Yoga tantra

An almost complete copy of the influentialYoga tantra. Two folios are missing from the middle (Tib. fol. nos. 14 (=121: 278b.6-8) and 49 (=121: 282b.2)), and the final one or two folios are missing so that the item ends at121: 284a.8.

Note that the Sanskrit title given for this item, as for many of the Dunhuang manuscripts (Prajñāpāramitānaya-adhyardhaśatika) is different from the Sanskrit title given in today's canonical collections, despite the Tibetan remaining the same.

Generally speaking, the Dunhuang collections contain two distinct versions of this text.IOL Tib J 98is an example of the first version, which is largely the same as the canonical (other examples includeIOL Tib J 101). The present manuscript is an example of the second, variant version (other examples includeIOL Tib J 102). A comparison to the Chinese translations, particularly those byBodhiruci(240),Vajrabodhi(241), andAmoghavajra(243), may be revealing.

The principal differences consist of phrases or passages inserted into the canonical version. A number of additional mantric syllables are added throughout the text. At36v.1(= Tib. fol. no. 37), for example, we readba dzra kro dha ha ha, instead of justha(at121: 281b.4orIOL Tib J 98/1, Rf.13v.3). Then at42v.2-3(compare121: 282b.1), a longer mantra is inserted. The anomalous nature of this insertion may be reflected in the fact that this mantra is marked off by red circles in the text. Still longer, however, is the passage found at43b.1-47b.3(compare121: 282b.2), which after a brief homage inserts adhāraṇī(om bha ga bAn A rA pA ra na /bI sho dha ya swA hA) and a syllable-by-syllable commentary on thatdhāraṇī. Perhaps still more significant is the popular verse, variations of which are seen elsewhere in the Dunhuang manuscripts, inserted at121: 283a.8:

‘ 53v.2thams cad nam mkha'I mtshan nyId de/_/nam mkha' la nI mtshan nyId myed/_/nam mkhar mtshan nyid sbyor bas na/_/kun mchog mnyam54rba nyid rdzogs 'gyur ’ ‘Everything has the characteristics of the sky, and the sky has no characteristics. Through the union of characteristics within the sky, all is perfected as equality.’

These four lines have been discussed in the entry toIOL Tib J 437/2. Finally, a short homage to the buddhas and bodhisattvas is inserted at56b.1-2(compare121: 283b.4).

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