The Kasyapaparivarta

This book contains a) the first Devanagari edition of the Kasyapaparivarta the unique Sanskrit manuscript of which (supposedly written sometime in the 7th or 8th century ce in Khotan) was discovered more than a hundred years ago in Eastern Turkestan, and b) an English translation of this text. It highly esteemed, for there exist several Chinese versions and one Tibetan translation of it. It can be argued with good reason that, together with the oldest textual strata of the Astasahasrika-Prajnaparamita those of the Kasyapaparivarta constitute a specimen of the earliest Mahayana literature.; A study of the present text reveals that it must have inspired the compilers of further Mahayana discourses and, moreover, become one of the basic sources for the chief Madhyamika and Yogacara masters who both rather substantially quote from and often allude to it. The main themes of the text are the bodhisattva ideal and the teaching of sunyata, `emptiness’, both being the key features of the Great Vehicle.