Diamond Sutra

The Chinese Diamond Sutra, the oldest known dated printed book in the world, printed in the 9th year of Xiantong Era of the Tang Dynasty, or 868 CE. British Library.

The Diamond Sūtra (Sanskrit: Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra), is a short and well-known Mahāyāna sūtra from the Perfection of Wisdom (Skt. Prajñāpāramitā) genre, which teaches with an emphasis on the practice of non-abiding.

A copy of the Diamond Sūtra, found among the Dunhuang manuscripts in the early 20th century, is, in the words of the British Library, "the earliest complete survival of a dated printed book."[1]

Contents

Etymology

The original Sanskrit title of the Diamond Sutra is the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra. A fuller translation of the Sanskrit title would be the Diamond Cutter Perfection of Wisdom Sutra. Some common translations of this title into major Asian languages include:

History

Elder Subhūti addresses the Buddha.

The history of the text is not fully known, but Japanese scholars generally consider the Diamond Sūtra to be from a very early date in the development of Prajñāpāramitā literature.[2]

The first translation of the Diamond Sūtra into Chinese is thought to have been made in 401 CE by the venerated and prolific translator Kumārajīva.[3] The Kumārajīva translation has been particularly highly regarded over the centuries, and it is this version that appears on the 868 CE Dunhuang scroll.

Early western scholarship on the Diamond Sūtra is summarized by Müller.[4] Some western scholars also believe that the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra was adapted from the earlier Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra.[2]

Contents and teachings

The Diamond Sūtra, like many Buddhist sūtras, begins with the famous phrase "Thus have I heard" (Skt. evaṃ mayā śrutam). After Subhuti and the other monks have returned to the monastery to eat the midday meal, having been in the great city of Shravasti begging for their food, Subhuti enters an assembly where the Tathagata is presiding .

In the Zen school

The Diamond Sūtra can be read in approximately fifty-three minutes. It is often memorized and chanted in Buddhist monasteries. This sūtra has retained significant popularity in the Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition for over a millennium.

Dunhuang block print

There is a wood block printed copy in the British Library which, although not the earliest example of block printing, is the earliest example which bears an actual date. The copy is a scroll, about 16 feet long, purchased in 1907 by the archaeologist Sir Marc Aurel Stein in the walled-up Mogao Caves near Dunhuang, in northwest China from a monk who was guarding the caves known as the "Caves of the Thousand Buddhas." The colophon, at the inner end, reads: "Reverently made [caused to be] for universal free distribution by Wang Jie on behalf of his two parents on the 15th of the 4th moon of the 9th year of Xiantong [11 May 868]". This is approximately 587 years before the Gutenberg Bible was first printed.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Sacred Texts: Diamond Sutra". Bl.uk. 2003-11-30. http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/diamondsutra.html. Retrieved 2010-04-01. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Williams, Paul. Mahāyāna Buddhism: the Doctrinal Foundations. London, UK: Routledge. ISBN 0-4150-2537-0. p.42
  3. ↑ The Korean Buddhist Canon: A Descriptive Catalog: K13
  4. ↑ Müller, Friedrich Max, ed.: The Sacred Books of the East, Volume XLIX: Buddhist Mahāyāna Texts. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1894, pp. xii-xix

Bibliography

External links