6th International Symposium Oriental Studies

111 The 6 th International Symposium on Oriental Ancient Documents Studies Alexander Zorin A Dunhuang Tibetan Manuscript of “Ārya-samādhyagrottama” Kept at the Institute of Oriental ManuscriptsRAS This paper introduces a small Tibetan book from Dunhuang kept at the IOM RAS that contains a copy of ’ Phags pa ting nge ’dzin mchog dam pa , one of the Buddhist sūtras emphasizing the importance of the practice of samādhi. Some codicological and paleographic features of the manuscript as well as its contents are characterized. The manuscript presents an old version of ’ Phags pa ting nge ’dzin mchog dam pa that is different from those of later editions of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon. Its comparison with fragments of two other Dunhuang copies of the same text found in Paris seems to support the assumption that there did exist such an old version of the sūtra. Key words: Buddhism, Dunhuang, sutra, manuscript, codicology, paleography, Institute of Oriental manuscripts.