This is another in a series of weekly blog posts comparing and contrasting the Sanskrit and Chinese Lotus Sutra translations.
Kumārajīva translations are considered unexcelled in their accuracy and elegant style. This is genuinely revealed when you place H. Kern’s English translation of an 11th century Sanskrit document next to an English translation of Kumārajīva‘s fifth century translation of the Lotus Sutra. This is amply illustrated in the gāthās that conclude Chapter 2.
I’ve always enjoyed the clarity of this passage in Senchu Murano’s translation of Kumārajīva Chinese:
I do not deceive
Those who believe me and rely on me.
I am not greedy or jealous
Because I have eliminated all evils.
Therefore, in the worlds of the ten quarters,
I am fearless.I am adorned with the physical marks of a Buddha.
I am illumining the world with my light.
To the countless living beings who honor me, I will expound
The seal of the truth, that is, the reality of all things.Know this, Śāriputra!
I once vowed that I would cause
All living beings to become
Exactly as I am.That old vow of mine
Has now been fulfilled.
I lead all living beings
Into the Way to Buddhahood.
Compare that with Kern’s translation:
57. There is no envy whatever in me; no jealousy, no desire, nor passion. Therefore I am the Buddha, because the world follows my teaching.
58. When, splendidly marked with (the thirty-two) characteristics, I am illuminating this whole world, and, worshipped by many hundreds of beings, I show the (unmistakable) stamp of the nature of the law;
59. Then, Śāriputra, I think thus; How will all beings by the thirty-two characteristics mark the self-born Seer, who of his own accord sheds his luster all over the world?
60. And while I am thinking and pondering, when my wish has been fulfilled and my vow accomplished, I no more reveal Buddha-knowledge.
The verses clearly come from the same sutra, but Murano’s translation makes the meaning far more accessible.
Again here’s Kern’s translation 38 verses later in Chapter 2:
98. Endless shall be the skillfulness of these leaders of the world, by which they shall educate koṭis of beings to that Buddha-knowledge which is free from imperfection.
99. Never has there been any being who, after hearing the law of those (leaders), shall not become Buddha; for this is the fixed vow of the Tathāgatas: Let me, by accomplishing my course of duty, lead others to enlightenment.
100. They are to expound in future days many thousand koṭis of heads of the law; in their Tathāgataship they shall teach the law by showing the sole vehicle before-mentioned.
101. The line of the law forms an unbroken continuity, and the nature of its properties is always manifest. Knowing this, the Buddhas, the highest of men, shall reveal this single vehicle.
102. They shall reveal the stability of the law, its being subjected to fixed rules, its unshakeable perpetuity in the world, the awaking of the Buddhas on the elevated terrace of the earth, their skillfulness.
Compare that with Murano’s translation of the same verses:
The Tathāgatas save all living beings
With innumerable expedients.
They cause all living beings to enter the Way
To the wisdom-without-āsravas of the Buddha.
Anyone who hears the Dharma
Will not fail to become a Buddha.Every Buddha vows at the outset:
“I will cause all living beings
To attain the same enlightenment
That I attained.”The future Buddhas will expound many thousands
Of myriads of millions of teachings
For just one purpose,
That is, for the purpose of revealing the One Vehicle.The Buddhas, the Most Honorable Bipeds,
Expound the One Vehicle because they know:
“All things are devoid of substantiality.
The seed of Buddhahood comes from dependent origination.”The Leading Teachers expound the Dharma with expedients
After realizing at the place of enlightenment:
“This is the abode of the Dharma and the position of the Dharma.
The reality of the world is permanently as it is.”
This is why Kumārajīva’s translation became the standard text of the Lotus Sutra in China and Japan.
Next: Senchu Murano’s Insight