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Document Details : Title: The Bajaur Mahāyāna Sūtra Subtitle: A Preliminary Analysis of its Contents Author(s): SCHLOSSER, Andrea , STRAUCH, Ingo Journal: Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Volume: 39 Date: 2016 Pages: 309-335 DOI: 10.2143/JIABS.39.0.3200528 Abstract : Birch-bark manuscripts from Gandhāra are the oldest material remains of Buddhist texts known so far. In recent years, a growing number of these texts can be ascribed to the Mahāyāna movement. The largest of these Mahāyāna texts is part of the so-called Bajaur Collection. According to its linguistic and paleographic features the text can be dated to the 1st or 2nd century CE. It is written in the sūtra style and centers around the prediction given to 84,000 devaputras that they will become Buddhas with their own buddhafield. The text has no direct parallel in Indic, Chinese or Tibetan languages. The present article gives for the first time an overview of the content and compositional structure of the text based on the ongoing edition carried out by the authors. |
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