Ekākṣarī prajñāpāramitā

Ekākṣarī prajñāpāramitā (T. shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin ma yi ge gcig ma zhes bya ba). In English, The Perfection of Wisdom in One Syllable.

The 84000 translation team states:

In The Perfection of Wisdom in One Syllable, the shortest of all the works of the Prajñāpāramitā literary corpus, the Buddha Śākyamuni teaches Ānanda and a large assembly of monks and bodhisattvas the entirety of the perfection of wisdom encapsulated in the single syllable a.

In the Tibetan tradition, this text is counted as one of the eleven “child” Prajñāpāramitā scriptures (sras bcu gcig), among the seventeen “mother and children” scriptures (yum sras bcu bdun).

There is no extant Sanskrit version of this text and it was not translated into Chinese until recently.

Comentaries

The 84000 translation team states:

Though there are no Indic commentaries on this work found in the Tengyur, it has been the subject of a number of Tibetan commentaries. These commentaries primarily offer practical instructions for combining the sūtra’s recitation with practices like formless meditation, visualization, and ablution, among other techniques.

Translations

• 84000 translation team (2025), The Perfection of Wisdom in One Syllable, 84000 Collection