Title: Daihannyaharamita-kyo (The Great Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra Volume 39), Circa 790-900. An Exceedingly Rare Nara Period Sutra
Author: Translation of Xuánzàng
Condition: Good
A Late Nara to Early Heian Period, late 9th to early 10th century edition of the Daihannyaharamita-kyo or Da bore Boluomi Duo Yan Biao Di, also known as the Great Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra or Mahaprajnaparamita, being the 39th fascicle of the original 600, taken from the first collection of Prajñāpāramitā verses.
Translated as the Great Perfection of Wisdom, it is derived from the collection of Chinese scholar and translator Xuánzàng, who possessed a massive Sanskrit collection of Prajñāpāramitā sutras, which he later returned to China with, and later condensed into 600 scrolls, containing 5 million Chinese characters.
The collection comprises of 16 Prajñāpāramitā texts, among which includes the Diamond sutra, being scroll number 577.
The sutra has been written on strong mulberry paper and using a fine ink in a bold font, which does compare favorably to several Nara and Early Heian Period Sutras digitized on the KNM Collection Database (Objects BK47, BK48, BK50).
The sutra has been written in a five-column format, with up to 17 characters per column.
One manuscript in orihon format (23.7 x 9 cm), 102 leaves
This manuscript is in good shape, the front cover lacking. There is old staining and browning throughout, and a handful of scattered worm tracks, with minimal text loss. There are quite a few old repairs to the rear.