The Story of Sadaprarudita in the Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra and its Contribution to the Study of Early Mahayana Buddhism

There is one particular story about Sadaprarudita's search for prajnaparamita (perfection of wisdom) in the Prajnaparamita Sutras of 8,000, 18,000, 25,000 and 100,000 lines, and their respective translations in Chinese and Tibetan. There are two different versions of the story in those sutras. One is in the two earliest Chinese translations of the Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra (Asta), and the other is in the Sanskrit Asta and its subsequent Chinese translations. In addition to these two versions, the story of Sadaprarudita also exists in a jataka version recorded in the Liuduji jing (Compendium on the Six Paramitas). The focus of this paper is on the relationship of the three versions, in particular, the evolution of the story of Sadaprarudita.