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The manuscripts were written in the Gāndhārī language using the Kharoṣṭhī script and are therefore sometimes also called the Kharoṣṭhī Manuscripts. The collection is composed of a diversity of texts: a Dhammapada, discourses of the Buddha such as the Rhinoceros Sutra, avadanas and Purvayogas, commentaries and abhidharma texts.
The earliest Buddhist texts were not committed to writing until some centuries after the death of Gautama Buddha. [2] The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts are the Gandhāran Buddhist texts, found in Pakistan and written in Gāndhārī, [3] [4] they date from the first century BCE to the third century CE. [5]
Jikji was published in Heungdeok Temple in 1377, 78 years prior to Johannes Gutenberg's acclaimed "42-Line Bible" printed during the years 1452–1455. [3] [4] The greater part of the Jikji is now lost; today only the last volume survives, and is kept at the Manuscrits Orientaux division of the National Library of France (BnF). [4]
The following is a list of the world's oldest surviving physical documents. Each entry is the most ancient of each language or civilization. For example, the Narmer Palette may be the most ancient from Egypt, but there are many other surviving written documents from Egypt later than the Narmer Palette but still more ancient than the Missal of Silos.
The largest proportion of the manuscripts are written in Chinese, both Classical and, to a lesser extent, vernacular Chinese. Most manuscripts, including Buddhist texts, are written in Kaishu or 'regular script', while others are written in the cursive Xingshu or 'running script'. An unusual feature of the Dunhuang manuscripts dating from the ...
The oldest such manuscripts are the numerous Gandhāran Buddhist texts from approximately the 1st century CE, from what is now Afghanistan. They contain among the earliest known versions of significant Buddhist scriptures, including a Dhammapada , discourses of Buddha that include the Rhinoceros Sutra , Avadanas and Abhidharma texts.
He argues that it also incorporates teachings that precede the Buddha, and that the later teachings were memorized by the Buddha's followers while he was still alive. His thesis is based on study of the processes of the first great council, and the methods for memorization used by the monks, which started during the Buddha's lifetime.
"The Senior Kharoṣṭhī Manuscripts", Birch bark scrolls in the Gandhari Language and the Kharoṣṭhī script, possibly belonging to the Dharmaguptaka school. Most of these preserve "canonical" prose sutras, as well as some biographical material on the Buddha's life associated with the Vinaya.