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Commentary and
translation of Text by Harischandra Kaviratna
This scripture has always been held
in the greatest veneration in Mahayana countries. In China and Japan there
are at least twenty-eight different recensions of this sacred bible of the
Buddhist schools. The Prajnaparamita-Sutra is regarded as the
holy mother that feeds the bodhisattva with the amrita (nectar) of prajna
(transcendental wisdom), and guides him to paramita (the other shore). It
is the "utmost great perfection" which gives full enlightenment to the
bodhisattva after he has successfully completed the other five paramitas:
dana (charity), sila (morality), ksanti (patience, forbearance), virya
(energy), and dhyana (concentration).
Linguists who had only an
etymological mastery of Sanskrit without even a rudimentary understanding
of Buddhist thought have done much harm to the dissemination of esoteric
Buddhism in Europe and America. During the last decade of the nineteenth
century, Samuel Beal published the first English rendition of the
Prajnaparamita in his Catena of Buddhist
Scriptures. Next appeared the English translation by Max Muller in
the Sacred Books of the East series, Vol. XLIX. In the
eighteenth century, although there already existed several Japanese
renditions based on Chinese texts, Hion Shon translated it into Japanese
direct from the Sanskrit. Tibetan Buddhists believe Boom or
Bum (Prajnaparamita) to be the most infallible
text to arouse them from the illusion of samsara (round of births and
deaths). Various French and German translations are also in circulation,
based on partial Chinese versions or on fragmentary Sanskrit texts.
Prajnaparamita-Hridayam (hridaya means heart) -- the most condensed
recension of the Sutra -- was rendered into Chinese in the year 400 AD by
the famous Indian scholar and Buddhist missionary, the Venerable
Kumarajiva, and even today is used as a protective spell or charm by all
Buddhists of Tibet, China, and Japan, monks and laymen alike. It was
translated into English by D. T. Suzuki of Japan in 1934, by Edward Conze
of England in 1958, and in America by Dwight Goddard in 1969. My verbatim
translation, which follows, is made directly from the original Sanskrit.
The complete text of the Large
Sutra of Prajnaparamita was ruthlessly destroyed by Muslim
incendiaries in the conflagration of the Buddhist University of Nalanda.
Millions of Buddhist and Hindu manuscripts were burnt in this great fire
along with the monks and artifacts. Because the original
Prajnaparamita is reputed to have consisted of a hundred
thousand stanzas it was called Satasahasrika Prajna-paramita.
It is primarily intended for memorizing, and is believed to protect the
aspirant who knows it by heart.
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