ᴡٸ鴡䴡ĀٷŚĀ, the name of a Buddhist text belonging to the Mahāyāna Tantric tradition of which a Khotanese translation is extant. The ś has been widely recited among Mahayanists ever since the 4th century a.d. It is a devotional work stressing the merits of good conduct (Sanskrit ) and containing a confession (Sanskrit ś) of sin. The work is known by several other names in Buddhist literature, but the title ś is usual in Iranian studies because it is given by the colophon of the Khotanese version, which is known from a single manuscript belonging to the Pelliot collection preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (P 3513). The Khotanese version consists of 68 stanzas—stanza 55 was numbered incorrectly in the manuscript as 56—written in Late Khotanese verse. It corresponds fairly closely to the extant Sanskrit version: see the edition and translation of the Khotanese version by Asmussen, 1961. Editions of the Sanskrit, the Tibetan version, and three Chinese versions are provided by Sushama Devi, Samanta-praṇidhānarāja, New Delhi, 1958.
Bibliography:
J. P. Asmussen, The Khotanese ś, Copenhagen, 1961.
R. E. Emmerick, A Guide to the Literature of Khotan, Tokyo, 1979, p. 18.
Lung-lien in Encyclopaedia of Buddhism II/4, Ceylon, 1968, pp. 632-37.
(Ronald E. Emmerick)
Originally Published: December 15, 1989
Last Updated: December 15, 1989
This article is available in print.
Vol. IV, Fasc. 2, p. 190
