Sophie Cat 56 - Sophie Dupre

Clive Farahar & Sophie Dupré, XV The Green, Calne, Wilts, SN1 8DQ, Tel: (01249) 821121 106
ink on black background, buff Tibetan paper, 4½" x
18" (11½cm x 45½cm), text area about 3¾" x 16½"
(9½cm x 41cm), 82 leaves, n.p., n.d., c. 19th c. light
worming in margins, occasionally just touches text,
rarely reaches further with loss of a letter or two,
scribe has avoided paper faults [11227] £1,850
A Short Sutra is a condensed saying of the Buddha in
mnemonic form. A Long Sutra, as here, contains extended
teaching with perhaps the occasion of the teaching and its
discussion.
The Boddhisatva Ksitigarbha is "little more than a name
in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism" but "in East Asia ... is
extremely important" with "a sacred mountain ... Chiuhua
in An-hwei province. According to the [present]
sutra, almost certainly composed in Central Asia,
Ksitigarbha was given the particular task of saving
sentient beings ... between the death of Sakyamuni and the
coming of Maitreya". In China Ksitigarbha is associated
with rituals for saving one's relatives from hell, and in
Japan also with the welfare of children, pregnant women
and travellers (Paul Williams).
References:
Peking Tibetan Tripitaka (reprinted Tokyo-Kyoto, 1955-
1961) No. 905 in Volume 36; ibid., No. 906.
sDe-dge Kanjur (reprinted Delhi, 1979), Volume 65 (BL
19999.k.2/65).
Léon Feer, 'Analyse du Kandjour et du Tandjour', in
Annales du Musée Guimet, t. II, 1881, pp. 266-267.
Paul Williams, 'Mahayana Buddhism: the Doctrinal
Foundations' (1989), pp. 241-243.
Present: ff.214-296 (including 231/232, 251/252, 267/268
which are each one leaf). Secondary numbering on ff.
275-296 (1-22). 275v bears as text only "do; shod yin"
("intentionally blank"). Western numbers lightly pencilled
in.
Edge-mark: volume number 'zha' (21) throughout.
Colophon to PTT 905: 286r-2 to 286r-4, with details of
the translation from the Chinese by the Chinese
upadhyaya Hwa-shang Zab-mo and the Tibetan ban-de
Rnam-par-mi-tog.
(PTT 906 was translated by the Indian upadhyaya
Jinamitra, Danashila, and Munivarma, and the Tibetan
ban-de Ye-shes-sde, etc.)
Also present: 2 leaves of 'zha' numbered 101, 108,
apparently from the preceding sutra PTT 904, 'Chosyang-dag-par-sdud-pa',
'Dharma-sangiti' 'Enumeration of
several virtues' with their advantages, a discussion
between two Boddhisatvas.
Apparently in four hands: (A) 101, 108 (B) 214-274 (C)
275r-286r (D) 286v-296v.
Correspondence:
PTT vol. 36 MS sDe-dge vol. 65
(beginning 2-1
end 198)
No. 905
(beginning 199-1)
bam-po 7 227r-7 376-7
bam-po 8 242r-2 403-2
bam-po 9 255v-2 429-7
bam-po 10 270r-8 456-6
colophon 286r-2
end 286r-4 482-5
No. 906
beginning 286r-4 482-5
bam-po 1 286r-5 482-6
bam-po 2 295v-8 501-2
(end 602)
1131.TIBET. THE PERFECTION OF WISDOM IN
8000 LINES
BUDDIST MAHAYANA SCRIPTURE Fine
Manuscript in Tibetan of Volume 1 (of 2) of 'The
Perfection of Wisdom in 8000 Lines', the oldest text
of the Mahayana tradition, on large paper 7¼" x
22½" (18.5cm x 57cm), the title leaves on blue
paper (ff. 1 and 2) beautifully presented, f.1a blank
as usual, f.1b has a quadruple silk curtain revealing
the opening words "In the Indian language" in gold ,
between seated figures of Shakyamuni (the present
Buddha) and Maitreya (the future Buddha), in
orange robes with green haloes, under the right is in
tiny gold letters "rgyal-ba'i rgyal-tshab byam-pa
mgon", "Of the most high the would-be most high,
Jampa [Maitreya] the Protector", all in a mount of
blue and black strap work edgedingold, the mount
made of 6 layers of paper (now a little soft and
beginning to open), f.2a and f.2b have even more
elaborate borders, the text again flanked by figures
in colour, on f.2a seated, (that on the right with eyes
on the palms, soles and forehead), on f.2b standing.
The text continues in black on buff paper, generally
8 lines to a side, with either one or two lines in red to
guide the eye, uchen script in 21 further hands , last
leaf frayed without loss, signs of use throughout but
overall a very attractive copy, complete of Volume
1, probably 18th or early 19th century.
[11234]£2,000
The manuscript contains the first 12 (of 24) bam-po
(roughly equal units of text), corresponding to chapters 1-
11 and part of 12 (of 32). Leaves numbered [1,2]-248,
with 1a and 248b blank. Volume edge-mark 'ka' (1). The
beginnings of bam-po and the ends of chapters are noted
in the usual way. New hands at ff. 3, 4b line 3, 17, 30, 43,
56, 67, 68, 79, 81, 94, 109, 123a, 123b, 136, 149, 161,
162, 175, 190, 204 and 219, usually marked by secondary
numbering. Those at 190 and 209 are the same, but
apparently the rest are distinct and all share the merits of
writing the volume.
The Sanskrit title reads "A'rya asta sa'ha srika' pradznya'
pa'ramita' ", the Tibetan title " 'phags-pa shes-rab-kyi
pha-rol-thu phyin-pa brgyad-stong-pa" (Wylie
transcriptions). Both mean "The noble approach to the
other side [Nirvana] of the highest wisdom in 8000
[lines]". (A line or shloka contains 32 syllables).
Edward Conze wrote in 1955: "The literature on Perfect
Wisdom, vast, deep and vital to an understanding of the
Mahayana, has so far been rather neglected by Western
students. The literary form ... is alien ... while their
doctrine conflicts with the assumptions of practical men
everywhere ... The composition of Prajñaparamita texts
extended over about 1,000 years ... the oldest text is the
Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Lines . Some parts
probably date back to 100 B.C. ... the whole may have
taken about two centuries to compose ... In China, Japan
and Tibet the Prajñaparamita remained the basis of all
Mahayana teaching, and in those lands it has borne
wonderful fruit. Among its later developments the
flowering of Zen is not the least noteworthy ... The
teachings ... are meant for people who have withdrawn
from society" with the motivation "to battle hard against
the falsifications of the intellect, and to baffle, exhaust
and defeat it", and, while seeking Nirvana, to replace
Nirvana as "an object of desire". The consideration of
Emptiness "opens the way ... to the nature of things by