Bouddhisme

1875 · rif. 75492 — Tibet: N.p. ca. 1875. This Sutra comprises Volume 33 of the Narthang Kangyur. The dimensions including both wooden covers are 24 1/4 inches long; 6 3/8 inches wide; 4 1/2 inches high. This exemplar contains 448 leaves made of Tibetan rice paper and printed using carved wooden blocks on both recto an verso for a total of 896 pp. The leaves and the holder are in very good condition. We know that the Narthang Kangyur printing blocks were carved in the Narthang Monastery around 1730-1732. The legibility of this copy argues for a date of about 1875 but it could be as late as 1920. The upper wooden board has a nice Sanskrit inscription in Landza / Ranjana script. With the original saffron carrying cloth. A rare offering.The text is a sutra named The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines. Copies of this text are often used for devotional purposes which may be why it has not been kept with the other volumes. This particular sutra was initially translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan in the 8th century then the translation was revised in the 11th. The original composition of the Sutras is unknown. the traditional answer to this is that these sutras were spoken by the Buddha then concealed by the Nagas for centuries before being revealed by Nagarjuna in the 3-4th century. While they are usually thought of as later compositions the sutras of the Perfection of Wisdom and especially this text are interestingly among the oldest physical Buddhist manuscripts preserved. The sutra deals with a number of topics but is primarily concerned with the conduct of a bodhisattva the realiation and attainment of the Perfection of Wisdom as one of the Six Perfections the realization of thusness tath t the attainment of irreversibility on the path to buddhahood avaivartika non-conceptualisation and abandonment of views as well as the worldly and spiritual benefit of worshipping the s tra.The s tra is among the most well-established in the Mahayana tradition and "was the first philosophical text to be translated from the Mahayana literature into Chinese." It was translated seven times into Chinese9 five times into Tibetan and eight times into Mongolan. The first Tibetan edition was in the eighth century. It remains one of the most relevant of all sutras. Even the dalai Lama acknowledges it preiminence - "“Now Khyongla Rato Rinpoche and I are both students of the late Kyabje Ling Rinpoche. He is the senior student but I the younger one have the name Dalai Lama. I have a close bond with him and with Richard Gere who is a friend of mine and a friend of Tibet. They asked me to give this teaching. For many years Rinpoche has requested me to give the oral transmission of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra in 8000 lines. As we drove in from the airport yesterday he mentioned it again and I thought “Let’s start now.” The book is about 500 pages long so looking at it I feel somewhat daunted but I won’t try to read it all now I’ll just begin today.”He explained that the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras form a large part of the Buddhist scriptures. Of those sections translated into Tibetan the longest is in 100000 lines and consists of 12 volumes the version in 25000 lines is in 3 volumes this edition in 8000 lines is only one volume while the shortest sutra simply consists of the syllable ‘A’. N.p. hardcover