The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom, ( PART 1), with the Divisions of the Abhisamayalankara

The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom, with the Divisions of the Abhisamayalankara Hardcover – January 1, 1961
by Edward translator Conze (Author)
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Luzac & Company; First Edition (January 1, 1961)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
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Some two thousand years ago Buddhism experienced a major reformation through a movement called the Mahayana, or "Great Vehicle," which dominated religious thought in much of Asia for many centuries and still exerts considerable influence. The basic Mahayana texts were sermons ascribed to the Buddha, called "Sutras" in Sanskrit. The earliest and most influential of these Mahayana Sutras had the "perfection of wisdom" as its main subject matter. Of these texts, the famous "Diamond" and "Heart" Sutras have been known in the West for many years, but they are merely condensations of the original "Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom" that took shape between 50 and 200 A.D. In the present volume, Dr. Conze offers the result of thirty-five years of close study, and makes available this "Large Sutra," the key document for dealing with early Mahayana doctrine. This scripture has, throughout the centuries, been revered as "The great mother of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas" not only in India but in China, Tibet, Japan, Mongolia and Southeast Asia as well. It is now made available in its complete form for the first time in an annotated translation.
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Review :
The Prajnaparamita sutras are exceptionally profound Mahayana Buddhist texts that are by no means easy to understand. In attempting to read them it soon becomes apparent that the author or authors of these texts were scholastics who were thoroughly schooled in the intricacies of Indian Buddhist thought.

It also becomes clear that they must have been spiritual aristocrats, persons who had in fact achieved Enlightenment and who, though scholars, were writing from the point-of-view of the Enlightened. Given this, these texts present us with certain problems.

Edward Conze (1904-1979) has been called "the foremost Western scholar of the Prajnaparamita literature" and it seems to me that he has in his various works (such as, for example, his Buddhist Wisdom Books and to a lesser extent in the present book) gone as far as it is possible for a scholar to go in explaining these difficult sutras to a modern audience. I also feel that his many translations of the Prajnaparamita far surpass most others in their clarity and beauty.

I first acquired Conze's 'Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom' many years ago, have always treasured it, and although preferring for most purposes the much more approachable 8000 line version ( The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines & Its Verse Summary I have no hesitation in recommending it.