Since the start of the oral transmission of Prajnaparamitra Sutra on September 25 at the Kuenselphodrang in Thimphu, devotees have increased by around three thousand.

Prajnaparamitra Sutra, which is one of the major sections of Kanjyur (translated words of Buddha), is believed to have been revealed by the great Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna from Luyul (Naga world).

Nagarjuna is considered to be the founder of the Madhyamaka school of Mahanaya Buddhism.

Currently, there are more than 13,000 devotees receiving the oral transmission of Kanjyur from His Holiness the Je Khenpo.

The Kanjyur Oral Transmission Committee’s vice-chairman, Khentrul Garab Dorji, said that the devotees have increased as many of them are interested to receive the oral transmission of Prajnaparamitra Sutra because they know the sutra is considered a sacred nangten (relic).

Buddhists consider statue as Buddhas’ body representative, scriptures (Buddhist texts) as Buddhas’ speech, and stupa as Buddhas’ mind representative.

Prajnaparamitra Sutra in Sanskrit is ‘the perfection of transcendent wisdom’, and it consists of teachings on emptiness (sunyata), which is basically wisdom and compassion, the essence of all eighty-four thousand teachings that Shakyaminu Buddha expounded during his lifetime.

Prajnaparimitra Sutra was taught by Shakyamuni Buddha around 2,500 years ago at Vulture Peak in Rajgir, India during the second turning of the Wheel of Dharma where more than one hundred thousand bodhisattvas attended the teachings.

Khenpo Sonam Bumdhen of the Central Monastic Body said that all who attended the teachings generated bodhichitta, the enlightened-mind. “Prajnaparamitra is seeing self and all phenomena as emptiness.”

It is believed that Prajnaparimitra Sutra was taught around seven years. In the second turning of the Wheel of Dharma, Shakyamuni Buddha emphasised on emptiness as epitomised in Prajnaparamita Sutra.

Prajnaparamitra in Tibetan is called Sherubki Pharoeltu Chenpa. It has three sections of which the elaborated section is the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra in one hundred thousand verses. In Tibetan it is called Bum, which literally means one hundred thousand verses.

The medium one, which is the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra, has twenty five thousand verses and it is called Nyethri in Tibetan and the short one, which is called the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra in eight thousand verses, is known as Gyetongpa. And the summery that is recited as prayer is Sherubnyingpo in Tibetan is the Heart Sutra.

The Kanjyur consists of three major sections of which one is Vinaya, a set of disciplines that monks ought to follow. According to Vinaya, a fully-ordained monk should practise 250 disciples. It is the regulatory framework for the monastic community of Buddhism based on the canonical texts of the Vinaya Pitaka.

The sutra section is a collection of aphorisms in the form of a manual or texts. It consists of transcended perfection wisdom and other sutras.

The third major component is Abhidharma, which deals with reasoning, analytical part and cosmology. Of higher and lower Abhidhrma, the former one deals with foundation, path, and meditation among others.

Tenzin Namgyel 

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