ACHMA (a Turkish word meaning “opening”), a town in the Domoko (Dumaqu) oasis near Khotan, so named with reference to…

ADHYARDHAŚATIKĀ PRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀ (“The perfection of wisdom in 150 lines”), title of a Praǰñāpāramitā text in Tantric style. It contains fifteen…

AMITĀYUS, Sanskrit name of one of the transcendental Buddhas, the so-called Dhyāni-Buddhas, of later Buddhism. He became associated with Sukhāvatī,…

AMOGHAPĀŚAHṚDAYA, “the heart or essence (Sanskrit hṛdaya) of the Amoghapāśa ritual,” the name of a Buddhist text belonging to the…

AMṚTAPRABHADHĀRAṆĪ, name given by H. W. Bailey to a fifty-line text in Late Khotanese (transcribed in Bailey, Khotanese Texts V,…

ANANTAMUKHANIRHĀRADHĀRĀṆĪ, the name of a Buddhist text belonging to the Mahayanist Tantric tradition. The only surviving fragment of the original…

AṄGULIMĀLĪYA-SŪTRA, a Buddhist text concerning the conversion to Buddhism of a robber called Aṅgulimāla. The work is known from Pali…

APARIMITĀYUḤ-SŪTRA, the name of a Buddhist text belonging to the Mahāyāna tradition. It is concerned with the merit obtained by…

ĀQSŪ, town in eastern Turkestan, modern Chinese Sin-kiang, about six km to the north of the river Āqsū. It lies…

AVADĀNA, Sanskrit term for a category of Buddhist narrative literature. Three such popular Buddhist stories are known through fragments of…

AVALOKITEŚVARA-DHĀRAṆĪ, name given by H. W. Bailey to a Buddhist text written in archaizing Late Khotanese (q.v.). The text was…

BUDDHISM iii. Buddhist Literature in Khotanese and Tumshuqese A substantial number of manuscripts and manuscript fragments have come to light…

BUDDHISM i. In Pre-Islamic Times Origin and early spread of Buddhism. Buddhism arose in northeast India in the sixth century…

CROSBY, OSCAR TERRY (born Ponchatoula, Loui­siana, 21 April 1861, d. Warrenton, Virginia, 2 Janu­ary 1947), collector of an important group…

CARAKA, the name of an Indian physician associated with one of the major works on Indian medicine (the Carakasaṃhitā), as…

CAITYAPRADAKṢIṆĀGĀTHĀ, lit. “the song (Skt. gāthā) about circumambulating (Skt. pradakṣiṇā) a holy place (Skt. caitya),” the title of a Buddhist…

BOOK OF ZAMBASTA, a Khotanese poem on Buddhism. It is the longest indigenous literary compo­sition in the Khotanese language and…

BHAVĀṄGA, the name assigned by H. W. Bailey to ten fragmentary Khotanese folios, a transcription of which he published in…

BHAIṢAJYAGURUVAIḌŪRYAPRABHARĀJASŪTRA, the name of a Buddhist Mahayanist text of which a number of fragments in Old Khotanese and Sogdian are…

BHADRAKALPIKASŪTRA, the name of a Buddhist Mahayanist text. Due to an error introduced by S. Konow it has usually been…

BHADRACARYĀDEŚANĀ, the name of a Buddhist text belonging to the Mahāyāna Tantric tradition of which a Khotanese translation is extant….

BHADRA, the name of a magician, who according to Buddhist legend tried to deceive the Buddha by means of his…

GUTSCHMID, HERMANN ALFRED FREIHERR VON (b. Loschwitz near Dresden, 1 July 1831; d. Tübingen, 1 March 1887), classical scholar and…