This is another in a series of weekly blog posts comparing and contrasting the Sanskrit and Chinese Lotus Sutra translations.
At the opening of Chapter 8, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples, we have another example of the clarity of Kumārajīva’s Chinese Lotus Sutra in comparison to H. Kern’s English translation of an 11th century Sanskrit Lotus Sutra.
Kern offers:
On hearing from the Lord that display of skillfulness and the instruction by means of mysterious speech; on hearing the announcement of the future destiny of the great Disciples, as well as the foregoing tale concerning ancient devotion and the leadership of the Lord, the venerable Pūrṇa, son of Maitrāyanī, was filled with wonder and amazement, thrilled with pure-heartedness, a feeling of delight and joy. He rose from his seat, full of delight and joy, full of great respect for the law, and while prostrating himself before the Lord’s feet, made within himself the following reflection: Wonderful, O Lord; wonderful, O Sugata; it is an extremely difficult thing that the Tathāgatas, &c., perform, the conforming to this world, composed of so many elements, and preaching the law to all creatures with many proofs of their skillfulness, and skillfully releasing them when attached to this or that. What could we do, O Lord, in such a case? None but the Tathāgata knows our inclination and our ancient course. Then, after saluting with his head the Lord’s feet, Pūrṇa went and stood apart, gazing up to the Lord with unmoved eyes and so showing his veneration.
Senchu Murano’s English translation of Kumārajīva presents the same scene in this way:
Thereupon Pūrṇa, the son of Maitrāyanī having heard from the Buddha the Dharma expounded with expedients by the wisdom [of the Buddha] according to the capacities of all living beings, and having heard that [the Buddha] had assured the great disciples of their future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, and also having heard of the previous life of the Buddha, and also having heard of the great, unhindered, supernatural powers of the Buddhas, had the greatest joy that he had ever had, became pure in heart, and felt like dancing [with joy]. He rose from his seat, came to the Buddha, and worshipped him at his feet with his head. Then he retired to one side of the place, looked up at the honorable face with unblenching eyes, and thought:
‘The World-Honored One is extraordinary. What he does is exceptional. He expounds the Dharma with expedients by his insight according to the various natures of all living beings of the world, and saves them from various attachments. The merits of the Buddha are beyond the expression of our words. Only the Buddha, only the World-Honored One, knows the wishes we have deep in our minds.’
The other English translations have comparable descriptions and Leon Hurvitz, who melded Kumārajīva and a compilation of extant Sanskrit Lotus Sutras in his English translation, follows Kumārajīva and offers a note with the Sanskrit variation.
While lack of clarity in Kern’s translation can be considered in part a biproduct of his 19th century environment, one wonders what to make of additional information introduced by Kern in his translation.
In discussing Pūrṇa experience in past lives, Murano offers:
“Bhikṣus! Pūrṇa was the most excellent expounder of the Dharma under the seven Buddhas.
But Kern has Śākyamuni add a little extra explanation:
He was also, monks, the foremost among the preachers of the law under the seven Tathāgatas, the first of whom is Vipasyin and the seventh myself.
When I first read this I checked the Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism authored by Robert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr., my go-to source of Buddhist minutiae.
Under the entry for Vipaśyin, the dictionary offers: “Sanskrit proper name of the sixth of the seven Buddhas of antiquity, not the first. But when you check the dictionary entry for Saptatathāgata, the seven buddhas of antiquity, you discover that Vipaśyin is the first of the six:
[Saptatathāgata] include Śākyamuni and the six buddhas who preceded him, i.e., Vipaśyin (P. Vipassin), Śikhin (P. Sikhī), Viśvabhū (P. Vessabhū), Krakucchanda (P. Kondañña), Kanakamuni (P. Konāgamana) and Kāśyapa (P. Kassapa).”
If you just Google “seven buddhas of antiquity” you find everyone agrees with Kern that Vipasyin was the first and Śākyamuni the seventh.
- Vipassī (lived ninety-one kalpas ago)
- Sikhī (lived thirty-one kalpas ago)
- Vessabhū (lived thirty-one kalpas ago in the same kalpa as Sikhī)
- Kakusandha (the first Buddha of the current bhadrakalpa)
- Koṇāgamana (the second Buddha of the current bhadrakalpa)
- Kassapa (the third Buddha of the current bhadrakalpa)
- Gautama (the fourth and present Buddha of the current bhadrakalpa)
I’m not a fan of Donald S. Lopez Jr. and this confusion over Vipaśyin’s place among the seven buddhas of antiquity makes me less likely to take as gospel anything I read in The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism.
Next: Imagining Buddha Lands