapter or part of

Studies in the Literature of the Great Vehicle

Contains English translations of the first four chapters of the Samādhirājasūtra, the so-called Diamond Sūtra (Vajracchedikā), and the Madhyamkālaṁkāra of Śāntarakṣita.

Book

Scholarship on

Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra

One of the most revered and recited scriptures of the perfection of wisdom genre (prajñāpāramitāsūtras), perhaps second only to the Heart Sūtra, both of which became especially popular in the East Asian Buddhist traditions. It is a crucial source for Mahāyāna tenets of selflessness and the emptiness of phenomena, and its discourse is framed as an explanation of how to enter into the vehicle of the bodhisattvas by developing and sustaining their enlightened perspective.

Text