Question Please: Where is the oldest complete set of the Pali Cannon?

thickpaper

Thanks in advance:)

Glow

This is what Wikipedia has to say: The climate of Theravāda countries is not conducive to the survival of manuscripts. Apart from brief quotations in inscriptions and a two-page fragment from the eighth or ninth century found in Nepal, the oldest manuscripts known are from late in the fifteenth century,[44] and there is not very much from before the eighteenth.[45]
Source: Wikipedia: Pali Canon

This is confirmed in other books I have read by Buddhist scholars. Whether those manuscripts survive or where they are located, I don't know. I believe there are older manuscripts of the parallel canons in Chinese and Tibetan. The Pali canon is just the only early Buddhist scripture to have survived in an Indian language. The oldest Buddhist manuscripts in any language are said to be the Gandharan texts, some of which are in the British Library, among other collections. These are written in a language called Gandhari and are dated from about the 1st century.

aHappyNihilist

yes they were originally written on palm leaves, not very good in terms of preservation. they were transcribed constantly for a really long time.

Cinorjer

Complete canon? Ah, my Korean friends are proud of the ancient heritage preserved in their temples.

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Mukujungkwang Dharani Sutra (abbreviated Mukujungkyung) is the oldest wood-block printed scroll in existence in the world, estimated to have originated sometime between 704 and 751 A.D.

The scroll consists of 12 sheets containing Buddhist scriptures. The scroll was found in Sukga Pagoda in 1966, severely deteriorated in poor physical condition. The restoration process comprised examination, dismantling, unrolling and cleaning; the final step was backing with specially produced new paper and adding a new wooden stick.

The most difficult step was reproducing the quality and condition of the original paper. Two notable features of Korean handmade paper are the long mulberry bark fibres and the pounding techniques. The mulberry fibres are tough enough to withstand the pounding, which serves to flatten and loosen the fibres. After pounding, the paper becomes lighter, thinner, smoother, shinier, tougher, and denser, as well as stronger and more durable. To continue to restore the world's documentary heritage, we need to preserve traditional papermaking techniques and devote systematic attention and treatment to these materials.
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On top of that, there is a complete set of Tripitaka woodblock carvings called the "Tripitaka Koreana" created between 1236-1251, the oldest complete Canon in the Chinese language (at the time, Korea did not have its own written language).

Joshua

Geeze, where was movable-type when you needed it?

upalabhava

The oldest printed book in the world (wood block, the most movable "type") is the Diamond Sutra. If I am not mistaken it was found by Aurel Stein. I recommend his books wholeheartedly; they are an absolute joy to read. And he was THE "Indiana Jones".

The history of the Tarim Basin around the time of the Silk Road and Gandharan Greco-Buddhism is my favorite era of history by far.

thickpaper

Thank you all for your replies and answers, a fascinating issue to me. I had heard of the Gandharan texts before but never really looked into them until prompted above.

Are there any translations to download?

Cloud

@thickpaper, Still looking for the Buddha's original teachings? It may be quicker to realize them for yourself than hunt down all the oldest and most authentic written accounts you can find.

thickpaper

@thickpaper, Still looking for the Buddha's original teachings? It may be quicker to realize them for yourself than hunt down all the oldest and most authentic written accounts you can find.

I wonder what the motives are in this statement???

Glow

You can read a preview version of a published transliteration, translation and commentary of the Gandhari Dhammapada on Google Books here.

I warn you, though, it's extremely disappointing. The very first verse reads: "One ought to avoid women, who are wrathful, ungrateful, and malicious. Monk, practice celibacy with respect to the teaching of the perfectly enlightened Buddha."

Yeesh! Most of it, however, is pretty similar to the Pali version.

buddhajunkie

@thickpaper, Still looking for the Buddha's original teachings? It may be quicker to realize them for yourself than hunt down all the oldest and most authentic written accounts you can find.

this is debatable. Unfortunately.

thickpaper

Dukkamongers amongst the peaceseekers.

Jeffrey

One man's dukkha is another man's peace.

Even dukkha is impermnanent, composed of parts, and mentally labeled (dukkha when grasped to). Dukkha is not dukkha. That is how it is dukkha. Another way of saying it is made of things that are not dukkha. For example a flower is made of soil earth fertilizer and a gardner and all the interconnections that make possible.

Dukkha means to have a mistaken idea that there is something solid to grasp to. And then suffer when it changes. Dukkha does not mean decay itself. That is impermanence. Dukkha doesn't mean anything in the context of decay because there is never anything solid in the first place to decay. Dukkha is not the second law of thermodynamics.

That is why there is only dukkha when there is grasping. That is why there needs to be an awareness. That is why the fourth seal is nirvana. When there is no grasping.

Or you can say dukkha and nirvana are the same thing with no awareness. If you like that.

Cloud

@Jeffrey, Dukkha is the clinging mind; Nirvana the non-clinging mind. That's one way of saying they're two extremes of the same phenomenon.