Four of the oldest paintings in the Edwin Binney 3rd Collection at The San Diego Museum of Art are from a Buddhist manuscript made in Nepal around the 1100s. Known as the Gandavyuha-sutra, the Sanskrit text describes the young merchant Sudhana’s quest to find “beautiful friends” who explain how to reach enlightenment. Ever since the 1950s, when a number of leaves entered museum collections throughout the United States, art historians have praised the paintings for their lyricism and visual appeal. Until recently, only about 42 pages were known worldwide, but within the last decade many more have come to light. This lecture presents new research on the history, structure, and interpretation of this long-celebrated illuminated manuscript.