འཕགས་པ་དཀན་མཆག་སྤྲན་ཅས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད intro.16

intro.16

In producing this translation, we have based our work on the Degé xylograph, while also consulting the Comparative Edition of the Kangyur and the Stok Palace manuscript. Interestingly, our comparison of the various sources has shown that the Degé and Stok Palace Kangyurs often align, even when other Tshalpa Kangyurs offer different (and sometimes better) readings.¹⁸ We also occasionally compared these sources to the available Dunhuang fragments of The Jewel Cloud.¹⁹ As for the Sanskrit sources, we made use of the passages contained in Śāntideva’s Śikṣāsamuccaya and the available entries in the Mahāvyutpatti. Due to constraints on resources and our linguistic limitations we did not, however, make use of all the citations found in the Indian śāstra literature or the four Chinese translations. It is our hope that future research on this seminal sūtra may incorporate these sources to a greater degree than has been done here. Such research is certain to further inform our understanding of the historical circumstances surrounding the Tibetan efforts of the imperial period to translate Buddhist texts in general, and the fascinating history of The Jewel Cloud in particular.