Vajra Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra

DESCRIPTION

The Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, ‘The Sutra That Cuts Like Lightning’, more commonly known as the Diamond Sutra, is one of the most influential Mahayana Buddhist sutras, and is one of the oldest known discourses on the 'perfection of wisdom'. It is generally agreed that the text was originally composed in Sanskrit sometime before the Common Era, and then translated into almost every known language over a broad geographic range. A copy of the Tang Dynasty Chinese version of the sutra found among the Dunhuang manuscripts in 1900 AD dates to May 11, 868 AD - making it the earliest dated printed book.

This course is a line-by-line reading and study of the entire Vajra Sutra, including a discussion of the texts’ possible origins, its place within the broader context of Buddhism, and its contemporary use and related practices.

Primary Reading

Vajra Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, translated from the Chines version of Kumārajīva (401).

Suggested Reading

Red Pine. The Diamond Sutra: The Perfection of Wisdom. New York: Counterpoint Press, 2001.

SYLLABUS

Lesson 1 - The Supreme Awakened Mind (Ch. 1 - 4)

Lesson 2 - Seeing the Thus Come One (Ch. 5 - 8)

Lesson 3 - In Reality (Ch. 9 - 12)

Lesson 4 - This Vajra Sutra (Ch. 13 - 16)

Lesson 5 - Part Two: The Buddha Eye (Ch. 17 - 20)

Lesson 6 - Perfect Characteristics (Ch. 21 - 24)

Lesson 7 - The Patient Tolerance for the Birthlessness of all Dharmas (Ch. 25 - 28)

Lesson 8 - Like Dreams, Illusions, Bubbles and Shadows (Ch. 29 - 32)

Bibliography

The following is a fairly comprehensive list of books and journals that contain versions of the Vajra Sutra in Chinese or in English translation.

CHINESE VERSIONS

Vajra Prajñāpāramitā Sutra 金剛般若波羅蜜經.  Kumarajiva 鳩 摩 羅 什, CE 402. Taishō no. 235.

Vajra Prajñāpāramitā Sutra 金剛般若波羅蜜經.  Bodhiruci 菩提流支, CE 509. T  no. 236.

Vajra Prajñāpāramitā Sutra 金剛般若波羅蜜經. Paramartha 眞諦, CE 562. T no. 237.

Vajra Cutter Prajñāpāramitā Sutra 金剛能斷般若波羅蜜經. Dharmagupta 達摩笈多, CE 605. T no. 238.

Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sutra, Ninth Gathering, Vajra Cutter Section 大般若波羅蜜多經 第九會 能斷金剛分. Xuanzang 玄奘, CE 648. T no. 220, 7:980a.

Sutra Spoken by the Buddha on the Vajra Cutter Prajñāpāramitā Sutra 佛說能斷金剛般若波羅蜜多經. I-ching 義淨, CE 703. T no. 239.

ENGLISH VERSIONS

Translations from Chinese:

Price, A.F. The Diamond Sutra & The Sutra of Hui-Neng. Boston: Shambhala, 1990.

Graham, Tom. In Describing the Indescribable. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2001.

Gemmel, William. The Diamond Sutra. Berwick: IBIS Press, 2003.

Hsüan, Hua A General Explanation of the Vajra Prajñā Pāramitā Sūtra. San Francisco: Buddhist Text Translation Society, 1974.

Luk, Charles. In Bilingual Buddhist Series; Sutras & Scriptures vol. I. Kaohsiung: Fu Kuang Publisher, 1962.

Nhat Hanh, Thich. The Diamond That Cuts Through Illusion. Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1992.

Suzuki, D. T. In A Manual of Zen Buddhism. New York: Grove Press, 1960.

Lee, Shao Chang. In Popular Buddhism in China. Commercial Press, 1939

Beal, Reverend Samuel. "The Vajrachhedikâ, the 'Kin Kong King,' or Diamond Sutra." In Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. London, Trybner and Co, vol.1, N. S, I, pp. 1-24, 1864.

Wai-to. In A Buddhist Bible, ed. D. Goddard. Boston: Beacon Press, 1994.

Translations from Sanskrit:

Conze, Edward. Buddhist Wisdom: The Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra. New York: Vintage Books, 2001.

Conze, Edward. Vajracchedikā Prajnaparamita. In Serie Orientale Roma, Roma, Vol. XIII, Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, Rome, 1958.

Soeng, Mu. The Diamond Sutra.  Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2000.

Muller, F. Max. “The Diamond-Cutter” in The Sacred Books of the East vol. XLIX. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1894.

Schopen, Gregory. In Studies in the Literature of the Great Vehicle, ed. Luis O. Gomez and Jonathan A. Silk. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press for South and Southeast Asian Studies, 1989.

Translations from both Chinese and Sanskrit:

Red Pine. The Diamond Sutra: The Perfection of Wisdom. New York: Counterpoint Press, 2001.

Translations from Tibetan:

Giuseppe, Tucci.  Minor Buddhist Texts, vol. I.  Roma: is.M.E.O., Serie Orientale Roma, IX, 1956.

Translations from Khotanese:

Konow, Sten. “The Vajracchedikq in the old Khotanese version of Eastern Turkestan”, Stein M., Ch. 00275 Plates V-XI, in Hoernle, Manuscript Remains of Buddhist Literature Found in Eastern Turkestan, Vol.I, Oxford, 1916.