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{{short description|Buddhist sutra in Mahāyāna Buddhism}}
{{italic title}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019}}
{{Infobox religious text
|name=Diamond Sutra
| image =Jingangjing.jpg
| caption = [[Book frontispiece|Front line]] of the Chinese ''Diamond Sūtra'', [[Woodblock printing|printed]] in the 9th year of the [[Emperor Yizong of Tang|Xiantong era]] of the [[Tang dynasty]], i.e. CE 868, the oldest known dated printed book in the world. [[British Library]]
| author = Unknown
|background=#FFCC33 
| religion = [[Mahāyāna Buddhism]]
| language = [[Sanskrit]] 
| period     =2nd–5th century CE 
|orig_lang_code           =sa 
| wikisource              = Diamond Sutra
| verses =  
|chapters= }}
{{Contains special characters}}
{{MahayanaBuddhism}}The '''''Diamond Sutra''''' ([[Sanskrit]]: {{IAST|Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra}}) is a [[Mahayana|Mahāyāna]] [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] [[sutra]] from the genre of {{IAST|[[Prajnaparamita|Prajñāpāramitā]]}} ('perfection of wisdom') sutras. Translated into a variety of languages over a broad geographic range, the ''Diamond Sūtra'' is one of the most influential Mahayana sutras in [[East Asia]], and it is particularly prominent within the [[Chan Buddhism|Chan]] (or [[Zen]]) tradition,<ref name="Schopen">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Diamond Sutra|encyclopedia=MacMillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism|last=Schopen|first=Gregory|author-link=Gregory Schopen|pages=227–28|year=2004|publisher=MacMillan Reference USA|location=New York|isbn=0-02-865719-5|volume=1}}</ref> along with the ''[[Heart Sutra]]''.

A copy of the [[Tang dynasty]] ''Diamond Sūtra'' was found among the [[Dunhuang manuscripts]] in 1900 by [[Daoist]] monk [[Wang Yuanlu]] and sold to [[Aurel Stein]] in 1907.<ref>Wenjie Duan (1 January 1994). ''Dunhuang Art: Through the Eyes of Duan Wenjie''. Abhinav Publications. p. 52. {{ISBN|978-81-7017-313-7}}.</ref> It dates back to May 11, 868 CE<ref name="Soeng2000">{{cite book|last=Soeng|first=Mu|title=Diamond Sutra: Transforming the Way We Perceive the World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yhX_1dVKLtcC&pg=PA58|access-date=11 May 2012|date=15 June 2000|publisher=Wisdom Publications|isbn=978-0-8617-1160-4|page=58|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103092904/http://books.google.com/books?id=yhX_1dVKLtcC&pg=PA58|archive-date=3 January 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> and is broadly considered to be the oldest extant printed book, although other, earlier, printed materials on paper exist that predate this artifact.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kornicki |first=Peter |date=January 2012 |title=THE HYAKUMANTŌ DARANI AND THE ORIGINS OF PRINTING IN EIGHTH-CENTURY JAPAN |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-asian-studies/article/abs/hyakumanto-darani-and-the-origins-of-printing-in-eighthcentury-japan/CFF689ABB89B176CC9355D2FE7E8DAA6 |journal=International Journal of Asian Studies |language=en |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=43–70 |doi=10.1017/S1479591411000180 |issn=1479-5914|url-access=subscription }}</ref> It is in the collection of the British Library.

The book of the diamond sutra is also the first known [[creative work]] with an explicit [[public domain]] dedication, as its [[colophon (publishing)|colophon]] at the end states that it was created "for universal free distribution".<ref>{{cite web |last=Pollock |first=Rufus |date=2006 |title=The Value of the Public Domain |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331171110/https://rufuspollock.com/papers/value_of_public_domain.ippr.pdf |publisher=Institute for Public Policy Research}}</ref>

==Title==
The Sanskrit title for the sūtra is the {{IAST|Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra}}, which may be translated roughly as the '[[Vajra]] Cutter Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra' or 'The Perfection of Wisdom Text that Cuts Like a Thunderbolt'.<ref name="Schopen" /> In English, shortened forms such as ''Diamond Sūtra'' and ''Vajra Sūtra'' are common. The title relies on the power of the [[vajra]] (diamond or thunderbolt, but also an abstract term for a powerful weapon) to cut things as a metaphor for the type of wisdom that cuts and shatters illusions to get to ultimate reality.<ref name="Schopen" /> The sutra is also called by the name "{{IAST|Triśatikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra}}" (300 lines on the [[Paramita|Perfection]] of [[Prajñā (Buddhism)|Wisdom]] sutra).

The ''Diamond Sūtra'' is highly regarded in East Asian countries with traditions of Mahayana Buddhism.<ref name="Schopen" /> Translations of this title into the languages of some of these countries include:
* {{langx|zh|金剛般若波羅蜜多經}}, {{tlit|zh|Jīngāng Bōrě-bōluómìduō Jīng}}; shortened to {{lang|zh|金剛經}}, {{tlit|zh|Jīngāng Jīng}}
* {{langx|ja|金剛般若波羅蜜多経}}, {{tlit|ja|Kongō hannya haramita kyō}}; shortened to {{lang|ja|金剛経}}, {{tlit|ja|Kongō-kyō}}
* {{langx|ko|금강반야바라밀경}}, {{tlit|ko|geumgang banyabaramil gyeong}}; shortened to {{lang|ko|금강경}}, {{tlit|ko|geumgang gyeong}}
* {{langx|cmg-Latn|Yeke kölgen sudur}}<ref>{{Cite web
| title = Manuscript of a Mongolian Sūtra
| work = World Digital Library
| access-date = 22 June 2014
| url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/8912/#institution=bavarian-state-library&page=2
}}</ref>
* {{langx|vi|Kim cương bát-nhã-ba-la-mật-đa kinh}}; shortened to {{lang|vi|Kim cương kinh}}
* {{langx|bo|འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་རྡོ་རྗེ་གཅོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།}}, {{tlit|bo|'phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa rdo rje gcod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo}}
* [[Tangut language|Tangut]]: {{Tangut|𗵒𘗁𘄒𘎑𘏞𗓽𗕥𗸰𗖰𗚩}}, {{tlit|txg|*kiẹ¹ dźja² pa² rja² po¹ lo¹ bji̱² tow¹ lwər² lhejr²}}

==History==
The exact date of the composition of the ''Diamond Sūtra'' in Sanskrit is uncertain—arguments for the 2nd and 5th centuries have been made.<ref name="Schopen" /> The first Chinese translation dates to the early 5th century, but, by this point, the 4th or 5th century monks [[Asanga]] and [[Vasubandhu]] seem to have already authored authoritative commentaries on its content.<ref name="Schopen" />[[File:Diamond of perfect wisdom sutra.jpg|thumb|Frontispiece of the 'Diamond Sutra' written in Chinese, engraved and gilded on [[nephrite]] jade. China, 1732. [[Chester Beatty Library]]]]The Vajracchedika sutra was an influential work in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. Early translations into a number of languages have been found in locations across Central and East Asia, suggesting that the text was widely studied and translated. In addition to Chinese translations, translations of the text and commentaries were made into [[Classical Tibetan|Tibetan]], and translations, elaborations, and paraphrases survive in a number of Central Asian languages.<ref name=Schopen/>

The first translation of the ''Diamond Sūtra'' into Chinese is thought to have been made in 401 by the venerated and prolific translator [[Kumarajiva|Kumārajīva]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.acmuller.net/descriptive_catalogue/files/k0013.html|title=The Korean Buddhist Canon: A Descriptive Catalog (T 235)|publisher=A. Charles Muller|access-date=16 April 2015}}</ref> Kumārajīva's translation style is distinctive, possessing a flowing smoothness that reflects his prioritization on conveying the meaning as opposed to precise literal rendering.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Nattier|first=Jan|title=The Heart Sūtra: A Chinese Apocryphal Text?|journal=Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies|volume=15|issue=2|year=1992|pages=153–223|url=http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/ojs/index.php/jiabs/article/download/8800/2707|access-date=25 November 2013|archive-date=29 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029190717/http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/ojs/index.php/jiabs/article/download/8800/2707|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Kumārajīva translation has been particularly highly regarded over the centuries, and it is this version that appears on the 868  [[Dunhuang]] scroll. It is the most widely used and chanted Chinese version.<ref>{{cite book|author=Yongyou Shi|title=The Diamond Sūtra in Chinese Culture|year=2010|publisher=Buddha's Light Publishing|location=Los Angeles|isbn=978-1-932293-37-1|page=11}}</ref>

In addition to the Kumārajīva translation, a number of later translations exist. The ''Diamond Sūtra'' was again translated from Sanskrit into Chinese by [[Bodhiruci]] (the one from [[North India]]) in 509,   [[Paramartha|Paramārtha]] in 558, Dharmagupta (twice, in 590 and in 605~616), [[Xuanzang]] (twice, in 648 and in 660~663), [[Bodhiruci (8th century CE)|Bodhiruci]] (the one from [[South India]]) in 693, and [[Yijing (monk)|Yijing]] in 703.<ref name=":0" />

The Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang visited a [[Mahāsāṃghika]]-[[Lokottaravāda]] monastery at [[Bamiyan]], Afghanistan, in the 7th century. Using Xuanzang's travel accounts, modern archaeologists have identified the site of this monastery.<ref name="schoyencollection.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.schoyencollection.com/buddhism.html|title=Schøyen Collection: Buddhism|access-date=23 June 2012}}</ref> Birchbark manuscript fragments of several Mahāyāna sūtras have been discovered at the site, including the ''Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra'' (MS 2385), and these are now part of the [[Schoyen Collection|Schøyen Collection]].<ref name="schoyencollection.com"/> This manuscript was written in the Sanskrit language, and written in an ornate form of the [[Gupta script]].<ref name="schoyencollection.com"/> This same Sanskrit manuscript also contains the ''[[Medicine Buddha]] Sūtra'' (''Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabhārāja Sūtra'').<ref name="schoyencollection.com"/>

[[File:Kumarajiva at Kizil Caves, Kuqa.jpg|thumb|Statue of [[Kumārajīva]] in front of the [[Kizil Caves]] in [[Kuqa County|Kuqa]], [[Xinjiang]] province, China]]
The ''Diamond Sūtra'' gave rise to a culture of artwork, sūtra veneration, and commentaries in East Asian Buddhism. By the end of the [[Tang dynasty]] (907) in China there were over 80 commentaries written on it (only 32 survive), such as those by prominent Chinese Buddhists like [[Sengzhao]], [[Xie Lingyun]], [[Zhiyi]], [[Jizang]], [[Kuiji]] and [[Guifeng Zongmi|Zongmi]].<ref name=Yong>{{cite book|author=Yongyou Shi|title=The Diamond Sūtra in Chinese Culture|year=2010|publisher=Buddha's Light Publishing|location=Los Angeles|isbn=978-1-932293-37-1|page=14}}</ref><ref name=Schopen/> Copying and recitation of the ''Diamond Sutra'' was a widespread devotional practice, and stories attributing miraculous powers to these acts are recorded in Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, and Mongolian sources.<ref name=Schopen/>

One of the best known commentaries is the ''Exegesis on the Diamond Sutra'' by [[Huineng]], the Sixth Patriarch of the Chan School.<ref name=Huineng>{{cite book|author1=Hui Neng|author-link1=Huineng|last2=Cleary|first2=Thomas|author-link2=Thomas Cleary|title=The Sutra of Hui-neng, Grand Master of Zen: With Hui-neng's Commentary on the Diamond Sutra|publisher=[[Shambhala Publications]]|year=1998|isbn=9781570623486}}</ref> The ''Diamond Sutra'' features prominently in the 1st chapter of the [[Platform Sutra]], the religious biography of Huineng, where hearing its recitation is supposed to have triggered the enlightening insight that led Huineng to abandon his life as a woodcutter to become a Buddhist monk.<ref name=Schopen/>

== Contents ==

[[File:Soutra du diamant ouvert.png|thumb|A traditional pocket-sized folding edition of the ''Diamond Sūtra'' in Chinese]]

The ''Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sutra'' contains the discourse of the Buddha to a senior monk, Subhuti.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Buswell|editor1-first=Robert Jr|editor2-last=Lopez|editor2-first=Donald S. Jr.|editor1-link=Robert Buswell Jr.|editor2-link=Donald S. Lopez Jr.|title="Subhuti", in Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism.|date=2013|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, NJ|page=862|isbn=9780691157863}}</ref> Its major themes are [[anatman]] (not-self), the [[śūnyatā|emptiness]] of all phenomena (though the term 'śūnyatā' itself does not appear in the text),<ref name="Kalupahana, David J page 156">Kalupahana, David J. ''A History of Buddhist Philosophy'', p. 156.</ref> the liberation of all beings without attachment and the importance of spreading and teaching the ''Diamond Sūtra'' itself. In his commentary on the ''Diamond Sūtra'', [[Hsing Yun]] describes the four main points from the sūtra as giving without attachment to self, liberating beings without notions of self and other, living without attachment, and cultivating without attainment.<ref name=Hsingyun>{{cite book|author=Hsing Yun|author-link=Hsing Yun|title=Four Insights for Finding Fulfillment: A Practical Guide to the Buddha's Diamond Sūtra|year=2012|publisher=Buddha's Light Publishing|page=87|isbn=978-1-932293-54-8}}</ref> According to Shigenori Nagatomo, the major goal of the ''Diamond Sūtra'' is: "an existential project aiming at achieving and embodying a non-discriminatory basis for knowledge" or "the emancipation from the fundamental ignorance of not knowing how to experience reality as it is".<ref name=Shigenori>{{cite journal |last1=Nagatomo |first1=Shigenori |title=The Logic of the ''Diamond Sutra'': A is not A, therefore it is A |journal=Asian Philosophy |date=2000 |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=213–244 |doi=10.1080/09552360020011277|s2cid=13926265 }}</ref>

In the sūtra, the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]] has finished his daily walk to [[Sravasti]] with the monks to gather offerings of food, and he sits down to rest. Elder [[Subhuti|Subhūti]] comes forth and asks the Buddha: "How, Lord, should one who has set out on the [[bodhisattva]] path take his stand, how should he proceed, how should he control the mind?"<ref name=Harrison>Harrison, Paul. Vajracchedika Prajñaparamita Diamond Cutting Transcendent Wisdom</ref>
What follows is a dialogue regarding the nature of the "perfection of insight" (''Prajñāpāramitā'') and the nature of ultimate reality (which is illusory and [[Shunyata|empty]]). The Buddha begins by answering Subhuti by stating that he will bring all living beings to final [[nirvana]] (extinction, blowout), but that after this "no living being whatsoever has been brought to extinction".<ref name=Harrison /> This is because a bodhisattva does not see beings through reified concepts such as "person", "soul" or "self", but sees them through the lens of perfect understanding, as empty of inherent, unchanging self.

[[File:Soyambhu Kathmandu Nepal (5112575694).jpg|thumb|A Nepalese sculpture of a [[vajra]]]]

The Buddha continues his exposition with similar statements which use negation to point out the emptiness of phenomena, [[Merit (Buddhism)|merit]], the [[Dharma#Buddhism|Dharma]] (Buddha's teaching), the [[Four stages of enlightenment|stages of enlightenment]] and the Buddha himself. Japanese Buddhologist Hajime Nakamura calls this negation the "logic of not" (''na prthak'').<ref name=Shigenori /> Further examples of the ''Diamond Sūtra''{{'s}} [[via negativa]] include statements such as:<ref name=Harrison />
* "As far as 'all dharmas' are concerned, Subhuti, all of them are dharma-less. That is why they are called 'all dharmas'."
* "Those so-called 'streams of thought', Subhuti, have been preached by the Tathagata as streamless. That is why they are called 'streams of thought'."
* {{"'}}All beings', Subhuti, have been preached by the Tathagata as beingless. That is why they are called 'all beings'."

The Buddha is generally thought to be trying to help Subhūti unlearn his preconceived, limited notions of the nature of reality. Emphasizing that all phenomena are ultimately illusory, he teaches that true enlightenment cannot be grasped until one has set aside attachment to them in any form.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}
<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Watson |first1=Burton |title=The Diamond Sutra |journal=The Eastern Buddhist |date=2010 |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=67–100 }}</ref>
Another reason why the Buddha makes use of negation is that language reifies concepts and this can lead to attachment to those concepts, but true wisdom is seeing that nothing is fixed or stable, hence according to the ''Diamond Sūtra'' thoughts such as "I have obtained the state of an [[Arhat]]" or "I will bring living beings to [[nirvana]]" do not even occur in an enlightened one's mind because this would be "seizing upon a self ... seizing upon a living being, seizing upon a soul, seizing upon a person".<ref name=Harrison />

The sutra goes on to state that anyone who says such things should not be called a bodhisattva. According to [[David Kalupahana]] the goal of the ''Diamond Sūtra'' is "one colossal attempt to avoid the extremist use of language, that is, to eliminate any ontological commitment to concepts while at the same time retaining their pragmatic value, so as not to render them totally empty of meaning".<ref name="Kalupahana, David J page 156" />

Kalupahana explains the negation of the ''Diamond Sūtra'' by seeing an initial statement as an erroneous affirmation of substance or selfhood, which is then critiqued ({{" '}}all dharmas' are dharmaless"), and then finally reconstructed ("that is why they are called 'all dharmas{{'"}}) as being conventional and [[Pratītyasamutpāda|dependently originated]]. Kalupahana explains this final reconstruction as meaning: "that each concept, instead of either representing a unique entity or being an empty term, is a substitute for a human experience which is conditioned by a variety of factors. As such, it has pragmatic meaning and communicative power without being absolute in any way."<ref name="Kalupahana, David J page 156" /> According to Paul Harrison, the ''Diamond Sūtra''{{'s}} central argument here is that "all dharmas lack a self or essence, or to put it in other words, they have no core ontologically, they only appear to exist separately and independently by the power of conventional language, even though they are in fact dependently originated".<ref>Harrison, Paul. (2006) "Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā: A New English Translation of the Sanskrit Text Based on Two Manuscripts from Greater Gandhāra", in Buddhist Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection (Vol. III). Hermes Publishing, Oslo, p. 139.</ref>

The mind of someone who practices the ''Prajñāpāramitā'' or "perfection of wisdom" is then a mind free from fixed substantialist or "self" concepts:

{{blockquote|However, Lord, the idea of a self will not occur to them, nor will the idea of a living being, the idea of a soul, or the idea of a person occur. Why is that? Any such idea of a self is indeed idealess, any idea of a living being, idea of a soul, or idea of a person is indeed idealess. Why is that? Because the Buddhas and Lords are free of all ideas.<ref name=Harrison />}}

Throughout the teaching, the Buddha repeats that successful memorization and elucidation of even a four-line extract of it is of incalculable [[merit (Buddhism)|merit]], better than giving an entire world system filled with gifts and can bring about enlightenment. Section 32 (of the Chinese version) also ends with a four-line [[Gatha (Buddhism)|gatha]]:

{{blockquote|multiline=yes|
All conditioned phenomena <br />
Are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow, <br />
Like dew or a flash of lightning;
Thus we shall perceive them.<ref name="chungtai">{{cite web|title=The Diamond of Perfect Wisdom Sutra|url=http://ctzen.org/sunnyvale/enUS/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=141&Itemid=57|publisher=Chung Tai Translation Committee|access-date=April 16, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150430223200/http://ctzen.org/sunnyvale/enUS/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=141&Itemid=57|archive-date=30 April 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}

Paul Harrison's translation of the Sanskrit version states:<ref name=Harrison />

{{blockquote|multiline=yes|
A shooting star, a clouding of the sight, a lamp, <br />
An illusion, a drop of dew, a bubble, <br />
A dream, a lightning's flash, a thunder cloud—
This is the way one should see the conditioned.}}Red Pine's translation about life showed that the text read:<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Magazine |first1=Smithsonian |last2=Daley |first2=Jason |title=Five Things to Know About the Diamond Sutra, the World's Oldest Dated Printed Book |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/Five-things-to-know-about-diamond-sutra-worlds-oldest-dated-printed-book-180959052/ |access-date=2022-03-23 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref>
{{Blockquote|text=So you should view this fleeting world—
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream, <br />
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud, <br />
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.}}

==Dunhuang block print==
{{see also|History of printing}}
[[File:Subhuti diamond sutra detail retouched.jpeg|thumb|upright=.6|Elder [[Subhūti]] addresses [[the Buddha]]. Detail from the [[Dunhuang]] block print.]]

There is a [[woodblock printing|woodblock-printed]] copy of the ''Diamond Sutra'' in the [[British Library]] which, although not the earliest example of block printing, is the earliest example which bears an actual date.

The extant copy is in the form of a scroll about {{convert|5|m|spell=in}} long. The archaeologist [[Sir Marc Aurel Stein]] purchased it in 1907 in the walled-up [[Mogao Caves]] near [[Dunhuang]] in northwest [[China]] from a monk guarding the caves – known as the "Caves of the Thousand Buddhas".

The [[colophon (book)|colophon]], at the inner end, reads:

{{blockquote|Reverently made for universal free distribution by Wang Jie on behalf of his two parents on the 15th day of the 4th month of the 9th year of [[Emperor Yizong of Tang|Xiantong]] [11 May 868].{{clarify|date=May 2019}}}}

In 2010 UK writer and historian [[Frances Wood]], head of the Chinese section at the British Library, Mark Barnard, conservator at the British Library, and [[Ken Seddon]], professor of chemistry at Queen's University, Belfast, were involved in the restoration of its copy of the book.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11912738|title=Restoring the world's oldest book, the Diamond Sutra|publisher=[[BBC]]|date=5 December 2010|access-date=16 April 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Wood|first1=Francis|last2=Barnard|first2=Mark|url=http://idp.bl.uk/archives/news38/idpnews_38.a4d|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130405100701/http://idp.bl.uk/archives/news38/idpnews_38.a4d|title=Restoration of the Diamond Sutra|journal=IDP News|issue=38|pages=4–5|archive-date=5 April 2013|access-date=16 April 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Conserving the Diamond Sutra |publisher=IDP UK Video |date=31 January 2013 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgN5HQXTlMc |access-date=10 February 2018}}</ref> The British Library website allows readers to view the ''Diamond Sūtra'' in its entirety.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/collections/treasures/sutra/sutra_broadband.htm?middle|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040603125317/http://www.bl.uk/collections/treasures/sutra/sutra_broadband.htm?middle|archive-date=3 June 2004|title=Copy of Diamond Sutra|publisher=bl.uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bl.uk/turning-the-pages/?id=1c92bc7e-8acc-49b3-9a27-b5ad8f44230a&type=sd_planar|title=The Diamond Sutra|access-date=11 May 2023|archive-date=30 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330204125/https://www.bl.uk/turning-the-pages/?id=1c92bc7e-8acc-49b3-9a27-b5ad8f44230a&type=sd_planar|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Selected English translations==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Author
! Title
! Publisher
! Notes
! Year
! ISBN
|-
| [[Max Müller]]
| ''The Vagrakkhedika or diamond-cutter'',<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Vagrakkhedikâ or Diamond-Cutter |url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe49/sbe4929.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230612025742/https://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe49/sbe4929.htm |archive-date=Jun 12, 2023 |website=Buddhist Mahâyâna Texts |publisher=Internet Sacred Text Archive |translator-first1=E. B. |translator-last1=Cowell|translator-first2=F. Max  |translator-last2=Müller |translator-first3=J.  |translator-last3=Takakusu}}</ref> in ''Buddhist Mahayana Texts ([[Sacred Books of the East]])'',  F. Max Muller et al.
| Oxford University Press
| Translation of the Vajracchedikā prajñāpāramitā from Sanskrit. Based on Muller's edition, the first Sanskrit edition published in the West, based on four Sanskrit manuscripts, one from Tibet, one from China, and two from Japan.
| 1894
|
|-
| William Gemmell
| ''The Diamond Sutra (Chin-kang-ching), or, Prajna-paramita''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gemmell |first=William |url=http://archive.org/details/cu31924022914588 |title=The Diamond Sutra (Chin-kang-ching), or, Prajna-paramita |date=1912 |publisher=London : Trench, Trübner |others=Cornell University Library}}</ref>
| Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.;  Project Gutenberg<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64623 |title=The Diamond Sutra (Chin-Kang-Ching) or Prajna-Paramita |date=2021-02-25 |language=English |translator-last=Gemmell |translator-first=William |translator-last2=Kumarajiva |publisher=Project Gutenberg }}</ref>
| Translation of the ''Diamond Sutra'' from Chinese with an introduction and notes.
| 1912
|
|-
| [[Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki]]
| ''The Diamond Sutra''
| Various
| Translation of the ''Diamond Sūtra''
| 1934
|
|-
| Gregory Schopen
| ''The Manuscript of the Vajracchedikā Found at Gilgit,'' in Studies in the Literature of the Great Vehicle: Three Mahāyāna Buddhist Texts, ed. by L. O. Gómez and J. A. Silk
| Centers for South and Southeast Asia
| Translation of the ''Diamond Sūtra'' from the Sanskrit [[Gilgit#Gilgit manuscripts|Gilgit manuscript]]
| 1989
| {{ISBN|978-0891480549}}
|-
| [[Thich Nhat Hanh]]
| ''The Diamond that Cuts Through Illusion''
| Parallax Press
| The ''Diamond Sūtra'' with a Vietnamese Thiền commentary
| 1992
| {{ISBN|0-938077-51-1}}
|-
| Mu Soeng
| ''The Diamond Sutra: Transforming the Way We Perceive the World''
| Wisdom Publications
| Translation of the ''Diamond Sūtra'' with commentary
| 2000
| {{ISBN|978-0861711604}}
|-
| [[Edward Conze]]
| ''Buddhist Wisdom: The Diamond Sutra and The Heart Sutra''
| Random House
| The ''Diamond Sūtra'' and The Heart Sutra, along with commentaries on the texts and practices of Buddhism
| 2001
| {{ISBN|978-0375726002}}
|-
| [[Michael Roach]]
| ''The Diamond Cutter, An Exalted Sutra of the Greater Way on the Perfection of Wisdom''<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 4, 2007 |title=The Diamond Cutter, An Exalted Sutra of the Greater Way on the Perfection of Wisdom |url=http://buddhism.org/Sutras/DHARMA/Tripitaka/DiamondCutterSutra.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230707162541/http://buddhism.org/Sutras/DHARMA/Tripitaka/DiamondCutterSutra.htm |archive-date=Jul 7, 2023 |website=Seon Buddhism}}</ref>
|
| Tibetan-English edition, translated from the Tibetan translation of Shilendra Bodhi.
| 2001
|
|-
| [[Red Pine (author)|Red Pine]]
| ''The Diamond Sutra: The Perfection of Wisdom; Text and Commentaries Translated from Sanskrit and Chinese''
| Counterpoint
| The ''Diamond Sūtra'', translated from the Sanskrit (mostly from the editions by Max Muller and Edward Conze) with selections of Indian and [[Chinese Chán|Chán]] commentary from figures such as [[Asanga]], [[Vasubandhu]], [[Huineng]], [[Linji Yixuan|Linji]] and Chiang Wei-nung (1871–1938).
| 2001
| {{ISBN|1-58243-256-2}}
|-
| [[Hsuan Hua]]
| ''A General Explanation: The Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra''<ref>{{Cite book |author1=Hsuan Hua |title=The Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra |url=http://www.buddhisttexts.org/uploads/6/3/3/1/6331706/_vajra_prajna_paramita_sutra.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140520233206/http://www.buddhisttexts.org/uploads/6/3/3/1/6331706/_vajra_prajna_paramita_sutra.pdf |archive-date=May 20, 2014 |date=21 January 2024 |publisher=Buddhist Text Translation Society |isbn=978-0-88139-430-6}}</ref>
| Buddhist Text Translation Society
|
| 2002
| {{ISBN|0881394300}}
|-
| [[Nan Huai-Chin]]
| ''The Diamond Sutra Explained''
| Primodia Media
|
| 2004
| {{ISBN|0-9716561-2-6}}
|-
| A.F. Price and Wong Mou-Lam
| ''Diamond Sutra and the Sutra of Hui-neng''
| Shambhala Classics
| Translation of the ''Diamond Sūtra'' and [[Platform Sutra]]
| 2005
| {{ISBN|978-1590301371}}
|-
| Paul Harrison
| ''Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā: A New English Translation of the Sanskrit Text Based on Two Manuscripts from Greater Gandhāra''<ref>{{Cite web |title=PP: Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā |url=https://www2.hf.uio.no/polyglotta/index.php?page=volume&vid=1176 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230707162753/https://www2.hf.uio.no/polyglotta/index.php?page=volume&vid=1176 |archive-date=Jul 7, 2023 |website=Bibliotheca Polyglotta}}</ref>
| Hermes Publishing
| Translation of the ''Diamond Sūtra'' from the [[Sanskrit]] (compiled from Gilgit and the Schøyen collection manuscripts)
| 2006
|
|-
|  [[Burton Watson]]
| ''[https://www.jstor.org/stable/26289589 The Diamond Sutra]''
| ''The Eastern Buddhist'' NEW SERIES, Vol. 41, No. 1 
| Translated and introduced by Watson, based on the modern Japanese annotated translation by NAKAMURA Hajime 中村元 and KINO Kazuyoshi 紀野一義 ''Hannya shingyō; Kongō hannyakyō'' (Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, 1960).
| 2010
|
|-
| Young San Seong Do
| [https://international-zen-temple.de/book.htm ''The Diamond Sutra'']
| Angkor Verlag
| Translation of the ''Diamond Sūtra'' based on the Chinese text by Kumarajiva, including a glossary of Chinese and Sanskrit terms
| 2010
| {{ISBN|978-3-936018-64-6}}
|-
| Alex Johnson
| [https://diamond-sutra.com/ ''Diamond Sutra'']
| 
| Created by taking 15 different previous translations of the ''Diamond Sūtra''. Every element that was common through each of the translations was kept.
|2019
|
|}

==See also==
* [[Science and technology of the Tang dynasty]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Cole, Alan (2005). ''Text as Father: Paternal Seductions in Early Mahayana Buddhist Literature'', Berkeley: U Cal Press, pp.&nbsp;160–196. For a close reading of the text's rhetoric, see chapter 4, entitled "Be All You Can't Be, and Other Gainful Losses in the ''Diamond Sutra''."
* William Gemmell, transl. (1912). ''[https://archive.org/details/cu31924022914588 The Diamond Sutra]'', London: Trübner.
* Joyce Morgan and Conrad Walters (2011). ''Journeys on the Silk Road: a desert explorer, Buddha's secret library, and the unearthing of the world's oldest printed book'', Picador Australia, {{ISBN|978-1-4050-4041-9}}.
* Agócs, Tamás (2000). The Diamondness of the Diamond Sutra. Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 53, (1/2), 65–77

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikisource|Translation:Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra}}
{{wikiquote}}
* [https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c03ced75ffd204418037b7a/t/5c5306ce575d1f9230da8a6a/1548945103490/Diamond+Sutra-Paul+Harrison+tr.pdf ''Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra'': English Translation], by Paul Harrison
* [http://lapislazulitexts.com/vajracchedika_prajnaparamita_sutra.html ''Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra'': English Translation], Lapis Lazuli Texts
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150430223200/http://ctzen.org/sunnyvale/enUS/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=141&Itemid=57 ''The Diamond of Perfect Wisdom Sutra'': English Translation], by Chung Tai Translation Committee
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100613031623/http://www.uwest.edu/sanskritcanon/dp/index.php?q=node%2F35 Romanized Sanskrit] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20100613031623/http://www.uwest.edu/sanskritcanon/dp/index.php?q=node%2F35 Devanagari] of the ''Diamond Sutra'' in the Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon.
* [http://www.dsbcproject.org/canon-text/content/76/633 Romanized Sanskrit] of the ''Diamond Sutra'' in the Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon.
* [http://www.dsbcproject.org/canon-text/content/403/1863 Devanagari] of the ''Diamond Sutra'' in the Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon.
* [https://www2.hf.uio.no/polyglotta/index.php?page=volume&vid=1176 Multilingual edition of Vajracchedikā in the Bibliotheca Polyglotta]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgN5HQXTlMc Conserving the ''Diamond Sutra'', IDPUKvideo (2013)]
* {{librivox book | title=Diamond Sutra and Heart Sutra | author=UNKNOWN}}
* [https://read.84000.co/translation/toh16.html An English translation by 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080914180554/http://www.fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/advice/vajracuttersutra.asp The Diamond Sutra, also called the Vajra Cutter Sutra], available in multiple languages from the [[FPMT]]
* [https://mbingenheimer.net/sutra2DNA/ The Diamond Sūtra encoded as synthetic DNA (Sutra2DNA)]

{{Buddhism topics}}

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[[Category:Mahayana sutras]]
[[Category:British Library oriental manuscripts]]
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