________________
Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
II.
SUKHÅVATI-V YUHA.
AFTER publishing in 1880 the Sanskrit text of the Smaller Sukhavativyuha, I had hoped that the libraries of Japan or China, which had supplied the manuscripts of that shorter and probably earlier text, would furnish likewise materials for an edition of the Larger Sukhâvativyuha.
There can be no doubt that the MSS. preserved in Japan, and which probably came to Japan through China, belong to an early age. The evidence on which I claimed for some of the palm-leaves, more particularly for those formerly preserved in the temple of Hôriusi?, the rank of the oldest among the Sanskrit MSS. now known to exist in India or any other part of the world, has not been challenged. That palm-leaf came to Japan in A. D. 609%, and must therefore have been kept in China for some time before it was exported to Japan
Now it is well known that the Larger Sukhâvatî-vyûha was one of the most popular and most widely read books of the Buddhist Tripitaka, both in China and Japan. While of the smaller text there were three Chinese translations only 4, the larger text is said to have been translated
1 Catalogue of Japanese and Chinese Books and Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, No. 45 b.
* Selected Essays, vol. ii. pp. 368-370. * Selected Essays, vol. ii. p. 371. * These translations are
(1) Fo-shwo-ö-mi-tho-kin, lit. Buddhabhâshita-amitâ yus-sútra.' 5 leaves. Translated by Kumaragiva, of the Latter Tshin dynasty, A.D. 384-417. No. 200 of the Chinese Tripitaka. It corresponds, with a few omissions, to the Sanskrit text, which, together with an English translation and notes, was published by me, in the Journal
b2
For Private and Personal Use Only
