The present work is a valuable edition (in transcription) of the Tibetan text of an early Mahāyāna sūtra of which the original Sanskrit has perished. With this the Chinese versions have been compared and the variants quoted. A most useful feature of the work is the presentation of the Sanskrit equivalents of Tibetan phrases, in particular those with technical meaning. The Sanskritist may thus easily see what precise Sanskrit word corresponded to the Tibetan or to its French translation.
The earliest extant translation of part of the text into Chinese was by Guṇabhadra between A.D. 435 and 443. But, as the text was a source for Asaṅga whose works are known in Chinese in 413–421, a date second to third centuries A.D. is reasonably proposed (p. 24–5)
In his preface M. Lamotte has discussed the texts and commentaries, the title, the importance of the text by reason of its early date and position between the Prajñāpāramitā texts and those of the Vijñānavāda, and has given a detailed analysis of the contents. The author has p. 7 himself rightly recognized how little satisfactory literal renderings of Buddhish technical terms are. (H. W. Bailey, Review of Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra. L'Explication des Mystères. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 8 , no. 4 (1937): 1157.)
| Citation | Lamotte, Étienne, ed. and trans. Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra: L'Explication des mystères. Leuven, Belgium: Presses universitaires de Louvain, 1935. |
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- Āryasaṃdhinirmocanamahāyānasūtra ('phags pa dgongs pa nges par 'grel pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo). (D 106) mdo sde, ca 1b1-55b7 (vol. 49); (P 774) mdo sna tshogs, ngu 1a1-60b7 (vol. 29, p.1); (N 94) mdo sde, ca 1b1-81a7 (vol. 51). In bka' 'gyur (sde dge par phud), Vol. 49: 1-110. Delhi: delhi karmapae chodhey gyalwae sungrab partun khang, 1976-1979.
- Chinese: Taishō 675-9.
- Sanskrit source unidentified.
