Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā (Conze 1958)

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Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā
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People
Edward Conze
translator
The Asiatic Society of Bengal
publisher
Topics
Texts

Description

A literal, word by word translation of the Prajñāparamitā is tiresome to read, and practically unintelligible to any one who does not have the sanskrit original before him. If ever there was a case where the letter kills the spirit, it is here. The Sūtra itself was meant to be memorised, the translation is meant to be read. Lengthy repetitions, stereotyped phrases, and the piling up of synonyms were of great assistance to memory, but they irritate and distract the modern reader, and obscure from him the meaning of the text. This translation aims at bringing out the meaning of the Sūtra, often with the aid of Haribhadra's commentary, and it keeps as close to the text as is compatible with intelligibility. The reproduction of the literary conventions and of the stylistic peculiarities of Buddhist sanskrit diction was not one of my aims. It would be of little, or no, value to scholars, and it bewilders the general reader. To facilitate reference to the sanskrit original I have added in brackets the pages of Mitra's edition. (Conze, preface)
Citation
Conze, Edward, trans. Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā. Bibliotheca Indica 284. Calcutta: The Asiatic Society, 1958.
Table of contents
  • Chapter 1 The practice of the knowledge of all modes1
    • 1. Introduction
    • 2. The extinction of self
    • 3. The meaning of 'Bodhisattva'
    • 4. The meaning of 'great being'
    • 5. The meaning of 'great vehicle'
    • 6. Attainment
  • Chapter 2 Śakra15
    • 1. Preamble
    • 2. How to stand in emptiness, or perfect wisdom
    • 3. The saints and their goal are illusions
    • 4, Śakra's flowers
    • 5. Training in perfect wisdom
    • 6. The infinitude of perfect wisdom
    • 7. Confirmation
  • Chapter 3 Reverence for the receptacle of the perfections, which holds immeasurable good qualities22
    • 1. Worldly advantages of perfect wisdom
    • 2. The cult of perfect wisdom and the cult of the Buddhas
    • 3. Perfect wisdom, a great spell
    • 4. Perfect wisdom, and the other perfections 5. Further advantages from perfect wisdom
  • Chapter 4 The proclamation of qualities35
    • 1. Relative value of relics and of perfect wisdom
    • 2. Simile of the wishing jewel
    • 3. Supreme value of the perfection of wisdom
  • Chapter 5 The revolution of merit39
    • 1. Perfect wisdom a source of great merit
    • 2. The counterfeit perfection of wisdom
    • 3. Perfect wisdom greater than any other spiritual gift
  • Chapter 6 Dedication and jubilation43
    • 1. Supreme merit of dedication and jubilation
    • 2. The range of jubilation
    • 3. A metaphysical problem
    • 4. How perverted views can be avoided
    • 5. Considerations of merit
  • Chapter7 Hell54
    • 1. Hymn to perfect wisdom
    • 2. Predominance of perfect wisdom over other perfections
    • 3. Nothing procured by perfect wisdom
    • 4. Why the perfection of wisdom is great
    • 5. Causes of belief in the perfection of wisdom
    • 6. Causes and consequences of disbelief
  • Chapter 8 Purity62
    • 1. Depth and purity of perfect wisdom
    • 2. Attachments
    • 3. Non-attachment
    • 4. Like space or an echo
    • 5. Conclusion
  • Chapter 9 Praise69
    • 1. Perfect wisdom perfectly pure
    • 2. Effects of perfect wisdom
    • 3. The second turning of the wheel of dharma
    • 4. Modes and qualities of perfect wisdom
  • Chapter 10 Proclamation of the qualities of bearing in mind73
    • 1. Past deeds, and present attitude to perfect wisdom
    • 2. Qualifications of a Bodhisattva who gets to perfect wisdom
    • 3. Five similes to illustrate hearness to full enlightenment
    • 4. Why Bodhisattvas are well-favoured by the Buddhas
    • 5. Right attitude to perfect wisdom
    • 6. Obstacles to perfect wisdom
    • 7. The Bodhisattva sustained by the Buddhas
    • 8. Prediction about spread of perfect wisdom
    • 9. Description of Bodhisattvas who will study perfect wisdom
  • Chapter 11 Māra's deeds83
    • 1. Various deeds of Māra
    • 2. The perfection of wisdom and the Sūtras of the Disciples
    • 3. Various deeds of Māra
    • 4. Sources of discord between teacher and pupil
    • 5. Misdirection of aim
    • 6. More discord between teacher and pupil
    • 7. Māra dissuades from perfect wisdom
    • 8. Anatagonism between Māra and Buddha
  • Chapter 12 Showing the world93
    • 1. Perfect wisdom the mother of the Buddhas
    • 2. How the Tathāgata knows the world
    • 3. How the Tathāgata knows the minds of beings
    • 4. Deep marks, and how they are fastened
    • 5. The world shown as empty
  • Chapter 13 Unthinkable101
    • 1. Five attributes of perfect wisdom
    • 2. Spiritual rebirth resulting from this knowledge
    • 3. Nothing to take hold of
    • 4. Reaction of the Gods
  • Chapter 14 Similes104
    • 1. Future and past rebirths
    • 2. Past deeds of a Bodhisattva who fails in perfect wisdom
    • 3. Four similes
  • Chapter 15 Gods108
    • 1. The beginner's task
    • 2. How a Bodhisattva helps beings
    • 3. Description of perfect wisdom
  • Chapter 16 Suchness113
    • 1. Tathāgata-Suchness
    • 2. The earth shakes, and many are saved
    • 3. Perfect wisdom and skill in means
    • 4. Enlightenment and emptiness
    • 5. Requisites of going forth to enlightenment
  • Chapter 17 Attributes, token and signs of irreversibility121
    • 1. Various tokens of irreversibility
    • 2. Māra's deeds
    • 3. More tokens of irreversibility
  • Chapter 18 Emptiness130
    • 1. Deep stations
    • 2. How to attend to perfect wisdom
    • 3. Merit
    • 4. Immeasurable, empty and talk
    • 5. No growth or diminution
  • Chapter 19 The Goddess of the Ganges134
    • 1. Conditioned co-production
    • 2. No development
    • 3. No objective supports and no own-being
    • 4. Five places which inspire fear
    • 5. Prediction of the Goddess of the Ganges
  • Chapter 20 Discussion of skill in means143
    • 1. Emptiness and reality-limit
    • 2. Three similes
    • 3. Doors to deliverance, and vows about beings
    • 4. Irreversibility
    • 5. Dream experiences and the mark of irreversibility
    • 6. Irreversibility and the magical power of veracity
  • Chapter 21 Māra's deeds152
    • 1. Pride and the magical power of veracity
    • 2. Pride connected with the annunciation of the name
    • 3. Faults in connection with detachment
  • Chapter 22 The good friend158
    • 1. The good friends
    • 2. Emptiness, defilements and purification
    • 3. Attentions to perfect wisdom, and the pearl of great price
    • 4. Emptiness and growth in enlightenment
  • Chapter 23 Śakra165
    • 1. The superior position of Bodhisattvas
    • 2. Rewards of perfect wisdom
  • Chapter 24 Conceit168
    • 1. Conditions which open a Bodhisattva to Māra’s influence
    • 2. The Bodhisattva's right attitude to other Bodhisattvas
  • Chapter 25 Training172
    • 1. How a Bodhisattva is trained in all knowledge
    • 2. Fewness of Bodhisattvas
    • 3. Perfect wisdom comprehends all perfections
    • 4. Merit from perfect wisdom
    • 5. Bodhisattvas and Disciples
  • Chapter 26 Like illusion177
    • 1. Śakra praises the Bodhisattvas
    • 2. Jubilation, turning over and merit
    • 3. The nature of illusion
  • Chapter 27 The core182
    • 1. The Bodhisattva’s courage in difficulties
    • 2. The Bodhisattva protected by the Gods, and against Māra
    • 3. The Buddhas praise the Bodhisattva
    • 4. Enlightenment and Suchness
    • 5. Emptiness and dwelling in perfect wisdom
  • Chapter 28 Avakīrṇakusuma188
    • 1. Prediction of Avakīrṇakusuma
    • 2. Praise of perfect wisdom
    • 3. Transmission of the Sūtra to Ānanda
    • 4. Akshobhya's Buddha-field
    • 5. Extinction, non-extinction and perfect wisdom
    • 6. Advantages derived from perfect wisdom
  • Chapter 29 Approaches198
  • Chapter 30 Sadaprarudita201
    • 1. Sadaprarudita sets out to find perfect wisdom
    • 2. Description of Gandhavatī, and of Dharmodgātā's life
    • 3. List and significance of concentrations
    • 4. Sadaprarudita and the merchant's daughter
  • Chapter 31 Dharmodgātā216
    • 1. The coming and going of the Tathāgatas
    • 2. Sadaprarudita's self-sacrifice
    • 3. Dharmodgātā’s demonstration of dharma
  • Chapter 32 Entrusting224
    • 1. End of the story of Sadaprarudita
    • 2. The perfection of wisdom entrusted to Ānanda
Interconnections
Works related to this item
1 Full translation of
Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā [अष्टसाहस्रिकाप्रज्ञापारमिता]. 'phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa brgyad stong pa [འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་བརྒྱད་སྟོང་པ།]. [The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (84000)]. Translated by Śākyasena, Jñānasiddhi, Dharmatāśīla, Xuanzang, Dānapāla, Kumārajīva, Dharmapriya, Chu Fo-nien, Chih-ch'ien, Lokakṣema. Kangyur, RKTSK 12 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=12&typ=1.
Classical WorksAbout this item
The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines, like other sūtras on the Perfection of Wisdom, deals with the topic of emptiness and the understanding of the ultimate truth or the way things are. Modern scholars date the sūtra roughly to the 2nd and 1st century BC and consider it to be the earliest sūtra on which other Perfection of Wisdom sūtras are based. Its adherents claim the sūtra to be a part of the words of the Buddha. It is believed to have been taken to the subterranean world and brought back to the human world by Nāgārjuna. It is sometimes known as the Condensed Mother (ཡུམ་བསྡུས་པ་), the term Mother referring to the Perfection of Wisdom which gives rise to all buddhas and bodhisattvas. It is said to be the condensed version of the long version in one hundred thousand lines and the middle version in twenty-five thousand lines. Having spread across Asia and beyond and having been translated into many languages, it is one of the most common books to be found in the Buddhist Himalayas. The sūtra takes the form of a series of dialogues between the Buddha Śākyamuni, Subhūti, Śāriputra, and others, such as Indra, the king of gods, and a goddess of the Ganges. In the final chapters, the sūtra contains the inspirational narratives of Sadāprarudita and his quest for the teachings on the Perfection of Wisdom from the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata. The sūtra is also one of the earliest Mahāyāna sources proclaiming the luminous nature of the mind.



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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Smṛtiḥ - Mindfulness is the ability to keep a chosen object or the present moment in mind without forgetting it. It acts as a stable foundation for meditation and daily awareness. Skt स्मृति  Tib དྲན་པ་  Ch 念  

Go to the page with the definition of 'memory'

Prajñāpāramitā - A class of Mahāyāna sūtras which represents some of the earliest known literature of this genre of Buddhism. There are around forty texts associated with this category, though the most widespread is the exceedingly brief Prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtra, popularly known as the Heart Sūtra. This class of literature is typically associated with the second turning of the dharma wheel and especially with the teachings on emptiness (śūnyatā). As such, these texts were the primary scriptural source for the philosophy of the Madhyamaka school. Skt प्रज्ञापारमिता  Tib ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་;ཤེར་ཕྱིན་  Ch 般若波羅蜜多  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Prajñāpāramitā'

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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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  

Go to the page with the definition of 'emptiness'

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  

Go to the page with the definition of 'wisdom'

Pāramitā - The six or ten types of practices which lead an individual to Buddhahood. The practice of perfections is particularly important in Mahāyāna Buddhism in which the entire path of the Bodhisattva to reach full enlightenment is included in the six or ten perfections. The six perfections are that of giving, of discipline, patience, zeal, meditation, and wisdom. The perfection of skill-in-means, aspirations, power, and pristine wisdom are added to them to make ten perfections. Skt पारमिता  Tib ཕར་ཕྱིན།;ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ།  Ch 波羅蜜  

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Puṇya - The positive energy or potential created through performing good deeds, such as generosity or kindness. In Buddhism, accumulating this positive force is seen as essential for finding happiness in future lives, and crucial as a foundation for following the spiritual path. Skt पुण्य  Tib བསོད་ནམས་  Ch 福;功德  

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Pariṇāmanā - The Buddhist practice of 'dedicating' or giving away the positive energy from one's good deeds for the benefit of others. It ensures that the goodness created is shared with all beings and directed toward the ultimate goal of enlightenment, preventing it from being exhausted. Skt परिणामना  Tib བསྔོ་བ་  Ch 迴向  

Go to the page with the definition of 'dedication'

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  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhisattvas'

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  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Sūtras'

Āvaraṇa - Literally, that which obscures or conceals. Often listed as a set of two obscurations (sgrib gnyis): the afflictive emotional obscurations (Skt. kleśāvaraṇa, Tib. nyon mongs pa'i sgrib pa) and the cognitive obscurations (Skt. jñeyāvaraṇa, Tib. shes bya'i sgrib pa). By removing the first, one becomes free of suffering, and by removing the second, one becomes omniscient. Skt आवरण  Tib སྒྲིབ་པ་  

Go to the page with the definition of 'defilements'

Prajñāpāramitā - A class of Mahāyāna sūtras which represents some of the earliest known literature of this genre of Buddhism. There are around forty texts associated with this category, though the most widespread is the exceedingly brief Prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtra, popularly known as the Heart Sūtra. This class of literature is typically associated with the second turning of the dharma wheel and especially with the teachings on emptiness (śūnyatā). As such, these texts were the primary scriptural source for the philosophy of the Madhyamaka school. Skt प्रज्ञापारमिता  Tib ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་;ཤེར་ཕྱིན་  Ch 般若波羅蜜多  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Perfection of Wisdom'

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  

Go to the page with the definition of 'sūtras'

Paramārthasatya - "Ultimate truth" or "absolute truth"; the reality of things as they truly are. Skt परमार्थसत्य  Tib དོན་དམ་བདེན་པ་  Ch 眞諦;第一義諦  

Go to the page with the definition of 'ultimate truth'

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  

Go to the page with the definition of 'sūtra'

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  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhisattvas'

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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Prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt प्रभास्वरता  Tib འོད་གསལ་  Ch 光明  

Go to the page with the definition of 'luminous'
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