A Preliminary Report on the Sanskrit Manuscript of the <i>Uttaragrantha</i> of the Mūlasarvāstivāda <i>Vinaya</i>

Abstract

The discovery of the Schøyen–Virginia manuscript of the Uttaragrantha provides significant insights into the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya. This newly identified Sanskrit manuscript offers a fresh perspective on monastic law codes, contributing original Sanskrit terms previously known only through Tibetan and Chinese translations, thereby enhancing our knowledge of Sanskrit–Tibetan–Chinese Vinaya terminologies. Also, by adding itself as a new textual witness to the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, it demonstrates the complex textual history and underscores the potential multiplicity in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya traditions or even the “Greater Sarvāstivāda” Vinaya traditions. Variations in chapter sequencing across extant versions of the Uttaragrantha suggest the possibility of the chapters originally existing as independent texts rather than as a collective, the Uttaragrantha. This article presents the latest findings on the Sanskrit manuscript fragments of the Uttaragrantha in the Schøyen Collection and the private collection, Virginia. Furthermore, it attempts to show the role of the S-V manuscript of the Uttaragrantha in improving our textual understanding of the Uttaragrantha and examining the potential multiplicity in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya traditions.

Keywords

• Mūlasarvāstivāda <i>Vinaya</i>
• <i>Uttaragrantha</i>
• Buddhist manuscripts
• the Schøyen Collection
• <i>Vinaya</i> Studies