1831.] 
Note on the Literature of Thibet . 
245 
contains in twenty-one volumes five works, so termed, and a sixth of a more mis- 
cellaneous description. The first five are discriminated according to the number 
of verses they contain. The first and greatest being known as the Arya Sata 
Sahasrika Prajna Pdramitd, or that which has 100,000 stanzas ; the others are the 
Panchavinsatika Sahasrika , Ashtddesa Sahasrika, Dasa Sahasrika, and Ashta Sahas- 
rika, from their containing 25,000, 18,000, 10,000, and 8,000 stanzas. They are 
said to treat of the same subjects, the metaphysical notions of Buddhism, as taught 
by Sakya, and to differ only in the extent to which their elucidation is carried. 
This portion of the Kah -gyur is highly esteemed, as the text book of the prevailing 
sect of the Bauddhas in Thibet, especially of the Madhyctmica division of the 
followers of Sakya. It is also called the Yum, or mother ; Prajnd, or wisdom, 
being considered as the mother of the Bodhisatwas , or cultivators of divine 
' intelligence, and is no doubt the work intended by Klaproth, when speaking of 
a Mongol translation of the Gand-jour — or, as he explains it according to Rem us at, 
La colonne merveilleuse / he observes, that a Mythology, in 12 volumes, under the 
title of Yosm, has been added to the 100 volumes of the Gand-jour. The Yoem 
is not, however, an addition, but part of the series, and is full of religious and 
moral speculations, not mythological descriptions. 
What renders this portion of the Kah-gyur particularly interesting, is the 
circumstance of our possessing the original, as well as the translation. Amongst 
the miscellaneous volumes presented to the Society by Mr. Hodgson, is a com- 
plete copy of the Arya Sata Sahasrika, P rapid Pdramitd, in Sanscrit, in the Lantsa 
characters, in five large volumes, of four and five hundred leaves each. There is also 
a duplicate copy in the Devanagari character, and consequently the contents of this 
work are readily accessible to any Sanscrit scholar. To examine them, however, 
even superficially, would occupy a considerable time, and it is sufficient at piesent 
to advert to the existence of the work. I may add, however, that Mr. Csoina 
and myself have severally translated a few pages of the Sanscrit and Thibetan 
copies of the first Khand or section, and have found a close and perfect coincidence 
between the two. 
III. Phal-chhin: Buddhavata Sanga : Association of Buddhas. This consists of six 
volumes, chiefly occupied with praises and legends of different Buddhas. 
IV. Kon-tsegs: Retna-kuta: The jewel-peak. This is a collection of Bauddha 
doctrines and legends, in six volumes ; many of the passages are in the form of a 
dialogue between S&kya and his disciples. 
V. Do : Sutra .—Aphorisms, brief rules, or dicta. Thirty volumes belong to 
this class, containing 76 different works on the metaphysical and moral doctrines 
ofSdkya; legendary accounts of that teacher, or other Bauddhas, and Bodhisatwas; 
layers and hymns addressed to them, and discussions on the consequences ot 
actions as witnessed in repeated births, or the doctrine of the metempsychosis. 
VI. Myang-das : Nirvdna Sutra : The doctrine of emancipation from existence, 
is contained in the two volumes of this class, along with a detailed account of the 
liberation of Sakya himself, which is said to have taken place in Kamarupa, oi 
Assam. 
VII. Gyut : T antra : Mysticism 
. This class is formed of 22 volumes, the subject 
. - 1 f\t* 1/lpntlVfll 
