Buddha Letters
The Avataṃsaka Sūtra was written in stages, beginning from at least 500 years – Just as Lord Buddha Shakyamuni had prophesied with these verses:
ལྔ་བརྒྱ་ཐ་མར་གྱུར་པ་ན། །
ང་ནི་ཡི་གེའི་གཟུགས་སུ་གནས། །
ང་ཡིན་སྙམ་དུ་ཡིད་བྱོས་དང་། །
དེ་ཚེ་དེ་ལ་གུས་པར་གྱིས། །
“In the last five hundred year period,
I will appear in the form of letters.
Consider them as identical to me,
And treat them with due respect.”
From the Avatamsaka Sūtra – མདོ་ཕལ་པོ་ཆེ་ལས།
Scribed in both Tibetan Uchen script with red vermillion ink and Tsugtung script – This was created as one of the Little Gem series of small and often illuminated artworks –
Translation – Lowell Cook.
Issued with this artwork is a Certificate of Authentication with description, which serves as provenance, as well as a recipe of value for insurance purposes.