Kumarajiva the Translator
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Ústav Dálného Východu Filozofická fakulta Univerzita Karlova v Praze Zuzana Daňková Diplomová práce Kumarajiva the Translator His Place in the History of Translating Buddhist Scriptures into Chinese Vedoucí práce: Doc. PhDr. Olga Lomová, CSc. Praha 2006 Prohlášení Prohlašuji, že jsem diplomovou práci vypracovala samostatně a uvedla v ní předepsaným způsobem všechnu použitou literaturu. V Praze dne 18.9.2006 Zuzana Daňková Tahle of Contents 1. Early Chinese Buddhism - Historical Sources and Their Character ............... 5 1 2. Translating Buddhist Scriptures from the 2nd to the 4 h century AD .............. tO Late Han .................................................................................................... 13 Three Kingdoms ........................................................................................ 22 Western Jin ................................................................................................ 26 Eastem Jin- South ..................................................................................... 32 Eastem Jin- North .................................................................................... 33 3. The Life ofKumarajiva ............................................................................... 40 Studies in India and Central Asia ............................................................... 40 Captivity at Liangzhou ............................................................................... 42 Kumarajiva in Chang'an ............................................................................ 47 Kumarajiva's Chinese disciples and collaborators ...................................... 51 Kumarajiva and Buddhabhadra .................................................................. 55 Kumarajiva and Yao Xing ......................................................................... 57 Kumarajiva's Death ................................................................................... 58 4. Kumarajiva' s Princip les of Translation ........................................................ 60 Emphasis on polished/refined language :ffiff~Jtfrtí ..................................... 60 Kumarajiva's use of omissions and additions !mUII!tr, ±~** (~~~á"JimU*ffi) .. 71 Correcting terms U li. i'; 't' ........................................................................ 74 5. Dao'an's Principles ofTranslation............................................................... 77 6. Xuanzang's Princi ples of Translation .......................................................... 84 Appendix 1 - Vimalakirtinirdesa Sutra ............................................................ 91 Appendix 2 - Heart Sutra ................................................................................ 93 Bibliography ................................................................................................... 96 3 4 1. Early Chinese Buddhism - Historical Sources and Their Character The biography in the section of "Translators", Yi jing ll**~' in the Li ves ofEminent Monks, Gaoseng Zhuan ~1tif1W 1 (hereinafter GSZ) along with additional remarks found in other biographies of the same compendium, represents the main source of information about Kumarajiva's life. The GSZ was compiled around 530 AD by the Liang dynasty monk Huijiao (497-554 AD) and it is a valuable source of information on the first phase of Buddhism in China and on the personalities who played their roles in the process of establishing Buddhism in China. As Arthur Wright argues in his article "Biography and Hagiography, Huijiao's Lives of Eminent Monks", Huijiao's purpose in writing the GSZ was an ambivalent one. On one hand, Huijiao's aim was to put down a comprehensive and reliable record of the li ves of the religious personalities who played important roles during the initial five centuries of Buddhism in China ( 67 - 519 AD). On the other hand, he also wished to present the Buddhist monastic figures in such a light as to integrate them in to the milieu of the Chinese intellectual elite. 2 To fulfil the first of hi s purposes- that of presenting a comprehensive account of the li ves of the monks - Huij iao gathered the biographical information from numerous sources available to him, such as previously written biographies and biographical 1 Huijiao Yá3(:. "Yijing" 8~*!1~. in Gaoseng Zhuan IB'J{~{~. In TaishO Shinshii Daiz8ky8 ::fclE!fJT~~::fc~ *~ [Taisho Tripitaka], vol.SO, no.2059. The biography ofKumarajiva is the first entry in the second se roll of the "Yi )ing" chapter (yi )ing zhong 8~*~cp). The whole chapter is divided into three scrolls, shang, zhong,xia __C,cp,T. The first chapter of the GSZ, "Yi )ing" (Translators), was translated in to Russian by Yermakov in:Yermakov. Zhizneopisania dostoinykh monakhov. "Razdel 1: Perevodchiki." Moscow: Nauka, 1991. 2 Wright, Arthur F., "Biography and Hagiography, Huijiao's Li ves of Eminent Monks", in Studies in Chinese Buddhism. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1990, p 75. 5 compendia, chronicles and histories, miscellaneous accounts, inscriptions and doctrinal treatises and discussions. Out of all the major sources that Huijiao used for his compendium only a single item has survived intact until this day: the Chu sanzang jiji ( Collection oj Notes on the Translation oj the Tripitaka) by Huijiao's older contemporary, a Vinaya master Sengyu (435-518). 3 The CSZJJ is a description of the formation of the Chinese Tripitaka, in which Sengyu draws on older bibliographies, mainly the now lost catalogue of translated scriptures Zongli zhongjing mulu *~~lll:L'0(*~ § ~ compiled by Dao'an (314-385) in 374.4 The CSZJJ contains various prefaces xu ff and colophonsji ~[.to the individua! translations, as well as 32 biographies of monks, mainly translators and exegetes. Among these biographies we also find the biography ofKumarajiva, which bears great resemblance to Kumarajiva's biography in the GSZ. It seems that Huijiao has taken over the biography from CSZJJ and then supplemented it from additional sources.5 Most historians also agree that another important, perhaps principal, source used by Huijiao has been the Mingseng Zhuan (MSZ) written in the years 510-519 by another ol der contemporary of Huij iao' s, the Liang monk Baochang. 6 The original has long been lost and only a few excerpts were compiled by a Japanese monk Shiish6 of the 3 Chu sanzangjiji ,'::1::\~Jii§c~ (Collection oj Notes on the Translation ofthe Tripitaka). Taish6 Tripitaka, vol. 55, no. 2145. Hereinafter CSZJJ. 4 Ziircher E. The Buddhist Conquest ofChina. Leiden: E.J.Brill, 1959.Conquest, p. 10. 5 According to Wright this has been a standard method used by Huijiao. In certain other biographies he would actually go as far as copying the text from CSZJJ verbatim, like for example in the biography of Bo'yuan. (Wright, "Biography and Hagiography", p. 105-106). Furthermore, this method oftaking over whole bod ies of text has been a long established practice in the tradition of Chi nese historiography. Moreover the overal! forma! organization of Huijiao's work is very much in keeping with traditional works of Chinese historiography. The biographies are grouped according to the dominant activity oftheir subjects. Huijiao also makes use of subordinate biographiesfu llít. Each of the individua! sections is preceded by a lun §ii!i and concluded by a zan W. Whenever he makes a comment of hi s own, he ma k es it clear, and he also specifies whenever he repeats an oral tradition or legend. (lbid.) 6 For different scholars discussing the Mingseng Zhuan as Huijiao's potentially principle source for the GSZ, see for example Zenryu. History, p. 484; Wright. "Biography and Hagiography", p. 78, 95-98; Ziircher. Conquest, p. ll. 6 Kasagi monastery in 1235 and essentials ofthe prologue and epilogue are reproduced in the Xu gaoseng zhuan.7 From these fragments we know that Baochang's compendium contained 425 biographies altogether. In his preface to the GSZ Huijiao seems to criticise Baochang indirectly for being too prolix and erratic. Accordingly, Huijiao reduced the number ofbiographies included in his GSZ to 257. By comparing the table of contents of the two compendia ( Gaoseng Zhuan and Mingseng Zhuan ), it seems that Huijiao has substantially drawn on this source both in terms of form and content. The Mingseng Zhuan also divided the biographies to categories based on dominant activity of the subj ects and many of the categories are very similar or identical with those employed by Huijiao and there are some other formal resemblances as well. As for the contents, out of the 257 major biographies in GSZ, 216 had been the subjects ofbiographies in the Mingseng Zhuan. 8 Andjudging from the few excerpts compiled by Shiish6, the wording is very similar and at places even identical with that found in the GSZ. To fulfil his second purpose, that of advancing the naturalization of Buddhist monasticism in Chinese history and society, Huijiao emphasizes such values in the li ves of the monks which were likely to appeal to the members of the Chinese educated class, such as the literary accomplishments of the monks. He often emphasizes that the monks were well versed in the Chinese classics, that they were able to memorize texts upon reading them only once etc. He also pays great attention to the interaction between the monks and the Chinese men of letters and describes in great detail all the gifts and homage which the monks would receive from members of 7 Xu gaoseng zhuan *i~{~{$ [Continuation ofthe Li ves oj Eminent Monks]. Aiso called