The Diamond Sutra

A manuscript of a Mongolian book. The pecha has a thin, yellow silk cover and the original envelope with the circular Dalai Lama's red wax seal still in tact. This is the Mongolian version of the, 'The Diamond Sutra' (Tibetan: ’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa rdo rje gcod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo). On the title page there is salutation to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, with the Indian title written in Mongolian, giving a rendering of the Sanskrit title as, 'Arya-vajra-cchedika-nama-prajnya-paramita-mahayana-sutra'. On the very last page the title is given in Mongolian, 'Bilig-ün činadu kijaγar-a kürügsen oγtaluγči včir qutuγ-un mör toγulaqui neretü yeke kölgen sudur'. There is no detail in the colophon on the translation or the printing, there is only information about the merits which will be acquired from the text. It therefore seems to be a xylograph from China, most probably from Beijing.