The Diamond Sutra, Oldest Known Dated Printed Book

The Buddhist text known around the world as the Diamond Sutra (although a more accurate translation of the Sanskrit title might be, for instance, the Vajra Cutter Sutra) is a short Mahayana sutra of the Perfection of Wisdom (prajna-paramita) genre, which teaches the practice of the avoidance of abiding in extremes of mental attachment. A copy of the Diamond Sutra, found among the Dunhuang manuscripts in the early 20th century, is, in the words of the British Library, "the earliest complete survival of a dated printed book."

The first translation of the Diamond Sutra into Chinese was done sometime around the beginning of the fifth century by the venerated and prolific translator Kumarajiva. The Kumarajiva translation has been particularly highly regarded over the centuries, and it is this version that appears on the 868 CE Dunhuang scroll.