Dharmapala Thangka CentreTibetan Antiques

These thirteen hanwritten pages [twelve of them described on both sides] shows the »Sutra for Life Prolongation« [tshe] and for »Acquiring Wisdom« [ye shes] - one of the most famous Dharani works. This sutra is probably one of the most widespread works of Mahayana Buddhism and is often published in splendid editions, which the owners recite daily.

Dharanis are Buddhist chants, mnemonic codes, incantations, or recitations, usually the mantras consisting of Sanskrit or Pali phrases. Believed to be protective and with powers to generate merit for the Buddhist devotee, they constitute a major part of historic Buddhist literature [Wikipedia].

The page numbers can be seen from the inscription on the side of each front page [see detail 2].

The text on the first page reads: in Tibetan »Phags pa tshe dang ye shes dpag tu med pa [bzhugs so]« Translation: »Sūtra [to acquire] infinite life and [infinite] wisdom«.

On the back of the first page, at the beginning of the first line is »rgya gar skad du« - translation: »In Indian« and at the end of the second line is »bod gar skad du« - translation: »In Tibetan«

This means that the Sutra text is in the Indian tradition. As is common practice in sutras, the title in Sanskrit, which is transliterated in Tibetan script, is followed by the Tibetan text after the above syllables.

Of course this does not mean that now the whole text is reproduced in Sanskrit and Tibetan. The reference to these two languages makes it particularly clear that the work was originally written in Sanskrit.

Detail 3 shows these two Tibetan texts.

Age: Unknown