British Library Fragment 28, Section 4

The debate returns to where it began — to practice.

After three sections of devastating logical critique — dismantling the opponent's categories of existent factors, his specifications of "everything," and his explications of "existence" — the text circles back to the question that actually matters: what does this mean for someone who practices?

The surviving fragments discuss the attainment of religious practice, the relationship between past and future factors and their "accompaniment" by future years, the status of moral conduct as future or present, and whether one who has not attained religious practice can be said to have factors that "do not exist." The proponent argues that if future factors do not exist, then the acquisition or accompaniment of future factors — the entire forward-looking structure of the Buddhist path — becomes incoherent.

This is the most damaged section of the entire manuscript. The birch bark is severely deteriorated, with extensive lacunae on every fragment. What survives are the edges of an argument whose center has been eaten away. But the edges are enough to see the shape: the philosophical debate was never merely academic. It was always about the path.

The text ends mid-argument. The final preserved line reads: "For it is not the case that one states ..." — and then silence. The manuscript as preserved in the British Library represents only one portion of a longer, and possibly much longer, original text.

British Library Fragment 28, part of the Gandhāra birch-bark scrolls — the oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts on earth. Published by Collett Cox as GBT 8 (2025), open access. Section 4 of 4.

Gospel Reading

The text comes full circle — from the abstract question of whether past and future factors exist, back to the concrete question of religious practice.

The transition is marked by praxis-related terms that appear throughout these final fragments: "attainment of religious practice," "not attained," "freed from lust," "contaminants," and "moral conduct." The philosophical debate has not ended, but it has changed register. The proponent is no longer merely arguing about ontology — he is arguing about what ontology means for someone walking the path.

Attainment and Non-Attainment

The first preserved passage states: or else, it should be upheld in the case of ... the attainment of religious practice. All sentient beings who ... having attained the attainment of religious practice ...

The terms upasapana and anupasapana — "attained" and "not attained" — recur throughout this final section. They derive from a root meaning "to meet" or "to unite with," but in the context of religious practice they carry the extended sense of "attaining religious practice" — that is, undertaking the religious life or entering the monastic path. The related term samaṇagata — "accompanied" — describes the process by which certain factors, qualities, or states are achieved along the path.

Both the more literal and the extended senses of these terms are evident in the most frequently occurring derivative, the absolutive form upasaṃpajja — "having attained" — which appears in a formula detailing one's progress through meditative states or stages of religious practice. Specifically, one is said to "abide having attained" a state — a formula that is glossed in Pali commentaries with "attainment."

Past Years and Future Years

A past year exists. But then yet another future year is not possessed of past years. A future year exists with future years.

If the opponent claims that past years exist, the proponent raises a counterexample of future years that have not yet occurred. Such future years could be said to be "without years" in the sense that they, as future, do not yet possess "past years," thus contradicting the opponent's statement that "a past year exists."

This tentative interpretation would also fit well with the next suggestion offered by the opponent: "A future year exists with future years." In other words, the opponent responds to the proponent's implicit criticism with the clarification that his prior declaration "past years exist" should not be taken to imply that past years exist under all circumstances, for example, even as possessed by a future year. Instead, such future years should be said to be accompanied by other future years.

As a rejoinder to the opponent's response, the proponent offers an untoward consequence in the form of an everyday counterexample — namely, an "elder" within the community who, due to his age, could not be said to be accompanied by future years. Thus, in the view of the proponent, the opponent's attempt to use the example of past and future years to elaborate upon the relationship between "existence" and the time periods stands refuted.

Moral Conduct

The next sentence begins: "... moral conduct is future ..."

The following statement begins with the adverb "then" or "therefore," often used to signal an undesirable conclusion or counterexample raised by the proponent: "then all who are not observing moral conduct ... moral conduct in entirety ..."

According to this interpretation, the initial reference to moral conduct would refer to future moral conduct; the opponent would assert that it exists, but the proponent would claim that such future "moral conduct" cannot exist in the case of one "not observing moral conduct."

Even though too little remains to offer a full reconstruction or even the general structure or topic of the argument employed, the proponent's reference to "all who are not observing moral conduct" and those "observing moral conduct" suggests a possible contrast between these two categories in the following discussion. Such a contrast of opposites evokes an argument pattern based on category uniformity that has been used by the proponent to counter distinctions proposed by the opponent in several other contexts: the distinction between "occurred" and "not occurred," between "subject to arising" and "not subject to arising," between "not attained" and "having attained religious practice," and between "not freed from lust" and "being freed from lust."

The Accompaniment of Future Factors

One who has not attained religious practice ... does not exist. That accompaniment of future factors also does not exist. If one states: "It is the case that the attainment of religious practice exists," then by what means does one who has not attained religious practice become one who has attained religious practice?

One states: "A past year exists," but then yet another future year is not possessed of past years. One states: "A future year exists with future years." If one is accompanied by future years, then an elder should also possess a future year, but indeed he is not accompanied by that future year.

Moral conduct ... is future; then all who are not observing moral conduct ... moral conduct in entirety ...

The proponent's argument in this final portion remains the same one he has pressed throughout: if future factors do not exist as the proponent contends, then the opponent cannot explain how the transition from "not attained" to "attained" occurs. The process by which future factors change their status from "subject to arising" to "not subject to arising" — the entire mechanism of the Buddhist path from ordinary being to arhat — depends on the existence of those future factors.

But for the proponent, since future factors do not exist, such "acquisition" or "accompaniment" of future factors is untenable. Thus, the proponent concludes this final argument with a summary restatement of his position: "In this way, future factors do not exist."

The Text Breaks Off

The text in this last section comes full circle, returning to the overarching topic of religious practice that precipitates the long intervening discussion of past and future factors and existence in the three time periods. However, the polemical pattern in the final line of the text makes it clear that the argument between the proponent and the opponent in this last section extended beyond the end of the current manuscript.

"For it is not the case that one states ..."

And then silence. The Abhidharma text as preserved in this manuscript certainly represents only one portion of a longer, and possibly much longer, original text.

Scholarly Translation

[51C(v)/51sss(v)] — Time Periods, Existence, Religious Practice

[1] ... (*tena) de sastre ? mada sarva aṣi(*a) na ti(*a)aiji(*a) sarva anupaṣapana di ... [2] ... ? na ? asṭi ? ... [3] ... the attainment [of religious practice]. All sentient beings who ... [4] ... having attained/the attainment [of religious practice] ... [4] ... a ḍa'na ? ? ...

[51F(v)/51sss(v)]

[1] ... (*tena)(*e) agra(*e)hi(*e) · prt(*a)cupaṇa + r(o)vaṣa ... [2] ... ? ? prt(*a)cupaṇa + na bhāva aṃupaṣapanno ... [3] ... upasaṃpaḍā · (*a)ṣ(*a) ḍukkhi(*a) [4] ... na śukkhaṃ, na ḍukkhaṃ [4] ... [4] ... bhāvru 'na(*a)saṃṭaryaṃ ...

Translation

[1] ... everything exists ... [2] ... past ... past ... [3] ... upasaṃpadā · (*a)nd suffering ... [4] ... should be upheld that "nature" ...

[51F(v)/51sss(v) l. 5]

[1] ... (*a)sarvr(*a)(*a)sar(*a)eri · (*a) · [2] ... ? sṭhi(*a) p(*a)ulaṣi(*a)(*a)(*a) · [3] ... na śukkhaṃ, na ḍukham [4] ... bhāru 'na(*a)śaṃṇaryaṃ ...

Translation

[1] ... everything exists ... [2] ... past ... past ... [3] ... should not be said. If one states, [o] "There is no attainment [of religious practice]," [p] it is not the case that suffering ... [4] ... should be upheld that "nature" ...

[51D(v)] — Religious Practice and Future Factors

[1] + + + + + ? ? (*a)muji(*a)(*a)japaṃi(*a) + · ? ? · + + + + + + + + + + + + [2] + nasti · yo vi aṃagaḍ(*a)(*a)ṣamaṇagamo so vi nasti · [3] + + + + + + + + + + + nasti · yo vi aṃagaḍ(*a)śamaṇagami(*a) ... (*a)ṣṭi upasapada asṭi ki(*a)(*a)ṃi(*a)e- na [3](*a)paḍi(*a)ṣipaṇo(*a) aṃuvaṣapaṇo · eva aṃagaḍa (*a)nasti ·

[3] saḍḍa vasi(*a)igasa asṭi di teṇa avaru meḍ4[pu]ar vasyo avaṣyakir aṃagaḍehi varuṣgehi aṃagaḍa go vaṣayo asṭi so hi tena na samaṇagaḍo di

[5] siṁ(*a)ḍi [6] + + + + + + + + + (*a)iḍi(*a)i(*a) (*a)rṃi(*a)ajṭ(*a)aḍo di tena sarva aśilavaṭa śarvevaḍu śilā- [7] ...

Sanskrit Rendering

[1] ... anupaṣapaṃnu- ... [2] ... nāsti, yo 'py anāgatasamanvāgamaḥ so 'pi nāsti. asty upasaṃpatti(*a), katamena[3]upasaṃpanno 'ṃupasaṃpannaḥ. evam anāgatā na santi.

[3] atīto varṣako 'sti, tenāpara pu[4]nar varṣyo, aṃagatair varṣukeir anāgatehi varṣagehi anāgaḍa go varṣayo 'sti, so hi tena na samanvāgatā iti.

[5] śīla- [6] ... śīlam anāgatam iti, tena sarva aśīlavatāṃ sarvevaṃ śilā- [7] ...

Translation

[1] ... [p] ... one who has not attained [religious practice] ... [2] ... does not exist. That accompaniment of future [factors] also does not exist. If one states, [o] "It is the case that the attainment [of religious practice] exists," [p] [then] by what means [3] does one who has not attained [religious practice become] one who has attained [religious practice]? In this way, future [factors] do not exist.

[3] [One states,] [o] "A past year exists," [p] [but] then [4] yet another [future] year is not possessed of [past] years. [One states,] [o] "A future year exists with future years." If [5] [one states,] [o] "One is accompanied by (*future years)," [p] [then] an elder [should] also possess a [future] year, [but] indeed he is not accompanied by that [future year].

[poss] [5] Moral conduct [6] ... [o] [one states,] "... is future;" [p] then all who are not observing moral conduct ... moral conduct in entirety [7] ...

[51A-B(r)] — Final Arguments

[1] + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + n hi ? + + · u k · + ni/no + a [2] + + + + + + + + + + ḍi ca aṃagaḍehi pacupaṇa [3] + + + + + + + + aṃueiṣvo · viḍaraga a4paṣipada) + + + + + + + + + + + tena so aṃagada [5] · (*a)nupasapada) + + + + + + + + + · + + + · + aṃagaḍa aṃuṣiya(*a)ir(*a)aqi(*a)r(*a)ac araṣi(*a)ṇ(*a)airi(*a)e(*a)ṣaja avi(*a)r(*a)āga- · anuṣayo bhoḍi · aṃuṣiyo bhoṃi bhoṃi · anuṣiyo · · · + + + + · + (*a)ṃu(*a)(*a)aṃi(*a)(*a)siri(*a)(*a)(*a)aṣi(*a) + ? ? + ? ? ? ? ? + + + + + + + · s/co s/p. p./!? ? ? ? + +

Sanskrit Rendering

[1] ... [2] ... cānāgataiḥ pratyutpanna- [3] ... anuśayo-, vistarāga- a[4]upasaṃpadā ... [5] upasaṃpadāyai ... anāgatā anusayo(*a) ... [6] ... anusayo bhavati, anusayo bhavati ... [7] ... anāgatā-

Translation

[1] ... [2] ... [p] ... and together with future ... present [3] ... contaminant. (*The attainment [of religious practice]) that is freed from lust [4] ..., then that one for the sake of the future (*attainment [of religious practice]) [5] ..., for the sake of the future [attainment of religious practice] that is freed from lust [6] ..., becomes ... contaminant. For it is not the case that one states [7] ... future ...

Notation: [p] = proponent's statement; [o] = opponent's statement. Square brackets indicate reconstructed or supplied text. Parenthetical asterisks (*) mark tentatively reconstructed passages. Ellipses mark lacunae in the birch bark. Fragment designations follow Cox's reconstruction.

Damage: Section 4 is the most extensively damaged portion of the entire manuscript. The major portion of the visible verso surfaces of fragments 51C(v) and 51F(v) likely represents an extension of layer 51sss, with similarity in terminology and overall topic to the previous passages. Fragments 51D(v) and 51A-B(r) are badly deteriorated, with most lines containing extensive lacunae. The final line of 51A-B(r) breaks off mid-argument, confirming that the manuscript as preserved represents only one portion of a longer original text.

Key terms in this section:

• upasapana / upasaṃpadā (Skt upasaṃpadā) — "attainment" or "attaining" religious practice. The central praxis term of this section.
• anupasapana / anupasaṃpanna (Skt anupasaṃpanna) — "not attained" or "one who has not attained" religious practice.
• samaṇagata (Skt samanvāgata) — "accompanied" or "accompaniment." Designates one's status as characterized by various virtuous or unvirtuous qualities.
• anuṣaya (Skt anuśaya) — "contaminant" or "latent defilement." The underlying tendencies that fuel the cycle of rebirth.
• viḍaraga / vītarāga (Skt vītarāga) — "freed from lust." The state of being freed from attachment, in connection with the attainment of religious practice.
• śīla (G sila) — "moral conduct." Appears in the context of observing or not observing moral conduct as future or present.

Colophon

Good Works Translation by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, April 2026. Translated from Gandhāri Prakrit with reference to Sanskrit equivalents. Source: Collett Cox, A Gāndhārī Abhidharma Text, Gandhāran Buddhist Texts 8 (2025), open access. Blood Rule compliant — translation independently derived from the Gandhāri reconstruction, not from Cox's English. Cox's translation and extensive commentary consulted as reference for damaged passages and philosophical context. Section 4 of 4 — covers Religious Practice: Present and Future Factors (51C(v), 51F(v), 51D(v), 51A-B(r)).

This is the most damaged section of the manuscript. The Gospel Reading reconstructs what can be inferred from the surviving fragments and Cox's commentary, but large portions remain irrecoverable. The Scholarly Translation preserves the extreme fragmentary state of the original — the reader should understand that what survives are edges and fragments of a once-complete argument. The text breaks off mid-sentence, confirming that the preserved manuscript is only a portion of a longer work.

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Source Text

Gandhāri Prakrit Reconstruction (51C(v)/51sss(v))

[1] ... (*tena) de sastre ? mada sarva aṣi(*a) na ti(*a)aiji(*a) sarva anupaṣapana di ... [2] ... ? na ? asṭi ? ... [3] ... + ? (*asṭi ...

Gandhāri Prakrit Reconstruction (51C(v))

[4] ... sarva asti(*a)arvaṣi ...

Sanskrit Rendering (51C(v))

[4] ... sarve asti(*a)arvaṣi ...

Gandhāri Prakrit Reconstruction (51F(v)/51sss(v))

[1] ... (*a)sarvi(*a)(*a) prt(*a)cupaṇa(*a)aji(*a) + · ? ? · + + + + + + + + + + + + [2] + nasti(*a) · + (*a) ? (*a)sṭhi(*a) pulaṣi(*a)(*a)(*a) + na duḍi(*a) na + + + + + + + + + + + + [3] + + + + + + + ? ? ? ? ? ? ? bhava aṃuṣajidava ? + + + + + + + +

Sanskrit Rendering

[1] ... sarvam ... pratyutpanna- ... [2] ... nāsti ... [3] ... bhava anusaṃjidava ...

Gandhāri Prakrit Reconstruction (51D(v))

[1] + + + + + ? ? + (*a)muji(*a)(*a)japaṃi(*a) + + · ? ? · y · + asṭi (*a)(*a)iṃi(*a)ajr(*a)aji(*a) + na ḍuḍi(*a)(*a) + + + + + + + + + + + + a[139]· [2] + nasti · yo vi aṃagaḍ(*a)(*a)ṣamaṇagamo so vi nasti · [3] saḍḍa vasi(*a)igasa asṭi di teṇa avaru meḍ4[pu]ar vasyo avaṣyakir aṃagaḍehi varuṣgehi aṃagaḍa go vaṣayo asṭi so hi tena na samaṇagaḍo di

[5] siṁ(*a)la [6] + + + + + + + + + (*a)iḍi(*a)(*a) (*a)rni(*a)ajt(*a)aḍo di tena sarva aśilavaṭa śarvevaḍu śilā- [7] + + + + + + +

Sanskrit Rendering (51D(v))

[1] ... anupasaṃpannu- ... [2] ... nāsti, yo 'py anāgatasamanvāgamaḥ so 'pi nāsti. asty upasaṃpattis, katamena[3]upasaṃpanno 'nupasaṃpannaḥ. evam anāgatā na santi.

[3] atīto varṣako 'sti, tenāpara pu[4]nar varṣyo, anāgatair varṣukair ... anāgatā go varṣayo 'sti, so hi tena na samanvāgatā iti.

[5] śīla- [6] ... śīlam anāgatam iti, tena sarva aśīlavatāṃ sarvevam śīlā- [7] ...

Gandhāri Prakrit Reconstruction (51A-B(r))

[1] + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + n hi ? + + · u k · + ni/no + a [2] + + + + + + + + + + ḍi ca aṃagaḍehi pacupaṇa [3] + + + + + + + + aṃueiṣvo · viḍaraga a4paṣipaḍa) + + + + + + + + + + + tena so aṃagaḍa [5] · (*a)nupaṣapaḍa) + + + + + + + + + · + + + · + aṃagaḍa aṃuṣiya(*a)ir(*a)aqi(*a)r(*a)ac aruṣi(*a)ṇ(*a)airi(*a)e(*a)ṣaṃa avi(*a)r(*a)āga- · anuṣayo bhoḍi · aṃuṣiyo bhoṃi bhoṃi · anuṣiyo · · · + + + + · + (*a)ṃu(*a)(*a)aṃi(*a)(*a)siri(*a)(*a)(*a)aṣi(*a) + ? ? + ? ? ? ? ? + + + + + + + · s/co s/p. p./!? ? ? ? + +

Sanskrit Rendering (51A-B(r))

[1] ... [2] ... cānāgataiḥ pratyutpanna- [3] ... anuśayo-, vītarāga- a4upasaṃpadā ... tena so anāgatā [5] · upasaṃpadāyai ... anāgatā anuśaya(*a) ... [6] ... anuśayo bhavati, anuśayo bhavati ... [7] ... anāgatā-

Source Colophon

Gandhāri Prakrit reconstruction from Collett Cox, A Gāndhārī Abhidharma Text: British Library Fragment 28, Gandhāran Buddhist Texts 8 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2025). Open access publication. Section 4: Religious Practice — Present and Future Factors, fragments 51C(v), 51F(v), 51D(v), 51A-B(r). Sanskrit renderings also from Cox. Notation: + marks lost akṣaras; = marks line breaks; (*x) marks reconstructed characters; · marks punctuation in the original. The text breaks off mid-argument at 51A-B(r) l. 6, confirming that the preserved manuscript is only a portion of a longer original.

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