This is another in a series of weekly blog posts comparing and contrasting the Sanskrit and Chinese Lotus Sutra translations.
In comparing English translations of Kumārajīva’s Chinese Lotus Sutra with H. Kern’s English translation of the 11th century Nepalese Sanskrit Lotus Sutra one finds an interesting disagreement on what exactly the two sons of the king requested from their mother in Chapter 27, King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva, or as Kern titles his Chapter 25, Ancient Devotion .
Kern offers this version:
Then, young men of good family, the two young princes Vimalagarbha and Vimalanetra went to their mother, to whom they said, after stretching their joined hands: We should like to go, mother, to the Lord Jaladharagarjitaghoṣhasusvaranakṣhatrarājasaṃkusumitābhijña, the Tathāgata, &c., and that, mother, because the Lord Jaladharagarjitaghoṣhasusvaranakṣhatrarājasaṃkusumitābhijña, the Tathāgata, &c., expounds, in great extension, before the world, including the gods, the Dharmaparyāya of the Lotus of the True Law. We should like to hear it.
Kumārajīva expands this request to include an invitation for the mother to join them. As Senchu Murano offers:
The two sons, Pure-Store and Pure-Eyes, came to their mother, joined their ten fingers and palms together, and said, ‘Mother! Go to Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom Buddha! We also will go to attend on him, approach him, make offerings to him, and bow to him because he is expounding the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to all gods and men. Hear and receive [the sūtra]!’
The other English translations agree with Murano that the invitation is extended to the mother.
The BDK Tripiṭaka translation has:
We entreat you, O mother, to go before the Buddha Jaladharagarjitaghoṣasusvaranakṣatrarājasaṃkusumitābhijña. We shall also go before him together with you, attend him, make offerings to him, and pay him homage. Why is this? Because this buddha teaches the Lotus Sutra amid the assembly of all the devas and humans. Thus we should all listen to him.
Gene Reeves has:
Meanwhile the two sons, Pure Treasury and Pure Eyes, went to their mother and, putting their ten fingers and palms together, said to her: ‘We beg you, mother, to go and visit Wisdom Blessed by the King of Constellations Called the Sound of Thunder in the Clouds Buddha. We also would wait on, associate with, make offerings to, and worship him. Why? Because this buddha is teaching the Dharma Flower Sutra among the multitudes of human and heavenly beings, and we ought to hear and receive it.’
The only exception is Leon Hurvitz. His translation, which compared a composite Sanskrit Lotus Sutra with Kumārajīva’s Chinese translation and created a hybrid English translation, doesn’t include the invitation to the mother to go along with the boys. He has:
At that time the two sons, Pure Womb and Pure Eye, went before their mother and, joining their palms, ten fingers to ten fingers, deferentially spoke: ‘We beg leave, Mother, to go before the buddha Wisdom Adorned with Flowers by the King of Constellations [named] Thunder Sound of Clouds, where we too will attend him, approach him with familiarity, make offerings to him, and worship him. What is the reason? In the midst of a multitude of all gods and men this buddha preaches the Scripture of the Dharma Blossom, and we must listen to it receptively.’
Where there is a difference among the English translations of Kumārajīva is in the response of the mother. Kern’s translation has the mother say:
Whereupon the queen Vimaladattā said to the two young prince Vimalagarbha and Vimalanetra: Your father, young gentlemen, the king Śubhavyūha, favors the Brahmans. Therefore you will not obtain the permission to go and see the Tathāgata.
In Burton Watson’s English translation of Kumārajīva, he has the mother reply:
The mother announced to her sons, ‘Your father puts his faith in non-Buddhist doctrines and is deeply attached to the Brahmanical doctrines. You should go to your father, tell him about this, and persuade him to go with you.’
The Modern Risshō Kōsei-kai translation has:
“The mother replied to her sons, ‘Your father believes in a different teaching, as he is deeply attached to the Brahman doctrines. You should go to your father and see if he will agree to go with you.’
While Kumārajīva’s translation includes the invitation to the mother to go with the sons to see the Buddha, the mother does not respond and instead indicates that the two sons need to convince their father to join them.
That is, all the English translations of Kumārajīva except Murano, who offers:
“The mother said to them, ‘[Yes, I will. But] your father believes in heresy. He is deeply attached to the teachings of brahmanas. Go and tell him to allow us to go [to that Buddha]!’
This is another example of Murano’s effort to clarify and enhance his translation of the Lotus Sutra.
Next: A Patriarchal Worldview Shared by Women
