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The Diamond Sutra (Vajracchedika-prajñāpāramitā-sutra), "The Perfection of Wisdom Sutra that Cuts like a Thunderbolt," is a short Mahayana sutra of the Perfection of Wisdom genre, which teaches the practice of the avoidance of abiding in extremes of mental attachment. A copy of the Diamond Sutra, found sealed in a cave in China in the early 20th century, is the oldest known dated printed book, with a printed date of 868.
Since it can be read in approximately forty minutes, the Diamond Sutra is often memorized and chanted in Buddhist monasteries. This sutra has retained a high degree of popularity in the Mahyna Buddhist tradition for over a millennium, especially in East Asia, and most importantly within the East Asian meditation ( Chan/ Seon/ Zen/ Thien ) school, where it is recited, taught, and commented extensively, even today. One basic reason for its popularity is its brevity: the sutra can be chanted in about forty minutes, which means that it also readily memorizable for the average person. More important, though, is the basic resonance of the text's message with a core aspect of Chan doctrine/praxis: the theme of " non-abiding ."
There is a wood block printed copy in the British Library which, although not the earliest example of block printing, is the earliest example which bears an actual date. It was found in 1907 by the archaeologist Sir Marc Aurel SteinSir M(arc) Aurel Stein ( 1862 1943), born in Budapest, was a Hungarian Jewish archaeologist who became a British citizen. He was also a professor at various Indian universities. Stein was inspired by Sven Hedin's work, Through Asia''. Stein took part in t in a walled-up cave near DunhuangDunhuang ( Chinese: ) is a city located in an oasis in the Gansu province, China. Its population is 100,000. It is located near the historic junction of the northern and southern Silk Roads, and was therefore a town of military importance. For centuries B, in northwest China. The colophonIn publishing, a colophon describes details of the production of a book. This information generally includes the typefaces used, and often the names of their designers; the paper, ink and details of the binding materials and methods may also receive menti, at the inner end, reads: Reverently [caused to be] made for universal free distribution by Wang Jie on behalf of his two parents on the 13th of the 4th moon of the 9th year of Xiantong [i.e. 11th May, CE 868. This is about 587 years before the Gutenberg BibleThe Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible is a print of the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible that was printed by its namesake, Johann Gutenberg, in Mainz, Germany around 1454- 1455 using moveable type. This Bible is the most famous incuna.
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Buddhist textsBuddhist texts come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes. Buddhists place varying value on texts: attitudes range from worship of the text itself, to dismissal of texts as falsification of the ineffable truth. Texts can be divided up in a number of ways,
