Many mystic Sanskrit words appear in this chapter. Why were these words not translated? The reason is due to the prudence of Kumārajīva, who translated the Lotus Sutra from Sanskrit into Chinese. When the Mahāyāna sutras were rendered into Chinese from Sanskrit, the translators, including Kumārajīva, left “untranslatable words” untouched. These translators defined as untranslatable the following five kinds of words:

1. Words with meanings alien to Chinese, that is, the names of animals, plants, and demons peculiar to India but foreign to China. For example: the fragrance of tamālapattra and of tagara, mentioned in chapter 19, and such beings as garuḍas and kiṃnaras.
2. Words with many meanings, that is, words that cannot be fully translated by a single word. For example: dhārāṇi, sometimes meaning the mystic power that enables a reciter to maintain the teaching he has heard, sometimes meaning the power of checking all evil and of encouraging all good, sometimes meaning the mystic syllables by which the reciter can escape disaster. The mystic syllables in chapter 26 belong to the last category.
3. Mystic words. For example: the dhārāṇi spells appearing in chapter 26. These words were left as they were because their profound meaning would be impaired if they were translated.
4. Transliterations well established by precedent. For example: Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, which can be translated as “Perfect Enlightenment” or “the unsurpassed wisdom of the Buddha.”
5. Words with profound meanings, which would lose their true meaning if translated. For example: buddha and bodhi.

These five kinds of untranslatable words (goshu-fuhon) were invariably left untouched by any translator.