An Adhyardhaśatikā Prajñāpāramitā Manuscript from Tibet
— A Preliminary Report —
Tōru Tomabechi
(IKGA, ÖAW)
Asia-Africa Institute, University of Hamburg
11 July 2007, 6pm
The Adhyardhaśatikā Prajñāpāramitā illustrates a phase in the transformation of non-tantric thought into tantric or mantranaya Buddhism. This text is affiliated with the Paramādya cycle of yogatantras, and the Chinese translation by Amoghavajra (不空), the Rishukyō 『理趣経』, is used to this day in the liturgy of the Japanese Shingon order. Dr. Tomabechi talked about his recent findings regarding a manuscript of the Adhyardhaśatikā preserved in China, which has never been studied before.
First, the materials previously used for the study of the Adhyardhaśatikā Prajñāpāramitā were reviewed: a Tibetan translation, five Chinese translations and Leumann’s 1912 edition of a bilingual Sanskrit/Khotanese MS kept in St. Petersburg (reprinted by Vaidya in 1961). The manuscript from Tibet is an incomplete compilation of ten Prajñāpāramitā texts, a copy of which is currently in the custody of the CTRC (China Tibetology Research Center). It is a palmleaf manuscript in proto-‘Lantsha’ script dated by its colophon to the third regnal year of Śūrapāla II, probably corresponding to 1077 CE.
The CTRC manuscript corresponds closely to the textual lineage represented in the Tibetan translation and Amoghavajra’s translation (up to the thirteenth section of the latter). It is much more complete than Leumann’s MS, and also contains mantras not found in any of the translations, which are however found in Jñānamitra’s commentary. Dr. Tomabechi provided detailed tables of correspondences between the contents of the MS and the translations, following the divisions of the viśuddhipadas.
An edition and study of the Adhyardhaśatikā Prajñāpāramitā from Tibet will be published as early as this year in the STTAR series. Dr. Tomabechi answered several questions from the audience, and generously offered to share his preliminary edition with anyone interested in studying the text.