Perfection of Wisdom

Overview

The collection of discourses on the Perfection of Wisdom (Toh 8-30).

The Perfection of Wisdom scriptures together form a set of works whose titles identify them as belonging to this distinctive and influential body of literature—here presented as a subset of the sūtras, although in most Kangyurs the longer Perfection of Wisdom scriptures are each treated (in terms of volume labeling) as sections of the Kangyur in their own right.

The Tibetan Buddhist tradition classifies the discourses (sūtra, mdo) delivered by Śākyamuni Buddha in terms of the three turnings of the doctrinal wheel, promulgated at different places and times in the course of his life.¹ The sūtras of the Perfection of Wisdom (prajñāpāramitā) are firmly placed by their own assertion² within the second turning, promulgated at Vulture Peak near Rājagṛha.

It is in these sūtras that the role of the compassionate bodhisattva with a mind set upon enlightenment achieves pre-eminence over the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas of lesser attainment. The central message subtly integrates relative truth and ultimate truth, reiterating that bodhisattvas should strive to attain perfect buddhahood in order to eliminate the sufferings of all sentient beings rather than merely terminate cyclic existence for their own sake, even though, from an ultimate perspective, there are no phenomena, no sentient beings and no attainment of manifestly perfect buddhahood.

The extant texts forming this cycle of sūtras are replete with abbreviations, modulations and other mnemonic features, indicative of an early oral transmission—even today they are read aloud as an act of merit in monastic halls and public gatherings. At the same time, the medium length and longer sūtras explicitly extol the merits of committing the sūtras to writing, in the form of books, as an offering for the benefit of posterity.

The relentless deconstruction of all conceptual elaborations with respect to phenomena, meditative experiences, and even the causal and fruitional attributes characteristic of the bodhisattva path, which is explicitly emphasized throughout these sūtras, may have been controversial, but it has given rise to both Madhyamaka dialectics and, in East Asia, to the non-analytical meditative pursuits of the Chan (Zen) tradition. In Tibet, on the other hand, these sūtras are generally approached through study of The Ornament of Clear Realization (Abhisamayālaṃkāra, Toh 3786, a treatise said to have been dictated to Asaṅga by Maitreya) and its extensive commentaries, which constitute the Parchin (phar phyin) literature—one of the principal subjects of the monastic college curriculum. These treatises elaborate on the eightfold structural progression of the bodhisattvas’ goals, paths and fruit which are implied, though understated in all but one of the two versions of the Sūtra in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines—the version found in Tibetan translation in the Tengyur (Toh 3790) rather than the Kangyur and, though attributed to Haribhadra, presumed to have been somewhat reordered at an unknown date to correspond more closely to the order of The Ornament.

History

The six most complete works of this set of scriptures, which include the five longest, are known as the “six mothers” (see below) are traditionally all held to be records of the same single discourse by the Buddha on this theme, condensed to different degrees to render them suitable for different audiences. It is clearly the case that the long sūtras all follow the same order of topics and contributions from different interlocutors, as well as the same few elements of narrative. There are, however, other mentions according to which the Buddha delivered these teachings over many months, or even decades. Whichever the case, traditional Tibetan accounts hold that, following their promulgation by Śākyamuni, the sūtras were concealed in non-human realms—the longest Sūtra in One Billion Lines among the gandharvas, the Sūtra in Ten Million Lines among the devas, and the Sūtra in One Hundred Thousand Lines among the nāgas—the last of these being retrieved and revealed by Nāgārjuna from the ocean depths and initially propagated in South India.

From a historian’s perspective, much remains unknown about the earliest history of these works and what little can be surmized about their oral transmission. Scholars have disagreed about which of the geographically dispersed Buddhist communities may have first given rise to the Perfection of Wisdom literature, some favoring its origin among the Mahāsāṅghikas of Andhra in the south of India, while others point to evidence of its early flourishing in the northwest regions such as Gandhāra. While the Tibetan and Chinese traditions consider the Hundred Thousand to be the source of the other twenty-two, because it contains the most detailed exposition, traditional scholars in Nepal see the Eight Thousand as the original scripture from which the longer and shorter versions were derived by elaboration or condensation. The available philological evidence tends to supports this latter view, and most modern scholars have concluded that texts resembling the Eight Thousand probably represent the earliest form of the multiplicity of these scriptures.

The earliest known manuscript is the fragment of a birch-bark scroll from the northwest, found in Bajaur (in present-day Pakistan near the Afghan border), dated to the first century ᴄᴇ. Like most of the earliest birch-bark scrolls from the region it is in the Gāndhārī language, written in Kharoṣṭhī script. The two short portions of the sūtra it contains cannot be matched to any recension among the known versions of the sūtras, but perhaps belongs to the subfamily we identify today with The Transcendent Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines. Somewhat later manuscript fragments found near Bamiyan (in Afghanistan) and dated to the second half of the third century are more closely comparable to the Eight Thousand, and these early manuscripts may therefore represent an intermediate stage during the evolution of these works from even earlier Prakrit versions into the differentiated sūtras we know today, in their Chinese and Tibetan translations, and in the later Sanskrit texts preserved mainly in Nepal.

The history of translations into Chinese also points to the Eight Thousand being the earliest form of the scripture that was widely propagated; four successively longer versions of it were translated in the late second, early third, late fourth, and early fifth centuries, respectively. Turning to the longer versions, the earliest evidence of a scripture identifiable as close to the Twenty-Five Thousand comes from Chinese records, which relate how two versions of a Sanskrit manuscript were brought to China from Khotan to be translated in the second half of the third century. The oldest known materially surviving manuscripts of the longer sūtra subfamily are considerably later fragments in Sanskrit or Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit from Khotan, from Gilgit, and from unknown Central Asian locations, dating from the fifth or sixth century. A full set of the sūtras of different lengths was brought to China from India by Xuanzang and translated into Chinese in the seventh century.

Of the different hypotheses regarding the steps and order in which the differentiation and evolution of the different versions took place have been proposed, the most likely overall notion is therefore that the Eight Thousand represents an early version that first led to further long “mother” versions by a process of expansion, probably during the first three centuries ᴄᴇ, and subsequently to the many short versions‍—notably the “Heart” and “Diamond Cutter” sūtras (Hṛdaya and Vajracchedikā)—by an opposite process of contraction, from the fourth to the sixth century, after which even more compressed and sometimes “tantric” versions appeared, as well as texts in which the Prajñā­pāramitā is worshiped as a female “mother” deity. The neatness of this schema, however, may overlook some of the evidence. For instance, there are reasons for suspecting that the Vajracchedikā may date to as early as the second century ᴄᴇ.

It is important to bear in mind that the naming of the different versions by the number of lines they contain is likely to have been a later development, applied as a means of classifying the profusion of circulating texts of different lengths. It was already in use by the time these texts were first translated into Tibetan in the late eighth and early ninth centuries, but it is not a feature of the earlier Chinese translations. The earliest evidence of this nomenclature appears to be in the Chinese literature, in the record of a lecture by the early sixth century translator Bodhiruci, and its widespread adoption in the centuries that followed may have served to limit further profusion and even reduce the variety of different texts by fixing their number. Nevertheless, its retrospective application to earlier texts may obscure rather than clarify their recensional affinities.

The great cultural transfer of Buddhist literature, practice, and scholarship that began in the Tibetan imperial period of the late eighth and early ninth centuries, particularly during the reigns of Tri Songdetsen and Ralpachen, naturally included translating the Perfection of Wisdom texts available in India at the time. The accounts of Tibetan historians concerning the early translation period focus principally on the various translators, translations, and manuscripts of The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines, but by the time the two surviving inventories of the early ninth century, the Denkarma and Phangthangma, had been compiled, all the Perfection of Wisdom sūtras had been translated, along with a few of the treatises and commentaries.

It was nevertheless only in the later period of translation, under the successive influences of Rinchen Sangpo, Atiśa Dipaṃkaraśrījñāna, and particularly Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab, that the full panoply of treatises based on the perfection of Wisdom Sūtras themselves and on the Ornament of Clear Realization appear to have been extensively studied. Ngok and his circle replaced or revised many of the older translations (often with reference to the commentaries) and supplemented them with translations of works by later Indian scholars, including Smṛtijñānakīrti, Dharmaśrī, Ratnākaraśānti, Abhayākaragupta, and Atiśa himself, which had not even been composed at the time of the early translation period.

Several major exegetical lineages and systems of Prajñā­pāramitā study were founded in both eastern and central Tibet, particularly to begin with at Sangphu but also at Sakya, Tsurphu, Jonang, Mindröling, and the three great Gelukpa monasteries around Lhasa. Study of the Prajñā­pāramitā sūtras in the light of The Ornament of Clear Realization, although often in parallel with study of the Madhyamaka, became a distinct, specialist topic pursued by innumerable great scholars down to the present day.

In Tibetan translation, the sūtras of the Perfection of Wisdom are contained in twenty-three volumes of the Degé and Narthang Kangyurs—comprising approximately one fifth of the entire collection. This division of the Kangyur precedes all the other sūtras in the Buddhāvataṃsaka (phal chen), Ratnakūṭa (dkon brtsegs) and General Sūtra (mdo sde) divisions of the Kangyur, reflecting the high prestige of the Perfection of Wisdom within Mahāyāna Buddhism as a whole.

A brief bibliographic appraisal of all the extant texts, in Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan, can be found in Conze 1978. Some of the earliest manuscripts mentioned were only found subsequent to Conze’s work, and Zacchetti’s 2015 survey of the texts and their development sets out the picture as seen by more recent studies.

‍

Texts in This Section

There are twenty-three distinct texts in the Perfection of Wisdom section. In most Kangyurs the long sūtras, 1-5 (Toh 8-12) each occupy their own primary section of the collection, but here they have all been placed under a single heading for the genre.

The seventeen foremost works are classified into the “six mothers” (yum drug) and the “eleven children” (bu bcu gcig).

The Six Mothers

The six mothers are the “longer” and “medium” length sūtras, which are said to be distinguished by their structural presentation of all eight aspects of the bodhisattvas’ path, as elucidated in The Ornament of Clear Realization, whereas the shorter texts do not fully elaborate this structure.³ There are different ways of categorizing the six into “long” and “medium,” some of them reflecting categories within subgroups, but essentially the first four are more similar to each other than the fifth and sixth.

The four longest sūtras all follow the same order:

• The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines (Śatasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā, Toh 8) comprises twelve volumes, three hundred and one fascicles and seventy-two chapters. It is the longest of all, with the most extensive repetitions.
• The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines (Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā, Toh 9) comprises three volumes, seventy-eight fascicles, and seventy-six chapters. Sometimes called the “medium” length sūtra—but only relative to the longest one. The language of this sūtra and its chapter structure is very closely matched to that of the Hundred Thousand, the only substantial differences lying in the extent of the repetitions. There is another version in the Tengyur (Toh 3790), see above.
• The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines (Aṣṭādaśasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā, Toh 10) comprises two and a half volumes, sixty fascicles, and eighty-seven chapters. Although the sequence of teachings, interlocutors, etc. is the same as in the two longer sūtras, the Tibetan shows extensive signs of later revision and editorial changes, and there are many more chapter divisions.
• The Perfection of Wisdom in Ten Thousand Lines (Daśasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā, Toh 11) comprises one and a half volumes, thirty-four fascicles, and thirty-three chapters. A version of the longer sūtra that seems to have left no traces in the Indian literature. As well as being abridged relative to the three longer ones, it contains a synopsis of all the dharmas of saṃsāra, the path, and awakening into two preliminary chapters.

The fifth is considered by some to be closest to the earliest versions of the written Perfection of Wisdom scripture:

• The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā, Toh 12) comprises one volume, twenty-four fascicles, and thirty-two chapters. Its order and topics remain closely paralleled in the longer sūtras but its beginning and ending are substantially different, as well as considerably shorter.

The sixth is an outlier in terms of length, being a brief synopsis of the longer texts:

• The Verse Summation of the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajñāpāramitāratnaguṇasañcayagāthā, Toh 13) comprises only nineteen folios. Unlike the others, it is entirely in verse. As well as being represented in the Kangyur as a standalone text, its 300 stanzas are also found as the 84th chapter of The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines (Toh 10, see above).

The Eleven Children

These shorter texts, all contained in a final “miscellaneous Prajñāpāramitā” (sher phyin sna tshogs) volume of the section and ordered (except for the last in this list) in terms of their decreasing length,  are distinguished not only by their relative brevity but also by the fact that they do not fully elaborate all eight of the topics set out in The Ornament of Clear Realization.

• The Questions of Suvikrāntavikrāmin (Suvikrāntavikrāmiparipṛcchā­prajñāpāramitānirdeśa, Toh 14), in 2,500 lines.
• The Perfection of Wisdom in Five Hundred Lines (Pañcaśatikāprajñāpāramitā, Toh 15)
• The Diamond Cutter (Vajracchedikā, Toh 16) in three hundred lines, commonly known as the Diamond Sūtra
• The Principles of the Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred and Fifty Lines (Prajñāpāramitānayaśatapañcaśatikā, Toh 17), a work that is tantric in style and content, and is duplicated in the Yoga Tantra section of the Kangyur
• The Illustrious Perfection of Wisdom in Fifty Lines (Bhagavatī­prajñāpāramitāpañcāśatikā, Toh 18)
• The Perfection of Wisdom “Kauśika” (Kauśika­prajñā­pāramitā, Toh 19)
• The Twenty-Five Entrances to the Perfection of Wisdom (Pañcaviṃśatikāprajñāpāramitāmukha, Toh 20), closely related to Toh 17 (above) and also duplicated in the Yoga Tantra section of the Kangyur
• The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom, the Blessed Mother (Bhagavatī­prajñā­pāramitā­hṛdaya, Toh 21), justifiably famous as the Heart Sūtra
• The Perfection of Wisdom in a Few Syllables (Svalpākṣaraprajñāpāramitā, Toh 22)
• The Perfection of Wisdom Mother in One Syllable (Ekākṣarīmātāprajñāpāramitā, Toh 23)
• The Perfection of Wisdom in Seven Hundred Lines (Saptaśatikāprajñāpāramitā, Toh 24), also found as a duplicate (Toh 90) in the Heap of Jewels section of the Kangyur

Other Short Perfection of Wisdom Texts

One work that belongs to the “one hundred and eight names” genre:

• The Hundred and Eight Names of the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajñāpāramitānāmāṣṭaśataka, Toh 25)

The five “bodhisattva” Perfection of Wisdom sūtras:

• The Sūryagarbha Perfection of Wisdom (Sūryagarbha­prajñā­pāramitā, Toh 26)
• The Candragarbha Perfection of Wisdom (Candragarbha­prajñā­pāramitā, Toh 27)
• The Samantabhadra Perfection of Wisdom (Samantabhadra­prajñā­pāramitā, Toh 28)
• The Vajrapāṇi Perfection of Wisdom (Vajrapāṇiprajñā­pāramitā, Toh 29)
• The Vajraketu Perfection of Wisdom (Vajraketu­prajñā­pāramitā, Toh 30)

‍

Bibliography and Further Reading

Conze, Edward. The Prajñāpāramitā Literature (Second Edition). Tokyo: The Reiyukai, 1978.

Zacchetti, Stefano. “Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras.” In Brill’s Encylopedia of Buddhism. vol. 1, pp. 171–209. Leiden: Brill, 2015.