APARIMITĀYUḤ-SŪTRA, the name of a Buddhist text belonging to the Mahāyāna tradition. It is concerned with the merit obtained by recalling the Buddha called Aparimitāyurjñānasuviniścitarāja. The Sanskrit text has been edited by S. Konow and M. Walleser. Tibetan and Chinese translations are extant. S. Konow edited and translated the Khotanese version. There has been some confusion with regard to the signatures of the MSS. used by Konow. The main MS bears the India Office Library signature Ch xlvi. 0015b while a variant to folio 7 of the main MS. referred to by Konow as variant “B” bears the signature Ch xlvi. 0013b, which unfortunately appears at the heading of his edition without mention of Ch xlvi. 0015. In his Khotanese Texts V, Cambridge, 1963, pp. 243-48 H. W. Bailey edited Ch xlvi. 0015 under the signature Ch x1vi. 0012a, which is one of the signatures of the Vajracchedikā. In the corrected reprint of Khotanese Texts V, Cambridge, 1980, Ch xlvi. 0012a has been changed to Ch xlvi. 0015a. Another MS. of the Khotanese version was published in transcription by H. W. Bailey with the signature S 2471 in his Khotanese Buddhist Texts, London, 1951 (2nd ed., Cambridge, 1981), pp. 94-100.
Bibliography:
S. Konow, “The Aparimitâyuḥ Sūtra,” in A. F. R. Hoernle, ed., Manuscript Remains of Buddhist Literature Found in Eastern Turkestan, Oxford, 1916, pp. 289-356.
M. Walleser, Aparimitāyurñāna-nāma-mahāyāna-sūtram, Heidelberg, 1916.
R. Handurukande in Encyclopaedia of Buddhism II, fasc. 1, Ceylon, l966, pp. 18-19.
J. Eracle, “Le Sūtra du Buddha Aparimitāyus,” Samādhi, 1971, pp. 52-67.
(R. E. Emmerick)
Originally Published: December 15, 1986
Last Updated: August 5, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. II, Fasc. 2, pp. 150-151
