ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Asiatic Museum, the predecessor to the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of theRussian Academy of Sciences (IOM RAS), was established in 1818. From the latter halfof the 19th century, the museum endeavored to research and preserve invaluable
Buddhist manuscripts and other materials that were unearthed and collected in various
places in Central Asia along what is known today as the Silk Road. The vast collectionspans texts in over 60 languages, numbering approximately 100,000 items. In terms ofcontent and scale, it is one of the largest in the world and has made invaluablecontributions to scientific development in various fields of Oriental studies.
Among the most famous of these items, and regarded as treasures of humanity, arethose collected by Nikolai Petrovsky (1837-1908), the approximately 20,000 documents(including text fragments) collected by the Sergei Oldenburg (1863-1934) expedition inDunhuang, and the 6,000 items of Xixia (Tangut) texts unearthed by the Pyotr Kozlov(1863-1935) expeditions in Khara-Khoto.
The many years of exchange between the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, theSoka Gakkai, and the Institute of Oriental Philosophy have been especially fruitful. In2005, the IOM RAS and the Soka Gakkai jointly published the Lotus Sutra Manuscript
Series 6: Xixia Version of the Lotus Sutra from the Collection of the St. Petersburg
Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences,compiling the Tangut texts unearthed by the Kozlov expeditions. (The St. Petersburg
Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies was reorganized into the independent
Institute of Oriental Manuscripts in 2007.) Reproducing the texts from the Petrovsky
collection, “Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscripts from the Institute of Oriental Manuscriptsof the Russian Academy of Sciences (SI P/5, etc.), Facsimile Edition” is now being
prepared for publication as Lotus Sutra Manuscript Series 13. In this connection, I
would like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to Prof. Dr. Irina F. Popova, Director ofthe IOM RAS, and to all those at the IOM RAS, whose gracious understanding andgenerous cooperation helped make this project possible.
The SI P/5 (presently called SI 1925/1927) manuscript is often referred to as thePetrovsky Manuscript or Kashgar Manuscript because it was obtained in Kashgar in1893 by Petrovsky, then the Russian consul-general there. It is thought that the text wasoriginally found by a resident of Khotan, and that Petrovsky acquired major portions ofit. He then sent the manuscript to the Asiatic Museum in the capital, St. Petersburg.
Oldenburg, the renowned Buddhist scholar, introduced the manuscript to European
academia, which caused much excitement in research circles at the time. He praised thisachievement highly by saying that Petrovsky’s brilliant discovery ushered in a new eraof archaeological studies related to Eastern Turkestan.
Khotan, which is located in the Southern periphery of the Taklamakan Desert,
prospered as the largest oasis city along the southern route in the Western Region,
which connected China, India, and Iran. It has been known since ancient times for its
jade production, and became famous for a legend that relates the introduction ofsilkworms to the city by a princess who came as a bride from China. Buddhism has
been practiced in Khotan since ancient times, and Mahayana Buddhism flourished there
in particular.
Regarding Khotan, we should note that Lotus Sutra Manuscript Series 3:
Fragments of a Manuscript of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra from Khādaliq, edited by
Dr. Klaus Wille, a leading German philologist, is an important study of another ancient
Lotus Sutra manuscript found at a ruin 115 kilometers east of the city.
The SI P/5 manuscript is an essential primary source for a wide range of Lotus
Sutra studies. The availability of this text has allowed Buddhist scholars of the world topore over its content from various viewpoints. There are four characteristics of this textthat stand out:
1. From a philological point of view, the text is thought to have been copied in the9th and 10th centuries, and preserves ancient Prakrit readings, thereby serving as animportant link to older traditions.
2. The size of the folio is 18 centimeters long and 57 centimeters wide; the paper
manuscript in the shape of a palm-leaf text (pothī style) is one of the largest of its kind.
3. While many manuscripts found in Central Asia are fragments or small numbersof folios, SI P/5 retains 396 of the extant 468 folios and fregments; many of these folios
are beautiful and have been preserved comparatively well.
4. Some 50 names of people and their dedications appear in the colophons in amixture language of Khotanese and Sanskrit, so that the text serves as very importantmaterial for learning about what faith in the Lotus Sutra of the time might have been.
The Soka Gakkai and the Institute of Oriental Philosophy have jointly published, inthe form of a series, facsimile editions and romanized texts of Lotus Sutra manuscripts,
which are regarded as particularly valuable among Sanskrit Lotus Sutra scriptures.
The manuscripts can be divided into three lineages, based on where they were
found or excavated: (1) Nepalese, (2) Gilgit, and (3) Central Asia. Looking over themanuscript series publications, we were able to include representative texts from thethree lineages. It gives me great joy to see that we have achieved the goals we set whenthe Lotus Sutra publication project started 19 years ago. The following are the 14 itemsof the Lotus Sutra manuscripts from three lineages that have been published thus far:(1) Nepalese manuscripts
Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from the National Archives of Nepal (No. 4-21),
Facsimile Edition (1998)
Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from the National Archives of Nepal (No. 4-21),
Romanized Text 1 (2001)
Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from the National Archives of Nepal (No. 4-21),
Romanized Text 2 (2004)
Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscripts from Cambridge University Library (Add. 1682and Add. 1683), Facsimile Edition (2002)
Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from Cambridge University Library (Add. 1684),
Romanized Text (2010)
Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from University of Tokyo General Library (No.
414), Romanized Text (2003)
Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britainand Ireland (No. 6), Romanized Text (2007)
Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from the Société Asiatique (No. 2), Romanized
Text (2008)
Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from the British Library (Or. 2204), Facsimile
Edition (2009)
Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from the British Library (Or. 2204), Romanized
Text (2011)(2) Gilgit manuscripts
Gilgit Lotus Sutra Manuscripts from the National Archives of India, Facsimile
Edition (2012)(3) Central Asian manuscripts
Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Fragments from the Lüshun Museum Collection, Facsimile
Edition and Romanized Text (1997)
Fragments of a Manuscript of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra from Khādaliq(2000)“Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscripts from the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of theRussian Academy of Sciences (SI P/5, etc.), Facsimile Edition” (2013)

(*Lotus Sutra Manuscript Series 6 is a 2005 publication of Xixia texts of the Lotus
Sutra from St. Petersburg.)
The world’s first critical edition of the Sanskrit Lotus Sutra, Saddharmapuṇḍarīka(Bibliotheca Buddhica 10, also known as the Kern-Nanjio edition, 1908–1912) wasedited by Japanese scholar Bunyiu Nanjio (1849-1927) and Dutch linguist HendrikKern (1833-1917) and published by the Académie Impériale des Sciences, St.
Petersburg. Until today it has been used as foundational material for Lotus Sutra studiesin Sanskrit. In collating the text of the Kern-Nanjio edition (hereafter “KN”), sevenmanuscripts and two texts (a lithographic text published by P. E. Foucaux and awood-cut print text in the possession of A. Wylie).
The Lotus Sutra Manuscript Series has published six of the seven manuscripts thatwere used in the collation of the critical KN edition, including SI P/5. Since thewhereabouts of the manuscript that was in the possession of T. Watters (abbreviated as“W” in KN) is currently unknown, in practice, all the related manuscripts have been
covered. The following are manuscripts included in the series that were used in thecollation of KN as the original and reference texts for recension.
Original text for KN:
1. Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from the Royal Asiatic Society of GreatBritain and Ireland (No. 6), Romanized Text (abbr. “R” in the series, “A” inKN)
Texts used for collating KN:
2. Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscripts from Cambridge University Library (Add.
1682 and Add. 1683), Facsimile Edition (abbr. “C3” and “C4” in the series;“C3” was not used for KN while “C4” is “Ca” in KN.)1
3. Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from Cambridge University Library (Add.
1684), Romanized Text (abbr. “C5” in the series, “Cb” in KN)1
4. Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from University of Tokyo General Library(No. 414), Romanized Text (abbr. “T8” in the series, “K” in KN)
5. Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from the British Library (Or. 2204), Facsimile
Edition (“B” both in the series and in KN)
Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from the British Library (Or. 2204),
Romanized Text (“B” both in the series and in KN)
6. “Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscripts from the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts ofthe Russian Academy of Sciences (SI P/5, etc.), Facsimile Edition” (“O” bothin the series and in KN)
We are greatly indebted to the IOM RAS for its generous cooperation in publishing
not only SI P/5 but also not a few other Central Asian manuscripts of the Sanskrit Lotus
Sutra, and feel extremely fortunate to have been able to produce this facsimile edition. I
am firmly convinced that the publication of these manuscripts will make a substantial
contribution to related academic fields. In closing, I would like to express my heartfelt
thanks to Prof. Dr. Margarita I. Vorobyova-Desyatovskaya, Head of the Section ofSouth Asian Studies, IOM RAS, and Prof. Dr. Oskar von Hinüber, Emeritus Professorat Freiburg University, both of whom contributed precious introductory articles, to Prof.
Seishi Karashima, Director of the International Research Institute of Advanced
Buddhology at Soka University, who offered his inestimable advice and cooperation, toMr. Noriyoshi Mizufune, a researcher for IOP’s manuscript projects, who dedicatedhimself as an expert in this field and editorial works, and to all other people who wereinvolved in this publication.
Yoichi KawadaDirector, Institute of Oriental Philosophy
January 27, 2013

Note
1. Regarding Preliminary Notice, [p. XII] of KN, Add. MS. 1682 and Add. MS. 1683
should read 1683 and 1684, respectively.

Postscript
With great sorrow, we were informed that Prof. Dr. Evgeny I. Kychanov, theworld-renowned Tangutologist and Sinologist, passed away on May 24, 2013. Professor
Kychanov was the former director of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute ofOriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He contributed greatly to thepromotion of scientific and cultural exchange, including his visit to Tokyo in 1998 toparticipate in the opening of “The Lotus Sutra and Its World” exhibition. Together withall those who have been involved in the present publication, I would like to express ourheartfelt condolences on the demise of this great scholar.