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Literary History of Sanskrit Buddhism

A study by J. K. Nariman of Sanskrit Buddhism from the Early Buddhist Tradition up to the Mahayana texts proper.

A study by J. K. Nariman of Sanskrit Buddhism from the Early Buddhist Tradition up to the Mahayana texts proper.

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Mahāyānasūtras – 92<br />

precious stones, with statues <strong>of</strong> the Buddha carved in wood or metal<br />

and with reliefs and frescoes.<br />

See especially chapter ii, Gāthās 77 ff., Sacred Books <strong>of</strong> the East. In<br />

Japan the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka is the sacred book <strong>of</strong> the Nichiren<br />

sect, Buniyu Nanjio, Short <strong>History</strong> <strong>of</strong> the Twelve Buddhist Sects,<br />

Tokyo, 1886, p. 132 ff.<br />

Kāraṇḍavyūha: its Theistic tendency<br />

To the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara who has been eulogised in<br />

Chapter XXIV <strong>of</strong> the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka is also dedicated an<br />

entire Mahāyānasūtra <strong>of</strong> great compass, the full title <strong>of</strong> which is<br />

Avalokiteśvara-guṇakāraṇḍavyūha, – “The exhaustive description <strong>of</strong><br />

the basket <strong>of</strong> the merits <strong>of</strong> the Avalokiteśvara.” The title is usually<br />

mentioned in its abbreviated shape <strong>of</strong> Kāraṇḍavyūha. We have two<br />

versions <strong>of</strong> this book, the more ancient one being in prose and the<br />

younger in ślokas. The prose text was edited by Satyavrata<br />

Shamashrami in 1873. The catalogue <strong>of</strong> the India Office library<br />

registers an edition which seems to have appeared in 1872 at<br />

Serampore.<br />

Burnouf, Introduction pp. 196-206, Raj. Mitra, Nepalese Buddhist<br />

Literature, p, 95 ff. Bendall, Catalogue p. 9ff; La Vallée-Poussin,<br />

Encyclopaedia <strong>of</strong> Religion and Ethics II, p.259 f.<br />

The metrical recension occupies theistic ground. For it is related how<br />

at the beginning <strong>of</strong> things appeared the Ādibuddha or the primitive<br />

Buddha, also called Svayambhū, or Self-Being and Ādinātha or the<br />

First Lord, and created the world by his meditation. Avalokiteśvara<br />

is derived from this spirit and he co-operated in the creation <strong>of</strong> the

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