The

Prajnaparamita
Literature
 The
Prajnaparamita
Literature

Edward Conze

Munshiram Manoharlat
Publishers Pvt Ltd
 ISBN 81-215-0992-0
T his ed ition 2000
T his edition reprinted from the second revised and enlarged edition o f 1978
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 PREFACE

The literature on Prajfiaparam ita, vast, deep and vital to an understanding

o f the M ahayana, has so far been somewhat neglected by European scholars.
With the aim of facilitating its study, I have in this book set out a certain
am ount of information about it. This is a handbook which records for the
use of scholars the very limited knowledge we have acquired during the last
century. I am well aw are that a compilation of this kind lends itself to
innumerable sins of commission and omission. T he critical reader will
discover m any of them, and I must console myself with having given him
something to build on. After completing my typescript, which has slowly
m atured over twenty years, I find that the gaps in my treatm ent stand out
more clearly than its contours. The Bibliography, though comprehensive,
is by no means complete. I have not listed all the translations, articles and
books which have appeared in Japanese, nor the numerous Chinese commen­
taries which are not included in the Taisho Issaikyd. As for the Mongol,
I have ignored the T anjur, which seems to exist only in U lan Bator. The
M anchu translations of the K anjur, which were done between 1730 and
1790, are likewise inaccessible in Europe. M odern translations into Dutch,
Italian, etc., are noted only sporadically. T he treatm ent of the commen-
tatorial literature is quite unsatisfactory, and generally confined to listing
the bare bibliographical data. The m aterial is so vast that no one person can
be expected to do everything. Others will, I hope, take up the thread
where I have left it.

London, M arch 1958 Edw ard C onze

 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

By 1972 the first edition of this work had been sold out. M outon & Co.,
the publishers, had by then largely w ithdraw n from their Indological publica­
tions and returned the copyright to the author. Over the years a num ber
of minor inaccuracies have been detected in the original text, and they
have been corrected for this reprint. In addition much has been published
on Prajnaparamita since 1960, and I have, as far as I could, inserted these
later publications in their appropriate places in the Bibliography. In
fact it appears that the Prajnaparamita writings have in recent years been
explored more thoroughly than most other branches of Buddhist literature.
The Reiyukai has done wonderful work in providing us with precious
materials for the study of the Saddharmapundarika, and all Buddhist scholars
will now be grateful to them for having brought this m onograph on the
Prajnaparamita back into circulation. In 1963, when I was a professor
in M adison, Wise., I tried to make up for my neglect of the Japanese contri­
butions to this subject by supervising and directing H anayam a Shoyu’s survey
on w hat had been done in Jap a n up to that date (see p. 91). In the last
fourteen years m uch more has been w ritten in th at country and I can only
apologize for its omission. T he simple tru th is that I do not know the
language and am now too old to learn it.

Sherborne, December 1977 Edward Conze

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

P re f a c e .................................................................................................................. v
Preface to the Second E d itio n ............................................................................ vi

C h r o n o l o g ic a l S u r v e y

A. The developments in I n d i a .................................................................... 1

1. The basic t e x t ......................................................................................... 1
2. The expansion to the large S u t r a ....................................................... 10
3 a. The short S u tr a s .................................................................................... 11
3 b. Versified S u m m a rie s ............................................................................ 12
4. T antric in f lu e n c e s .................................................................................... 13
5. T he Pala p e r io d .........................................................................................16
B. T he developments outside I n d i a ............................................................... 19
1. C h in a ............................................................................................................ 19
2. Nepal, Siam, C am b o d ia.......................................................................... 23
3. T i b e t ............................................................................................................ 24
4. J a p a n ............................................................................................................27
5. E u r o p e ........................................................................................................ 28

A nnotated B ib l io g r a p h y

A. O rdinary Prajfiaparam ita S u t r a s ............................................................... 31

AA. The large Sutra (no. 1 - 5 ) ................................................................... 31
AB. Abbreviations (no. 6-11) 56
B. Special Texts (no. 1 2 - 1 6 ) ............................................................................ 75
C. T antric Texts (no. 1 7 - 4 0 ) ............................................................................ 79

C o m m e n t a r ia l L it e r a t u r e

1. N a g a q u n a ......................................................................................................... 93
2. Y o g a c a rin s ......................................................................................................... 95
3. A b h isa m a y a la n k a ra ....................................................................................... 101
4. Bibliography of Sub-commentaries to A A ...............................................112

I n d ic e s

1. Alphabetical list of Sanskrit t i t l e s ...............................................................121

2. Alphabetical list of Indian com m entators................................................121
3. Alphabetical list of T ibetan c o m m e n ta to rs............................................. 122
4. Alphabetical list of Chinese c o m m e n ta to rs............................................. 123
5. A b b rev iatio n s................................................................................................... 124

L is t of Edw ard C o n z e ’s P u b l ic a t io n s on the P r a jn a p a r a m it a

L it e r a t u r e ....................................................................................................... 127
 CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY

A. T H E D EV ELO PM EN TS IN IN D IA

The composition of Prajnaparam ita texts extended over about 1,000 years.
Roughly speaking, four phases can be distinguished: 1. T he elaboration
of a basic text (ca. 100 B.C. to 100 A.D.), which constitutes the original
impulse; 2. T he expansion of that text (ca. 100 A.D. to 300); 3. The
restatem ent of the doctrine in 3a. short Sutras and in 3b. versified Sum­
maries (ca. 300 A.D. to 500); 4. The period of T antric influence and of
absorption into magic (600 A.D. to 1200).

1. T he oldest text is the Perfection o f Wisdom in 8,000 Lines, in 32 chapters

(Bibl. no. 5). Most of the Sutras of this class, although in prose, are named
after the num ber of lines (Slokas of 32 syllables) which they contain. The
English translation is about 110,000 words long. Some parts of this basic Pra­
jnap aram ita probably date back to 100 B.C. O ther sections were added at lat­
er times, and the composition of the whole may have taken over two centuries.
T he place oj origin of the P rajnaparam ita has been the subject of some
controversy. Several authors have claimed th at it probably developed
among the M ahasanghikas in Southern India, in the A ndhra country,
on the K istna river.1 N ear A m aravatl (“T he sojourn of the immortals” )
and Dhanyaka{aka (the m odem Dharanikot), the M ahasanghikas had two
famous monasteries, which gave their names to the sects of the Purvasailas
and of the Aparasailas. These sects are significant because 1) they had a
Prajfiaparam ita in Prakrit,2 they 2) spoke of the dharmadhatu in the same
sense as the P rajnaparam ita3, and 3) their Buddhology prepared the way
for that of the Prajnaparam ita. T he doctrines which the Kathavatthu attri­
butes to the Andhakas are so m uch akin to the M ahayana doctrines that
the latter m ay well have developed from them.4
N agarjuna, whose nam e is associated with the consolidation of the Prajna-

1 For the references see E. Lam otte, “Sur la formation du M ahayana” , Asiatica.
1954, p. 386 n. 49.
2 P aram artha; cf. Przyluski, Rajagriha, p. 304.-Siddhi p. 752.-According to Lam otte
p. 387 the T ibetan Grub-mtha’ is the authority for this.
3 T h e verses are preserved in C andrakirti, Prasannapada, p. 548.
4 So R . Sam krityayana, in JA s, Oct.-Dec. 1934, pp. 195-208.
 2 CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY

param ita, came from the South of India, and was probably connected with
Nagarjunikoncja in the A ndhra country, which is not far from Am aravati.1
His Suhrllekha was dedicated to Satavahana, king of the Dekkhan, and accord­
ing to the Harfacarita2 he collected Sutras from the Nagas for the same
king, and it is an often repeated legend that he recovered the text of the
Prajnaparam ita from the palace of the Nagas in the N ether Regions.3 A
striking illustration of this event is found in an 11th century Ms of the Pan-
cavimsatisahasrika, now in the Baroda M useum.4 N agarjuna lived in Dhanya-
kataka,5 and the nam e of the B hadanta N agarjunacarya occurs on an inscrip­
tion found in the neighbourhood of the Stupa of Jaggayyapata.6 In this
area both D ravidian and Greek influences m ade themselves felt, and Grousset
has rightly called the Stupa of Am aravatl a “Dravido-Alexandrian synthesis” .
In view of the close analogies which exist between the Prajnaparam ita
and the M editerranean literature on Sophia,7 this seems to me significant.
Also the Andhras were a non-Aryan people who spoke a Telugu language,
and the m atriarchal traditions of the Dravidians may well have something to
do with the introduction of the worship of the “ M other of the Buddhas”
into Buddhism.
T he Afta (A x 225) states th at “ after the passing away of the T athagata”
the perfection of wisdom will “ proceed to the South” , and from there spread
first to the West, and then to the N orth. The different recensions of the
Prajnaparam ita, from the earliest onwards, as preserved in Chinese,8 all
agree, with one exception9, that the itinerary of the Prajflaparam ita began
in the South, or South-East.10 Further, the M anjuirim ulatantra, as Oberm iller
points out11, specifies four regions for the recitation of various M ahayana

1 P. S. Sastri, “N agarjuna and A ryadeva” , IH Q , X X X , 1 (1955), pp. 193-202,

has provided further evidence for the thesis th at N agarjuna was an A ndhra.
2 Ed. L. P arab (Bombay, 1945), p. 250.-Cf. F. W. Thomas, Harshacarita, p. 252.-
De La Valine Poussin, Vlnde au temps des Mauryas (1930), takes on p. 207 iata—
munda sata—horse, for the Andhras treated the horse as an incarnation of a great
god. See E. Lam otte, H B I, 1958, p. 524.
3 T he Sravakas, according to T aran ath a p. 71, concluded that N agarjuna had
actually w ritten the Satasahasrika. But th at seems unlikely.
4 Bulletin, I, 1, (1943-4), p. 35, Figure 14, Restoration of P rajnaparam ita.
5 K lon rdol gsun-’bum C p. 9a. Bu-ston, I I , 127. T aran ath a, p.73,81,303.
6 J . Burgess, Notes on the Amaravati Stupa (1882), p. 57.
7 See E. Conze, in Religion, V (1975), pp. 160-167. F urther interesting
suggestions also in A. M igot, BEFEO, X L V I (1954), pp. 530-32, and cf. the
literature in C. Regamey, Buddhistische Philosophic (1950), pp. 28-29.
8 Cf. E. Lam otte, Le traiti de la grande vertu de sagesse, I (1944), pp. 25-26.
9 T he translation of A by Chih-C h’ien; see Lam otte, p. 26 n.
10 According to Hstian-tsang’s translation of A and P.
11 Analysis o f the Abhisamayalankara, p. 346.
 TH E DEVELOPMENTS IN INDIA 3

Sutras, and the P rajnaparam ita “ is to be recited in the South” .

We may also m ention the A rapacana chapter of the large Prajnaparam ita
(£ ix 1450-1453), in which 42 letters of the alphabet are illustrated by words
that begin with them 1. In its present form this chapter clearly points to
the North-W est of India, for it includes the letter YSA = Z, illustrates the
letter SA by fanga (for sanga), etc. But while the letters of the alphabet have
remained substantially the same, the words used to illustrate them have
undergone great changes between 200 and 900 A.D. The Sanskrit text
of the Chinese translations often differed from th at of the Nepalese m anu­
scripts and the T ibetan translation. Moksala, for instance, has at CHA
chorana for the chedana of at SMA 3masana for smarana, and at TSA utsarga
{utsadana) for utsaha. It is to be hoped that a com petent scholar will one day
determ ine from all sources the development of the A rapacana alphabet.2
W hat is im portant for our argum ent is that in the case of DA N agarjuna’s
com m entary indicates that the word which illustrates it had its origin in
Southern India.3
T he evidence for the Southern origin of the Prajnaparam ita is merely
circum stantial, and by no means conclusive. T he whole theory has recently
been challenged by E. Lam otte4 who is inclined to localize it in the N orth­
W est and the region of K hotan. It is, we m ust adm it, clearly speculative
in th at it refers to a period antecedent to the one for which documents have

1 T ranslated SS no. 127. I t is difficult to decide w hether the A rapacana consists

o f 42 or 43 letters. T he Gandavyuha and K um arajiva have 42, and S. L6vi (Memo­
rial S. U vi, 1937, pp. 355-363) and F. W. Thom as (Miscellanea Academica Beroli-
nensia, 1950, p. 204) assume this to be the original num ber. This is to some extent
confirmed by P 536b, duplicated by Gilgit Ad f. 282r, which speaks of 42 aksaras,
though not explicitly in connection w ith the A rapacana. O n the other hand, the
num ber is clearly 43 in H suan-tsang, in Ghosha’s edition of $ and, most im portant
o f all, in the Gilgit Ms of P.
2 A useful com pilation of the alphabets in the Chinese translations of P. P. texts
an d A vatam saka is found in an article by Y am ada Ryujo: Shijuni jim on ni tsuite
(he proposes 42 letters), Nihon Bukkydgaku Kyokai Nempo, I I I , 1931, pp. 201-267.
see also E. Lam otte, H B I, 1968, pp. 549-550.
3 M pp-i T 1509 p. 408, col. 2,4 from left. “ I f you hear the syllable DA you at
once (or: in fact) know the unburning (or: not hot) characteristic of dharmas.
T h e word dajada (—jada?) in South Indian usage means “ unbum ing” or “not
h o t” .” Prof. Burrow has kindly explained this passage to m e: T he usual D ravidian
words for “cold” , like tan, etc., cannot be in question here. N agarjuna therefore
did no t refer to a D ravidian language, b u t to a peculiarity of South Indian
Sanskrit usage, in which jada (usually meaning “ dull” etc.) was used in the sense
of “ cold” . Cf. F. K ittel’s Karmada Dictionary (1894). “ This meaning is only
recorded in M onier-W illiams’ Sanskrit Dictionary on the authority of Wilson, who
presum ably got it from his South Indian pandit. I t is not found in ordinary
classical Sanskrit usage.” T h e Chinese: ‘are separated from the heat’.
4 See note 1 on p. 1.
4 CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY

survived. T he new creed may well have originated in one area in which
circumstances, historical and climatic, were unfavourable to the survival
of documents, and then shifted from that to another area, i.e. the N orth­
West where some documents survived the universal destruction and were
preserved either in the climate of Nepal and Central Asia, or in translations
into Chinese and Tibetan. It is not unreasonable to assume that the new
texts existed for a time orally in the Prakrit of the regions in which they
originated, and were only later on, around the beginning of the Christian era,
transferred into a w ritten language, i.e. Buddhist H ybrid Sanskrit which
is unrelated to the Southern Prakrits, but has m any affinities with Ardha-
m agadhl and A pabhram sa and contains a num ber of M iddle-Iranian words
introduced by Indo-Scythians. By some chance we have, as we saw, docu­
m entary evidence to show that the A rapacana alphabet was re-modelled
when it reached the North-W est. T he same remodelling may well have
applied to the Abhidharm a lists1 and to the location of legends. In the
interest of increasing the monastic income from pilgrims Buddhists everywhere
were inclined to locate m ythical events in places within their own neigh­
bourhood. Lam otte makes m uch of the tradition according to which the
G andhavati of the Sadaprarudita story lies in G andhara. Yet the Blue
Annals2 in their tu rn assure us th at “ the city of Chen-tu in Szii-chuan
province is believed to be D harm odgata’s residence” . So no great cer­
tainty can be attained in this field. In any case, the entire story is a late
avadana3 which was added to the Aftasahasrika centuries after its doctrines
had been quite clearly formulated. In other words I believe th at Lam otte
has shown no more than that the P rajnaparam ita had a great success in the
North-W est at the K ushaija period, and that, to use his own words (p. 392),
that region may well be the “fortress and hearth” , though not necessarily
the “ cradle” of the M ahayanistic movement. T he ManjuSrimulakalpa
(L III v. 575) says th at under Kaniska the Prajfiaparam ita was “ established”
(pratif(hita) in the North-W est, but not that it originated there, and it®
Southern origin has not, I think, been definitely disproved.
Two kinds of ideas can be distinguished in the Affa: T he first set contrasts
point by point with the Abhidharma, the second is newly created by the Maha-
yajia. T he persons against whom these writings are directed are perpetually
referred to as the “Disciples and Pratyekabuddhas” . Judging from the

1 T he 119 wholesome dharm as in the com m entary to N agarjuna’s Vigrahavya-

vartani (v. 7) are totally different from those in the Ta-chih-tu-lm. See IH Q xiv,
1938, 314-323.
2 Trsl. Roerich p. 938.
3 W hich has its counterpart in Saddharmapundarika ch. 22 and Samadhiraja ch. 33.
 TH E DEVELOPMENTS IN INDIA 5

Mahaprajnaparamitopadefa (no. 2 cy 1) the new ideas arose historically speaking

as a reaction against the A bhidharm a traditions of the Sarvastivadins. T he
affiliation of the Af(a with the same school is, however, by no means certain.
No distinctive Sarvastivadin doctrines are ever referred to-, and the three
references1 to the Buddhavacana are, as far as I know, still untraced anywhere.
The first is an allusion to the story of Srenika V atsagotra, at i 8-9, which
seems to presuppose a scriptural basis other than Sarpyuktdgama no. 105 (pp.
31c-32). The second is a t iv 94; i.e. uktam hy etad Bhagavata: dharmakayi
Buddha Bhagavantah. ma khalu punar imam bhikfavah satkayam kayani manyadhvam.
dharmakaya-parinifpaltito mam bhikfavo drakfathaifa ca Tathagatakdyo bhutako-
fiprabhavito dratfavyo yad uta prajnaparamita. T he third quotation is at xi
246. uktam hidam Bhagavatd: accha(dsamghdtamatrakam apy aham bhikfavo bhava-
bhinirvrttini na varnayami. sarvam hi saittskrtam anityam, sarvarp. bhayavagatarp duh-
kham, sarvarp traidhatukam Sunyam, sarvadharma anatmanas tad evam sarvam ataivatam
anityam duhkham mparinamadharmakam viditva panditair ihaiva srotaapattiphalam
praptavyam ... ihaiva-arhattvam praptavyam. ma no bhuyas tabhih sampattivipattibhir
duhkhabhuyif{habhih samavadhdnam bhud iti. T he Pali a t A N i 34-5 (quot. M il.
142,6) is rather different: appamattakam pi gutho dugghandam hoti; evam eva kho
aharri bhikkhave appamattakam pi bhavam na vannemi antamaso accharasanghatama-
ttaqi pi-iti.
In any case, the opponents are personified by Sariputra, the most outstand­
ing representative of the traditional A bhidharm a.2 T he A bhidharm a works
have, as we know, developed from num erical summaries called m atrki (Migot
538-9), and in these matrkas we must, I think, see the forerunners of the lists
which figure so prom inently in the Prajnaparam ita Sutras. First of all,
matrka means “ m other” , and Przyluski translates the Chinese equivalent
in the A-yu-wang-ching as “sagesse-mfere” . Secondly, both the Vinaya of the
M ulasarvastivadins and the ASokavadana give the following definition of the
mMrkapitaka (M igot p. 524): It clarifies the distinguishing points of that which
ought to be known (jneya). It comprises the four applications of mindfulness,
the four right efforts, the four roads to psychic power, the five dominants,
the five powers, the seven limbs of enlightenm ent, the eight limbs of the Path,
the four analytical knowledges, the aranasamadhi, the pranidhanasamadhi.3

1 T he fourth, a t xii 256, refers to AK-vyakhya 23 an d S N iv 52, b u t is not distinctive

o f any school.—T here are other quotations at xviii 346-7, xix 356-8, xxii 405, xxviii
445, b u t they are not m uch use for historical purposes, an d m ay even refer to other
passages in the Prajnaparam ita itself.
2 A. M igot, “ U n grand disciple du Buddha, S ariputra” , BEFEO, X L V I (1954),
pp. 405-554, C hapter X I.
3 J . Przylusky, Le concile de Rajagrha (1926), p. 45.-T his gives 43 items, correspond­
ing to 43 letters in some versions of the A rapacana. I t should be rem em bered that
6 CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY

This is precisely the list which, w ith m any innovations towards the end, takes
up so m uch space in the Prajnaparam ita Sutras.
At some time in Buddhist history, probably towards the end of Anoka’s
reign (Migot 541), the adherents of a com paratively late concern with
prajna (M igot 511-514)1 composed a literature of matrkas. Later on the
rationalists developed this into works on Abhidharm a, the mystics into works
on Prajnaparam ita. S ariputra was traditionally associated with abhidharm ic
prajna, or with “ analytical knowledge” (patisambhida, Asl. 16), and this the
P rajnaparam ita literature regards as both his strength and his limitation.
No longer the dhamma-senapati, no longer next to the Buddha himself in his
wisdom, he now becomes the representative of an inferior kind of knowledge.
His ability to review events impersonally, reducing them into their constitu­
ents according to a prescribed m ethod, is a step in the right direction. But
it is not sufficient. Sariputra is thus, in the M ahayana literature, addressed
by the Buddha as a recipient of the higher wisdom which he has yet failed to
grasp. In the Affa he is subordinated to Subhuti, whom he constantly asks
for information, whose superiority he repeatedly (e.g. at ii 43-4) acknow­
ledges, who occasionally shows up his utter obtuseness (e.g. at i 20), and who
“ reproves” him , “ although the Ven. Sariputra has taken hold of the m atter
correctly as far as the words are concerned” (i 32). His understanding of
why the Bodhisattva is a “great being” or a “ great hero” is contrasted most
unfavourably with that of Subhuti and Purija (i 18-20), who both had
their hearts in the right place. His clear logical m ind does not at all feel
a t home in a doctrine which equates the dream world with the real world
(xix 356-61), and he always tries to tie down to neat formulas and precise
definitions those spiritual phenom ena which transcend them. At viii 187-9
S ariputra gives the attributes of the perfection of wisdom insofar as they
follow from purity, whereas Subhuti understands the absolute purity and
the purity of self. Sariputra, obsessed with his anatta doctrine, cannot
speak of the self as Subhuti does, Subhuti whose understanding is based on the
equivalence of the self and the Absolute, which must seem outrageous to

matrka, according to M onier-W illiams, is also an “ epithet of certain diagrams

written in characters to which a magical power is ascribed” .
1 A. K . W arder in his Preface to the P. T . S. edition of K assapatthera’s Mohavic-
chedani (1961, xix-xxvii) distinguishes six stages in the history of the Pali Matikas
(lists of topics, ‘metrics’). H e believes th a t th e oldest m&tika was the list of 37
bodhipakkhiya dhamma, divided into 7 groups, which the Lord gives as the summary
o f his teaching in D. N. I I 120 (Mahaparinibbanasutta) and which Vbh. 372 simply
calls saddhammo. T he Nettipakarana has 43 bodhipakkhiyii dhamma (p. 112), adding,
according to the cy, 6 sahHas. T he list “gives a consistent and orderly exposition
of the striving or yoga of the early Buddhists” . M any additions were m ade later on.
 TH E DEVELOPMENTS IN INDIA 7

Sariputra. It is greatly conducive to a comprehension of the background of

the prajnaparamita if one notes the formulations of prajna which are put into
the mouth of Sariputra (cf. furtherm ore iii 77, vii 170-3, 176-7, 181-3, viii
190, x 211-13, xvi 309-20, xxvii 444), and which constitute the agreed
starting point of the debate between the M ahayana and its H inayana oppo­
nents.
Although the rivalry with the H inayana is intense, the term itself is rarely
used.1 The contrast is in the m ain a fivefold one:
1) The ideals, aims and career of a Bodhisattva are opposed to those of the
Arhat and Pratyekabuddha. 2) The perfection o f wisdom is contrasted with the
wisdom of the old schools. 3) T he Abhidharmists were constantly occupied
in “reviewing” dharmas. By contrast it is said often that one “should not review
dharm as” . T he Abhidharmists were probably too self-conscious of w hat they
were doing, and presumably not w ithout some touch of self-centred pride.
4) The Abhidharmists acquired great skill in reviewing the rise and fa ll of
dharmas. Here they are taught that there is no such thing, because of the
non-production of all dharmas. 5) A multiplicity of separate dharm as was consi­
dered to constitute the ultim ate reality. Here it is taught that a) there is
no such multiplicity, because all is one; b) there are no separate dharmas,
but w hat appears to be so are mere words.
As for the new ideas, one must always bear in m ind th at in these Sutras
we are not dealing with a series of philosophical propositions about the
nature of things, but with a set of practices designed to bring about a state of
complete detachm ent by intellectual methods. Among the new ideas one
m ay single out three:
1) T he greater interest in the Absolute leads to such terms as “ Suchness”
etc. O n the whole, the terminology is , however, that of the O ld Wisdom
School. 2) T he new concept of skill in means, through which, in the spiritually
advanced, all doings and thoughts become tools of an all-embracing com­
passion. 3) The concept of the dedication o f merit. O ne gives up the merit
one has acquired, and transfers it to other beings, so that they may gain full
enlightenment.
T he thousands of lines of the P rajnaparam ita can be summed up in the
following two sentences: 1) O ne should become a Bodhisattva (or, Buddha-
to-be), i.e. one who is content with nothing less than all-knowledge attained
through the perfection of wisdom for the sake of all beings. 2) There is
no such thing as a Bodhisattva, or as all-knowledge, or as a ‘being’, or as the
perfection of wisdom, or as an attainm ent. T o accept both these contra-
1 I t occurs a t xi 238. But other combinations w ith hina (inferior) are freely used
of opponents, e.g. hinajatika, hinaprajfia, hinavirya, hinasattva and hinadhimuktika.
8 CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY

dictory facts is to be perfect.

N ot everything that we find in our present text of the Af(a belongs to
the same period. Like m any other O riental works, the Affa has been sub­
jected to additions and alterations in the course of the centuries, to suit the
taste of different generations. T he internal evidence of the text itself, a
comparison with Rgs (no. 5A), with the larger recensions of the Prajn&p&ra-
mita (no. 1-4) and with the early Chinese translations make it possible to
separate the most obvious accretions from the basic original text which, in
its turn, must have grown gradually:
I. T hree chapters, X X IX to X X X II, are clearly later than the rem ainder
of the book. They are not found in either $ or Rgs. C hapter X X IX is a
litany, and chapters X X X to X X X I give the story,—carried on into the
first page of chapter X X X II—of how the Bodhisattva S adaprarudita (‘Ever-
weeping’) went out to seek for perfect wisdom. This story serves the purposes
of propaganda and edification. Its authors wished to inspire devotion to
the perfection of wisdom, to show that inability to understand it is b u t due to
the unworthiness of people who are unwilling to make the necessary sacrifices,
and to indicate the conditions under which it can be attained.
II. A set of four additions (i.e. X IX 365, 7-369; xxvii 449, 12-452, 15;
457-458; xxviii 464a-474) can be inferred from the fact that the nam e of
the Buddha Akfobhya occurs in them. Aksobhya was very popular at the
beginning of the Christian era, and his special connection with the Prajfta-
param ita, in its origin perhaps due to psychological considerations,1 contin­
ued right into the T antric period (see p. 15). A closer exam ination of the
four passages in question shows that the text was worked over at a time
when the cult of Aksobhya came into vogue, and th at a follower of th at cult
inserted a num ber of references to him.
Once these later additions are elim inated, chapters X X V to X X V III
(and X X X II) present a fairly coherent argum entation, which a t one stage
of the development of the text could easily have been a fitting conclusion to
the Prajflaparam ita. The chapters in question would then consist of two
different treatises, i.e. 1) the praise of the supreme excellence of perfect
wisdom (X X V 424 to X X V III 460, 14), and 2) the entrusting of the sutra
to A nanda (X X V III 460-464a, X X X II 527-529). Such a parindana was

1 Im perturbability is the special result of wisdom, as shown by a passage in M&trce-

ta’s SatapaOcaiatka, v. 96:
Hlasampada iuddhah prasamo dhyanasampadd
tvam prajHasampada-aksobhyo hradah punyamaho mahan.
“You are a great lake of m erit, pure through your perfect morality, serene (or
calm) through your perfect m editation, unperturbed (or ‘untroubled’, not ‘unshak­
able’ as S.B.) through your perfect wisdom.”
 TH E DEVELOPMENTS IN INDIA 9

added to some M ahayana Sutras, as a means of contending for their authen­

ticity as the word of the Buddha himself.1
III. A few other suspected additions m ay be mentioned in passing.
Chapters V III and IX have been worked over by a later hand, and chapter
X III seems to be posterior to Rgs. T he passage X X 380, 13 to X X I, 395
begins abruptly, the argum entation is fairly incoherent, the style fumbling
and clumsy, and the whole is largely an afterthought to chapter X V II.
Likewise the bulk of chapters X X II to X X IV seems to be a later insertion.
A verse summary of this text, or a t least of its first 28 chapters, is called
Verses on the Accumulation o f the Precious Qualities o f the Perfection o f Wisdom
(no. 5A), in 302 verses in irregular V asantatilaka metre. M any of the
early M ahayana Sutras exist in two forms, in verse and in prose. Usually
the verse form is the earlier of the two. The original Ratnagunasamcayagatha
is now lost. All we possess is H aribhadra’s revision, which to some extent
brings the text in line with the chapter divisions of the Aftasdhasrika, as they
existed in the 8th century.
T he status of this work is not quite clear. There are three possibilities:
1) T he verses formed originally p art of the Affa, and were later on sepa­
rated. 2) T he verses are the original form of the Affa. 3) T he verses have
been m ade up afterwards. I t is very difficult to come to a decision on
this, because, whereas in some instances the correspondence between Rgs
and A is nearly literal, in others where the text of A is summed up or rewritten,
it sometimes appears th at the text of A is prior to Rgs, because Rgs is elliptic
and unintelligible w ithout reference to A.
In chapters 1 to 28, the Rgs follows the text of A fairly closely. There
are, however, even in that section a num ber of verses, i.e. 31, or 36, one
seventh of the total, which have no counterpart in our text of A. These are
iii 8, v 2 (?), 5-8, vii 7, ix 1, xii 6-9, xiv 1 (?), xix 3-5, xx 5-7, 11, 12 (?),
13, 14 (?), 15, 16 (?), 17-20, xxi 8, xxii 6, xxiii 1, 3, xxiv 2, 6, xxvi 2, 3, xxvii
8. O n the other hand, the following passages of A are unrepresented in our
text of Rgs: ii 33-4, 41; iii 50-57, 10; 75-80, 82-92; v. 102-112, 114-122;
vi 138, 12-142, 12; 143, 3-150, 11; 161-169; vii 170-1; viii 196-9; ix 200,201­
211, 5; x 221-230; xi 235-238, 240-242, 244-248; xii 257, 20-281, 8; xiii
281-283, xvi 312-321, xix 357-360, 365-369, xxii 405-409, xxiii 410-413,
414-415, xxiv 417-420, 421-423, xxv 428-430, xxvi 434-435, xxvii 444-446,
449, 19-452, 9 ; xxviii 457-458, 459-466, 471-474, xxix 475-xxxii 529.

I T h e Saddharmapundarika is entrusted to a group o f great Bodhisattvas (p. 484),

the TathagataguhyanirdeSa, a section of the Ratnakuta, to the Bodhisattva Guhyaka
V ajrapani, the Vimalakirlinirdesa to M aitreya, the Sandhinirmocana to ManjuSri
(Lamotte, Asiatica, p. 383).
10 CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY

These are roughly 240 out of 529 pages, or between one h alf and one third
of the total.
The verses which are given under chapters 29 to 32 of Rgs do not at all
correspond to the text of A. Chapters 29 to 31 describe the five paramitds,
beginning with the dhyanaparamita and ending with the danaparamita, while
chapter 32 first o f all explains in 5 verses the rewards of practising the six
perfections, w ith verse 6 forming the conclusion of the whole work and giving
its title.

2. About the beginning of the Christian era the basic Prajnaparam ita was
expanded into a “ Large Prajfiaparam ita” , as represented today by three
different texts—Perfect Wisdom in 100,000 Lines, Perfect Wisdom in 25,000 Lines,
and Perfect Wisdom in 18,000 Lines. These three texts are really one and the
same book. They only differ in the extent to which the “ repetitions” are
copied out. A great deal of traditional Buddhist m editation is a kind of
repetitive drill, which applies certain laws or principles to a certain num ber
of fixed categories. If, for instance, you take the statem ent th at “ X is em pti­
ness and the very emptiness is X ” , then the version in 100,000 lines labor­
iously applies this principle to about 200 items, beginning w ith form, and
ending w ith the dharmas, or attributes, which are characteristic of a Buddha.
Four-fifths of the Satasahasrika, or at least 85,000 of its 100,000 lines, are m ade
up by the repetition of formulas, which sometimes (as in ch. 13 and 26)
fill hundreds of consecutive leaves. An English translation of the Large
Prajfiaparam ita, minus the repetitions, forms a handy volume of about 600
printed pages (see p. 37). T he reader of the Sanskrit or T ibetan version
must, however, struggle through masses and masses of monotonous repetitions
which interrupt and obscure the trend of the argum ent. T he versions in
25,000 and in 18,000 Lines are so m uch shorter because they give fewer
items, sometimes only the first and the last. A version in 125,000 Lines, if
it ever existed, is now lost. T he version in 25,000 Lines was a favorite with
commentators, and the one in 18,000 Lines seems to have been popular in
C entral Asia.
In addition two short texts, which are more in the nature of specialized
treatises, and which show some affinity to the Ratnakufa collection, belong to
the early centuries of the Christian era (see p. 20). T he one, a Perfect
Wisdom in 500 Lines, also called “The questions of the Bodhisattva Naga£ri” ,
(no. 12) applies the basic concepts of the Prajfiaparam ita to the various aspects
of begging for alms, o f eating, of food, etc. The other, the “ Prajfiaparam ita
Sutra explaining how Benevolent Kings may protect their Countries” , is
m ainly concerned with the practical effects of the Prajfiaparam ita on society.
 TH E DEVELOPMENTS IN INDIA 11

It explains how a ruler’s devotion to the P rajnaparam ita will increase his
merit, and will call forth the protection of great and m ighty Bodhisattvas,
who will ward off all calamities from his country and his people. The
greater part of the Sutra may have been written in China.

3. The huge bulk and chaotic arrangem ent of the Large Prajfiaparam ita
proved an obstacle to later generations (see p. 101). T he exuberance
and pious ardor of three centuries had produced a huge unwieldy text,
invested with a high prestige, but very hard to grasp. The thought, extremely
abstract and profound, was not easy to follow. T hen there was the huge
load of repetitions to cope with. And finally, since the work was a com­
bination of a num ber of disjointed treatises composed a t different times
which reflected the interests of succeeding generations of Buddhists, one
had to sort out the different arguments, which in a most disconcerting
way jum ped from one subject to another. T he challenge was met in two
ways; by new, shorter Sutras of a philosophical character, and by
condensed summaries of the large text.

a. Among the shorter Sutras, the finest are the two earliest, both before A.D.
400, the “ H eart Sutra” in 25, or 14, and the “ Diam ond S utra” in 300 Lines.
The “ H eart Sutra” , one of the sublimest spiritual documents of mankind, is
a restatem ent of the four Holy Truths, reinterpreted in the light of the
dom inant idea of emptiness. T he “ Diam ond Sutra” , in spite of its rather
chaotic arrangem ent of great renown in the East, does not pretend to give
a systematic survey of the teachings of the Prajfiaparam ita. It confines itself
to a few central topics, and appeals directly to a spiritual intuition which
has left the conventions of logic far behind. This Sutra is one of the most
profound, sublime and influential of all M ahayana Scriptures. It develops
the consequences of seeing all things as void of self. Although the term
“ em pty” is not m entioned even once, the doctrine of emptiness is nevertheless
established in an ontological, psychological and logical form.
Ontologically, the selflessness of everything means th at there is no dharmas.
Even the ultimates of Buddhist analysis do not exist in themselves, nor does
the doctrine which contains that analysis. Psychologically, we are urged to
“raise a thought” which is not fixed, or attached, anywhere, or which does
not “stand about anywhere” (ch. 10, 4), or which is supported nowhere,
does not lean on anything, does not depend on anything. Logically, the Sutra
teaches that each one of the chief Buddhist concepts is equivalent to its
contradictory opposite. A special formula is here employed to express this
thought, i.e. “A mass of merit, a mass of merit, Subhuti, as a no-mass has
12 CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY

that been taught by the T athagata. In that sense has He spoken of it as a

‘mass of m erit’ ” (ch. 19, 8). The same, or a similar, formula is used for
beings (14f, 17f, 21b), the marks of a T athagata (5, 13d, 20, 26a), the consti­
tuents (dharmas) o fa Buddha (8; cf. 17e), the four Fruits (9a-d), Buddhafields
(10b, 17g), personalities (10c), particles of dust (13c), true perception (14a),
the perfection of patience (I4e), the perception, or notion, of beings (14f),
endowment with a body (17e), trends of thought (18b), the T athagata’s
perfect m aterial body (20a), the dem onstration of D harm a (21a), wholesome
dharm as (23), seizing on a self (25), foolish common people (25), the T ath a­
gata (29), collections of atoms (30a), world systems (30b), seizing on m aterial
objects (30b), the view of self (31a), and the notion of dharm a (31b).
Sutras of the same type, probably of the fifth and the early sixth centuries,
are the “ Perfect Wisdom in 700 Lines” (before A.D. 500) and “ Perfect
Wisdom in 2,500 Lines” (before A.D. 550), also known as the “ Questions of
the Bodhisattva Suvikrantavikram in”—and there is also a rather undistin­
guished “ Perfect Wisdom in 50 Lines” . T he version in 700 Lines deserves to
be better known. It tries to give a novel treatm ent to all the basic teach­
ings of Perfect Wisdom. From the earlier works it differs by its stress on
the startling, paradoxical, self-contradictory and nonsensical character of the
doctrine of emptiness. Another new feature, observed also in the “ Questions
of Suvikrantavikram in” , is the endeavor to bring out the “hidden m eaning”
of the sayings of the Buddha. H ere we have to see the influence of the
Yogacarins.

b. Among the Versified Summaries the most outstanding is the Abhxsamaya-

alankara, “A Treatise explaining the Perfection of Wisdom, or M emorial
Verses on the Reunion (with the Absolute)” , a work of the fourth century,
ascribed by tradition to “ M aitreya, the Saviour” (M aitreyanatha). T he
work is a brilliant versified T able of Contents, which in 273 memorial verses
and in nine chapters of unequal length, sums up the contents of the Pancavim-
Satisahasrika Sutra, brings out the logical sequence of its arguments, and a t the
same time assigns to each section of the text a place on the stages of spiritual
progress which Buddhist tradition had m apped out, thus everywhere showing
the practical way by which one can become a Buddha. Although a shade too
schematic a t times, the treatise is invaluable for anyone who wishes to study
the Sutra. In both India and T ibet it has dom inated the exegesis of the
Large Prajnaparam ita for centuries to come, whereas in China it rem ained
unknown. T he divisions of the Abhisa.mayalanka.ra were a t some later time,
probably in the fifth or sixth century, inserted into the text of one of the
recensions of the version in 25,000 Lines (no. 2A).
 TH E DEVELOPMENTS IN INDIA 13

O ther Yogacarins also produced versified Summaries of teachings of

the Prajflaparam ita—Asanga in the form of a Sastra to the VajracchedikS,
and Dignaga (ca. 450) in his Pinddrtha, which arranges the teaching under 32
subjects, and dwells chiefly on the 16 kinds of emptiness and the antidotes to
the ten kinds of false im putation.

4. After A.D. 600, with the spread of Tantric ideas, came the desire to
adapt the P rajnaparam ita teachings to the new trend of thought and taste.
The new concepts of V ajrayana philosophy are, however, introduced only
in the case of the AdhyardhaSatika (no. 17; cf. 26). T he T antric phase of the
Prajflaparam ita is m arked by three distinctive features:
An attem pt is m ade to compress the message of the Prajflaparam ita into
the short, b u t effective, form o f spells. In the Aftasahasrika already the
prajhaparamitd had been described as a vidya, and Ind ra had been advised to
use it to defeat the heretics and Asuras (A iii pp. 55, 72-74). T he Hrdaya
(ca. 350) had added a definite mantra, and K um arajiva’s translation of the
Mahamayuri (ca. 400) mentions, a t the beginning, a prajnaparamita-dhdrani1.
The great prestige of the Prajflaparam ita suggested its use as a source of
wonderworking power, and from the 6th century onwards the civil authorities
used the Sutra for penitential services and to work ritual magic,2 i.e. to
produce rain, remove pestilence, etc., and in the 7th century both Harsavar-
dhana and Hsuan-tsang employed the Hrdaya for purposes of personal protec­
tion. *‘A t first, when the M aster of the Law was dwelling in Shuh (S.W.
China, ca. 618), he saw a diseased m an, whose body was covered with ulcers,
his garm ents tattered and filthy. Pitying the m an he took him to his convent,
and gave him clothing and food; the sick m an, moved by a feeling of deep
gratitude, gave to the M aster of the Law this little Sutra book (i.e. the
Hrdaya), and on this account he was in the habit of reeiting it continually.
Arriving a t the Sha-ho (Sandy Desert), as he passed through it, he encountered
all sorts of demon shapes and strange goblins, which seemed to surround
him behind and before. Although he invoked the nam e of Kwan-yin, he
could not drive them all aw ay; but when he recited this Sutra, at the sound
of the words they all disappeared in a moment. W henever he was in danger,
it was to this alone th at he trusted for his safety and deliverance.”3 In the
T an tric literature the prajflaparam ita has been expressed through the

1 T 988 i, vol. 19, p. 482, col. 3, line 14 ju st mentions prajHaparamitddharani, Ava-

lokiteSvaradharani, and then proceeds to an enum eration of the heavens. The
term is not found in the Sanskrit text of the Mahamayuri.
2 M . W . de Visser, Ancient Buddhism in Japan, I (1928), I I (1935).
3 H wui Li, The Life o f Hiuen-tsiang, trsl. S. Beal (1914), pp. 21-22.
14 CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY

medium of numerous bija-mantras (usually Dhih for the yellow, and Pam for
the white forms), mantras and dharanis (see p. 89).
By about A.D. 550 the production of Sutras in the old style seems to have
come to an end. Between A.D. 600 and 1200 a num ber of T antric abbre­
viations of the P rajnaparam ita were then composed, all very short. T he
most interesting is the “ Perfection of Wisdom in a Few W ords” (no. 18),
which is designed as a counterpart to the “ H eart Sutra” . While the Htdaya
is addressed to the spiritual elite, this Sutra appeals to the less endowed, to
beings who have “ but little capacity to act” , who “have little m erit” , who
are “ dull and stupefied” . Ten other T antric Prajfiaparamita. texts are found
in the T ibetan K anjur (no. 17, 19-26, 32). O ne of these, “ Perfect Wisdom
in O ne Letter” , deserves mention for its brevity, the one letter “ A” being said
to contain and represent the Perfection of Wisdom. Another text gives the
108 “names” or “ epithets” of Perfect Wisdom, and another the 25 “ Doors”
by which it may be approached. A T antric text which is in a class by itself
is the “ Perfection of Wisdom in 150 Lines” (no. 17), before A.D. 650, which,
although called a Prajnaparam ita, expounds the new ideas of T antric Bud­
dhism.
Finally, personified as a deity, the Prajnaparam ita is inserted into the
pantheon of mythological figures, becomes the object of a cult, and a num ber
of R itual Texts describe the methods by which her spiritual power can be
evoked. T he personification of the Prajfiaparam ita goes back to the fourth
century. Statues of the Prajnaparam ita are attested in India as early as
400 A.D. by Fa-hsien’s account (cf. S. Beal, Si-yu-ki, I, p. xxxix). All
the early representations of the Prajfiaparam ita are now lost. No surviving
example seems to be older than ca. A.D. 800. T he earliest literary docu­
ments are preserved only in Chinese. The oldest is the Dharanisamuccaya
(no. 33), translated before 625. A.D. In its section on the Bodhisattvas it
gives a long chapter on the Prajfiaparam ita, which begins with a prajhapara-
mitamahahrdaya-sutra. It then proceeds to make remarks on the figure of the
prajnaparam ita (see p. 88), its mudras, m antras, m aijdala and ritual. H ere
we have (p. 805b) our earliest description of a T antric two-armed P. P.
(lC d). O ur second docum ent is a Commentary to the Nirmd (no. 34), which
was translated into Chinese about 750 A.D. There the Prajfiaparam ita is
said to sit cross-legged on a white lotus. T he body is golden yellow, grave and
majestic, with a precious necklace and a crown, from which silken bands hang
down on both sides. H er left hand, near her heart, carries the book. H er
right hand, near her breasts, makes the gesture of argum entation.1 A statue
1 Seppo-in. Cf. de Visser, Ancient Buddhism in Japan, p. 173.-In this case, the ring
finger touches the thum b. In others, it is the forefinger (e. g. a Buddha in T un-
 TH E DEVELOPMENTS IN INDIA 15

in the Lam a temple in Peking is the one surviving work of art which cor­
responds to this description.1
In the Mi-tsung form of Tantrism the Prajftaparam ita occurs twice in
the garbhadhatumandala. T he Prajnaparam ita is, however,- not among the
110 persons m entioned in the Vairocana-sutra, nor among the 164 of Subha-
karasim ha’s commentary. It is found only in the genzus (see p. 27), which
go back to about 800 A.D. In the com m entary to the Vairocana Sutra
(T 1796; IV , 623a, 12-15) we read that the officiant, in order to contemplate
Vairocana, “stood between the two vidyaraja (i.e. A calanatha and Trailokya-
vijaya)” . This place, where he identified himself with Vairocana, was
called the “ cham ber of the Buddha” . W hen the officiant left it, his place
should be taken either by his svadhidevata, or by the prajnaparamitasutra.
Originally, so the Japanese assume,2 the Maxidata was a real structure on
the ground, in which the officiant stood in person. W hen he left the M aij-
dala, the Sutra was placed on the spot where he had stood. Later on, when
the M a$dala became a painting, the place of the officiant was unoccupied,
and the image of the Prajnaparam ita was inserted in his stead. Several
very early rituals (vidhi, vidhana) relating to the Vairocana Sutra already
m ention all the five persons of the V idyadharavrti. T 851, which is attributed
to Subhakarasim ha himself (A.D. 716-735) describes the four vidyaraja sis
placed underneath V airocana (p. 100 b-c) and, a bit further on (p. 106b
16-25), the prajnaparamita vidyarajni as placed in front of Vairocana. She
has six arm s: the first left hand carried the pothi on the palm , the first right
hand is in the mudra of protection; the second left hand is raised to the navel,
the second right hangs down in varada; the third right and left hands are in
the “basic mudra” (i.e. the dharm acakra?). She carries arm or and head­
dress, and is called the “m other of the Buddha” .
T he Manjuirimulakalpa describes a t least two m andalas in which the Prajfia-
param ita occurs as a subordinate figure. O ne of them is a very elaborate
m aijdala of Sakyamuni in which she figures twice,3 another has MaftjuSri
for its central figure.4
T he developed V ajrayana places the Prajftaparam ita with Aksobhya,
V ajrapaiji and others into the dvefa family. The connection, which began
very early (see p. 8), continued to be m aintained by psychological links.

huang an d T ibet), in others again the m iddle finger (some Chinese Buddhas).
1 lC c Cf. E. Conze, T Y B S 247-8, 264-5.
2 Mikkyo Daijiten, I I (Kyoto, 1932), p. 1029.Toganoo Shoun, Mandara no Kenkyu
(Koyasan, 1927), p. 144.
3 II, p. 40, trsl. BEFEO, X X III, 313-4.
4 xxviii, p. 318. M . Lalou. Iconographie des Itoffes peintes (1930), pp. 64-5, Planche
V II.
16 CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY

The Prajnaparam ita would appeal to those who are dom inated by hate,
since aggressiveness aims at “smashing the offence” , and a more thorough
annihilation of the world than by the analysis of the P rajnaparam ita is not
easily conceived. How different from the attitude of those who are dom inated
by greed, and who find their outlet in bhakti\l A num ber of sadhanas of the
P rajnaparam ita are preserved in the Sddhanamala (see no. 35). All the
yellow forms are docum ented in works of art, in Java, India, Nepal or T ibet
(see Oriental Art, 1949 = TYB S 263sq.). T he drawing of the white P rajna­
param ita in the “Five hundred gods of N arthang” , section Rin-byun 67a
corresponds to sadhana 154. In addition to the visual appearance of the
Prajnaparam ita, each sadhana gives the germ syllable and the m antra which
correspond to each form (see p. 89). The m antra for no. 153 is om dhlh
Sruti-sm.rti-vija.ye svahi. The m antra of the six-armed M i-tsung form is om
dhi Sri truta vijaye svdha, and the Katrfika (no. 19) has under no. X IV , om dhl
h i Sruti smrti mati gati vijaye svaha. Dhi is usually explained as dharmadhatu.
Otherwise dhih is an abbreviation for prajhd, often used in verses for m etrical
reasons, e.g. A K i pp. 81, 291. It means “ thought, conception” , etc. Others
say th at (as di) it means “splendor” . Sri, “splendor, beauty, prosperity,
glory, majesty” , is used of Laksml. Sruti alludes to the threefold division of
prajna into hutamayi cintamayi bhavandmayi, i.e. the wisdom which consists in
hearing, or learning from others, in reflection, and in m editational develop­
m ent. Vijaya, “ victory” or “ victorious” is personified in Shingon m aijda-
las (cf. Hobdgirin s.v. Bijaya).

5. After A.D. 1200 there are no more works on P rajnaparam ita in India.
Buddhism itself disappeared from th at country. But before th at happened,
the Prajfiaparam ita had experienced a resounding success under the Pala
dyansty, which between 750 and 1200 ruled over M agadha and Bengal, and
patronized a Buddhism which combined Prajnaparam ita and T antra. T ar-
anatha (pp. 217-8) reports that D harm apala (A.D. 770-815) “m ade H ari-
bhadra and B uddhajiianapada his priests, filled all regions with P rajnapa­
ram ita and G uhyasam ajatantra, and ordered that the scholars who knew
Guhyasam aja and the Param itas should occupy the place of honor. Im m e­
diately on ascending the throne, he invited all those who explained the
Prajnaparam ita, but he chiefly honored the Acarya H aribhadra. This king
founded a total of 50 religious schools, of which 35 were devoted to the
exposition o f the Prajfiaparam ita. Beginning with this king, the Prajfiapara­
m ita spread more and m ore” . T he work of interpretation increased in
1 See E. Conze, Hate, love and perfect wisdom, T he M ahabodhi Jo u rn al 62, 1954,
pp. 3-8.—TYBS, 1967, pp. 185-190
 THE DEVELOPMENTS IN INDIA 17

momentum under the Pala dynasty, and about 20 Pala commentaries are
still extant, mostly in T ibetan translations.
The Pala commentators were, however, unaw are of the long historical
development of the Prajnaparam ita literature which we have outlined so
far. To them all the Sutras were not only contem porary with each other,
but also with the Buddha Sakyamuni himself. T heir classification of the
texts is therefore different from that adopted here. D harm am itra, for
instance, in AA-cy 5-2, according to Bu-ston (II 49) classified the extant
Prajnaparam ita texts as follows: T heir subject-m atter may be either (1)
the essence of the doctrine, or (2) the process of intuition of the truth (abhi-
Samaya). The first is expounded in the Hrdaya etc., in discourses which demon­
strate the absolute truth, i.e. the emptiness of all the elements of existence and
the three doors to deliverance. T he second is expounded in S, the most
detailed of all; P, the most detailed of the discourses of the interm ediate
compass; Ad, the interm ediate of the interm ediate; Da, the most abridged
of the interm ediate; A, the most detailed of the abridged; and Rgs, the most
abridged of the abridged. These all have the same subject m atter, which is
the teaching about the eight forms of the intuition of the Path. They differ
only in being either m ore diffused or more abridged. Tson-kha-pa, in AA-cy
15, objects, however, that the Samcaya, as forming chapter 84 of Ad, cannot
be regarded as an independent Sutra.
A nother T ibetan division is as follows:
rtsa-ba (mula) yan-lag (anga, branches)

yum drug 11 sras all the others

no. 1-5, 5A no. 7, 7a, 8 (sum brgya-pa?),
17, 9, ner lna-pa, 6, 19, 32, 18, 11

T he teachers of this period regarded the Prajnaparam ita as the B uddha’s

“second turning of the wheel of D harm a” (as already A ix 203 had done),
the H lnayana being the first, and the Yogacara the third. Bu-ston (I 48-51)
remarks on this subject that the teaching of this period is that of emptiness,
and aims at causing all those who had adhered to false views to abstain
from them , and at directing them to the unique vehicle to salvation, to the
doctrine of emptiness and of monism (ekanaya). The place where it was
delivered was the G rdhrakuta m ountain. “T he duration of time was,
according to Tho-lo 30 years, according to Chim-pa 27 years, according to
Chag 31 years, and according to others 12 years.” In the larger Sutras, from
100,000 to 8,000 Lines, the enquirers are always the same i.e. Subhuti,
Sariputra, A nanda, etc., and so is the prophecy granted to the Goddess of
the Ganges. They were therefore delivered at the same time, although they
18 CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY

were expounded differently, in conformity with the faculties of the listeners.

According to whether that is weak, interm ediate or keen, one is m ade to
understand the doctrine in three ways, i.e. as detailed, interm ediate or
abridged. T he Prajnaparam ita in its full extent is not to be found among
men, but only among superhum an beings.1

1 Bu-ston I I 170: “T he detailed P rajnaparam ita containing 1,000,000,000 flokas

is preserved in the abode of the king of the G andharvas, the interm ediate (of the
detailed), of 10,000,000 ilokas, in the realm of the king of the Gods, and the abridged
(of the detailed), th at is the Satascihasrika, exists in its complete form in the region
of the Nagas.”
 B. T H E D EV ELO PM EN TS O U T SID E IND IA

1. In China translations of Prajnaparamita texts had a decisive influence

on the development of Buddhist thought. T heir basic ideas had a close
affinity with the indigenous tradition of the neo-Taoist “ Dark Learning” ,
and in consequence they enjoyed a quite extraordinary vogue in the third
and fourth centuries of our era. For that early period only a knowledge of
the versions in 8,000 and 25,000 flokas is attested with any degree of certainty.
The AffasShasrika was first m ade accessible in 179-180 A.D. by Lokaksema
(Chih-lu-chia-ch’an), an Indo-Scythian from Kushaija. T he translation in
10 fasc. is called the Tao-hsing Sutra, the “ Sutra of the Practice of the W ay” 1
(T 224). Lokaksema collaborated with Chu Shuo-fo, an Indian, and with
several Chinese laymen (Z 35). His version is described as “ crude and
sometimes hardly intelligible” (Z 61). W hen we compare it with our present
Sanskrit text we find m any omissions, and much seems abbreviated (e.g. ix
205-7, xxviii 462 sq.), also there are a few transpositions (e.g. iv 98-99
comes before page 96; also the hym n at vii 170-1 is rearranged). O n some
occasions the text is nearer to that of the Large Prajnaparam ita than to the
Affa (e.g. a t i 3, 17, 30), and on others there are great differences which
cannot always be explained by Lokaksema’s incomprehension' (e.g. at i
26-7, 29, 32, viii 185, 192, viii 199-ix 200, 202-3). About half a century
later, ca. 225, Chih C h’ien, an Indo-Scythian who went from Lo-yang to
Chien-yeh, m ade another translation of A (T 225; B 289; cf. 117-9). This
is more polished than Lokaksema’s, but rather free, and guided by the
desire “ to present the doctrine to the literate public in a more palatable
form” . The first chapter contains m any anonymous com m entarial additions
(Z 54) and probably belongs to a later period2. Although it was a “ high­
ly polished and very ‘Chinese’ version” , it lost its influence soon after
“ the first half of the third century” (Z 65). In 382, Dharm apriya, a H indu
iramana, together with Chu Fo-nien, translated an extract, only 13 chapters
of A (T 226; B 156, Z 202, 204, 394).
T he Pancavirrifatisahasrika was first translated in 286 by Dharmaraksa,
an Indo-Scythian from Tun-huang, from an Ms brought from K hotan.
Dharm araksa worked together with Gltam itra. O nly a part of his version,

1 B 39-40 —T he earliest catalogues also m ention another H an version of A

(or of p art of it), in one chuan, ascribed to C hu Shuo-fo or to Lokaksema, Z 332.
2 A was translated a century later by W ei Shih-tu (B 134). This translation is
lost. But see Z 78. - cf. Z 53 for w hat might be another lost translation of A.
20 CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY

up to chapter 27, has come down to us (T 222; cf. B 86, Z 65-70, 197).
Another translation of P followed in 291, when the Khotanese Moksala
translated at T s’ang-yuan, together with the sinicised upasaka Chu Shu-lan,
a birch bark text of P, brought from K hotan (T 221). It is called “ The
Scripture of the Emission of Rays” , in view of the first chapter of P which
describes the miracles performed by the Buddha as a prelude to the preaching
of the Sutra. This work “ perhaps more than any other scripture would
come to play a dom inant role in the form ation of Chinese Buddhist thought”
(Z 63). All the “ indigenous schools of speculative thought” in the 4th
century “were prim arily based upon different interpretations of the older
versions of the Prajnaparamita", notably that of Moksala and Lokaksema
Z 65).1 In 304 the text was once more revised, and “ the redactors divided
the text into twenty chiian and added section headings” (Z 64).
Any translations of other texts that may have been m ade in this period
are now lost, and we cannot be sure that they ever existed. Yen Fo-t’iao
of Southern China is credited with a translation of the version in 500 Lines,
under the title Ta-pan-jo-na-chia-shih-li-fen (made under the H an according
to Chen.g-yii.an hsin-ting shih-chiao mu-lu II, T 2157, p. 780 a-b. And Dhar-
maraksa may have, between 307 and 313, translated the Ninno (B 96, 192).
A new development starts with Kum arajlva, who was born in A.D. 344
as a native of Kucha, and came to China in 385, where from 401 to 413 he
worked at C h’ang-an. H e translated the versions in 25,000 and 8,000 Lines
(T 223 and 227), the “Diam ond Sutra” (T 235), N agarjuna’s large com­
m entary to the version in 25,000 Lines (T 1509), and perhaps (see Hikata
p. xxiii) the Ninno (T 245, which is said to be quite similar to that of
Dharm araksa (Bagchi 193)). His pupils translated the Hrdaya (T 250).
The Hrdaya was first attributed to K um arajlva in the K ’ai-yuan-shih-chiao-lu
in 730. The table in JA s 1931, p. 155 reveals a tendency to m ultiply Kum a-
rajlva’s works as time went on.
Between 420 and 479 Shih Hsiang-kung, a Chinese monk, produced the
second translation of the PancaSatika (T 234; Bagchi 404). Shortly after
500 the SaptaSatika was twice translated, first by M andrasena (T 232) and
then by Sanghabhara (T 233), both from Fu-nan in Cambodia. M an-
drasena worked for a time with Sanghabhara in Nanking, then the capital
of Liang. He knew little Chinese, and his translation is obscure (Bagchi
414—7). A little later, in 509, Bodhiruci, of N orthern India, translated
the “Diam ond Sutra” for the second time (T 236), as well as some of its
commentaries (T 1511 and 1512, ascribed to Vasubandhu). A lost trans­

1 L. H urvitz, “ Chih T u n ’s Notions of P rajn a,” JA O S 88, 1968, pp. 243-261.

 T H E DEVELOPMENTS OUTSIDE INDIA 21

lation of a Ninnd i belongs to the same century, although the information

about it seems to be conflicting. I t was done either by Chen-ti in the Chiang-
hsi province (ca. 535-546), or it is ascribed to Chen-ti (Param artha) who
wrote it in 554 (Bagchi 193, 422-3). Param artha’s Jen-wang pan-jo-shu,
(6 fasc.) of 549 (Bagchi 424), is of course, a different, though related, work.
In 565 U paiunya from Central India translates the Questions of the Deva-
king Pravara (T 231; Bagchi 266, 431). About the same time, in 562, Para­
m artha of Ujjayin! in West India, produced the third translation of the
“Diam ond Sutra” (T 237; Bagchi 425), while about 600 D harm agupta from
South India, who worked between 591 and 619 in China, produces the fourth
(T 238; Bagchi 467), a very literal one, and also translates one commentary
to it (T 1510).'
Hsuan-tsang, who returned from India in 645, worked between 659 and
663 on his translation of the “ G reat Prajnaparam ita” (T 220; vol. V, 1-1074;
V I, 1-1073; V II, 1-1110), in 600 fascicles. It consist^ of the “ 16 meetings
in 4 places” , i.e. of 16 sermons held respectively on V ulture Peak (1-6,
15), in A nathapindada’s Park a t Sravasti (7-9, 11-14), in the Abode of the
Paranirm itavaiavartin Gods (10), and at the Snowy H eron Pond in the
Bamboo Park near R ajagrha (16; the Sanskrit gives: Rajagrhe...Venuvane
Kalandakanivape). This translation comprises the following texts1:

1. no. l (S) 400 fasc.

2. no. 2 (P) f. 401-478
3. no. 3 (Ad) f. 479-537 T he Fa-yiian chu-lin (T 2122), ch. 100, says
that the original was in 18,000 verses.
4. no. 5 (A) f. 538-555 Corresponds closely to Sanskrit A, though
less than the Sung translation (T 228).
5. no. 5 (A) f. 556-565 T he Fa-yiian chu-lin, ch. 100, says that the
original was in 4,000 verses. A great deal
of it, though not all, corresponds to part 4.
I t represents a primitive state of the text,
com parable to the one translated in the
2nd century A.D.
6. no. 12a f. 566-573
7. no. 7 (Sa) f. 574-575
8. no. 12 (Na) f. 576
9. no. 8 (V) f. 577. A.D. 648
10. no. 17 (150) f. 578
1 For the first five items see also Yamada’s Table (Bongo Batten no Shobunken,
1959) and Hikata’s Table II.
22 CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY

11.-15. no. 14 f. 579-592

16. no. 6 (Su) f. 593-600.

In addition, Hsuan-tsang in 649 translated the Hrdaya (T 251). His

translation is practically identical with that of K um arajlva. It uses (at
no. 7) a different character for ‘skandha’, omits the two additions which
Kum arajlva had inserted after no. 9 and no. 21, and omits the words
mahamantro at no. 52 where also 5 Nepalese manuscripts and the T ibetan
translations have only mantro. (The numbers refer to JR A S 1948, pp.
34-7 = T YB S 149-153).
Divakara, a monk from Central India, greatly interested in magic, trans­
lated no. 8-cy 3 in 683. Bodhiruci, from Southern India, in 693, and Siksa-
nanda from K hotan, who lived in China between 695-705, and 708-10,
translated the Hrdaya. Both translations are now lost, and we know of them
only through a Catalogue (T 2154 of A.D. 730). Then I-ching, the famous
Chinese traveller, in 703 translates the Vajracchedika for the fifth and last
time (T 239), as well as 8 cy-1, and 1-1 and 1-1-3 in 711. In 693 Bodhiruci
of South India and about 725 Vajrabodhi, who had studied at Nalanda,
m ade the second and third translation of the AdhyardhaSatika (T 240 and 241).
T hen in 741 D harm acandra (?) from East India for the first time translates
the long text of the Hrdaya (T 252). The body of the Sutra here agrees literally
with K um arajiva’s translation.
Amoghavajra, born in Ceylon, came to China, with Vajrabodhi, his
teacher, in 724, and his work of translating extended from 746 to 771. He
translated the AdhyardhaSatika (T 243), and the Ninno (T 246), adding 36
dharanis at the end of the 7th chapter. The emperor T ’ai-tsung wrote in
765 a preface to the latter work, in which he says that he ordered Amoghavajra
to “complete” this text (M atsumoto p. 21). Amoghavajra also translated
a num ber of texts interpreting the Ninno (no. 27-8, 33-4).
About 790 Prajfta, of Kafiristan, who had studied in Kashm ir and N alanda,
translates the Hrdaya once more (T 253). His translation agrees with that of
K ujnarajiva after line 9. Between 800 and 1000 there was a long pause
in the work of translation, which was only then resumed by a group of trans­
lators. There was just one translation of the Hrdaya, i.e. that of Prajfiacakra,
in 861 (from Central Asia, T 254).
The version in 150 Lines was once again translated, in a very enlarged
form (T 244), by Dharm adeva (?), Fa-t’ien, a monk from N alanda, who
came to China in 973. Deva^anti (?), T ’ien-hsi-tsai, also known as Dharm a-
bhadra (Fa-hsien), from Kashm ir, arrived in China in 980 and died in
1001. H e translated for the first time the RatnagiqiasariicayagathS (T 229)
 THE DEVELOPMENTS OUTSIDE INDIA 23

in 991, the Svalpakfard (T 258) in 982, and two small T antric texts (no.
38 and 39). D anapala (?) (Shih-hu), from O ddiyana, started work in
China in 982. H e translated three Sutras once again, i.e. the Affasdhas-
rika as DaSas&hasrika-prajnaparamita (T 228), the AdhyardhaSatika (T 242) and
the Hrdaya (T 257). O ther texts he translated for the first time, i.e. the
Affaiatika (T 230), Nitartha, ArdhaSatika, Kanfika (T 247-249) and no. 40,
as well as cy 5 and 5-1 to no. 5. Dharm araksa (Fa-hu) from W estern India
came to China in 1004 and worked there until 1054. H e translated 5-cy 6
together with Wei-ching, a Chinese framana, who began work about 981,
and to whom we also owe no. 15 (T 260).
T he writing of commentaries began about 580, and some information
about the commentators can be found in Index 4.
No iconographical data are available for China outside the sphere of
Lamaist influence. Statues of the Prajflaparam ita have been found only
in Lam a temples, for instance in the one of 1653 in Peking (cf. W. E. Clark,
Two Lamaist Pantheons, 1937, 4A 17 and 6 A 61) and in the 18th century
Yung-ho-kung in H all X (Lessing I, 1942, p. 75). No indigenous Chinese
representations of the Prajflaparam ita, either M i-tsung or C h’an, seem to
be extant.

2. Most of our Prajflaparam ita m anuscripts come from Nepal, where they
continued to be copied out for nine centuries with steadily diminishing
accuracy. T he Af{asahasrika was regarded as one of the “ nine great dhar­
mas” . In iconography we must m ention the trinities composed of the
Buddha, the four-armed Prajflaparam ita and the four-armed AvalokiteSvara—
in namaskarah and w ith rosary and lotus, or book—representing Buddha,
D harm a and Samgha respectively, which were very popular in Nepal,
and are often found in temples and on house altars (see E. Conze, OA, III,
pp. 106-7). T he Prajflaparam ita is here considered as the quintessence of
the doctrine, ju st as the compassionate activity of Avalokitegvara is the
model for the duties of the m onastic community.
T he same trinity occurs frequently in Khmer sculpture and inscriptions
of the 10th and 11th centuries, on m any votive tablets (Brah Bimb) of the
same period, in Siam, and sometimes perhaps in Tibet. T he votive tablets
show the Buddha in m editation on a Naga, on his right a four-armed Ava-
lokiteivara, and on his left a two-armed Prajflaparam ita. T he four-faced
monolithic caityas of Cambodia often show Prajflaparam ita together with
Loke£vara. Sometimes the Buddha on a Naga is added as a third, and
Vajrapaiji, or H ayagriva, as a fourth (E. Conze, OA, II I, p. 107). Inscrip­
tions between 950 and 1000 likewise link the PrajnadevI, or Divyadevi, with
24 CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY

Loke£vara, and also in some cases with V ajrapagi and the Buddha. In
Cam bodia Buddhist theology was strongly influenced by Sivaism. LokeS-
vara corresponded to Mahe£vara, just as the PrajftadevI to the Sivaite
devl. At the end of the 12th century, K ing Jayavarm an V II consecrated
statues of his m other as prajfiaparam ita, m other of the Buddhas.

3. In Tibet the ideas of the Prajfiaparam ita were first introduced by Santa-
raksita and Kamala&la about A.D. 750. They played a great p art in the
controversies which took place about 794 between Kamala&la and the Chinese
Ch’an monk, the Hva-^an M ahayana, and both sides are fond of quoting the
Prajfiaparam ita, either the large text or the Vajracchedikd, in support of their
views.1 The C h’an followers claimed to expound nothing but the “ true
principles of wisdom” ,2 and to achieve a state of “ thoughtlessness in perfect
wisdom” ,3 quite in the spirit of the 8th century C h’an, which had given the
subtitle of Mahaprajnaparamitasutra to Hui-neng’s Platform Sutra (T 2007),
and which had placed the Vajracchedika above all other Sutras (Shen-hui,
in G ernet pp. 99-105). It is curious to note that the Prajfiaparam ita doctrine
which had in India led by natural stages to the scholasticism of the Abhi-
samayalankara, should on Chinese soil have brought forth the diam etrically
opposite quietism of the followers of the “sudden enlightenm ent” .
Translations o f the texts and commentaries were m ade between 790 and
840, and in them Ye-£es-sde took a prom inent part. About 800 we have
the first translation of the AA, by sK a-pa dPal-brtsegs, or dPal-brtsegs Rak-
shita of the sKabs clan, who lived under the kings Khri-sron lde-btsan (755­
797), Sad-na-legs (798-817) and Ral-pa-can (817-836). He was one of
the redactors of the ’Phan-than-ma and the IDan-dkar-ma catalogue.4
After the eclipse of 840 to 1000, the ideas were reintroduced by such
men as Dipankarasrijfiana (AtKa)5, A bhayakaragupta, etc. Further trans­
lations were executed between 1000 and 1150. The Abhisamayalankara
m aintained its im portance for the teaching of Prajfiaparam ita. It was
translated a second time by R nog blo-ldan Ses-rab (1059-1109), who also
wrote a commentary to it (AA-cy 12). For other commentaries see pages
112-120, which give some slight idea at least of the “enormous literature
of m anuals for the study of this subject in monastic schools” of which Ober-
miller (p. IX ) speaks.

1 Cf. P. Demi^ville,Le Concile de Lhasa, I (1952).

2 Ibid., p. 111.
3 p. 100; cf. also p. 102 n ., 162 n. 3, 335.
4 Cf. Blue Armais, I, 102, 331, 344. M . Lalou, JA s, 1953, pp. 313sq.
5 His instructors in P rajnaparam ita on p. 243 of BlueAnnals.
 THE DEVELOPMENTS OUTSIDE INDIA 25

The 13th century saw the final codification of the Kartjur. T he Prajna­
param ita Sutras comprise in the Peking edition 30 texts in 24 volumes, in
the N arthang and Derge editions 23 texts in 21 volumes. In the K anjur
of Lhasa, Derge and Peking, the Berlin Ms of the K anjur and the M on­
golian K anjur (Ligeti vol. 47, no. 779-791), thirteen texts are added at
the end of Ser-phyin, which are to be found in the last volume of tndo in the
edition of N arthang, and in the British Museum K anjur Ms. They are
sometimes said to be translated from the Pali, but they differ too much
from the Pali text, and on closer investigation they turn out to represent
H inayana Sutras from the C anon of the Sarvastivadins and other H ina­
yana sects in contact with Tibet. They were jointly translated by
A nandairi and 5li-ma rgyal-m tshan dpal bzan-po, and a num ber of them
have been translated'into French by L. Feer in his Fragments extraits du Kandjour
(1883). They are listed in T o 31—43 ( = 0 747), and they are: 1. Dharma-
cakrapravartanasutra, fol. 183b-187a(Feer 111-123); 2. Jataka-nidana, fol. 187a-
264b; 3. Atand{iya-sutra, f. 264b-274b; 4. Mahdsamaya-sutra, f. 275a-278b;
5. Maitri-siitra, f. 278b-286a; 6. Maitri-bhavana-sutra, f. 286a-287a (Feer
221-3); 7. Panca-iikfyanuSamsa-siitra, f. 287a-292b (Feer 230-243); 8.
Giri-Ananda-sutra, f. 293a-295b (Feer 145-50); 9. Nandopananda-ndgardja-
damana-sulra, f. 295b-298a (Feer 415-419); 10. MahakdSyapa-sutra, f. 298a-
299a (Feer 150-2); 11. Surya-sUtra, f. 299b-300a; 12. Candra-sutra, f. 300-ab
(Feer 411-13), and 13. Mahdmangala-sutra, f. 300b-301b (Feer 224-227).
Bu-ston’s (1290-1364) “ History of Buddhism” (Chos-byun, trsl. by E.
Oberm iller, 2 vols, 1931-2) contains a great wealth of information about the
history of the Prajnaparam ita. O ne would also have to compare the genea­
logies which Bu-ston gives in volume M A of his “ Collected Works” , i.e.
of the transmission of AA (9B-10A, no. 34) and of the Satasahasrika (10B,
no. 36). A great deal of information about the Prajnaparamita. is also
contained in the “ Blue Annals” (Deb-ther snon-po) of ’Gos lo-tsa-ba gshon-nu-
dpal (1476-8) (trsl. G. Roerich, 1949, 1953).
H e mentions (pp. 69-70, 206-7, 209, 249, 265, 1107) several translations
m ade in the 11th and 12th centuries, chiefly of works connected with the
AA and also numerous commentaries (pp. 94, 330-1,336) up to the 15th
century. T he Prajftaparam ita was greatly esteemed, copied out, studied,
and valued as a precious gift and for the magical powers believed to be
inherent in it. T he great im portance attached to the Prajnaparam ita
and its place in the scheme of studies is shown by the advice ’Brog-mi
took to India around 1010, “ Listen to the Vinaya, for it is the Basis of
the Doctrine. Listen to the Prajflaparam ita, for it is the Essence of the
Doctrine. Listen to the V ajrayana, for it is the Spirit of the Doctrine”
26 CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY

(p. 206). Don-grub rin-chen, Tson-kha-pa’s teacher, had given him the
following instruction: “You will first study earnestly the Abhisamayalan­
kara which is the ornam ent of the three “ M others” (the large, middle and
abridged versions of the Prajnaparam ita). If you become learned in
it, you will be able to m aster all the Scriptures” (p. 1074).
Three lines of transmission and interpretation of the Prajnaparam ita
should be distinguished (pp. 330-1):

Khams
Rin- chen bzan-po (ca. 1025)
\
Ses-rab-’bar Byan-chub ye-ses Phya-pa (ca. 1125)
I I
’Bre Ar
I
Bu-ston rin-po-che (1290-1364)

Sakva dpan-phyug
I
Gshon-nu-dpal

M uch attention was naturally paid to the relations between Prajfia­

param ita and T antra, and attem pts were m ade to combine the practices of
the two (cf. pp. 724—5 on the b K a’-brgyud-pa discussions about M aham udra
and P rajnaparam ita; cf. also pp. 910, 913-4, 921-2, 924, 938, 977-9). O f
great interest is the account of the “ Precepts o f the Prajnaparamita’', a term
frequently used to indicate the Shi-byed system and the gCod rites.
T he first is called sDug-bsnal Shi-byed for the following reason: “ Most
of the secret precepts and instructions which reached T ibet helped to protect
disciples from sinful actions and purified the defilements of their minds.
This doctrine brings a speedy alleviation of the sufferings of those who,
by the influence of their former lives, are afflicted in body, torm ented by
diseases, poverty-stricken, torm ented by devils, and enables them to practise
Yoga” (p. 986). “ It was also so nam ed after the M antra which alleviates
all sufferings” uttered by the Buddha in the Prajnaparamitahrdaya. (sDug-bsnal
thams-cad rab-tu shi-bar byed-pa’i snags, sarvaduhkha-prasamanamantrah). (More
information about this pp. 896-911.)
The system called “The Prajfiaparam ita cutting (the influence of) the
demons” (pha-rol-tu phyin-pa bDud-kyi gCod-yul) seems to go back to M aitrl-pa.
It is based on a verse of the Ratnagunasamcayagatha (X X V II 3): “ A Bodhisattva
endowed with the powers of learning (mkhas sfobs Idan; balavan vidu) cannot
be overcome by the four M aras, on account of four reasons: 1) because he
abides in the Void, 2) because he has not abandoned living beings, 3) because
he acts as he speaks, 4) and because he is sustained by the Sugata’s blessing.”
 THE DEVELOPMENTS OUTSIDE INDIA 27

The followers of the gCod-yul system observe the above four religious injunc­
tions as the foundation of their religious training (p. 981). (1) To abide in
the Void means first to abandon the view which m aintains the substantiality
of the aggregates which constitute the individual stream or continuity,
and secondly the non-acceptance of the notion of the reality and substan­
tiality of other living beings. (2) “The non-abandoning of living beings means
a practice characterised by the great compassion, and abstention from
doing harm to demons (mi ma-yin) and others, by which one becomes free
from any sort of illwill towards living beings, and makes them enter on the
path to enlightenm ent.” (3) To observe the moral rule of the Bodhisattvas
of acting as one speaks “means to abstain from harsh actions (tho-co mayin),
and to abstain from breaking the vows which were taken at the time of the
manifestation of the" M ental Creative Effort towards Enlightenm ent” . (4)
To strive for the blessing of the Sugata means to take one’s refuge with the
Teacher and the spiritual Lineage, and to offer prayers to them.

4. In Japan, the texts were used on a large scale ceremoniously, to give

peace to the empire, and to avert calamities. De Visser (Ancient Buddhism
in Japan) has collected a great m any details on the history of these
ceremonies. The Dai-hannya-kyo had its greatest vogue in the 9th century.
The “reading” of the large Prajfiaparam ita by revolving the rolls on
which it is written is still a feature of Zen monasteries. Several commen­
taries to the Ninno were composed between 700 and 1700 (no. 13 cy. 5-15).
Iconographically im portant are the genzu (current images) (see p. 15) of
the Mahasairocana Sutra which developed in the Shingon sect. The oldest
representation of the garbhadhatumandala is that of the Takao-san near
Kydto, which is said to have been executed by Kukai between 824 and
833. This painting, w ithout colours, in gold and silver on purple silk, has
now become rather indistinct. Generally, a copy m ade by Kenni in 1034
is the model for reproductions. In 1869 wood cuts were made after this
copy, which are preserved in the Ninnaji of Kyoto. They are reproduced
in Taisho Issaikyo, ZuzJa, vol. I, p. 700 and 725. In Jap a n other paintings
of this m andala exist, some in colours, which are said to go back to the
Japanese pilgrims who visited China in the 9th century.
Most of these have 444 figures. T he Prajnaparam ita occurs: 1) in the
centre of the Vidyadhara-vrti, flanked by four angry vidyarajas, and 2) among
the ten paramitas of the Akaiagarbha-vrti. The actual representation of these
two prajnaparam itas varies greatly. O f the first we have at least two
descriptions. T he one is by Toganoo Sh5un (in Mandara no kehkyu, p.
145), to which corresponds the Prajnaparam ita from the lid of the Sutra
28 CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY

box from Nanatsudera, Nagoya (1175), with two Bodhisattvas, two Disci­
ples, and the 16 Guardians, as well as the illustration of the Taisko Issaikyo
(see E. Conze, Oriental Art, II, 1949, pp. 49-50). A different one is given
by Shunnyu (890-927) in Taizdkai-shichishu (in Dainihon Bukkyozensho, X L IV ,
p. 230). O f the second we have at least three differing descriptions, one
in the Taizdkai-shichishu (quoted Dnbz, X L IV , p. 266), the second in T
853, a 9th century ritual for T 848 by a Chinese, and a third one is
adduced from other sources in Mikkyo Daijiten, p. 1839.
A Nirmokyd Mandara, in colours on silk, was painted in the early p art
of the 12th century, traditionally by Jokai (1075-1149), who copied the
Chinese originals brought home by Kobo Daishi (in A.D. 806; cf. Kokkwa
no. 363 iii). It is preserved in the Daigoji at Kyoto. There are also
drawings of deities of th e Ninnokyo,_ after K5bo Daishi’s designs (Kokkwa
no. 363 iv and v).
The coming of European influence has led to editions of Sanskrit texts
by W ogihara, M atsumoto, M asuda, Toganoo and others, in the thirties
of the 20th century. In 1932 TokumyS M atsumoto published, in Germ an,
a survey of the Prajfiaparam ita literature after Chinese sources. In addition
we have two im portant essays written by D .T. Suzuki, one dealing with
the “significance of the H rdaya in Zen Buddhism” (Essays in Zen Buddhism,
II I, 1934, pp. 187-206), and another with the “ philosophy and religion
of the Prajnaparam ita” (ibid., pp. 207-288). The last 40 years have seen
about one hundred short articles on problems connected with the litera­
ture on P. P., some in English, but most in Japanese. In 1944 K. Ka-
jiyoshi’s m onograph of more than 1,000 pages on the early P. P. Sutras
concluded th at the original Prajnaparamita is roughly identical with the
first chapter of A, as extant in Lokaksema’s translation of A. D. 179. His
suggestion is much nearer the m ark than the later ones of M . Suzuki
and R. H ikata (FBS p. 170). His only difficulty is that, alas, by 1944
Oberm iller’s Ratnaguna had not yet travelled from Leningrad to Japan.
Since Kajiyoshi only knew its Chinese translation of A. D. 991 it was
natural that, unaw are of its archaic diction, he mistook it for a late
Sastra. In his fine edition of no. 6 R. H ikata in 1958 included a valuable
essay on the P. P. literature (see FBS pp. 169-171). Recently interest has
returned to the A bhisamayalankara, and we may mention H . Amano’s well-
produced “ Study on the Abhisamaya-alamkara-karika-Sastra-vrtti” (1975)
as a first step towards the much-needed edition and translation of H ari-
bhadra’s Sphutartha (see p. 113). For the rest there is a vast expository
literature on Zen, which incidentally cannot fail to come to grips with
some aspects of P. P. thought.
 TH E DEAELOPMENTS OUTSIDE INDAI 29

5. For Europe, the Sanskrit Prajfiaparam ita was first discovered by B.H.
HodgSon in Nepal between 1830 and 1840. The manuscripts arrived in
1837 in Paris. There is in the Bodleian an earlier attem pt by a Spaniard
to translate parts of the Chinese Prajfiaparam ita, but he desisted fairly
soon. In 1837 I.J . Schmidt published the first Tibetan version of a
Prajfiaparam ita, i.e. the “Diamond Sutra” . Isaak Jacob Schmidt (1779—
1847), of whom we have a biography by F. Babinger (Festschrift F. Hirth,
Berlin 1920, O.Z. vol. 8, pp. 7-21), was born in Amsterdam, went in
1800 to Russia, and was all his life a faithful m em ber of the H errnhuter
Brudergemeinde. He translated the New Testam ent into Mongol and
Kalmuk. In 1828 he published a booklet called “ O ber die Verwandtschaft
der gnostisch-theosophischen Lehren m it den Religionssystemen des Orients,
vorzuglich dem Buddhismus” . In the Mimoires of the Academy of St.
Petersburg further articles of his appeared on Buddhism in 1834 and 1835.
E. B urnouf m ade a translation of the first 28 chapters of the Affa, which
is preserved in m anuscript in the Bibliothfeque Nationale, and in 1844 he
published in his Introduction a Vhistoire du Buddhisme Indien the first chapter
of his translation as a “fragment bizarre” .
W hen we consider the work done during the last century by Europeans,
or under the influence of European philological methods, we find that
during the first 60 years attention was almost entirely confined to the
Diam ond Sutra and Hrdaya. The larger Prajfiaparam itas have only very
gradually appeared on the horizon, first through editions m ade by Hindus
(i.e. by M itra in 1888, Ghosha from 1888 to 1913, and N. D utt in 1934),
then by a partial Germ an translation by Walleser (1914), and then, after
1930, the interest was stimulated by publications about the Abhisamayalan-
kara. After 1940 the bulk of the work has been done by two men, Edward
Conze and Etienne Lam otte. In an appendix, on pp. 127 to 137, Dr.
Akira Yuyama has listed Prof. Conze’s 62 contributions to P. P. studies.
From his fastness in Louvain Prof. Lam otte, his exact contemporary
from across the Germ an border, has done no less,—not only by his superb
annotated rendering of the Ta-chih-tu-lun, but also by introducing new
standards of precision and comprehension into the treatm ent of kindred
texts such as the Vimalakirtinirdeia (1962). These two were not alone, of
course, and other scholars have m ade valuable contributions. A part from
G. Tucci, C. Pensa, J . W . de Jong, L. Schmithausen, L. Lancaster, etc.
there are the numerous publications about the M adhyamikas who re­
stated P. P. thought in more philosophical terms. Even the non-academic
public has increasingly responded by buying this literature, m otivated
30 CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY

partly by the vogue of Zen which D. T . Suzuki initiated 40 years ago,

and partly by the impasse which W estern thinking has reached in recent
years.
 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. O R D IN A RY PRAJNAPARAM ITA SUTRAS

AA. The large Sutra

1. TH E PERFECTION OF WISDOM IN 100,000 LINES.

S: Satasahasrika prajnaparamita-sutra.
S: M anuscripts in C alcutta, Cambridge, New Delhi, Paris, and Tokyo,
s: ed. P. Ghosha, Bibl Ind., I, 146-148 (1902-1913). ch. 1-12.
Ch: T 220, 1-400. Hsuan-tsang, A.D. 659-663.
S. Levi, U n fragment chinois de la S. P. In : A. F. R. Hoernle,
Manuscript Remains, I, 1916, 390-395.
T i: Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa ston-phrag brgya-pa. 300 bampos. 0 740.
-To 8. —Cf. also To 5574 (11). 5275 (122).
ti: Sher-phyin, ed. P. Ghosha, 3 vols, Bibl. Ind. (Calcutta, 1888, 1890, 1891).
pp. 511, 252, 565. U p to bampo 78= S kr. vol. II p. 39, 14=m iddle of
ch. 12. —Fragments IO SC no. 107-109.
M . Lalou, Les manuscrits tibetains des grandes Prajnaparam itas trouves
a Touen-houang, Silver Jubilee Volume o f the Zinbun-Kagaku-Kenkyusho
Kyoto University, 1954, pp. 257-261. —Les plus anciens rouleaux tibet­
ains trouvees k Touen-houang, Rocznik Orientalistyczny xxi, 1957, pp.
149-152. —M anuscrits tibetains de la S. P. caches k Touen-houang, JA s
252, 1964, pp. 479-486. —Inventaire des manuscrits tibetains de Touen-houang
conserves a la Bibliotheque Nationale (Fonds Pelliot Tibetain), vol. I l l , 1961,
xix, 220 pp.
M o: Ligeti no. 746-757. vol. 26-37. —trsl. Siregetu gviiksi chorji (ca. 1600).
e: SS no. 11, 44-5, 49, 55, 66, 85, 91, 96, 105, 125, 127.
For ch. IX , pp. 1450-1453, cf. S. Levi, Ysa (1929), in Memorial
Sylvain Livi 1937, pp. 355-363. —Sten Konow, “The A rapacana Al­
phabet and the Sakas” , Acta Orientalia, X II (1934), pp. 13-24. —F.
W. Thom as, “A K haroshthi docum ent and the A rapacana alphabet”,
32 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Miscellanea Academica Berolinensia, 1950, pp. 194-207.

This Sutra falls into three somewhat unequal parts:

P art I is an expansion of chapter I of the Affa. It covers chapters 1 to
13, or 638 of the Cam bridge Mss Add 1633 and 1630. There is much
expansion, and also seven new items are added, i.e. 1. Cosmic miracles,
which precede the teaching (i 3-55, 17). 2. T he aims and desires of a
Bodhisattva which are fulfilled by the practice of perfect wisdom (i 55,
17-118, 7). 3. Prelim inary Instructions to a Bodhisattva (i 118, 27-308,
19). 4. An interlude (i 308, 22-323). 5. A classified list of dharm as (vii
1257, 15-1263, 8. 6. Lists enum erating 20 kinds of emptiness, 112 concen­
trations, 17 practices, 43 dharani-doors, and 10 stages (vii 1407-1473, 18).
7. An explanation of the difference between worldly and supram undane
perfections (xiii f. 137b-139b).
P art II follows A ch. ii to xxviii fairly closely, usually expanding the text,
but often, especially in the later parts, abbreviating it. It covers chapters
14 to 51, or 1,021 leaves of the Cam bridge Mss Add 1630, 1631, 1632. In
this p art almost no new m atter is added to the Affa except quite at the begin­
ning. Q uantitatively the expansion, which was greatest in the first part,
in some sections up to 80 times the length of the Affa, diminishes as we get
to the end of A, particularly in chapters 40 to 51, which correspond to A ch.
18-28. C hapter 26 of S occupies an anomalous position. I t is abnormally
long, but contains only a p art of ch. 8 of A , the bulk of it consisting merely
of repetitions.
P art I I I is an independent treatise. It can be said to begin with chapter
52 of S, and covers 413 leaves. This p art is throughout concerned with
the obvious conflict that exists between an ontology which proclaims
the emptiness of everything, and the practical needs of the struggle for
enlightenment. It also gives a num ber of useful definitions, e.g. of the
three kinds of omniscience, of the Buddha, of enlightenment, of perfect
wisdom, of prapanca, of the m ajor and m inor marks of a Buddha’s body, and
so on. P art I I I does not begin abruptly. O ne m ight rather say th at the
text of A slowly peters out. The turning point is a long discourse on the
six perfections, which H aribhadra calls faf-paramita-nifpatti (ch. 51, 194b-208a)
and which develops a sentence in A xxviii 472, i.e. prajhdparamitaydJii hi Subhute
carato bodhisattvasya mahasattvasya dana.para.mita. bhavandparipurirfi gacchati, evarp
Hlapdramita, etc. T he remaining sentences of A xxviii 472-3 occur then
scattered about in S ch. 53, 263b and 264. From then onwards the text
follows entirely its own logic, if one can speak of logic in this context. This
independent development is perhaps indicated in § ch. 53, 274a 3 by a
 ORDINARY PRAJNAPARAMITA SCTRAS 33

restatement by Subhuti of the basic question with which Sariputra had

opened the discussion in the beginning ($ i 55 and 118), i.e. katham Bhagavan
prajnapaeram.ita.yaTf. caritavyam? katham prajhaparamitabhinirhartavya? katham
prajnaparamita bhavayitavya?
In substance £ is the same as P and A d, and there is no reason to believe
that it is later than they. T he additional 75,000 or 82,000 flokas are due
to nothing but the copying out in extenso of the repetitions for the purpose
of acquiring m erit. £ was composed in an age which loved long books, as
witness the M ahavibhafd, the M ahabharata, etc.
T here is some evidence that $ was either composed, or worked over at
different times. The repetitions give usually 18 kinds of emptiness, the
special treatise on emptiness (V II pp. 1407-1411) 20, but in such a way
th at it is obvious that originally there were only 16, the last four being added
rather abruptly. Occasionally we also hear of lists of 7 ($ i 137, though
the corresponding passage of Gilgit P gives 10), and 14 (Gilgit A d L X III,
248 b).
Bu-ston (II 50) points out that in £, as distinct from the other long versions,
four chapters are absent, and he says that they “ have not been brought by
N agaijuna from the realm of the Nagas” . They are 1. T he Questions
of M aitreya (Ad. ch. 83, P ch. 72). They contain the Yogacara teaching
on the three aspects of reality (parikalpita, paratantra, parinifpanna). Tsori-
kha-pa has discussed this problem in detail in his Legs-biad snin-po. 2.3.
T he chapters on S adaprarudita and D harm odgata (A d 85-86, P 73-75). 4.
T he summary at the end (parindana, A d 87, P 76) (see p. 45).

Commentaries:
Cy 1: Dharma&i (?), -vivarana (vyakhya?)
T i: mam-par biad-pa. m do-’grel X I 256a-331b. —To 3802
Cy 2: Damstrasena, -brhatfikd
T i: rgya-cher biad-pa. m od-’grel X II, l-392a, le'u 1-23; X III
1-308, le’u 24-52. —To 3807. trsl. Surendrabodhi, Ye-^es-sde.
Cy 3: Sm rtijnanaklrti, -traya-samana-artha-afta-abhisamaya-Sasana.
T i: ’bum dan fii-khri Ina ston-pa dan khri-brgyad ston-pa gsum don mthun-
par mnon-rtogs brgyad-du bstan-pa. mdo-’grel II 207a-275a. —To
3789.
According to Tson-kha-pa’s AA-cy 15, p. 105 feeble, and full
of mistakes.
Cy 4: Damstrasena, Arya-Satasahasrika-pancaviifiiatisdhasrikd-aftadaiasdhasrikd-
34 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

prajwparamita-brhattika.
T i: rgya-cher bSad-pa. mdo-’grel X IV l-333a.—To 3808. trsl.
Surendrabodhi, Ye-ies-sde.

According to T aranatha (212 n.) the T ibetan king Khri-sron lde-btsan

added a Tikd to this commentary. Its standpoint is Yogacara, and according
to Bu-ston (I 52-3) it proceeds by way of three “ m edia” and eleven “in­
structions” . T he subject is opened up by means of an introduction i 4-55).
T hen comes (1) “ the medium of teaching in abridged form” , as, “ O Sariputra,
the Bodhisattvas and M ahasattvas who wish to attain complete enlighten­
m ent with regard to all the elements of existence, in all their forms, must
be keen upon (the study of) the perfection of wisdom” (S i 55), where the
individual, the cause, the subject and the way (of studying) is briefly indicated.
Next comes (2) “ the medium of m oderate teaching” , up to the close of the
first chapter (of AA, = S ch. 13), and finally (3) “ the medium of teaching in
detail” , ch. 14 up to the end.
The 11 instructions are: 1.-3. the precepts delivered to Sariputra (as
above), 4. the speech of Subhuti (?), 5.-6. the two instructions delivered
to Indra (?), 7.-10. the four to Subhuti, 11. one to A nanda (ch. 50 ?).

Cy 5: Satasahasrikdprajhdpdramita.
T i: ks-rab-kyi pha-rol-lu phyin-pa stoh-phrag brgya-pa’i don ma nor-bar
bsdus-pa. (’bum chun). m do-m an no. 102, f. 322b-328a.
Colophon: Jo-bo-rjes Bal-po a-su-la gnanjBal-pos io-lo-kar dkor-pa
rdzogs so\Jo-bo-rje dpal-ldan A-ti-ias lo bcu-gnis-kyis bar-du gsuns rab-
rnams gzigs-pasj’bum chun ’di kho-na phan-yon fin-tu che-bar3dug-pasjphyi
rabs-kyi gan-zag mams-kyis kyan ’di-la klog ’don byed-pa gal che gsuns so.
Cy 6: Klon-rdol bla-ma iiag-dban blo-bzan, ’bum-gyi ’grel-rkan brgya-rtsa-
brgyad nos-’dzin.
T i: To 6542, D a 1-16 (a brief explanation of the 108 topics of £).

2. T H E PERFECTION OF WISDOM IN 25,000 LINES.

S: PancaviijiSatisahasrika prajnaparamita-sutra. Lost.

s: T he New Delhi Collection of Gilgit Mss contains folios 1 to 187 of
P. At folio 150, although the pagination is continuous, the text breaks
off in the m iddle of chapter 21 (= P , Add 1629, f. 156 b) and is resumed
again in chapter 30 ( ~ P 301). About 30 folios have thus inadvertently
 ORDINARY PRAJNAPARAMITA SOTRAS 35

dropped out. At folio 188 (= P 361) the text changes without any
warning into that of Ad (see no. 3).
A facsimile of the entire P. P. Gilgit Ms (no. 2 and 3) in : R. V ira and L.
C handra, Gilgit Buddhist Manuscripts, New Delhi, Satapifaka Series,
volume 10, parts 3 and 4, 1966; p art 5, 1970.
s: 91 very short fragments from this, or another recension shorter than
S, are preserved in the IndikutaSaya Copper Plaques in Sinhalese
script of the 8th or 9th century. T he m ajority belong to P, ed. D utt,
pp. 5-14. Epigraphica Zeylanica, iii (1928-1933), L 1933, pp. 200-212.
For the Mss and some illustrations see B. Bhattacharya, in Bulletin
o f the Baroda State Museum and Picture Gallery 1 1, 1943-4, pp. 17-36.
Ch: T 221 xx. 76 ch. Moksala, A.D. 291. T viii, 1-146. The Prajnapara-
mita-sutra which emits light.
ch: T 222 x. Dharm araksa, A.D. 286. —T viii 147-216. —Incomplete,
only up to ch. 27, i.e. the end of A ch. 2.
Ch: T 223 xxvii (or xL). Kum arajiva, A.D. 403^1-.—T viii 216-424 (Maha-
prajhaparamitdsutra).
T 220, pp. 401-478. 85 ch. Hsiian-tsang, A.D. 659-663. —T vii 1­
426.
T i: Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa ston-phrag hi-$u Ina-pa. 76 ch. trsl. Ye-ses-
sde? 0 731. —To 9. — Cf. T o 5574 (7).
M o: Ligeti no. 758-761. vol. 38-41.

This Sutra m ust have existed in a variety of recensions. T he recension of

P which forms the basis of the T ibetan translation is practically identical
with S, except for some m inor stylistic variations, though naturally it omits
most of the repetitions of S. The version of K um arajiva shows greater
differences from S.

Commentaries:

Cy 1: (Nagarjuna), Mahaprajnaparamitopadefa.
ch: Ta-chih-tu-lun. T 1509 C. trsl. Kum arajiva, A.D. 405 (cy to
T 223). —See pp. 93-94.
f: E. Lam otte, Le traite de la grande vertu de sagesse, I (1944), ch.
1-15; II (1949), ch. 16-30; II I (1970), ch. 31-42; IV (1976),
ch. 42-48.
36 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

j: Yamakami, Sogen, Kokuyakti Daichidoron, I-IV (1919-20).

M ano, Shojun, Daichidoron, I-V b (1935-6).
Cf. H JAS, X 2, (Sept. 1947). — Museon, V II (1906), pp. 34-35,
on Pali quotations in this cy. —Bibl. Bouddhique, I, (1930), no.
105; IV -V (1934), no. 307 on Mpp-3 in T un-huang and K hara-
khoto. —P. Demieville, in JA s, 1950, pp. 375-395. —O ther reviews
of Lam otte: see Bibliographie Bouddhique, X X I-X X III (1952), p. 17.
Also Conze, OA, 1950, pp. 167-8, Baruch, A M , 1949.-K. Venkata
R am anan, Nagarjuna’s Philosophy as presented in the Maha-Prajhapara-
mita-Sastra, 1966, 1975. -M . Saigusa, Studien zum Mahaprajnapdramita
(upadeSa)iastra, 1969.
Cy 2: Chi-tsang. Ch: T 1696 i.
Cy 3: Yuan-hsiao. Ch: T 1697 i.

2a . a reca st v e r s io n of no . 2.

S: Arya-pancavirriiatisdhasrikd bhagavati prajnaparamita Abhisamayalankara-anu-

sarena samtodhita.
S: Nepalese m anuscripts in Cam bridge (Add. 1628, 1629; 18th and 19th
century), Paris (Bibl. N at. Sanscrit 68-70, 71-73, 19th cent.; good);
Tokyo Un. Library, M atsunam i, no. 234 (good), 476 fols. Also no. 235.
Fragments in Kajiyoshi.
s: ed. N. D utt, Calcutta Oriental Series, no. 28 (1934), 269 pp. (1st abhisamaya).
s: E. Conze, “T he Buddha’s laksaijas in the Prajfiaparam ita” , Journal
o f the Oriental Institute (Baroda) X IV , 1965, pp. 225-9.
s: E. Conze, “ M aitreya’s Questions’ in the Prajfiaparam ita” , Melanges
d’lndianisme a la mimoire de Louis Renou, 1968, pp. 229-242.
s: Takayasu Kim ura, Paficavimsatisahasrika Prajnaparam ita (II. 1),
Taisho Daigaku Kenkyukiyo, no. 56 (1971) 164-29; P. P. (II 2), TD K
no. 57 (1972) 524-503; P. P. (II 3), TD K no. 58 (1973) 270-238; P. P.
(II 4), TD K no. 61 (1975) 668-665. (Based on Mss Tokyo no. 234,
235; Cambridge Add 1628, 1629).
T i: mdo-’grel III-V . —To 3790. 3 vols. trsl. Santibhadra, Tshul-khrims
rgyal-ba.
A ttributed to H aribhadra. This constitutes a different version which
departs in some ways from the Sanskrit text of the Nepalese manuscipts,
 ORDINARY PRAJNAPARAMITA SOTRAS 37

and is obviously later than it.

M o: Xylographs ( T ’oung Pao, 27, 1930).
E: E. Conze. The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom, w ith the divisions of the
Abhisam ayalankara. P art I. 1961. Parts II and III, 1964, repr. 1966.
—xviii, 679 pp. U C P, Berkeley, Cal. 1975. (see p. 41) -Rev.: G.
Schopen IIJ 19, 1977, pp. 135-152.
N. Hakam aya, A consideration on the Byams shus-kyi le’u from the
historical point of view. Journal o f Indian and Buddhist Studies X X IV
1, 1975, pp. 499-489.

This version m ay possibly belong to the 5th century, if we can believe

T aran ath a’s account which says that the doubts of Arya-Vimuktisena, who
had found discrepancies between P and AA, had been removed b y a copy
o f P in eight sections which the Upasaka Santivarm an had brought to
Benares from the South (pp. 139, 144—5). It follows the text of the other
large Prajflaparam itas usually quite closely, but superimposes on it the
framework of the AA, an d after each section the appropriate heading from
AA is added. T he chief particularities of the revision are:
1. A few additions-. At the end of S ch. 5 one page (P 149, 14-150, 17)
is inserted to complete the “fourfold discrim ination” (AA I 3 t-u). At
the beginning o f $ ch. 63 about one half of a leaf is added (P 523a-b), in
order to gain a textual basis for the first three items of the 8th abhisamaya
i.e. the svabhavika-kayah, the saijibhogika-kayah, and the nairmanika-kayah. -which
in all probability were alien to the text of the Prajflaparam ita as it stood.
2. Actual omissions are very rare. O ne can, however, notice some
desire to abbreviate ch. 2-20 o f A, while at the same time adding lists
and cliches.
3. Transpositions are fairly frequent. The chapters on the varieties
o f the thought of enlightenm ent (AA 1 2) and on the different kinds of Bodhi­
sattvas (AA I 2, 3c) are completely rearranged. Later on, 50 leaves
o f £ ch. 53 (fol. 209-254) are transferred to follow on ch. 48 of £. In these
three cases the rearrangem ent seems to have been due to a desire to fit the
text into the scheme of the AA. At the end of the first abhisamaya, two
passages on the worldly and supram undane perfection of wisdom (P 265-6)
are absent in the corresponding p art of S, where they are found elsewhere.
I t m ay also have been a wish for greater logic and lucidity which dictated
the rearrangem ents, com pared w ith S, of the very difficult argum ent at
P 261-2.
38 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

4. Minor alterations are very numerous, and mostly terminological. They

often aim at greater conciseness, but in most cases no principle can be disco­
vered behind them.
In its lowest subdivisions the AA directly contacts the text of the Prajfia-
param ita, and can be checked against it. In many instances the text
on which the AA is based differs m aterially from all the nine recensions of
the Large Prajnaparam ita that have survived. We have no means of deciding
whether the countless m inor variations of the scheme from the other texts
are innovations on the p art of the author of AA, or whether they are based
on a special form of P, which may have been popular in Yogacara circles.
For instance, in agreement with AA V III v. 38 (bodher angefu) no. 2A has at
P 574a 3 the question: katamani Bhagavan bodhisattvasya mahasattvasya bodhy-
angSni? § 68, fol. 578a 11 has, however, margani in the place of bodhyangani.
In the bhumi chapter a few interesting divergences may be commented
upon. In the first bhumi, the first list of S-S, P -T i, A d-T i and no. 2A gives
hitavastutaparikarman as a separate item. It occurs in the second list only
in no. 2A, which here follows AA I v. 48, and which drops the 9th item
of the first list, i.e. manastambhanirghatana, whereas Ad-Ti drops adhyaSayapari-
karman in the first list, but gives it in the second. Hitavastutaparikarman
was probably originally a gloss, which developed the -adi following adhyaiaya,
and we know from the Mahayanasutralankara X 20 (ed. Levi p. 16) that the
expressions adhyaiaya and hitavastuta were closely associated in the current
descriptions of the first stage.
A great diversity exists only on the fifth stage. There is no agreement
even on the num ber of items. P-Dh (List 1) and P-Mo (list I) give 8; no. 2A,
S-Hs, Ad-Hs, P-Hs and the AA give 10: P-Dh (list II), P-Mo (list II), P-Ku
give 12; P -T i gives 6 plus 8, S-S and S -T i 6 plus 18. W ithin the same text
there is often no agreem ent between the first and the second enumeration.
The oldest documents, P-Dh (list I) and P-Mo (list I) count only eight dharm as
“which should be avoided” . In their second lists they increase this num ber
to 12. T he later recensions essentially adhere to this figure, although by
subdivisions, etc., they seem to arrive at a different result.1 T he case of
vicikitsa throws a certain light on the interdependence of the various recensions.
It is absent in the oldest Chinese versions (P-Dh, P-Mo, P-Ku), in the second
list of $-S, and in the three T ibetan versions ($, P, Ad). It appears, on the
other hand, in the first list of the latter, in the two lists of no. 2A, and in all
the versions of Hsuan-tsang (S-Hs, P-Hs. Ad-Hs). U nder the synonym of

1 This, and other problems connected with the bhumi chapter have been discussed
by Prof. E. Lam otte and myself in our edition of th at chapter, which has so far
rem ained unpublished.
 ORDINARY PRAJNAPARAMITA SOTRAS 39

vimati it occurs also in the A A. As for vy&padacitta, on the other hand, it

appears in the m ajority of the recensions, but is absent in no. 2A and in all
the versions of Hsuan-tsang. In the original Sanskrit of S it was equally
missing, and its insertion in the second list is, as the displacement of a sentence
shows, due to a later hand. This observation, together with the preceding
one, indicates a certain affinity between the first list of Sanskrit S, no. 2A
and the versions of Hsuan-tsang.
These details could be pursued indefinitely, but little that is definite
could a t present be gained thereby.

Commentaries:
Cy 1: (Maiitreyanatha), Abhisamaya-alankdra-nama-prajndpdramitd-upadeia-
iastra (or: -karika)
S: ed. T h. Stcherbatsky and E. Oberm iller, Bibl. Buddh, 23
(Leningrad 1929), vol. I, (xii) 40 pp. Repr. 1970.
ed: G. Tucci, Abhisamayalank&raloka (Baroda, GOS, 1932),
ed: U. W ogihara, Abhisamaydlankardlokd (Tokyo, 1932-35),
ed. K . Kajiyoshi, Gensfd Hannya-kyo no kenkyu (1944), pp.
274-320.
T i: (Byams-pa mgon-po), Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa’i man
nag-gi bstan-bcos mnon-par rtogs-pa’i rgyan shes bya-ba’i tshig. trsl.
Go-mi ’chi-med, Blo-ldan £es-rab (1059-1109 A.D.). mdo-
’grel I, 1—15b. —To 3786. —Ed. Stcherbatsky, as S. 72 pp.
—T o 6787, 1-16 (’bras-spuns pho-bran edition), To 6793,
1-13 (Se-ra edition), To 6805, 1-46 (M ongolian edition),
To 6804, 1-55 (an old Ms.).
E: E. Conze, “Abhisam ayalankara” , SOR, V I (1954) (Translation
pp. 4-106, Vocabulary pp. 107-178, Tibetan-Sanskrit Index
pp. 179-223).
Review: de Jong, Le Musion, L X V III, 3—4 (1955), pp. 394-7.
j: K . Kajiyoshi, As S (4). —Also ibid., pp. 663-980: Detailed
survey of divisions of AA.
f: viii 1-12, 3 3 ^ 0 , JA s, 1913, pp. 605-608.
Cf. E. Obermiller, “T he doctrine of the Prajfiaparam ita as
exposed in AA of M ,” Acta Orientalia, X I (Leiden 1933),
pp. 1-133; 334—54. — Analysis of the AA, I (1933), 106 pp.;
40 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

II (1936), to p. 275 (end of ch. I I ); II I (1943), to p. 404 (to

AA IV 5, 3 = A xv 292); no part IV. —G. Tucci, Some aspects
of the doctrines o f Maitteyanatha and Asanga (Calcutta, 1930).
—E. Conze, “ M aitreya’s Abhisam ayalankara” , East and
West (Rome), V 3 (1954), pp. 192-7, — “ M arginal Notes
of the Abhisam ayalankara” , Liebenthal Festschrift, Sino-Indian
Studies, V 3 (1957), pp. 21-35. —N. R. Lethcoe, “ Some notes
on the Relationship between the AA, T he Revised P and the
Chinese Translation of the Unrevised P” , JA O S 96, 1976, pp.
499-511.
There are more than 40 sub-commentaries to the AA, which
will be listed on pages 112 to 120.

3. TH E PERFECTION OF WISDOM IN 18,000 LINES.

S: Aftadafasahasrika prajhaparamita-sutra. Lost.

s: O ne Gilgit Ms of this version in New Delhi extends from folio 188r
(ch. 48, P 363a) to the end, i.e. folio 308r, end of ch. 82. Folios 21 lr
to 218r are lost. Folios 218v to 263v (ch. 55-69) are now in Rome, and
have been edited in the S. O. R. —T he New Delhi Collection of Gilgit
Mss also contains another fragm entary Ms of Ad, of which 64 scattered
leaves are preserved,
s: ed. E. Conze, The Gilgit Manuscript o f the AffadaSasahasrika Prajnapara-
mita. Chapters 55 to 70, corresponding to the 5th abhisamaya. Edition
and translation, xxvi+390 pp., SO R xxvi, 1962. — Chapters 70 to 82,
corresponding to the 6th, 7th and 8 th abhisamayas, xxiii+ 2 5 4 pp.,
SO R X LV I, 1974.
s: ed. Sten Konow, “ Central Asian fragments of the Ad and of an uniden­
tified text” , Mem. Arch. Survey o f India, 69 (1942).
s: ed. Bidyabinod, Mem. Arch. Survey o f India, 32 (1927).
s: Ms Stein Ch 0079a, palm leaf, ca A. D. 600. 69 fols. —Described in
E. Conze, “ Prelim inary Note on a Prajnaparam ita m anuscript” , JR A S,
1950, pp. 32-36.
Ch: T 220, 479-537. Hsiian-tsang 659-663 (see p. 21).
T i: fes-rab-kyi pha-rol-lu phyin-pa khri-brgyad ston-pa. 87 ch. trsl. Ye-des-sde?
0 732. 3 vols. —To 10.
 ORDINARY PRAJNAPARAMITA SCTRAS 41

The translator of no. 3 must have been different from the translators
of no. 1-2, because m any of the technical terms are rendered by different
T ibetan equivalents.
M o: Ligeti no. 762-764. vols 42-44.
e: E. Conze SO R X X V I, 1962 (ch. 55-70).—SO R X LV I, 1974 (ch.
70-82).
Both reprinted in E. Conze, The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom, 1975
(see p. 37), pp. 431-652.
e: SS no. 83, 116, 119.

A useful guide to the large Sutra is provided by the chapter headings of

Ad in correspondence with other divisions. In the following Table the
chapter headings in the first column are retranslated into Sanskrit from
the Tibetan. W here there is any doubt I have added the Tibetan in a
footnote. T he second column gives the pages of the N arthang edition
of Ad; the third, first the pages of the Satasahasrika after Ghosha, and then
the folios after Ms Cambridge Add 1630, 1627, 1632; the fourth, the pages of
A after M itra; the fifth, sixth and seventh the chapters of P after Moksala,
Dharm araksa and K um arajlva; the eighth, the pages of P after D utt and then
according to the Ms Cambridge Add 1628; the ninth, the divisions of AA
according to my translation. (See also H ikata’s Tables II I and IV).
42 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ad Ad-N S, page \ page P-M o P-Dh P-K u P ' AA

1. N idanam 1 1 i4 i 3, 12 1 1 1 4 _
2. Cittotpada2 16b i 55,17 i 3, 17 2 2 2 17 I 1
3. Upapariksa3 34a i 118,9 i 4, 18 3-6 3 3-4 37 1 2 ,1
4. Asamasama 83b i 311 — 7 4 5 93 —
5. Jihvendriya 86b i 316 — 8 5 6 95 —
6. Subhuti 89a ii 324 i 5 9 6 7 98 1 2 ,9
7. Nyam avakranti 107a iii 474 — 10 7 8 115,10 1 2 ,1 0
8. Srenika pari- 116a iv 504 i 7, 9 11 8 9 123 I 3f
vrajaka
9. Nimitta* 136a v683 i 11,12 12 9 10 138 I 3n
10. M ayopam a 151a vi886 i 16, 2 13 10 11 150 I 3v
11. A patrapya5 173a vii 1209 i 17,21 14 11 12 160 14
12. D r?tiprahana 188a vii 1270, 3 i 18, 4 15 12 14 172 1 6 ,2
13. fjatparam ita 192a vii 1298,12 i 20, 9 16-17 13-14 15-16 175 17
14. A baddham - 209a vii 1342,16 i 20,13 18 15 17 185 19 , 1
am uktam
15. Samadhi 225a vii 1412 — 19 16 18 198 19, 13
16. D haranim ukha- 244a ix 1427 — 20 17 19 203 19, 14
prave£a
17. Bhumipari- 262b x 1454 i 23,13 21 18 20 214 1 9 ,1 6
karm a
18. Mahayana* 280a x 1473,19 i 23,16 22 19 21 225 1 9 ,1 7
bhQmi-niryana-
nirdeSa
19. A bhibhavana 295b xi 1530 i 24, 5 23-24 20-21 22-23 231 1 1 0 ,1
20. Advaya 325a xii 1636 i 25, 4 25-26 22-23 24-25 242 I 10,6a
21. Sthavira 353b xiiif. 1 i 26,15 27 24 26 256­ I 10,6b
Subhuti8 269
22. Sakraparivarto 374a xiv 144b ii 33 28 25 27 f. 200b I I 1
p ratham ah
23. Durvigahyatn7 391a xv 170b ii 39 29 26 28 208a 113, 1 ,2
nam a
24. A nanta 397a xvi 195b ii 41 30 27 29 211 I I 3, 1, 3
25. Sakra-parivarto 414a ? ii 48 31 — 30 219b 114, 6
nam a dvitiyalji8
26. Parigraha 420b xvii 273a iii 51 32 — 31 223a 114, 10
27. Caitya9 434a xviii 279 iii 54 33 — 32 230a 115, 3
28. Bodhicittaguna- 449a xix 291a iii 70 34-35 — 33-34 239 I I 6, 2, 1
parikirtana
29. Anya-tirthika 457a xx 296b iii 76 36 — 35 241a I I 6, 2, 2

1 So also P -T i 1, S -T i 1.
2 P -T i2 : S -T i 2 Sariputra.
3 Re-bar brtag-pa. brtag-pa= parikfa. —But M hyv 7469: upalakfanam.
4 mtshan-ma: laksana?
5 C entral Asian Ms Konow: aupamya (later corrupted into auttapya?).
6 P -T i 13, S -T i 14: Subhuti. Gilgit P 13: Subhutiparivartah.
7 rtogs-par dka’-ba shes bya-ba. So Mhvy. 2927.
8 So also in Sanskrit A d., Sten Konow pp. 33-34.
9 mchod-rten; or: stupa?
 ORDINARY PRAJNAPARAMITA SOTRAS 43

Ad Ad-N s A, page P-Mo P-Ku P AA

30. D harana-m a- 460b xxi 298b iii 80 37 36 242b I I 6, 2 ,3

nana-anu£amsa
31. Sarira 471b xxii 312b iv 94 38 37 244 II 6, 3 ,2
32. Punya-visesa1 499b xxiii 325b v 104 39 38 249b II 7, 1, 3
33. Anumodana- 510a xxiv 382b vi 135 40 39 258a 118
parinam ana2
34. A bhinirhara- II
gunaprasam sa 23b xxv 410a vii 170 41 40 270a II 10
35. Sattvaniraya3 34a xxvi 1 vii 176 42 41 273b I I 11
36. Sarvadharma-vi- 47b xxvii 252a viii 187 43 42 282 II 11, 5
suddhi-nirdesa4
37. V ihara5 61b xxviii viii 193 44 43 286b III 7
38. A nupalam bhi6 80b xxix 293a ix204 45 44 297a IV 1
39. U ttara-disitantri7 90b xxx 295b x208 46 45 299b IV 2
40. M ara 122b xxxi 353a xi232 47 46 315a IV 4
41. M aragana- 132b xxxii 358b xi 243 48 47 319B IV 4,21
visamyukta8
42. Lokasam- 146a ? xii 254 49 48 328a IV 5
darsana9
43. Acintya 158b xxxiii 380a xii 272 50 49 333a IV 5, lb
44. Sabha10 170b xxxiv413b xiii281, 1 51 50 338b IV 5, 2, 5
45. N au 179b xxxv 432b xiv 286 52 51 343a IV 5 ,2 ,1 2
46. Sarvadharm a- 187b xxxvi 442a xv 292 53 52 348a IV 5 ,2 ,1 6
svabhavanirdeia11
47. Ragavinaya 199a xxxvii 472 xv 299 54 53 356a IV , 5, 4
48. Bodhisattva- 206a xxxviii 1 xv 303 55 54 361a IV 5 ,4 ,1 0
^ik?a-avastha
49. A vaivartika 231a xxxix 60b xvii 323 56 55 377a IV 8
50. Avinivartamya- 243a xL 72b xvii 331, 57 56 383b IV 8 ,2 ,2
linga-nirdeia12 25
51. UpayakauSalya- 255a xLi 78b xviii 341 58 57 390a IV 8 ,3
nirdesa
52. Satparam itanam 272b xLii 96b xix 356 59 58 398b IV 9
upaya-paripuri13

1 iS-Ti 24: Sakra. Ad-Gilgit N D 27/18b: Sakraparivartodvatrrrdatimah.

2 S-Ti 25: Parindma(rta).
3 sems-can dmyal-ba So also P-Ti 26.
4 So also P-Ti 27, w ithout -nirdeia.
5 gnas-pa. O r: gnas-pa med-pa?
6 dmigs-su med-pa-, or: anarambaria?
7 byan phyogs-kyi rgyud.
8 bdud-kyi tshogs-pa mi Idan-pa.
9 G ilgit P 32: Tathataparivartalj,.
10 dus-pa. O r: samnipata, or samagama?
11 Gilgit P 36: Agatikaparivartah.
12 S 40: avinivartaniya. P-T i 40: phyir mi ldog-pa. Gilgit Ad 50: anaivartyakaralinga-
parivartdh. S-Ti 41: phyir mi Idog-pa’i mam-padan tsfnd.
13 pha-rol-tu phyin-pa drug-gi thabs yoiis-su rdzogs-pa.
44 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ad Ad-N S, fol. A, page P-M o P-Ku P AA

53. Garigadevi- 287b xLiii 102a xix 365 60 59 404b (IV 10)
vyakarana1
54. Upayakausalya- 291a xLiv 103b xx 370 61 60 406a IV 11
bhavana-nirdesa
55. Vikalpa- 301b xLV 111b xx 380 62 61 412a V 1
prahana-nirdeSa
56. Jsiksasamata 324b xLvi 132b xxiii410 63 62 421a V, 2 ,5
57. Carya 335a xLvii 137a xxv 424 64 63 425a V 2 ,9
58. Avikalpa-nir- 343a xLviii xxvi 434 65 64 428b V3
deSasya dr$ta- 159a
anta-vyapadesa2
59. Asanga3 354b xLix 167b xxvii 444 66 65 430b V 5b
60. Parindana 364a L 175a xxvii 454 67 66 445a V 5g
61. Ak$aya 378b L I 184a xxviii 468 68-69 67-68 451b V 5i
62. Vyutkrantaka- 385b L II 196a — 70 69 455a V 5k
samapatti*
63. Advaya- 403a L III 209b 70 436b- V 5d
dharmasya 445a
bahupariprccha 254a 465b V 6b
64. SamyaknirdeJa 445b L IV 300a — 71 71 479b V7
65. K alyanam itra- 455b LV 313b — 72 72 484b V 8 ,5
susrusa-sevana-
paryupasana-
upaya

Ad Ad-N S, fol. P-M o P-K u P AA

66. UpayakauSalyanirdeSa5 460b LV I 320a 73 73 487b V 8 ,8

67. Sila 462b L V II 320b 74 488a V 8 ,9
68. V ivrddhi 462b L V III 321a 488b V 8 ,9
69. M argabhavananirdesa 463b L IX 322a 74 490a V 8 ,9
70. AnupurvacaryaSiksa- 482b L X 355a 75 75 501b V 8,16
nirharanirdeSa
71. Alak?ana-anupalambha- 496a L X I 369a 76 76 508b V I 13
dharm ata
72. Alaksanata-nirdesa 514b L X II 401b 77 77 517a V II 3
73. Laksana-anuvyanjana- 528a L X III414b 78 78 523b V III 4
aksara-abhinirhara-nirdesa6
74. Sarvadharm asam ata- I II L X IV 454a 79 79 540b V III
nirdesa7 25a 5 ,3

1 § 44: Gahgadevibhaginya-parivarto. P-Ti 43: Gangadevi.

2 rnam-par mi rtog-pa bstan-pa’i dpe brjod-pa.
3 chags-pa med-pa; nirupalepa?
4 thod-rgyal-du snoms-par ’jug-pa. AA: avaskanda-, A d: avaskandaka-
5 So skr. § 56. Gilgit Ad 66.
6 So S-Ti 63, P-Ti 62. S 63 skr., but-abhimrhdra-paramita.
7 Samatanirde&a in S-skr. 64, S-Ti 64, P-Ti 63.
 ORDINARY PRAJNAPARAMITA SCTRAS 45

Ad Ad-N S, fol. P-Mo P-K u P AA

75. Akopya-nirdesa1 41a L X V 470 80 80 548b V III 5, 7

76. Sattvaparipacanasannaha 61b L X V I 509a 81 81 -558a V III5 .1 0
77. Buddhaksetraparisuddhi- 78a L X V II 553a 82 82 565a V III5.12
nirdeSa
78. Buddhak?etraparisodhana- 90b L X V III564a 83 83 570b V III 5,15
upayakausalyanirdeSa nam a
79. Abhavasvabhavanirdesa 102a L X IX 583a 84 84 574b V III 5,20
80. AsatnkleSa-avyavadanam 108b L X X 585a 85 85 583b V III 5,22

Ad Ad-N S, fol. A P-M o P-K u P-Ti P AA

81. Param arthayoga 115a L X X I 590b — 86 86 70 586a V III 5,24

82. Akopyadharm a- 127b L X X II — 87 87 71 592a- V III 5,26
ta-nirde§a2 604b-607a 594b
83. BodhisattvaSik- 130a — — — — 72 —
$a-prabhavana3 —
84. Sam cayagatha 147a — — — — — —
85. Sadaprarudita4 175a — XXX 88 88 73 — —
86. D harm odgata 199b — xxxi 89 89 74-75 — —

87. P arindana 210b ““ xxxii 90 90 76 ——

-213

4. T H E PER FEC TIO N OF WISDOM IN 10,000 LINES.

S: DaSasahasrika prajnaparamita-sutra. Lost.

s: ch. 1-2 (restored): Sten Konow, “ The first two chapters of the Da”,
Avhandlinger utgift av det norske Videnskap-Akademi i Oslo, II, Hist. Filos.
Klasse, 1941, no. 1, Oslo.
T i: Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa khri-ba ston-pa. 33 ch. trsl. Jinam itra,
Prajfiavarm an, Ye-^es-sde. O 733.—To 11.
M o: Ligeti no. 765. vol. 45.—trsl. Siregetu guusi (ca. A.D. 1600).
e: SS no. 106.

T he special feature of this Sutra lies in that the definitions of the terms,
which are scattered through the other versions of the Large Prajnaparam ita,
have all been gathered together into the first two chapters, in 57 groups.
They are introduced by the question: “W hich are the all-dharmas in which
the Bodhisattvas, the great beings do not settle down?” Most of the items
are common to both H inayana and M ahayana.
1 mi ’khrugs-pa bstan-pa; akfobhya-?
2 So G ilgit Ad 82. S skr. 72-S-Ti 72, P-Ti 71: chos Hid mi ’gyur-pa bstan-pa.
3 P-T i 72: byan-chub sems-dpa’i bslab-pa-la rab-tu phye(dbye)-ba.
4 T i-P 73: Bodhisattaasya Sadapraruditasya samadh.imuk.hani labdhani.
46 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

The remaining 31 chapters are a somewhat -erratic contraction of the

Large Prajnaparam ita (see H ikata pp. xiv and xxxxviii-ix), which awaits
further elucidation. For instance, chapters 3 to 14 correspond roughly to
ch. 3 to 21 of Ad, ch. 15-16 to Ad 22-23, then at ch. 18-20 there is a jum p
to Ad 35-38, ch. 21-24 cover portions of Ad 44-48, and so on. It is not
impossible that this version was composed in Tibet.

5. TH E PER FEC TIO N OF WISDOM IN 8,000 LINES.

S: Aftasdhasrika prajnaparamita-sutra.
ed. R .M itra, Calcutta, 1888, Bibl. Ind. 110. xxvi, 530 pp.
ed. U. W ogihara, Tokyo, 1932-35 (W ith H aribhadra’s commentary,
i.e. 5-cy 1).
ed. P.L. Vaidya, D arbhanga, 1960.
For the text see J . W. de Jong, “ Notes on Prajnaparam ita Texts” , Indolo-
gica Taurinensia II, 1974, pp. 107-119. E. Conze, JR A S 1978, pp.
14-18.
The palm leaf missing between M itra pp. 464 and 465 in E. Conze,
BSOAS, X IV , (1952), pp. 261-2. For some Mss see: A. Ghose in Rupam
38-39, pp. 78-82; H.C. Hollis in Bulletin o f the Cleveland Museum o f
Art 26, 1939, pp. 30-33; H. Sastri, Proceedings o f the Asiatic Society o f
Bengal 1899, pp. 39-40.
C h: T 224 x. Lokaksema, A.D. 179-180. —Prajnapaiamita-sutra of the practice
o f the Way.
L.R. Lancaster, “The oldest M ahayana Sutra: Its significance for the
study of Buddhist development” , The Eastern Buddhist N. S. V III, 1975,
pp. 30-41.
T 225 vi (or iv). Chih-ch’ien, ca. A.D. 225. Sutra of unlimited great-
brightness-crossing.
L.R. Lancaster, “T he Chinese translation of the Astasahasrika-Prajna-
param ita-Sutra attributed to Chieh C h’ien” , Monumenta Serica xxviii,
1969, pp. 246-257.
ch: T 226 v. D harm apriya, A.D. 382. Only 13 ch. (cr. to ch. 1-8 and
16-23 of Sanskrit). Extract. (Mahaprajhdparamita-sutra).
C h: T 227 x. Kum arajiva, A.D. 408. T viii pp. 536-586. (Mahaprajna-
pdramita-sutra).
T 220, 4-5. Hsiian-tsang, ca. A.D. 660.
 ORDINARY PRAJNAPARAMITA SCTRAS 47

T 228 xxv. D anapala, A.D. 985. T viii pp. 587-676 (with chapters
in Sanskrit). (The Prajnaparamita-sutra, mother of the Buddha, who gives
birth to the triple Dharmapifaka).
L. Lancaster, An Analysis oj the Aftasdhasrikd-prajnapdramita-sutra from the
Chinese Translations, pp. 406, Dissertation, Wisconsin Univ. 1968 (unpubl.)
T i: Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa brgyad ston-pa.
O 734 (enumerates m any translators & revisors), (colophon trsl. in
Beckh pp. 8-9). —To 12 (K a lb-286a). —To 6758, K a 1-428 (Tshe
mchog glin edition).
M o: Ligeti no. 766. vol. 46.
Also: Ms Royal Library Copenhagen, 159 fol., between 1593-1603.
—Another translation by Bsam dan sen-ge, ca. A.D. 1620, Block-
prints Peking 1707, 1727, cf. W. Heissig, Ural-altaische Jahrbucher,
X X V I (1954), p. 112.
E: E. Conze, Bibl. Ind. 284, Calcutta 1958, 225 pp., 1970. — The Perfection
o f Wisdom in eight thousand Lines and its Verse Summary, xxii 325 pp.,
1973. —R eprinted, with corrections 1975.
e: H ari Prasad Shastri, BTS of India, Journal etc., 1894, II, part 2, pp.
7-11 (= x i 232-240); 3, pp. 10-15 (parts of xviii).
Bendall-Rouse, &ik$asamuccaya (1922), pp. 37-41, 495 sq., 315 sq.
E. J . Thomas, The Perfection of Wisdom (1952), pp. 34-42 (from ch.
xxx-xxxi).
E. Conze, ed. Buddhist Texts (1954), no. 124-5, 128, 136-7, 141, 143-4,
165, 167.—SS no. 5, 7-10, 13-22, 24-31, 34-39, 43, 51-53, 64, 69, 74,
78-81, 86-7, 93, 101-4, 109-11, 114, 117, 126.
g: M. Walleser, Prajnaparamita, Die Vollkommenheit der Erkenntnis (Gottingen,
1914), pp. 34—139 (ch. 1, 2, 8, 9, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19, 22, 27). Cf. Ost.
Ztschr., IV , 207, sq. — D LZ, X X X V I, Sp. 1932-7, and no. 44-46. M.
W internitz, Der Mahayana Buddhismus (1930) (A i 3-6, 20 sq., 23 sq.,
ii 39 sq., xi, 321 sq., xviii 341 sq., 347 sq., xxii 396-8).
E. Frauwallner, Die Philosophic des Buddhismus (1956), pp. 151-163
(i 3-6, 20-21, ii 45-7, viii 190-2, xxii 399-400.
f: ch. 1, to p. 27, in: E. Burnouf, Introduction a I’histoire du Buddhisme
Indien (1844), pp. 465-483; 2nd ed. pp. 414-430.
48 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

ch. 1-28, trad. E. Burnouf, Ms in Biblioth&que Nationale, Fonds

Bumouf. no. 64, 430 pages in 4°.
cf. E. Conze, “The composition of the Astasahasrika Prajfiaparam ita” ,
BSOAS, X IV (1952), pp. 251-262. R eprinted in T YB S 1967, pp.
168-184.
The contents of this Sutra are not easily summarized. O ne can,
nevertheless, indicate roughly the sequence of its themes. The first two
chapters expound the elusiveness o f perfect wisdom, and they contain all the
essential doctrines of the book. Chapters 3 to 5 are then devoted to the
advantages derived from the practice of perfect wisdom, and chapter 6 is a
treatise on the metaphysical problems connected with the process of dedicating
all m erit to the full enlightenment of all beings. Chapters 7 to 10 touch on a
variety o f topics, such sis the attributes of perfect wisdom, its relation to the
other pSramitas, the reasons why some believe in it and others do not, its depth
and purity, its relation to attachm ent and non-attachm ent, to reality and
illusion, and its effects on the believer. Chapter 11 then describes the obstacles
which Mara puts in the way of the study of the Prajnaparam ita, chapter 12
proceeds to analyse the kind of knowledge which the Tathagata has of the world,
and chapter 13 discusses the attributes of the Absolute. In chapter 14 the
Disciples and Pratyekabuddhas are unfavourably compared with the Bodhisattvas,
and chapter 15 first outlines the help which Bodhisattvas give to others, and
then describes the perfection o f wisdom. This is followed in chapter 16 by
a rhapsody on Suchness and the Tathagata, which constitutes the culminating
point of the Sutra, and is followed by an earthquake.
C hapter 17 is a m onograph on the attributes and tokens of irreversibility.
C hapter 18 then deals with the ontology of perfect wisdom, i.e. with emptiness,
etc. This topic is further pursued in the first part of chapter 19. In its
second part, chapter 19 describes how the six perfections should be practised
in relation to other beings, and this is followed by a description of the
prediction to Buddhahood of the Ganges Goddess. The first p art of chapter 20
treats of skill in means, and then the discussion swerves back to irreversibility
(xx 380-4), and proceeds from there to the evils of pride (ch. 21).
Chapters 22 to 28 again range over a wide variety of topics, such as the
importance of good friends, the meaning of emptiness, the value of perfect
wisdom, the conditions which lay open to the influence of M ara, the marks
of perfect training, the nature of illusion, the praise of the life of a Bodhisattva,
and the prediction to Buddhahood of many thousands of monks. In the
course of chapter 28 this Sutra is entrusted to Ananda, the miraculous appearance
o f Akfobhya’s Buddhafield is described, followed by a m editation on extinction,
 ORDINARY PRAjftAPARAM ITA SCTRAS 49

non-extinction and conditioned co-production. In chapter 29 we have another

litany, in chapters 30 and 31 a story about the Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita and
his search for perfect wisdom,1 and in chapter 32 once more the transmission
of the Sutra to Ananda.
T he chapter divisions present a num ber of difficult problems:
a) Often the chapters are linked together. In m any cases the argum ent
simply goes on, — as between 3—4-5, 7-8-9 - , 11-12, 15-16, 25-26, and
30-31. Similarly, 18, 19 and 20, up to p. 380, once formed one continuous
argument, which was then interrupted by the insertion of the episode of
the Ganges Goddess (xix 365-9). W here there may be any doubt about
the continuity, sometimes a special reference is m ade back to the preceding
chapter, e.g. a t vii 1-77 to vi 158-9, after a break through the insertion
of a litany; or a t xi, which deals with the dofa, which at the beginning are
contrasted with the gund that had been treated in ch . 10. At the beginning
of ch. 17, the first answer to the question about the marks of an irreversible
Bodhisattva is that “he does not prattle away” , etc., and the passage about
Suchness which precedes it is inserted to form a link with the subject of
Suchness discussed in ch. 16. A t ch. 18, there is at the beginning a special
reference to the subject of oh. 17, i.e. to the marks of an irreversible Bo­
dhisattva. Lokaksema, as a m atter of fact, abbreviates the connecting link,
omits the first two sentences, and begins his ch. 16 straight away with A
341, pratibalo, etc. These efforts to preserve the impression of a continuous
argum ent are probably due to a later hand.
At 10, 13, 14, 15, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, however, the chapter division coincides
with a clear break in the argum ent. In two cases, a t ch. 21 and 23, the cha­
pter division cuts through the argum ent in an illogical and arbitrary m anner,
and it would have been more suitable to begin ch. 21 at A xx 380, and
chapter 32 after the conclusion of the story of Sadaprarudita. At A xx 380 in
fact Lokaksema and also the large Prajfiaparam itas begin a new chapter. Lo­
kaksema has no new chapter at A ch. 21, nor any of the large Prajhaparamitas.
b) T he present division into chapters may be later than the earliest
Chinese translations. I add here the division of Lokaksema, T 224, ca. 180,
underlining those headings which differ from the Sanskrit. (See also
H ikata’s Table I).
Sanskrit A Lokaksema
1. sarvakarajnatacarya 1. margacaryaparivartah
2. Sakra 2. (Sakra) pariprccha
2. p. 48 3. guna

1 See L. Lancaster, “T he Story of a Buddhist H ero” , The Tsing Hua Journal o f

Chinese Studies, N.S. X 2, 1974, 83-89
50 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

apram eya-guna-dharana-param ita-

stupa-satkara
4. guna-parikirtana
5. punya-paryaya
6. anum odana-parinam ana 4. upayakauSalya
7. niraya 5. niraya
8. visuddhi 6. visuddhi
8 . p. 199 7. stuti
9. stuti
10. dharana-guna-parikirtana 8. (apram eyaguna)dharana
11 . M arakarm a 9. (sarvdkara-)abhisambodha
12. lokasam darsana 10. (loka)samdarSana
13. acintya 11. acintya
14. aupam ya 12. aupam ya
15. deva 13. vikalpa
16. tathata 14. anadibhava (or: tathata?)
17. avinivartaniya-akara-linga-nim itta 15. avinivartanlya
18. sunyata, p. 341 16. Ganga-upasika
19. Garigadevibhagini
20. upayakausalya-m lmamsa 17. iunyata
20. p. 380 ' 18. viveka
21 . M arakarm a
22 . kalyanam itra 19. kalyanam itra
23. Sakra 20. Sakra devendra
24. abhim ana 21. abhim ana
25. 22. siksa
26. m ayopama 23. carya
27. sara 24. sara-asara
28. p. 459 Avakirnakusuma 25. parindanS
p. 468 26. aksaya
29. anugam a 27. anugam a
30. Sadaprarudita 28. S adaprarudita bodhisattvo
31. D harm odgata 29. D harm odgata bodhisattvo
32. parindana 30. parindana

T he titles given to some of the chapters in the Sanskrit text are fairly late.
C hapter 28, for instance, is nam ed after a later addition, and also the title
of chapter 1 is unlikely to be the original one. Sarvakarajnata is m entioned
in A only at xxx 507, a passage which belongs to one of the most recent strata
of the Sutra. Its distinction from the Disciples’ sarvajnata is a later scholastic
refinement, present in the Large Prajnaparam ita, but quite absent in A,
where sarvajnata is clearly and constantly used from chapter 1 to 28 for the
omniscience of the Buddha.
Commentaries:
Cy 1: H aribhadra, Abhisamayalankaraloka
S: ed. U. W ogihara (Tokyo, 1932-35), 995 pp. (with text of A),
repr. 1973.
 ORDINARY PRAJNAPARAMITA SOTRAS 51

ed. G. Tucci, GOS, 62 (Baroda, 1932).

T i: rgyan-gyi snan-ba. m do-’grel V I, 1—426 a. vol. I l l , p. 277 many
translators and revisors. —To 7391. ’grel-chen.
e: G. H. Sasaki and G. W. F. Flygare, The Doctrine of Nonsubstan­
tiality, O tani University, Kyoto, 1953 (part of ch. 18).
cf. MCB, III, pp. 383-9. R. M ano, ‘“ Tathagata' in H aribhadra’s
Commentary” , J IB S 16, 1968, pp. 975-69.

It is stated at the end of this very im portant work (p. 994) that it was
written in the monastery of Trikatuka, and that king D harm apala patronized
it. The explanation of the Sutra is here based on “ the four great commen­
taries” (Bu-ston II 159), and follows (AAA p. 1) Asanga’s Tattvavinikaya,
V asubandhu’s Paddhati, Arya Vimuktisena’s Vrtti (quoted 15 times) and
B hadanta Vimuktisena’s Varttika (quoted twice).

Cy 1-1: Dbyans-can dga’-ba’i blo-gros, ’phags-pa brgyad ston-pa’i ’grel-chen

rgyan snan-las btus-pa’i ner mkho mdo-don, Lta-ba’i mig-byed.
To 6578, K a 1-63. —This is an explanation of terms in the AAA.
Cy 2: R atnakarasanti, -pahjika Saratama nama.
S: Saratama. To be edited by P. S. Jain i in the T ibetan Sanskrit
Works Series, Patna.
cf. P. S. Jaini, “The Aloka of H aribhadra and the Saratam a
of R atnakarasanti. A comparative study of the two commen­
taries of the Astasahasrika” , BSOAS 35, 1972, 271-284.
T i: mdo-’grel X , l-253a. —To 3803. trsl. Subhutisand, Sakya
blo-gros.
Cy 3: Abhayakaragupta, -vrtti Marmakaumudi nama.
T i: mdo-’grel X I, l-256a. —To 3805. trsl. Abhayakaragupta,
Ses-rab dpal.
Cy 4: Jagaddalanivasin, -amnayanusarini nama vyakhya.
T i: man-nag-gi rjes-su ’bran-ba shes bya-ba’i mam-par bSad-pa.
m do-’grel XV, l-371a. —To 3811. trsl. Alank(ar)adeva,
Ga-rod tshul-khrims ’byun-gnas.

The next three items are only loosely connected with no. 5, and they
are not properly commentaries to it, although they represent themselves
as such.
 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

5: Dignaga, Prajnaparamitd-pindartha.
S: ed. G. Tucci, JR A S, 1947, pp. 56-59.
ed. E. Frauwallner, Wiener Ztschr.f. d. KundeSiid- und Ostasiens,
II I (1959), pp. 140-4; cf. pp. 116-20.
Ch: T 1518 i. D anapala, A.D. 982.
T i: bsdus-pa’i tshig-le’ur byas-pa (samgrahakarika). mdo-’grel X IV
333a-336a, and C X X V III no. 7.—To 3809, trsl. Tilaka-
kala£a, Blo-ldan sSes-rab. —Ed. JR A S, pp. 68-75.
E: G. Tucci, JR A S, 1947, pp. 59-65 (Notes 65-68).
5-1: T riratnadasa, -vrtti. Prajfiaparamitd-samgraha (-kdrika) -vivarana.
C h: T 1517 iv, D anapala, A.D. 982.
T i: bsdus-pa’i tshig-le’ur byas-pa’i mam-par ’grel-pa. mdo-’grel X IV
336a-362a. —To 3810. trsl. Thig-le bum -pa, Blo-ldan
£es-rab.
6: K am baram bara(pada), Arydftasdhasrikdydh prajhdparamitdyah
pvndartha.
S: ed. G. Tucci, M B T , I (1956), pp. 216-217.
C h: T 1516 ii. D harm araksa, A.D. 1004. —Ed. in Tucci, pp.
223-4.
T i: Bhagavati prajnapdramitd navaSlokapindartha: bcom-ldan ’das-ma
ies-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa don bsdus-pa’i tshigs-su bcad-pa
dgu-pa.
a) trsl. Sraddhakaravarm an, Rin-chen bzan-po: mdo-’grel
X V I, 3b-4a. —To 3812 (=4462). —Ed. in Tucci, M B T ,
I, pp. 218-220.
b) trsl. Sum anahiri, Rin-chen grub, mdo-’grel X V I 1-
3a. —Ed. in Tucci, M B T , I, pp. 223-4.
E : G. Tucci, M B T , I, pp. 225-231.
6-1: -pinddrthafikd.
T i: rgya-cher biad-pa. mdo-’grel X V I 4b-9a. —To 3813(=4463).
trsl. K am alagupta, Rin-chen bzan-po.
Included in S, T i and Ch as running commentary. A few excerpts
in Tucci, M B T , I, pp. 226-230.
7: Nag-dbari byams-pa, Yum ies-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa brgyad
 ORDINARY PRAjSAPARAM ITA SOTRAS 53

ston-pa’i don slob-dpon sen-bzan dan, phyogs glan gnis-kyi ’chad-tskul

mdor-bsdus, Sgron-gsal.
T i: T o 6155, C ha 1-7. Explanation of differences between cy 1
and cy 5.

5 a . VERSES ON T H E ACCUMULATION OF PRECIOUS QUALITIES.

S: Prajhaparamita-ratnagunasamcayagatha.
S: (1) Recension A ( = C alcutta Ms, A.D. 1174), ed. A. Yuyama, Cam­
bridge, 1976. —cf. E. Conze I I J iv, 1960, pp. 37-58. —F. Edger-
ton I I J v, 1961, pp. 1-18.
(2) Recension B ( = Chinese blockprint, 18th century), ed. E. Ober-
miller, Leningrad, 1937 (BB xxix); R eprint Osnabruck, 1970.
Reissue, with corrections and a Sanskrit-Tibetan-English index
by E. Conze, 1960 (IIR v).
(3) Recension C (other late Mss from Nepal), ed. P. L. Vaidya, M SS
I, 1961, pp. 352-404.
cf. R . O. Meisezahl, Oriens xvii, 1964, pp. 289-301 (review of
Conze, 1960= ///? v)
C h: T 229 iii. D harm abhadra, A.D. 991. The Prajnaparamita Sutra which is
the storehouse oj the precious virtues of the Mother of the Buddhas. —Biblio­
graphy: A. Yuyama pp. xxxix-xliii.
T i : Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa sdud-pa tskigs-su bcad-pa.
(1) Recension A. Tun-huang Mss (ch. 84 of no. 1 (S), as also the
C alcutta Ms), ed. A. Yuyama, 1976, pp. 156-191.
(2) Recension B.
a. trsl. Vidyakarasimha, Dpal-brtsegs. O 735. —To 13, K a lb -
19b. ca A.D. 825.
b. 84th chapter of no. 3 (Ad). N arthang I I I f. 147b-175a
c. Bilingual Xylograph, ed. Oberm iller, as S: (2).
Agrees largely with (b), but there are m inor differences of
which the more im portant have been noted in my Index in
HR v.
Bibliography: A. Yuyama, pp. xxx-xxxviii.
M o: Ligeti no. 767, vol. 47, l-27v. —A. Yuyama pp. xliv-xlv.
Hsi-hsia: A. Yuyama p. xlvi.
54 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

E: (Recension B) E. Conze, “T h e Accumulation of Precious Qualities” ,

in Indo-Asian Studies, Part 1, ed. R aghu Vira, 1962, pp. 126-178.
—Repr. in The Perfection o f Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines and its
Verse Summary, 1973 (repr. 1975), pp. 3-73.

The historical value of this docum ent is greatly reduced by the fact that
the existing version is not the original one. At the end we have two verses
in Sardulavikri^ita m etre, which indicate that the text was reviewed by
H aribhadra, and brought into line with the chapters of A as they existed at
the time. After that the colophon runs in the X ylograph: Aryaf(asahasrikayah
Bhagavatyah Prajnaparamitayah, parivarta-anusarena Bhagavati Ratnagunasamcaya-
gatha samapta. In the T ibetan translation of Ad these two verses and the
colophon are omitted.
The work is w ritten in mixed Sanskrit. It contains many Prakritisms, and
has hardly been Sanskritized at all. At the beginning of the Subodhini it is said
to have been first delivered in the dialect of Central India; according to
Bu-ston (II p. 51) in the dialect of M agadha. The language does not attain
the gramm atical precision of Sanskrit, but is full of ambiguities, and without
the help of the T ibetan translation it would often be nearly impossible to
make out the meaning. It is very similar to Edgerton’s “ Buddhist Hybrid
Sanskrit” . Collation with the C alcutta Ms ( = A) has now revealed m any of
the deviations from ordinary Sanskrit usage in O berm iller’s edition as m ere
errors of transmission, and also m ade it probable th at the discretion of indivi­
dual scribes had something to do with the retention or rejection of non-San-
skritic forms. T he linguistic detail of this im portant text has now been studied
by A. Yuyama.
The distinction between -a and a, and between short and long vowels
in general, is often not observed. This also accounts for the apparent elision
of the initial letter of a word, when it follows a vowel, e.g. pratibhana
(a)neka xi 2, yujyatu (u)paya-yukta xvi 3, manyanu (u)papadyati xxi 1, atikranta
(a)nagata xxviii 2; vidhamitva vidya stands for vidhamitva avidya a t xxviii 7;
we further have bhonti (i)ha at xxv 4, puna (a)khydyati a t xviii 6, sarvepu (u)-
padu at i 27, and na ca (a)santskrte, according to the Tibetan, at xx 18. There
are also other contractions, like tatha mi (or A '. tathimi) for tatha ime xxv 4, emeva
for evam eva, and atha for yatha.
T he final -a and -am of the Nominative often appears as -u, and sometimes
as -i. Instead of the Accusative the Nominative is often given. T he gen. sing,
of sagara appears as sagari at xviii 1. T he gen. plur. is often -ana instead of
-anam. At v 3 sattvi (A: a) is Dative, at i 11 puramakehi (A :puremakehi) is given
for piirvakaih of A, and at ii 13 adhvanasmin (A: adhvakasmin) for adhvani. At
 ORDINARY PRAJNAPARAMITA SOTRAS 55

xx 7 we have antare, but a t vi 3 antari for antare. In some cases I have not
understood the declension, e.g. at ii 9 rupe is nom. plur. (gzugs) and rupi
Locative (gzugs-la)?
Ahu is given for aham, aya and ayu for ayam, imu at xxv 2 for imam, ubhi
and ubhayo for ubhaya, eti for ete, tatu for tada, sa ci for sacet, yadyapi for kirp.
capi, kutu for kuto (xxvi 4). Ahu-mahya is aham-mama, an abbreviation for aharp.-
karamamakarau.
A num ber of words differ from the Sanskrit form, e.g. raha for arhat,
pratyaya for pratyekabuddha, istri for stri, etc. In some cases the order of words
seems reversed, e.g. avarana-kleia for kleSa-avarana, kamartha for artha-kama.
Sometimes the language of this work resembles Pali, as when it gives
daka for udaka, 'geha for grha, parikhinna for parikfiria, lena Jar layana, samkileSo
for saTtikleSa, vuccati for ucyate. The treatm ent of the verb also shows many
similarities to Pali: o- often takes the place of ava-. Bhavanti occurs as bhonti,
and so we have prabhoti and abhibhoti. Bhavifyati occurs as bhefyati, the present
form in -ayati often as -ayi, and the Causative in -eti is frequent. At iv 5 dadantu
stands for the dadatah of A. Pari-efati stands for paryefati, khipitva for kfipitva,
sthihate for ti,s(hati, and sthihitva for sthitva.
See: A. Yuyama, A Grammar o f the Rgs, xxxii, 190 pp., C anberra 1973.
—“ Some Glossarial Notes on the Rgs” , Proceedings and Papers o f the 14th
Congress o f the Australasian Universities Language and Literature Association (19­
26. 1. 72), ed. K. I. D. Maslen, 1972, pp. 30-37. — “Remarks on the
m etre of the Rgs” , Studies in Indo Asian Art and Culture, vol. 2 (Acharya Raghu
Vira Commemoration Volume) (Satapifaka Series, 96), 1973, pp. 243-253.

Commentaries:
Cy 1: H aribhadra (?), -pahjika. Subodhini.
T i: rtogs-par sla-ba. trsl. Jetah an n u Santibhadra, ’bro Sen-dkar
Sakya ’od. —mdo-’grel V II, pp. 1-93. —To 3792, dka’-’grel
shes bya-ba.
Cy 2: Buddha^rij nana, -panjika.
T i: dka’-’grel. mdo-’grel V III, pp. 135-223. —To 3798, trsl.
Vidyakarasimha, Dpal-brtsegs.
Cy 3: Dharma&i, prajnaparamita-koSa-tala-nama.
T i: mdzod-kyi Ide-mig ces bya-ba. mdo-’grel X I, pp. 331-340. —To
3806. trsl. Ba-rig. (Peking 5204: Ba-reg).
These three commentaries relate the contents of Rgs to A A.
56 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

AB. Abbreviations

6. TH E QUESTIONS O F SUVIKRANTAVIKRAM IN.

S: Suvikrdntavikrdmi-pariprcchd prajndpdramitd(-nirdeSa-)sutra. O r: Sdrddha-

dvisdkasrika prajhapdramitd-sutra.
ed. T . M astumoto (Tokyo 1956), 99 pp..
ed. R. H ikata (Fukuoka 1958), 129 pp.
(Reviews: I I J ii, 1958, pp. 316-8, iii, 1959, pp. 232-4; repr. FBS).
ed. P. L. Vaidya, M SS I, 1961, pp. 1-74.
C h: T 220, 593-600. Hsuan-tsang. no. 16, T vii 1065c-1110a.
Ch. 1 and 2 ed. also in T. M atsumoto’s ed. of ch. 1 and 2 in Die
Prajndparamitd Literatur (1932), pp. 4-29, and Festschrijt Kahle (1935),
pp. 181-188.
The chapter division is different from that of the Sanskrit and Tibetan.
T he chapters begin at the following folios of the Sanskrit text: I 2b,
II 16b, II I 26b, IV 31a, V 52b, V I 70b, V II 84a, V III 100b.
T i: (’phags-pa) rab-kyi rtsal-gyis mam-par gnon-pas shus-pa ks-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu
phyin-pa bstan-pa. 7 ch. trsl. &ilendrabodhi, Jinam itra, Ye-ses-sde. 0
736.—To 14, K a 20a-103b.
M o: Ligeti no. 768, vol. 47, 27v-136r.
E: E. Conze, S P T pp. 1-78.

T he book is divided into seven chapters. T he first chapter (Nidana) shows

considerable affinities to the first chapter of the Affa. The list of the attributes
of an A rhat at the beginning of A is worked up into a more detailed descrip­
tion of the attributes of those for whom this discourse is intended (4a-6b).
The rem ainder of the chapter is devoted to definitions of the basic terms,
i.e. perfection of wisdom (6b-13a), Bodhisattva and great being (13a-18b),
and great vehicle (18a-19b). The explanation is, however, m uch more
inclined than A to strain after paradoxes, to rely on the ambiguities of words,
to go into the details of the Abhidharm a, and to dwell on the hidden meaning
of the Lord’s sayings. T he sequence of the argum ent in chapter 1 can be
seen from the following Table:
 ORDINARY PRAJNAPARAMITA SOTRAS 57

Perfection of wisdom

wisdom 6b-7a perfection 12a-b enlightenment 12b-13a

I
cognition enlightenment-being 13a-17b
and non­ I
cognition great being 17b-18b
7a-7b I
supram undane the great vehicle 18a-19b
wisdom 7b-8a
I
sharp wisdom
8a-10a

tru th of tru th of tru th of

ill origination stopping
9a-10a 10a-b lO b -lla
.1 I
conditioned cognition of
co-production extinction
10b lla - b
I
Elem ent of
N irvana
llb -1 2 a

T he second chapter (Ananda, fol. 19b-24b) praises the qualities of those

who are assembled to hear the perfection of wisdom, and describes those
who are excluded from its understanding. T he third chapter (tathata, f. 24b-
37), in which the Lord addresses Suvikrantavikramin, expounds the well-
known ontological doctrines of these Sutras, concerning emptiness, Suchness
etc. In the fourth chapter (aupamya, f. 37b-60a), both dharm as and prajha-
paramita are com pared to a dream , a mockshow, a reflected image, a mirage,
an echo, the pith of a banana tree, or a bubble, and there are in all 12 com­
parisons of this kind. They are followed (40b-52b) by lengthy reflections on
the prajnipSramita as being aparinifpanna, inaccessible and without own-being,
w ithout relation to any dharm a, but deep, perfectly pure and infinite. The
Sutra then describes in some detail the persons who can understand the
prajMparamita and those who cannot. Saradvatiputra then, in the fifth chapter
(Subhuti, f. 60a-64b) urges Subhuti to break his silence and to explain the
D harm a to this pure assembly, but Subhuti replies that there is nothing in
particular that can be explained and that needs explaining, and that therefore
he does not feel called upon to explain the D harm a. In the sixth chapter
(caryS, f. 64b—94a) the Lord explains the implications of “ coursing” in perfect
wisdom, and of “developing” perfect wisdom, paying particular attention
to the discussion of “ perverted views” (viparyasa) (64b-67a, 76a-78a, 81a,
88a), and constantly emphasising the absence of a basis (arambana 67a-74b,
58 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

84a-85a) and the unthinkability of the prajnaparamita (74b-76a) as well as its

freedom from all thought-construction and discrimination (86b-88b). It
is because the Bodhisattva is not supported by anything th at he has risen so
high that M ara can do him no harm (88b-94a). T he seventh chapter (armSaTfisd,
f. 94a-113) begins with a few more remarks about M ara’s inability to harm
the Bodhisattva (94a-95b). It then once more defines the relation of the
prajnaparamita to dharm as (95b-101a), and thereafter explains that all the
higher spiritual achievements which ultim ately culm inate in the omniscience
of the Buddha, are bound up with the practice of this Perfection of Wisdom
(lO la-llO a). By way of conclusion the T athagata places his seal (mudra)
on the teaching, entrusts this dharmaratnakofa to 500 Bodhisattvas, confirms
his adhifthana of this D harm a by a few miracles, and concludes by stressing
its blessings and M ara’s helplessness when confronted with its adherents.
This is easily the most advanced Prajflaparam ita text which we possess,
and there are frequent allusions to the most intricate topics of the Abhi­
dharm a. These are usually treated in a rational m anner, but at times on
the basis of w hat seem to be m ere verbal similarities (cf. e.g. the treatm ent
of nirvedhika a t i 8a-10a, which jum ps from nirvidhyati to vidya). T he lists to
which the various propositions are applied differ considerably from the stan­
dard lists o f the large Prajflaparam ita, and m any of the pages of this Sutra
are similar to the litanies of chapters 29 to 31 of the Aftasdhasrikd. T here are
m any other echoes of the Affasahasrika, and large stretches of the Suvikranta-
vikrdmipariprccha appear to be variations on the themes of the first two
chapters of the Affa.

7. T H E PER FEC TIO N OF WISDOM IN 700 LINES.

S: Saptaiatika prajnaparamita-sutra.
ed. G. Tucci, Memorie della R. accad. del Lincei, Classe di scienze morali
etc., ser. 5a, vol. 17 (Roma, 1923) (uses only Ms Cambridge Add 868,
17th or 18th century),
s: ed. J . M asuda, Journal oj the Taisho University, vols 6-7 (tome 7) (Toky5,
1930), p art 2, pp. 185-241 (first half only, fol. l-23a) (uses also Kawa-
gucchi Ms from Nepal, and Kyoto Ms (Imp. U n.)). —Reprinted in
P.L. Vaidya, M SS I, 1961, pp. 340-351.
Ch: T 232 ii. M andra(sena). A.D. ca. 502-557. —T viii pp. 726-732.
The Prajnaparamita as taught by ManjuSri. —Also a t T 310 as 46th Sutra
of Mahdratnakufa.
T 233 i. Sanghabhara (Sanghapala), A.D. ca. 506-520. —T viii pp.
 ORDINARY PRAJNAPARAMITA SCTRAS 59

732-739. T itle as T 232.

T 220 (7), no. 574-5. trsl. Hsuan-tsang, A.D. 660-663.
ed: First h alf also in M asuda.
T i: (’phags-pa) ies-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa bdun brgya-pa (shes bya ba theg-pa
chen-po’i mid).
0 737; 760(46) in Ratnakufa, trsl. Surendrabodhi, Ye-Ses-sde. —To
24, K a 148a-174a; 90 (Ratnakufa).
M o: Ligeti no. 769, vol. 47, 136r-171v. —Also no. 838 in Ratnakufa.
E: E. Conze S P T pp. 79-107.
(e: SS no. 4, 56, 68, 94, 98-100, 118, 122-3.)
(e: First part in E. Conze TYBS,1967, pp. 191-206.)

The interlocutors are the Buddha, M afljuiri, M aitreya, Saradvatlputra,

A nanda and N iralam ba Bhagini. This text contains fewer repetitions than
the others, and little space is devoted to its praise. It may have been composed
about A.D. 450.
T he Sutra falls roughly into five parts: 1. Nidana, la-3 a . —2. Dialogue,
3a-22b. T he problems covered here are: The Suchness of the Tathagata,
development of perfect wisdom (6b-9a), reasons for not trem bling (9a-13b),
the non-existence of enlightenm ent, and of all the stages preceding it (M
219-241). —3. Cosmic phenom ena, and A nanda’s question, 22b-23a. This
first h alf may originally have been entitled ptmyakfetranirdeSa (23b). 4. Discus­
sion continued, 23b-41b: T he unthinkable concentration and cognition
(23b-26b), qualifications of the believers (27a-34a), the concentration on
one single array (34a-36b), full enlightenm ent and its conditions (37a-38b),
qualities of the sermon and of the listeners worthy of it (38b-41b). —5. End.
Sakra and miracles, 41b—43a.
Like the Vajracchedika, this Sutra also endeavours to bring out the startling
and paradoxical character of the teaching. Again and again xt returns to the
identity of seemingly contradictory opposites, such as reality-limit and
individuality (M 213), self and Buddha (M 221), enlightenm ent and the
five deadly sins (M 231-2). T he “ hidden m eaning” (samdhS), mentioned once
in the Vajracchedika (ch. 7), but never in the large Prajfiaparam ita Sutras,
plays a big p art (e.g. M 214, 227-9, 240), and pseudo-etymological deriva­
tions abound. In this way, anu is connected with anuttara a t M 231, and with
anutparma at M 228, or agra with agrahyatvdd a t M 204, etc. T here are some
echoes of the previous Sutras (e.g. 31a-32b, and 4 0 -4la are echoes of P 17
sq.), but in general the old problems are subjected to a novel treatment.
T he concentration on “one single array” (eka-vyiiho samadhi) occurs also in
60 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

$ and P in the list of concentrations (as no. 83). It is there explained as “ the
reviewing of the duality of no dharm a whatsoever” (P 202: yatra sam.ad.hau
sthitva na kasyacid dharmasya dvayatdrp samanupaiyati).

Commentaries:
Cy 1: Vim alam itra, -fika.
T i: rgya-cher ’grel-pa. mdo-’grel X V I, 9a-105a. —To 3814.
Cy 2: Kamalaslla, -fika.
T i: rgya-cher biad-pa. mdo-’grel X V I, 105a-209b. —To 3815. trsl.
Vim alam itra, Surendrakaraprabha, Nam -m kha’ skyon.

7a. PER FEC T WISDOM IN 500 LINES.

S: PancaSatika prajnaparamita-sutra. Lost.

T i: Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-lu phyin-pa Ina brgya-pa, trsl. Silendrabodhi, Jinam itra,
Ye-ies-sde. 0 738. —To. 15, K a 104a-120b.
M o: Ligeti no. 770, vol. 47, 171r-197v.
E. E. Conze, S P T pp. 108-121.
This is a straightforward account of the ontology of the Prajflaparam ita.

8. TH E “ DIAMOND SUTRA” (T H E PER FEC TIO N OF WISDOM W H IC H CUTS LIK E A

TH U N D ER BO LT).

S: Vajracchedika prajndparamita-siitra.
ed. E. Conze, SOR, X III (1957), pp. 27-63. — 1974, 2nd edition, with
corrections and additions,
ed. M . M ueller, Anecdota Oxoniensia, Aryan Series, vol. 1, p art 1, (1881),
pp. 19-46. Repr. 1972.
ed. N. D utt, Gilgit Manuscripts, IV , 1959, pp. 141-170.
ed. P. L. Vaidya, M SS I, 1961, pp. 75-89.
s: ed. F. E. Pargiter, “V. in the original Sanskrit” , in: A. F. R. Hoernle,
Manuscript Remains o f Buddhist literature found in Eastern Turkestan (1916),
pp. 176-195.—Missing: ch. 1—middle of 2; ch. 4 middle—ch. 10;
ch. 16c-17b.
ed. N. P. Chakravarti, “ The Gilgit Ms of the V .” , in: G. Tucci,
M B T , I (1956), pp. 182-192 .—Missing ch. l-13c, 14e-15b.
Ch: T 235, Kum arajiva, A.D. 402. T viii pp. 748-752.—Also in Hashi-
 ORDINARY PRAjftAPARAM ITA SOTRAS 61

moto, see J .
cf. F. W. Thomas, “A Buddhist Chinese Text in Brahml Script” ,
ZD M G (1937), pp. 1-48.—H. W. Bailey, “V ajraprajnaparam ita” ,
ZD M G , 92 (1938), pp. 579-593; with F.W. Thom as’ reply at pp. 594-
610.—E. Conze, “ The frontispiece to the Tun-huang print of 868
A.D.” , The Middle Way, X X X , 1 (1955), pp. 1-2.—Cf. E. Conze’s
edition pp. 1-3.
T 236, Bodhiruci, A.D. 509. T viii pp. 752-61.
T 237, Paraniartha, A.D. 562. T viii pp. 762-66.
T 238, D harm agupta, A.D. 605. T viii pp. 766-772.—This transla­
tion sets out to reproduce the Sanskrit original in Chinese
with great literal fidelity.
T 220, (9), Hsuan-tsang, A.D. 648. T vii pp. 980-985.
T 239, I-ching, A.D. 703. T viii pp. 772-75.
T i: ies-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa rdo-rje gcod-pa.
trsl. Silendrabodhi, Ye-^es-sde.—0 739.—To 16, K a 121a-132b.—ed.
I. J . Schmidt, Mem. Ac. Imp. des Sciences de St. Petersbourg, IV (1837),
“ t)b e r das M ahayana und Pradschna-Param ita der Bauddhen” ,—mdo-
mari no. 109. —To 6763 (old Ms), 6762 (Lhasa blockprint), LSOAS
82827 (Peking blockprint). —Hashimoto (seej) reproduces very
legibly “ by the offset m ethod” a Ms “ on dark blue paper with silver
lettering” , given to him in Mongolia. — Peking blockprint, with S,
74 ff.: T o 6773, LSOAS 34849. —D am -pa’s translation, see Heissig,
p. 145, n. 2— Central Asian: IO SC no. 170. 32ff, KH A fol. 58-90; frgs.
no. 100, 171-176 617, 707.—Tun-huang, Lalou no. 10, 34, 99-100,
116, 118, 577, 578-9, 587.
khotanese: ed. Sten Konow, “ The V. in the old Khotanese version of Eastern
Turkestan” , in Hoemle, etc., I, 1916, pp. 214-356.
cf. Sten Konow in Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap, X I (1938), pp.
25 sq. —cf. E. Leum ann, Zur nordarischen Sprache und Literatur, 1912,
pp. 77-82.
The Khotanese version, of the 8th to 10th century, is shorter than
the Sanskrit text. It omits chapters 13c, 15b, 16c, most of 17d, 18b-25,
27, 28, 30a, 30b (except the last three sentences). In addition it shows
62 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

variations from the Sanskrit at 6 and 7, and at 9 and 32a it has what
appear to be com m entarial additions.
sogdian: ch. 3, 4. ed. H. Reichelt, Die soghdischert Handschriftenreste des Britischm
Museums, vol. II, (1931) pp. 72-5. —ch. 32, ed. Stzb. Berl. Ak. d. Wiss.,
1934, pp. 644-57; cf. 571.
cf. F. Weller, “ Bemerkungen zur soghdischen V .” , Acta Orientalia,
X IV (1936), pp. 112-146 (shows that the translation was m ade
from T 235).
uigur: G. Hazai & P. Zieme, Fragm ente der uigurischen Version des J in
‘gangjing m it den Gathas des Meisters Fu, Schriften zur Geschichte und
K ultur des alten Orients 3, Berliner Turfantexte I, 1971.
M o: K anjur. Ligeti no. 771, vol. 47, 192v-209v.
O ther translations: Heissig no. (171). —LSOAS 41650. —For prints
and manuscripts see p. 18 of my edition.
N. Poppe, The Diamond Sutra. Three M ongolian Versions of the Vajrac-
chedika Prajnaparam ita, Text, Translations, Notes, and Glossaries.
Asiatische Forschungen 35. 1971. 230 pp.
trsl. Toyin Guisi (ca 1640): A. Sarkozi, “ Toyin Guisi’s Mongol Vajra-
cchedika” , AO H 27, 1, 1973, pp. 43-102.
M anchu: K anjur.
de H arlez’ bilingual Chinese-M anchu Ms of 1837 (from T 235), ed.
Ch. de Harlez, W ZK M , 11 (1897), pp. 209-230.
Kalm uk: cf. Central Asiatic Journal 2, 1956, pp. 155-157.
N. Poppe: “An O yrat Vajracchedika fragment from T urfan” , Central
Asiatic Journal V II 3, 1962, 170-8 (ch. 25-28).
E: S. Beal, in JR A S, N. S, I, pp. 1-24 (1864-5). From T 235.
F. M. M uller, in “Buddhist M ahayana Sutras” , SBE, 49, 2, (1894),
pp. 111-144 (from S). Repr. 1968.
W. Gemmel, The Diamond Sutra, (1912), xxxii, 117. From T 235.
e: Sten Konow, 1916, in Hoernle, etc., I, pp. 276-288. From Khotanese.
e: D. T . Suzuki, in Manual o f Zen Buddhism (1934), pp. 43-56 (ch. 1-16,
18, 23, 26, 29, 32). From T 235.
E: W ai-tao, in Buddhist Bible, ed. D. Goddard (1935), pp. 87-107. From
T 235, but the sections are said to be arranged “according to the
 ORDINARY PRAjftAPARAM ITA SOTRAS 63

original order” (p. 661), quite arbitarily in fact.

Shao Chang Lee, Popular Buddhism in China, (1940), pp. 27-52 (from T
235).
A. F. Price, The Jewel o f Transcendental Wisdom (f947); reprinted
in 1955 as The Diamond Sutra. From T 235.
E. Conze, Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita (1957), pp. 65-92 (from S). —
S P T pp. 122-139.
Hsiian H ua, 1974 (see Cy 16) (From T 235).
F: Ch. de Harlez, JA s, 8i6me serie, tome 18 (1891), pp. 440-509. From
S. W ZK M , 11, (1897), pp. 331-356. From M anchu.
f: A. David-Neel, La connaissance transcendante, 1958, pp. 150-171 (from Ti).
G: I- J . Schmidt, M im. Ac. de St. Petersbourg, IV (1837). From Ti.
M. Walleser, Prajnaparamita. Die Vollkommenheit der Erkenntnis (1914),
pp. 140-158. From S.
J: Md-zo Bon-kan-wa Gappeki, Kongo Hannya Haramitsu-kyo, ed. Hashimoto
Koho and Shimizu RyoshS (Tokyo, 1941).
In addition to a J translation (pp. 173-200) m ade from the Mongol,
this work gives M . M uller’s S, the Ch of T 235, and a Ti and Mo text.
H. N akam ura and K. Kino, TSkyo. 1960. —G. Nagao, TokyS 1967.
Estonian: L. M all, Teem antsuutra, “ Pronksnaeratus” , Tallinn 1975,
pp. 243-261.

This Sutra is a short text of 32 chapters, in the form of a dialogue between

Subhuti and the Buddha. T he Sanskrit original does not, however, give
any chapter division, and the one adopted by M ax M uller and subsequent
scholars dates back to ca. A.D. 530, when it was introduced into K um ara
jiva’s translation in China. The first part, which ends at ch. 13b with tenocyate
prajhapdramiteti, is fairly coherent. This cannot be said of the second part.
Even Asanga, V asubandhu and KamalaSila have failed to find a plausible
logical sequence behind its repetitions and abrupt transitions, and it may
well be th at it is no more than a chance medley of stray sayings. Glosses may
have in the course of copying become mixed up with the text itself, and at
some time the palm leaves appear to have been displaced, and so the se­
quence of the existing text seems to have been determ ined by a series of
mechanical accidents.
Inform ation about the title of this Sutra, its transmission, and its philoso­
phical message can be found in the Introduction (pp. 1-15) to E. Conze’s
64 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

edition, and the chief technical terms are explained there in the Glossary
(pp. 93-113).

Commentaries:
Cy 1: Asanga, Trisatikayah prajhaparamitayah karikasaptati. 77 w .
S: ed. G. Tucci, M B T , I (1956), pp. 54-92.
C h: In T 1511, trsl. Bodhiruci, A.D. 509. —Ed. with S in
Tucci.
T 1514 i, trsl. I-ching, A.D. 711. —ed. with S in Tucci.
T i: ses-rab-kyi pha-rab-rol-tu phyin-pa rdo-rje gcod-pa bsad-pa’i
bsad sbyar-gyi tshig-le’ur byas-pa.
T an jur fto C X X V III no. 1 (not in Bu-ston’s Catalogue,
nor in the Derge edition, or in To). — Cf. from Tun-huang,
Lalou no. 605: 2f. end of V. -rnam-par bfad-pa tshig-le’ur
byas-pa ( V-vibhdja-karika ), attributed to Dbyig gnen.
E: trsl. G. Tucci, M B T , I (1956), pp. 93-128.
Cy 1-1: Subcommentary by Vasubandhu.
S: Lost.
C h: T 1511 iii, trsl. Bodhiruci, A.D. 509.
T 1513 iii, trsl. Yi-ching, A.D. 711.
Cy 1-1-1: Subcommentary by Vajrarsi.
Ch: T 1512 x. trsl. Bodhiruci (cf. Bagchi 253).
Cy 1-1-2: K ’uei-chi: C h: T 1816 iii (to T 1511).
Cy 1-1-3: I-ching: Ch: T 1817 i (to T 1511).
Cy 2. V asubandhu (Asanga).
S: (Saptarth(ik)a{ika ?). Lost.
Ch: T 1510 ii, trsl. D harm agupta, ca. A.D. 600.
For two recensions see G. Tucci, M B T , I (1956), pp.
18-9, 41-50.
T i: don bdun-gyi rgya-cher ’grel-pa. T o 3816. attr. to Dbyig
gnen. trsl Gshon dpal, A.D. 1450.
e: Summary in G. Tucci, M B T , I (1956), pp. 131-171.
Cy 3: Srldatta (G unada?): Ch: T 1515 ii. trsl. Divakara, A.D.
683.
Cy 4: Kamalasila, -tika.
 ORDINARY PRAJNAPARAMITA SUTRAS 65

T i: rgya-cher ’grel-pa. m do-’grel X V I, 209b-285b. —To 3817,

trsl. Manju^ri, Jinam itra, Ye-ses-sde.—Fragments (12 ff)
in IO SC no. 177 and no. 178 (?), 4ff.

This cy generally follows the arrangements of cy 2. It tries

(250a-266a) to find a unifying link between chapters 17
to 29 by .regarding them as an account of the seven
accomplishments of a Buddha.

Cy 5 Chih-i Ch: T 1698 i

Cy 6 Chi-tsang. Ch: T 1699 iv.
Cy 7 K ’uei-chi. Ch: T 1700 ii.
Cy 8 Tsung-mi. Ch: T 1701 ii.
Cy 9 Tzu-hsuan. Ch: T 1702 i.
Cy 10: Tsung-lei and Ju -ch ’i. Ch: T 1703 i.
Cy 11: Chih-yen. C h: T 1704 ii.
Cy 12: Lu-tsu.
f: de Harlez, JA s, 1891, pp. 499-509.
Cy 13: Han-shan. Chin Kang Chiieh I 1616.
E: Ch. Luk, “The Diam ond C utter of Doubts” , in Ch’an
and Zen Teaching, First Series, 1960, pp. 149-206.
f: Ch. Luk, La Pensee Bouddhique, V I, 5 (1958), pp. 16-18.

This is a very fine com m entary which concentrates on the

spiritual meaning as seen by a C h’an master. Han-shan m ain­
tains that the Sutra does not aim at revealing the Wisdom
which removes the defilements of beings, but only sets out to
cut off peoples’ doubts and awaken their faith. The doubts
concern (1) the nature of the true Buddha, (2) the Dharm a,
which had been expounded in apparently selfcontradictory
terms, and (3) the student who may well wonder whether
he is really qualified for this sublime teaching, and whether
he can actually observe it. Han-shan regards the commentary
of V asubandhu, the 21st Patriarch of the Ch’an sect, as the
only one which is really authoritative. If the Sutra is inter­
preted as a Rem over of Doubts, one must first discover the
hidden doubts which Subhuti had in his mind. Because these
were not expressed in words, A nanda did not record them,
but only the Buddha’s replies. Han-shan lists 35 such doubts,
66 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

as against V asubandhu’s 27. P art I of the Sutra (ch. 1-16)

is held to deal with 17 coarse errors, part II (ch. 17-32)
with 18 subtle ones. It was thus a continuous string of the
Disciple’s wrong conceptions, from the coarsest to the finest,
which the Buddha broke up successfully in His teaching of
Prajna. W hen all the erroneous views were completely elimin­
ated, the original nature of all living beings, including Subhuti
and the Tathagata, was fully revealed. The translator, Charles
Luk (Lu K ’uan Yii) is a disciple of the Ven. Hsu Yun, a Ch’an
abbot in the Fu Chien province, who lived from 1840 to 1959.

Cy 14: Ye-Ses rgyal-mtshan, blo-bzan.

T i: Rdo-rje gcod-pa’i phan-yon (O n the benefits of the V.).
To 6811. 36ff.
Cy 15: E. Conze, Buddhist Wisdom Books (1958), pp. 21-74 (Reprinted
from: The Middle Way, 1956 and 1957). Repr. 1966, 1970, 1972,
1975 (with corrections). The cy to ch. 13 to 19 in: “ Some more
comments on the Diam ond Sutra” , Vajra 3, 1976, pp. 3-14.
Cy 16: Dhyana M aster Hsiian Hua, A General Explanation o f the Vajra
Prajna Paramita Sutra, 1974.
Cf. also Lalou 606, frgs of a cy to V, 52ff. —cf. G. Hazai and
P. Zuene, “Ein uigurisches Blockdruck-fragment einer Einlei-
tung zum Vajracchedikasutra” , Acta Orientalia 21, 1968, 1-14.
—G. Schopen, The phrase ‘sa prthivlpradesas caityabhuto
bhavet’ in the Vajracchedika: Notes on the cult of the book
in M ahayana. I I J 17, 1975, pp. 147-181. —K. Kino, O n
the influence of V upon the SaPu.-sutra, J IB S 10,
1962, pp. 380-376.

9. T H E PERFECTION OF WISDOM IN 50 LINES.

S:Prajhaparamitd-ardhaSatikd; or: pancasikd?. Nepalese Ms, S. M atsunam i,

Catalogue, 1965, p. 187 (Advaya-satika)
C h: T 248 i. D anapala, ca. A.D. 1000. —T viii pp. 845-6.
T i: (’phags-pa) bcom-ldan-das-ma Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa Ina bcu-pa.
0 740. —To 18, K a 139b-142a. —N arthang, Sna-tshogs 252a-255b.
M o: Ligeti no. 772, vol. 47, pp 209v-212v.
E: E. Conze, S P T pp. 154r-6.
 ORDINARY PRAJNAPARAMITA SCTRAS 67

This Sutra is a compilation of three or four stock phrases from the larger
Sutras, and may have originated at any time after the completion of the
Large Pajnaparam ita. It begins with an exhortation to practise the perfection
of wisdom, and similar passages occur at A i 6-7 = $ 502 = P 123. T hen it
proceeds to give the list of the wholesome dharm as embodied in the perfection
of wisdom, i.e. the list of items which is constantly repeated in the large
Sutra. It then considers the difficulties of fathoming the prajnaparam ita in
a way very close to A viii 1 8 5 = £ xxvi f. 6a, sq., and ends up with an assurance
that the constant practice of perfect wisdom shall lead to full enlightenment.

10. TH E SUTRA W H ICH GIVES T H E D IRECT MEANING OF PER FEC T WISDOM.

Ch: T 247 i. trsl. D anapala, A.D. 980-1000. —T viii p. 845. —Buddha-

bhdfita-nita-artha-prajndparamita-sutra.

W ith a few variations this Sutra gives two extracts from the Large Prajfta-
param ita (P 17—21, and P 37—38), interrupted by an enum eration of
the 10 vikalpas of Yogacara tradition (see pp. 99-101).

1 1 . T H E H EA RT SUTRA.

This exists in two versions, a long (L) and a short (Sh) one. They agree
in the body of the Sutra, but the longer recension has, both at the beginning
and the end, an account of the circumstances of its preaching.

S: Prajndparamitd-hrdaya-sutra.
ed. E. Conze, JR A S, 1948, pp. 34-47 (L) = TYB S pp. 149-154.
ed. F. M. M uller, “Buddhist Texts from Ja p a n ” , Anecdota Oxoniensia,
Aryan Series, vol. 1, part iii. The ancient palm-leaves containing the Prajna-
pdramitd-hrdaya-sutra and the Ufnifa-vijaya-dharani, ed. F. M. M uller
and B. Nanjio (1884); (L, S), Repr. 1972.
ed. Shaku H annya, “ The prajnaparam itahrdayasutra” , Sanskrit and
T ibetan texts (+som e notes), The Eastern Buddhist, 2, (1922-3), pp.
163-175 (L).
ed. D. T. Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism, II I (1934), p. 190 (Sh);
Manual oj Zen Buddhism (1935), p. 27 (Sh).
ed. P. L. Vaidya, M SS I, 1961, pp. 97-9 (inaccurate).
Ch: T 250. K um arajlva, ca. A.D. 400 (or one of his disciples) (S h ).—
T viii p. 847. —Great-perfection-of-wisdom great-knowledge-divine-Sutra. —
 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

T e x t fro m K u c h a .
T 251. H siia n -tsan g , A .D . 649. (Sh) Prajndpdramitahrdayasutra. I n T
p rin te d w ith 1. Im p e ria l p refac e o f M in g d y n asty , by T ’ai-tsu (1368­
9 8 ) ; 2. P reface b y p rie st H u i-c h u n g o f T ’an g . -S te in collection S 4216,
th e o n ly d a te d e d itio n , A .D . 749. B SO S I X p . 11. — ed . in D . T .
S uzu k i, E ZB , I I I , p. 191. — C h . ed itio n , Bodl. C h in . 505f/2 ser. d.
353, 7 p p . in la rg e letters. —J a p . e d itio n , w ith tra n slite ra tio n in to H ira -
g a n a , Zo-ho sho-da-ra-ni, N a n jio C a t. Bodl. no. 3.
F o r th e d ifferences b etw e en T 250 a n d T 251 see E. C onze, JR A S,
1948, p. 50.
T 252. D h a rm a c a n d ra , A .D . 741 (L .) — The Prajndparamitahrdayasutra
which is the Storehouse o f Omniscience. — T e x t fro m E a ste rn In d ia . A grees
closely w ith T 251.
T 253. P ra jn a . A .D . 790 (L ). T e x t fro m K ash m ir. T h e b u lk agrees
v erb a lly w ith T 251.
T 254. P ra jn a c a k ra , A .D . 861 (L ). T e x t from C e n tra l Asia.
T 255. F a -c h ’eng, A. D . 856 (L ). T e x t fro m T ib e t; fo u n d in T u n -h u a n g ;
ag rees w ith T i.
T 257. D a n a p a la , ca. A .D . 1000 (L ). — Prajnaparamita Sutra o f the holy
mother o f the Buddha, spoken by the Buddha. — T e x t fro m U d y a n a .
cf. C h . W illem en , “ T h e C h in ese P ra jn a p a ra m ita h r d a y a s u tr a ” , Samadhi
V I, 1972, p p . 14-22 (T 2 5 1 ); p p . 5 2 -6 5 (T 2 5 0 ); p p . 102-15 (T
2 5 3 -4 ); p p . 152-66 (T 255, 257).
I n a d d itio n five tran slatio n s a re n o w lo st; th e first a p p a re n tly goes
b a c k to A .D . 223. S ee th e list o n p. 2 o f W . F uchs, Hsin-ching, 1970,
w h ere a few o f th e d a te s d iffer fro m m ine.
bcom-ldan-das-ma Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa’i shin-po. trsl. V im a la m itra
(L) R in -c h e n sde. R ev ised b y D g e-b lo , N a m -m k h a ’. 0 no. 160, — T o
21, K a 14 4 b -1 4 6 a. A lso 531 (R g y u d ). — N a rth a n g , S na-tshogs no. 13,
f. 26 2 b ~ 2 6 4 a; R g y u d D A , xi, no. 13, p p . 9 2 a - 9 4 .— ed . E a ste rn B u d d h ist
I I , 1922. — m d o -m a n no. 101. — T o 6760, 8 ff (L h asa e d itio n ); 6761,
8 ff (K u n -b d e g lin e d itio n ); IO S C 117; 118, 2 ; 119-121. C e n tra l A sia,
L alo u , (ca. A .D . 8 0 0-1035) no. 2 2 .3 -8 7 .4 -1 0 1 .2 (en d m issing). — 449
trsl. fro m C h ., 450, 4 5 7 -8 , 460, 462. — 448 p h o n e tic tra n sc rip tio n o f
 ORDINARY PRAJNAPARAMITA SUTRAS 69

Chinese version-463. 464. —Fragments 451, 456, 461. —Total, or

fragments, 465-493, 494. 1264-1277.
The Tun-huang version in D. U eyam a J IB S 26, 1965, pp. 783-779.
Another translation, which differs in details:
ed. L. Feer, Tableau de la grammaire mongole (Paris, 1866), Appendix.
Sogdian: E. Benveniste, Textes sogdiens, 1940, 142-4.
M o: Ligeti no. 162; vol. 12, 44r-45v (Dandr-a).
Collection of Schilling von Canstadt. Bibl. de l’lnstitut de France;
cf. T ’oung Pao, X V II (1930), no. 3543-no. 3588, L I, fol. 224r-225v.
Polyglots.
M anchu: Ms of 1837. ed. Ch. de Harlez, W ZK M , 11 (1897), pp. 212-3.
J . L. Mish, T he M anchu version of the HS, Etudes Mongoles 5, 1974,
pp. 87-90.
Polyglots: In the 18th century the H rdaya was printed in polyglots at the
instigation of the M anchu Court where the Sutra was greatly esteemed.
Occasionally, as in the Ch’ien-lung print of ca. 1770, the Sanskrit text
is given in Lantsa characters. (See Ce on p. 154 of TYBS). Others
give translations into Chinese (similar to T 253 and 254), M anchu,
Mongol and Tibetan. L. Feer, in L’essence de la science transcendante,
1866, prints Ti, Skr, Mo. Now we have the beautiful reproduction of
the 1724 print in W. Fuchs, Die mandschurischen Druck.ausga.ben des Hsin-
ching (Hjdayasutra), 1970, who also gives the pentaglott of the C h’ien-
lung period, cf. also L. Hurvitz, Two polyglot recensions of the H eart
Scripture, Journal o f Indian Philosophy 3, 1975, pp. 17-66.
E: S. Beal, JR A S, N. S., I (1865), pp. 25-29; Catena o f Buddhist Scriptures
from the Chinese (1871), pp. 282-284 (from T 251).
F. M. M uller; as at S; and SBE, 49, 2 (1894), pp. 153-4 (from S). Repr.
1968
Shaku H annya, EB, II, 3-4, (1923), pp. 165-6 (from Ch).
K. Saunders, Lotuses o f the Mahayana (1924), pp. 42-4 (from Ch?).
Lee Shao-Chang, J . North China Branch, RAS, LX V (1934), pp. 150-1
(from T 251).
D. T . Suzuki: E Z B , I I I (1934), pp. 192-4; Manual (1935), pp. 27-32.
W. Y. Evans-Wentz, Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines (1935), pp. 355
70 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

-9 (from Ti).
T. Richard, in Ashvaghosha, The awakening o f faith, 1961, pp. 95-6
(grotesque).
D. Goddard, in: A Buddhist Bible, 2nd ed. (1938), pp. 85-6; “ m ade
from various English translations” .
Lee Shao-Chang, Popular Buddhism in China (1939), pp. 23-26 (from
T 251) —Also in: G. H . Ham ilton, Buddhism (1952), pp. 113-115.
J . Tyberg, Sanskrit keys to the Wisdom Religion (1940), p. 147.
E. Conze, The Middle Way, X X , 5, (1946), p. 105 (from S); —Also
Buddhist Texts (1954), no. 146. —Also SS no. 54. S P T pp. 140-143.
E. J . Thomas, The Perfection o f Wisdom (1952), pp. 79-80 (from S).
Alex W aym an, Berkeley Bussei (1957) pp. 12-13 (from S). —PhEW
xi, 1961, pp. 109-113 (with comments).
Lu K ’uan-yu in Fo-hstieh ts’ung-shu, Bilingual Series I, Taipei 1962,
pp. 134-136.
Thong-pa Lam a, The Middle Way X L 1, 1965, pp. 29-30.
Ph. K apleau, The Wheel o f Death, 1971, pp. 82-84.
F: L. Feer, “ Fragments Extraits du K andjour” , AM G , V (1883), pp.
177-9 (from Ti).
P. Regnaud et M . Ymaizoumi, Actes du 6ieme Congres International des
Orientalistes, I I I (1885), pp. 189-190 (from S).
Ch. de Harlez, JA s, 18 (1891), pp. 445-6 (from M anchu). Also:
W ZK M , 11 (1897), pp. 331-3.
La Pensee Bouddhique, 1941, pp. 12-14 (after V ai-Tae et D. Goddard).
J . Bacot, Le Bouddha (1947), pp. 86-88 (from 10th c. T i Ms).
J. T ham ar, Etudes Asiatiques (1949) pp. 12-14.
A. David-Neel, La cormaissance transcendante, 1958, pp. 95-101 (from Ti)
G: Im Zeichen Buddha’s (1957), pp. 125-6 (after E. Conze, 1954).
D utch: J . Ensink, “De Essentie van de volmaakte deugd der wijsheid”, in:
De grote weg naar het licht (1955), pp. 89-91.
The immense popularity of this Sutra is attested by the abundance of
translations and commentaries. Avalokitesvara, normally inconspicuous in
the Prajflaparam ita Sutras, here explains the essence, or “heart” , of the
doctrine to Sariputra. Nine tenths of the content are borrowed from the
large Prajflaparam ita (P 4 3-47= .? i 136-141; P 242-269=^4 i 24-32; and
 ORDINARY PRAJNAPARAMITA SOTRAS 71

£ xix f. 293b), but the parts have been welded together into a convincing
artistic unity. This is the dharmacakrapravartanasutra of the new dispensation,
which represents the ‘‘second turning of the wheel of D harm a” (A ix 203),
and it sets out to give a restatem ent of the four Holy Truths in the light
of the dom inant idea of Emptiness. At the end the teaching is summed up
in a famous mantra, i.e. gate gate pdragate parasamgate bodhi svaha, which shows
some similarity to Samkhya teaching (cf. the comments on Sarakhyakarika
50 in Samkhyapravacanabhasya I I I 43 and Sarpkhyatattvakaumudi).

Commentaries:
Cy 1: Vim alam itra, -{ika.
T i: rgya-cher biad-pa. m do-’grel X V I, 285b-302b.—To 3818,
trsl. V im alam itra, Nam -m kha’, Ye-3es sfiin-po.
Cy 2: Jn anam itra ,-vyakhyd.
T i: mam-par bSad-pa. m do-’grel X V I, 302b-309b. —To 3819.
Cy 3: V ajrapani, -fikarthapradipa nama.
T i: ’grel-pa don-gyi sgron-ma shes bya-ba. mdo-’grel X V I, 309b-
319b. —T o 3820, trsl. Phyag-na rdo-ije, Sen-ge rgyal-
mtshan.
Cy 4: PraSastrasena, -(ika (deSartha-prakatika).
T i: rgya-cher ’grel-pa. mdo-’grel X V I 319b-330b. —To 3821.
—cf. IO SC no. 122, bSad-pa, 9ff, K a 52-61. —Fragments
of same cy no. 124, 125.
E: E. Conze: Praiastrasena’s A rya-Prajnaparam ita-H rdaya-
Tika, in: Buddhist Studies in Honour of I. B. Horner, 1974, pp.
51-61.
Cy 5: KamalaSila, -fika.
T i: ’grel-pa. mdo-’grel X V I 330b-333a, trsl. KumaraSrlbhadra,
’Phags-pa Ses-rab. — Peking no. 5221
Cy 6: D lpankarairijnana and Legs-pa’i ses-rab, -vyakhya.
T i: mam-par bfad-pa. m do-’grel X V I 333a-338b. —To 3823.
trsl. D ipankarairijnana, Tshul-khrims rgyal-ba.
Cy 7: Srim ahajana, -artha-parijnana.
T i: don yons-su Ses-pa. mdo-’grel X V I 338b-350a. —To 3822,
trsl. Sen-ge rgyal-mtshan.
Y. H ariba, Chibetto-bun Hannya-shingyo Chushaku Zensho (A
72 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

collection of all the commentaries of the P. P. -hrdaya-sutra

contained in the T ibetan Tripitaka), 1938.
Cy 7a: Ssa byuryimahaprajhapdrame hiya hambeca. Khotanese “ Summary
of the hundred m yriad M ahaprajnaparam ita” .
K h: ed. H. W. Bailey, Khotanese Buddhist Texts (1951), pp.
54-61.
Cy 8: K ’uei-chi, -yu tsan.
Ch: T 1710 ii. T. vol. xxxiii, pp. 514, 2-542, 3.
Cy 9: Y uan-t’se, Abridged, or brief commentary.
C h: T 1711 i. T vol. xxxiii pp. 542, 2-552, 1.
Cy 10: Fa-tsang, -lit shu. Brief Commentary. 702 A.D.
Ch: T 1712 i. T xxxiii pp. 552, 1-555, 2.
E: F. H. Cook, “Brief Commentary on the Heart Sutra”,
Buddhist Meditation: Theory and Practice (Honolulu 1976).
e: Summary in C. C. Chang, The Buddhist Teaching of Tota­
lity, 1971, pp. 197-206.
Cy 10-1: Shi-hui, A pearl-chain o f remarks to the “short explanation of the
Heart Sutra” in the Prajnaparamita (So Forke 842).
Ch: T 1713 ii. T xxxiii 552, pp. 2-568.
Cy 10-2: Chung-hsi (Sung).
Ch: Zokuzokyo I. 41. pp. 340-356.
Cy 10-3: C h’ien Ch’ien-i (Ming).
Ch: Zokuzokyo I. 41. pp. 357-390.
Cy 11: Tsung-lei and Ju -ch ’i.
C h: T 1714 i. T xxxiii pp. 569-571, 1.
Cy 12: Wu-ching-tse.
Ch: cf. Beal, Catena, p. 279.
Cy 13: Han-Shan. Hsin Ching Chih Shuo.
E: Ch. Luk, “ A Straight Talk on the H eart Sutra” , in
Ch’an and Zen Teaching, First Series, 1960, pp. 209-233.
Cy 14: Shin kyo kie, A.D. 1839. 34 leaves, cy to T 251. (Bodl. chin.
505f/l; ser. d. 352).
Cy 15: Hsin-ching Chuan-chu. A Chinese cy to the H rdaya Sutra. By
Upasaka Chou Chih-an (no. 14, 227th Lane, Shih-M en
 ORDINARY PRAJNAPARAMITA SOTRAS 73

1st Road, Shanghai, China).

Cy 16: Vairocana, of Pa-gor, after SarisLmha.
T i: fer shin ’grel-pa snags-su ’grel-pa (mantra-vivrta-prajndhrdaya-
vrtti). m do-’grel C X X IV 103a-108b. —An explanation
addressed to King Khri-sron lde-btsan.
Cy 16a: H akuin Zenji, A.D. 1753 (or 1744), Dokugo-chu Shingyo.
“A Venomous Com m entary on the P. P. H eart Sutra” .
E: E. Nishim ura, in D. K . Swearer, Secrets o f the Lotus, 1971,
pp. 190-211.
cf. R. H . Blyth, H akuin’s com m entary on the Shingyo, in:
Zen and Zen Classics, vol. V II, 1962, pp. 193-8.
Cy 16b: Kobo Daishi, A. D. 830, Hamya-shingyo hiken (Secret Key to the
H eart Sutra).
E: Y. S. Hakeda, Kukai, Major Works, 1972, pp. 262-275.
Cy 17: Hogo, A.D. 1807.
J: Bon-mon hannya-shingyo shaktt. cf. Nanjio, Bodl. Cf., 1881,
no. 37.
Cy 18: S. Shiraishi, “Hannya-shingy5 Ryaku-bonpon no kenkyu” ,
Nihon Bukkyo Kyokai Nempo, xii (1940), 38 pp.
Cy 19: E. Conze, Buddhist Wisdom Books (1958), pp. 77-107. (Reprinted
from The Middle Way, 1955 and 1956).
Cy 20: Abbot O bora, O n the H eart Sutra, trsl. T . Leggett, The
Tiger’s Cave, 1964, pp. 15-125.
Cy 21: J . Keyaerts, Le H rdaya Sutra, Samadhi I 2, 1967, pp. 25-31.
Cf. Tun-huang: Lalou no. 495 and 496, both entitled ’grel-pa.
Cf. Shiiba Yoshio, Hamya-shingyo taisei, 1932.
D. T. Suzuki, “The significance of the Prajfiaparam itahrdaya Sutra
in Zen Buddhism” , E Z B , II I (1934), pp. 187-206. —E. Conze, “The
H rdaya S utra; its scriptural background” . The Middle Way, xx 6
(1946), pp. 124—7; xxi 1, (1946), pp. 9-11, 17. “ Text, Sources and
Bibliography of the Prajfiaparam itahrdaya” , JR A S, 1948, pp. 33-51.
R eprinted TYBS pp. 148-167. —-J. T ham ar, “Prajnaparamita”, Etudes
Asiatiques/Asiatische Studien, 1/2 (1949), pp. 7-29 (continued in Etudes
Traditionelles, 1950, ca. p. 171). R eprinted in Samadhi IV 1, 1970, pp.
 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

19-43. —C. C. Chang, The Buddhist Teaching of Totality, 1971, pp. 60­
120. —Pai Hui, “ O n the w ord cittavaraga in no. 11” , Sino-Indian
Studies 3, 1949, pp. 131-139. —W u Pai-wei, “ A discourse on the
interpretation of cittavaraija in the Sanskrit text of the PP-hrdaya” ,
Xiandai Foxue, Peking 1958, no. 11, pp. 5-16.
 B. SPECIAL TEX TS

12. T H E QUESTIONS OF NAGASRI.

S: Nagairipariprccha. Lost.
C h: T 234 ii. trsl. Shih Hsiang-kung, ca. A.D. 420-479. —T V III pp.
740-48. Sutra on the Bodhisattva ManjuSri’s highest pure act o f seeking alms,
spoken by the Buddha. —So “ acc. to the present tradition, but presumably
by someone between Dharm araksa and K um arajlva” (Hikata p. xvi;
cf. xxii).
T 220, 576. trsl. Hsuan-tsang, A.D. 660 (shorter than T 234).
f: Hobogirin, pp. 164—6.
e: E. Conze, S P T pp. 160-164.
This Sutra applies the basic conceptions of the Prajfiaparam ita to the
various aspects of begging for alms, eating, etc.

12a. T H E QUESTIONS OF PRA V A R A , T H E DEVA-KING.

S: (Devaraja-Pravara-prajhiparamita-sutra). Lost.
C h: T 231 vii. Upasunya, A.D. 565, T V III pp. 687-726.
T 220 (6), Hsuan-tsang, A.D. 660, f. 566-573.

1 3 . PRAJNAPARAM ITA SUTRA EXPLAINING H O W BENEVOLENT KINGS MAY PROTECT

T H E IR COUNTRIES.

S: (Karunika-raja prajnaparamitdsutra?). Lost.

C h: Jen-wang hu-kuo. (Ninno).
T 245 ii. K um arajlva, A.D. 401, T V III pp. 825-834.
T 246 ii. Amoghavajra, A.D. 765, T V III pp. 834-845.
I t has been suggested th at no more than a small portion of this Sutra
is likely to go back to an Indian original, and that the rem ainder was
composed in China. T he Sutra m ay be fairly early, since a Chinese
translation, now lost, of a Prajna o f the benevolent kings, in 2 fasc., can,
on the authority of 13 cy 1, ca. A.D. 600, be ascribed to Dharmaraksa
(A.D. 307-313).
76 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

e: Summary in: M. W. de Visser, Ancient Buddhism in Japan (1928-35),

I, pp. 116-189 (cf. 12-13). —E. Conze, S P T pp. 165-183.
The following description of the contents of the Ninno is based on K um ara-
jlva’s translation, but I have noted the m ain variations in Amoghavajra’s
( = Am) translation.
I. Chapter 1. Preface: Description of the assembly, which includes 16 kings.
Cosmic wonders. Appearance of 10 Bodhisattvas from the ten directions.
—Ch. 2. Considering emptiness (Considering the T athagata, A m ): Protection
of the Buddha-fruit. 13 (18, Am) kinds of emptiness. Buddhahood explained.
—Ch. 3. Instructions and conversion o f Bodhisattvas (Actions to be performed
(carya) by Bodhisattvas, A m ): Deals with the 14 kinds of forbearance (kfin ti).
—Ch. 4. The two truths: Conventional and ultim ate truth. Blessings derived
from perfect wisdom. —Name of the Sutra, and assurance of its power to
protect beings who cherish it (Am omits this).
II. Chapter 5. Protecting the country: T he worship and reading of the Pra­
jnaparam ita protects both countries and individuals from all calamities. A
story describes how in olden times Sakra repelled whole armies by having
the Prajnaparam ita Sutra read by a hundred priests. Another story tells of
the conversion of a thousand kings by the recitation and explanation of the
Sutra. T he kings present in the assembly should therefore keep and read
this Sutra, and have it explained. —Ch. 6. Spreading flowers (Miracles, A m ):
Flower miracles are described. T hen the perfection of wisdom is praised.
Finally the T athagata shows his wonderful miraculous power by means of
five miracles. —Ch. 7. Receiving and keeping this Sutra: T he practice of the
Dharm a, — 14 kinds of forbearance, 10 acts of virtue, 10 stages, 84,000 perfec­
tions. Prediction of 7 calamities, due to impiety, at the time of the decay of
the Law. The kings should use this perfection of wisdom to establish D harm a,
and to drive away the calamities. Perfect wisdom is a precious jewel which
protects. T he ceremony to be performed is described. Five Bodhisattvas will
protect the virtuous countries. In K um arajiva’s translation they are called
“ roars” (nada), whereas in Amoghavajra’s their names differ, and all begin
with vajra-. Amoghavajra at the end of this chapter adds 36 dharanis which
will protect. —Ch. 8. The Buddha commits the Sutra and the Triratna to the benevolent
kings: Prophecies concerning the extinction of the doctrine, and disasters to
come. Name of the Sutra, which is also called “ deathless medicine of the
Law”, because, when one obeys it, it can cure all diseases.
Commentaries:
Cy 1: K uan-ting. C h: T 1705 v. O n T 245.
Cy 1-1: Shan-yueh, Record o f Divine Treasures. C h.: T 1706 iv.
 SPECIAL TEXTS 77

Cy 2: Chi-tsang. Ch: T 1707 vi (on T 245).

Cy 3: Yuan-ts’e. C h: T 1708 vi (to T 245).
Cy 4: Liang-p’i. C h: T 1709 vii (to T 246).
A com m entary by P aram artha (A.D. 548-69) is mentioned
in Bukkyo Daijii, III, p. 3742, 1.
Cy 5 -6 : T he Bukkyo Daijii (de Visser, I, 120) mentions, as written
during the N orthern Sung dynasty (960-1127), two commen­
taries to the Ninno by members of the Avatamsaka school.
T he authors are (5) Yu-yung, and (6) the K orean Ching-yuan.
Cy 7-17: Japanese commentaries by Gyoshi (Hosso), 750; Saicho, or
Dengyo Daishi (Tendai), 767-822 (to T 245); Kukai, or Kob5
Daishi (Shingon), 774-835: Ninno-kyo kaidai (to T 246), and
Ninno-kyo bo; Enchin, or Chisho Daishi (Tendai), 814-891;
Kakucho (Tendai), ca. 1028; Shinkaku (Shingon) 1181;
D ohan (Shingon), 1184—1252; Raiyu (Shingon), 1226-1304;
Ryojo (Tendai), ca. 1299; Ryota (Shingon), 1622-80; Kwoken
(Tendai), 1652-1739.

14. EXPLANATION OF T H E FIV E PERFECTIONS.

S: Pancaparamitanirdeia. Lost.
C h: T 220 (11-15), Hsuan-tsang, A.D. 659-663. ch. I, fasc. 579-583, II
584-588, I I I 589, IV 590, V 591-592.
T i: (’phags-pa) pha-rol-tu phyin-pa Ina bstan-pa (skes bya-ba theg-pa chen-po’i
mdo). trsl. Jinam itra, Ye-ses-sde.
In M do sde. —0 848. —To 181, Tsa lb-76b.
M o: Ligeti no. 937, vol. 77, l-102v (Eldeb).

T he chapter headings are: 1. rjes-su y i ran-ba, Rejoicing. —2. sbyin-pa’i

thabs-pa, Skill in giving. —3. dpe, Similies. — 4. mtshan-ma med-pa, Marklessness.
—5. sgyu-ma Ita-bur bstan-pa, Exposition of illusoriness. —6. jig-rten-gyi khams
grans med-par byan-chub sems-dpa’ spyod-pa dan sans-rgyas bstan-pa, The exposition
by the Buddha of the practice of the Bodhisattvas in countless world systems
(?). — 7. phyir mi Idog-pa’i sa, The irreversible stage. —8. byan-chub sems-dpa1
yons-su sbyon-bar bya-ba, The preparations (parikarma) of a Bodhisattva. —9.
sbyin-pa’i pha-rol-tu phyin-pa. The perfection of giving.
78 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

15. T H E PRAJNAPARAM ITA SUTRA, SPOKEN BY T H E BUDDHA, W H IC H AWAKENS

TO ENU G H TEN M EN T ABOUT ONE’S TR U E NATURE.

Ch: T 260 iv, trsl. Wei-ching, ca. A.D. 981. —T V III pp. 854-864.

16. SUTRA W H IC H DEALS W IT H T H E UNDERSTANDING OF T H E SIX PERFECTIONS

IN T h e MAHAYANA.

C h: T 261 x. Prajna A.D. 788. T V III pp. 865-917. —N 1004: mahayana-

buddhi ( = li-ts’ii) -fat-paramita-sutra.
No one seems so far to have m ade a study of this Sutra.
 C. T A N T R IC T E X T S 1

CA. Sutras

17. T H E PERFECTION OF WISDOM IN 150 LINES.

S: AdhyardhaSalika prajnaparamita-sutra. O r : Prajndpdramita-nayaSatapanca-

Satikd.
ed. E. Leum ann, Zur nordarischen Sprache und Literatur (1912), pp. 92-99.
ed. Izumi, Toganoo, W ogihara (Kyoto, 1917), pp. 1-19.
ed. S. Toganoo, Rishukyd no kenkyu (1930), pp. 1-9.
ed. P. L. Vaidya, M SS I, 1961, pp. 90-91.
The Sanskrit text is based on a slightly incomplete Central Asian
Ms. of 168 lines: 45 are missing, among them 10 at the beginning and
6 at the end.
C h: T 220 (10), 578. Hsuan-tsang, ca. A.D. 660 (167a columns).
T 240 i. Bodhiruci, A.D. 693 (71/2 columns).
T 241 ii. Vajrabodhi, ca. A.D. 725 (10 columns).
T 243 i. Amoghavajra, A.D. 770 (7Vj columns).
T 242 i. D anapala, A.D. 980 (7 columns).
T 244 vii. D harm abhadra, A.D. 999 (1131/a columns). —Anuttara-
mula - mahasaukhya - vajramogha - samaya - mahatantrardja-
sO.tra, N 1037. W ith an im perial preface by Chen-tsung
(A.D. 998-1022), vol. V III pp. 786-824.
This greatly expanded version exists also in T ibetan as
Sriparamadyamantrakalpakhanda (no. 120 in Peking K anjur),
trsl. ca. 1025. 17 of its verses are preserved in the Javanese
ritual, Sang Hyang K am ahayanan M antranaya (no.
26-42): the best edition is that by J . W. de Jong in
Bijdragen 130, 1974, pp. 465-482.
T i: Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa'i tshul brgya Ina bcu-pa.

1 Pages 79-91 of the Bibliography have first been printed, in an abbreviated form,
in Sino-Indian Studies, V 2 (1956), pp. 107-112. With some additions and corrections
they can well bear reprinting here.
80 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

0 121, —T o 17, and 489 (K a 133a-139b). —N arthang, Sna-tshogs

240-249. —IO SC no. 96. 97-8 inc. 99-100?. —Tun-huang, Lalou no.
53, 54, 98.
ed. in Izum i, etc., pp. 23-55, after Peking edition in O tani Library
of East Hongwanji. —In Toganoo 11-33 (corrected with the
help of two more editions).
M o: Ligeti no. 121; vol. 9, 344r-353r (Dandr-a).
khot: After Central Asian Ms in Leum ann, Izum i, Toganoo.
E: E. Conze in S P T pp. 184-195, repr. from Studies o f Esoteric Buddhism
and Tantrism, ed. by Koyasan University, 1965, pp. 101-115.
g: E. Leum ann, translation of Khotanese p art in: Taisho Daigaku Gakuho
(1930), pp. 47-87, “ Die nordarischen Abschnitte der A dhyardhaiatika
P.P. Text und Uebersetzung m it Glossar” (W ogihara Festschrift).
Cf. S. Kanaoka, “ The lineage of viSuddhi-pada thought” , in no. 17, In-
dogaku Bukkyogaku Kenkyu 16, 1968, pp. 982-976. —Yukio H atta, Index to
the Arya-Prajnd-Pdramitd-Naya-Satapancaiatika. Kyoto, 1971. xxiii+ 225pp.

Commentaries:
Cy 1: Jnanam itra. -(ika T i: T o 2647. J n 272b-294a.
Cy 2: K ’uei-chi. C h: T 1695 iii (to T 220 (10)).
Cy 3: Amoghavajra. C h: T 1003 ii.
Cy 4: S. Toganoo, Rishukyo no kenkyu (Koyasan, 1930), 584 pp. 82 pi.

Although it differs in style from the other Sutras on Perfect Wisdom, and
m ight well be reckoned among the Tantras, C andrakirti and H aribhadra
nevertheless quote this Sutra sis an authoritative Prajfiaparam ita text (Prasan-
napadd 238, 278, 444, 500, 504 quote no. 17 ch. 7, and AAA p. 132 quotes ch.
15).
T he text falls into 15 chapters. T he 15th consists of 10 verses. T he first
14 chapters, each very short, except for the first, are spoken by a num ber of
m ythical Buddhas, who, successively, expound the various methods (naya)
of the Prajfiaparam ita. Each exposition is really a small litany, similar in style
to those at the end of A, in ch. 29 and 31. Germ syllables, like AM , BHYO,
etc., sum up the message of each chapter. T he terminology is largely esoteric,
and abounds in terms like vajra, guhya, siddhi, amogha, krodha, etc. O u r Sanskrit
text does not contain the recommendations of the study of the Sutra, which
the T ibetan and Chinese translations give, in verbally differing forms, after
 TANTRIC TEXTS 81

chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 13 and 15, and which on the Central Asian manuscript

appear in Khotanese.

18. PER FEC T WISDOM IN A FEW W ORDS.

S: Sva.lpakfa.ra prajnaparamita-sutra.
S: (1) From the Calcutta Ms, ca. 1,000 A.D.
ed. E. Conze, Sino-Indian Studies, V 2, 1956, pp. 113-115.
ed. P. L. Vaidya, M SS I, 1961, pp. 93-4 ( = Conze + baseless conjec­
tures).
(2) From the Nepalese Mss, ca 1,700 A.D. sq.
ed. A. Yuyama, in: Buddhist Thought and Asian Civilization. Essays in
H onor of H . V. G uenther, 1977 (= B T A C ), pp. 286-292.
C h: T 258 i, trsl. T ’ien-hsi-tsai (D harm abhadra), ca. A.D. 982; T V III
pp. 852-3.
T i: Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-payi-ge hun-nu. 0 159. —To 22=530. —N ar­
thang, Sna tshogs, 258b-260b, Rgyud DA 89-92.
ed. A. Yuyama BTAC pp. 293-297.
M o: Ligeti no. 161; vol. 12, 42-44r (Dandr-a).
E: From S (1): E. Conze, S P T pp. 144-147; cf. SS no. 128.
From Ch: A. Yuyama BTAC pp. 298-301. —Ch. Willemen, “A
T antric H eart Sutra” , Samadhi 7, 1973, pp. 2-11.
cf. A. Yuyam a” . BTAC pp. 280-301.

In m any ways this Sutra is a counterpart to the Hrdaya. It is a dialogue

between the Lord and Avalokitesvara, whose future Buddhahood is here
predicted. T he Bodhisattva is enjoined to repeatedly recite the “heart of
perfect wisdom” . T he appeal of the Sutra is to the less endowed, to beings who
have “but little capacity to act” , who have “ little m erit” , who are “ dull and
stupefied” . The Hrdaya, on the other hand, is addressed to the spiritual elite.
I t concerns itself with the removal of the cittavarana. By contrast no. 18 is
content to promise a removal of the more elementary karmavarana. Here the
Buddha enters into a samadhi which concentrates on the practical fruit of
the Buddhist way of life (sarvaduhkha-pramocana), whereas in the Hrdaya
his samadhi represents the glory of the transcendental dharm a itself (gambhira-
avabhasa-dharmaparyaya). In no. 18 the teaching of the perfection of wisdom
is expounded only insofar as it concerns one’s attitude to other beings, whereas
the Hrdaya concentrates on the attitude to dharmas. T he formula of the “heart
82 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

of perfect wisdom” in no. 18, which also recurs in no. 23, implies a more
bhaktic appeal to the power of the deity, whereas the mantra of no. 11 con­
denses the very struggle for spiritual em ancipation into one short formula.
The claims on the reader’s capacities are also rather modest. AvalokiteSvara
asks the Lord to give the perfection of wisdom “ in a few syllables, a source
of great m erit; by merely hearing it all beings extinguish all hindrances which
come from their past karm a, and they are definitely turned towards enlighten­
m ent” .
T he T antric element is more pronounced than in the Hrdaya. O ne short
m antra, and one long dharani are given. The Sutra promises that as a result
of it “ the beings who labour zealously at the evocation (sadhana) of mantras,
will find that their m antras will succeed (sidhyanti), without fail”, and,
“ where it has been read aloud, there all the assemblies are consecrated (abki-
fikta), and all their m antras are realized face to face (abhimukha bhavanti).”
The M antra concerns the T athagata M aha-Sakyam uni, a Buddha of the re­
mote past, who was in the world at the beginning of the first incalculable aeon
of the career of the Bodhisattva who later became the Buddha Sakyamuni.

19. TH E PERFECTION OF WISDOM FO R KAUSIKA.

S: Kausika prajhaparamita-sutra.
ed: E. Conze, Sino-Indian Studies, V 2 (1956), pp. 115-118.
ed. P. L. Vaidya M SS I, 1961, pp. 95-96.
C h: T 249 i. D anapala, ca. A.D. 980.vol. V III, pp.846-7 (Buddhabhafita
Indra-Sakra-prajhaparamitd-hrdaya-sutra).
T i: ies-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa Ko’utika shes bya-ba.
0 173. Rgyud PA 18b-20a. —To 19 ( = 554), KA 142a-143b. —
N arthang, Sna-tshogs 256a-258a, Rgyud DA 505b-508a. —mdo-
m an no. 103, f. 328a-333a. T i, m uch shorter than S, gives only the
items 1-5, 16, 6 and 7.
M o: Ligeti no. 175; vol. 13, 26r-28r (Dandr-a).
K h o t: 2 small fragments, Skr. and K hot., in H . W. Bailey, Khotanese Texts,
I I I (1956), pp. 102 and 118-19.
E: E. Conze S P T pp. 157-159.
e: SS no. 57.

This is nothing b u t a compilation o f 21fragments,and is therefore likely

to be a later sutra. T he fragments are: 1) a definition of the prajfiaparam ita
by way of negations, probably from the later part of the Large Prajfiaparam ita
 TANTRIC TEXTS 83

(Suv. I l l 36a-b also provides a close parallel); 2) a passage from a later

chapter of A (xxxi 525), 3) a list of the six perfections, 4) a list of the 18 tradi­
tional forms of emptiness, 5) a quotation from the Vajracchedikd (ch. 32a), 6
and 7) two quotations from N agarjuna (Madhyamakakarika 1.1-2), and 8 to
21) a num ber of spells, all, except one, addressed to the prajnaparam ita,
among them (no. 11) an echo of the prajndpdramitd-dhdrarLi (29A on p. 86)
and (no. 21), the m antra of the Hrdaya.

20. T H E PER FEC TIO N OF WISDOM FO R SURYAGARBHA.

S: Prajnaparamita Suryagarbha mahaydna-sutra. Lost.

T i: ni-ma’i snin-po. -0 742, 179a-180a. To 26.
M o: Ligeti, no. 774; vol. 47, 213r-214v.
E: E. Conze, S P T pp. 148-9.

This Sutra first compares the concentration of a skilful Bodhisattva with

the sun from seven points of view. I t then sums up the metaphysics of Per­
fect Wisdom, enumerates the blessings derived from a study of the Prajna­
param ita-sutra, and ends up with a few gathas.

21. THE PER FEC TIO N OF WISDOM FO R CANDRAGARBHA.

S: Candragarbha prajhapdramitd mahaydna-sutra. Lost.

T i: zla-ba’i snin-po. -0 743, 180a-181b. T o 27.
M o: Ligeti, no. 775; vol. 47, 214v-216r.
E: E. Conze, SP T , pp. 149-151.

This Sutra compares the perfection of wisdom with the moon, discourses
on the difference between the perfection of wisdom which is with, and the
one which is without outflows, proceeds to a litany in the style of Dharm a-
udgata’s dharmadeSana in A ch, xxxi, and concludes with a m antra and
short verse.

22. T H E PER FEC TIO N OF WISDOM FO R SAMANTABHADRA.

S: Prajnaparamita Samantabhadra mahaydna-sutra. Lost.

T i: kun-tu bzan-po. -0 744, 181b-182a. T o 28.
M o: Ligeti, no. 776; vol. 47, 216r-216v.
E: E. Conze, SP T , pp. 151-152.

This Sutra first describes a concentration of the Bodhisattva Sam antabhadra

and its consequences, gives a few verses spoken by the Gods, and adds a few
84 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

words on the training in perfect wisdom.

23. T H E PERFECTION OF WISDOM FO R V AJRAPANI.

S: Prajnaparamita Vajrapani mahayana-sutra. Lost.

T i: lag-na rdo-rje. -0 745, 182a-b. T o 29.
M o: Ligeti, no. 777; vol. 47, 216v-217v.
E: E. Conze, SP T, p. 152.

This Sutra first explains how one should train in perfect wisdom, gives
a great m antra of the m other of all the Buddhas, and enum erates a few
blessings which result from aspiring for the dharm as of a Buddha. V ajrapani,
“ the spirit who bears the thunderbolt” , a symbol of irresistible strength, has
always been closely associated with the Prajnaparam ita. In A xvii 333 he is
said to always follow closely behind an irreversible Bodhisattva, in order to
protect him. In the list of the Mahdmayuri he is the Yaksa of the V ulture
Peak, near R ajagrha, the scene of most of the sermons on Perfect Wisdom.
In the V ajrayana he becomes the Bodhisattva who corresponds to Aksobhya,
and belongs to the same family sis the Prajnaparam ita, i.e. the dvefa family.

24. T H E PER FEC TIO N OF WISDOM FO R VAJRAKETU.

S: Prajnaparamita Vajraketu mahayana-sutra. Lost.

T i: rdo-rje rgyal-mtshan. -0 746, 182b-183b. To 30.
M o: Ligeti, no. 778; vol. 47, 217v-218v.
E: E. Conze, SP T , pp. 152-3.

This Sutra describes the perfection of wisdom by two sets of four dharm as
with which it is endowed, and which cause it to be produced. It says that
one should train in perfect wisdom, and concludes with a few verses.

CB. Litanies

25. THE 108 MARKS OF PER FEC T WISDOM.

S: Prajnaparamita nama-ajtaSataka. Lost.

C h: T 230 i., D anapala, A.D. 982, pp. 684-5. — (Aiya-aftasahasra-gatha-
prajnaparamita nama ajtaiata-satya-purnartha-dharani-sutra. N 999).
T i: Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa’i mtshan brgya rtsa brgyad-pa. 0 172.—To
25 ( = 553), K a 174-5. —N arthang, Sna tshogs 250a-252a, Rgyud Da
502-3. —m do-m an no. 16. —T un-huang: Lalou, no. 45.3. —ed. E.
 TANTRIC TEXTS 85

Conze, Sino-Indian Studies, V 2 (1956), pp. 118-122.

M o: Ligeti, no. 174; vol. 13, 23v-26r (Dandr-a).
E: E. Conze, SP T, pp. 196-8.
e: SS no. 129.

This text dispenses with both the introductory and the end formula of a
Sutra. After an initial poem the 108 names or epithets of Perfect Wisdom
are given without any further introduction. In the Chinese translation
the items are num bered. T he T an tra knows m any such litanies of 108 names,
for AvalokiteSvara, T ara, Mafiju&i, M aitreya, etc. In this case the names
describe either the objective counterparts of perfect wisdom, or the mental
attitudes which lead to it. T he second p art gives a long dharani (no. 29 B) with
some orgiastic elements, unusual in this kind of literature.

26. THE 25 DOORS OF PER FEC T WISDOM.

S: PancaviijiSati-prajnaparamita-mukha. Lost.
Toganoo prints the list in Skr. on pp. 398-400.
ch: T 242. D anapala’s trsl. of no. 17. p. 783, col. 2-3.
T 241. Bodhiruci’s trsl. of no. 17. p. 781, col. 1-2.
T i: Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa sgo ni-Su rtsa Ina-pa.
0 124. —T o 20. —N arthang, Sna tshogs 216a-b. —Feer p. 307.
ti: T ibetan translation of no. 17, ch. 15 A.
Sri-param adya, acc. to Toganoo p. 398 (cf. 0 no. 119, ch. 13: Ses-rab-
kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa’i tshul.) cf. H ikata p. xvii.
M o: Ligeti, no. 125; vol. 10, 106r-107r (Dandr-a).
E: E. Conze, SP T , pp. 199-200.

W ithout the framework of a Sutra the 25 formulas themselves occur also

in no. 17. T hey constitute the doors to the entrance into transcendental
wisdom or, alternatively, the faces or aspects of transcendental wisdom. These
formulas express either a metaphysical truth, or a state of spiritual perfection,
or a short m antra. T antric features are the loving enum eration of the
classes of supernatural beings in the preamble, as well as the constant
references to vajra, terms like nisumbhah and maharaga, and the reference to
the body, speech and m ind of the Tathagatas.
86 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

CC. Dharariis

27. EXPLANATION OF T H E D H A R A N B OF T H E NINNO

S: Lost.
C h: T 996 i. trsl. Amoghavajra. T . vol. xix, pp. 522, 1-524, 2.
cf. M . W. de Visser, Ancient Buddhism in Japan (1928-35), I, pp. 142
sq., 159.

28. RULES FO R T H E CEREMONIAL RECITIN G OF T H E DHARANIS OF T H E NINNO.

S: Lost.
C h: T 995 i. trsl. Amoghavajra. T . vol. xix, pp. 519, 2-522, 1.
No. 27-28 deal with the dharaijis, 36 in num ber, which were added
to the seventh chapter of no. 13 in T 246 ii (see p. 76).

29. T H E DHARANIS FROM T H E DHARANISAMGRAHAS.

A num ber of very short dharaijis are found in varying recensions in Nepalese
and T ibetan Collections of Dharaijis, e.g. in Calcutta, no. 10741, fol. 11 + 2 2 ;
Asiatic Society B 5, B 65; Oxford, Bodleian 1449, A.D. 1819; Royal
Asiatic Society, no. 55, A.D. 1791, 240 leaves, no. 79, A.D. 1820;
Paris, Socidtd Asiatique, no. 14; Cambridge, Add 1326, 225 1., A.D.
1719; 1343.

29A. S: Prajnapdramita nama dhdrani \ o r: Sryaprajnaparamitd dhdrani; or:

(iatasdhasrikd-prajndpdramitd-mantra) ; or: Prajnaparamita sahasra
dhdrani.
ed. J . Filliozat, JA s, 1941-2. —Also in no. 19.
T i: ies-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-trut’i snags; or: ies-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu
phyin-pa ston-phrag brgya-pa’i snags (gzuns); o r :___ brgya-pa gzun-
bar ’gyur-ba’i snags (gzuns). 0 271, 557. —To 576, 932. -m do-
m an no. 53, 56.
ed. R. O . Meisezahl, in Tribus, 7 (1957), pp. 49, 50, 101-2.
I t is the purpose of 29A to help us remem ber the Satasahasrikd.

29B. S: (PancaviiTiiatisdhasrika-prajnaparamitd-mantra).
T i: (ies-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa) (o r: ier phyin ston-phrag hi-iuIna-pa’i
snags (or: lna-pa gzun-bar ’gyur-ba).
0 272, 558; To 577, 933. -m do-m an no. 52 gzuns.
 TANTRIC TEXTS 87

ed. R. O. Meisezahl, pp. 50, 102. -Also in no. 25.

29C. S: (Afiasahasrika-prajnaparamita-mantra).
T i: Ser-phyin brgyad ston-pa’i snags (or: ston-pa gzu’h-bar ’gyur-ba).
O 273, 559; T o 578, 934; m do-m an no. 54.
ed. R . O . Meisezahl, pp. 50, 102.

29D. S: (Vajracchedikdhrdaya).
T i: rdo-rje gcod-pa’i snin-po.
cf. R. O . Meisezahl, p. 143, and the end of Schm idt’s edition of no. 8.

29E S: (Affasahasrika-hrdaya).
T i: brgyad-ston-pa’i snin-po. 12 lines. Cf. Meisezahl, pp. 84-5.

30. T H E D H A R A N i OF T H E H EA RT OF PER FEC T WISDOM.

S: Prajhaparamita-hrdaya-dhatanl. Ms, Cambridge Add. 1554, 15 lines.

This consists chiefly of invocations. It begins w ith: Orp namah Sri-Vajra-

sattvdya! It has no connection at all with no. 11.

31. T H E PER FEC TIO N OF WISDOM IN SEVEN VERSES.

S: Arya-saptaSlokika Bhagavati Prajhaparamita-nama-sutra. Lost.

T i: Bcom-ldan-’das-ma Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa ’phags-ma tshigs-su bcad-pa
bdun-ma shes-bya-ba’i mdo.
mdo-’grel X V I 3a-b. trsl. Sumana&i, Rin-chen grub.

32. P ER FEC T WISDOM IN ONE LETTER.

S: Bhagavati prajndparamita saroa-Tathagata-mdta ekdkfara nama. Lost.

T i: Bcom-ldan-’das-ma Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa de-bshin gSegs-pa thams-
cad-kyi yum yi-ge gcig-ma shes bya-ba.
O 741. -T o 23. -N arthang, Sna-tshogs 255b-256a.
M o: Ligeti, no. 773; vol. 47, 212v-213v.
E: E. Conze, SP T , pp. 201.
e: SS no. 130.

T he one letter, or syllable, is ‘A’, which has always in Buddhist tradition

had a special affinity with emptiness. T he text gives the usual preamble
and conclusion of a Sutra, which is addressed to A nanda, and the body of
the Sutra is extremely short.
88 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

CD. Rituals

33. A . T H E GREAT H E A R T SUTRA OF T H E GREAT PERFECTION OF WISDOM.

B. METHOD OF MAKING AN IMAGE OF T H E PRAJNAPARAM ITA.

S: Lost.
C h: Dharanisamuccaya, trsl. Atigupta, A.D. 653-654. A) T 901, iii, 804c-
805a.-B) ibd. 805a sq.

33A is in the form of a short Sutra. The Lord explains to Brahmadeva

the virtuous qualities which follow from a practice of perfect wisdom. T he
enum eration of the various advantages to be gained from the prajfiaparam ita
resembles th at given, a t m uch greater length, in A ch. I l l to V, b u t special
stress is laid in this outline of the inconceivable dhSrani-mudra-guna on the
winning of m editational quietude (iamatha), which is as immovable as M ount
Sumeru. This continues without a break into 33B.
33B is our first dated source for the iconography of the Prajfiaparam ita.
It describes how the figure of M ahaprajfia, who is reckoned among the
Bodhisattvas, should be painted. She is white, and has two arms. T he left
arm is turned towards the breast, the left hand being raised with the five
fingers extended; in the palm of the left hand one should paint a Sutra-box
m ade of the seven precious things, which contains the twelve categories of
sacred texts, i.e. the prajndpdramita-pifaka. The right hand hangs over the
right knee, the five fingers extended, in the gesture of abhayadada. M ahaprajfia
is beautiful like a heavenly m aiden (devakanya) and serene in h er fe'atures like
a Bodhisattva. She has three eyes, wears a deva-crown, and is seated on a
lion-throne. H er dress and ornaments are described in great detail. She is
surrounded by devas and vidya-rajas. The text then proceeds to describe 13
ritual gestures (mudra), 9 dharanis and the mandala of the Prajnaparam ita
with its ritual.

34. RULES ON TH E PLACES OF W ORSH IP AND T H E CHANTING OF T H E LITURGIES

OF T H E NINNO.

S: Lost.
C h: T 994 i. trsl. Amoghavajra, T vol. X IX , pp. 513,3-519,2.
e: Summary of contents in: M . W. de Visser, Ancient Buddhism in Japan
(1928) I, pp. 160-175.

35. EVOCATIONS OF T H E PERFECTION OF WISDOM.

S: Prajnaparamita-sadhana. In : Sadhanamala, ed. B. Bhattacharya, I (1925).

 TANTRIC TEXTS 89

T he sSdhanas are distributed as follows:

Two-armed Four-armed
I
yellow white yellow
/ I \ / I \ I
158 153 152 151 154 155 156

157 159

No. 151: Two-arm ed, white. R : red lotus and book. -152. Two-armed,
yellow: R and L : blue lotus and book. -153: Two-armed, yellow:
L. blue lotus and book. -154. Two-arm ed, white: R and L : red lotus
and book. -155. Two-arm ed, w hite: R : red lotus, L : book held against
heart. -156. Four-arm ed, yellow: two arms in dharmacakra; second L
holds book on a lotus, second R in abhaya. -157, as 153. -158. Two­
arm ed, yellow: L : red lotus and book. -159, as 152.
T i: T o 3400. Rgyud-’grel, D U 71 (trsl. of Sadhanamala.).
Also: T o 2326 (by K am ala£la); 2640 (prajnaparamita-hjdaya-sadhana)
2641; 3219-3222; 3352-3355; 3542 Sukla; 3542 pitavarna; 3544
sajflkfipta-pitavarna; 3545 Sukla; 3547 kanakavarna; 3549 kanaka­
varna; 3550.

T he Sadhanamala, which is earlier than A.D. 1100, gives nine sSdhanas

of the Prajflaparam ita (one Ms gives in addition a hym n (stuti), i.e. no.
160). T he most elaborate, no. 159, begins with a mandala of the five Tatha-
gatas, with their female consorts. Later on the eight yoginis are mentioned.
T he sadhana is attributed to Acarya-Asanga. T here is no reason to believe
that the system of the five Jinas is m uch older than A.D. 750, and therefore
this sadhana, which incidentally begins by quoting the first verse of D innaga’s
Pindartha, is unlikely to be the work of the famous Asanga who lived more
than three centuries before that date.
T he procedure for conjuring up the Prajnaparam ita is given only in an
abbreviated form, being the same as that for the other deities. In addition
each sadhana describes the distinctive visual appearance of the seven forms
of Prajnaparam ita envisaged here, and gives a germ syllable, and the m antra
which corresponds to each form. 152, 158 and 159 have the same m antra
(om ah. dhih hum svaha), and so have 153 and 156 (om dhih. Sruti-smrti-vijaye svaha),
and 151 and 155 (om. pirn prajnavardhani jvala medhavardhani dhiri dhiri buddha-
vardhani svahS; this is also the m antra of Vajra-Sarasvat! in sadhanas 163, 165,
168). 157 has ofy prajiie mahdprajne Sruti-smrti-vijaye dhih svaha. This also forms
90 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

part of the m antra in KauSika ix, in the 108 Marks o f Perfect Wisdom, and in
the Candragarbha Sutra (no. 21).

36. TH E MANDALA OF T H E PERFECTION OF WISDOM.

S: Prajnaparamita-mandala-vidhi. Lost.
T i: To 2644 (13 pp.); 2654 (10 pp.), R atnaklrti.

37. RITUAL CONCERNING A MANDALA OF PRAJNAPARAM ITA.

S: Lost.
C h: T 1151. trsl. Amoghavajra.

An outline of this mandala can be seen in Mikkyo-daijiten, p. 1840a. The

Prajfia, in the centre, is surrounded by the 10 paramitas, and by a num ber of
deities, rakfasas, etc.

38. SOME OF THE TEACHING ABOUT THE VAJRAM ANDALAVYUHAPRAJNAPA-

RAMITA.

S: Srivajramandaldlamkaramahdtantrardjd. Lost.
C h: T 886, trsl. D harm abhadra ca. 1000. (Nanjio adds: “ agrees with
T ibetan” ).

39. SUTRA OF T H E CONTEMPLATION OF T H E BODHISATTVA PRAJNAPARAM ITA,

M OTHER OF T H E BUDDHA.

S: Lost.
C h: T 259 i, trsl. T ’ien-hsi-tsai, A.D. 980-1000. T . viii 854.

40. RITUAL OF T H E CONTEMPLATION OF PRA JN A , M OTHER OF T H E BUDDHA.

S: Lost.
Ch: T 1152 i, trsl. D anapala, ca. A.D. 1000.

39 and 40 both refer to a six-armed form of the Prajfiaparam ita of golden

colour. In no. 39 the first right hand holds the rosary, the left the Sutra-
book; the second right an arrow, the second left a bow; the third right arm
is in varada, and the third left holds a cintamani. The Prajfia has a body of pure
golden colour, which emits millions of rays throughout the entire universe.
The text also gives an initiation-dhdrani, a heart-dharani and a ‘fundam ental’
dhdrani, and then enumerates the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who surround
the Prajfiaparam ita. In the case of no. 40 the two upper arms are in dharma-
 TANTRIC TEXTS 91

cakramudra, and the four others hold the Sutra, utpala, Sakti, etc.1

A few modem scholarly works

M . Lalou, “ La version tibetaine des prajftaparam ita” , JA s 1929, pp. 82­

102 (28 items).
T . M atsumoto, Die Prajnaparamita Literatur, 1932.
D. T . Suzuki, “ T he philosophy and religion of the Prajftaparam ita” , EZB
I I I, 1934, pp. 207-288.
K . Kiyono, Daihannya-kyd no kenkyu, Houn, 1937, 46 pp.
K oun Kajiyoshi, Genshi Hannya-kyd no kenkyu. A study of the early versions
of the Prajnaparam ita Sutra, Tokyo 1944. 14+998 pp.
E. Conze, Selected Sayings from the Perfection o f Wisdom, 1955, 133 pp. Repr.
1968, 1975.
R. H ikata, “An Introductory Essay on Prajftaparam ita Literature” in
Suvikrantavikramipariprccha Prajnaparamita-Sutra, Fukuoka, 1958, pp.
ix-lxxxiii and 5 Tables.
A. David-Neel and Lam a Yongden, La cotmaissance transcendante d’apres
le texte et les Commentaires Tibetaines. Paris, 1958, 173 pp.
E. Conze, “ The Development of P.P. Thought” (1960) = T YB S pp. 123-147.
R. O . Meisezahl, Tibetische P.P.-Texte im Bernischen Historischen Museum,
1964, 42 pp.
Shoyu H anayam a, “A summary of various research on the Prajnaparam ita
L iterature by Japanese scholars”, Acta Asiatica, Bulletin of the
Institute of Eastern Literature, 10, The Toho Gakkai, Tokyo 1966,
pp. 16-93.
E. Conze, Materials for a Dictionary o f the Prajnaparamita Literature. 1967, vii
447 pp. Repr. 1973.
G. Bugault, La notion de 'prajna' ou de sapience selon les perspectives du ‘Mahayana’,
1968, 289 pp.
P. Beautrix, Bibliographie de la litterature Prajnaparamita, 1971 (324 items).

1 A lthough the last no. in this list is 40, there are in fact 42 P. P. texts. By
some oversight I have on page 60 num bered one of two P. P.-s in 500 Lines as
no. 7a instead of no. 8, and on p. 75 another Chinese text is num bered 12a
instead of 13.
92 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Prajnaparamita and Related Systems: Studies in Honor o f Edward Conze, ed.

by L. Lancaster ( = Berkeley Buddhist Studies Series, 1), 1977.
Eleven contributors in the second p art of this Festschrift (pp. 221-415)
deal with the ideas of die P. P. Eleven contributions in the first part
concern the literary documents, and will have to be noted in the next
edition of this work, i.e. as follows:
no. 5, p. 48 Line 4: L. Schmithausen, Textgeschichdiche Beobachtungen
zum 1. K apitel der A$tasahasrikd Prajnaparamita, pp.
35-80.
no. 5, pp. 7-8: A. Rawlinson, The position of the Aftasahasrika Prajna­
paramita in the Development of Early M ahayana, pp.
3-34.
no. 5A, p. 53 line 12: A. Yuyama, T he First Two Chapters of the Pra-
jnd-pdramitd-ratna-guna-sariicaya-gdthd (Rgs), pp. 203
-218.
no. 6, p. 56 line 8: J . W. de Jong, Notes on Prajnaparam ita Texts: 2.
The Suvikrantavikramipariprccha, pp. 187-199.
no. 8, p. 62 line 2: R. E. Emmerick, T he Concluding Verses of the
Khotanese Vajracchedika, pp. 83-92.
no. 8, p. 66 line 66: Y. Kajiyama, “Thus Spoke the BlessedO ne-” ” ,
pp. 93-99 (on attamanah in V 32b).
no. 11, p. 68 line 9: L. Hurvitz, Hsiian-tsang (602-664) and the Heart
Scripture, pp. 103-121.
no. 11, p. 74 line 2: A. W ayman, Secret of the Heart Sutra, pp. 135—
152 (see p. 70).
no. 11, p. 72 line 3: H . W. Bailey, Mahdprajndparamitd-sutra, pp. 153—
162 ;-L. Lancaster, A Study of a Khotanese Pra-
jndpdramita Text: After the Work of Sir H arold
Bailey, pp. 163-183.
no. 11, pp. 27-28: M . Pye, T he Heart Sutra in Japanese Context, pp.
123-134.
 THE COMMENTARIAL LITERATURE

Indian literary tradition regards a sacred text as incomplete without a

com m entary. T he Prajflaparam ita is no exception, and the majority of
its versions have found a commentator, in India between A.D. 150 and
1200, and elsewhere until today.

1. T he first two centuries of the Christian era produced a gigantic commentary,

the Mahaprajndpdramitd-upadeia-fdstra, presumably on the version in 25,000
Lines, and traditionally ascribed to Nagarjuna. I t contains a staggering wealth
o f useful information, and reflects the attitude of the M adhyam ika school,
which was in its tenets more akin to the Prajflaparam ita than any other.
Lam otte (p. X) notes, however, that this work “ does not occur in the lists
o f works attributed to N agarjuna by the Lung-shu p ’u-sa ch’uan (T 2047),
and the T ibetan historians Bu-ston and T aran ath a” . T he attribution of this
work to N agaijuna is due’ to K um arajiva, and his school, and probably
K um arajiva had obtained his information in Kashm ir or C entral Asia. The
Sanskrit original is completely lost. W e possess only the Chinese translation
done by K um arajiva between A.D. (402 or) 404 and 406, the Ta-chih-tu-lun,
in 90 chapters and 100 chiian. Even K um arajiva did not translate the entire
work, which is said to have comprised 100,000 ilokas, or one million Chinese
characters, and which would have been 1,000 chiian long. Only the first
chapter (parivarta) of the Sanskrit is translated in full, in the first 34 chiian. T h at
chapter covers the text of P until the last line of p. 34 in D utt’s edition. O f
the rem aining 89 chapters only an abstract is given.1 The absence of a T ibetan
translation suggests th at around 800 A.D. the huge work was no longer ob­
tainable in India.
T he first part, i.e. chapters 1 to 48, has so far been translated by E. Lamotte.
T h e text on which N agatjuna comments is, in that section, very similar to
the one we have. T he A bhidharm a tradition is th at of the Sarvastivadins,

1 I t is not quite clear from Demi^ville’s account w hether the shu of Shih-hui-ying
(ca 575), the Szu-ch’uan, in 30 chiian, which has been in p art preserved an d published
in Ja p a n , is an abbreviation of the Ta-chih-tu-lun, or an independent, though unin­
teresting work. See Bagchi p. 462. —H ui-Yiian, A bridgm ent of M pp-s in 20
chiian, w ith Preface. See R .H . Robinson, Early Madhyamika in India and China,
1967, 101 n .27, pp. 109-114, 200-205, an d T 2145.
94 THE COMMENTARIAL LITERATURE

i.e. the Vibhasa of Kashmir. The scriptural sources are those of the Sarvasti-
vada-Vaibhasika of the North-W est: the Sanskrit Agama, the Vinaya of
Sarvastivadins and M ulasarvastivadins, the Jnanaprasthana of K atyayana
and the Vibhafa of Kashmir. T he work was probably done by Sarvastivadins
converted to the M adhyamika school. K um arajlva, the translator, was
himself such a convert. The authors belonged to the N orth West of India
(E. Lam otte, Asiatica, 1954, 390-1). The Jatakas and Avadanas to which it
refers are those which locate the events narrated in G andhara, O^cjiyana,
the Punjab and Swat. (About 50 M ahayana Sutras and Sastras are quoted).
P. Demieville1 gives some interesting facts about the conditions under
which the work was produced. T he Em peror Yao Hsing (W en-Huan) of the
Later C h’in (396-415), who had K um arajlva fetched as war booty by one of his
generals, personally organised the diffusion of Buddhism among the literati.
T he emperor himself presided over the sessions of the translation work, which
took place in a hall, north of Ch’ang-an in the presence of a large audience.
Several hundred monks and laymen, noblemen, literati, ministers, etc., were
present when Kum arajlva, with the text in his hand, orally translated it into
Chinese. T he Em peror at the same time com pared K um arajiva’s translation
of the Sutra with one of the older translations, while K um arajlva accompanied
his translation of the Sastra with m any explanations and discussions. After
th at the translation was w ritten down, and many misunderstandings and
interpolations may have arisen in the process. Often, in any case, the glosses
of K um arajlva are hard to distinguish from the Sanskrit original. O u r present
text of the Ta-chih-tu-lun contains sometimes the questions of the Chinese
audience, and K um arajiva’s answers to them. Unlike Hsiian-tsang, K um ara-
jiva did not aim at literal exactness in his translations. H e was inclined to
the ko-i (“ Search for the meaning” ) kind of translation, which aim ed a t finding
some concordance of Buddhist beliefs with Taoism and Confucianism. The
enormous influence of K um arajiva’s translations is largely due to the fact that
he adapted himself to the understanding of his not always very well prepared
audience, and that he rem ained intelligible to them. F urther uncertainites
are, incidentally, introduced into the text by its transmission.2

Rahulabhadra3, either a tutor4 or a disciple5 of Nagarjuna, composed ca. A.D.

1 JA s, 1950, pp. 375-395.

2 A bout m anuscripts and editions see JA s, 1950, pp. 390 sq. -See also H ikata
L II-L X X V about the authorship of this work.
3 M atsum oto, Svaiikrantamkramipariprccha, 1956, p. iii.
4 According to T ibetan sources.
5 According to Chinese sources. H ikata p. L X X I.
 TH E COMMENTARIAL LITERATURE 95

150 a “H ym n to Perfect Wisdom” , the Prajmp&ramitdstotra, in 20 verses,

to which a 21st was added a t a later date1. In chapter 18 of the Ta-chih-tu-lun
a prajnaparamitastotra is quoted, in 20 verses, of which 17 are identical with
the Sanskrit of R ahulabhadra’s hym n2. T he poem has also-been translated
into U rdu3, G ujarati4 and, with a long Bengali commentary, into Bengali.5
T here is Newari paraphrase6, an English translation by Swami Yatis-
w arananda7, another one with Notes, by H.P. Shastri8, and a rhythmical
version by E. Conze9. R ahulabhadra also composed a hymn on the Saddharma-
pundarika Sutra10, which shows m any similarities with the one composed
for the Prajflaparamita.

2. T he fo urth 'an d fifth centuries saw the rise of the YogacSrins. T aranatha
claims (p. 122) th at V asubandhu wrote a com m entary to P, and that Asanga,
who found it difficult to understand the Prajflaparam ita “without repetition
and confusion” (p. 108) wrote the Abtusamayalankdra (p. 112). According to
Bu-ston (II 140)11, Asanga composed the Tattvavinifcaya (de-hid mam-nes)
“ in which the subjects of the AA and the Prajflaparam ita are demonstrated
(en regard)” . O n page 1 of his AAA, H aribhadra says:
“ The holy Asanga, endowed with translucent glory, and the foremost
among those possessed of highest wisdom, has composed the commentary
called “T he Ascertainment of the T rue State of Things” . Inspired by this
work, the teacher V asubandhu, exceedingly proud of his knowledge, skilful
in m aking distinctions between w hat has reality and w hat has not, has

1 P rinted in A fta, ed. M itra, 1888, pp. 1-3. PaHcavimSatis&hasriki, ed. D utt, 1934
pp. 1-3. Suvikranta-ctc. ed. M atsumoto, pp. 1-2, ed. H ikata, pp. 1-2. -U seful variants
can be found in the older Mss, i.e. for A the Ms Bodleian a. 7. R , B.M. O r. 6902
an d 2203, and for Rgs the Ms. As. Soc. Bengal 10736.
2 Traiti, pp. 1061-5.
3 Sanskrit-U rdu, Bulandshahi, 1904, pp. 8. 24.
4 Gautam Buddha pranita Prajhaparamitasutram, Sanskrit-G ujarati, w ith commentary
in G ujarati, A hm edabad, 1916, 15 pp.
5 K . C hatterji, Sanskrit-Bengali, w ith Bengali commentary. C alcutta, 1912, pp.
9 + 2 1 4 , (Kishori-mohana Chaftopadhyaya).
6 Ekavim Sati-prajnaparam ita. Nepalese Ms, 25 leaves.
7 In : Altar Flowers, published by A dvaita Ashrama (S. Pavitrananda), 1934 (3rd
ed. 1945), pp. 236-245 (Sanskrit-English).
8 T h e Prajnaparam ita-Sutra, Self-Knowledge, I I 2, 1951, pp. 35-40.
9 “H ym n to Perfect W isdom” , T h e M iddle W ay, xxvi, 1951, pp. 24-5. Also:
Buddhist Texts, 1954, no. 142. -B uddhist Scriptures, 1959, pp. 168-171 (with some
corrections).
10 Saddharmapundarika, ed. W ogihara and Tsuchida, pp. 37-9. Saddharm apundari-
kastavafr, 20 w .
11 See the comments of A. W aym an, Analysis o f the Sravakabhumi Manuscript, 1961,
pp. 34-5.
96 THE COM MENTARIAL LITERATURE

composed the Paddhati, or “ Guide Book” , and won authority by his exposition
of the meaning (of the Paftcavimsatisahasrika, according to Tson-kha-pa)” .
T aranatha further gives interesting, though not always fully intelligible,
details about a discussion between king Gam bhirapaksa and Asanga, which
resulted from the king’s reading of the Prajfiaparam ita (p. 113). T he king
asked (pp. 114-5) three questions concerning the wording, and three concern­
ing the m eaning of the text. Asanga put his answers down in the Trisvabhava-
nirdeia, and other works. This work of 38 verses has been edited several
times,1 but its perusal shows that for the Yogacarins to interpret the Prajfta-
param ita often m eant to introduce concepts quite alien to it.
W e have three Yogacarin commentaries on the Vajracchedikd. Asanga’s
commentary (no. 8-cy 1) is a real masterpiece. T he Sutra, a t first sight,
gives an impression of incoherence. Asanga throughout shows how the
different chapters are linked to one another, and V asubandhu in his sub­
commentary (no. 8 cy 1-1) often explicitly asks the question or raises the
problem, about w hat is behind the transition from one point to another.
Sometimes the solution offered for the difficulties is more ingenious than
convincing. For example, when ch. 12-14d are said to enum erate 11 points by
which the gift of the D harm a is superior to any other gift (w . 23-25), or
when ch. 15b to 16c are represented as describing the 10 dharme pratipatter
karmani (w . 39-41). At V ch. 17b, which is either too obvious or meaningless,
Asanga (v. 43) finds refuge in obscurity.
M uch light is also thrown on m any of the technical terms employed.
V asubandhu attem pts to account for the apparent repetitions, especially
oh the numerous occasions when the m erit connected with Perfect Wisdom
is stressed, and he m aintains that in each case the subject is discussed in a
different context and concerns a different aspect of punya. N or is the difficulty
entirely shunned why in chapter 17 the Sutra should repeat w hat had been
said before in almost the same words in ch. 3, 7, 8 and 10 (M BT I 112). This
problem is solved by the assertion that the later passage considers the same
problem on a m uch higher level. Ch. 17a and ch. 3, for instance, are verbally
nearly identical, b u t ch. 3 is said to give the 4 aspects of the upakardiayah (v.
2), whereas ch. 17a concerns the removal of all cittavararia (sems-kyi sgrib-pa)
(v. 42). Specific Yogacara doctrines are almost completely ignored. At v.
20 we have the phrase vijnaptimdtraivat, which in this context, however, only
means that the Buddhafields are a m ere denom ination, without m aterial
consistency (avigrahatvad). But in his comment on v. 76 V asubandhu refers
to the “ store-consciousness” . T he commentary presupposes a text of the

1 E d. S. Yamaguchi (1931); M CB, 11(1933), pp. 154-7; M ukhopadhyaya (1939).

 TH E COMMENTARIAL LITERATURE 97

Vajracchedika which does not differ m aterially from the one we find in our much
later manuscripts. Only quite occasionally does it fail to fit our text, as at
v. 47 where nothing in V ch. 17e-f seems to correspond to dharmadhatav
akuSalah, or at v. 26 where aparimana is understood of guna and not of buddha
as in V 14d.
Secondly there is V asubandhu’s, or Asanga’s, prose commentary (no.
8 cy. 2). It falls into two parts. T he first gives the division of the subjectm atter
of the Vajracchedika under seven topics. T he second explains the text in detail,
with constant reference to the divisions given in the first part.
T he seven topics (artha-padartha, don-gyi gnas) are:
1. N on-interruption of the lineage of the Buddha (gotranupaccheda), in
that the Perfection of Wisdom assures the continuity of the Buddha-family.
-T his refers to paramamgraha and paramaparindana a t ch. 2.
2. Characteristics of a Bodhisattva^ training. -T his refers to katharp stha-
tavyam, etc., at ch. 2.
3. Eighteen supports of a Bodhisattva^ practice, i.e. 1 = V ch.3, 2 = ch.
4, 3 = ch.5, 4 = ch.6-9, 5 = ch.9-10a, 6 = c h .l0 a , 7 = ch .l0b -c, 8 = c h .l0 c ,
9 = c h .ll-1 3 b , 10 = ch.l3c, U = c h .l3 d , 12 = ch.l3e-14d, 13=ch.l4e-f,
14= ch.l4f-16c, 15 = ch.l7a, 1 6 = c h .l7 b -d , 17 = ch.l7e-f, 18=ch.l7g-32a.
Supports 1-16 concern the Path as hetu, 17 and 18 its phala (M BT I 163).
4. Antidotes. V ch. 3-4.
5. Non-delusion results from avoiding the two extremes, i.e. the im puta­
tion of either positive existence or of absolute non-existence to dharmas
which are merely imagined (parikalpita). V ch. 8.
6. The 18 supports are distributed according to the stages (bhumi) to
which they correspond. 1-16 belong to the adhimukticarya, 17 to the fuddha-
adhyaiayabhumi, which begins with the pramudita stage, and the 18th to the
final stage of a Buddha.
7. T he reasons why the book is called Vajracchedika.
T he third commentary, th at by Sridatta (no. 8 cy 3), preserved only
in Chinese, awaits further study.
D innaga’s Prajnaparamita-pindartha (no. 5 cy 5), ca. 450, is a short work of
58 memorial verses, which claims (in w . 6, 22, 58) a special connection with
the Astasahasrika. Actually, the bulk of it (w . 5-54) is based on passages of
the Large Prajnaparam ita which have no parallel in it.
Dignaga sums up (artha-samkfepa ) (v.57) the teaching of the Prajfta-
p aram ita under 32 subjects, on which Bu-ston (I 51-52) has some comments,
which are to some extent dependent on remarks of Asanga (in no. 8 cy 8?).
I have added the comments, where significant, in brackets.
The 32 points are:
98 TH E COMMENTARIAL LITERATURE

1. afraya. T he foundation, i.e. the Buddha as teacher.

2. adhikara. The fitness for listening to the teaching, i.e. the Bodhisattvas
(bodhisattva-ganam adhikrtya deiyate).
3. karma (=kriyd). W hat should be done by the Bodhisattvas in accordance
with the perfection of wisdom (prajnaparamitayarii bodhisattvasya-anu-
ffhanam).
4.-13. bhavana. M editation—on the antidotes to the 10 imputations,
w . 19-54.
14.-29. prabheda. Classification—of the 16 varieties of emptiness,
w . 6-18. (prajnaparamitayah sodaSa-prakarah. . . .fodafa Sunyata.
30. lingam. Tokens1—two according to Bu-ston: 1) of the activities of
the Evil O ne; 2) of a Bodhisattva having attained the irreversible
state. This corresponds to A ch. xi and xvii, (marakarmanam avaivar-
tikabodhisattvanarp. ca.)2
31. apad. T he faults into which one may fall.-A ccording to Bu-ston one
m ay fall into evil births as the consequence of abstaining from perfect
wisdom (cf. A ch. vii) (anarthah saddharma-pratikfepa-adina dharmavyasana-
saxp.vartan.iyam karma (cf. A vii 178, 182) savifayd (cf. A vi 151-2) ca
prajnaparamita. (cf. v. 56 on prativarnika pra.jMpara.mita, cf. A v 112).
32. anuSamsa. T he advantages gained from perfect wisdom; i.e. A iii-v.
(mahattvanirdeSah prajnaparamitayah).

T he bulk of this text is taken up with the items 4 to 29, which consist of
two lists—one of the 16 forms of emptiness, and one of the 10 imputations.
Both lists seem to derive from the Prajftaparam ita itself, although presumably
from some recension which has not come down to us.
S, P, Ad, and D, as we possess them, give a list of 20 forms of emptiness.
Behind it we can infer that there were earlier lists of 18 and 16 forms. Asanga’s
(?) Madhyantavibhaga gave a list o f 16 kinds, and the explanations given by
V asubandhu and Sthiram ati in their commentaries differ greatly from those
in the text of the Prajftaparam ita itself. Dignaga gives the same list as the
Madhyantavibhaga, but in a different order, perhaps in an endeavor to follow
the argum entation of A ch.i. His explanation of the different items agrees
closely with that of the Madhyantavibhagafikd. In one case he echoes the words
of a karika in the Madhyantavibhaga; i.e. verse 10 reads:
rupa-ady-abhave tad-deha-pratiftha-lakfana-ksatih,
which can be com pared with I 17:

1 Tucci trsl. as “ logical argueing” , perhaps owing to v. 55.

2 V . 55 does not correspond.
 THE COMMENTARIAL LITERATURE 99

bhoktr-bhojana-tad-deha-pratiftha-vastu-funyatd,

i.e. the emptiness of enjoyer, enjoyed, the body thereof, and the receptacle.
The 16 kinds of emptiness never occur in the Apia. In his text Dignaga
gives a num ber of quotations which are not easy to identify. I here give
a survey of them:

verse/kind of emptiness quotation A ch. I

8 adhyatma bodhisattvam, na paSyami cf. 4. 25
9 bahirddha rupam, rupa-svabhavena Sunyarn cf. 10
12 atyanta notpanno na niruddho va cf. 11
anavaragra sattva ity ddi
13 sarvadharma Buddhadharmams tatha bodhisattvadharman
na paSyati
14 paramartha dharmah kalpita cf. 15
15 abhava (atmadrfter ucchedam mahatya) =
mahatya atmadrftyah prahdnaya p. 19
16 abhavasvabhava sarvadharma armtparmd

The list of the ten vikalpa-vikfepas is derived from a text of the Prajfia­
param ita which seems to be lost. It plays a great part in Yogacarin writings.
It is of interest as illustrating the considerable freedom with which the Yoga-
carins m anipulated traditional texts in support of their doctrinal constructions.
In the following survey I give six items; (1) the name, (2) the text of the
Satasahasrika (pp. 118, 7-120) ( = S), to which the T ibetan PancaviriiSalisdha-
srika corresponds exactly, (3) the text of the revised PancavimSatisdhasrika.
(ed. D utt pp. 37-8) ( = P), (4) Dignaga’s quotation or paraphrase from
the Prajfiaparam ita, after Prajndparamitdpindartha ( = D), (5) the text given
in Asanga’s Mahdydnasutrdlamkara (X I 77) ( = M L), and (6) that of Maha-
ydnasamgrahaSdstra (II 21-22; pp. 115-118 of Lam otte’s translation) ( = Ms).
1. Abhava-vikalpa.
§: -P : bodhisattva eva samano. D : bodhisattva san. v. 21. M L: iha bodhi­
sattvo bodhisattva eva san. Ms: byan-chub sems-dpa’ fiid-du yod bshin-du.
2. Bhava-vikalpa.
S, P, M L, M s: bodhisattvam na samanupasyati. D : bodhisattvam na paS-
yami aham na-asti buddha tatha bodhim na pasyami. w . 24, 28, 32.
3. Adhyaropa-vikalpa.
S, P, M L, M s: bodhisattva-nam a-api na sam anupasyati bodhisattvo
m ahasattvah svabhavena sunyah D : -(v . 33).
4. Apavada-vikalpa.
5. P, M L, M s: na sunyataya rupam Sunyam D : na hi £unyataya sun-
100 TH E COMMENTARIAL LITERATURE

yam mayopamas tatha buddhah sa svapnopama (see no. 7). w . 34,

35; cf. 36.
5. Ekatva-vikalpa.
P: - . D : (na ru p ain sunyata) v. 40. M L, M s: ya rupasya sunyata na tad
rupam.
6. Nanatva-vikalpa.
S, P, M L, M s: na-anyatra rupac chunyata rupam eva sunyata Sunyata-
eva rupam D : (na-anyat tad rupam ) v. 41.
7. Svabhava-vikalpa.
S: nam am atram idam yaduta bodhisattvah mayopamam rupam . m aya
ca nam am atram svabhavavirahitam . P :a s §, but without the last
word. D : (nam am atram idam rupam tattvato hy asvabhavakam) v. 45.
M L: (svalaksaija-vikalpa). M L, M s: nam am atram yad idam ru pam .......
8. Vifefa-vikalpa.
S: asvabhavaS ca-anutpado ’n irodhah na vyavadanam ; kasyacid
dharmasya utpadam na sam anupafyati, nirodham na sam anupasyati,.......
P: mayadarsana-svabhavasya hi na-utpado na nirodhah na vyavada­
nam ; utpadam api na sam anupaiyati, nirodham api na samanupasyati.
D : na-utpadain na nirodham ca dharm aijam pasyati, v. 47. M L, M s: ru­
pasya hi na-utpado na vyavadanam.
9. Yathd-nama-artha-abhinive$a-vikalpa.
S: krtrim am pratipatti-dharm am te kalpita1 agantukena nam adheyena-
abhuta-parikalpitena vyavahryante, vyavaharac ca-abhiniveSyante. P : krtri-
mam nam a pratidharm am . te ca kalpitah, agantukena nam adheyena vyava­
hryante. D : (krtrim am nam a vacyaS ca dharm as te kalpita) v. 48 M L:
krtrim aip nam a Ms: krtrim am nam a. pratipatti-dharm am te2 agantu­
kena nam adheyena vyavahryante, vyavaharac ca-abhiniviSante.
10. Yatha-artha-nama-abhinivefa-vikalpa.
S: sarvadharm an na samanupasyati na-upalabhate, asam anupafyann an-
upalabham ano na m anyate na-abhiniviSate..... .nam am atram idam yad idam
bodhisattva iti buddha iti prajftaparam ita-iti P: as S, but ab­
breviated. D : prajflaparam ita buddho bodhisattvo ’pi va tatha nam am atram
bodhisattvasya no nam a pasyami. w . 51, 54. M L, M s: tani bodhisattvah
sarvanam ani na samanupasyaty, asamanupasyann na-abhiniviSate,—yatha-

1 T ib. £ and P : chos-rnams so-so’i m in ni sgyu-ma ste, rnam -par brtags-pa de-dag,
etc. — AA calls the whole passage the pratipatty-avavada, an d H aribhadra AAA 35
com m ents: bodhicitta-tad-akgipta-dharm a-svabhava prajnapaxam itayam ya prati-
p attir anupalam bha-akara.
2 This is Lam otte’s Sanskrit translation of the T ibetan: m in bcos-ma-la chos de­
dag so-sor brtags-nas m in glo-bur-gyis, etc.
 TH E COMMENTARIAL LITERATURE 101

arthaya-ity abhiprayah.
This list, which occurs in Chinese in T 220 k. 4, pp. 17b, 25-17c, 16, is
also m entioned in Hsuan-tsang’s Vijhaptimatratasiddhi, p. 521, and it had
sufficient authority to be even inserted into one of the Sutras, the Nitartha
(no. 10).

3. A num ber of thinkers took up an interm ediate position between M adhya-

mikas and Yogacarins, and they are known as Yogacara-M adhyamika
svdtantrikas. From the standpoint of this school we have the most influential
com m entary of all, the Abhisamayalahkara (no. 2A cy 1). It was written in the
fourth century A.D., or in the eighth century of the Buddhist era. W e have
no precise knowledge about the author, which is not surprising in view of the
Buddhist passion for self-effacing anonymity. His identity has been much
discussed in recent years. Tradition ascribes the work to M aitreyanatha.
Some scholars, like U i and, for a time, Tucci, assumed that this was the name
o f a teacher of Asanga,1 to whom other treatises are also attributed.2 Others
believe that it was Asanga himself who wrote these verses.3 T o strengthen
the authority of his words, tradition would then have claimed th at he was
inspired by M aitreya, the “ saviour” (natha), who revealed to him the inner
m eaning of the Prajfiaparam ita Sutra, just as the Bodhisattva Mafiju£ri
had revealed to N agaijuna the foundations of the M adhyam ika system.
It m ay be apposite to quote w hat H aribhadra says in his Abhisamayalan-
kar&lokd (p. 75):
“ Asanga, although he knew the m eaning of all the scriptures (pravacana)
and had obtained understanding (adhigama), was nevertheless incapable of
ascertaining (unnetum) the meaning of the Prajfiaparam ita, because of the
great num ber of the repetitions and the difficulty of distinguishing the indivi­

1 Cf. Z II, 1928, p. 215. —Madhyantavibhaga, ed. Yamaguchi, Introd. x-xviii, O ber­
m iller in IHQ_, ix, 1024 sq. —Demi£ville in BEFEO, xliv, 2 (1954), pp. 377-382,
384-7.
2 O ther works attrib u ted to M aitreya are, in China, according to a tradition
beginning w ith T un-lun in his com m entary to N 1170 (cf. U i p. 221): Mahayana-
sutrdlankara, Yogacarabhumiiastra, Yogacarambhangaiastra, MadhyantambhagaSastra and
Vqjracchedikasutratastra. T h e T ibetan tradition differs: O berm iller (AO 81) gives
another list of the byams chos sde Ina, the five treatises of M aitreya; Abhisamayalan-
kara, Sutralankara, Madhyantavibhaga, Dharmadharmatavibhanga and Uttaratantra
(rgyud bla-ma). Bu-ston states th a t the five treatises are similar in style, and often
the verses are the same (cf. also T aran ath a on the five dharm as of M aitreya).
3 So T aran ath a, p. 112. A. W aym an, Analysis, etc., 1961, pp. 37-9 regards this as
quite out of the question. His attem pt to totally dissociate Asanga from the AA
is not confirmed by C. Pensa, L’abhisamayalankaravrtti di Aiya-Vimuktisena, I, 1967,
p. xv and by pages 21 and 23 sq. of th at work.
102 TH E COM MENTARIAL LITERATURE

dual arguments, not to m ention its profundity. H e was in despair when the
Lord (Bhagavat) M aitreya commented for him on the Prajnaparam ita Sutra,
and m ade the treatise called Abhisamayalankara. After this treatise had been
heard, it was subsequently commented upon by Asanga, by the master
Vasubandhu, etc.” 1
T radition claims that M aitreya descended from the Tushita Heaven
to give a special revelation. In the k&rikas of the Madhyantavibhaga M aitreya
is called praiieta, “inspirer” (Yamaguchi, p. xi). H e is the revealer of the
hidden, as against the obvious, sense. P arahitabhadra (Yamaguchi, p.
xiii) says that M aitreya, seeing th at the D harm a is difficult to understand,
taught Asanga, etc. T he tradition that N agaijuna was inspired by Mafijuir!
would lead no one to infer that his works were written by a princely youth
who was an historical person. Oberm iller (AO 92) quotes the Siddhanta
(grub-mtha’) of Jam -yan b iad -p a (ca. 1800): “T he teacher N agarjuna, having
been inspired by the Bodhisattva M anjusri, has laid the foundation to the
M adhyam ika system in accordance with AkfayamatinirdeSa-sutra. T he same has
been done by the teacher Arya-Asanga, in regard to the Yogacara system
through the inspiration of M aitreya, and on the basis of the Sairidhinirmocana-
sutra”. In view of w hat Demieville has said, in BEFEO X LIV , 2, 1954, pp.
381, 434, it appears rather unlikely that M aitreyanatha should be regarded
as an historical person.
In its doctrinal position the book shows some affinities w ith other Yogacarin
works. T he list of 22 forms of the “ thought of enlightenm ent” in I w . 18-20
is very similar, though not identical, with that in Asanga’s Mahay&nasutra-
alankara, IV , 15-20, which, however, in its turn goes back to the Akfayamati-
pariprccha, the 45th work of the Ralnakuta collection. C hapter V III is closely
akin to chapter X of Asanga’s Mahayanasanigraha, and to the Abhisamaya
chapter of his Abhidharmasamuccaya (pp. 92-99 in Pradhan’s edition). The
words of one verse, V III 8, are almost identical with those of Mahayanasani­
graha X 13, and with regard to the preceding verse, V III 7, the explanation
of Asvabhava to Mahayanasanigraha X 12 points to a common substratum of
ideas. The Abhidharmasamuccaya is also the source for the 16 kfanas (Hari-
bhadra pp. 169-170), and the defilements to be removed by the path (pp.
98-99, H aribhadra). Abhisamayalankara V 21 has its parallels in Uttaratantra
I 152 and in the Mahayanasutralankara. But it has been pointed out in M CB,
I, p. 394 and BSOAS, viii, 1935, p. 81, that this verse was first elaborated
by A&vaghosa, then adopted and transformed by N agarjuna, and in that
form frequendy quoted in M adhyam ika and Vijftanavadin works.

1 Cf. also Bu-ston’s quotation from no. 5 cy. 3 at I I 139.

 T H E COMMENTARIAL LITERATURE 103

Two o f the specific doctrines of the Yogacarins, i.e. the “storeconscious-

ness” and the three kinds of own-being (svabhdva) are quite ignored. O n the
other hand, the Yogacarin m ultiplication of the bodies of the Buddha is
accepted, and a t I 16 and V III four such bodies are envisaged, whereas the
Prajflaparam ita itself, and with it the M adhyamikas, never distinguished
more than two, i.e. the D harm abody and the “ Form-body” . Further, the
author superimposes on the text the specific categories of the Yogacarins, parti­
cularly the “fourfold discrimination” (vikalpa), which plays a great part in
the arrangem ent of the first and fifth abhisamayas (I w . 25-36, 71; V 5-36).
T he Yogacarins teach that all error is due to the assumption, or invention,
of a separate subject and object. To overcome that error one must remove
a twofold false discrimination, first of the object, and then of the subject.
In addition to being attuned to the Yogacara way of thinking, this scheme
has the advantage of being so elastic as to fit nearly any text. This fact is
brought out in a startling way on two occasions when M aitreyanatha applies
the scheme to passages from the large Prajflaparam ita which are absent from
the Aftasahasrika. Yet H aribhadra, who sets out to co-ordinate the Abhisam-
aydlankara with the A/tasShasrikS, can read exactly the same division of vikalpas,
with all their details, into the words of other portions of the AffasShasrika
which, in their turn, are absent from the text of the revised Pancavimiati-
sahasrikd. T he first case is A ch. 29, pp. 475-477, where H aribhadra finds the
fourfold vikalpa on the path of development (V 6b-e of AA). In the Pancamni-
sati the same scheme is applied to the totally different passage P 465-479,
which has no counterpart in A.
T he second case concerns AA V a-g, the bulk of which H aribhadra and
P assign to completely different passages of the Prajnaparamita. T he following
T able will show the position a t a glance: T he first column shows the section
of AA according to H aribhadra; the second the pages of A in which these
sections are explained; the third the pages of P which correspond to these
pages of A ; and the fourth the sections of AA to which P assigns its own text.

H aribhadra AAA A P P-AA

V 5a 1 xxvi 436; cr. to: 429 =V 4
2 437; 429-30 =V 4
5b 1 437; 429-30 =V 4
2 438; 429-30 =V 4
430a2 =V 5a 1
430a4-b9 =V 5a 2
V 5c xxvi 438-43; cr. to: 433b4— =V 5c
V 5d xxvii 444-; cr. to: 430b9- =V 5b 1
104 TH E COMMENTARIAL LITERATURE

V 5e 446-; cr. to: 431b4- =V 5b 2

V 5f 451-; cr. to: 433b =V 5b 2
V 5g 454-; cr. to: 445a7- =V 5b g
----- 436b2- =V 5d
439a3- =V 5e
----- 444b2- =V 5f.

M aitreyanatha was, of course, hard p u t to it to combine into one coherent

argum ent those parts of the Sutra which h ad originated a t different times,
and which often constituted separate essays without any real connection
between them.
In any case, it is not so m uch the plain and obvious sense of the Sutra
which this school tries to bring out. T he M adhyam ika philosophy had
been in complete harmony with the teaching of the Prajfiaparam ita Sutras,
and when N agaijuna and his school commented on them they could there­
fore be content with expounding the m eaning of the text as its authors had
plainly intended. It was different with the Yogacarins, who derived their
doctrines from another set of Sutras, like the Samdhinirmocana, and to whom
the Prajfiaparam ita, as it stood, was a source not only of inspiration but also
of some embarrassment. Not always quite a t their ease with it, they were
forced to postulate a hidden or indirect meaning of its sayings. I t was the
deeper meaning, as against the obvious and superficial sense, which M aitreya
had revealed. In the words of Bu-ston, the aim of the Abhisamayalankara is
to “give an analysis of the profound m eaning” of the Prajfiaparam ita (I 41),
and it “ has for its principal subject m atter the m eaning of that which is taught
indirectly, -nam ely the knowledge of the practical way (to attain the dignity)
of a Buddha” (I 51).
We can therefore say th at the AA has set out to do two things: 1. I t gives
an intelligible Table of Contents to the Large Prajfiaparam ita 2. It
assigns to each section of the text its place on the path of spiritual progress
which Buddhist tradition had m apped out as the way to Buddhahood. T he
text of the Sutra is divided into eight sections, these again into 70 subsections,
and these again into 1,200 different items. And the whole scheme, both in its
general plan and in its particular details, views everything in its relation to
the practical realization of salvation through wisdom.
This is already indicated by the word abhisamaya in the title. Etymolo­
gically derived from abhi+sam +the root I (“ to go” i-re) abhisamaya can be
translated as “ coming together” , or “ reunion” , or “ communion” . T he
true reality outside me comes together with the true reality inside me—that
is the idea. In the Pali scriptures the term is used to designate the stage when
 TH E COMMENTARIAL LITERATURE 105

w e c o m p re h e n d th e fo u r h o ly tru th s. I n th e Abhidharmakofa (V I 122) it is

in te rp re te d as th e co rrec t ( sam=samyak) k n ow ledge (aya) w h ich is tu rn e d
to w ard s ( abhi) N irv a p a . I n th e P ra jn a p a ra m ita S u tra itself it is in v a ria b ly
co u p led w ith prapti, “ a tta in m e n t” , a n d in o n e p la ce (Su i 7b) it is a sy nonym
for sakfatkriya (re aliza tio n ).
T h e te x t o f th e S u tra is d iv id ed u p a c co rd in g to a list o f eig h t kinds o f
abhisamaya w h ic h a re n o t a tte ste d elsew here. I t is co n stru c te d o n th e follow ­
in g p rin c ip le s: T h e a p p ro a c h to en lig h te n m e n t is view ed o n th re e p ara lle l
levels, a n d fou r, o r m o re, successive stages. I n S an sk rit th e o n e w o rd bhumi
does d u ty fo r b o th “ level” a n d “ stag e” . T h e levels a re d istin g u ish ed b y th e
ty p e o f p erso n w h o sta n d s o n th e m , a n d th e re a re th re e o f th e se ; th e B u d d h a,
th e m a h a y a n istic B o d h isattv a, a n d th e h ln a y a n istic “ D iscip le” , w h o is
u su ally co u p led w ith th e P ra ty e k a b u d d h a . E a c h o n e is c a p a b le o f a p a rtic u la r
ra n g e o f in sig h t, a n d th e n am es for th e th re e kinds o f in sig h t a re ta k e n from
th e L a rg e P ra jn a p a ra m ita w h ere th e y o cc u r w ith g re a t re g u la rity , a n d w here
th ey a re also tw ice d efin ed (S L I I I f. 295 = P f. 476a, a n d a t D ch. 2, n o . 5 0 -5 2 ).
T h e B u d d h a a tta in s th e sarvakarajnata, “ th e k n ow ledge o f all m o d es” , w hich
is his c le a r a n d in fallib le co g n itio n o f all d h a rm a s in all th e ir aspects. C h a ra c -
te rstic o f th e B o d h isattv a is th e margakarajnata, th e “ k n ow ledge o f th e m odes
o f th e p a th ” , w h ich is his a b ility to k n o w th e decisive featu res o f all th e
th re e careers co u p led w ith his d ecision to reje ct th e m e th o d s a n d aim s o f
th e D isciples a n d P ra ty e k a b u d d h a s, a n d to striv e to beco m e a B u d d h a.
T h e D isciples a n d P ra ty e k a b u d d h a s finally ach iev e sarvajnata, “ all-k n o w led g e” ,
a n d th e ir p a rtic u la r in sig h t consists in th a t th ey p erceiv e th e ab sen ce o f a self
in all in w a rd a n d o u tw a rd d h a rm a s. T h ese th re e m odes o f in sig h t co n stitu te
th e first th re e abhisamayas, w h ich o ccu p y th e first th re e c h a p te rs o f AA, a n d
a re h e ld to a c c o u n t for m o re th a n th e first h a lf o f th e S u tra .
T h e re m a in d e r is th e n d ev o ted to th e P a th a n d its F ru it, a n d th e o th e r
fo u r abhisamayas co n c ern th e P a th , a n d th e p ra c tic a l re a liz a tio n 1 o f th e
ab o v e th re e form s o f om niscience. IV , sarvakarabhisairp,bodha, “ th e fu ll u n d e r­
sta n d in g o f all m o d es” , deals w ith th e 173 m odes, o r aspects, o f th e th re e
form s o f om niscience. I V is th e n fu rth e r su b d iv id ed in to ; V — murdhabhisamaya,
“ th e full u n d e rsta n d in g a t its su m m it” , V I — anupurvabhisamaya, th e progressive,
o r g ra d u a l, u n d e rsta n d in g , a n d V I I — ekakfanabhisamaya, th e “ sin g le-in sta n ta­
n eo u s” u n d e rsta n d in g ,2 follow ed b y V I I I — dharmakayabhisambodha, th e full
u n d e rsta n d in g o f th e D h a rm a b o d y . I n th e fo rm o f a d ia g ra m :

1 Prayoga, which is the hetu (IV -V II), in IX v. 2; and the phala (V III) of IX v. 2,
or vipaka of IX v.l.
2 See A. Coomaraswamy, Time and Eternity, p. 46, who compares Sankara’s sadya
in sadyo-mukti, Brahmasutrabha$ya 1, 1, 11.
106 THE COMMENTARIAL LITERATURE

M ethod Path Fruit

/ I \ I I
I II III IV V III
/ I\
V V I V II
V concerns the culm inating points1 of a Bodhisattva^ intuition of the Path;
V I refers to the progressive contemplation2 of the elements constituting the
Path; V II, the result and final conclusion3 of V I, refers to the final momen­
tary intuition, which directly precedes the attainm ent of Buddhahood, which
is reached in V III, the realisation of the cosmical body of the Buddha being
the final result of the Path.
T he A A treats the contents of the Prajnaparamita as statements of spiritual
experiences. While general scientific propositions can be considered in the
abstract, experiences derive their m eaning and significance from the concrete
circumstances in which they take place, and the spiritual m aturity of the
observer is a decisive factor in the situation. The spiritual world is an essen­
tially hierarchical structure, and the Absolute must appear different on differ­
ent levels of attainm ent. Buddhist tradition had by 350 A.D. evolved a clear
and detailed picture of the Path which a Buddhist Saint would have to traverse
through countless aeons. T he A A assigns an appropriate place on that Path
to each m editation found in the Prajnaparamita. The reader of the A A
must constantly bear in m ind the position from which events are observed.
W hat at first sight seems to be a dry and scholastic treatise then becomes
a fascinating contribution to transcendental psychology.
The information about the Path envisaged here is scattered in m any diverse
publications. Its condensation into a diagram will be helpful to some readers.
I have been content to give the Sanskrit terms. The English equivalents can
be easily found in my translation of the A A .
In the diagram we have three columns. The central one draws up the
pattern of the Path as outlined in common for all Vehicles. The lefthand
column, based chiefly on the Abhidharmakofa, shows how it applies to the
M ethod of the Disciples and Pratyekabuddhas. The seven bkumis of the
iravakas are given in italics. The term gotrabhumi is here, incidentally, inter­
preted by M ahayanists as denoting the stage where the Disciple definitely
knows that he belongs to the spiritual lineage of the havakas. Each of the 81
stages of the bhavanamarga is again divided into two steps, the anantaryamarga,
which corresponds to the prahana of the corresponding kiefa, and the vimukti-

1 Prakarsa in IX v. 1.
2 Anukrama in IX v. 1.
3 Nistha in IX v. 1.
 THE COMMENTARIAL LITERATURE 107

marga w h ich co rresp o n d s to its nirodha. T h e AbhidharmakoSa co u nts th e elim i­

n a tio n o f th e klefas d ifferen tly from th e Prajnaparamita,1 in th a t it envisages
a re d u c tio n o f th e klefas o f ea ch o f th e n in e dhatus in tu rn from “ v ery stro n g ”
to “ v ery w ea k ” . T h e rig h th a n d co lu m n in d icates th e p ecu liarities w h ich
a p p ly to th e p a th o f th e B o d hisattvas, a n d th ey a re d eriv ed fro m H a rib h a d ra .
I n th e subdivisions o f th e Bhavanamarga I h av e b ee n forced to em ploy a b b re v ia ­
tions for th e term s expressing th e rela tiv e stre n g th o f th e klefas (w hich slow ly
d im in ishes) a n d o f th e P a th (w hich slow ly increases), “ a ” sta n d in g for
adhimatra, “ m ” for madhya, a n d “ u ” for mrdu.
I a p p e n d a few h in ts for th e d istrib u tio n o f th e tex t o f th e AA am o n g these
d ivisions: A = I 1, I 2, I 7, I 8, IV 6. -B = I 3, I I 2, I I 3, 2, IV 7, IV 8, 1.
- B no. 4 = 1 9; 1-15. -A -C 1 6 = V I . - C = I I 4, I I I 9, IV 8, 2, V 5. -C -D ,
10 bhumis, = 1 9, 16-17. - D = I I 5 -1 1 , IV 8, 3, V 6. - D , bhumis 8 -1 0 , = 1 10,
IV 9, IV 10, IV 11. - D , vajropamasamadhi= V 713. - D , ekakfanabhisamaya—
V I I . -B -E = I 4 , I 5, I I I 7, I I I 8. - E = I 6, V I I I .

1 See AA IV 8, 3, C and D, on pages 71 and 73 of my translation.

 o
co

Bodhisattvas
Disciples and Pratyekabuddhas T he Path
M argakarajnata

Sraddha-bhumi adikarmikabhumi
A. SAMBHARAMARGA
dharm a-abhisam aya bodhicittotpada

THE
/. Suklavidarianabhumi 5 m oksabhagiya: •

COMMENTARIAL
1. sraddha
2. virya
3. smrti
4. samadhi
5. prajna

artha-abhisam aya

L IT E R A T U R E
B. PRAYOGAM ARGA adhim ukticaryabhum i
dharm asm rtyupasthana

II. Gotrabhumi 4 nirvedhabhagiya:

1. ujm agata
2. m urdhan
3. k$anti
4. laukikagradharm a

anantaryasam adhi
lokottarasatyadarsana
C. DARSANAMARGA
safya-abhisamaya dhatu

III. Astamakabhumi
srotapattiphala- kama 1. duhkhe dharm ajnanak§antili
pratipannaka. kam a 2. dulikhe dharm ajnanam
1st m arga rupa 3. duhkhe ’nvayajnanak§antii.
arupa 4. dulikhe ’nvayajnanam

THE
kam a 5. sam udaye dharm ajnanaksantili
kam a 6. sam udaye dharm ajnanam

COMMENTARIAL
rupa 7. samudaye ’nvayajnanak^antili
arupa 8. sam udaye ’nvayajnanam
kam a 9. nirodhe dharm ajnanakjantih
kama 10. nirodhe dharm ajnanam
rupa 11. nirodhe ’nvayajnanaksantih.

L IT E R A T U R E
arupa 12. nirodhe ’nvayajnanam
kam a 13. m arge dharm ajnanaksantili
kam a 14. m arge dharm ajnanam
rupa 15. m arge ’nvayajnanaksantih param ita bhumi
IV. DarSanabhumi arupa 16. m arge ’nvayajnanam
1st phala dana 1. pram udita
 anasrava D. BHAVANAMARGA

kleSa dhatu klesa marga param ita bhumi

1. aa kama aa uu £ila 2. vimala

2. am
3. au

THE
4. ma
5. mm

COMMENTARIAL
V: Tanubhumi 6. mu
2nd phala 7. ua
8. um
VI: Vitaragabhumi 9. uu
3rd phala

L IT E R A T U R E
10.-18. 1st rupa am um ksanti 3. prabhakari
19.-27. 2nd rupa au ua virya 4. arcismati
28.-36. 3rd rupa ma mu dhyana 5. sudurjaya
37.-45. 4th rupa mm mm prajna 6. abhimukhi
46.-54. 1st arupa mu ma upayakauSalya 7. duram gam a
55.-63. 2nd arupa ua au p ranidhana 8. acala
64.-72. 3rd arupa um am bala 9. sadhumati
73.-80. 4th arupa uu aa jn ana 10. dharm am egha
81.uu bhavagra vajropam asam adhi

ekaksanabhisamaya
 THE
T H E F R U IT

COMMENTARIAL
vim uktimarga; visesamarga dharm akayabhisam aya
e . a Sa i k s a m Ar g a
Sarvajnata Sarvakarajnata

ARHAT PRATYEKABUDDHA BUDDHA

L IT E R A T U R E
VII: krtavibhumi 1. svabhavikakaya Buddhabhumi
4th phala 2. dharm akaya
ksayajnana 3. sambhogakaya
anutpadajnana 4. nirm anakaya
112 THE COMMENTARIAL LITERATURE

4 . BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SUB-COMMENTARIES TO ABHISAMAYALANKARA.

(A. I n co n n e ctio n w ith P :)

A A -C y 1: A ry a -V im u k tise n a. Pancavimsatisdhasrikd-prajndpdramitopadefa-
Sastra-abhisamaydlankdra-DTtti.
S: M a n u sc rip t o f A .D . 1100 fro m N ep al. (In R om e),
s: ed. C. P ensa, S O R , I, 1967.
T i: m d o -’grel I , 15b—249a. ni-khri snan-ba. - T o 3787, rgyan-
g y i ’grel-pa. trsl. G o -m i ’chi m ed, (A m arag o m in ), lotsava
B lo -ld an ses-rab (ca. A .D . 1100).

T h is is a co m m e n ta ry to b o th P a n d A A , side b y side, a n d
it is chiefly co n c ern e d w ith show ing, p o in t b y p o in t, the
c o rresp o n d en ce w h ich exists b etw e en th e division and
verses o f A A (q u o ted as ity aha) a n d th e tex t o f no. 2 A (q u o ted
as y a d aha). T h e verses o f A A a re u su ally ex p lain e d (prefaced
b y ya d uktam ), a n d so a re difficult w ords o cc u rrin g in th e
q u o ta tio n s fro m no . 2A , such as krtajhata, akutastha, etc.
cf. D . S. R u eg g , “ A ry a a n d B h a d a n ta V im u k tisen a o n the
g o tra -th e o ry o f th e P ra jn a p a ra m ita ” , Beitraege zur Geis-
tesgeschichte Indians, 1968 (F ra u w a lln e r F estsch rift = W Z K SO
1 2 -1 3 ), p p . 3 0 3-3 1 7. - C . P ensa, “ N o te d i lessicografia b u d -
d h ista ” , Rivista degli Studi Orientali xxxix, 1964, p p . 6 1 -6 7.
A cco rd in g to th e co lo p h o n th e a u th o r b elo n g ed to th e K a u ru -
k u lla b ra n c h o f th e A ry a-S am m itly as.

Cy 2: B h a d a n ta V im u k tisen a, -abhisamayalankdrakarikd-varttika.
T i: m d o ’grel I I , l-2 0 7 a . - T o 3788. tshig-le’ur byas-pa’i
rnam-par ’grel-pa. A u th o r: R nam grol sd e; transl.
S a n tib h a d ra , ’b ro S ak y a ’od.
C y 3: R a tn a k a ra sa n ti, Suddhamati.
T i: m d o ’grel I X , 8 7 -2 4 0 . - T o 3801. tshig-le’ur byas-pa’i
5grel-pa dag-ldan. trsl. S rlsu b h u tisa n ti, S akya blo-gros,
D g e -b a ’i blo-gros.
(B. I n co n n ectio n w ith § :)
= no. 1, cy 1.
(C . I n co n n ectio n w ith no. 1-3 , a n d no. 1, 2, 5:)
 THE COMMENTARIAL LITERATURE 113

= 110 . 1 cy 4.
AA-Cy 4: Bu-ston, Rgyas ’brin bsdus gsum-gyi skabs brgyad don bdun-cu’i
mtshams ’byed-par byed-pa’i Ser-phyin-gyi Ide-mig ces bya-ba.
-T o 5176, vol. 19, pp. 1-22.
(D. In connection with A:)
= no. 5, cy 1. cy 2. cy 3.
(E. In connection with Rgs:)
= no. 5A, cy 1, cy 2, cy 3.
(F. W ithout concordance with Sutras:)
AA-Cy 5: H aribhadra, Sphutartha.
S: M anuscript from Nepal. (In Rome).
T i: mdo ’grel V II 93-161. Don-gsal ’grel-pa (’grel chun).
-T o 3793. vrtti. ’grel-pa. trsl. V idyakaraprabha, Dpal-
brtsegs (R). -Also: To 6794. Romanized text in
H. Amano (see p. 28) facing the Sanskrit of AAA.
Cy 5—1: Prajftakaramati, Abhisamayalankara-vrtti-pindartha.
T i: mdo ’grel V II 289-315. -T o 3795. ’grel-pa’i bsdus
don. trsl. Sumatikirti, Blo-ldan Ses-rab.
This is a sum m ary of AA-Cy 5.
Cy 5-2: D harm am itra, -tika Prasphutapada nama
T i: mdo ’grel V III 1-128. -T o 3796. tshig-le’ur byas-pa’i
’grel-bSad tshig rab-tu gsal-ba shes bya-ba. trsl. Abhyuktaka
Ttarasrim itra, Chos-kyi ses-rab.
Cy 5-3: Phya-pa chos-kyi sen-ge: -
Cy 5—4: Bu-ston rin-chen grub.
T i: Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa’i man-nag-gi bstan-bcos mnon-
par rtogs-pa’i rgyan shes bya-ba’i ’grel-ba’i rgya-cher biad-pa,
Lun-gi sne-ma shes bya-ba ( = Bu-ston’s Phar-phyin).
A.D. 1319. -T o 5173. vol. 18, 1-363. -Refers to AA-Cy
3, no. 5A Cy 2, AA-Cy 9, no. 5-C y 3, To 3790, no. 5-Cy
I, no. 5A Cy 1, AA-Cy 6, AA-Cy 5-1, AA-Cy 5-2,
AA-Cy 7.
Cy 5 -4 -1 : T i: Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa grub-pa’i rab-tu byed-pa,
Lta-ba nan-sel shes bya-ba.
114 THE COMMENTARIAL LITERATURE

Appendix to Cy b-A, defending the AA against adverse

criticism. To 5174, vol. 19, Dza 1-31.
Cy 5-4-2: T i : L un-gi sne-ma’i skabs skabs-su mkho-ba’i zur-’debs, M thon-
lam stoh-thun.
Explanatory notes on important words and sentences
in Cy 5-4. To 5175, vol. 19, Dza 1-14.
Cy 5-5: Re mda’-pa gshon-nu blo-gros.
T i: (tlka).
Cy 5-6: Dar-ma rin-chen, rgyal-tshab.
T i : Rnam -biad snin-po’i rgyan. S es-ra b -kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa’i
man-nag-gi bstan-bcos mnon-par rtogs-pa’i rgyan-gyi ’grel-ba
don gsal-ba’i mam-bsad, Snin-po’i rgyan. To 5433, Kha
1-346: - LSOAS 82796. Based on cy 15.
Cy 5 -6 -1 ^ Mkhon-ston Dpal-’byor lhun-grub.
Ti: Bstan-bcos mnon-par rtogs-pa’i rgyan-gyi ’grel-tik,
Rnam biad snin-po’i rgyan-gyi tshig-don rab-gsal shes bya-ba-
las:
a) skabs dan-po’i rnam-par brad-pa. Ka 1-125;
b) gnis-pa’i Kha 1-36; c) gsum-pa’i Ga 1-17;
d) bshi-pa’i N a 1-48; e) brgyad-pa’i Ca 1-31.
To 6816.
Cy 5-7: Mkhas-grub bstan-pa dar-ba.
Ti: Bstan-bcos mnon-par rtogs-pa’i rgyan ’grel-pa dan bcas-pa’i
mtha’-dpyod, Legs-par bsad-pa padma dkar-po’i ’phren-ba-las
skabs dan-po. To 6819, 77ff. Critical study and refuta­
tion of different interpretations of ch. 1 of Cy. 5.
Cy 5-8: Mkhas-grub Dge-legs dpal bzan-po.
T i : Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa’i man-nag-gi bstan-bcos mnon-
par rtogs-pa’i rgyan-gyi ’grel-pa don-gsal-ba’i rnam-bSad,
Rtogs-dka’i snan-ba shes bya-ba. T o 5461, Ka 1-223.
Cy 6: DharmaklrtisrI, Dur(ava)bodha-aloka-nama tika.
Ti: mdo-’grel V II 161-289. -To 3794. ’grel-pa rtogs-par
dka’-ba’i snan-ba shes bya-ba’i ’grel-bsad. trsl. Dipamkara-
srljnana, Rin-chen bzan-po.
 THE COMMENTARIAL LITERATURE 115

G y 7: K u m a ra srib h a d ra , Prajnapararnitapindartha.
T i: m d o -’grel V I I I 128-133. T o 3797. don bsdus-pa. trsl.
K u m a ra srib h a d ra , B kra-sis rg y al-m tsh an .
C y 8: (A tlsa? R a tn a k a ra s a n ti? ), Prajndparamitdpindarthapradipa.
T i: m d o -’grel X 2 5 3 a-2 6 4 a . - T o 3804, a ttr . to M a r-m e
m d z a d ye-ses. trsl. M a r-m e m d z a d ye-ses, T sh u l-k h rim s
rg y al-b a.
T h e “ B lue A n n als” (p. 258) m e n tio n a n “ extensive exposi­
tio n ” o f A A w h ich A tlsa gave, a n d w hich “ w as w ritte n dow n
b y P h y a -d a r sto n -p a, a n d b ec am e k n o w n as th e “ P ra jn a ­
p a ra m ita acco rd in g to th e m e th o d o f K h a m s” (Phar-phyin
Khams-lugs-ma).
C y 9: B ud d h asrij n a n a , Prajna-pradipa-avali.
T i: m d o -’grel I X 1-87. - T o 3800. ’grel-pa ies-rab sgron-
ma’i phren-ba, trsl. B u d d h a srijn a n a, G ru b s Byam s-
p a ’i dp al.
C y 10: R a tn a k irti, Kirtikala.
T i: m d o -’grel I X 2 2 3-3 1 0 . - T o 3799, ’grel-pa grags-pa’i
cha, trsl. R a tn a k irti, C h in s y o n -ta n ’b a r.
C y 11: A b h a y a k a ra g u p ta , Munimatalankara.
T i: m d o -’grel X X IX 71 -398. -T o 3903 (In d e p e n d e n t
w ork, b u t last th re e ch a p te rs o n AA).
C y 12: R n o g b lo -ld a n se s-ra b :-
C y 13: G tsa n -n a g -p a b rtso n -’gru s sen-g e: - (C o n co rd an ce betw een
th e 70 topics o f AA a n d th e P ra jn a p a ra m ita S u tra ).
C y 14: D o l-p o -p a ses-rab rg y al-m tsh an :-
C y 15: T so n -k h a -p a : Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa’i man-nag-gi bstan-
bcos mnon-par rtogs-pa’i rgyan ’grel-pa dan bcas-pa’i rgya-cher
bSad-pa, Legs-biad gser-gyi phren-ba shes bya-ba. - T o 5412 T sa
1 -4 0 5 ,ch. 1-3, T s h a 1-367, ch. 4 -8 . - C y to A A a n d A A -cy
5.
Cy 15a: Shugs-pa dan gnas-pa’i skyes-bu chen-po rnams-kyi rnam-par
bshag-pa, Bio gsal bgrod-pa’i them-skas shes bya-ba. T o 5413.
T sh a 1-42. - C y to A A I 2, 3c.
116 TH E COMMENTARIAL LITERATURE

C y 1 5 a -l T i : D ge-’dun hi-su bsdus-pa, Bshugs gnas skyes-bu chen-po’i

dka’-gnad. T o 5420, T sh a 1-7.
An e x p la n a tio n a n d a b rid g m e n t o f C y -1 5 a , b y o n e of
T s o n -k h a -p a ’s disciples.
C y J5 b : Bsam gzugs zin-bris. T o 5417, T sh a 1-1 0. - A n o te o n dhyarn
a n d arupyasamapatti in A A .
C y 15b—1: C hos-kyi rg y al-m tsh an , rje-b tsu n .
T i: Bsam -gzugs-kyi mtha’-gcod. T o 6823. 36 ff.
C y 16: D a r-m a rin -c h e n , rg y al-tsh a b .
T i: M non-par rtogs-pa’i rim-pa hams-su len-tshul, Theg mchog
sgo ’byed ces bya-ba. T o 5439, C a 1-61.
E x p la n a tio n o f th e im p o rta n c e o f m a in sections in
th e A A a n d C y -5 .
C y 16a: T i: M non-par rtogs-pa brgyad-don bdun-cu dan bcas-pa’i ’grel-pa
nams-su len-tshul mdo-tsam dan bcas-pa. T o 5440 C a 1-25.
E x p la n a tio n o f 8 subjects a n d 70 topics.
C y 16b: M non-par rtogs-pa’i rgyan-gyi bsdus-don, Rin-po-che’i phren-ba.
T o 5441, C a 1-14.
S u m m a ry o f A A , cy 5 a n d cy 15.
C y 17a: Ye-ses rg y al-m tsh an .
T i: Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa’i man-nag-gi bstan-bcos mnon-
par rtogs-pa’i rgyan-gyi bsdus-don shib-tu bkod-pa, Ser-phyin
mdzod-brgya ’byed-pa’i Ide-mig. T o 5996. J a 1 -4 7. O u tlin e
e x p la n a tio n o f A A .
C y 17b: T i: Ser-phyin ston-phrag brgyad-pa dan mnon-rtogs rgyan sbyar-te
byan-chub lam -gyi rim-pa’i gnad-mams gsal-bar ston-pa’i
man-nag, Ser-phyin gsal-ba’i sgron-me. T o 5997, J a 1-80.
U p a d e sa elu c id a tin g th e m a in po in ts o f th e Lam-rim
chen-mo acco rd in g to th e view s o f A a n d A A .
Cy 18: M k h as g ru b D ge-legs d p a l b z a n -p o , a n d C hos d b a n grags-
p a ’i d p al.
T i : Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa’i man-nag-gi bstan-bcos mnon-
par rtogs-pa’i rgyan-gyi mthar-thug-pa’i Ita-ba thal- gyur-du
’grel tshul, Gnad-don gsal-ba’i zla-zer. T o 5460, K a 1-14.
 THE COMMENTARIAL LITERATURE 117

Show s th a t essential m e a n in g of AA sh o u ld b e in te rp re te d
in lig h t o f P ra sa n g ik a school.
C y 19: R o n -sto n sa-k y a’i rg y al-m tsh an . - (Cf. Blue Annals p. 340,
1080?). Sa-skya-pa’i mkhas-pa Ron-ston Ses bya kun-rig-gi mnon
rtogs rgyan ’grel dan, gYag ston-gyi 1grel-pa rgyas bsdus gnis,
got mas pas mdzad-pa’i sbas don zab-mo, yum don rab gsal, na
dpon kun-dga’ dp(b)al-gyi ’grel-pa yod. yan. ron-ston-gyi ston-
phrag brgya-ba’i ’grel-pa yod.
C y 20: D g e-’d u n g ru b -p a .
T i: Rgyal-po zla-ba bzan-po’i mam-’phrul Ta’i-si-tu chen-po
mam-rgyal grags-pa’i: dri-ba a n d dri-ba’i lan. T o 5 5 3 8-9 .3
and 24ff. R e c o rd o f T a ’i-si-tu ch en -p o R n am -rg y a)
g ra g s-p a ’s q u estions o n AA, a n d o f th e answ ers to them .
Cy 21: N a g -d b a n b lo -b zari ry al-m tsho .
T i: Bstan-bcos mnon-par rtogs-pa’i rgyan-gyi rtsa-grel-rnams
gsal-bar byed-pa blo-bzan dgons-rgyan gdon-lna’i dban-po’i
sgra-dbyans-las :
a) skabs d a n -p o ’i tsh ig -d o n m th a ’-d p y o d , P a 1 -1 3 8 ;
b) skabs g n is-p a ’i, P a 1 -4 9 ; c) g su m -p a’i, P a 1 -2 2 ;
d ) b sh i-p a ’i, P a 1 -6 3 ; e) ln a -p a d a n d ru g -p a ’i, P 1 -3 6 ;
f) b d u n -p a d a n b rg y a d -p a ’i, P a 1-44.
S u b -cy to AA a n d cy 5. T ex tb o o k o f B d e-d b y an s College
in ’b ras-sp u n s tem p le. T o 5647.
C y 22: C hos-kyi rg y al-m tsh an , b lo -b za n .
T i : Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa’i man-nag-gi bstan-bcos mnon-
par rtogs-pa’i rgyan-gyi siiin-po’i snin-po gsal-bar legs-par
biad-pa’i rgya-mtsho-las skabs-dan-po’i mam-par bfad-pa.
T o 5942, N a 1 -41 . E x p la n a tio n o f essential p o in ts o f
ch. 1 o f AA.
Cy 23: C hos-kyi rg y a l-m tsh a n , rje-b tsu n .
T i: Bstan-bcos mnon-par rtogs-pa’i rgyan ’grel-pa dan bcas-pa’i
mam-bfad rnam-pa gnis-kyi dka’-ba’i gnad gsal-bar byed-pa,
Legs-bfad skal-bzan klu-dban-gi rol-mtsho shes bya-ba las:
a) skabs d a n -p o ’i sp y i-d on , K a 1 -1 1 6 ; b) skabs d a n -p o ’i
118 THE COMMENTARIAL LITERATURE

spyi-don-gyi smad-cha, K ha 1-185; c) skabs gnis-pa’i

spyi-don, Ga 1-85; d) gsum-pa’i, N a 1-34; e) bshi-pa’i,
Ca 1-147; f) lria-pa’i, Cha 1-36; g) sgom-lam rtse-
sbyor ’chad-pa skabs lna-pa’i spyi-don, Cha 1-27; h)
drug-pa’i, J a 1-5; i) bdun-pa’i, Na 1-7; j) brgyad-pa’i,
T a 1-68; k) brgyad-pa’i; Chos-sku 1-71.
To 6814. M ainly based on cy 15 and 5-5.
Cy 23a: a) Skabs dan-po’i m tha’-dpyod, Legs-bsad gser-gyi phren-ba
mkhas-pa’i mgul-rgyan. Rnam-mkhyen 1-164. b) Skabs
gnis-pa’i m tha’-dpyod, Dri-ma med-pa. Lam-ses 1-71. c)
Skabs gsum-pa’i m tha’-dpyod, Gshi-ses, 1-23. d) Skabs
bshi-pa’i m tha’-dpyod, Legs-bsad nor-bu’i ’phren-ba. Rnam -
rdzogs 1-63. e) Skabs lna-pa, drug-pa, bdun-pa rnams-kyi
m tha’-gcod. Rtse sbyor. M thar-gyi, Skad-cig-ma, 1-18.
f) Skabs brgyad-pa’i m tha’-gcod. Chos-sku 1-15.
T o 6815. A critical study and refutation of different inter­
pretations of the AA and Cy 5.
Cy 23b: T i: Bstan-bcos mnon-par rtogs-pa’i rgyan-gyi brjod-bya dnos
brgyad don bdun-cu nes-par ’byed-pa’i thabs dam-pa.
T o 6827 16 ff.
O n 8 subjects and 70 topics.
Cy 23c: T i: Dge-’dm ni-fu’i mtha’-gcod.
To 6824, 45 ff. O n AA 1 2, 3c.
Cy 24: ’jam -dbyans bsad-pa nag-dban brtson-’grus. - The 8 subjects
of AA. A m anual of the monastic schools. Part 1 is devoted to
the refutation of others, part 2 to the explanation of his
own standpoint, and part 3 to the refutation of objections.
Cy 25: M khas-grub bstan-pa dar-ba.
T i: Bstan-bcos mnon-par rtogs-pa’i rgyan rtsa-grel-gyi spyi-don
mam-bfad, Shin-po rgyan-gyi snan-ba shes bya-ba las:
a) skabs daii-po, 1-141. b) 4th chapter, 1-65.
To 6817, 6818.
Cy to AA and AA-cy 5.
Cy 26: Dbyaris-can dga’-ba’i blo-gros.
 THE COMMENTARIAL LITERATURE 119

Ti: Skabs Ina-pa’i gshun-don tshigs-su bcad-pa, Blo-gsal mgul-

rgyan.
To 6580. Ka 1-10.
Explanation of ch. 5 of A A .
Cy 27: Dharmabhadra.
Ti: M hon-rtogs rgyan-gyi bsdus-don, Ser-phyin Ide-mig.
To 6367. Na 1-12.
Cy to A A , on basis of cy-15.
Cy 28: Klon-rdol bla-ma nag-dban, blo-bzan.
T i : Phar-phyin-las byun-ba’i m in-gi rnam-grans.
T q 6539. Na 1-35.
On 8 subjects and 70 topics.
Cy 29: ’jam-dpal rgya-mtsho.
Ti- Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa’i mtha’-dpyod ’khrul sel
ganga’i chu rgyun mi pham shal lun.
Skabs 3, 4, 5, 8 in LSOAS 41606. 41525. 41633. 41524.
Also by authors unknown or unascertained.:
Cy 30: T i : Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa’i man-nag-gi bstan-bcos mnon-
par rtogs-pa’i rgyan-gyi ’grel-pa yum don gsal-ba.
LSOAS 82797.
Cy 31: Ti: Rgyal-dban ’phags-mchog dam-pa’i sku shabs-nas phar-
phyin-gyi gshun-gi dka’-gnas rnams-la bka’-’dri phebs-pa’i
lan gshun-don snin-por sgril-nas phul-ba.
To 6863. Ms. 22 ff.
Explanation of difficult passages in A A , written in answer
to an enquiry.
Cy 32: Ti: Bstan-bcos mnon-par rtogs-pa’i rgyan-gyi don gsal-bar byed-
pa’i lun dan rigs-pa’i gter-mdzod.
Detailed cy (mtha’-dpyod) on A A (8 chapters, skabs,
with separate titles and headings) LSOAS 82833.
Cy 33: T i : Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa’i mtha’-dpyod mkhas-pa’i mgul
rgyan nor-bu’i ’phren mdzes.
Detailed cy to A A : ch. 2 (ff. 32) and ch. 6 (ff. 5) in
LSOAS 41607, 41632. Cf. also LSOAS 41608 (dge-slon
120 TH E COMMENTARIAL LITERATURE

b lo -b z a n D am -ch o s, skabs gsum) a n d 82839 (b lo -b z an

B stan -p a’i n i-m a, Legs-par bsad-pa mkhas-pa’i mgul-
(b)rgyan).

B stan -p a’i n i-m a , b lo -b za n . 1689-1746.

T i: Phar-phyin skabs brgyad-kyi mtha’-dpyod legs-par bshad-pa mkhas-pa’i mgut
rgyan. ff. 506
G u n -th a n -p a D k o n -m ch o g b s ta n -p a ’i sgron-m e. 1762-1823.
T i: Phar-phyin skabs dan-po’i mtha’-dpyod mchan-’grel rtsom-’phro. ff. 128.

F o r a d d itio n s a n d co rrectio n s see: L okesh C h a n d ra , Materials, etc. I l l ,

1963, p p . 528-534.
e.g. A -k h u rin -p o -c h e’s Tho-yig.
rriog lo -tsa -b a b lo -ld a n ses-rab-kyi p h a r-p h y in tik a chen. d e ’i p h a r-p h y in .
 INDICES

1. ALPHABETICAL L IS T O F SA N SK R IT T IT L ES

This list covers only the texts, and a few of the commentaries. Among the texts it
omits those of which the Sanskrit titles are definitely lost, i.e. no. 15, 27 and 28 (about
dharanis), 33b (iconographical), 34 (liturgy), 39 and 40 (iconographical).

AdhyardhaSatika no. 17 P indartha no. 5 cy 5

A bhisam ayalankara no. 2A cy 1 Prajnaparam itastotra p. 94-95
A bhisam ayalankaraloka no. 5 cy. 1 M andalavidhi no. 36
A rdhasatika no. 9 M ahaprajnaparam itopadeSa no. 2 cy 1
A§tasataka no. 25 (M ahayanabuddhi-satparam itasutra)
Astasahasrika no. 5 no. 16
A$tadaSasahasrika no. 3 M ahahrdayastitra no. 33a
Ekaksara no. 32 R atnagunasam cayagatha no. 5A
(K arunikaraja) no. 13 V ajraketu no. 24
KauSika no. 19 Vajracchedika no. 8
C andragarbha no. 21 V ajrapani no. 23
Daiasahasrika no. 4 V ajram andala no. 38
D evaraja-Pravara-pariprccha no. 12a Satasahasrika no. 1
D haranis no. 29 Saptaiatika no. 7
Naya£atapanca£atika no. 17 Saptailokika no. 31
Navasloka no. 5 cy 6 Sam antabhadra no. 22
NagaSripariprccha no. 12 S adhana no. 35
(N itartha) no. 10 Sarddhadvisahasrika no. 6
Pancaparam itanirdesa no. 14 Suvikrantavikram ipariprccha no. 6
Pancavim satiprajnaparam itam ukha Suryagarbha no. 20
no. 26 Svalpak?ara no. 18
✓Pancavim satisahasrika no. 2 H rdaya no. 11
■'''Pancaiatika 7a H rdayadharanI no. 30

2. ALPHABETICAL L IS T O F IN D IA N C O M M EN TA TO RS

AtKa: see DipamkaraSrijnana.

A bhayakaragupta: 5-cy 3; AA-cy 11.— Died 1125. H e worked in VikramaSIla and
N alanda, and later on in T ibet, where he helped in about 100 translations.
A m oghavajra: 17-cy 3.—See page 22.
A sanga: 8-cy 1-ca 350. Systematized Yogacara thought.
Kam ala£ila: 7-cy 2; 8-cy 4; 11-cy 5.-A.D. 713-763. Pupil of Santarak?ita (A.D.
705-762), who had received the tradition of the Yogacara-M adhyamika-
Svatantrikas through Srigupta and Jn an ag arbh a (cf. T aranatha pp. 199 and
213).
K am b alam bara: 5-cy 6; 5-cy 6-1.-A Siddha, perhaps a teacher of Indrabhuti,
m entioned in the cy to the Dohakosa.
122 INDICES

K um araSribhadra: AA-cy 7.
J agaddalanivasin: 5-cy 4.
Jn an am itra: 11-cy 2; 17-cy 1.—ca. 1000. Teacher of Atisa?
Triratnadasa: 5-cy 5-1 .—A Pupil of V asubandhu, who learned Prajnaparam ita
from Dignaga.
D am strasena: 1-cy 2; 1-cy 4.—ca. 750. From Kashm ir. U nder Devapala.
Dignaga: 5-cy 5.—ca. 450. See pp. 97-101.
D ipam karasrijnana: 1-cy 6; 11-cy 6; AA-cy 8 (?).—Born 1079.
Dharm akirtiSri: AA-cy 6.—From Suvarnadvipa?
D harm am itra: AA-cy 5 -2.—M adhyamika.
D harm asrl: 1-cy 1; 5A-cy 3 .-1 1th century. From K ashm ir. Disciple of V ajra­
pani. Follower of the M aham udra tradition. Tson-kha-pa in AA-cy 15: 1-cy
1 not au thentic; 5A-cy 3 was composed either by a translator or a T ibetan author.
N agarjuna: 2-cy 1.—See pp. 93-94.
P rajnakaram ati: AA-cy 5-1.—ca. 1075.
Prasastrasena: 11-cy 4.
Buddhasrijnana: 5A-cy 2; AA-cy 9.—O r Buddhajnanapada? Pupil of H aribhadra,
voluminous author on Guhyasamaja.
M ahajana: 11-cy 7.—Teacher of Atisa.
(M aitreyanatha:) 2a-cy 1.—See pp. 101-102.
R atnakirti: AA-cy 10.—ca. 1050.
R atnakarasanti: 5-cy 2; AA-cy 3; AA-cy 8 (?).—ca. 1100. Teacher of AtlSa.
R ahulabhadra: p. 94—95.
V ajrapani: 11-cy 3.—Born 1017.
Vajrar§i: 8-cy 1-1-1.
V asubandhu: 7-cy 1; 11-cy 1.—ca. 350.
V im alam itra: 7-cy 1; 11-cy 1.—ca. 760.
Vimuktisena, A rya: AA-cy 1.—ca. 450. According to T aranatha (pp. 138-140) he
came from the South. H e understood the Prajnaparam ita Sutra an d the UpadeSa
from Acarya Sangharak?ita, a pupil of V asubandhu. According to others he
heard the Abhisamaya ( = A A ?) from Acarya D harm adasa, and the UpadeSa
(= A A ?) from Bhavya. Bu-ston (II 155) says th at he was a pupil of V asubandhu,
and excelled his teacher in the knowledge of the P rajnaparam ita which he taught
for 30 years. “ H e was the principal of m any great monasteries, belonged (at
first) to the sect of the K aurukullakas and was the nephew of the teacher Buddha-
dasa. H e attained the stage of pramudita, and heard the word of the Buddha
him self” .
Vimuktisena, B hadanta: AA-cy 2.—ca. 580. Some considered him as a pupil of
A rya-Vimuktisena (Bu-ston I I 156), Tson-kha-pa has, however, expressed
doubts on the authorship of this work.
S ridatta: 8-cy 3.
S m rtijnanakirti: 1-cy 3.
H aribhadra: 5-cy 1; 5A-cy 1 (?); AA-cy 5.—ca. 770. Learned the M adhyamika
from Santaraksita, the Prajnaparam ita and AA from V airocanabhadra. Bu-
ston (II 157-9) and T aran ath a (pp. 219-20) describe how he was instructed
by M aitreya to compose the AAA.

3. ALPHABETICAL L IS T O F TIBETA N CO M M EN TA TO RS
K lon-rdol bla-m a nag-dban blo-bzan: 1-cy 7; AA-cy 28.—Born 1729. T ucci TPS
pp. 149, 728.
Mkhas-grub Dge-legs dpal bzan-po: AA-cy 5-8, 18. -A .D . 1385-1438. Pupil of
 INDICES 123

Tson kha-pa. T h ird abbot of Dga’-ldan.

M khas-grub bstan-pa dar-ba: AA-cy 5-7, 25.
Mkhon-ston dpal-’byor lhun-grub: AA-cy 5-6-1.
Dge-’dun grub-pa: AA-cy 20.—A.D. 1391-1474. Pupil of Tson-kha-pa. First
D alai Lam a.
N ag-dban byam s-pa: 5-cy 7.
N ag-dban blo-bzan rgyal-mtsho: AA-cy 21.—A.D. 1617-1682. Fifth D alai Lam a.
Rnog blo-ldan Ses-rab: AA-cy 12.—A.D. 1059-1109. H e lived, acc. to D r. H aarh,
under Sad-na-legs an d R al-pa-can, and he should not be mistaken for the trans­
lator of the same nam e, who lived a t the tim e o f king rTse-lde, ca. 1050.
Chos-kyi rgyal-mtshan, rje-btsun: AA-cy 1 5 b -l, 23, 23a-c.
Chos-kyi rgyal-mtshan, blo-bzan: AA-cy 22.—A.D. 1569-1662. First Panchen
Lam a.
Chos d ban grags-pa’i d pal: AA-cy 18.
’Jam -d pal rgya-iptsho: AA-cy 29.— (8th D alai Lam a. A.D. 1759-1804) (cf. Tucci
TPS pp. 343, 409).
’J a m dbyans bSad-pa nag brtson-’grus: AA-cy 24.—A.D. 1648-1742.
D ar-m a rin-chen, rgyal-tshab: AA-cy 5-6, 16, 16a-b,—A.D. 1364-1432. Pupil of
Tson-kha-pa. A bbot of D ga’-ldan since A.D. 1419.
Dol-po-pa Ses-rab rgyal-m tshan: AA-cy 14.—A.D. 1292-1391 (Jo-nan-pa).
D harm abhadra (C hos-bzan): AA-cy 27.—T ibetan translator. See Tucci TPS p. 96.
Phya-pa chos-kyi sen-ge, A carya: AA-cy 5-3.—A.D. 1109-1169. Studied Prajfiapa-
ram ita under blo-gros ’byun-gnas of G ro-lun, the chief disciple of rNog blo-ldan
Ses-rab, an d then composed his extensive commentary.
Bu-ston rin-chen grub: AA-cy 4, AA-cy 5-4 , 5—4—1, 5 -4 -2 .—A.D. 1290-1364.
V airocana: 11-cy 16.— O f Pa-gor.
Dbyans-can dga’-ba’i blo-gros: 5-cy 1-1; AA-cy 26.—Disciple of Rva-sgren blo-bzan
ye-Ses bstan-pa rab-rgyas.
G tsan-nag-pa brtson-’grus sen-ge: AA-cy 13.—ca. 1160. Pupil of Phya-pa.
Tson-kha-pa: AA-cy 15, 15a-b.—A.D. 1357-1499. Learned Prajfiaparam ita from
R e-m da’-pa.
Ye-Ses rgyal-mtshan, blo-bzan: 8-cy 14, AA-cy 17a, b.—Teacher of Tson-kha-pa.
R e-m da’-pa gshon-nu blo-gros: AA-cy 5-5.—A.D. 1349-1412. Studied Prajiiapara-
m ita under the m ahapandita I'Ja-dpon K un-dga’ dpal.
Ron-ston Sa-kya’i rgyal-m tshan: AA-cy 19.—ca. 1420.

4. ALPHABETICAL L IS T O F C H IN ESE CO M M EN TA TO RS

Chi-tsang: T 1696, 1699, 1707; 2-cy 2, 8-cy 6, 13-cy 2.—A.D. 549-632. Founder of
San-lun.
Chih-i: T 1698: 8-cy 5.—A.D. 531-597. Chi-chg Ta-shih, founder and 4th patri­
arch of T ’ien-t’ai.
C hih-yen: T 1704; 8-cy 11.—A.D. 602-688. Hua-yen.
Fa-tsang: T 1712; 11-cy 10.—ca. 695. Hua-yen.
H an-shan: 8-cy 13.11-cy 13.—A C h’an master. A.D. 1546-1623.
I-ching: T 1817; 8-cy 1-1-3.—ca. 700.
Ju -ch ’i: T 1703, 1714; 8-cy 10, 11-cy 11.—ca. 1380.
K ’uei-chi: T 1695, 1700, 1710; 8-cy 1-1-2, 8-cy 7, 11-cy 8, 17-cy 2.—A.D. 632­
682. Fa-hsiang, disciple of Hsiian-tsang.
K uan-ting: T 1705; 13-cy 1.—A.D. 561-632. 5th patriarch of T ’ien-t’ai. This cy
contains the oral explanation o f his teacher Chi-chfi Ta-shih (i.e., Chih-i). It
12 4 INDICES

consists of five chapters: T he 3rd and 4th explain the 2nd and 3rd ch. of the Sutra,
and the 5th explains ch. 3-8.
Liang-pi: T 1709; 13-cy 4.—A.D. 717-777. Mi-tsung. Disciple of Amoghavajra.
Lii-tsu: 8-cy 12.
Shan-yueh: T 1706; 13-cy 1-1.—A.D. 1230. T ’ien-t’ai.
Shih-hui: T 1713; 11-cy 10-1.—N : died 946; T : trav. 1165.—Hua-yen.
Tsung-lei: T 1703, 1714; 8-cy 10, 11-cy 11.—ca. 1380.
Tsung-mi: T 1701: 8-cy 8.—Died 841. Hua-yen.
Tzii-hsUan: T 1702; 8-cy 9.—Died 1030. Hua-yen.
Wu-ching-ts6: 11-cy 12.
Yuan-hsiao: T 1697; 2-cy 3.—Bom 617. Hua-yen.
Yiian-ts’6: T 1708, 1711; 11-cy 9, 13-cy 3.—A.D. 613-696. Korean.

5. ABBREVIATIONS

A Asfasdhasrika
AA Abhisamayalankara
AAA Abhisamayalankaraloka
Ad AstadaSasahasrika
Ad-N Ad, N arthang edition of T ibetan translation
AK Abhidharmakoia
AM Asia Major
AMG Arnales du Musie Guimet
AN Anguttara Nikaya
AO Acta Orientalia
Asl. Atthasalini
B Bagchi
Bagchi P. Ch. Bagchi, Le Canon Bouddhique en Chine, I (1926), I I (1938)
Beckh H . Beckh, Verzeichms der tibetischen Handschrijten, etc., Berlin, 1914
Ch Chinese
ch Chinese in part
Cy Com mentary
Da DaSasdhasrika
E English
e English in part
EB The Eastern Buddhist
EZB Essays in Zen Buddhism (Suzuki)
F French
f French in part
FBS Further Buddhist Studies (E. Conze), 1975
ff folios
Forke A. Forke, Katalog des Pekinger Tripitaka der kgl. Bibliothek zu Berlin (1916)
G Germ an
g Germ an in part
GOS Gaekwad’s O riental Series
H H aribhadra
Hs Hsiian-tsang
nj Indo-Iranian Journal
HR Indo-Iranian Reprints
IO SC Ind ia Office Stein Collection
J Japanese
 INDICES 125

JA s Journal Asiatique
Lalou M . Lalou, Inventaire des manuscrits tibitains de Touen-houang conserves a la
Bibliothique Nationale, Fonds Pelliot Tibetain, I (1939), I I (1950), I II
(1962)
Ligeti L. Ligeti, Catalogue du Kanjur mongol imprime, I (1942)
LSOAS London School of O riental and African Studies
M M asuda
M BT Minor Budddist Texts (Tucci)
MCB Milanges Chinois et Bouddhiques
m do-’grel P. Cordier, Catalogue du fonds tibetain de la Bibliothique Nationale, I I (1909),
I I I (1915)
mdo-mari M . Lalou, Catalogue du Fonds TibUain de la Bibliothique Nationale, IV 1.
Les M do-M an (1931)
M hvy Mahavyutpatti
Mo Mongol
Mpp-5 Mahapraj&aparamitopadeSa
M SS P. L. V aidya Mahayanasutrasamgraha I, 1961
M ZB Manual o f Zen Buddhism (Suzuki)
N N an jio = B . N anjio, Catalogue o f the Chinese translation o f the Buddhist Tripitaka
(1883)
N inno no. 13
O O tani Catalogue of K anjur, by Sakurabe (1930-32)
OA Oriental Art
OLZ Orientalistische Literaturzeitung
P PaftcavimSatisdhasrika (Quoted by the pages of D u tt’s edition, or the folios
of Cam bridge Add. 1628).
Pa Pancaiatika
P-D h T 222
P -K u T 223
P-M o T 221
Rgs Ratnagunasamcayagatha
§ Satasahasrika
S Sanskrit
s Sanskrit in p art
Sa SaptaSatika
SBE Sacred Books o f the East
SN Samyukta Nikdya
SOR Serie Orientate Roma
SPT The Short Prajnaparamita Texts (E. Conze), 1974
SS Selected Sayings (Conze), 1955
Su Suvikrdntavikrdmiparipfccha
T Taisho Issaikyd
Ti T ibetan
ti T ibetan in part
To Tohoku Catalogue of K anjur and T an ju r, ed. H . U i, etc. (1934.)—Extra-
canonical works by Y. K anakura, etc. (1953).
T PS Tibetan Painted Scrolls (Tucci), 1949
TYBS E. Conze, Thirty Years o f Buddhist Studies, 1967
V Vajracchedika
W ZK M Wiener Zeitschrift filer die Kunde des Morgenlandes
W ZK SO Wiener Zeitschrift fu r die Kunde Sud- (und Ost-)Asiens
126 INDICES

Z E. Zurcher, The Buddhist Conquest of China, 1959

ZII Zeitschrift fu r Indologie und Iranistik
 LIST OF EDWARD CONZE’S PUBLICATIONS
ON THE PRAJNAPARAMITA LITERATURE

Editor’s note: -A t the last moment I decided to have a list o f Professor Edward Conze’s
publications on the PrajHdpdramita literature appended to this book. In consequence I was
limited in time and unable to consult a number o f works quoted herein, particularly reviews
o f Conze’s books. I have however thought it better to include them rather than omit them
or delay the publication. The fu ll responsibility fo r any blame in regard to this List rests
upon me. Prior to publication many translations and a few texts were distributed in type­
script. Examples can be seen in the Libraries o f the London School o f Oriental and African
Studies, o f the India Office, and o f the Buddhist Society in London. A . Yuyama

ABBREVIATIONS

I. Texts used:
AdP =Astada6asahasrika Prajnaparam ita: Palm leaf MS. Stein Ch 0079a
(cf. No. 23), ed. E. Conze (Rome 1962-1974), and T ibetan K anjur.
-P P L 3.
Adh£ = A dhyardhaiatika P rajnaparam ita: ed. S. Toganoo (Koyasan 1930).
-P P L 17.
ArS = A rdhaiatika Prajftaparam ita: ed. N arthang, Ser-phyin sna-tshogs
K A 252a7-255b4.-PPL 9.
AS = Asta^ataka: ed. N arthang, Ser-phyin sna-tshogs KA 250a-252a.
-P P L 25.
AsP = Asfasahasrika Prajftaparam ita: ed. R . M itra (Calcutta 1888).-PPL
5.
CG = C an d rag arb h a: ed. N arthang, Ser-phyin sna-tshogs KA266a3-
267b4.-PPL 21.
DsP = Dasasahasrika Prajfiaparam ita: edd. Tohoku 11, Peking 733.-PPL
4.
Eka = Ekaksara: ed. N arthang, Ser-phyin sna-tshogs KA 255b-256a.
-P P L 32.
H rd = P rajnaparam itahrdayasutra: ed. F. M ax M uller and B. Nanjio
(Oxford 1884: Larger and Smaller), and ed. E. Conze, JR A S
1948 (Larger and Smaller) .-P P L 11.
JW H K C = Jen-w ang-hu-kuo-ching: summarized after M . W. de Visser, An­
cient Buddhism in Jap an , I (1928), pp. 116-189.-P P L 13.
Kaus = K ausika: Stein MS. 0044; ed. E. Conze (Santiniketan 1956). -
128 LIST OF EDWARD CONZE’S PUBLICATIONS

PPL 19.
N§ =N aga£ri: extracted after P. Demieville, H6b6girin, II (Toky5 1930),
pp. 164-166.-PPL 12.
Pane = Pancavimsatisahasrika Prajnaparam ita: ed. N. D utt (London 1934)
and Cambridge M SS.-PPL 2.
PM =Pancavim satim ukha: ed. N arthang, Ser-phyin sna-tshogs KA 261
al-262bl. -P P L 26.
PS = P ancasataka: ed. N arthang, Ser-phyin sna-tshogs KA 169b7-196b5.
-P P L 7a.
Rgs = Prajftaparam itaratnaguijasam cayagatha: ed. E. Oberm iller (Len­
ingrad 1937, repr. 1960) .-P P L 5A.
Sapt =S aptasatika Prajnaparam ita: edd. J . M asuda (Tokyo 1930), G.
Tucci (Rome 1923) .-P P L 7.
SBh = S am antabhadra: ed. N arthang, Ser-phyin sna-tshogs KA 267b4-
268bl.-PPL 22.
SG = S uryagarbha: ed. N arthang, Ser-phyin sna-tshogs KA 264a4—266a3.
-P P L 20.
SsP =Satasahasrika P rajnaparam ita: ed. P. Ghosha (Calcutta 1902-1913)
and Cam bridge M SS.-PPL 1.
Suv = Suvikrantavikram ipariprccha Prajflaparam ita: edd. T . M atsumoto
(Stuttgart 1930, Leiden 1935); cf. T . M atsumoto (Tokyo 1956),
R . H ikata (Fukuoka 1958). -P P L 6.
Svalp =Svalpaksara Prajnaparam ita: ed. E. Conze (Santiniketan 1956).
-P P L 18.
V ajr =V ajracchedika Prajflaparam ita: edd. F. M ax M uller (Oxford 1881),
E. Conze (Rome 1957, repr. 1974). -P P L 8.
VK = V ajrak etu : ed. N arthang, Ser-phyin sna-tshogs KA 269a5-270a5.
-P P L 24.
VP = V a jrap a n i: ed. N arthang, Ser-phyin sna-tshogs KA 268bl-269a5.
-P P L 23.

II. Periodicals:
AA = American Anthropologist (Beloit).
ABIA = A nnual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology (Leiden).
AM = A sia M ajor, new series (London).
AP = T h e Aryan Path (L'ondon).
AS =Asiatische Studien/Etudes asiatiques (Bern).
Bibl.bouddh. = Bibliographie bouddhique (Paris).
CAJ = Central Asiatic Journal (The Hague-W iesbaden).
EB =:The Eastern Buddhist, new series (Kyoto).
 LIST OF EDWARD CONZE’S PUBLICATIONS 129

EW = E a st and West (Rome).

HJAS = H a rv a rd Journal of Asiatic Studies (Cambridge, Mass.).
IIJ = Indo-Iranian Jou rn al (The Hague, later Dordrecht).
IT = Indologica Taurinensia (Torino).
JA = Journal Asiatique (Paris).
JA O S = Jo u rn a l of the American O riental Society (Baltimore-NewHaven).
JA S = Journal of Asian Studies (Ann Arbor).
JIP = Journal of Indian Philosophy (Dordrecht).
J O I = Journal of the O riental Institute (Baroda).
JR A S = Jo u rn al of the Royal Asiatic Society of G reat Britain and Ireland
(London).
LEW = Literature East and West (New York).
MB = T h e M ahabodhi (Calcutta).
M N = M onum enta Nipponica (Tokyo).
M W = T h e M iddle W ay (London).
OA = O riental A rt (Oxford).
O LZ =O rientalistische Literaturzeitung (Leipzig-Berlin).
PEW = Philosophy East and West (Honolulu).
R H R = Revue de l’Histoire des Religions (Paris).
RO =R ocznik Orjentalistyczny (Warsaw).
SGZN = Suzuki Gakujutsu Zaidan Kenkyu NenpS/Annual of O riental and
Religious Studies (T5kyo).
SIS = S ino-Indian Studies (Santiniketan).
TLS = Times Literary Supplement (London).
TP = T ’oung pao (Leiden).
U C R = T h e University of Ceylon Review (Peradeniya).
V D I =V estink drevnej istorii (Moscow).

I I I. Otherwise:
PPL = E . Conze, T he Prajnaparam ita Literature (’s-Gravenhage 1960,
2nd ed. Tokyo 1978).—Q uoted by the num bers of sections of
texts in the “A nnotated Bibliography” .

BOOKS

1. Abhisamayalankara. Introduction and translation from the original text

with Sanskrit-Tibetan index ( =Serie Orientale Roma, V I) (Rom a: Istituto
Italiano per il M edio ed Estremo Oriente, 1954), X I, 223 pp. -[P P L 2A]
Translation from U. Wogihara’s ed. (Tokyo 1932-1935); vocabulary (Sanskrit index
with Tibetan and English translations, pp. 107-178; Tibetan-Sanskrit index, pp.
130 LIST OF EDWARD CONZE’S PUBLICATIONS

179-233.
Reviews by J. W. de Jong, Le Muston, LX V III (1955), pp. 394-397; G. Roerich,
MB, LX III (1955), p. 301 f.
2. Buddhist Texts through the Ages. Newly translated from the original Pali,
Sanskrit, Chinese, T ibetan, Japanese and Apabhram sa. Edited by E. Con­
ze in collaboration with I. B. Horner, D. Snellgrove, A. Waley under
the auspices of the Royal India, Pakistan and Ceylon Society (Oxford:
Bruno Cassirer, 1954).
Conze’s translation in full or part from the Pahc, AsP, Vajr, Sapt, SsP, Santideva’s
Siksasamuccaya (ed. C. Bendall 1897-1902), Rahulabhadra’s Prajhdpdramitastotra (edd.
Mitra and Ghosha), and Larger Hrd. Also appeared in the Harper Torehbooks (1964).
Reviews by A. L. Basham, AP (Dec. 1954), p. 568 f.; A. A. G. Bennett, MB, LXII
(1954), p. 323-325; K. Ch’en, HJAS, X V III (1955), p. 245f.; C. H. Hamilton,
JAOS, LXXIV (1954), p. 168f.; D. G. Haring, AA, LVII (April 1955), p. 368;
C. Humphreys, M W , X XIX (1954), p. 38f.; M. Nagatomi, LEW ,I, 4 (1954), p.
69f.; J . Nobel, OLZ, L (1955), Sp. 547-549; V. Rienacker, Luzac's Or. List, LXV,
3 (1954), p. 33; E. S. Semeka, VDI, 1956, 2, pp. 128-134; E. J . Thomas, JRAS,
1955, p. 98; G. Tucci, EW , V (1954), p. 230; O. H. de A. Wijesekera, UCR,
X II, 3 (1954); A. H., The Spectator, 13 Aug. 1954.

2A. Im Zeichen Buddhas: Buddhistische Texte, herausgegeben und eingeleitet

von E. Conze unter M itarbeit von I. B. Horner, D. Snellgrove, A. Waley,
ubersetzt von M . W inder ( = Bucher des Wissens, 144) (Frankfurt a. M .-
H am burg: Fischer Bucherei, 1957).
Review by R. B., Einsicht, 1958, p. 157f.
3. Selected Sayings from the Perfection o f Wisdom, chosen, arranged and trans­
lated by E. Conze (London: The Buddhist Society, 1955, reprinted 1968,
1975), 131 pp., 1 frontisp.
Translated in full or part from the SsP, PaHc, AdP, DsP, AsP, Stw, Sapt, Vajr, Hrd
(Larger), AS, KauS, Eka.
Reviews by C. H. Hamilton, PEW, V II (1957), p. 63; M. Scaligero, EW, VI
(1956), p. 355f.; The Theosophical Movement, XXV, 4 (1956), pp. 77-79.

4. Vajracchedika, edited and translated with introduction and glossary (=

Serie Orientate Roma, X III) (Rom a: Istituto Italiano per il M edio ed Es-
tremo Oriente, 1957), 113 pp. (Second edition with four pages of correc­
tions and additions 1974, 118 pp.). -[P P L 8]
Reviews by J. W. de Jong, IIJ , IV (1960), p. 75 (with Conze’s corrections on p.
75f.); M. Scaligero, EW, V III (1957), p. 333f; A. Bareau, RHR, 1976, p. 191;
L. O. Gomez, JAOS, XCVI (1976), p. 454; N. Poppe, CAJ, XX (1976), p. 150f.

5. Buddhist Wisdom Books containing the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra,
translated and explained by E. Conze (London: George Allen & Unwin
Ltd., 1958, repr. 1966, 1970), 110 pp. (incl. a frontisp.). -[P P L 8 & 11]
The Vajr text based on C onze’s ed. (Rome 1957), and the smaller Hrd with Sans­
krit text; American paperback Harper Torchbooks (New York: Evanston/San
Franciso: Harper & Row, 1972), and English paperback edition with afewcorrec-
 LIST OF EDWARD CONZE’S PUBLICATIONS 131

tions and a cover adorned with 35 Buddhas of Confession (London: Allen &
Unwin, 1975); cf. Nos. 35 and 37, also 55.
Reviews by Kun Chang, JAOS, LXXXI (1961), pp. 163-165; H. Dumoulin, M N,
XIV (1959), p. 198f.; Hiranmoy Ghoshal, RO, X XV III (1964), pp. 144-148; I.
B. Homer, Luzac's Or. List, LXIX, 3 (1958), p. 42; J . W. de Jong, IIJ, IV (1960),
p. 76f.; Piyadasi Mahathera, Forum, XXX V III (1958), pp. 36-38; M. H. R.
(Robins), M W (Nov. 1958); G. Tucci, EW , IX (1958), p. 368; A. K. Warder,
AP, X XX (1959), p. 220f.; F. Weller, OLZ, LIV (1959), Sp. 621-626; E. White,
AP, 1976, p. 34 f.
5A. I libri buddhisti della sapienza. Sutra del Diam ante. Sutra del Cuore, trad.
p erG . M antici ( = Civiltadell’ Oriente) (Rom a: U baldini Editore, 1976), 100pp.
6. Aftasahasrikd Prajhapdramita, translated into English by E. Conze (The
Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Slokas) ( = Bibliotheca Indica,
W ork No. 284, Issue No. 1578) (C alcutta: T he Asiatic Society, 1958;
reprinted 1970), (v), v, 225 pp. -[P P L 5]
Translation from R. M itra’s ed. (Calcutta 1888); reappeared in No. 14 (Bolinas
1973, repr. 1975).
Reviews by Sangharakshita, M B, 1959, p. 286 f.; G. Tucci, EW , XI (1960). p. 295.
7. Buddhist Scriptures, selected and translated by E. Conze ( = The Penguin
Classics, L-88) (Harm ondsworth-Baltim ore-M itcham /Ringwood: Penguin
Books, 1959, reprinted 1960, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1975), 250 pp.
Translated in full or part from the Hrd, Vajr, Rahulabhadra’s Prajiiapdramitastotra,
also MahdprajRdpdramitdSdstra attributed to Nagarjuna.
Reviews by A. Bareau, RHR, CL V III (1960), p. 226; Hiranmoy Ghoshal, RO,
X X V III (1964), pp. 144-148; P. Horsch, AS, X III (1960), p. 154f.; S. Jivaka, AP,
1959, p. 149; M. Nagatomi, JAOS, LXXI (1960), p. 256; H. G. Porteus, The
Spectator, 4 Oct. 1959; A. Robertson, Daily Worker, 6 Aug. 1959; M. Scaligero,
EW , X (1959), p. 302f.; D. Snellgrove, JRAS, 1959, p. 186; F. Weller, OLZ, LV
(1960), Sp. 415-417; TLS, 29 April 1960, p. 276
7A. Scritture buddhiste, trad, per G. M antici (= Civilta dell’ Oriente) (Roma:
U baldini Editore, 1973), 223 pp.
8. The Prajnaparamita Literature ( = Indo-Iranian Monographs, V I) (’s-Graven-
hage: M outon & Co., 1960), 123 pp.
The present book is a revised and enlarged edition; a xeroxcopy of a revised ver­
sion with corrections and additions up to August 1975 has been distributed to those
scholars interested in it; an important supplement to this book is No. 43.
Reviews by A. Bareau, JA , CCLXIX (1961), p. 93f.; E. Frauwallner, WZKSO, V
(1961), p. 170f.; F.-R. Hamm, OLZ, LV III (1963), Sp. 187-189; G. Tucci, EW,
X III (1962), p. 64.
9a. The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom with the Divisions o f the Abhisamayal-
ankara, translated by E. Conze, P art I (London: Luzac & Co., for O ri­
ental Studies Foundation Inc., 1961), li, 203 pp. -[P P L 2A]
“The translation normally follows the version in 25,000 Lines (Pafcammiati-sahasrika-
prajflaparamita, ed. N. Dutt, 1934). In some passages I have, however, translated
the version in 100,000 Lines (SatasdhasrikdprajMpdramitd, ed. P. Ghosha, 1902-1913;
and Ms Cambridge Add 1630), and the readings of the version in 18,000 Lines
132 LIST OF EDWARD CONZE’S PUBLICATIONS

(AftadaJasahasrikd-prajMparamitd) and of various Chinese versions have occasionally

been substituted, as representing an older text ” (Conze, p. vii).
Reviews by A. A. G. Bennett, AP, 1962, p. 30 f.; E. Frauwallner, WZKSO, V
(1961), p. 170f. (esp. p. 171); L. Hurvitz, ZDMG, CXIX (1970), p. 403f.; U.
Schneider, IIJ, IX (1966), p. 160f.; D. Snellgrove, BSOAS, XXV (1962), p. 376f.;
F. Weller, OLZ, LX (1965), Sp. 593-596.
9b. The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom with the Divisions o f the Abhisamaya-
lankara, translated by E. Conze, Parts II and I I I (M adison: [Departm ent
of Indian Studies, University of Wisconsin], 1964), (ii), vii, 205-663 pp.
(reprinted with corrected pages 584-587, 642-650 in Seattle 1966).
Offeet printing from typescript.
9c. The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom with the Divisions o f the Abhisamayal-
ankara, translated by E. Conze. New edition in one volume (Berkeley-Los
Angeles: University of California Press, 1975), X V I I I ,-679 pp.
Reviews by A. S. H., M W , L (1975); K. F. Leidecker, Asian Student, 27 Feb. 1976;
A. Rawlinson, Religion, V II (1977), pp. 112-114; D. Seyfort Ruegg, J IP ,V (1977),
pp. 187-189; G. Schopen, IIJ , X IX (1977), pp. 135-152; F. J. Streng, Religious
Studies Review, II 1 (1976); D. B. Zilberman, JAS, XXXV (1975), pp. 159-161;
A. Wayman, PEW, XXVI (1976), pp. 483-485; Choice, July-Aug. 1975.
10a. The Gilgit Manuscript o f the Aftadasasdhasrikaprajnaparamita. Chapters 55
to 70 corresponding to the 5th Abhisamaya, edited and translated by E.
Conze, with a preface by G. Tucci ( —Literary and Historical Documents from
Pakistan, I) ( —Serie Orientale Roma, X X V I) (Rom a: Istituto Italiano per
il M edio ed Estremo Oriente, 1962), X X V , 399 pp. -[P P L 3]
Cf. also No. 23 below.
Reviews by A. Bareau, JAOS, LXXXIV (1964), p. 461f.; J . E. S. D., M W ,
1963, p. 177 f.; C. Pensa, EW , X III (1962), p. 226f.; L. Schmithausen, WZKSO,
V II (1963), p. 214.
10b. The Gilgit Manuscript o f the AftddaSasdhasrikaprajnapdramitd. Chapters
70 to 82 corresponding to the 6th, 7th and 8th Abhisamayas, edited and
translated by E. Conze (=Serie Orientale Roma, X LV I) (Rom a: Istituto
Italiano per il M edio ed Extremo O riente, 1974), X X III, 254 pp.
Review by A. Bareau, RHR, CLXXXVIII (1976), p. 190.
11. Materials fo r a Dictionary o f the Prajndparamita Literature (Tokyo: The
Suzuki Research Foundation, 1967, reprinted 1973), vii, 447 pp.
List of “ Publications on Prajnaparamita” by the author, pp. 445-447 (written
April 1966).
Reviews by A. Bareau, RHR, CLXXV (1969), p. 225f.; R. Hikata, SGZN, IV
1968), pp. 89-91 (in Japanese).
12. Thirty Years o f Buddhist Studies. Selected Essays by E. Conze (Oxford:
Bruno Cassirer, 1967 [1968]/University of South Carolina Press, 1968),
xii, 274 pp.
Includes Nos. 19, 21-22, 25, 33, 43 and 48; cf. No. 16 below.
Reviews by J . W. de Jong, IIJ , X III (1971), p. 143f.; A. Kunst, BSOAS, X X X III
 LIST OF EDWARD CONZE’S PUBLICATIONS 133

(1970), pp. 640-642; A. Wayman, JAOS, LXXXIX (1969), p. 192f.; F. Weller,

OLZ, LXVI (1971), Sp. 76-79.
13. The Short Prajnaparamita Texts, translated by E. Conze (London: Luzac
& Co./New Jersey: Rowman & Littlefield, 1973), (vi), viii, 217 pp.
Translated in full or part from the Suv, Sapl, P$, Vajr, Hrd, Svalp, SG, CG, SBh, VP,
VK, Ar$, KauS, N§, JWHKC, Adhi, AS, PM, Eka.
Review by G. Nagao, EB, n. s. IX (1976), pp. 139-142.
14. The Perfection o f Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines & its Verse Summary,
translated by E. Conze ( = Wheel Series, I) (Bolinas: Four Seasons Foun­
dation, 1973), xxii, 327 p p .; reprinted with 3 pages of corrections, 1975.
-[P P L 5 & 5A]
Translated from the AsP and Rgs (cf. Nos. 6 and 40, 47); includes “List of
Topics”, pp. 303-309; “Glossary”, compiled by William Powell, pp. 311-325.
Reviews by A. Bareau, RHR, CLXXXVIII (1975), p. 103f.; J. W. de Jong, IT,
II (1974), pp. 109-119; Nancy R. Lethcoe, PEW, XXIV (1974), p. 464f.
15. Further Buddhist Studies. Selected Essays by E. Conze (Oxford: Bruno
Cassirer, 1975), xiv, 238 pp.
Includes Nos. 20, 42, 59-61; “Bibliography” of Conze’s works, pp. 222-234.
Reviews by T. Ling, TLS, 29 July 1977, p. 941; Sangharakshita, FWBO Newsletter,
X X X III (1977), p. 15 f.; M. O. C. Walshe, M W , LI (1976), pp. 127-129.
16. Buddhist Studies 1934-1972 (San Francisco: W heelright Press, Zen
Center, 1977).
Nos. 12 and 15 reprinted in one volume as Parts I and II.

A R TIC LES

17. “ Prajfiaparam ita-hrdaya-sutra, translated from Sanskrit” , M W , X X ,

5 (1946), p. 105.-[PPL 11]
Reprinted in Nos. 2 (Text No. 146) and 3 (Text No. 54).
18. “ The H rdaya S utra; its scriptural background”, M W , X X , 6 (1946),
pp. 124-127; X X I, 1 (1946), pp. 9-11, 17.-[PPL 11]
19. “Text, Sources and Bibliography of the P rajnaparam itahrdaya” , JR A S,
1948, pp. 32-51. -[P P L 11]
Reprinted in No. 12 (pp. 148-167: “The Prajnaparamita-hrdaya-sutra”).
20. “ Remarks on a Pala M anuscript in the Bodleian Library” , OA, I, 1
(1948-1949), pp. 9-12. -[P P L 5]
AsP M S.; cf. H. J . Stooke, “An X I Century Illuminated Palm Leaf MS.”, OA, I, 1
(1948-1949), pp. 5-8, 3 figs., see also p. 190f.; cf. also ASIA, XVI Nos. 3809
and 3891.
21. “ P rajna and Sophia” , OA, I, 4 (1948-1949), p. 196f.
Review-article of Helmer Ringgren, Word and Wisdom (Lund 1947); reprinted in
No. 12 (pp. 207-209); cf. also No. 54.
22. “ The Iconography of the Prajnaparam ita” , OA, II, 2 (1949-1950),
134 LIST OF EDWARD CONZE’S PUBLICATIONS

pp. 47-52, 4 figs., 1 pi.; I l l , 3 (1950-1951), pp. 104-109, 6 figs.

Reprinted in No. 12 (pp. 243-268 without figs. and pi.); cf. ABIA, XVI No.
108.
23. “ Prelim inary Note on a Prajfiaparam ita M anuscript” , JR A S, 1950,
pp. 32-36.
Stein MS. of AdP: Ch 0079a folios 535, 553, 574, 599, 611, 613; incorporated in
his ed. of the Gilgit MS. of the AdP (No. 10); cf. A. Stein, Sermdia, III (1921),
p. 1449f.; used for translation in No. 3; cf. also M. T. de Mallmann, Bibl. bouddh.,
X X I-X X III No. 440.
24. “ Hym n to Perfect Wisdom” , M W , X X V , 1 (1951), p. 24f.
Rahulabhadra’s PrajfiapSramitastotra ; reprinted in Nos. 2 (Text No. 142), 2A (Text
No. 137), 7 (Text No. II. 3. 4).
25. “ The Composition of the Asjasahasrika Prajfiaparam ita” , BSOAS,
X IV , 2 (1952), pp. 251-262.- [PPL 5]
Reprinted in No. 12 (pp. 168-184).
26. “ T he W orthy Audience” , Stepping Stones, II, 10 (Kalimpong 1952), pp.
271-276.
Translations from the Suv I 4b-6a, II 19b-21a, 21b-24a; Vajr 15b; Sapt 27b; re­
printed in No. 3.
27. “T he L iterature on Perfect W isdom” , M W , X X V II, 1 (1952), pp.
20-23.
Reprinted in No. 3 (pp. 11-16); cf. Nos. 28-29 below.
28. “ T he Teachings of Prajfiaparam ita” , M W , X X V II, 3 (1952), p. 89f.,
105.
Reprinted in No. 3 (pp. 16-19); cf. Nos. 27 and 29.
29. “T he Doctrine of Emptiness” , M W , X X V II, 4 (1953), pp. 124-127.
Reprinted in No. 3 (pp. 19-24); cf. Nos. 27-28 above.
30. “T he Ontology of the Prajfiaparam ita” , PEW , I I I , 2 (1953), pp. 117­
129.
Incorporated in Conze, Buddhist Thought in India (1962).
31. “ M aitreya’s A bhisam ayalankara” , E W , V, 3 (1954), pp. 192-197. -
[PPL 2A]
Incorporated in No. 8.
32. “A Prajfiaparam ita R u p a” , M W , X X IX , 2 (1954), p. 49f., 1 pi.
A bronze statue from Nepal; reprinted in No. 3 (frontisp., p. 7f.).
33. “ H ate, Love and Perfect Wisdom” , M B, L X II (1954), pp. 3-8.
Reprinted in No. 12 (pp. 185-190).
34. “ T he Frontispiece to the ‘Diam ond Sutra’” , M W , X X X , 1 (1955), p.
If., 1 pi.
The world’s earliest dated printed book (868 A.D.) in the Stein Collection at the
British Museum (British Library) of London; reprinted in No. 5 (pp. 72-74:
Appendix I “The Frontispiece to the Tun Huang Print” ; 1 pi. (frontisp.); cf. L.
Giles, “Dated Chinese Manuscripts in the Stein Collection (IV)”, BSOS, IX, 4
(1939), p. 1030f.; P. Pelliot, Les dibuts de 1‘imprimerie en Chine (Paris 1953), p. 47f.;
 LIST OF EDWARD CONZE’S PUBLICATIONS 135

Oriental Mansucripts, published by the Trustees of the British Museum (1973), p.

40f., pi. IX.
35. “The H eart Sutra Explained, I - I V ” , M W , X X X (1955), pp. 104­
107, 119; X X X (1956), pp. 147-153; X X X I (1956), pp. 20-24, 76-81.
-[P P L 11] ~
Reprinted in No. 5 (pp. 75-107).
36. “T antric Prajnaparam ita Texts” , SIS, V , 2 (1956), pp. 100-122.
“Survey of the texts”, pp. 100-107; “ (Bibliography of) Tantric Prajflaparamita
texts”, pp. 107-112; “Three Late Prajnaparamita Texts”, pp. 112-122: Svalp (PPL
18), Kaui (PPL 19), and AS (PPL 25).
37. “ T he Diam ond Sutra Explained, I- I V ” , M W , X X X I, 3 (1956), pp.
109-114; 4 (1957), pp. 166-170; X X X II, 1 (1957), pp. 8-12; 2 (1957),
pp. 48-53. -[P P L 8]
Reprinted in No. 5. (pp. 15-71).
38. “ M arginal Notes to the Abhisam ayalankara” , SIS, V, 3-4 ( = Fest­
schrift Liebenthal) (1957), pp. 21-35. -[P P L 2A]
Incorporated in No. 8.
Review of the Festschrift by P. Demieville, TP, XLV (1957), pp. 249-268, esp. p.
254.
39. “ T he Yogacarin T reatm ent of the Prajflaparam ita Texts” , Proceedings
o f tie Twenty-Third International Congress o f Orientalists (Cambridge 21-28
August 1954), edited by D. Sinor (London: T he Royal Asiatic Society,
1957; reprinted by K raus R eprint, Nendeln, 1974), p. 130f.
Read on 25 August 1954.
40. “T he Oldest Prajnaparamita” , M W , X X X II, 4 (1958), pp. 136-141.
-[P P L 5A]
English translation of Chapters I—II of the Rgs; incorporated in Nos. 47 and later
14.
41. “T he R oad to Omniscience” , M W , X X X III (1958-1959), pp. 8-12,
57-59, 99-101, 130-135, 129.-[PPL 5]
Translation of the AsP, Chapters I—II ; reprinted in No. 6.
42. “ T he Buddha’s Bodies in the Prajflaparam ita” , Akten des vierundzwan-
zigsten Intemationalen Orientalisten-Kongresses (Miinchen 28. August bis 4. Sep­
tember 1957) (Deutsche M orgenlandische Gesellschaft in Kommission bei
Franz Steiner, W iesbaden, 1959), p. 530f.
Reprinted in No. 15 (pp. 113-115).
43. “ T he Development of Prajnaparam ita T hought” , Suzuki Daisetsu
Hakushi Shoju Kinen Ronbunshu: Bukkyo to Bunka j Buddhism and Culture dedi­
cated to Dr. Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki in Commemoration o f his Ninetieth Birthday,
edited by S. Yamaguchi (Kyoto: O tani University/Tokyo: Suzuki Re­
search Foundation, 1960), pp. 24-45.
An important work supplementary to No. 8; reprinted in No. 12 (pp. 123-147).
44. “T he Calcutta M anuscript of the Ratnagunasa7iicayagdthd” , IIJ , IV
 13 6 LIST OF EDWARD CONZE’S PUBLICATIONS

(I960), pp. 37-58. -[P P L 5A]

Cf. No. 45 below; also F. Edgerton, “The PrajM-Pdramitd-Ratna-Guna-Samcaya-
Gatha”, IIJ, V (1961), pp. 1-18; A. Yuyama, Rgs (Cambridge 1976). ’ ’
45. “ Corrections of Oberm iller’s T ext” and “ Sanskrit-Tibetan-English In ­
dex” to the reprint edition of E. Oberm iller, Prajfid-Pdramitd-Ratna-Guna-
Samcaya-Gathd (= Indo-Iranian Reprints, V) (’s-Gravenhage: M outon & Co.,
1960), pp. 127f and 129-157. -[P P L 5A]
The glossary has been incorporated in No. 11; cf. also No. 44 above, and No. 47
below.
Reviews of Obermiller’s reprint edition by R. O. Meisezahl, Oriens, X VII (Leiden
1964), pp. 289-301; J. Schubert, OLZ, LVII (1962), Sp. 524.
46. “ A bhisam ayalankara (1)” , Encyclopaedia o f Buddhism, edited by G. P.
M alalasekera, Fascicule (I): A-A c (Colombo: T he Governm ent of Ceylon,
1961), pp. 114b-116a.
47. “ Verses on the Accum ulation of Precious Qualities (Ratnagunasamcaya-
gathd)”, Indo-Asian Studies, P art I (=£atapi(aka Series, X X X I) (New Delhi:
International Academy of Indian Culture, 1962), pp. 126-178.-[PPL 5A]
Cf. Nos. 14 and 40.
48. “ T he Perfection of Wisdom in Seven H undred Lines” , Kalpa: Journal
o f the Cambridge University Budddist Society, I, 2 (1963), pp. 4-10; 3 (1963),
pp. 11-20. -[P P L 7]
First part only; reprinted in No. 12 (pp. 191-206), No. 13 (pp. 79-92).
49. “T he Adhyardha£atika Prajfiaparam ita” , translated by E. Conze, Stud­
ies o f Esoteric Budddism and Tantrism in Commemoration o f the 1,150th Anniversary
o f the Founding o f Koyasan fKoyasan Kaiso 1150-nen Kinen: Mikkyogaku Mikkyoshi
Ronbunshu (Koyasan: Koyasan University, 1965), pp. 101-115.-[P P L 17]
Reprinted in No. 13 (pp. 184—195).
50. “T he Buddha’s Laksaijas in the Prajfiaparam ita” , JO I, X IV (1965),
pp. 225-229.
A critically edited text on the Buddha’s 32 marks found in the Pahc (PPL 2A).
51. ‘“ M aitreya’s Questions’ in the Prajfiaparam ita” , by E. Conze and
Shotaro Iida, Milanges d’indianisme a la memoire de Louis Renou ( = 40e anni-
versaire de la fondation d^ I’Institut de Civilisation Indienne de I’Universite de Paris
1967) (= Publications de I’Institut de Civilisation Indienne, serie in-8, fascicule
26) (Paris: E. de Boccard, 1968), pp. 229-242.-[PPL 2A]
“Maitreya’s questions” found in the revised version of the PaAc (PPL 2A).
52. “ La doctrine de la vacuite d ’aprfcs la Prajnaparamita”, Hermes: Recher-
ches sur I’experience spirituelle, V I: Le Vide: Expirience spirituelle en Occident
et en Orient (Paris 1969), pp. 204-209.
A French translation of No. 29=No. 3 (pp. 19-24).
53. “ Pra^astrasena’s A rya-Prajfiaparam ita-H rdaya-Tika” , Budddist Studies
in Honour o f I. B. Homer (Dordrecht: D. Reidel Publishing Co., 1974),
 LIST OF EDWARD CONZE’S PUBLICATIONS 137

pp. 51-61.
’Phags-pa Ses-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa'i sfiin-po’i rgya-cher ’grel-pa (cf. Peking No. 5220
MA 319b8-330b6, Narthang MA 328b7-340a5), “giving the bulk of the direct com­
ments on the Short Text only” (Conze p. 51).
54. “ Buddhist Prajna and Greek Sophia” , Religion: Journal o f Religion and
Religions, V (Autum n 1975), pp. 160-167.
Cf. No. 21 above.
55. “ Some M ore Comments on the Diam ond Sutra” , Vajra, I I I (1976),
pp. 3-12.
This adds the explanation of chapters X III to X XIX omitted in No. 5 (pp. 52­
64).
56. “Notes on the T ext of the Aftasdhasrika”, JR A S, 1978, pp. 14—18.
This article rounds up what Conze has done on this text (PPL 5), and may well
relieve some doubts about the validity of his translation.

REVIEW S

57. “ Review of E. Lam otte, Le traite de la grande vertu de sagesse de Nagar-

juna, I, I I (Louvain 1944, 1949)” , OA, II, 4 (1950), p. 167 f.
58. “Review of G. Tucci, Minor Buddhist Texts, I (Rome 1956)” , A M ,
V I (1957), p. 122f.
This book includes “The TriSatikdyah PrajHapdramitdydfi Karikdsaptatih by Asanga”-
‘Introduction’, pp. 3-38; ‘Comparison of Taisho 1510a and Taisho 1510b’, pp. 39­
50; ‘Sanskrit text, Chinese, Tibetan and English translations’, pp. 51-128; ‘Analysis
of the Vajracchedika according to Vasubandhu (Taisho 1510) (compared with Kam-
alasila’s commentary)’, pp. 129-171; and “The Gilgit text of the Vajracchedika”, by
N. P. Chakravarti, pp. 173-192; Conze uses the Gilgit text in his ed. of the Vajr
(cf. No. 4 above).
59. “ Review of Tokumyo M atsumoto, Aryasuvikrantavikrdmipariprcchaprajha-
paramitanirdeiasardhadvisahasrikabhagavatyaryaprajha.paramita (Tokyo 1956) ” ,
IIJ , I I (1958), pp. 316-318.
60. “ Review of Ryusho H ikata, Suvikrdntavikrdmi-Pariprcchd-Prajndparamita-
Sutra (Fukuoka)” , IIJ , II I (1959), pp. 232-234.
61. “ Review of C. Pensa, L ’Abhisamaydlankdravrtti di Arya-Vimuktisena:
Prima Abhisamaya (Roma 1967)” , IIJ , X IV (1972), p. 123 f.
Reprinted in No. 15 (p. 220f.)

M ISCELLANEOU S

62. “A Personal T ribute” , EB , n. s. II (1967), p. 84f.

Conze’s short autobiographic note to the memorial number dedicated to D. T.
Suzuki.
138 LIST OF EDWARD CONZE’S PUBLICATIONS

PO ST SC R IPT

For the publications on other topics by Edward Conze (18 March 1904- )
see Further Buddhist Studies [No. 15 above], pp. 222-234.