The transcription of the long lost The Annotations on Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra ( 維摩詰經注 ) in Dunhuang Academy’s collections is a hand copy done in Northern Dynasties. Nine pieces of paper of the transcription in existence were written by the same person on both sides of the paper. The entries of the transcription, derived from Kumārajīva version of Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra were written in larger-sized Chinese characters in the front side and the annotation were written in smaller-sized Chinese characters. Based on the content, it was highly possible that the annotator was closely related to Kumārajīva and was his disciple. The back side of the transcription, also written in smaller-sized Chinese characters, was the annotation of Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra as well. These texts were considered as supplement to what was on the front side, therefore named as “A complementary annotation of Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra”. The front and back side of the transcription should be taken as a whole and as an early copy of the annotation of Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra, it is of great value to studying the thoughts of Kumārajīva and his disciples. Prof. Tang Yijie used to read this transcription several decades ago. He thought it was very important literature and expected it to be published at an early date. Therefore, this paper published and collated the texts of both two sides of the transcription with the original order for the first time.
