Kashmir, Tamilnadu, Panini, Abhinavagupta, etc.

[N. Ganesan]

Dear Petr Mares,

On the Mount Potalaka info, the abode of Avalokitezvara
from GaNDavyUhasUtra, I am relying on the Chinese
translation done under the direction of a Khotanese
monk named Shikshananda (652-710 AD).

Exactly in the very same 7th century AD, Mt. Potalaka
is located in Malaya country by the Buddhist monk, Chih-sheng
(688-740 AD) as well as in the passage attributed to
Hsuan Tsang (640 AD).

There exists three bulky volumes in English (Translator: Thomas
Cleary) of "The Flower ornament scripture, A translation of
the Avatamsaka Sutra, Translated from Chinese by Thomas Cleary",
Shambala publications, 1984.

Vol. I, p.1
"Certainly one of the most colorful and dramatic rehearsals of
Buddhist teachings, The Flower Ornament Scripture became one of the
pillars of East Asian Buddhism. It was a source of some of the
very first Buddhist literature to be introduced by China, where
there eventually developed a major school of philosophy based on
its teachings. [...]

  The work of translating from the Flower Ornament Scripture
into Chinese apparently began in the second century AD, and
continued for the better part of a thousand years. During
this time more than thirty translations and retranslations
of various books (of Av) and selections from the scripture
were produced. [...] The first comprehensive translation of the
Flower Ornament Scripture was done under the direction of an
Indian monk named Buddhabhadra (359-429); the second, under
the direction of a Khotanese monk named Shiksananda (652-710).
The latter version, from which the present English version is
                                           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
made, was based on a more complete text imported from Khotan
at the request of the Empress of China; it is somewhat more than
ten percent longer than Buddhabhadra's translation".

Lokesh Chandra, Origin of Avalokitezvara, Kailash jl, 1974
gives similar details on Potalaka Mountain, Avalokita's home
from Buddhabhadra (420 AD) version.

Essentially I use English translations of Gv.: The section I
am interested is evidently Potalaka mount and its Chief,
Avalokita. From Buddhabhadra (5th century AD) as given in
Lokesh Chandra and Shikshananda (7th century AD) as given
in Thomas Cleary. Hope this clears the air where my data
on Mt. Potalaka of Gv comes from.

Regards
N. Ganesan



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