Sanskrit Verses from Candrakīrtiʼs Triśaraṇasaptati Cited in the Munimatālaṃkāra
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Citation: | Kano, Kazuo, and Xuezhu Li. "Sanskrit Verses from Candrakīrtiʼs Triśaraṇasaptati Cited in the Munimatālaṃkāra." China Tibetology 22, no. 1 (2014) 4–11. |
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Abstract
The present paper provides newly available Sanskrit fragments (11½ verses) from the Triśaraṇasaptati attributed to Candrakīrti.[2] These verses are found in the Sanskrit manuscript of Abhayākaraguptaʼs Munimatālaṃkāra.[3]
The Triśaraṇasaptati is a small versified work consisting 68 ślokas, the full text of which is preserved only in Tibetan translation. We find two versions (i.e. recensions) of the Triśaraṇasaptati in all the Tanjurs. The two versions are almost the same, having been translated by the same translation team (Atiśa and Rin chen bzang po).
Sorensen translated the Tibetan text into English and added to them six verses (12, 13, 33, 45, 46, and 47) in Sanskrit traced in the form of quotations in other works. Sorensenʼs English translation is for the most part faithful to the Tibetan text. The Tibetan translation itself, when compared with the Sanskrit original, is seen on occasion to be imprecise (see below, "Philological Remarks").
Other quotations from the Triśaraṇasaptati have been found in two passages in the Munimatālaṃkāra: Passage A (Skt. Ms. 7v1-4; Tib. D 82a7-b3; verses 1, 34, 51, 54, 55, 67) in Munimatālaṃkāra chapter 1 (the Bodhicittāloka chapter)[4] and Passage B (Skt. 132r1-3; Tib. D 219a5-b1; 7-9ab, 22-23) in chapter 3 (the Aṣṭābhisamayāloka chapter). When we collate these 11½ verses with the 6 verses independently collected by Sorensen, the total number becomes 17½, which is about 26% of the
whole text of the Triśaraṇasaptati. (Kano and Xuezhu, premilinary remarks, 4)- Sorensen (1986) claims that the work was authored by Candrakīrti, i.e., the author of the Prasannapadā, Madhyamakāvatāra, etc. (The question of authorship is outside the focus of the present paper.)
- For the details of the Sanskrit manuscript, see Li 2013 and Kano & Li 2013.
- The verses in Passage A were identified by Isoda (1984).