ཟླ་བའ་མད intro.10

intro.10

The Sūtra of the Moon (2), the Sanskrit fragments edited by Klaus Wille, and the Chinese canonical translations in the Saṃyuktāgama would seem to belong to related textual traditions, while The Sūtra of the Moon (1) and the Pali Candimasutta can be grouped together as representing the Theravāda tradition. They all share the same basic content, but the texts differ in wording and in the number of verses and passages in prose. For example, The Sūtra of the Moon (2) has seven verses, while The Sūtra of the Moon (1) has only four. Among them the setting also differs in that only The Sūtra of the Moon (2) is set in Campā, while all the other versions are set in Śrāvastī. The characters differ too. For instance, in The Sūtra of the Moon (1) and the Pali Candimasutta, it is Vemacitra who speaks to Rāhu, not Bali, as in the other versions. Furthermore, Bali is mentioned by name in Sanskrit and Chinese, but in The Sūtra of the Moon (2) he is addressed as the great son of Virocana. The Sūtra of the Sun is almost identical in wording to The Sūtra of the Moon (1) but of course reads “sun” instead of “moon” and includes one additional verse, as is the case with the Pali canonical versions. This extra verse, in which the Buddha explains how the sun dispels darkness, corresponds to a verse in The Sūtra of the Moon (2).