Literary History of Sanskrit Buddhism

Mahāyānasūtras – 105
thousand ślokas in which this wisdom was inculcated in the shape of
dialogues in which the Buddha was the principal speaker.
Subsequently this sūtra was abbreviated into a hundred thousand,
twenty five thousand, ten thousand, and lastly eight thousand ślokas.
According to another tradition the sūtra with eight thousand ślokas
was the original, it being subsequently gradually expanded. As a
matter of fact, we are acquainted with Prajñāpāramitās of a hundred
thousand, of twenty five thousand, of eight thousand, of two
thousand five hundred and of seven hundred ślokas. In the
Mahāyāna often as in the Hīnayāna there is mention of ten but more
frequently of six pāramitās, viz., generosity, performance of duty,
gentleness, intrepidity, meditation and wisdom. (Dharmasaṁgraha
17.)
(The Prajñāpāramitās are prose works but in India it is customary to
measure even texts in prose by ślokas each unit consisting of thirtytwo
syllables.) [86]
The Tibetan Sher-phyin is a literal translation of the Śatasahasrika
which has been quoted as Bhagavati in the Sikṣasamuccaya. It was
translated into Chinese between 402 and 405 according to Anesaki
(Le Museon VII, 1903). This translation contains quotations from
Pāḷi texts (Bendall C. pp. 143-148 and Journal of the Royal Asiatic
Society 1898 p. 370.
The senseless customs of embodying constant repetitions which we
find so annoying in the Pāḷi suttas becomes in the voluminous
Prajñāpāramitās so limitless and excessive that it would be quite
possible to strike out more than half of these colossal works like the
Śatasahasrika for the same sentences and phrases recur times
without number. Thus, for instance, it is not only said in the