Material Heritage of the <i>Sāgaramatiparipṛcchā</i>: Manuscripts and Inscribed Tablets

The <i>Sāgaramatiparipṛcchā</i>, “Questions of the Oceanic Intelligence,” is the fifth chapter of the <i>Mahāsaṃnipāta</i>, “Great Collection,” and is a canonical work belonging to the tradition of Mahāyāna <i>sūtra</i> literature. This sūtra is highly valued in the long history of Mahāyāna Buddhism for its thematic and metaphorical richness, as it personifies the ocean (Skt. <i>sāgara</i>) to represent core aspects of the Mahāyāna doctrinal system. This paper presents two small Sanskrit fragments of the <i>Sāgaramatiparipṛcchā</i> recently identified in the Schøyen Collection, with transliteration and annotated translation. In order to provide a fuller picture of the textual history of the <i>Sāgaramatiparipṛcchā</i>, a quotation from the text on votive tablets from Kedah, Malaysia, is also discussed. These materials are employed as a case study within the context of tangible and intangible heritage. On the basis of the UNESCO declaration of 2003, it is argued that these two kinds of heritage are intrinsically interlinked, and that the categories and their pertaining definitions can be broadened so as to be relevant to more traditions and their heritage.