Vagrakkhedikâ, The Diamond-Cutter

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Vagrakkhedikâ, The Diamond-Cutter

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Translations of Sutras (Tib-Eng)

• A Buddha Within: The Tathāgatagarbhasūtra
• Ascertaining the Vinaya: Upāli's Questions: Vinayaviniścayopāliparipṛcchā (Erdene-Ochir, B.)
• Bodhisatvapiṭaka (Bibliotheca Polyglotta)
• Creatures: Saṅgharakṣita and the Shape-Shifting Nāga
• Describing the Benefits of Producing Representations of the Thus-Gone One: Tathāgatapratibimbapratiṣṭhānuśaṃsasaṃvarṇana (Teleki, K.)
• Inspiring Determination: Adhyāśayasaṃcodana (Dorje, Lama Sherab)
• Marici-Dharani
• Teaching How All Phenomena Are without Origin: Sarvadharmāpravṛttinirdeśa (Hinkle, T.)
• The Absorption of the Miraculous Ascertainment of Peace: Praśāntaviniścayaprātihāryasamādhi (Hinkle, T.)
• The Application of Mindfulness of the Sacred Dharma: Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna (Doctor, T.)
• The Array of Virtues of Mañjuśrī's Buddha Realm: Mañjuśrībuddhakṣetraguṇavyūha (Hinkle, T.)
• The Avalokinī Sūtra: Avalokinīsūtra (Collet-Cassart, B.)
• The Bodhisattva Path: Based on the Ugraparipṛcchā, a Mahāyāna Sūtra
• The Detailed Account of the Previous Aspirations of the Blessed Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabha: Bhagavānbhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabhasya pūrvapraṇidhānaviśeṣavistāra (Krug, A.)
• The Dhāraṇī of the Jewel Torch: Ratnolkādhāraṇī (Jackson, D.)
• The Diamond Sutra (Conze)
• The Exalted Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Wisdom Gone Beyond Called The Vajra Cutter
• The Fortunate Aeon: How the Thousand Buddhas Become Enlightened
• The Good Eon: Bhadrakalpika (Doctor, T.)
• The Holy Teaching of Vimalakīrti
• The Jewel Cloud: Ratnamegha (Doctor, T.)
• The King of Glorious Sutras called the Exalted Sublime Golden Light
• The King of Samādhis Sūtra: Samādhirājasūtra (Roberts, P.)
• The Legend of Saṃgharakṣita
• The Lion's Roar of Queen Śrīmālā
• The Miraculous Play of Mañjuśrī: Mañjuśrīvikrīḍita (Braarvig, J.)
• The Origins and Early History of the Mahāratnakūṭa Tradition of Mahāyāna Buddhism with a Study of the Ratnarāśisūtra and Related Materials
• The Play in Full: Lalitavistara (Doctor, A.)
• The Precious Discourse on the Blessed One’s Extensive Wisdom That Leads to Infinite Certainty: Niṣṭhāgatabhagavajjñānavaipulyasūtraratnānanta (Doctor, A.)
• The Questions of Rāṣṭrapāla (1): Rāṣṭrapālaparipṛcchā (Brockhausen, K.)
• The Questions of Sāgaramati: Sāgaramatiparipṛcchā (Hinkle, T.)
• The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara (1): Sāgaranāgarājaparipṛcchā (Hinkle, T.)
• The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara (2): Sāgaranāgarājaparipṛcchā (Ewing, B.)
• The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara (3): Sāgaranāgarājaparipṛcchā (Gyaltsen, Kalsang)
• The Range of the Bodhisattva: A Study of an Early Mahāyānasūtra - Āryasatyakaparivarta
• The Rice Seedling Sutra
• The Rice Seedling: Śālistamba (Raktrul, 6th)
• The Seal of Engagement in Awakening the Power of Faith: Śraddhābalādhānāvatāramudrā (Beer, Z.)
• The Skill in Means (Upāyakauśalya) Sūtra
• The Sky as a Mahāyāna Symbol of Emptiness and Generous Fullness: A Study and Translation of the Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā: Volume 1: Introduction
• The Sky as a Mahāyāna Symbol of Emptiness and Generous Fullness: A Study and Translation of the Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā: Volume 2: Edition and Translation
• The Stem Array: Gaṇḍavyūha (Roberts, P.)
• The Strength of the Elephant: Hastikakṣya (Forgues, G.)
• The Sutra of the Householder Uncouth
• The Ten Bhūmis: Daśabhūmika (Roberts, P.)
• The Ugraparipṛcchā, the Mahāratnakūṭasūtra and Early Mahāyāna Buddhism
• The Vajradhvajapariṇāmanā: An Edition and Translation of the Tibetan Version
• The Voice of the Buddha
• The White Lotus of the Good Dharma: Saddharmapuṇḍarīka (Roberts, P.)
• The Ākāśagarbha Sūtra: Ākāśagarbhasūtra (Tenzin, Jampa, et al)
• The Śālistamba Sūtra
• The Śālistamba Sūtra and Its Indian Commentaries, Volume I
• Vagrakkhedikâ, The Diamond-Cutter
• Śāntideva and the Mādhyamika: The Prajñāpāramitā-Pariccheda of the Bodhicaryāvatāra

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

Critical Sanskrit edition of the Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra, edited by Max Müller 1881. Published as part 1 of 3 in the volume Buddhist Texts from Japan. The other texts in this book include the Sukhāvatīvyūha, the Bhagavatīprajñāpāramitāhṛdaya, and the (Āryasarvadurgatipariśodhani) - Uṣṇiṣavijayanāmadhāraṇī.

Citation

Müller, Friedrich Max, ed. "Vagrakkhedikâ, The Diamond-Cutter." In Buddhist Texts from Japan, 15-46. Anecdota Oxoniensia, Aryan Series Vol. 1, Part 1. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1881. https://archive.org/details/buddhisttextsfr00bhgoog/page/n23/mode/2up.

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Works related to this item

1 Recension of

Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra [वज्रच्छेदिकाप्रज्ञापारमितासूत्र]. 'phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa rdo rje gcod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་རྡོ་རྗེ་གཅོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [The Sūtra on the Perfection of Wisdom "The Diamond Cutter" (84000)]. Translated by Bodhiruci, Śīlendrabodhi, Ye shes sde, Kumārajīva, Paramārtha, Dharmagupta, Yijing, Xuanzang. Kangyur, RKTSK 16 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=16&typ=1.འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་རྡོ་རྗེ་གཅོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Classical WorksAbout this item

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.

1 Full translations

Müller, F. Max, trans. "The Vagrakkhedikâ." In Buddhist Mahâyâna Texts, edited by F. Max Müller, pt. 2, 109–44. Sacred Books of the East 49. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1894. https://archive.org/details/buddhistmahy01asvauoft/page/108/mode/2up.

Articles1894About this item

No abstract given. Here are the first relevant paragraphs:

In order to make this collection of Mahâyâna works more complete and useful to students in Japan I have added a translation of the Vajrakkhedikâ, which is much studied in Japan, and the Sanskrit text of which was published by me in an editio princeps—in the Anecdota Oxoniensia, 1881.
      The Vajrakkhedikâ, or the Diamond-cutter, is one of the most widely read and most highly valued metaphysical treatises in Buddhist literature. In Japan the Vajrakkhedikâ and the Pragñâpâramitâhṛdaya are read chiefly by the followers of the Shin-gon sect, founded by Kô-Bô, the great disciple of the famous Hiouen-thsang, in 816 A. D. The temples of this sect in Japan amount to 12,943. Written originally in Sanskrit, it has been translated into Chinese, Tibetan, Mongol, and Mandshu. Its full title is Vajrakkhedikâ Pragñâ-pâramitâ, i.e. the Diamond-cutter, the perfection of wisdom, or, as it has sometimes been rendered, 'the Transcendent Wisdom.' Mr. Bunyiu Nanjio in his Catalogue of the Tripiṭaka, p. I, has shown that it forms the ninth section of the Mahapragñâ-pâramitâ-sûtra, and that it agrees with the Tibetan translation of the text in 300 ślokas.
      An account of the Tibetan translation was given as far back as 1836 by Csoma Körösi in his Analysis of the Sherchiu, the second division of the Kanjur, published in the Asiatic Researches, vol. xx, p. 393 seq. Our text is there described as the Diamond-cutter or the Sutra of wonderful effects, in which Sâkya in a colloquial manner instructs Subhûti, one of his principal disciples, in the true meaning of the Pragñâ-pâramitâ. The Tibetans., we are told, pay great respect to this Sûtra, and copies of it are found in consequence in great abundance[1].
      The first Chinese translation[2] is ascribed to Kumâragîva of the latter Tsin dynasty (A.D. 384-417). An English translation of this Chinese translation was published by the Rev. S. Beal in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1864-5.
      There are several more Chinese translations, one by Bodhiruki (A. D. 509), one by Paramârtha (A. D. 562), one by Hiouen-thsang (A. D. 648), one by I-tsing (A. D. 703), one by Dharmagupta of the Sui dynasty (A. D. 589-618).
      The text and German translation of the Tibetan translation were published in 1837 by M. Schmidt in the Mémoires de I'Académie de St. Petersbourg, tom. iv, p. 186.
       The Mongolian translation was presented by the Baron Schiling de Canstadt to the Library of the Institut de France.
      The Mandshu translation is in the possession of M, de Harlez, who with the help of the Tibetan, Mandshu, and Chinese versions has published a valuable French translation of the Sanskrit text of the Vagrakkhedikâ in the Journal Asiatique, 1893. (Müller, introduction to the Vagrakkhedikâ, xii–xiii)

Notes

1. See also L. Feer in Annales du Musée Guimet, vol. ii, p. 201.
2. See preface to my edition of the Vagrakkhedikâ, Anecd. Oxon., 1881.

1 Chapter or part of

Müller, F. Max, ed. Buddhist Texts from Japan. Anecdota Oxoniensia, Aryan Series vol. 1, pts. 1–3. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1881–84.

Books1881–84About this item

Critical Sanskrit editions of the Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra, the Sukhāvatīvyūha, the Bhagavatīprajñāpāramitāhṛdaya, and the (Āryasarvadurgatipariśodhani) - Uṣṇiṣavijayanāmadhāraṇī. One volume with three parts.

Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra [वज्रच्छेदिकाप्रज्ञापारमितासूत्र]. 'phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa rdo rje gcod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་རྡོ་རྗེ་གཅོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [The Sūtra on the Perfection of Wisdom "The Diamond Cutter" (84000)]. Translated by Bodhiruci, Śīlendrabodhi, Ye shes sde, Kumārajīva, Paramārtha, Dharmagupta, Yijing, Xuanzang. Kangyur, RKTSK 16 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=16&typ=1.

Go to the page with the definition of 'Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra'

Prajñā - One of the key terms for wisdom or knowledge, most often having the sense of insight, transcendent knowledge, or perhaps gnosis. In some contexts it can also refer to cognition or intellectual understanding. Skt प्रज्ञा  Tib ཤེས་རབ་  Ch 般若  

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Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

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Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of the Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt महायान  Tib ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ།  Ch 大乘  

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Anātman - The Buddhist teaching of "non-self" or "selflessness"—the understanding that there is no permanent, unchanging self or soul within living beings. Along with impermanence (anitya) and suffering (duḥkha), it is one of the three marks of existence that characterize all conditioned phenomena. Skt अनात्मन्  Tib བདག་མེད་པ་  Ch 无我  

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Śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt शून्यता  Tib སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་  Ch 空;空門  

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Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

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Śrāvaka - The disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain individual liberation or nirvāṇa. The final goal of the Hearers is to become an arhat, a state in which one has totally eliminated the inner problems of attachment, hatred and ignorance, the main causes for rebirth in this cycle of existence. There are four stages of a śrāvaka path including eight phases. Skt श्रावक  Tib ཉན་ཐོས།  Ch 聲聞  

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