Sanskrit Fragments Of Kasyapaparivarta

SR No.: 269275
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: J W De Jong
Publisher: J W De Jong
Total Pages: 9
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 680 KB

Page 9

Sanskrit Fragments of the Kasyapaparivarta 255 between Sthiramati and Candrakirti. This is certainly possible, although it must be pointed out that other quotations in the Prasannapada do not entirely agree with the text of von Stael-Holstein's manuscript. This, however, is only to be expected in the case of a text which has been transmitted over centuries and which has been continually expanded. In any case, the quotations of the Kasyapaparivarta are capable of throwing much light on the history of the text. For instance, it is very interesting to see that the comparison of the bodhisattva with the kalavinka in section 84 is absent in the Chin and Ch'in versions, but is already quoted in the Prajnaparamitopadesa which was translated about 404 A.D.17. It is interesting to note that this comparison is also absent in Sthiramati's commentary which was translated into Chinese in the period 508-535, and in a hitherto unnoticed Chinese version of the Kasyapaparivarta, chapter 7 of the Ratnameghasutra (Taisho no. 659, vol. XVI, pp. 276-283). This latter version was recently discovered almost simultaneously by Takasaki Jikido18 and by Nagao Gajin19. Nagao shows that this version is closely related to the Ch'in version. According to him the translator of it was not Man t'o lo hsien from Funan, but Subodhi from Funan who worked as translator during the Ch'en dynasty (557-589). The Sanskrit fragments in London, Helsinki and Leningrad confirm the evidence which can be gained from the Chinese versions and the quotations of the Kasyapaparivarta in other texts. The Kasyapaparivarta, in which the verse parts are later than the prose parts, offers an interesting example of a text in which the verses, written in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, are definitely later than the prose parts, the language of which is much closer to standard Sanskrit. 17 Taisho no. 1599, p. 266c. Cf. KUNO, op. cit., p. 92. The same comparison is already found in the Ratnakarandasutra, cf. Siksasamuccaya (ed. CECIL BENDALL, Bibliotheca Buddhica, vol. I, 1897-1902), p. 6.11-15; Taisho no. 461, p. 45405-9, no. 462, p. 468b25-29. Taisho no. 461 was translated by Chu Fa-hu in 289, cf. Taisho no. 2145, p. 70. 18 Cf. Nyoraize shisa no keijo (Tokyo, 1974), p. 449. 19 <<"Kashohon no shohon" to "Daihoshakkyo" seiritsu no mondai', Suzuki gakujutsu kenkyu nenpo, 10 (1973) (published in 1974), pp. 13-25.