I read this week that restoration work takes place at the British Library in London on the world’s oldest printed book – a much love Buddhist text called the Diamond Sutra dating back to 868 AD. (Sutra is the Sanskrit for discourse).
Many Westerners believe the Gutenberg’s Bible from around 1450 AD as the world’s oldest printed book. A copy of the Diamond Sutra printed 600 years earlier remained hidden in Buddhist monk’s cave in Dun Huang , Gansu Province, China for many centuries.
The Buddhist texts came to light when a Chinese Buddhist monk clearing sand from a monk’s cave in 1910 noticed a crack in a wall. The monk, Abbot Wang Yuanlu, broke in and discovered a small chamber, about nine feet square and full from floor to ceiling with scrolls. They had been hidden and perfectly preserved in the dark, dry grotto for a little more than 1,000 years. Although he didn’t know it, among the nearly 60,000 scrolls was the Diamond Sutra of 868 A.D., a woodblock printed scroll, more than 16 feet long, complete and dated, with an instruction for the text to be available for free distrubution. The monks printed the books on wood blocks which were distributed primarily to other monasteries where they reflected and meditated upon the texts.
Hearing of the discovery, a Hungarian-British explorer /archaeologist, Sir Aurel Stein (1862 – 1943) made a secret expedition along the Silk Road through Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and into Western China to get his hands on as many of the scrolls as possible. Stein had no interest in the actual teaching of the Diamond Sutra but only in their historical relevance.
The Abbot gave him permission to see the scrolls that filled the secret three metre high space in the cave of the text. It is said there was even the fragment of a Buddhist text in Hebrew as well as Chinese and Tibetan. Stein left the monastery with some 5000 scrolls having paid the monastery a modest sum for them.
Stein then brought scrolls to the British Museum that huge repository in London for centuries of grand larceny, wholesale plunder, widespread corruption and blatant deception , as well as simple theft, especially in the time of the British Empire, of some of the world most sacred treasures, arts, artefacts and relics.
in 1961, the National Library of Peking stated: “This famous scroll was stolen by the Englishman Ssu-t’an-yin [Stein] more than 50 years ago which causes people to gnash their teeth. ‘
For Dharma practitioners, the fact that the Diamond Sutra is the world’s oldest book should matter mostly to historians. The teachings in the Diamond Sutra take priority. In 1930, Wong Mou-Lam and A. F. Price translated into English around 50 pages of the Diamond Sutra (republished by Shambhala Publishers, 1990).
Consisting of short exchanges between Subhuti and The Budha. the Diamond Sutra is bold, cutting (it was originally called the Diamond Cutter) and uncompromising.
Extracts from the Diamond Sutra
Page 22. If such men allow their minds to grasp and hold onto anything, they would be cherishing the idea of an ego entity, a personality, a being, or a separated individuality.
Page 25. What do you think? If anyone filled 3000 galaxies with the seven treasures (gold, silver, pearls etc) and gave away all in gifts of the alms, would that peson gain great merit?
The Buddha said: “If anyone received and retained only four lines of this discourse and taught and explained them to others, this person’s merit would be greater.”
Subhuti asked: “Does a Dharma student who has entered the stream of the spiritual life say within, “I obtain the fruit of a stream entrant?” (a stream entrant has tasted liberation and works on unresolved aspects of the inner life).
The Buddha replied: “No. Because stream entrant is merely an name.”
Page 42. Subhuti, do not say that the tathagata (one thus gone beyond the mundane) conceives the idea “I must set forth a teaching.” For if anyone says that the tathagata sets forth a teaching, he really slanders the awakening and is unable to explain what I teach. As to any truth declaring system, truth is undeclarable; so “an enunciation of truth” is just the name given to it.
Page 43 Subhuti asked the Buddha: “In the attainment of the consummation of incomparable enlightenment, did the Buddha make no acquisition whatsoever?
The Buddha replied: “Just so, Subhuti. Through the consummation of incomparable enlightenment, I have acquired not even the least thing; wherefore it is called “consummation of incomparable enlightenment.”
Page 46. The Buddha said: “Let no one say Tathagata cherishes the idea “I must liberate all living beings.” Allow no such thought, Subhuti. Because in reality there are no living beings to be liberated by the Tathagata.
If there were living beings for the Tathagata to liberate, he would partake in the idea of selfhood, personality, ego entity, and individuality. Those who are referred to as the common people are not really common people; such is merely a name.
Page 51.Subhuti asked: “If a person ground the galaxies to dust, would the resulting minute particles be many?
The Buddha replied: “Many indeed. There are no such “minute particles.” This is the name given to them. The galaxies of worlds are not worlds. It would mean a self-existent cosmos. “Cosmos” is a figure of speech. Words cannot explain the real nature of a cosmos. Only common people fettered with desire make use of this arbitrary method.”
Page 53. The Buddha said:
“Thus shall you think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream
The whole role of gods, men, and tightens, were filled with joy by his teaching, and taking its sincerely to heart they went their ways.”
May readers take seriously to heart the teachings
in the Diamond Sutra and go your way.
Stein had little idea of what was in the 5,000 scrolls he bought from Wang for £130. He had no time to examine the documents properly, nor did he understand Chinese. And Stein’s Chinese translator knew little about Buddhism. The fact that the Diamond Sutra was somewhere among the many bundles was simply an accident.
Stein, born 150 years ago this year, took the Diamond Sutra and the other scrolls to India and on to London, where they are now in the British Library. But the significance of the Diamond Sutra of 868 A.D. took years to sink in. When the usually meticulous Stein first referred to it in his book about his expedition, published 1911, he recorded its date wrong. Stein’s great rival, Frenchman Paul Pelliot, appears to have spotted its significance when he studied the scroll a few years later. The Diamond Sutra was displayed in the British Library at one stage near a Gutenberg Bible — with the latter labeled as the world’s earliest printed book.
The Diamond Sutra, now recognized as one of the world’s great literary jewels, has recently undergone conservation. Too fragile to go on permanent display, it can be viewed online in greater detail than peering through a dark display case would allow. And there it can be viewed for free — just as initially intended.
4 Secrets of the Diamond Sutra
The Diamond Sutra distills Buddhism’s central message that everything changes. It describes our fleeting world as a bubble in a stream.
Jack Kerouac was so influenced by the Diamond Sutra that he studied it daily for years and attempted his own rendition.
Brevity is one reason for the Diamond Sutra’s popularity. It can be recited in 40 minutes.
The Diamond Sutra of 868 A.D. is printed on paper, a material unknown in the West for another couple centuries.
Diamond Sutra
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British Library Board
The world’s oldest printed books were the wood block printings printed in China during the 7th century which were printed to spread the teachings of Buddha and the Sutras of Buddhism.
One such book is the Sanskrit book, the Vajracchedik? Prajñ?p?ramit? S?tra, shortly known as the Diamond Sutra. The Chinese translated version of this book is the world’s oldest available “dated printed book”. This is the oldest known printed book with an explicit date mentioned on it. This book now resides at the British Museum in London.
It is a 16 feet long scroll printed on a wood block in 868 CE. The instructions on the book by the printer, Wang Jie say that it be given away for free. Obviously there were many copies of this book printed to be given away for free to spread the teachings of Buddha. The maturity in the design and printing of this book clearly indicates that such printed books were already well established during this time.
This copy of the Diamond Sutra had been hidden for several centuries in a sacred cave on the edge of the Gobi Desert. It was discovered in 1900, more than a thousand years after it was printed, by a Buddhist monk while cleaning the cave! The monk observed a crack in the cave wall while cleaning and realized that it was a deliberately concealed entrance to another section of the cave. And inside this concealed section was found this copy of the Diamond Sutra.
FOLLOW RELIGION
The walled city of Dunhuang (Sha-chou) was an outpost on the northwestern frontier, whose importance was due primarily to its location for it was a military base on the Silk Road connecting China with Central Asia and the Western world. More recently it has attracted attention because of the Thousand Buddha caves and the Diamond Sutra.
In the 840s, with the resurgence of the old Confucian and Taoist ideas, China turned against foreign religions. Buddhism, always criticized by the Confucianists, came under an imperial ban in 845; over 4,600 temples and monasteries were shut down and their devotees barred from the religious life. Two decades later the new emperor rescinded the ban, however Buddhism never revived in quite the same form. In 1127, the Hsi-hsia, a nomadic tribe from the north, invaded Dunhuang. The caves, however, retained their importance as a religious site for several centuries more. The site fell into general neglect during the late Ming era and lay buried in the desert sands for many years.
At the time of the Hsi-hsia invasion, some person or persons unknown chose one of the caves as a hiding-place for thousands of Buddhist sutras and other manuscripts. In the centuries that followed, all memory of this vast storehouse seems to have been lost, but the precious artifacts survived in safety until the 20th century, when they were rediscovered by an appreciating world. Among the manuscripts was perhaps the oldest printed book – actually a scroll – in existence, the Diamond Sutra, dated 868.
At the beginning of the 20th century, an abbot named Wang Yuan-lu came to Dunhuang area, discovered the sand covered stone grottoes, took up residence in one cave and began to clear out the others. Eight hundred and fifty years had elapsed since Hsi-shia had invaded this territory.
In 1900, the secret library (Cave 17) was discovered by Abbot Wang when he was sweeping out sand and dust from a cave (Cave 16). The secret library is a small stone room contained well over 10,000 manuscripts and silk paintings, many of which were Hsuan-tsang’s own translations of Buddhist texts, patiently copied and preserved by Buddhist monks. No one knows when or who bricked over and whitewashed the door and painted murals on it.
In march 1907, a British expedition under Sir Aurel Stein arrived at Dunhuang and visited Wang in his cave. Stein took away total of twenty-four cases, heavy with manuscripts, and five boxes of paintings, embroideries and art relics, which all had only cost him 130 pounds.
in bitter hatred.” It is currently on display in the British Museum. The scroll, some sixteen feet long, 17 an half feet long and 10 and half inches wide, bears the following inscription: ” reverently made for universal free distribution by Wang Jie on behalf of his parents on the fifteenth of the fourth moon of the ninth year of Xian Long (May 11, 868)”
Who and why hid such treasures in the cave after all? It remains a mystery.
A copy of the Chinese version of Diamond S?tra, found among the Dunhuang manuscripts in the early 20th century and dated back to May 11, 868,[1] is, in the words of the British Library, “the earliest complete survival of a dated printed book.”[2]