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Dharmapada which was also edited by N. S. Shukla.42 K. R. Norman and Margaret Cone are at present working on a new edition and critical study of this text which is of great importance for the study of the different recensions of the Dharmapada.43 Chinese versions of the Dharmapada and Udānavarga have been studied by Charles Willemen.44 It is probably not necessary to mention how useful, for Western scholars as well, is the recent publication of the Dharmapada studies of K. Mizuno.45
The fourth volume of the catalogue of the Sanskrit manuscripts from Central Asia (Sanskrithandschriften aus den Turfanfunden, Teil IV, Wiesbaden, 1980) lists the editions of texts published in the years 1970– 1980. Also very useful is the systematic survey of the manuscripts described in the four volumes of the catalogue. The contents of the manuscripts of Buddhist literature is divided into seven sections: 1. Vinaya; 2. Sūtra; 3. Anthologies of Religious Poems and Narratives; 4. Abhidharma, Buddhist Technical Terms, Commentaries, Yoga; 5. Cult; 6. Mahāyāna-Sūtras; 7. Poetry. In recent years German scholars have been active in photographing Sanskrit manuscripts in Nepal for the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project. A few publications based upon these manuscripts have already appeared. 46 Without doubt this project will be of great importance for the study of Sanskrit Buddhist texts but, as long as no list or catalogue is available, it is difficult to know which new materials have been uncovered.
So far we have discussed mainly the publication of facsimile editions and the contents of manuscript collections from Central Asia, Gilgit, Tibet and Nepal. It may perhaps be useful to sketch recent developments in the study of Buddhist texts in a more systematic way, and to begin with the texts of the Hīnayāna schools. We have mentioned already the editions
42 Die Sprache der ältesten buddhistischen Überlieferung (Göttingen, 1980), pp. 93– 155. For Shukla's edition see note 40.
43 Letter K. R. Norman 4.1.1982.
44 Dharmapada: A Concordance to Udänavarga. Dhammapada, and the Chinese Dharmapada Literature. Bruxelles, 1974; Udänavarga: Chinese-Sanskrit Glossary. Tokyo, 1975; The Chinese Udānavarga (Mélanges chinois et bouddhiques, vol. XIX). Bruxelles, 1978.
45 Hokkukyō no kenkyū. Tōkyō, 1981.
46 Cf. Paul M. Harrison, 'Sanskrit fragments of a Lokottaravādin Tradition', Indological and Buddhist Studies (Canberra, 1982), pp. 211-234; Michael Hahn, Nāgārjuna's Ratnāvali. Vol. I. Bonn, 1982.
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