Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c10.s4.9

c10.s4.9

Very recently a fragment of a Prajñāpāramitā manuscript (48 leaves) found in Central Asia has been published in the Memoirs of the Archæological Survey of India (No. 32). The editor, Mr. Bidyabinod, believes on the evidence of the Upright Gupta characters used in it, that the fragments belong to a date earlier than 580 A.C. He has also shown that the subject-matter and phraseology of the fragment resemble those of the Śata. and that the portion contains a slightly shorter version of chapters vii-xi of the latter. The fragment contains the sections on the interpretation of the Pāramitās, Śūnyatās, Samādhis and the Bodhipakṣika dharmas and closely follows the corresponding passages of the Pañcaviṃśati., having slight difference like dharmebhyaḥ for dharmaiḥ, or bāhya for bahirddhāḥ. The fragment might be regarded as a copy of the original Pañcaviṃśati. but the portions found in it are so very common that it is difficult to say definitely that it is a copy of the Pañcaviṃśati. and not of the Aṣṭādaśa. or any other work. It can, however, be said that it is not a copy of the Śata., for in some places the abridgments have been made on the lines of the Pañcaviṃśati. In Ceylon also some inscriptions have been discovered recently, containing fragments of the Prajñāpāramitā.² They correspond to the nidāna-section of the Śata. and the Pañcaviṃśati.; the agreements though quite close cannot be called literal. So it seems they are taken from a recension of either the Pañcaviṃśati. or the Aṣṭādaśa.