ABHISAMAYALANKARALOKA

(Sanskrit: "Illumination of the Abhisamayalankara"), important contribution to exegetical literature on the Prajparamita- ("Perfection of Wisdom") sutras of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and one of the texts most often studied in Tibetan monasteries. The Prajaparamita-sutras, with their emphasis on the doctrine of ontological "emptiness" and the attainment of Nirvana through perfect wisdom, had been systematized in a terse commentary known as the Abhisamayalankara. (Abhisamaya means either "insight" or "uniting" and designates Buddhist training toward Enlightenment; alankara is a literary form in verse.) This latter text required its own commentaries, which continued to be produced in Tibet into modern times. It was paraphrased in the present treatise, the Abhisamayalankaraloka, which also offered a detailed commentary on the Astasahasrika ("8,000-Verse") Prajaparamita. The author was Haribhadra. He wrote around AD 750, and his text was translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan in the 10th or 11th century.