The Diamond Sutra: The oldest printed book in history! 

We come many books: Textbooks, comic books, novels, scrapbooks, or notebooks. Each book has its own purpose. But how did books become so commonplace? When was the first book written? Or when was the first book printed? What was the printing technique used? If these questions ever cross your mind, then worry not! We are going to tell you all about the first book that was ever printed, The Diamond Sutra. It is a Buddhist religious text dating back to 868 AD. Surprisingly, the book remained hidden for nearly 1000 years and was discovered only in 1907! But why was the book hidden and who discovered it? Read on to find out!  

Sir Aurel Stein discovered The Diamond Sutra  
The credit for the discovery goes to Sir Aurel Stein, born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1862. He was keen to explore India, China, and Central and West Asia and held many positions in India during his life. He was the registrar at the Panjab University and the Principal of Oriental College in Lahore, Pakistan, and Calcutta Madrasah. He carried out many expeditions along the Silk Road, including archaeological excavations and geological and cultural surveys. During one of his explorations, he discovered the Caves of a Thousand Buddhas in Dunhuang, China. The cave was full of books, a lot like a secret library. It is believed that it was sealed to protect the books from external threats during 1000 AD. The cave had nearly 40,000 scrolls hidden inside the locked entrance to the unknown cave. And among these scrolls was The Diamon Sutra!  

What is the book about?  
The Diamond Sutra talks about Buddhism rooted in India. The book is the Chinese translation of a text originally written in Sanskrit. It was translated around 400 AD. The book was taken back to China and preserved by Buddhist monks. ‘Sutra’ is a word in Sanskrit that corresponds to religious teachings. So, The Diamond Sutra is about the sacred teachings of Buddha. It is a part of Mahayana Buddhism, a form of Buddhism most common in Japan, China, and Southeast Asia. It is said that the teachings from the Diamond Sutra cut through illusions like a diamond blade and illuminate the mind about what matters in life! Hence, the title of this ancient book.  

What was the printing technique used in the book? 
Printing was developed in China during the eighth century. The technique used was block printing, also known as woodblock printing. It is an ancient process that involves hand carving a wooden block for each page. To print the texts in The Diamond Sutra, carved wooden blocks were used. The book comprised of seven panels of paper. Each of these pages were printed using a single block of wood. Finally, the pages were stuck together to create a single book. The book was produced in 868 AD, by the time the block printing technique was mastered and refined. The book now resides in the British Library. The British Library is part of the International Dunhuang Project, which aims to make thousands of manuscripts, paintings and other artefacts from the Silk Road sites available to audiences worldwide online.