The Xixia Avatamsaka Sutra Dafang guangfo huayanjing Chapter 41 This chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra comes as a long,

, accordion-fold book (or jingzhe zhuang : literally a "sutra binding") mounted at both ends on small boards covered ith brocade! The te"t is in #i"ia (or Tangut) script! $t is a oodblock-printed book dating to the %&th or %'th century ith an illustrated frontispiece! $t is (hapter (juan ) '% of the Avatamsaka Sutra or )loral *arland Sutra or )lo er Adornment Sutra, in (hinese Dafang guangfo huayanjing +the Siksananda translation in ,- juan. A brief presentation of the Avatamsaka Sutra The Avatamsaka Sutra or )loral *arland Sutra or )lo er Adornment Sutra, in (hinese Dafang guangfo huayanjing , in /apanese 0egonkei ! This sutra is very important to the 1ahayana 2uddhist tradition of (hina, /apan and Tibet! $t is a very long te"t composed of different parts brought together in (entral Asia during the &rd or the 'th (entury A!3! 4nly fragments of the Sanskrit version remain today, but the hole (hinese version is available! $t actually consists of three different versions and t o parts, hich are also considered independent sutras themselves The three different versions are: - The 5- juan (roll or chapter) version, Liushi Huayan , hich as translated by 2uddhabhadra (&67-'87) around '8- A!3! (9astern /in)! - The e"tended ,- juan version, Bashi Huayan , hich as ritten by Siksananda (568-:%-) around 577 A!3! (the so-called ;hou dynasty of <u ;etian)! )a=ang (5'&-:%8), the famous (hinese master, took part in the translation! The (hapter '% in the library>s collection belongs to this version! - The '- juan version, Sishi Huayan , as translated by ?ra@AB (:&'CD) around :7, A!3! (Tang)! - The 85th (hapter of the Sutra is also kno n as the Ten Stages Sutra (in Sanskrit: Daabhmikastra-straE (hinese: Shidijing )! <ritten by Fasubandhu (&rd - 'th century A!3!), it as translated into (hinese a first time in the & rd century A!3! and a second time in the 5th century A!3! by 2odhiruci ! (fl. 5th century A!3!) - The last chapter of the !atamsaka Sutra also circulates as a separate te"t kno n as the "anda!yha StraE (hinese: Huayanjing rufajie#in "#$ ! $t details the @ourney of the youth Sudhana %&'(, ho undertakes a pilgrimage in 68 stages and 6& visits at the behest of the bodhisattva 1an@ushri )*+,! This Sutra as been from early times regarded as the most important te"t of the 2uddhist canon because it is said to have been ritten by the 2uddha himself after he has reached enlightenment! $t describes a cosmos of infinite realms upon realms mutually containing each other! $ts cosmological content is actually hard to grasp! The (hinese Guayan 2uddhist School is based on an interpretation of this Sutra made coherent and compatible ith traditional (hinese thought! A description of the our original copy illustrated with photos

The te"t in #i"ia script $he %i&ia $nitially based in north estern Sichuan and southern *ansu provinces, the Tangut around the end of the ,th (entury A!3! ere a nomadic people under the domination of the Tibetan 9mpire! Hater, under the (hinese pressure on Tibet, the Tangut moved to the north to Iing"ia! There they controlled the Silk Joads and the passes from (entral Asia to (hina! (ontrolling this ne area made them rich and more and more po erful! Around %-8,, the Tangut e"tended their domination over the Kyghur kingdom in *ansu and founded an 9mpire they named #ia, hose capital as established in Iing"ia (at present-day Linchuan -. )! They controlled <est 1ongolia, the 4rdos up to Shan"i, and Shaan"i! They had become so po erful that the Song dynasty had to negotiate a truce in %-'', and the #i"ia ( / 0 , or <estern #ia) remained a threat until they ere defeated by *enghis 0han in %88:! Their empire had %- emperors over a period spanning some %7- years (%-&8 to %88:)! They ere highly sinici=ed, hich means they had a strong administrative centrali=ed state based on the (hinese model! $n the %8th (entury, the Tangut rulers, careful to distance themselves from the (hinese, began to use Tangut as the official language and created their o n riting system! They also ordered that classical 2uddhist and (hinese te"ts should be translated! Tibetan 2uddhism as the state religion! $heir language and s'ri#t The Tangut language belongs to the Tibeto-2urman family and is no adays e"tinct! The Xixia /0 script The (hinese riting system served as conceptual model for the Tangut script! The Tangut script #M"iN <On / 0 ) is a heterographic syllabary, hich is to say that the riting is phonographic and syllabic (syllabographic), ith %85 syllables! 2oth cursive and sPuare forms of Tangut riting are kno n, though the standard riting is the latter! After the disappearance of the #i"ia 9mpire, the #i"ia script remained in use! $t as renamed Ge"i=i 1/2 % during the Luan 3ynasty and used to print huge Puantities of 2uddhist te"ts using movable fonts! They are also remaining copies of the $angut Lotus Sutra! (ur 'o#y of )ha#ter *+ $t as stored in a small side room, here $ found it rapped inside a cardboard bo"! There as no stamp and no inventory number on it! <e don>t kno ho it came to our library and have no ay of kno ing it! 1y guess is that it as brought back to )rance by ?aul ?elliot and stored ith other documents at the library of the $nstitut des Gautes Qtudes (hinoises hich, at the time, as administered by the Sorbonne and didn>t belong to the (ollRge de )rance (the transfer took place in %7:8)! The library changed location t ice after that, and the Sutra as moved ith a number of other items ithout anybody taking notice of hat it as! <hen $ discovered it, professor /ean-?ierre 3rRge a retired senior researcher and former director of the 9)94, helped me determine hat it as! $ haven>t been through the archives of our institute and ill do that, but $ doubt $ ill find information about the origin of this document! (f further interest $ ould like kno if anyone here can tell me if there are any other original copies of #i"ia te"ts in 9uropean libraries, either religious or other te"ts! 2n) holds in its collections te"ts in "i"ia script, as ell as St ?etersbourg>s!
%

Also called 3) )Bn <On, or 456) TSnggTtR <On 8

The front cover

The image mounted before the frontispiece

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$t represents the ,th assembly, an episode of the sutra, hich takes place in the ?rince /eta>s garden! $n the center is the 2uddha Fairocana (the supreme or celestial 2uddha) ith Samantabhadra (a bodhisattva), 1an@usri (the bodhisattva of transcendent isdom) and disciples 8 The three are often associated together and form the Shakyamuni trinity

The )rontispiece and the 2eginning of the Sutra!

)or more information about the representations of 2uddha in #i"ia Sutra, see /ean-?ierre 3rRge, U 3e l>icVne N l>anecdote : les frontispices imprimOs en (hine N l>OpoPue des Song (75--%8:,) W, rts siati,ues, %777-6', pp! ''-56!

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The te"t of the Sutra

The last pages

The #i"ia syllabary (in Spanish transcription)