2016 Volume 65 Issue 1 Pages 325-320
A Sanskrit manuscript of the Bodhisattvapiṭaka-sūtra, preserved at the Potala Palace in Lhasa, has been edited by Professor Jens Braarvig at the University of Oslo, and others, and its critical edition will be published in the near future. With the kind permission of Prof. Braarvig, I compared the contents and the structure of the Sanskrit text with its three parallel translations, that of Xuanzang 玄奘, Fahu 法護, and the Tibetan translation. Through comparative studies on the first four chapters and the last two chapters in these four versions, three conclusions are presented in this article. (1) Although the four versions are content-wise very similar, they display partial differences as well. Thus, it can be assumed that the four versions do not directly originate from the same source. (2) It is speculated that the versions other than that of Xuanzang are closely related. (3) Based on the differences in their chapter divisions and the contents regarding existence (bhava), it is clear that Xuanzang’s translation is fairly distinct from the other three versions.
