The Adamant Book, or The Adamant-like Book by Hieromonk Daniil: The Earliest European Translation of The Diamond Sutra

This article comprises of the publication of the previously unpublished text of Hieromonk Daniil’s unfinished handwritten translation into Russian of the Buddhist Diamond Sutra (Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sutra), as well as our preliminary comments and observations on it. The manuscript Perevod svyaschennoy knigi foevskoy sekty, titled ‘Fo nyu dzin’ gan dzin’, chto znachit ‘Kniga adamant, ili adamantu podobnaya kniga’, ucheniya foya (Translation of ‘Fo niu jin gang jing’, which means ‘The Adamant Book, or The Adamant-like Book’ of the Foy Doctrine) by Hieromonk (later Archimandrite) Daniil (Dmitriy Petrovich Sivillov, 1798–1877), stored in the Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books (15322, II/44, ff. 1–3 verso) of Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, is an autograph of the translation from Chinese of about a quarter of the canonical text of The Diamond Sutra (paragraphs 1–7 out of 32), undertaken by Fr. Daniil in the period of 1828–1831 while serving as a missionary of The 10th Russian Ecclesiastic Mission in Peking. This is the first attempt of The Diamond Sutra translation into a European language. The correct transcription Fo shuo of the original Chinese title is provided. Among the seven Chinese translations of The Diamond Sutra from Sanskrit, the one by Kumarajiva (early 5th century) was identified as the version served as the original for Fr. Daniil. Russian rendering of the title is discussed; an initial assessment of the translation is provided. Hieromonk Daniil is praised as one of the pioneers of Buddhist studies in the Russian and European Oriental studies