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With the intention to generate merit—an investment of positive karma to ensure a good present and future lives—wealthy patrons commissioned artists and scribes to create decorated manuscripts as the physical containers of the Buddha’s words and objects of devotion. It is believed that reciting the sutra purifies the space wherever it is heard, generates positive karmic links with the teachings in the minds of all gathered, and brings well-being and prosperity.
Page from a Perfection of Wisdom (Prajnaparamita) Sutra Manuscript
OriginTibet
Dateca. 13th-14th century
Dimensions27 3/4 x 36 1/4 x 2 1/4 in. (70.5 x 92.1 x 5.7 cm)
MediumPigments on paper, gold and silver ink
Classification(s)
Credit LineRubin Museum of Art, Gift of Shelley and Donald Rubin
Object numberC2006.66.64
Himalayan Art Resources Number700115
DescriptionThe Buddha’s teachings as oral recitations were written down in texts known as sutras and envisioned in images. At the time of their writing, the sutras represented the latest developments in Buddhist philosophy and practice. As one of the earliest and most important, The Perfection of Wisdom Sutra presents the means to comprehend and perfect the essential Buddhist wisdom—that the self is a construct—and develops concepts that will become known as the Greater Vehicle, or Mahayana movement. With the intention to generate merit—an investment of positive karma to ensure a good present and future lives—wealthy patrons commissioned artists and scribes to create decorated manuscripts as the physical containers of the Buddha’s words and objects of devotion. It is believed that reciting the sutra purifies the space wherever it is heard, generates positive karmic links with the teachings in the minds of all gathered, and brings well-being and prosperity.
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