འཕགས་པ་བད་མད་འགྱར་བ་ལང་བསྟན་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད intro.9

intro.9

The original Sanskrit of this sūtra no longer seems to be extant, but two Chinese translations are contained in the Taishō canon (Taishō 565 and 566), the earliest of which was translated ca. 300 ce.⁷ According to the colophon to the Tibetan translation, the sūtra was translated into Tibetan by the two Indian preceptors Jinamitra and Prajñāvarman, along with the Tibetan translator Yeshé Dé and others. This locates the Tibetan translation in the late eighth or early ninth century. This dating is also confirmed by the text’s inclusion in the Denkarma Catalog of the early ninth century.⁸ In producing this translation, we have based our work on the Degé xylograph while consulting the Comparative Edition (Tib. dpe bsdur ma) and the Stok Palace Kangyur.