Prajñāpāramitā

The Nakano Zeshin 中野是心 edition of the *Mahāprajñāpāramitāsūtra 大般若經 is a woodblock print edition made by Nakano Zeshin 中野是心 (?-1677), a member of a famous family of traditional publishers in premodern Kyoto (17~18c). After it came out, its woodblock was inherited by Wakayamaya Kiuemon 若山屋喜右衛門 (dates unknown) and became thebasic text of The Collation of Variant Readings in the *Mahāprajñāpāramitāsūtra 『大般若經校異』 edited by the Rinzai monk Shaku Sohō 釋祖芳(1722-1806).
The study, which focuses on the first scroll of Xuanzang’s 玄奘
(602-664) translation of the *Mahāprajñāpāramitāsūtra, suggests that its
stemma codicum could be divided into two lines depending on whether
Xuanze’s 玄則 (7~8c) Preface to the First Assembly of the *Mahāprajñā-
pāramitāsūtra 大般若經初會序 is included or not. Furthermore, my collation of various versions reveals that the Nakano Zeshin edition is extremely close to the Kaiyuansi 開元寺 edition, which belongs to Southern 江南 lineage of the Chinese Tripitaka transmission. We can therefore conclude that the basic version used by Nakano Zehsin for his edition was the Kaiyuansi edition.
However, the Kaiyuansi edition and the Nakano Zeshin edition are
not the entirely identical. We can also find such differences as the
allographs used or the exact place where a new paragraph begins. There-fore, the Nakano Zeshin edition can be said to be a new reprint based on the Kaiyuansi edition rather than a mere copy of the latter.
All these findings confirm the fact that the Fuzhou editions 福州版
(in this case represented by the Kaiyuansi edition) of the 12-13th Song
Dynasty Buddhist Canon were used by Japanese editors to produce new
reprints which circulated in the 17th century。

The Prajñāpāramitā genre is well known for its generic rhetorical formula “X is not X”, i.e. an affirmation followed immediately by a negation. Often the text proceeds to claim that the ultimate is inexpressible, non-dual, emptiness (śūnyatā). The Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa displays a similar rhetoric and philosophy.
Despite this general consensus on Prajñāpāramitā philosophy and rhetoric, modern scholarship largely considers that these texts were random compilations, leading to their chaotic lack of structure. The plot of the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa is often considered inconsequential to its philosophy. There thus remains the problem of structured philosophy in a chaotic text.
This paper will argue that the Prajñāpāramitā and the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa are not structurally random, but chiastic in form. This inverted parallelism takes the form A-B-C-…-X-…-C’-B’-A’. This literary form is the ideal vehicle for contrasting the two complementary sides of an apparent paradox (A-A’, B-B’, etc.), while situating an ultimately transcendent solution at its unique core (X).

Edward Conze still dominates the field of Prajñāpāramitā Studies, such as it is, forty years after his death in 1979. He continues to draw the highest praise from some quarters for his “meticulous” scholarship and his “pioneering” work on Prajñāpāramitā. Does he deserve this praise? As a person, he could be extremely unpleasant shading into something more like malevolence. He was a self-confessed elitist, who hated “blacks” and thought of women as “servants”. As a scholar, Conze was erratic, eccentric, and obscurantist with a conscious commitment to magical thinking. His editions, translations, and exegesis of Prajñāpāramitā are all unreliable. The argument here, however, is not for summary judgement; rather, I present evidence to establish the case for a thorough reassessment of Conze’ s oeuvre.

Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies 19: 22-51.

During the summer of 2007, a collection numbering over a thousand leaves of rare and important Indian paintings on palm leaf and paper were rediscovered during a renovation and storage relocation project within The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Asian Art Department.  The first exhibition, in a series of permanent collection rotations, focused on a remarkable select group of forty-five early palm leaves that cite the Buddhist Sutra of The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahashrika Prajnaparamita). 
Historic evolution of the structure, the sacred ceremonial functionality and utility of the manuscript traditions, and technical background, material composition, support preparation, painting techniques, pigment analysis, condition assessment, and inherent deterioration mechanisms of both the support and media will be examined and described.  Conservation treatment materials and procedures such as structural stabilization of the aged palm leaf, including ethical considerations in compensation and reintegration of design, mounting, housing, display and storage; topics pertaining to the care and understanding of these early Indian paintings on palm leaf will be discussed in detail.

Connections between Pancaviṃśatisāhasrikā-prajnāpāramitā-sūtra and Aṣṭasāhasrikā-prajnāpāramitā-sūtra suggest a new interpretation of an important passage in the Prajnāpāramitā-hṛdaya or Heart Sutra . I am able to show that the four phrases exemplified by “form is emptiness” were once a reference to the well-known simile, “Form is like an illusion” ( rūpam māyopamam ). As the Prajnāpāramitā corpus expanded, the simile became a metaphor, “form is illusion”. It was then deliberately altered by exchanging “illusion” for “emptiness”, leading to the familiar phrases. This connection opens the door to reading the Heart Sutra , and the early Prajnāpāramitā sutras more generally, along the lines of Sue Hamilton’s (2000) epistemological approach to the Pāḷi suttas; i.e. as focussed on experience and particularly the meditative experience known in the Pāḷi suttas as dwelling in emptiness ( sunnatā-vihāra ). In this view, the Heart Sutra makes sense on its own terms without having to invoke pa...

In this article, I continue a detailed critical re-assessment of the text of the Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya or Heart Sutra begun by Jan Nattier (1992, see also Huifeng 2014, Attwood 2015). Nattier and Yamabe pointed out that where the Sanskrit Heart Sutra has the word mantra, some parallel passages in the Sanskrit 8,000 and 25,000 line Prajñāpāramitā sutras have the word vidyā (Nattier 1992: 211, n.54a). I show that in every other occurrence of this passage in Sanskrit and Chinese versions of these texts, Prajñāpāramitā is referred to as a superlative kind of practical knowledge or incantation (vidyā) and there is no mention of a mantra. Nor would we expect one, since these texts predate the assimilation of mantra into Buddhism. This suggests that mantra in the Sanskrit Heart Sutra is a mistranslation of a Chinese rendering of vidyā. I explain why this might have happened in semantic and historical terms. Given that the so-called mantra itself is better described as a dhāraṇī, it is hard to escape the conclusion that there is no mantra in the Heart Sutra and no mention of a mantra. This raises some interesting questions.

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Several scholars have cited the statement, “Even nirvāṇa is like an illusion, like a dream?” from the early Prajñāpāramitā as evidence of a “shocking” and “novel” Mahāyāna ontology (§1).  This paper examines three phases of historical development of the Buddhist metaphor of “illusion” (māyā) through Kittay’s perspectival approach and semantic field theory (§1.1).  An analysis of the metaphor in pre- and early Buddhism uncovers its birth in Vedic sources and its adoption by the Buddhists as the absence of a substantial Self in all phenomena without exception (§2).  In mainstream Buddhism, the mature metaphor took on a more cognicentric role due to its application specifically to the mind, but excluded the unconditioned, including nirvāṇa (§3).  By the early Prajñāpāramitā, the “illusion” metaphor was reestablished as both applying to the conditioned and unconditioned, but it also highlighted the cognitive error of perceiving a Self in what is Selfless, a position more epistemological than ontological (§4).  We conclude that “Even nirvāṇa is like an illusion, like a dream?” was thus not a “shocking” or “novel” Prajñāpāramitā creation.  We also reflect on the later literal doctrine of illusion, concluding that it was a transformation into common parlance of a now “dead metaphor” (§5). 

Keywords: illusion (māyā), metaphor, Buddhism, Prajñāpāramitā, semantic fields

The Chöd tradition practiced at Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery (KNSL) in Boudhanath, Nepal places a much greater emphasis on awareness (rig pa) and devotion than is recognized in academic studies on Chöd. Moreover, in connection to this emphasis, the spiritual master’s oral instructions play an indispensable role in the practice. This thesis will demonstrate that although the KNSL’s Chöd texts introduce an abundance of information, it is the oral instructions pertaining to Dzokchen and Essence Mahāmudrā which set forth greater details, fine-tune and condense the philosophical content, introduce the different levels of practice, clarify the approach, and highlight key points. Thus, the oral pith instructions determine how Chöd is practiced—bringing awareness and devotion to the forefront—with renunciation and compassion as two key additional methods. It further argues that this demonstrates the living oral tradition as a critical source of information and analysis when studying Chöd texts or similar tantric ritual texts. The oral instructions are the pedagogical instrument which provides a wealth of differentiation and individualization. Furthermore, KNSL’s oral Chöd instructions consolidate the components of intellectualism, passionate emotions, and non-conceptual wakefulness.

Connections between Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā-sūtra and Aṣṭasāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā-sūtra suggest a new interpretation of an important passage in the Prajñāpāramitā-hṛdaya or Heart Sutra. I am able to show that the four phrases exemplified by “form is emptiness” were once a reference to the well-known simile, “Form is like an illusion” (rūpam māyopamam). As the Prajñāpāramitā corpus expanded, the simile became a metaphor, “form is illusion”. It was then deliberately altered by exchanging “illusion” for emptiness, leading to the familiar phrases. This connection opens the door to reading the Heart Sutra, and the early Prajñāpāramitā sutras, more generally along the lines of Sue Hamilton’s (2000) epistemological approach to the Pāḷi suttas; i.e. as focussed on experience and particularly the meditative experience known in the Pāḷi suttas as dwelling in emptiness (suññatā-vihāra). In this view, the Heart Sutra makes sense on its own terms without having to invoke paradox or mysticism.

This paper examines the reception, development, and classification of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra and its related commentaries in Tibet from the ninth to fourteenth centuries as a case study in how sections of the Tibetan Bstan ’gyur
collections were formed and formulated. The first section of the paper analyzes the classification of Abhisamayālaṃkāra commentaries in early Tibetan registers such as the Lhan kar ma and ’Phang thang ma. Next, two influential Tibetan
scholar-librarians, Bcom ldan rig pa’i ral gri (1227-1305) and Bu ston rin chen grub (1290-1364), are compared with regard to their organization and classification of treatises such as the Abhisamayālaṃkāra. The third section provides a narrative
account of how Abhisamayālaṃkāra literature developed in Tibet based on the analysis of colophons and historical anecdotes. The paper concludes with a summary of the cultural forces that influenced the development and classification of Abhisamayālaṃkāra literature in Tibet.

An excerpt translation of “The Study on the establishment of Fahua Wenju(法華文句)” of Hirai Shun'ei.
本文节选自平井俊荣《法华文句成立的相关研究》一书，文中对佐藤哲英的相关推论作出回应。首先总结了佐藤提出的吉藏《金刚般若疏》是参照智顗而作的观点和论据，然后通过文本对照逐一击破佐藤关于吉藏“有人言”等部分的分析结论；进而从两疏的引用来源、经疏科判和译语选取上作了细致深入的比较，为驳论补充了大量证据。最终得出是天台后人依据吉藏《金刚般若疏》，伪托智顗而作了《金刚般若经疏》。

Ratnākaraśānti’s commentaries give us insight into the tantric and non-tantric atmosphere of Vikramaśīla during his mid-eleventh century tenure there. Other prior Mādhyamika-oriented Vikramaśīla scholars, such as Bhāvyakīrti, had held the pāramitānaya and mantranaya to differ from one another only in terms of the speed with which they reach the same ultimate goal. Ratnākaraśānti concurred with their notion of tantric and non-tantric Mahāyāna methods as equally effective, but he disagreed with them regarding the ultimate goal itself, which they had identified with Prajñāpāramitā. For Ratnākaraśānti, Prajñāpāramitā is not the ultimate goal toward which the pāramitānaya and mantranaya are aimed, but rather the quintessential Mahāyāna path that forms the core of these two methods and gives them their efficacy.

This paper explores Ratnākaraśānti’s Prajñāpāramitā framework, its grounding in conservative Yogācāra “three vehicle” values, and its relationship to his explanation of sexual practice.

The epilogue presents some evidence that Ratnākaraśānti’s Prajñāpāramitā framework had an impact on Vikramaśīla’s monastic education on the ground, in that its hierarchy, according to the rNam thar lam yig, was structured around the orthopraxy, rather than the philosophical debate prowess, of four tantric siddha-scholar-monks, namely  Ratnākaraśānti, Vidyākokila, Vīravajra, and Nāropā, whose disciples appear to have recited Prajñāpāramitā-hṛdaya-sūtra together daily within the context of tantric group practice.

Conze’s critical editions, translations and commentary on the Sanskrit Heart Sūtra indicated three problematic statements: 1. “no attainment and no non-attain¬ment” (§1.1); 2. “because of non-attainment(ness)” (§1.2); and 3. “without thought coverings” (§1.3).  Utilizing Nattier’s theory of the text’s history (§1.4), we trace back these three phrases from the Chinese Heart Sūtra, to the Chinese larger Prajñāpāramitā texts, to the Sanskrit Pañcaviṃśati (§1.5).  Subsequently, we generate new readings and incidentally a new structure for these three phrases, distinct from the Sanskrit Heart Sūtra, which is possibly apocryphal.  Our new readings are:  1. “no attainment” as no realization (§2).  2. “due to engagement in non-apprehension” (§3).  3. “the mind does not hang on anything” (§4).  The new structure ties the usage of the second phrase back to the first phrase within the Sūtra context of “Therefore, in emptiness there is no form, … no attainment; due to engagement in non-apprehension”, rather than at the start of the next section.  The third phrase indicates the mind which does not take any object, a synonym for non-apprehension.  While the readings and overall structure are new, it still reflects the core notions, i.e. the heart, of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā and Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā, the key Perfection of Wisdom texts (§5).

A transcription of the Fangshan Stele of the Heart Sūtra is presented in an English language Buddhism Studies context for the first time. While the text of this Heart Sūtra is relatively unremarkable, the colophon reveals that work on the stele commenced in 661 CE. This is not only the earliest dated reference to the Heart Sūtra in any language, but the date falls during Xuanzang's 玄奘 lifetime (ca. 602-664). The status of the Heart Sūtra as an authentic Indian sūtra rests almost entirely on the supposed historical relationship with Xuanzang since it fails to meet the standard criteria for being a sūtra. The historical connection between Xuanzang and the Heart Sūtra is critically re-evaluated in the light of the Fangshan Stele and recent scholarship from the fields of history, philology, and bibliography.

A number of lexical and syntactic problems have already been identified in Section VI of the Sanskrit Heart Sutra (Conze 1948, 1967, Nattier 1992, Huifeng 2014, Attwood 2018a). A close parallel reading of the Chinese and Sanskrit texts reveals still more problems of both kind in this passage. The unidiomatic and at times garbled Sanskrit text is consistent with predictions of Nattier’s Chinese origins thesis (1992). The result has been persistent confusion about how to interpret the Heart Sutra. The most egregious misinterpretation has been that the negations in Section V represent a metaphysical stance, e.g. that the pancā skandhāḥ etc. do not exist full stop. The ungarbled text reveals that the “negations” are phenomenological absences: in the meditative state of emptiness, the pancā skandhāḥ are absent, they do not arise. I try to show that the ideas in the Chinese Heart Sutra, appropriately contextualised, can easily be expressed in idiomatic Sanskrit. Finally, I reflect on the ...

I've long been frustrated that some expert has not produced a proper critical edition of the Chinese Heart Sutra, so this is my own attempt, incorporating all that I have learned to-date and attempting to recreate an ur-text.

I expect there will be a great deal wrong with this and welcome any suggestions for improvement.

The phrase tryadhvavyavastithāḥ sarvabuddhāḥ “all the buddhas that appear in the three times” in the Sanskrit Heart Sutra is a hapax legomenon in Buddhist Sanskrit, but it is similar to the common Chinese idiom 三世諸佛 “buddhas of the three times”. In every case where this Chinese phrase is used in a Prajñāpāramitā text, other than the Heart Sutra, the corresponding extant Sanskrit texts have atītānāgatapratyutpannā buddhāḥ “past, future, and present buddhas” instead. Additionally, where one translator has used the phrase 三世諸佛 another frequently prefers 過去未來現在諸佛 “buddhas of the past, future, and present”, suggesting that their source texts also had this form with the three different times spelt out. The phrase tryadhvavyavastithāḥ sarvabuddhāḥ is unambiguously a Chinese idiom translated into Sanskrit in ignorance of Sanskrit Prajñāpāramitā conventions. This proves that the Heart Sutra was composed in Chinese.

... GHA 221 this point one has gathered a rough understanding of the essencelessness of things and begun the unified path of calm abiding and special insight (samathavipasyanŻayuganaddha). The bodhisattva is ready to enter into the mahŻayŻana path of preparation. ...

This article offers an introductory overview of the attribution and dating of the versions of the extended Heart Sutra preserved in the Chinese Tripiṭaka and some preliminary assessment of the reliability of these sources. It includes some observations about the interesting features of each version and a stemma showing how they relate to the wider world of Heart Sutra versions. Finally, a conjecture is made about the language in which the extension was made. The Heart Sutra appears to have been extended twice in the early eighth century, leaving us with two different versions of the extended text. It appears that the first extended text, like the standard Heart Sutra, may have been composed in Chinese, while the second extended text appears to have been composed in Sanskrit.

This article is open access: https://alt.cardiffuniversitypress.org/articles/abstract/53/

The gotra, ekayāna and tathāgatagarbha theories of the Prajñāpāramitā according to Dharmamitra and Abhayākaragupta. In: The Prajñāpāramitā and related systems: Studies in honor of Edward Conze (Berkeley Buddhist Studies Series 1), ed. L. Lancaster et al., pp. 283-312. Berkeley, 1977.

Buddhists have articulated the central notion of the “path” in a variety of different ways and in a great number of texts throughout the history of their traditions.  Among texts related to the path, the Ornament for Clear Realization, a commentary on the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, has had a significant impact on Mahāyāna Buddhist notions of the path and became the dominant Indian text for the study of the path in Tibetan traditions. This article focuses on two general descriptions of the bodhisattva path found in the Ornament for Clear Realization.  The first description centers upon eight ‘clear realizations’ (abhisamaya) that constitute the knowledges and practices of Prajñāpāramitā textual systems. The second description elucidates a system of five paths, shaped by Indian Abhidharma and Yogācāra texts, that is commonly used by Tibetan commentators. The article demonstrates how the eight clear realizations and five paths are interrelated, yet distinct, modes of envisioning the bodhisattva path in the Ornament. While these path structures do not provide details of actual meditation experience, they do provide Tibetan Buddhists who follow the Ornament a structured worldview where a narrative of spiritual progress is possible and where the altruistic goal of Buddhahood can be attained.

In the Mahāyāna tradition, the doctrine of emptiness and Selflessness of the
person holds a great place; which is also known as the second turning of  the
wheel of law. This doctrine or philosophy has been preserved in a category
of  texts,  known  as  Prajñāpāramitā  literature.  The  concept  of
Prajñāpāramitā  flourished  in  these  texts  over  many  centuries;  before  the
influence  of  Tantric  elements,  which  became  very  popular  in  the  Indian
subcontinent  after  the  5
th
-6
th
century,  became  a  part  of  it.  With  the
development of the Vajrayāna school of thought, a huge change in the idea
of Prajñāpāramitā took place. In the later books on Prajñāpāramitā, we can
see that, by the end of the 5
th
Century, Prajñāpāramitā had become a deity;
an  object  of  worship  that  also  was  a  female  deity  and  hence,
Prajñāpāramitā  became the first true Buddhist goddess. This first incident
of deification of an idea started a process of deification of many more things
within the Tantric Buddhist world. This paper is an enquiry into this process
of  deification  of  an  idea.  This  paper  will  discuss  the  concept  of
Prajñāpāramitā, with focus on the ways in which  Prajñāpāramitā acquired
the form of a  deity such as the iconography of the goddess, ways in which
she  has  been  otherwise  represented,  range  of  epiphanies  which  have  been
used  for  her  in  various  texts  and  how  her  worship  was  evolved.  .The
development  of  the  cult  of  Prajñāpāramitā  reflects  a  huge  change  in  the
social processes in the Indian subcontinent during the 5
th
-6
th
Cent. A society
in  which,  man  and  woman  were  understood  in  terms  of  their  comparison
with  mind  and  nature/body  respectively;  a  philosophical  idea  which  was
supposed to be so difficult to understand that it was not there for everybody
to  read  or  practice.  Only  people  with  some  sort  of  earlier  Tantric
understanding  were  capable  of  grasping  the  true  essence  of  this  doctrine.
The  question  of  how  in  these  circumstances,  Prajñāpāramitā  became  a
feminine deity arises. Also of how an aspect of mind, which was an attribute
of man, got associated with a feminine form?  The objective of this paper is
to understand the gender relations, within the Tantric Buddhist community. I
intend to do this on the basis of religious practices of Tantric Buddhism and
the development of a female fraction in the pantheon. This paper works with
the  idea  that  the  changes  in  the  mythological  world  reflect  the  changes
which are taking place in the actual world and hence, the recognition of the
feminine divine within religions reflects the change in the social perception
of gender. Hence, at large this paper is trying to understand the changes in
the social perception of gender, with the coming in of T antric ideas.

Since the Six Dynasties, the doctrinal classification theories became the principal characteristic for every buddhist sect which can mostly be found in Chinese monks' works of interpreting buddhist canons, and have gradually evolved into an important part of the buddhist hermeneutics in China. The SanLun School was one of the earliest, shortest and most controversial sects founded in Sui-Tang Dynasties. It was once brilliant but left many puzzles to be solved, and the founder Jizang's buddhist hermeneutics is unique in the history of Chinese buddhism.Especially as a sect established by “Lun(Upadeśa)” , the SanLun School always paid more attention to the activities of interpretion than other sects, and the interpreting should be under the influence and guidance of their the doctrinal classification theories.
Jizang left behind a lot of profound buddhist works but we can use his doctrinal classification theories as a clue to access his hermeneutic methodology, and it’ll also be helpful to identify the issue of the establishment, prosperity and extinction of this sect. Taking Jinzang's “Jingang Bore Shu”as an example, this paper analyses the doctrinal classification theories of the SanLun School and its influence on the aim, the structure and the core concepts of Jizang's Buddhist Scripture interpretation, and clarifies Jizang's “all canons are equal” classification thought and the interpreting standpoint. This standpoint expressed as the “Upāya-kauśalya” in his interpreting of “the Diamond Sutra”, which is a kind of wise and skillful persuasion and guidance in Jizang's explaining the empty nature.

In this article, I consult commentarial and bibliographical texts from the early Tang dynasty to better understand the history of the Heart Sutra. As in a palimpsest, there appears to be another, earlier history partially preserved beneath the text of the received history. This early layer says that the Heart Sutra was composed in China, probably by Xuanzang. He combined a selection of popular extracts from the Large Prajñāpāramitā sūtra with a dhāraṇī to produce a “condensed sutra.” Even before the death of Xuanzang, this earlier history was being effaced and replaced by elements of the received history. It appears that both the Sanskrit text and the translation attributed to Kumārajīva were knowing forgeries produced to make the new history plausible.

A number of lexical and syntactic problems have already been identified
in Section VI of the Sanskrit Heart Sutra (Conze 1948, 1967, Nattier 1992, Huifeng 2014, Attwood 2018a). A close parallel reading of the Chinese and Sanskrit texts reveals still more problems of both kind in this passage. The unidiomatic and at times garbled Sanskrit text is consistent with predictions of Nattier’s Chinese origins thesis (1992).

The result has been persistent confusion about how to interpret the Heart Sutra. The most egregious misinterpretation has been that the negations in Section V represent a metaphysical stance, e.g. that the pañcā skandhāḥ etc. do not exist full stop. The ungarbled text reveals that the “negations” are phenomenological absences: in the meditative state of emptiness, the pañcā skandhāḥ are absent, they do not arise. I try to show that the ideas in the Chinese Heart Sutra, appropriately contextualised, can easily be expressed in idiomatic Sanskrit. Finally, I reflect on the historical significance of the Sanskrit translation.

This is a Chinese translation by Heng Xie of a paper I presented at the group meeting for SACP at the annual AAR conference in 2009: “The Prajñāpāramitā Logic of Soku-hi in Nishida Kitarō."  A worked out version of this paper eventually became a chapter in my 2015 book, 'Nishida Kitarō’s Chiasmatic Chorology: Place of Dialectic, Dialectic of Place' (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press).

Study of the Twenty Saṃghas in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism published in 2003.  A full monograph on the topic is published in  Stairway to Nirvāṇa: A Study of the Twenty Saṃghas Based on the Works of Tsong kha pa (SUNY, 2008) [ http://www.sunypress.edu/p-4578-stairway-to-nirvana.aspx ].  A text critical edition of Tsong-kha-pa's work on this subject in Tibetan script with Sanskrit and Pāli annotations is in A Stairway taken by the Lucid: Tsong kha pa's Study of Noble Beings (Aditya Prakashan, 2013) [http://www.adityaprakashan.com/]

В книге представлена четвертая глава сочинения «Украшение из постижений» — основного текста индо-тибетского буддизма по учению о пути махаяны. В работе обсуждаются вопросы познания, психологии познания и буддийской сотериологии с точки зрения развития качеств ума и достижения совершенства понимания.
Книга содержит предисловие и введение в изучение IV  главы,  репринт тибетского текста IV главы, перевод IV главы на русский язык, сопровождаемый комментариями, извлеченными  из  авторитетных  комментариев  Харибхадры  (VIII в.) и Цзонхавы (XIV в.), а также курс лекций по IV главе «Украшения из постижений» современного тибетского  ученого  геше  Чжамьян  Кенцзэ  (1927–2006) в переводе с устного тибетского языка на русский язык. Прилагается русско-тибетско-санскритский терминологический глоссарий по IV главе.
Книга адресована тибетологам, буддологам и всем интересующимся вопросами познания и буддизма махаяны.

In his critical edition of the Sanskrit text of the Prajñāpāramitāh. rdaya, first published in 1948, Edward Conze treated the verb vyavalokayati as intransitive and declined pañcaskandha as nominative plural, making the first sentence in the text difficult to parse. A comparison of some of the extant manuscripts, the canonical versions in Chinese and Tibetan, the Tibetan manuscripts found at Dūnhuáng, and the Indian commentaries preserved in Tibetan shows that they all understand vyavalokayati to be transitive and thus requiring an object. They also show that the most obvious object for vyavalokayati is pañcaskandha. I show that a simple amendment to the critical edition solves these and two other minor problems with the Sanskrit text. Conze's own translation not only reflects the grammatical problems of his Sanskrit edition, but may give us insights into the reasoning behind his Sanskrit text by highlighting the role his religious faith played in his reading of the text. 1 I am grateful to Vincenzo Vergiani and the Sanskrit Manuscript Project at Cambridge University for arranging access to the Cambridge Manuscripts. Also to Donald Lopez, Jonathan Silk and Jan Nattier for answering questions that arose from their work on the H. rdaya. Thanks to Eivind Kahrs and Eric Zsebenyi for their helpful comments on early drafts. I'm very grateful to the anonymous reviewer for being so conscientious and meticulous; their comments improved the article considerably. And lastly thanks to Richard Gombrich for his generosity over several years of acquaintance, not least as editor of JOCBS. All remaining errors and infelicities are mine.

Chiasmus in the Early Prajñāpāramitā: Literary Parallelism Connecting Criticism & Hermeneutics in an Early Mahāyāna Sūtra

Shì Hùifēng  (釋慧峰) / M B Orsborn
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Hong Kong in December 2011

Abstract

This study examines the early Prajñāpāramitā sūtras through the theory of “chiasmus”.  Chiasmic methodology analyses a text into two parallel halves, identifying complementary “prologue” (A) and “conclusion” (A’), and highlighting the critical “central point” (X), with sub-themes paralleled in the two halves (A-B-C-D…X…D’-C’-B’-A’).  Through chiasmus theory, many ancient texts formerly considered fragmentary and incoherent have been shown to be structurally sophisticated wholes.

The modern text-critical approach has re-written the traditional account of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras.  Several scholars have proposed theories regarding a pre-textual “ur-sūtra”, though with little consensus on this.  In general, most agree that after the formation of an “ur-sūtra” the main body of the text was then chaotically compiled from various fragmentary sub-texts, with the Sadāprarudita Avadāna finally appended at the end.  The result is the presently extant smaller sūtra.  This modern scholarship then claims gradual growth through expansion into the medium and larger sūtras.  The modern academic “discourse on emptiness” portrays the Prajñāpāramitā as focusing on the doctrine of “emptiness” (śūnyatā).  This study challenges many of these claims.

On analysis, primary and secondary chiasmi were identified in the first two chapters of the sūtra.  Their scope is the authority of teaching and training in the Prajñāpāramitā, and maintenance of the lineage of the Buddhas.  Their central climax is definitions of “bodhisattva”, “mahāsattva” and “mahāyāna”, in the rhetorical formula “XY is ~Y”.  Clearly paralleled sub-themes include “samādhi”, “the illusory”, “Māra” and “entrance into certitude”.

A second chiasmus comprising the entire Avadāna at the end of the sūtra was also identified.  The scope is Sadāprarudita’s quest for Prajñāpāramitā, “to see and hear the Tathāgatas”.  The central climax is his seeing and hearing the “Tathāgata” as one who has realized “suchness” (tathatā) or “dependent origination” (pratītyasaṃutpāda), again expressed in the form “XY is ~Y”.  Paralleled sub-themes include “samādhi”, “Māra” and “giving”.

These two chiasmi are similar in scope, centers which define key terms through the rhetorical formula “XY is ~Y”, and sub-themes.  This suggests a larger chiasmus which spans the entire text, with these chiasmi as prologue and conclusion respectively.  While not conclusive, there is evidence for a central climax centered at “suchness” (tathatā), attainment of which results in the bodhisattva’s status of irreversibility.  This connects the prologue and concluding chiasmi, “bodhisattvas” to “Tathāgatas”, respectively.  Numerous paralleled sub-themes are more or less salient.

There are major implications from the discovery of chiasmus in the Prajñāpāramitā.  Critically, it suggests that the sūtra was initially composed as a complete chiasmic whole, rather than from accumulated fragmentary parts.  Hermeneutically, the core message may be understood more systematically than earlier methods.  It proposes “suchness” (tathatā) as the central theme, rather than “emptiness” (śūnyatā).  It also rejects the genre designation of the Prajñāpāramitā as a “philosophical” rather than “religious” text.  This study also offers direction for uncovering other cases of chiasmus in early Mahāyāna and Buddhist literature in general, with examples.  If a range of chiasmi can be analyzed, a general theory of Buddhist chiasmus can be established for use as a standard Buddhological tool.

　Buddhist and other texts were brought from Tibet to Japan by Kawaguchi Ekai(1866-1945), Nōmi Kan(1868-1901?), Teramoto Enga （1872-1940）, Aoki Bunkyō （1886-1956）, and Tada Tōkan(1890-1967). Each of these imported a copy of the Tibetan translation of the(Ārya-)Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā, Tib. ’Phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa brgyad stong pa(hereafter Aṣṭa and brGyad stong pa respectively).
　Regarding the compilation process of the Aṣṭa, primarily using the Tibetan translation the brGyad stong pa, the author has previously discussed the two versions of the Aṣṭa in India and the three versions of the brGyad stong pa in Tibet. I pointed out that among them there are extant examples of the same sūtra copied separately(many of them are
decorated texts with dark blue paper and using gold and silver lettering) as an independent edition not included in the Kanjur, and that among them there are Tibetan texts older than the extant Sanskrit text of the Aṣṭa from Nepal.
　In other words, it was found that even though the date of copying of a decorated text was relatively recent, the content of some manuscripts preserved an older textual lineage not included in the Tshal pa group. These texts are significant for an understanding of the compilation process of the Aṣṭa.
　In this paper I examine two kinds of manuscripts of Tibetan translations of the Aṣṭa imported to Japan by modern Japanese Buddhists, identifying the position of their manuscripts among the extant brGyad stong pa texts included in the Kanjur, and furthermore
clarify the background of the development of three versions of the brGyad stong pa in Tibet.

In his critical edition of the Sanskrit text of the Prajñāpāramitāhrdaya, first published in 1948, Edward Conze treated the verb vyavalokayati as intransitive and declined pañcaskandha as nominative plural, making the first sentence in the text difficult to parse. A comparison of some of the extant manuscripts, the canonical versions in Chinese and Tibetan, the Tibetan manuscripts found at Dūnhuáng, and the Indian commentaries preserved in Tibetan shows that they all understand vyavalokayati to be transitive and thus requiring an object. They also show that the most obvious object for vyavalokayati is pañcaskandha. I show that a simple amendment to the critical edition solves these and two other minor problems with the Sanskrit text. Conze’s own translation not only reflects the grammatical problems of his Sanskrit edition, but may give us insights into the reasoning behind his Sanskrit text by highlighting the role his religious faith played in his reading of the text.

The literature review of the Jizang's Jin'gang bore shu(Jin'gang bore jing shu/Jin'gang bore jing yishu).
《金刚般若疏》是三论宗创立者吉藏对鸠摩罗什译本 《金刚经》所作经疏，亦是隋唐之际一部重要的 《金刚经》释经作品。然 《金刚经》虽一直是海内外的研究热点和重点，此疏在现今学界却少有人研究。迄今为止的现代学术成果中，以此疏为对象进行专门讨论的屈指可数，且俱未形成足够的反响。这既与国际上三论 － 吉藏研究的现状有关，也与 《金刚经》释经作品的研究现状有关。本文正是围绕 “吉藏 《金刚般若疏》研究”这一课题，立足吉藏释经作品及其解经学研究而作的研究述评。文章先概述吉藏及其相关著作的整体研究现状，再对 《金刚般若疏》的主要研究成果加以述评。在回顾与评议的同时，指出解经学为该课题亟待关注的切入点，并力图探寻有效的研究方法。

The article is devoted to the historical and philosophical issues in the study of the text of the so-called Heart Sutra within the Tibetan-Buddhist tradition. We reviewed the horizon of the Sanskrit-Tibetan and western translations as prolegomena to our research to better understand both
the logic of the formation of the Buddhist tradition of Prajna-paramita sutras in India (revealed in translations from Sanskrit into Western languages) and the principles of their textual transmission into Tibet by lotsawas (elucidated through the lens of the principles of the Tibetan translation from Sanskrit). The prime goal of the study was to identify the Buddhist religious and philosophical mechanism that allowed to move from intellectual comprehension of the ideas of emptiness
given in the sutras of the Mahayana to their direct practice, the task of which is to identify emptiness in the flow of personality’s mind. And since the Heart Sutra is the quintessence of the whole tradition of Prajna-paramita texts, we have chosen it as the representative of the teachings of the sutras for comparative analysis with the tradition of Mantrayana, that is, Tantrayana. As for the tantric tradition, we have chosen one of the highest tantras – the so-called Kalachakra Tantra, which is considered to be the most systematic and structured tantra. We found the consistent complication of the Heart Sutra ideas in the Kalachakra Tantra that opened for a person the way of the experience of emptiness. Mantras, as they are, were transformed from the morphological formula like the given in the Heart Sutra into the phonetic formula like the given in the Kalachakra Tantra: they lost the literal meaning but obtained the symbolic one. Having the key mantra of Prajna-paramita, the Heart Sutra took the place of the trigger that provides the opportunity to add the diverse arsenal of tantras to the process of Buddhist enlightenment organically.

Section VI of Conze’s edition of the Heart Sutra, containing the word niṣṭhānirvāṇaḥ or perhaps niṣṭhānirvāṇaprāptaḥ, has given translators and commentators considerable difficulty. Nirvāṇa being a neuter noun, the word niṣṭhānirvāṇaḥ, in the masculine, has to be a bahuvrīhi compound. Conze has divided niṣṭhānirvāṇaḥ and two other adjectives from the noun they describe—i.e. bodhisatvaḥ—by inserting a sentence break between them. Removing the extraneous full stop and reuniting the two halves of the sentence resolves many problems with the passage.