Die Überlieferung vom Lebensende des Buddha, Part 1

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Die Überlieferung vom Lebensende des Buddha: Eine Vergleichende Analyse des Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra und Seiner Textentsprechungen. Erster Teil, Vorgangsgruppe I-IV

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Sutras (Sanskrit)

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

The narration of the Buddha's end of life: a comparative analysis of the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra and its textual equivalents. Part 1, process group I-IV. Edited in Sanskrit and Tibetan and translated into German.

The author, skilled in reading Central Asiatic manuscripts, prepared a critical edition of the Buddist-Sanskrit manuscript of the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra, but publication was held up because of the war. In the work he collated this manuscript, which was discovered by the Prussian expeditions in Chinese Turkestan, with the Pāli, Chinese, and Tibetan versions. The sūtra describes the last few months before Buddha's death (parinirvāṇa) . Waldschmidt compares the Sanskrit manuscript version with the corresponding printed Pāli texts and the printed Chinese translations. In order to facilitate this comparison, he distinguishes fifty-one events, brought together in six groups, in the last months of Buddha's life, beginning with Minister Varṣākāra's visit to Buddha in Rājagṛha and ending with the cremation of Buddha's body and the distribution of the relics. The present book is the first part of this work, and deals only with the events numbered 1 to 31, the arrival in Kuśinagara. Part Two will deal with the events numbered 32 to 51, all of which took place in Kuśinagara where the Buddha entered parinirvāṇa. Waldschmidt has previously published a comparative study of the texts relating to two events on the day of Buddha's death, under the title, "Beiträge zur Textgeschichte des Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra." (Review by Johannes Rahder, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 10, no. 2 (1947): 227-29)

Citation

Waldschmidt, Ernst, ed. and trans. Die Überlieferung vom Lebensende des Buddha: Eine Vergleichende Analyse des Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra und Seiner Textentsprechungen. Erster Teil, Vorgangsgruppe I-IV. Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Philologisch-Historische Klasse, Folge 3, no. 29. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1944.

Interconnections

Works related to this item

1 Recension of

Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra [महापरिनिर्वाणसूत्र]. 'phags pa yongs su mya ngan las 'das pa chen po theg pa chen po'i mdo; 'phags pa yongs su mya ngan las 'das pa chen po'i mdo chen po; 'phags pa yongs su mya ngan las 'das pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་ཡོངས་སུ་མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [Great Nirvāṇa Mahāyāna Sūtra]. Translated by Buddhabhadra, Devacandra, Dge ba'i blo gros, Dharmakṣema, Wang phab zhun, Rgya mtsho'i sde, Jinamitra, Jñānagarbha, Kamalagupta, Faxian, Xie Lingyun, Huiyan, Huiguan. Kangyur, D119;120;121. http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=119&typ=1;http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=120&typ=1;http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=121&typ=1.

Classical WorksAbout this item

There are three translations in the Tibetan canon under this name:

Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra (RKTSK 119)
Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra (RKTSK 120)
Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra (RKTSK 121)

The Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra is one of the main scriptural sources for buddha-nature in China and Tibet. Set around the time of Buddha's passing or Mahāparinirvāṇa, the sūtra contains teachings on buddha-nature equating it with the dharmakāya—that is, the complete enlightenment of a buddha. It also asserts that all sentient beings possess this nature as the buddhadhātu, or buddha-element, which thus acts as a cause, seed, or potential for all beings to attain enlightenment. Furthermore, the sūtra includes some salient features related to this concept, such as the single vehicle and the notion that the dharmakāya is endowed with the four pāramitās of permanence, bliss, purity, and a self.

It may be noted that there are three different texts with similar titles in the Chinese and Tibetan canons. Of the three Tibetan texts with Mahāparinirvāṇa in their title, a short one (Derge Kangyur, No. 121) called Āryamahāparinirvāṇasūtra contains prophecies of events in the centuries after the Buddha's Mahāparinirvāṇa but has nothing on buddha-nature. Thus, this is not the Mahāparinirvāṇāsūtra which is considered as a Tathāgatagarbhasūtra. The two which deal with buddha-nature are Mahāyānasūtras and contain detailed accounts of the final teachings of the Buddha. The first sūtra, the longer one covering two volumes of Derge Kangyur (mdo sde Nya and Ta) is a translation from Chinese, while the second one is a translation from Sanskrit. They appear to be two different recensions of the same original sūtra as they have similar titles and overlapping content. However, the one translated from Chinese is much longer and also contains information on the events after the Buddha entered Mahāparinirvāṇa.

1 Full translation of

Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra [महापरिनिर्वाणसूत्र]. 'phags pa yongs su mya ngan las 'das pa chen po theg pa chen po'i mdo; 'phags pa yongs su mya ngan las 'das pa chen po'i mdo chen po; 'phags pa yongs su mya ngan las 'das pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་ཡོངས་སུ་མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [Great Nirvāṇa Mahāyāna Sūtra]. Translated by Buddhabhadra, Devacandra, Dge ba'i blo gros, Dharmakṣema, Wang phab zhun, Rgya mtsho'i sde, Jinamitra, Jñānagarbha, Kamalagupta, Faxian, Xie Lingyun, Huiyan, Huiguan. Kangyur, D119;120;121. http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=119&typ=1;http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=120&typ=1;http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=121&typ=1.

Classical WorksAbout this item

There are three translations in the Tibetan canon under this name:

Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra (RKTSK 119)
Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra (RKTSK 120)
Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra (RKTSK 121)

The Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra is one of the main scriptural sources for buddha-nature in China and Tibet. Set around the time of Buddha's passing or Mahāparinirvāṇa, the sūtra contains teachings on buddha-nature equating it with the dharmakāya—that is, the complete enlightenment of a buddha. It also asserts that all sentient beings possess this nature as the buddhadhātu, or buddha-element, which thus acts as a cause, seed, or potential for all beings to attain enlightenment. Furthermore, the sūtra includes some salient features related to this concept, such as the single vehicle and the notion that the dharmakāya is endowed with the four pāramitās of permanence, bliss, purity, and a self.

It may be noted that there are three different texts with similar titles in the Chinese and Tibetan canons. Of the three Tibetan texts with Mahāparinirvāṇa in their title, a short one (Derge Kangyur, No. 121) called Āryamahāparinirvāṇasūtra contains prophecies of events in the centuries after the Buddha's Mahāparinirvāṇa but has nothing on buddha-nature. Thus, this is not the Mahāparinirvāṇāsūtra which is considered as a Tathāgatagarbhasūtra. The two which deal with buddha-nature are Mahāyānasūtras and contain detailed accounts of the final teachings of the Buddha. The first sūtra, the longer one covering two volumes of Derge Kangyur (mdo sde Nya and Ta) is a translation from Chinese, while the second one is a translation from Sanskrit. They appear to be two different recensions of the same original sūtra as they have similar titles and overlapping content. However, the one translated from Chinese is much longer and also contains information on the events after the Buddha entered Mahāparinirvāṇa.

1 Other volumes

Waldschmidt, Ernst, ed. and trans. Die Überlieferung vom Lebensende des Buddha: Eine Vergleichende Analyse des Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra und Seiner Textentsprechungen. Zweiter Teil, Vorgangsgruppe V–VI. Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Philologisch-Historische Klasse, Folge 3, no. 30. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1948.

Books1948About this item

The tradition of the Buddha at the end of life: a comparative analysis of the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra and its textual correspondences, part two, process group V–VI.

The author, skilled in reading Central Asiatic manuscripts, prepared a critical edition of the Buddist-Sanskrit manuscript of the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra, but publication was held up because of the war. In the work he collated this manuscript, which was discovered by the Prussian expeditions in Chinese Turkestan, with the Pāli, Chinese, and Tibetan versions. The sūtra describes the last few months before Buddha's death (parinirvāṇa) . Waldschmidt compares the Sanskrit manuscript version with the corresponding printed Pāli texts and the printed Chinese translations. In order to facilitate this comparison, he distinguishes fifty-one events, brought together in six groups, in the last months of Buddha's life, beginning with Minister Varṣākāra's visit to Buddha in Rājagṛha and ending with the cremation of Buddha's body and the distribution of the relics. (Review by Johannes Rahder, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 10, no. 2 (1947): 227-29)

The present book is the second part of this work, and deals with the events numbered 32 to 51, all of which took place in Kuśinagara where the Buddha entered parinirvāṇa. Part 1, published in 1944, deals with the events numbered 1 to 31, the arrival in Kuśinagara.