In his final monograph, Stefano Zacchetti analyzes the Da zhidu lun's complex relation to a number of Larger Prajnaparamita texts. The evidence presented here reveals a complementary, even symbiotic relation between root text and commentary, and puts into relief processes of stabilization, consolidation, and canonization. The reader is afforded precious insights into the textual history of the Da zhidu lun, of the Larger Prajnaparamita literature as a whole, and of the general patterns of formation, transmission, exegesis, and recension of Mahayana Buddhist texts.

Da zhidu lun (Mahaprajnaparamitopadesa) and the History of the Larger Prajnaparamita: Patterns of Textual Variation in Mahayana Sutra Literature, Stefano Zacchetti, Projektverlag, Hardcover, 314 pages, $25.00

Stefano Zacchetti was an Italian academic specialising in Buddhist studies. From 2012 until his death in 2020 he was Yehan Numata Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Oxford and a professorial fellow of Balliol College, Oxford.

CONTENTS: Da zhidu lun (Mahaprajnaparamitopadesa) and the History of the Larger Prajnaparamita
Foreword Steffen Doll and Michael Zimmermann			ix
Editors' Foreword and Acknowledgements			xi
Introduction			1
	Outline		3
1	The Life and Growth of Mahayana sutras		7
2	The Larger Prajnaparamita and Its Earliest Surviving Commentary		17
	2.1	Enter the Da zhidu lun	17
	2.2	The Larger Prajnaparamita Literature: An Overview	21
3	Exegesis and Textual Variation in the Larger Prajnaparamita		33
	3.1	Patterns of Textual Variation in the Larger Prajnaparamita Literature	33
	3.2	The Influence of Early Exegesis on Larger Prajnaparamita Texts	36
4	The Textual History of the Larger Prajnaparamita Revisited		71
	4.1	"Revised" and "Unrevised" Pancavimsatisahasrika: A Misleading Dichotomy in the History of the Larger Prajnaparamita	72
	4.2	From Textual Fluidity to Relative Stabilisation	78
	4.3	Traces of a Northwest Connection: The Da zhidu lun and the Larger Prajnaparamita from Gilgit	82
5	Complex Commentary: The Nature and Historical Background of the Da zhidu lun		89
	5.1	How Was the Da zhidu lun's Exegesis Incorporated into Larger Prajnaparamita Texts?	89
	5.2	A Polyphonic Commentary: The Nature of the Da zhidu lun Reconsidered	94
	5.3	Fragments of a Lost World: Early Prajnaparamita Exegesis Quoted in the Da zhidu lun	98
	5.4	The Da zhidu lun and the Vibhasa Compendia	110
6	Conclusions		117
Appendix 1: Other Instances of Interaction between Larger Prajnaparamita Texts and the Da zhidu lun			127
	1.1	Instances of Chronologically Linear Textual Expansion (Earlier Reading ==> Da zhidu lun Commentary ==> Later Expanded Reading)	127
	1.2	An Example of Chronologically Non-Linear Textual Expansion (An Earlier Expanded Reading Reflected by the Da zhidu lun Commentary)	174
Appendix 2: A Note on the Term anavarana- (buddha)- vimoksa			181
	2.1	The anavaranaavimoksa in the Da zhidu lun	184
	2.2	The anavaranaavimoksa in Other Mahayana Sources	207
	2.3	Conclusions	227
Bibliography and Abbreviations			231
	List of Abbreviations		231
	Bibliography		235
Indices			263