The Diamond Sutra: The Oldest Known Printed Book in the World

The Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra has been translated from Sanskrit into English variously as the Diamond Sutra, the Diamond Cutter Sutra, the Vajra Sutra and the Vajra Cutter Sutra. This sutra (a Sanskrit word that means a religious teaching or sermon, in particular that of the Buddha) is commonly regarded as one of the most revered texts of Mahayana Buddhism. A copy of this sacred text, which was discovered in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang, China, has been described as being “the world’s earliest complete survival of a dated printed book”.

The Diamond Sutra is part of a larger canon of early Mahayana sutras known as the Prajnaparamita (meaning ‘Perfection of Wisdom’) Sutras. Another well-known sutra in this canon is the Heart Sutra. According to Mahayana Buddhist legend, these sutras were dictated by the Gautama Buddha to his various disciples. These sacred teachings were then kept hidden for 500 years, and is said to have only been discovered when mankind was prepared to learn from them. Scholars, however, are of the opinion that this canon was not created over a few years, but over the centuries.

• The ancient manuscripts of Dunhuang
• Reading Oracle Bones and Writing the Future in the Shang Dynasty
• Could ancient textbooks be the source of the next medical breakthrough?

Whilst these sutras began to be written during the 1^st century BC, the canon was only completed several centuries later.