Aṣṭasāhasrikā prajñāpāramitā

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Aṣṭasāhasrikā prajñāpāramitā. (T. Sher phyin brgyad stong pa; C. Xiaopin bore jing; J. Shōbon hannyakyō; K. Sop’um panya kyŏng 小品般若經). In Sanskrit, “Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines.”[1][2]

This text is considered by many scholars to be the earliest of the Prajnaparamita sutras.

In the Tibetan tradition, this text is known as one of the so-called 'six mother scriptures' of the Prajnaparamita.

Its popular verse summary is known as the Verse Summary of the Prajnaparamita.

Summary

Prajñāpāramitā personified. From an Indian manuscript of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra.

84000 translation group states:

This sūtra takes the form of a series of dialogues between the Buddha Śākyamuni, Subhūti, Śāriputra, and others such as Indra, the king of gods, and a Goddess of the Ganges, and as well as setting out the teachings on emptiness as such it describes the path and practices that a bodhisattva should take to integrate this understanding of phenomena and finally realize it. A special feature of this particular sūtra are the inspirational narratives of Sadāprarudita and his quest for the teachings on the Perfection of Wisdom from the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata, contained in the final three chapters.[2]

Translations

Chinese

Some of the earliest recensions were translated into Chinese during the Han Dynasty.[1]

Tibetan

In the Tibetan Canon, the text is numbered Toh 12, and consists of 32 chapters.

English

  • Edward Conze, Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Lines and its Verse Summary, (1958)
  • 84000, The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines - translation in progress [1]

Commentaries

Indian

Outline

See:

Quotations

སེམས་ལ་སེམས་མ་མཆིས་ཏེ། །
སེམས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་ནི་འོད་གསལ་བའོ། །

The mind is devoid of mind,
For the nature of mind is clear light.

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Robert E. Buswell Jr., Donald S. Lopez Jr., The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (Princeton: 2014), s.v. Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā
  2. 2.0 2.1 84000.png Perfection of Wisdom


Further reading