• Ḥphags-pa śes-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa brgyad stoṅ-pa (Ārya aṣṭasāhasrikā prajñāpāramitā, The noble perfection of wisdom in eight-thousand lines)
    འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་བརྒྱད་སྟོང་པ །

Publisher:
  • [China : s .n. , 1uuu]
Extent:
  • 1 v. ; box cm.
Format:
Description:
  • Carved wooden top. Written in pure gold.
  • Original Gest Oriental Library collection. GM2184.
Edm rights:
  • Copyright Not Evaluated
View in catalog:
Curator's notes:

  • Tibetan
    China, 19th century?, paper

    The Perfection of wisdom in eight-thousand lines is one of the foundational texts of Mahāyāna Buddhism, and is often elaborately produced in large sizes and with precious materials in Tibet and elsewhere to accumulate merit. Gold on blue-black paper (made glossy by rubbing with animal brain matter) can be found in many cultures to underline the reverence for religious texts. The raised gold lettering used for titles is distinctive of Tibet. Similar large items exist on paper, printed, in Mongolia.

    Gest Collection, TC513/2184

    For further reading

    Kapstein, Matthew T. (ed.) Tibetan manuscripts and early printed books. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2024.

Exhibit category: