Vajra Cutter Sutra

The goddess Prajñaparamita

The Vajra Cutter Sutra (aka Diamond Sutra) (Skt. Vajracchedikā-prajñāpāramitā-sūtra, Wyl. ’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa rdo rje gcod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo) is a popular Prajnaparamita sutra.

Famous Quotes

Those who see my body as ordinary form,

And hear my voice as ordinary sound,

Have set out upon a mistaken path.

Such people do not truly see me.

Like a star, hallucination, candle,

Magical illusion, dewdrop, bubble,

Dream, lightning or a cloud—

Know all compounded phenomena to be like this.

Early Translations

• Chinese translation, ca. AD 400 by Kumārajīva
• Chinese translation in the 7th century by Xuanzang
• Tibetan translation in the 9th century by Śīlendrabodhi and Yeshé Dé

English Translations

• Gelong Thubten Tsultrim (George Churinoff), The Exalted Mahayana Sutra on the Wisdom Gone Beyond Called the Vajra Cutter (based on the Tibetan Lhasa Zhol printing), FPMT, 2002 Available online here
• Paul Harrison, 'Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā: A New English Translation of the Sanskrit Text Based on Two Manuscripts from Greater Gandhāra', contained in Jens Braarvig, Paul Harrison, Jens-Uwe Hartmann, Kazunobu Matsuda & Lore Sander, eds., Buddhist Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection, Hermes (Oslo 2006)
• Gregory Schopen, 'The Manuscript of the Vajracchedika Found at Gilgit: An Annotated Transcription and Translation' in Luis O. Gómez and Jonathan A. Silk (ed.s), Studies in the Literature of the Great Vehicle: Three Mahāyāna Buddhist Texts

Further Reading

• Thich Nhat Hanh, The Diamond that Cuts Through Illusion: Commentaries on the Prajñaparamita Diamond Sutra (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1992)
• Edward Conze, The Prajñāpāramitā Literature (1960)

External Links

• Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā at Thesaurus Literaturae Buddhicae