This is another in a series of weekly blog posts comparing and contrasting the Sanskrit and Chinese Lotus Sutra translations.
If there is anything notable in comparing H. Kern’s Chapter 15, Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata, and the English translations of Kumārajīva’s Chapter 16, The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata, it is their similarity.
Still, I’m disappointed in Kern’s translation of the Parable of the Skillful Physician and His Sick Children when compared to Senchu Murano’s translation of Kumārajīva’s Chinese Lotus Sutra.
Murano offers this:
“The sons who had not lost their right minds saw that this good medicine had a good color and smell, took it at once, and were cured completely. But the sons who had already lost their right minds did not consent to take the medicine given to them, although they rejoiced at seeing their father come home and asked him to cure them, because they were so perverted that they did not believe that this medicine having a good color and smell had a good taste.
In the past, I’ve made a big deal about how this is an excellent definition of faith. In fact, this was the motivation behind my yearlong 800 Years of Faith Project. We can observe that something looks nice and, without taking the medicine, we can determine that it smells nice. But only with faith can we accept that the medicine will taste good before we actually take the medicine.
Kern’s translation completely negates this interpretation:
Those amongst the children of the physician that have right notions, after seeing the color of the remedy, after smelling the smell and tasting the flavor, quickly take it, and in consequence of it are soon totally delivered from their disease. But the sons who have perverted notions cheerfully greet their father and say: Hail, dear father, that thou art come back in safety and welfare; do heal us. So they speak, but they do not take the remedy offered, and that because, owing to the perverseness of their notions, that remedy does not please them, in color, smell, nor taste.
But it was when comparing the other English translations of Kumārajīva’s Chinese Lotus Sutra that I found my interpretation of the parable was a product of Murano’s intervention.
In the other English translations of Kumārajīva’s Chinese Lotus Sutra, those children who are deranged can’t believe that the medicine, having a fine color and smell, is good for them. Nothing is said about taste.
The Modern Risshō Kōsei-kai translation offers:
The others, who have lost their senses, are also delighted to see their fathers return and ask him to cure them. But they are unwilling to take the medicine he offers them. Why is this? The poison’s effect have reached deeper inside them and made them lose their senses. Therefore, although the medicine is fine in color and smell, they do not think it is good.
The BDK English Tripiṭaka translation offers:
The remaining children, those who are delirious, seeing their father coming to them, rejoice and ask him to seek a cure for their illness. Although he offers them the medicine, they will not take it. Why is this? The poison has so deeply penetrated them that they have become delirious. They do not think that the medicine with good color and aroma is good.
This is another demonstration of the value of Senchu Murano’s Insight and the clarity that insight brings.
Next: Piety and Merits