The Institute of Oriental Philosophy
Lotus Sutra Manuscripts

‣Overview of the Lotus Sutra Manuscript Series

Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from the British Library (Or. 2204), Facsimile Edition (2009)

Published by the Soka Gakkai
Coordination by the Institute of Orienatal Philosophy
Date of publication: March 31, 2008
ISBN: 978-4-88417-021-9
Photographs supplied by the International Dunhuang Project, The British Library
Copy date: 11th-13th centuries CE
Number of folios: vi + 177 (total 183 folios)
Type of Publication: color facsimile
Language: Sanskrit, English, and Japanese
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This palm-leaf manuscript, formally keptt in the British Museu, is now preserved in the British Library (Or. 2204, 175 folios).
Folio 28 is omitted, but the scribe(s) mistakenly wrote "29" instead of "28," thereby skipping one number. No other omissions were found here.         Though the copy date is unknown, it is assumend to have been between the 11th and 13th centuries CE.    
    This manuscript was used for the collation of the Kern-Nanjo edition as abbreviation B in footnotes. But there is a fairly long text omission from the end of 125b6 to the beginning of 126al, which corresponds to the portion from 319.6 to 350.3 of the Kern Nanjo edition.
  
     According to Hirofumi Toda, this manuscript is the text representing a group of the palm-leaf manuscripts, called B Group. A thorough study of B Group manuscripts has not yet been completed. Further studies of the group manuscripts are expected. In any case, this publictaion is the first step for the progress.

 


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