On the auspicious day of Saga Dawa Düchen, we celebrated the birth, awakening, and parinirvana of the Buddha with an introduction to our latest publication: The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines, by 84000 Senior Editor Dr. John Canti.
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Key Moments:
[8:12] The history of the Prajñāpāramitā manuscript's discovery and its various versions
[11:25] Exploring the earliest translations of the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra into Chinese
[19:05] The relationship between Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, Nagarjuna and the N āga realms
[20:31] Paying tribute to Gyurme Dorje 1950-2020
[23:51] The beauty of web-based publishing
[27:03] How and why The Perfection of Wisdom sūtra has been so important for Mahāyāna Buddhism
[29:51] The Buddha's teachings on who we are
[33:28] The different translations of the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra being translated into Chinese
[36:55] An interesting story about Asaṅga and the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra
[44:30] Exploring the concepts of the "profound" and the "vast"
[47:10] Tips on reading and appreciating the text
[51:08] A summary of The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines
[56:08] Subhūti's role in the text
[59:00] Śāriputra's inquiry to the Buddha regarding the practice of The Perfection of Wisdom
[1:04:55] All aspects of omniscience
[1:09:20] How to read the text in the 84000 Reading Room
[1:17:26] Q&A
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In surveying all the Perfection of Wisdom sūtras in the talk, it would be remiss of us not to mention the tradition by which six of them are identified as the “Six Mothers.” These are:
Hundred Thousand (Toh 8),
Twenty-Five Thousand (Toh 9), and
Eighteen Thousand (Toh 10),
i.e. the three “long sūtras,” together with:
Ten Thousand (Toh 11),
Eight Thousand (Toh 12),
and the Verse Summary (Saṃcayagāthā, Toh 13).
They are called “mothers” because each of them covers all the eight topics listed in Maitreya-Asaṅga’s Ornament of Clear Realization.
The other, shorter sūtras (such as the Heart and Diamond-Cutter) are called the “Eleven Children” because, instead of all eight topics, they concentrate mainly on how phenomena are empty of substantial existence. However, since more short sūtras were added to the canon later, there are in fact seventeen works in this category and not just eleven.
Throughout the talk, John also referred to a number of texts that you can already access in the 84000 Reading Room. These include:
The Perfection of Wisdom in Ten Thousand Lines: read.84000.co/...
The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines: read.84000.co/...
The Long Explanation of the Noble Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand, Twenty-Five Thousand, and Eighteen Thousand Lines: read.84000.co/...
We also encourage you to explore how our Reading Room links sūtras and their commentaries through intertextual linkages: • Reading Room Tips for ...