This is another in a series of weekly blog posts comparing and contrasting the Sanskrit and Chinese Lotus Sutra translations.

In Senchu Murano’s English translation of Kumārajīva’s Chinese Lotus Sutra we are offered this story about the past life of Śākyamuni and his disciple, Ānanda:

“Good men! Ānanda and I resolved to aspire for Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi under the Void-King Buddha at the same time [in our previous existence]. At that time Ānanda always wished to hear much while I always practiced strenuously. Therefore, I have already attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi[, but he has not yet]. Now he protects my teachings. He also will protect the store of the teachings of future Buddhas, teach Bodhisattvas, and cause them to attain [Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi], according to his original vow. Therefore, now he has been assured of his future Buddhahood.”

All of the other English translations of Kumārajīva’s Chinese Lotus Sutra adhere to this image of Ānanda being overly focused on learning while Śākyamuni takes action and becomes a Buddha, leaving Ānanda behind to be a keeper of Buddha knowledge.

Having bathed in Murano’s translation, I’ve written in the past:

While it is important to remember that a single Daimoku is the equivalent of reciting the entire Lotus Sutra, I think the point Chapter 9 is making is that just knowing stuff is not enough. You have to put that knowledge to work. In the above quote from today’s portion of Chapter 9, we learn that Śākyamuni and Ananda both aspired for enlightenment under the Void-King Buddha, but Ananda was too focused on learning and neglected his practice. In the future, he will protect the store of the teachings of future Buddhas, just as he does now, but he will also teach Bodhisattvas, and that will be how he becomes a Buddha named Mountain-Sea-Wisdom-Supernatural-Power-King.

H. Kern’s English translation of the 11th century Nepalese Sanskrit Lotus Sutra offers a different view. Kern says:

Young men of good family, I and Ānanda have in the same moment, the same instant conceived the idea of supreme and perfect enlightenment in the presence of the Tathāgata Dharmagahanābhyudgatarāja, the Arhat. At that period, young men of good family, he (Ānanda) constantly and assiduously applied himself to great learning, whereas I was applying myself to strenuous labor. Hence I sooner arrived at supreme and perfect enlightenment, whilst Ānanda Bhadra was the keeper of the law-treasure of the Lords Buddhas; that is to say, young men of good family, he made a vow to bring Bodhisattvas to full development.

In Kern’s telling it is not a failing that has prevented Ānanda from becoming a Buddha, but a vow he made “to bring Bodhisattvas to full development.” This is not unlike Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva – Jizō in Japan – who vowed to rescue all beings in the six realms of existence before he would attain Buddhahood himself.

This aspect of Kern’s translation is not as clear in Hurvitz’s translation of the compiled extant Sanskrit Lotus Sutras.

Then indeed the Blessed One, recognizing in his own mind what was going on in the minds of those bodhisattvas, addressed those bodhisattvas as follows: ‘Identically, O sons of good family, in the same moment, at the same instant, was our thought, mine and that of Ānanda, raised up to unexcelled, right, perfect, enlightened intuition in the presence of Dharmagaganābhyudgatarāja [the King Ascended to the Dharma Sky] the Thus Gone One, the Worthy One, the Properly and Fully Enlightened One. There this man, O sons of good family, was bent on the status of one who has heard much, while I was bent on vigorous undertaking. Therefore I was the quicker to experience unexcelled, right, perfect, enlightened intuition. This fellow, on the other hand, this goodly Ānanda, became the very bearer of the treasure of the true dharma of the blessed buddhas. That is to say, whatever vow is taken for the perfection of bodhisattvas, that belongs, O sons of good family, to this very son of good family as well.’ “

Both versions, though, offer Ānanda in a different light than Kumārajīva’s Chinese Lotus Sutra.

Next: Shouldering the Buddha

This is another in a series of weekly blog posts comparing and contrasting the Sanskrit and Chinese Lotus Sutra translations.

When I first read H. Kern’s 1884 English translation from Sanskrit of Chapter 9, the prediction for Ānanda and Rāhula, I was struck by something inserted here that is not found in translations from Kumārajīva’s Chinese. Kern has Ānanda and Rāhula say, “The Lord is our father and procreator, our refuge and protection.” Is this 19th century Christian bias sneaking in?

The full quote reads:

‘Let it be our turn also, O Lord; let it be our turn also, O Sugata. The Lord is our father and procreator, our refuge and protection. For in this world, including men, gods, and demons, O Lord, we are particularly distinguished, as people say: These are the Lord’s sons, the Lord’s attendants; these are the keepers of the law-treasure of the Lord. Therefore, Lord, it would seem meet, were the Lord ere long to predict our destiny to supreme and perfect enlightenment.’

Murano’s translation of Kumārajīva offers:

“World-Honored One! We think that we also are qualified to be assured [of our future Buddhahood]. Only you, the Tathāgata, are our refuge. We are known to all gods, men and asuras of the world. Ānanda always protects the store of the Dharma as your attendant. Rāhula is your son. If you assure us of our future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, the wishes not only of us but also of others will be fulfilled.”

The other English translations of Kumārajīva all lack the idea that the Buddha is “our father and procreator,” and all separate Ānanda’s aspect of protecting the teachings and Rāhula’s position as the Buddha’s son rather than saying, “These are the Lord’s sons, the Lord’s attendants; these are the keepers of the law-treasure of the Lord.”

Leon Hurvitz’s English translation of the Lotus Sutra, which merges both Kumārajīva’s Chinese and a composite Sanskrit text, sticks with the language of Kumārajīva and places the Sanskrit version in an endnote:

1. “Then indeed the long-lived Ānanda at that time thought: ‘Truly, may we also receive such a prophecy as this!’ Then thinking, reflecting, and praying in this way, rising from his seat and bowing down to the feet of the Blessed One, and the long-lived Rāhula also thinking, reflecting, and praying in this way, and bowing down to the feet of the Blessed One, [they] spoke as follows: (If the English of this does not parse as a sentence, it is because the Sanskrit, too, is not grammatically coherent.) ‘May our turn also come in the same way, O Blessed One! May our turn also come in the same way, O Well Gone One! For the Blessed One is our father, our progenitor, our refuge, our salvation. For we, O Blessed One, in this world with its gods, men, and asuras, have been variously depicted in such words as these: “These are the sons of the Blessed One, as well as the attendants of the Blessed One, and they carry the storehouse of the dharma of the Blessed One.” Now, O Blessed One, let that [prophecy] be right quickly matched [by you], in that the Blessed One shall prophesy to us concerning unexcelled, right, perfect, enlightened intuition.’ “

Again the Sanskrit inserts the Buddha’s position as not only the “father” but also the “progenitor,” or in the word used by Kern, “procreator.”

Why does that bother me? Śākyamuni, himself, declares in the Lotus Sutra that he is the father of all living beings. Why am I so sensitive to extending to the father a role as “progenitor”? Perhaps this is just a continuation of whatever prompts my uneasiness about Nikkyō Niwano‘s assertion that we are “caused to live by Śākyamuni.”

In any event, one can easily make the argument that this is another place that illustrates the superiority of Kumārajīva’s translation, both in content and style.

Next: Ananda’s Vow

This is another in a series of weekly blog posts comparing and contrasting the Sanskrit and Chinese Lotus Sutra translations.

Throughout the first half of the Lotus Sutra we find descriptions of what a future Buddha world will look like.  Pūrṇa’s future Buddha world in Chapter 8 is a good example. The differences between English translations of Kumārajīva’s Chinese Lotus Sutra and H. Kern’s English translation of an 11th century Sanskrit Lotus Sutra are instructive.

Using Murano’s translation of Kumārajīva we begin with the prediction for Pūrṇa:

He will perform the Way of Bodhisattvas step by step for innumerable, asaṃkhya kalpas, and then attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi in this world. He will be called Dharma-Brightness, the Tathāgata, the Deserver of Offerings, the Perfectly Enlightened One, the Man of Wisdom and Practice, the Well-Gone, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed Man, the Controller of Men, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the Buddha, the World-Honored One.

Kern renders this:

After completing such a Bodhisattva-course, at the end of innumerable, incalculable Æons, he shall reach supreme and perfect enlightenment; he shall in the world be the Tathāgata called Dharmaprabhāsa, an Arhat, &c., endowed with science and conduct, a Sugata, &c. He shall appear in this very Buddha field.

Note that they agree that Śākyamuni says Pūrṇa’s Buddha world will be “in this world,” or as Kern emphasizes, “in this very Buddha field.” What are we to make of “this world” becoming Pūrṇa’s pure land?

Murano describes the world:

The world of that Buddha will be composed of one thousand million Sumeru-worlds, that is, as many Sumeru-worlds as there are sands in the River Ganges. The ground [of that world] will be made of the seven treasures. It will be as even as the palm of a hand. There will be no mountains nor ravines nor ditches. Tall buildings adorned with the seven treasures will be seen everywhere in that world, and the palaces of gods of that world will hang so low in the sky that gods and men will be able to see each other.

In Kern’s telling we get this version:

Further, monks, at that time the Buddha-field spoken of will look as if formed by thousands of spheres similar to the sands of the river Ganges. It will be even, like the palm of the hand, consist of seven precious substances, be without hills, and filled with high edifices of seven precious substances. There will be cars of the gods stationed in the sky; the gods will behold men, and men will behold the gods.

Again we get the palaces of the gods imagined as flying cars.

The description of the inhabitants and their environment is consistent. Murano offers:

There will be no evil regions nor women. The living beings of that world will be born without any medium. They will have no sexual desire. They will have great supernatural powers, emit light from their bodies, and fly about at will. They will be resolute in mind, strenuous, and wise. They will be golden in color, and adorned with the thirty-two marks. They will feed on two things: the delight in the Dharma, and the delight in dhyāna.

Kern explains:

Moreover, monks, at that time that Buddha-field shall be exempt from places of punishment and from womankind, as all beings shall be born by apparitional birth. They shall lead a spiritual life, have ideal bodies, be self-lighting, magical, moving in the firmament, strenuous, of good memory, wise, possessed of gold-colored bodies, and adorned with the thirty-two characteristics of a great man. And at that time, monks, the beings in that Buddha-field will have two things to feed upon, viz. the delight in the law and the delight in meditation.

I would argue that Kern’s translation lessens the negative connotation about women contained in Murano’s translation. In fact, Kern’s version is not unlike the Modern Rissho Kosei-Kai translation of the Lotus Sutra, which goes to great lengths to eliminate gender stereotypes.

“In that land, there will be no gender distinction, for all living beings there will come into existence by transformation, free of carnal desire.”

As for the occupants of this world, Murano offers:

There will be innumerable, asaṃkhya Bodhisattvas, that is, thousands of billions of nayutas of Bodhisattvas. They will have great supernatural powers and the four kinds of unhindered eloquence. They will teach the living beings of that world. There will also be uncountable Śrāvakas there. They will have the six supernatural powers including the three major supernatural powers, and the eight emancipations. The world of that Buddha will be adorned with those innumerable merits. The kalpa [in which Pūrṇa will become that Buddha] will be called Treasure­Brightness; and his world, Good-Purity. The duration of the life of that Buddha will be innumerable, asaṃkhya kalpas, and his teachings will be preserved for a long time. After his extinction, stupas of the seven treasures will be erected [in his honor] throughout that world.”

While Kern says:

There will be an immense, incalculable number of hundred thousands of myriads of koṭis of Bodhisattvas; all endowed with great transcendent wisdom, accomplished in the (four) distinctive qualifications of an Arhat, able in instructing creatures. He (that Buddha) will have a number of disciples, beyond all calculation, mighty in magic, powerful, masters in the meditation of the eight emancipations. So immense are the good qualities that Buddha-field will be possessed of. And that Æon shall be called Ratnāvabhāsa (i.e., radiant with gems), and that world Suviṣuddha (i.e., very pure). His lifetime shall last immense, incalculable Æons; and after the complete extinction of that Lord Dharmaprabhāsa, the Tathāgata, &c., his true law shall last long, and his world shall be full of Stūpas made of precious substances. Such inconceivable good qualities, monks, shall the Buddha-field of that Lord be possessed of.

Note that in Murano’s telling the Bodhisattvas have “great supernatural powers and the four kinds of unhindered eloquence. They will teach the living beings of that world.” Kern, on the other hand, describes these Bodhisattvas as “all endowed with great transcendent wisdom, accomplished in the (four) distinctive qualifications of an Arhat, able in instructing creatures.”

This description of Bodhisattvas as Arhats is very un-Mahayana. As the Oxford Dictionary of Buddhism explains:

As taught in early Buddhism, the Arhat attains exactly the same goal as the Buddha. Mahāyāna Buddhism, however, comes to regard Arhatship as an inferior ideal to that of Buddhahood, and portrays the Arhat (somewhat unfairly) as selfishly concerned with the goal of a ‘private nirvāṇa.’ In contrast, emphasis is placed on the great compassion (Mahākaruṇa) of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who dedicate themselves to leading all beings to salvation.

As a postscript I’m adding The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism’s definition of a Sumeru world:

[Mount Sumeru is] the central axis of the universe in Buddhist cosmology; also known as Mount Meru, Mount Sumeru stands in the middle of the world as its axis and is eight leagues (yojana) high. It is surrounded by seven mountain ranges of gold, each separated from the other by an ocean. At the foot of the seventh range, there is a great ocean, contained at the perimeter of the world by a circle of iron mountains (cakravāda). In this vast ocean, there are four island continents in the four cardinal directions, each flanked by two island subcontinents. The northern continent is square, the eastern semicircular, the southern triangular, and the western round. Although humans inhabit all four continents, the “known world” is the southern continent, named Jambudvīpa, where the current average height is four cubits and the current life span is one hundred years. The four faces of Mount Sumeru are flat and are each composed of a different precious stone: gold in the north, silver in the east, lapis lazuli in the south, and crystal in the west. The substance determines the color of the sky over each of the four continents. The sky is blue in the southern continent of Jambudvīpa because the southern face of the Mount Sumeru is made of lapis. The slopes of Sumeru are the abode of demigods (asura), and its upper reaches are the heavens of the four heavenly… . At the summit of the mountain is the heaven of the thirty-three (Trāyastriṃsá), ruled by the king of the gods, Sakra. Above Mount Sumeru are located the remaining heavens of the sensuous realm (kāmadhātu).

Next: The Buddha as Father and Procreator