Prajñāpāramitā

This Sanskrit manuscript preserves a significant portion of the *Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra* (Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Lines), one of the earliest and most influential Mahāyāna Buddhist scriptures. The text features a devotional hymn (*stotra*) in praise of Prajñāpāramitā (the perfection of wisdom) as the mother of all buddhas, followed by a philosophical dialogue between the Buddha and his disciples Subhūti and Śāriputra on the nature of bodhisattvas and the illusory (*māyopama*) character of the five aggregates (*skandhas*). Notable is the sophisticated exploration of emptiness (*śūnyatā*) through the paradoxical assertion that the bodhisattva is "non-existent" (*apadārthaḥ*) and the mind is "mindless" (*acittatvād*), exemplifying the text's characteristic dialectical approach to ultimate reality.