Diamond Sutra

The Diamond Sutra is a Mahayana Buddhist scripture in the Perfection of Wisdom tradition, presented through a dialogue involving the Buddha and Subhuti. Its repeated questions and qualifications turn attention towards the difficulty of grasping wisdom through fixed concepts or claims of possession. Generosity and the bodhisattva’s intention to benefit living beings form part of this teaching. The text has been transmitted in several languages and holds an important place in East Asian Buddhist practice. A Chinese printed copy dated 868, preserved by the British Library, also records an early meeting of religious devotion and the technology of book production.