འཕགས་པ་ཤན་ཏ་རྒྱས་པ་ཆན་པའ་སྡ་ཉ་མའ་སྙང་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་མད intro.8

intro.8

The connection between The Quintessence of the Sun and Central Asia is further confirmed by one of the astronomical measurements contained in the text, which places the user of that measurement in the northern or northwestern frontier of India.¹⁹ Also, the only extant Sanskrit manuscript fragment of the sūtra was found in Central Asia. It is a fragment of the astrological section of the text that, according to Rudolf Hoernle, was composed in a mixed dialect that is very corrupt and whose meaning is sometimes obscure.²⁰ Due to the complex and obscure nature of this astrological section, we have not attempted a rendering of it into English. Instead, we are hoping that future scholars may be able to produce a reliable study and translation of this section that can be added to this translation. We have indicated in the notes the relevant section, where thirty-two folios have been left untranslated.