Aṣṭsāsarikā Prajñā-pāramitā Sūtra

 The principal or the oldest text is the Aṣṭsāsarikā Prajñā-pāramitā Sūtra (八 天 頌 般 若 波 羅 密 經), ‘The Sūtra on the Perfection of Wisdom’ in 8,000 lines and its shorter verse summary or possible original, as the case may be, the Ratra-guna-samuccaya-gāthā, ‘Verses on the Accamulation of Precious Qualities’ (寶 積 經). It may be (at least it is the prevailing theory) that


the Aṣṭasāhasrikā was expanded in the Satasahasrikā (100,000 lines) and the Sārdhadvisāhasrikā (2,500 lines). A Dasasahasrikā or Perfection of Wisdom ‘in 10,000 lines’ is also sometimes classed with the larger sūtras. The Saptasatikā (700 lines) and the Adhyardhasatiku (150 lines) expanded in the Satasahasrikā (100,000 lines) (一 百 千 頌 般 若 波 羅 密 經) and the Pañcavimsatisāhasrikā (25,000 lines) (二 萬 五 千 頌 般 若 波 羅 密 經), and then condensed in the Sārdhadvisāhasrikā (2,500 lines) (二 千 五 百 頌 般 若 波 羅 密 經). The Astadasa or Perfection of Wisdom ‘in 18,000 lines’ (十 八 千 頌 般 若 波 羅 密 經). (十 千 頌 般 若 波 羅 密 經) (七 百 頌 般 若 波 羅 密 經) (一 百 五 十 頌 般 若 波 羅 密 經).316

Among the shorter sūtras or around 300-500 the texts were shortened, the finest of this process are the two earliest, both appearing before 400 C.E., the Vajracchedikā (金 剛 般 若 波 羅 密 經) in 300 lines and the Hṛdaya (Heart sūtra, 心 經 hoaëc 心 經 般 若) in 25 or 14 lines317 and the latter comprises only 262 words in the Chinese translation.318

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