Large Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras
[11] Similarly, Lewis Lancaster writes that these three sutras "contain basically the same text, their length being determined by the amount of repetition.
According to Zachetti, this is a "textual family," which he terms the "Larger Prajñāpāramitā" and is:a group of texts that share a number of common features in structure, content, wording, etc.
They exhibit a family resemblance, so to speak, fluid and not always easy to define, but significant enough to set them apart from other texts (especially the Aṣṭasāhasrikā PP) as a distinct group.
Yet the members of this Larger PP group are differentiated by complex patterns of variation at a variety of levels significant enough to prevent us from classifying them just as one single text.
[4]According to Zacchetti, there are a "considerable number of [Sanskrit] manuscripts" belonging to the "textual family" he calls the "Larger PP texts".
"[1] According to Shogo Watanabe "as the number of Prajñāpāramitā texts multiplied in India, it became necessary to give them separate designations for the sake of identification.
[15] Zacchetti notes that this division into three main versions (of 18, 25, and 100 thousand ślokas or akṣaras) does not appear in Buddhist sources until the time of Bodhiruci (6th century).
[18] The Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra (25,000 line Perfection of Wisdom Sutra, T: shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stoq phrag nyi shu lnga pa, dum bu dang po, C: 摩訶般若波羅蜜經, pinyin: móhê bânruò bôluó mì jíng) is found in several Sanskrit manuscripts from Nepal and Kashmir.
[20][21][22][23] Some Sanskrit manuscripts divide the sutra according to the eight sections of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra, Watanabe calls these "revised" editions (as opposed to an "unrevised" versions).
[27][28] Zachetti writes that when one analyses the different texts in the Larger PP family, "we find that, intricate as their patterns of correspondence may be...they generally do not fall into groups along the lines of the version-classification.
1509), which is a large and encyclopedic commentary to the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā translated into Chinese by Kumārajīva (344–413 CE), remains an important source for numerous Prajñaparamita topics.
[35] In Tibetan Buddhism, the Prajñāpāramitā tradition focuses around the Abhisamayālaṅkāra (Ornament of clear realization, date unknown) and its numerous commentaries.
[43] Another Tibetan commentary was written by the Gelug figure Longdol Lama Ngawang Lobzang (1719–1794), it is titled: A Brief Explanation of the 108 Topics Treated in Shatasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā ('bum-gyi' grel-rkang brgya-rtsa-brgyad ngos-'dzin).
[5] An ongoing translation of Xuánzăng's Śatasāhasrikā (100,000 line Perfection of Wisdom Sutra) is currently being undertaken by Naichen Chen, who has published six volumes so far.
