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68
Were escapism a human virtue, not only the achievement of any enduring value would have been impossible, but whatever had been achieved in the past would have been lost at any time. About a millennium ago, Abhayadevasûri, the great commentator of the nine Angas was confronted with a great many obstacles which he had detailed as follows:
(0) Absence of authentic tradition (sampradāya, about the meaning of the
texts). (ii) Lack of authentic ratiocination (ühå). (iii) Lack of direct or indirect knowledge of all the expositions in our own
or other treatises. (iv) Conflicting modes of recitation (vacană). (v) Vitiated manuscripts. (vi) Unfathomable depth of the süt ras. (vii) Differences of opinion (about the readings and the meaning).
In spite of all these difficulties and hurdles, he did not draw back from the Herculean task, but on the contrary achieved something that was of a permanent value.
Even today the difficulties are not fewer, but as the work of editing has been taken up by Acārya Sri Tulsi himself, the task has acquired a new dimension. Any programme that is undertaken by him opens up new vistas, what to speak of the editing of the canonical literature which is by itself full of new possibilities. What is most conspicuous is that Ācārya Sri has ipfused life in the programme through me and my colleagues, monks and nuns, who were quite tyros in the field. Not only are his inarticulate blessings with us but also his concrete guidance and active cooperation are always available to us. He has given priority to the work and devoted plenty of time to it. Under his direction, deliberative counsel and encouragement, we could solve the problems, however formidable, that cropped up from time to time in the course of our difficult enterprise.
Now we come to the texts edited in the present volume.
AVASSAYA The texts of this sūtra have been constituted on the basis of the Avaśyakaniryukti, Avaśyaka-cūrni, Haribhadra's commentary on the Avassaya and the manuscripts available to us.
1
Sthānanga-Vrtti, praśasti, 1-2: satsampradāyahinatvāt sadūhasya viyogataḥ / sarvasvaparaśāstrāņām adrsterasmrtes ca me // vacanänämanekatvat pustakānam aśuddhitah 1 sütränam atigămbhriyad matabhedac ca kutracit il
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